#thankful

we had a really nice thanksgiving.

a stress-free morning,

a delicious meal at ronnie's sisters.

lots of lounging.

and since brette didn't nap,

she fell asleep on our way home and

we had both girls in bed by 6:30.

s u c c e s s f u l

 

 

 

another success?

my desserts.

seriously. the bomb.

 

 

this year i'm thankful for family:

the little one ronnie and i created.

they're seriously perfection.

my immediate family, that i'm lucky enough

to see and share a meal every monday night.
they would do anything for me and my girls. 
(well, anything except make a special trip to bring me thanksgiving leftovers. ahem, dad.) 

my extended family that makes traditions fun, important and a good time.

and my chosen family. 
the girls that i get to call my best friends and
will be my village while raising our kids together.

 

love you all.

THANK YOU for being a part of our lives.  

 

 

ps -

i have to work tomorrow

so ronnie will spend a full 11 hours

with both his girls and no help.

send your prayers.

pumpkin pie cake

i'm in charge of desserts and rolls for our thanksgiving dinner.

of course, pecan pie is on my list.

it's mandatory and i must admit,

i make a mean pecan pie.

and just in case anyone out there is looking for

another last minute thanksgiving dessert idea,

here's what else i'm making:

 

pumpkin pie cake.

 

 

i've never been a huge fan of pumpkin pie,

but i feel like pumpkin something should be on the table.

so when a co-worker said she had an amazing pumpkin cake recipe

i thought i would give it a try.

 

here's what you'll need:

1 can of pumpkin

1 C evaporated milk

1 1/2 C sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

4 eggs

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick butter

grated pecans

 

mix the pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, and all the spices

together until well blended.

pour into a 9x13 pan and

sprinkle the box of cake mix on top.

melt the stick of butter and

pour over cake mixture.

top with chopped pecans.

bake for 45 minutes at 350

(or until it passes the toothpick test)

 

 

ENJOY!  and have a happy thanksgiving.

now excuse me,

i have some baking to do.

reid: four months

 

these months are going faster and faster.

and just like that she's four months old.

growth:

we actually have her fourth month well-baby visit tomorrow.

i'm so excited to see how much she weighs and her height.

i think she's grown so much.

her neck strength is very good.

she holds it up on her own all the time.

she's rolling side to side but hasn't completely flipped over yet.

and right now she prefers to be held,

but i think, for good reason.

she's in that in between stage where she can't sit up

on her own yet, but she doesn't want to lay down all the time either.

so basically, she wants someone to sit her up so she can see

what's going on and be a part of the action.

she's in size two diapers and 3-6 month clothing.

her hair is staying red and she has quite a bit of it.

we can actually already put barrettes in it,

but she is getting that bald spot in the back.

wah wah.

hopefully it grows in fast once she's sitting up more.

her eyes are blue and fingers crossed, she keeps them.

she has the cutest little grin and

the highest pitch scream i've ever heard.

i'm hoping that's just how she cries and that she's not in pain, but

we've been messing around a lot with her reflux medicine and

her pediatrician upped her dose. 

i'm anxious to see what she wants to do when we meet tomorrow.

i'm thinking we either need to try something new or

prescribe her more because in the last few weeks i've

noticed the puking has come back and she's arching her back

a lot which is a sign of discomfort.

i just don't want my sweet girl to be in any pain.

 

 

sleeps:

our sleep routine is a joke.
night time is still on point but with the time change
it went from 7:45 to 6:45 and that means
i'm upstairs nursing her by 6:15.
it makes for interesting dinners and has pretty much
put a hold on most social invites.
if its past 5:30, i'm out.
i've tried to slowly push it back,
but i don't think we're ever gonna make it past 7:00-7:30.
she's just too tired.
mostly because her naps are all out of wack.
i can't seem to get on a schedule.
she gets up about 6:46 and is back down for a nap
by 8:30.  that only lasts about an hour.
then she's back down around 11:30,
unless we're out running errands and then i hold her off until 1:00.
but once again that, doesn't last long.
our sweet spot is normally around 2:00.
i can sometimes get a couple hours out of her.
and then she's back down around 5:30,
but only for 30 mins.
(enough time for me to scarf something down for dinner.)
and finally she's out for the night around 6:45.
add brette's nap in there at 1:00 and i literally feel like all i do
is feed kids and put them to sleep...
and somehow its exhausting.

 

 

eats:

she still eats every two hours.
there is no lengthening out this girl
because she doesn't just lay there and eat very often.
brette would nurse a constant 25 minutes.
reid is too busy looking around or messing with her face
so unless she's swaddled, i normally only nurse for 15 minutes.
since she's not getting as much food, she doesn't go as long in between.
i don't mind it because i don't know if brette
would last that long waiting for us to be done anyway.

i nurse her the days i'm here and

on mondays and fridays, she takes a bottle.

she's started eating more: 4-5 oz bottles,
 which means i need to start pumping more.
i was just pumping at work, but i can
see my freezer supply of milk is dwindling, so
i'm probably going to have to start pumping before bed every night.
after i put her down for the night she sleeps until
4:30 - 5:30 - basically 10 hours before needing to nurse again. (such a champ)
recently she's been busting out of her swaddle so i've nursed her a few extra times
this week, but nothing to complain about.
also, at four months i'd like to start giving her some water.
probably once or twice a day i'm going to try to get a few ounces down her.
we'll see if she'll take it.

 

 

plays:

her favorite toy is her pacifier.
she hold on to it and can actually put it in her own mouth,
but she also spends a lot of time messing around with it
which produces a lot of squeals.
she is so loud.
and she talks all the time.
dear lord, i think i got blessed/cursed with two
loud, talkative girls.
sa-weet.
i've been trying to get her to do more tummy time
so she can roll over soon, which will also
help strengthen her abilities to sit up on her own...
something she is dying to do.

 and i'm waiting for her to find her feet.
i remember B was obsessed with her feet,
but i don't think reid has realized they're down there yet.
 

 

firsts:
she was baptized on her 4 month birthday (more on that later)

first holiday! (hello, halloween)
she went to her first sporting event - a football game.
i'm sure there are more, but i can't think of any.
 

 

 she's doing really well and i'm
getting really excited for the holidays.
i can't tell you how amazing its going to be to
watch brette and reid celebrate together.



 

the sunday rundown

10 quick updates...

 

1. i'm making a couple my favorite recipes this week.

if you need a dinner idea, try them out.

italian soup and taco lasagna.

i plan on freezing any leftovers because

lets be honest, i live off freezer meals.

 

2. even though nursing isn't one of my

favorite parts about having kids,

it gives me some of my favorite memories.

is there anything more precious than a baby

looking up at you and smiling mid-meal?

reid is a pro at this.

 

3. have you tried snapchat?

i'm new and still learning,

but its a fun way to see my friends'

and their kids in st. louis.  #DZGalPals

 

4. ronnie painted!

you read that right.

finally!

we used "everyday white" for the color.

its two shades lighter than the paint we chose for the upstairs.

i think i'm really going to like it.

we wanted something lighter since our wood ceiling in the

front room makes it feel so dark.

so now we officially have a finished kitchen.

(well, kind of)

next up is the dining room and living room.

(hopefully done this week.)

 

5. reid is getting baptized this weekend.

i'm so excited to break out my mom's

baptismal gown again and take pictures.

my fingers are crossed that she doesn't have some

sort of blow out while in the dress.

please, god.

 

6. i started a diet,

then i switched to another one,

then halloween struck and candymania took over.

now i'm starting over.

why can't be naturally skinny?

life's. not. fair.

 

7. i finished watching the last season of dexer

and i'm seriously distraught.

i know this is two years late, but really?

i'm okay with killing off deb, because i didn't know how they

would do without each other anyway.

but the fact that they end by

throwing him out in oregon, chopping down trees while his

son and the love of his life are off in argentina kills me.

it kills me.

 

8. after kassie's amazing wedding in mexico,

my friends decided that we should try to travel together again.

i mean, what's more fun than that?!

we're going to hawaii in 2017.

everyone is having a baby this year so by that summer we

are all free to travel without kids and not feel bad about it.

plus it gives us all some time to save up the money.

i think we might rent a house and kick back for a week beachside.

i might go ahead and start the countdown.

 

9. i lied on my last post about christmas shopping.

i've bought more since then and i can't stop.

something's wrong with me.

 

10. i started a book last night.

i go in spurts with reading.

i'll go months and months and read every night.

i love to read.

but then i'll stop and won't read at all.

before last night, i hadn't read a book

since i lived with my parents last winter.

weird, right?

its nice to have a book in my hand again.

so there are 10 little updates on life around here.

nothing and everything is going on at once.

have a good week!



the early bird gets the discount

i'm not trying to rush into christmas.

in fact, i'm one of those that refuse

to acknowledge the holiday until thanksgiving

dinner is safely in my belly.
(and then i run head first into my christmas decorations)

i like halloween and thanksgiving.

the pumpkins, ghosts, turkeys, pilgrims...

they all deserve our love.

especially my personal favorite, pecan pie.

dear lord, i can't wait to eat pecan pie.

but,

there were some amazing veterans day online sales

and i broke my own rule.

i started buying for christmas.

i know. i'm such a traitor.

but how cute are these matching pj's for the girls?

and at 40% off it was a no-brainer.

 

 

then getting a stocking for reid was a must.

and it obviously had to match the ones i bought a few years ago,

so when i found another version, i scooped it right up.

(hers is the snowman one, second from the right.)

 

 

 

that's it.

i just bought two things.

it could have been a lot worse.

and it got me itching to buy a lot more.

next on my list are books and ornaments.

i'll try to hold off until its truly the christmas season,

but i'm not making any promises.

 

again,

i apologize for the pre-thanksgiving christmas post.

it won't happen again.

 

 

let's go royals

 

i'm sure you've heard.

the ROYALS won the world series.

it was a pretty big deal in these parts.

especially since it hasn't been done in the last 30 years.

i'm a big fan and i lured ronnie and brette into the action too.

when we won, i decided to take

my girls to the parade to celebrate.

it was scheduled for tuesday at noon.

perfect.

i could get there around 9 or 10 in the morning with a few hours

to make our way to whatever spot we could find and

hopefully leave by 2 to get home for a late nap.

my bffs, shannon and kassie were off on tuesday too, so

we decided to brave the crowds together.

the more adults the better.

the news was speculating 200,000 people.

sure, its a lot, but i thought we could handle it.

 

but then everything went crazy.

 

shannon was little late meeting me.

you know kids...

you try to do something cool with them

and they turn on you.

brette was being cranky about her shirt

and shannon's clan was giving her a hard time too.

sweet.

with five kids and three adults we thought the best

plan of action was to pack a double stroller.

have two kids sitting at all times which leaves

the remaining three kids supervised by three adults.

we just didn't want to lose anyone.  obviously.

well, my freaking double stroller wouldn't fit in shannon's pilot.

wait for it...

neither would my jogger.

ahhhhhh!
we finally rearranged things so the jogger would sit shotgun,

we threw in an umbrella stroller

and i squeezed myself in between two carseats in the very back.

oh yeah, and we hadn't even met up with kassie yet.

there was no hope.

we finally left my house at 9:30 and called kassie to meet us.

at first kass wanted to meet up at dana's house.

she's close to the plaza and there was a shuttle taking the crowds in from there.

but traffic was bad and the numbers of attendants was raising by the hour.

now they were saying 300,000 people.

we decided to meet kass at the zoo and ride the shuttle in from there

hoping that maybe it would be a little less crowded and get us

off the highway sooner.

um no.

we waited in line forever just to park our car.

but at last - we made it and kass was there to help us with

all. our. freaking. kids.

we busted out my portable kids potty for a fast bathroom break,

loaded all our bags, snacks, drinks and children and headed to the bus stop.

now all we have to do is hop on the shuttle and make our way downtown.

...except...

the line for the shuttle was OVER a mile long.

ps- reports are now saying 500,000 people expected.

holy lord.

shannon was getting a little scared of the sheer number of people

and i was getting nervous we wouldn't even make the parade in time.

so we decided to pack it up.

that's right.

we went through all that work, just to call it a day.

reese, shannon's oldest, cried and we all felt like big jerks.

to make it up to her we decided to take all five kids to

buffalo wild wings for lunch and they could watch the parade on

all 50 of their big screens. perfect.

we even told reese she could order dessert.

(you gotta do, what you gotta do when kill a small child's dream)

buffalo was packed and both babies needed to eat.

the waitress sucked and we waited f o r e v e r  for our food.

brette was trying to steal crayons from graham and

the TV's were so loud i couldn't think straight.

we finally made it home around 1:00 - - four hours since the start of adventure.

four hours to basically go to lunch.

i threw both my girls down for a nap

and shannon and kass came over and hung out for the rest of the day.

it ended up being really fun and i actually got to see

the parade and the pep rally.

in the end over 800,000 people showed up to cheer on our boys in blue.

i'm so glad we didn't go.

it would have been different if we had ronnie and drew to help,

but it was just too much, with too many kids.

next year, (hopefully we win again) i'm calling mimi to

babysit and us girls are going to go.

THAT sounds much better.

 

#WeTookTheCrown

 

 

 

 

 

and so it goes.

i took this idea and made it my own.

we've been shooting these pictures now for

three years and i plan to keep going.

i know i'd like another one when reid turns a year old.

and maybe a new one every summer after?

we'll see if i can remember.

i just think it would be so cool to have

them until they graduate high school.

just us girls, hanging out on our bed.

 

here's our newest addition:

sister hugs.

 

 

and a look back from the beginning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we'll see you again in july!