reid eats

 

 

 

 

someone was hungry.

as in, crying and reaching for our spoons when we ate.

it was too much.

so even though she was shy of being six months,

like i had planned.

we went ahead and started giving reid food.

i wanted to start with cereal and peanut butter,

but i am borrowing the rest of shannon's cereal she has leftover

from paige and since i don't have it yet,

and reid was getting demanding, we went ahead

and gave her carrots.

and then the next morning, bananas.

she had to get used to the consistency,

but each day she gets better and better.

she only eats about a tablespoon,

but i think she's enjoying it.

we're going to be adding cereal, sweet potatoes,

pears and peas soon.

its so fun. i just love when they start eating.

 

 

next up, steak.


AND, does anyone remember this?
how cute are my little girls.
 

 

the need for tinted windows

soooo... lets talk about my boobs for a bit.

 

i don't think the bank i work at has ever

had someone that needed to pump.

or if they have, they act clueless.

when i first came back in september,

my boss told me i could use the men's bathroom

because it had a lock on the door and a bench.

ew.

but i tried it out.

1. the bench is too far away from the plug-in,

so i had to stand in front of the mirror while pumping.

weird.

2. it smelled seriously awful.

3. i had to go tell the men in the bank that i would

be in their restroom every time i needed to use it.

awkward.

 

with a little advice from my friend dana and her legal expertise,

she convinced me that i should be a little bit more pro-active

in my pumping demands.

(i guess its illegal for your place of employment not to provide

you a place to pump and it cannot be a restroom.)

i am so not good at confrontation, so i took it upon myself

to find another place more suitable.

unfortunately, all the offices have glass front walls,

so there is no such thing as privacy.

but, being the genius i clearly am, i brought in my old

shower curtain and tacked it up over the opening.

yesssss. i just scored myself my own little pumping room.

 

fast forward to october and we had a community service project.

everyone had to meet at this ladies house to fix it up for her.

i emailed the guy in charge to see if there was somewhere i could go,

since i knew we'd be there several hours.

he said the house would be in no condition to actually go inside

(ps- who lives at this place?!?)

but there was a QuikTrip a few miles away.

not ideal.

i was trying to figure out how i was going to lock the QT bathroom

door for 15 minutes without causing a riot.

instead, that morning another guy in charge said i could use

the generator he brought if i moved my car close enough to

run an extension cord.

so just imagine me, crouched down in the backseat of the 4runner,

outside this dump of a house, while all my co-workers are right outside working.

it. was. heinous.

and the generator was SO LOUD.

like a freaking motor off a muscle car.

there was no being discrete.

 

and now here we are today.

i think the number of women in the company

that needs to pump must have grown.

i got an email on friday saying they reserved an extra room for

our annual all-employee meeting at a local convention center, just for nursing moms.

can you believe it!

there would be a key left in an envelope outside the door, so

you could lock yourself in there and we could all take turns.

a big step up from the men's bathroom or the backseat of my car.

i'll take it!

  

i'm so glad i only do this a couple days a week.

pumping sucks.

only five months to go.

picture me rollin'

i mentioned that ronnie was gone all weekend.

he decided that we needed to add another vehicle to

our garage (also known as cox's used car lot) and

this one was located in illinois up close to his mom's.

he drove there with a friend and spent the weekend.

and then he brought back a yukon.

 

it's getting ridiculous.

i did agree that we needed a new vehicle because

ronnie's truck has a regular cab and the

jeep is a pain to get the girls in and out of.

so my suggestion?

sell the jeep.  sell the truck.

buy a newer four-door truck that's family friendly.

unfortunately, ronnie is not down to sell his truck.

apparently, there is something special between a man and

his 1998 regular cab truck that we cannot all ride in.

smart, right?

but he did decide to sell the jeep and

look into a suburban.

we were going to do this a year ago, but

ronnie got cold feet and ended up taking it off the market.

so as of right now, we have the truck,
the 4runner, the jeep, the yukon, ronnie's work truck shed, and a harley.
i'm. not. kidding.

but ronnie promises to sell the jeep as soon as possible.

let's all keep track of how long it takes him, because

if there is one thing i know for sure about ronnie,

nothing is fast.

 

my advice?

never marry a man with a love for all things auto.

(unless you're willing to spend a few extra minutes everyday moving

around cars so you can get the right one out of the driveway.)

 

 

b u t

i have to admit..

i am loving this new addition.

heated seats in the winter,

sunroof for the summer

third row for the puppies,

extra storage in the back

and leather for easy clean-up when the kiddos spill.

not to mention, i feel a little gangsta.

the unwanted houseguest

reid was the worst houseguest of all time.

ronnie went out of town over the weekend so

i decided to head down to my parent's house saturday

afternoon and spend the night with them.

it's nice to have an extra set of hands,

especially at bedtime.

reid went to sleep in her pack-n-play pretty normal.

but she woke up around 10 and

never fully went back to sleep.

i'm used to her sleeping 9 hours,

not 9 minutes.

i blame her teeth.

not that she has any,

but i think they're on their way.

it was so exhausting and frustrating

and i felt bad because my parents could hear her,

so they were awake all night too.

the. worst.

my memory is hazy, but

i know i was still up at 4:30 so i finally brought

her and her boppy lounger in my room and

she slept an hour and half.

and THAT felt successful.

the worst part is, i still had to be functional

the next day because brette wants to do crazy stuff

like eat and talk.

i know my parents were super tired too and my mom had

a headache from lack of sleep but they helped out so

much so i could be a half-ass mom for the day.

if your kid is going to be completely miserable,

they should at least have the decency to do it in

the privacy of their own home.

geez, reid, way to go.

 

last night was a bit better...

she was up at 9, 11, 12, 12:30, 5 and 6:30.

and as i type this she's been up since 8 and it's

going on 9pm.

go. the. F. to. sleep.

someone remind me to buy a powerball ticket.

i need to hire a nanny during the teething months.

 

 

(this is me and reid that next morning at my parent's

while brette watched monster's inc in her undies.)

you saw this coming, right?

 

let's see.

i'm three days into my new year's diet.

you know the drill.

in january i always vow to be skinnier and

by april i change my resolution to

"enjoy your family and friends more."

which equates to relaxing on the patio with a few beers.

or a few pieces of chocolate cake - take your pick.

blah.

but no really.

I WILL LOSE THIS WEIGHT.

i always have a goal after i have my babies.

i want to be back to pre-pregnancy weight by

the time they turn 6 months.

i made it with brette and i plan on making it with reid too.

but reid turns 6 months old in 2 weeks.

i gained 28lbs with her and lost 18 of

it within the first few weeks.

now i have 2 weeks to lose the final 10lbs.

i'm watching what i eat, but

i really need to add some exercise.

everyday i beg ronnie to bring my treadmill home.

(it's still in storage at my parent's from when we

lived with them last winter.)

and yes, it's been that long since i've worked out.

i've also asked him several times to bring me up

my 5lb weights from the basement.

so far, nothings been done, but

i'm hopeful that i can start my new work out routine next week.

(do you like how i blame my laziness on ronnie? me too.)

i thought seriously about joining a gym.

i called and got pricing, child care included.

i think it would be nice to get out of the house

and do something for myself, but

i also know that they make you sign a contract

and i'm not sure i want to make that commitment.

plus, i'm pretty sure joining a gym in january is annoying.

i can only imagine how packed it is at the beginning of the year.

for now, i'm going to try it on my own.

wish me luck.

 

ps- can you believe reid will be 6 month??? holy geez.

 

 

 

 

 

cheers!

 

 

the clock struck midnight.

the calendar flipped.

our glasses bottles clinked.

and just like that, we started a new year.

2 0 1 6

you're supposed to spend new year's with the

one you love and lucky for me,

i talked my friends into coming over for

a little par-tay so i could stay at home and

put my littlest to bed on time.

brette on the other hand,

didn't go down until a little after 9:00

because she was having the time of her life running

around with graham and reese.

(no worries, she took a three hour nap today)

with reid still getting up around 4am every night,

i feel bad having someone watch her so we can go out.

it's not exactly a great time to be up.

but wouldn't you know it,

that little chicken slept until 6am this morning.

she would.

 

we had a lot of fun.

we talked about babies and houses and jobs and other people.

normal 30-something conversations.

 we laughed and drank too many beers,

but not a drop of champagne, so if anyone

feels like making a toast,

i have the supplies in my fridge.

 

i hope your new year's was fun and safe.

just imagine i'm raising a glass to you.

now let's get this party started.

 

sweet hats.

party people

sparkling juice at midnight. poor reese had to be woken up for it.

my fur family.

graham: a future party animal. this child never went to sleep.

the girls

turnbow's - with a little girl due in march.

the boys

the glovers

 

chocolate cake mouth.

 

 

now for my new year inspiration:

you're welcome.

 

christmas recap

 

so i actually did get a christmas miracle.

ronnie got christmas eve off and we got

every single thing done on my list.

woot. woot.

i started my day  e a r l y,

like 5am, but it was so worth it

because by 8:00 i had already gone to the grocery

store and taken my kids to go see santa.

i'm going to let you in on a little secret:

people do not get up early to go see santa.

so if your kids are early risers, like mine,

take advantage and go when they open.

literally NO LINE.  like, at all.

we walked right up while another family

was finishing up and took our picture and left.

the whole thing took 5 minutes.

so. awesome.

ronnie and i took the girls to the magic tree the night before

and i spent my evening wrapping gifts while ronnie

took 2 hours putting together a big wheel.

i'm not kidding.

i made my pie when i got home from santa

and showered for church while the girls napped.

we managed to make it to christmas eve mass

by the skin of our teeth and lot of help from my folks.

there is something about getting everyone ready for church that's cursed.

it is ALWAYS stressful, which is so not the point of going.

but brette did a good job of putting on lip gloss for an hour

while the rest of us took turns holding reid.

we made it home in time for our annual christmas eve pizza,

sat out cookies for santa and put the girls in matching pj's.

i did forget to read them "twas the night before christmas"

which kind of kills me, but i promise to do better next year.

 

 

 

 

christmas morning brette woke up at 5:50 and wanted to see

if santa had eaten the cookies she left him.

 i made her wait for her sister until 7:00, so she watched cartoons

in our room and guessed what presents santa brought her.

once reid joined our party,

we had a good time making a mess of the living room.

(note to self: wrapping paper with glitter is banned from this household)

after breakfast we loaded everyone up and headed to warrensburg

for our big family christmas with all the relatives from my mom's side.

we ate a lot, watched the kids open a ton of gifts and then

i downed a few glasses of wine to top off my holiday.

oh what fun!

brette and reid are super lucky to have so much

family surrounding them and really made our holiday amazing.

brette was super excited by three things:

her new black boots (which she's wearing in all our Christmas morning photos)

a buzz lightyear toy

and a northpole dance radio (oh lordy, help us)

 

 

 

 

 

 

we had a great day.

hope yours was spent with

all the ones you love.

 

until next year!