Going all natural...

After a weekend in Chicago filled with deep dish pizza, beer, wine, indulgent breakfasts and a fancy dinner J & I were feeling a bit gross. We had a great time and all the food and drinks were so yummy but coming home we were ready to get some fruit, veggies and goodness in our bodies. 

J decided he wanted to do a cleanse and just focus on consuming fruits, vegetables and some beans for the next week. No alcohol, no sodas, nothing artificial. Water, coconut water or green tea for drinks. I was a bit hesitant since I am still breastfeeding but after talking to a friend and doing some research I am going to jump on the bandwagon as well. This morning I made a smoothie with frozen bananas, cherries, blueberries, a fiber protein powder and some chocolate almond soy milk. It was really delicious and it has also kept me full for quite some time! Not sure what I am going to do for lunch yet but dinner will consist of a spinach salad with avocado, beans, and I will probably make a homemade vinagarette (this may break the rules but oh well!). 

As I was getting out of the shower this morning I decided I am going to take this to the next step and let my face, hair and nails take a break from make up, hot irons and polish too. That's right folks Hippie Brenda is busting out and resurfacing after all these years! Thankfully I really do not have anywhere to go this week so I will keep my scary non made up face to myself but I am actually really excited for this. My mom also told me about this face wash she has been using where she mixes caster oil and olive oil and she claims it is ah-maz-ing that I am going to try out.

So basically why I am posting about this is to get anyone elses suggestions on things to eat, if you all have done a cleanse before and how it went/how you felt after, fun healthy recipes you have eaten even if it is not cleanse related or any motivational words! I hope my excitement continues and that I feel really good after. I like the idea of only having good things in my body. Don't get me wrong I love me some greasy pizza but I also like not feeling disgusting after.

As I stated in the beginning of this post J and I had a fabulous anniversary weekend getaway in Chicago. Once I get my pictures uploaded I will write about all the fun things we did. No kids, just Josh and I, it was absolutely fantastic!!

Is it just me?

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, Pax had his 6 month check-up today. I strategically had it scheduled at 3:40pm because I knew H would wake up from her nap around 3:15 and P would be up at 3:00 to eat. Therefore it would give me ample time to get them both ready, be at the doc on time, as well as make it back before I needed to put P back down for his cat nap late in the day.

Well.......

Harp decided to stay awake jumping and playing in her crib until after 2:00pm so she was still sound asleep at 3:20pm when I had to wake her up to get her ready to go. Thankfully she was in a good mood (it was a 50/50 gamble), we loaded up and were in the car by 3:25. I decided there was enough time to stop at Sonic to grab a drink before Happy Hour was over. I obviously had my priorities in order. The people in front of me at the drive thru pretty much ordered  the entire menu and I was impatiently waiting on my one drink for way too long! I got to the Dr. office just a few minutes behind and scrambled upstairs to check in. We surprisingly got called back within 5 minutes and were with the nurse to get P's weight/height/head right away. Then the wait for the Dr began. I don't know if the doctors understand that by putting us in a tiny room with two children is like a ticking time bomb until someone becomes unhappy. Also with the tile floors, it seems as if when one does decide to cry or melt down it echo's big time and everyone knows that the people in room F do not have it together.

Both of mine actually held in really well until the doc showed up and then we had P up on the table checking him out and discussing his achievements thus far. That's when H decided it was time for her to get some attention and started begging me to pick her up. When I kindly explained to her that I needed to pay attention and hold Pax she had a meltdown. I put her on the chair and gave her a book and seconds later the tears were a streamin. It is obviously a domino affect when one child cries in public, the other one thinks they need to also. A symphony of crying children, one sweaty anxious mama, and one doctor who I am sure thinking about how she can remove herself as quickly as possible from this situation. Oh and we had not even given P his shots yet. I'll let you just imagine how well the rest of the visit went.  We did end on a positive note because Harp was able to pick out a sticker from the box so at least she was happy. Pax was not so pleased because of his three shots in the leg (it never gets easier). 

To top things off we came home and he was over tired and would not take his last nap and cried until it was time to eat again.  Not awesome.

Thankfully I am sitting here in front of the computer now with a glass of wine, a sleeping baby, a happy toddler and a husband on his way home with more wine and dinner. Is it just me who gets really anxious and stressed about somewhat small things like this? I know I am uber neurotic about the sleep schedule and my kids acting out in public but geez I honestly get sweaty and anxious so quickly when it comes to my kids not being on their best behavior in public. I hope that it is one of those things that we can chalk up to "this too shall pass?" 

It's times like these I wish my mom was closer and that she could watch one child while the other has checkup's and what not. 

We did survive and J is on his way home and tomorrow we get an entire day together because he now has a job where he gets holidays off!!!!!!! Best. Thing. Ever. Happy Tuesday everyone, I hope you all have a great time celebrating America's Birthday tomorrow!! 

Six months of wonderful

As every parent says... Holy cow where has the time gone?! My little babe is 6 months old as of last Friday. Needless to say he is not so much a "little" babe, but you know what I mean. His personality is growing bigger and bigger with each day and his happy demeanor makes him so much fun! Harp has really taken a turn and is now a huge fan of her little brother and loves that he is becoming more fun to interact with.

Since I have not really done an update for myself as to what he has achieved thus far, I am going to do so. I am HORRIBLE about baby books, scrap books, any other kind of thing to document their progress other than the million photos I take.

The things P has/can do so far at 6 months:
* Talks, hollers, squeals A LOT
* Knows his name and responds when said
*Rolls over from belly to back and back to belly (sometimes)
*Officially out of the swaddle and sleeping like a big boy
*Still on Prevacid for his acid reflux (boo!)
*On a 4 hour eating schedule and taking 2 long naps and one cat nap
*Working really hard on growing out his hair =)
*Successfully shows all his emotions through his eyebrows. Love them
*Can scooch his body in circles when on his belly
*Eating rice cereal, avocado, sweet potato, bananas, applesauce, and prunes
*Loves bath time, books, Johnny Jump Up, sister, our cat Dexter, dada and mostly mama! I am hoping he will be a mamas boy =)

I have a feeling he is going to be much more outgoing and adventurous than his sister. He is already showing more ambition than she ever did. He is also going to be more of a social butterfly than H. When I take him places he is so smiley at pretty much everybody and loves being around people. I am not sure if he is easier because it is my second go around and I knew what to do when I realized he had reflux, or if he is maybe just a bit easier than his sister. Who knows!

He goes in for his 6 month check-up tomorrow so I will officially see where he stands in the rankings for his weight/height/head/physical progress/etc. The last time we went at 4 months he had dropped from being in the 99th percentile in most categories to the 75th which was good & normal!

Being a mama of two has been fun. It is really neat to see their bond forming already, especially since they are so close together. I just realized today that H's birthday is in a little over a month and I have not even thought much about how we are going to celebrate. Most likely I will do something somewhat small here in KC as well as something in Oklahoma since that is where most of her family is. I should probably start getting some plans in place, I am the queen of doing things last minute.

Happy Monday everyone! Mine was off to a rough start but is gradually improving. I am oh so excited for a mid week holiday day off to spend with J having family time and watching fireworks. It couldn't get any better than that now can it? =)

In a funk.

I do not know what is going on with me this week but I am just not feeling myself. I am not motivated to clean, cook, work out, leave my house and just not feeling my normal uppity self. Basically I am just in a funk.

It has been one of those moods where it seems like a good cry will possibly solve all my woes or maybe eating an entire jar of cookie butter perhaps? I am unfortunately out of cookie butter but I definitely ordered myself a large pepperoni and mushroom pizza from Papa John's the other day for lunch. I can say that I have never done that before. I stuffed my face with pizza, bread sticks and a delicious Root Beer to finish it off (all while watching my DVRed episode of the Bachelorette). I didn't get anywhere near eating everything I ordered but I still felt guilty for eating so poorly.

This past weekend J started working on a home improvement project of painting our built in bookcases in the living room white. I was skeptical how it would look but I am SO excited how it is turning out. Hence I say turning out. I have not completed the project (remember my funk?). For a neat freak like myself I am literally twitching every time I see the uncompleted project,yet I am having ZERO motivation to finish it. See my predicament?

Anywho, I did go to a fun moms meeting this morning with my friend Anna. It was really something wonderful to sit and converse with other mama's to share our stories and advice where needed. I am excited to start meeting up with these ladies once a month or so to just have a little adult time. Both P & H did a really good job at the nursery and of course H ended up being her outsider self and playing alone while everyone else gushed over what a happy guy Pax is. So funny how different those two are.

Oh and another thing, I am beginning to think I need to adorn Harp with bows and pearls and anything/everything girlie. I cannot tell you how many strangers think she is a little boy. It probably doesn't help that I keep her hair shorter and its usually unruly looking due to her crazy sleep habits. She does wear Croc shoes all the time and is typically pretty messy from playing and/or eating. We went to Sonic this afternoon because a Diet Cherry Limeade can usually perk up an uneventful afternoon, and the guy working the drive through saw her in the back seat and says "Oh, little guy doesn't look too happy". Me being me, who I never want to make someone else feel embarrassed or bad about anything simply stated, "Yeah, it's post nap time, we don't always wake up very happy." Then he states "Ahhh, post nap blues. I know how that goes. Can I give the little guy an ice cream cone?" Well of course I couldn't deny her of that, especially when she was just called a little guy!! I just don't want my little cutie to be seen as a little boy her whole childhood.

Anyway, that is my ramble for today. I know I haven't posted in a few weeks and this is not necessarily the most upbeat post but it is what I am feeling so I felt it was appropriate to write it. Tomorrow will be better, I have set the goal to finish my painting tomorrow since my dad and step mom are coming up this weekend which is going to be oh so fun. AND J & I will be running in the Color Run on Saturday morning so that will be a colorful, sweaty, crazy fun kid free event that we get to go do together! Wish us luck =).

Happy Wednesday everybody, hope you are feeling a bit more upbeat than myself.

Today I am grateful.

As I was giving Paxton a bath in the kitchen sink just 20 minutes ago the sunlight hit the top of his head and I saw all these tiny little peach fuzzy hairs growing on his head. He has been bald for the whole 5 months he has been alive along with cradle cap, so to see these tiny little hair sprouts popping up made me smile. For that I am grateful

I am so grateful for Harper and her growing personality. She is incredibly smart and is learning and talking more as each day passes. She can count 1-10 in English and Spanish.  She is learning to sing the Happy Birthday song and we are practicing every day so we can surprise her Mimi next week when we see her for her birthday. She can sing her ABC's and ends it with "now Harper knows her ABC's next time won't you sing with me." For that I am grateful.

I am forever grateful that Josh picked me to be his best friend and wife. He does the littlest things that continually reminds me that he thinks I am special and that he loves me. He is considerate of my feelings and understanding of my quirks. He accepts me for who I am and he can always make me laugh with his silly witty jokes. He pushes me to talk about my feelings when I want to bottle them up and it always makes me feel better in the end. He is basically the best person that has entered my life and for him I am grateful.

I am also incredibly thankful for all our friends and family who are coming to visit us during the summer. We have a full house of guests up until the middle of July and I could not be more excited about it. We appreciate everyone making the trip to come see our family and I promise you will have lots of fun and be well fed while you are here.

Nothing big happened today to bring this overwhelming feeling of happiness over me. I woke up, went to kickboxing, went to the grocery store and am now back at home about to start dinner. It is the small things that come up and make me smile that really help me realize that I am one lucky wife, mom, friend, and person. It really is the small moments in life that make it all worth while.

our memorial weekend

Had to add a pic of this little cutie right after I woke her up one morning. Her hair is so crazy & I love it!

Our Memorial Day weekend was seriously awesome! First off I have to say that it is so incredibly nice that Josh now has a job where he actually gets the day off on holidays. Life changing! Our fabulous friends Ronnie and Kristen along with their three daughters Brinley, Teagan and Savannah drove up from Tulsa to come and stay with us. B & T are twin girls who are 10 months older than Harper and Savannah just turned one in April. Needless to say Harper was in playtime heaven with all these little girls around all weekend! 

They drove up Friday and got here right around 6:00. We ate Jack Stack Barbecue (and it was oh so delicious....my mouth is seriously watering just thinking about the leftover cheesy corn I a going to have with my dinner tonight) and we had a big ol' family dinner in the dining room. It was filled with lots of little girl giggles and really great conversations. I have missed these people.

Saturday morning we all got up, I popped in a breakfast casserole that I had prepared the night before, ate breakfast and all got ready to go to Deanna Rose Farmstead. This was Harper's second time there and she pretty much thought she owned the place. If you know Harper at all you know that she is far from adventurous but when she goes to Deanna Rose she is completely in her element. She runs around everywhere checking out all the animals and is just happier than I have ever seen her. All of the little girls had a blast as well as the adults. We ended our time there with ice cream cones for everyone, except poor Pax, next year buddy!

That afternoon Kristen and I took a trip to Trader Joe's to load up on yummy inexpensive wine and a few extra treats for our dinner that evening. I cooked up a 4lb pork butt, grilled tons of veggies, roasted garlic to put on our olive demi baguette from Trader Joe's along with leftover beans & corn from our Friday night dinner. I will have to give myself a pat on the back because it was such a good dinner! I successfully cooked pork to where it just fell apart and was incredibly juicy!

Josh and Ronnie went out that night for some "guy time" while Kristen and I stayed at the house and had some really great girl time. Wine, s'mores, a movie and just talking. It has been a while since I have had a really good girl talk and it was just what I needed!

The next morning I whipped up yet another yummy meal of homemade cast iron biscuits, homemade gravy, scrambled eggs, and Ronnie's famous baked bacon. Mmmmmmm. We took the kids to the park right before lunch and had a picnic to end our time with them. It was honestly a perfect weekend and I cannot wait until we are back together with the Pike's again. They are not only great people but really wonderful friends.

Waking up Monday morning and realizing Josh was off work that day was such a treat! I went to my Kosama circuit training gym class (to attempt to work off all the food I consumed over the weekend) and then played at the house with the kids all afternoon. That evening the Lurvey's invited us over for some BBQ pork sandwiches that Dustin had prepared & we can never turn down smoked/bbq meat from Dustin, he is seriously a pro at making it! Then to end the long weekend perfectly, Josh and I called our babysitter and went to go see the Avengers. The movie was pretty good. I'll admit I probably fell asleep for maybe 10 minutes because the ending fighting scene was like 45 minutes long no joke, plus I am pretty lame when it comes to watching movies in the evening. It was really lovely though just getting time with Josh. The thing I love most about going to the movies is that we get at least 2 hours of uninterrupted hand holding. It makes me happy. =)

Hope everyone has a fantastic short week this week, I am headed to the dentist on Thursday. Me and the dentist never have a good time. This could get ugly...

The last cuddles...

This guy is just the coolest little dude ever! He seriously smiles all the time and is just the happiest baby! I love his uber bald head and his multiple chins and big ol' gummy smile. 


I am so excited to say that he is FINALLY sleeping through the night!! I actually asked this sleep consultant out of Tulsa on FB a few questions about what I could do to get him to sleep all night. He was consistently waking around 4:30 in the morning genuinely hungry. I knew that he was capable of going all night because he had done it a few times before. With him having reflux and just being a much bigger baby than Harper I was hesitant to let him just cry it out. Plus his cry is not the most pleasant sound ever. Seriously, he sounds like a screeching cat or something. I am not sure how this happened because Harper has this awesome deep raspy voice and cry so it is pretty tolerable (all things considered), but Paxton squeals, screams and screeches and it's not so awesome. Anyway, the sleep consultant suggested that I cluster feed him in the evenings to help bulk up his calories before bed to see if it will allow him to go longer at night. This means that I breast feed him at 5:30, give him rice cereal around 6:00, then right before I put him to bed at 7:00 I breast feed him again. I am also still doing the dream feed around 9:30 but I think I am going to try and drop that next week. =(


It is so bittersweet thinking about dropping the dream feed. First of all it will make me nervous that he will start waking up again at night. Second, it is just the sweetest moment of the day that I have with him. He is eating while mostly asleep and his body is so relaxed all swaddled up in my arms, breathing in and out so slow with his eyes closed. Even after he is finished eating I tend to just hold him for a minute or two. It is the perfect way to end my night before I head off to bed as well.  It is a perfect moment of just him and I.


As I was dream feeding him the other night the thought came to me that once I stop doing this feed with him it could be the last time I get to do this. I mean we have 1 boy and 1 girl and are very happy with this. But my heart breaks just a little each time I realize that he is getting a little bigger and soon enough the sweet cuddles will stop, the bonding time while breast feeding will end, and my little baby will continue to grow and become a big boy. Each time I go through his closet and put up the clothes that don't fit any more I just get so sad that I will potentially be done with babies for the rest of my life! Now I do NOT love being pregnant, having to lose all the baby weight, c-sections, stretch marks, etc etc etc, BUT I do love the outcome of it all and having a sweet little baby that is mine. I am so lucky to have one of each and to have them seriously be the best kids ever (biased I know). As of now we do not plan on having any more children (J is definitely happy with the two).  We shall see in a few years but I will say that as they do get older they get so much more fun. 


Well I am off to go and wake up my little dude so I can see his smiley face and take them to the store to grab some things before our company comes this weekend!! We will have a house full of 4 adults, 5 kids under the age of 3 and potentially 3 dogs! Happy Memorial Weekend everyone!