Ringling Brothers Circus

Thursday Night, I took the girlies to the Ringling Brothers Circus. I was so excited because it was my first circus ever (unless I went to one as a child that I don't remember). Last year, we bought tickets and I had to go to Morgan's bachelorette party on the same day so I had to miss it. Well this year I bought tickets for a Thursday so the whole family could go and of course, Dave had to go to Ft. Lauderadale for his Stryker annual meeting so he missed it. It was sad Dad couldn't come, but not too sad for Delainey because she got to bring her bestie Collins in Dad's place. The girls did really well cooperating and listening. I was a little nervous to have 3 kids by myself but it was great! Guess I'm ready for #3! haha Not quite yet...but soon. 

 We took our seats (which were dynamite by the way) and "the greatest show on Earth" began. I thought the Elephants looked gigantic and so sweet. The lions and tigers scared me. I was very concerned one was going to bite the trainer. In between the big acts. were clown and cirque de soilel performances. I couldn't believe how many people fit on 2 bikes; the strength they have to support that is nuts!

 Delainey loved the trapeze and the dogs that were doing tricks. She'll tell you her high was when the little puppy went up into the skyscraper and then jumped down to the trainer. Really felt like a Dumbo story making that poor dog jump from so high. :(  He didn't seem to mind though.

It was a very long circus. Almost 3 hours, but all 3 girls pushed through and watched the entire thing. As soon as we got to the car all 3 passed out so I had a nice quiet ride home. I was really impressed and would highly recommend it for anyone who is on the fence. Thursday was perfect too because there was barely anyone there. That is only if you don't have school or work on Friday morning which we didn't. I'll be doing it next year again for sure.

Life lately through the camera roll

I love being pregnant, I love having babies, and I love being a mom. I have always had pretty good pregnancies with not to severe symptoms during or after my babies were born. One thing that did happen after both girls were born was my hair fell out big time! Especially in the front area, but thats no big deal because hair grows back. I thought I had escaped the postpartum phase unscathed again for the most part with everything staying the same. Boy was I wrong. In the past 2 months, the texture of my hair has changed and become a frizzy/wavy mess. I am so sad because I prided myself on my lovely straight hair. It was glorious walking out of the house with wet hair and it looking great an hour later when it dried. Those days are over. :( The back is wavy and now it either needs to be blow dried or let it dry and then use a hair straightener. I actually purchased a good straightener today online. Wahh! so long straight hair! Time to add an extra 10 minutes onto my beauty regimen.  

 Tuesday night my Mom 2 Mom group went to dinner at Cantina Laredo. It was nice to have a night out with no kids and no where to be. Just time for food and catching up on what's happening in our busy lives.

 Blakely has been going through a rough patch as far as sleeping goes. I could have sworn it was teeth, but I have yet to see a tooth so who knows what it is. She's been getting up twice at night to eat, and waking between 6 and 7 am. I took advantage the other morning and let her come lay in bed with me and snuggle. Our snuggle sessions are few and far between so I had to snap a picture of it, before she is too big to want to cuddle.

 Thursday was a gorgeous day so I took the girls to the park after I picked up D from school.

Then we met Dad that evening for dinner at V's Pizza. They had live music which was a nice perk and the pizza is so delicious! Delainey of course loved the gelato.

Saturday we had a big family day out to buy Dad some new suits. He is going to his national sales meeting this upcoming weekend so he needs some new threads to look all nice and spiffy. D enjoyed trying on the jackets and sweet Blakely just wanted to crawl through the entire store. I'm happy to report we found some. Actually 2 because it was buy 1 get 1 free, but sweet mother those things are EXPENSIVE! Dave tried to justify it because it would be another 10 years till he had to buy more, but it was still hard to fork over that much on 4 items of clothing. I'd rather buy 100 different shirts over the next ten years for the same price! ;)

After our shopping trip, we dropped the girls at Gammoe's so we could go out on a date! New Years Resolution #2 - going on at least 1 date a month: CHECK for January! We went to a bar called Silver Cow first and got a drink and charcuterie. Then we headed to dinner at a new restaurant in riverside called il Desco. It means dinner table in Italian and it was amazing food! My new favorite italian restaurant hands down. I almost felt like I was in a New York Italian restaurant with the decor and decorative food. (And prices LOL) They make all the pasta homemade, the burata in house, have wood fired oysters and pizzas, and some dynamite desserts. It all was very good and I will definitely back again soon!

Sunday morning we headed to church and then to lunch at Beach Diner. Blakely is getting so big and Big Momma loves food! I can't feed her fast enough! Here is an example. I gave her a mum which is like a wafer that dissolves and she shoved the whole 3 inch mum in her mouth at once. I love this girl!

Blakely's 1st "My Gym" classs

Blakely got to experience her first My Gym class this past Tuesday and she loved it! I have been taking Delainey to My Gym since she was 3 months old. Delainey loved it, but over the past 6 months it has become more playtime and games and not enough actual gymnastics. I finally decided to pull the trigger and get her out. I withdrew her from it last month and enrolled Blakely in her place. Delainey starts her real gymnastics class next Monday at Starlight gymnastics. 

The timing of it all actually worked out perfectly because Blake is crawling pretty well now. She was moving around that room like a champ. She loved circle time where we stretched her muscles and sang songs. She was a little unsure of the ball pit, but of course she had to taste the balls. 

We did 2 stations where I helped her "walk" across the beam and then she did  forward flips on the bar. Her face was priceless on the bar. She had no idea what was going on!

 She of course loved the swings and making new friends her age.

I think she is going to love going to gymnastics for the next few years. She is a wild woman just like her sister. I am so glad I have time to take her while D is at school so she can experience some of the same things that Delainey did.

On a side note, my timehop app showed a picture of Delainey from 3 years ago. It just so happened that she was in the exact same sweater 3 years ago. So of course I had to snap a pic of Boo (I call her Blakely Boo or Boo), and compare how she looked to Delainey at the same age. I was surprised to see they really do look more alike that I thought. What do you guys think?

Dance Parties with my girls are the best!

Sorry I have been MIA lately. I honestly don't even know what I have been doing that has made things seem so busy, but I feel busy! We started back to Mom to Mom this past Wednesday, Delainey started school on Thursday, and I kept up with my working out and went to the gym every day this past week! (Not including the weekend of course) I have been testing out all the different classes to see which ones I like. Bodypump is my favorite so far. Delainey loves to hear about what I did in my workout while she was in the child care area. So I decided to show her a little bit of what Zumba was like one night at home. The girls and I had a late night dance party while Dave worked late and it was such a great time! Blakely jumped liked a mad woman in her exersaucer and Delainey learned some new sweet moves. My girls have been the best to be around lately (knock on wood). They have been great listeners and so sweet, I really am sad school is back and I get to be with them less. Here are some pictures of D breaking it down to Missy Elliot.

Saturday was spent in St. Augustine with Emily, Will, & Gammoe looking for wedding venues. They want to get married around September so we have to hit the ground running since it is less than 9 months away. We found some nice places and some that were nice, but not for us. I'm 99% sure they chose which venue they wanted, but the timing of making sure a church is available and a rehearsal dinner site is open the night before has been the difficult part. It's going to be crazy busy planning all of this stuff in such a short time. No sneak peaks of the venue yet, until I'm sure what her final decision is. Stay tuned for that! :)

I completely forgot to take a picture of the mayhem this morning, but we were up at the crack of dawn registering Delainey for VPK next year. They have one class that is a 3 day option and the rest are 5 days a week. I am not ready for her to be gone 5 days a week so I had to be one of the first 16 moms to drop off the paperwork for the 3 day class. We made the cut! Hallelujah!! They started taking paperwork at 9 am and we arrived at 7:45 in all our PJ glory. LOL I packed the car last night with a change of clothes so we wouldn't have to waste time this morning. Then after I got my name on the wait list we went back to the car and got dressed for the day. Good idea huh?!? I thought I was on the ball, but 6 other moms were there before me and 2 of them arrived at 6 am. Nutso right!! The things we do for our children!

We have a fairly normal week this week, D has school tomorrow and Blakely has her 1st My Gym class so that will be fun. I'll be sure to take pictures of that. I also am supposed to go to dinner tomorrow night with my Mom to Mom group at the Town Center. So a pretty busy Tuesday ahead. I'll be back with an update on how Blakely does in her first gym class!

2016 New Year Resolutions

1. Grow a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord - I am hoping to do this through a variety of ways. I am absolutely going to do a daily devotion every morning. I am so much kinder and more patient when I get up a few minutes early before the kids and read a devotion and pray before getting the day started. I also am looking forward to trying out Bible Study Fellowship in the fall instead of continuing with Mom 2 Mom. I love M2M, but I am in my 4th year of a 3 year study so I have heard all the lessons already and I want something that will challenge me a little more. So after April no more Mom 2 Mom for me. I am also hoping to read the book(s) that coincide with the lessons being taught at church. I really enjoy having a book that talks deeper on what the pastor preached that week and we are starting a new series in 2 weeks so I have to go buy the book.

2. Go on at least 1 date a month with David (continuing from last year) - You would think this would be so easy, only 1 date! It is almost impossible to happen. We did good for a few months last year and then fell off the wagon. I don't think we have been on a date in the past 5 months (with the exception of my birthday dinner, which I count as a date!) I have access to babysitters so there really shouldn't be any excuse to not go 1 out of 30 days.

3. Workout and live a healthier lifestyle - I am stating this goal very loosely, because I don't want it to be a specific number or anything that I am guaranteed to fail at. I just want to get back into working out, whether it be yoga, group classes, or just lifting weights. I would like to say I'd do it at least 3 days a week, but we all know things come up and that won't happen some weeks. I also want to watch what I eat and make healthier choices. Again, I love food and won't give up things I love to make only healthy choices so I am just going to try to be healthier overall.

These are the 3 main things I want to work on, but of course there are tons of other areas to improve. I could cook more, look less at social media, not text and drive, have a meal ready when Dave gets home from work...millions of things I could go on and on about! But the 3 above are what is most important to me and so I'm going to focus on that and not bog myself down with to many things to keep up with. What are your New Year Resolutions? Anyone have anything great that I am forgetting? I'm on Day 6 of January and I am off to a great start. Gym twice this week so far and doing good with my devotionals. I need to schedule a Date night we David ASAP!


PS: I know texting and driving is horrible! I have gotten so much better and really only look at my phone if I am stopped at a stoplight. I really should just put it in the back so I can't look at it at all while in the car, but people call and text and sometimes its urgent! Wahhh! I know I'm just making excuses. I WILL stop texting and driving in 2016!

Happy New Year - Emily is Engaged!!

Emily (my sister-in-law if you are not aware) was born on January 1st 32 years ago. Sounds like it would be cool to have a 1-1-84 birthday, but in reality it's horrible! Everyone has their own New Year's eve parties to attend so no one ever wants to celebrate her birthday. And definitely not on the 1st since most of her friends are hungover lol. This year Will decided to throw an actual birthday party for her so her friends would be more inclined to come. For the past month, Will and I have been in cahoots planning the whole night. We picked out decorations, rented a green screen photo booth (that turned out to be really fun & cool! Notice the background differences in the photos below), got food and drinks, and most importantly picked out a ring! 

Yes that's right about a month ago Will asked Bill for permission to marry Emily. After he got the approval from Dodaddy, he enlisted me to find out what exactly she wanted and to go to Underwoods to pick it out. It was so much fun looking at all the rings and we chose a gorgeous diamond band with a single solitaire diamond. It was so hard to keep it all a secret, but I knew she would be so surprised and excited when it actually happened. 

Here are some pictures of the decorations and first half of the night. 

Around 10 o'clock, Will brought out the birthday cake and we all sang happy birthday to Em. According to our mapped out plan, we were supposed to play Heads Up (the game on the iPhone) after cake. So I initiated the game, and thank the Lord Emily was on board to play. All the teams went through the first round. On the 2nd round, Emily was holding the phone to her head. Will acted out "Will you marry me" and got on one knee and pulled out the ring. She was so surprised and happy! After the proposal he played a slideshow of videos from friends and pics of them which was so sweet. 

We ended the night with a perfect view of fireworks and a chinese lantern send off. He lives on the 27th floor downtown and the fireworks that the city does were literally right outside of his window! The picture below is of Dave & I's chinese lantern. Almost everybody's fell into the river, but ours floated off into the distance. It was cool! And of course I had to take a pic of the gorgeous ring!

 I am so excited for Emily and for all the planning and fun we will have over the next 9-10 months. If you would have said she would be engaged by now 6 months ago, I would have laughed in your face. But God has a plan and it is finally her time for marriage to happen! Look out blog readers, this blog is about to become 1/2 kids and 1/2 weddings for the next 9 months! :)

I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve/Day! I can't believe it is 2016!  Be back soon, I am going to do a separate blog post of my new years resolutions so I have some people to hold me accountable. :)

Blakely's 9 Month Update

Height: 28 1/4 inches - 73%
Weight: 16 lbs 13 ounces - 25%
Head Circumference: 17 3/4 inches- 82%
Vision: You see good as far as I know. Dr. Mary has never had any concerns at least.
Movement: Big month for this category. You went from immobile to crawling...atleast a little bit. You can go about 4-5 crawls before giving up. Sometimes your legs slide out from under you and you end up on your belly. Thats the worst because you can't figure out how to sit up again once laying down. You can go from sitting position to crawling and vice versa. You are going to be flying around here in no time.
Eating Habits/New Foods: Still doing 3 ounces of milk every 3 hours throughout the day. We have made sure you get 3 meals a day though because you are hungry. You are starting to do more bite size foods. New foods we have tried this month are: cheese, yogurt, pears from a fruit cup, cheerios, deli meat, pork, ground beef, strawberries. You are still doing lots of pureed food. I made a second batch of food and it only lasted about 3 weeks so we are definitely in need of a cooking session.
Sleeping Patterns: Nothing new in the sleep department which is nothing to complain about, because you are a great sleeper majority of the time. You wake between 7:15 and 7:30, take a nap around 10,  take a 2nd nap around 2 or 3 pm, and go to sleep around 8 pm.
Sounds/Words: You still say Mama and Dada, but no actual other words. You are starting to imitate sounds that Delainey or I make. I am working on hi and bye bye as we speak.
New discoveries/accomplishments:
-You did your first 2 signs! They were milk and more
-Your can crawl
-You celebrated your first Christmas and did great in Christmas eve service. You definitely wanted to sing with the choir
-You met Santa for the first time and did good sitting on his lap.
-You went to your first Mickey's Xmas Party and stayed awake until we left the park at 11:45 and saw the Osbourne lights at Hollywood Studios.
-You did your first hayride through Luminaria in Avondale
Places you went/Adventures: December was packed with activities. You did the Julington Creek boat parade, a live nativity at Christ's Church fleming, met Santa at Delainey's school, went to Orlando for Mickey's Christmas party and to Hollywood Studios for the Osbourne Christmas lights, went to story time, played a lot with your cousins Walker & Waylon who were in town, went on a hayride for Luminaria, celebrated Christmas eve at church, had Christmas morning at our house then dinner at Gammoes.
Clothes: You are in 9-12 month clothes. They are a little big, but they definitely are doable. Most leggings and jeans are 12 months. We are in 9 month sleepers now. Still a size 3 diaper, but definitely ready for size 4. I am finishing that box of 3s though by golly! lol
Sister updates: You are obsessed with your sister. She blows on your belly or sucks on your fingers and makes you laugh hysterically. You are starting to imitate her by yelling if she yells or making sounds similar to what she does. She is such a good babysitter and is always willing to help whenever I need something.
Weekly Pictures: