Obsessed.

HELOOOOOO KING GEORGE!!!! I am so obsessed with this couple. Seriously, she could not be more beautiful and perfect and well, he IS Prince William. I was so excited when baby boy was born. 

Also obsessed with The Hunger Games. I know, I'm like 3 years behind but I just started and don't think I will stop until I'm done with all 3. 

Obsessed with juicing! Suja juice (check out their website) is my juice of choice. I feel like it's really making a difference in my over all energy. I actually have two juicers somewhere, probably in my mom's storage unit....but ain't nobody got time to juice 7 carrots and lbs of kale when I have 3 kids. So for now I am buying mine at Whole Foods. 

Benji is back packing in West Virginia this week. Whatever. 

We decided, since we just got back from the beach, that now would be a good time to switch Jesse to a toddler bed. So far so good. 

 I want to paint our bedroom. It's blah to me.....  

We had an amazing, wonderful, way too short time at the beach and I soaked up every moment. I slept late, took naps, and played in the sand with my kids. Such a much needed retreat for our crazy, busy family. 

Emery turned 5 while we were at the beach. She starts kindergarten in about two weeks. I'm OBSESSED about this as well. I can not believe it. She was 2 weeks old when Benji started working at BCBC. Now she is FIVE!!!!!!! 

Jesse also starts MMO this year. my sweet baby boy will be in school at the church twice a week. He will have Miss. Kim and Miss Nancy. (Who Emery started pre K with). I swear. They are the BEST 2yr old teachers on the planet. I can't wait until he gets to spend time with both of them. 

Hadley has cut 2 teeth in the past week. I am OBSESSED with this baby! I love her so much and am so thankful every day that we decided to have a 3rd. I'll be honest, I was scared. And I still have days (like yesterday) that I wonder "what was I thinking?" but then I also have days that I truly wish we could have JUST ONE MORE. But I am convinced that the LORD has led us to stop at 3. We have not given up on the idea of adoption, but my body is finished producing off spring. 

I am also currently obsessed with reading again. I got to read a few books on vacation and like any OCD patient I am currently in the middle of like 5 books! ha. I did get to finish one entire book on vacation. I am now reading The Hunger Games which I am so hooked on.

I am obsessed with LOSING THIS DAG GUM BABY WEIGHT. Seriously I am sooo so sos so so over it. Once Emery starts school I will get things rolling with either a gym nearby or our YMCA. I need to lose at least 50lbs. Maybe even 80. I just want to feel good about myself again and it has been along 5 years having one baby after another and moving 3,4 however many times. I need a routine and I am hoping that this fall brings one. 

Well, Benji and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary this month. I seriously can not believe it has been that long. We have been through so much. I love him more today than the day we married, so that's good! We spent a blissful weekend in Buckhead at the W Buckhead Hotel. Ahmazing. Hotel. We had a blast. 

I am heading to sleepy time. all 3 kidddos are tucked into bed and Benji is somewhere sleeping on the dirt ground. Ha! I am climbing into our down comforter bed. NIGHTY NIGHTY!

23 Days

Count down is on to Hadley's birthday. 23 days! I go from panic to excitement, from anticipation to anxiety.

What's new? we've had the flu around here! BOOOO. Actually it was only Jesse that fell prey to the nasty virus. Yes, we all had the flu vaccine, Yes he would have been much worse if he had not have had it. His fever lasted about 3 days and his cough/sore throat about 4. Pretty mild considering it is pretty severe this year. It's been raining, raining, raining, here.

We've been doing a ton of cleaning, organizing, washing, scrubbing, etc, preparing for baby #3.(With a  lot of help from Willard, my mom, sister, and Benji's mom!)

 This week I have certainly felt the weight of the last weeks of pregnancy hit me. I am exhausted, my reflux is horrible and my back pain is almost unbearable. I'm holding on though! can not wait to meet our girl.

I've only gained 10lbs with this pregnancy! holy cow, I never thought that was possible. I credit the stomach bug I had 3 times, my kids running me ragged and the reflux that has kept me nauseous most of the nine months.

Today Jesse and I are skipping church yet again. He's not contagious anymore, but I'm holding my breath, praying that none of us catch anything else before February 12th.

Sky Top 2012

 I got friends in high places. No really. My sister and a few of my close friends are incredible photographers. So the only one of these I can take credit for is the apples. :)

Anyway,  few weeks before things settled back into routine a few of my girl friends and all our kiddos headed up the mountain to Sky Top Apple Orchard. This has quickly become one of my favorite traditions of late summer. It is more fun to go in the late fall when the pumpkins are out but then all the apples are gone and it is SUPER crowded. So we have been going earlier the past few years and it works out great. We still get to pick a few (like 4, haha) apples and then just buy a bag. Then we have the apple slushies & cider donuts.

This year Jesse was even big enough to pick a few apples and sweet boy carried his own basket the entire time! LOVE HIM.

I think all these pictures of them show how similar they look. I'm sure if they were both boys or both girls I would have to mark their names on every picture because they favor so much. I can not WAIT to see what this next one looks like.

Listen....

Seriously, If I seem moody it's because I am. Not only am I moody by nature (what woman OR man isn't?) haha. But I'm also "pregnant moody". So if I post something like, nobody likes me, I'm gonna eat worms just ignore it. MMMKK?

Anywhoo. My nausea has passed thank the LORD! I'm stretching full into the 2nd trimester with much more energy and killer headaches.

Jesse is pitiful sick this week. Last night his fever spiked to 104.2. I don't do fevers well. They scare me. It must be all the meningitis scares my family has had. I am super paranoid of one of my babies having a febrile seizure in the middle of the night and me not knowing. (irrational I know, but I've never claimed to be rational).

Our schedule has finally calmed down from the whirl wind summer. We have, thankfully, a few days of down time before all the fall schedules start back up with Church and school. I am looking forward to a regular schedule and looking forward to Emery getting back to school. She loves the social part and she learns so much, soaks everything up like a sponge. It's only 9am-12pm so it gives me a few hours alone with Jesse but I still have the rest of the day with both kiddos.

Next year Jesse will start MMO two days a week from 9am-1pm and Emery will be in (gasp) KINDERGARTEN! Holy moly, glad I'll have a new baby at home to keep me from being too upset. The best remedy for being sad about kids growing up is to keep having more babies! Ha!

This picture may be my life for a few more years but I know I will have plenty of alone time once all my chicks are in school. I just want to enjoy every season and be thankful that they grow, mature and learn. I'm just thankful they are healthy enough to move on to their next stages in life! 

Obviously you all caught me at a good mood moment. Jesse's in bed, fever free at the moment. The dinner I cooked was a success and I'm heading to bed soon! The weekend is here for us starting today, that always helps me feel better. I know Benji has to work and I am thankful for his job, but life is just funner and easier with him here! It's a good thing to want your man home, right? 

My Brain, Fried, Smothered and Covered.

Here is all I can muster up the courage to blog at the end of this week. I am exhausted and drained and fragile and D.O.N.E.

Tonight I got home from running some errands and Jesse was fussy, so I was holding him trying to console him.

And then this happened....

REALLY!!!!! I know a lot of mom's have been puked on. Probably numerous times.

BUT, this was a first for me. Thankfully we have dodge the "stomach bug" bullet for the most part. Emery had it once a year ago. I had it a few times when I was pregnant with Jesse, which actually turned out to be most likely issues with my gall bladder. (I mean does a person really get the stomach bug 4 times in a year???) any way, I haven't had an issue since I had my gall bladder out.

We just had last week to recover from Benji's crazy maybe meningitis scare. It wasn't meningitis, thankfully. It wasn't about a 100 other things either.

They are just calling it a virus that mimics meningitis. Go figure.

I wanted so bad for tonight to be a night of relaxing as a family....haha. Once we all got cleaned up and calmed down we did actually get to eat a relatively peaceful dinner on our porch. Emery loves to eat outside (almost as much as I do). So we grilled some burgers and chilled on the porch while the sun went down. I LONG for these moments with my family. Being in the line of "work" we are in we are seldom at home all together for an evening. I ache for moments where we can just relax as a family. KIDS AND ALL!!! Jesse seemed to be feeling better after his vomit episode, haha. so he ate some and drank some water and didn't fuss anymore after he hurled all over meeeeee......... hopefully it was a fluke and NOT  a virus. I don't think I can handle any more viruses this year. 

  Dinner on the porch. One of my favorite things! 

We Made It!

Jesse turned one!

We made it through the first year!

I seriously can not believe how fast this past year went. I adore my son and can not imagine how we ever lived without him! He has been such a great  baby, especially since he has had one big ear infection his entire life. :(

Bad news is this one year mark means I've got to get busy in da gym or hitting da pavement....the rest of this baby weight HAS to come off. I've got to get motivated, not sure yet which route I will take. Maybe Weight Watchers, maybe South Beach, maybe the no food ever diet...haha. just kidding.

But stay tuned. I'll probably, hopefully, maybe blog every once in awhile about my weight loss. I desperately need motivation.

Took A Little Trip

This weekend was my nephew, Asher's 3rd birthday party.

So we headed out Saturday to Georgia to celebrate. AND eat lots and lots of cupcakes.

The party was adorable. She ordered all the decorations, cupcake wrappers, banner, hats, etc from this Esty site for a GREAT price.

Emery was so worn out after that fun filled day with her cousin. they ran around and played and played.

It is so fun to see them laugh with each other. They are only 6 months apart so they are going to be very close!

Jesse had fun as well. He got to crawl around un hindered (she had the party in our home church's fellowship hall. Great idea!) Any way, Jesse got to play with trucks and meet other youngins his age.

It was a whirlwind trip, like we are used too! We headed back to S.C. late that night and woke up early to begin our full day at church.

I feel like today, Wednesday, I am finally caught up mentally with organizing the rest of the week. Which is good since it is almost over! haha.

Now I've got to get busy on some one else's birthday. Jesse turns ONE on the 23rd! I can not even begin to believe that is true.

In Sickness

We have been through the ringer this week.

 Once we got home from Christmas in Georgia (remember I got home around 3a.m)...

the next few days Emery just seemed to get sicker and sicker. a few weeks before she had strep but we finished her round of antibiotics and everything seemed to be okay.

 Well by Monday morning I knew she was really really sick.

Sick as in Pneumonia, Strep (again) and TWO ear infections. Home girl was miserable.

 I feel so bad that she was so sick!

 Then a few days later Jesse started in with this cough and runny nose and one ear draining nastiness.

 I took him to make sure he didn't have pneumonia as well but his lungs seemed clear.

I'm still putting his antibiotic ear drops in that one goopy ear, hoping that he will recover soon as well.

 THEN, just as I thought we were on the mend I woke up last night around 4am with a fever and body aches/ head ache so bad I could barely get myself up to get some water and Advil.

UGGHHh. I seriously felt like I had been smashed in the face with a hammer.

I had no other symptoms though, just a fever, headache and body aches.

 My Dr. seemed to think it was just a virus and not anything that Emery or Jesse have had. So I am planning on getting this... WILLING THIS family back into health this weekend. Once Benji got home from work today I got in bed and I felt like my fever broke, I woke up soaking wet.

Who's ready to feel better!!! MEEEE!!! I know a lot of families with little ones are going through the same thing right now. So may we all feel better! HERE'S TO SPRING!!!

My Bunny

Jesse got tubes on Tuesday. He is doing great and hopefully on the way to being healthy. Here are my 2 men.

Jesse is into every thing!

Benji had a photo shoot this week at our home, in a bunny suit. I don't ask questions anymore.

Can You Stand The Cuteness? Because I Can't. 8 Months

Real Fast Like

I'm beat. Yesterday was the busiest day ever.

But FUNNN!

I hosted the annual GNO: Halloween party. It was a blast. I love my girls and every year our costumes are so hilarious! I started to panic though...say around Sunday that maybe I shouldn't have volunteered. It's the first big thing I've hosted since Jesse was born. (except for Emery's birthday, but that was kinda different).

It was a blast like it always is.

But I am ready for da weekend!

Our Perfect Saturday

This past week, Saturday was the first day we actually had to sit down and eat dinner together. It also happened to be Benji's birthday so Emery and I made a cake to celebrate!

I long for the days that we get to hang out as a family at our home, they are so few that when they come up I actually get excited about staying home and doing nothing together...

Especially this time of year when the weather is nice and we can hang out in our back yard.

We cleaned up the house, took naps, got caught up on laundry and playing in the sand box. Benji got to watch like 40 college football games and UGA won, thankfully.

I love Benji's job and where we are in life right now but I love my family more and am so thankful for the days that we can relax and recharge as a family. It is good and necessary for my soul.

Emery and Jesse are both growing like weeds. Look at that face on Jesse, could you not just eat those cheeks!? He is 7 and 1/2 months and I can not imagine where the time has gone.

Vaca 2011

Family Vaca 2011

There is something so so beautiful and special about seeing things through the eyes of your children.

Family vacation is far from relaxing for me. BUT just like Christmas, it is SO MUCH more fun now that we have kids. Emery was so excited about everything we did.

She is the most precious child I have ever ever seen and I cherish these moments because I know they are so fleeting.