Honestly, things are going so much better around here than I expected. I had no idea what we were going to fill our days (especially our evenings and weekends) with without Jamie, and I really worried about how I was going to handle everything mentally doing it “all” on my own. Thankfully we’ve managed to keep a full schedule that has truly been a wonderful distraction. I was worried that too much alone time around the house would drive me a bit insane only having a toddler to talk to and hang with, but I’ve truly welcomed the days where we’ve hung out in our pjs just the two of us. Having a balance of full days and quiet days has been a lifesaver!
So here’s our little slice of life from the past three weeks. 🙂
We enjoyed a great weekend visit from my dad! Hadley adores her grandpa, and so do I!
We’ve spent a lot of time with our buddies Jack and Meg as usual. 🙂
Grocery trips with this chick have been much more fun for her since I got past the germs of this little cart and let her ride in it. That face is pure joy! I love our silly times!
We love our MOPS friends! Our October outing was at a local farm/pumpkin patch, and we enjoyed the petting zoo, a corn maze, roasting hot dogs and s’mores, and lots of time with our sweet friends.
Jamie and I divided up Hadley’s toys into three rubber maids a couple months ago, and I’ve been rotating them in and out about once a month. One day when she was bored and driving me a little nuts I went down to the basement to get out a new toys. She sat in the sunroom on and off all day long playing with her “new” toys. I love how she’s fascinated by toys all over again just because she hadn’t seen them in a while!
The laundry bin has been a favorite new hiding spot. Crazy girl!
She spent the entire month of October as Minnie.
She’s been thoroughly enjoying her arts and crafts basket. These markers and coloring book came as a gift from my aunt, and the markers are excellent because they only show up on this special paper!
A couple weeks ago I had a long list of things to grab from Target, but I could only squeeze in the trip right before nap time. To keep her happy I let her pick out a toy first thing, and she picked these figures from Sheriff Callie. Over two weeks later and she’s still obsessed. They go everywhere with us. She even sleeps with them! Best $15 I’ve spent on a toy in two years. I’ve linked to them for $13 on Amazon!
I think I’ve cooked a total of five meals in three weeks, and I’ve only cooked those because I’ve had some girlfriends over or had my mom here. If I haven’t cooked in a while I’ll purposely invite some friends over just so I have a reason to make something! Leftovers, sandwiches, pasta, and frozen dinners have been more frequent on the dinner table, and I’m okay with it. There’s only so much you can do when you’re solo. Gotta give myself some grace!
Recently Meg and Jack showed up to go on a walk, and when I opened the front door Meg shouted “Uhhh, you have a CHICKEN out here!”. We giggled hard! We have no idea where it came from, but I felt so bad because it was obviously lost. Hopefully the poor buddy made it home! I found it in my backyard later that afternoon… *ahem*… Teddy found it in our backyard later that afternoon, and thankfully I caught him charging the chicken before he was able to make it his dinner!
Occasionally she’ll remember the drawer with the blocks in it and play for upwards of an hour. I love when she does this!
Halloween weekend doughnuts with Grandma! Excuse the crumb on my chin. I’m not a big photoshopper, folks. Whatcha see is whatcha get around here! 😉
I about died when I opened up a mystery package on my doorstep a few weeks ago to find the sweetest note from HappyFamilyBrands with all these free goodies in it! I met this company at the conference this summer, and getting this happy surprise in the mail for no reason at all was so exciting! Their note said that two more packages would be coming, and I can’t wait! Those gummy prenatal vitamins are soooooooo good! Oh my gosh!
We loved having my mom here for five days! We really miss her!
Last Sunday was a gorgeous day, so we hit the park after church!
We’ve been spending a few days a week at the park, and Hadley is loving it. I’m also loving it before she sleeps like a rock after afternoons at the park.
Soooo I refuse to feel an ounce of guilt about TV time. Some days she may watch a few hours worth, and other days she may watch just one episode total. Unfortunately I’m not super mom (darn) and sometimes I just need her to sit quietly for a bit so I can get stuff done or just have a minute to myself. She loves her and always has her favorite blanket with her nearby! Her new favorite show to watch is Winnie the Pooh on Netflix! She loves Tigger and giggles at him like crazy!
We are in month six (I think) with our PAT teacher, and we love this program more and more every single month. We had our monthly visit this past week, and I definitely want to recreate one of the activities she brought. She had a huge tub of different shaped pasta that she’d colored with food coloring, and Hadley had a BALL playing in it. She loved playing with the scoops and picking out different shapes and colors. Recreating this will be so easy. We love love love Parents As Teachers. Local friends with children 0-3, I would highly suggest getting on the waiting list for this program!
I can’t help but show off these beauties (insert all the heart eyes)!! I found out back in August that I won Best Buy’s grand prize from the conference, and the brand new LG TWIN Wash System & Sidekick showed up yesterday! I was so surprised that I won that I thought the notification was spam and ho the double check with the sender that it wasn’t! I’ve never won anything even close to this in my life.
The pedestal under the washing machine is actually another small washing machine meant for tiny loads, and I know it’s going to come in so handy when washing baby girl’s clothes. Thank you Best Buy & BlogHer! We are so thankful and pumped!
Please excuse all the junk on top of the dryer. I had to have a handyman come over to raise the cabinet to make it fit, and I hadn’t put everything back yet when I snapped this pic for my family!
And that’s about it! I hope you’re having a great weekend! See ya next week. 🙂
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo