Slice of Life – November 14th, 2016

Hey party people. 🙂 Happy Monday! I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Besides having our family photos taken, we didn’t have any big plans and used our time to be lazy, watch football, Christmas shop online, and catch up on life. Days like this get two thumbs way up in my book!

It’s funny how certain dates are permanently linked in our minds to certain events from years past. I’ll always remember November 14th as my due date with Hadley. I vividly remember waking up on this day three years ago, rolling over to face Jamie in bed, and pleading with him to pray hard that I go into labor that day. I had zero patience left; I was so huge and uncomfortable and just plain dying of anxiousness to lay my eyes on a healthy baby. Three long  days later she would be in our arms.

Now our little diva enjoys few things more than picnic dinners on our front porch, eating her weight in my homemade pizza, and wearing one of her princess dresses 24/7.

I haven’t done a “Slice of Life” in a while, so I hope you enjoy a bunch of quick shots from the last few weeks.  🙂

Our big girl is loving the view from this part of the shopping cart! She went for her first stroll in the “big girl” seat about three weeks (right at the 5.5 month mark), and she’s continued enjoying it. Very cute to watch her eyes light up as she takes in all the new sites around her.

We have had the most beautiful, true fall weather the last couple months, so we’ve tried to spend as much time at our local parks as possible with different friends. Lots of fun for everybody!

Speaking of fall weather, my perfect world consists of mornings in the 50s and afternoons in the 70s. I could live in a state of bliss with year-round weather like this. Makes me so happy.

We scrambled last-minute to throw together a trunk for Jamie’s battalion’s Trunk or Treat. We went with a really easy, traditional “fall harvest” theme since we had two little farm animals (though it was too warm that day for Sadie’s pony outfit).

Sadie gave us some anxiety a few weeks ago when she broke out in hives all over her body. They’d flare up for 15-20 minutes and then entirely disappear. A few hours later we’d find another outbreak. This lasted about 18 hours. She received her six month shots and her flu booster the day prior, and because we hadn’t introduced any new food lately, we feel confident that it was related to the shots. The nurse wasn’t too concerned because Sadie didn’t have any other issues, but I still felt uneasy putting her to bed that night. I actually ended up sleeping on the floor next to her crib so that I could listen to her breathing. Definitely something to chat with the doctor about before her flu shot in December and next round of shots in January.

Hadley’s favorite thing for the last three weeks: this . It’s easy to see that it’s teaching her to identify her letters, so that’s helping to keep us from banging our heads against the wall when she asks us to put it together with her for the sixth time that day. 😉

Jamie’s mom flew into town for Hadley’s birthday party last weekend, so we kicked off the weekend with dinner at Old Chicago and a birthday sundae. Few things make this girl smile bigger than ice cream. She’s a girl after my own heart. 😉

This big girl hit the 20lb mark this week! She’s a hearty little eater and growing like a weed. She’s actually only nine pounds shy of her big sister. Ha!

Hadley graduated from her PAT program this month since she’s about to be three. Her PAT teacher played the graduation anthem on her iPad during her last visit and let Hadley wear this hat. She also received a graduation present (a new book). It was really sweet, and we’ve truly been blessed to work with Mrs. Kim and the local PAT program. Though Hadley is now phased out of it, we’ll still continue with Sadie.

We do a lot of whole-family texting to keep up with each other, and I loved this text from my dad bright and early on election day that he sent to my siblings and me on his way out on a business trip. We were all anxious about the election in our own ways, so I appreciated this peaceful text that he sent to us before we headed to the polls.

Jamie didn’t have to be at work until 9:30 on election day, so we left the house early to vote as a family and then headed to a local breakfast hotspot to enjoy a meal. We rarely (if ever) go to breakfast as a family, so a hot omelet and biscuits felt like a real treat. 🙂

Anybody stay up until the election results were announced? Jamie crashed around 11:30 p.m., but there was no way I could sleep. I knew that history would be made regardless of who won or lost, so I wanted to stay up to take it all in. Such a wild night. Such a wild week.

I signed up to recertify in CPR and first aid about two weeks after Hadley’s accident, and the course was two parts. One was online and one was in-person skills practice. The in-person part is only offered during the week while Jamie is at work, so finding time (and a sitter) so that I could go wasn’t easy. My amazing friend Kelsey thankfully kept the girls this past week so that I could get this portion under my belt. I think I’ll be in awe for the rest of my life when I think back to how well Jamie executed CPR on Hadley, and those thoughts really motivated me to get a refresher of this potentially life-saving skill.

Love you Kels (and so does Hadley!).

Another random morning picture of our happy peanut. She’s starting to get a decent bit of peach fuzz on top of that head. 😉

 

Jamie had Veterans Day off on Friday, so we kicked off the holiday by attending the city’s parade downtown. Pretty morning and cute little parade.

After the parade we ran over to Aldi to do a big grocery trip. We were both dorkishly smiling from ear to ear seeing the girls seated next to each other in the cart. Silly little stuff like this just makes parents happy, right?

I’m usually not the type at all to overthink an outfit, but for the life of me I could not figure out what to wear for our family pictures. I didn’t hate this dilemma too much though because it gave me an excuse to leisurely stroll the mall two days in a row on a mission to find something I felt good in. I polled the audience (i.e. my sister, mom, and best friend) before settling with the bottom right. I already had the boots and scarf, so scooping up the dress from Francesca’s didn’t break the bank (plus it has the most feminine back detailing). Special shout-out to my girl Biana for settling my “leggings vs. bare legs” debate. 🙂

What’s on tap for you guys this week? It’s going to be a doozy of a week around here (Had’s birthday, a military ball, and more), and by the end of it we’ll be pulling into my parent’s driveway in sweet, sweet home Alabama. Counting down every single day until I get to squeeze my family (ahh get me to my niece!) and so many close friends (and their babies too!) Wishing you all a calm, happy week before many of you hit the road as well for holiday travels.

Let’s chat!

1.) Have any of your babies ever dealt with a hives outbreak after receiving shots?

2.) Where are my fellow Aldi lovers at?! What’s your favorite item to buy there?

3.) Anyone take a CPR course in the last couple months?

Psst: more Slice of Life posts