Slice of Life: August 29th, 2019

Hi friends! How is your week going? Have any of you grabbed a Pumpkin Spice Latte yet? I heard they came out Tuesday, the earliest they’ve ever started serving them. I think I’m one of the only women in the country that hasn’t ever had one. Ha! I didn’t start enjoying coffee until two years ago and was super intimidated until recently to order coffee at a coffee shop, mainly because I was scared I would order something I didn’t actually like. I now enjoy most coffee (except black), so I’m hoping to swing by and grab one soon just for the heck of it!

Anyway, let’s jump into another “slice of life”. 🙂

We recently had some very close relatives from Seattle come spend a week in our area, and my aunt could not have been more adorable with the girls. I think I speak for most moms when it comes to how much you appreciate those who are hands-on with your children. My aunt not only got in lots of baby snuggles with Jillian, but she also took time to play games with Sadie (while Hadley was in school) and work with her on some educational stuff. Seeing other people give their energy to my kids doing things my kids want to do means more to me than I could ever say.

During their visit, Jamie and I hosted a big mid-week dinner to get everyone together. Jamie grilled chicken as soon as he got home from work, and I whipped together some homemade mac and cheese, roasted sweet potato fries, and a spinach salad. My sister also brought a few things, and it was the best night. The house was loud with lots of people, which is often just the way I like it. It means people are happy and having a good time, and if you know my heart for having people gather in my home, you know how much joy this brings me. This is my favorite picture from the night, snapped by my sister, of my dad’s ice cream cone being hijacked by all of his grandkids. He didn’t mind. 🙂

Jillian was getting tired before everyone left, so Jamie went ahead and quickly gave her a bath. It turned into a show for all the cousins and adults alike! We joke that she’s the current family celebrity because everybody is all about her right now!

These girls really love having their fingers and toes painted, so occasionally taking them to the nail salon is a luxury they go crazy over. Our local place does super cute pedis for them for $15 a piece, which include the hot towels, foot scrub, and more. They both nervously smile the entire time and beam when they get to show me their toes.

One of the highlights of my LIFE lately was welcoming one of my absolute favorite humans to Alabama for a long-weekend visit! Jessica and I taught English on the same hallway in Tennessee years ago and were inseparable from the day we met. We have gone through so much life together; I couldn’t imagine adulthood without this true blue friend.

I joked with her many times that physically she was so helpful with Jillian and emotionally she was so helpful as I worked through some challenging “threenager” stuff with Sadie. She just wrapped up the 3s stage with her oldest (I feel like I just went to her baby shower yesterday!), so she can empathize with the joys and challenges this development stage brings for everyone. We had the best time, and her visit meant the world. We love you big, Jess!

Some high school cheerleaders were advertising their cheer clinic outside of Hadley’s school recently, and their advertising worked on Jamie because he immediately looked up info when he got to work after dropping her off. We decided to sign up both girls for a Saturday morning of fun, and they loved it! Sadie was a little nervous to go, but being there with Hadley was more than enough of a security blanket for her.

Do you know what your kids’ love languages are? I’m pretty sure Hadley’s is physical touch (she’s such a snuggler), but Sadie’s is 100% quality time. Spending time with her doing anything overflows her tank. If I had all the time in the world to just focus on Sadie 24/7, she would be the happiest human alive.

Unfortunately I can’t realistically give all of myself to Sadie, which irritates her a bit. Imagine that! 😉 But goodness… when she gets that quality time (something I’m intentionally working harder on giving all of my kids, and my husband too), she is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. Admittedly I find it hard to stop what I’m doing to get on their level and do little kid things with them sometimes (not a strength of mine), but seeing this girl light up like a Christmas tree when I do makes me very, very happy. I love you, Sadie girl.

For my first postpartum run, I headed to a local trail and took Hadley with me! She rode her Strider bike for two miles while I ran, and we had a blast!

It’s funny how babies love to be on their bellies. I let Hadley and Sadie sleep on their bellies early on, but we aren’t with Jillian because we need her to be a better infant sleeper than her sisters were. 😉 She’s doing well being swaddled and being on her back in her bassinet, but her favorite place of all to sleep is…

… the DockATot. I know there are soooo many warnings out there to only use this thing as a lounger and not as a place for them to sleep, but dang it, she sleeps her absolute best in it! I let her take naps in it occasionally, and she loves it.

A cute romper, mama’s lipstick, and some fancy shoes. Happy Sadie. 🙂

My parents and sister’s family came over for homemade pizza last week, and Dad asked if we could try to get a picture of them with all the grandkids. I must have taken 30 pictures rapid fire attempting to just get one decent one. I love this.

This past Saturday morning found us all lounging in pajamas until around 10 (it had been FOREVER since we had a slow Saturday morning like this as a family) before getting dressed and heading to Monte Sano mountain. We “hiked” for about an hour, letting the kids determine our pace as they discovered dozens of “cool” things. We then played on the playground for a while before grabbing some lunch with neighbors.

After lunch we went home and did NOTHING the rest of the day, and it was beyond glorious. Everybody showered and put on pajamas by 3 p.m. and watched way more Netflix than we should have. IT WAS AWESOME.

One baby item we were missing was a high chair. I donated our old one since A.) I thought we were done having kids and B.) it was gross. I was planning to eventually buy an inexpensive IKEA one, but then we saw this brand new one at an estate sale! Score! It was only $12 and is actually the same GRACO one we had previously, so we know it’s awesome. I love that it reclines and has a five-point harness so that Jillian can already use it. Having one more place to plop her is fantastic. Ha!

Somebody really, really loves bath time!

Hadley lost her first tooth! The girls had dentist appointments on Monday, and Hadley freaked out when the hygienist told her she had some loose bottom teeth. She was so excited. She came home and wiggled one particular tooth for HOURS, and it finally came out when Jamie was brushing her teeth before bed. Once we knew it was probably coming out, I took one last picture of her complete baby teeth smile.

In true Hadley fashion, she started crying happy tears as soon as she came running out to tell me she lost her tooth. I think she was just so overcome with excitement that this milestone was finally here. I’m telling you – she has been DYING to lose a tooth ever since her friend lost one at the beginning of school last year. The tooth fairy made a trip to the ATM and left $5. Is that a good amount?? What’s the going rate these days? Ha!

Whew! That was quite the brain/camera roll dump! Thanks for reading!! xo

Let’s chat!

Do you crave lazy mornings/days as a way to recharge?