The year of the 2 year old

Every year, on December 31st, my husband and I decide what the following year will be named. For instance, the year after our wedding was “The year of recovery”. Meaning, we need to recover financially and mentally! Another year was “The year of health”. We don’t set New Years resolutions because it’s rare that people stick to them. We find that naming the year has a bigger impact on us and makes more sense for us.

Since we had a crazy New Years Eve this year, it was hard finding time to sit down and talk about 2016’s name. Just kidding. We actually had all the time in the world. We stayed home with our boys and celebrated the new year with the east coast then went to bed. We did wake up at midnight (CST) because our neighbors set off some fireworks (we totally would have stayed up to watch them if we had known they were going to set them off!) so that counts right?!

So we put together the things we want to do this coming year but didn’t have a name for 2016. Then, after a good nights rest, I got to thinking… Everything we talked about (for the most part) is something Big Bro can relate to. He’s 2 years old so let’s name it “The year of the 2 year old”, so we can cover everything in one title!

What was on our list? Here’s a few…

1. Lying. Plain and simple. Don’t do it. It doesn’t pertain to Michael and I lying to each other. We have nothing to lie about when it comes to each other. We just want the truth from everyone. So many times,someone tells you something and you both know it’s a lie but you both go along with it and it happens over and over again. Just be truthful!

2 year olds… don’t quite know how to lie yet. It’s great! I can ask Big Bro why Little Bro is crying and he will tell me he hit him. Easy. Done. No lying needed!

2. Be more active. Not just with working out but with the boys. This one pertains more to me because I am with the boys most of the day. I find myself in ruts sometimes because I do the same thing over and over and over. A simple thing like going grocery shopping to break up my day works wonders on my mental state! Big Bro will be getting more involved in things this spring so that should help too.

2 year olds… never. stop. moving. I’m not saying I want to be moving constantly but if I could steal some of his energy and use it to have a second dance party at the end of our day, I’d be happy!

3. Be more unpredictable. This sort of goes along with being more active. Do spur of the moment day trips. Do things we wouldn’t normally do. You never know where life will take you…

2 year olds… the definition of unpredictable!

4. Hang out with friends more. We realized that we don’t really try hard enough (or at all) to see our friends. Our kids keep us busy but most of our friends have kids so why are birthday parties the only time we see them?! So if you’re one of our friends here in WI, expect a text or call from one of us! My husband is off to a great start with this one as he is out with friends right now, hence the free time to blog!

2 year olds… LOVE hanging out with their friends. Big Bro likes us to tell him stories before bed but the catch is he tells us who’s in the story. Normally goes like this… “Santa (I’m sure Santa will phase out), Logan, Mommy, Daddy, Anderson, Gracey, Sammy, Nolan, Auntie Katie, Uncle Tommy, GG, Papa, Malachi, Walker, Finn, his Mommy (sorry Kim!) and ALLLLLL my cousins and friends and all the cars…” The excitement on his face whenever I tell him that someone is coming over to play is beyond amazing!

If you try to put yourself in a 2 year olds shoes, they live a pretty amazing life! Before 2 years old, you have the frustrations of not being able to communicate that well. After 2, you start school and it goes downhill from there. No. Not really. But life truly begins and you start to have real life problems. Even if your problem is as small as the boy in your class told you that he didn’t like the color of your pencil.

So here’s to being a 2 year old in 2016!

And I’ll leave you with some holiday photos…

He was so excited about riding the tractor. Grampa that is…  These are the boys’ “Find Me Santa” snowflakes so Santa can find them even if they’re in Ohio!

    Took a dance class from my bestie (Little Bro’s Godmommy) while we were both in Ohio visiting for Christmas. Felt so good to dance again! My other bestie snapped this photo of me while we were warming up. Not going to lie, I’m proud that I still have my splits!
 

Moments like these, I cherish! My arms were really sore from the dance class I took and Little Bro finds comfort in holding someone’s hand while in the car. Big Bro stepped up and helped me out by holding his hand ❤️❤️

  Big Bro went from a crib mattress to a full…
 Can’t even believe it. Growing way too fast for my liking!

And our last family photo of 2015…

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to each and every one of you!!

Friends, Babies and Puppies

2 great friends, 1 absolutely precious baby girl and 2 of Tandem’s best friends have been with us for over a week now and here’s how I’d describe our household right now…

Crazy, hectic, fun and full of love!

“How, oh how, did our Grandparents raise 10+ kids?! And stay married…”

This question has come up a few times this week between the bestie and I. 

When our husbands come home from work, they ask us what we did all day. Our answer? 

“AXEL (our newest addition to our family)!! CASEY (my friends yellow lab) STOP IT!! L (Big Bro), LEAVE THE DOGS ALONE!!!! STOP HITTING CASEY!! DOGS CALM DOWN!! TANDEM (our lab mix), LEAVE LUCY (the smallest dog who gets trampled by everyone) ALONE!! (Insert baby girl screaming because she’s tired) (Then insert Little Bro crying because he’s hungry…again) L, PLEASE DONT HIT THE DOGS! WHAT DID MOMMY SAY?! PLEASE, STOP HITTING THE DOGS!!!!!!!!!! (Insert Big Bro screaming because I put him in time out)…” And this pretty much goes on all day. Aside from doing laundry, cleaning, washing dishes and cooking dinner to name a few things…

Sounds crazy right?! Well, yes, it is.

When I found out our friends were moving back to WI, we obviously told them to stay with us until they found somewhere to live. I knew it would be crazy with 4 dogs and 3 kids but I was ready to take on the challenge if it meant A. I get to hang out with my friend every day and B. I get to talk to another adult during the day!

Every day, we figure out a new strategy for keeping the peace in the house! Yesterday we brought out the Kongs and filled them with peanut butter for the dogs. That kept them busy for a while and we couldn’t figure out why we didn’t do that sooner! Today, I figured out it’s best to put the girls (my friends dogs) in the basement and the boys (our dogs) in our room while Little Bro eats so he doesn’t feel like he’s at a petting zoo and that he’s supposed to feed them! This way, I’m not constantly yelling at the dogs to “GET OUT!” while he’s eating and Little Bro actually eats his own food. Wonder what amazing idea will come to us tomorrow…

It’s so nice to talk with my friend throughout the day and know that we feel the same way about a lot of things. For instance, showers are optional and most of the time, they don’t exist. A big achievement for a SAHM and a big achievement for a marathon runner are two very different things. We feel so accomplished when we get out of our pajamas and put on workout clothes. If we’re lucky, we find some time to hop on the elliptical for 5 minutes. Remember the whole shower thing? Ya. Sometimes we shower in the morning because we actually get a couple minutes to ourselves. How can we work out now?! We are actually clean. Why ruin that? There’s always tomorrow…

Beyond all of the craziness that goes on, there is so much love that occurs throughout the house! When you see Big Bro give Baby Girl a kiss or when Little Bro plays fetch with Casey or when we see our husbands with the kids. All different kinds of love that fill this house with more happiness than I could have imagined!

I will leave you with a few pictures from the past week with our friends… 

The only time they are calm is when you’re in the kitchen and they all think you have something delicious for them. (From left to right: Axel, Casey, Lucy and Tandem)

 
These are the moments that make the craziness all worth it! Can’t wait for these 2 to grow up together and think the other one has cooties!  
We took a trip to the zoo and caught a glimpse of the new baby giraffe!

 
Just love this kid to pieces! 
 
I am getting back to my workout game! Signed up for the Thanksgiving morning Drumstick Dash. Glad my workout bud will be joining me! I won’t call her out but if she slacks I will definitely call her out to get her back on track!

Happy Monday everyone! Enjoy the weekend!!

What a life

3 poopy diapers, 2 wet diapers, dog vomit, Big Bro’s wet sheets, Little Bro’s slobber… 

I’ve cleaned up all of it this morning. 

What a life!

No really, WHAT A LIFE!

There are days that are challenging but those are few and far between. Every job has it’s highs and lows. My job just so happens to have precious little boys that act as my highs. Yes, they may also be the reason I have a hard day but it’s the best, hard day (if there is such a thing!). 

Before I was a SAHM, I’m not going to lie, I thought it was a way for a mom to play and sleep all day. Do we play all day? Of course we play but not all day. Do we sleep all day? The boys sleep. Me? I have taken maybe 3 naps since I have been a SAHM. When the boys sleep, I’m either cleaning, doing laundry, preparing dinner or working out. Being a SAHM is hard. You don’t understand this until you are one. I’m sure you’re making remarks right now if you aren’t a SAHM but that’s ok, like I said, I made those comments too! 

Just think…

• You have a boss. Our kids are our boss and they are the toughest bosses in my opinion. 
• You have assignments/tasks you have to finish before you leave for the day. We have dishes and laundry to finish before we finally crawl in bed at night. 
• You can stay home if you’re sick. We can too. We still have to do our job all day no matter what. 
• You can leave your work at the office. We can too. Oh wait. That’s child neglect!
• If you have a hard week, you can regroup on the weekend. We can too. It normally consists of finishing the laundry you never got to during the week and taking an extra long shower while Daddy watches the kids. I may or may not have taken a super long shower just to have “me” time. (Thanks hunny!)

I’m sure there are a lot more comparisons but these are the ones that came to mind right now! 

Being a SAHM is a job. It’s hard work. It’s tiring. It’s trying. They do say that if you are doing what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Although I did absolutely love being a female barber at an amazing salon with the best bosses, starting April 2014, I will never work a day in my life again! What a life huh?!

Here are some photos from yesterday and today… 

We went to a new park yesterday with Big Bro’s “fwends”!

 His new favorite thing to do with his “stickers” that no longer stick…   Some of the wildlife that’s been in our yard the past few days. And yes, that’s a coyote that was in our yard for 3 hours yesterday morning…

 Watching the ants this morning…  

   
Happy Thursday everyone!!

Less is more

As parents, we tend to over do things. Birthday parties, toys, dressing them to the nines, extravagant vacations etc. After our short weekend trip to St. Louis, I found that less really is more. 

The car was stuffed. 2 huge suitcases. 2 big bags of food. The double stroller. The emergency medical box. A big bag of toys and books. The diaper bag. The traveling high chair. A cooler filled with food and drinks. Toys for the pool. The iPad. A Pack’n’Play. 

All of this for 36 hours in St. Louis. 

We took the 8-9 (should be about 6) hour trip down to St. Louis for our good friends birthday. The trip down was pretty good. We got stuck in some traffic but all in all, the kids did a great job. My husband and I have our routine down for driving…

• He drives first until he’s tired. But we can’t stop until both boys are awake and cranky (which means they are ready to eat or get out of the car for a bit). 
• I take the next leg of the trip while my husband takes a nap. Or tries to nap in between the boys crying and/or yelling. As long as he gets 20 minutes, he’s refueled. 
• For the next leg of the trip, I ask him if he wants to drive. Normally the answer is yes because by this point, he has no patience to deal with the crying and screaming. The passengers job is to keep the boys happy and occupied. If he tells me to drive, I always make sure to remind him he is in charge of the boys. He almost always changes his mind!

When we got to the hotel, we brought both boys upstairs to the room then my husband went back down to get our stuff out of the car. I didn’t realize how much stuff I packed until he brought it up. Did we need all of it?! Nope. Absolutely not. I never was a great “bring only what you need” packer. Now I have 2 boys to pack for too. It’s even worse now! 

I learned that you don’t need 10 toys for the baby. He will play with the same toy for hours. I also learned that you don’t need 10 outfits each for the boys. It’s only 2 days and they don’t care what you put on them (yet) so one outfit for each day and a back up in case of an accident is sufficient enough! The 15 books I brought, now those were a must. Big Bro went through all of them in the first hour. He loves books and they keep him busy for a short while. Jeans? Not needed when it’s 90°+. All of the snacks in the 2 bags and cooler? It’s a good thought but we all know that we like to buy snacks at every stop we make on a road trip. No? That’s just me? Ok. You’re all weird! We did eat some of the snacks I brought but a small bag would have been more reasonable. 

After we got all settled in our room and changed into our jammies, it was around midnight. I tried to get 2 queen beds so my husband could get some sleep in a bed of his own but all they had was a king. I love to snuggle with Big Bro but the only time he sleeps in bed with us is when he’s sick or when we are in a hotel. There is nothing better than your child laying next to you and asking you “Mama, I hode (hold) you?”  Of course I say yes and then he wraps his tiny little arm around my neck. Although my face is being pushed into the pillow and it’s hard to breath, I wouldn’t have it any other way! 

Saturday morning, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel then headed off to the St. Louis zoo. I do love the Milwaukee zoo but this zoo put ours to shame! It is absolutely beautiful. From the landscaping to the big, steel animal sculptures at the entrance, it is very well taken care of. It was about 10:00am and already 85° when we got to the zoo. I try to be a positive person but in my head I was already hearing the boys whining and crying while me and my husband are getting frustrated with each other as the sun gets hotter and hotter. To my surprise, the boys did fairly well. We were all hot, sticky and sweaty. My husband and I did disagree on which way to go when trying to find the exit (he was right). Big Bro did get cranky when I made him hold my hand. Little Bro did cry because he didn’t want to be in the car seat any more (I don’t blame him. It’s a black seat and he is a chunky guy so it couldn’t be too comfortable!). It could have been a lot worse! We didn’t get to see much because it was just too hot but we had a great time and seeing the smile on Big Bro’s face is always priceless! It was also nice to go to the zoo with my husband since we normally go in the middle of the day while he’s at work. He just loves these boys and I love seeing him make memories with them!  

   
After the zoo, we were off to our friends birthday party at her mom’s house. This was the main reason we made the trip. Her mom’s house is beautiful. It’s in a gated community and she has a backyard oasis with a gorgeous rock waterfall that leads into the pool. I did some coaxing (which didn’t work) then finally picked Big Bro up and took him in the pool. Once he was in there, he loved it!  

 Hanging out with Auntie Mel…  

This was Little Bro’s first time in the water and being that he’s the second child, I forgot to take a picture…

We swam, ate and visited the night away! Such a great day of adventures and friends! 

We left St. Louis around 11am and got back to our house around 7pm. We only had to stop twice on the drive home so that was nice!

So whether it’s one king bed compared to two queens or a short weekend trip with friends compared to a week long Disney vacation, I truly believe that less is more! All 4 of us had an amazing trip and the memories we brought home with us are something I will always cherish! I will leave you with a montage of us trying to get a (nice) family photo… 

 
Hope you are all enjoying your week!

New (ad)ventures

Every spring, I look at our calendar and think “This will be a pretty quiet summer!”. Then it never fails that our calendar fills in. Luckily it fills up with fun things and exciting trips! 

Like I Mentioned in my previous post, my husband was in Europe for work then came home and went to Detroit for volleyball nationals. While he was there, I was in Rochester, NY for my cousins wedding. Two weeks after that, we were in Canada for 5 days. We went to the Carrie Underwood concert at Summerfest in Milwaukee.         (Love her!!)

My parents were here for the holiday weekend and we hosted an engagement party and 4th of July party on Friday and Saturday. We also went to a parade on the fourth…

This coming weekend we are going to St. Louis to celebrate our friend Mel’s (this was who we had the engagement party for!) 30th birthday and then at the end of the month we are headed to Puerto Rico. My husband has some business to do there so I am tagging along! Luckily my mom and Grandma are able to drive up from Ohio to watch the boys while we are there. 
Finding time to post to my blog has been harder and harder because of all of these adventures we have been on recently but now I have some motivation…
I received a text from someone I am really close with that is working on developing a product. She has asked me to be a part of their team as the “blogger/social media guru/out of state representative”. I, of course, said yes!! Then I thought, if I’m looked at as a blogger, I should probably be a little more diligent about writing! So here I am, writing! Nothing child/parent related but I am really excited for this new venture! Once things move along a bit more, I can fill you all in on everything! Until then, I’ll iust have to keep you guessing!   

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!!  

Memories

Speaking of memories, I have been a long distant memory for you guys. Between my husband going out of the country for work then going to volleyball nationals, me going to an out of state wedding, preparing for my 5k, preparing for and going to Canada on vacation (Yes it took me all week to pack. It’s a camping trip which means you bring everything down to the toilet paper and dish soap!), I guess you can say we’ve been a bit busy this summer!  

 
As I sat there, staring out at Rice Lake, I could almost hear the voices of my cousins (there are lots of us being my dad is one of eleven) and I as children screaming and playing. The sound of the boat starting up as Grampa gets ready to head out for some fishing. Water crashing into the docks on a windy day. The smell of fish and dodging goose droppings in the grass don’t mean much more than “gross” to most people but they are 2 of the many things that bring me back to my childhood summers in Canada. 

Although these are all memories I have, they were all being played out right in front of me decades later. The screaming children? That’s now my little cousins and my son running around playing. The sound of the boat starting up? That’s now my cousin Randy starting up my Grandpa’s boat. (I can’t believe he’s old enough to run around camp by himself let alone drive a boat!) The water crashing into the docks? Still the same sound, just a few less docks and the ones that are still there stand a little more crooked than they use to. Unfortunately, the smell of fish is still in the air and yes, the geese still poop all over the grass! 

I may have only caught one bass over the 4 days we were there but those 2-3 hours that I was out on the boat were filled with both relaxation and laughter between my uncle, my cousin and myself. The sound of casting out my line and the plopping of the lure into the water over and over again somehow never gets old. Although my cousin and uncle were bringing in fish left and right, when I finally did get that bass, my vacation was complete! I set out to get one fish and that’s what I did. I was happy and could go home now!  (Thats my “little” cousin Randy sitting down photobombing me!)

I know this vacation wasn’t really my husband’s cup of tea so he definitely gets the ‘husband of the year’ award for making the 15 hour drive with our 2 boys and a car jam packed with way more than we needed! I could spend every summer in Canada at this camp because of the memories I have from my childhood. For my husband, it’s just a cabin with stinky water, lots of bugs and a big lake in front of it. I get it. I understand that it’s not the same for him so a 15 hour drive is not really justified when you feel dirtier after taking a shower than you did before. I think we have agreed that we will wait a year or two before going back. Although it’s a vacation, when you have a 2 year old, it turns into “Where is he?” “Do you have him?” “Do you mind if I go out on the lake for 3 hours while you run around chasing him?!” “Can you take them for a nap walk?” It becomes an exhausting 4 days. We did have a ton of help from everyone that was there especially my Brother and Sister-in-law. They were amazing with the boys and have already created some great memories for them including Big Bro catching his first fish and going for his first kayak ride with Uncle Jep!  

  To break things up a bit, we drove into Cobourg, which is the closest town with some cute little stores and a beach. It was nice to get out of camp for a few hours and see the town. All of these years I have gone to Canada but never made it into Cobourg! Glad I finally made the trip. And yes it is a trip to get to pretty much anywhere when you are staying at Glengary Cottages!
 “Only an aunt and uncle can give hugs like a mommy and daddy, keep secrets like a sibling and share love like a friend” ❤️High fives for the pirate! 
To say I had a great vacation is truly an understatement! I hope all of us cousins can continue the tradition of bringing our families to camp for summer vacations! I’ll leave you with some pictures from the trip!  

Grampa’s boat still being used years later! 

The stretch of road that my Dad traveled on many a times by foot, car and moped! 

Taking Da for a spin.  

    A few of the many nap walks. Thank goodness we brought the stroller! 

 I think he was sick of us by the end of the trip. He’s asleep under there… 

 He sure does love his Uncle Jep! “Uncle Jep!! Meeeer!” (Uncle Jeff, Come here!) was all we heard all week! 

 ‘Husband of the year’ I tell ya!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Kidizen

If you’re a parent with endless amounts of kids clothes to get rid of and haven’t heard of or joined the Kidizen app, you should probably check it out! 

I was using eBay to sell kids clothes and other random things around the house but they have changed their fees and it wasn’t worth it to sell single clothing items (ie. one tiny onesie would end up costing me money rather than making money).  

It’s a community of parents (mostly moms) that are selling and/or buying kids clothes, toys, maternity items or anything that has to do with kids! You get your own shop that you name and design. You can list as much as you want and the items never come down unless you take them down or they sell! You do have to pay a PayPal fee (2.9% + $0.30) and Kidizen takes 7%. Once you join, they add you to their Facebook group where you can get support from other moms that are on the app and promote your shop! 

Here is my shop… 

 And some of my items… 

 

If you decide to give it a shot and sign up, use code “cju0w” and we will both be entered into their giveaway! 

Quick update on life

My husband and I are finally both back home from our ventures and are glad to be back into our normal routine! Even though myself and both boys came down with colds over night, we are all doing pretty well!!

Today starts my third round of #fitgirlsguide and I am ready to take it on! Although I woke up sick this morning, I did a short workout on the elliptical… 

 

Glad I got up and worked out because it made me feel better! I’m so excited one of my close friends here in Wisconsin is joining the challenge this time around! Always good to have close friends do things like this with you for that true motivation you need!!

We did get out of the house today…to the doctor for Little Bro’s 6 month appointment. Where has time gone?! Pretty sure they had to decontaminate everything in the doctor’s office room we were in after the 3 of us sickies left!

Hope everyone had a great couple weeks! Happy June!!

Biggest accomplishment

Besides my boys and finding my husband (ok he technically found me because I came up in his weekly top matches email from Match.com), being able to run a 5k without completely dying has been the greatest accomplishment in my adult life! Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have always hated running and wasn’t good at it. 

I did high jump in high school because I ran the mile once and came in third place. Third place?! That’s pretty good you might think… There were only 3 of us running it. And I was at least a lap behind second place. My brother was in charge of video taping that race and right as I was about to finish the race he scrolled over to video tape some girls he knew in the stands. Now nobody will ever know that I did in fact actually finish that race! Thanks bro…

Saturday was on the cooler side but I do prefer chilly over sweaty hot. I decided it was a good day to go for a run. (It was also the day for the 2nd #virtualfitgirl5k) A run by myself. No double stroller. No stopping to give Big Bro his cup of crackers that fell on the ground. No whining or hurrying home because Little Bro has woken up and is hungry. Just me, my phone and a 5k run ahead of me! 

I used the app Map My Run. I love it because of you want to run a 5k, it will give you a route to take in order to run a 5k. If you only want to run a mile, it will map it out for you. I didn’t video tape myself running my 5k for proof that I did but here’s a screen shot of my run overview… 

 

Hey, I didn’t say I did it fast. I just finished. And that, I am proud of!

On a social note, our friend from Connecticut has been here for just over a week. He is here for work and it’s been really nice to hang out with him while he’s been here! Thanks to GG and Papa being able to watch the boys, we caught a Brewers game for one of our local friend’s birthday. 

(Photobombing at its finest…) 

 

Our friend also cooked for us on Mother’s Day. He is an amazing chef! His wife is one lucky girl (although I feel kind of bad that he cooked for us on Mother’s Day and not her since it was her first Mother’s Day. Sorry MK!)  

 We had leftovers yesterday and I wasn’t mad about it at all! 
My challenge is going good! I’ve eaten things not on the meal plan. Unless I missed the part with brats, cookie dough, kettle corn, ice cream, beer and wine… Ok. I’ve been bad. I’m totally ok with eating like that because I am 100% confident that I will get back on track. We’ve been enjoying ourselves (to say the least) since our friend has been here. I haven’t been slacking on my work outs though and that’s normally where I slack. So even if you get off track, just know you are human and life goes on if you enjoy yourself when it comes to eating! 

I hope all of you mothers out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day!! I know I am blessed with an amazing husband, two beautiful boys, a mother who has always been there for me and a grandmother who is always there for my mother and I!❤️

Happy Tuesday!!

Fame before birth

Not many people can say they were on national television. Very few can say they were on national television before seeing this beautiful world. Little Bro is among the people that can say that! 

It was April 28th when I opened my email to see a response back from Rainy (yes that is her name. Kind of cool huh?!) who works at The Today Show. I had sent them an email in response to a post I saw from The Today Show on Facebook about wanting to surprise your mom for Mother’s Day. The surprise? They thought they were being flown out to the show to get an exclusive preview of the Broadway show “Violet”. The real surprise? Myself and 7 other girls were pregnant! (It ended up being only 7 of us because, unfortunately, one of the girls was sick.) 

Here is the link to the article and video from the big surprise! I have no clue who the woman is that used the word “flabbergasted” on national television…

So a year ago today was the day that we got to surprise our mom’s with this amazing news! The group of girls that I met that day were beyond nice and I never would have imagined that a year later we would all still be in touch! We all have our stories. From infertility to being an army wife to losing a father. These girls are the definition of strong and I am so happy I got the chance to meet them!  

This is a photo of the 7 of us with Rainy (in black jacket) and Jordan (in brown jacket) who put this whole surprise together!

 

Since we all met, one of the girls started a private Facebook page for all of us, including the one girl who couldn’t make it. It’s pretty cool that I feel like I’ve known these girls forever when I’ve only met them once (or not at all for the one who didn’t make it!). The Facebook page has acted as a support system during our pregnancies, births (yes, most of us were keeping the other girls updated on the FB page as we were in labor!) and now as we raise our beautiful children! 

As each little miracle was born, I added them to a collage. Here’s the finished product (7 boys and 1 girl later)… 

  
We joked about how girls are always stubborn and have to make a big deal about everything so that’s why she came last! 

Four of us were on baby number 2 and the other four were first time moms. For the first time moms, we have all been there to support them and answer any questions they had before and after birth. Even for us second time moms, having these girls’ support has been great just to know we aren’t alone when it comes to the struggles of raising 2 kids! We all have family and friends that we can go to for support and that is great. But it is so nice to have this group of girls, with babies around the same age as mine, as a support system! 

All 8 of us are thankful for the opportunity we had to surprise our mothers with our pregnancies. Yes, we were all excited to be on tv and to take a trip to NYC but I’m pretty sure all of them would agree that the best part was meeting each other and making new friends!

…ok, it was also pretty great to get a new Uppa Baby stroller and blanket, Johnson and Johnson gift basket and $500 Visa gift card along with the free trip to NYC! But I’m still very grateful to have met these girls thanks to The Today Show!

The same girl that set up our Facebook group made this collage for us… 

 

It’s each of us with our little ones a year after we announced to the world (literally!) that we were expecting! 

Now both of my boys can say they were on The Today Show! Oh, I forgot to mention that Big Bro was one of the Babies of the Week when he was about a month old!  

 

I am looking forward to many years of photo collages of all of us girls with our babies! Thanks to each of you girls for all of your love and support throughout the last year!! 

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there!! 

Nothing like a good laugh!

A few nights ago, my friend had posted a video on Facebook and it made me literally cry laughing. And when I say cry, I mean tears streaming be down my face uncontrollably! Maybe it wasn’t that funny. Maybe it was… See for yourself… Warning: you will cry…laughing!

I decided to send her a video of myself laughing to prove how hard I was laughing. I will not post that here because it’s not pretty! She then proceeds to send me a silly video of herself made from the Crazy Heliumbooth App. This started an all out texting war between the two of us! If you’ve never used the app, you probably should! I seriously got an amazing ab workout that night and every day since! You’re friends will thank you! 

Here’s a screen shot to give you an idea of the app…

I always try to stay positive and see the lighter side of things. I hope my boys see that and do the same!

In other news, the next challenge is underway with Fit Girls Guide and I am doing the varsity level which is the #fitkinibodychallenge. It’s definitely more intense but it feels good! 

My video with Little Bro and myself doing sit ups has now been reposted on 3 large Instagram accounts!  

 

These are all great accounts to follow if you’re looking for fitness motivation and inspiration! They all have great ideas for working out and/or healthy meals!

I had an amazing (and very overdue) massage and facial this week! The girl that I go to has been doing my facials and massages since before my wedding in October 2011! That means I’ve been with her through both of our weddings, both of my pregnancies, her pregnancy and now her second pregnancy! She is amazing but (unfortunately for me, very fortunate for her) she will be staying home with her little 15 month old girl as of June! She decided to spend some one on one time with her 15 month old girl before her second child is born in November! Couldn’t be more excited for her to take that journey with her little ones!! So if you’re in the Milwaukee area and recommend a new aesthetician or massage therapist, let me know…and I have pretty high standards!

This weekend is going to be filled with lots of family time! Just me and my 3 boys!! Here’s some pictures from the past few days…  

Some brotherly love❤️

   

Oh to fall asleep in the middle of the floor after mom hoisted you from her lap to he floor when the dog started the “dry heaving before throwing up” sound! I got him to the tile floor in time! Phew! 

 

His new trick…wearing mom’s shoes…

 
And some food art… 

Hope you are all having a wonderful Saturday!!