Just dropping in to say, I hope y'all had a lovely Thanksgiving!!

Ours was so nice! This year there was no issue with scheduling (which can be tough when going to more than one house) but everyone agreed on the setup this year and it was easy peasy. Thank goodness. This bodes well for our many Christmases. Here's hoping, at least!

We had lunch with my family first and then we went to Ronnie's sister's for an early dinner. We were full and beyond tired by the end of the day but it was wonderful. There's just never enough time with either of our families!

mi familia = my parents, my brother and his girlfriend and my sister

ronnie's familia = his mom, stepdad, sister, her boyfriend and his daughter

Oh and how could I forget the best news of the day!? Ronnie's sweet sister is now a fiance!! Her boyfriend proposed to her before we sat down to eat!! He made a toast, said a lot of nice things about her, her family and then the surprise! We were totally shocked but so excited. I'm so happy for her, she deserves a good guy like him and I can't wait to help plan the wedding with her!

So that was our Thanksgiving! On to Christmas!
(the most wonderful/my favorite time of the year!!!)

Rando catch up!

So we finally got our new appliances in last Thursday! It's probably the best present ever to ourselves. Merry Christmas to us! In all the years we've lived together (nearly 8! I said it wrong on IG) we've always had older appliances and it's driven us crazy so having BRAND NEW is huge!

and just some randoms to catch you up on our life. If you're so inclined! ;)

1. A cut and a color, holla! // Practicing her smile for picture day! // Admiring the pumpkins. Pumpkin patch, SOON.
2. Loving her sneaky spinach smoothie // Cupcakes at work. OMG. // The family's wild 2.5 year olds :)
3. Me and my gurl // Lazy Sundays are the BEST // My little tree hugger 

On a #2.

Ask any of my close friends and family and they'll tell you that YES, Jessica really want a second child; it just depends on the day you ask her. And probably on how much sleep she got the night before.

I've been going back and forth with the idea of a second child probably since Violet turned 1. But it was just me being me and stressing for no reason because I never wanted a second child within 1-2 years. And every time I would talk to Ronnie, he wasn't really on board anyway. He'd say stuff like "Do you really want those sleepless nights again?", "Don't you like all of our focus just on Violet?"... All valid feelings that I too was feeling, I was just getting wrapped up in the superficial reasons for having another baby. Getting to name him or her, shopping for them, how cute she'd be as a big sister, outings with our little family of 4...not really thinking about the reality and $$$ of it all.

Fast forward to the past few days when it hit me that Violet turns 3 in February. No matter how many times I've gone back and forth about wanting another one, I always knew one thing for sure - I wanted my babies to be 3-4 years apart. No more, no less. And considering it would take however long to make a baby (especially because of my PCOS history) + 9 months to bake him/her....we'd have to make our decision to get busy ASAP. So, cue the freak out.

Now that we're HERE at the point of deciding on a possible second baby, my mind's been racing with all the pros and cons of why we should and I just can't figure out my stance. It's all very emotional to me and while some people might call me dramatic or say I'm way overthinking it, I can't say I agree. Having a second baby - adding another HUMAN to this earth! - is a ridiculously huge decision and there's no going back once you go there. (Not that I'd ever want go back on it, but you know what I mean.)

To make matters more confusing to me, recently Ronnie has actually started to warm to the idea of another. Every time he sees Violet play with other kids or especially when he sees her playing alone, it breaks his heart and he says "Let's just do it, let's have another! She NEEDS a sibling.". But I know him and I know he's going through the superficial reasoning that I've often gone through. We see her loving and just cuddly, sweet personality and we know she would be an amazing big sister (and I'm tearing up just typing that)....But would I, would WE, make amazing parents to two children?? Or would she be just fine as an only child??

We're already stressed as it is, our schedules are stretched to the max and we're just now getting to the point where we're dreaming of taking family vacations in the next year, now that Violet is getting older. We also daydream of all the fun things we can do ALONE because now that Violet is at this fun, interactive age that it's easier on the grandparents to take her, they're actually taking her more often lately. So even with the hectiness of it all, we're in our groove and things are running smoothly. A year from now things may even be SMOOTHER, what with Ronnie having finally graduated and hopefully having found a good full time job by then. (He WILL have a great job by then - gotta put that good juju out there!)

That's all just a small part of it because what about MONEY. Everything is just so . freaking. expensive nowadays. Can we afford daycare AND preschool? What about those two new cars we were talking about getting next year? (that we NEED) What about staying put and being content in our 2br house - we'd NEED a bigger house sooner than later. We can say goodbye to any family vacations for a good while. And I can also say goodbye to the possibility of me ever working part-time hours like we'd talked about. It's just so overwhelming when I think about it and I'm afraid that's how our life would be with a new addition - OVERWHELMING. Are we ready for that? Do we want that?

Ok, all of that sounded so very selfish but it's honest, y'all. These are legitimate things we need to think about. And having said that, I want to add that we don't take our one amazing child for granted. I know there are many people who want even just one child but can't and that's completely unfair bullshit. And here I am talking the way I am when I already have my girl. But trust me, at the end of the day, I am the most thankful to just have been able to be a mother at all. I never thought it would happen (that damn PCOS) so our surprise baby will always be considered a miracle and a gift to us and we'd be perfectly content to stay the little threesome we are now. We are just at a crossroads now and I (we) need to be sure we make the right, best decision for our family's future and for her. It's a big one.

I know it's something within ourselves and within our family to figure out but if you have any helpful insight (either way), I'd love to hear it. Especially if you're also an easily stressed out, maybe even A.D.D. person like me. ha. I appreciate anyone who reads or even comments on this insane novel of mine. :)

One week of October down.

It's a new month and my goal is to actually keep up with this blog / diary of Violet's life. So to start us off, I'm going to do a quick recap of the last week so that I won't have to do one round-up with 100 pictures of October, that you totally know I won't post until late November! Again, this is used mostly as a personal journal so if you're actually reading through this mumbo jumbo, THANKS :)

So last time I blogged, I left off at Violet being sick. Thank goodness for antibiotics! She started feeling better just a few days in. The night she started to feel a little better (10/2) we went out for a family date for cupcakes and coffee at our favorite adorable place, Bird Bakery. Violet was so excited and knew exactly where we were as soon as we got to the door, where she yelled, "Cupcakes yay!". Melt my heart. We had some mini "Elvis" cupcakes and I had probably the best Sea Salt Caramel latte ever! This place is a must if you're in SA! The next night, Ronnie grilled dinner for us while I introduced Violet to the greatness that is "Girls Just Want To Have Fun". Please tell me you love that movie, too!

Early Saturday, a bit of a Texas cold front came in making the temps only about 80 for the high. You know that's huge around here! So we spent as much time outside as we could this weekend. My sister came into town for the weekend so Saturday night, Violet and I got together with her and my mom for my belated birthday dinner at a favorite diner of ours and then we went to the mall for some shopping. I had a Sephora gift card burning a hole in my pocket so I finally broke down and bought the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette I'd been wanting FOREVER! (Yeah, I'm way late to the Naked party. ha). Per yooj, my mom spoiled Violet and bought her a couple things from the Disney Store. It was her first time in there and she was awestruck as you can imagine. When we walked in she looked around and said "Wooow!" :)

Sunday was a rare treat because Ronnie only had to work a couple hours! Work was slow and he lost out on hours unfortunately but fortunately for us, it meant a weekend day together! It was the BEST. He got to watch the Texans game which made me so happy because since he started working every weekend, he hasn't had one day of watching football and that's his love! While he watched football I got into the garage and started cleaning and getting stuff together to donate. Of course while I did that, Violet was undoing all of my work and taking her donation toys out to play. ha. Ronnie joined in the cleaning fun after the game and it was just a really good day together at home. I'd forgotten how great it is having him with us on the weekend. But this weekend job is only temporary and we can do most anything temporarily! :)

1. Cupcake family date // Chatting with my grilling hubby 

2. Silly Saturday pictures with my girl // "No pictures!" // Dinner with the fam

3. Sistas // Random shot of my favorites // My Sunday view

Septeeeember. My favorite month.

This month:

Violet started preschool. 

She was VERY upset about being dropped off and it broke my heart (and I completely sobbed when I got to the car. Amateur.) But luckily I had the day off with Ronnie so we eased the pain after with a quiet breakfast and day of relaxation together. She came home as happy as could be (when I finally got that "first day of school" picture) and all has been just fine since. She's on a Monday/Wednesday schedule and I'd love to add on a Friday sometime soon. She's thriving there, that's for sure!

I left on my "big work trip".

My annual Vegas work trip of course had to be this month. I left to the airport after dropping Violet off for her second day of school. That broke my heart too but I'm so thankful I was able to switch around flights to at least be there for her first full day of school. It was a good trip, our event went well and I came home with a ton of goodies for Violet but 8-10 day trips are no longer fun when you leave behind a child and a busy with his own schedule husband. But we all survived! And the reunion when I got home was perfect. It's amazing how much I missed just loving on my girl. 

I turned 32!

Not sure why there's an exclamation point up there - I'm not that excited about being this age. Thirty was just fine by me but thirty twooooo. That was a hard pill to swallow. Closer and closer to mid-thirties, y'all! But still no sign of crows feet around my eyes (just bags under them. ha!) so the longer I keep those away, the less old I feel. (Silly, I know.) We didn't do much because we just never do for birthdays but I had a fun dinner with my little family and then another dinner with my mom and sister and got tons of good gifts. Even my co-workers joined together and got me my favorite, an Old Navy gift card! It was a good birthday.

Violet got her first sinus and ear infection. 

It started off as just a runny nose so she went to school that first week but by that Friday (9/26) she got worse so that next Monday we took her to the doctor. She surprised us and actually did WELL for the first time ever at the doctor's office! I think it was the really sweet (new?) nurse who put her at ease and calmed her for the doctor. It was kind of amazing and a HUGE relief for us. Hopefully we can stop dreading those appointments now! *fingers crossed* She was prescribed antibiotics for 10 days and missed school that week but by the end of the week, she started feeling better, right in time for October! 

Notable pictures:
Our new "adult" table from IKEA!
My new favorite blanket ever.
Shared September birthday lunch with coworkers included the yummiest wine. 

August. One Month Later.

I'm getting better at this! I'm actually posting August pictures only a month after the fact! ha 

So, August. It was a fun but ridiculously hot month - isn't it always? We packed a lot of fun stuff in because it was both Ronnie's and Violet's last month of freedom before school started! With Ronnie's new schedule and working all weekend, we didn't do anything major but tried to fit in little family dates whenever we could. I'm so ready for him to be done with school and get his regular full-time job so we can be done with this hectic life! Mostly for Ronnie's sake, of course. He's always so busy and never has time to relax. I hate that for him!

Violet turned 2 1/2 on August 28th and she was already growing so much but I felt like she REALLY grew a lot in this month. She started saying things like "Cool! Wow!", "Baby Jewiss" (baby Jesus ;), "Goodness gracious!", "Open wide!" (which she learned after we played doctor with her 100x in preparation for her doctor's appointment. The prep didn't work. lol), "nice heart!" (another thing we'd tell her after "listening" to her heartbeat. ha). She just really has taken off with the phrases and repeating every.little.thing we say. She's really just a blast, tantrums and all!

1. We discovered a new splash pad by our house, she LOVED it! // I got a wild hair and decided to paint the walls next to our fireplace blue. I love them. // Toys 'R Us shopping trip courtesy of my FIL! // Her first tour of her new school.

2. Our house was packed into 2 rooms while we waited for carpet to be installed. It was cozy :) // Even cozier is our new carpet! I'm totally obsessed with it. (If you have pets and need new carpet, ask me about it!) // A moment of sweetness. Tantrums got way worse this month. // Wine tasting with my honey in Fredericksburg. So fun!!

3. Oh yeah, our kid was there for the wine tasting too :) She did really well! // Her 2 year doctor's appointment at nearly 2.5. She STILL hates going to the doctor. // My momma's birthday celebration! // We spent a lot of weekend mornings at the park even though we melted every time.

4. A random from my mom's birthday. I just love this girl. // I finally found my name(ish) on a Coke Zero! If you know me, you know my addiction so this was exciting. // Just another random cute picture. She pulled off those glasses better than I could have! ha // Another cute one of my two favorites. Notice my blue wall? :)

5. Family selfie! (#felfie?) // Our first Meet The Teacher night before school started. We felt like official parents! ha And then we totally turned it into a date night. // Officially 2.5 and becoming such a big girl but still always wants her mama's hand and I don't want it to end! // We had a mama/daughter brunch date and it melted my heart. I can't wait for more of those!

July. Two Months Later.

This must be my new trend, posting everything two months after the fact! ;) I'm not sure if anyone even still reads this old blog of mine but I find it hard to just let it go. I never kept up with a baby book for Violet (sorry, child of mine!!) so I at love at least having this to look back on. And Instagram, of course. I hope Blogger and Insta never go away!! :(

July was an interesting and busy month! My parents gifted us with money for new flooring and to just fix up our bathrooms and house in general. It was a belated wedding gift and just totally made our life. The focus this month turned into ALL THINGS HOUSE. It was fun but money goes FAST. Not sure if y'all knew that. haha But it was so much fun! We decided on new carpet, bought a bunch of random decor and got our master shower redone. I am forever grateful to my parents for that gift. We've always needed to do some upgrades at the house but with only one full-time income, that just wasn't possible before. We are falling in love again with our little 2 bedroom house and we want to make it work where we can stay here another few years (we've been here almost 3).

1. Celebrating the first day of July in winter fashion. ha. Girl is obsessed with all things cold weather! (Poor thing needs to be moved out of Texas! ha) // That time my parents took us out to dinner and gave us that amazing wedding gift! // We had a laid back 4th at home, and with Mexican food of course. // I started right away on buying things for the house. My little hatchback carries a lot of stuff but this was when I realized I NEED an SUV!

2. I actually bought and wore shorts in public! It had to be noted because I was always so uncomfortable in them. Not anymore! // One of my favorite pictures of her ever! That smile! // I went on a trip to Atlanta with some of the work girls. It was a good time of tradeshow'ing and drinking wine or beer in our beds at night. ha // My first tradeshow with my married name. So mushy and exciting!

3. I loved returning home to this monkey and her "pretty smile" // I think this was the month of trying out new restaurants. We blew a lot of $ this month eating out. Fun but UGH. // My parents celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary!! // This girl got to know Lowe's REAL well this month. We all did.

4. After I got off work one Friday, we got a wild hair and raced to Round Rock (an hour and a half drive) to hit up IKEA before it closed! That was the quickest, most fun shopping spree ever! // Boss lady bought us all fitbits in preparation for our big event. Plus, she encourages our competitiveness ;) // Our a/c went out this month. Fixing it didn't break the bank but we were told we'd need a new one within a year. UGH. // Upped my water intake a ton this month, thanks to these bad boys!

Coming soon, August! ;) 

June. Two Months Later.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am so grateful for Instagram. It's quick, easy and I can use it from just about anywhere. I can't say the same for blogging, hence my absence this summer! Since I blogged about our month of May, Ronnie has gotten a Saturday/Sunday job working for a courier service. It's surprisingly great money and has helped our one income family a bunch! He still had a ton to do with summer school these past two months though so adding the job has been an adjustment and we both hate that it takes him away from spending time with us on the weekends. 

So having said that, our summer has been stupid hectic. Basically Ronnie's with Violet all day while I'm at work, then I get home and take over so he can study/do homework. The afternoons when he had class, my mom would watch Violet. Then on the weekends, she's all mine while he works. It's been tiring to say the least. We haven't spent much time together as a family this summer but the positive is that we've both gotten a TON of one-on-one time with Violet. I don't get nearly enough of that being a working mama so that alone is worth everything! Ronnie is finally done with summer school and has this week off until he starts back at Texas State next week. Then the week after that, Violet starts school for the first time!! So much to talk about, so little time. That'll come later though. For now, PICTURES.

I have pretty much a crap ton to share so I narrowed it down to just 16 from the month of June. Next post will be dedicated to July and before you know it, I'll have gotten busy again and I'll be making a very late August post. If we're not already Insta-friends, follow me there so you don't ever have to miss out on my exciting life! haha!

1: Her water setup at home. One of the last weekends we had together before Ronnie started working! :( // After a bout with a broken flat iron, I got a new one and was happy to be back to normal! // This was the month of phrases. She started putting two words together and just took off from there. This was "roni cheese" :) // Just a random new beer mama tried. 

2: I hope she doesn't ever need glasses but if she does, at least she'll look cute. // I let her play in the rain and immediately felt guilty and worried that she'd get sick. She didn't. I need to chill. // My mom totally spoiled her with water fun at her house this summer. // "Tinky feeeet". Another new phrase she added and thought was the funniest ever. And oh, the giggles. They are the best ever.

3. Meeting another animal friend, this one was my cousin's cat and SO freaking cute. // Ronnie got the best Father's Day gift ever - a Spurs Championship! // Date night of the month at Gartenfest. German food + beer. Nom! // We went to a baby shower and my child acted like a wild fool and was in everyone's way but she looked sweet and quiet in this picture beforehand. Ah, the truth behind pictures. ha!

4. We've made so many trips to Home Depot and Lowe's this summer, it's ridiculous. // Another trip to HD I believe, this time wearing her favorite hat of the summer. lol // More shopping with my girl. This time, Target. Because mama is always and forever an addict. // A new swimsuit from you guessed it, Target. And more water fun at you guessed it, her spoiler of a grandma's house.

hello, june!

To be honest, I dread Texas summers because the HEAT. Oh, the heat. However this year's weather so far has been unseasonably cool and not bad at all! The fact that today is June 2nd and it's only a high of 90 (yes, ONLY), is actually kind of wonderful. The month of May was downright cool in comparison to the years past and it was just really nice. So hello, June! I'm actually happy to see you! And since I haven't updated since Easter (typical me), here's what went on with me + us during the month of May.

(Ronnie and I both upgraded our phones to Samsung Galaxy 5s in May and I'm finally loving the pictures it takes (I was iffy at first) and I've also been using the crap out of the VSCO Cam app after I discovered it had finally come to Android!)

We're Spurs fans in our house so them making it to the playoffs has totally taken over our lives! // We've been eating much healthier and grocery shopping is actually more fun now - I love this picture of us at HEB :) // The cutest Cinco de Mayo babe! // A client sent me and some of the work girls to a playoffs game and it was awesome to see the Spurs win and to run into Spurs Jesus! // We had a much needed date night and celebrated Ronnie's birthday, Mother's Day and our 1 month wedding anniversary (that makes me laugh) all in one. We went to the Luxury for dinner and beer, Rosella for coffee and ended the night at Target ;) // Mother's Day was wonderful. Landa Park in the morning with his mom and then the afternoon with mine. // Violet has taken off this month and become the most talkative, outgoing little thing ever. We're so proud! // Mama got her first haircut since last September!

Violet's not only more outgoing but she's become even sillier, if that was even possible. I'm totally in love with this age. // I painted her toesies for the first time! I used Piggy Paint and highly recommend it for the littles. // I went on my annual spring work trip and this one was at a Disney Resort. Holy gorgeous!! // We hired these 3 celebs for our conference attendees to get a photo op with and you know I took advantage of it too! // Returning home was the best! What a difference from the last trip I took. She was sooo excited to see me and loved all her Disney presents. // Ronnie has taken off with his landscaping hobby and our yard looks great. We've been making many trips to garden stores. // Could she look any bigger here?! // We had a ton of rain last month and I actually loved it. I hope June brings more of it!

That's that for May! 

I've totally slacked on blogging but I'm always on Instagram (where all these pictures were posted) and I also spend a ton of time on Twitter because it's fun and because none of my nosy family hangs out there (ha) so follow me there!

Happy June!

So far this week.

Last weekend, after we got back from our failed trip (still bummed about that one), we did some fun stuff in town. Saturday, we went walking around one of our fave parks, Brackenridge and took V on the Zoo Train. The last time we went on it was months ago and we had to hold her tightly on our laps - this time she sat by herself (next to me, of course) and she was just such a big girl about it. Made me proud :) 

The weather all weekend was windy and cool and totally perfect. That night, Ronnie was fiddling around in the yard (his favorite) and I finally joined him on the front porch. We had some beer, talked about the future and I was freaking out the entire time that I was hanging out with my HUSBAND. Oh, it feels so nice to say that!!

Sunday, we went looking for bluebonnets. I'd read online that there were some good ones at McAllister Park (right down the street from our house) and while there were some good patches, it wasn't anything very lush. I think we're already late in bluebonnet season - which is typical of my procrastination every year, which is why I've never gotten a picture of Violet in them until this year. I just can't handle this picture. So big and so sweet. Love this girl!

Monday, I was surprised at work with a little wedding celebration! One co-worker made cake pops for the first time because she knew I loved them and they came out so good! We had chips and dips, champagne and those big, fake wedding rings you get for bachelorette parties. Such a fun afternoon and I'm seriously so grateful to work with these people. Drinking on the job never gets old either.

Monday night, this is the only picture I got but you can tell why it was a must. Girlfriend only got one bite of chocolate pudding and while I was behind her cooking dinner in the kitchen, she made the biggest mess of her whole life. I guess it's good we got this far without huge messes. ha It was hilarious, she was squishing it between her fingers and loving life. She got a goood bath after that!

Last night, I took this picture because now every time we get home, she has to sit in her chair for a bit before we go inside. It's so cute and I'm glad she got the relaxing gene from us ;) And if you're wondering, the chair is from Walmart. FIVE DOLLARS! Get your kids one stat!

 

A wedding story.

In case you missed it, Ronnie and I got married last Friday!!! :) About time!

I apologize in advance for this novel... Ok so for anyone who's new here or forgotten, in early 2011 we cancelled our "big" November 2011 wedding. I was actually relieved (I haaated wedding planning) and then a few months after cancelling - I got pregnant. I felt a little guilty that we wouldn't be married by the time we had our baby but it didn't bother either of us all that much. We already FELT like a family and marriage was never really a necessity for me. I was also relieved that I wouldn't be getting married that November, 6 months pregnant! Not drinking at my own wedding was not an option. ha!

Fast forward to late 2013. Ronnie and I decided we just needed to do it already. We just felt like it was time for us to legally be a family and for me to finally share my daughter's last name. I hated not sharing that with her! So we decided to just elope and planned on December 30th since I was off work all that week. We'd get married and then go on our honeymoon! But then, Ronnie got a job in early December so we had to forget about him taking off any time to get married! When that didn't work out, I didn't choose a second date. I'm sure my friends were tired of hearing about my plot to elope but I kept putting it off - mostly because of nerves. Ronnie's parents knew it would be happening at some point and were thrilled. My parents however were not and that's been stressful. Finally, my good friend/coworker said "I'm going to help you plan this and you're gonna make it happen." That was April 2nd. The week before I actually got married! 

So there I was, making calls, making an appointment with a JP, ordering a dress online. That weekend we bought Ronnie's clothes and Violet's dress. The week OF the wedding, we ordered our rings on Amazon (yay Amazon Prime 2 day shipping!), I bought shoes and accessories and booked a photographer. The night before my wedding, I painted my nails, colored my hair (probably shouldn't have done that one. ugh.), made a couple props for our pictures, and made my bouquet! It all happened so fast and I was sick to my stomach nervous! ha

Then, Friday morning. THE WEDDING DAY :) We rushed all morning to get ready, ran late and even forgot the wedding license and had to turn back for it...But we finally made it to New Braunfels, in time for our 11 am wedding! NB is an area we've spent a lot of time in as a couple and Ronnie grew up near there and his grandfather's picture is even up in the courthouse so it's always meant a lot to him. We were married in the adorable gazebo in their Main Plaza. It was windy and cool and just a totally gorgeous spring morning. It was just me, Ronnie, Violet, the JP and our photographer - and it was perfect. The ceremony itself lasted maybe 5 minutes and then we were married! After that, we took some pictures then walked over to our favorite bakery across the street where I surprised Ronnie with a small wedding cake I'd ordered. We ate cake, took more pictures and by 11:45 or so, our little wedding was over. Aaaah! We headed to the coast afterwards for a quick family trip and had fun for a bit but the two year old wasn't having it so we cut the trip short and just had a really quiet weekend at home. It wasn't our honeymoon anyway so at least we have a fun trip to look forward to later this year. ALONE! haha

I'm just so excited we finally made it happen. I should have our pictures from the photographer next week and will share some then! Thank you again for all the sweet comments on IG and here on the blog. It feels good to finally be a Mrs! 

We're official!

9 years after we met.

8 years after we started dating.

4 1/2 years after we got engaged.

2 1/2 years after we bought our first house.

2 years after we had our baby girl.

We finally did it.

We got married yesterday!!!!!

// mr. and mrs. c.a.s.h. 4-11-14 //

I can't even tell you how happy I am that we made it official. We really have felt like a married couple from the moment we moved in together and felt like a real family the moment I found out I was pregnant but THIS, this makes it official and we are so so happy. I finally get to share a last name with my now HUSBAND and our daughter! Marriage wasn't a necessity for us but I'm glad we made it happen. Yay marriage!

Whoa, it's April already.

Where has the time gone? I swear I forget I even have a blog sometimes and then it hits me and I feel awful for not updating it in so long! So what have we been up to?

Well, last I told y'all, Violet turned 2! And since then, she has been very. much. a. two. year. old. People weren't kidding with all the talk about terrible twos ;) The tantrums have been upped, her stubbornness is holding strong (Thanks, Ronnie for passing on that gem! ha) and she is just totally fearless! But it hasn't all been terrible, not even close.

She's sillier than ever and has so much more energy! She makes the funniest faces, learned to stick out her tongue (because I showed her how I curl my tongue one time and it stuck!), talks so so much, laughs at eeeverything as if she even understands our jokes, dances constantly and she wants to hug and kiss us all the time. She loves hugging and kissing so much that she's even started her dolls on doing that with each other and it melts my heart. Violet has really taken after me with the feistyness and bit of attitude (whoops) but she's a total sweetheart, too. We're amazed at how smart she is and she leaves Ronnie and I looking at each other like "Did she really just do/say that?" nearly every day. Two really does have its terrific moments as well :)

On the Ronnie end, he's doing SO well at his job and is even considering taking a full time position. It would be great for him but it's also a huge bummer because it means putting off school yet another year. (He's having a ton of issues with his school. Of course it's not the case but you would swear they've chosen him out of their 30,000+ students to pick on and make it difficult to get back into school after his last year off. Don't even get me started.) On the weekends he's been spending a ton of time on our yard and it looks mighty pretty, I must say. We still need new grass and some other landscaping but he is well on his way with that! We had a date night a couple weekends ago and that was our first one since September! I cherish that alone time with him and hope we can make date nights happen more often. We so need it!

As for me, I'm still on the forever hunt for a fun hobby (besides drinking and social media). I'm just not creative and not sure what I can get into. Things at work are the same (good!) and I'm now prepping for my annual Spring work trip. We're going to Orlando at the end of May and our event will be held at a Disney Resort! I'm pretty excited about that! Can you believe I've never been to Florida?! I've been to airports there but that doesn't count. I wish Ronnie and Violet were going with but it's not currently in our budget and honestly, I'm not ready to spend a ton of $$$ on taking my 2 year old to Disney. I'd rather save that for when she's 4 or so. Ya know? Plus, I'll be so busy during the event, it wouldn't be fair to leave them on their own. 

So that's that! This is actually a really exciting and hectic week for us with something super fun coming up but I'm being super secretive and no one will know until it's happened. I'M EXCITED! Stay tuned ;)

All of these pictures were posted on my Instagram. Follow me there if you're not already! 

the happs lately...

We had our final Christmas get together this past weekend with Ronnie's dad, stepmom, sister and her boyfriend. It was also the last day I got to enjoy my Christmas decorations!! :( Sadly, I took very few pictures while they were here but probably because we were too busy feeding our faces, drinking way too much wine and opening a ton of gifts from his generous parents. It was fun!

Adorable cookie cake that his stepmom brought // Hanging out by the presents, where else? //
Loving her time with Aunt Krissy // A sad day - taking it all down on Sunday :( 

Also fun is that I haven't had to cook a thing this week because we had so many leftovers! Everyone contributed and all I had to make was a side and a dessert - very nice when you're the one hosting! These are the two things I made and they were so stupid good! They're also some of the easiest recipes around so pin em for the future!

The leftovers are gone now and I'm excited to actually cook up something tonight for Ronnie since he's been gone since Monday! Say what? Yup, Ronnie went on a work trip! Much like all those times I've left him behind during my work trips, this week was my payback ;) He had the first part of job training in Tulsa and will arrive back home tonight. And next week, he'll be gone FIVE days in Dallas. This week, he was technically only gone 2 nights and next week he'll be gone Sunday night and return Friday night. That's gonna be a. long. week. I'm feeling pretty nervous about it!

On the mom side, I just have to say how proud I am of our big girl! She's finally starting to say a bunch of words clearly and she's actually trying to enunciate. One of those words is monkey and one is Daddy which she says so clearly now and Ronnie LOVES it :) This past Saturday she added chip, diaper and sock to her vocab and on Monday she called herself "Hyatt" which has been a looong time coming. We've been trying to teach her her name FOREVER and she's finally catching on ;) Then last night, I'm 98% sure she told me "Luh you, mama" as she was hugging me. Can I tell you how my heart basically exploded right then?

We're about a month and a half away now from her turning 2 and I'm trying not to get all sobby about it. Where has the time gone??! For her 2nd, we've decided to not throw a party. Her first birthday party was a bit much for us considering how big my family alone is and without getting too into it, things happened that now make it awkward to bring our families together sooo we've decided it's easier (and cheaper!) to keep it low key. (Until she's older and starts asking for a party!) I'm happy to have a stress free, fun day just the three of us to celebrate her 2nd and if the grandparents want to celebrate with her on their own, then we'll do that too at some point during the weekend. Just no big parties for a while ;)

kissing on daddy the night before he left  - she always makes him wear her play glasses. ha // new fun stuff! //
loooving this polish! Sinful Colors - Endless Blue // cheesing with my girl

Back to reality...

Well, my two week vacation is over and I'm officially back at work. #coffeeme #andhandmethetissues

The only positive I can see about this is that I actually changed out of pj's and put some makeup on before noon. If that's even a positive, really, because what I wouldn't do to be back home right now with my people. It was honestly the best two weeks ever. We stayed up late, slept in, did whatever we wanted whether that was stay cozy at home all day, play outside, go shopping - whatever. we. wanted. Just having that time to relax and not having one impending deadline looming over me, a bajillion e-mails stressing me out, NOTHING - and it was everything that I thought it could be.

The best part was being able to see the changes in Violet every day, first hand. Sure I see her every day but I don't have full days with her so having that time was truly wonderful and I did a lot of crying and feeling sorry for myself last night because I didn't want it to end. She's growing so. so. fast and I just wish I could be with her as it all happens. My practical side knows that's impossible but my emotional side (probably a good 85% of me) knows that this was my last holiday with my "baby". The baby/toddler that we still can't understand clearly, the one who giggles at eeeeverything we do to make her laugh, the one who's obsessed with animals and making animal sounds - she'll be completely different next year at this time. She'll be going on 3 and yes, she'll still be as cute as ever to us but no longer a baby. I know I'm jumping the gun here...I mean girlfriend still hasn't even turned 2! But I'm so crazy and overly sentimental that I can't help but think of these things. 

I totally slacked on blogging while I was on vacation and I'm ok with that. At some point I might try and post some Christmas pictures and maybe even some of my Christmas decor (because it's still up and might be for another week or so.)...or I may never get around to doing that at all. Lezbihonest. So this mish mash may be the best you get of our life from the past two weeks :) 

1) first teeny bun // her old lady walk // christmas eve love // christmas morning

2) christmas at grammy's // fender bender on christmas evening. ugh. // cutest jam jams ever // first "snow" at sea world

3) coloring's a new fave // sushi with a friend and V // nye nails // "caaaar"

4) bubble necklace wearing // friends to keep a sick girl company // bakery treats // #idontwannatakedownchristmas

Bring it, 2014!

2014.

Can you believe it?!

I graduated high school in 2000, y'all. Excuse me while I go vomit. 

How in the heck did this year fly by so fast? I feel like I was just planning Violet's 1st birthday party and here I am, thinking about her 2nd. Slow. Down. Time. 

Definitely the most notable "memory" of 2013 was watching our baby girl turn into a full-fledged toddler. She started 2013 as a 10 month old and ended it as a 22 month old. Insane. I'm sure you can imagine how hard my mama heart is taking it but I know we enjoyed this year with her to the fullest and that's really what it's all about. I will always hold these memories with her close to my heart. She's just such an amazing little girl and I'm truly excited (and maybe a little broken hearted) to see her turn into a KID this year. It's already been such an amazing journey with her and I know next year at this time, I'll be shaking my head in disbelief again!

As for me, I've grown plenty too. Weight wise, well that's been up and down, but mentally, emotionally, professionally, I've seen so much change in myself. I have worked every day to become a better and more present mother, better organized in all aspects of life and much more focused on and excited about my career. All of those things need continued work and focus in 2014 and I also have a few other important goals for myself and my family.. and really, that's a whole post on its own!

Ronnie had to deal with some setbacks this year when it comes to school and his graduation date has unfortunately been moved a year (oh, another post for another day) but I think truly, it's been a blessing in disguise. He needed some time to recharge. He was stressed and some breathing space from school has been good for him. He ended the year by getting hired on as a part-time FedEx courier and we're SO excited! Great pay, great benefits and it'll work with his future school schedule.

In 2014, Ronnie and I will celebrate our 8th anniversary (!!), Violet will turn 2 and we'll celebrate 3 years in our home. Tons of good stuff and we have a couple of major things to work on this year. Details coming soon :) (and no, baby #2 isn't one of them, you insane people ;)

Here's a good chunk of our 2013 wrapped into 15 seconds. Kinda crazy.

I love my little family, our life and 2013.

It's been an amazing year but I'm ready for you, 2014!!

the weekend haps

Have I mentioned how amazing it is to not work a Friday for the rest of the year?! Thanks goodness for enough vacation time to be able to do that because I am loving it and plan to do the same next year! I'm having a blast having that extra time with my favorites and it makes me never want to work a Friday again. ha! This past weekend was so quiet and relaxing and made about 100x better by the crazy "Artic Blast" we got in on Friday. OMG it's been so cold (for South Texas!) and I don't ever want it to end.

Friday, we braved the crowd and went to Target, Hobby Lobby and then scoured Home Depot for some things for the house. We've decided to really make an effort to customize and update our house, a little at a time. Things like new paint, new light fixtures, french doors to replace sliding doors (we have three sets!?), new sinks in the bathrooms, etc. We've been slacking on that stuff since we bought the house two years ago (or maybe we've just been tight on money ;) but our goal in 2014 is to make it a priority! This Friday we're actually having the four huge trees in our yard trimmed (a big expense we've been putting off but I'm happy we can finally do it) and also having the kitchen counter tops refinished!!! Our old 80s laminate counters will get an new look and I can't wait! It's a much more cost effective way for us to get an updated look since granite counters aren't in the budget right now! 

Saturday, we didn't do much but hang out at home by the fire because it was that freaking cold and it was so so perfect. I also cleaned the house (my weekend duty. bleh) and then my parents came over and brought us pizza for dinner. That was so nice of them to do and Violet loved having time with him, I'm sure they felt the same ;)   

Yesterday, was a day that deserves its own post so I'll get to that tomorrow!

Random share. Buy yourself this goodness // Shopping with my loves // C - O - L - D
Searching for the perfect "greige" - any recs? // Her 2013 ornament, "Minnigey" // Cool baby V

A bit of November.

When I get behind on blogging, I end up bombarding y'all with a ton of pictures at once. So thanks to those few of you who stick with me ;)

November. It's been a busy month. It's not a coincidence that once our weather actually cools down, we feel energized and actually WANT to be out and about. So we've been doing a lot and making tons of memories with our girl. Our girl that has actually hit her terrible twos, oh, about 3 1/2 months before actually turning 2. She is all about the crying, whining and tantrums lately. Full on tantrums. She means business when she's in tantrum mode. Lord, help me. I'd be lying if I didn't say it's been completely exhausting and I miss the girl I had just a few weeks ago who rarely threw a fit...I'm also slightly terrified of what's going to come the older and more strong willed she becomes. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, right? 

This month, we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday, visited some with Ronnie's family too and then went to Wurstfest with Ronnie's sis and her boyfriend. So fun!! We hadn't been to Wurstfest since the year before I got pregnant and it was a much needed fun night out!

Then we took this girl to the Zoo for the first time! I'm looking forward to when she's older and able to participate in more things like the museum, water parks, etc. but for now, this was perfect and she had a blast, especially at the Butterfly House! (Disclaimer: By going to places like the Zoo or Sea World, for that matter, I'm not saying we agree with what they're doing. AT ALL. And we feel guilty every time we're there. But sometimes there's not a whole lot of places to take a small toddler and these places just work for us. So no judging, ok? :) 

ANYWHO.

Violet's also become obsessed lately with dress up - particularly with my clothes. She'll find something of mine and bring it to me wanting it on. It's adorable. She's noticing what her clothing looks like too. She'll bend over and stare at her leggings if there's a pattern on them. ha. She talks our heads off and I'm really happy with the progress she's making in that department. Her most recent words include "munk" (monkey), "hoo hoo" (for owls), and our favorite... c-o-c-k. Yup. That stands for clock in her world and we think for truck too. And wouldn't you know, it's one of her most repeated words. Fun :) She's just the best (when she's not throwing a tantrum, of course ;)

We just put up the Christmas tree last night - haven't decorated it yet - and she LOVED it. She even kissed it. ha! I'm so excited for the holidays with her!

And then I blogged.

Who is this person that hasn't blogged in a month?! Life and work (mostly work) have really kept me busy lately and I just haven't had it in me to focus on blogging but dang, a month is a long time. I don't think I've taken a month break in a while! I've gotta say though, it was a really nice break. Until I was reminded by my oh-so-sweet fiancé that I can't be slacking on blogging because THIS IS OUR BABY BOOK. And like that, the guilt took over. I'm already that mom who hasn't ever written in her baby book and now I'm not even keeping up with this! Hashtag: working mom problems. Or maybe that's a cop out because there's probably a lot of working moms who are way better organized than I am!

So my last post basically left off at whining about our car trouble and water heater trouble...All were resolved and everything is fine and dandy in those departments. Shortly after that post, Violet turned 18 months and since then we have seen such a change in her. She's grown more hyper, more active and just so silly. We work on words all the time and she's definitely starting to get more talkative. She's probably not the most talkative kid out there and doesn't have the biggest vocabulary but she's making a ton of progress and sometimes I truly believe that with two such stubborn parents, she is just being stubborn with talking - basically, she only talks if she wants to.

And just for my own record, here's what she's been saying. I think her main thing right now is that she's ALWAYS looking for the moon when we're outside and immediately points and says "moon!", in her cute little raspy voice. She says "mo" (more), "bah!" (when's something's done or gone or she wants you to stop. ha), ""buh bye" (all the time!), "please" (peas), "car", "wawa" (water), "no" (that's a fun one :), "bean" (binky), "nummy" (that comes out a lot when she's eating something she really likes, it's adorable), "birdy" and she says "tweet tweet tweet" when we ask her what a birdy says and "woo woo woo" when we ask her what the doggies say :) I know there's a little more but I'm kinda scatterbrained at the moment and can't remember it all. But yeah, she's 18 months old (almost 19 at this point) and pretty typical in every way. Her appetite's grown so much and she's now finally wearing mostly 18 month clothing and probably very soon, 18-24 month clothing. She's still super obsessed with sunglasses, the LaLaLoopsy movie that she watches constantly on Netflix and she sleeps really well. Probably due to how wild and active she is. She's noticing a lot more when we leave and that breaks my heart for when we put her into MDO or daycare soon. We're only planning on doing that a couple times a week and mostly for the interaction with other kids!

But anywho, here's how the rest of our August went...

We went on a much needed date...I got my first ever Bzz box and it was full of Quaker goodness that Violet devoured...and we celebrated my momma's 60th birthday!



I guess at some point this week, I'll post an update on September, so far!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the fall weather. I woke up to 60 degree amazingness and enjoyed it while I could because the high will still be 90 today. Ah, South Texas :)

some lately pictures + giveaway winner!

I feel like at every stage of Violet's life, we say that THIS is our favorite one. We've been saying that for months now but it really is hard to decide a true favorite. She's just such a silly, ridiculous child that you can't help but enjoy all of what she's doing. She's even sleeping pretty well nowadays, even with her molars coming in. And I KNOW it's her molars coming in because poor child has been in pain for almost 2 weeks now. The first week, her sleep was awful and she did nothing but whine in her sleep. Now, she whines during the day :( Teething is the WORST.

And for even more randomness today, this is life lately...



Wild child // Happy Hour with a friend // Parentals' 32nd Anniversary!! // Loreal Greycian Goddess. Still love it.
V was on local TV!! // Day date to Sea World // Baby Shamu! // Cutie booty
Disturbing my work at home plans // Why does she look so big?! // Neon at Target // Walking's lame, I'll crawl.

I'm so excited for tonight - Ronnie and I will be real-life adults! I won tickets from my friend Megan of Mean Baby, to a local event called Cocktail: The Event. I really wanted to go but it wasn't in the current budget so I was supa excited to win! Eleven of the city's top bars will be competing for the best cocktail, some of the top chefs will be serving food and there will be a couple live bands and a burlesque troupe. And we'll get to hang out with Megan and her baby daddy too. Definitely a fun night, eeek!! :)

Oh and before I forget (sorry to keep y'all waiting), the winner of the $20 credit to Brittany Garner Design is....

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats, Ricky!! I will have Brittany get in touch with you :)

You might remember Ricky from my last giveaway, her Etsy shop was my April sponsor! SO fun.

Happy Friday, people. Have a fun weekend!