Isn't it amazing how easy it is to get caught up in REAL life and lose focus on blogging for a while? It's pretty nice, to be honest.

Also, I realized that my last post probably made it seem like I was holding back some major news and oops, I didn't mean to be a tease. No big news over here.

Alls I've got is work, baby, Ronnie, baby, home and that's about it. So here's the gist:

+Work has been a dramatic roller coaster lately which has kept me busy and super happy, actually.

+I've been selling V's clothes like a mad woman on my IG shop. (It's like a part time job in itself but SO fun.)

+We bought annual passes to SeaWorld/Aquatica and are obsessed already. We went this past Saturday and Sunday and had the best time. It's hot as balls outside but totally worth it.

+Ronnie's been busting his booty at his new job and I'm so proud of him!

+Speaking of his booty, he's seriously rocking the weight loss thing (35 lbs!)! And the summer-SAHD thing.

+Violet is awesome and cute as all get out lately. She's CONSTANTLY dancing and kicking her legs (most hilarious thing ever) and she does this squinty face smile now that almost literally melts my heart every time. She talks non-stop, throws plenty of tantrums and is just the coolest kid. She's sleeping pretty great too (for the most part) so I'm finally feeling human again. Not completely, but mostly.

Speaking of kids though, I've gotta bring it back to Ronnie who had a dream recently that I was pregnant.

A dream that caused me to go into a week long panic because of course, with my luck, I'd totally be the girl with an IUD who got pregnant.

This week long terror made me realize, as awesome as our kid is, mama seriously ain't ready for baby #2.

Not now and maybe not ever. #sadbuttrue

Obviously that dream really screwed with me.

But moving on. How have y'all been?

the yooj.

On Saturday, we garage saled.

On Sunday, we played in the mud and laughed at how funny your hair looks when you pull at it.

On Sunday night, she looked way too big. (as did her hair)

The weather was perfect on Saturday for a garage sale. We put out tons and tons of stuff (way more than you can see in the above pictures) and we made some pretty decent money! Ronnie's dad and step-mom came to help and even contributed some of their own items which was really nice of them. We had fun hanging out with them all day and it was so gorgeous and breezy outside. It helps that our yard has a ton of shade and I'm so grateful for that!! Also super glad the rain stayed away until the evening!

Sunday was me and the girl all day (Ronnie had to work 10 hours at his new job!). She and I did the usual playing, dancing, singing, napping and I did a little cleaning...It was a looong but good day. I think it's the sweetest thing how she lights up when she sees her dad so after the long day without him, she wouldn't let him go for the evening :) She curled up next to him to watch videos on the iPad and I was amazed at how big she looked. And sitting on her feet like that? Adorable. (She'd completely soaked her shirt with water beforehand hence the no shirt thing. ha. She loved it.)

It was a laid back weekend and looking forward to this time is what gets me through the work week for sure!

How was your weekend?

P.S. Thank you thank you thank you for all your comments on my previous post. Your advice and kind words mean so much to me. I shared all of them with Ronnie and he thought it was pretty awesome of y'all :) Sorry for being a sucky responder but I will reply back to your comments soon!

On the future.

I can only imagine how much prettier pictures like this would be, say, I had a fancy camera.

But I don't, so you get a phone picture.

Texas sunsets get me every time :)



If our walls could talk, they'd tell you that all Ronnie and I talk about lately is the future. It's a little ridiculous actually, but it's where our life is at right now. Realizing it's almost June and that by this time next year, our life could be hectic, crazy and completely different has us worried and my mind has been too occupied with those thoughts and just daily life, to even think about blogging. So, forgive me for being a sucky reader / commenter lately.

 

As some of you may know, Ronnie (my baby daddy, if you're new here :) is studying to become a dietitian but what you may not know is that next February, he has to apply to dietetic internships in the hopes that he gets accepted to ONE. In order to even take the test to become a Registered Dietitian (the ultimate goal), he must have gone through an internship so obviously it's super important! The internships are available all over the country through different universities and hospitals but the acceptance rate is usually pretty low so it can be tough to get in. Ronnie plans to apply to as many as we can afford to and he will honestly just take what he can get! 

 

So why all the worry now? Because MOVING. It's a very real possibility.

 

Ronnie is going to apply to internships in the area (there's only 3, I think) and to ones in other Texas cities but since he's obviously not guaranteed to get into an internship nearby, he plans to also apply out of state which makes a move very possible. He'll keep to states that he knows we'd want to move to, and of course can afford. The thought of picking up our lives and moving with a 2 1/2 year old at that time and pets is scary (and exciting!) and it would be quite the undertaking so it has us anxious, to say the least. Oh, and then there's my job. And the money thing. We have to figure in the cost of the internship, moving costs, prepping the house to be rented or sold (a big decision right there, too) and of course, our normal expenses. No pressure.

 

I'm not even sure why I'm sharing all of this information but it feels good to just talk about it. We've talked to family and some friends and gotten feedback but ultimately, it's all just TALK. We have no definitive answers and won't until next April, when Ronnie gets the results of his February applications. All we can do until then is keep to business as usual, keeping some made-up, sorta, kinda plans in the back of our minds. Ronnie's spending his time doing what he can to help his chances for getting into an internship: focusing on his grades, volunteer work with the dietitian at a local hospital AND he found out today that he for sure got a job he interviewed for last week, as a diet tech! It's a super part-time job but will get him more experience and is something else to boost his resume. That's about as much as can be done for now.

 

It's the not knowing that's the hardest. I personally think his shot at getting into an internship is great but still - we . just . don't . know. Life could totally take us on an adventure next Fall or things won't change much at all. And that's where we're at.

 

Have you ever moved for a job or just for the fun of it? I'm curious to know how it all worked out for you!

15 Month Violet

I always get sappy when we hit another milestone (that's a lie, I get sappy just about every day) but now that Violet is 15 months today and has changed so freaking much since turning one, I can't help but use yet another cliché because REALLY, where has the time gone??

She is no longer a baby but a full on toddler now. A talking, walking, dancing, climbing (as of this weekend. yay), mannerful (she finally understands "please" and when to use it!), tantrum throwing, food throwing/smooshing in between her fingers, mess making TODDLER. And as if a light bulb went off in her little head last week, she has realized that yes, sleep is awesome. She has been sleeping through the night for exactly a week now and we couldn't be more grateful. It's amazing what different and better people we are on decent sleep! Who knew :)

It's easy to get wrapped up in the daily b.s. and let ourselves be overwhelmed by the stress that is Ronnie being a full time student (yup, summer school too) and me working full time to take care of the three of us, yadda yadda yadda...but when I sit back and look at the craziness, I realize it is OUR craziness and that makes it pretty special. This is a time in our lives we will never get back and even though it can be nuts, I know we'll look back on this time with fond memories. I just love our life so much and that SHE is a part of it.

 

And I have to share this quick video. This child loves the music.

I hope her dad and I continue to rub off on her, that way :)

 

We road tripped yesterday so I was in the back with her and caught her busting some moves.

Please ignore that damn baby bink. She livens up the moment I take it from her - wait for it. (0:56)

 

Happy 15 Months to our wild child :)

And on a side note: Thank you to all of you who checked up on us down here in flood-ville. We were safe throughout it all! Our back yard was a pool for about a day but luckily, the water never crept inside. There are a lot of low water crossings near our house and those were flooded and shut down all weekend, even the nearby highway was flooded over in one area but it was all temporary. We're back to being sunny and happy in SA - especially for us Spurs fans ;)

I can't even handle it.

I really wish Baby Gap could make this swimsuit just a teeeeeny A LOT bigger so that I could get one too. Is it not the cutest thing ever? Is SHE not the cutest thing ever??? (You don't have to answer that. That's just the crazy mom talking.)

I am in awe of this girl. She is learning so much lately and I'm so blown away by the constant talk/babble coming out of her mouth (things like "bay" - baby, "pa" - light, "min" - "moon", "mine" - mine :), how she knows exactly where to point when we say "mama's nose/eyes", "daddy's beard/nose" and "outside", her constant dancing,  how she's learning what "hot" means, how she gets so excited to play outside, how her walking gets better every day, how she's now trying to jump in place, how she now has 13 teeth!!, her sweet little voice...her chunky legs...her smile...her curls. I would love nothing more than to just bottle her up at this age (I'd throw out the tantrums and crappy sleep but that's neither here nor there) and keep it forever. Everything about her is happiness and I am so grateful for her and the privilege to watch her learn and grow every day. We are so completely in love with you, little girl!!

Sappy post brought to you by our makeshift pool day yesterday, a la Brittany :) Violet's future husband Harrison seemed to love this pool-in-a-bin so I thought she would too. Not so much. Being outside in her bathing suit was happiness enough for her and for me too.

Weekend Picture Overload.

I am such a bitch on Monday mornings and I can't even help myself. After fun weekends with my favorite people, going back to work is basically torture. Ya know?

Saturday, we headed out for breakfast and then for a drive to Ronnie's hometown, Canyon Lake (about 35 miles north of SA), because he hadn't been there in a while and really, we're always looking for an excuse to take a nice drive! It was the perfect day for it too - about 72 degrees and GORGEOUS out. We stopped at the Canyon Lake Dam for the awesome view of the lake and it got us excited about spending time up there this summer with V!  It was also V's first time to Ronnie's hood so I know he was loving that moment :)

We stopped for lunch at our fave little barbecue place, the teeniest most random place (as most are in Canyon Lake) and Ronnie's dad came and met us for lunch. Afterwards we took a drive down River Road, I decided I need to get skinny so I can do more tubing on the river this summer (oh yeah, I say this every year and oh yeah, I still love bad food way too much.) and then we headed home. It was such an awesome day!

1. Being nosey at breakfast // 2. Our fave little BBQ place in // 3. Daddy and his girl
4. Three generations  // 5. Playing at home // 6. Knocked out on the couch at the end of the day!

Sunday, we had plans to go to our friend's Superbowl party but that depended on how V did at a 1st birthday party that afternoon (oh, how times have changed! ha). She woke up from her morning nap like a grump so we were late to the party but when we got there, she was happy as could be. Thank goodness. She had a blast watching the kids play, she LOVED watching some boys kick around a ball and super loved the swing - it was her first time in one. 

1. Waiting for grump to fully wake up to go to the party :) // 2. Cutie at the party
3. Inspecting the swing before she decided to love it // 4. My high school bestie Cristin and her birthday boy, Ayden

I'd taken her to the party alone while Ronnie deep cleaned the house (it needed it bad. Thanks, honey! :) so by the time I got home, we were all kinda worn out and decided against going to the party. So we just ran a couple errands, picked up some Chipotle bowls and then headed home to watch the game. I actually watched the entire thing, go me! (Even if only for the commercials ;)

 How was your weekend?

So lately...

I just haven't been feeling the blogging thing. I get discouraged when it starts to feel clique-ish and of course, being the anti kiss-ass that I am, I'm left out of the cliques. Which is fine because like the rest of you I do have a life outside of blog world and being part of the clique doesn't make or break me. Obviously.

But when I start to feel like I'm blogging for others and then get butt hurt when I feel like I'm not liked by some people, I need to step back and take a look at myself.

I'm nearly 30 years old for crying out loud.

I'm done with impressing people. Hell, my fiance's still around and I've stopped trying to impress him looong ago. ha! So I've decided I need to get back on track with my blog.

It's time to bring the focus back to ME. Back to my family. Back to MY LIFE. That was the intention of starting this blog after all.

It used to be so fun to just write about my life and then a few months later go back and read through it. I just don't feel like that's been my focus lately! I've seen posts just like this one on some of your blogs so I know I'm not alone in this and I hope the rest will understand.

Sure I'll join in the link-ups because I have fun with them but fair warning, just as I posted on Facebook recently (those of y'all who are friends have seen this I'm sure!), get ready for me to post the hell out of some Violet pictures in the near future. I was in a completely sleep deprived state her first two months and didn't post about her like I wanted to. I want to be able to look back at my blog one day and have those memories so I need to get on that.

Thanks for sticking with me and being a follower and a friend! It means more than you know!

:)

Grateful

This is some craziness let me tell you. I don't even know the last time I posted on a Saturday! Honestly I just felt like posting because I have been feeling so lucky (and grateful for it!) lately.

Not only do I have pretty much the best fiance EVER (and I just posted our love story for the first time yesterday) but I have the greatest friends and family a girl could ask for. Especially a pregnant girl.

Then our tour of the hospital Thursday night went so well and calmed so many of my fears about delivery. I'm feeling grateful for our great doctor and this excellent hospital. I can't believe it's where we'll be bringing our baby girl into this world!

Baby V has been so spoiled lately and so have we, with all the generous gifts we've received lately. And today is no different. Ronnie's sister and mom are throwing me a small shower and I'm SO excited for it!! I seriously don't deserve all this generosity but I'll take it...and it means so much to me!

On just the plain 'ol lucky side I have won TWO giveaways just recently! I mean, come on! How does this even happen? I like to think these are some of my last little "me" gifts before baby :)

This past Monday I found out I won Lauren's necklace giveaway and just received it in the mail on Thursday. It is absolutely adorable and I can't wait to wear it! Then the next day I find out I won Ashley's "love banner" giveaway! I can't wait to get that one!

It's just the small things and my heart is feeling very full!

My life (and Ronnie's!) is about to change very soon and I'm so blessed to have had such a great pregnancy surrounded by lots of love!! These past (nearly) 10 months have been wonderful and I will remember this time fondly! <3

Source: google.com via Jessica on Pinterest