I can't believe it's almost May! I also can't believe Ronnie and I have now been married two weeks! I'm hoping we get to at least celebrate our one month anniversary in a couple weeks. It may seem silly to be getting excited over such "small" milestones but we've been together sooooo long and married so little of it that I think it deserves a celebration! ;)

Last Thursday, I took V to the mall to see the Easter Bunny. She hadn't been since she was a teeny sleeping newborn and we honestly forgot about it last year. She's always hated Santa but I was optimistic (stubborn/dumb/naive?) and thought "Well, she loves animals, so maybe she'll love him too!" and I was almost right. In line she was pointing at him, talking about the eggs all around him - she was happy! The moment we get up to him though all hell broke loose. It was an all out scream fest and she was clinging to me for dear life. I half expected it though so I wasn't too surprised. What I was surprised by were the looks on the faces of the moms in line behind me. One lady even was shaking her head - as she held her sleeping, maybe two month old son. I've gotta say, I've never felt more competition or more judging in my life than I have as a Mom. It's just awful. I truly thought when I was pregnant that it would be a fun gang of women all going through the same thing but somehow I feel many moms didn't get that memo. While I'm happy to befriend other moms, I sometimes feel like I get the side eye from many who are judging ME by my wild child of a two year old. What I wanted to say to those moms was "Just you wait. You'll understand one day". But I wouldn't because that's the exact judgey behavior I'm talking about but in that moment, that phrase felt so true. Yes, we're all moms but we're all in different stages and I wish all moms acted like they understood that. You may have it easy (during the day at least) with your newborn but it only gets harder - which I've heard as well from moms of kids older than mine. Yes, being a mom is amazing but it has some really trying times and those trying times only get tougher so if we're all gonna go through the same stuff eventually, why is it so hard to get along?!! Ya know? 

Ok, I'm done. I had to vent since I never vented to anyone that day when it happened. ha! Except to Ronnie. Poor guy, has to hear my bitching and honestly, he doesn't get it. I don't feel like dads deal with that kinda stuff. I could be wrong though :/

Easter morning - I wonder how much longer she'll love a bunch of little things from the Dollar Spot? I hope forever because her mama sure loves it! I got her an owl cup she's been pointing out every time we go to Target, a couple books, a puzzle, socks, necklace and sunglasses. I also put some cookies in little plastic eggs, too. She loved it!

I didn't get many pics the rest of Easter because she was all over the place and I wasn't feeling well at all. But she did get super spoiled by both my mom and Ronnie's mom. She was worn out at the end of the day! She still didn't quite get the Easter egg hunt thing but I'm sure will love it next year. 

One of her favorite gifts from one of her many Easter baskets. ha! 

Future neighborhood watcher. She pulled her chair out to the front on her own, it was adorable. Also - isn't the ribbon hanging pretty that my mom made? Perfect for Fiesta!

And this face. Seriously?! 

Two may be stressful sometimes but this makes it all worth it.

Ooh and some fun news! I'm legally a C.a.s.h! I'm so excited! I finally got everything updated at the Social Security office last Friday (only took an hour - woo hoo!) and then got my new Drivers License this past week (only took 10 minutes - unheard of!)...I'm such a procrastinator and take forever on things but I also knew my work trip was coming up and I wanted my name change reflected on plane tickets and to get my ID in time so I HAD to get this done. Fun stuff! :) Oh and TGIF! Have a great weekend!

a roller coaster week

I haven't talked about it much on social media but last Friday, my uncle (my mom's oldest sibling) passed away. He was her much older half brother and was 85 years old. He had Alzheimer's and dementia and had been in failing health for a couple years now. I think we knew he might go soon but not this soon so it was a bit of a shock. I wasn't super close with him but as a kid we spent many holidays at his and my Aunt's house and I have many fond memories of him. My aunt only wanted his life celebrated and for that reason, I chose not to splash the news of his passing everywhere, to garner sympathy and what not. But thank you for any prayers and thoughts - we are at peace and I believe he is too; that's all we could want for our loved ones.  

Because of his passing and the funeral falling during the work week, I had to cancel attending an important conference in Houston with the rest of my team. It was for unfortunate circumstances but I was almost relieved to not have to go. I figured I'd get to work in a really quiet office and possibly have some flexibility to my schedule all week and I was good with that. But I got the best surprise e-v-e-r when my boss called me Saturday night and said because I'd be the only one in the office, to not worry about coming in and to just work from home as needed. ALL WEEK. Seriously? I couldn't believe it and could have peed my pants from excitement, y'all.

I really have made sure to take advantage of this unexpected week off, too. We've done a ton of sleeping in, started our Christmas shopping and of course spent a lot of time being silly with and loving on V (when she wasn't throwing yet another tantrum, that is. Oy.) I bought some paint samples to try in the kitchen, a guy's coming today to refinish our counter tops and the tree trimmers will be here shortly, too so lots of progress at the house! It's just amazing what a week it's been. Bad news early on but we're ending on a high note, thanks to so much extra time with my little family. I hope y'all have had a great week too. HAPPY Friday! (the 13th! Whoa.)

she might finally be liking her hat and it's the cutest ever.

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terrible twos and public tantrums require wine. 

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my new $3.99 mug from marshalls. I sure do love a good deal.

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big girl ready to shop with her parentals.

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being embarrassing is a requirement of momhood, right?

A date with Santa

On Sunday I had my first ever "we met on Instagram" date with my new friend Chelsea, from Austin. She and I met through my Instagram shop, she has one also and an Etsy shop too where she sells hand painted leggings (more on that in another post!). There's not a whole ton of girls in our area on the Instagram shop "circuit" so we chatted a lot and we both have girls the same age so decided to make plans to meet up, somewhere between SA and Austin. Chelsea had the idea to meet in Gruene since that's a great spot in the middle for us and we could get the girls' Santa pictures taken there with Cowboy Kringle. (Seriously. So cute, right?)

After two failed attempts (weather related), we finally made it happen yesterday! It still was bad timing with Violet in awful teething, whiney mode but I was determined to make the meet up happen and I'm so glad I finally got to meet Chelsea and Addi! I didn't get any pictures of Chelsea and I but I did get a couple of the girls while we were in line for Santa. The line wasn't that long but it was pretty unorganized so it took longer than it probably should have. Good thing for the abnormally cold day and getting there early so there wasn't much of a crowd!

So, back to when I said Violet was in whiney mode? Yeah, that lasted the whole time. Hence the baby pacifier for most of the day. UGH. And by the time she got up to see Santa, she was already wearing down and I knew it wouldn't be good. I even changed the original picture package I'd signed up for because I figured we wouldn't get a good shot. But I guess if you consider crying pictures to be good ones, then hers was great! Poor Santa still asked her if she wanted anything for Christmas and I told him a doll would be great to which he replied, "I will see what I can do!". I took that to mean, girlfriend's getting coal for Christmas. She's still pretty cute though :)

After pictures, I totally pushed my luck and we took the girls to eat at the Grist Mill. Enter toddler nap time meltdown. I got to eat a few bites and then it all went way downhill. Poor Chelsea packed up my food for me while she and her angel of a child ate and I walked outside to calm down my child. We had to leave soon after but thank goodness for Chelsea being so awesome and helpful throughout it all. It was so great meeting her and I hope we get to do it again soon! Next time though, my kid's staying at home and we'll be in Gruene for another reason - WINE.

toddlerhood lately...

Cupcakes, twinkle lights, tantrums, obsessing over stuffed animals and decorating for Christmas is basically what's been happening in her toddler-hood. I didn't even mention in my last post that Violet turned 21 months on Thanksgiving. Seriously - how are we only 3 months away from her turning 2?! I was just acting all shocked and brokenhearted over her turning ONE!

Not to say this kid isn't already preparing us for two though - the terrible two's have slowly been creeping their way into our house for a few weeks now. Violet had her first public meltdown just last week, while I was paying at Old Navy. MY happy place! I felt like an awful parent with everyone staring and sighing but I remained calm and we got through it. And that is life with a toddler. This stage has honestly been one of the most trying and exhausting times we've had with her so far but I can say it's also had a way of becoming one of my favorite stages. Everything is just so exciting to her and she's so curious, so much more than just a few months ago. It's like she actually enjoys things now, like a real life KID! ha Which also comes with being vocal about disliking things too and the constant "No" but we won't go there ;)

She has her favorite stuffed animals, she loves making animal sounds, dressing up, getting into our cabinets and destroying the kitchen, hugging on and irritating our cat, being outside in the cooler weather and her favorite TV shows (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Pajanimals, Sesame Street, Sid the Science Kid and Doc McStuffins). She's always asking for "wawa" (water) and "molk" (milk), starts saying "nigh nigh" when she's sleepy and if we'd let her, she'd take a bath multiple times a day. She's now to the point where she's actually repeating things you tell her to say. Soaking up everything like a sponge, I tell you. And we're seeing a definite left-hand prominence in her recently which I'm really curious about. I'm not sure if you can tell those things at this age? I'm just blown away by everything she's doing and how rapidly she is changing and growing! I'm getting more and more excited every day for Christmas morning at our own house and seeing her sweet little face react to it all. 

our first fire of the season and her first time seeing a fire. she was in AWE and turned so cuddly and sweet. Swoon.

her new favorite spot under the tree // "key" shoes // cupcake monster

favorite "munk" and "tweet tweet" // um the tag says 2T but that's way wrong // her own chair at Grammy's

our morning scene

i'm sure her next word is gonna be "gentle" as much as we've been saying it lately :)

So one week into 21 months...
minus the whining over eh-very-thing and the whacky toddler emotions, this girl is perfection :)