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!!!)

Hurr Problems

The face of a highly bored-with-her-hair lady.

Y'all. I am getting antsy for a major haircut but I'm not sure I'm ready. I just got it trimmed and colored a month or so ago but I'm sorta fed up and have stopped straightening it. I'm so tired in the mornings when I get ready for work that it's much easier to wash and go with this curly mop of mine. Which is another reason I'm thinking of going shorter - faster ready time! AND I could actually straighten it in such a short time that I'd probably DO my hair more often. What a miracle that would be!

I just want a few inches off which shouldn't be THAT difficult a decision. In my early 20s, I used to have hair cut up to my chin, for crying out loud! That was back when my milkshake was bringing all the boys to tha yard! Or not. But my now husband went for the short hair so it couldn't have been that bad! ha!

I'm not sure why I'm finding it so hard nowadays to go shorter. Maybe I'm worried it'll be too mom-ish or maybe I'm just too freaking attached to hair that I've been trying to grow out for what seems like FOR-EH-VER. Or maybe I'm still focused on a shorter hairstyle bringing too much focus to my chubby round face. I'm always super self conscious about that.

But anyway, these are some of the cuts/styles I've been looking at for a while. Like, a long while. Looking through these has me Jessie Spano'ing. "I'm sooo excited! I'm . so . scared." I can't make up my mind! To cut or not to cut?

All pictures taken from my Pinterest board:

Follow j e s s i c a 's board hair + nails + makeup on Pinterest.

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 

Lots of firsts in October

A big thank you to anyone who read my word vomit of a post earlier this week. I got a much higher number of views this time so I know it got read, whether it was just to measure my level of crazy or because you cared. Either way, I appreciate it. If you still wanna offer up any insight to hopefully help calm my crazy, you're more than welcome to. You could even email me. Or tweet me. Whatevs. But thank you again to those who read it.

In other, non-insane news, I am in love with life in October. The weather is cooler (Texas cooler, that is) and with so many Halloween/Fall events coming up, I'm a happy girl. This month so far, we've had a lot of fun little firsts in Violet's world.

1. First time in a car cart - oh the squeals! // Just a cute new plate, thanks to the HEB // First Scholastic book order!
2. First set of Holiday artwork (melt my heart) // I celebrated a coworker's retirement // First year she's actually scared of Halloween :(
3. First time facing forward - eek! // First time ever with play-doh. Crazy huh? She loves it. // Trader Joe's pumpkin errything

I'll end this post on a fun note because we did something so super exciting last night - we bought a new refrigerator, gas range and microwave! I'm so so flipping excited! Isn't it crazy what we get excited about now?! ha! It has been a long time coming and I'm just about to burst with happiness that we could finally make it happen. It's fitting for this post too because this is our first big purchase for our house! Sure, we got new carpet recently but that was a wedding gift from my parents. THIS, we're doing on our own and I'm way proud of us. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of our fancy new schtuff!

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.