lets just flush this week down the drain.

we may be diaper free, but by no means are we accident free. potty training has literally gotten the best of me; along with this week as well. I really want to stick this past week and this potty training business ...

... you get the idea. 

I still plan on doing a full post on our potty training adventure but I'm waiting until next week because it will officially be a month since we started  doing multiple loads of laundry a day and cleaning up pee puddles on the stair case. So like I said, in a month I  should have a really good idea of what I really think of this miraculous 3 day method. 

I try really hard to not have those raging blog moments where I just sit here and vent to nobody, but lets face it, that is exactly how the guy who invented Facebook became a billionaire. So, I'll spare my humility and take my chances in order to maybe earn a buck or two.

My kids are crazy. 

Are yours?

Like for real, pterodactyl dinosaur crazy. (trust me that is spelt correct, i googled it, and google makes no error). i know my grammar & punctuation is terrible but i do try to get my spelling correct. 

i think my little dinosaures know i'm tired. like momma needs a straight 15 hours of sleep tired and not 4. my kids are great sleepers so its not their sleep habits that are keeping me up, its me and this potty training craziness and the hub's work schedule. Danny doesn't get home till after 10 from work, meaning he doesnt usually go to bed until closer to one, which means i dont go to sleep until closer to one and then I'm waking up multiple times a night to listen for hudson on the monitor and then waking him in the 6 o'clock hour to go pee...only to learn that every single morning, he is already wet. and so our mornings begin...on a lovely bed wetting morning almost every single day for the last 3 weeks. 

We. Are. Having. So. Much. Fun. 

my sweet, i wanna sit on mommys hip all day, hampton... has clearly made it known that he is definitely not a morning person. I'm pretty sure he cries from 7 until 9:30 every morning. he does stop crying to eat. but if it isnt eggs or oatmeal, with a side of banana then his whole day has just been ruined. i'm just going to pretend that he is probably just teething and his attitude has nothing to do with my lack of being an awesome mom. Though, I must say, there is one thing that is keeping him happy (besides myself) is this: 

Melissa & Doug Shopping Cart! He pushes this thing around alllllll day long. Loves it. We got this from danny's parents this past Christmas and it has been such a great toy! Hudson loves it too but is more creative with what he puts in it;

(no one was injured in the making of this photo)

Love Melissa & Doug toys! Seriously the best, I mean this shopping cart is like the real deal! 

Ahh so thankful it is friday and so thankful that my children have no idea that they went to bed at 5. ;) Now who wants a glass of wine and a chocolate chip cookie?! (my hand is raised!)

we went for a hike

A couple of weeks ago danny & i thought it would be a great idea to go hike up Kennesaw Mountain, with the boys of course, considering we have no baby sitter or any family members within an 800 mile radius are children come everywhere with us ;)

some great ideas last about 10 minutes into the idea and you realize it wasn't that great of an idea. we went hiking people. up a mountain. pushing a double stroller, with only two children's cups full of water and two granola bars (snacks for the precious cargo who apparently made it known that riding up the mountain was just as painful as hiking it). 

danny and i had to take turns pushing the stroller, if that gives you an idea of how hard it was. i think we were a little in over our heads,especially for me since I dont even remember the last time i worked out.  Kennesaw Mountain is always packed with people, I mean people are everywhere, we even had to park in the overflow parking...so we had always thought surely it isnt that bad?! Apparently, there are a lot of in shape people in Cobb County. There were a lot of twist and turns and every time you went around the curve you would think "I bet the top is coming up" and you would be wrong. There were no signs to let you know how much farther to go or anything like that...all you had was hope. I tried several times convincing danny that we just needed to turn around but he was clearly more motivated than i was. 

Reaching the top was somewhat of a let down momentarly, I was hoping there was going to be some kind of ice cream shop or even a huge cart of free water bottles. Big let down, but after checking out the view and seeing how far we had come it was pretty cool! Everything was just gorgeous! Hudsons favorite part was seeing the deer ,counting the trees (5 of them ), finding rocks, and saying "mountain" over and over. Hampton was wiggling to get out for me to hold him the whole way up and then eventually fell asleep on the way down. 

Going back down was a bit easier but you pretty much had to run down it because it's so steep. This made going down with the stroller very interesting. Both of our shins were killing us afterwards due to having to hold the stroller back from going so fast. All and all it was a sweet experience and hopefully we can start making it a weekly tradition considering its about 3 minutes from our house. What a great workout center! And its free! My favorite thing about it all was just being able to do something different & adventurous with my family! Really was a sweet time! 

tankini anyone?!

Just when i thought all the sales weren't going to show themselves until the fourth of july weekend... i stumbled upon an awesome deal this weekend! i have to give some major props to my hubs for taking me to the mall and strolling the boys around while i shopped; his only restrictions we start in Sears and eat at The Varsity for lunch. Little did I know, a magical moment would happen in sears. What you ask? All LandsEnd Swimwear 40%...plus once you got to the register it was an extra 55% off of that!!! Can anyone else hear the angels singing?! I was like in swim suit heaven. My mission was just to find a pair of black regular bottoms to go with majority of my tankinis.  i was wearing a black swim skirt, but it really wasnt working out anymore with the amount of times i had to get in & out of the pool with it always sticking to me and feeling so heavy. I always feel like buckets of water are falling off of me with that skirt.

So  tankinis were everywhere, which personally are my fav! Modest, fashionable, & comfortable! It seems as though the older I get the more I appreciate modesty. Don't get me wrong, when it just the hubs and I, I have no problem busting out my bikini, but around others it just makes sense to cover up a bit more. I love this presentation by Fashion Designer Jessica Rey, you should check this video out if you got 9 minutes to spare ;)

So sears (gosh you can believe it? sears? of all places?!), I got 3 pieces, which if they weren't on sale would of been close to over $140 (which would of been a lot of money on clothes in my world, considering i never buy anything over $12). I got them, tax included, for ,wait for it...$28 and some change! 28$ can you believe that?! These aren't the best photos of them but here at the two tops I got!

So thats my deal of the day! if your needing a new swim suit I highly recommend LandsEnd Swimwear,  which you find at Sears, you can look online, but I promise they look so much better in person! Which doesn't always happen, so I'm thinking they may need to work on their online layout or something. Anywho, some other places that have really cute yet modest swimwear are:

1) Lime Ricki Swimwear

2) Rey Swimwear 

3) Divinita Sole

I also think everynow & then you can find something cute at the obvious places like Old Navy, Khols, and my favorite Target...but you risk the chance of someone else having that same suit ahhhh! torture! kidding. who cares?!

Speaking of Target! Went there today for a new floor lamp and saw that they had their swim wear on sale buy one get one half off!! yes, I tried on 4 things...and had 2 in my basket but after I strolled around I eventually put them back. Having them in my cart for just that 5 minutes was a sweet relationship though. however, come August when those babies are on the 50% off rack...i'm there! ;)

I got this one last week and I'm loving it! It ties around the neck the back, which you usually dont find on tankinis! Helps make sure everything stays in place ;)

Well after Bathing suit shopping, i had to hold up to my end of the deal...by eating hotdogs ;)

just keep swimming

we pretty much live right across the street from the neighborhood pool, which i love for some many reasons but mainly bc there isnt a gi-nourmous bowl of water right outside my back door for my children to accidentally fall in to. man, so scary. i'm not a big swimmer, so swimming pools really aren't my thing and swim suits, well they aren't my favorite outfit to put together if you want my honest opinion (plan on blogging about swim wear here soon).

i definitely didnt grow up this way, my sister & i practically lived in our backyard pool from sun up till sun down and as we got older night time swimming by far was the best. but my parents will vouch for me as well, i never was a big swimmer much less a well trained swimmer. i  held my nose and doggy paddled my whole life and pretty much stopped getting into the deep end once i realized that doggy paddling and nose clipping looked slightly ridiculous as an adult. ahh so embarrassing. i can just hear Nemo's dad "just keep swimming" yelling  in my head right now.

But after hudson had swim lessons  last month while we were in texas I have been determined to get him in the water as much as i can, which means i have to get in the water. thats right, no laying out drinking a margarita, and sun bathing (who says sunbathing anymore) for this momma...its in the pool getting face splashed, kicked in the stomach and holding a one year old on my hip hoping his face is above water, repeatedly saying "kick hudson, kick hudson, now reach up, reach up, reach up" and then we sing "crab walk, crab walk, crab walk to a safe place" and side note: we are not at the pool alone, so there are usually other people around who are seeing these shenanigans going on.

going to the pool is not as relaxing as it once was... especially with two who cant swim and who both want to be in the water. i spend my whole time going back and forth like a yo yo between the two of them.  we usually only last about 30 to 40 minutes and then hampton and i are usually done. hudson could stay in there all day long unless he has to poop and then he wants to come home to poop in his own potty, gotta love a private pooper.

yesterday, we went to the pool with our neighbor friend natalie and her little girl, it was so interesting to watch the differences between boys and girls at the pool. sweet sophie,  in her cute lil ruffled tankini and floral floppy swim hat (seriously it was a floppy hat, so cute, i need a girl) would just dip her little feet in, sit by her mommy and then get out to have a snack and then back to putting her feet in- adorable and such a girl, loved it! my boys?!  hudson had to be in hampton's floating thing and kept kicking to get out into the middle of the pool, hampton kept trying to dive into the water head first, and when hudson wasn't in the floaty he was splashing everyone around him and stealing some else's ball and throwing it into the water.

i loved how after i had posted a picture of our first trip to the pool on instagram, my sister in law, was the only one to ask me how i managed with them both at the pool. its because she knows, she's got 4 kids and at one point she had 4 all under the age of 4. oh sweet sister of mine, i am the one who should be asking you how in the world do you manage?!

but we do, we manage, and we manage with a smile on our face and tan lines on our arms. And we will keep going, why? because i love the joy that it brings to these little boys of ours.

{all photos taken with my iPhone}

ONE

Last month, gosh has it already been a month? my littlest turned one while we were visiting in Texas. I'm refusing to believe he is one and will stay my 9 month old forever ;) hampton is by no means a one year old haha...he isn't walking, he isn't standing alone, he isnt talking, he still takes two sometimes three naps a day, and the child loves pureed food, preferably in a pouch. he is my baby through and through and i am totally loving it.

hampton spends most of his time sneaking up the stairs when no one is watching, following me around, hanging on my leg and escaping his brothers desire to wrestle with him. im almost certain he could stare at me all day long and be perfectly content.

Like his brother, he is an amazing sleeper thanks to Baby Wise sleep training method. However, Unlike his brother, hampton was not a "some babies are just born good sleepers" baby. he was awful, but with a lot of training by 11 weeks my hampster was sleeping his 12 hours at night straight. no feeds, no changes, no reswaddling...12 hours straight. I love you babywise.

hampton lights up our whole family. he is such a sweet addition to it. his smile is contagious and his snuggles are hard to resist, even when loads of laundry need to be done, but i'm a firm believer that when your kid wants to snuggle you drop everything your doing and by golly you snuggle. 

he's a little guy (yes, the rolls can be a bit deceiving), but nothing we didnt already expect and though he's almost 13 months old he is still wearing mostly 6/9 month old clothes. his top two teeth have been trying to make their appearance for almost a month now to join his only other two bottom teeth. I'm really giddy about those two front teeth coming in, they sure do make for super cute smiles. 

hampton grey you are so special in so many ways. you have stolen my heart this past year. thank you lord for this precious little guy, and all the joy he brings. 

thankful for a mommas boy ;)

-amber

2.5

yesterday hudson turned 2 1/2, we're half way through the two's and in my opinion he is sailing just beautifully. i'm glad i waited until now to write his two year old post because 6 months ago, my attitude and thoughts on him turning two would be slightly on the negative side (that might even be an understatement). but through a lot of prayer, time and patience he is the best two year old around who whole heartdly displays every aspect there is to being two.

He can follow directions with the best of them, and getting better & better at obeying with one "teachable moment" at a time ;) I am sometimes amazed at how much he understands, remembers and can do. I'm always telling myself..."if you teach them; they can learn" in my best Field of Dreams voice of course. He wants to know everything and how to do everything and he wants to do it himself. I am loving this age and the hunger he has for knowledge, the eagerness he has to just know and to do & to do it well.

He still is my awesome sleeper, though his afternoon naps are getting shorter with each month. Most days he still sleeps his normal 12-13 hours at night with a 2 hour afternoon nap. His whole daily schedule is like clock work and everything is so predictable with him, which i love. In the mornings after he wakes he comes to our bed and snuggles with us, which really is the best way to start for us all to start the day. Its also has been great for both of us to get time with just Hudson.

Right now we are in the middle of potty training, which i plan on doing a whole post later in giving my review on this three day method that we used, obviously since i said we are in the middle of potty training it has taken us much longer than 3 days but I am still glad we went this route. I will say he is 100% day time potty trained. We are still working on the night time but I had a feeling that would be the trickiest considering he sleeps so hard & so long.  I will say one thing, changing sheets twice a night is not fun...but being diaper free is marvelous.

Right now hudson knows his colors, shapes (even octagon?! ), and can count to 5. He has a serious issue with the number 3 and refuses to say it. He can count up to 2 objects, "one, two...Mommy two cars!" He knows the letters A, H, M & N...random I know but for some reason he has caught on to those letters.

2 and half years later and I am still madly in love with this little guy. I honestly believe the wold is a much better place with him in it! I love his desire to pray, how he will do absolutely anything for a ball and the look on his face when his daddy walks through the door.

like all moms, i feel like i could write an entire novel on my children but i guess thats what blogs are for...one post at a time! 

-amber

three months in

So flash forward almost three months since we made the big move from Texas to Georgia and here we are still trying to decide where things should be hung, to paint the kitchen cabinets or not, and what to do with the front yard. Danny & I have tried really hard to be the best "do it your selfers" we possibly can and though we have run into a few road blocks we've come a long way. One day...probably when its time to move again I'll do a whole post over the before & after pics of our house. But for now wondering minds will just have to imagine that our home looks exactly like it could be in one of those better homes & garden magazines... insert wishful thinking hashtag here ;)

We are slowly falling in love with Georgia, or at least I hope we are. I mean honestly, whats not to love? Its beautiful, the logo is a peach and theres a chick fila on every corner. Oh and lets not forget its still the South ;) I'm not sure my southern texas accent roots could move anywhere else. Even my dad asked if anyone has said anything about how I talk? [what does that even mean, dad?] I honestly haven't noticed a huge difference in how people interact here except for when they are driving. Totally different story, these Georgians are some serious drivers and really unless its an emergency, or your out of chocolate you dont leave the house after 4:30 during the week. Yeah traffic is bad, everywhere, all the time, but really bad after 4. And no one waves, or lets you get over or gives you any space...they all drive crazy and aggressive, like my husband- except he's a professional driver, so his aggressiveness is smart and appropriate or so he argues says.

Yeah Georgia is pretty peachy (see what i did there?), have I mentioned how much we love our house and neighborhood? I spent several nights praying for this type of neighborhood and now here we are having play dates, planing cook outs, exchanging toys and even getting cookies from what i say is just an answer to pray. We haven't found a church home yet, but we have one that is in the running ;) Its not The Village and theres no Matt Chandler but its close...its pretty close in similarities; not mileage bc that would be lying. its not close at all. but good churches, good preachers, and good gospel are sometimes hard to find close by... apparently.

The boys are doing great and I will soon post an update on all things new with them but for now I'm going to wrap this up while I clean up the aftermath of lunch while my two little nuggets nap!

a new adventure

It was a little over a week before our Hudson would be turning two when Danny, my sweet hubby, called me in the middle of  his work day. "Thats odd," I thought, Danny never calls for no reason, it just isn't his style and if you know me at all, you know I'm no phone talker...especially in the middle of the day. I knew the moment I heard, Jack Johnson's "Angel"  (danny's ringtone), that something was up and thankfully the Lord had given me a hunch that it was about another interview. I calmed my nerves...

"Hey honey..." as I answered the phone ,holding our 6 month old like a football, "whats up?"

"I got a job offer...in Atlanta"

{breath in,breath out}

And here we are, almost 6 months later... settling in quiet nicely in our little suburban home just North of Atlanta. We moved here with blindfolds on,  not knowing a soul within an 800 mile radius, we moved here in faith knowing and trusting that the Lord has big plans for our little family of four here in Kennesaw, Georgia. So, this is my attempt to keep anyone whose interested on our lives here while we  make new friends, raise two under two, and transform our home as well as our hearts.;)

cheers to the start of something new...

amber