monkey see, monkey do

So I guess when you have a mom that pretends to be a fashion blogger and take pictures every now and then, you pick up some ideas about how to pose for pictures. 

For example... 

And let it be known that he did all these poses on his own!! 

Adam was trying to document Elijah's cute Sunday swag when Elijah just started posing and turning all on his own accord. 

We were both ddyyyyyyinggggg!!!!  

and since he was posing for a fashion post clearly ;) 

shirt & pants: Children's Place // tie & suspenders: Target Dollar spot

And I mean, he got it down perfectly! 

Actually he really should take over my job since I clearly don't have as good as skills. 

The cheesy little stink. 

;)

Love that boy!!

Inspiration

my brave little boy

he ate an entire personal pizza by himself. I was impressed. 

During Elijah's Spring Break week we took a trip down to the Children's Museum in Downtown Phoenix. I had to go downtown for work & a friend had a free culture pass she wasn't going to use so we decided to make a little mommy-son date out of the day.

I was kind of nervous taking Elijah by myself because sometimes he can be unpredictable. And being pregnant & uncomfortable/sick it can all add to the unpredictability of the situation.

But Elijah, once again, completely exceeded my expectations of the whole thing and did SO well!
I was so so proud of him and how well he listened {for the most part}, how brave & explorative he was, and I loved seeing how much fun he was having!

I love those first two pictures because they marked a big milestone for my little E-rock!
He can be quite a scaredy-cat, especially when it comes to heights [don't blame him] and will refuse to go on even the smallest things because he feels like he's too high up. He barely even lets Adam put him on his shoulders cause he's too nervous and scared. And when we had gone to the Children's Museum before with friends he was absolutely against crawling up in the big treehouse structure they had and would only go on the stairs and then back down.

But not this day!
He climbed so far up and looked at all the different rooms. He was still really nervous and took his time, making sure I was tightly holding onto his hand the whole time, but he did it and I couldn't have been more proud of him. He had a huge smile on his face when he was in there, even with other kids yelling at him to hurry because he was going to slow.
[my Mama Bear might've come out a few times...]

I told him afterwards how proud I was of him that he was so brave and he just beamed!
And then when we got home he told Adam all about how brave he was too.
Oh, my mama heart...
Love this boy!

With only one major, huge, crying tantrum and only one panic, freak-out search for him, I say that's a pretty successful trip for us!
I am so glad that we still get to have some fun one-on-one trips before both our worlds are changed forever. :)

AZ Blogger Garden Party

Tausha and I 

marriage bloggers 

pregnant bloggers {there were a lot of us that night!}

mommy bloggers 

fashion bloggers. and apparently I didn't get the "look cute" memo... 

Deidre, me, Aubrey 

I got hula hooping skillzzzz 

This last Saturday I got a much-needed fun girls night out with some local bloggers. It was a fun garden party and we all got to bust out our best floral head pieces. Something I've been trying to find an excuse to get by the way. {and then it gave me a headache... the irony} 

I was so glad I got to strengthen & enrich my friendships with some really amazing women. This whole blogging community has truly blessed my life in so many ways. And I love being able to celebrate it all with like-minded women who just get me! 

Plus I got to practice some hula-hooping skillz back from good ol' elementary school days [Mr. Scharmazzo, what up!?]. It was a good little belly work out I think ;)

A HUGE thank you to Camille, Kayla, Meghan, and Chrissy for putting together yet another successful blog party!

Inspiration: bullying

As someone who had their fair share of teasing and good ol' mean girl relational aggression directed at when I was younger, this message really hit home for me. And I know that my experience wasn't nearly as bad as it can be [especially recently with all the technology available] but it still greatly affected me and still leaves me with bitter feelings and an angry heart... I hated 5th grade on. I now I still have a lot of work to do to get over that and be more forgiving. 

This video is not just for Mormons or just for youth, but a wonderful reminder for all of us that we need to put an end to bullying in all forms. 

Just stop it. 

This video is longer than the usual ones I post but sooo worth it to watch. It brought tears to my eyes to see the story and hear the words of Pres. Uchtdorf. I hope you all take the time to watch it and remember this important message every day. 

family zoo time

the zoo photographer had Elijah put his hand out and then later added a lion cub. Elijah thought it was the funniest thing ever. 

Daddy's spring break came and went too fast. 

We were so excited to have Adam all to ourselves for a week and get some quality time in. 

We decided to use a library culture pass to hit up the zoo one day and had a blast! 

[P.S. Does your library do culture passes? Cause they are awesome! Free entries to museums and the zoo, can't be beat!]

Elijah loves the zoo {especially teasing mom with the disgusting snakes} and I loved seeing him and Adam have some pretty sweet interactions throughout our trip. 

These two are just my favorite people in the whole wide world and any time we get to spend doing something special together is a very happy day indeed. 

Though Elijah is still upset we didn't see the big horn sheep I guess... 

kids... 

drive me crazy

So this boy drives me nuts. In fact I told Adam today that I wanted to run away. This week has been... ugh.....!!!!!!!! 

But then there's these little moments. These little, tiny, 2-second long moments where I'm like, "Okay, maybe you're not so bad after all..." 

Like the other night, I couldn't sleep and wasn't feeling well and decided to go in and check on Elijah. 

I crouched down by his bed, stroked his hair and his chubby cheek, and then rubbed his little arm sticking out of the blanket. As I ran my hand down his arm, he reached out to me and grabbed my hand. And he just held it like that for a good minute. He never woke up or anything. 

But even in his sleep, he just reached out so sweetly to his mommy and didn't let go. 

Or the last few times after dinner, without prompting Elijah so politely exclaims, "Thanks for making dinner for us, Mommy!" Even though he barely ate half of it because vegetables "make [him] choke."

And then the other day, still on a high from Valentine's Day, Elijah runs up to me and says, "Mom! Those hearts mean to love everybody. I love you, Mom!" And hugged my legs as tight as he could. 

And one day, when I was feeling so flustered and frustrated, Eli just told me, "It's going to be okay, Mom." Even though he was the reason why I got mad anyways... but it was okay. We both survived.

And this morning he was cuddling in my bed while I was still tired, sore, and grumpy, and he randomly leaned over and kissed my cheek and told me he loved me. 

And when he puts his hand on my belly to "try and feel the baby" even though I know she's not moving but he gets excited all the same to think he felt something. 

Really most days I feel like I should go into an insane asylum. The range of emotions I feel on a daily basis has to be off the charts. 

And I truly feel like I'm going crazy every.single.day. 

["Why can't you just listen?!?!" is my common cry.] 

But then Elijah reminds me, in these small, minuscule little details throughout the day, that it really is worth it. And maybe having two kids won't drive me to insanity quite yet. 

And maybe I am doing okay at this mom thing. 

Color Fun Fest

So I'm basically a crazy person and decided to sign up to do a 5K. 

At 20 weeks pregnant. 

Cause there's no pressure quite like peer pressure right?? 

I had a BLAST running the Color Fun Run 5K with a fun group of girls from my church. 

Colors being thrown at you + an epic dance party at the end, how could I say no? 

It was seriously one of the best girls nights I ever had!! 

I was super proud of myself too because I actually ran most of the time.
I wasn't planning on running and was just going to walk but I knew I wanted to at least run in the beginning. I ended up feeling so good that I just kept running and only had to stop a couple of times. I actually felt like walking hurt more than just running so that helped me keep going. And I was able to finish strong and still jumped around like a crazy person at the dance party. :)

I'm so glad I have a great group of girls around here that motivate me and reach out to me especially when I need it most! I had been feeling kind of down lately and in a funk. And then I heard about this fun run and decided to sign up and it was sooooo worth it!! I needed that reconnection and that fun, crazy, girlfriend time! I feel so much happier and rejuvenated (and sore!) and more like me, but just 20 lbs heavier, ha. I still got moves though!

Thank you for a fun night girls!! 

It was epic. 

And I definitely will be signing up for the next one, even if I'm 30 weeks pregnant ;)

Inspiration

The missionaries shared this video with us this last week and it's one of my favorite messages. I have felt my testimony strengthen and felt the love of the Lord most in my life through the tender mercies that I receive daily. They are what get me through my hardest of times and remind me that I am never alone. 

"The Lord is good to all; And His tender mercies are over all His works." 

big tops & big bumps

top: c/o Choies // skirt: c/o Very Jane // shoes: Target (2-ish years ago? similar.) // necklace: c/o That's So Fab

So this is my bump... And I realize it looks ginormously huge in these pictures so that's always a nice eye-opening experience... And as you can see the reason why I haven't posted many pictures of my growing belly yet, ha! 

Besides my unfortunate angles in these pictures, I really like this top and received it before I was pregnant (or actually knew I was pregnant). It's really great quality and so comfortable because it's a big, flowy top. And when I don't have 3 extra large bumps to cover it fits really well. But I now see that big, flowy tops are not always your best friends when you're pregnant and make you look 9 months pregnant instead of 5. 

Besides my need to relearn how to dress my body top, I love it. :) I love mixing & matching it with different accessories and colorful bottoms. And polka-dots are just always a winner in my book. So basically this top has been loved a lot already and I've been trying to get as much use as I can out of it before I look even bigger and more awkward. 

And this skirt!! Best.Ever! 

Basically I could sleep in this thing it's so comfy. And it accentuates my new, pregnancy-induced budonk-adonk which I'm not always proud of but Adam does appreciate. ;) 

I'm really excited to be able to wear this comfy skirt all through my pregnancy plus be able to wear it afterwards because it stretches and fits any form & body type. 

Very Jane is one of my favorite deal sites because of the wonderful quality of items they share and the wide range of goodies you can get. It's a one stop shop to get all the latest trends from clothes & accessories to party supplies & home decor. I'm so grateful they gave me the opportunity to try out their site and get this beautiful skirt that will be a huge benefit through this whole "I-hate-my-frumpy-body" funk pregnancy seems to do to me. 

But seriously I really am only about 18 weeks in this picture, not 36. It's just the second pregnancy thing right?? 

Yikes!