Birthdays and what else? Babies!

Happy Black Friday! It's been such a busy week with babysitting, Dustin's birthday, my mom's birthday, Thanksgiving #1, #2 and #3, a little shopping this morning...and it's not slowing down, as this weekend is my brother's birthday, my mother-in-law's birthday and Christmas decorating. So in an attempt to keep some order in my life, let me take a little breather and post this past week's "what we did" blog.

We chased around a very mobile (and clumsy) baby...

We babysat, with a still very unsure Gavin. I think he would like her if I didn't have to feed and hold her. ;)

We watched cartoons together.

We did the dishes...AKA pulled dirty pots out over & over and then give me the death stare when I put them back in.

We went shopping for Christmas toy ideas...Gavin spotted a few he liked and gave them the "get in my cart now" stare.

We found out from preschool that Christian is apparently thankful for chicken. 

We looked extra cute in our cardigan.

We took a 'mom and dad only' roadtrip to Bloomington to cheer on our Hoosiers. Win!

We celebrated Dustin's 29th birthday at our favorite restaurant, Eddie Merlot's...followed by seeing Mockinjay Pt. 1. LOVED it!

We snuggled on the couch after Thanksgiving #1.

We celebrated Dustin's birthday (again) at Sportstime with yummy Framboise and then a trip to Horseshoe Casino.

Christian stole his cousin's headband and thought it was hilarious to put it on himself & Gavin. 

Gavin didn't find the humor.

Christian helped me feed the baby, because of course Gavin got hungry at the same time Miss Alaina was ready for her bottle.

Gavin started warming up to Alaina, and they all had fun playing on the floor together.

Dustin opened his birthday presents. Gavin was appalled they weren't for him.

Gavin forgave Daddy for stealing his presents.

And we took a bath! (Okay, we obviously took more than one bath all week...but you only get one picture.)

And that was our week before the Thanksgiving madness began. Once I get all of our family's pictures organized, I'll take a break from Christmas decorating (an entire weekend event, duh) to post our Turkey Day blog. Until then, thanks for reading!

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving & stays safe on Black Friday!

Thankful Thoughts from 2014

Before all the madness of cleaning, cooking, drinking wine & gobbling up all the food begins, I thought I would take a minute to reflect on my thankfulness this year. I have so many reasons to be thankful, but I narrowed it down to my top 10.

1. I am thankful for my 12th Thanksgiving with my husband.
This man is seriously the best man I've ever met, and I feel so blessed to be his wife. He works so hard to support his family, which gives me the opportunity to stay home and raise our boys. Not to mention, he's quite handsome! He's my best friend, my biggest supporter and I'm so thankful for him every day.

2. I am thankful for the newest addition to our family, Gavin Lee.
I'm pretty sure it comes without saying, I am beyond thankful for this fiesty little redhead. We struggled for 18 long months, wondering if we would ever be able to conceive another child. From the second I took that positive pregnancy test, I knew I would never take this new life for granted. He might be my reason for permanent bags under my eyes, stress me out to the max and make me wonder if a 3rd child will ever happen, but he is also hilarious, sweet and beyond adorable. And that red hair?! He's my perfect little rare unicorn!

3. I am thankful for my firstborn wildchild, Christian Michael.
He's crazy. He's wild. He's my first ginger boy. He taught me what unconditional love is. Before him, I didn't get it. I didn't understand what being a mom meant. The second I held him in my arms, I got it. It's a feeling like no other, and can never be repeated. Everything with him was a first, because we were in completely new territory. We learned boundaries together. He brought Dustin and I closer as our new role of mom and dad. I found a whole new love when I saw Dustin holding his firstborn son for the first time. He makes me question myself every.single.day, but then he says, "Mom, I sure do love you, alright," and everything is right in the world.

4. I am thankful for my momma.
I tell her this all the time, but I seriously don't know what I would do without her. She is the strongest person I know, and an amazing role model. If I ever have questions about anything, I know she'll have the answers, after a sarcastic response first, of course. ;) She is the best Mimi to my boys, and would do anything in the world for us. I always said if we had to move away, we would have to get a room for her, because she would have to come with us!

5. I am thankful for my girlfriends.
I know I've mentioned them on my blog before, but geez I love these ladies! There is nothing more therapeutic than a girls night and a glass bottle of wine. We talk about anything and everything, with no judgements or questions. We laugh together, cry together and can always count on inappropriate remarks from all. I know not everyone has a group of friends like this, so I am beyond thankful for them. So is my husband, because apparently I'm always in a much better mood after a night with the girls. Love you all!

6. I am thankful for my home.
This month marks 2 years in our new country home. Dustin and I have been through every type of living situation together, from living with our parents, college dorm rooms, apartments and our cute little house in the city. Now that I'm back out in the country, you couldn't pay me to move closer to town. I love having friendly neighbors, with tons of kids Christian can grow up with. I love looking out my back porch and seeing trees, hills and cows. I love that the boys will be attending the same great school systems Dustin and I attended. I can't wait to create many more years of memories in our home, and I hope the boys always remember that it's not about the size of the house, but the warmth and love within it.

7. I am thankful for my family. 
Even though my family is spread out all over the country, and will never be fully complete with the loss of my brother 7 years ago, I am beyond thankful for them all. Not everyone is blessed with a large family, and I am very grateful that I am.

8. I am thankful for a healthy year.
We had a big health scare this year, as I mentioned in my Cystic Fibrosis post. I am thankful for positive news and no other major health scares. Although, my grandma is currently in the hospital with a couple infections, she is feeling better and will hopefully get to go home soon...another positive. For now, we are all healthy and happy, and that's something huge to be thankful for.

9. I am thankful for the new lives about the enter our world.
I mentioned this before, but two of my very best friends are both due on December 28th. From the second they told me they were expecting (on the same day!), I was beyond excited for them. There is nothing like bringing your first baby into the world, and I can't wait for them to experience it. I seriously cannot WAIT to get that phone call that they are on their way to the hospital...although, hopefully not for a couple more weeks...those babies need to bake a little longer!

10. Lastly, I am thankful to live in this beautiful country.
I get it. This country isn't perfect. There is a LOT of bad right now. However, I truly believe this is still one of the greatest countries to live in, and I am proud to be an American. The horrific things going on in the middle east...the starving & dying children in third world countries...I am so thankful every day to part of a beautiful, free country. Where I have the right to believe in whatever I want, without fear of persecution. People can choose to see the bad things happening every day, pick apart our country, burn our flags, complain about our laws and systems...but I choose to see the good. Some people think that's me sticking my head in the sand. I don't look at it that way. I look at it as enjoying my life. Enjoying my blessings. I do not for one second think there's anything wrong with being an optimist in a world of pessimists. I cannot WAIT to turn on Christmas music tomorrow, hang ornaments on the tree and create wonderful memories with my boys...simply because I can. I choose to be happy, and because I live in America, that choice is completely mine to make, and no one can take it from me.

SO there you have it, my thankful thoughts from 2014. I encourage everyone to think of 10 things that you are thankful for in life. Life can be downright hard sometimes, and it's easy to overlook your blessings. Count them often and smile!

A November Snow Day!

Ready or not, here comes winter! Although the first official day of winter isn't for another month, mother nature has other plans. However, I'm all about some snow, so you won't find me complaining (until about March...then I'm DONE with snow and beyond ready for sunshine and warmth). 

We woke up here in southern Indiana to about 5 inches of beautiful, powdery blankets of snow. I found this out not because of the blinding whiteness peaking through my blinds, but by Christian coming into my room screaming that it's Christmas time. How confusing for a 3-year-old mind when I tell him it's not even close to Christmas time (in toddler time...in adult time, Christmas will be here in the blink of an eye)! 

This then followed with staring out of the window and asking 37 times if we could play in the snow. I tried to time our snow play during Gavin's naptime, because I knew baby G wasn't going to love army crawling through snow that was deeper than him (thanks to the snow drifts). I snapped a couple of pictures, laid Gavin down for his nap, and then Christian and I braved the freezing cold temps for some snow fun. 

(Gavin was NOT happy about his snowsuit. He could care less about the snow, but that suit? Life ruiner.)

We drew pictures in the snow, attempted a snow angel (and failed miserably because he didn't like snow on his neck) and then once our fingers and cheeks were frozen icicles, came inside for hot chocolate and cookies by the fireplace. 

It was so much fun making memories...and I really enjoyed spending time with just me and Christian. Hopefully he remembers how much fun snow can be, and that since there's not a darned thing you can do about it (except move states), to try to enjoy it and all the beauty that comes with it. Hopefully everyone at least somewhat enjoyed our first real snow...and I'm sure it will be far from our last...I have a feeling we're in for a long and snowy winter. 

Thanks, Disney...I'm totally blaming Elsa. Stay warm, my friends!

Babies & Basements

Happy Monday, all! I hope it wasn't too awful for everyone, although the amount of snow haters on my social media tells me that a lot of you probably hated today. I however, loved today, and will do a separate blog post on our 1st of the year snow adventures. Today is for catch up on our last week! It was another eventful & busy week for the Wilson clan. 

We've been dealing with a mommy-attached teething baby...hello, tooth #4! Thank goodness for this awesome teething necklace I purchased from Jane.com.

I also volunteered to try out adding a new addition to our days at home. My cousin and his wife recently had a sweet baby girl, and they don't live far from us, so I told them I could try out watching her a couple days a week. The first day was a success, although Gavin wasn't sure what to think of mommy holding and feeding a baby that wasn't him. Christian however was a big helper! If everyday goes like the first (which, come on, it's 3 kiddos, it's not always going to be that easy) then I just might get my baby girl fix! ;)

On Wednesday, I had the sweetest cuddle session with Gavin...he got up extra early (boo!) and then fell back asleep in my arms (swoon!). I seriously wanted to freeze time, because moments like this are so rare and I know they are limited the older he gets.

My latest grocery trip involved buying the cutest pajamas for the boys...so obviously I had to try to take some photos. Gavin wasn't feeling it as much as Christian, but I did manage to catch a few good ones!

These gingers seriously make my day.

This past week Gavin started pulling up...on everything! He's still a bit clumsy and has several battle wounds from his adventures, but he's having fun exploring.

We had the messiest lunch date...avocados & blueberries.

Someone also figured out how to pull down the iPad (which we use as a baby monitor), so we've had to find a new place for that. 

*I've had a LOT of people ask me about this baby monitor. It's an app we downloaded to our phones & iPads. It cost us $9.99 and it's called Cloud Baby Monitor. I set up the iPad in Gavin's room and use it as the child unit and then use my phone as the parent unit. It can be used over Wi-fi or unlimited range. I can even spy on him sleeping from my phone while we're out for a date night. My only complaint is that it uses the iPad's camera for video, so you can't see them if the room is pitch dark. There is a light you can turn on, but it's extremely bright, and if you have a light sleeper like my little one, it can wake them up. Other than that, it's a much better option than spending crazy amounts of money on a video monitor!*

Gavin pulling up now means the boys can fight over the same toys! Luckily, Christian is really good and patient with him, which really surprises me. I wasn't nearly as good as sharing growing up...or now, for that matter. #oldestchildproblems

This week, we finally got around to making our basement feel more homey. I really didn't like going down there because it just didn't feel as warm and cozy as my living room. So we put up some new decor, moved the boy's toys around a bit, hung up two new wall collages and replaced our old, stained, worn out couch.

Now, I'm in love and have spent every evening down there since! We still have to hang curtains and get an ottoman, but I'm loving this so much better! 

We also had our first snow on Thursday...we woke up to a good dusting and slick roads!

In preparation for my other bestie's baby shower, we went and had pedicures, and then I did my own nails when I got home. I love this color! OPI's Ate Berries In The Canaries. 

On Saturday, we celebrated Kayla and little miss Gemma. Another baby I can't wait to snuggle!

Yay, babies!

On Sunday, Christian helped me do chores around the house in order to earn money for his school. His school is doing a fundraiser for kids in Romania, and they learned all about helping those who basically have nothing. I was so proud to see how excited he was to collect his chore money...such a sweet heart this one has.

Today (after snow fun) we played in the basement & then had lots of fun with cousins. Christian bawled when they had to leave...cousins are always your first best friends, so I love seeing them play & have fun!

Sad. Happy. Zoned out. #babylife

Oh, Gavin...you and your teething adventures are making for some great photos! And we couldn't even bribe the other nephew with a cookie to get in the group photo, so this one will just have to do! 

 And that was our week! Tomorrow I will have 3 kiddos again...fingers crossed it goes as well as it did last week! And my broken Keurig has finally been replaced, so I can thankfully have caffeine in the morning again...yay, for some sanity again! Well, maybe.

Thanks for reading!