GROWTH SPURTS FOR EVERYONE

Happy Monday...and happy Spring Break to some of you! Although, Christian only goes to school 2 days a week, so Spring Break doesn't really mean much for us...except that everywhere we go this week will be exceptionally more crowded. ;) 

This past week was spent doing lots of practice walking for Gavin. He looks like a drunk little man, but he's so close to walking full time!

He also has a newfound obsession with trying to change the channel on the TV. He will grab any remote he can find, hold it over his head & push away at all the buttons. I keep waiting for him to erase the shows on my DVR & then we might have a cute little redhead for sale. ;)

We also have been dealing with a little cold from Christian. He started a cough on Tuesday, we had him tested for strep (which was negative), but he still spiked a really high fever on Thursday and kept it pretty much all day. Luckily, he's back to his normal, crazy self...just still has that pesky cough.

On Saturday, my little bump turned 16 weeks. I'm feeling great, thanks to the 2nd trimester kindness! I've gained about 4-5 pounds, and I swear it's all in my lovehandles. Luckily you can't tell when I'm turned to the side...so you'll get no frontal bump shots from me, haha.

And OMG where would I be without these fruit popsicles. They have chunks of real fruit in them and they are the best things ever in the world. I'm currently obsessed with the strawberry & coconut flavors.

I spent all day Saturday away from the boys, and as much as I missed them, it was so nice to get a break! We went to the outlets that are about 40 minutes away. We ate lunch, chatted & stocked up on lots of cute summer clothes for Disney.

We then spent Saturday night at dinner and the boat for my girlfriend's birthday...it was such a fun day with friends, but I pretty much passed out the second we walked in the door!

I also got this adorable picture from the hubby while I was out shopping. Thanks for taking good care of my babies! ;)

On Sunday, I cleaned house while Dustin & the boys played outside & cleaned his Jeep. Can you tell someone was ready to go? 

"Okay, mom, I got my warm clothes, snacks & drink...I'm ready!"

While the boys were outside, I cleaned out their closets...again...for the umpteenth time this year. Christian has grown about 2 inches since Christmas, so NOTHING...I repeat NOTHING in his closet fits him. I've been trying to buy him a little here & there, and luckily got a lot of great deals at the outlets.

Gavin has a lot of hand-me-downs from Christian, but a lot of it is really worn, so I've had to restock his closet as well. I think we're finally set with a good selection of summer clothes for the boys. Until the next growth spurt that is...

And of course, I had to get little Finnick something as well! He is actually going to be in the complete opposite season as the boys, so I'm not sure if he'll be able to wear a lot of the hand-me-downs or not. I'm just going to take it season by season, tote by tote and see where we're at. 

He needed a bath towel that was all his own & since I'm thinking of doing his nursery in woodland creatures, I thought the raccoon was perfect. :)

And hello, a boy named Finn definitely needed a shark fin outfit!

And lastly, I ordered these adorable black tees from Jane.com for the boys while we're in Disney...they are a super soft material & I can't wait to see them with their matching Mickey ears! We're less than 3 weeks away from leaving & the excitement is building! We haven't told Christian yet, we're planning on telling him the morning we leave. I seriously get teary-eyed when I think about how excited he is going to be!

And that's been it for us...I hope everyone enjoys their week!

Thanks for reading!

Happy Hallow-eve!

I'm not going to lie, I questioned whether or not I would be a functioning person come Halloween. The first part of this week was just plain awful, as Dustin was out of town on business and both boys weren't feeling well. But I did it...I survived! We're all alive, feeling much better, sanity is in tact (for the most part) and tomorrow is my 2nd favorite holiday!

But I figured before I post a Halloween blog with 5,423 photos of the boys in their costumes (because come on, I am the picture queen), I figured I'd better get this week out of the way!

In the last blog, I mentioned I was going to get together with some of my girl's...I live for nights with my girls. We keep each other sane, talk about all of our crazy, understand each other and can dish on any subject without worry of judgement from others. They are amazing. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by these ladies. We're missing a few of the girls, but cue the cliche bathroom/mirror selfies! ;)

On Saturday, we (against my better judgement) decided to use some free tickets from Dustin's work and take a trip to Holiday World, a local theme park. I was really hesitant about going because a) Gavin isn't the easiest baby to cart around these days. He hates sitting. In anything. Strollers, high chairs, carts...you name it, he probably hates it. I also didn't want to walk around a park all day baby-wearing him. He's almost 20 pounds! ...b) Worrying about things like diaper changes, feeding times, naps, etc. c) The only person that could ride anything would be Christian, and there are only a handful of rides he's big enough for. d) The crowds! Anything this time of year is bound to crowded and full of people. Waiting in line for rides while entertaining a restless baby...blah. and e) It was an hour car ride to get there...Gavin and car rides? Once again, that requires sitting. So in case you cannot tell, my excitement about this trip was non-existent. However, we had free tickets and Dustin and Christian were dying to go. 

When I looked up the event online (it was a Halloween Weekend party), it said to dress in your costumes. So we put on our costumes, packed up our car and hit the road.

When we pulled into the parking lot, we kept looking around and noticed...hmm...NO ONE else is wearing a costume. No one. Nada. I didn't care, we still had on some adorable outfits, we are wearing them. Foot down. We step out of the car. We are NOT wearing our costumes. Mother nature thought it would be hilarious to give us an 85 degree day in the middle of our 50-60 degree weather. Cue the sweating.

So I stripped the boys of as much clothing as possible, but unfortunately I was still stuck wearing my black boots, black jeans & black jacket. After sweating for 30 minutes in the park though, we decided to stop at the gift shop and buy me some flip-flops...oh, hello $29.99 stupid flip-flips to wear at the stupid hot park to which I didn't even want to go. Are you catching a theme here? I was not loving Holiday World. However, Gavin was semi-good...and Christian had a blast on the 6 rides he was able to ride. Moral of the story...check the weather, hire a sitter & don't bring babies to theme parks unless you have to. 

On Sunday morning, Christian got into the costume box and decided he wanted to be a witch for the rest of the day. He was pretty upset when I told him we had to put regular clothes on to attend our friend Caroline's 2nd birthday party. Oh, and I love having help in the kitchen! If I ever burn dinner, it's because this little face is distracting me! ;)

The boys playing outside at the birthday party.

On Monday, Dustin left us for Houston, TX. This is when the boys decided to team up against me.

Gavin didn't want to sleep in his bed, he cried almost all day and those stinking front teeth STILL haven't poked through! His gums are so swollen and red...I do NOT understand what is taking so long!

But I did get to spend Monday catching my friend Kayla up on Outlander (swoon!) & then starting her on Orange Is The New Black...seriously, one of my favorite shows everrrrrr. Anyone know when the 3rd season is coming out?! I'm having withdrawals!

Onto Tuesday. Oh Tuesday. This is the day I thought for sure I wasn't going to make it out alive. Christian woke me up at 4am complaining of a tummy ache. I got up with him, we laid on the couch, slept on and off, and then Gavin got up at 7am. I could tell he was going to be in another mood today. Surprise, surprise. When I came back in the living room, Christian kept telling me he had to spit...aka...vomit. So I got him a bucket, and on my way back into the living room, nearly missed stepping into the PILES of cat puke all over the living room. *Insert lots of mental cursing & deep breaths* Did I mention this was only 7am and I am NOT a morning person? If I have to wake up before 9am, I am a monster.

Now to figure out how to clean said cat puke off the floor. Also, don't forget Christian is spitting into his bucket because he thinks he has to puke. It's 7:15AM. If I put Gavin on the floor, he will want to crawl, eminently crawling through puke piles. If I sit him on the couch, he will fall off, bust his head open and I win the worst mom ever award. So I hold him with one arm and clean up cat puke with another. That's fun!

Okay, cat puke is cleaned. Christian has, for the time being, stopped spitting. Gavin needs his morning milk. So I sit on the couch and start nursing the baby.

"MOM!!! I HAVE TO POOP RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!" 

Unlatch Gavin. Cue screams of bloody terror. Take Christian to the bathroom. He didn't make it. He went in his underwear because, yep, you guessed it...diarrhea. His belly is cramping, he is crying, Gavin is crying, I am nearly crying. It's not even 9am. I cleaned Christian up, finished nursing Gavin and for the next couple hours, things slowed down a bit. But then Gavin started teething and would scream bloody murder if I even had the thought of putting him down, Christian was running to the bathroom every hour or so, I was giving him Pedialyte like a drug, trying to make lunch & dinner, attempting to throw a scrap of food in my mouth so my blood sugar doesn't plummit. Yes (mom), I could have called for help, but I was so overwhelmed and in a bad place, I didn't even want to pick up the phone to speak to anyone. 

Dustin thankfully called me that evening to tell me he had gotten an earlier flight out and would be home early afternoon on Wednesday. Thank the good Lord above!

When I finally got the boys in bed, I literally collapsed on the couch. I didn't even have the energy to make myself a glass of water, so I picked up the phone to have pizza delivered.

If there was one thing good that came out of that dreaded Tuesday, it's this.

I started working on their trick-or-treating costumes and this was just amazing!

Wednesday was a much easier day. Christian was feeling much better and Dustin got home during their naptime. I'd say they were pretty excited to see him.

It was also a tad chilly Wednesday night...cue the hot chocolate (with extra marshmallows...obvi)!

Thursday. Today. Today has been absolutely amazing! I took Christian to school this morning and ran errands with the littlest. I kept him in his seat for this Target trip, since obviously the cart is the devil, and he was as happy as could be.

Then I got a text from Christian's teacher telling me how awesome he was being at school. Her exact words were "Christian is rocking it today!" She sent me these pictures of him playing with their new toys. Apparently he sat there the entire play time and worked on these fine motor skills puzzles.

PS...how dapper does he look in his picture day outfit?!

Today after school, we worked on our treat bags for his Halloween party tomorrow. He's so excited to hand these out to his friends. And duh, you know I'll post a picture of the finished product on the Halloween blog. ;)

Then we had a Halloween lunch, complete with smiles and Frankenstein cups.

Tonight we are going to a Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular event...with over 500 lit Jack-O-Lanterns. It's supposed to be crazy crowded, but SO worth it. We'll see!

We cannot wait until tomorrow! We're all buzzing with excitement over Christian's school party and trick-or-treating. I can't wait to post pictures of their costumes...until then, here's Gavin's 1st Halloween photo shoot. Last year, he was just a tiny skeleton tin-man in my belly!

(I was 21 weeks preggo here.)

Happy Halloween Eve everyone!

Hope you get lots of treats and hardly any tricks!

Happy October!

Hello & Happy October! What a great start to the month we have had! Christian has been so much better this week compared to the last two weeks. For a minute there, I thought I was going to have to be locked away, because I was surely about to lose my mind. That's the #toddlerlife for you though, one week they are perfect angels and the next, you're not sure they are the same child to which you once gave birth. So with that being said, we spent all last week working on his hyper tendencies, learning to keep his hands to himself and praaaaaaying that he will have a better week and attitude at preschool. On Thursday, the teacher said he was better until the last hour, when he got super hyper and hit a little girl in the face with a toy. Oh brother...seriously?! So we didn't get a special treat that day (lunch at chick-fil-a) and spent the rest of the day practicing playing with toys nicely. On Friday, his teacher said he was much better...yayyy! So obviously, we headed to get his special lunch. Since then, he has been the little boy we love SO much all weekend. Like I said, thank goodness. I was days away from the coo-coo's nest. ;)

But a rewind to our first week in one of my favorite months...cuteness overload on Tuesday morning:

The happiest napper ever. 

& mastering the sitting-up skill.

On Wednesdays, we eat bananas. Gavin approves.

We throw tantrums when mom tries to cuddle with me.

We cry ourself to sleep on the way home from Target.

We give daddy lots of love when he gets home from work.

And we end our day playing outside, drawing family members (that look slightly like something else...) and cleaning our cars.

On Thursday, we take big brother to school, wait on pins & needles for the phone to ring saying I need to pick my whiny, bad kid up, and then breathe a huge sigh of relief when I never get said phone call.

I also cleaned out the boy's clothes and stored all the stuff they've grown out of...how is my baby already in 9-12 month clothes?! I also had a slightly emotional #mommoment when the thought occurred to me that this could possibly be the last time some of my favorite boy outfits get worn. Yes, we're planning on more kids, but we've already decided that if the next baby is a girl, we're closing shop on more Wilson babies. So as I'm putting away all of these clothes, I kept thinking, what if this never gets worn again?!? Insert stupid, irrational mom tears.

But I immediately cheered up when I got my next pair of baby mocs in the mail. Okay, guys, I admit it. I have a problem. A tiny baby shoe problem...but hey, it's cheaper than a grown-up shoe problem, right?! 

And of course, I had to snap a (horrible, bad quality, bad lighting) photo of the boys in their Halloween/fall pajamas. 

Friday, while Christian was at school, we napped & read books. 

Friday night, we had a very last minute date to see the movie Gone Girl. I read the book when I was pregnant with Gavin, and loved it. I took me nearly the entire pregnancy to read it though, because the beginning (for me) was sooooo sloooow. But there was finally a huge moment when I was hooked & finished the last half of the book in no time at all. I was so excited to see how they were going to do the movie...and all I can say is: GO SEE IT. I loved it. It's the 1st and only movie that I've ever liked better than the book. And I'm not a Ben Affleck fan at all. I still kind of blame him for the fall out of Alias (only the best show ever in the entire world ever...EVER)...which is stupid & irrational, but I haven't liked him since. However, he played the character of Nick Dunne flawlessly. And the actress that played Amy? Whoa. It was just all around a great movie...even my husband, who hadn't read the books, loved it. So get a sitter, plan a date night & go see it! Totally worth the ridiculous ticket & popcorn prices.

On Saturday, Gavin wore the cutest outfit ever for our neighborhood block party. So scrumptious. The bat hat wasn't quite warm enough, so we switched to his crocheted hat from Target. The baby leggings & star sweater are both from Baby Gap, but I got the sweater at a consignment sale and it's no longer available in stores. 

Yep, dying from cuteness.

Our neighborhood block party was supposed to be out in the cul-de-sac, but it was SO COLD & windy, we moved it into our garage. There were only 3 houses that couldn't make it, so we had a really great turn out! It was nice letting the kids play together & getting to know each other. We brought out the bounce house, had tons of yummy food, lit a bonfire & later brought all the kids inside for a movie. Christian has a new best friend, a little girl right across the street. Dustin & I actually went to school with her parents, so it's been fun letting them play and us catching up. We've already said that when they turn into hormonal teenagers, there will be bars put on the windows! 

Sunday, we cleaned up from the party & had lunch at Tumbleweed (kids eat free on Sundays...yes, please!). And how cute is this Halloween outfit?

I wanted him to crawl across the room to get to me and this is the face he gave me. Yes, Gavin, you can have anything you'd like!

We finished our Sunday with a grocery trip...since when did going to the grocery become a 3 hour ordeal? Two carts, two meltdowns & $200 later, we got home just in time for baths & bed.

Monday morning started rough when both boys thought 6:30am was a good time to wake-up for the day. Luckily Christian went back to his room and watched cartoons all morning & Gavin passed back out in my bed. Sleeping in until 9am for the win!

The boys were so cute this morning (as if they aren't every other morning...) and all Christian wanted to do was hold baby Gavin. These two make my heart melt...most of the time. ;)

And no day is complete with an after lunch dance party.

So that's our 1st week of October. Hope everything is enjoying the beautiful fall weather! Happy Monday!