Fried!!!!!

Oh man.

This mama is FRIED after a week/weekend with a cranky two year old. Emersyn has given me a glimpse into why people call this age the "terrible twos". Honestly she's not usually *that* terrible. :) Yes, this age has challenges but for the most part she is reasonable and easy to distract when she is being naughty.

Not this week.

I am a total relater (at least when it comes to my daughter) and this impacts my parenting sometimes in a not so good way. I tend to make excuses for her behavior and there comes a point when I don't know how much I really should discipline her when she's under the weather. But at the same time, we're trying to be consistent and not let her rule the house. It's a challenge and one that has worn Brett and I out this weekend!! Emersyn is feeling better but still battling a cough that wears her out I think and I totally get that. I think she's not sleeping as well which makes her more tired which makes her cranky and again, I totally get that too. She's SUPER whiny, constantly wants up, and throws fits at the drop of a hat.

I am totally just venting here after a long weekend. It's not really as big of a deal as I'm making it but in case I have given the impression that Emersyn is the perfect child, here is your reassurance that she is indeed not. :) I definitely have been more lenient with her this week and we have cuddled lots and lots. I know that she needs more attention when she's not feeling well but it almost seems like as she's feeling better, her behavior is getting worse??

Meanwhile, I'm sick with a cough that Ems generously shared with me, super nauseous for a large part of the day and just beat. Oy. But now my little monkey is sleeping in bed and I'm going to watch a movie with her daddy. After I put Ems to bed I came downstairs and Brett and I just looked at each other with this look like "we made it!!". :)

This too shall pass. :) Hoping for a much healthier week!!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

30th Birthday Weekend!

I had SUCH a great birthday weekend thanks to my amazing husband and friends. :)

My day started off on Friday, my actual birthday, with a Starbucks date with my favorite little lady.

In honor of my birthday I got her a kids vanilla steamer. She drank it in one gulp I'm pretty sure. She loved it. :)

After Starbucks we headed to the kids salon to get her bangs cut, even though she does look awfully cute with no bangs. Her hair is so fine though that if we tried to grow out her bangs I think they would be in her face ALL the time unless they were in a clip or something.

This is worth every penny of the $5 that the salon charges. E holds perfectly still for them and they do a good job. After we got her bangs cut we headed to the library to feed the ducks!


After the ducks we headed home and Emersyn requested an early nap time, God bless her. We both took about a two hour nap and it was wonderful. :)

Brett had said that we had plans for Friday night and the only thing I knew was that Emersyn was going to spend the night at my in-laws so I needed to get her ready for that. I didn't know anything else. My secret wish was that Brett was taking me on a date but I kind of figured that he might have planned something with friends. It's not that I didn't want to hang out with friends, it's just that it had been a loooong time since we had gone on a date and that is what I truly wanted for my birthday.

Before we headed out, I opened a present from my Auntie Marti....a beautiful Amethyst necklace!!!

(Cheesy self portrait but I sent this to Marti so she could see how nice the necklace looked on!)

Brett got home from work and we immediately leaded over to his parents house to drop E off. Then we drove off to our secret location and arrived at.....The Melting Pot!!!! We had eaten at the Melting Pot for Brett's 25th birthday and it was one of our most favorite memories. I was SO excited when we pulled into the parking garage. And it was a date for just the two of us. :)

We were at the restaurant for over three hours! We had a cheddar fondue appetizer, salad, entrees and then dessert. It was my favorite. When we were first seated they put us at this really tiny crammed booth and I HATED it. I asked the lady that sat us if we could have a different seat and she said they were all reserved. I was going to be really bummed if we had to sit at this lame table so Brett went and told the manager that it was my birthday and I was pregnant and uncomfortable and they moved us to another booth instantly. My hero. Where we sit in a restaurant is a big deal to us since we don't' get to go out that often! We are all about the full experience!

After dinner we headed home and Brett surprised me with a purse from Macy's that he had picked out and I LOVED it!!! I didn't take a picture of it but you can see it here if you are just dying to know what it looks like. I got the silver color. I have been wanting a purse for a long time but am terrible at making a decision and loved the one that Brett got me. He said that we could go shopping the next day to make sure it was my favorite but I refused and said that I loved it and it was perfect! I was not expecting a gift after our pricey dinner but I guess Brett wanted me to feel spoiled and he succeeded. :)

The next morning we headed over to pick up Emersyn and Brett mentioned that we had plans for that evening which came as a total shock to me. It turns out I DID get to celebrate with friends too! My friend Jonette hosted a small little party for our close friends to celebrate my big 3-0. :)

My crafty friend Rachelle made me this DARLING book...



It is seriously like my favorite thing. Words of affirmation are totally a love language of mine and I could read and re-read the sweet things written in this book every single day. What a special gift!!


We had such a fun night and I felt like I got the best of both worlds......I was able to have this amazing date night AND celebrate with friends. SO fun!

My sweet parents made my birthday weekend so special too. They sent my birthday gift in a card (yay for $$) and also surprised me with two other gifts, one being this copper tea pot that was my Gigi's. I just love it and whenever I see it on my stove, I think of her fondly. She used to make me tea when I was sick and it was a special Gigi thing. My mom also had a cake made and delivered to me by a friend who is an aspiring baker. Seriously, my parents are SO thoughtful.

Yay for a wonderful weekend and yay for turning 30. It's going to be a great year!!! :)

Miscellany Monday

{1} I had the BEST birthday weekend ever. Details and pictures coming tomorrow. :)

{2} I'm 11 weeks today. Time is flying by. My next appointment is a week from Wednesday. I'm excited!

{3} I am a huge fan of five dollar footlong month at Subway. Brett and I split a Subway Melt loaded with veggies. Yum.

{4} My little lady has croup, or at least I think that's what it is. She has that nasty barking cough and a low grade fever. Poor girlie. I had to cancel a playdate today with a friend that I've been wanting to get together with for FOREVER but a mama's gotta do what a mama's gotta do.

{5} I think we *might* have determined what our girl name would be should my little gummy bear be a girl. We'll see. :) It's a secret until we find out the gender though.

{6} I ordered a maternity tankini from Old Navy for Hawaii and I'm jazzed about it. I needed a new swimsuit anyways and I wanted to be comfortable with my growing belly so I'm excited to see it! I ordered some jeans too.....it's just about time to retire my *normal* jeans. I can't believe how much more pregnant I feel this time around and so much earlier too!

{7} I am totally over feeling sorry for myself in regards to my last post. I need to fully accept who I am and where I am at in life in order for me to move forward in life. I'm thankful for friends that accept me and my imperfections. We as women are all coming at life with different levels of experience and skill sets. Every day is a new day and an opportunity to learn and grow. I'd like to say more but I'll leave for another day, another post. :)

Happy Monday!!!

Birthday Eve

Tomorrow I enter the ranks of the *real* grown ups out there....those that can be defined as in their "30's". Wow. It makes me chuckle when I think back on how I spent so much of my adolescence wishing it would go by faster and thinking that I was NEVER going to get married, NEVER going to be a mommy. Before marrying Brett, I had some dramatic tendencies. He helped extract those once we were married, ha! Anyways, now here I am in my home with my mini-van in the driveway, my toddler running around like a wild woman and her sweet sibling growing in my tummy and making me sicker and sicker as the days go on. It's lovely. :)

For the most part I was okay with turning 30. Then this week happened and I've been faced with several failures from real estate deals to friendships and it's hard to know what to make of it all. I feel like it's timely with this birthday and instead of sulking and feeling sorry for myself, I am choosing to draw near to the Lord, which I have a feeling could be why these events occurred in the first place. Whenever I feel like things are spinning somewhat out of control, I know that is the Lord calling me back to Him and it's a challenge to re-focus. Clearly I can't succeed in my own strength; I mean CLEARLY. It's an ugly thing to be reminded of, especially when it seems to be one thing after another.

For some reason I thought all my problems would be solved when I quit working. I had this idealistic picture in my mind of a woman that had endless energy, a well behaved toddler, a well kept home, and had the perfect balance of friends and social time. Well, that hasn't happened. In fact, NONE of it has happened. I tend to blame my pregnancy but then I realize that it's *always something*. I don't want to go from "I can't because I work" to "I can't because I'm pregnant" to "I can't because I have two kids" to "I can't because.....". BUT at the same time, this pregnancy really has taken a lot out of me and I have stepped back from some things in life. There is a season to do that though, right? But with that comes hurt feelings from friends I've apparently neglected without meaning to and misunderstandings.

All of this leads me back to my Heavenly Father and His promises for me. I can't do this on my own and it's about time I quit trying. I'm excited to enter my 30's. Life doesn't look exactly as I'd imagined, particularly I don't look like I'd imagined I would on my 30th bday but God is good nonetheless. I want to go into my 30's confident about the woman He has called me to be and have that be enough.

As I enter this new chapter I am challenged to start my days off with the Lord again like I was when I was working. I think having too much time on my hands can be a challenge for me. I used to do well knowing that I only had a couple hours to utilize before I had to get ready for work. Now that I don't have those restrictions I feel like I've been slacking.

This post kind of feels all over the place but these are just some thoughts that I needed to get out. I'm feeling a little discouraged, a lot actually, but trying to just press forward and strive for change rather then wallow in self pity. :) After all, tomorrows my BIRTHDAY!!!! :)

Miscellany Monday

{1} This morning I'm beating myself up a bit. I had a real estate buyer that had contacted me back in December about buying a house and then I found out I was pregnant, have been feeling sick and exhausted and basically lost touch with her. Plus, she didn't seem to be in a hurry and what they were looking for seemed hard to find. I found out on Facebook that her and her husband submitted an offer on Saturday and I'm just sick about it. It's my own fault really but still, I'm super bummed and trying not to let it ruin my day. UGH.

{2} This weekend we received an unexpected blessing. My friend posted on Facebook that she was selling two twin beds with trundles.....

(How ridiculously adorable is this bedroom?? My friend has amazing taste)

Anyways, she offered to sell one of the beds for $100 which was a great deal. I'm pretty sure I've seen this bed at Costco and they are usually around $500 or so, especially for the trundle. When we got to her house, she said that the bed was a little more dinged up then she remembered (one of the beds had been stored in her attic) and she said we could just have it. I was ecstatic!!!! It needs a little elbow grease and some touch up paint but that's totally doable!!

{3} I painted Emersyn's nails on Friday night. Since then some of them have chipped. Yesterday morning during church, Emersyn yelled "you need to fix my nails" during a quiet moment of worship. Ha ha!

{4} I'm really digging Cinnamon Life cereal these days.

{5} I cannot wait for warmer weather!! I longingly look at the expensive fruit at the store and can't wait until it's not so freakin' expensive and I can get it fresh at the farmer's market. I bought a cantelope a couple weeks ago and it was $5!!! Holy cow!! You know I can't afford that?! I crave fresh fruit though and that's a good craving to indulge in!

Saturday Morning

This morning I woke up ready to seize the day. I feel like I have been in a bit of a funk lately with being so tired and lacking energy. I haven't been the wife that I should be and I know I am more then entitled to take it easy these days, however, it's important that I not put my marriage on the back burner for the next 8 months. When I'm not feeling well, I tend to throw a giant pity party and that doesn't accomplish anything except make myself and those around me miserable.

Ever since I became a mom, I'm unable to sleep in once Emersyn is awake. Even when Brett gets up with her, I still have trouble falling back asleep. Brett, however, does not suffer from this same phenomenon. So this morning I decided to get up when Emersyn started playing with her GloWorm, her morning ritual (she presses it like ten times before she calls us to come get her, ha!). I got Ems out of bed, changed her diaper, put some boots on over her jammies and we headed to the store for some roast ingredients and breakfast ingredients.

I made eggs with peppers and onions, bacon and pancakes from scratch! The recipe is just too yummy not to share for the pancakes but I can't take credit for it....my BFF's husband makes them and I'm not sure where he got the recipe from.

Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups butter milk

1/4 cup melted butter

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then whisk together

Ladle approximately 1/4 cup of batter into skillet

Makes about 10 pancakes

**This actually made quite a bit more then 10 pancakes for me but I didn't mind, I'll freeze them and reheat for Ems this week. I could have halved the recipe though for just the three of us and that would have been plenty**

We had real maple syrup too. I'm ashamed to admit that I have NEVER had real maple syrup before. We got it as wedding favors from Brett's cousin who got married to a girl from New York and they had these darling maple syrups brought from the east coast. Now that I've tasted real maple syrup, I'll never go back. It makes the Mrs. Butterworth stuff seem like flavored high fructose corn syrup. BLECH.

After a super busy morning I am kinda pooped but there is a toddler to play with, a kitchen to clean up, and a day to enjoy! I thank God every Saturday for the gift of having Brett home with us for the weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!!