Grayson: 6 MONTHS OLD!

I can hardly believe it is this sweethearts half birthday! The past 6 months have gone so fast. It's true your second child's first year goes even quicker than your first...it's crazy. Grayson has brought us SO much joy and we couldn't be more thankful that he's a part of our family. I remember writing a blog post before Grayson was born saying I predicted the transition from zero children to 1 would be harder for us than 1-2, and that has absolutely been the case. Maybe it's because of Grayson's laid back demeanor or just how our experience has went, but it's definitely been easier than I expected (but that's not to say there aren't challenging days and times with 2 kids because YES.. absolutely...there are plenty.) It's been so fun watching Grayson's personality develop. Him and Camden's personalities are completely different (as of now!) Grayson is more of an observer while Camden is much more a do-er. Grayson is quiet and content in practically any situation whereas Camden was always wanting to be on the go or playing with something. 

And man, do these boys love each other! Camden cares about him so much and is always telling him he loves him, and is constantly laying right by him. When he gets out of the car for school he says, "bye baby!" without fail every single time. Grayson watches Camden like a hawk and laughs at him often. I tell all my other mommy friends that are having another boy that having brothers is the absolute BEST! (Which is what I'm sure how every other parent feels as well, and they are right too!)

Weight: His apt isn't until next week so I'm not sure but probably around 17 or 18 lbs?

Height: Same as above

Hair: Brown (look how much it has grown lately!)

Eyes: Brown

Clothes: 6 month and some 9 months

Diapers: 2's

Sleeping: 3 naps during the day (longest being from about 1145am-2) then eats at 7pm then goes to bed! Unlike Cam who is a 7am riser on the dot everyday, he will sleep in until 8 or 830 sometimes.

Likes: Sucking his left thumb // the jumperoo // peek a boo // being tickled // sitting up // cuddling // his Wubbanubs // books with music // laughing at his brother // eating! (loves his baba's)

Dislikes: Being sick :(

Eating: 6 oz every 3-3.5 hours, 6-7 oz at bedtime bottle. We also just introduced baby food and he is loving it so far! Sweet potatoes were his first food :)

Milestones: First time flying and trip to Florida (he was an angel and slept both ways!) + first time swimming and kicking his feet in the pool/ocean + Sitting up on his own + First time swinging! + Rolling both ways all over the place now + Has started eating baby food! 

Health: Most of you probably saw on my snapchat or instagram that Grayson had to be taken in an ambulance on Thursday night to Children's Hospital, but if you didn't (and for this monthly update purposes) I thought I would fill everyone in here as well. He was struggling to breathe due to a really high fever and RSV on Thursday night (it was so scary seeing him struggle so much, but we are so thankful we were still awake and noticed him fussing/being uncomfortable on our monitor before we went to bed), so he had to spend 2 nights in the hospital. It was scary how fast he took that turn because prior to that evening, he was eating + acting fine (just had a little cough.) They had him on oxygen until Friday morning, but luckily he got better and didn't need it for the rest of the stay. Because things can get much worse before they get better with RSV, they wanted to keep him an extra night just to monitor him, which was fine by us. We knew he was in the best hands - they took such good care of him (and us) there. For the circumstances, Grayson was so strong and hardly even fussed when at the hospital. He was flirting it up with the nurses + was such a little trooper. He truly is such a sweetheart.

Also, it should be mentioned that at the very same time this happened Camden got his first ear infection (and his eye was all swollen!), so Billy had to take him to the doctors for that and be home with him while I was in the hospital with Grayson. It has not been the easiest week (well, month) to say the least. Grayson was discharged on Saturday morning and has been recovering well ever since, except he is just so congested that he can't seem to get comfortable. I can just tell he still doesn't feel great which makes me so sad! I've had so much mom guilt because I'm pretty sure I gave it to him (I've had a horrendous cough) in the first place and it just eats me up that I can't heal my babies and make them better. It breaks my heart seeing him (both of them) not well. I really pray we are all are on the mend, and will be healthy again soon! Crossing my fingers. Thank you all again for the prayers - we really appreciate it!

favorite pictures this month:

and just for fun: both boys at 6 months old!

These Are My Confessions

I confess...life has been so busy lately, mainly dealing with and recovering from back to back sicknesses. It's like once we get over one sickness another one comes along the next day. It's especially hard on Grayson, which just breaks my heart because he's so little and we're limited on what we can give him. It's safe to say I'm over winter and ready for spring...like today. 

I confess...Camden is talking in little sentences now! Someone hold me. The other day I asked him what his name is and he said, "my name is Camden!" like he has been saying it his whole life. I was so proud and shocked! He's been saying his name but not with the "my name is" too. His voice is just the sweetest sound in the world!

I confess...that I love this dress and this top from Old Navy (both are on sale!) They'll be perfect for spring...

I confess...that I'm giving LipSense a try. Who has heard of it and who likes it?!

I confess...that I am watching the Bachelor this season (duh) but Nick hasn't impressed me as much as I was thinking he would. He's actually kind of boring me. (but you know what's not boring me? This Is Us. Obviously.)

I confess...that the amount of laundry I have been doing lately for all three of my boys is truly insane. I might go crazy soon. Crazy.

I confess...that I'm taking Camden to see Disney On Ice this weekend! I bought tickets a few months ago and thought it would be fun for just us two to go. I hope he loves it! 

I confess...that we may or may not have had the "third baby" discussion and decided we do hope (one day) that we are able to have a third little one join our family. Definitely not planning anything for this year (no no no-I need a much longer break from being pregnant), but in the next few years hopefully.

I confess...my favorite person to follow on instagram is Cameran Eubanks (she's on Southern Charm and was on Real World back in the day.) If you don't follow her (@camwimberly1), you're missing out! She has the best sense of humor. Oh, and I actually tried these self tanning towelettes that she recommended and LOVE them.

I confess...this necklace or these sunglasses (love) would be a great valentines day gift!

I confess...I'm ready to go on another vacation, even though we literally just got back. Winter does this to me.

I confess...I've been sticking to eating healthy and I can already tell a huge difference in my mood + energy. Now that I'm feeling better (earlier this week I had the worst cold) I hope to get in some workouts this weekend!

PS: On my snapchat last night I shared a boys resale clothing facebook group I'm in that a lot of people were interested in, so I thought I would share it here too. It's called "Boys ONLY Brand Name Resale". I find so many like new (even new with tags) clothing for the boys in this group-it's great! 

Happy (almost) Friday!

How I Want To Spend 2017

2016 was a crazy year for us. We added a second child to our family...Camden started "school"...Rocky unexpectedly passed away...etc. I honestly feel like being pregnant/having a baby just makes the year fly by in itself! Typically, I don't do resolutions but because I have no doubt that 2017 will be just as busy, there are definitely things that I want to really focus on.

And most of them have to do with myself. I have a lot of personal goals for myself this year because often when raising young kids it's easy to put yourself last - since you're always putting your kids first. Now that Grayson is not an itty bitty newborn (6 months in 4 days!) I feel like we are in a better routine of things where I can really be intentional about growing and changing certain areas. It's time to hold myself accountable! 

+Take better care of my health. 

This is at the top of my list for the year. Must stop trying to pass off Camden's toddler snacks as my lunch and get back into a solid weekly workout routine. I want to commit to lose 10 lbs and eat more of a plant based diet. I'm also planning on cutting back on caffeine. Before the boys, I used to only get Starbucks once a week (my body gets jittery with too much) and I felt SO much better. I'm already on day 9 of this (I've only had coffee once) and I actually feel like I have more energy, so yay! Hoping to keep this up.

+Stay more organized.

From the kids toys to making sure I have appointments written in my planner - it's a must to staying on top of everything. I bought a bunch of new plastic bins after Christmas to organize Camden's toys which was a great start! 

+Spend more quality time with Billy.

Would love to take a vacation without the kids this year once Grayson is a little bit older. Traveling is my favorite thing to do with Billy and it would be so nice to just have a few days to just be husband/wife. Need to work on giving him more compliments + praise in our everyday life, too!

+If it doesn't bring me JOY then cut. it. out.

That simple. 

+Say NO to things and don't feel bad about it.

Let's face it...it's difficult some days getting out of the house with 2 young kids and the last thing I want to do is be "too busy". I want to have more relaxing Saturday's at home with the boys that aren't rushing around to get to certain places.

+Wake up earlier.

I'm typically running around like a chicken with my head cut off in the morning to get myself ready before the boys are up all because I like to get that extra 15-20 minutes of sleep. BUT...waking up just 30 minutes earlier will help me feel more put together and ready to tackle the day, which in turn will make me a better mom.

What are your goals for 2017? Share with me!

Paw Patrol Birthday Pawty

Planning Camden's Paw Patrol 2nd Birthday Party was even MORE fun for me than planning his first birthday party. Maybe it's because I knew he would go crazy over all the Paw Patrol decorations, or maybe it's just because this is how it'll always be with kids birthday parties. Things just keep getting better and better? I can only hope that's the case!

Everything turned out exactly how I had envisioned in my head (you know-except for the fact that he had to get stitches in his 3 days prior to the party...), which shocked me a bit because I was SURE I would forget or lose something. We had it at my parents house and about 27 family + friends and their little ones joined us in celebrating our sweet little 2 year old! It was so much fun and Camden was so happy (as every birthday boy should be) the entire time...

I bought Cam these adorable Paw Patrol suspenders + bow tie off of Etsy...they were seriously the cutest and he couldn't have looked more handsome, even with that big ole bandaid on his head. He rocked it.

So, I knew I wanted one table that was the main "focus" with balloons and streamers as the backdrop. I bought the bone pet bowls from the Dollar Tree and thought it was an adorable idea to serve the food out of them.

For the food menu, I decided to do a hot bog bar because it was easy, went with the theme of the party (and was perfect for the kids to eat as well) then we planned the side dishes around that. We had pawsta salad, pawtato chips, fetch sticks, fruit kibble, and pawcakes. Too cute, right? I couldn't resist and if I'm being honest I kinda want to do a Paw Patrol party every year. Anyway, my stepmom always makes the birthday cakes for all the grand kids in our family, but she really knocked it out of the park with this amazing bone cake and adorable cupcakes...

All of the decorations tied in together perfectly and I placed pictures of Camden from the past 2 years on some tables...

We had a Paw Patrol table for the kids (of course) with Paw Patrol masks, balloons, and blowers that they could play with. The masks were a total hit and were only a couple dollars off of Amazon. All the balloons I also bought off of Amazon here.

 straight to the face..my kinda style

I'm glad he took some time out to hug and kiss his little brother...so sweet.

Singing happy birthday to him with everyone was probably my favorite part just because of the look on his face - he was so excited. And when he blew out the candle on his very own? Heart. melted. He was so proud of himself that he immediately started cracking up, it was so cute! (video below)

Opening gifts was interesting, though, since his attention span right now at this age is about 2 minutes long. He kept wanting to get up and take breaks, so I ended up doing a lot of the unwrapping, but hey he is loving all his new toys now. Favorites being a big talking Buzz Lightyear (he holds it up and says "and beyond!" ha), all his new Paw Patrol vehicles, cars, a tricycle, new Nike's, etc. (thank you all!)

It was such a special day. I really can't believe I have a 2 year old! I'm kinda scared...but mostly happy. Make that very happy. Very happy that I get to be this boy's mama and that he is our son. Happy birthday, Camden! We love you and hope you had the best day ever!