Beach & Pool Daze //

Adrian LOVED the pool. Actually no, LOVE is truly an understatement. I was obsessed with the pool and I am terribly jealous of people with pools in their home, haha. We seriously need one for this kid. 

I can not express how much I love/adore him. I just can't.

These little toes keep getting bigger and bigger. Stay small and kissable forever, please ?

xo

Sibling Talk ?

I want to know how other mother's with a child have "sibling" talks with their little ones. My son is the least bit interested that he has a brother. He rubs my belly when I ask, and is able to recognize - or say , that there's a baby inside. I don't believe he's truly grasped the concept though and I'm a little worried of how he will react once he sees his baby brother. He's usually great with little baby girls.. he sees them as delicate. But when it comes to boys he's a bit rougher which I'm slightly concerned about. 

^ When belly talk gets awkward ^ 

No Adrian, you don't have a baby inside of you.

The Spark of Convo //

A passion of mine that I'm "to busy" (using quotations strongly, here) to tend to. Writing and drawing have always been my hobby. My thing. I don't draw for show, or write to read to others - it's really just a "me" thing.

One night in bed my husband and I we're laying aimlessly in bed, talking about any and everything. Those are my favorite.. at the end of the day just sparking up conversation. It's funny because sometimes our random conversations turn into mini arguments and debates, then back to, "I'm so happy we stuck together.." sappy mess. I just love that he's my best friend, my real, true other half.

Anyways, he angered me when we got on the topic of my drawing. Long story short (what I interpreted) he was only trying to motivate me to spark this passion of mine up again. Have something I can call my own again. He dances, that's his passion. Everyone that knows him, knows that's his thing. We've been to different events and places because of it. He actively dances everyday. At home, in the grocery store, while at the doctors - yeah... tell me about it. Anyways, I know he just wants me to become fully invested in my work again. It's like he likes to see my drawings.. he'll look at them and give me his opinion. He made me so upset that night, it motivated me in a sneaky way.

So the next day I drew. I don't even know who this is, or what she is.. It just came off my brain.

Long story short .. I'm trying to bring this back and get better also. I am constantly comparing myself with other artists I have yet to come up with my own style. That's what I'm aiming towards.. so here's to many blog posts of my work in the future ! 

ps. thank you hubby, if you're reading this.

The Time Has Come..

I'll try and let the pictures speak for themselves..

before.

one of the world's greatest Dad's for this. 

And the hair my beautiful, baby boy has been sporting since birth is all cut off - gone forever (although we kept a little of it in a ziploc bag for memories). I won't make this a long post, but I have to tell you how WELL he behaved. My husband and I prepared ourselves for a meltdown. We packed snacks, got ourselves ready for, "Good job, buddy" and "It's okay, shhh, it's okay" - and we didn't have to comfort him at all. He's seen daddy get haircuts before, which I think where his sense of maturity came about. He had a seriousness in his face, like the other men in the shop getting haircuts. He wasn't upset, but he wasn't smiling either. He let the barber turn his head, and patiently waited until he was done - no tears.

Love you, A. I know you're loving your haircut - especially with this hot weather. Bath time will be 10x faster without mommy having to go through a war trying to wash your hair. And no more screaming while getting your hair combed. Even though I wanted to keep his hair, I know he didn't care what happened to it - which helped me cope with my baby growing up. xo.

Random Sunday Festivities

I wish I was prepared to go to the beach Sunday, but it was honestly just a random trip with some of my husband's family so we followed along - on hungry stomachs, btw (preggy mom was irritated). Nonetheless, it was fun walking on the strip! I haven't been on the strip in forever. I have a thing against large crowds of people, I prefer going places with few bodies and germs - I'm one of "those" people. But I enjoyed the time we walked around, Adrian loved it to. He's so alert, and he LOVES outdoors. It amazes me how many things AMAZE him, I love this stage. 

Oh! And can't forget about baby, Jonas - who hasn't dropped yet, obviously because I can barely breathe now. Anyone else experience such horrible shortness of breath? I feel like my lungs have shifted and can't expand at all, ESPECIALLY when I'm sleeping. I didn't have this issue with Adrian at all. I also never had Braxton Hicks or leg cramps with Adrian. Is it true the second baby is bigger than the first ? Ugh, I'm so ready to meet you, baby!!

thanks for reading, loves xo

Tummy Growler

I had the urge to make muffins this morning! I opted for blueberry muffins, I adore blueberry flavored anything - always been that way. I'm not a baker by any means.. this was by the box and yet I still managed to make it funky. My muffin's were sunburnt when I took them out the oven. 

Proof that mommy brain does exist! 15-20 mins of baking time turned into 25 mins of trying to multitask.. Anyone else feel a slight joy when you accomplish tasks while cooking something? In my mind I feel like I'm killing several birds with one stone, this obviously wasn't one of them. 

Anyways.. to make up for my burnt muffins (asked hubby if he wanted to take some to work, and he kindly shot me a, "Oh no thanks babe, I probably wouldn't eat it if I brought it. I'll just take a gatorade.") I made shrimp !

^ For when I'm to lazy to chop up real garlic ^

I am totally having a love affair with lemon. I LOVE lemon. Lemon pepper seasonings, Lemon bars, Lemon popsicles, Lemon ANYTHING. Usually a squeeze of half of lemon gives just the right amount of yummy citrus flavor when I cook. *insert lemon emjoi here*

What did you make today ?

xo

Independence Day

Happy Late July Fourth! I meant to posts yesterday, but sometimes when you're just enjoying your day - it's hard to stop and posts when you'd rather cuddle with a little monkey aka my toddler, instead. There's really not that much to blog about. We started to the morning off as usual - in fact we never actually said, "Happy Fourth of July!!". I understand the holiday, it's wonderful. But the way "American's" celebrate it just annoys me. People only show up to your cook outs for food. People would drive to a crowded park three hours early to get a good parking space, with cranky children, JUST to see a 15 min firework show.. and then sit in more traffic with hungry, sleepy, itchy kids. Or my favorite, people who get wasted on a day they have no idea about - they associate it with "Hey, this is the day I can get belligerent drunk, shoot my gun in the air randomly, oh and drive!"

So.. I am NOT a fan of July 4th, in this day and time. As a kid, it was never anything big either - last year we took Adrian to see fireworks and it proved to me why I hated doing the "cliche" celebration so much. We treated yesterday like any other day, which was perfect.

My husband and I were longing for a "date", and some good QT since he had yesterday off.  So we dropped our son off with his granny, and he took me to the movies :) It was awkward for me, to actually be able to hold a conversation without saying, "Oh babe, did we bring snacks?" or "Yeah, so I told the girl - Babe! His ice cream is dripping!! - but yeah, like I was saying.. wait what was I saying?"

It felt good to look at him, and only him - listening to every word he had to say without interrupting him because I'm trying to strap a shoe. Going out with our kid is GREAT, it's normal, for us - don't get me wrong. But it's true.. as a married couple you definitely can not forget about each other. We're so engrossed in parenthood/adulthood we forget about our needs in the relationship. Which I respect, because I know we're both being the best parents we can be - which in this day and age is hard to find. I'm just happy to be on the same page with him 99.8% of the time. He just gets it, and I appreciate him so much for that. When I'm frazzled and OCD about things, he just understands me. 

When we cooked together that night he picks up a brand new package of butter and says, 

"Babe, is this the only pack of butter left?" 

I respond, "Yeah, it's a new package! How much do you need?"

And then he says, "I know how you feel about opening new packages if there's already a pack open of something. I didn't want you to get all OCD on me."

We laughed because it was so true. I had just used the last bit of the other pack of butter, which I'm guessing he saw - so he just asked to make sure.. because YES I am super OCD about the smallest things. But the fact that he understands that... *hugs self* makes me HAPPY. 

Toddler portion, for MY toddler. I'm sure your child's plate could look slightly different.. but it's all about strategies with this one. Babies aren't going to starve themselves, if they're hungry - they will eat. It's taking me day by day to grasp this concept. I would love to give him solely what he likes, but truth is - you never know if he'll like it until the time comes. One minute he LOVES chicken, next day he's turning his head from it. So I give him everything we're eating, I don't leave it out just because he didn't eat it "one" day, because he surprises us everyday with his picky habits. When he was younger he used to eat everything, so I am definitely associating this with... "terrible two's". I'd rather say terrific though.. anyways, he's becoming independent and is loving the fact that his opinion on things actually makes a difference. Can't blame the kid, he's human just like me and force feeding just makes things worse. 

Happy Fourth of July, readers xo

New Items

FOOD! The common denominator for conversations, the one thing that pulls people together no matter what (if not, you're probably one of those people who puts ketchup on their fries as opposed to dipping *rolls eyes* JK) So, there's this hurricane (his name is Arthur, how prestigious?) that's suppose to come tomorrow, or shall I say today so I went to the store to grab some things if things get bad. I didn't picture everything, btw. Hubby stocked up on gatorade, water for Adrian and I. These pics are taken from my iPhone, don't judge me I'm lazy.

I'm pretty convinced we have enough yogurt for the US military now. Adrian adores greek yogurt, he calls it, "Yo-Gi" which melts my big mommy heart! We picked out a bunch of different ones, different brands and flavors to taste test basically. And the great thing, is I only spent .90-1.00 each for these. Adrian usually eats yogurt as part of his breakfast, and one of the buddy fruit pouches for his mid-morning snack. Hubby also picked out these cute little sweet potato puffs, anyone had them before? I wonder if I can make my own.

I'm giving Almond Milk a try, a couple of friends told me they liked it so I pray it does me justice. Also, I love jasmine rice! This particular brand is GMO free as well, if you haven't had jasmine rice... you're missing out. It was only $2.68, I believe. It's so yummy and soft when you make it right. The green goddess drink isn't for me btw, hubby loves it - I think those little drinks are gross now.

My main reason for going to the grocery store... PRODUCE. I hate buying things I won't use in the next couple days, it's such a waste - so I purchased things I knew I would use within a week. Green pepper, onion, lemons (so great over chicken and in water), MANGOES, and banana's. Yes, I purposely buy them green because they get ripe so fast and we just don't eat them fast enough. One thing that helps is actually separating the bananas, I find they last longer than usual.

Lastly, I found this flavored water in peach! I'm not a fan of flavored water honestly, but peach anything just gives me faith in humanity. It's just so GOOD, so I snagged it (after asking hubby several times, "Should I put this back?") Also, don't laugh at my mini water bottles. I have reg sized ones to, but these are for those nights when I wake up feeling like a camel and Adrian also :)

So there it is.. a little mini "haul". HA, I sound like a you tuber. The only thing not pictured are my meats, frozen veggies, etc. I just want to keep posting, and staying updated. I love the response I've been getting, it really makes me happy. I pray everyone that lives around me is safe and sound! 

xo

My Mini Scare Today

Today was eventful, relieving, and stressful all at the same time. 

I had an appointment at 10am, a routine check up. Everything went great, and my husband got to hear Jonas' heartbeat again (with his schedule now, he can barely make my not Adrian's appointments). I expressed my concerns about the Braxton hick contractions I have been having, and of course the doctor told me exactly what Google told me, and suggested I try to at least drink a gallon or more of water a day (he even explained different ways to drink this much water without making it seem like a 'gallon' in my brain, I'm weird)

Literally after leaving the office and going home, I started not feeling well. It was Adrian's nap time, and I was so excited to get me a little nap in as well (he even cuddled with me before falling asleep!). It was to good to be true. I couldn't fall asleep, and I kept having these Braxton hicks, which freaked me out because they were starting to become closer and closer together. If you haven't had a Braxton hick, it feels like this tightening sensation. Your belly gets rock hard and it's just.. Uncomfortable so to speak. I never had them with my son, so just having these little suckers was irritating the poop out of me. I started to become a little concerned and called my husband who was at the gym at this time, took him about 5 mins to get home - not joking. ^__^'

*I must add, my toddler was an angel for four 1/2 hours straight of sitting in this tiny room. Fries and yogurt may have accompanied him in his good behavior, but nonetheless he was so well behaved ! And got thousands of compliments as well.* 

Anyways, I was put on a monitor.. My contractions were 4-7 mins apart, which is a little close for Braxton hicks but luckily they weren't that strong. I got an IV for some fluid. I got Cotten swabbed near my cervix to test for premature labor which came back negative, so happy. Then after waiting for the longest time I had an ultrasound to check my cervix length because in my previous pregnancy, it was thinning when I was 20 weeks. My cervix looked fine, the only Debbie downer for today was that my amniotic fluid was low. So I'm awaiting a phone call from my doctor Monday to go from there. But the one thing everyone instilled in me was drink drink drink drink WATER. And honesty , I drink water but I know I don't drink a gallon a day so from here on out - only water for me. Today was not fun and I'm only 30 weeks. I couldn't fathom my baby coming this early so I'm forever thankful. 

If you were eating ice chips for four hours you would want Chipotle to! I was starving, that's the only downfall of going to the hospital while pregnant. It's like.. "Oh she's pregnant ? She mustn't eat anything or she shall throw up by default!" *runs and gets paper cup full of ice and even a spoon to make you feel like your actually eating something* The whole time I was waiting (starving) I had to think to myself, "Stay Gold Ponyboy" because at the time, I felt like I was going to cry because I was that hungry. You ever feel dramatic at the time, and after you get what you want you're like, "Hungry? What's that? *scratches belly*"

I was honestly just happy to have warm steaky goodness, I realized they don't make the corn salsa the same though. It used to be lighter (the corn) now it looks like the corn you find in the can. Anyone have an explanation for that? I swear I'm not making it up. 

So that was my whole day, sitting in a granny gown and having blue jelly on my tummy all day. I hope yours was just as great as mine, reader. 

Love, Ris 

Must Read. At War, With Myself

I have been so consumed with work, planning for the near/far future, keeping up with my little monster and being a wife that I've completely forgot about my own happiness and space. Every day is a routine, every minute on the clock counts (try fixing your hair in 20 seconds, I'm mastering it) and if something goes out of wack or alters your schedule the whole day is automatically ruined - that is where I'm at. Which is so unhealthy! I'm shocked I don't have gray hairs (I'm only 21, thank God). It's so easy for us women to put others and other duties in front of our own feelings and needs. I find myself asking my husband if our son and him ate, and realizing I forgot to eat breakfast or something (my tummy is the best reminder, baby J is fat). I think that where our emotional side kicks in, we feel mentally and physically exhausted, like we have OH SO much on our plates, while our significant other travels care free through life (like how can you not freak out when laundry was suppose to be done a week ago?!). 

Our significant others share the same responsibility as us, yet we have some chip in our brains that piles extra duties on our list of never ending things. THAT'S when it clicked to me. Stress is self made. Yes, life is stressful, but I believe as women - mother's, really - we HAVE to be super moms. We HAVE to know what's going on at all times (plans have to be made 24 hours prior ^__^'). We HAVE to make sure our babies have eaten and brushed their teeth before bed. We HAVE to have control, it's a love hate relationship. We want to relax but we don't want to give up that control we have. While my boys are off running in the park, I'm checking our bags to make sure I brought all the snacks and extra shorts for my son. 

I'm in that boat. I am such a mother, I feel 10 years older than what I really am.

So here's to giving up the reigns. 

Relaxing, toasting with sparkling water in my wine glass to my crazy controlling brain. I really don't have that much on my plate as I think (my husband has to constantly remind me that he's here to help, and as a women I never ask for it because I'm super mom). I want to live while I'm alive , just like that cool colorful quote I posted. I don't want to look back and remember myself trying to control other lives. Everyone needs spontaneity, routines and schedules get old to. Everyone needs to be able to have one day where they throw their beloved planner out the window and just LIVE for that day, instead of thinking future future future every 30 secs (*thinking to self* if I eat this buttery fat roll now.. I will be at risk for diabetes later. No. No, must not eat this one roll). 

LET'S LIVE.

Love, Ris xo

Terrible *cough* Terrific, Two's.

It scares me how overwhelming motherhood can be at times. Lately my recently-turned-two toddler has been more rambunctious than he's ever been. Don't get me wrong, I am constantly amazed everyday by new words and stories. However being pregnant & chasing around an olympic track star can become very exhausting, ESPECIALLY with pregnancy fatigue. I've realized the key to everyday is patience (something I clearly wasn't born with but my husband def helps with that). These moments never come back. They're only toddlers once. He's two, he's not 12. I can not expect him to reason with me in grocery stores when he sees something he wants, or refrain him from wanting to climb on library chairs. I can't tell him how much of a pain it'll be if he stains his jeans with grass, or how much he'll benefit from eating ALL his veggies at dinner. I'm his mom, but he's an individual. The craziest thing is that even in these tired moments when I want to pull my hair out, or ask myself if it would've been easier if I would've had a "girl" (dollhouses and tea time?), I can't even force my brain to believe this isn't the life for me. This is what God has given me, a special boy with big brown eyes who wakes up around 7ish everyday and yells, "Mommy?" or "Daddy?" because he knows, without a DOUBT that we're in the next room, and we're always going to be there for him. SO for all you mommies that become extremely overwhelmed (especially with multiple kids) this. is. for. you. You are not alone.

Take their hands, Love them, Never Let Go.