Ask and you shall receive...

Sorry for the delay in posting you guys!

I was so dead set on being consistent with this thing, but I have to admit, once things got a little crazy in my household, I started slacking! I've been complaining for months about not getting enough "family" time with my love and our kids because due to his working and the running around afterwards and then the kid's sleep schedule, we basically just hung out alone until Daddy got home, and then it was dinner and bedtime. We've just moved recently so money has been a bit tight, and going out for the weekends just hasn't been an option. We've still been doing our weekly "date night", thank God, but as far as family outings go, there haven't been many.

Well I got my wish.

We went to the Georgia Aquarium Friday night, which coincidently was the same day we got the news that my love had been laid off work.

I've been wanting to go part time on a job until taxes come in anyway, just so we could get a little more back on the refund, and also to give me a little "Mama time" [and Mama cash!], but I didn't expect it to come about so suddenly. We went on with the aquarium trip stress free. It wasn't so much a full family trip because we left little Gracie with her "Granny JuJu" since she was too little to enjoy the sights, plus nursing makes it hard to really get out because she pretty much refuses a bottle from Mommy.

Anyway, Bal enjoyed the trip, FOR SURE! It was so nice to take Little Man out and let him have a night for just us. We had a great, great time.

And just to note, I got that hoodie I was listing as a "need to buy" item in the post just before this one!! =]

Well now its time for MAMA to look for that part time job!

In two days I've put in for 3 receptionist jobs [my previous "career choice" before babies!],

countless retail, and a few marketing and customer service positions.

I just HOPE I at least hear back from one.

Its so discouraging just sitting around waiting.

And of course nowadays everything is done online, every application, the follow ups, the whole nine yards,

so its just a big waiting game.

Are any of you ladies [and maybe guys?] looking for jobs?

This is really the first time I've done so in this economy and I'm already irritated!

Weightloss Wednesday

I look forward to Wednesdays for a few reasons. Its the middle of the week and thankfully only two more days until the weekend. My love's paycheck gets deposited is the other lovely reason =] So today has consisted of taking care of all the things we needed, one of those being my son's newborn portraits! He's two and I never ordered them. Agh, horrible mother, I know, but I finally got around to it. The good thing about weeks like this week is there's a little extra money and guess who it finally gets spent on? ME!!! =] Of course he did buy me my Juicy bag last week, but then he turned around and bought himself a new iPod [leave it to a man].... so now its my turn again haha.

And since its fall I'm thinking its definitely time to get sme new clothes. I'm finally right where I want to be weight wise, [before and afters below], so I think I deserve some clothes to show off how hard I've worked. Below are some ideas....

Before babies! A bit too skinny for my liking really

right before finding out about preg #2

9 months!

week after c-section!

month and a half after labor

5 months after baby

exactly 6 months after

almost 8 months after that little angel

THAT MAKES ME KINDA PROUD!

So I think now its time for a little retail therapy...

great jeans for hoodies!

dying for these for leggings!

Monday... again?!?

I know, I know, as a stay at home mom, my Mondays are much calmer than most of your Mondays but they're still pretty hectic! I got what I thought was a bit of a break today since my love opted out of making it to work on time to wait on his new Ipod to be delivered. Well we waited... it never came. So we loaded up a few hours later than usual and headed to Carrollton to get him to work. The kids both woke up at "normal time" aka 7 am. They were wide awake, ready to go. Naturally they both passed out about 30 minutes before we had to leave, which meant two pissed off babies! I thought surely they would lay back down and get their naps out when we got home, but instead they just have given me a break, and its almost 2 PM. I'm a little irritated on that end of things because for the past 2 months I've been endlessly working on getting Ms Luv on a sleeping schedule and its worked awesomely and she's taken a nap at exactly 12 pm every day since. So now I'm slightly afraid this might alter her sleep schedule all together.

On the way home I also realized that the likelihood that I'll run out of gas before I get back to pick my love up from work is pretty great. Due to his suspended license I have to pick him up every day and today I forgot to remind him to give me the money to get some gas on the way back.... and now I just might not make it the 25 miles to where he is. I'm thinking sitting on the side of the road with two kids in the backseat just doesn't sound appealing at all.

We did have a good weekend though, and I was pretty sad to see it end. We finally got an "at home" date night for Mommy and Daddy Saturday which was LONG overdue. After the GA game Saturday am  we headed out to a friend's birthday dinner and let her family meet the new baby, which was pretty nice. 

My washing machine is broken.... and on that note, I'm losing my mind. I'm a former hoarder (honestly!) and I've overcome all of it FINALLY and gotten rid of so much clutter and when things start piling up (like laundry) I have momentary freak outs until things are sorted back out. I went and washed three loads yesterday but it just didn't seem to put a dent in things. I honestly have so much anxiety over seeing things pile up... I hate it now!

I'm using the kid's naptime and "Mommy downtime" to blog and do my product reviews.... then its time to do one more quick cleanup and get everyone ready to pick Daddy up. I'm pretty excited for this day to wrap up! Too much for one Monday.... definitely hoping I won't have a breakdown on the side of the road to top things off! POSITIVE THOUGHTS! Agh!

Oh and here's my thought board/inspiration board for the next few weeks....

Sorry for the scattered way its put together....

My mind IS scattered right now!!!

my white walls are SCREAMING for some color...

but the man of the house says I can only go green if we get the Margarita maker =]

 

I've only been doing the Tracy Anderson method for 2 weeks and I SWEAR I'm already seeing some AWESOME results.

a sad day...

This was going to be mine today, but thanks to the stupid alarm clock not going off this morning, we were all running late which meant we got back home late, which meant when UPS stopped by to drop it off, I WASN'T HERE YET!!!! 10 MINS! I missed them by 10 MINUTES! I'm so upset. I won't be able to pick it up at the post office until tomorrow. UGH!

I dealt with my frustrations over this in a very productive manner though...

I worked out until I was almost crying and then got to cleaning.

Oh well.

Manic Monday....

If I could pick any seat in the world to be in, it would be anywhere in the above area!

...jealousy...

Well last night I gave myself a good look over in the mirror. I'm not always critical of myself

but I'm okay admitting where my flaws are and accepting them if I can't change them, and changing

them (or WORKING on them) if I can. Well last night the flaw came in the form of one FLAT BUTT! 

I don't have a super curvy butt on any day, but after having a stomach virus for a few weeks straight and dropping a little over 10 pounds really quickly, my butt took a beating! BIG TIME! 

So now I have these huge birthing hips ( =] ) and no butt to match! 

Also... 2 c sections later, I have a pretty soft belly. A small soft belly, but SOFT nonetheless and its something I want to work on.

So after a couple of months of taking it easy on exercising.... I'm starting back.

I was working out daily and counting calories, all while nursing.

Well now I'm attempting to go a mix of breast and bottle feeding with Ms. Luv so I feel okay jumping back into my routine.

So last night I did some Tracy Anderson butt lifts before bed, which only took about 10 minutes but left me pretty sore. I love the soreness of working out so after spending the first half of my day cleaning, I got baby Luv down for a nap and did a half hour of the Brazilian Butt Lift. Tonight I'll focus on the belly. Heading out for groceries this evening and plan to stock up on all low cal and hopefully to say goodbye to my good ol' Mtn Dew in favor of some Diet Mtn Dew =]

WISH ME LUCK!!!

=]

Fall brings.... LEGGINGS!

Its beginning to look a lot like fall around where I'm from and I couldn't be happier. Fall means.... LEGGINGS! The heat just did away with the idea of BLACK leggings lately. 

OH HOW I'VE MISSED YOU!

My little Luv

Well in 3 days, my youngest will be 7 months old. Its flown by mostly because with her two year old brother, I don't have time to slow down and let it DRAG! 

right after c-section

meeting Mommy and Daddy

ready to EAT!

her best friend, her big brother.

my little diva

chasing her brother before bedtime

my PRINCESS!

Miss Gracie Luv, you are a beauty queen. Not even 7 months and you are the smartest girl.

Crawling, standing, saying Ma Ma, Da Da, and night night- you do it all!

You have brought so much laughter into my life!

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!

how my days spent....

Thoughtful Thursday....

My kids are somewhat "independent" today (as much as they can be at their age), so I have a bit of down time and I'm bored out of my mind. Call me old fashioned but I think I might curl up with a book and read for a bit. As intriguing as all the blogs and online content are, sometimes I do miss just sitting down and physically turning the pages and reading! So I need my mid day pick me up, aka a snack and a caffeine free Dr Pepper, and I think I'll read the Elizabeth Wurtzel book that my love brought me home the other day. Just gotta give Gracie some of those trusty teething tablets, and I'm good to go. 

I can't remember just what it was that reminded me of this earlier today, but for weeks now I've been meaning to pick up some yellow nail polish from the store. I think I'll take that survey check and cash it and do so. Some yellow in my life just may be what I need to brighten myself up =]

Just perfectly cheery, huh?

I am absolutely dying to get out of the house. I'm making my Olive Garden inspired potato soup tonight so I don't need to run to the grocery store for that, but I have to get out of here for some reason, and I think that yellow polish might have to be it. My love and I were itching for something to do this weekend, but with all the bills just being paid this week and last, we're pretty much on a very limited budget. We were going to go way outside of our norm and go to Dragoncon hahahah.... but the pictures scared me a bit...

The UGA game on the other hand... that would be nice. Oh well!