happy 3 months to my little love

I am having the hardest time believing that my James is already 3 months old! Each time I say it, I have to pause and count the months to make sure that's right, because he can't be 3 months already?! Time is so cruel sometimes, ha ha! Each day just gets better and better with this boy, but my momma heart is a little broken over the fact that we are officially out of the newborn phase!

This month was so crazy, and flew by so quickly, that I didn't record a single milestone in my notes to keep track like I normally do. Hopefully my mom brain can recall all the info (not likely, ha!)
- James is truly the happiest boy! We didn't think we'd get two happy babies in a row, but we were proved wrong! (Which means we are in for it when they are teenagers, I'm sure ;))
- He smiles so easily but it's still tough to get giggles out of him!
- James is seriously all eyes for his sister! It's hard to get him to look at anything else when Mia is around. They are starting to interact so much more and goodness, my heart can barely handle the cuteness! I love my kids!
- He is a talker! James has a lot to say these days and we can't get enough of his sweet voice!!
- At his 2 month check up last month, James weighed in at 12.5 pounds (!!) He is one chunky boy with rolls everywhere :) It's so cute and SO different than Mia! She was teeny tiny and never had one roll on her body. 
- I can count the number of times that he's only woken up once through the night to eat on one hand... he's still up twice in the night most nights to eat. I blame it on those chunky rolls... he's gotta maintain them somehow! 
- James has really mastered the bumbo this last week. It is so fun to have him sitting up while I'm working in the kitchen, sitting at the table, etc. He loves to be more apart of everything and it makes my heart skip a beat each time I look up and see his smiling face!
- He still hates tummy time. I have to place him on his belly right after he's eaten to have him play there in peace for a few minutes before the screaming starts, otherwise he screams the second I lay him on his belly. He used to flip over when he got sick of it but I suspect that he's too big to flip himself onto his back now, ha ha!
- I showed James one of his new Christmas books yesterday (December 26th) and he was SO interested in it! He inspected every inch of every page- it was SO cute! I was totally shocked over how interested he was at such a young age! He's so alert, I love it!
- James still sleeps a lot during the day which is nice! He sleeps more during the day than Mia did!
- We've pretty much got a routine down with James. I know what to expect from him each day which makes things a little easier while still adjusting to this mom of 2 thing :)
- He has finally started going longer between feedings during the day which is a relief! Instead of eating every 2 hours on the dot, he will go 3 hours, sometimes (maybe once a day) even 4 between a feeding!   
- James has outgrown his 0-3 month clothing and wears 3-6 month clothing! I guess that's a good thing since those are all winter clothing (and he won't need them after January here in Arizona) but I do wish he would slow down with the growth ;)
- He is in size 1 diapers but it's definitely time to size up to 2's!

We are obsessed with our happy baby boy!          

December happenings

Oh December. This month feels like it has dragged on forever, but flew by in the blink of an eye all at the same time! Eric has worked every. single. day. (hence the dragging) but our babies are growing and only 2 more sleeps until Christmas (what?!) We've missed out on some of the festive fun due to Eric's crazy work schedule right now, but I've done my best to make the most of this month and I think Mia has been having the best time :)

We survived holiday shopping with a nursing newborn and newly potty trained Mia... that was an adventure every time we tackled the malls, ha ha! My best friend came and stayed with us for a few days and we had the best time! It was just what I needed! The kids played so well together and Mia talks about them every day!

We have done a couple festive things like our church Christmas party and a local "snow" day. They had snow (aka a big pile of ice) for the kids to play on, face painting (Mia was thrilled with her reindeer! I was expecting her to choose the Frozen snowflakes... I should have known better, ha ha!) food trucks, games for the little ones and Santa!!

Mia got to see Santa twice this year! My best friend braved the mall with me (5 kids under age 5 is not for the weak, guys!) and we took the kids to visit Santa. Mia was SO excited... until it was her turn to talk to him. She quickly turned around and started walking away, ha ha! I held her the whole time she talked to him and barely got her to take a photo while sitting on my lap next to him. That warmed her up for our next Santa meeting I guess because she actually sat on his lap! And while she's obviously very weary of the situation, she didn't scream (like the past 2 years, and I adore those pictures, ha!) and even waved for the camera. No smiling though. Of course as we walked away she excitedly told me all about seeing Santa :) 

We celebrated Mia's THIRD birthday! I threw a simple birthday party for her at the park with cupcakes and she LOVED it! I just wasn't up to throwing a big party with Eric being gone and, you know, trying to survive each day with two kids ;) It was so nice to only have to "worry" about baking the cupcakes! I won't have an excuse as to why I need to keep it simple next year, but I'm definitely going to keep it simple for as many years as she lets me :) (I wish I was a party planner but it's just not my talent and ends up stressing me to the max!) On Mia's actual birthday we went to church (she was thrilled to see all of her friends on her actual birthday as well!) then Eric got home from work the same time we did! I can't even tell you how nice it was to have him home before bed time, definitely Mia's favorite thing about her big day! We ate pizza, opened gifts and played with every single one of them and dug into her princess cake that she'd been requesting for weeks. Eric made her dreams come true with a pretty awesome princess cake (which I forgot to take pictures of in good lighting, I'm so bummed!) and she has asked every day since if it's her birthday again and where is her princess cake? ha ha! Mia was so, so happy and even though it was such a simple celebration, it was everything she wanted it to be! My very favorite part was that we were all in bed an asleep before 8pm, HA! I love my little family so much!

I've had a hard time keeping up with the blog this past month but I don't hold back on Instagram ;), so be sure to find me, @courtbrink, if you want to keep up with our Christmas fun! Two more sleeps, guys. Two more sleeps!!

it's a start... {Senita Athletic Wear GIVEAWAY}

I was at my sweet friend Fatty's house the other day and she snapped some photos of me wearing my new Senita athletic outfit (which I loooooove, but more raving about that later!) I am extremely awkward in front of the camera by myself (fo real, yo!) and was telling Fatty that I feel so much more natural and confident (in front of the camera) with my kids in my arms. As I was saying this I was watching Mia run around and I couldn't resist telling her to come jump in the photos with me! I LOVE these adorable, candid photos with my girl but as I was scrolling through them, I'm ashamed to say that the FIRST thing I noticed was my back roll. But I did my best to quickly push those negative self image thoughts out of my head and own this picture of me playing with Mia... I did just have a baby less than 3 months ago for crying out loud! I don't know if the pressure comes from myself or from society, but my body is a work in progress, and will continue to be so once I hit my fitness goals. It's about being healthy and that's what matters most! So here I am, back rolls and all, showing off this incredible outfit from Senita!

 Tank and Capris c/o Senita

Senita just launched here in Scottsdale, Arizona (where are all my locals at?!) and they offer CUTE, affordable athletic wear for women! I don't really know where to begin when it comes to professing my love for these capris. They are so comfortable and have the most practical pockets that all workout bottoms need! These are my go to for working out.... and lounging around the house ;) Because workout clothes that can be worn on lazy days at home as well are a total win-win. Yoga pants got some competition ;) I highly recommend Senita for your next athletic wear purchase, because the first step is putting on the work out clothes and it's hard to resist exercise once you're wearing an outfit like this! I also highly recommend you head to my Instagram page this instant and get yourself entered to win a gift card to Senita... there are TWO winners, my friends!

Mia is THREE!

Our precious princess is three today, THREE!

Oh how we adore our Mia! 

Happy Birthday to the sweetest, silliest, smartest three year old! We are eternally grateful to be your parents!
WE LOVE YOU!

Freshly Picked GIVEAWAY

Blanket c/o Shuga Bebe Couture

Onesie c/o Izzy and Isla

 Moccs c/o Freshly Picked

I will be the first to admit that I'm not a sock lover, which means my babies rarely wear socks. Poor Mia, my December baby, never had anything covering her feet (but she was always wrapped in a blanket!) until she started walking. We got our first pair of Freshly Picked moccs then and fell in love! She still loves to wear the last pair that still fits her! Freshly Picked sent a pair of newborn moccs (I die over the tiny cuteness!) to James and oh my goodness, I fell in love all over again! It's actually pretty chilly in Arizona (I know, I'm shocked too!) right now and I'm constantly wearing James while we are out running errands, instead of leaving him tucked snug in the car seat, so his precious toesies need to stay covered! His moccs go with everything, I never worry about them falling off his feet, people stop to compliment them all the time, and most importantly- his feet stay warm! I love that we will be able to pass these on to baby #3 (don't tell Eric I said that out loud... he says we are done ;) ha ha!)  because I'm seriously a huge fan of these darling moccs! The second best part of this post (because duh, biased mommy here, and I think his photos are the best part!) is that I've teamed up with Freshly Picked to give away a pair of moccs to one of YOU! Merry Christmas and good luck, my friends! xoxo

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my reality {life with 2 kids}

...annnnnnnnd I'm back! I think. Maybe. I better take it day by day ;) I apologize for sudden absence (mom and dad... probably the only one's who missed me in blogland ;)) from this blog! Life has been crazy, in the best way, but totally crazy for me and something had to go (hence my absence). Let me explain...

James is such a dream baby! I really didn't think we'd ever be lucky enough to have two good babies in a row, but sweet James is the happiest, most easy going (except when he's hangry hungry- he gets that from both mom AND dad) little man and we absolutely love having him around! (Obviously this means their teenage years will be a nightmare ;)) He's the perfect addition to our family! The past few days he's even only been waking up once in the night, but let's pretend I didn't just say that out loud because I would hate to jinx this, because I need sleep!
Mia is the best big sister EVER! On Saturday we went to a birthday party and a few people asked Mia what her name was. Her response? "Big sister!!" ha ha! She loves James (but not too much... I rarely have to tell her to keep her distance from him. It's just the perfect amount of loving!) and we really haven't had to deal with a transition period with her. It's a dream, I tell ya! I love being their mom!!
Eric, super dad, loving husband, my right hand (aka best support and helper EVER!) has been working every. single. day. And he works long hours. It's been hard and I try not to complain, but it makes for very long single parenting days (I complain, but Eric hustles at work each day to get these huge projects finished, then gets home and helps me for the few minutes he has before he crashes and does it all again the next day. All the while he's missing his family while working these crazy hours. He is super man!) I don't get to look forward to having an extra set of hands helping with the kids in the evenings or weekends with Eric's crazy schedule right now. This isn't me complaining, we knew it would be like this (but of course I wasn't expecting it so soon after James was born, and I was expecting him to have 1 day off a week) I'm just trying to paint a picture of how busy life has been for our little family. I have definitely gone into survival mode and won't come out of it until February. (Pray for us.)
I was getting very little sleep between James waking up twice in the night to feed, taking forever to fall asleep between the first and second feeding, Eric's alarm waking me, then Mia waking up just after I finished feeding James for the second time. I was only getting 2-3 hours sleep the first stretch of the night (and I was going to bed as soon as I finished feeding James around 9pm) and I don't think I ever got a full hour of sleep after that, except on rare occasions. I tried to get through the days without a nap but we quickly discovered that once these huge projects started at work and I no longer had Eric home on the weekends, that I was not a very nice mommy by the end of the day. My family deserved better than that, so the kids nap time has become my nap time. To top it off, I've been sick the past 2 weeks. UGH! With all the craziness, business and sleep deprivation we've been experiencing... something had to go. I used to blog in the early mornings before Mia woke for the day when I was pregnant, then I took advantage of nap time to blog once James was here, but now that I must sleep the times that both kids are sleeping to survive the long days, I lost motivation to find another time to blog... again, hence my absence.

I can't even tell you how good it felt to let go of the stats, the pressure I felt to bust out some posts, etc. My unplanned blogging break was just what I needed! I still felt connected to everyone through Instagram (although I've been blocked from leaving comments on photos and captions with my own photos for a week... maybe that's what pushed me to start blogging again. I need adult interaction somehow... just kidding. My life isn't that pathetic... most of the time ;) Be sure to follow me @courtbrink in case it takes me awhile to get back into the swing of blogging regularly!) but it feels good to be back! I probably won't post every day like I did before, at least not until the craziness settles and Eric is back to a normal work schedule, but I've got a million posts to share and I can't wait to plaster my corner of the internet with my babies faces again :) I have lots of reviews and giveaways to share as well, so I hope you'll stick with me through this crazy time in my life! The days are long but the years are short, right?! I just can't wait to have Eric around more to enjoy our precious babies and make fun memories with! And now I'll leave you with a peek of my precious Christmas babies...

these hidden gems {GIVEAWAY}

I'm so excited to be featuring These Hidden Gems: a nursing cover that can also be used on a car seat and shopping cart (or as a blanket, spit up rag, etc. You momma's know how handy multi use items are ;))
It took months (at least 6) before I became confident enough to nurse in public with a cover. I used to hide in my car to feed Mia, or just not leave my house if it was getting close to feeding time. Part of my issue was that nursing is difficult to get used to. I felt like I needed 10 extra hands to make it easier, ha ha! But once nursing felt more natural and Mia was big enough to make it easier on both of us, she was also very mobile and curious. It took practice to nurse her covered, without having her rip the blanket (that's all I used) off. When I found out I was pregnant with James I noticed these nursing covers that gave 360 coverage and I knew I had to get one because 1- I didn't want to be confined to my house or car to feed my baby and 2- I am always on the go and always have someone climbing all over me thanks to a certain toddler... I don't have time to find the perfect nursing corner to keep my back covered since a blanket only covers the front.
James was only 2 weeks old when we made our first family outing to a pumpkin patch when James needed to eat. It was windy out and I was so grateful to have my cover from These Hidden Gems to keep James protected, plus I didn't have to worry about my cover blowing away! Fast forward to my Disneyland vacation a couple weeks ago... my cover became a lifesaver! I can't tell you how many times I nursed James standing up, but it happens quite frequently there (all the bare belly's/back's were a dead giveaway, ha ha!) Everyone knows how precious your spot in line is while waiting for a ride, so instead of missing out, I fed James in line, while watching shows (standing of course) and while walking to our next destination. Kudos to the momma's who are brave enough to nurse uncovered, but that's just not my cup of tea. I like to be covered from all angles. Plus it was COLD so James and I both had a little extra coverage thanks to These Hidden Gems!

Nursing Cover c/o These Hidden Gems

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am in love with my nursing cover and highly recommend every mom has one, whether you're nursing or not! As I mentioned above, you can use this cover for so many different things, it's a staple in my diaper bag! These also make the BEST baby gift if you know someone who is expecting ;) These Hidden Gems is offering 15% off your purchase with the code "BRINK15"... PLUS there is a giveaway to win a cover of your choice on my Instagram, hurry and enter!! Happy shopping!

D I S N E Y L A N D

We have been planning on taking Mia to Disneyland since the beginning of 2015! We wanted to take her in December to see the park at Christmas time, but before Mia's birthday so that we didn't have to pay for her (ha ha!) Once we found out we were pregnant, that sealed the deal for our December date! Of course work threw a wrench in our plans and we had to change the date to November. I was only 7 weeks postpartum and really nervous as to how I would hold up being on the go with a newborn, but it all worked out! AND we still got to see the park decked out for Christmas! My parents came as well which was a huge help with the kids (plus Eric and I got to sneak in some alone time and ride rides!) It was such a fun and exhausting vacation ;)
I'll be recapping each day as there are so many little moments I don't want to forget about the trip! Day 1 was Disneyland and we were SO excited to see Mia's reaction!! It was a cold day (We never took our jackets off, and I was actually wishing I had a second jacket to layer with, especially once the sun went down!) but that didn't stop us from playing all day! When we first entered the park, we spotted Snow White so while I fed James, Eric took Mia to meet her. She was so excited to get her autograph and picture taken! After that we found Pluto, Goofy and Minnie Mouse. By the time we got to Minnie, Mia only wanted her autograph and no pictures. She was over it and wanted to play! The pictures are hilariously awkward from that meet and greet, ha ha!
Finally we headed for the rides! We took Mia through Sleeping Beauty's castle on the way and while she LOVED the castle from the outside, she wasn't a fan of being inside even though she was with Eric and me. I was surprised by how nervous Mia got with certain rides and any dark place... she's definitely hit the :scared of the dark" phase! Anyway, we rode the carousel first, then went on the Dumbo right next. That's the first ride we took Mia on when she was 6 months old. Sweet memories :) Next up was the tea cups. Eric loves the tea cups and has fond memories of riding that kind of ride with his mom, and he loved talking to Mia about it so she had been waiting for weeks to do the tea cups with daddy! Then we finally took James on his first ride, a little boat ride :) That took up our whole morning (I forgot how long it takes to get through the lines at Disneyland!)
After a quick lunch I was hoping Mia would nap in the stroller while we walked around to get fast passes for the big kid rides ;) No such luck- that girl wasn't going to miss out on the party! We spent the rest of the day eating junk and riding rides! We were banking on a slower week at the park since it was the week before Thanksgiving, but no such luck! We just happened to be there the opening day of Star Wars stuff in Tomorrowland so it was insanely packed! It was fun to experience the new graphics during the Space Mountain ride though. We ended the night with the Buzz Lightyear ride and ended up scaring the crap out of Mia. It didn't occur to me that our over stimulated and exhausted toddler would get scared of the little alien/robots throughout the ride, I just thought she would be so excited to shoot the gun. As we were strapping her in the stroller after the ride she started panicking and said, "they're coming to get me!" Parenting fail, ha ha! Eric held her and she fell asleep on his shoulder within minutes! We were so tired that we left the park a little early (sometime after 8pm) instead of staying for the parade and firework show. Doing Disneyland with a newborn (who doesn't sleep through the night) is no joke, but James did so amazing! The days only got better and more exciting for us as we figured out how to make the most of our time, and soak up the things that Mia was really excited about!

Mia was so stinking excited- she was constantly grabbing our necks and squeezing so hard :)

Goofy is one of her favorites! This is actually the closest she got to any of the characters that morning!

The carousal is the first ride she wanted to go on, of course. She loves those!

And here's James on his first ride! It's a little boat ride.

Chip N Dale stopped to love on James then ended up smothering me in hugs and kisses, ha ha!

Mia got to meet Snow White when we first got to the park while I fed James. If you look closely, you can spot me sitting down turning to look (looking like a creeper, ha ha!)

My parents took the kids for a bit so Eric and I could go play and what did we do? We bought ears and had them personalized for the kids, ha! Mia picked hers out the night before and she was SO excited when we gave them to her!