just some randoms {29}

I took an accidental blog break the last couple of days when our computer locked us out after an update... I'm just one of those bloggers who NEVER have drafts written ahead of time so I had to wait until we got it back, oops! I'm happy to be back and you can bet that I still won't write up multiple posts to have them sitting in my drafts ;)

Sunglasses c/o Arden Deals

I was so happy with how the photos turned out to announce our news of baby brother! It's a dang good thing they turned out becaaaaause this balloon was the biggest pain EVER! While ordering this 36" balloon, it never really registered with my pregnancy muddle brain just how BIG 36" would be, ha ha! To give you an idea aside from the pictures... I could not fit this balloon in my Jeep Grand Cherokee, not even through the back! Luckily the grocery store (that made a pretty penny off of me for the helium) was located just across the street from where I was planning on taking pictures, so I loaded Mia in the stroller, tied the balloon to it and made the trek over. You can imagine the looks I got from everyone along the way, ha ha! But getting home was awful... I couldn't bring myself to just let all that money, I mean helium, float to the sky so I drove home with this HUGE balloon hanging out the window. I can laugh at it now (especially when I think of how crazy I must have looked) but I wasn't in the happiest of moods when I was actually having to deal with this HUGE balloon :) Mia, on the other hand, thought it was AWESOME!

I think Mia's going to start demanding a sleep mask once she discovers those as she gets older, ha ha! We always have to tuck her taggie over her eyes while tucking her in for nap/bed! And she always finds a way to cuddle with Mickey or Minnie throughout her sleep :)

I can't resist sharing this. I snapped around 5 photos in a row and silly Mia's face is different in every single one (and Eric's got much happier towards the end) but I died when I saw the first one! They are pulling the exact same face! These two are so much alike without even trying, it's terrifying (to me), ha ha!

Mia is such a little fishy and I love it! It's been so fun to watch her independence in the water grow (with her floaty on, of course) now that she's getting the hang of kicking her legs and "scooping" her arms thanks to swim lessons! It's a good thing we love the water so much because we will be living in the pool all summer long! 

Bow c/o Beck and Belle

I know I already shared a photo or two of Mia loving on her baby, but these photos melt me! Especially since this was totally unprompted. I told her she could sit in the rocking chair with her baby for the pictures and she did all the loving, hugging and kissing on her own! Best big sis in training, ever!!

Memorial Day weekend 2015

I hate to say it, but Eric had to work over Memorial Day weekend, which means that it was an extremely low key weekend for Mia and me! I really can't complain because we just had 5 days straight with Eric last week and we definitely made the best of them! Of course I would have loved to spend the weekend on a beach, or camping, or just grilling and hanging out together as a family, but I have to admit that this weekend was just what I needed as I got to catch up on sleep and relaxing! Some of my favorite highlights from the weekend are-

• Swim lessons on Saturday. Mia is getting so much braver in the water (she floated on her back for the first time! Of course that lasted all of two seconds once she realized we were no longer touching... but it's major progress considering every other time we tried so wouldn't let the water touch her ears!) I actually love doing the classes with her because it's so fun to see how much she loves them, we have a lot of fun together, and it takes all the weight off my body being in that water :)
• Saturday night movie night! We've slowly been working our way through our Disney movie collection with Mia on the weekends. We usually only watch a half hour at a time, so it takes all weekend to finish a movie, but it's guaranteed cuddle time and I LOVE it! This time we watched Beauty and the Beast. Mia is super obsessed with princesses right now (those are the only books she will pick to read!) so she loved watching Belle!
• I never do this, but I was so exhausted after breakfast Sunday morning that I turned on the TV, cuddled up to Mia on the couch and took a nap! Mia was in heaven because, hello? TV! I was in heaven because of cuddles and sleep, ha ha!
• Mia's favorite part of the day was church! She seriously loooooves church. And I seriously use that against her... if she's being a stinker or not listening to me, I threaten that we will stay home instead of going to church (or that I will take her home if we are already at church), HA! Does that make me a bad mom? Maybe... but she shapes right up every time ;) 
• I had all the boring plans lined out for Monday morning like the gym, grocery shopping, etc since Eric was at work, but then I decided to make it fun for Mia. After we got home from running errands, I cut some watermelon slices and off to the pool we went! They turned on all the water slides and fountains for the first time since we've been here, plus the place was packed! Mia was in heaven and kept shouting, "this is FUN!" We missed Eric, of course, but I'm glad I made the day a little more special for Mia!
• We ended the day with lasagna (grilling is strictly Eric's job, ha ha!) and more watermelon, but Eric did have a BBQ with the guys at work so at least someone ate the right grub for the holiday ;)

We are forever grateful for the brave men and women who serve our country and fight for our freedom! How lucky are we to live in this beautiful country... land of the free, because of the brave!

21 weeks {babybrink#2}

Not the normal bump shot, but proof that I've POPPED!

Size of baby: he should be the length of a carrot now. We found out at my ultrasound that he weighs 10 ounces! He's on the smaller side (as was Mia) and I'm perfectly happy with that. I'd much rather birth babies on the smaller side, ha ha! (Even though Mia and I measured small my whole pregnancy, she showed the right growth patterns at each appointment! She still weighed a whopping 7 pounds at birth! I was a definitely expecting her to weigh 6 pounds so that was a surprise for me!)

Movements: I'm feeling him all the time, all across my belly. I forgot how much I loved feeling a baby inside! His movements are the sweetest reminders that he's with me 24/7. I definitely prefer my baby in my arms instead of my body, but I'm soaking up these treasured movements inside as much as I can!

Cravings: donuts and shrimp tacos (from Cafe Rio to be exact) Eric did get me a donut after my ultrasound, ha ha! We tried to indulge in Cafe Rio's shrimp tacos but they only serve those on Saturday's in Arizona :( In Utah they have them on Tuesday's as well! Such a let down, ha!

Miss anything: having clear skin!! I'm not blessed with beautiful, glowing skin when I'm pregnant. As a matter of fact, my hormones hate me and prove so by constantly causing breakouts in the "hormone zones" on my face :( I was hoping it would be cleared up by now. UGH!

Random: Mia is turning into quite the protective sister already! We've told her the name we are thinking of for baby brother (but we won't officially decide until he's born) and she's mentioned it a few times, but never said it out loud to anyone else besides us. I had a doctor appointment a few days after the ultrasound and the nurse asked if we had decided on a name, I told her not yet. After a few more questions she left the room Mia gave me a stern look and said, "it's _______!" I didn't even realize that Mia was paying any attention, or that she cared if we told other people the name, ha ha!

Best moment of the week: watching baby boy during our anatomy ultrasound! Mia was super excited about it at first: "baby brudder! Baby brudder swimmin' in da water!" "Baby go nigh-night" and then she wanted snacks and her tablet, ha ha! Eric and I think he has the same nose as Mia! We can't wait to see what he looks like! I can't believe we are officially on the downhill slope of this pregnancy... time is flying!

bows on bows on bows {Beck and Belle}

Mia is on this "McQueen" kick (she adores Lightning McQueen and even picked McQueen undies from the boys section... for the someday that we decide to potty train, ha ha!) and wants to wear all things red, because red = McQueen, obviously. Too bad for Mia, this is the only red shirt she owns. And it's her last year's 4th of July outfit that is size 12 month :) Good thing she's such a little girl, ha! Anyway, when we received a package from Beck and Belle Mia instantly picked out the red star and asked me to put it on her "airclane" hair! (Mia is also obsessed with having the top of her hair pulled into a side pony... she shakes her head once the elastic is secured and exclaims "airclane!!" while watching it flip around. I'm guessing it reminds her of a helicopter? Same difference to her, HA!)

 Bows c/o Beck and Belle

Aren't these the cutest clips ever? We own a million bows and every once in awhile Mia still sports them, but we've been doing more pony's, piggies, top knots and "airclanes" so we were in desperate need of some clips to accessorize with! My dear friend just re branded her site to Beck and Belle and came to our rescue with these! I love the diversity of sizes, materials and colors (if only I was a photographer so that you could see how stunning these colors really are in person!!) I already have a list of more I want to order!

I can't say that I have a favorite out of those bows because really, I love them all! But I definitely LOVE the fact that the mint bow matches her mint bow shoes perfectly! Ah! Be still my matchy-matchy loving heart, ha ha! Also, little momma Mia? I die! If you're in need of the cutest hair clips/headbands/bows ever, check out Beck and Belle!

telling Eric the news about baby BOY

So I realized after reading your comments on last weeks post when I shared how I surprisingly found out the baby's gender early, that I didn't share how I told Eric the news! My creative juices definitely weren't flowin' as I was still in shock and just wanted to share the news with Eric... so the reason this is getting a post of it's own is because of Eric's reaction :) Men!

After my appointment with the doctor, Mia and I ran to WalMart to grab a few things and while I was picking up diapers, I decided to take a look at the baby boy clothes to see if I could find an outfit to bring home for Eric. After browsing for a minute I was drawn to the baby girl outfits (of course!) and decided it was best to just get out of there since I wasn't having any luck falling in love with the boy clothes. I did grab some baseball binkies though, because duh ;)
When I saw Eric later that day he asked how the appointment went and I showed him the ultrasound photos. I told him that in the top photo our baby's hands were on the sides of his face "like in Home Alone" according to our doctor. We laughed as I told Eric that obviously meant we were going to have a little terror on our hands because.... then I pointed to the bottom photo and said, "so these are the legs..." and let him figure out the rest, just like the doctor did for me. Eric smirks and says, "well, he does have Italian in his blood!" Oh my good grief! I admit that this was a really good shot at just 16 weeks of his... boy parts... (thank heavens, actually! He was moving around so much during our anatomy ultrasound this week that we didn't get a clear shot!) but, he's my baby! Men, ha ha!
Eric had been saying all along that he wanted another girl "because it gives me another excuse to buy a gun" (umm, no.) and he just really loved the idea of having a house full of girls. I had been feeling so strongly that this babe was a boy so there was no surprise for me there, but I admit I had one fleeting moment where I was a little bummed that Mia wasn't getting a sister. I was only sad because a sister is something I'd always wished for while growing up! But like I said, it was a fleeting moment because, well, how can you not be happy about the gender either way?! It's a baby and we are so grateful! But it was fun to watch Eric walk around so smug and definitely proud of the fact that he was getting a son. We are SO excited for our baby boy!!
When I finished telling Eric about our appointment he quickly informed me that I can pick out a couple outfits for our boy, but he was in charge of the wardrobe! I told him about my experience in WalMart and not being able to find anything I liked when he rolled his eyes at me and said, "no! We're going to Nike, babe!!" I daresay having a boy might be more expensive than a girl,  ha ha!