Slacking

I don't know why it's been so hard to blog lately. I spend enough time on the internets to slip a post in now and then, blogging is fun, and my wonderful kiddos provide endless amounts of topics to write about. I guess I'm just a slacker. So here is a quick catch up post. 

Marriage Retreat:

It was awesome! The classes themselves were super short, so we didn't gain a whole lot from them. But it was basically a free vacation. We got to stay in an air conditioned hotel, in a very nice part of town. We got free food and free childcare. Granted, we didn't use the childcare much. Every time we dropped Addie off, we were counting down the minutes till we could go get her again. She went for 2-3 hours each day. She loved it, and would've happily stayed all day, but man, it's hard to be away from this girl. We had so much fun escaping from our normal life, so Brandon says he'll sign us up for any future retreats that open up. 

Visit: 

Grandma Valerie and grandpa John came out to visit. They spoiled our kids with gifts and love, spoiled us with food, clothes, and a LAWN MOWER!! and we had so much fun while they were here. We went to the zoo, the children's museum, and the splash park. I have a post in the works about Addie's adventures that weekend. 

So, I'm working on getting my butt in gear and posting more. I really do love blogging. And I love sharing my silly life and my amazing family with all you internets people. 

Hey guys...

...it's me again! I've been a major slacker when it comes to this blog! And I hate that because I really love doing it. But I am the queen bee of procrastination. So to get my booty in gear, I am promising, in writing, TWO posts this week!! At least! Gasp!

 For the 3 of you who read this, I know you are on the edge of your little seats! 

I am also going to start writing my babies' birth stories. I give fair warning now, even though it may be a while, so that any family and friends who still want to maintain some shred of a dignified image of me are fully prepared to skip those posts. I want to write them to a. remember them in the years to come, b. have them for the kids, and c. because reading other mommy's birth story's is what got me through a week of labor with Silas. 

So be ready for some post-ies y'all! Or something like that... :) 

Different kind of weekend

We, here in the Warren Casa, like our weekends long and leisurely. But that is all about to change my friends. Brandon and I are being sent on a marriage retreat this weekend! As much as the Army seems to hate for us to be together, and consistently makes sure that I go days without quality time with my husband, they want our marriage to be strong. Go figure. 

So the Army is whisking us away for a romantic weekend of, well, I'm not sure exactly. I know that it has to do with the 5 love languages, maybe some team building exercise of some sort, who knows. I am excited because a) free hotel stay, baby! and b) as much as I cherish the marriage that we have, I know that it can always be stronger. 

I'm slightly apprehensive about it though. I'm not quite the social butterfly I was in my youth, and frankly, being in a room full of strangers for three days is not my idea of a fun time. I'm also on edge about Addie. I love my little buggy, and being away from her physically pains me. She's sleeping in the room next to me right now and I already miss her. And she doesn't do so well away from me either. Other kids tend to pull on her luscious locks, take her toys, and be meanie-poop-heads. Her stranger anxiety is through the roof, so I guess we will see how it goes. But other couples who have been to these retreats before swear that the child care is amazing, and I can stop by and see her any time I want. And it's only a few hours each day.

Silas will be easy peasy because I get to keep him with me. He is little enough that they can't take him away, so I have a slight bit of comfort there. Plus the whole breastfeeding thing makes it hard for us to be separated. 

Most people are dying to get a tiny break from their kids. You'd be crazy not to. In the throws of a stage-5-clinger-toddler-temper-tantrum, mixed with a hungry screaming infant( maybe a stage 4 clinger on his part), and some out of control dogs, I also may think I need a break. But who am I kidding? These kids are my life force, the very essence of my existence. I don't even remember functioning as a human being before them. It's almost as if my life began the day I had Addie. And having itty bitty Silas has only intensified those feelings. 

Some people claim that they don't want "mom" to be their identity, or that motherhood isn't what defines them. Heck, most of my life I swore I'd never have kids, and if I did, I'd be rich and totally have my nanny raise them. But I'm not rich, and I'm 125% sure that my mother would have killed me. And I'm also a very different person. Motherhood does define me, being a mom is who I am. I'm aware that my mom is probably reading this and laughing, and telling Breezi "I knew she'd feel that way." It's true. I love being a mom with every fiber of my being. It's what I was made for. Sure, someday I'll work again, and pursue my love of photography, but now, when people ask me what my dream is, I already live it. I feel no shame whatsoever when my answer to the question "What do you do for a living?" is "I'm a mom." Although a more fitting description would be " I created 2 tiny humans, who are adorable beyond all reason, and who are more awesome in their little selves than you will ever hope to be." Somehow I don't think that answer would go over so well. 

But I digress.....

I'm excited for this weekend, I really am. I love my husband so so much, and I am genuinely looking forward to spending this weekend getting to know him better, and building on our already incredible bond. And we have definitely earned a little getaway. Our itinerary has a slot labeled "date night" and it has been far too long since we have had one of those. 

Father's Day Weekend

Happy Father's Day! 

Last year was Brandon's first Father's Day, and unfortunately, he didn't get to spend it with Addie because he was away at training. So this year, I was very excited that he got to spend the day with his kiddos. 

We had a fairly lazy day, as we are wont to do on weekends, and it was very enjoyable. I used our waffle iron for the first time, and made some yummy waffles. In hindsight, I shouldn't have put syrup on Addie's, or maybe I should have fed her with a fork, but she enjoyed them. We watched some of one of our favorite shows, The Office, and had lots of babies on the laps time. I ordered 2 presents from each of the kids to Brandon, and due to my awesome procrastination skills, only 1 of Silas's was here in time, and his second one and Addie's 2 should be here this week. Fail. 

Brandon slow cooked a delicious chicken for dinner, and a great day was had by all. I cannot wait for the Father's Days in the future, where the kids hand make presents, and excitedly wait for daddy to open them. It makes my heart happy to think of what the future holds. 

This weekend we also did lots of adorable tummy time.

This kid has a smolder that'll melt your heart.

And then his head got tired.

Addie watched us from above.

Mmmmm, cheese! 

But Silas wasn't done being cute just yet. 

Then he gently let me know that it was time to eat. 

I love that grumpy old man face. 

Addie let me do her hair! I try all the time, but without fail, she destroys my work in a matter of seconds, if she even lets me finish combing it. So today, I was ecstatic when she not only let me finish putting her hair up, but left it in long enough to show daddy and take some pictures.  

All of her attention was immediately focused on her best friend, Gunner. 

Daddy was able to get her to hold still, only by showing her a video starring her favorite actress, herself! 

Gunner quickly regained his buddy. 

"Kitty, are you in there?"

Kisses! 

"Gotcha Gunner! Now you can never escape!"

And more running.....

Then she got tired of chasing the dog, and tired of her hair-do. She crawled into daddy's lap and oh so subtly hinted at what movie she wanted to watch. 

 And of course, daddy couldn't say no to his princess. I love this girl! 

Spoiled

To say that my daughter is spoiled is an understatement. She has so many loving grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and of course mom and dad, who love to shower her with gifts. I mean, come on, who can say no to this face? 

For her birthday, she got a princess castle that she loves. Unfortunately, the castle did not love her. The sound was glitchy. It didn't work at all at first. Then one day it magically started working. Addie was ecstatic! And about 2 weeks later it got really quiet. We changed the batteries, but alas, no dice. And then one day, nothing. And me, being the genius that I am, had already thrown away the box and the gift receipt. Addie still loved to play with it, but she would get frustrated at the lack of sound, and soon the castle would be abandoned.

 So on Sunday, we finally exchanged it. Luckily Walmart doesn't need receipts for all returns. We had previously tried exchanging it, but our regular Walmart can't keep it on the shelves because it is so popular. They offered to refund us, but Addie loves this castle so much, that I said we'd wait till they had it in stock. It has sat in my trunk, unused and lonely, for 2 weeks. We went to a different Walmart, with hopes that they would have one. 

Success! 

We got it home and I put it together the next day. I forgot what a pain in the booty that thing is to assemble! I snapped the plastic into place, screwed in all the screws, and painstakingly put all the stickers where they belong. And then I realized, we don't have the right batteries. Ugh! So I pulled some almost dead ones out of another toy, just to test it. It worked! And then it died. But still, I'm confident in the new castle. 

And Addie is very happy with it.

But when the sound died, Addie was not amused. 

Luckily she has the attention span of a goldfish. 

Belly!

While we were at Walmart, we wanted to get her a ball. She has recently fallen in love with any type of ball. She yells "Bow!" and throws or kicks them. She has lots of little ones that are part of other toys and one spikey ball, so we wanted to get a bigger one. Brandon saw a Jake and the Neverland Pirates ball in the past, so he wanted that one. On our many excursions, we hadn't come across it again, so we put off buying a ball. While at the store, we walked up to the giant ball cage, and Addie just about had a heart attack. "Bow bow booooooow!" So we grabbed a big purple one. She was in love! Brandon then finally found a Jake ball. But I couldn't stand to take her giant purple ball away, so I decided to extra spoil her and get both. So now she has all sorts of awesomeness to play with. 

I think I am an enabler..... 

But seeing her so happy makes me happy, so it's totally worth it.