Happy Cyber Week!  I'm coming to you live from the Struggle Bus, so I won't be providing you with any gift guides, nor will I be listing my favorite online deals for Cyber Week.  I guess I'm just a bad blogger.

I do, however, have an article about having a clutter free heart and home before Christmas.  I've already started decluttering our lives by taking 3 full boxes of stuff to Goodwill earlier this week.  I feel slightly less frazzled now that it's Christmas time. 

Speaking of frazzled, I had a shopping cart head-on collision at Target recently, that left me horribly embarrassed, Katherine thrown to the floor, Natalie in tears, and an innocent lady who hopefully wasn't seriously hurt.  First, let me say that Target shopping carts are unreasonably tall.  Taller than carts at other stores.  They're too tall for me, even when I don't have a baby carrier sitting on top of it.  Add to that, the fact that on this particular day I had one of those extra long mammoth carts that have the plastic seats in the front.  I had Katherine sitting on the plastic seating area, and Natalie sleeping soundly in her car seat nestled on the top section of the cart, meaning I could not see in front of me to see where I was going.  I was trying to quickly get in and out of the store without Natalie waking up and Katherine losing her cool.  I'm quickly (and I do mean quickly) power walking down the aisle, not really paying attention to where I was going, when I suddenly plow right into a woman's cart who was sitting still looking at merchandise.  I mean, I hit her hard.  Katherine went flying.  Natalie obviously woke up and started wailing.  The woman, stunned, asking if I was ok.  I immediately started apologizing over and over again.  So embarrassing.  Luckily the woman was gracious and kind and didn't start cursing me for running her over.  It was The. Worst.  Then I had Katherine asking in her condescending tone "Mama why did you do that?  You should really watch where you're going." 

Like I said.  Struggle Bus. 

How was your Thanksgiving?  We were even more thankful this year having our baby Natalie with us this year.  It was her first Thanksgiving and she couldn't have been more oblivious.  We were so thankful to have her with us this year. 


The Christmas season is officially upon us and I'm so excited to have a baby in the house for Christmas again.  There's just something so sweet about a baby's first Christmas. 

- So is it me, or has Target really upped their fashion game recently?  I usually don't find anything I like at Target besides basic tees and leggings, but wow.  I found so much stuff I loved last time I was there (which is like twice a week).  I had some birthday money so I bought this sweater and these shoes.  I literally wear the sweater every. single. day.  It's so comfortable and cozy.  I love it.  On any given day it will have spit or poop on it, none of which is mine. 

- Speaking of Target, obviously I'm excited about the new Hearth and Hand line.  As I was perusing the aisles the other day, Katherine proudly pointed out the photo of Chip and Joanna Gaines at the entrance of the display and announced that they were on "Mama and Daddy's favorite show."  We got a few giggles from fellow shoppers nearby.  So true, child.  So true. 

- Car line.  I dreaded the day I would have to spend my time dropping off and picking up my child in the car line.  It turns out, I love car line.  It's a special time of day when I get to sit quietly and either listen to music on the radio, or scan social media, or catch up on emails.  I just sit.  Most of the time Natalie is sleeping in her car seat, but if she isn't, I bring her to the front seat with me for a few minutes while we wait on Katherine.  Now there are people who think you're crazy if you're the first one in line at car line.  Why would you hurry up to be first so you can wait for 30-45 minutes for your child to get out of school?  Because that's 30-45 minutes you can sit without anyone yelling or screaming or asking questions or talking or singing.  I'll admit I've been the first in line on more than one occasion.  Hashtag don't care. 

- I got Ree Drummond's new cookbook for my birthday and of course I'm obsessed.  Whenever I get one of her cookbooks, I literally read it like an actual book, looking over it for days at a time. 

- Natalie is growing so fast!  She's already 3 months old.  This time around, I know how fast time flies.  She's no longer a newborn and is outgrowing her clothes so fast.  Time please slow down! 

- There's also nothing sweeter than watching your children interact with each other.  Katherine loves her baby sister so much, and Natalie laughs at (almost) everything her big sister does.  They are so sweet together. 

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I'm excited to finally share Natalie's newborn photos!  I'm just now sharing them because, well, I just now got them.  Three months later. 

Anyway.

Amber came by the house when Natalie was 5 days old and shot these photos of Natalie and the rest of the family.  I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.









You can see the pure joy on Katherine's face in these photos.  She's so in love with her baby sister. I can't believe how different Natalie looks now.  I barely recognize her in these photos.  You definitely realize how fast they grow the second time around. 

Because I never really got around to updating the blog for most of October, I'm subsequently dumping a bunch of photos on here in almost mid November and calling it a wrap-up post.

Life with a 3-month-old.  Sigh.  We ride the struggle bus daily.   

In October we went to the pumpkin patch, Boo at the Zoo, made Spooky Bark, Pumpkin Glow, and had an amazing Halloween.  It was also super exciting to celebrate Natalie's first Halloween!  No one was more excited than Katherine. 














October is the best month.  Hands down. 

It's no secret that I love Halloween.  It's my favorite time of year (and my birthday), and it will be Natalie's first Halloween.  The costumes are picked and there's a pumpkin in every room of the house.  There's even a touch of Halloween in the girls' rooms.













I'm so excited for Natalie's first Halloween!  I don't know who's more excited, me or Katherine.  That girl loves Halloween.  That pumpkin didn't roll too far off the vine. 

After a looooooong break, I'm back. 

I'm also excited to announce that our Natalie Lauren was born on August 3, 2017, weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and measuring 18 3/4 inches long. 
Her big sister Katherine is absolutely in love with her, constantly showering her with love, hugs, and kisses.  Our family is finally complete and we couldn't be happier.
The past two months have been a blur, but have been filled with love and happiness.  One week after Natalie was born, Katherine started preschool, so that was an adjustment.  Thankfully Jason was able to take some time off from work, so we had three weeks of family time before he headed back to work. 
Katherine is such a great big sister.  She loves helping with Natalie and I can tell she's anxious for the day they can play together.  It's the most precious thing. 

So there's a brief update on our lives.  If you follow me on Instagram, you know we haven't really been up to much.  We've been spending some quality family time together. 

Until next time....

We had a surprisingly busy summer, despite my best efforts to make it "not busy," but I guess when  you're trying to pack in as much fun as possible before a new baby arrives, it tends to get busy.

It was a little sad that this was Katherine's last summer as an only child, but she's soooo excited about being a big sister soon that the sadness fades into excitement for her.  She's ready to spend the rest of her summers with her little sister.  It's the sweetest thing. 

We celebrated the beginning of summer at the library, played t-ball for the first time, had our first dance recital, ate homegrown strawberries, survived swim lessons (barely), played outside, had lots of sno cones, went to a Cardinals game, played outside some more, went to the Muny, survived another 4th of July in the "country," went to the pool too many times to count, went to splash day at church, and watched way too much TV. 


















Overall, an action packed summer.  I know summer isn't officially over just yet, but for us our greatest summer adventure is right around the corner....leading straight into the first school year for Katherine.  So in a way, summer is coming to an end for us.   

Bring on fall and the "busy" time of year.  #alreadyexhausted

**Also the Etsy shop will be closed while we welcome our baby girl.  I'll have the shop back open as soon as I'm back up and running again!**