Vacation!

This past weekend my husband and I took a anniversary getaway to Galveston Island, south of Houston right on the Gulf of Mexico. We left Friday around noon and returned yesterday, kid-free. This was the most relaxing experience I have had in quite a while! We bonded so greatly that I have fallen deeper and am more in love with my husband than I ever have been! Isn't it crazy, that just a couple of days away from reality and the hustle and bustle of kids, work, home life and all that makes you feel young and like newlyweds again? We laughed, we snuggled, we were even quiet for awhile just enjoying each others presence!

Friday: We left around noon, dealt with Houston's nasty Friday traffic and arrived to the hotel around 5pm. That was a 5 hour trip when it was supposed to only be 3 if that tells you something! We then checked out the hotel and the area and decided to get some dinner, Papa's Pizza off the Seawall. Amazing! Then we went to Walmart and got some groceries since the hotel room had a kitchenette. Can you believe we went through 2 boxes of cereal in that small time frame?! It was so much fun, eating cereal like teenagers, of course the kind we never would keep at home: Reese's Puffs & Cookies & Creme cereal. Then we just hung out on the balcony all night and talked. Very relaxing!

Saturday: We swam alot.. and I mean a LOT. Went to the pool around 10ish, beach at 11am and back to the pool at 4pm. We then showered up and made reservations at a restaurant for 7:15pm. Arrived there, turned out to be one of those white cloth restaurants where everyone was drinking wine and the noise level was verrrry minimal, basically we couldn't hear each other talk because we had to whisper ever so quietly. Annoying. Nobody came around to serve us either, or even get us drinks so we ditched that place and went to a restaurant at the Pier called Bubba Gumps. This place was crazy! Based off of Forrest Gump, it was a mainly shrimp restaurant with lots of Forrest Gump references and pricey selection. We both ordered the same meal which came with shrimp, fish and crab legs. The meal was ehh.. I could've got better at Red Lobster. $21 for food that could be only worth $14. Plus the wait time was an hour an a half just to be seated! When we put our name down at the restaurant, we walked across the street and got ice cream cones. Who says you can't have dessert before dinner on vacation ;) We then went back to the room and just hung out, watched tv and sat on the balcony watching the ocean.

Sunday: We were going to go in the pool for awhile after we checked out, but when I opened the balcony door for my morning on the balcony coffee time (lol), it was pouring and thundering! Thank GOODNESS it didn't happen on Saturday! So we hung out inside until it was time to check out, and we packed up the car and headed home! The drive home was definitely much easier. Took us 3.5 hours to get home! So good to see the girls again :)

Two more days!

Two more days, I can't breathe I am too excited. My husband and I will be throwing the girls to the in laws Friday at the ass crack of dawn (more like 9am) and venturing off to Galveston Beach and going to have an us weekend. No phones, nothing. Well, maybe his for emergencies.. but no other electronics. Nothing to interrupt. Lots of yummy food: shrimp, crab, more shrimp, yummy drinks: beer for him, margaritas for me, and lots of lovin'.

I'm nervous because it's the first time my hubby and I have been away from the girls for more than 6-8 hours. I told him to not to talk about anything kid-related, nothing about Isabelle's therapy or anything at all about our girls. It's going to be difficult, to be honest, but we can do it!

We plan on visiting Pleasure Pier (dirty sounding) which is just a big boardwalk/pier with rides, carnival games and food. That is about it, since we don't want to spend too much money, but we want to spend a lot of time together so we may just veg out on the beach or in the pool.

Last time we took a beach trip was last summer with the girls. Olivia was 1 1/2 and Isabelle was 2 months old. We took a 4 hour drive south to North Padre Island off Corpus and that in itself was an adventure and not a good one. Him and I barely got any time together on the beach because I was worried about my newbornish infant not to get sand in her eyes or nursing her and him worried about chasing Olivia and making sure she doesn't drown. Plus the hotel lacked cribs so we had to buy a travel bed for babies that basically resembled a dog bed and Olivia hogged our bed. Let's just say it was an experience we will never forget.

Ah, the beach. My hubby and I. I am counting down the hours.

Parenting

Back when Olivia was a baby through to pre-toddler stage, I was that parent. You might wonder what I mean by "that" parent. "That" parent is one who, I think, swears up and down that they will make all of their own baby food, cloth diaper, give baths every night, co-sleep, babywear, all natural birth, create my own birthing plan and so on.. I could go on forever. Weeeell, let's just say none of this worked out. I did the bathe every night routine for about a month and a half and that got old quick especially since Olivia was only 1 month old and not being very active = not getting dirty. I promised myself no sugar, no television, read books all day everyday, abc's by 2 and 123's by 18 months. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

I was so attached to her and when my in-laws would want to take her for the day or baby her too much I always said no or slow your roll, people! I overwhelmed myself because I never wanted anyone else to raise her or even be around her (call me selfish) with the exception of my husband.

What is funny now is how I act when it comes to both girls is far different than how I was at the beginning! I am not a worry wart as I used to be. I think things change when you have multiple children!

Wedding Anniversary

It has been a wonderful and very short three years since I have said "I Do" to my hunky husband. In that three years we have moved to Texas and had two beautiful little girls. Life sure has kept us busy in those years but nonetheless we appreciate and are grateful for every second we have together!

Our wedding definitely was not one from a bridal magazine I can tell you that much! Basically we got pregnant January of 2010 and wanted to be one under God before I had Olivia! Dusten and I didn't like the fact that we would have Olivia out of wedlock so we got married August 14th, 2010! It was a simple wedding inside the church that Dusten grew up in, because having a wedding back where I'm from, Illinois, would be more of a hassle and more than what we could afford.

Being 7 months pregnant, I had to find a cheap maternity dress and by the Grace of God I found one on my first search! We had our wedding in Arkansas then a small reception over at Dusten's great-grandmother's house and then we were on our way back to Texas the next day to move in to our first place together. It was small and humble but perfect for our beginning family :)

I couldn't have asked for a better man to be my life-long partner. He makes me smile everyday and still gives me goosebumps & butterflies :)

We aren't really celebrating today. We'll be going on an anniversary beach getaway trip the weekend of the 23rd, kid free of course (yeehaw!), and we'll be celebrating then! Good food, sand between our toes and I'm sure a margarita or two (or three, four, five) <3

Friday!

Dontcha just love Fridays? For me, when I wake up on a Friday morning I am automatically happy. I don't know why, maybe it's because I know tomorrow is the weekend? Social media will most likely be fun to read because everyone is telling their plans for the weekend. It makes for a good morning read with my coffee instead of seeing a bunch of dumb meme's about how much they hate Monday-Thursday, old Throwback Thursday pictures and of course the infamous What Day Is It camel meme. As much as I dislike boring meme's, I've been getting into those e-cards as you posted on here. A few of my favorite are the sarcastic ones intended for moms talking about how our children have so much energy because they suck the energy out of us, or I tried vacuuming a bobypin up 5x and it won't come up so I'll kick it under the couch. Hilarious! Does not mean in any shape or form I am a fat, lazy mom who hates my kids and just wants a cocktail, it's just funny because we as moms all have those moments where we want to rip out our hair! If you disagree with me then you either have a live-in nanny or your husband is scared of you because you hold all of your emotions in and lash it out at him, joking of course!

All jokes aside, why I love Friday? Because my hubby is off the next two days :) Happy Friday, y'all!

Love All Around!

The other day, the hubs and I were chatting about our little vacation coming up in a couple of weeks. We're going to have a getaway trip to Galveston and staying right on the beach. Best of all, kid-free! Whoohoo! Our anniversary is coming up, August 14th, and it'll be three years for us. We thought it would be fun to go somewhere together for a weekend since we haven't done so since before Olivia was born so it was much needed! We are excited for some alone time and to recharge ourselves and get back to the roots that started this family, our love!

Personally, I believe that couples, regardless of if they have children or not, need to step away from the real world for a bit and get back to the fundamentals of which the family or relationship has started on. Couples, including us, forget sometimes that without each other, your children wouldn't be here.

I was reading via Happy Wives Club on Facebook about 6 ways to love your husband even moreso and number one was to adore him unconditionally and not when he is nicer, makes more money, etc. The key is to love and adore him even if he isn't adorable. And that is very important. Our husbands could have such a crappy attitude when he comes home from work or wakes up, but for us wives it is important to give him true admiration because in the end he is our only partner.



One of my favorite quotes is by Fawn Weaver and it says:

"Marriage: love is the reason. Lifelong friendship is the gift. Kindness is the cause. 'Til death do us part is the length."

I know of three couples who are around my age, 24-25, who married and are already divorced. Now, I am not the one to judge but it saddens me that couples get married so quickly and divorce so quickly. People nowadays just toss that "death do us part" phrase in their vows, I have even heard now that vows don't contain that verse because there might be a "chance" of divorce.

Here is the link to the 6 Ways to Love Your Husband More:
http://www.happywivesclub.com/6-ways-to-love-your-husband-even-better/

Keep Loving!!

Monday blues

Yep, it's Monday again. *Sigh* 

Weekends fly by too quickly I tell ya! This weekend went pretty good. Saturday we went to a birthday party for one of Olivia's friends and she had a blast. She got her face painted and two balloon animals! I think she was intimidated by the clown, Silly Sparkles, that was there. But as soon as Dusten picked her up and showed her that the clown was just for fun, it went alright! I think we discussed about possibly having her for Olivia's 3rd birthday in October!! We then grilled burgers outside and went swimming.

Then Sunday we went back to church where we haven't been in about a year. It's a small church, roughly 50 people per attendance, so everyone was surprised and happy to see us and especially the girls! Then afterwards we had a quick cheap lunch and headed over to a friends house to let the kids play and get tired and us adults to have some adult time to chit chat. It was definitely nice and much needed! Kids were worn out right after that! Passed out in the car even before we left the subdivision! It was a great weekend overall! :)

We had another round of physical therapy for Isabelle this morning. She is standing up on couches, coffee table, etc and started cruising! She has never done this for us so both the PT and myself were surprised! Isabelle is teething so it has been a rough day so far.