A GreatHouse Wife

We are frequent visitors of the zoo here in Colorado Springs. It was one of the first things we did when we moved here. And we have gone back several times over the last year, including Boo at the Zoo and the Holiday Lights. Greyson loves the animals and it makes for a great weekend family day.

Since we go sooo often, we decided it would be the best use of our money to get a membership this year since we now have to pay for Greyson. 2.5 visits & the membership has paid for itself! Greyson has been going to various zoos since he was 4 months old & now Olivia will have the same experiences!

We love how hands on the Cheyenna Mountain Zoo is. Greyson loves to feed the giant herd of giraffes everytime we go and has discovered his love for petting "kangaroos," which are actually wallaby although he refuses to acknowledge that!

And he even makes new friends each time. He is not even a little shy when it comes to other kids. He will revel in the sights of his favorite animals & bond with them instantly. If the other kid is lucky, he will ask their name. Otherwise, he says things like "hey, boy! Look at the fish!"

Of course Olivia has little interest in the zoo currently. But she loves watching Greyson do almost anything, especially his acting like animals. Her favorite is when he pretends to be a leopard! And of course love from mom & dad is pretty cool too!

We are so excited for all of the zoo visits we get to look forward to this year. It's nice to know we can go & have already paid, making them essentially free days for us. We love picnic lunches & how every visit is different.

Bring on the summer fun!

Little Miss Olivia is 4, four, months old!?

We are seriously loving watching her grow into her own little person. And the interactions between the kids. Which is mostly love, a little "Olibia took my truck!" Those eyes?! She's going to melt hearts one of these days!

We had her check-up a week early & she weighed in at 12lb 5oz and was about 23.6 inches long. She's wearing mostly 6 month clothes, with a couple smaller sized onesies that are brands that run a tad on the bigger side.

She started rolling over from both her belly to back & back to belly. This week she also discovered she can roll multiple times to take her places she want to go, usually to get a toy she sees. She is even moving her little legs like she is wanting to scoot. #slowdown

She is a hardcore thumb sucker. Usually she only has it in her mouth when she is trying to sleep. Since she started rolling & can lay on her tummy, with that & her thumb, she goes to sleep great all on her own. She is sleeping basically through the night, only sometimes waking up once or occasionally twice.

She loves watching us, especially Greyson, do just about anything. Loves flying in the air & tickles on her tummy. Her favorite toys are animals & make the crinkle noises. She is definitely interested in food & I just know she will be ecstatic in 2 months when we start solids!

She is seriously an amazing baby! Pretty laid back & chill almost all of the time. You know, the opposite of Greyson! Ha

Can't wait to keep seeing the new things she does & try to not compare her to Greyson toooo much!

It's sort of funny how life, goals, expectations evolve throughout our lives. I always knew I wanted kids. I also knew I wanted to go to graduate school and find my way into a career. But I also thought that I would've taken a different path to get to where I am today.

I imagined jumping right into Grad school once I graduated with my Bachelor's degree. But low & behold, I moved to Charleston, got married and found a job to, you know, figure out what I wanted to do. Just 6 months after graduating, we found out we were moving to Germany. Job & school halted, just like that. And I was content with that.

We had Greyson in Germany and made the decision to stay home with him instead of returning to work. I barely made enough for the expensive childcare & it simply wasn't worth it at the time.

Fast-forward to 2015 - big changes were in store for us. We moved back stateside to Colorado, I got a new job & started Grad school. Then found out I was pregnant again! While we were ecstatic, I was also sort of nervous about what that would do to my plans.

I continued to work throughout my pregnancy, up until the week before my due date (since my boss was convinced I'd have her there if I kept going). I also still took classes and worked on training to be a teaching assistant. I was sitting in recitation the morning I had Olivia, ignoring the contractions to grade student speeches. #dedication

Somehow, I managed to take several more classes and return to work since she was born. I wake up early to take care of her and Greyson, spend my days running around usually busy, rushing home for dinner & to spend as much time with my little family before squeezing in some school work at night (when I'm in class) before passing out to repeat the same thing the next day.

I say my family is my biggest distraction because at any given time, I would 100% rather be doing anything with them. To hand off the baby to my husband in order to have 2 hands to type a paper, not the easiest thing for me. To sacrifice doing bedtime and reading books with Greyson in order to post on discussion boards, fills me with regret.

Then I look at them. I watch them sleeping in a little pile as I sit at the dining room table, typing away and see why I do it. They are my motivation. Of course I want it all. I want my Masters. I want a career. But I want it for them.

I want to show my kids how to work hard. Push through the struggles. Set goals for themselves and not let anything get in the way. Strive for what seems like is the impossible. I want to help support our family in the best ways I can. I want a job I enjoy so I can come home and not be in a bad mood from it.

I had the best role models growing up, mostly my amazing mom. And I want to be that for my kids. For my husband. For us.

So even though the days are long, I keep trucking on and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am just about half way done with my program and am getting eager to graduate (hopefully) in the Spring.

Although I am a (lot) late posting these, thought it was better late than never.

Aunt Terra came to visit us! We went on adventures around Colorado. She met Olivia for the first time!

We drank coffee, hung out with Olivia & watched Greyson show her how he plays soccer - sort of! He mostly wondered around or chased daddy.

No visit to Colorado Springs is really complete without some exploring. We went to Garden of the Gods & did some hiking/rock climbing. Greyson is super into climbing on the rocks & is beyond fearless. Just like his daddy. I mostly like the views!

We did so much more but I was living in the moment so much, I barely took any pictures.

We love having visitors out our way & showing them the cool things to do in this beautiful place we call home.

Weekend adventures are my favorite. I am such a beach person that any given day I'd rather be on the beach. But alas! We live in Colorado. So when we aren't trying to make it though the week & have some time to explore, we head for the mountains! I mean, it's no beach, but it's pretty beautiful!

Greyson got a new water bottle (because he broke a brand new one earlier this week) & gave him his backpack so he could climb like daddy & off we went. Greyson is fearless & charges straight for the rocks to climb.

We went during lunch time so luckily we had some squeeze pouches to hold Greyson over & tame the monster. Olivia chilled curiously in my Solly wrap & eyeballed Greysons pouch. I have a feeling baby girl is going to love when we start solids down the road!

We are still learning how to hike trails with a 3 year old. Believe me, it's not the easiest. But he's learning & listening more each time me go. Love giving him these experiences & enjoying the outdoors with our little family!

Happy Wednesday!

Miss Olivia is 2 months old now! Whoa buddy!

She had her 2 month checkup on Monday & the doctor confirmed she is indeed perfect! And growing like a weed! She was a whopping 10 lb 9 oz and 22 inches! She was pretty small when she was born & has since jumped from the 7th percentile to the 42nd! Greyson had lots of weight gain issues (related to his tongue tie) so it's new territory for us to experience a baby who grows normally!

Olivia is wearing 3 month clothes now & coming pretty close to outgrowing them already!

She loves to be held & prefers to sit so she can look out at the world. She gives adorable little smiles more frequently now. She isn't a fan of tummy time on the floor but she is crazy about doing it on our chests! Her hair is still fairly dark so now I'm wondering if it will stay darker or lighten up one of these days!

She loves hanging with mommy, daddy & Greyson. She especially loves when Greyson reads his books around her. She sleeps looooong stretches at night already, sometimes from 9pm-3am or sometimes even later!

She loves her babysitter that she hangs with while I go to my grad school training. And she starts full time daycare in less than 2 weeks! So I am trying to soak up as much time with her before our days look vastly different. Daycare this early will also be new territory & we are working on managing our schedules & expectations as we start navigating all of the changes.

Any advice for starting day care & returning to work full time is very much welcome!

But now this snowy almost-May day calls for cuddles, coffee, & considering working on my paper!

Our weekends range these days from low key to pretty hectic! This one was a pretty chill one for a change.

Weekends with 2 kids can look wild & crazy. We almost always have to hit up the grocery store & we are a total hot mess every time it seems like. We've gotten a bit of s system down with me wearing Olivia in my Moby wrap & bribing Grey with snacks in the cart, of course because we always end up there during lunch time. We'll learn one day, right?!

We kicked off the weekend on Friday night with Greyson's first soccer practice!

Weekends used to be for sleeping in. But now they are for cramming everyone into our bed & reading stories at 6:30 am while mommy & daddy wake up. Olivia loves when Greyson reads books or talks in general. She's so fascinated by her big brother.

As Olivia gets older, Greyson is more interested in her & paying attention to her. They like to amuse me with adorable side by side pictures sometimes! & then Greyson asks to hold her & I do everything in my power to make that happen! He looks uninterested, but they were both pretty pumped for this! It makes me realize how much love is between them already. They're going to be the best of friends one day!

Our weekends also involve making progress on projects around the house, as well as cleaning & finishing up chores. Our little helper supervised as we tackled the tons of laundry that awaited us. We even managed to get 3/4 of our To Do list done - I call that a win!

We are still navigating the waters with these two adorable, silly little ones. I will be sure to share a truly crazy weekend soon to show that our life is anything but picture perfect!

What are your best tips for managing 2 kids when you're out & about, especially while solo? I haven't braved the store or anything alone yet but I know the time will come soon enough & I'm beyond terrified! I can use all the help I can get!

I have been waiting for the day that Greyson was old enough to start playing sports! He is so active & loves when we play sports around the house. A good friend told us about the sports program for youths on base & that they start at 3 years old! So we signed him up to play soccer this Spring!

Last Friday was his first "practice." It's basically just skill building at this age & no games. But he got shin guards & a new soccer shirt for his team.

The excitement was real, until he fell in the parking lot before practice even started & scraped his knee. He spent the first 20 minutes obsessing over his "owie" until a bandaid (that you would've thought was killing him) & an apple sauce pouch made it better. He got over it & realized he could run around & kick balls.

He was just the cutest! The parents were cheering on the kids to get them excited & keep them interested in their stations. & of course Greyson copies everything adults do so he started cheering on the other kids every time they went up to kick the ball. It just made my heart so happy!

And can't forget his little cheerleader! She hung out in her stroller while we helped Greyson until it was time to eat! She likes being outside so she was pretty content all snuggled up in her stroller watching the world.

He ran around so much & expelled so much energy that he was passed out in the car when we pulled into the garage. All in all, I'd day it was a success! He loved it & we loved watching him have fun. Each week they increase the difficulty a bit so that the kids are challenged & learn more over time. I'm sure he will be excited when Friday rolls around & we get to do it again!