Frozen

Weekends feel a lot less like weekends when it's just the two of us. Four hands and two brains are better suited for keeping up with Austin, there's no way to tiptoe around that. I'm not even being picky. I would gladly welcome any extra sets of hands that are able to anchor my patience as I explain to my screaming two year old for the forty second time that we are out of milk. Support systems are everything- husband or no husband- a mama needs friends. 

And that is what brought us to Chick-fil-A Saturday morning, a new friend! Amen to that. Austin had his first scheduled play date since the move… actually if I'm remembering correctly, it was his first one ever. Words can't describe how jolly I was getting to know my first "mom" friend in this town. Austin had a blast and even showed off his best Duke eating from the dog bowl impression. Do your thang baby boy.
And then he licked the table. 

After having beautiful sunshine two weekends ago, I had my mom mail all of my spring clothes to Texas. I was starting to worry that one day I would wake up and the warm weather would be here to stay, and I'd be stuck with nothing but leggings and long sleeves. I wasted no time hanging all of it in my closet as soon as it was delivered, and retired most of my winter and fall things to the closet in the office. Then of course the temperature dropped below freezing. Mama Nature froze the rain, the roads, and Austin's Radio Flyer trike that was left in the back yard. I swear I can hear the arrangement of pastels in my bedroom closet mocking me.

I'm getting bored of the same rotation of Austin's school pants and jackets, I'm ready to pop out his colorful shorts and see some baby legs! Those sweet little legs could really use some color. Mama's too. And the neighbors' and the neighbors' mamas'…

 I think I speak for the majority of Texas when I say Spring can't come fast enough! 

Long Weekend

It's official, Austin and I survived our first weekend without Juan- and it just so happened to be three days long. Unless you count the cashiers at Target and the commissary, FaceTime with the grandmas, or chatting over the phone, we interacted with no one both Saturday and Sunday. It was a pretty chill weekend, and we enjoyed every second of it.  Our windows stayed open, and the new curtains were just barely giving in to the breeze, just enough to let us know that Spring is almost here! And then the Monday blues hit. It was so nasty outside yesterday, you would have never guessed that we had just had two gorgeous days of sunshine. We checked out an indoor play center and it ended up being exactly what we needed to get through the day. I even made my first mommy friend! We exchanged numbers ;)
It's like dating all over again.

Juan sent the most beautiful arrangement of tulips to take his place on Valentine's Day, and they've been doing a pretty good job. I have to admit, I'm not big on flowers, but tulips are always my exception.

Thanks to the beautiful weather we went exploring around our neighborhood both Saturday and Sunday. We found three different parks and of course played at all of them. Not only do we have a few parks within walking distance from our house, but we also have a little convenience store. Three ninety nine for a half gallon of milk sounds mighty fine if it means I can ride my bike to get it. 

The babe is back in school today. It feels great to have a little break again, but I know by Friday I'll be ready to have him home and all to myself for the weekend. Isn't that how it always goes? Full of the devil during the day, but as soon as they fall asleep for the night you're just dying to go in and snuggle those baby cheeks. (And bottle them up and keep them young forever.)

Have a great week and stay warm Texas!

Man Shoves and Area Rugs

Small changes around the house have made me one happy lady this week. I decided the layout of our living room wasn't working and spent an entire afternoon trying to fix it. By myself. Did I mention we have a huge, solid wood entertainment center? Woman power, y'all. This room is meant to be both the living room and dining room, but because we decided to keep the dining in the kitchen, it's just an extra large living room. Originally we had the entertainment center and couches smack dab in the middle, with an awkward space on each side. It looked okay but I wasn't completely satisfied. 

We now have a living area, and then also a pretty decent amount of space behind that leads to our back porch door. At first the teepee was in an awkward corner, now there's a ton of open space surrounding it and I love how it's sort of showcased. Juan also loves that he is able to watch t.v. without the glare from the window. But who doesn't love a good window glare?

 Our damaged and missing items claim is progressing, and our fingers are crossed that we will have it settled by the end of the month. The struggle of watching a movie with no side table to hold our tub of ice cream drinks or coffee table to put our feet on….

 I also can't wait to start hanging on the walls. And it totally just dawned on me that it'll have to wait another month until Juan gets back from NTC. What a bummer. I'm fully capable of man shoving an entertainment center to the other side of the room, but drilling two holes in a straight line to hang a mirror? Forget it. Nope. Not happening. Hide all of the drills. 

So what's the verdict? Is it progress? (Did you notice the log bed is gone!?) Some area rugs and pops of color are a must, but I think we've finally settled on a layout!

Last Year's Love

Valentine's Day is right around the corner! I went back and read last year's festivities- Valentine's Day picnic, baby Cupid's photoshoot, and Valentine's Day favorites- and I'm kinda bummed about our lack of zing this year. I've been working on Austin's goodies for his classmates and they're pretty awesome, but that's really it. Juan leaves for deployment training on Thursday, so Austin and I will be celebrating without him. Bittersweet. Just teasing, there's nothing sweet about it. Except maybe more baby kisses for me ;) He'll be back just in time for St. Patrick's Day so I'm hoping to be a little more spirited by then.

These are the cutest little Valentine's and I had such a hard time choosing which ones to make for Austin's class. Can you guess which ones we went with?

 Cars.

 Play-Doh. 

 Main Squeeze.

 Love Bug.

Wishing you a Valentine's week that is far more festive than ours!
xoxo