Hello August!

Summer

At this point it's been like almost a month since I've blogged. Every week I have all these intentions to jot down some thoughts, and every week it doesn't happen. I remember at the end of the school year right before summer started I was like, "I'm going to have so much more time to dedicate to my business, and to also find time to relax a bit, blog more." Errr yeahhhh.....that hasn't quite happened. If anything I've had less time to dedicate to my business. I've pretty much just been able to fit in the bare minimum, but it is what it is. I'm still happy with the way things are and I trust in God's timing. Right now my kids need me most, and we've been busy most of the summer working on our sunroom renovation which turned out to be a much bigger project than anticipated. 

My nephew and my brother were also here in July, Serena's been busy with her volunteering and I've had a few Junior League commitments. I've been trying to keep the girl's busy with fun activities outside the house and also trying to stay sane while in the house if you know what I mean. I've pretty much reached that "end of the summer" breaking point where I need some of these kids to get back to school. Haha! With that being said Hank and the girls (minus Ava) just left to Texas this morning. It's just going to be me and miss Ava for the next 5 days! A rambunctious 2 year old can be tough sometimes, but I'm so excited about relaxing more, having the house stay neat, and not cook for 6 people! Also looking forward to getting some quality one on one time with Ava.

Sunroom Renovation

Here is the most current picture as of yesterday and a few from before. So before we started this project the whole point of it was just to change the floor because we had leftover flooring in the attic, and scrape the popcorn off the ceiling because of an old leak. Two things. That was supposed to be it! It turned into sooooo much more than that, and I will explain everything in a separate post because it's a long laundry list of things that had to be done and still need to be done. 

I've been sharing a lot of updates on my instagram stories @itsapinklifefj if this is your sort of thing. H and I are very much DIY people so it's been fun, but also a little frustrating at times. We found a handyman who has been doing the custom millwork to fit the doors and sidelights in. Who would of thought it would be so complicated and it's getting a little expensive, but it looks like we only need him to come twice more some time next week, though there is still a lot to be done. He'll help Hank with some finishing touches on the doors and rewire the electricity so we can put a nice light in. 

Have a great weekend!

The kids are back in school and I think I sent my baby to a hurricane...

Serena |9th grade| Layla |1st grade| Mariam |Pre-K|

I have not even had a moment to really sit here on blog. I even feel like even my online work for my business has been rushed. Social media pics are done on the fly while waiting in the car rider line, or when I'm able to steal a moment. 

Phew. Let me just take a moment to breathe here.....

Wooshaaaaaa........

Ok. So summer is over and the girls are back in school. I was so looking forward to getting back into a busier structured routine with the kids, and I'm glad but at the same time I'm like "what have I gotten myself into?!" No rest for the weary. My girls are worth it though. I now have 3 in school and so far our days have been crazy. I take Mariam and Serena each morning. H takes Layla, but I have 3 pickups at 3 different schools in the afternoon. Mondays are ballet after school for Mariam, Tuesdays Serena has a volunteering shift at the library. Wednesday's Serena has another volunteering shift at the library and then church choir practice. Thursdays thank God nothing after school. Friday's Layla has ballet after school. I was wondering how our dinner plans were going to be affected, but they really haven't. In fact we eat early consistently now. It works by prepping early or even cooking a portion of the meal in the morning or early afternoon. Anyone else feel like you're living out of your car with school aged kids?

You're probably wondering about baby Ava. It's been so nice having just her for 2 hours in the mornings while the girls are in school. She is unfortunately still not sleeping though the night, and it does make an already exhausting day a little more difficult. I think it was the sleep deprivation that motivated me into being convinced to let her fly to Houston with H the other day not realizing a major hurricane had been forming, and is heading to the Texas coast as I type this now (Face palm). H  really wanted to take her, and his family wanted to see her, so I agreed when we talked about it over a week ago. Hurricane Harvey is expected to make landfall tonight in Corpus Christi which is about 3 hours from Houston. We aren't worried about Houston being affected too much, but all the rain will definitely be an issue. I'm afraid they won't be able to come back on Sunday as planned. I will say that the media really hypes things up and you'll find yourself feeling alarmed if you watch the news long enough. I just skyped with my husband and Ava and all is well at the moment. He showed me that it was only slightly drizzling outside, but if you were to watch a news forecaster at the same moment, they would be in an ugly part of town that is prone to flooding and making it seem as though the situation is dire.  I'll update on Monday again with the latest. I know all my family, my baby and my husband are going to be fine, but I sure do miss them.

Have a good weekend. 

Hello October..

I've been absent from here again lately. Always something I tell you...

October has felt, I dunno, weird in a way, and mundane. Not boring for sure since there is always, always something to do. I think October and I got off on the wrong foot here. Maybe the beginning has started off a little quiet in regards to running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, and it feels out of my element. Regardless, it's about to pick up again and pretty soon I'm going to be complaining about how overwhelmed I am with it all.

Onto the usual, Mariam has been doing great with her schooling at "mommy school". She's usually eager to work on her letters and numbers, and it's been awesome to see her really grasping things and understanding. Her temperament has much improved as well. Now if she could stop asking for snacks like every 30 minutes that would be cool.

Layla is doing great in Kindergarten. She loves doing her homework as soon as she gets home, and she never gives me a hard time about waking up early. Serena is doing fantastic at school as well and has been occupied with church choir, her keyboard, and training for the track team lately. Onto Ava. Hoh boy. My stage 5 clinger lately. She's been hard lately. Super attached. Hardly wants me to put her down or else she cries. She's also still sleeping terribly. At this rate, maybe I'll get a decent nights rest by the time she turns 2 and a half. I really need this child to sleep. It's been hard trying to get some of my business needs taken care of and also to enjoy some down time. I tried letting her cry it out one night for about an hour last week--nope! Not doing that again. My next step is trying to cut down her night feedings, but she gets so upset and I'm so tired that I end up giving in after she won't calm down. I fully understand I'm part of the problem. Sigh. We'll see what happens. 

Today..

At this point does anyone believe me when I say I'm going to be blogging 2-3 times a week again? Ha! I know I said that in my last post on the 11th. Life, man, what can I say? I've got a ton of back posts, but I'm going to just keep it simple today and start with....today.

As usual I had another sleepless night with Ava. Every night is consistently bad, but some are worse than others, The past two nights have been hard. Sleep deprivation has a way of playing with your head. I definitely get more emotional and easily agitated when I've had a rough night. I felt like I had a touch of the blues, but everything is wonderful. There is much to be happy about and I knew I needed to count my blessings. I thought that maybe a little beach therapy might help. There's something about the ocean that instantly makes you forget any troubles. I loaded up Ava and Mariam and we were at the beach by 9:30 am. It was actually my first time taking Ava by myself and it went surprisingly well. I wore her in my moby wrap and wore a backpack. I also brought a mini umbrella, so despite these pictures, she was otherwise shaded from the sun. 

Life Lately

It's been quiet around this blog lately but we've been busy. What am I saying!? It's usually always busy around these parts with a full household. My best friend and her family came to visit us and they stayed for about a week. We all had a great time and it's nice to get a break from daily life. We went to Miami, West Palm Beach, and ended the fun with 2 days at Marco Island. I'll be doing a full post on Marco Island, but here are some quick pics from my phone. In other exciting news, Ava was cast for her first commercial! It shot this past Saturday for Nature's Sleep, and I was able to snap a few quick pictures. It was for their new ghost bed pillow. I was a little worried about how she would do since she's been teething and extra clingy, but she did great! It was fun and thankfully wrapped up quickly before the babies got too fussy. I can't wait to see the commercial. 

A date with my memi

I've been trying to come in here and blog all week, but it's been one hell of a week. Mainly the kind where you aren't getting any sleep and can hardly speak in coherent sentences. Ava was having the worst sleeping patterns in the history of all my babies. She got her first cold and I spent most of the week only getting 3-4 hours of sleep for 5 nights straight. It wasn't even 3 hours straight. Oh no. That was 3 hours broken up. It was really really hard. You can currently understand my writing because thankfully she broke the streak Friday night and appears to be back to just waking up 3 times a night. Due to a now lowered immune system from lack of sleep and the cold that was circulating amongst the girls, yours truly now has a cold. Great. 

I didn't start writing just to complain, so on to the topic at hand. Mariam. I'm trying my best to start giving the girls more one on one time. A few weeks ago I took #3 Mariam to Morikami Gardens here in Boca. Ava came too, but she pretty much slept the whole time in here stroller. It was nice but Mariam's main concern when we got there was wondering where the snacks are. I came ill prepared this time so we settled on some Japanese fruit chews from the gift shop. There is a cafe on the premises but the line was insanely long and we did already have lunch. The weather was beautiful that day and all in all we had a pretty good time.

Have a great week. I'm off to catch some zzz'ss

Phone camera roll dump

{On the left, Layla & Mariam at our local library. The girls love going there. Great selection on books and movies and it has a nature trail surrounding the library. On the bottom left Layla is enjoying a cookie from the cafe inside the library. The libraries in Houston don't have cafe's so I thought it was pretty neat. No need to rush home if you're hungry or didn't bring a snack. Top right is the time Serena sprained her ankle yet again. That was a tough two weeks for us here. }

{Driving through the city on the way back from the beach. I love this city! Top right, Layla wearing one of my sunglasses enjoying the view from her window. Bottom left, the inlet.}

{Left picture is a little sneaky peeky of our new house. Ahhh! I'm so excited. So ready to peace on out of this condo and get back into a house again. God willing we'll be closing at the end of the month. Top right: Current state of the hair. Debating on how much I should cut. The ends need a trim for sure and I keep losing more and more hair every day with this post partum hair loss. Bottom right: The girls at Barnes & Noble playing}

{Pictures from the Caribbean Cowboy ball this past Saturday benefiting the George Snow foundation. They provide scholarships to underprivileged children. The weather was perfect and the event was a lot of fun. The fireworks on the inter coastal were beautiful. It was also nice to have a night out away from the kids. Ava is finally taking a bottle so it has definitely made things easier for me as far as getting some time away.}

Happy February!