happy day

i have to go back to work next wednesday and am dreading it.  don't get me wrong, i enjoy my job and like my coworkers, but i LOVE staying home with my babies and hanging out with other moms.  staying at home is often exhausting and can get frustrating, but i love pouring everything i have into my 2 yr old and 2 month old.  i wouldn't trade the days i have with them for anything.
i feel like my biggest calling in life is to be a mom.  james' and my current plan is for me to stay home when we get the house paid off (which we are on track to do in 6 1/2 more years), but we might change the plan in a few years so i can spend more precious time with the boys while they are young.  there is no greater joy than spending time with your children--watching them learn, grow, smile, laugh, make you laugh, etc.  it is funny that before i had parker, i was convinced i would never enjoy staying at home.  i still don't enjoy cleaning, but i love spending time with the boys.

parker is at a fun stage right now--talking more and gaining independence (potty trained and sleeping in his big boy bed!).  paxton is the sweetest little bug--sleeping from 9pm-5am regularly.  i love nursing him, cuddling with him and smelling his sweet skin after bath time.

i realize this post is overly happy, but we had such a great day today and i want to remember these times when i am back at work and debating if i want to stay at home. 

this morning pax woke up at 5am, nursed for 30 minutes, and then i met a friend at 6am to run 3 miles.  after coming home, showering and hanging out with parker, pax woke back up at 8am and we got einstein brothers' bagels before 5 of the neighborhood moms came over with their babies and toddlers.  we had sweet fellowship (and lots of "rahhhr" screaming and running around from the 2 year olds) and celebration in the joy of good things happening in a friends' life.

parker and i ate left over pasta for lunch and then the two boys and i took a 3 hour nap!  hallelujah!  when we woke up we went over to a neighbor's house to let the kids play outside and then i took the boys to qdoba for dinner.  parker and i read stories for 40 minutes and paxton shared the sweetest smiles.  after the boys went to bed, another neighbor came over to talk and now i am editing pictures of my sweet little lovies.

not every day goes as smoothly as this, but i love the time i get to spend with other women when i stay at home.  it is bittersweet going back to work knowing the group will keep hanging out without me, but i hope to maintain friendships that have deepened this summer throughout the year.

and because i can't end the post without a picture or two, here are a couple pics of the 2/3 year olds over today.  love yall!!

day in the life: friday

james came home friday morning and we spent 3 hours walking around car wars at the promenade with the boys!  we weren't planning on staying that long, but since we've been looking for a newer car for several months, we wanted to look at every single vehicle for sale.  thankfully we had plenty of water and good snacks.

in the afternoon, parker, pax and i all napped for 2 1/2 hours!  the heat wore us out.  after we woke up, two other families joined us for the first unofficial 2 year old soccer practice!  james and david tried to teach the little guys how to kick, dribble and handle the ball.  i'm not sure that parker or his friends really learned any new skills, but they had fun hanging out and kicking the ball!

we are very excited that parker's buddy caleb signed up for the league and hope he and parks can play on the same team together!  we love caleb and his parents.  they live in our neighborhood and just had a little baby boy, so now we each have two boys the same age and grade!

ahhh fridays.  love.

day in the life: thursday

thursday was the dreaded day at home with both kids without daddy.  thankfully parker had kids day out, so i was able to spend some quality time with pax.  our cleaning lady came to the house for 2 hours and pax slept the whole time, so i was able to clean and organize some baby things while she tackled the kitchen and living room.  i love having her come over, if for no other reason than it gives me a little motivation to pick up knowing she'll be here to polish everything up!  pax all snuggled up in his miracle blanket (i really only swaddle him at night...if he is awake during the day i either put him on his tummy to help him get stronger or put him in the swing):

i spent some time on the computer reading my favorite blogs and buying half price deals (love living social and nwa deal piggy!).  one of my friends from high school recently started a blog about her journey through motherhood and i've enjoyed reading her thoughts.  not only is she is a great writer (studied creative writing at columbia), but we share similar parenting philosophies & hippy lawrence roots, so her blog is especially entertaining.

usually i don't plan outings on the days when james is working, but my friend jenna wanted to go to the splash park so we took parker and barrett out for some fun.  they play so well (parker is just starting to actually "play" with his friends now that he is 2!) and jenna and i were able to have sweet fellowship with each other and our babies.  i am looking forward to joining our community group in the fall and spending time with the roddey family!  (we took a break for the summer with all of our travel plans and the new baby)

for dinner we went got qdoba to go.  i go there at least once a week (and five guys now that it opened next door!)...i am convinced they are the reason i cannot lose all of my pregnancy weight.  but for now, their food is tasty and delicious and parker loves some chicken burrito!! 

to finish the night, we gave pax a lil' bath (parker's bath was the splash park).  after parker got sun spots last year, the doctor told me to stop bathing him as much so i only bathe them like once every 3 days now or when they get really dirty or sweaty--it has helped his skin so much!.  love yall and hope you are having a great week!