Friday Favorites

This week has been one of the fastest weeks ever! I really thought time would move at snails pace after Christmas counting down the days till baby #3 arrives. But here we are almost 2/3 done with January and I feel like Christmas was yesterday! Less than two months till due date, I can't believe it!

{1} Baby Bumping! I love writing down a few little notes along the way so I can look back and remember everything :)



How far along: 32 weeks (8 months) 

Gender: Surprise! But I'm totally thinking a girl. I'm the youngest of three girls and I just feel like this pregnancy is oh so similar to my others. I would say the biggest difference is this baby is a ninja. Non-stop this baby is going completely crazy. People have always said before that some jabs hurt, I never knew that until this pregnancy! 

Best moment this month: Hands down my favorite is that every evening after din and putting the girls to bed I'll have my ice cream treat and the baby goes crazy. I love love love feeling the movements. 

Worst moment this month: Heartburn. So bad. I would say over half the nights I throw up in my sleep due to heartburn. Which I don't know if you've ever done that but it is awful. Also I would say I've finally reached a point in belly size that a lot of stuff is limiting. It's starting to get really hard to get laundry baskets up and down there stairs and through doors. I'm still carrying Dixie and between the big coats and the belly and her it is just a lot. To get her in the car seat is quite a bit of a workout right now. I'm lucky she's a peanut yet! 

Miss anything: I'm ready for an adult beverage. I'm also really really ready for warmer weather. We finally have a stretch in the 30's and it feels like heaven! 

Cravings: I pretty much eat all day long. For real, doesn't matter what it is, I want it. I need a lock on our pantry. I cannot stop. 

{2} I'm pretty much a pro in food right now so I thought I'd post some of my favorite treats! All of these are such a great sweet treat after dinner! I try to not eat horrible things, honestly I have no will power though. Last week I was kid free in target and you all know that never goes well, next thing you know I came home with a tub of ice cream, chocolate syrup and malt mix. Lets just say the ice cream is pretty much gone. #Maltsforlife 





{3} I've mentioned on here before my love for an adult beverage or two, so I've been in search for something to fill that void. I think I've found it in Ocean Spray Moctails and Ginger Zevia. I'm not a huge zevia person, I find most of them awfully sweet, but the ginger one is SO good. I can't wait to use it in Moscow Mules.... oh wait I'm supposed to be talking mocktails. Yes, ok here it is! Take a wine glass, fill with ice, squirt of real lemon and then the moctail splash and top with ginger zevia. SO good!

 

{4} Annie's Cheddar Puffs. Seriously I'm kind of ashamed to admit this but I LOVE me some cheetos, crunchy or puffy. These are a nice alternative and make me feel slightly better when I shovel them in my mouth!



{5} This weather! Man who knew the 30's could feel SO good! I'm over this cold weather! We got outside and it was so so so good for the soul!







That is all I have for the week! Can't wait to get out and enjoy the weekend and SKOL VIKINGSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

xoxo,

Kristi

Girl Chat {Re Introductions}

I'm not sure I've ever done an introduction in the first place, except my about me section so this might be a little fun!!!



Hi I'm Kristi! This pictures is actually from over a year ago. Is that bad to admit? But it is the last solo selfie I've taken not pregnant. What can I say I love me some pictures with my babies. Looking at this picture I'm like huh, I should really put a little bit more effort into my makeup again. Hey maybe in a couple years when I'm not pregnant or have an infant.



I actually look more like this now ;) Thank you fluid retention! I can joke about this but in all reality I know its all worth it. Two more months! This pregnancy has completely flown by. For real, I feel like I just got pregnant and honestly it surprises me that I've known since July.

So I thought I'd share a couple fun facts with you all if you don't know me personally.

{1} I seriously struggle with the blogging world. I LOVE reading blogs. Love it. I get so much great information from products to parenting to style. I cannot get enough. I'm always like I should blog because I love reading other blogs that are a big mix match of information, but then I come to blog and I'm like hmmmm am I being vain? Is this sounding weird? So then I don't for a while, then I come back. It is hit or miss, but I'm really going to try and stick it out this year because I'm always looking for random blogs to read so I hope this helps someone out. Plus looking back on all the memories is SO fun.

{2} Alright now that I got that off my chest I can move on. I'm a thirty year old mom of two (soon to be three) wifey that lives in (and LOVES) Minnesota and I work in agriculture. I work in a male dominated field and I don't mind it one bit! There is something that I really really love about Minnesota. It's so damn pretty and surprisingly there is a heck of a lot to do. Not to mention, we don't have the nick name of Minnesota Nice for no reason, people are seriously great here. I might be feeling extra nostalgic right now due to the Minnesota Miracle for the Vikings on Sunday but man its great.

{3} Family is my focus. I love my family. There is nothing better than getting to raise your babies around family. My husband says I'm depressed when my parents go South for a bit and he's probably right and my dad probably gets sick of me when I "randomly" swing by their house 4 times a week when they are home.

{4} I am extremely outgoing. I've been called intimidating before and I'm not so sure that is in a good way. It's quite funny because as outgoing as I am, I am the biggest home body. It takes a whole lot to get me out of the house, but when I do, game on. I truly love conversation with people, even politics, even politics from people that completely different views from me. Seriously! I love it. Usually my husband has to pry me away from a conversation and I've been known to talk to our babysitters for way longer than I need to when I get home from a date night. Whoops!

{5} A little over a year ago I started using our nice camera that we got as a wedding present five years before that ;) I learned quite a bit from Laura at www.laurabirdblog.com she would take the most beautiful pictures of her boys and I decided that is what I want. I want pretty pictures of the girls doing normal every day activities to look back on. The key isn't the nice camera, it is that I got a better lens for it!

{6} Have you ever seen that sign that says "I'm outdoorsy in the fact that I like a beer on the patio"? That was me until three years ago. For real I did not go outside, unless it was with a drink in hand, even in the summer. Definitely did not go outside in the winter. I'm pretty sure my oldest daughter probably had no idea what it was like to be outside running around unless it was with her dad. I don't know how I switched, I'm going to say because of the hubby, he loves being outside. Now I love to be outside, camping, fishing (both in the summer and ice fishing), hiking, hammocking (is that a verb? I decided to make it one) and just relaxing. There is something about fresh air that just the body good. I laugh because I'll look back at when I was pregnant with my first, I seriously got home from work around 3:30 pm and sat and watched tv until 6 pm when the hubby got home then after dinner went to bed. I was laaaaaaaaazy!

{7} I cannot stay up late for the life of me. Seriously, I just can't. The few times I do {which almost always is because of a few adult beverages} I am CRABBY the next day. Nothing makes me happier than being sleeping by 9 pm and waking up early. I say 9 pm, but really right now I go to bed between 7:30 and 8:30. For real I love to go to bed early. As much as I love to go to bed early, I love getting up early. When I'm actually working out I would get up at 4:45 am, right now I get up at 5:30 so I can get ready and have 20 - 30 mins of quiet time before anyone else is awake to have coffee. On the weekends during the quite time I tend to use that time on my phone, but during the weeks lately I've put a load of laundry in the washer and dryer and picked up the living room and kitchen. What a difference that 20 mins makes! It's fantastic!

{8} Okay this next part, I'm not trying to brag, but people frequently call me super mom. Which I take as seriously the best compliment ever. To be honest I'm not even close to that, I have really really good girls. I can probably count on one hand how many times my children have had a legit melt down. I don't know what it is, but they make parenting a BREEZE. For the times that they are little shits, I have the ability to mentally completely block it out (usually with a glass of wine). I just love "doing" things with the girls. Baking, getting outside, going fun places, I just love all those memories. I get asked all the time how do you camp with the girls or fish with the girls. Seriously they make everything easy. I just told the hubby last night, if this is a boy, I'm not even going to know what to do. Along with super easy kids, I have a husband that does a lot. I'm a firm believer in the whole 50/50 role for parenting and home life especially when both parents are working. There is a good chance my hubby does more than me around the house. He cooks, he cleans, he runs places for me when he can, he does the trash, I mean seriously he does so much I just don't ever feel stressed that I don't have time to get everything I need to get done done. 

{9} I somehow turned kind of hippy after having Elliot. My birth plan with Elliot was as many drugs and epidurals as I could get. Somehow I progressed too fast and ended up birthing her drug free. Since then I've really tried to limit my use of medical drugs. It kind of just progressed since then. Dixie is cloth diapered which I would of NEVER dreamed of doing with Elliot, I actually probably would of laughed in your face if you suggested it. Part of the cloth diapering is due to the fact that there are a billion other things I would rather spend my money on than diapers so there is that too. I think eating better and fitness are the best cures for feeling like junk. I often wonder why thinking that and knowing that isn't enough for me to make me eat good all the time? But that is for another time.

{10} Okay this has to be the last one because I feel like I've rambled and everyone probably stopped reading a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng time ago. I truly am happy. I love being happy. It is something I work on every.single.day. Obviously I have my down days, far more than I would like over the last 8 months, but for the most part I just choose to be happy because who knows how long we will get to stick around this amazing life.

Here are some snapshots from the last month as well :)






xoxo,

Kristi

How We Wednesdays {Goals & Resolutions}

Remember me? Its been a while! Rightfully so, which we will definitely get into another day but for now lets catch up on the biggest change!

Lion, and Tiger, and BEAR, oh my! Baby K #3 will be due in a very short 2.5 months from now!

But we will touch on that topic and why else I've been absent at a different time. For now I'm so excited for 2018 and ready to start blogging again!

I'm linking up to talk goals and resolutions for 2018! I really liked the format that Lindsay's Sweet World had where she broke them into categories so I'm going to do that as well! I'm going to preface this with a little story here. I have a good friend that is wise beyond her years and will always ask me about resolutions, I used to find it funny, but she would give such great resolutions, meaningful ones, that it made me want to do it too. The first year I gave her an actual one was quite a while ago when I said I want to make it intentional to be happy. I don't think that happiness comes by nature for a lot of people, I truly think its something you need to be intentional about. That year I definitely was intentional about being happy and it changed my life. This year she asked me again like normal and I responded "to be honest I just want to survive". That has been my motto for the last few months and what I was going to stick with going into 2018. A couple weeks later I realized that was a pretty shitty way to start 2018, that I need to make more of it, be more intentional, and get out of this funk. So when I saw the link up I knew it was time to write down some notes and get 2018 in full swing!

{Personal}

I feel like I do pretty dang well on the personal aspect of things. Could I be a little better about getting ready to look better? Yes, definitely yes. But I take time to myself, never afraid to admit to J I'm overwhelmed and need help, and spoil myself from time to time. What I would like to do is be a bit more giving. Giving in time, giving in money, and giving in relationships. I'm pretty selfish when it comes to my personal time, which isn't a bad thing, but I know there is more I could be doing to help those in need!

{Relationships}

First and foremost I HAVE to work on my relationship with my hubby. It's not in a bad spot by any means but I no doubt put him on the back burner, to be honest the wayyyyyyyyyyy back burner. He is so good about letting me focus on myself and the girls. I feel so bad. This year if I had to have one major goal, it would be to be a better wife. Right now my definitely of being a good wife is letting him go on guys trips, or fishing and hunting trips and not complaining about taking care of the girls. There is SO much more.

Out of all my goals, this would be my second, I need a better relationship with God. No doubt, hands down I need it. 2017 shook me to the core. I have to have a belief that there is something bigger, that this is out of my control, and that everything will be okay. I read once (which I'm not sure if this is true) that in the bible the subject of worry is talked about most. I worry, I worry so much. I need to know that everything is going to be exactly how it is supposed to. I really think this has been in the process for a while because there is no way I would of gotten pregnant on purpose. We were shooting for September to get pregnant and if we would of waited and not been surprised I know there was enough stress with Dixie in September that one we wouldn't of tried, but two we probably wouldn't of been able to get pregnant with the stress. It's taken me a while to realize that this baby happened exactly when it should of and if that isn't a sign from above I'm not sure what is :) Lucky for me we attend (not nearly enough) a wonderful church, with an amazing core for support and I am excited to get more involved in that. I also started reading the one year bible so that should be fun as well!

I've done pretty dang good about cutting out bad relationships over the last few years, but this time I've kicked it up a notch. My goal is to cut off ties with anyone that is negative. Why? Why be a part of something like that? It brings a person down, it ruins your mood, and it wastes your precious time.

{Home}

No cell phones from 4 - 8. I'm not sure I have it in the right category but it's staying here. I go in spurts where I'm great, then I go in spurts where I'm not so great. There is nothing on my phone that is more important that what is in my house. I need to focus on that. Not to mention Elliot has entered the world of youtube. It's crazy y'all! She will zone out! I do not want her to see me do the same thing and think its okay to sit and stare at a phone.

For the love of God I need to figure out a laundry routine. J and I have a pretty ideal situation, he does dishes and I do laundry. I cannot get it done though. Washing it? Totally doable. Folding it? Totally doable. Putting it away? FAIL! I will line up laundry baskets of clean clothes on my floor of our not so big master bedroom. I need to just get them put away! Lately I've been washing/drying a load of laundry in the morning before everyone gets up, this should give me time to get a load put away in the afternoon/evening without it feeling like so much work. Any tips would sure be appreciated!

This is a goal I CANNOT wait to check off my list. Kid clothing! This is the last baby, period, even if its a girl. So when this baby comes out, we get to start getting rid of soooooo many hand me downs. I'm not lying when I say I'm sitting on 27 totes of boy clothes. 27! I'm so thankful for the hand me downs, but if we have a third girl and I stored 27 totes for 5 years for nothing, I might burn those suckers. Just kidding, they are my sisters, so they can do what they please with them. But I'll have some serious storage space opened up! I will say, speaking of if we have another girl (which is what I'm thinking) I really am over the comments of well won't you try for a boy, as if three girls isn't good enough. I'm the youngest of three girls, and as much as I really would LOVE to have a boy, I think I'm pretty dang awesome. So there is that.

{Health}

Once again this is something I'll go more into at a later time but when I found out I was pregnant unexpectedly and Dixie's problems my give a damn was completely busted. You know what I enjoy most in life? Eating. No lie. J laughs at me because myself (and my family) are consistently talking about food, planning our life around food, and even planning vacations for food. I truly enjoy eating. So what did I do? Eat. I ate alllllllllllllllll the bad foods. All of them and all the time. It was glorious, until I started feeling like a pile of absolute crap. My heartburn was out of this world, I was tired, I was achy, and I had zero energy. Nothing like a little reminder why you started to eat better. So 2018 is bringing back the better eating. I'm not talking about being strict. I'm talking about just being more intentional. Not letting the produce go to waste, making sure we eat veggies with dinner every night. We used to have a policy that the girls snacks needed to come out of the fridge, we let that slide, we need to get back to that.

Surprisingly I haven't gained a ton this pregnancy even with the bad eating and NO exercise, that being said I need to get back to working out. Anything is better than nothing at this point. Once the baby is here I am hoping for three hard workouts a week and two lighter workouts/walks with the girls.

{Kids}

Elliot- man oh man this girl.... She is so kind, so patient and so loving. She has had the brunt of all of this year. She's dealt with a tired, less enthusiastic momma and been put on the back burner with Dixie's needs. You know what? She hasn't even been phased. This girl deserves more attention, not needs, but deserves more. I have a goal to do more with just her. More bubble baths, more going to the movies, more out to eat. She is the best big sister and the kindest soul out there.

I could go on and on about Dixie but as far as goals go, I have that girl covered. She will have a rough transition of not being the baby, I know that. But that girl is so loved and so cared for I know 2018 is going to be big for her.





Overall with the kids, I need to have better patience. I know that much. I don't have many memories of my parents snapping or yelling at me, and maybe that is just due to remembering the best parts. But I know I snap and yell far too often and that is going to get worked on in 2018!

I'll end this little post with a list of Garvin and Co's resolutions from 2017 which she recently posted,  and I feel fit perfectly and hope to add in as well :)

"More memory making, less social media. More new recipes, less donuts. More date nights, less obligations. More presence, less multitasking. More praying, less worrying. More intention, less clutter. MORE LOVE, less of everything else."

xoxo,

Kristi

A Day In the Life

I love these posts! I seriously love seeing how everyone's day works and how they make the most of their day! Unfortunately I didn't know this link up was about to happen, so I don't have a ton of pictures to go along but I'll find some! This was for yesterday.

{5:30 am} My alarm goes off and I don't snooze it. I only state this because most days I snooze my alarm at least twice, but Mondays I wash my hair so I know I can't snooze it. I wash my hair once a week. I'm SO thankful for that because I have long thick hair and it is a process to do. 

{5:45 am} I remember while in the shower that I told my hubby this weekend that I was going to start getting up at 5 to workout quick in the mornings before work since I go to bed so early. Clearly completely forgot about that goal, fyi also forgot about it this morning. Whoops!

{6:30 am} Done getting ready and I wake up the girls. The girls wake up and right away both ask for a Monkey Milk. Which is this. We started giving it to Elliot about a year and a half ago because she used to HATE veggies. Now I can get her to eat carrots, celery, and cucumbers as long as there is ranch involved. We started giving it to Dixie too because she's such a peanut. The girls get ready and then I usually try to get a picture of them before we leave, especially if my parents are in Florida as I will send daily pics to my momma. Dixie's best blogger pose from Friday's morning pictures :)

{7:20 am} I am lucky enough to have the BEST daycare situation in the world, my sister :) She meets me at the office and gets both girls. She will drop Elliot off at preschool and then keep Dixie all day :) By a complete miracle we are early to drop off. So we goof off and take some pictures :) 

{7:30 - 2:30} Werk werk werk werk werk. I don't take a lunch break so I can leave a little early. This has its positives and negatives, its nice getting done early, but there is a lot of kid free errands you could get done with a lunch break. Every day is different, I am a commodity broker so I help farmers hedge their grain prices :) Its mostly a male field, so its not uncommon that people are thrown off that I do this. It's a family business that my Grandpa started. Everyday I get made fun of because I pretty much eat 5 meals by noon. I can't help it. Salads and soups by 10 am every day. I could eat all my food intake by noon and not need to eat the rest of the day. On this day my hubby dropped off a hat he picked up for my nephew. We wanted to surprise him with an Eagles stocking hat because he's a huge Carson Wentz fan. As is everyone else because #NORTHDAKOTASTATEUNIVERSITY and then the hubby surprised me with a hat as well, I think it's pretty perfect. 

{3 pm} Pick up Elliot from preschool. This is my FAVORITE thing to do every day. When she sees me she yells Momma and gets so excited. I love it! We wait in the car for my sister to drop off Dixie and we chat about the day.

{3:15 - 4:00} We run to grab a coffee and hot cocoa at Caribou because #monday and check my parents mail then run back into town for Elliot's gymnastics.

{4 pm - 5 pm} Elliot has gymnastics so Dixie and I run to grab some groceries. We went on the weekend to costco so we didn't need a ton. I thought it would be good for Dixie to walk behind a kid cart for a little PT and she made it around the whole store! Even with some milk in the cart! We love seeing progress! Not to mention she was so happy to be doing it. No one to rush her. We only got into one little tiff when she wanted Elsa bubble bath and I said no, well we went home with Elsa bubble bath ;) I have no backbone to those girls.

{5 pm} Pick up Elliot and head home. Elliot sees the Elsa bubble bath as she's grabbing some hard salami to eat (her favorite snack) and wants a bubble bath when she gets home. That is perfect because her and Dixie will play in the bath and I can get stuff done around the house with no one whining! Win win! 

{5:30 pm - 6:30 pm} Get home and get the girls in the bath, unload everything from the day, finish making din, J had made chicken wild rice soup in the crock pot earlier so I finished the recipe, got Elliot's lunch made for the next day and got the girls out of the bath and in PJs. The girls eat soup which has been amazing that they like soup! 

{6:30 pm - 7 pm} Shnuggle with Dixie while Elliot draws and then bedtime for Dixie. 

{7 pm - 7:30 pm} Shnuggle with Elliot and read a few books. She wants to stay up till Dad is home from hunting which is just after dark. Usually she goes to bed with Dixie around 7. J gets home Elliot gives quick hugs and kisses and then goes to bed. Well more like sings from bed for 30 minutes before she actually falls asleep. 

{7:30 pm} Dish up soup for J and I as he talks about hunting, we catch up on football (GO VIKES) and sadly I'm asleep by 8 pm. Poor J! I try so hard to stay awake but I just can't. My schedule follows daylight. 

{8 pm - 10 pm} I sleep on the couch while J watches football and then we both go to bed. 

Nothing too exciting here! But like I said I'm really trying to get up early to workout since I'm sleeping so early! 

PS here is the link for the wild rice soup, it was so so so good! 

xoxo,

Friday Favorites {10.6.17}

It's the first Friday of October and I am THRILLED! This month kicks off holiday season for me and as much as I loved holidays before, sharing the magic with kids is even better!!! Somehow September flew by and I'm quite afraid the rest of the year will as well! Lets move on to some favorites!

{1}
I've talked about this before but I've been deleting pictures off my phone and I'm making quite the progress. I'm down to just over 8,000 pictures compared to over 15,500 that I started with! I have about a year left to go through. I need a new phone and I don't want that many transferring over to my new phone. Ideally if I could get it dwindled down and then I've heard good things about google photos to store on a cloud! I will say going through all those photos over the last year and a half have been SO fun! The pictures also convinced me not to cut my hair. My hair is super cute short and long, but the in between stage blows.

{2}
We got Elliot's preschool pictures back! I mean how adorable is this girl?!?! Anyone else have girls that refuse to wear pony tails or bows? She wants her hair down all the time!

{3}
I know this is pretty basic and you've been told a million times but cookie butter oreos. GET THEM NOW!

{4}
Dixie had her big appointment and she did great! She even took 6 unassisted steps! First time! They are impressed with her progress and desire to walk and also with her cognitive thinking, but they said anytime a child isn't walking at two years old they want to look further into it. So we will go down to the cities and have an MRI of the brain done, blood draw to check protein levels in her muscles, pelvic scan, and also check her thyroid. So top to bottom and try to figure everything out! Hopefully it is nothing and she is just delayed. I found myself googling rare forms of things that they could find for these tests and I just worked myself up to the worst stress ever. I need to keep telling myself she's happy, making progress, and healthy. For that I have to be thankful! Then at PT yesterday she took even more steps by herself! Makes a momma so happy!

{5}

This week we had appointments almost every day for Dixie and I just felt so bad because Elliot has completely gone with the flow and not even cared she's getting less attention. She's been wanting to go to our awesome park at the school she will go to next year and then I told her she could find any Halloween treat off pinterest for us to make! These cupcakes are amazing! The frosting is to die for! You have to make them! You can find the ghost cupcake recipe here.

{6}
I've been meaning to break out the camera more and I finally did that to get some great pictures of the girls! They are my favorite!

{7}
Sorry one last one because we LOVE fall! We went to the apple orchard last week to stock up on apples, cider, and pumpkins to take home and decorate! We need a few dozen more, but we like to get them at different locations through out the month!

I hope everyone has a great weekend filled with extra snuggles and lots of relaxation! I know ours will be! 

xoxo