A Trip to Pittsburgh

So often when people say "You guys are really busy" or "I know you're busy, but..." to T.J. or I, he usually replies and says something about how our lives are actually full, not busy. We just don't love the word busy. Too many people wear it as a badge of honor, as if busyness = success, or busyness makes it okay to not make room for the best things, verses all the things.

I love that T.J. says full instead of busy, because it’s a way more accurate description of our lives together. Busy can make it sound like we aren’t enjoying all the things we have and get to do, that instead we're just rushing from one thing to the next. But we love our lives together, in the full seasons and in the sparse. And right now we are in a full season for sure --- between a newborn, a potty training toddler, two businesses to keep running smoothly, a marriage, and everything else, our days are certainly full.

A few weeks ago, due to a loss in T.J.'s side of the family, we found ourselves on the other side of the state, and instead of just driving out for the funeral and back the following day, we reached out to my cousin, Mandy, and asked if we could crash at their place in Pittsburgh for a few days instead. It was such a refreshing little break nestled right into the middle of our full lives, and I am so grateful for the few days we spent there, even though it was freezing cold and we couldn’t do much exploring with a new baby! We chose not to jam pack our days with activities, but instead spent a lot of time lounging around the house, taking naps and deep breaths, and eating takeout. We did go out a few times and got to explore the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, which was amazing and had a Mo Williems exhibit at the time, as well as the National Aviary, which June loved. Every new room we went into at the Aviary, June proclaimed without fail "Look, more birds!" "Whoa Mom! More birds!" "Penguins. Those are birds too!" Yes June, more birds... I hear you. 😂😍

Enjoy this short highlight video of our trip and even though she isn’t in any of the clips (#momfail), I can assure you that Sunny was there! (Sorry second child. 😂) She just slept in the stroller/car seat the entire time.

We definitely want to go back and visit the city again when it's warmer outside. The zoo looks amazing.

Have you ever been to Pittsburgh? If so, what are your favorite things to do, see and eat?! Let me know!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Junie!

HOW!? How in the world is our little girl three years old already. Life's crazy, I'll tell ya what.

I knew June's party would be something simple and small this year, since I'd just had Sunny only 4 weeks prior. Pretty proud of myself for being realistic and not staying up late to make unicorn cupcakes or a giant balloon arch. When my Mom asked what the party theme was, I said "sprinkles, sparkles and whatever else is in my basement." 

And you know what, it was perfect. June loved it. One of her only birthday requests was to eat a pink cake, so I made pink cupcakes with pink icing and she topped them all with sprinkles. So. Many. Sprinkles. They ended up being very crunchy cupcakes -- mmm... crunchcakes. But, boy was she proud of them! You can watch the very short video of her decorating them at the bottom of this post. And make sure you're sound is on, because at the end she thanks us, all on her own, and it's too much for my Mom heart to handle!

P.S. We're currently in the process of growing out her bangs, so don't judge my parenting or hairstyle choices. 

Three of June's little friends came over on a Saturday morning to celebrate her birthday -- Clara, Kendall and Pearl. (Gray was along for the ride too. Poor guy, always surrounded by girls!)

After June had quite the meltdown upon everyone arriving (#sharingishard), she got herself together and the girls enjoyed a little lunch, followed by a song and dance recital on top of the table I hoped they'd eat at, but was instead used as a stage to display their many talents. Us Moms sat down and ate a real lunch! And had adult conversations! With words!

June's friends know her well, because her gifts included a hot pink sparkly dress, two purses, chapstick, a homemade necklace, a bracelet, and a sparkly stuffed unicorn. Sometimes I just laugh out loud at how much June loves such girly, sparkly things. I am so interested to see if Sunny is naturally the same way, or if she's totally different!?!

After June finished opening her gifts, T.J. played the "Ladies & Gentleman Game" with them, which is where they all hide around the corner in the kitchen and then one at a time T.J. announces them into the other room --- "Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls... please welcome... Juuuuuuuuune!" 😂 June loves this game with her whole heart, and clearly was feeling very cool at her party while they played it. Just look at the pose she struck when she was announced, while already wearing her new purse and jewelry, mind you!

After eating cupcakes, playing with the tissue paper from the gifts, and bouncing around all of the balloons, it was time for everyone to go home. It was a very simple little party, but June still talks about it, which is all I could hope for. In fact, the other day while in the bathtub she said "Hey Mom, renember when my friends came to my house? Yeah... that was amazing."

Happy 3rd Birthday June Bug! We love you more than you'll ever know. 

Welcome Sunny Grace!

Meet our newest family member, Sunny Grace. 🌞 She was born on the morning of January 17th, 7lb 2oz, 21 inches long... crying so loudly that no one could miss it! It felt very much like Sunny was saying "I'M HERE AND I'M AMAZING SO DEAL WITH IT!!!!"

It seems quite appropriate to me that this post is, in theory, six weeks "late"... because she is after all our second kid. Although, to be fair, I tried several times to take her "newborn photos" and each time she would just cry, or spit up on her outfit, or be too tired to look cute. But, third times a charm I guess, because the other day I got her dressed in a cute outfit, calmed her down and then had seven minutes - literally - to shoot these photos before she was over it. I shot my first image at 1:58pm and my last at 2:05pm. I know this because I checked the metadata on my images! Ha ha! 😂

Sunny is such a delight. She's looking more and more like June everyday, yet the two of them are almost nothing a like as babies. June slept a lot, and Sunny is often wide-eyed and crazy looking. Sunny eats like a champ (hallelujah!), where June had much more trouble in that area. June loved to be swaddled and Sunny is, well.... learning to like it. Sunny loves to be held and snuggled, where June often didn't want to be touched. Actually, June's still this way. 😂 Just today I tried to play with her hair while she was sitting in my lap to read a book and she said "Don't do that! No thank you" and ducked away from my hands. Sorry Junie, you got that trait from me!

Unless you are a close friend of mine, or were buddies with me on AIM when my screen name was sunnymorrow, you might not know that my childhood nick name was Sunny Morrow. (In fact, T.J. and my family still call me Sunny!) And that's why we've named our girls June Morrow and Sunny Grace.

My recovery after June's birth was very difficult and complicated, which lead to years of dreading getting and being pregnant again, crippling fear at just the thought of delivering another baby, dreams about the trauma of it all, and then guilt over feeling any of those things because babies are wonderful and "of course I want to have more kids!" And so, from the moment I even started thinking about trying to get pregnant again, I knew I needed grace. Over all of it, the whole time. I prayed endlessly for this time to be different, and redemptive. I proclaimed Grace, Grace! over Sunny from day one, and that's why I chose Grace for her middle name.

Side note: if you weren't buddies with me on AIM back in the day.. man, you were missing out. I had some super cryptic lyric inspired away messages that made me seem super cool. 😂

In the last few weeks I've had to cut all dairy from my diet, and it's made a world of difference for Sunny. So now I just eat sleeves of Oreos to make up for the lack of cheese in my life. I actually had a dream just last night about eating this beautiful Pinterest-worthy yogurt and berry parfait, and half way through eating it I was like "Oh no! This is dairyyyyy, what am I thinkinnnnnng!?!?!" and yet continued to eat it. I honestly never thought I'd dream about a yogurt parfait in my entire life. At least not in a stressful way!

T.J., June and I are so happy to have a healthy little girl in our family. We love you Sunny Grace!

Beach Vacation | Stone Harbor

You guys, I did it. I'm only four months "late" with this post, but here it is. This past September, we spent the first week of the month in Stone Harbor, NJ, enjoying our last "beach week" as family of three. We stayed with my parents who'd rented a house (thanks Mom & Dad!) for the week, within walking distance of the little town and ocean.

Once we'd settled into our room the first day, I said to T.J. "Let's just walk down to the beach so she can see the ocean, so she knows where we are." To which he laughed and replied "Yea okay, and NOT get in... right? She's gonna run straight for it." Annnnnnnd she did. Clothes and all. 😂

T.J. and I had decided before we even left for our trip that we were really going to make an effort to stay off of our phones during our vacation, so for me that looked like taking my "real" camera with me most places. It really worked for us, too! We got to the end of the week and I'd taken mayyyybe 5 photos on my phone and I don't even know if T.J. had taken any!

Now I guess we did have to wait like four months to really see the photos, ha ha, but oh well! It was worth it.

Note the last image in the set below where June is clearly negotiating with T.J. for "one more time" of running into the ocean with her clothes on.

Watching your kid enjoy the beach and all that comes with it is so much fun, minus sand in ALL the places of course. It was our first vacation where June really played in the water, collected shells, "helped" T.J. dig holes and chased the seagulls. I am always grateful for how active and involved T.J. is with June, but I was especially grateful for it at the beach. Splashing around in the ocean at 20 weeks pregnant just didn't sound like the most fun thing to me.

We went to the boardwalk one evening to get molasses paddles from Douglass Candies and crab fries from Chickies & Petes. June spent a lot of the night twirling around in her beloved pink dress, and asking every three minutes if she could have more "sprinkles"... aka, sucking the sprinkles off a $4 chocolate covered pretzel. 

Most of our mornings started off slow with breakfast at the house or walks downtown to get coffees and doughnuts and play on the playgrounds. We spent one day at the local Cape May Zoo, which I just love. It's free to the public, although you can give a donation to the cute old man who hands out the maps when you drive into the park. I feel like I barely got any photos of Junie at the zoo because she literally just sprinted from one place to the next until we got to the very end. I was having a hard time keeping up, let alone getting out in front of her to take a photo. 😂

After the zoo, we came back to the house so June could nap, and then went to the beach for the afternoon once she woke up. I think she and T.J. ran to and from the waves about a thousand times, while I sat in my chair and ate cheese and veggie straws. #livingthatmomlife

I love how windy it looks in the photos below and that June's hair looks so light in color and salty. It's definitely gotten darker the last few months and seeing these images from September makes that super obvious. Also, SUNSHINE. Just look at the warm sunshine in these photos! There is HOPE!

Our last day on the beach was a little bit colder than earlier in the week, but that didn't stop June from wanting to run full speed towards the water and then be chased back onto the beach by myself, T.J. or my parents. The joy on her face, mixed with the blue sky and puffy clouds, just makes my photo-loving-heart so happy. 

So, there you have it. A little glimpse into our beach vacation from this past September. Editing these photos realllllly makes me want to travel somewhere, or start planning this year's vacation! Crazy to think that we'll also have a 6-9 month old in tow (depending on when we go to the beach) for our vacation this year.

What are you favorite, family friendly, beach towns? I've grown up going to Stone Harbor, which is why we love it, but I'd be interested in trying somewhere new, too! Let me know in the comments!

Tiny Town for Pearl's 2nd Birthday!

June and I got to tag along to Tiny Town for my niece Pearl's 2nd Birthday last week, and although I'd seen pictures of Tiny Town online, we'd never been! So, both June and I were excited to go when Aunt KiKi invited us!

As you can tell, it's exactly what it sounds like! A tiny town for kids to play in, with a doctor's office, mechanic's garage, grocery store, diner, hair dressed, library and more! June just kept walking around pointing at things and saying "It's so little!"

Other than both Pearl and June having a few meltdowns due to having to share certain rooms with other kids 😂, it was a super fun time and they both loved it! We will definitely go back again. 

Happy 2nd Birthday Pearl! We love you!

Camels & Llamas

A few weeks ago, on a very cold Saturday morning, we went to a local Alpaca farm for one of their open house days. My sister-in-law Kelsey told us about it, so we met up with them to let the girls, Pearl and June, run around and see the animals.

The entire time we were there June called them "camels" and Pearl called them "Llamas", no matter how hard we all tried to correct them. 😂

One of my favorite moments was when T.J. was trying to keep one of the alpacas in one place so Kelsey could take a selfie with it. It totally didn't work, but was a solid team effort and gave us all a good laugh anyway.

We couldn't believe how tame the alpacas were, and how little they seemed to care that hundreds of people were walking around in their pastures with them. They did pay a little more attention to you when you tried to give them some of their pellet food, but other than that, they literally just walked around and ignored you. (Which made all of us look like a bunch of idiots trying to heard them into one place and take photos with them!)

In typical June fashion, she didn't feel comfortable getting down and walking around until we'd been there about 30 minutes... but by that time we were all freezing and ready to go! T.J. did get to snap a few photos of June and I though, which was nice. 😊

Also, I'd like to point out that I'm sure not I've ever seen Kelsey so happy as she is in the second to last photo below, where she's taking the alpaca for a walk. 😂 Pretty sure her dreams were coming true right then and there.

Visit Eastland Alpaca yourself! Follow them on Facebook. 

Junie the Unicorn

There's something ironic and hysterical about having to bribe your 2.5 year old with candy to put on her Halloween costume... so she can go out and collect even more candy from strangers. 😂 June dressed up as a Unicorn this year (again, thanks to Target), and we got the entire costume on sans wings with little to no tears. Ha ha ha! We weren't kidding when we said we bought it a month in advance so she could warm up to the idea.

June was equally excited about her $2 pumpkin bucket, which she's still carrying around the house to collect all sorts of trinkets, toys, and candy wrappers.

It was a year ago to the day that I posed about June being a Kangaroo for Halloween 2016. Look how little she is in those photos!!! Both her and Clara, her neighborhood BFF, are so small!

They were so excited to see each other this year it was precious. June kept saying "What you wearing?" And Clara would reply "I Poppy." Over, and over, and over... 

My brother Taylor, and his family, joined us for Trick-or-Treating this year in Manheim, since our street is easy to walk around and everyone participates. Pearl fell asleep in the car on the way to our house and was OUT. Like, they couldn't even get her to stand up she was sleeping so hard. 😂 Eventually she woke up and got the hang of things. 

The kids went to about 10 houses or so, and then we were done. It was getting dark so quickly, and quite cold. But June was pummmped up about her candy and all the other kid's costumes. She's still talking about the "scary ones"... 

As always, we're already looking forward to next year--- especailyl cause we'll have a new little lady to dress up in a costume, too!

Donuts

Clara, June's neighborhood BFF, turned two last month and had the sweetest little 2nd birthday party in a local park. June picked out a dress for Clara at Target as her gift. 😂 And basically sprinted into the party to give it to her.

On a more important note though, have y'all ever had Duck Donuts? Holy cow... there's nothing like it. Funny, the bacon one and oreo ones are my favorites, and somehow those just happened to end up in my photo. #pregnantbrookelikesdonuts

Our friends also announced the gender of their Baby #2 - arriving December/Jan 2017 for them! It's a BOY! So fun. June and Clara are six months apart, but our next two littles will only be like three weeks apart!

The donut pinata was hysterical. As expected, June didn't want to participate, but once the rush of kids for the candy had slowed down, she jumped in with her bag and filled it up. I can't even handle the photo of her below where she's got her hand to her head and looks overwhelmed by the kids. HAHAHAHAHAH! Junie, this is how I feel at every networking event ever, as an adult.

I mean seriously, look at her. 

It's parties like this one that make me wish my kid(s) had summer birthdays! Someday I'll have to have a 1/2 Birthday Party for June at the end of the summer.

Pool Day with Cousins, 2017

With summer coming to an end, it was time for the annual "cousin's day" at our local community pool. I believe the tradition started a few years ago, when my Mom would invite her grand-nieces and nephews to come swimming with her and my Dad for the day. In the last two years, since both my brother and I have had kids, it's morphed into "any family in the area pool day."

I've been trying really hard to take my camera with me more places, and I'm so glad I threw it in June's backpack for this years pool day. The weather was beautiful and I captured some family moments that would have otherwise gone undocumented. I'm sure my cousins, who were falling flat on their faces off the diving board, wish "undocumented" was the case. 

I'm not sure who started the "follow the leader off the diving board" game this year, but it was funnier than ever. Although once my brother got involved, everyone was very hesitate to do his tricks. No worries guys, I remember feeling the same way on the trampoline with him as a kid, and I was even a tumbler/cheerleader!

June and Pearl (her cousin, 10 months younger than her in age) had the time of their lives going up and down, and up and down, and up and down the ramp into the big pool. All while us adults kept saying "Slow down!" "Don't jump! It's slippery!" "Stop running!" You'd think June would have learned her lesson after falling and going under completely... but no.

Again, I'm so glad that I took my camera along for this day. May it be a lesson to me to just take it, even when I don't feel like it!

And might I add that Pearl is totally peeing in this picture below, and I love it with my whole heart. 😂