Show and Tell Tuesday: My Mixed Tape

AKA the soundtrack to my life. I'm super excited to link up with Andrea for the very first time! Woo hoo!

It's crazy how much music really does bring back the craziest rush of memories. I feel like with each of these songs/artists/albums, I could pinpoint a single moment in time.

I must preface with - I probably have the worst taste in music ever.  I'm a huge sap and love everything about cheesy, sappy lyrics. This will become very evident shortly :)

When I think about my childhood, this guy comes to mind. Did anyone else grow up listening to and slightly crushing on Carmen?! Despite the probably 40 year age gap, this guy was the heart-throb of the contemporary Christian world. I have so many memories of summers at the lake listening to specifically the Addicted to Jesus album. There may have even been choreographed dances involved. Maybe.

Pre-teen years were all about these guys! As a true Tulsa girl, how could I not love Hanson?! Specifically Zac. He was my jam. I always swore for the longest time that I was the only person in Tulsa who loved the Hansons and yet had never met any of them. Despite my grandparents living a few streets over from their childhood home, the closest I ever came to them was in concerts. And maybe that one time I wrote them a letter, attached some skittle packets to it, and dropped it off on their doorstep. #stalker.

Well, all that changed a year ago when I realized my one true love sends his kids to the same Mother's Day Out that Hadley went to. Be still my beating heart. Ricky still swears that I would leave him should Zac Hanson ever find out I exist. Unfortunately, the long blonde locks don't do it for me like they used to back in the day, but it was still super exciting to see him in person!

High School = NSync. Eat, Sleep, Breathe, repeat.

College was all about Taylor Swift. When she first came out with her curly locks, I got sooo many doppelganger comments about Taylor. We are pretty much besties. ;) While I'm still a huge fan, I'm more into her country stuff than the pop. Sorry Tay.

My soundtrack now is a little hodgepodge of country, worship, and a sprinkling of pop. Loving anything Hillsong United and Kari Jobe, Carrie Underwood and Tim McGraw, Michael Buble and Dave Barnes.

All in all, my mixtape is a random assortment with a little twang, and little soul, and a whole lot of Jesus.

Life Lately

I'd like to say that life lately has been busy. And in some ways it has - still adjusting to 2 babes, being back at work, balancing shuffling kids around to dr appointments, dance classes, school, etc... But really, I feel like we've fallen into a rhythm and found our new normal.

This week was Spring "Break" here in OK - aka - a working mom of littles' nightmare. No Mother's Day Out, dance class, or other extracurriculars to make the week a little less mundane. I so admire all those moms out there that constantly keep their kids busy with crafts, educational games, outdoor activities, etc..., but unfortunately for my kiddos, that's not this momma's forte. #danieltigerismyjam #I'mwhatyoucallindoorsy

So with a week of nothing on our docket except trying to figure out when and how to squeeze in some work, I wanted to plan some activities that would break up the week and keep us busy and having fun.

Lucky for us, the weather in Tulsa was amazing this week! We spent Monday at the park with cousin Hudson, and I think due to the rain on Sunday, got the park mostly all to ourselves! I was fully expecting everything to be crowded because of the break, so I think we lucked out. By the time we were ready to go eat lunch, the crowd was starting to pick up so it was the perfect time to head out and grab some pizza.

The only pic I managed on Monday - this little sister is so go with the flow! She's the sweetest.
#notbiased

On Wednesday, we met up with our BFFs for playtime at every mom's favorite pastime: Lunch at Chick-fil-a. I mean, seriously. Where else can your child make a complete mess and then get rewarded with free ice cream?!

These two girls are two peas in a pod. Their little conversations are so sweet and they truly love to spend time together. Just a bonus that their moms are besties too! Love it when it works out that way :)

Fun anectdote for you - Hadley recently became potty-trained. Like, full blown, no diapers (except at night even though she still wakes up dry) and has been doing awesome. Going potty is one of her favorite things to do. Welllll, this week has been a bit of an exception. However, whenever she has had accidents, it's been #1 and normally been en-route to the potty because she's waited too long. That, however, was NOT the case on Wednesday at Chick-fil-a. Hadley and Chloe were playing in the play place and all of a sudden... it happens (cue scene from bridesmaids). Thankfully, it wasn't actually that intense, but my sweet girl just decided she couldn't be bothered to stop playing and run to the bathroom so she just decided to go right then and there. And continuously announce to everyone there that she wasn't ready to go to the potty because she "wasn't done pooping yet." I have never been more of a mom than I was in that moment. Sitting in the play area of chick fil a, breastfeeding one kid while the other poops her pants.

Little sister woke up Thursday under the weather and after her bout with RSV, we don't take any chances so I made her a dr's appointment.

Hadley is all about her sister. "Take a picture of me laying next to my sissy!! Oh she is sooooo cute!"

Unfortunately/Fortunately it's just a virus that has to ride out, but we are praying it goes soon and never comes back! We are sick and tired of being sick and tired! Poor little girl barely has a voice and just has not been her sweet self lately. Don't you just wish you could be sick for your babies sometimes?!

Little sister giving cold season some serious side-eye.

Finishing out the week with a day at work, friends coming over for dinner tonight, and DATE NIGHT tomorrow night! Woot woot!

What makes me happy

I was going to start off with a weekend recap (because trust me: it was a BIG one), but I saw one of my fave bloggers post on things that make her happy and decided I needed to jump onboard. Because after a stressful end to the week last week, I need to remember the things that make me feel happy :)

1: Healthy babies. My goodness. After our adventure to the children's hospital last week, I am so unbelievably grateful that more of our time is spent outside of that place than in it. I know that's not the case for everyone, and it made me realize how much more I need to pray for those mommas and daddies who have to spend lots of time with their babies there. There is absolutely NOTHING worse than our babies being sick, am I right?!

2: Everyone's favorite Monday pick me up: The Bachelor. Seriously. Doesn't it just make a dreary Monday all the better? It's like our fine friends at ABC realized that the best way to make a girl forget about the Monday blues is by watching girls make fools of themselves (*cough Olivia cough*) to get the attention of our eligible bachelor. And after last week's episode left us on a cliffhanger, I am way excited to see how everything pans out tonight!

3: Walmart Grocery Pick-up. Have you guys tried this out? It's amazing! I've had so many people recommend it to me and I just kept forgetting to try it. I absolutely hate grocery shopping, especially when it includes toddlers, so this is right up my alley. After our trip to the hospital last week, I wasn't sure when I was even going to make it to the store until my coworker reminded me about this. Ya'll - it's so easy! Just put things in your cart and pay online, call them once you get there and they will load everything in your car! All while you sip a mocha in your pjs while the kids watch a show in the backseat. Perfection.

4: Baseball season. 55 days until opening day for the Cardinals! I am so excited!! Baseball means warm weather, grilling season, snocones, and days getting longer. I am SO READY! Bring. It. On.

2015

Yall. 2014 came and went and I didn't blog once. After a strange encounter with an internet weirdo, I put the blog on hold. Lesson learned: People are crayyyy. But now, with a re-determined attitude and a little bit of New Years Resolution fever, I return. Why? Because I love writing. I can't not write. So I'll start with an intro to myself and let it go from there.

Me, Haddie P, and my hubby Ricky

I'm a twenty-something Oklahoma girl - born and raised. I've got untameable blonde locks and am just tall enough that wearing any sort of heel makes people think I belong on a basketball team. I married the love of my life just out of college and he is the best friend and most amazing husband a girl could ask for. We have a beautiful little girl, our Hadley Paige (aka: Haddie, Hadda, Bug, HP ["are ya with me?!" Kirk Franklin anyone? God's Property? Stomp? No...?!]) who constantly keeps us entertained and on our toes. I'm an HR Rep with the consulting firm I've worked at for 5 years and I strive to bring Jesus into everything I do. Me in a very small nutshell.

Stick around for more! This should be fun :)

Life in the Big D

Ok, not really life. More like a weekend - but that just doesn't have quite as good of a ring to it. :) Ricky and I set off on our first "big" roadtrip with the Bug on Friday and I have to say it was a success! She got a little fussy, but I'm thinking it was from being in that dreaded carseat for 4+ hours. Poor thing gets so hot in it!

Let's hit the road!

Hello little bug! (The man in the car behind us totally thought I was taking snapshots of him ha!)

We got to stay with our friends, the Capeharts, while we were there and we had THE BEST TIME! Was so nice putting our little ones to bed and just getting to chat and catch up for hours on end. (Although our little alarm clocks were pretty tough to face in the morning...no snooze button for those babies!) Chris and Ricky were friends in college and then lived together down in Dallas before Ricky moved back to T-town and we all got married. I remember Chris meeting Amy and giving her the infamous high-five, and we all remembered each other's ridiculous break-ups. (Hey, the best couples break up once or twice I am CONVINCED ;-) ) Needless to say, we are truly a little family and despite not seeing them often, I am so excited for our babies to grow up together.

These two are such good daddies to their little girls! Reppin' their team's gear during Game Day

For the first time in my LIFE, I didn't feel like doing much shopping while we were there. What?! I blame the rain - who wants to navigate through the parking lot of a big mall with a baby, stroller, diaper bag, etc etc etc in the rain?! Not me. We hit up some of our fave spots that Tulsa has yet to acquire (Homegoods...Dunkin Donuts-maybe more than once...) and then headed back to watch football and get ready for the cookout we had with more friends that night.

The boys - Chris, Johan, Ricky, & Ethan... They don't fit quite as nicely on the couch as the girls do :)

The girls! Amy, Hannah, Me, & Elaine

 

A little backstory - when Ricky lived in Dallas, he lived with 3 other guys. 4 big, smelly guys all in the same house. Amy and I have nightmares great memories of that place and our times with the guys. Well - 3 out of the 4 all have baby GIRLS and lo and behold, they are all exactly 2 months apart. Miss Avery Capehart started us off on April 5, followed by Hadley on June 5, then Addelynne Fisher pulled up the ranks on August 5. What are the odds?? All these girls are absolutely precious and we had so much fun watching/holding them all.

Avery, Bram, Hadley, & Addelynne

Look at that little man loving him some Avery!!

The big man of the bunch, Bram Etsebeth, is the son of a girl that Ricky used to work with (with those 3 other guys). Also a wonderful part of our little family. I actually knew Hannah looooong before Ricky worked with her, since we went to the same church as kiddos. She is an AMAZING person and I love her to pieces! Needless to say, Bram has his pick of ladies when the time comes :) We were cracking up at the moves he was putting on Avery!

All in all it was a fabulous weekend and definitely needs to happen more often. Big thanks to the Capeharts for hosting us for the weekend and for the amazing time we had!

The past month...

What a month this has been! I'd like to say I've had absolute no downtime to blog, but that would be a lie. It's just honestly not the first thing I think of when I DO get "downtime". So let's catch up and then hope I can do a little bit better of a job from here on out :)

First thing's first - my little girl is 3 (and a HALF!) months. How is that possible?! She is SO. MUCH. FUN! Honestly, while I was on maternity leave I wondered how stay at home moms did it. I loved my sweet infant, but it was such hard work taking care of her and left me feeling pretty drained and longing for some adult interaction at the end of the day. But OH MY GOODNESS, I absolutely LOVE my days home with her now!! I started back to work 2 days a week in the office and 1 from home and it's been such a great balance for us. Gigi gets some quality Haddie time, and Momma gets to carry a real purse instead of a diaper bag masking as a purse. My girl is such a sweet baby, sleeping around 11 hours each night, smiley more than anything, and moving like a champ! Ricky jokes that she runs 5 miles a day but never goes anywhere. The girl's legs are ALWAYS moving! She has just started rolling over (both ways!) and loves to stand on her legs. What can I say, she is extremely advanced. ;-) Oh the things we celebrate now as parents.



Just try to tell me she's not the cutest thing ever. Not. Even. Possible.

Hadley turned 3 months on September 5th and a few days later became a big cousin when my sister's little Hudson finallyyy made his appearance on Sept. 9th. What can we say, we like to grow those babies as long as possible in our family. After spending most of the day in the hospital where H-bug was born (and reminiscing like crazy about how it wasn't all that long ago we were welcoming her into our hearts), we got to meet the cutest little guy who made me an auntie. I really thought after being a parent that becoming an aunt would just be "cool" but nothing all that special; boy was I wrong. I felt like I was experiencing all the emotions of when Hadley was born, but didn't have to deal with all the aftermath! I can have all the fun and none of the responsibility. Not a bad gig. Welcome to our crazy family Hudson Joel Shirley!

The perks of being an L&D Nurse - my sis's room was DECKED OUT for the party soon that ensued once Hudson arrived.

Hudson Joel - or "HoJo" as Auntie Lindsay shall call him...much to my sister's dismay :)

We love our Hudson!

Hadley's still not sure about this little kid she's been hearing so much about.

Love my sis and my little nephew! Oh the fun we will have!

Hadley also got dedicated at my parents' church (and my home church for 22 years of my life), Spirit Life, this month. She was dressed to the nines in my mom's wedding dress that she had refashioned into a christening gown for the grandbabies. She was totally ready for her invite to the next Royal Wedding. Prince George, eat your heart out.

The bigger the bow the better!

She did so great and fell asleep almost the moment we got on stage.

It's been a busy month for the Broughton fam, and it's sure to only get busier as we welcome in the fall and all the fun things that go with it. Adventure awaits...
Until next time -

Save the drama for the baby mama?!

I've got to go ahead and preface this post with the fact that I am about to get VERY real and VERY honest. So honest, in fact, that I've literally left this post in my draft file for almost 2 weeks now, debating whether I should even open this can of worms. However, with recent conversations I've had with other moms, I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger... So bear with me. :) In the few short weeks that I have been a mom, I have experienced a wide variety of emotions. Extreme love for my sweet girl. Extreme frustration with my sweet girl (hey, like I said - honesty is important!). Extreme tiredness, pride, happiness, guilt... pretty much name it and I've felt it. On top of all that, I've found the pressure put on a mom, let alone a new mom, is absolutely ridiculous. Not only are we vulnerable due to our lack of sleep, our out-of-whack hormones, and our changing bodies, we also are faced with criticism from our peers. Wait, what? Yep, I said it. More often than not, I think a mom's worst enemy is none other than other moms.

We all want good things for our babies. We want them to grow and develop, and to experience a better world than we know it often to be. We all have the same ultimate goal in mind - to raise loving, moral adults who are productive members of society. And there are hundreds of different ways to get these precious babies there. Do I think that is dependent upon whether we co-sleep or put them in a crib from day one? Not one bit. Is it dependent on whether they are breastfed or formula fed, on a schedule or just let go with the flow? Doubtful. Yet so often we see another mom who is choosing to get her beautiful baby to that ultimate goal in a different way than we ourselves choose and we think "oh wow, I would never do that to my child." (Are you getting my tone here??) Let's be honest (again - theme for this post I think :) ), we've all thought that at one point or another. I'm guilty of it, I can tell you that for sure. One of my biggest soapboxes since welcoming my sweet girl into the world is being supportive of other moms. Out of everybody in this world, don't we understand each other's joys and frustrations best? Since becoming a mom, here are my top 4 things that have made me want to slap someone in the face - hey, a little humor people!

• "Don't you just love being a mom? It's the best job in the world!" - When your baby is screaming at the top of her lungs in Target or blowing out of her clothes all onto the bright green carpet in the Dillards dressing room, no it is not the best job in the world. How much guilt have I felt for feeling like I have to plaster on a smile and say "of course it is!" when all I want to do is cry, drink a route 44 strawberry dr. pepper, and get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Don't get me wrong, motherhood is one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced, but it's also by far the most challenging. Hadley teaches me each day what it truly means to be selfless and love somebody more than I ever thought possible. I find myself being more and more amazed, and more and more in love with her every single day. But no, at 1 am when she has been fighting sleep for the past 4 hours, I wish I could hire a nanny and roll over and go to sleep.

• "My (enter age of child younger than your child) week old just slept through the night! She/he is the best!" - Well pin a rose on your nose. Enough said.

• "When are you due?" - This was said to me 1 week after my sweet Hadley was born. My mom had come over to take a shift so I could get out and stretch my legs a little while grocery shopping, I must admit, I was feeling pretty good. Look at me - 1 week old baby, starting to fit into my old shorts again, looking/feeling good, I thought. Well, what fun to be asked in Sprouts halfway through my shopping trip, "Oh when are you due?". I wanted to cry. No one should EVER. EVER ask a woman that, even if she is 42 weeks pregnant and about to pop. If she's not offering up the info, don't go looking for it! The pressure for a new mom to look good on top of healing from a pretty intense experience and caring for another human being is ridiculous! Anybody notice the crazyness surrounding Duchess Kate's "mummy tummy" leaving the hospital? What do you expect!! She just pushed an almost 9 pound child out of her body.

• "You are breastfeeding, right??" This is honestly the hardest one for me to be completely honest about. I went into motherhood with the full intention of exclusively breastfeeding until she was a year old. However, things change when your baby loses a lot of weight coming out of the hospital and can't seem to gain it back. Despite feeding her as often as she needed, pumping, etc... I just couldn't seem to do it on my own. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was decide to supplement with some formula on top of breastfeeding. I made Ricky give her bottles at first because I felt like I was failing her. And you know what doesn't help? When people ask that question or look at you judgmentally when you are feeding your child out of a bottle or getting some formula ready when in public. I really had to convince myself that a little breastmilk was better than none at all, and that the primary goal of Hadley gaining weight and being nourished was being accomplished. Another mom posted on facebook the other day that she overheard a new mom talking to her mom on the phone saying "I just don't know why he is up half the night and won't sleep!" My facebook friend said she wanted to tell her "well, maybe it has something to do with that 44 ounce coke you are drinking right there!". Why are we always so quick to judge what others are doing? Maybe that girl was using formula. Maybe that was the first ounce of caffeine she had had since her baby had been born. Moral is, we just don't know what other moms are dealing with!

A friend posted this article on Facebook last week during national breastfeeding week and I thought it was such a breath of fresh air from all of the negativity that is associated with formula feeding babies. A brief bit from the article:

"We are standing together, and we’re asking you to stand up with us. You, at the La Leche League meeting. You, in the lactation consultant’s office, perfecting your newborn’s latch. You, in the Nordstrom’s dressing room, nursing quietly on the couch. You, at your older son’s baseball game, nursing openly in the bleachers. You, who have cried rivers of tears over your feeding choices, and you, who chose without fear. I support you.

You, in your hospital gown, asking the nurses for formula. You, shaking a bottle with one arm while your baby snuggles close in the other. You, who have researched the healthiest, most tummy-friendly formulas. You, who pump and mix and combo-feed. You, who have cried rivers of tears over your feeding choices, and you, who chose without fear. I support you.

You, with your husband, as you feed the baby that you are hoping to adopt. You, who had a mastectomy and are locking eyes with new life. You, who chose your mental health, or your physical health, or your freedom, or your lack of freedom, so that you could feed your baby in a way that protected both of you. You, the Daddy who is finger-feeding your infant. You, the Mommy who lovingly pours formula into a G-Tube. You, at the NICU, pumping your breasts by the light of the machines that are keeping your baby alive. You, with the foster child who you are loving back to health. We see you. You are a part of this conversation too. We support you."

So moms, lets get out there and be each others' biggest cheerleaders. Let's put our differences aside and start supporting each other, since sometimes a little support is all that will get us through a sleepless night, a child continuously latched onto our boobs, and those pesky growth spurts (can I get an amen?!)