Football, Movies and Blanket Scarves (in that order).

Hey-O! What a game last night, huh? I like football but don't pay any attention at all to the NFL. But I do enjoy the Super Bowl and I was glued to the television that last half. We went to some friends to watch the first half of the game then had to come home and get the boys in bed. I thought Lady Gaga did a great job (she has such a beautiful voice!) and then the game ended up being so awesome. It was exactly like watching the Razorbacks play except instead of the Hogs being the Patriots we're the Falcons. #1stHalfTeam

The rest of our weekend was pretty chill. We had a birthday party to attend Saturday and Campbell had a lot of fun. I made some yummy enchiladas for dinner Saturday night then once the boys went to bed Scott and I watched Hell or High Water. Have you guys seen that movie? I hadn't even heard of it honestly but apparently it's nominated for an Oscar(?) and I can completely see why. It was a great movie with an awesome cast! I highly recommend. Speaking of movies, I'm totally going to the theater to see Beauty and the Beast right when it comes out. It was my absolute favorite when I was a little girl and although I haven't seen it in over a decade (at least) I'm sure it would still be my favorite today. 

A lot of you ladies have sent me messages asking how I tie my blanket scarves so I did a short tutorial on my Instagram stories. I love blanket scarves and have quite a collection but I can see why you would never want to wear them if you didn't have a good way to tie them. I have a good, simple little technique (that I can't take credit for, I totally watched a YouTube video years ago to learn how myself). Go check it out before it disappears sometime tomorrow night!

Some Bunny Is Cute

Happy Friday y'all! It's felt like a long week to me so I'm glad it's the weekend. It's 8:30, the boys are in bed and I want to do the same. This mama is tired.

We don't have just a lot planned for the weekend which is nice. Our previous weekend got hijacked by sickness so we need to make up for it this weekend. What do y'all like to do with your family on the weekend? It's hard to keep entertained in the winter. We always go to church on Sunday but Saturday is our family day to try to find something fun to do.

I just remembered the Super Bowl is this weekend. We aren't into NFL football so I don't have much of an opinion on that but I do enjoy the Super Bowl parties and we're going to one if it works out with the boys schedules, etc. Who should I root for? The patriots? It seems like they're always in the Super Bowl....

Okay enough rambling. Check out that sweetness above. Melt.
Time to get my wild Friday night started. Bath first then Shark Tank and 20/20. Whoop Whoop!

Welcome Back!

We got back from our vacation and woke up the next day to sickness all throughout our house. Everyone was fine when we arrived but the following day it hit hard and fast. It started with me and a lovely case of strep. I. Felt. Horrible. You know you're a mom when you're thankful to be sick on the weekend so you don't have to worry about taking care of the kiddos. I was glad it hit me when it did. I didn't get just a ton of time to rest though. The next day Campbell woke up feeling crummy. We spent over 3 hours in urgent care (don't even get me started on that!) so we could get him some medicine so he would feel better. By the next day he was doing good but then on Monday afternoon Bennett got sick. So we spent 2 hours on Tuesday at our doctors office. What a way to be welcomed back to adulting. Thankfully Scott never got sick. He always manages to bypass the sickness but any time the kids get sick I ALWAYS get sick too. It's super annoying. Everyone seems to be okay now thank goodness. This time of year is always hard when it comes to germs.

I missed my boys. Bennett is too young to know any different but Campbell missed us too. When we finally got home and he saw us for the first time, he cried. It broke my heart. Not sure if I'll ever go on another vacation after that! Overall Campbell was totally fine. He adores his Gamma but it made me sad that he cried when he saw us. Bless his heart.

So a lot of y'all have asked how I was able to store up enough milk to go on a vacation in the first place and how I traveled back with the milk I pumped so I thought I'd give a little rundown on all of that.

Scott and I had always talked about taking a trip in January so it was always in the back of my mind as a possibility so I thought I'd start preparing for it early just in case. Once Bennett dropped his dreamfeed and started sleeping 12 straight hours every night, I started pumping before bed. I did it for a couple of months and saved well over 200 ounces of milk. I didn't do it every single night but I did pump most nights. I usually gave myself a break on the weekends. I waited until as late as possible in the evening so I could get the most ounces and typically got around 3oz each time. Eventually it just started piling up and I knew I had plenty if we wanted to take a little vacation. I just figured this was the easiest way to pump extra. There's no way I have time in the day to do it so this was my best option.
As far as flying back, I was pleasantly surprised. TSA was super nice about it and didn't give me a hard time at all. I carried my pump on the plane with me (it's considered a medical device so doesn't count as a carry on) and had to pump a couple of times on the plane there and back. I have a Medela and it comes with a cooler so I brought that and another small cooler to be able to store my milk in. I got some ice from our hotel before we left and I couldn't believe it but TSA didn't take it away from me. I was prepared for them to. I had to get some new ice when we were in Houston for our layover because the majority of it had melted. I made sure to bring a lot of ziplocks to store my milk bags in and also to put ice in. My coolers were crammed full and I'm not sure I could have brought back one more ounce but I made it back with everything without any troubles at all. I read a lot of blogs before I left to get tips from traveling/working/pumping Moms (who are the most kick butt of all the moms I've decided) about how to travel with milk, the best way to clean your pump on the go, etc and it was super helpful.
Would I ever travel again while still breastfeeding? Probably not. It honestly wasn't that big of a deal but I would probably just wait until I wasn't breastfeeding anymore. Plus, Bennett wouldn't always take his bottle (even though he's never, ever refused it before....I think he was on strike from me leaving!) which was really stressful for me and my mom. When I got back, Bennett nursed and ate about 2 liters of milk which made me feel bad for him because he obviously missed it. His diaper the next morning looked like a giant marshmallow! It made me laugh.
So there's my tips/info on that subject! Hope it was helpful!!

Wordless Wednesday

Anniversary (our 8th!) Getaway

Our anniversary getaway was wonderful! We chose Mexico for two reasons. 1.) you just can't beat an all-inclusive vacation and 2.) the flight is so easy. We left home at 6:15 am and landed in Mexico at noon. Once we arrived and got settled into our villa, we put on our swimsuits and headed to the beach to check everything out!

We basically did the exact same things every single day: wake up, put on swimsuits, grab some breakfast, snag the best loungers by the pool, have lunch, back to the pool, go for a long walk on the beach, back to the pool, get ready for dinner, enjoy a lovey meal, go to bed. It was bliss and the most rested I've felt in years. We never set an alarm and just allowed ourselves to wake up whenever we did which was about 9 am every day....almost 10 total hours of sleep every night. We're tired parents.

We typically always do some sort of excursion when we vacation but this time all we wanted to do was chill and relax. We wanted some peace and quiet. Scott and I both read books and enjoyed zero responsibilities. Well, I did have a bit of reality check four times a day in the form of my Medela Pump. Bennett is still exclusively breastfed so I had to sneak back to the room a couple of times but it wasn't a big deal. I've had a lot of people ask me how I was able to save up enough milk in order to go on a vacation in the first place and also how I traveled back home with it so I'll save that for another post. Yes I brought every ounce home. Scott tried to talk me into not worrying about bringing it back and it made me wonder if he even knows me at all. I'm a milk hoarder in case you weren't aware.

There really isn't a ton to share because we honestly did the same thing every single day....which wasn't much! I even ordered the exact same breakfast every day--waffles with potatoes on the side--because YUM I've never had a more delicious breakfast in my life and I just couldn't not order it every morning. The food was outstanding and I ate way too much but it was totally worth it.

 Overall, a truly amazing 8th anniversary vacation. It felt so good to just be Scott and Kara instead of Mom and Dad for a week. We missed our boys but thankfully the resort had great wifi so we were able to keep in touch really easily. We never go anywhere so we were proud of ourselves for actually taking some time for us. It was much needed and we had a lovely little getaway.

Back in the States

Hey all! Wow! Sorry it's been so long. If you follow me on Instagram you already know that I was in Mexico all last week. I meant to post the week before letting everyone know, but you know how crazy it gets when you're trying to prepare for a vacation. Turns out, even crazier when you have two littles to get everything at home prepped for as well!
Scott and I booked a last minute trip to Mexico at the beginning of January. We had always discussed going on a little vacation for our anniversary (January 24) but we went back and forth on it. We love a getaway but it's hard for us to leave our kiddos!! Finally we decided to do it and it kind of made it more fun since it was somewhat last minute.
I found our little retreat for the week and I've gotta say, LOVED it. Loved. We used to travel quite a bit pre-kids and other than our Honeymoon, I think this was our favorite resort we've ever visited. We stayed at Blue Diamond Luxury Boutique Hotel in Playa Del Carmen and it was fantastic! A cool Miami vibe with the modern, 60's type décor but without all of the partying. It was a calm, relaxed and quiet environment which is exactly what we were looking for. The resort is small too, another wish on our list. We've done the big resorts with all the restaurants, shops, pools, etc. We wanted something different and this was perfect. The staff was so friendly and welcoming, the food was seriously amazing, and the atmosphere was everything we wanted and more. I can't recommend this place enough.

I'll blog more about our trip as the week goes on. I've got a lot of photos I want to share with you all and don't want to overdo it with just one post! So stay tuned for some tropical pics this week and I'll see you guys back here tomorrow!!