On Being A Stay At Home Mom

For the past ten years I have been extremely fortunate on the job front.

As a teenager I had a job that lasted me six years.

In those six years I met my husband and made friendships that I don't know what I would do without today.

The other job I was lucky enough to have was at my families company.

I got to work with my Grandpa, Cousins, Dad and Uncles on a daily basis.

I have been at that job on and off since 2008.

Both of these jobs have helped me become who I am today.

One job I found my family and the other I was surrounded by it since day one.

Not that both jobs didn't come with their cons, because, well, I feel like every job does.

Let's be real, with both jobs I have/had wanted on many ocassions to scream and run out of the building.

I've lost my patience and been super fed up.

It happens, and neither job in any way shape or form was ever perfect.

But even with the parts that I wasn't a huge fan of I feel extremely lucky to have had such great experiences.

I have always known that I wanted to be a Mom, always.

When Oliver was born I absolutely loved the fact that I had the opportunity to stay home part time with him, I would have happily welcomed more, however it just wasn't the right time.

Once we got pregnant with baby #2 the idea of being a stay at home mom was something that I really was hoping I would be able to be one day.

Things started to fall into place and it became a possibility.

At first I didn't believe it was actually going to be able to happen.

I was in the mind set that it was too good to be true and that ther was no way it was actuallygoing to be able to happen.

It was easier to have that thought than getting my hopes up at all.

I've done it before and it's not a fun fall out.

Once it sunk in, I couldn't be more excited and happy for this new journey I am about to embark on.

I'm not going to lie, I'm extremely nervous.

Me. Home. Alone. Two kids under the age of two.

I may quickly lose my mind and patience.

I know at the end of the day I will love it, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't terrified beyond belief.

This is going to be, by far, the toughest job I will ever have.

I can't wait.

I can't wait to be the Grand-Daughter, Daughter, Cousin and Niece to my family members again, instead of adding "fellow employee" on the end of those titles.

I can't wait to watch my boys every single day, be there for all of their firsts.

I can't wait to watch them grow and become young men without missing a beat.

I can't wait to fulfill a dream that I have always had.

I can't wait to be their Stay At Home Mom.

Until Next Time,

<3 <3 <3

Melissa

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Green Smoothie Recipe

If you follow along on INSTAGRAM or TWITTER you will see just how obsessed I am with these smoothies.

It's insanity, but I can't help it.

Ever since I found out I was pregnant with baby #2

{and got over the horrible feelings of the first and part of second trimester}

I decided that I wanted to make a change and be as healthy as possible

{within limits of pregnancy}

That being said I started making myself this smoothie and now I don't see myself ever stopping.

This smoothie is either part of my breakfast or an afternoon snack every day.

It may not look appetizing but trust me on this one, it's excellent

Now for the fun part, the RECIPE

I'm not going to lie, my "measurements" are usually just eyeballed.

1/2 cup crushed ice

1/2 cup milk of your choice

1/2 cup yogurt of your choice

One heaping handful of spinach

3 strawberries

10-12 blueberries {more or less depending on your liking of them}

1/2 of a banana

Spoonful of Chia Seeds

Spoonful of Flax Seeds

Blend those ingredients up and voila, you have your very own green deliciousness!

**The amount of ice, milk and yogurt may vary and feel free to add or subtract as much as you would like**

Comment and let me know if you try this or if you already are making these yourself!!

Until Next Time,

<3 <3 <3

Melissa

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Weekending, Snapshots & Baby Wait :)

Happy Monday all!! I feel like it was just Friday and that today can't be Monday, but it is so here we go!

I'm linking up with BIANA and MEGHAN for WEEKENDING

&

ERIN for WEEKEND SNAPSHOTS

This weekend was actually quite a milestone, as of Friday I was 35 weeks pregnant, which may mean nothing to you BUT for me it was a huge accomplishment {as if I really had anything to do with it lol} With our first little man, Oliver, my water broke at about 3am the morning of week 35 so the fact that I'm still here and pregnant is kind of a big deal!

Also, we were incredibly busy this weekend, celebrating birthday's and wedding's, oh my!

Friday:

We went to this brewery, Perennial, to celebrate one of our good friends birthday's.

Of course I couldn't have any of the yummy beer, but the pretzels were fantastic!

Alright, alright, alright, I may have had two sips of beer because everyone was talking about them and I just needed to have an opinion.

Don't worry though, it was just enough to taste it but not even really have a full drink.

And because I was feeling pretty good I decided to get a little dressed up for the ocassion

Saturday:

Started out like any other Saturday morning.

Drinking coffee, watching Oliver's cartoons and just hanging out and basically being lazy.

I also captured this adorable moment between O and Khloe-girl.

They love each other :)

Saturday night we went out to dinner at Joey B's to celebrate one of my good friends marriage.

They went to Vegas a couple weeks back and we all got the "I'm Married" text around midnight.

While I was getting ready I needed a little snack and am beyond obsessed with these green smoothies!

I'll share the recipe in Wednesday's post ;)

Since there were 6 of us, and there was a Cardinals game on, the restaurant was packed.

We had the option to sit outside or wait an hour.

Crazily, the two pregnant girls chose to sit outside as opposed to waiting.

Our need for food outweighed the heat.

The bride was not too thrilled but chose to not go against those with child.

Sunday:

Oliver and I had a pretty good morning/early afternoon while Andrew and at work.

He proceeded to sit inside of one of my bowls from the kitchen and Mab didn't look too impressed.

Yes, her tongue sticks out like that at all times.

Also, after this picture, Oliver decided to scream until I got him out, then proceeded to sit his butt right back in it.

As per our Sunday routine, once Andrew came home from work we went to go visit the grandparents.

First, Andrew's Mom and then my parent's for dinner.

Here's a peak at what I wore.

I started feeling crappy by Sunday so I tried to make myself feel better by dressing a little nicer.

Being this pregnant is very new to me.

I feel like a weeble-wobble, and getting in and out of bed is interesting.

Since I have to pee about six times every night, I'm constantly rolling around.

Here's a little fun picture.

On the left is me at 35 weeks with Oliver and on the right is me 35 weeks with baby #2

I feel just as large and miserable but looking at the picture I think I'm a little smaller.

Maybe it's just hopeful thinking!

So we are pretty much on baby watch at the moment.

The bag is packed and in Andrew's car all ready to go {yay!}

I will be keeping everyone up to date as far as what's going on with baby on INSTAGRAM.

So follow along if you would like :)

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend & has a wonderful week!

Until Next Time,

<3 <3 <3

Melissa

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INSTAGRAM Weekly Roundup

So for this Friday's Instagram Roundup I am going to also be linking in with some ladies for their Friday posts, just to share the love, my favorite outfits of the week and hopefully find some new awesome blogs to follow :)

I'll be linking up with...

 APRIL for {5 on Friday}

AMY and KARLI for {Oh Hey Friday}

AMANDA for {Friday Favorites}

1.

Dress / Hat / Shoes / Watch / Bracelets

2.

Top (Similar) / Tank / Necklace (Similar) / Shorts / Shoes (Similar) / Purse / Watch / Bracelet / Bracelet

3.

Shirt / Pants / Shoes (similar) / Necklace (similar) / Bracelets

4.

Hat (similar) / Tank / Shorts / Bracelets / Phone Case

5.

Tank Orange / Tank White / Leggings / Shoes / Sunglasses

Until Next Time,
<3 <3 <3
Melissa

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Yes, I Let My Toddler Watch TV

Okay, so there are tons of studies saying how absolutely horrible it is to let your little one watch any ounce of TV before the age of 2. I have even heard of parents who shield their children's eyes when walking past any TV that is in their presence.

While I applaud their will power and have nothing but crazy respect for their choices in parenting their child, I can't imagine how I would ever get anything done without having that distraction for my own toddler.

Exhibits A, B, C, D... etc

Now all of these pictures were taken within a three month period, but still, each and every one of these moments I was either doing/folding laundry, doing the dishes, making dinner, cleaning something or taking care of the dogs.

 I don't know about your toddler, but if I tried to do any of those tasks with him on my heels let's just say, nothing would get done.

On the rare occasions he hears me putting the dishes away, he scoots his butt right over to "help" which usually consists of all my clean silverware ending up on the floor.

Like I said before, if you are one of those "no TV" parents, more power to you, sometimes I wish I had that much patience to deal with a toddler and household chores but I am not.

On that note...

Dear Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Doc McStuffin, Chuggington, Sesame Street and Dino Train,

Thank you for being there for my little one while I attempt to keep our house from looking like a tornado has torn through it on a daily basis.

Sincerely,

One Grateful Mama

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Weekending!

Our weekend started out just like any other, a constant back and forth between toys being put away (by Mommy of course) and being all over the place.

Fast forward to getting ready for our Fourth of July get together we have every year!

Oliver James stylin' in his glasses and sippin' his juice supporting America.

So now is the time to introduce you all to our yearly tradition that we like to call "Shrimp-a-palooza"

Yes, you read that right, a Palooza dedicated to shrimp.

Let's back track to eight years ago when this whole thing began. My husband, then boyfriend, had just moved into an apaprtment with his brother. Our friends all got together to BBQ and one thing led to another and we neded up making pretty much all shrimp.

At the end of the night we decided that it was such a great idea, one of our friends threw out the word "Palooza" then through a few different variations "Shrimp-a-palooza" was born.

Now that we are all getting older, married, kids etc. we have decided to have this holiday land on the Fourth of July every year.

This year being the eighth year we had to make sure we went all out, which we did and it was excellent.

Gooey Butter Cake, a St. Louis staple HAS to make an appearance at this shindig.
This year I decided to go home made, and let me say, I will never buy one from a store again.

Many liquids were consumed, non-alcoholic for the pregnant girl right here!

Me just enjoying some strawberry-lemonade without the vodka this year!

And of course no holiday is complete without a photo-op.

Oliver has become extrememly difficult to get in a picture pose.

On top of the shoulders is one sure way to get him to smile. 

And because, well this is pretty much a more accurate depiction of our life.

Whatever keeps a seventeen month old happy I guess.

<3

The ladies of Shrimp-a-palooza

Probably one of my favorites of the night :)

The gents of Shrimp-a-palooza.

I'm not quite sure what they were looking at, and to be honest I'm not sure they knew either.

Getting them to pose at all was a success so we ladies take what we can get!

And one last picture from the Fourth/Shrimp-a-palooza.

Oliver just chillin' in the grass!

 And then Sunday rolled around.

We didn't do much, just hung out recovering from the crazy busy weekend.

I really liked the outfit I put together so I had to snap a quick picture :)

Now it's Monday and back to reality.

I will be sharing all the details of my outfit's from this weekend on Friday so stay tuned!

I'm linking up with BIANA & MEGHAN for "Weekending"

So go check them out and link up your own weekend happenings!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Fourth of July weekend!!

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INSTAGRAM Weekly Roudup

At the end of every week I am going to be sharing with you all a few of my favorite outfit moments from the past week that I have previously shared on Instagram. Here I will also share links to where you can shop the items I am wearing, or similar items. I hope you enjoy!

watch / bow-pink-thin gold bracelets / thick gold bracelet

shoes / leggings / tank / half zip pullover (similar)

purse (similar) / bracelets / bracelets / necklace --> (similar) (similar) / tank / shorts / shoes (similar) / hat

shirt / sports bra / half zip up shirt (similar) / leggings / shoes (similar) / sunglasses

Here's a little sneak peak at my outfit for the Fourth of July...

All the details of this outfit and our entire Fourth of July weekend will be up on the blog early next week! Have a fun and safe holiday everyone!

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