Its a Hero

Ari Davis

“Christmas just doesn’t work out for me.”

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This, my friends, is a tale of Christmas. While I watched joyous friends and acquaintances posting pictures of their Christmases on Facebook, we were knee-deep in cleaning. I mean that quite literally, as I decided to wash the carpets in our house on Christmas Day.

Because, well, our Christmas didn’t work. Heck, it never seems to work out. Someone is always sick. This year it was Ari. He started throwing up again overnight on Friday. Yep, just a week and a half out of getting over the stomach bug, he started vomiting yet again. And he wouldn’t stop.

He hasn’t stopped, yet, actually. And it’s now Tuesday. (Yes, we are taking him to the doctor today).

But late Saturday night we decided to go ahead and celebrate Christmas on Sunday anyways.


Ari and Chad were passed out on the living room floor and I managed to wake up in the middle of the night with enough time to set all of the presents up around our tree.

Sunday morning Ari awoke and didn’t even notice at first. Once he saw his stocking, he was so excited. Unfortunately, that was short-lived. We ended up making it through gifts, but with lackluster results. His much-anticipated Hatchimal has yet to be hatched; no Hot Wheel cars have been played with; and absolutely zero candy has been eaten. The only thing he wanted to do was watch movies and sleep.


After deep-cleaning the house while they all rested, I decided I just needed to get out for a bit. There’s only so much sickness and cleaning a mama can take. So Remy and I headed to Starbucks — her in PJs, me without an ounce of makeup. I just didn’t have it in me to care.


Heck, I still don’t have it in me to care!

Remy loved people watching on our little outing. And Mama loved sipping on hot coffee — and the break from cleaning!

At the end of the day, Chad and I half-jokingly quoted an infamous line from The Polar Express when little Billy says “Christmas just doesn’t work out for me. Never has.” I believe that it’s our new holiday Mantra. Sure, maybe someday we’ll look back on botched Christmases and laugh; but for now I’ll be wallowing in my sorrows as I drink from the Guzzle Buddy my husband so graciously bought for me.

And I’ll wonder, for the next 363 days, if we will ever have our picture-perfect Christmas. Only time will tell, I suppose.

 

Halloween Wrap Up // 2016

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Hey! Remember Halloween?? You know, that pseudo-Holiday two-ish weeks ago? Well, as per the norm, life went off the rails. And I forgot to ever post any pictures of our Halloween shenanigans. But if there are no pictures, did it really happen?? Haaaa! Of course, I kid!

But for real.

We had family in town for the weekend of Halloween, so Chad and I both took that Friday off from work. So after we picked up my sister-in-law from the airport, we headed back to our hometown to see the family (for those new around here, Chad and I both grew up in a teeny tiny town, and both went to the same teeny tiny high school, but just a few years apart).

The whole crew — all seven adults and 8 children — went out to lunch. Surprisingly? It went totally fine. No joke. The kids were good, the adults were happy, and all was well.

Post-lunch we headed to Patterson’s Fruit Farm. No joke, we had the most beautiful weather. Warm and sunny for the last weekend of October!

It’s been years (decades, even) since I’ve been to Patterson’s. I had no idea what kind of spread to expect, but this place was gorgeous! Pumpkins galore, playgrounds, and so much amazing food!

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Ari (quickly) became obsessed with the wagons and the pumpkins. Between chasing after him and trying to get THE perfect picture of Remy (spoiler — it didn’t happen), I was exhausted just from these shenanigans!

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Still, I was in pumpkin heaven! And the apple fritters! Ohhhh, the apple fritters! I wish I had snapped a picture before I ate this amazing — and huge — apple fritter! But guys – I was hungry!

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Post-pumpkin patch fun, we headed to Chad’s cousins house for a bit of a family party. It’s quite unusual to have this many of Chad’s siblings at home at one time. So we (naturally) used it as an excuse to snack, sip, and laugh!

The next day was, well, exhausting! However, I did take the kiddos to our dear friends house for some pumpkin-carving fun! Ari requested a Batman pumpkin. Although I have some artistic abilities, freehand drawing on pumpkins are not in my scope of creativity!

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Lucky for us, one of the other adults was able to oblige! After our pumpkins were carved, we headed to my mother-in-laws hours for trick-or-treating! For this first time ever, Ari was completely and totally down for some trick-or-treating!

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It was wonderful to have the cousins there with us! And Remy was a total gem throughout this whole process! Also? Cutest. monkey. EVER. Am I right!?

I’m honestly surprised we made it an hour of trick-or-treating. It’s longer than we ever have. And, although I had plans to take Ari to the neighbors for trick-or-treating when we got home, it just didn’t happen. We were all exhausted and ended up in bed at 7:30PM. No joke. All of us.

Thankfully, these fun and exhausting weekends come but once in a blue moon! I mean, it was SO exhausting that I wasn’t able to even recount it for TWO WEEKS! Ha!

So Happy Halloween? JK Merry Christmas at this point…

Fall Weekends, Travels, + Birthdays //

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We took a little trip to Columbus to see my sister over last weekend (like, a week ago…). Chad had not yet our new nephew, Brennen, and my sister had some stuff coming up which made me want to visit her even more! So Saturday morning we packed up the car (way more than we needed for a two-day trip!) and started our 2.5 hour trip!

I’m SO happy that my children decided to rest on the trip down so that by the time we arrived we were rested up and ready to play! In fact, our first order of business was to head to a local trampoline park to celebrate Ari’s birthday!

It was my sister, Shauna’s, idea. I was like “ehh, he may not like it.”

Guys. I was wrong. So, so, wrong.

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Dude took off like a bat outta hell! I couldn’t believe that my kid was being ballsy! Whaaaat?! Where was my shy boy!? Apparently when you turn four, you aren’t afraid of anything anymore.

Happy fourth birthday to the one who made me “mommy!” You are perfect in every way?

A photo posted by Rachel (@itsahero) on

At the jump park he was convinced — absolutely convinced! — that he wanted to go into the “hurricane machine”. We let him watch another kid in the machine, and, even then, he still wanted a shot at it. I was wearing Remy, so I sent Chad in with him. And it was hilarious.

And, of course, he hated every second of it. He tried. Ohhhh, gosh, did he try to like it!

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Post-jumping, we headed to lunch at Hale’s Ales + Kitchen for some gastropub fare and beers! Oh, and then to The Daily Growler for some CBC Bodhi! When we got home we all relaxed and played and fed the babes before doing a little (extra!) celebrating of Ari’s birthday, with the help of cupcakes and presents!

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He was so excited about the sprinkle cupcake — as well as the gifts, which consisted of a Star Wars Playdoh playset and the board game, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel. We ate cake, the adults sipped on tasty craft beers, and we played toddler board games (which, of course, he insisted on winning…), before all going to bed ridiculously early.

We spent Sunday morning lounging around, feeding, eating, and just general relaxing before Shauna and I headed out on a big Costco trip! Haaaa! How basic (and mom!) do we sound!?

Eventually, we had to head home to Akron. It was such a nice visit, but — gosh — I was totally looking forward to sleeping in my own bed! Granted, Remy slept okay-ish during our trip, which was a first! Yay for small victories!

I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend time with my sister (and her new family) and my little family! It was perfectly relaxing (even if it took me a week plus to blog about it!). ♥

 

Dear Ari // Happy Birthday

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Dear Ari,

I’m not going to say something cliché about the years flying by; because, honestly, as quickly as they do, the days sure are long, dude.

I have to say this though — Going from being a self-proclaimed “never-going-to-have-kids” chick, to finding out I was pregnant with you? That rocked my world. Your daddy and I were lucky enough to have had a lot of really fun times travelling the globe before you came along.

Speaking of me and your daddy, do you know just how much it makes me smile to hear you call me a princess when you look at pictures from our wedding? That doesn’t get old. Keep saying it.

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I feel like you’ve grown up so much over the last year. Heck, maybe it’s because now I’m with you 24/7 that I feel that way! I knew being a mom was going to be hard, but I didn’t know just how hard. And then I knew being a working mom would be hard, but I didn’t anticipate just how hard. And even then, I completely, totally, underestimated just how hard it would be to be at home with you (and at work with you) 24/7.

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But you never cease to amaze me.

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Your heart is huge. Bigger than anyone else, I think it’s safe to say.

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And you’re sensitive, which makes me happy and also breaks my heart (because I know that it means you will feel so much more deeply).

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You’re also totally a boy. The guns, the Legos, the superheroes… all of it. It’s utter boy nonsense and I love it.

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And who knew you would be such a great big brother?! I mean, as much of a big brother as you can be to an infant. You have been so gentle and understanding of this new little human in our lives. But, most recently, you’ve also begun to show a great deal of interest in her. You celebrate her milestones like a mini adult — right beside us!

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“Look at her, Mommy! Her did it!”

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Those (grammatically incorrect) words are some of which I will never tire.

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I love and adore that you sing your ABCs wrong. I, too, think the alphabet should be “A B C G E F G. H I J J L N N O P. Q R X. T U V. W X. Y AND Z.” Because, YES.

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I want to ask you to please, always stay little. But instead, I will ask you this…

Please always stay kind. Please always be polite. Please always treat people with respect. Please continue to be you. There is truly no one else in the world like you.

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You are the Peanut Butter to my Cupcake.

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Happy birthday, Ari Davis. Thank you for making me a mommy 4 years ago. ♥ ♥

 

 

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Ari’s Birthday Parties // a look back

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I try not to be one of these “pinterest moms;” I try not to perpetuate the idea that everything must be ‘worthy’ of sharing. I mean, I think I do a pretty good job of keeping the balance and showing people that I’m real, but sometimes I like to pinterest the crap outta things! Ha!

But I have to admit… I ahhhhdore throwing theme birthday parties!! Now, mind you, I did not throw myself a wedding and reception; nor did I have a bachelorette party; nor have I ever had a big blowout of a(n adult) birthday party. So yeah. I’ve been known to go a tad bit overboard with Ari’s birthday parties — and I can guarantee I will do so with Remy, too.

#SorryNotSorry

And all this “My baby will be 4!” talk has sent me down Memory Lane in a big, big, way!

I may not make supper every night (or even twice a week!), but, damn!, I can throw a birthday party.

I may leave my clean laundry piled up in the living room for a week, but, damn!, I can throw a birthday party.

I may cry in the middle of the day, and sometimes beg my husband to bring me home wine, but, damn!, I can throw a birthday party!

Okay, okay… you get the idea.

Ari’s first birthday was THE bomb dot com. He was in love with Yo Gabba Gabba, so a YGG birthday party it was!

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My little man!

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To be honest, that first birthday was more about us surviving Ari’s first year — and keeping him alive — than anything else.

I was still so overwhelmed by the first years’ festivities that I didn’t do jack squat for his second birthday. Well, I did. But it was a mish-mash of nonsense!

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So we just ordered a birthday cake from West Side Bakery and chowed down. No big thang.

But his third birthday? I was back at it! My excuse was that it was my ‘last’ birthday with just one kid! Ha! The excuses we find…

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And Minions was his drug of choice. And, ohhhh, were there options!

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And this year will be no different. I’m still in the planning phase (even though I’m less than two weeks from party day!), but we ha have a theme and we have invites — Pokémon Go! No, we’ve never played PG. But Ari hears about it on Kids YouTube. So here we are…

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🙂

Oh! And it’s a gymnastics party (again)! All the kiddos LOVED it last year.

Weekly Mantra //

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This week is Ari’s last week as a threenager. That’s right — next weekend Ari turns the big f. o. u. r. I can’t believe it! I have a(n almost) four year old! How!?

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I’m totally grateful to have had a semi-relaxing weekend with Chad and the kiddos. Saturday, Ari and I had a Lowe’s Build and Grow workshop (again) and then I took the kiddos to Sarah’s Vineyard for a playdate (and wine date!) with my friend Gretchen and her boys.

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Girl time with Gretchen was way, way, overdue! Each of us having two crazy kiddos + the normal hustle and bustle of life have just gotten in the way. But we picked right back up where we left off last time I saw her. — That’s the beauty of great friendships, right!?

It was also my first time at Sarah’s Vineyard — and it is totally beautiful (minus three drunk adults who decided to yell at our boys… HUGE props to the staff at SV for telling them to get lost!).

Post-girl date, Chad & I actually had a date lined up for ourselves! Another awesome friend (my tribe is awesome!) volunteered to take the kiddos for us so Chad and I could go celebrate my birthday. And guess what we did? Well, Chad dropped me off to get a haircut while he went into TJMaxx to try on some clothes! Ha!

But really, then we did go out to dinner. We were even home early enough to all get some sleep! We had family pictures scheduled bright and early Sunday morning. We shall see how those turn out… ha!

I’m super content for a Monday. I just am. Perhaps it’s because Remy is napping; perhaps it’s because she also slept last night; or perhaps it’s because I cleaned last night and I’m not rushing around today. Who am I kidding… it’s because of all of these things! Oh, and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee!

I really wish for a smooth week ahead.

Happiness is Autumn weather and toddler snuggles. Seriously. We’ve had so much of both over the last week. I love it. ♥

Weekly Mantra: 

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(via Marvelous Mom Tribe)

Have a good week, friends! xo