ah! the month of February was FULL! and flew by so fast! anyone else feel like January was SO LONG?! I was scrolling my phone the other night and realized how many pictures I haven’t shared about so it was time for a random collection of photos/life lately post.  the end of January was rough for us with the flu, and its taken a couple weeks of being off from life’s duties (stitch fix, the blog/social media, as well as other commitments like laundry, ha!) to have fun with the kids and officially recover from feeling/being so behind on everything!

lets kick it off with something FUN and a big milestone for the three girls! I’ve been wanting to get Parker and Jolie’s ears pierced since they were Baker’s age (2.5yrs) and after looking into it at a place I didn’t really love I decided to do a little more research on where I wanted to take them before going through with it.. and then I had a baby.. then I had another baby, so it kept falling to the end of the list!

back in December the twins got a gift card for their birthday to Sweet & Sassy, which is a little girls’ hair boutique and nail salon. and it just so happens that this place also offers ear piercing! we made an appointment and the lady scheduling us recommended that we add in something “fun” for the girls to do along with getting their ears pierced so we opted for manicures x 3. we had been to Sweet & Sassy before for a birthday party but never used any of their salon services- the girls LOVED it.  after their nails dried we walked over and picked out earrings.. the girls still didnt really know what was going on or what was about to happen (at least I don’t think..). they knew they were getting their ears pierced and they were SO excited but even after I told them what it would entail, Baker for sure didn’t know what was about to happen.she selected pink flowers for her first pair of earrings and on the count of three they popped them in (at the same time). a few tears were shed out of shock not out of pain and she was fine! Parker reluctantly stepped up next after choosing rainbow flower earrings and as expected Miss Parker screamed her drama scream- no tears at all, just dry sobbing. which in turn had Jolie refusing to sit in the chair. FINALLY, after promising cake pops and (decaf) coffee, Jolie sat in Jordan’s lap while he basically held her arms to keep her still. we were going through with it because if we didn’t we would have returned the very next day for her to get them done because she would have been more upset about not having them after seeing her two happy sisters with their earrings.

hello kitty was her earring of choice and SHE LOVES THEM. she didn’t even cry after they did it. crazy girl.

after they got their ears pierced they took them to the salon and sprayed their hair with glitter and gave them a little glitter tattoo on their cheeks. I didn’t even realize that was part of it, but it was the perfect ending to our visit! it really was an awesome experience and I highly recommend it. I was just going to take them to our pediatrician to get them done, but this was much more fun! I clean them twice a day with solution they provided to us and make sure to twist them around- and all three girls are really good about letting me get them cleaned and even have had to remind me a couple times! Parker and Jolie are already talking about the earrings they are going to borrow from me after they are able to switch them out in about 8 weeks.after visiting Dr. Butler for their 5 year well check it was discovered that Jolie has a curve in her spine and asymmetry of her shoulder blades. proactively, Dr. B referred us to the scoliosis clinic for her to have x-rays and to be checked out for an official diagnosis. we were able to get in pretty quickly and after our appointment last week they determine Jolie has an 8 degree curve in her spine. praise the Lord that it is SUPER MILD and she doesn’t even have a technical diagnosis because they won’t officially say she has scoliosis until she’s got a curve of 10 degrees or more- Jolie’s only at 8.

the doctor did say that she’ll probably get past that 10 degree mark as she grows, but it has zero involvement with her spinal cord (based on the x-ray showing how the spine curves) and most likely won’t cause any issue in the future (sports or being active). we are going to continue to visit the spine clinic on a yearly basis to get x-rays and keep an eye on her as she gets older- we caught this at a really young- most kids aren’t diagnosed or discovered until they are in middle school or high school. bracing is not necessary at this point until she’s got about a 25 degree curve. prayerfully we don’t get to that point and thankfully we are currently pretty far off from that number to begin with.

sweet Jolie. she’s such a rockstar. we have spent many Sunday’s in our usual spot at 7 mile cafe. we usually go to church on Saturday night, leaving Sunday mornings for pretty lattes + cinnamon rolls..half the time we’re still in our jammies. I will confess that I’ve been “boycotting church” since Parker brought home the flu to all of us- I’m so worried to go and put the kids in their classes! and if you know me very well you know I’m not a worrier at all, but the flu is so aggressive this season and I never want to get it again. Baker missed almost 2 solid weeks of school because I didn’t want her to go until she was 100% well in fear of her picking something up again.  ah, its allllmost bathing suit season! last year, because Brady was a little too young, we didn’t get out in the sun as much as I wanted to, but this year I am SO excited for the kids to splish splash in the pool and at the splash pads! Brady is going to ham it up! I’ve already started to scope out the bathing suit collections of our favorite stores.. including this DARLING suit from Carters! for size reference, Baker is about 32 pounds and wearing a  size 3T 🙂so much sister sweetness. Baker has been sleeping in the twins room for the last several months. she LOVES the twins and hated going to sleep in her room after spending the entire day together and asked almost nightly to sleep with Parker and Jolie. finally we gave in and just tossed a mattress on the floor and she’s been in there ever since.

the other night sweet baker was coughing a lot and I went in to check on her and she was no where to be found. I walked around the house thinking she had gotten up to look for me and after going back into the bedroom I noticed her perfectly snuggled in with Jolie. fast forward to this past weekend- my mom came in town from Austin and stayed with the babes while Jordan and I went to celebrate one of my oldest and dearest friends for her 40th birthday! Angela and I have been friends since I was 15 years old and she and I have been through it all together- I’m so thankful for her friendship and look up to her so much!!the party was hosted at a bed and breakfast type place and we were able to stay the night in one of the rooms- so it was perfect! ..and while we were having an adults only night out my mom was holding down the fort in complete heaven with her four grand babies.its been a while since I gave and update on my mom. we haven’t seen her since October when we visited for the Magnolia celebration– she was very sick at Christmas time and wasn’t able to come in town for the twins’ birthday or Christmas so it was amazing to see her and a great visit for her and the kids!

I mentioned several months ago about my mom being diagnosed with a tumor in the pituitary gland of her brain (I talked more about it HERE). while its been MONTHS since they discovered it they are trying really hard for her to gain weight (she’s gained about 15 pounds!) and running lots of blood tests to determine if this tumor is reactive or not.. it has grown since this whole thing started, which throws up red flags all over the place in my book, but her brain docs and primary physicians are adamant about doing further testing before they attempt to remove it. I appreciate that because so many factors go into treating your brain, but still stresses me out. so, still no clear answers or distinct plan, but my mom looks the healthiest she’s been in over a year, so I’m thankful for that. she DOES have insurance- she started a new position within the same company she was working for, so the concerns not being covered for all this treatment after her diagnosis has been relieved a bit on that aspect.   my brother was out of town on a guys weekend trip while mom was here, but I still convinced his girlfriend Kayla to come eat breakfast with us before we took my mom to the airport on Sunday afternoon. we love Kayla more than Patrick, anyway 🙂

jk, Pat. we love you, too. but Kayla is cooler. after dropping my mom off we played in the driveway and rode bikes around the cul de sac before coming inside for dinner. the weather was amazing! I’m ready for Spring and warmer temps. and no more FLU.whew! thats as a ton of stuff in one post, but its been awhile. as always, thanks for reading and following along- love you guys!

happy Monday!