Over the weekend M and I took the twins on their first road trip to San Luis Obispo (our college town!). When we were in college and made the trek we would go late at night to avoid LA and Santa Barbara traffic and could get there in about 4 hours.

Enter toddler twins.

The trip back home took us about 6.5 hours and for whatever reason was much more painful than the trip up. Lots of whining and dear goodness if someone dropped their sippy cup or blankie ONE more time we were going to lose it. You have cup holders in your car seats for crying out loud!

Here are some of the things that DID help us keep our sanity...

1. Pit stops
While the twins aren't potty trained yet (dreading this) and didn't need to use the restroom they DID need to get out and run around a couple times and use this opportunity to poop in their diapers (oh the joy).

2. DVD Player
This one doesn't really need explaining.

3. Snacks
I usually encourage healthy snack options when we are home but on a road trip I bust out all the naughty exciting food. And keeping it bite-size helps (Gold fish, Lucky Charms, suckers).

4. Stickers
Just make sure you bring a little notebook or something for them to put them on. Unless you're cool with stickers on your windows (I'm NOT).

5. Doller Bin Toys
Squishy balls, activity kits etc are good choices.

6. Good Old Fashioned Singing
This one is painful for me but kept the twins happy for an HOUR. I sang Old McDonald (they chose the animals), the wheels on the bus, five little ducks, and every other preschool song I knew. They loved the attention and interacting with me.

I hope this helps bring some sanity to your next road trip and share your road trip tips below!!!

New year, who dis?! I'm always sad when Christmas is over BUT it does feel good to get our house back to normal. I like cleaning things out and organizing (Marie Kondo, anyone?!) and getting a fresh start.

With that said we purchased a new couch, chairs, and rug for our family room. It needed a face lift and I'm happy with how everything turned out! Just mulling over the pillow selection on the large couch. Pillows really add to a room but they can be pricey so I'm trying to find something I love at a good price!

We didn't intend to purchase furniture the day we went looking but the Pottery Barn Outlet ended up having exactly what we wanted; an L shaped light-colored couch (slip covered because kids) and two large grey slip covered chairs that swivel. I browsed their rugs but they were still pricey and I didn't love them. We ended up getting one at rugs USA for half the price (and a bigger size) than PB. In a perfect world I'd LOVE a rug from Joanna Gaines' line but holy $$$.

So far we're really happy and cozy with our new set up. We used to have a three seat leather couch and a love seat so adding extra seats has been nice! And in the meantime we are CRAZY about wiping our kids hands after every meal/snack. Comes with the territory!

Half way to the finish line! This week marks 20 weeks and I can feel the baby moving and grooving. Matt is the only one who has felt the baby kick so far. It happened on his birthday/Christmas which was pretty special.

Definitely not nauseous like I was in the beginning. Still pretty pooped but that could be due to my three minions running around at home. Wearing legit maternity support leggings have really helped my varicose veins. I really love THESE by Blanqi! December was pretty miserable for our family. We were hit with ear infections, throw up, diarrhea, fevers, coughs and more! I was ready to say adios to 2019.

On top of all that glory my psoriasis returned since my immunity is so low (thanks pregnancy!) along with a couple of fever blisters. I'm quite a sight to be seen. Annnnd I sound like an old lady complaining about all my ailments. Let's move on!

Matt claims he's going to be naming this baby but ask him how many names he's come up with (zero). Also let it be made known that I suggested all the names for our other kids and he agreed to the ones we chose and had total veto power. Not a chance he gets 100% name control AND is making me wait to find out the gender till birth! But I'll let him think that for a while... ;)

So far I haven't been focusing on knowing the gender but that may change as things get closer to the due date. It's fully against my type A nature but I'm willing to take one for the team! For now I'm *trying* to fully enjoy this pregnancy is it IS my last. Still praising the One from whom all miracles come from!