A New Begining

Hello all!

It has been a very long time (2.5 years long) since I have sat down any typed up a new blog. A lot has happened since Lyla was 6 months!

To start with I got a divorce last year in 2018. It was by far the hardest year of my life and I am so glad 2018 is now behind us. It's okay. In all reality my life is now 100 times better and I'm much happier. Also let's be honest, I have always been a single mom thanks to the Ex's work schedule (3pm-3am) and his unwillingness to change shifts.

So much has changed in the past year! I became a single mom, got a full time job (that I love and celebrated 1 year with in early February!!!), and found daycare for both girls at two different centers. Ginny was still in preschool and I was not willing to take her out in the middle of her year. Those days until Ginny graduated preschool in may were ROUGH to say the least! We were up at around 5:30-5:45 to get out of the house by 6:00 so I could drop Genevieve off at 6:30 to her daycare and then drive 45 minutes to get to my job. That first week or two Lyla was at my old daycare providers so I also had to drop her off there before I was able to go to work. Thankfully my center was able to get her in so that dropped off a good extra half hour to my mornings. Once May hit and Ginny graduated preschool, I was able to have both girls come with me so this made my life a million times easier and we could all sleep in just a little bit more!

Then in August we moved back home to Portage! I am so close to so many of my family members! I'm so excited to be only a few minutes away from Meijer, and all of our Dr's (since you know I live at the girls pediatricians office) My mom and one of my Aunt's are both just over a mile away and one of the best things ever is I can finally have delivery again! Living out in the boonies sucked when you wanted pizza delivered! You can't tell I'm excited about this move home .... can you??

Okay so enough about me lets get an update on the girls!

Genevieve

Age: 5 (How in the world is she going to be 6 in 4 days!?!)

Grade in School: Kindergarten

Ginny LOVES school! She is such a social butterfly and is doing great! She is learning to read and she just can not wait to be able to totally read on her own!

This past summer we found out Ginny has a severe case of ADHD just like her mom! Thankfully though she does not seem to have all the learning issues i had! We have found a medication that is working amazingly well for her and we are so grateful for having Dr's who listen to me when I told them I knew when I was pregnant with her that she was ADHD.

Sports: Gymnastics and Cheerleading

Genevieve is still in gymnastics and is still in love with it! She really still wants to compete as well. Even though we have moved to Portage we are still going out to Branch Gymnastics in Battle Creek! Simply because I love the Coaches and Staff. We have been a Branch family since she was 18 months!

Genevieve also started doing Cheerleading at 4! We cheer with Campion Force! and she absolutely LOVES it! She started a new season last Monday and it was her first practice as a Level 2! At the end of last season, she tried out for Level 2 and obviously she made it! I am so excited and proud of her and all her hard work! I can not wait to see her at her competition this summer! The past two seasons they have made it to States! Genevieve loves competition days for many reasons! I think the second reason is because we go to LUSH after and she gets to pick either a Bath Bomb or a Bubble Bar.

Favorites: Genevieve is a total girly girl. She loves Rainbows and Unicorns, anything sparkly, dancing and singing, wearing dresses (ones she can twirl in specifically) or twirl shirts. She is a shoe fanatic as well. The girl is always asking for her own makeup since she knows she can't touch mine. she also has her own body mist so she will stop using my expensive perfume!

She still loves all things yellow but now has added pink and purple to her favorite colors. (Is it bad that i am legitimately sad that she likes other colors? she has said her favorite color is Yellow since she was around 15 or 16 months!)

Genevieve has a serious love for anything and everything Wonder Woman! I have no clue where she learned about her but she is a kick ass woman to love!

Over all Genevieve is growing up to be an amazing little girls ( I refuse to call her a young lady yet!!) She is so sweet and kind. she always wants to help! She LOVES babies and making them laugh. She now wants to be a mom, teacher, and an artist. I told her she could be all 3 if she wanted.


Lyla

Age: 3 years old

School: Lyla is in the daycare I work at and she is in the Blue room (3 year olds class). She is learning a ton! She know all of her colors and shapes and a good portion of her letters and numbers as well! She is always telling me "Look MOM! L for L-Y-L-A! Lyla! I am very grateful for her teachers at work for helping me raise an amazing preschooler!

Sports:  Lyla was in gymnastics last year but I had to take her out since she was in a 10:30 class and all of the evening classes were full. I was so sad and disapointed that I couldn't keep her in. Once August rolled around I made sure I had both girls in the same night. Lyla loves gymnastics and love doing Balance Beam and Floor. I'm excited to see her in a coach only class next season! I think she will do better with them, than she does with me.

Lyla is also VERY anxious to start Cheerleading next February. She can't start this next season since you have have to be 4 by competition and I'm not sure she will be. Genevieve's competition in December 2018 was on Lyla's birthday. Plus I love our coaches too much to make them take on Lyla when she is too young still! I will say that Lyla does try to sneak in to her class every time!

Favorites: Lyla loves Peppa Pig, Minnie Mouse, Moana, and Mermaids. She says her favorite color is green but she changes her mind every week. Her favorite food is blueberries by far. She also loves quesadillas and nachos. She is not a picky eater which is awesome for me! Lyla LOVES anything that has pockets! Her natural reaction is that of any woman who has pockets in a dress... She puts her hands in them and says "Oooo it has POCKETS!" She is so much less of a girly girl than Genevieve and that is perfectly fine by me!

Lyla is defiantly my more challenging child. She is SO independent and strong willed! She gets mad when she can not do something herself of if I try to help her. Only when she has tried for about 5 minutes will she finally let me help grudgingly. Living through her not being strong enough to buckle herself in was pure HELL! Most days we have meltdowns on the way into daycare and when we leave (mostly because I don't want to wait 15-30 minutes to leave and she is SLOW!)

Lyla is also hilarious and she knows it! She is naturally funny and the things that come out of her mouth have me laughing all the time! I am told she is my total mini me and that the reason we butt heads a lot (aka I get super frustrated with her) is because she is just like me when I was her age. I'm not sure I'm going to survive her Teenage years. I have also begged both of my parents to PLEASE TAKE THE CURSE OFF NOW!!! To which they both just laugh and say it's too late.


Well I think this is the perfect place to stop for today. Its amazing how easy it was to just start typing again! I am hoping (don't hold me to this though) to posting 2-3 times a month and maybe a bit more often once i get it all going again!

 

Our First Family Picture 2018