strolling with oxo tot

life is about to get crazy, you guys! we are in this phase of transition when it comes to toddler-dom.. when Baker was born the twins were a bit older (at 2 years and 8 months) and were definitely ready to be out of the stroller and walking (for the most part) on their own when we went somewhere.  the giant stroller we had for the twins was awesome and met all our needs up until they were about 2-ish years old, but it was heavy and definitely not compact at all. I couldn't get it into the back end of the car without a little oomph or Jordan just taking care of it all together. after Baker was born I stopped toting a stroller all together and just practiced baby wearing any time we went anywhere.  Baker isn't ready for that (like, no where near ready..) and I'll be a postpartum mess and giant puddle of sweat if I am having to chase Baker around while trying to manage a newborn AND the big girls.  

I am very lucky when it comes to the obedience of Parker and Jolie- they are, of course, a couple of four year olds and can (and do!) have their moments of breakdown and misbehaving, but they are really well behaved when we go out.  Baker, on the other hand, needs a strap and a variety of snacks to keep her busy:)

I need ease and convenience and to be able to load and unload without a lot of effort.  I also need it to be comfortable- I have tall babies and in our previous toddler stroller the girls, and now Baker, don't fit well in the seat with the canopy folded out.  which is why I am SO excited about our newest baby/toddler product addition- the OXOtot Cubby Stroller!

the Cubby Stroller is complete with a large storage basket, large canopy, deep recline (good for babies of 6 months of age or up to 50 pounds), flip-flop-friendly brake- which makes my life SO easy, and lots of storage! the pockets on the back of this thing hold everything I need (without my diaper bag).

the wheels are large and can handle a lot of terrain.. we wont be using this stroller for much more than walks around the neighborhood or a stroll through the mall, but I appreciate its durability. 

not to mention..this bad boy weighs just about twenty pounds and has the feature of a one-handed fold when I'm ready to put it away.

I've always known OXOtot for their amazing sippy and snack cups as well as their feeding bundles and high chair, but the opportunity to welcome another great product into our toddler world has been more than appreciated! 

a little more about the brand::

"OXO's mission is to design consumer products that make everyday living easier. 

Throughout our history, the idea of designing baby and toddler products was brought up time and again. And time and again we focused on solving pet peeves for the place we knew best: the kitchen. But when 25 babies were born to our then-50 employees over the course of five years, we discovered firsthand the challenges and pet peeves parents face and knew we could help solve them.

 Our mission is to make every day with your tot a little easier, in every room of the house and beyond, so you can focus on the fun side of being a parent." 

handy stroller hook //  on the go wipes dispenser  // tot transitions soft spout sippy cup

my favorite features of this stroller:

::one handed open and close (what parent has both hands, anyway??  genius!)

::the 5-point harness, similar to that of a carseat

::the peek-a-boo pocket for my phone and keys, etc.. I always end up using the cup holders for those kind of accessories and having a special place for them is definitely ideal

::the GIANT undercarriage + large pockets for all the other baby/toddler things! 

oxo tot floppy snack cup

for family outings Baker will 100% still be in the stroller and will most likely be manned by her daddy while I take responsibility of baby wearing or toting Brady in our newborn/infant stroller.

you guys- I just have to say it again.. its about to get crazy!  

as always, thank you to Brittany for her talent in catching my crazy crew in the best light, and to OXO tot for sponsoring this post.

Baker // dress (similar)

chubby knot clips // loved by sophia claire

moccasins // freshly picked

Big Girls // dress (similar)

sandals //  salt water sandals

Amber // romper (similar)

tank // gap

booties //  sam edelman

earrings // kendra scott 

five on friday

one. eighty-seven

this February weather is insane, ya'll.  it was 87 degrees yesterday and has been a perfect 75 all week long!  not that I'm completely ready for the summer and the Texas heat that goes along with it, but we have basically bypassed winter and walked straight into spring over here. 

we've been spending a ton of time outside and enjoying our afternoons when the weather is just right.  we met britt and her family for burgers and fries for dinner this week- I feel like this needs to be a weekly thing and the weather needs to stay.  not to mention.. the sheet pan of garlic parmesan fries.

two.  good friends

the big girls went on an Auntie + Uncle J date last weekend and they had THE best time complete with mint chocolate chip ice cream and dirty knees from hard core park play.  I always appreciate the relationship my girls have with them! and they are still talking about their time spent with those two a week later.

three. it is finished

..and we are waiting patiently for you sweet boy!  Sarah created the sweetest name sign for Brady's nursery to hang over his crib and delivered it this week.  I'm doing a canvas wall of his hospital pictures along with this sign, so it wont officially be finished until after he's born, but everything else is in its place!  this girl has some crafty talent and I'm so proud of her for it!

check out her shop, HERE!

four.  box cars

the theme last week at preschool was "transportation" and we got a letter home a couple weeks ago about drive in movie day along with instructions on making homemade box cars to bring for that day, too.  these were SO FUN to make and the girls loved picking out their decorations (thank you Target dollar spot!) and choosing their own wrapping paper to cover their box in (I was solo and didn't want to mess with the paint and wrangle three toddlers).  I asked the produce guy at Target if he had any empty apple boxes and he happily handed a couple over! 

I had been wracking my brain for three days about where to find an apple box (what's an apple box!?) and I could have jumped for joy when he walked out with them!

Jolie kept hugging me every 5 minutes while I was hot gluing her wheels and cutting out her name letters. Jo is all about the little details and I absolutely love her for it. no matter how raw my finger tips are today from all that hot glue.  worth it.

five.  baby boy love

so much love is being showered over this boy!  I am so thankful for how amazing some of my favorite small shops are as the care packages trickle in

six. because.. she's too good.

..lastly, for good measure and to carry us into the weekend

AND because she just makes our life so much brighter.



35 weeks + embracing the end

I've got 6 whole pounds of baby in this belly. little boy Brady is going to outweigh his sisters by a long shot.  at 35 weeks I feel every single inch of his long legs moving and pushing and (painfully) stretching to make room in the space that just seems to be getting smaller by the day (literally).

 I am embracing these last couple weeks as best as I can.  

truth :: this hasn't been the easiest pregnancy.  

at.all.

I'm nauseous at least once or twice a day.

..and when I don't sleep well at night I am sick ALL DAY.

I'm exhausted to the point of tears about three times a week.

all I can think about is bedtime and it takes everything in me to keep my eyes open later than 8pm. 

food completely grosses me out about 65% of the time.

I'm living on coffee + multi-grain cheerios + protein shakes + sweet tarts.

.. even the breakfast I've been eating every day for almost 5 years (peanut butter + sliced banana toast) is so unappealing. 

whats wrong with me?! pregnancy twice before this has been relatively uneventful and remarkably pleasant- even on bedrest with the twins I hardly felt the discomfort I'm feeling now carrying this little boy.  nausea wasnt in my vocabulary and sub sandwiches, tequila, and peanut butter was all I could think about. 

not together, of course!

y'all.. I sat on the floor with my girlfriends playing with our kiddos over the weekend and my butt is so sore it feels like I've done 1800 squats. 

my belly is HUGE and I get lightheaded if I lay too far over to my back.

I cant sleep at night unless I'm laying/sitting up on 4 giant pillows AND the Snoogle.

Jordan is the best sport and never complains about the 11 inches of space he has in our king sized bed.

but, I'm determined to embrace it.

all of it.  

 we made our weekly trip to the OB for a sonogram to check in with our growing boy yesterday and it was the first appointment in weeks that I walked out of there feeling encouraged and excited about the final days to come before meeting Brady. 

my amniotic fluid has leveled itself off.

Brady's kidney is stable.

..and he has a FULL head of hair:)

I filled out the paperwork for cord blood retrieval, final details of this pending delivery- we will be doing a scheduled c-section again as I did with the two deliveries before- and had a serious discussion (and signed all the consent forms) for making this our last baby/pregnancy/delivery.

ever.

after Baker was born I knew 100% that she wasn't our last.  we weren't finished with our family and we prayed and prayed for this final sweet being to bless us.. boy or girl, we didn't care one single bit.

 and here we are.  9 months worth of a tremendous whirlwind + rollercoaster ride and it wouldn't be normal without a handful of terrifying thoughts and panic moments about adding number four to the mix.

truth :: we are beside ourselves with excitement.

pregnancy is such a beautiful experience.

I've been incredibly blessed to carry four amazing + healthy babies.

not everyone gets to do what I've done, so while this time hasn't been 100% rainbows and unicorns, I am counting every single day as part of something that I wouldn't change for the world, will never forget, and I never ever want to take these moments for granted.

..even when I'm sobbing into my cereal because I'm so dang sleepy.

 my baby boy.

my final sweet tiny love.

its almost time to meet you.

the most amazing photography by: b faith photography
I'm so thankful for you, Britt!! 

Parker + Jolie's big girl room

well, its about time.

when I was pregnant with Baker, Parker and Jolie officially came out of their cribs and we transitioned them into two twin size beds around age two and a half.

..and that was the end of their "big girl room"update.  

at the time I didn't feel the need to change out a bunch of things and completely update their room on top of decorating a nursery for a third baby girl- they were pretty young and outside of the beds they still fit the style of their nursery considering their age pretty well.  not to mention that the transition to "big girl beds" was HUGE excitement for them and for all of us, so we left it at that.  

fast forward to about a week ago.. Jordan, whom secretly surfs + pins via my Pinterest account, caught a wild hair to "build the girls a bunk bed".  we go through this a lot.. Jordan thinks of amazing things, we sit on the idea for a week or two, and then we move on.  

not this time.  

to give him more credit- we have been talking about doing this for a solid 6 months, at least.. so it wasn't a complete shock to me when we finally decided to pull the trigger on the plans.

currently our garage is stacked with wood and cluttered about with his large tool collection, skill saw and sander.  not to mention that we have made about 63 trips to Lowe's over this last week to pick up/exchange/remeasure for these amazing beds he's going to build our big girls.

image inspiration via pinterest

I, for one, am SO excited about this.  their room isn't very big and has always felt somewhat smooshed together because, well, when you throw two cribs and now two beds together in one space it could seem a little cramped. 

Jordan is painting the bed a white wash color.. the room will remain the same as far as paint goes.  it is a purple/periwinkle color and I, for the life of me, cannot remember what in the world the color or brand is to share!  maybe Jordan remembers.. 

ANYway

their room has always been a coral/gold/mint color scheme, and since I absolutely love it we aren't changing that one bit.  even better, we can keep a lot of the same decor going into their "new room" that we had in their nursery.  

image inspiration via pinterest

 their dresser was originally bought in a black and silver checkered pattern (seriously).. we painted a coral color over top of that and then did an antique white crackle paint overlay and distressed the edges so the coral would peek through here and there.  I have decided I want to repaint their dresser again with a mint color chalk paint and replace the coral rosette pulls with a copper handle pull instead.

image inspiration via pinterest

since we are opening up a TON of space in their room by putting the bunk bed on one wall, I'm going to do a collage of (big) girly things and updated pictures of Parker and Jolie on the opposite wall framed out with a giant mirror.  it is currently GOLD, like gaudy gold, and hanging in our bedroom.  I've been looking for something different to hang in our room, and completely getting it out and putting it in the twins' room instead will motivate me even more to get on that. 

a little white spray paint over the gold frame and letting the girls enjoy it in their room sounds so much better, anyway.

maybe get a few chairs and a little table for them to play at?  

eventually that space could be filled with a school desk for homework or art projects??!

no. I can't go there yet.

not yet!

I cant wait to share the girls' updated room!  Jordan should start building this week- Jolie is already sleeping on her mattress on the floor!  so we are ready to rock and roll!

stay tuned!  I am so excited to be doing this for our first ladies:)

you can see the twins' original nursery reveal HERE

their transition from cribs to "toddler beds" HERE

..and their sweet little twin bed details in their monthly update HERE

preparing for baby with evenflo

time if flying. 

I feel like it was just weeks ago that I was taking pregnancy test after pregnancy test (albeit, sometimes twice a day during that first trimester) in complete disbelief that I was pregnant.

and now here we are with all these baby boy things filling our front room, coming together as an almost finished nursery in preparation for his arrival in just a handful of short weeks. with every doctor's visit and repeat sonogram I'm reminded with how quickly he's growing and what little time is left before I actually get to hold a newborn.

the best snuggles and squeaks and baby smells of his head.

early in my pregnancy, after finding our we were indeed being blessed with a baby boy, we talked about how we should probably invest in some baby gear that is generally directed to being more masculine.. a car seat with a pink canopy, floral crib sheets, and the bright purple seats of a stroller weren't going to fly for this Massey babe.  so many things have changed since welcoming the girls 4 years ago- the styles and plethora of trendy baby items available are amazing and nearly overwhelming. thankfully there are brands that remain constant and familiar to this 4th time mom over here.  I was so excited for the opportunity to fill our newborn stroller needs with the Pivot Travel System from Evenflo.

my absolute favorite feature?  well, that full coverage canopy option basically sold me at first sight.

other strollers I have used with my newborns go from the common car seat option to toddler seat, which leaves me with that weird middle space when they are too big for the infant cars seat but not big enough for the toddler feature just yet.  having the ability to be able to take my baby on a walk and allow him to snooze on his back while doing so seems like a nice option to have! 

my plans for post-baby include getting back into the swing of bootcamp again and they happened to get a new group started in my neighborhood!  I can just walk him right up the street in his new stroller and let him sleep while I get in a good 60 minutes.

..well.  that's the plan, anyway.

Brady might be laughing his way out of the womb.

another amazing benefit is the giant storage basket in the undercarriage of the stroller.  not only to fit the diaper bag, but also to fit the millions of other toddler trinkets and toys and purses- AND snacks and sippy cups that the twins and Baker cannot live without while we run errands.  I swear my back end looks like toys r us exploded for all the things they load into the car and fail to get them out when we return home. 

another amazing detail about the Pivot Modular Stroller Travel System by Evenflo is that it includes the Evenflo SafeMax™ Infant Car Seat.  checked that baby "to-do" off my list, too!  we have plans to borrow a carseat from Jordan's sister that she recently used with my nephew, but we also have two cars + grandparents that might take him, so having the opportunity to be able to use more than one carseat is beneficial!  I plan to use this seat in my car and the other for Jordan and his mom.

while I don't have previous experience with these car seats I was pleased after doing some research about the brand and overall safety of them.  Evenflo has designed and tested their seats for structural integrity at energy levels 2x the federal crash test standard and tested to simulate a side impact event and rollover event. the SafeMax™ Infant Car Seat also features an Anti-Rebound Bar that limits the amount of rebound movement experienced in the event of a frontal-impact.

the car seat snap in is also a feature of this stroller, which I'll appreciate trying to get in and out of Target with a sleeping babe.

..hey belly.

alright Mr. Brady. we've got you covered in the cruise department:)

as always, thank you to Brittany for her photo snapping talent, and to Evenflo for sponsoring this post.

you can find my mama bear tee HERE // my yoga pants HERE // sneakers HERE

diaper bag HERE + car seat cover HERE

swaddle blanket HERE + personalized leather paci clip HERE

valentine's day | throw back

2 0 1 3 

I think JoJo was tipping the scales at 6 pounds and the dark hair that covered their newborn head was slowly starting to fall out and replaced with a strawberry blonde color for Jolie and a dirty blonde for Parker.

omg... I just cant. 

2 0 1 4

those jammies.

baby hairs.

so much sugar!

2 0 1 5 

giving me such trouble- they ganged up on me every day.  but I could never (and still cant!) resist those toothy grins + squinty eyes.

give them all the ponies + pounds of candy for breakfast.

2 0 1 6

my sweet giggly girls in all their sister glory.

I thought they were SO big then..

 ..and a TEENY Baker Bree

2 0 1 7

basically my house is run by that one in the middle.

she has no idea what she's in for in the next, oh, 6 weeks or so.

we have no real plans for this valentine's day. the twins have a little party at school that we will swing by to celebrate with them.  before that we might hit up a patio for lunch with miss Baker, and there will probably be chips and salsa involved.
for dinner I've got verde salsa chicken in the crock pot for a repeat of street tacos from last week, per the hubby's request.  

for reference: green verde salsa + 2lbs chicken breast on LOW for 6 hours in the crock pot.

shred and mix in your favorite toppings (we like fresh pico + crumbled feta) and throw on a tortilla.

we'll probably watch a DVR'd train wreck Bachelor episode and head to bed before 9pm.

fine by me.

theres no one I would rather do this life with than those three girls above and my sweet guy by my side.

I wouldn't change a thing. 

happy valentine's day!