•GoodMorning•

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Next week will complete one full year since we made the move to Charlotte, North Carolina. I truly believe that Mel and I have grown so much in this past year. It was a huge learning experience living in Melanie's parents house. Since we didn't know anything other than Miami, it was a scary path of unknown territory. Luckily, Melanie's family took us in with open arms and provided a place for us to call home until we could figure out if this was going to be a permanent change for us. Turns out Charlotte is such a family oriented city with so many great opportunities that we felt an instant connection and knew this move was the right one. 

This week we will be closing on our FIRST HOME! Although we are super excited to start this new journey and venture off into our own home, we know that we will miss the beautiful madness that goes on in this house with our extended family. :( Living with Melanie's parents, brother, sister, cousin, and 4 dogs and a cat has been a crazy ride! Nonetheless a ride filled with big dinners, fun BBQ's, movie night "attempts", and awesome conversations held at the kitchen island. Above all we will miss the mornings, because although everyone has different schedules- breakfast time is a sure time when most of us are all together talking nonsense, sharing laughs and cutting boards. Here's a video of one of our last mornings living in a "FULL" house...

•i challenge you•

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It was 8:09pm yesterday when we finally got into our van and decided on our dinner plans. I had this upset look on my face while putting on my seatbelt. Melanie looked over at me and said "are you okay" and I quickly said "yea". Not convinced she asked me again "are you sure"...... and I wasn't ok, I was upset that we were just now figuring out what we wanted to do for dinner. So I expressed that to her. I told her how important it is for Jax and Ero at this early age to have consistency. I went on and on about how this late dinner will lead us to getting home around 9:30pm to then not having Jax bathed and in bed at a reasonable hour. (I explained to her that I wasn't blaming her and that I was more disappointed in myself for letting this happen) You may be saying to yourself "Vanessa, get a grip it's not a big deal" and you're right it really isn't that big of a deal. One of my flaws is that I'm a little too hard on myself, that's something I'm trying to work on :) In parenthood there are no two days alike, little by little I am coming to terms with that. I'm learning to try my best at being consistent but accepting the fact that things happen and plans change sometimes. Balancing structure and freestyle is difficult but it's literally how you can be successful in this thing called being a mommy lol.

So, back to yesterday haha!

Once Melanie heard my rant she continued to tell me about a "no complaint challenge." She said that I should attempt a whole day without complaining, and to see how much better I felt that day. I immediately thought this woman is crazy. Things happen everyday and you are telling me to only express my positive feelings and not my negative ones?? I didn't see how depressing my negative emotions could possibly help. She explained how instead of ranting or complaining about something just state the solution. For example: When Melanie asked if I was okay I could have said "today is an exception because we got caught up in other duties, but we should try our best everyday to get Jax in bed by 9 o'clock." Vua La! I just turned my negative vent into a positive goal. Lol sounds silly but it's little things like that that can make a big difference on your attitude. 

So while we were eating our dinner I accepted the challenge. Melanie was happy because- bless her soul- she constantly encourages me to let the best version of myself shine through. It took about 5 minutes before I blurted out a complaint. "Omg I hate this song." Melanie pointed it out to me and we both laughed. "I'll try again tomorrow." So it's 12pm now and no complaints yet :) I just have another twelve hours hahaha. I propose you all to attempt this "no complaint challenge." It's ok if you have to start over 20x, just keep trying. I promise it will be worth it :) love you guys!!

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•who is the mommy?•

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Living in this world as an "alternative" family, we do get asked a good amount of questions. It feels amazing knowing that the people of our community are interested in understanding our lives by asking questions rather than just pointing and mumbling under their breath. Some of the questions we get are great and we enjoy answering them and then there are some that kind of make us cringe our faces in confusion. We wanted to go ahead and share some of those questions which sort of make us giggle a bit. -The Roys