Blonde Moment Monday

Hey ya'll I hope that you had a fabulous weekend! I would have posted much earlier today, but it's been a chock-full day tending to a very active toddler and I just came home from Urgent Care and filling a prescription for a kidney infection. More on that later, but first, I have some randoms (more like updates) from my weekend and what I've been up to lately!

•   I made these Salted Caramel Pecan Bars for our Playdate Cookie Exchange Friday. They were incredible and so easy and everyone thought they were awesome! For a minute I thought about making another cookie to bring to the exchange, but decided these were so good I didn't need to.
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• This was the plate of cookies I loaded my tray up with! Everything from pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting to homeade fudge to decadant chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting that tasted like Andes mints. Heaven on a plate! Then there were Neiman Marcus cookies whose legend has it that there was once a lady who bout a cookie at the Neiman Marcus store in NYC and told the clerk to bill her room. When she got her bill what she thought was a $2.50 cookie turned out to be $250! They were good, but I'd never pay $250 for a cookie!
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• Sarah outdid herself making the tablescape so cute for our cookie exchange! This was my first time attending a cookie exchange, so I wasn't really sure what to expect and I really doubted what cookie to even make. Have ya'll ever been to a cookie exchange before? It was really fun and totally worth it, but when I first got the Evite, and realized I needed to make 4 dozen cookies, I'm not gonna lie. I got a little nervouse, and doubted my baking skills!

• Here are the babies that make up our little playgroup. Well, most of the babies, I think Brody was hanging out with the moms at this point. Brynley is hanging in the Bumbo which really lasted about a good 5 minutes before she started wailing to get out.
• Then I realized why she was wailing. She had a major blowout! Typical.. she hadn't pooped in 2 days and waits for when we're at a playdate to go ha!

• And here are the little dudes that makeup our playdate. We had the best time at our play date and the kids did great playing together. I'm so glad that Ryder is now getting used to his new friends and learning to share and it gives us moms a chance to talk and catch up.

Sarah, Alyssa, Me, and Gina: The girls of our MOPS play group!

• I love these girls and feel so blessed that God has brought us together for fellowship and friendship!

• I had taken Ryder to the park last week but forgot to put his picture going down the slide. He's such a little man now!
• And now for my explanation as to why I was at Urgent Care..
• around 2:30 am on Saturday, I thought that I was going to die! Why you ask? Because I had a kidney stone. My very first and it was so bad that I was just in so much pain that I remember praying out loud over and over to help the pain go away. It was almost worse than child birth and that's saying something! Turns out, I think I've been dehydrated by pumping so much, and because of this I guess I got a kidney stone. I usually drink tons of water, but looks like I will have to up my intake!
• Thank God for Mama's like mine who helped to come over and help watch the kids so I could get some sleep. We didn't know what it was at first, so for hours I was keeled over in pain wondering if it was food poisoning or gas but after it didn't go away, I realized it was something more serious. I took a warm bath, tried every position I could to help ease the pain, and eventually even got sick and threw up. It was hideous and Scot even laid with me on the floor in the livingroom when it went from bad to worse, but eventually by the time I called my mom to come over, I passed the stone.
• And then I had to do a double take for what was the cause for all of the pain! It was as tiny as a poppyseed, but I was just relieved. Instant relief.

• We spent the rest of the day on Saturday taking it easy and letting my mom and stepdad stay over to watch the kids while we rested. By 10am, after catching some solid sleep, I crawled out of bed and felt much better. Sore, but much better. They stayed awhile longer, and then left. I am so blessed to have my sweet mom and stepdad closeby so I can lean on them for times like these!
• Sunday we had plans to see the Panthers play, and since I was feeling much better we decided to still go. Scot is from New Hampshire originally, and moved to Florida when he was 12, so he always loves going to football games during colder months. Myself, I am a warm weather, southern blooded gal, so I like the October games much better, but we dressed for the occasion and I didn't mind when he started teasing me for bringing my hot pink ski coat to the game. I guess there's a game day attire, but I'm more vain and just wanted to look cute underneath my coat. We tailgated for a few hours before the game and there was an artic wind that seemed to last near forever!
• It finally died down and we were able to enjoy ourselves and I was able to even show off my team spirit without my big pink ski coat ha!

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• Beautiful Carolina skies! We actually had decent seats facing the sun so we stayed nice and warm. I was just happy it wasn't raining and the sun was out. We had so much fun, but we still aren't to the point we were last year when we went to a game in October and I danced with a big group of girls coming back to our car. Of course that probably had to do with the large amount of beverages I'd consumed at this point, and the fact that we had a 2 year old, not a barely 3 month old and lacking the sleep we are now! Not to mention I didn't have to pump on the way there and back like I did this time, but we still managed to have a fun time together, and anytime I get time with Scot is fun!

• We left the game by halftime to get a good meal and catch the rest of the game. I discovered a new favorite beverage. Wild Blue. I'm not a beer drinker, but when you're at a restaurant that specializes in all types of beer, you learn to find one you can drink. And that's when I discovered this one. It was sweet and tasted like blueberries, and we had so much fun watching the games. Scot was happy because he could watch the Panther and New England game simultaneously. Overall it was a great weekend, minus the kidney stones which later lead to some pain today which is why I decided to man up and go get some antibiotics for my possible kidney infection.
• That's life though isn't it? Just when you get all your ducks in a row, you're thrown a curve ball and you just have to get through it. Needless to say, since I have to be on this medication 7 days I can only pump and dump and so I think this may be the end of my pumping, as I feel like it's the straw that broke the camel's back.
• I didn't have much of a randoms post today, but will be back with more randoms I'm sure later this week! Happy Monday!