ashley gillespie

As thrilled as I am to be pregnant with Baby R, can I just say I'm over it? I wish I was one of those pregnant women who only grew a belly while everything else stays perfectly in tact, but I am not.  I'm going to blame the (so far) THIRTY pound weight gain mostly on genes and some on totally not caring.  The line on the stick turned pink, and I immediately became allergic to the gym.  But in all seriousness, I was sick for the first 18 weeks...don't judge me. So, while I'm LOVING the now very pronounced kicks, I'm also counting down the days to eviction of this little guy, so I can get back to business. I'd basically reached my goal weight right before I got pregnant.  I'd been doing Weight Watchers all year long, and I'd started going to Barre classes to tone the pudge.  Only took me four years post-pregnancy to get the motivation to put down the wine glass and go to the gym.  Buuuut, to keep with my 2018 mantra, I'm trying to keep focus on th...

I don't think JG's slept in days, and I'm pretty sure his pre-game jitters had him nauseous last night. Such an awesome time for the DAWGS! Beat Bama!!

For me, 2018 has already started with focused attention on two areas of my life. 1. Finances. 2. Being More Fulfilled. JG and I have never stuck to a budget.  We've put one together a time or two, but it's always fizzled quick.  Each year, we use additional income to pay off our credit cards, and each year we say "next year, we'll use this money to take a vacation."  We never do.  We always end up having to pay off the credit cards.   IT'S SO STUPID!!!!!  I've been avoiding this topic in our marriage for years - mainly because I'm the culprit.  I love to shop, and I am quick to put a card down if "I have to have it."  I swear JG could live off $10 cash a week as long as he's kept fed (which is not my strong suit - more on that later?).  Each year, JG doesn't bat an eye at the unnecessarily large payment we have to pay to make it go away.  Don't get me wrong, he's part of it too - it's not alllllll mine, but if I'm...

Do you start your new year like everyone else and make grand plans, create vision boards, and set big goals?  I honestly don't, usually.  This past year I've found myself in a place of discontent.  The best way to describe it is just always feeling like you're working toward the undefined "something."  Just spinning my wheels until some satisfaction is felt.  When I let myself slow down long enough to discover this feeling, it shook me. I describe 2017 as "busy."  But when I'm honest with myself, I can't say that we traveled a ton, had a booming social life or even hit any crazy milestones.  We moved, yes.  We moved to a large metropolitan area from a small, sleepy town.  I was used to my child being in all-day daycare for only $120/week, only to discover the same care in our new city would cost $300/week, so B went to half-day preschool and we hired a sitter for still less than the monthly cost of all day daycare.  Now I find myself t...

...and I'm back! I don't even think people READ blogs anymore, but I missed my writing outlet - something about pouring it all out helps ease the crazy, I guess. I decided to start a completely new blog for a completely new time in my life. I still have Kindredly, it's private (sorry). Because so much time, effort, and feeling went into it, I couldn't delete it, but it's no longer for public consumption. Also, this layout is just temporary. We'll see if I can keep this up. If I do, I'll pour a little more effort into this space to make it look better than this. Hold judgement until further notice. So for my brief introduction, I'm a mom of a four year old boy, B. I'm five months pregnant with another little boy, R.  I live just outside of Atlanta, Georgia with my husband, JG, said kid, and three dogs that I promise I used to love. We're your standard middle-class family working our butts off and trying not to live for the weekend. ...