Hi friends! Well, it’s been a hot second since I’ve done one of these! How have you all been?!

Things have been pretty great over here. Oliver and Olivia are keeping me busy but I really love the age they are at right now. It’s so darn fun and interactive!

A little update on these two rascals! They are starting to play a lot more with each other and honestly it’s AMAZING. Oh, they also have little one-year-old fights but we don’t need to dive into that – hahaha. Even their fighting is kind of cute but I better bite my tongue because I know that won’t be the answer for long! They are a joy and I really love being their momma. They are still as opposite as can be in personalities, which is fun for Matthew and me! We really did get a little bit of everything with these two!

I’m still figuring out the best times for me to write. Being a stay at home work mom is interesting. I love what I do but lately, I’ve been struggling to come up with a solid work schedule and just find the TIME! Anywho, a rant for a different day…

 Things You Ask Thursday is back! I’ve been collecting all your questions and ready to dig in and answer some of them!

1.) When did you transition Oliver and Olivia to one nap?

My Moms on Call book said to transition them anywhere from 15-18 months. I actually started the transition closer to 14 months (maybe a week prior) and I based it simply off the fact that their second nap was going horribly. They would go down for maybe half an hour and then wake up ready to party. They would spend another half hour or so partying and twin talking. I just knew it was time. The transition, I will admit…kind of brutal. Everyone kept giving me the advice “Oh just take them out and do something fun. Run errands…etc etc “. That’s great advice but the issue is that I have two the same age and I can’t just carry them both around in a store. By the time they are tired and crabby, they both want to be held. There have been many times I’ve been out on an errand with them by myself and both want to be held. Let’s just say it never ends very pleasant. I’m usually rushing out of the door with one baby content and the other screaming bloody murder because I’m holding the other one! My mom helped me out and we made a point of getting out of the house around 9:30 a.m. every morning and then getting them down for their nap by 11:15 (ish). Forcing them to stay up until 11 for a week really helped. It got easier by the day and they eventually adjusted! But I couldn’t have done it so smoothly without my mom!

2.) Do you and your husband ever have arguments about budgeting? How do you resolve and work together as a team?

Not nearly like we use to because we are on the same page – for the most part! But we have to weekly talk about our goals and plans. Mainly so we continue to stay on the same page and overall stay MOTIVATED. Taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial peace really taught us to have weekly budget meetings and constantly communicate when it comes to this. Is it still hard not to spend our money on whatever we want? Of course! But we have big goals so we try really hard to focus on the future rather than what would give us (temporary) instant gratification.  I would say this is harder for me than him. I see so much around our home that I can’t wait to fix up (so does Matthew) but patience is crucial when it comes to this process – and something I struggle with! I’m a work in progress on patience!

We work as a team by staying in communication about our budgeting/financial goals. Do we always agree? Heck no! We aren’t perfect. Let me make it clear, it’s not easy. I will never claim it’s easy but we have already experienced in the past three years how much a budget has benefited us and it makes us extremely excited about our future. THAT is what keeps us going and headed in the right direction.

3.) When would you recommend taking Financial Peace?

If you are in a relationship I highly recommend taking this class together before marriage! I wish I would have to know about it sooner! The last thing you want to do is get into a marriage and realize you have zero in common when it comes to finances and responsibility. Not saying you can’t figure it all out and be okay…but save yourself the extra stress and get started on it sooner. Become a solid team, SOONER! If you are a college student with debt I highly recommend taking Financial Peace so when graduation comes you have a plan to attack your debt and pay it off…fast! Honestly though, in whatever stage of life, you are in, this class would be beneficial in some sort of way. If you have a desire or curiosity to take the class, DO IT! You won’t regret it.

4.) How do make sure social media remains a positive space for you? I also work from home and I find myself comparing constantly to other moms and their blogs/businesses.

Honestly, I went through and unfollowed so many accounts on Instagram that portray their lives as perfect. Do you know what I mean? The ones where their houses are spotless and everything just comes across PERFECT. The ones where the moms are never stressed and always have perfectly curled hair and a full face of makeup on. There’s nothing wrong with these things, but parts are totally not realistic. It makes me start to doubt and wonder if I’m slacking on myself. Should I be waking up earlier to look more presentable? Should I hire someone to help clean my house so it appears spotless and clean in all my photos? I think it’s crucial to follow pages that are somewhat down to earth and show life as it is. I’m not playing the comparison game on here anymore because my feed doesn’t consist of those temptations. I follow very real, inspiration people that I look up to! My best advice is to clean up the accounts you follow because they can either motivate you or make you just feel bad about yourself. Not worth it!

5.) Do you follow a weekly grocery budget or monthly?

We follow a weekly grocery budget! Simply because I have found that to work better for us. At times I find it difficult to organize meals for an entire week so I just don’t see planning a month in advance working out the best for us! However, I know many people who follow monthly and have seen a lot of success in that. It truly just depends on what works best for you! Here is a blog I wrote a while back that goes into more detail on how we grocery budget (:

Also, we use The Every Dollar app to budget monthly (: It has really helped us and I highly recommend checking it out!

I hope you all have a great day and stay warm considering the polar vortex!

Stay Lively

Check back next week where I will be answering more questions on budgeting and easy healthy snack ideas for toddlers…and their momma (: