Fancy meeting you here.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Arden girl's first summer + work work work work work work

Life's been crazy, but we're due for an update, so HERE I AM. Hi hi hello.

This summer I've been working hard on a big project. It required working 7 days a week for about 5 weeks, but we are finally finished! This specific project took me to Napa—which I'd never visited before—and we worked all day and pretty much all night, so I didn't get to visit a winery, but it was still beautiful. Check it out.

In JULY. ^

These huge olive trees were everywhere. My olive tree is 1/100th of this size...

Rosemary and lavender were everywhere.

Got dared $100 to wear these and pretend to be totally serious. Nailed it.

When we were flying out of Napa we recognized this bridge. WHOA. Pretty.

I think people who close their airplane windows have lost a certain amount of wonder. They pay big money for a home with a beautiful view, to ride to the top of the ferris wheel, to get to the top of the Empire State Building...and then they close their airplane windows. What's wrong with you people, it's the best view of allllll the views.

Speaking of....

How's this for a view of NYC?

This same project landed me in NYC for a few days back in June. This was the exact same kind of work trip as Napa—I spent most of my time in my room working, and on this couch in the hotel restaurant.

Cute little new york restaurant patio. So sweet.

We've had a LOT of late nights this summer. This photo was taken at 4 a.m. Shout out to the "nervous breakdown" at Common Grounds for keeping us up ALL night. Wish I would've known about that coffee drink in college.

I had to work for most of Drew's first Father's Day, but we did make it out to my Dad's where we got this great shot!

Cuties.

We also got to make this fun craft for our dads.

Oh hey, girl.

Arden got to meet her friend, Oakley, back in June! Oakley, Russell, Boston and Scott came to visit us here in Waco! Could be love between these two.

I can't even with this! First bath and a bath at 4 months.

HOW?! FIVE MONTHS. She's so big. She rolls everywhere. She sits forward facing in her stroller. She has epic thigh rolls. Smiles at everything. Laughs. Cries. Still gets up twice a night like clockwork. No more breastfeeding, we've moved on to the expensive world of formula. (I was working too much, and quickly got sick of being a slave to my pump.) Drinks a 6 oz bottle every three hours or else. Wears size 2 diapers. Kind of skipped size 3-6 month clothes altogether and jumped straight to 6-9....BUT I'd already bought so many 3-6 month outfits by the time we realized this fun fact, so homegirl squeezes into them. :)

Drew and my 8 year date-a-versary was June 17th. We broke up lots of times during our courtship, so does this really count? Who knows. But we celebrate it every year for fun. This year to celebrate we went on our first date for the second time. We saw the round rock in Round Rock, re-vistited the church we "stole" balloons from, and played on the swing set at the same duck pond. Only difference, this time we have a mortgage and a baby. 2009 was pretty fun, but 2017 ain't so bad. Also, I cut my hair.

And here's a series of cute baby pics for your enjoyment.

So unsure about sweet potatoes.

Carrot top.

Her first forward facing stroller experience. She loved it, despite what it looks like.

Too dang cute. I love this age. She's starting to figure everything out and it's so fun to watch her learn!

My work friends at a suuuuuper cute wedding. Hey guys, some of these pretty girls are single ;)

Any wedding where the main menu items include chocolate chip pancakes and champagne are A+ in my book. Congrats, Bill and Madi!

What do people say? Oh yeah, my "forever wedding date." 💗 PS - Madi painted this backdrop herself because she's amazing. It was HUGE.

About a month ago Drew and I booked another trip to Colorado for August. My only request for my 25th birthday was a "fun trip." (I like to travel about 900x more than Drew, so anytime we go anywhere it's definitely for my sake.) But after we booked it and thought about it more....we decided to change our plans and go to NYC. We've been wanting to go back, but it's much more expensive than Colorado, and we LOVE Colorado so that was the original plan in order to save some $.

But after all my working the last month, we thought HEY—It's been a big, busy year, and we've honestly earned it. We didn't do much for my birthday, we weren't planning much for Drew's birthday...heck, even our 2nd anniversary got beat out by our (at the time) one-week-old.

SO WE'RE GOIN'.

We canceled our cabin in Colorado, changed our flights, booked a room in Tribeca, and it's a done deal. August in NYC is gonna be HOT, but we couldn't care less. We got tickets to Wicked (I've never seen it, and I'm good and tired of every human in the world saying YOU HAVEN'T SEEN WICKED?

No, I sure haven't. Ask me again in September.

We also got tickets to Hamilton. What?! Drew is probably so sick of listening to the Hamilton Cast Recording around the clock. It's all I've been playing. But you'd better believe that I'm going to understand every single aspect of that musical before I set foot in the theater.

Can't wait. Oh, and no, Arden Gray girl is not coming on this trip. She will be staying with our parents, and Drew and I will sleep full nights. What a strange concept.

This is a short week—Drew and I took off Friday to go to Fredericksburg this weekend with Lindsay and Preston! So pumped.

That's it, friends. That's all I've got.

Everyone have a GREAT week.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Saturdays in Waco

It's hard having a newborn—cabin fever kicks in very quickly when you can't leave the house. But since ours officially had her first shots and flu season is coming to a close, we can finally leave the house without having to worry. GAME CHANGER. So Drew and I decided to spend this Saturday actually doin' stuff.

This morning the baby slept until 5:15 (A BIG DEAL) and then after she ate she slept again until 9. AKA Drew and I were able to get some REAL rest. *praise hands*

It was my sister Kamryn's senior prom today(!!!)

So, per tradition, my mom and I spent the day getting her all ready to go.

It was actually so windy that this chick's false lashes almost came off.

Thank goodness for friends with lash glue, amirite?

It's hard to believe this little thing will be off on her next adventure so soon!

Her date was a good sport, obvi.

After we sent her off, Drew and I took the baby downtown. It was so beautiful out! We had to take her for a walk by the river. We also stopped for a smoothie per my request.

As you can see, she spent a lot of the afternoon asleep. Saturdays are hard.
After we left, Drew got an invite from a friend to go to a concert tonight. So Arden and I sent him on his way, and spent our evening watching The Notebook.

I came to the conclusion today that our new normal includes a stroller permanently taking up too much space in our trunk, and Saturday nights spent blowing raspberries on an infant's belly.

I like it.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

When sleep becomes currency

Two things are precious and hard to come by when you're a new mom—sleep and time. I'm permanently and insatiably exhausted. Even when Drew sweetly takes the baby on a Saturday morning so I can sleep two extra hours, I find myself wishing for a nap by 2 p.m. I don't understand it.

Arden started going to stay with Lindsay this past week. Lindsay's husband works at Magnolia, which is how we know them! She has two boys of her own and stays home with them. I couldn't have dreamed up a better situation for Arden. I had sooo much anxiety about the daycare situation for so long and then BOOM, one day God came through in a big way. It's so perfect.

Being away from Arden was hard and easy all at the same time. I missed her during the day, but more like "I wonder what she's doing" kind of a miss. Never once did I worry about her. What a blessing.

First day!

Second

Third

Fourth

Aaaaand fifth...

(More on this later)

Drew takes these pictures when he's dressing her every morning. (I have to be at work at 8, but Drew is 8:30, so he dresses and takes her.) I look forward to them every day!

Being back at work was a little surreal. It felt like I'd never left, but at the same time nothing was the same. We have a BEAUTIFUL new office space and that makes going to work so great.

I have to pump three times a day—10, 1:30 and 4. It takes 15 minutes every time. I. Hate. It. There's not a good spot to do it, it interrupts my work flow, and putting the thing together and then breaking it back down three times is just obnoxious. Everyone at work is supportive, which helps, but I just know THIS will be the thing that turns me off of breastfeeding. My goal all along has been to make it to 6 months. So 4 more!

Just unpacking and repacking the bags to get ready for a day at work is tiring. At night, I pull my pumped milk out of the tiny cooler I take to work, label and freeze it. Boil pump parts. Transfer frozen milk to the fridge so it's defrosted for the next day. In the mornings, I make sure there are diapers and wipes in the diaper bag. Lay out baby clothes. Make sure I have workout clothes/socks/shoes for barre/spin after work. Remember my water bottle and laptop. Make sure I have milk storage bags in my pump bag. Remember to grab both coolers for storing milk and pump parts. It's a WHOLE thing. I FULLY understand why moms go straight to formula, and I support you fully. You wont get any mommy judgment from me.

So why do I keep doing it if it's so much trouble? Heck, I don't know. If I'm being completely honest, maybe a lot of people told me I couldn't and I'm out to prove to myself that I can. Maybe I like burning 600 extra calories a day while I lose the last of my mommy weight. Maybe I like that Arden likes it. Maybe I want to be an example for other working moms that YOU CAN DO IT. (Even though I'm strugglin'. Hey, nobody's perfect.)

Arden started getting sick Wednesday night...I thought it was just allergies, but by Thursday evening she was running a fever. Drew and I panicked. I worked from home Friday and took her to the doctor. Hence the "day 5" picture being in her carseat with sad eyes. They ran blood tests and all kinds of junk. She was fine, there was nothing to worry about. But it didn't stop this new mom from worrying. (I read too many mommy messenger boards.)

First set of shots were Monday. Arden did pretty well! She cried, but she was fine. I did not cry, but I was ready for anything. At 2 months old, she's 11 lbs, 8 oz and 22 inches long.

Arden still doesn't sleep through the night. (Thank you, Lord, for the gift of coffee.) Typically, we put her down at midnight and she sleeps until 4. Back to sleep at 4:30 and awake for good at about 6:30. Every evening from about 7(ish) to 11, she has to be held or she cries. We're not quite sure what the deal is there. She usually starts a tantrum RIGHT as dinner is ready (her timing is impeccable), so Drew and I have to take turns eating. The house is a mess because after the whole day is done and we have a crying baby on our hands, we don't have energy for laundry or dishes. Shoot, we barely even have energy to watch TV.

But don't be fooled, it's good. It's really good. Sometimes (okay, always) we are tired. When my alarm goes off, sometimes I daydream about taking Arden to Mrs. Lindsay's house and then coming back home and passing out for eight uninterrupted hours. Like I said, sleep is currency. But she's such a gift. We love her more than we could ever put into words.

I'm extra thankful for Drew. He is patient, so supportive and SUCH a helper. He washes dinner dishes without me asking. He gets the baby to sleep like no other (we call it "daddy magic"). He boils my pump parts and defrosts milk and picks out hair bows and grocery shops and sucks out baby snot without ever complaining. He's the least lazy person I've ever met. I like him.

Things arehard, but they're good. We're head-above-water.
More updates to come. Stick around.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Momma's Newborn Must-Haves + Arden's Nursery

Pretty nursery photos taken by Rachel Whyte.

When I first started looking at all the baby gadgets and wondering what the heck to register for or buy for baby girl, I was literally lost. Thank goodness for friends who knew what they were doing and gave me GREAT advice on what we'd be needing or wanting with a baby in tow. Otherwise, I'd probably have started out with four baby outfits, a pack of diapers and a bouncy seat...and that's about it.

So here's a list of must-haves, don't-needs, and nice-to-haves—because it would have been absolutely lovely to have a list like this when I was trying to figure things out.

These things are based strictly on our experiences. Take this all with a grain of salt, because, of course, all babies have different preferences and personalities.

Not a mommy and don't care about must-haves? Scroll to the bottom to see more pictures of Arden's nursery. It's super cute, but I'm biased.

MUST-haves:

1. Rock n Play - They don't carry ours anymore but here's a similar model. It has saved us, because this baby girl will not sleep in anything that sits still, and ours auto-rocks itself. This feature is a LIFESAVER. I don't know what we would've done if we would've registered for one of those new fancy co-sleeper bassinets. It would've been such a waste of money. (For us! Some people LOVE those.)

2. Swing - we have this one. It is just about the only thing she will sit in while she's awake and give me a quick twenty minutes to relax.

3. Breast pump and freezer storage bags - I have this one, but we got it free through our insurance (and it was NOT hard, so please ask me how and I'd be glad to help you get a free one too!) I HATE pumping, but it's a necessary evil if I want to continue breastfeeding after I go back to work. I pump once or twice a day, and I have a pretty healthy back stock in our freezer—which is why these freezer storage bags are lifesavers! In my experience, you don't need anything else for storing milk. Just these bags. This pumping bra saves me daily. And this nursing bra is super great. Also, I don't have this bag yet, but it's a pumping bag for work, and I'm asking for it for my birthday. It's the only one of its kind that I've found. It carries your breast pump and makes that whole "pumping at work" process SO much less of a big deal. You can read all about it on their website.

4. Bottles - we have Avent brand. If you're planning to breastfeed, you only need one pack of these, in our experience. Otherwise, they just take up space in your cabinets and don't get utilized. And in our house, storage space is gold.

5. Boon Drying Lawn. Linked here. I resisted buying one of these at first, because it seems like just another annoying baby gadget that sits out on your counter and looks messy all the time. BUT you have to wash your breast pump parts EVERY single time you pump, so it's either use one of these, or set your stuff out on a paper towel. Which looks way worse.

6. Covered Goods 3-in-1 cover. Mine is this one. OH. MY. GOODNESS. This thing gets used DAILY. It's a carseat canopy, a nursing cover and a shopping cart cover (when she gets a little older). This was way worth the money. I think this will be my go-to baby shower gift from now on (even if you didn't register for it, because—trust me—you need it.) Arden LOVES hers as a carseat cover because it makes a secure little cocoon and she falls right to sleep. And any time we're out, I feel totally comfy throwing this thing over my shoulder and feeding her.

7. A good stroller and the correct connections for your carseat. We have this one. We love it! Make sure, if need be, you buy the connections. We didn't, and it made our first outing very short lived. But make sure to get stroller! Walks help with those baby blues!

8. ALL the swaddles. My favorite swaddles come from this website. They're adorable and SO soft. Arden actually hates to be swaddled, but we use these daily just to cover up her legs, lay her down to change her diaper, wipe up any little spit up messes, and just about everything else under the sun.

9. A good paci. We like this one. Arden can't hold her own paci yet, but when we're out of the house and she starts crying, this thing will relax her in a pinch.

10. An infant bathtub. Any will do, just make sure you get one! Ours was only $20 and it works perfectly. Don't worry about buying one that costs ANY more than that—it's completely pointless. A baby bath literally takes about six minutes, and you only need to bathe them 3 or 4 times a week to avoid drying out their sensitive skin. Spend your money elsewhere.

11. DIAPERS. I always knew we'd need diapers, but I never realized how MUCH we'd need diapers. Sometimes in one diaper change baby girl will mess three diapers. (The cold air makes her pee or she could accidentally have a blowout on the changing table...sometimes both will happen.) I'd say in a day we go through 12 diapers. And homegirl is 5 weeks old and we're still rocking the newborn size, so that's like 420 newborn diapers so far. Stock up, friends. Oh, and we've found that Honest brand contains blowouts the best. Pampers Swaddlers are okay, but she seems to go right through them much faster.

12. Wipes - Of course. The Honest Brand Wipes give Arden a rash. She has to use Pampers Sensitive. Maybe wait to stock up on wipes until you know what works for your baby.

13. NEWBORN CLOTHES. I've always heard not to worry about buying a lot of NB size clothes, because they grow into 0-3 months so quickly that NB size is a waste of money. Well, that's wrong. Thank goodness our friend Alissa stocked us up, because otherwise, I would've literally had 5 NB outfits. She's 5 weeks and still wearing NB. Not only that, but we change her clothes about 3x every day (newborns are diaper blowout city). So. Stock up or you'll be doing a LOT of laundry. We like Carter's. Cheap and cuter than Target. Plus there's one in Waco!

14. A baby book (if you're into that.) We bought this simple one from Amazon. Nothing fancy, but let's me paste in tons of pictures and keep up with this cutie's growth.

15. Line up a Newborn photo shoot. We did maternity and newborn photos. I'm glad we did both, but I'm REALLY glad we did the newborn shoot. It was in our house and we got amazing photos of the baby, us with the baby, and her nursery. Remember, babies don't keep—as they say. One day those pictures will be sweet, sweet memories of your teeny tiny newborn that you wouldn't have otherwise.

16. Diaper Pail. Ours (link here) contains the smell very well and is super simple to use.

17. Wipe Warmer. Here's Ours. Arden hates having her diaper changed without warm wipes. Seems silly, but it's WORTH it to avoid tiny baby screams at 5 am.

18. A stocked up diaper changing station. You'll spend a lot of time here, so you might as well stock it up and make it comfy for you and baby. Make sure you have a little container to hold diapers, diaper rash cream and baby powder. Also, get these. Lay them down over your changing pad and changing pad cover when you're changing baby. Otherwise, you'll be throwing that cute changing pad cover in the washer twice daily. Make sure the baby's laundry basket is within reach of the changing table. You'll be tossing soiled onesies in there all day long. We have this one. It's cute.

19. Feeding pillow makes feedings and just holding your baby way more comfy. Here's ours.

20. Thank you cards. People are going to be sending you food and gifts and diapers and all kinds of sweet things for your new babe. Write thank yous as you go.

21. A can of formula for emergencies. Even if you're exclusively breastfeeding, grab a can of formula at Target JUST in case You never ever know what will happen. Will you have a 4 am breakdown from lack of sleep and need your hubs to give the baby an emergency bottle 'cause momma just can't? Will you contract a serious case of the "baby blues" and need two hours away from the baby to go see a movie before you've pumped any breastmilk back stock? Will you be going through airport security and need to give the baby something to eat STAT? Ya never know. Just get a can, put it in your pantry and forget all about it if you want. We "exclusively" breastfeed, but baby does get a bottle once in a while (like if I need to pump and baby is acting WAY hungry, even though she was just fed less than an hour before, or if I'm leaving the baby with Drew and she just ate, but needs a "just in case" bottle.)

22. Gripe water. Our baby gets the hiccups five times a day. And they stick around for thirty minutes, no lie. And then she gets ticked. This magic juice gets rid of hiccups immediately.

23. FOR MAMA POST BABY-HAVIN': Tucks pads, Dermoplast spray, Lanolin cream, Sitz Bath, Epsom Salt (for your sitz bath), Colace and Motrin. And don't leave the hospital without some sort of pain meds to get you through the first few days.

Things you don't HAVE to have right away (in our experience)

1. Playpen - I have no doubt we'll use it someday when she's bigger. But for now, it's not being used, because she hates laying flat in there and she's not big enough to sit up and play with toys yet. So now we have this giant pack n play taking up space in our living room. Just get a basic one, like this one! And leave it packed up until the baby can sit up on her own. Don't get one with all the bells and whistles. Spend money on something else.

2. Crib - OBVIOUSLY you'll need one eventually. But right now girly girl sleeps in her Rock N Play in our room. So don't feel awful if you don't get yours all set up before baby comes!

3. Loveys - They're cute and sweet and soft, but tiny babies don't care about loveys. (Example of a lovey, here) Wait until your baby is bigger! Otherwise you're just storing it for no reason. Same thing goes for "toys" in general.

4. Wrap carrier - we went and bought this one. I wanted to love it, but I just don't. I like the ErgoBaby carrier better. We have this one and it's GREAT. (Some people LOVE the wraps. Maybe just try one out! But keep the receipt.)

5. Burp Cloths - you just don't need them, because you won't have time to go fetch one every time you burp the babe. We use whatever blanket is within reach if we have a spit-up issue.

Things you don't HAVE to have, but we love having:

1. A cute diaper bag. We have this one. Obviously it's pricey! But you use it daaaaaaaily, like more than your purse. So why not pick one out that has some style to it—it doesn't have to be expensive. Target carries cute ones! Also Drew doesn't feel completely emasculated by carrying ours around, which is a plus.

2. Books. Obviously Arden isn't big enough to appreciate all of her books yet, but I love having them in her nursery and dreaming about the day she goes and picks one out for us to read to her.

3. A good quality glider. We have one similar to this (except not that pricey.) You'll spend a lot of time in this piece of furniture! So pick a good one. Ours just looks like a regular chair, but it spins and rocks and the baby loves it.

4. Cute nursery keepsakes. Totally not functional, but so sweet just to have.

5. Blankets Galore. We maybe have 40 blankets for Arden. But I love every single one, and they all get used.

6. A good quality video monitor. We have this one. It works great! We don't use it yet, but we've definitely tried it out, and I know it'll give peace of mind once we move little lady to her own room.

7. Meal Train! My friends at work (shout out Hannah) signed us up for a meal train that's actually still chugging along. It was SO nice to not have to stress about dinners, especially in the beginning. When your baby is brand new you can't just take them to the grocery store (especially not during flu season!) so you're tethered to the house. This just makes life easier.

And here's some shots of sweet Arden's tropical flamingo nursery!