Post-Baby Bod

Oh, the joys of the post-baby body.  I honestly didn't even think too much of it when I was pregnant, but now that the time is here, the changes are very evident to me.  They might be things that only I (and Tyler) would notice, but there are definitely some differences. 

 In the few weeks after Ellie was born, I remember being scared that my stomach would stay in that weird there's no baby in my belly but I still have a tiny bump and a whole lot of jiggle going on status forever.  It took a few months for my pre-pregnancy pants to fit me again and I was frequently frustrated when trying to find something to wear.  When I went to visit my OB for my six week postpartum appointment, I remember her asking me if I had "looked down there" yet.  I said no (hells to the nope, lady), and she just kind of smiled.  Other than too many, I don't know how many stitches I had after Ellie was born.  All I know is that it felt like they were sewing an entire king-sized quilt together when they were stitching me up, and that it was painful to walk/sit down/stand up for the next two weeks.  The last thing I wanted to do was take a peek down there in my spare time.  

Luckily, wounds heal, baby weight slowly disappears, and stretchmarks fade.  Okay, maybe in a perfect world they do! ;)  Maybe some women bounce back immediately and look like nothing has happened, but I'm guessing the majority of women have at least one lingering sign that they endured pregnancy and giving birth (breastfeeding, too!).  I sometimes wonder what will change after two, three babies and would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit nervous that I won't be able to lose the baby weight as easily next time around, or maybe end up with a belly covered in stretch marks.  I have found myself thinking "oh man, that looks different now" on more than one occasion and I have gotten a little bummed out about it.  But then I think about everything my body has been through in the past year, and it's pretty crazy and kind of cool.  They're my "mom scars" and I'm proud to have them.  They brought me our baby girl, the best gift in the entire world.  

I've seen these photos as well as some similar ones shared a bunch, but wanted to share again in case you haven't seen them.  So, here's to embracing our "mom bods", ladies!  We did earn them after all. ;)

As a reminder of all the crazy things your body can do (and a little TBT), I'll leave you with a couple bump shots taken just days before Ellie was born.

 
What is that? I think she was trying to tell me she was ready to come out. :)

We're so close to Friday, I can practically taste it!  Who's ready for Meow-lloween weekend?!

Baby Faves: Five + Six Months

Another two months down!  Here's an update on some of our favorite things:

VTech cube - This thing is SO annoying but Ellie loves it.  It's currently on the fritz, not sure if it's batteries or Ellie's beatings, but either way I'd still recommend it.  It's noisy, lights up, and there is "fun on five sides," as you will quickly find out.  Any toys that light up and make noise are great at this age!

H&M leggings - These leggings are probably my favorite because they don't ride up as much on chunky baby legs as most of Ellie's others do.  They're cute and very reasonably priced, plus they fall under H&M's buy two get one basics.

OXO bottle brush - I just threw this one in the trash because it was very well used and got a new, different one, and am already regretting it.  It fits so well into the Medela bottles, which have a pretty small opening - it's a definite must if you're using those/similar bottles!

Sophie - I know I included her last time, but Ellie really loves her now.  She goes everywhere with us these days and is definitely her favorite teether.  Plus she's cute. ;)

Umbrella stroller - Perfect for walks with a baby who can at least kind of sit up on her own.  It's super lightweight, meaning I can carry it and Ellie in and out of the house on my own in one trip.  We do lots of laps around the yard/driveway and always use this one instead of the bigger stroller we have. We also do lots of laps inside the house when she's cranky and won't take a nap.  It's typically a good way to get her to sleep when nothing else works!

Board books - Little Blue Truck is one of Ellie's faves, but she really likes reading all of her books.  Board books are especially great because she doesn't have to be gentle with them, which is not one of her strong points. ;)  We also of course read Goodnight Moon every night (or change the words to Good Morning Sun if we read it in the morning).

Food pouches - We've tried a few different brands and have really liked them all.  Ellie eats a lot of the regular Gerber foods too, but I really liked how the pouches offered a little more variety in Stage 1 foods.  Plus, they're easy to feed to your baby and a little less messy.  Unless you hand them over to your baby like I do, then not so much on the less messy factor.

Summer Infant baby monitor - Even though Ellie doesn't sleep in her own room (yet), we still use our monitor all the time.  It gives me a little more peace of mind to be able to watch her sleeping when I'm downstairs switching laundry, eating lunch, whatever.  Our house is small enough that we can easily hear when she's up, but sometimes she rolls onto her face and I get paranoid and flip her over, so it's nice to be able to take a peek at what she's up to every so often.

She also loves her exersaucer.  I can't find the exact one she has, but I'm sure any one would do!  Also not included above are our cats - lucky little felines they are! ;)

We're still loving all of our past baby faves, too - you can find them here:

One + Two Months

Three + Four Months

Any favorite products for the months ahead of us?  I'm always on the lookout for new things to try! :)

Six Months of Ellia

Age: Six months - cant believe we're halfway to one year old already! 

Height: 26.5 inches 

Weight: 14 lbs 14 oz

Clothing size: Primarily 3-6 months but will soon be grown out of her pants and jammies.

Diaper size: 3

Eating: Fully on formula and loving solid foods!  Our doctor gave us the "okay" to try just about anything now (not just baby foods), so I'm excited to start incorporating some more foods into her diet.  She suggested soft noodles as one of the first foods to try, so maybe we'll try that soon.  I'm sure I'll be having a minor heart attack watching her eat "non-baby" foods for the first time, even if they're super soft and chopped up into tiny bites - hashtag helicopter mom.  ;)   She also suggested we try out a sippy cup - what?! BIG GIRL status.  It feels like she's really turning into such a tiny little human now.
Sleeping: It seems like we're finally on some kind of sleep schedule!  She's typically asleep by 9 pm, wakes up once in the 3:00 hour for about a half hour (sometimes she has a bottle, others I can just hold her until she falls back asleep), and is up for the day between 5-6 am.  That's not to say that we don't have the occasional bat shit newborn kind of crazy night, but it's usually pretty good now.  Naps are still sporadic, and she typically just naps in our bed.  How my mother-in-law can somehow get her to sleep in her crib for two hours at a time, I'm not exactly sure...
Favorite toys:  Other than Sophie, anything that lights up and talks is an Ellie favorite.  I plan on putting together our five + six month baby faves soon. :)

Loves: Eating. Moving around constantly - girlfriend can't sit still.  Cuddles until she falls asleep.  Being held 95% of her waking hours.  Her kitties.  Being outside.  Tickles.  When her daddy gets home from work.  Grabbing anything and everything she can and immediately putting it in her mouth.  Music + mommy's dancing.  Airplane rides + any kind of being thrown around in the air.  Funny faces.  Stroller rides.  Bath time.  Her pacifiers (the key to sleep around here!).

Ellie is seriously growing so much so fast, it's crazy.  Her hair is really coming in now, although it's kind of hard to see on camera because it's pretty light - her doctor even commented on how much it's changed since her last appointment.  She's a pretty steady sitter and you can tell she loves getting to see things from a different angle. She almost always rolls onto her belly when we're changing her diaper so we have learned to put them on backwards.  Same with getting dressed, which can sometimes lead to a minor meltdown (unfortunately for mama, who would love to play dress-up with her all day long).  She's such a love bug and we're pretty certain she's going to be a wild child when she can start running around - always wanting to be on the go and kicking her legs like crazy.  We can't wait to see what comes in the next month!

Happy half birthday, girlfriend!  We love you more than words can say. XO

Our Weekend

 

Another weekend over quicker than I can believe!  On Saturday, we had a nice, quiet day at home.  Tyler had plans but felt a little under the weather so he crashed our girls day - we didn't mind one bit! ;) We spent some time outside getting some (chilly) fresh air, and did a little bit of organizing around the house - a seemingly endless project.  We put away Ellie's baby swing (yep, I cried) and set up her pack 'n play to help keep her toys from completely taking over the house.  We'll see how well that works out. :)

After Ellie went to bed on Saturday night, I set up for our little Halloween breakfast!  There wasn't much to do - I made a kitty banner for her highchair, hung up a tissue tassel garland, and brought in some of the pumpkins from the living room.  I also made Ellie a pumpkin koozie for her bottle. It ended up being a complete joke because I decided to use scotch tape to hold it together instead of glue so it pretty much just all fell apart...  But, I still think the idea is pretty cute!  I also laid out her kitty ears + jammies to change into after she ate her messy breakfast first thing in the morning.

Ellie was up before the sun on Sunday morning (per usual) so I fed her and we hung out for a while.  Once it was a reasonable hour for a Sunday morning, Tyler got up and made us breakfast while Ellie + I dance partied in the kitchen. We tried making those candy corn waffles, but the colors just kind of all ran together.  Nevertheless, they were delicious. :)  Later on, we carved Ellie's first pumpkin!  I told Tyler what I wanted, and he carved away (so as cute as it is, I can't really take credit for it) - man of my festive dreams. ;)  I'm slightly afraid of knifes for whatever reason, plus I have no patience for something like that, so Tyler went to town and I am obsessed  to say the least. I added the ears and whiskers (he drilled holes for the pipe cleaners), and of course had to set it up with a beer for a photo-op. We spent the rest of the day watching football, spending a little bit of time outside and just relaxing. 

I love doing festive things with my babe even if she totally won't remember any of it - at least we know there will be pictures to prove it! ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!

Since Ellie started sitting up pretty well within the last week, we decided to give her highchair another shot.  I can now say that I definitely recommend it, especially if you're on a budget - well worth the two month wait until she was big enough to sit up on her own in it.  It does not get better than $20, and like I said, it's easy to clean and just kind of blends in with everything else in our kitchen - can't say the same for our living room covered in baby toys.

Also since Ellie's sitting up, I'm looking forward to putting her up front in the shopping cart (Target, here we come!!), but know that she will put any and all parts of the cart in her mouth within reach because that's what she does with e v e r y t h i n g.  I was thinking of getting one of those shopping cart covers in hopes that a cover will help keep some of the germs out of her mouth, and am taking recommendations if you have one that you love! Or, if you think it's a complete waste of money, please let me know that too.

A few recent total "mom brain" moments for you (yes, it is definitely a real thing):
1.)  Pouring myself a glass of water, sitting down to eat dinner and realizing I poured it in a coffee mug instead of my usual mason jar mug.  Maybe that was my body's way of telling me I needed more caffeine?
2.)  Setting my alarm for 5 pm instead of 5 am... this coming from someone who would check to make sure her alarm was set at least ten times before going to bed in the pre-baby days.
3.)  Losing count of how many scoops of formula I put in the bottle and having to dump the whole thing down the drain.  This has happened WAY too many times.  I now have to count them out loud.
4.)  The number of times I read my posts and still find typos... please be patient with me. ;)  I tend to edit when I'm trying to stay awake for middle of the night feedings!

This my mom needs caffeine tee is pretty perfect if you're suffering from mom brain like I am!

 I saw this monthly milestone blanket and am in love!  Seriously, what a cute idea.  If I wasn't so crazy, I'd get it for Ellie but I wouldn't want to start at six months, so maybe next time around. :)

Have you guys seen all of the cute baby jams at Baby Gap for Christmas yet?! I want one of each, but will try to narrow it down to just one pair.  At the same time, we do spend a lot of time in our jammies in this house, so maybe two pairs are warranted.  My mind will be in Christmas-prep mode from November 1st on!  SO, so, so excited.  Have I mentioned that?  ;)   I'm cannot wait.  More Christmas-y thoughts to come post-Halloween, I'm sure...

This sweet video that definitely made me tear up (okay, cry like a baby because crying is what I do, in case you haven't noticed).

Lastly, a couple photos of Ellie from earlier this week in one of her Isla Ann Inspiration bows!  So cute, simple + perfect for any time of year. :)

We have a low key weekend coming up and I'm looking forward to it.  Ellie and I will be having a girls day on Saturday, and we're having our Halloween breakfast + pumpkin carving shenanigans on Sunday morning (followed by football + pumpkin beer in the afternoon, of course).  Any fun weekend plans? Hope yours is fab!

A Day in the Life

Alright, guys! The long awaited day in the life post is here. ;)  Here's what my day with Ellie on Tuesday (yesterday) looked like - there are a couple pics from Monday mixed in, too.

5:30 am | Alarm goes off for Tyler to get up + get ready for work.

5:45 am |  Ellie is waking up and is grunting + squirming around like a little wiggly worm.  We play the whole put the pacifier back in her mouth game about ten times before I give up and talk to her to fully wake her up to avoid getting kicked in the face another five times.

6:00 am | We're up, daddy!  Ellie and I head out into the kitchen to say bye to Tyler and get breakfast ready.  I feed Ellie breakfast - prunes + oatmeal, yum.  After she eats, I pop her in her exersaucer, turn on Disney (Sheriff Callie's on at 6:30, thank God!), and run into the kitchen to grab my breakfast and make some coffee.  Ellie lasts about ten minutes in her exersaucer before she decides she completely all set with that and we move onto toys on the floor.  We play and watch TV for about an hour.

7:45 | Crankiness Part I sets in and I give Ellie a bottle and she falls asleep after drinking an ounce or two.  After rocking her to sleep for a few minutes (I've learned my lesson putting her down too soon after she falls asleep), I put her down in bed for a nap.  While she's napping, I drink my now lukewarm coffee and finish a little felt flower headband I started about two weeks ago.  It came out a little bigger than I had planned, but I've got 41 other colors of felt to try it with, so I'm going to try making some more. :)

8:30 |  Ellie's up!  We play for about an hour, Ellie has some more of her bottle, and I push her in her stroller around the house until she falls asleep because clearly, she woke up from her nap too early (Crankiness Part II).  I clean up from breakfast, wash bottles, unload the dishwasher + reload the dishwasher.

10:30 |  Another quick nap is over and Ellie and I cuddle then play some more.  We've now played with all of her toys approximately fifteen times each and it's not even 11:00.  Boredom sets in.

11:00 |  Bath time + dance party!  Ellie still loves her baths so after she's clean, she'll hang out in her tub while I dance and sing to some of our favorite country jams.  She thinks I'm hilarious (can't blame her).  I get her dressed, but not before taking some pics in her new headband!  

12:00 |  More playing, a little bit of a bottle, and then it's lunch time.  On today's menu: peas, peaches + bananas, in layered spoonfuls with peas strategically positioned in the middle layer.  Spoiler alert - she's having the leftovers for dinner.

Ellie wanted to bring a friend to lunch, I vetoed that idea.


1:00 |  Some more playing, and then I grab a quick shower.  Ellie hangs out in her rock n play (that we keep in the bathroom, in case our one bathroom wasn't small enough already), and chews on some of her toys.  Ellie is especially well-behaved today and I can almost enjoy my shower in between games of peek-a-boo with the shower curtain and even get to shave part of one leg before she starts fussing!  I smear some moisturizer on my face, brush my hair + throw it in a bun, and bring her in the bedroom while I put on some sweats.  Somewhere in here I've also managed to stuff something in my mouth for lunch too quickly to even remember how it tastes.

1:30 |  Outside we go!  We venture across the street to get the mail, make faces at ourselves in the car windows, and walk around the driveway about one hundred times.  Ellie falls asleep in my arms and we head back inside.  She sleeps in our bed again while I fold some laundry.

2:45 |  Up again and ready to play for a while longer.  After reading some books, chasing kitties, playing airplane and having another bottle, we call dad because we're waiting to see when he's leaving work - he's already left and stopped at the grocery store because these cabinets are pretty bare!  We head outside again, do another one hundred laps around the driveway, and swing on the hammock.  Ellie falls asleep on the hammock, we swing for a little bit longer, and head back inside.  I put Ellie down in bed again and work on cleaning up the kitchen and bathroom (Tuesdays we try to clean up since I go to work Wednesday-Friday).

 5:30 | Ellie's up just as daddy gets home from work.  We watch him unload groceries, Ellie has her dinner, and I squeal over the three pictures we got to see from our family photos this past weekend!  Tyler brings home some pumpkin beer and we share one, he heats up dinner (leftover chicken parm I made Monday night), and we eat while Ellie sits in her bouncer.

6:30 |  More toys + TV while we hang out with daddy for a bit.  I get up to vacuum, Tyler finishes cleaning up and I give Ellie another bottle.  

8:00 | Crankiness Part Million (??) sets in and I bring Ellie into the bedroom to watch TV and wind down.  After walking around with her pacifier for fifteen minutes, she's asleep - I swear she never falls asleep this early.  She wakes up crying for no apparent reason at 9:00 and then is down for the night.  Tyler and I get to relax until bedtime (yay!).  I write this post, clean up the jumbo container of cat treats that some creature knocked out of the closet + spilt all over the freshly vacuumed kitchen floor (so much for that diet), make a bottle to put in the fridge for when Ellie inevitably wakes up at 3:00 am (because pouring water + measuring powder is a complete joke when you just roll out of bed with a crying baby in one arm), and crawl in bed with my babe by 10:00. I can't sleep because I've got that "Sunday night blues" feeling but just stay in bed and cuddle with sleeping Ellie for about an hour until I finally fall asleep. And like clockwork, 3:34 comes around and it's time for another bottle...

There you have it!  Any similarities to your days?  I love to hear about other people's daily schedules, so please share if you've posted about yours.  :)  Some days are better than others, but Ellie was very well-behaved the past couple days - makes it that much harder to leave her for work.  

Hope you're having a great week! :)

MEOW!

My DIY kitty ears headband tutorial is up on the Rad Haus blog!  Be sure to check it out + share pictures if you decide to give it a try for you and/or your mini. :)  Happy crafting!

P.S. They look cute on pumpkins, too! ;)