Decking Lola's Halls

I can't believe it's the week of Christmas already! Our baby girls FIRST Christmas. It feels so much more magical this year, even though she isn't old enough to open presents, eat cookies, or even know whats going on. There's something about your baby's first Christmas that hits you right in ALL THE FEELS. 

 I have ALWAYS wanted to get a real tree for Christmas. I grew up getting a real tree every year. Well Chuck is Mr. Don't-Kill-Trees-If-You-Don't-Have-To, so we use a fake tree every year. He had a great idea on how we could make this year special for her. We chose to get a smaller balled blue spruce, and put it in her room for this Christmas. We're going to plant it in our front yard after the holidays and decorate it every year with her for Christmas, so she will always remember it was her First Christmas Tree. (He's SUCH a softy, and I love it)

So here is Lola's room, all decked out for Christmas! Since we spend most of our time in here anyway, I thought it should be decorated the MOST!

 

And here is her "first ornament" daddy surprised us with, when mommy couldn't find a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament anywhere she liked.  It is SO perfect for her.

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Two Months

This two month old is the sweetest, cutest thing I have ever laid my eyes on. There is something new to love every single day. 

She has her 2 month appointment on Monday and we will find out officially what she weighs. But I'm SURE it's well over 12 lbs! Don't be surprised to find bite marks on those chubby cheeks one day. I can't resist!

She has always been amazing at holding her head up. But tummy time is a whole new level now. She rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time the day before she turned 2 months old. And then did it 4 times in a row and loved it. From what I'm reading, she is 2 whole months early for this milestone. I'm a proud mommy for sure!

She absolutely LOVES bath time. I would leave her in there for hours if I could keep the water warm and it didn't suck to lean over the tub so long. She hates when we have daddy go get the towel to get out.

She also loves her Mr. Moose and loves to feel all the different fabrics on him and try to put everything in her mouth. We put him in her car seat with her and she always grabs him and holds him close while she sleeps. It's adorable. 

She loves her chin tickled and when you bicycle her legs and tell her she's running. And she thinks it's hilarious to watch her mom dance around the room singing Mariah Carey Christmas songs to her.

Every morning when you go in her nursery to get her out of her crib she has the biggest smile and you can tell she is just SO excited to see you. And then she loves to play in our bedroom with Louie for a half hour before breakfast!

She's eating 4oz bottles about 6 or 7 times in 24 hours. And we just recently started giving her a 4.5 oz bottle at 9pm before bed and it seems to hold her off until 4 or 5am. Which has been so amazing for sleeping. Even though we still have our hit or miss nights where she is up at 2, or 3, or 4. Or all of them. But we will see how it all works out when I go back to work next week. Which I can't even begin to talk about. I have so much anxiety with going back to work. 

She is enrolled in a day care right by our house that we have heard great things about, but my heart breaks thinking about all the time during the day I will miss with her. There is a small chance my husband will be able to stay home with her for a little bit so she doesn't have to go to day care quite yet. We will see how it all pans out. 

I'm amazed at how fast two months have gone by. I'm so excited to watch her grow and see more and more of her personality come out. Mommy hood can be so exhausting. But it is absolutely amazing. 

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving 2015

Our First Thanksgiving as a family of 3.

Lola's First Thanksgiving

We always go to my Grandma Yokum's for every holiday. She's 85 years old and still cooks almost the whole meal every time. She has legendary stuffing. Like the best you could ever taste. We all bring a dish or two, and this year I made a brown sugar bacon and green bean dish (I didn't use a recipe, or get a picture, because everyone ate it up right away and there was nothing left!! But all I did was chop up bacon and fry it with brown sugar, cracked black pepper, and garlic powder, and add the fresh green beans to simmer for about 30 minutes). And also this cranberry baked brie I've made a few times in the past. Its so easy and really yummy.

Lola was passed around to just about every family member, and enjoyed little cat naps from each of them. She had the biggest smile yet when my mom's cousin Martha said hi to her for the first time. I'm not sure if it was her strong West Virginian accent or what, but her WHOLE face lit up for a solid 10 seconds. It was adorable.

We had all kinds of fun playing with all of the cousins. I can't even wait for Lola to grow up with everyone. Especially this little peanut, my nephew Robin, who is only 4 days younger then her. Isn't he SOOOO sweet?

I always leave every holiday wishing I took more photo's of everything. We always have so much fun all together laughing at all the funny things the kids say. Like my 2.5 year old niece Pearl saying "I fell on my butt"after Chuck growled like a bear to scare her. She laughed hysterically saying "he's a big bear!" I've always absolutely loved being an Aunt. But being an Aunt now with a child of my own to grow up with all these amazing nieces and nephews I have, takes the cake for sure. What an incredible thing to share.

Hope you all had just as great of a Thanksgiving as we did! And to all a good night!

Time Flies

I honestly can't even believe this sweet little girl is 7 weeks old already. I'd be lying if I said the first 6 weeks weren't absolutely crazy. From a horrible struggle breastfeeding, to nights of only minutes of sleep, to a rough csection recovery. The second that first smile showed up I couldn't even believe how fast my heart skipped a beat. 

It was like the minute she turned 6 weeks old a giant light bulb lit up our house and she started sleeping and eating great. 

She outgrew all her newborn clothes weeks ago! And will probably outgrow 0-3 months soon. She weighed in at 11lbs 4oz on Monday and the pediatrician says she's doing great! Her chubby cheeks and leg rolls are the CUTEST! 

She is on formula only now. The transition went very smoothly (for her). Me on the other hand was very sad to stop breastfeeding, and holy crap it hurt to quit cold turkey. Thankfully only for a few days. I'm still working up the nerve to write that breastfeeding experience post. I will one day.

She is currently sleeping 9pm to 4am in her crib. She gets a bath at 8 and her last bottle and chuck usually has her asleep by 9. I go to bed at 9, and Chuck has always been a night owl so he stays up until 12 or 1 in case she wakes up to eat. Until this week, he was coming in to go to bed and I would then go sleep in the nursery on the couch until morning and do all her feedings after 1. ummm THANK GOD we put a couch in there because she HATED the pack n play in our bedroom. I am now sleeping in our bedroom all night with the monitor. She wakes up to eat around 4 or 4:30, I give her a bottle, and then I usually spend a while rocking her back to sleep. She only takes probably 15 minutes to get back to sleep but I always find myself being pretty cozy watching her sleep and snuggling with her in the rocker. 

I lay her back down around 5 or 5:30 and go back to bed. She gets up again between 6:30 and 7:30 and I go get her and bring her into our bed. She is usually wide awake by then and SO happy to play in our bed. She smiles and coo's and tries so hard to talk for over an hour every morning! 

Her favorite toy in our whole house is.... The ceiling fan. Believe it or not, her first smile was seeing the fan. I was bouncing her in my arms to sleep and she didn't want to stop looking at it so I whispered to her "I promise it will be there when you wake up for a nap" she fell asleep, I placed her in The MamaRoo, which is right under the fan in our living room. And as soon as she woke up from her nap, she saw the fan and had the biggest smile on her face! I was basically jumping up and down yelling for Chuck to come in, and then crying until snot came out of my nose because I was so happy. 

They don't tell you after you have a baby that the first smile is going to make you feel every possible feeling you could ever feel in that ONE second of smiling. My heart was bursting out of my chest. I sure wish I could have bottled that up forever!

I know one day I'll want her to stop growing, but I'm so looking forward to all of her "firsts" if they make me feel this way! I couldn't possibly love this girl more!

Lola's Flamingo Nursery

Long before I knew I was pregnant, I knew what I would do to decorate a baby girl or a baby boys nursery. Bicycle theme for a boy (for those of you who know us, this was an obvious choice!) and OF COURSE pink flamingo's for a baby girl.

Ever since I can remember, my favorite animal has been a flamingo. They're so elegant and gorgeous. I thought it would be next to impossible to find pink flamingo decorations for her nursery but totally randomly, summer 2015 turned out to be the summer of flamingo themed everything! I purchased mostly everything from Etsy, but decided to do a few watercolors of my own. The color on the walls was supposed to be white. But once we started painting we realized, its definitely pink. But it's a very suddle pale pink that turned out perfect. Its called Pink Mirage by Behr.

Lola's nursery is almost complete.. I planned on doing a big flamingo painting above the couch but never got around to it. Once I do, I'll post on here, but for now… here's a few photos of the hard work Chuck and I put into her room. I'm so happy with how it turned out, and so excited to make a million memories in here!

Sources:

Dresser, couch, white shelves, frames, white globe light, gold frame (spray painted gold): IKEA

Night stand, basket, pink tray, glass jar, gold cup: TARGET

Rocker: BUY BUY BABY

Dresser Knobs: HOME DEPOT

Pink Flamingo in Crib: ANTHROPOLIGIE

Flamingo pillow: IDECCOR

Flamingos on bike art: AMELIELEGAULT

Dream Big Little One print: PINT SIZED PEONY

Love You Nightlight: HOUSEY HOME
Crib Sheet and Changing Pad Cover: NEW MOM DESIGNS
Tassel Garland: STUDIO PEP
Flamingo Watercolor above dresser, and "L" flower watercolor: Original Art by me
Growth Chart Ruler: handmade by Chuck and I

Photography by: ASHLEY SASAK PHOTOGRAPHY

One month

Can't believe my baby is one month old. In the beginning I thought time was moving so slow. The days and nights were so long without sleep or having a clue how to care for a newborn. We struggled so hard with breastfeeding (I'll save that for another post) and we stayed up most nights crying together. But now we have some really good nights and some really bad nights mixed in.

 I don't care what anyone says, having a newborn is HARD! And to those of you who do it without any help, hats off to you. I wouldn't survive without my husband who holds her from 8pm-12am so I can get a little chunk of sleep. My sister in laws who listen to me complain and ask a million questions, and give me advice every day. My mother in law who comes over at 6am when I just have no clue what to do. And my mom, who drops everything all the time to swoop in and work her Nana magic with Lola. Or just comes over to keep me company when I feel lonely while chuck is at work.

So far we've learned a few things about Lola in a month. What I thought was the cutest face ever, I called it her "duck face" where she purses her lips and looks like she's going to whistle, turns out to be the face she makes when she's pooping! 😉 it's still adorable. 

We will never go another night again without giving her a bath. She hated the sponge baths at first and now enjoys real baths, which I think helps her sleep better at night.

As she's falling asleep she likes to be whispered to. Even if you're whispering "I wish we were both sleeping right now" 

And she likes the sound of water running, which is a huge bonus for mama getting a shower in almost every day. (In desperate times I've considered running our well dry by leaving it on all day to get some sleep)

So even though we have seriously frustrating times. We have some silly ones and some seriously loving ones too. She's worth every minute of lost sleep with those beautiful blue eyes and full head of gorgeous hair.

Here's to many many many more months with our little pumpkin.