A Look Inside..

The week of a stay at home mom.

So what do I do all day/week? Well it really depends, even though now a few things are consistent. Some days we are out and about and have things planned, and others we just hang out at home.  There isn't a whole lot you can do with a 3 month old, and some days it's just too much work (and hot out!) to get her out and run all over the place, especially when she has a love/hate relationship with her car seat.  This past weekend we were out about 3 hours straight and she didn't make a peep, just happily looked around the whole time.  Other days, she whines and starts to cry after just a little bit in her car seat.  I get it, I wouldn't want to be strapped in that thing either!  I think things will get easier now that it's cooling down.  Her back is a sweaty mess sometimes once I get her out, so I know being hot has a lot to do with it.  Poor sweaty baby takes after her mama.

So back to our week.. During our time we hang out at home, our day consists of: baby feedings, changing lots of diapers, naps, play time on her map, play time sitting against mommy's legs, me trying to squeeze in meals and a shower, laundry, cleaning the house, catching up on reading blogs/writing mine, and some good ole day time TV.  I have become a fan of way too many daytime shows. Now I definitely don't watch all these shows every day, but here are the ones I like and try to catch when I am home- Kelly & Michael, The View, Wendy Williams, The Chew, Queen Latifah, and of course my favorite, Ellen, which I do watch every day.  I have become a huge fan of The Chew, thanks to my mom, and just ordered their new cook book.  I can't wait to try and make some of their yummy recipes!

Starting this week, our Tuesday and Thursday mornings are now booked. We are starting a kids gym this week and are taking the baby class on Tuesday mornings.  We did a preview class last week, and it was a lot of fun! I am going to be going with a fellow mom from my Mom's Club I am a part of.  Last week we met at a coffee shop in the same area first to grab some coffee and breakfast before heading over.  We got home after the class around 11:30am, so just in time for lunch for both of us, and a big nap after for little bit.  Also this week on Thursday morning, we are starting a play group with 3 other babies from our Mom's Club.  We rotate weeks at each other's house and get our little ones together to play and interact with babies their age.  On top of those 2 things, we also do random events planned with our Mom's Club. Last Friday there was a new member social, where we met at the park and got a chance for old & new members to meet.  The club is a group of stay at home moms that all live in the area.  They have events planned every day of the work week that range anywhere from getting together at someone's house, craft days, meeting at the park or museums, meeting to get ice cream, etc.  I am trying to do a few a month to keep us involved and out of the house.  I normally do the ones that are closer to our house, since it's easier getting out with her to places that aren't too far, and also ones that aren't too centered towards the older kids that can actually participate.

Throw in a few trips to Target, the mall, lunch dates with Lance, and other random outings, and that's our week! Nothing too crazy exciting, but that's the life with a baby! I am having so much fun soaking up all this time with my sweet baby girl and am so thankful I have the opportunity to stay home with her.  A big thank you to my amazing, hard working husband who makes that possible!  I'm sure by the time she starts kindergarten I will be hot mess having her leave me, but hey.. that's ok! :)

// last Friday at the park 

**On a side note, I would like to add Tilly has now been eating between 23-25oz daily the past week, which is HUGE for her.. yay!! I hope she is able to keep this up. She also seems to be slowly 

fitting into more and more 0-3 month clothes!  Now that her reflux SEEMS to be getting better, I think it's time to slowly move her into her crib and out of the Rock n Play.  Eh, this might be an adventure.  I'm not sure I'm ready for the sleepless nights this might bring back. Last night she slept 9:45pm-7:15am, ate, and is now still sleeping for her morning nap (it's 9:20am here).  Please send happy thoughts our way for an easy transition once I made the plunge and move her!

Happy Monday!

Tilly - 3 Months

 

 

Month: 3 - September 21, 2014

Height: 23 inches (this is from me trying to stretch her out and measure her myself! ha)

Weight: 10lbs 5oz (this is also a guess.. I weighed myself, and then held her and weighed.) 

Diaper Size: She's officially in size 1!

Clothes Size:  Sigh.  Still mostly in newborn.  I can say that the super tiny newborn are tight on her now, so we have retired those.  There are about 3 or 4 of her 0-3 month onesies she can wear though, woohoo!

Sleep:  Still doing awesome here.  She goes to bed between 9:30 & 10pm, and then wakes up anywhere from 5-7am.  She wakes up, eats, and goes right back to sleep though.  No matter what time her first wake up is, she always sleeps until around 8-9am for her last stretch and then is up for a bit after that.  I would say her most typical night is 10pm-7am, eats, and then back down until 9am.  Last night though she did 9:30pm-8:15am.. woohoo!  I've heard of a 4 month sleep regression some babies have, but since she started sleeping all night at 7 1/2 weeks and kept it up, I'm hoping this won't happen! I'll let you know! :)

Eat: This girl just does not like to eat. Average is every 3 hours during the day and still anything from 2-4 oz. Most common is 3 oz.  Around 20 oz total on a good day.

Likes:  Chewing on her hands! Good lord this baby can not keep them out of her mouth!! (yuck!) Being held, and moving.  She has to be bouncing or moving most of the time.. JUST like her daddy!!! She also LOVES to stare at the TV, which I'm sure is bad.. oops.

Dislikes:  Her car seat, being hot, tummy time, and not getting her way! hmmm

Firsts:  She now grabs her toys and will hold them forever and try to chew on them. Also, she is doing really good with her boppy pillow and tummy time.. that is when we can get her to do it without screaming! haha

Extra Updates:  Nothing too different going on this month.  Still my sweet little baby.  She had lots of visitors this month, and gets a bit overwhelmed with all the extra activity.  She is used to mainly just mommy and daddy, so I think it throws her off being around so many people and staying busy.  Now that the visitors are done for awhile, I will be able to do some more events with my Mom's Group and get her out and around more babies.  We have a few things planned this week, so hopefully she does good! :)

Happy 3 months little lady!!!!

Beach Trip 2014

Last week my parents came into town and we decided to do a little beach trip while they are here.  Living in Charlotte, we are only about 3-4 hours from tons of beaches, and unfortunately don't take advantage of it enough.  I knew we wanted to squeeze one in this year, and this was the perfect opportunity.  It was the week after peak season, so it would be WAY less crowded, plus the temperatures were a bit cooler.  When starting to plan this trip I wasn't sure how it would go stuck in a hotel with a 2 1/2 month old, so we only planned Sunday-Wednesday and it went great! Apparently always having Tilly's sound machine on "ocean" came in handy, because that baby slept almost the whole trip!

 

Sunday morning we got up and headed on the 3 1/2 hour journey to Ocean Isle Beach, NC.  The ride there wasn't the greatest.  She woke up about half way  a little cranky and wanted to eat, which resulted in a nasty diaper change in the back seat of the car in a Wendy's parking lot. Oh the joys of road trips with a baby.  After that, she slept most of the way, but I did have to crawl over the seat into the back twice with her to calm her down. Overall it wasn't the best little ride, but not the worst! On the way home we ended up getting up with her first feeding (around 5:30am) and left as soon as she finished. This time went MUCH better, she slept all the way until 10 minutes before we got home. She did scream those last 10 minutes, but that's ok! haha

 

We got to the beach around 3, checked in, fed Tilly, took a few pictures, and then my mom and I went to the grocery store to get some things for the week.  Once we got back, we all got ready and went out to dinner.  After dinner we went to a few little beach shops and then came back to walk down on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning we got up and it was crazy raining.. ALL DAY LONG.  This little bit slept in late, ate, and then slept some more! Lance and I walked down on the beach in the rain for a bit, and then came back up to get ready and we all ventured out to lunch.  Nothing too exciting this day.  Luckily it stopped raining that night so Lance and I went out and walked to a few more little beach shops and walked on the beach while my parents watched Tilly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday morning we woke up and thank goodness the rain had stopped! It was pretty cloudy and windy, but so nice to not be scorching hot.  We ate breakfast and then all got ready to head down to the beach.  We got a cute little tent for Ms Priss, but she only lasted in it maybe 5 minutes.  I think even with the towel, the sand was just too hard.  My mom gladly sat and held her while Lance, my dad, and I went to walk down to the pier, and then swim in the ocean for a little while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once Tilly woke up, Lance and I went back up with her to feed her, shower, and all take a nice nap.    My parents came up and got ready and headed out to venture over to Myrtle Beach for lunch while we stayed back at the hotel.

 

 

 

We woke up first, so a little balcony beer while we waited for my parents to return.  Once they got back, we handed off Tilly and went out for date night on our last night. 

 

 

Overall it was a great trip, and Tilly handled it WAY better than I thought.  Now my parents are back home, Lance is back to work, and Tilly and I are back to our days alone.  That is until Friday.. then Lauren and Sarah will be flying in for the weekend! I am so excited for some of my friends from back home to finally meet my sweet little girl! :)

 

Have a great week!

Quick, Yummy Trader Joe's Breakfast

So I recently discovered how much I love Trader Joe's.  I had been in one a few years ago, but didn't really pay attention to all the yummy, healthy things they had! If you've never been in one, it's basically a pretty healthy, organic friendly grocery store with really good prices.  Almost all of their products are their own Trader Joe's brand, and delicious.  There are also some non-healthy items as well, so it's a great mix.  It's a very cool grocery store if you have a chance to visit one.

I knew there were a few in Charlotte, but never felt the need to make the drive.  Once I found out there was one only around 20 minutes from me, I decided to go back and give it a shot.. and boy I'm glad I did! There was actually one about 5 minutes from my old job in downtown Charlotte, but it was in a CRAZY 3 story shopping center and being on the bottom floor, parking was insane so I never even tried to go.

I thought I would share my favorite breakfast creation I am loving.  I'm not sure what made me mix this together, but it's so good.. and not too bad for you either! 

 

 

 

Now, I LOVE these British Muffins.  They are whole wheat, and no crazy ingredients.  I toast these, add a small amount of Cookie Butter (this stuff is to die for) and an even smaller amount of Lemon Curd.  The serving size for each is about 1 tbsp, and I would say I use maybe half of that for the Cookie Butter and maybe a 1/4 for the Lemon Curd.  The Lemon Curd is very strong, so you only need a small amount.  This overall is around 200 calories.. so nothing crazy!

 

 

 

 

If you get a chance to go by Trader Joe's, grab these items for a quick, delicious breakfast!

Liebster Award

My friend Jessica at Meet the Magnolias nominated me for a Liebster Award! Check out her post here.

Basically, the Liebster Award is a way to expand the reach of tiny blogs by sharing them with readers.

1. Post 11 facts about yourself.

2. Answer 11 questions provided by the person who nominated you.

3. Create 11 questions to ask your nominees.

4. Let your nominees know they have been tagged, no tag backs.

5. Make sure the blogs you nominate are under 200 followers; the goal is to promote small blogs you love or what to get to know.

**I'm going to skip steps 3-5 since I don't know any fellow bloggers to pass this on too!**

 

 My 11 facts:

1.  I am pretty obsessed with my baby, Tilly, and taking tons of pictures of her. 

2.  I love being a mom, but hated being pregnant. 

3.  I am a bit OCD and like things done my way. 

4.  I love TLC reality TV that follows people's lives- Sister Wives, My 5 Wives, and The Little Couple

5.  I could watch HGTV forever. I love their new show 'Fixer Upper'. I want to move to Texas so they can do my house!!

6.  I moved 11 hours away from home to be with a guy I knew 7 months. Tilly will not be doing anything crazy like her parents did!

7.  I am 100% girly.. Love all things pink and glitter. 

8.  I've always been a deep sleeper and found out a few years ago I have a form of narcolepsy.

9.  I am addicted to shopping, but I'm responsible with it.  I always find the best deals and hate paying full price for most things.. Unless I just really want/need it! lol

10.  I have way too many nail polishes, scarves, and Bath & Body Works home products.. But not enough to not buy more. 

11.  I have horrible vision- worn glasses since 8 and contacts since 12.  If I wasn't so scared, I would love to get Lasik one day.

My 11 questions from Jessica:

1. When's your birthday?  July 22

2. What's one thing you hope to do before 2014 is over? Lose the rest of my baby weight

3. What's your favorite meal? Anything with chicken!

4. What movie do you want to watch right now? Sex & the City

5. Paint or wallpaper? Paint with an accent wallpaper wall

6. What's the easiest dish you make constantly? Homemade white veggie pizza

7. Have you ever been to Disney World? No, but I will one day!!

8. What's your favorite season? Fall

9. What's your preferred warm beverage? White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks 

10. What song do you want to dance to right this second? Shake it Off by Taylor S

11. What's your favorite outfit? Boots, skinny jeans, big open cardigan, and of course a good scarf!

Thanks for reading my lovely randoms and thanks to Jessica for nominating me and my little blog!!! :)