My friend Courtney writes a great blog called Brussel Sprouts and Beer. It's s healthy living blog that's about finding the balance between health & wellness and little indulgences. She recently completed her first 5K and has inspired me to start the Couch To 5k program. Definitely not, nor have I ever, been a runner so we'll see how that goes!
Courtney hosted her first giveaway on her blog recently...a case of Greek yogurt from Chobani. Guess who won?! Me! Woo hoo!
Thanks so much to Courtney for hosting the giveaway! Be sure to check out her blog soon!!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
October is for Birthdays
After a big weekend celebrating Barrett's 30th, my turn came Thursday. I turned 29 this year, and I just know that the next year is going to be so amazing. I can't wait to watch Ellison grow and learn over the next year!
Barrett outdid himself and truly made the day special for me. He took off work to spend the day with Ellison so I could have just a little me time. I got to sleep in and woke up to fresh coffee and French toast waiting for me. I opened birthday cards and discovered Barrett had scheduled a massage for that afternoon. Ellison and Buddy gave me a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure too!
I had the most relaxing massage and then met my little family for a little snack at Mellow Mushroom. This was Ellison's first restaurant experience. She did really well considering we say down to eat very close to her next feeding time!
I headed over to get my mani/pedi and enjoyed a nice glass of wine. I picked up a pumpkin latte on my way out to boost my energy for a dinner date with my sweet hubby. I came home to a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a balloon from my sweet friends the Crawfords! Gigi and grandad came over to visit with Ellison while we went out. We had dinner at George's Brasserie. It was delicious and we absolutely indulged ourselves.
It was a fabulous day. Thank you, thank you to my amazing husband for making it such a special birthday! Now, off to spend today snuggling with my most precious gift. :-)
Barrett outdid himself and truly made the day special for me. He took off work to spend the day with Ellison so I could have just a little me time. I got to sleep in and woke up to fresh coffee and French toast waiting for me. I opened birthday cards and discovered Barrett had scheduled a massage for that afternoon. Ellison and Buddy gave me a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure too!
I had the most relaxing massage and then met my little family for a little snack at Mellow Mushroom. This was Ellison's first restaurant experience. She did really well considering we say down to eat very close to her next feeding time!
I headed over to get my mani/pedi and enjoyed a nice glass of wine. I picked up a pumpkin latte on my way out to boost my energy for a dinner date with my sweet hubby. I came home to a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a balloon from my sweet friends the Crawfords! Gigi and grandad came over to visit with Ellison while we went out. We had dinner at George's Brasserie. It was delicious and we absolutely indulged ourselves.
It was a fabulous day. Thank you, thank you to my amazing husband for making it such a special birthday! Now, off to spend today snuggling with my most precious gift. :-)
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Pin There, Done That
I am slightly obsessed with Pinterest. Slightly. I discovered it about a year ago, and at first I couldn't stop looking at it. We're talking hours a day...scrolling through screen after screen of pins. Then, life and pregnancy happened and I temporarily forgot about Pinterest. About a month ago, I started scrolling through pins again. It's easy to navigate with one hand while snuggling a sleepy baby!
I've got thousands of pins. Recipes, craft projects, baby stuff, gift ideas, etc. Lots of wonderful ideas. While I was furiously pinning away, I wasn't really doing anything with the pins.
So, I'd like to change that. I made myself a new Pinterest board titled "Pin There, Done That" to repin things I've actually done that I've pinned. The goal is to try something new at least once a week. Maybe it will be a crockpot meal or a holiday craft. Maybe I'll actually buy one of the cute etsy outfits for Ellison. Stay tuned!
I've got thousands of pins. Recipes, craft projects, baby stuff, gift ideas, etc. Lots of wonderful ideas. While I was furiously pinning away, I wasn't really doing anything with the pins.
So, I'd like to change that. I made myself a new Pinterest board titled "Pin There, Done That" to repin things I've actually done that I've pinned. The goal is to try something new at least once a week. Maybe it will be a crockpot meal or a holiday craft. Maybe I'll actually buy one of the cute etsy outfits for Ellison. Stay tuned!
Pumpkin Patch and Blues & BBQ Festival
Last weekend, we ventured out as a family for our first real outing. Before this, Ellison had only been to the park once for a couple hours, the pediatrician, and my OB office! We finally felt a little more comfortable bringing her out in public once she reached the six week mark. This was the first time we'd be gone long enough to have to think about feedings and diaper changes on the go!
We started the day at the Hall Family Farm. We are lucky to have this so near our house. It's almost directly across the street from our neighborhood. In the spring, you can pick your own strawberries and in the fall it's a pumpkin patch. There was a corn maize, hay rides, and lots of other children's activities. Ellison is too young for most of the activities still, but we got some cute photos and a pumpkin. The weather was beautiful that day and it was so nice to get out of the house to enjoy it! Grandad and GiGi joined us at the pumpkin patch too!
After dropping Gigi and Grandad off, the three of us headed uptown to the NC Music Factory for the Blues & BBQ Festival. After a quick diaper change and bottle in the car, we were ready for a few more hours of fun The television show BBQ Pitmasters was there filming an episode, there were hundreds of individual teams competing in a variety of categories, and there was lots of yummy food! They also had some great bands playing and a craft brewery tasting tent. Ellison was wonderfully behaved. She slept nearly the entire time. We're lucky that she loves her stroller so much!
We had such a great day and look forward to more fun family days in the future!
We started the day at the Hall Family Farm. We are lucky to have this so near our house. It's almost directly across the street from our neighborhood. In the spring, you can pick your own strawberries and in the fall it's a pumpkin patch. There was a corn maize, hay rides, and lots of other children's activities. Ellison is too young for most of the activities still, but we got some cute photos and a pumpkin. The weather was beautiful that day and it was so nice to get out of the house to enjoy it! Grandad and GiGi joined us at the pumpkin patch too!
After dropping Gigi and Grandad off, the three of us headed uptown to the NC Music Factory for the Blues & BBQ Festival. After a quick diaper change and bottle in the car, we were ready for a few more hours of fun The television show BBQ Pitmasters was there filming an episode, there were hundreds of individual teams competing in a variety of categories, and there was lots of yummy food! They also had some great bands playing and a craft brewery tasting tent. Ellison was wonderfully behaved. She slept nearly the entire time. We're lucky that she loves her stroller so much!
We had such a great day and look forward to more fun family days in the future!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Wishing the Happiest Birthday to Our Favorite Guy!
Happy Happy Birthday to the most amazing husband, daddy, and my very best friend! Today Barrett turns the big 3-0!
We celebrated this past weekend with a night out on the town. We were so thankful that our families could come to visit and spend the weekend with us. Susan came to town from
Florida for the weekend; Matt, Jenna, Landon, and Lola came from Greenville; Rachel and Bubba came from Raleigh; Barrett's cousin Brooks came from Richlands; our friend Doug came from Charleston; and my mom came from Burlington.
The grandmas were awesome and stayed home to watch Landon, Lola, and Ellison while we went out to celebrate. A few of Barrett's friends joined us and we went out to a delicious dinner at The Liberty. After dinner, we hit up Strike City. We rented a few lanes and provided beer and wine for our guests. We had a blast! Then, we continued the night at a couple of bars uptown. We even stayed in a hotel uptown! Quite the milestone for these new parents!
Barrett continued celebrating Sunday morning by heading out to tailgate and attend the Panthers/Cowboys game.
Tonight, we're having jalapeño popper chicken for dinner and enjoying our little family now that our guests have all made it back home safe and sound.
For Barrett's gift, I went out and selected 30 different beers - 30 Beers for 30 Years! On each bottle, I put a little note telling him why we think he's awesome. Ten notes each from me, Ellison, and Buddy. :-). I also think its fun that he gets a card from sweet Ellie Bean this year too!
Barrett - we love you more than you can ever imagine. Thank you for loving us with your whole heart. You take such good care of all of us, and we hope the next thirty years are as fulfilling for you as the first. You're our best friend. XOXO
We celebrated this past weekend with a night out on the town. We were so thankful that our families could come to visit and spend the weekend with us. Susan came to town from
Florida for the weekend; Matt, Jenna, Landon, and Lola came from Greenville; Rachel and Bubba came from Raleigh; Barrett's cousin Brooks came from Richlands; our friend Doug came from Charleston; and my mom came from Burlington.
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| cousins. |
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| Aunt Rachel, Uncle Bubba, Ellison, Bambino, and Buddy |
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| Ellison and Doug |
The grandmas were awesome and stayed home to watch Landon, Lola, and Ellison while we went out to celebrate. A few of Barrett's friends joined us and we went out to a delicious dinner at The Liberty. After dinner, we hit up Strike City. We rented a few lanes and provided beer and wine for our guests. We had a blast! Then, we continued the night at a couple of bars uptown. We even stayed in a hotel uptown! Quite the milestone for these new parents!
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| Bubba and Rach |
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| Ready to celebrate! |
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| Doug, Me, and Jenna |
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| Barrett and Brooks |
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| Brooks, Barrett, and Jenna |
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| fairly certain this ended up in the gutter. |
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| High School Buddies - Charlie, Barrett, and Doug |
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| Best cupcakes in Charlotte - Polka Dot Bakeshop |
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| High Score - Matt Low Score - Brooks Photo Bomber - Barrett |
Barrett continued celebrating Sunday morning by heading out to tailgate and attend the Panthers/Cowboys game.
Tonight, we're having jalapeño popper chicken for dinner and enjoying our little family now that our guests have all made it back home safe and sound.
For Barrett's gift, I went out and selected 30 different beers - 30 Beers for 30 Years! On each bottle, I put a little note telling him why we think he's awesome. Ten notes each from me, Ellison, and Buddy. :-). I also think its fun that he gets a card from sweet Ellie Bean this year too!
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| 30 Beers for 30 Years |
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| I mean...how perfect is this one? |
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| Barrett came home to spend his lunch break with us! |
Barrett - we love you more than you can ever imagine. Thank you for loving us with your whole heart. You take such good care of all of us, and we hope the next thirty years are as fulfilling for you as the first. You're our best friend. XOXO
Friday, October 19, 2012
Still here!
Blogging has obviously taken a backseat lately! The days go by so fast and it seems like there's never enough time to sit and catch up. Seven weeks in, and I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of this mommy thing, so I hope to find a few extra minutes here and there to update!
In addition to not having enough time, there are a few other reasons I haven't been blogging lately.
1) Ellison is too cute. I can't stop looking at her, snuggling her, or hanging out with her. :-)
2) I broke our Internet. We have an air card with AT&T and after a certain amount of megabytes or gigabytes or something, they cut you off. I've been uploading giant photo files, and I used up all our Internet. Twice.
3) I spent what little time and Internet we had (see above) uploading photos to Shutterfly. They had photo books 50% off through yesterday, do I wanted to make one of Ellison's newborn photos.
So, excuses aside, I'll be back. I've been keeping a running list of things I want to blog about, so there is more to come. I may be doing most of my blogging from my phone though, so please excuse any spelling errors or grammatical faux pas in advance.
Here's a little iPhone pic (cause lets be honest, that's easier than pulling out the fancy camera) of our little one to tide you over...
In addition to not having enough time, there are a few other reasons I haven't been blogging lately.
1) Ellison is too cute. I can't stop looking at her, snuggling her, or hanging out with her. :-)
2) I broke our Internet. We have an air card with AT&T and after a certain amount of megabytes or gigabytes or something, they cut you off. I've been uploading giant photo files, and I used up all our Internet. Twice.
3) I spent what little time and Internet we had (see above) uploading photos to Shutterfly. They had photo books 50% off through yesterday, do I wanted to make one of Ellison's newborn photos.
So, excuses aside, I'll be back. I've been keeping a running list of things I want to blog about, so there is more to come. I may be doing most of my blogging from my phone though, so please excuse any spelling errors or grammatical faux pas in advance.
Here's a little iPhone pic (cause lets be honest, that's easier than pulling out the fancy camera) of our little one to tide you over...
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
One Month
Dear Ellison -
You are one month old now and we just can't believe it. It's really gone by so fast and it seems like it can't be that long ago that we welcomed you into our lives. You have been such a blessing and we are loving every second with you. You are getting bigger and bigger every day and we are learning more about you every minute. Here are some things that have been happening...
- You had your one month checkup with the pediatrician on October 1. You weighed in at 9 lbs 4 oz (20th percentile) and are 21 inches long (28th percentile)! That means you've gained exactly 2 pounds and grown an inch since your birthday! You are still wearing newborn diapers and we are slowly transitioning into your 0-3 month clothes. Some of them are still huge on you, but your newborns are way too short for you now.
- We have been dealing with two angry baby monsters lately - gas and reflux. The Enfamil Newborn formula you were originally on was making you super gassy. You would cry and scream for hours every night! We tried to switch you to Enfamil Gentlease, and you wanted no part of it. Apparently it doesn't taste very good and you let us know that you weren't going to be drinking it really quickly. We switched you to Similac Sensitive and started giving you gas drops, and it seems to have helped your gas issues tremendously. After we got that under control, reflux reared it's angry head. We self diagnosed you...you were screaming with your feedings, spitting up after every feeding (sometimes three or four times) and it would often have pieces of partially digested milk in it, gagging and coughing, arching your back...all the classic signs. We tried lots of things to help you. We switched your bottles to Dr. Browns, bought a Rock N Play Sleeper (which by the way is amazing!), bought a wedge for your crib, and held you upright for 20 minutes after eating. None of that really seemed to give you any relief. So, we mentioned it to your doctor at your appointment and she prescribed Zantac. Hopefully we will start to see some relief soon. It makes us really sad when you're sad and we can't help you!
- Your first night sleeping in the Rock N Play was awesome! You slept from 9-2 and then again from 3-6! Of course, the next night you were up every two hours! :-) We are starting a bedtime routine with you to try to get you to sleep longer stretches at night. Starting at around 8:00, you'll get your Zantac, take a bath, get a good bedtime lotion massage, have a little snuggle time while we read a book, get swaddles nice and tight, have a warm bottle, and then straight to bed. Last night was our first night trying this, and you slept from 9-2, 3-4 (?), and then from 5-8. If we could just cut out that random middle of the night wake up, we'd be good!
- We have been doing more tummy time and you are tolerating it for longer periods of time each day. Sometimes, you'll just lay there, and other times you'll push with your feet and move your head around. You really do have great head control though! When we're holding you, you're always looking around and holding your head up straight. You also have super strong legs and are always trying to "stand" while we're holding you.
- You took your first nap in your crib. The first time, you only slept for about 15 minutes, but the next time you slept for about an hour! We're going to slowly ease you into your crib, starting with your daytime naps. We're not 100% comfortable putting you in there at night until we get your reflux under control.
- Mommy and Daddy went out to dinner for the second time! Aunt Anna came over to sit with you for a couple of hours while we got out of the house. It does get a tiny bit easier to let other people love on you for a little while, but we definitely miss you when we're gone!
- You had your first real outing. We went to an event that mommy's work was putting on at the park. The weather was nice and it was good to get out of the house. You got to meet a lot of mommy's work friends and they all think you're the best! We still haven't taken you out in public otherwise though yet. The pediatrician made me nervous and said that we really shouldn't have you in crowds until you're 6-8 weeks, so I guess we're homebound again! We do plan to get you outside a lot more though now that the weather is getting nicer.
- Happy One Month, Sweet Girl. We can't wait to see what is in store...
You are one month old now and we just can't believe it. It's really gone by so fast and it seems like it can't be that long ago that we welcomed you into our lives. You have been such a blessing and we are loving every second with you. You are getting bigger and bigger every day and we are learning more about you every minute. Here are some things that have been happening...
- You had your one month checkup with the pediatrician on October 1. You weighed in at 9 lbs 4 oz (20th percentile) and are 21 inches long (28th percentile)! That means you've gained exactly 2 pounds and grown an inch since your birthday! You are still wearing newborn diapers and we are slowly transitioning into your 0-3 month clothes. Some of them are still huge on you, but your newborns are way too short for you now.
- We have been dealing with two angry baby monsters lately - gas and reflux. The Enfamil Newborn formula you were originally on was making you super gassy. You would cry and scream for hours every night! We tried to switch you to Enfamil Gentlease, and you wanted no part of it. Apparently it doesn't taste very good and you let us know that you weren't going to be drinking it really quickly. We switched you to Similac Sensitive and started giving you gas drops, and it seems to have helped your gas issues tremendously. After we got that under control, reflux reared it's angry head. We self diagnosed you...you were screaming with your feedings, spitting up after every feeding (sometimes three or four times) and it would often have pieces of partially digested milk in it, gagging and coughing, arching your back...all the classic signs. We tried lots of things to help you. We switched your bottles to Dr. Browns, bought a Rock N Play Sleeper (which by the way is amazing!), bought a wedge for your crib, and held you upright for 20 minutes after eating. None of that really seemed to give you any relief. So, we mentioned it to your doctor at your appointment and she prescribed Zantac. Hopefully we will start to see some relief soon. It makes us really sad when you're sad and we can't help you!
- Your first night sleeping in the Rock N Play was awesome! You slept from 9-2 and then again from 3-6! Of course, the next night you were up every two hours! :-) We are starting a bedtime routine with you to try to get you to sleep longer stretches at night. Starting at around 8:00, you'll get your Zantac, take a bath, get a good bedtime lotion massage, have a little snuggle time while we read a book, get swaddles nice and tight, have a warm bottle, and then straight to bed. Last night was our first night trying this, and you slept from 9-2, 3-4 (?), and then from 5-8. If we could just cut out that random middle of the night wake up, we'd be good!
- We have been doing more tummy time and you are tolerating it for longer periods of time each day. Sometimes, you'll just lay there, and other times you'll push with your feet and move your head around. You really do have great head control though! When we're holding you, you're always looking around and holding your head up straight. You also have super strong legs and are always trying to "stand" while we're holding you.
- You took your first nap in your crib. The first time, you only slept for about 15 minutes, but the next time you slept for about an hour! We're going to slowly ease you into your crib, starting with your daytime naps. We're not 100% comfortable putting you in there at night until we get your reflux under control.
- Mommy and Daddy went out to dinner for the second time! Aunt Anna came over to sit with you for a couple of hours while we got out of the house. It does get a tiny bit easier to let other people love on you for a little while, but we definitely miss you when we're gone!
- You had your first real outing. We went to an event that mommy's work was putting on at the park. The weather was nice and it was good to get out of the house. You got to meet a lot of mommy's work friends and they all think you're the best! We still haven't taken you out in public otherwise though yet. The pediatrician made me nervous and said that we really shouldn't have you in crowds until you're 6-8 weeks, so I guess we're homebound again! We do plan to get you outside a lot more though now that the weather is getting nicer.
- Happy One Month, Sweet Girl. We can't wait to see what is in store...
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