Wednesday, June 25, 2014

What We're Loving Wednesday | My Favorite Blogs

I really love blogs.  Not only writing my own but reading others as well.  Writing this blog started as a way to share what was going on in mine & Jake's life as we were wedding planning and life as newlyweds, since I have a lot of family out of town/state and I could keep everyone in the loop very easily.  Now it's adapted into sharing updates on Ryleigh and other random things going on in our lives.  But mostly Ryleigh.  Cause she's the cute one everyone cares about anyway ;)

I love reading blogs, especially good "mommy blogs" because they give good ideas and some comic relief, and they help you realize that everyone has tough days [like when you're trying to pump in the morning and you hear a diaper explosion happen....] but everyone also has really great moments that make it all worth while.  These are ones I read on a daily basis:

3 Ladies & Their Gent
Amber is a young momma of twin girls and married to her firefighter husband.  She shares stories and photos of her adorable girls, and also some great baby food recipes and toddler eating ideas.  She is a registered dietitian so you can trust that her recipes and toddler meal plans give a nice, balanced diet.

Little Baby Garvin
Jessica is a momma of two girls, Harper and new little baby Eloise.  I think she can be credited with being one to start the chalkboard pregnancy update craze with her cute designs while she was pregnant with Harper.  She is refreshingly open and down to earth, and even her shortest blog posts are entertaining.  I love all of her fashion and decorating ideas.

Mix and Match Family
Shay Shull is the sister of Sean Lowe from the Bachelor.  This is her family blog, I also follow her foodie blog [info below].  She has two adorable kids and shares about everyday life with them and her hubby.  They are travel agents, so she shares stories of their trips and travel ideas for lots of fun places.  They are also currently going through the foreign adoption process so she has started sharing a little bit about that, although she's not giving tons of details until they bring their new daughter home, for privacy. 


And of course the designer in me loves some home décor blogs:

Bower Power
Katie is a wife and a momma to her three little boys.  She and her husband are very into DIY projects so her blog is mostly about that, while mixing in stories of her boys in between.  She is humble and sarcastic and always finds a positive outlook on things.  I wish I had her drive and planning skills to slowly tackle house projects.  I just get overwhelmed with my ideas and never get around to anything.

Tiny Talk
This is a party planning blog from Tiny Prints [a Shutterfly company].  I love seeing their ideas!



And I love, love, love this food blog:
Mix and Match Mama
This is Shay's foodie blog, and the best food blog I've ever found.  Her recipes are amazing and she has a ton of them.  We have tried so many and they have all been delicious...to name a few favorites: Lemonade Pie, S'mores Cookies, Chicken Pot Pie, Caramel Apple Cider Bundt Cake, Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings and the list goes on.  What I love about her recipes are that (1) her apps, dinners, and desserts are all fabulous. Sometimes a source is only really great at one of those categories, but you can get them all from her! (2) they are pretty simple.  You can easily find quick options for a weeknight dinner or last minute dessert to bring somewhere. 



 



Thursday, June 19, 2014

4 Month Check-Up

RYLEIGH'S 4 MONTH STATS:

Weight:  14lbs 9.5oz
Height:  26" pretty tall! I think that puts her like 95th percentile
Head Circumference:  16.25"

EATING
We have moved up to 5-5 1/2 oz bottles, still breastmilk.  I usually do make her one bottle a day that is an ounce less for before bedtime, since she tends to fall asleep before she finishes the normal size bottle.  She is eating about 30-35oz a day.  We introduced Organic Brown Rice cereal and Ryleigh was loving to get to eat "food" from a spoon.  She's been staring us down when we eat dinner and more recently adding lip smacking and "mmmhmmmmhmm" noises the whole time she watches us eat.  On our anniversary we got Cheesecake Factory to go and while I was eating my piece of cheesecake she literally followed the fork with her eyes for every single one of my bites.  I felt terrible, like we were teasing her, so we let her try some all-natural Sweet Potatoes and let me tell you--baby girl is a fan!  She's clearly not taking after mommy or daddy for this one because neither one of us can stand sweet potatoes.  Our plan is to introduce a new flavor on Saturdays or Sundays as breakfast/lunch so that we can watch her all day to make sure she doesn't have a reaction to it.  Then she will get it for dinner when we get home from work during the week.  Sometimes we mix with rice cereal and sometimes just serve it plain. 


TEETHING
Nothing has poked through yet but we've got some little bumps where the gums are getting pushed up.  We handle her teething pain with frozen teethers, Baby Orajel Naturals, Tylenol, and/or distraction...If we hold her and walk her around/bounce she calms down a little bit but still knaws on her hands.  We got her Hazelaid necklace and shes worn it a few times but I think it would be better on a baby who can sit up on their own.  I don't like how it can lay under her little double chin when she's being supported sitting.  We have shelved that for the next couple months until she can wear it again.

One of my favorite pictures ever!  The perfect shot of the two of them :)

SLEEPING
...through the night!! Whoop whoop! No change since last month.  We've found our morning routine goes a little smoother if we put her to bed in her onesie that she will wear the next day [plus her sleep sack].  That way when she doesn't want to be messed with in the morning because she's tired, we just do a quick diaper change and throw on some shorts.

 ACTIVITY
Always!  Her little legs never stop moving. She is a master at rolling from belly-to-back, and she's rolled back-to-belly a few times.  She attempts it a lot, but often can't figure out how to get her arm out from under her to complete the full roll.  She has also discovered Kona this month!  Baby girl loves her fluffy white dog.  She has pretty much zero interest in Reece, but the second Kona is within view she is smiling at him and reaching out for him.

DIAPERING
We are in the process of moving to Size2 diapers...still Pampers and Luvs.


CLOTHES
She's mostly 3-6 month sizes, but she can still fit into a couple brands 3 month size for shorts/skirts and onesies.

SPECIAL FIRSTS
--attended 1st wedding
--tried first foods - rice cereal and sweet potatoes
--attended first real sporting event [Charlotte Knights game w/mommy's networking group family night]
--Rolled back to belly
--Rolled belly to back
--Celebrated 1st Father's Day....with your first sports jersey [ATL Braves]!





Friday, June 13, 2014

#DoItForDylan

Today one of my friends is celebrating the short life of her son, Dylan.  Dylan and his twin brother, Grant, were born prematurely four years ago.  Grant is a healthy little four year old, but unfortunately today marks 4 years since Dylan's passing.  In honor of Dylan's memory, the family is asking that everyone do an act of kindness today to spread happiness and love.  Buy someone's food who is behind you in a drive-thru, donate to a charity, let someone out ahead of you in traffic, smile at someone who looks like they need it....then share it on Facebook with the hashtag #DoItForDylan. 








Wednesday, June 11, 2014

What a Difference a Year Makes...

Today we are celebrating THREE YEARS as husband and wife...really?!  & what a difference a year makes.  Last year when Jake and I were on our anniversary vacation in Nashville, we were walking around on Broadway one night popping into bars here and there and stopped in at a piano bar.  There was a blank song request paper on our table, and since it was so loud that we couldn't really hear and talk to each other, we started writing. 

We wrote down a wish... "Here's to hoping that next year on our 3rd anniversary we will be a family of 3..." 

Little did we know, we would find out that we were pregnant just days later.




And here we are.  Our little family of 3. 

It's been a wild year that I don't really think you can prepare for, no matter how ready you think you are to have a child.  But we wouldn't have it any other way :)


[and yes, I still have that paper!]




Wednesday, June 4, 2014

What We're Loving Wednesday | Baby Bath time

Our baby is growing and getting so big!  It's amazing seeing her next to younger babies because she seems like a giant instead of my cuddly little monkey. 

One of the other reasons we know she is growing is because she has officially out-grown the baby sling for her bathtub.  It's one of those "grow with me" tubs that changes for different stages [highly recommend this bathtub, it's awesome!].  She is loving being able to play kick the water.  She splashes all over the place but it's too cute and funny to watch.  We have a video but since she's nakey that will just be saved for her wedding rehearsal dinner or some other blackmail down the road... ;)

I thought we would share some of our bath time favorites...


Remember this turtle thermometer?  Well apparently his name is Trevor and he's pretty awesome.  Hello, how easy to use! Take out of box, toss in the water.  He turns on and starts monitoring automatically.  When I give Ryleigh her bath it's usually putting her tub up on the vanity counter.  When Jake gives Ryleigh her bath, it's both of them in our master garden tub and since she likes water we fill the tub up to where it's mid-belly height on her when she's seated.  Jake of course still has to hold her and support her and I kneel right outside the tub, but we also use Trevor to monitor the bath water in the big tub. 
 
We still use the bath sponge/comb thing that the hospital gave us to use for her baths, and we like the Aveeno Baby wash and Daily Moisture Lotion for during and after her baths.  Wrapped up afterwards in these cute hooded towels.  We only have one set of hooded towels and since she gets her bath every other day, one set works just fine.
 
We have some other bath toys but haven't introduced them yet.  Once she can sit up on her own I'm sure those will be favorites too.  For now, we stick to kicking & splashing :)