Good morning and happy Monday, friends.
I hope everyone has had a good weekend. The past month has been pretty busy around these parts, hence my absence. Its been a super busy season for Corey at work, which has left me to run our household by myself. I've been reworking our schedule over and over again to try to find the perfect balance of time with both kids, chores around the house, work with Beautycounter, time to attend my favorite workout classes, blogging, and just alllll the things. Who would've thought one little baby could cause so much change in our schedule?!
Speaking of that sweet little baby, he turned four months old last week.
I can’t believe three months with our little boy have already passed. Some days are long but the weeks and months are flying by so I am still trying to soak up and savor these moments where he is tiny, even on the hard days, because I know they will be gone forever all to soon.
What a different baby he is from his head-strong, sassy, very independent big sister. If I’m being totally honest it is really refreshing to have an easier baby this go round. I wouldn’t change a thing about Madeline and love her strong-willed personality but boy am I glad not to have a double dose of that in our house.
With Madeline everything was hard. Nursing was such a challenge. She was such a bad sleeper - at three months old she would only go to sleep with the perfect combination of bouncing/jiggling, shushing, stroking her forehead, and holding the paci in with my teeth by doing all of that at once. She had colic and terrible reflux and making sure she was gaining enough weight was a constant battle.
Happy Monday, friends. How is it already March?
We had a fun weekend this past weekend with a wine tasting event in our neighborhood, French press and pastries for breakfast at our favorite coffee shop, a hair appointment for me, and some time to just relax yesterday.
It has been raining for what feels like an eternity in Charlotte lately but we finally had a little reprieve over the weekend so our family took full advantage and headed outside for drinks and charcuterie Saturday afternoon. I snapped this picture of Madeline and feel like she looks so grown up here.
It is no secret that I have tried to be much more intentional about the products I am purchasing for my home and family these days. I try to be diligent about choosing organic, safe, or nature-inspired products and have made a few swaps recently that I am just loving.
I am often asked where I shop for safer products for our family and while there are many stores that I frequent, one of my favorite is my local Publix. The shopping experience is so pleasant (someone always helps me load my groceries so that I can attend to my kids) and the selection of healthy, organic, and nature-inspired products is wonderful. This year they have added some great items that I am loving especially and many of them are even on sale this week.
Well hello there. And happy Monday.
It’s been awhile since I popped in to this space. If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been I’ve really just been doing a heck of a lot of this.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being a mama to Madeline (who turned three during my little hiatus) it’s that babies don’t keep. So, I don’t have Connor on a perfect schedule. He doesn’t sleep through the night. I always rock him to sleep. And I am ok with it.
Connor Robert Walen joined our family at 7:37 am on Wednesday, December 5. My entire pregnancy couldn’t have been more different from what it was with Madeline so I shouldn’t be surprised that my delivery was completely different, too.
Throughout my pregnancy, I had very naively assumed that his birth would be much the same as my first. I hadn’t given it much thought but I guess I just expected that it would be similar since that is the only experience I had with childbirth and delivery and even though I did have a complication, it was an overall really good labor and delivery experience that was so much better than what I expected childbirth to be like. You can read Madeline’s birth story here.
One thing that I really loved about having a planned delivery this time (and spoiler - there weren’t many things I loved about my c-section!), was that I knew when the baby was coming exactly.
The Sunday before my surgery was scheduled, I woke up with contractions and they lasted all day long. My OB even had me come in to be checked since Connor was breeched. They gave me the choice to go ahead and have him that night or go home and try to wait until Wednesday since I wasn’t dilating or progressing at all.
I decided to go home and then we went about our regular day on Monday. Then, on Tuesday morning, we woke up and planned for a special day. It was Madeline’s last day as an only child after all!
I am constantly learning and rethinking my routine when it comes to the products I use in my home every day. Safety in terms of personal care is something I am just so passionate about, especially because I gave it no thought until just a few years ago.
When I learned that Publix and Procter and Gamble had teamed up for a Rethink your Routine promotion this month I was instantly intrigued and had to head to the store to check it out as I am always looking for safer products to add to my regimen.
Well, hello there. And happy Monday.
It’s been a while so let’s have a cup of coffee and play catch up, shall we. I have lot to share with you all - a nursery tour and a birth story, for example, but it’s a busy season and I’m running perpetually behind.
In fact, we’ve been fifteen to twenty minutes late to preschool every.single.day since the return of the winter break. Except one day. And that day taught me there are actually some advantages to rolling in at the last minute and not having to wait in the carpool line. Mainly that tiny babies don’t like to sit still in cars while you wait in line.
I love January and the New Year. That feeling of a fresh start with a whole year ahead of you is so refreshing. It always leaves me feeling so excited about all the possibilities for the year because I have no idea what is coming our way over the next twelve months. 2018 was a big year for our family as Corey started a new job, I started a new business, Madeline blossomed into such a big girl, and we welcomed a new baby. I can’t wait to see what our family does this year.
Every year I share my “intentions.” I hate calling them resolutions because to resolve sounds so concrete and makes me feel locked in. You never know what life will throw at you in a given year. So I really prefer to call these my intentions - the things I plan and hope to accomplish given the information I have now - the very first week of January.