friday funny

My sister sent this to me and it cracked me up so I had to share.

Happy Friday!

chit chat

*Banana Republic has some cute stuff lately! I'm loving all the stripes and color. I picked up a nautical inspired wrap dress, this fun printed blouse (in pink) and a great basic a-line skirt. They're running another 30% off sale right now and I'm tempted to pick up a few more things. They had some really adorable accessories at my local store but unfortunately I'm not finding most of it online. (Sadly, the Banana didn't bribe me to say any of this. But I'm totally open to that arrangement.)

*I'm so tired. I know complaining about being tired after having a baby is like going swimming and complaining about getting wet but holy crap, I am tired. It seems 6 hours of sleep is just not going to happen anymore. Even when B sleeps through the night, I can't seem to get everything done and get myself into bed before 12:30am. I might need to buy an alarm clock because the temptation to throw my iPhone against the wall when the alarm goes off each morning may one day become too much to resist.

So, I know the "Sh*t ... Says" videos are a bit tired but I think fans of Downton Abbey might appreciate his one. Sh*t The Dowager Countess Says is just too funny. Maggie Smith is the absolute highlight of the show for me.

B needs some new headbands. Girl moms, do you have any favorite Etsy sellers or websites for hairbows you can share?

Need a quick, semi-healthy weeknight dinner?  Try these:

Source: mamalovesfood.com via Melissa on Pinterest

I made these using reduced fat crescent rolls and they were very tasty. You could easily sub in different deli meat and cheese to suit your preferences. (I hate swiss so I used muenster.)

Okay, that's all I've got today.  Happy Tuesday, everybody!

5 months

My baby girl,

You are five months old today. I can tell you without hesitation that these have been the best months of my life. You are so much fun! You are such a happy, hilarious little girl. Daddy and I are amazed that each day we love you even more than the one before. We are so proud of all the milestones you've reached. 

You are such a roly poly these days! When you're on your mat playing with toys you are constantly rolling from your back to your belly. You're happy to stay that way and play for a while but when you're ready to lay on your back again you start fussing to let us know. You haven't mastered rolling from belly to back yet.

You're wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes now and size 2 diapers. You have more shoes than Carrie Bradshaw and have worn one pair, one time, for approximately 2 minutes. Hopefully you'll grow into some of them soon!

Sleep was a bit tough this month. Most nights you slept about 11 hours but about once or twice a week you've been waking up in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. Sometimes we can rock you back to sleep, other times we feed you and we're up for a few hours. As sleepy as we are during these unexpected late night sessions, it's hard not to smile when we go in to get you and are greeted with a giant grin. Still, I hope you go back to your great sleeping ways soon and save those sweet smiles for morning.  :)

You've recently started a hilarious little "trick" of panting like a puppy dog. Sometimes when you get excited you stick out your little tongue and pant. It's too funny. I think you like that mom and dad laugh when you do this and it encourages you to do it more often. 

You still love bath time. Sometimes when you're sleepy you suck your thumb in the tub and try to fall asleep. SO cute.

We put you in your activity jumper for the first time this month and you really like it. You aren't quite tall enough to touch the floor yet so we put a box underneath so you can bounce. I'm sure you'll be tall enough to bounce without the box very soon.  

You celebrated your first Christmas this past month. We spent the holidays in Bradenton with your grandparents and aunts and had such a great time. We bought you a special "Baby's First Christmas" ornament and so did your grandparents. We'll put them on the tree every year and remember our first Christmas with you.

When I kiss your tummy you laugh as if I'm the funniest person on Earth. That laugh is the best sound I've ever heard.

We FaceTime with your Grandma & Papa all the time. They're happy just to watch you lay on your mat and play with your toys. Your Aunt Jilly comes over nearly every day to see you because she loves you oh so much. She spoils you rotten. I am quite sure the day will come one day when you tell me you're running away to Aunt Jilly's house. I don't think you'll ever hear the word "no" from your Aunt.

My sweet LuLu Bell, I hope that you always know how very much you are loved.

xo Mommy

weekend update

I wish it could always be the weekend. Spending time with my family sure beats working for a living!  We had a fun, relaxing weekend that went by too quickly. We watched a lot of football, ate some yummy food, and went out for walks in the beautiful weather. I sometimes complain about the Florida weather (particularly in August when it's 90 degrees and 90% humidity) but you can't beat the weather in January. The sun was shining and it was in the 60's all weekend.

The 49ers had a big game on Saturday against the Saints, so Blaire and I got dressed up to support our team. (Daddy is a Patriots fan.)  I was born in San Francisco and have been a Niners fan for as long as I can remember. I was raised in a Niner family and can remember watch games with my dad as a kid. It's so fun to watch them with Blaire now. I hope she grows up to be a big football fan like her parents.

The Niners won the Super Bowl the year I was born.  I hope they will this year for Blaire's first season too!  The game Saturday night was a great one and the 49ers came away with the win over the Saints. The Niners are 2-0 since Blaire started wearing her 49ers onesie her Papa bought her. It's now been dubbed her "lucky onesie" so she'll be wearing it again this Sunday when the Niners take on the Giants. (Hooray for the Packers losing - love that homefield advantage!)  

On Sunday we went to brunch with some friends. We're always taking pictures of Blaire but we rarely remember to take pictures of ourselves with her. We took some quick photos before we left and I just love this picture of Blaire with her daddy. I could not love these two more!

B was so good during brunch. She sat in her car seat and entertained herself by playing with her toys. I am so thankful that she's such a happy, easy going girl. I know it won't always be so easy to bring her out places so I'm grateful for this time.

After brunch, we came home and watched more football. We were pretty full from brunch, so dinner was just some appetizers during the late game. I made these Southwest Egg Rolls with avocado dipping sauce and they were so tasty. 

(I used this recipe but lightened it up a bit)

I had to work yesterday but Brian and Blaire had a fun day at home together. I'm already looking forward to Friday. Hope you all had a great weekend!

the thursday dress

Okay, if I knew that many of you read blogs on Friday afternoons, I never would have posted my outfits! I thought I'd sneak that post in without too many people noticing. Guess not!

I do, however, appreciate the nice comments on my Thursday dress. A few of you asked where it was from. I picked it up at the Banana Republic outlet about two months ago. I have to tell you, it was a steal! It was on mega clearance and I think I paid about $25 for it. Don't you just love a bargain?

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

"do you prefer fashion victim or ensembly-challenged?"

Okay, so I feel like a dork for even doing this post. But here it goes. I took pictures of what I wore every day this week and now I'm going to share the pictures with you. You know, like the fashion bloggers with the super cute clothes do. Except sub "super cute clothes" for "boring business casual attire." 

Why am I doing this? I have no earthly idea. I've been dressing a bit like a bum lately. I've been tired, lazy and uninspired in the wardrobe department and it shows. Before this week, I hadn't worn heels to work since NOVEMBER. That's just ridiculous. Especially for a girl who has a closet full of adorable heels just waiting to be worn. Personally, I blame Tory Burch. If her Eddie flats weren't the most comfortable shoes on earth, maybe I'd wear heels more often. Anyway, I digress.  I've been wearing the same boring black pants multiple times a week, which, if we're being 100% honest, are maternity pants. Seriously. It's that bad. Even worse, I've lost the baby weight. All of it. Yet I'm still wearing the maternity pants. Not okay. 

So, I decided for better or worse, I'd take pictures of my outfit every day this week and post them, in hopes of encouraging myself to dress a bit less frumpy. I even ironed some clothes Sunday night so I'd have more options available in the morning. (Along with the heels, I've been boycotting anything that required ironing.) I definitely didn't come up with anything inspired and I am not even close to fashionable, but here are the outfits I wore this week.

Oh my God, why am I doing this?

I'm stalling...

Okay, enough. Here it goes.

Monday

(No, I'm not pregnant. Yes, I know it looks like it.)

 Tuesday

 Wednesday

(gah, that hairband on my wrist looks tacky)

Thursday

(gratuitous baby OOTD photo)

(Doesn't B look like one of the Wizard of Oz munchkins with the flower pot on its head in that picture?)

Friday

(love me a jeans day)

Okay, so that was my attempt at a week of somewhat put-togetherness on the clothes front. I was clearly phoning it in on Tuesday and Wednesday and I obviously need to work on accessorizing. But I wore heels three times. And ironed! Most importantly, I ditched the maternity pants. It's a start.

This might be the most lame post I've ever written.

Can we still be friends?

baby toes...and a bit about the blog

I've been working on the obligatory baby gear post, as well as a long overdue Christmas recap, but Blogger was being a pain in my arse last night and wouldn't let me upload any pictures. I had already uploaded some pictures of B into a post for another day but I'll go ahead and share them today. I realize I just did her 4 month update with tons of pictures so this is probably photo overload but my mom reads and grandmas never get tired of pictures of their grandbabies. This one's for you, Mom.

Hi Mom!

Fingers are tasty. 

Wait...what are these?

Toes!

Toes are delicious!

So glad I found these!

If you hadn't realized it already, this blog is quickly becoming a photo album for the little one and most of the posts are baby related. I'd been feeling badly about this for a while because I realize this isn't of interest to everyone. But I don't anymore. This what my life is about these days. It's what I share because it's what I do. When I have time to read or see a good movie, I'll still tell you about that. And if I stop dressing like a slouch and make some fun purchases, I'll share those too. Great products I come across will still show up on the blog. It's just not happening as often these days. If you're interested in sticking around and reading, that's wonderful. If not, I completely understand. I just wanted to share how I was feeling and what you can expect to see around here for a while.

4 months

Blaire Harper,

You are growing up so fast! You're now four months old (and have been for a week and a half - Mommy's a bit behind). It seems like every day brings a new development or milestone.  You are such a sweet, curious, active little munchkin. You have the best little personality. You're constantly making me laugh with your silly faces and sounds. Daddy and I think you are the smartest, prettiest little girl and we are so proud to be your parents.

Your fourth month brought a lot of changes. You started daycare after Thanksgiving and are doing just great. You seem to like your teachers and they adore you. You go on walks, play on the mat with the other kids, and enjoy the swing and jumper chair. Mom isn't adjusting nearly as well. I come visit at lunch nearly every day and my heart breaks a little every time I leave you at school but it helps to know you're happy and doing so well.

You've grown a bunch this month. At your 4 month appointment you were 25 1/2 inches long and weighed 12 pounds 14.5 ounces. You've finally got a little meat on your bones little girl. You have the sweetest little chubby cheeks that I can't help but kiss every chance I get! You wear some 0-3 month clothes and some 3-6 month clothes. You wore a size 1 diaper but it's time to move up to size 2 now.

You're a hungry girl! You drink 5-6 oz of milk every three hours during the day and a 7oz bottle at night. I'm not able to pump quite enough milk to keep you happy and we've already burned through the freezer stash I built up, so we've started supplementing your milk with a little formula. You're such an easy going girl - you don't mind a bit.

 

You rolled over for the first time on December 7th and haven't stopped since! You roll from back to belly very easily and will occasionally roll from your belly to your back. Once you're on your belly you kick your arms and legs wildly as if you're trying to swim across the carpet. It's too cute! We have about a hundred videos of you doing this, of course.

You still love to put your hands, and anything else you can manage, in your mouth. This includes your feet. You discovered them this month and think they are just great. You love to play with toys and they too end up in your mouth before long. Your favorites right now are a set of colorful rings, your bunny rattle (Belly Bunny), and Sophie the Giraffe. You also love your play mat.

You are still a great sleeper. Dad and I couldn't be more grateful for that. You usually go to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 and wake up around 7:30. We stopped swaddling you a few weeks ago, which you seem to like. You're happy to be able to suck your thumb as you sleep. You still wake up every morning with a huge grin on your face. It's such a joy to go in your room and find you so happy every morning.

You got your first cold this month. It was so sad to see you so stuffy and your little sneezes and coughs were both pitiful and adorable. Luckily, the cold didn't seem to get you down for long and you were your usual happy self through most of it.

You're smiling and laughing at Dad and I all the time, which is just the best. You love when we make silly faces and sounds, so of course we do this all the time.

You are over your phase of hating the car and now will ride happily in your car seat. Thank goodness! We take you out to eat every once in a while with varying degrees of success. Usually you're an angel and will sit quietly and happily in your seat but every once in a while we have to ask for our check a little early to get you home where you can play and "talk" without disturbing the rest of the restaurant. Recently, we were seated at a table directly next to our United States senator. Luckily, this was one of the meals where you were a quiet, happy girl.

We like to listen to Disney songs and dance around the house and you love to be sung to. I hope you continue to love music.

You still love to cuddle, which makes me so, so happy. When you get sleepy you like to be held and rocked. You'll rest your head on my shoulder and throw an arm around my neck in a hug. It doesn't get any better than that!

Blaire Harper, you are the light of my life. Being your Mom is the best thing I've ever done. I love you, always. xo Mom