Starting the Week Off Right

I love each day of  the weekend but there is something so je ne sais quoi about Sundays. After all the errands are run, cleaning is finished, drinks are drunk and friends are seen, we are left with Sunday. I typically use those 24 hours, which ironically seem more like 15 minutes, soaking up all the roll-y goodness of Parker. We take the time to enjoy eating her food...yes, we. I steal a bite or two whenever we sit at the table, and it's not my fault. Tyler Florence is setting the bar pretty high with his fancy purees that we've been picking up at our local Wegmans. So much that I can already see the look Parker will shoot me when I try to attempt to feed her my own creation. Better luck next time, ma.

When we're not going bite for bite in the dining room, we lay on her faux fur rug and read her Pigeon books, push her cow around, and nosh on her other toys in hopes that it maybe, just maybe, it will turn into the Plum-Berry-Brown Rice-Quinoa baby food that she loves so much.

When she gets bored with that, we find wherever Matt is in (or outside) of the house and interject ourselves in whatever he's doing. Yesterday it was cleaning out the DVD case. Obviously a HUGE opportunity for fun there. It was so cute seeing her sit in the sea of disheveled DVDs, 'helping' daddy. After a job well done, we went for a walk and ended with some online shopping where I picked her up the cutest espadrilles for spring! She is starting to show interest in standing more and more so I figured that's as good as an excuse as any.

Life Lately

It's been a while since my last post! Now that the warmer weather has finally settled in, we've been taking full advantage of the sun and Parker seems to be growing just as fast as our lawn grass. Here's a peak into her hectic schedule as of late.

She attended her first casual Kentucky Derby/2nd birthday party. Turns out she and her derby horse were knocked out before we even left the house. We're still working on her 'life of the party' skills.

Baby girl is no longer a stranger to the swing! I was a bit skeptical when placing her in the harness since  it seemed a little big to fit her, but it did the job. When I pushed her I'm pretty sure I heard her coo, 'higher'!

There's always enough time for a nap or two.

I love love love shopping for babies in the spring and summer months! I decided that if I could get away with it, I'd be on a bloomer and onesie dress code kick for the rest of the season. It's my favorite look on our little girl.

My very first Mother's Day as an officially mama came and went so quickly! We celebrated last year when I was pregnant with Parker but I was totally looking forward to this year when I could actually spend it playing with her. I was spoiled with some sweet surprises from Matt and Parker I'm not exaggerating when I say that I cried for at least two hours over Parker's 'painting'. It's probably the greatest  gift I've ever received and I carried it around with me for two days like a little kid. I guess this means it's time to make the DIY art frame that I've been obsessing over on Pinterest!

Soooo sweet, right?

We staged our weekly mama-baby photo shoot and mastered some hamstring stretches.

Yes, my friends - we've accomplished a lot. I almost forgot to add kissing to Parker's list of why she's awesome. She dives at your face at full speed, mouth open and pulls your hair so you can tell that she means it. It is the best thing and it makes my heart melt. Which reminds me, Matt is off to Indiana for the night so this means comfies and cheese pesto pizza is on the agenda for tonight and I am not mad at it. Here's to busy days being amazing days!

Vacay Photo Overload

As promised, here are some of my favorite pictures from our mini getaway to Florida!

It took me a while to get the lighting right and settings adjusted on my camera once we arrived. I really haven't used it in a couple months so getting back in to the swing of things caused the first few pictures to be a little sub par however, I couldn't not share this first picture with you. She rocks that backwards chambray top like it was on correctly, don't you think? Go me.

I had decided that I wasn't going to bed on our first night until I got Parker out to the beach! Her reaction to seeing the ocean for the first time is something I have looked forward to for months. Of course I never thought that she would love the taste of sand as much as she did, but I guess that is all part of the experience. She was exhausted earlier than usual and desperately looked like she needed a bath.

...been there.

Which brings us to another first. Sink bath times. Princess Sweaty Head was LOVING it.

The next day we were back out on the beach so Parker could get her sand fix and mama could get an adorable photo opp of this bathing beauty. Matt took over with the camera and I was thoroughly impressed. I always give him a hard time about his photos, but must be he's been picking up some tips!

When I said Parker loves, sand... I mean she really loves it. I think she at least got a good five little hand fulls before we finally picked her up and realized that there was no stopping her. Something similar to my relationship with m&ms.

We also discovered that she is petrified of the waves. She likes to stay shore bound but once the tide rolls in and its suddenly all around her, she just couldn't handle.

My pretty-pudgy-sand face-puckered lip love bug!

I hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was spent with tons of friends and family. I used today to clean a couple of rooms throughout the house and we couldn't resist a walk since it was so beautiful out. I walked her to the park where she had her first experience on a swing. No swing face here! She couldn't get enough. We also gave her a sippy cup for the first time today. She mainly just swings it around and squawks at it but hopefully down the road she'll get the hang of it.

Here's to Sunday fun day!x

Traveling With a 7 Month Old

If you have been following my posts, you are well aware that I was freaking out to put it lightly about Parker's first trip on the plane. In her 7 months of life she has yet to have an ear infection, which I thank her lucky stars each night for because is there anything worse than a baby with throbbing ears? It makes me ache just thinking about it. Anyways, I was insanely worried about Parker's ears hurting bothering her from all the pressure on the plane. I read... and read... and read so many articles about travelling with a baby. About what to do on take off and landing, what to dress them in, what to bring with you, etc etc. I left the house the morning of our trip feeling pretty prepared.

WHAT WE PACKED

We shipped a lot of our things down to make the navigation through the airports a little easier. Matt's parents found a company that rents out super nice (and clean) baby equipment. They graciously rented a pack-and-play, bouncer, and a few other items so that we didn't have to worry about shipping ours down. If you re reading this, thank you again, Nana and Baba! Among the items we shipped were our clothes, bedding for the pack-and-play and the breast pump. We checked the car seat/base as well as a suitcase that held cosmetics, shampoo, yaddayadda. We packed Parker's diaper bag full of diapers, wipes, extra clothes (she is the QUEEN of inconvenient blowouts), a book, a few of her favorite toys as well as one of my her favorite stroller blankets to cuddle and cover up with on the flight. In reality we would have been fine with just bringing along one diaper, wipes, and a blanket since she was fascinated by my water bottle for an hour of the flight and slept the other hour, but it doesn't hurt to come prepared!

WHAT SHE WORE
I insisted that we get the seat in the very last row of the plane just in case she was fussy so that we didn't annoy any of the passengers. As it turns out, that wasn't necessary either. Plus when we looked out the window we could only see the engine. It is the weirdest feeling not being able to see where you are when they are landing the plane. I can't tell you how many times I thought we were going to touchdown before we actually did, my body felt like it was bracing for an hour. I was sure I was going to get dirty looks from a lot of people thinking that they had to sit next to a probable crying baby, but everyone seemed to enjoy her just as much as she enjoyed them! I dressed Parker in a plain white long sleeve onesie and leg warmers which was the optimum outfit for changing her diaper on the plane. We didn't have to worry about taking off her pants, dropping the pants on the dirty floor, having someone tip over their coffee which would then spill on her pants, leaving us with a cold legged cranky baby.

THE FLIGHT
I nursed Parker during take off and landing and she slept, smiled at old men and played with her water bottle for the remainder of the flight. There was a one year old sitting across the aisle from us throwing fits and I kept looking at Parker expecting her to catch wind and chime along, but she would just look back at me with her big open mouth smile and continued playing with her sock. Also to add to this success story, she didn't have a blowout the entire flight! That is a huge feat coming from the girl who blew out of her pristine white gown minutes before her baptism.

The trip home, I was much more confident knowing what to expect, and we did get a seat near a window so that she could look at the clouds. She got fussy a couple times during the flight but calmed right back down when we fed her. Also, she kept starring at the guy next to us who wouldn't for the life of him look in her direction. To say she was skeptical of him is an understatement.

My takeaways from our first flight with the baby are as follows. Nursing/feeding during takeoff and landing I think really helped with the pressure. She didn't fuss once and it is an easy way to make sure that she is sucking in that time frame. In the weeks leading up to the trip, I practiced changing her on my lap. Easy access to diapers and wipes was essential. If you can in any way take your baby pant less, whether it be with leggings or a dress, do it! It really made changing a breeze. Lastly, relax. I was so concerned about disturbing the people sitting next to us that I was stressing myself out. It only took 5 minutes before I stopped worrying, and started focusing on Parker's new experiences.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to bringing up a child. We usually turn to our go-to method of winging it and things typically turn out pretty well. I think it's important to just go with what you know works and what feels right for both you and your baby. Hopefully this post was able to help some of you with your first trips with the little ones in tow.

Here's to surviving Parker's first flight!

Expedition Success!

We are home! Our mini vacation seems like it was over in a blink of an eye, don't they always? Even though it was a quick four days in Florida, this trip might go down as my favorite. It's crazy how since Parker was born, things seem 1000000x better. I was biting my lip for a good week prior to our trip, mentally prepping for the worst but Parker did SO WELL! I feel like she's already earned her own car because she was so well behaved. The flight that I was worried about? Peanuts! She loved smiling and cooing at the other passengers on the plane and discovered her love of water bottles. When we landed she was just so happy to be in the warm weather I found myself seriously contemplating talking to Matt about moving - ha! More details about flying with a baby and the prettiest beach baby I've ever seen are to come!

Here are some teasers - look at those legs!

But for now it's time to unpack (even with Parker, I don't see how this task can be enjoyable) and start new spring projects.

...like this one!

Here's to a successful vaca and the happiness of being home.

Bump in the Road

Fun fact of the day. Who knows the proper form of ID that airlines require for babies to board a flight? Well, approximately 20 minutes ago our answer would have been 'birth certificate', too. We like to refer to it as the one form of Parker's that we are pretty sure does not exist. 

I should mention that we forget things A LOT around here. I can't begin to tell you how many times I forget my phone in Parker's diaper bag or need to run back into her school to grab my car keys that I left on the table in her room. Naturally, we didn't start looking for the infamous birth certificate until 18-ish hours before we board our flight. That's how we roll in this Last-Minute-Larry household.

After an hour of frantic searching (on Matt's part), and a few monotone operators later, we were elated to hear that our Florida trip didn't need to be cancelled after all, and that since she was still so young she wouldn't need ID. Seriously, such a relief. I am still coming down from the mental storm going on in my head.

We still have not found Parker's birth certificate but we did stumble across a few items that we kept from our time in the hospital after she was first born. I'm not ashamed to say that one of the items we found was in fact her belly button. She's really going to hate us when she gets older.

We're pretty excited over here! I will be sure to update you all on how it goes on our first plane ride with a baby. Thank you again for all the tips and advice! xx

Packing the Baby

I never thought that I would see the day where I would catch myself smiling like a fool while packing for vacation (aside from being stoked for warmer weather). I'm sure I'll be whistling a different tune a couple more trips down the line, but for now I couldn't love it more. I started packing Parker's outfits (including her bitty bathing suits!) and all of her other traveling essentials and have come to the conclusion that it is without a doubt, the cutest bag of clothes and shoes that I've ever set my eyes on. It's like my wardrobe, only miniature. When picking out her outfits, I like to stick to the motto of would I wear this? If the answer is yes, it's packed.

My personal favorite are the mustard high waisted shorts with the matching headband! The headband came as part of the JamesonMonroe subscription and when I opened it, I almost did a double backflip. I immediately thought of these shorts and how perfect they would go together. 

Girl is going to shut.it.down. 

Here's to baby bag packing being so much more fun than packing my own. Oy.

Sunday lax-day

Sunday already? The weekends are starting to become nothing if not a blur! We have tons of last minute things that we need to do before our trip coming up in just four short days. I'm seriously in need of some sunshine since we've been forced to stay inside all week because of the non stop downpours.

April showers bring DOODLE FLOWERS!

Our 30 second weekend consisted of lunch with my parents, where we discovered we have a bat baby on our hands. As in a baby that prefers to hang upside down. She loved being carried around the house with her head flipped over as she 'chased' everyone around the house. Terrifying!

She also was quite the hit at my cousins baby shower! She wore the cutest purple plaid shirt dress with gray tights and I am super bumming that I didn't snap a picture of her in it. My April resolution is to take more pictures. Parker loved hanging with all the girls and was non-stop flashing her two toothed smile. We are so excited to meet baby Lucas!

As for today, we have plans of a stroll around the hood, laundry for days and a salmon and quinoa dinner! And apparently a nap for baby and pup. Here's to Sunday lax-day!

Cruisin' the Neighborhood

Why is it that when spring rolls around, I immediately feel that there aren't enough hours in the day anymore?! We have been running around like crazy the past couple weeks and I feel like nothing is getting accomplished. Maybe because the weather has been starting to warm up and I keep finding excuses to take Parker outside to introduce her to new things that she was too little to actually focus her eyes on in the fall after she was born.

When there is laundry that needs to be taken care of, you can find me instead strapping the babe into the stroller and taking her out around the neighborhood! If you asked me what is the one baby item that I obsess over the most, it's Parker's stroller. After loads of research (usually a good week's reading of reviews prior to purchasing a baby product), we decided to go with the Uppa Baby Vista Stroller! This sucker is major. I think the point where I was sold is when I found out that it can cart around three kiddos at once! Not that I could imagine myself pushing three kids down the street, however I did find that fact pretty impressive. 

The stroller came with a bassinet for wee babies, and an upright seat for when they are sitting up on their own. In the fall after Parker was born, I would take her in the bassinet and that's when I discovered that the girl straight up wanted nothing to do with it. I found this out while she and I were out walking around the neighborhood right when she was around four weeks. Things started off perfect, she was bundled in the bassinet sound asleep for a good mile, then something changed in the air, she woke up and started screaming. And kept screaming. Obviously never being in this situation before I had no idea what to do and was borderlined panicked so I stopped maybe eight times, to pick her up in hopes to calm her down. It worked for a couple steps but then she would start right back up. 40 minutes and one stressed out mama later, we were back at home - holy mother.

Parker's first walk in her stroller through the house. We've all done it!

Needless to say it took me a while to try that again, but when we did I tried attaching her car seat with the car seat adaptor to the stroller - worked like a charm! Up until last week we've been using her car seat and she loved it. I think it helped that she wasn't laying flat on her back and was sitting at an incline.

Something the manufacturer didn't warn me about - this stroller also makes a GREAT makeshift shopping bag holder during big shopping trips.I'm also pretty sure the diaper bag has stroller straps that allow it to strap on to the handle bar but as you see in exhibit A., I haven't quite figured it out yet.

This past week we decided to put the upright seat on the stroller and never looked back. Apparently it lulls her right to sleep in addition to solving the problem we were having with the sun being in her eyes (even though we did find her some super cute sunglasses). I am so looking forward to more spring days to take on the neighborhood again with that sweet face. Here's to FINALLY spring!

Introducing Real Food

First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who emailed, commented and text traveling tips and encouragement from my last post! I've gathered so many great ideas and hopefully they all work out as great for us as they did for you! Your support truly means the world to me, so thank you thank you thank you! We're just a couple items on the checklist away from being ready for our vacay!

Aren't these little aviators the cutest?! Move over baby swimsuits, mama's got a new obsession.

Parker turned 6 months on April 1st (seriously?). We decided that we would start introducing solids to her exclusive breast milk diet on her 6 month birthday birth anniversary. Exclusively breastfeeding has been and continues to be the biggest emotional roller coaster that I've ever experienced, but that's another post for another day.

After reading through tons (and tons and tons and tons) of articles on introducing solids, I decided to head to the local Wegmans and stock up on the what seemed like the entire organic baby food isle. I had no intention on being 'that mom' who fed her baby organic everything but as it turns out, I am.

The night before Parker turned 6 months, she was eyeballing Matt and I eating our Jimmy Johns informally on the couch (a regular occurrence in our household), super uncomfortable and pitiful at the same time (such a sucker). I decided that it was a perfect time to give Miss Doodle-icious oatmeal. I poured out maybe 1.5oz of breast milk and mixed it with I think 1tbsp of oatmeal (totally winging it with the little knowledge that I picked up from my readings - 'you want it soupy!' was pretty much my only take-away) and added a little dash of optimism in hopes that she would go bonkers over her new cuisine. One messy spoonful, and baby girl was hooked! She LOVED it. With each spoonful she would howl at us with huge eyes and we could not get it in her mouth fast enough. Luckily we caught it on camera and I die every time I watch it.

Over the course of the next 2 weeks we gradually gave Parker oatmeal twice a day. Tonight, however I wanted to try something different and give avocados a go - resorting to our tried and true winging it method. They are smooth, mild, and mama loves them so of course Parker would love them too, right? That's a big green fat no. One spoonful and she made the most disgusted face and spit it out all over herself. Good thing she looks good in green because at that moment there was no way she was going to let me feed her another teaspoon. Okay, crossed avocados off the list. What's next? Mangoes - Okay. Sweet, smooth - she'll love it! Another big fat no - only this time it was a weird brown. Making the same disgusted face accompanied with her tired cry, my attempt was defeated and Parker was back to her preferred diet of the house white. 

Tomorrow's a new day and with a new day comes new opportunity for feedings! We're going to try mixing the fruit in her oatmeal because surely fruit oatmeal has to be better than plain. I can't be certain on how that is going to go over with her, but I do know one thing is certain - girl knows how to get what she wants. Here's to learning along the way!

Traveling with the Babe

It's starting to get warmer out (finally) and we couldn't be more excited! During what seemed like the longest winter in existence,  Parker Doodle and I have been fighting the cold weather blues and have been snagging up a some of the most perfect swimsuits. I am beyond amped that she will be able to get some use out of them in a few weeks! We are taking our first real trip with the babe to Florida at the end of April to visit with Matt's parents whom we miss so much (FaceTime just won't cut it anymore).

They sent us Parker's first Easter basket and needless to say, it was a huge hit!

I am dying to get her in her shorts and sundresses and see her initial reaction to the ocean! The only part that I'm dreading? Traveling with baby. How do I even pull that off with the car seat, stroller,  security checks, dealing with pressure during take off and landing, the list goes on and on. I can't begin to wrap my head around it. I've been reading up on countless articles and have all but mastered the technique of changing her on my lap, however if there are some magic tips you'd like to pass along that saved your sanity while traveling baby in tow in the past, I would be beyond grateful! Here's to hopefully, an easy breezy trip. x