Saturday, July 23, 2016

Weekly Wrap-Up

This week flew by! We have been experiencing really hot weather here in Colorado, but each night this week a storm rolled in over the mountains and cooled everything off. I love summer rainstorms and the beautiful rainbows they leave behind. 

I went to Vail on Monday for work and got to spend some time checking out their summer activities. The mountain coaster was so much fun! If you've ever done an alpine slide, the coaster is very similar and reimagined with lots of twists and turns. I love how the ski resorts have fun summer activities too. The Rocky Mountains are gorgeous in the summer and I love having another reason to take a trip up. 

This weekend we'll be busy soaking in the summertime before I get swamped at work in the next couple of weeks. The zoo and a baseball game are on the docket, with lots of free time to spend playing in the backyard with the little monkey.  Follow along on Instagram to see what adventures we find!

Do you have any fun plans this weekend? 

Friday, July 22, 2016

Beach Baby


We took Henry to the beach for the first time while we were in Hawaii.  It was really fun to play in the waves and sand with him.  Going to the beach with a baby in tow is a little different than just as a couple. There were fewer pina coladas and more naps. Which was fine by me.

There are a million What to Bring to the Beach with kids posts floating around the Internet. I read some of them and found some helpful tips (who knew baby powder was magical sand remover, too?). A few things I would add are: 

Be flexible. Before I was a mom I couldn't get out the door fast enough to get to the beach on vacation. I loved staking out the perfect spot where we would hang out all day. This time we only spent 2-3 hours at the beach each day. It was too hot for Henry to nap at the beach, so we would go between nap times. Honestly, this was the perfect amount of time at the beach for me. We spent the whole time playing with Henry and trying to keep him from eating the sand. Between the sun and chasing a baby around, I was ready for a nap after a couple of hours. 

Baby cabanas are super practical (and cute, too!). We brought this awesome cabana to the beach everyday. It was perfect for Henry to play in while we were laying on the beach. It kept him out of the sun and he thought it was pretty cool too. 


Your baby will try to eat sand (and everything else at the beach). Once babies figure out they can put things in their mouth, everything is fair game. A friend told me that for a baby something doesn't exist if it doesn't go in their mouth. Henry got a bit lot of sand in his mouth. The look on his face as he swished it around was hilarious. By the third day the novelty has worn off and he stopped trying to eat is by the fistful (although he still did shove some in). I'm sure sand wouldn't be on one of those "Top Ten Baby Foods" lists, but a little can't hurt too much. 

Have fun. You're on vacation! Try to relax and enjoy it! We played in the water with Henry and he loved it! Whether he was floating in his little baby raft or one of us was holding him, he thought it was pretty cool to splash around. He also liked sitting on the shore and having the waves wash over his toes. Most importantly, we all enjoyed time together as a family. 



Sunday, July 17, 2016

Weekly Wrap-Up

My view last weekend

It's the weekend again! Yay!

This week seemed to fly by and drag on, at the same time.  I only went to the office four days because we got home from Hawaii on Monday morning.  Red-eye flights seem like a great idea while you're booking them, but once you're beyond exhausted when you finally get home, you wish you had slept in a bed the night before instead of an awkward airplane seat.  Although, relaxing on the beach with my boys for a few days trumps any of the exhaustion and discomfort that arises from travelling between Hawaii and the mainland.  

Nights have been a little rough for us this week.  I've heard my friends say that their babies have trouble sleeping in their own rooms after spending some nights in a hotel room together as a family.  I think we experienced this after our trip.  Also, Henry is teething.  Getting him to bed took much longer than it should have and he wasn't interested in sleeping through the night.  I was beginning to become a little annoyed with his prolonged cuddling sessions before bed, but then I remembered that he won't always want to cuddle with me and savored our one on one time together.

Mornings have been rough for me.  I don't know if its the jet lag from traveling west to east, or that the mornings are so peaceful in our neighborhood that made me want to snuggle in and hit snooze way too many times.  I woke up later than I should have every morning and barely made it to work on time.  I stumbled across this post about how to be a better wife and mom, and basically it says you should wake up earlier so you don't feel as frantic in the mornings.  I had good intentions of applying this logic every night before bed, but it never happened.  There's always next week. 

There's something about Thursday evenings that make us throw all of our meal planning efforts out the window.  I had planned on making crockpot BBQ pork, but because I have been sleeping in I didn't have time to throw everything together.  We settled on Qdoba for dinner, which has become a favorite of ours again.  I love their mango salad and the crunchy bowl that it comes in.  Have you tried their knock-out tacos?  They are delicious and you don't have to make any decisions about which toppings you would like, which is partly why I love them so much.  I'm not very good at making decisions.

This weekend we are spending time with friends and together as a family.  I hope to make this side dish for a BBQ we are going to and these cookies as a sweet treat to take to work next week. 

Friday, July 15, 2016

Back to Work | Six Months In

It's hard to believe that I've been back to work for over six months now.   Some days it seems like just yesterday that I was dropping my little guy off at my in-law's and heading to the office for the first time since he was born.  Other days it feels like I have been a working mom forever.  I thought I would post another update about the things I have learned since being back to work. 

Pumping at work is hard work.  Trying to find an hour during my already packed day is becoming more difficult.  At my office there are only two pumping rooms and there are a lot of nursing mommas.  We have to reserve our times for the "quiet room" months in advance.  If you miss your time because a meeting ran late, you're pretty much out of luck.  Although I have a laptop that I take with me to the quiet room, gathering all of my things twice a day and getting set up usually ruins the momentum I had going with my work.  I find it difficult to work on a laptop on your lap while you're also hooked up to the pump, there just isn't enough room.  My goal is to be able to breastfeed for one year.  I've made it this far, I feel like I can buckle down and make it three more months.  I have realized that pumping at work is more of a marathon than the sprint I thought it was when I first returned to work.

My weekends are sacred.  I lived for the weekend before Henry was born, but I also feel like I had more freedom to do things after work instead of trying to cram all of my social gatherings, chores, and errands into two days.   We tend to spend most weeknights at home now.  Every once in a while we will  make a mid-week trip to the grocery store, but now that Henry is older and more mobile I want to be able to give him lots of playtime at our home before bedtime each night.  When I first returned to work I had a bad tendency of packing our weekends full of things to do.  When I would look at my calendar I was overwhelmed.  I only get four, maybe five, weekends a month to see friends and family, do chores, run errands, and have me time.  I've started winding down the amount of things we do on the weekends.  I really try to have only one event on the weekend so that we can have one full day to hang out just as a family, get things ready for the next week, or have some me time.  I've learned that allowing that time is necessary and more important for my family than getting together with extended family or friends.

My nights are wonderfully predictable.  Evenings at our house are much busier than before Henry was born.  Ben picks Henry up in the evenings.  I rush home from work to feed Henry while Ben makes dinner for us.  We eat dinner as a family, which is really entertaining now that Henry is eating solids.  I clean up Henry and the kitchen while Ben does another chore.  We play with Henry for a little bit and then its time for bed.  By the time Henry is sound asleep Ben and I only have energy to watch maybe one TV show before turning out the lights.  I'm asleep the second my head hits the pillow.  Compared to the easy going, lazy nights we had just a year ago it feels like we are running at full speed from the time we get home until the time we turn out the lights.  I can't believe that we used to come home from work and watch TV or sit outside in the backyard for hours.  I'll admit sometimes I even felt bored after work.   I love that I know what our evenings consist of.  Even if they are incredibly packed and crazy.

I still have bad days and good days with both of my jobs.  Some days I dread going into the office because I am having a great morning with Henry.  Other days I can't get to the office quickly enough because I am craving adult interaction.  I've learned to lean on my village more and have found comfort in knowing that Henry has a great network of people he loves who are helping to raise him.  I still miss him all day while I’m at the office, but I love seeing his smiling face when I walk through the door in the evening.



Thursday, July 14, 2016

Carry-on for Momma


one | two (similar)| three | four | five | six (similar)

This time last week I was relaxing on the beach in Hawaii!  Oh how I wish to be back there.  I had technical difficulties while in Hawaii that prevented me from posting while on vacation.  I'll be posting this week all about vacation and some tips for travelling with a baby.  Yesterday I showed you what I packed in my carry-on for Henry. My hands are pretty full when traveling with him, so I like to pack all of our carry-on essentials in one backpack.

Henry loves to play with my everyday necklaces. The sparklier, the better. I thought it would be nice to wear one that I don't mind him pulling on and chewing on. I packed an extra t-shirt for me in my carry-on in case of an epic blow-out, soak through, or spit up. 

Flying makes me dehydrated so I like to bring my own water bottle with me. I drink a full bottle before going through security, fill it up at one of the water bottle fill up stations and drink another full bottle before boarding.  During the in-flight beverage service I ask for two cups of water without ice.  Sometimes the flight attendants will fill up my water bottle for me before we land.  So much water also means lots of trip to the ladies' room, so I tend to be somewhat of an expert on where they can be found.  

I use this wallet as my everyday wallet. I love that it has so many spots for cards, has two zippered pockets inside, and zips closed all the way around so nothing can fall out. It's easy to grab and throw in my diaper bag or work bag. As a travel wallet it is big enough to carry my tickets and I can toss it in my backpack instead of carrying a purse. 

We flew United to Hawaii, which offers a large selection of movies and TV shows to watch through their app during the flight. I love hat I can use my own iPad to catch up on movies I haven't seen and that I can pause the movie if I need to. I watch Inside Out and Aloha on our flights. Inside Out was great! I'd love to buy it for Henry when he is older. Aloha was predictive, yet confusing. Although, I'm not positive I didn't fall asleep during part of it. 

Airplanes tend to be a bit cold for me. I like to wear a fun scarf that I can use to wrap up in. A scarf doesn't take up much room in my backpack either if I don't end up needing to wear it. 

I also brought a bag of toiletries for the plane, including lip balm and lotion. Snacks are also a must. I tried to stick to healthier options at the store, but I couldn't resist the Brookside Farms chocolates. They're dark chocolate and fruit, which makes them healthy, right? 

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Carry-on for Baby


one | two | three | four | five | six | seven 

We went to Hawaii last week to visit family and relax a bit. This was our second trip with Henry and it was great to spending some time with him on the beach playing in the sand.  When traveling I like to use a backpack as a diaper bag and carry-on since I can easily wear it on my back while I carry Henry in the Ergo 360 through the airport. I pack diaper changing essentials in a zippered pouch so I don't have to carry the whole backpack with me to the tiny airplane bathroom. I like to bring an Aden and Anis swaddle blanket because they are so versatile.  I can use it as a nursing cover, burp cloth or a blanket if the plane is chilly. Henry's favorite toys are with us too so we can keep him entertained. And, of course, we can't forget his monkey

Henry slept most of the flight to Hawaii and the entire time on the way back.  I guess there is a benefit to taking the red-eye.  We were lucky and ended up with an entire row to ourselves, which was awesome because we had more room to spread out.  Henry thought it was so cool to sit on the seat by himself for a little bit while we were at cruising altitude.  I read these tips in preparation for our trip, I found them really helpful, especially number 9. 

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Unplugged in Paradise

I had great plans to finish up some blog posts in the morning while sitting on the lanai and enjoying my coffee. Our condo here is beautiful and peaceful, but I can't get my laptop to connect to the wi-fi. Best laid plans, right? So, change of plans, I'm going to sit on the lanai and enjoy my morning coffee while watching the sunrise with Henry. Because he is still on Colorado time and work up at 4 a.m. this morning. 

See what we're up to on our Hawaiian adventure on Instagram. 



Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Diary of an Overpacker

Image via

In April we took our first trip as a family of three to Florida.  It was so much fun to have Henry spend time with my aunts, uncles, and cousins and to take him to Disneyworld.  This was Henry's first flight and I was very nervous about being prepared for everything and anything.  We definitely overpacked.  Seriously.  We brought so much stuff.  I'm sure we looked like we were moving to Florida, not just going for four days and three nights.  I've notoriously been an overpacker my whole life but adding a baby to the mix made it much, much worse.

This is the packing list I created in OneNote:



(The asterik is item we packed in our carry-on)

Looking back at the list, we did use most of the items we brought.  We just brought too many of certain things.  These are the things I would bring with my on our next trip:


In addition to the baby staples (diapers, wipes, car seat, etc.), I found these three things the most helpful on our trip and will definitely be packing them again in the future.

Swim Diapers
We borrowed two reusable swim diapers from a friend and they were awesome.  We didn't spend a whole lot of time in the pool, but Henry was much more comfortable in the swim diaper than a regular diaper.  I have since tried disposable swim diapers at our local pool and they work great too.  We did try using a regular diaper once, and it was not very useful.  It immediately absorbed full of pool water and poor little Henry didn't look too comfortable.

Car Seat Bag and Stroller Bag
Ok, so these are technically two items from the lists above, but they're both bags so I can group them together, right?  The car seat bag we have is amazing. It works for both infant carriers and convertible car seats and has a lot of extra room for you to pack other items.  It also has backpack straps to make it easy to carry from the parking lot to the terminal.  This stroller bag is made especially for our stroller and protects the stroller from the manhandling bags go through when they are checked.  We did bring our stroller through security (more on that here), and packed up the stroller in the travel bag at the gate to be plane side checked.  A huge bonus with this stroller and bag is that UppaBaby has a travel warranty and if the airline damages your stroller UppaBaby will replace it.  

Ergo
I love my Ergo 360 and use it all the time.  It seems to be the best way for us to get things done around the house on the weekends, but it was also great for travelling.  I wore Henry onto the plane in the Ergo, which was awesome because I still had my hands free.  We also used it at DisneyWorld when we would go on rides with Henry.



Looking back on all of the things that we brought to Florida, I feel like I must have thought we were going to the middle of nowhere instead of Orlando.  Orlando has Targets.  In fact there was one less than ten minutes from our hotel, and I definitely could have made a quick trip for anything we would have forgotten. 

Clothes
I know that Henry definitely needed clothes on our vacation (even though he is super cute rolling around in just his diaper).  But, I brought way too many clothes.  We did not need five sets of jammies for three nights.  We did not need seven outfits for four days (and I actually ended up packing closer to twelve).  Next time I will bring one outfit for each day and one extra outfit just in case.  If he manages to go through all of his clothes before it is time to go home, I will just run to Target.  Who doesn't love a Target run?

Blankets
I had originally packed blankets because I wanted Henry to have something to lay on if he wanted to play on the floor.  The hotel room floor didn't seem too clean to me, so I never ended up letting him play on the floor anyway.  If he wasn't in someone's arms, he was in the pack 'n' play.  Next time I will only bring one blanket (if any).

Have you traveled with your baby yet?  What are some of the things you packed that you couldn't live without?


Tuesday, July 5, 2016

It's been a minute...

Image via
Hello! It's been a while! I've been busy with lots of things and blogging ended up on the back burner. We've had a lot going on since we last chatted, here is what's been going on in our little world. 

Henry started crawling. Oh my gosh, so many things have changed in the ten days since he first became mobile. We have run around our house realizing we should have started baby proofing a lot sooner. He has showed us where all of the rogue cords are and is incredibly interested in the dog water. The latter will be a losing battle for me, for sure. He is responding to the word "no" (for now) so that's a positive. I have had a blast watching him figure out how to crawl these past few weeks. 

I discovered Bullet Journals and now I wish I had the time to make beautiful bullet journal pages every day. I've incorporated some of the concepts into my Simplified Planner and I look forward to filling out my stats section each morning. 

We're heading to Hawaii tomorrow to visit Ben's dad. We are really excited to spend some time on the beach in paradise. This week I'll be posting all about travel, so stay tuned!