{WHW}: It's been a while...

Hey lovies! Sorry for the MIA last week but with it being the 4th, we were busy doing family stuff, and I figured everyone else would be too, so there was no link up on this end.

But I'm back! And I want to catch up on everything that we've been getting into!

Friends:

We had our friends from Minnesota come into town during our mega heat wave here. It was SO much fun having our house full of little feet (4 sets), and our good friends. We grilled out, karaoke'd, stayed up late, toured DC a bit (pushed Ella through her morning nap, successfully), had lunch and said our good byes. It was a whirlwind, but always a great reminder of how easy it is to be with friends who feel like family, even when it's been a while since you've been together.

I also went out the other weekend for my friend Stacy's bachelorette party which was a lot of fun! We hit the town, bar hopped, and the next day I was up at 6:50 with a baby. No rest for the weary....or the hungover moms haha.

Holidays: 

We spent the 4th of July afternoon at my friend MK's house with her daughter, and two of our coworker friends, plus her neighbor. There were 6 kids there--all of them girls! What are the chances? 

I got the chance to meet my coworkers baby, and got the opportunity to put her cute little to sleep that night when she was being fussy for mom and dad. It takes a village, people, and I was more than happy to snuggle that baby to sleep!

Summer Fun:

We've been taking advantage of the gorgeous weather that swooped in after the heat wave and spent a ton of time on the deck--Ella is loving her little kiddie pool, and a local splash pad with all of Ella's friends from daycare (also, the splash pad is free! How great is that??)

Look at the sassy leg! hahah

The weather Saturday was spectacular (low 80s, no humidity, sunny skies), so we went to Bull Run Winery with our friends who have twins and had a picnic dinner, let the kids run around outside, and just enjoyed ourselves. This is by far my favorite winery as the views are awesome, and they have a dedicated family area--plus some amazing photo opportunities. It was the perfect evening, and our friend captured my new favorite photo of the three of us.

House:

We closed on our condo last Monday. The renter is out (one the very last day of his lease, of course), and moved...the keys are turned over, and it's no longer ours. ALLY the praise hands! Unfortunately due to the holiday, we still got hit with another bi-weekly mortgage charge and the condo fees on it, which we have to wait 30 days to get back, but it's done and no longer a worry. A great thing, too, because there are 3 other units that are just sitting on the market and have been for over a month!

Speaking of houses, MG and I have been looking at houses up in PA, and it pains me at what we could get up there for the cost of our townhouse here. And then I look at houses here, and 600K gets you a house that needs fixing up. 600!!!! To that end, there have been a lot more discussions about potentially moving in the next year or 2. Which is exciting, but also overwhelming thinking about both of us getting new jobs, the process of moving, leaving an area I've known basically my whole life...so we will see what happens, but feelers have been put out.

Baby:

I guess technically Ella isn't a "baby" anymore, and more to that end, she's finally been getting rid of the bottle. Probably something we should have done a while ago, but I wasn't messing with it while I was working, and now that we've been home, it's been a pretty easy transition. Yesterday she didn't flinch when I gave her a sip cup instead of her bottle at any of her nap times, so we tried during bedtime and, despite a minor meltdown, it was a success!

My little big girl!

Purchases:

I tried out ordering some swimsuits on Amazon, originally looking for some CupShe suits (since they don't have free returns on their actual website) and came away with these two beauties for super cheap (not CupShe):

{via} $23

The back on this one is really cute, with strings like the sides of the bottoms

{via} $25

I tried the high waisted trend and it just didn't work for me. I wanted to love it, but it just didn't feel comfortable when I tried it on. But I'm sticking with the two above. No affiliate links, just things I found and like!

Link up with Jessi and I and share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

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{WHW}: First Bday Planning

Yes, you read that right...I'm in the beginning stages of planning Ella's first birthday party. How this is possible, I'm not even sure because it feels like just the other week we were bringing her home!

My SIL in New Jersey offered to host Ella's birthday party including a bouncy (which my BIL rents out on the side). It'll be a party with just family, so relatively low key, which is a-okay with me. There's plenty of time for big birthdays, you know, once Ella actually remembers them haha.

Anyway, I've gone the totally predictable route and turned to Pinterest for good ideas, and I think I've found some cute ideas to try and incorporate.

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Ironically, this girl's name is Ella, too :)

I love the idea of the floral headband, and the tutu around the highchair. She actually has this exact highchair, so I see doing something like this.

I also have all of Ella's monthly photos in the rocking chair in her room, next to her stuffed elephant that I could put on something like the hoop above, or this:

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This cake is gorgeous, and I just love the gold hearts, too!

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I could see her in an outfit similar to these two:

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The tutu is probably my favorite, but who doesn't love glitter shorts too?

A fun extra, would be something like this for a makeshift "photo booth"

And I'd love to snap a fun photo like one of these of my girl on her special day:

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For mamas who've already done the first birthday, are there any things that you did that were super cute? Or things that didn't go well? Give me your thoughts!

Now it's your turn to link up with Jessi and I to share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

WHW: Currently....

Currently, I'm....

Reading ...

Flash by Tim Tigner; I'm only about 10% of the way in though. I got it for cheap on Amazon a couple of weeks ago and so far it's alright

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Watching ...

Other than standard Bravo shows (Vanderpump, RHOBH, Summer House), MG and I have been watching the Black Mirror series on Netflix. I like that they're all stories that make you think, and also separate of one another so you can pick and choose without having to watch one after the other in a row.

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Eating....

On the menu this week:
Monday: Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta meatloaf
Tuesday: Greek Roasted Tilapia
Wednesday: Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup (new!)
Thursday: One Pot Broccoli Pesto Pasta
Friday: eating out

Looking forward to ... 

MG's mom coming into town on Friday for the weekend. Unfortunately his dad can't make it because of tax season craziness, but it'll be so nice to have my MIL in town!

Drinking...

coffee coffee coffee, especially yesterday when Ella had a nice hour long middle of the night wake up from 3:40-4:45. Fun times!

Loving....

that our bear is feeling better. Turns out she had roseola (something I'd never heard of until having a kid). Her fever broke on Monday and a rash appeared. So, thankfully she's on the mend! Here's a pic of her in her strawberry jammies from yesterday morning:

Annoyed....
that some guy hit my mom's car in the Costco parking lot AND LEFT! Luckily someone there saw his license plate and wrote it down, and then stuck around until my mom got to her car. The guy, who was an older man, admitted to the police officer that he hit the car and left, and then called my mom and apologized. It really makes me mad that ANYONE would do this. At the very least, you leave a note with your information. Thank goodness someone was there to see it. The cop recommended the guy be re-evaluated for his license, so at least something is being done, sort of...

Excited....
that Ella is starting to want to stand more, and with support, is moving her feet towards things (sort of walking?) She's still only army crawling from time to time, but maybe she'll skip that and go straight to walking!
Which means we'll need to babyproof like ASAP...so maybe I shouldn't say I'm excited after all lol

Wanting ...

our dining room set to be delivered closer to the 2 week window, as opposed to the 6 week window. I'm so pumped about this set! (A guy coworker of mine who is 23 or 24 did not understand the excitement level but all of my girl friends did haha)

Wearing ...

Warm weather things since the temps have been in the 60s the last few days, and are sticking around the high 40s and high 50s the rest of the week.

Grateful For...

on-call doctors

Now it's YOUR turn to link up and share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

WHW: TBB Asks

I'm coming at you this Wednesday on the first non-snow day or delay morning in almost a week! Craziness. Definitely time to get back into a routine and actually get my work done haha

I saw the TBB Asks questionnaire earlier this week and wanted to join in, so here goes:

1. Resolutions or No Resolutions: No resolutions. I think it's great to have goals, and those are things I try and set for myself throughout the year, not just in January. 

2. Love Snow or No Snow? Well, I've always liked snow because of snow days. And especially now that I have Ella, I look forward to them because it just means an extra day and extra hours that I get to spend with my girl.

3. Name a new place you want to go this year: Hmm, I'm not sure how much travelling is in our future this year, and if we go anywhere it proibably won't be somewhere new, but if we did, I'd love to go to somewhere like Boston, Nashville, Savannah...somewhere cool and fun to explore!

4. Would you rather have a new hair cut or color? I think a new hair cut

5. Name one special thing you want to do for yourself this year? Make more time to hang out with friends for things like happy hours etc without Ella in tow. Just normal, adult, non-mommy time.

6. Least favorite thing about January? Hmm I don't know if it's January or just Winter, but I HATE the early darkness at night. I feel like I get home from work and the sun sets a minute later.

7. Most favorite thing about January? Post-holiday sales hahah, and getting to use/wear the things that we got for Christmas :)

8. When do you take down your holiday decorations? Usually the weekend right after Christmas, or when we get home from visiting family for the holidays.

9. Do you diet in January? No

10. What are of your home do you want to organize the most? Well, we've been working on getting everything a little more organized now that Ella's toys and things seem to have taken over our house. I'd say we've done a good job with the living room. Maybe a good closet clean out and organization would be nice!

11. Favorite Winter comfort food: Soups soups and soups! Especially chili!

12. Favorite Guilty Pleasure? Other than reality tv, hmm...food-wise I'd say ice cream or chocolate. Otherwise, perhaps a good Loft sale lol

Now it's your turn to share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

{WHW}: Winter Break 2017

It's been so long since I've been here because I was soaking up my Winter Break and enjoying baby snuggles and play time, not working, visiting family, and Ella's first Christmas!

Here's what we were up to (be prepared for pics and cuteness):

~HH with my friend--so nice to get out of the house, and MG handled bedtime alone, like a champ!

~Before the weekend, my mom came over and we did an early Christmas with her including opening Ella's presents and going out to dinner. Someone was very excited about her new toys, and the new chair she got from us (so cute)!

#likeaboss

~Saturday we drove up to PA in the morning. Luckily it was overcast which made for good napping weather for Ella.

~On Christmas Eve we had lunch with MG's good friend from HS and his son, and found out that they are expecting their second in June!

~That evening, we attended Christmas mass, and Ella managed to keep it together for the whole thing, and then we headed to MG's aunt's house for a short bit just to see some extended family, but we pushed Ella's bedtime and she was letting us know about it haha.

~Christmas morning was so fun--we woke up and went over to my SIL's house and opened presents. Ella was wide eyed at everything, and enjoyed opening her presents (read: attempting to eat the tissue paper lol). She got a lot of cute outfits, new toys, and books! Spoiled for sure!

~We came back to my SIL's that night for Christmas dinner with the rest of our family and opened more presents, played, ate (my BIL is an amazing cook), and then we had to head home early because of Ella's bedtime. She also started having separation anxiety so I had an extra 16 pounds on me the whole night lol

~We stayed in PA until Thursday morning. It was nice to casually hang out with the family, run errands, go see a movie--my first since before Ella! (We saw Jumanji and I we all really liked it). All too soon, we were packing up our car (to the gills because of all the stuff!!!) and heading home. 

~MG took off the whole week so we got 10 whole days together which was incredible. We had a dinner time playdate at my good friend's house, and went out to dinner with our friends who have almost 2 year old twins on New Years Eve (it was a 5pm dinner lol).

In between all of that, Ella turned 8 months old. Not sure how that's possible, but she is starting to make moves to crawl, eating 3 meals a day (now that I was home to try and do it, and she wasn't sick), rolling around, smiling up a storm, and just being the best little baby we could ask for.

Otherwise, we've just enjoyed our time away from stress, work and sicknesses! Hoping we can keep the sickies at bay for a while!!

Link up with Jessi and I and share what's been hap-"pinning" with you lately!