WHW: The Blank One

This What's Hap-"pinning" Wednesday is a blank edition because....

....upset, crying babies makes it hard to sit down and write a post. So, that's what's hap"pinning" with me (yesterday). Hoping that I get some quiet time, Ella gets some nap time, and I get a post up tomorrow.

In the meantime, link up with Jessi and I and share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

Weekending: The One Where We Slept (more than usual)

I'm pretty sure my weekend posts are just going to be on Tuesdays (or Wednesdays) from now on because I just can't bring myself to get on the laptop on Sunday afternoons and evenings to write a post when I have MG home and we get that together time #lifeafterbaby

This weekend was filled with some great highlights:

~MG's parents came down to visit kind of last minute for the weekend on Thursday night so I had some help on Friday morning which is always welcome

~MG left work half day and met us at Yard House for lunch--Ella slept through the meal, but rocked her fluffy headband like a champ #allthepraisehands

~We ordered in pizza for dinner and had a quiet night in

~Saturday MG and his dad went for a bike ride while my MIL and I spent some time with little miss Ella bella who just continued her cuteness show

~Ella's been practicing taking naps in her crib throughout the day and has had success in the mornings

~other naps look more like this....which is good for my soul

~That afternoon MG and I took advantage of having my in-laws here and went to a co-ed baby shower sans baby....one of our first times getting out without her and it was nice. I'm pretty sure we talked about her the entire time though haha.

My FIL has the pic of us looking like real humans but he hasn't sent it to me--so just imagine a picture of what MG and I looked like before baby from previous posts here lol

~MGs friend sent us an adorable 4th of July outfit for Ella (that may be too big for our little peanut) and this sweet frame

Just need to get one of her photos in there and find a place to hang it!

~Sunday we said good bye to my in-laws and then ran errands to Costco and groceries with little miss....who turned 6 weeks old!

~We got a planter for our front door since the one we had had died and was just a pile of dirt. This is nicer than a pot of dirt lol

~Continued our binge'ing of Friday Night Lights--currently mid-way through season 4

~Spent time trying to find all of the things that my MIL "put away" lol

The biggest highlight of the weekend was Ella sleeping 5 and a half hours between feedings at night, followed by another 3.5...letting us wake up at 7-730 instead of 5-6am. To all of you without kids, this sounds like nothing, but those of you with kids knows how sanity-saving this can be.
Of course, that was followed by a much shorter stint of sleep on Sunday night to Monday...because babies don't let you get used to things lol. We're continuing to work towards 6 hours this week!

All in all it was a really nice weekend, with some family time, helping hands, and some good milestones for our little lady.

Weekly Wins

This Friday marks some wins that happened throughout the week!

~Baby girl decided to go 5+ hours between feedings--hallelujah! #sleep

~Ella is also starting to learn how to nap...and do so in her crib in her room! Thank goodness for baby monitors

~We FINALLY got our new recliner delivered for our living room. It took almost 6 weeks for it to get here (was supposed to be 3 weeks, and then they called and delayed the delivery). We were supposed to get it between 4-6 pm on Wednesday and it ended up getting here at 8, after they called and changed the time to 7-7:30 the night of, after 6 when they were supposed to be here. Nothing like having a delivery window eh?

~I've now made it through my first full week of being home alone with baby. New moms can attest to the fact that this may be the biggest accomplishment. It hasn't been without tears, but they've been less and less. Single moms and stay at home moms get all of the praise from me because this is NOT easy. 

~I hit my pre-pregnancy weight this week. I go in next week for my 6 week check up (and my re-test for diabetes, ugh), and I think I'll be cleared to exercise by then. For now, it's been breast feeding and taking long walks with Ella that's helped me get back. Not sure how many more of those we will be able to do next week since it's supposed to be humid and in the 90s. Boo!

~All of your sweet comments about Ella's newborn photos. We are still super obsessed with them and having a hard time figuring out which ones we want printed, etc. 

~The fact that we got the jump on a new trendy baby name before George Clooney and Amal announced that their baby girl's name is Ella. I have a feeling our Ella won't be the only one with that name within the next year or so!

Hoping your week has been smooth and fun!

WHW: Newborn Photos

Happy Wednesday! 

We got Ella's newborn photos back this week and I am completely and totally smitten. We got over 60 photos and I swear not one of them is bad!

Those are some of the highlights--can you tell why I'm in love with them? :)

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

The Weekend We Got Out

I'm here with my weekend recap a day late because I really wanted to soak up every minute of having MG home this weekend because being at home by yourself with a newborn isn't easy. #reallife

Our weekend was full of highlights!

~MG and I decided to venture out into the real world for dinner at on of our favorite Mexican restaurants for the first time since having Ella. I won't lie, there was a bit of tension/anxiety, but we all made it through and didn't have to order our food to go!

don't mind my make-up-less face--I swear I didn't look this bad in person lol

~Lots of Friday Night Lights watching (I think we watched the whole second season this weekend--oops! Damn we love this show!)

~Ella had an off night probably due to us keeping her asleep at the restaurant, so we were up mega early Saturday morning (5am) with a baby who didn't want to go back to sleep

~Had breakfast and took advantage of the gorgeous weather and took a 2+ mile family walk around the lake by our house

~Enjoyed the deck afterwards--being outside is a great way to calm a fussy baby too (at least temporarily)

~I ran an errand to Old Navy to return some things without baby, and enjoyed perusing the aisles several times over...and ended up leaving with a dress and a cute tank top

~We got extra crazy Saturday night and decided to go out to dinner for a SECOND night...which was also a success! (had to wait for little bug to finish her "meal" before we left, so I had some fun with snapchat filters in the meantime)

his and hers

~Sunday we ran our grocery errands for the week and then I went and met up with a friend to get a pedicure

 ~We found some time to finally give this monster a bath--looking so cute and fluffy!

 ~Our friends with 16 month old twins came over to our house to visit and meet Ella. And subsequently show us just how NOT baby proofed our house is. We have some work to do when Ella gets to walking lol
~MG decided to do a little baby wearing to calm our girl #dadoftheyear

And we literally ended the night watching several episodes of Friday Night Lights, and then getting ourselves ready for the week ahead: MG for work, and me with baby at home.

We were pretty proud of ourselves for making it out twice this weekend...and I owe it to MG for encouraging me because I was definitely really nervous about it, but was happy we did it!

We have some things planned for the week including a new moms group, visiting my friend who had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and our new recliner delivery. It's the little things to get you through!

Hoping everyone's weekend, and start to the week, have been good!

MDW2017: Road Trippin', Car Buyin', Baby Milestones

It's What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday and I'm recapping our Memorial Day weekend which involved our first road trip with a newborn!

MG and I hit the road on Thursday morning after packing the car with every essential we could think of (and then almost forgetting my breast pump--a HUGE oops that would have been!)

Had to stop at a rest stop to feed and change baby which added 40 minutes to our trip.

Got to my in-law's house and within an hour had my SIL and her kids over to finally meet Ella. Then my BIL showed up after work to meet her and immediately jumped into diaper changes. Man it was nice not to change many diapers this weekend haha

Spent the night in with the fam--my oldest niece decided to stay over and help us with the baby in the morning (she's a great kid) and my youngest niece decided that she was the official baby holder of the weekend lol

Friday morning MG and I went for a 45 minute walk while my MIL and niece watched the baby (family is the best), and then in the afternoon we headed over to my SIL's house for pizza and to hang out with my other SIL and her family. Ella wasn't put down for a second that whole night, and we got some great photos.

 

 

Saturday morning MG, my FIL and the nieces and nephew went to iFly which was a present from Christmas. It was SO fun to watch them--and then watching the instructor do all kinds of tricks afterwards. I didn't participate but it was just fun to watch everyone else.

Later that afternoon we went back to my SIL's for a cook out since we were leaving the next day to get home and get settled before MG headed back to work. Ella continued to be spoiled with being held and loved on. She didn't hate it :)

There were definitely tears shed when we left my SIL's house that night--my SIL cried because she was going to miss Ella, and I cried because I was going to miss all of the help haha

Sunday morning we got to sleep in a bit since my MIL woke up with Ella at 5am, we had breakfast and then got ourselves packed up. MG's uncle swung by to drop off a beautiful blanket and puzzle that he had made for Ella with pictures of her and family members. It was really sweet!
We also did a little tummy time session in the morning which was just too cute

We got on the road later than we'd planned on, and ended up having to stop at two rest stops for baby. And we encountered torrential rain twice which was not fun for any of us. But, we survived.

We also realized that both of our cars are not big enough for road trips. We'd been planning on getting a larger car sometime around December, but this prompted us to move that timeline up by a lot of months and MG went and got a Toyota Highlander (the car we'd been researching and planning on--we even went on a test drive when we were in PA. Plus my in-laws have the same car so we knew what we were getting). It's a great car and definitely a lot more space. Of which, I'm sure we will still have no problem filling it up haha.

Monday was a pretty low key day for us--we ran errands and then had a visit from my friend Amanda in the afternoon. Then at night Ella got SUPER fussy...crying and screaming and she's not a crying/screaming baby. It lasted for a while and we were super concerned, but eventually got her to calm down and sleep. And sleep she did--FIVE hours! Then she fed and slept another 4 hours and we  were the ones to wake her up both times.

Ironically her shirt says Super Happy which probably was what jinxed us into having a NOT super happy baby that evening haha

It was a welcome gift after the crying session from the night before. And also the night before her 1 month birthday and MG going back to work. 

We survived the first day back to work--there were definitely tears on everyone's part when he was leaving, but our little 1 month old (seriously how is it a month already) managed with just mommy and Cooper.

So, that's basically our MDW in a nutshell!

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