Weekly Wins: Frigid Edition

This Friday is coming at you in the low 40s here and it is cooooooooold! All of a sudden we went from Spring and sort of Fall temps and plunged into straight up Winter! What gives???

Oh well, at least we made it to another Friday which means a sweet sweet weekend is ahead!

I've got some wins to share with you:

~Loft had a 40% off sale which I couldn't resist (of course I couldn't), so I picked up these fun pieces, and still spent more than I wanted to #oops

~I'm on the verge of getting these jammies for Ella for Thanksgiving because they are so darn adorable

Then of course, I saw these and added them to my cart, too. Because, hello cute!

Well done, Target. You sucked me into your evil vortex. I'll just open my wallet and you take what you want....

~My in-laws decided that they are going to come down and spend Thanksgiving with us. For some people this might not be a win, but I love my MIL and FIL and it's always nice to have them come down

~We're going to my friend's house this weekend who watches Ella for a Friendsgiving! We can't stay that long since we weren't able to get a babysitter (we initially thought we might not be able to go because my best friend and her husband were coming into town this weekend, but those plans got cancelled bc their dog is really sick--send them some prayers please!!) so we're gonna partake in the Friendsgiving festivities with Ella in tow, which her oldest son is over the moon about since he loves him some Ella :)

~MG has off of work today for Veteran's Day, and we don't, so he's gonna bring my little Ella bear to work today so I can show her off hehe. So many coworkers have asked me to bring her in, so now's her big moment! 

~Ella has slept through the night during this entire work week! And she's been going to bed at her normal bedtime before DST ended. I know I've talked about this earlier this week, but it is a HUGE win for us because I was worried we'd be stuck with a 5am wake up every morning.

Before I go, I wanted to give a shout out to all of the veterans out there, and veteran's families! Without you, and your sacrifices, we wouldn't be where we are today as a country. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service!!

Ok, I'm off to make it through the day and get to the glorious weekend!

Catch you on Monday, lovies!

Girl Chat: Fall Activities

Hey hey chickadees!

I'm linking up today with my ladies for some girl chat, and today's topic is  favorite fall activit(ies).

There are lots of things that I love about Fall, and doing in the Fall so it's hard for me to pick just one activity. Therefore I'm bending the rules a little and telling you a bunch of my favorite activities:

~going to a pumpkin patch or local farm, especially now that we have baby girl

~drinking cider because it's so yummy! Especially warm apple cider!

~starting a fire in our fireplace and drinking a glass of red wine (we haven't done this yet but the weather is definitely lending itself to this happening probably this weekend)

~visiting our friends in Minnesota--this one is happening a little later than normal this year, but we're doing it and I'm looking forward to it!

~making and eating all of the soups

~going for walks and looking at all of the leaves changing those gorgeous red, yellow and orange colors

~I'm not sure this is an 'activity' persay, but busting out and wearing my boots and scarves

~Friendsgivings 

Those are just a handful of my favorite Fall activities, how about you??

{WHW}

I'm here with a quick one today because the last two days have been busy teacher workdays and I didn't have time to write a post #lifehappens

I did want to give a quick update that Ella seems to have adjusted to DST ending, thank goodness! It only took about 2 days and she's actually turned into an even BETTER sleeper than she was before. Allllllll the praise hands!

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We also voted in our local election yesterday. We were going to bring Ella but it was pouring down rain and the coldest temps we've had this season so we didn't want to torture her. Instead, we did our part to ensure that we get intelligent elected officials in office who care about our interests and didn't let the weather stop us.

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

Weekending: The One Where I Cursed the Clock

Happy Monday friends! I hope those of you without kids enjoyed the extra hour of sleep this weekend because I tell you...that clock change is BRUTAL! More than once I cursed the people who invented DST. 

Anyway, that aside, there were some highlights this weekend:

~Friday Ella's 6 month appt went well--she was a trooper through all of her shots and has grown to 15 lbs 8 ounces!

~Friday night MG picked up pizza on the way home and we had a quiet, chill night in with an adult bevvie while unwinding while watching the last episode of Stranger Things 2

~Saturday morning we slept in until about 730 and had a low key morning with breakfast, the Today show and snuggles

~MG took my car back to the dealership to get new wheel locks put on my tires since we were never given the key for them when I bought my car (which was problematic when I had a flat the other month)

~My friend Emily came by in the early afternoon and we got to catch up since it's been a couple of months since we've seen each other

~We bundled Ella up for a walk in her stroller to try and get her a late afternoon nap since she was napping like crap during the day. Luckily for us it worked (and she looked adorable in her fuzzy bear coat)

~We met up with my friend MK and her husband and baby for dinner at YardHouse--it was a great place to go to try and keep the babies up longer in anticipation of DST ending. The food was good, and the company was even better. No pictures were taken because babies.

~I passed out on the couch Saturday night while we were watching I don't even know what. The level of my tiredness? I woke up and fell asleep while pumping before bed, sitting up. Yes...you read that right. #tiredmomlife

~Sunday morning Ella was up at the new 6:15am and then she played in her crib until 645ish when we got her. It was a really rainy overcast day which would have been perfect sleeping in weather.

~We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast before running errands. I picked up this table runner and napkin set from the Hearth and Hand spread at Target. Our Target didn't have a huge display of Chip and Joanna stuff which was disappointing but I thought these would be pretty for Thanksgiving

~I made homemade baby food Saturday and again on Sunday with my Beaba Babycook machine (love that thing!): sweet potato, peas, and carrots

~My mom came in the early afternoon and got to spend some time with us and Ella. She also brought a bunch of clothes for Ella (such a good Grandma) and a new toy for her which she loved.

~MG and I were able to get our headboard put together and installed on the bed and I love it so so much! 

We are going to fix the pictures over the bed since they were centered over our old queen headboard

~I sat upstairs in Ella's nursery in the dark rocking her for an hour just so she would get a solid nap in since her naps were horrendous all day because she was so off schedule and tired #cursetheclock

~MG and I went to Cava for dinner to get Ella out of the house and to keep her up til her new bedtime which worked and was tasty

~Got the babe to bed, and then got in some reading and unwinding before heading to bed to rest up for the week

Since I'm writing this Sunday night, who knows what time Ella woke up this morning, but let's hope her little body adapts to this time change quickly. Meanwhile I'll be over here depressed that it's dark at like 3pm.

Before I go I want to wish my best friend Genna a very happy birthday!! I love you to pieces and am SO glad I get to see you this weekend!!! Hoping you have a fantastic, easy day and that Saturday gets here super quick so I can see you and hug you!

Hoping your weekend was restful and fun! 

Weekly Wins: Novembering

It's FRI-YAY!!!!

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Unfortunately our day is starting with Ella's 6 month appointment which means shots...including the flu shot I believe. The positive side of this is, she's gonna be inoculated which is a great thing, but the tears are never easy. I'm excited to see how much our little lady has grown though (and to sleep in a bit this morning)!

Time to celebrate the wins from the week!

~Ella had a successful first Halloween and trick-or-treating experience. We stopped by our neighbor friends' houses before Ella's bedtime (which also helped us push back her bedtime a bit in anticipation of Falling back this weekend for DST), and Ella grabbed candy (that later went into mommy's tummy) and got lots of attention for her first Halloween!

 

~this shot from daycare earlier in the day on Halloween and Ella's "I'm over it" face

(the hat is from my friend's son's--on the left--first Halloween 3 years ago) Her face makes me laugh every time I see the picture

~The morning skies this week have been out of this world. I didn't take any pictures because I was driving (and that's a no-no), and also because they just don't do the skies justice. I find that Fall skies in the morning and at sunset are some of the most gorgeous.

~Driving along the Potomac towards Mount Vernon, listening to the Hamilton soundtrack in the mornings. It's fun listening to history while driving along where some of it took place.

~leftover Halloween candy. Enough said :)

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~2 teacher workdays on Monday and Tuesday, and an early release today means: 1) time to get work done  2) no kids at work 3) leaving early and getting to spend a little more time with Ella

~hubs coming home with a huge pack of Honeycrisp apples (my favorite) and dark chocolate covered pretzels from Costco. #getinmytummy

~these two shirts made their way into my online Target shopping cart and will be arriving on my doorstep next week, along with a $10 gift card just for buying them!

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~post-nursing/burping zzzz's before bedtime--the snuggle is real

I'm really not sure how this one is going to make it another hour to bedtime after this weekend with DST ending

~I've gotten a ton of super cute pictures of Ella from daycare this week that have seriously made my day. I won't keep inundating you with Ella pics though (even though I could look at them all day long) :)

~Seeing my mom this weekend!

Hope your Friday is quick and your weekend is extra restful!!

{WHW}: Looking Back

Happy Wednesday, and the first day of November!

What's hap-"pinning" around here is a lot of reminiscing...

Thanks to Facebook timehop, I've been thinking about how different things were a year ago, and especially 2 years ago.

Last year right around this time (give or take about a week), we had officially announced that we had a baby brewing:

I remember coming home from our 12 week doctor's appointment and MG teasing me that he knew I couldn't wait a minute longer to share the news. We'd waited SO long for our little miracle baby and the fact that we were pregnant and past the first trimester scares was such an amazing feeling.

Rewind a year prior to that and we had just gone in for our first consultation with our fertility doctors, with plans to start our first round of IUI in November. Obviously those didn't work, and I believe it's because our little Ellabear was just waiting for the right combo of "us" to grace us with her presence.

And now, two years after that we have our little girl--the one I dreamed about and prayed for for months and years. And she's even better than I ever could have imagined. I catch myself just starring at her sometimes, in disbelief that she's real and she's ours. I have moments where I look in my rearview mirror while driving, and see this gorgeous girl looking back at me and remember the days where I longed for that seat to be full. 

I can remember what life was like without Ella, but it feels so foreign to me and I can't imagine it being any other way now.

Struggling with infertility has truly made me love and appreciate our Ella-bear so much more. The last 6 months have been hard, figuring out this parenting/mom thing (I'm not sure I'll ever have it figured out), and doing it with less sleep than I'm used to, and taking things day-by-day (not my strength), but it has seriously been filled with some of my happiest moments. Seeing MG as a dad, and watching him with Ella makes me love him even more than I thought I could have before. Our family was always supposed to be like this, it's just finally the right time.

Honestly, I don't know where this post is going other than I'm thankful. I'm thankful for the prayers you all and our friends/family prayed for us along our journey. I'm thankful for all of the support from friends and family from infertility to parenthood. I'm thankful for my Dad who I know is watching over our baby girl each and every day (and I'm sure had a hand in bringing us our Ella). I'm thankful for my husband who held my hand through this journey, and continues to walk beside me being the best daddy, husband and best friend I could have ever imagined or hoped for. And I'm thankful for this little face, those tiny hands, kicky legs, the smiles and giggles...our perfect package:

Ok, now I've got to go and wipe down my keyboard from the tears. In the meantime, YOU share what's hap-"pinning" with you by linking up with Jessi and I below:

{Recipe Files}: Tilapia in Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Happy Halloween!! 

I have a spook-tacular recipe for you all today (ok it has nothing to do with Halloween, but it's coming at you on Halloween, and it's freaking amazing, so it's spook-tacular. Go with me here! :)

It's been a looooooong while since I've been here with a recipe for you, but I'm making up for it because this one is SO delicious!!

I saw it while scouring--where else?--Pinterest and knew that a creamy roasted red pepper sauce would probably be good on shoe laces, let alone tilapia so I gave it a whirl and it did NOT disappoint! And to make it even better, it's a one pot meal so very little clean up!

I didn't take a pic of the ingredient list like I normally do because I suck, but here's a list of what you need (it's not a lot):

What You Need:

~1 lb (or more) tilapia filets

~3 Tbsp butter

~1 medium onion, diced

~1 tsp chopped garlic (or 2 cloves)

~6 oz roasted red peppers, chopped*

~6 oz roasted red peppers pureed*

~3/4 C heavy cream

~1/2 cup grated/shredded parmesan cheese

~ salt/pepper

~parsley for garnish

*I bought a 12 oz jar and split it. I pureed the roasted red peppers in my baby food processor. Easy peasy.

What You Do:

1. In a large skillet, melt 2 Tbsp of the butter and then fry up the tilapia for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Once done, salt and pepper the fish and move to a plate.

*My fish ended up falling apart, which I was fine with because it meant that my fish was cooked well.

2. In the same skillet, add in the last 1 Tbsp of butter, and the onions. Cook through (about 5 minutes).

3. Add in the garlic, and the chopped and pureed red peppers and cook for another 5 minutes.

4. Add in the parmesan and the heavy cream, turn off the heat, and stir. Ohhh yeah, this is where the magic happens...

Taste test and add more salt if needed.
5. Add the tilapia back into the pan and cover it in the sauce.

Add your parsley, then plate it up and enjoy!! This meal came together SO easily, with very little prep work or active hands-on time. It's perfect for a busy weeknight dinner.

This would be good over rice, too. We had it with veggies on the side and it was delicious! I think the next time I make it, I'm going to double the sauce!

I could also see this being good over chicken, shrimp, pasta...the possibilities are endless because the sauce is just so dang good!

Bon appetit!