Colorado Vacation

A few weeks ago, we took a break from the Texas heat and went to our family cabin in Colorado! Luke was an angel baby on the long drives and I am so thankful for that!

happy boy in his carseat

taking a break in New Mexico

Standing in front of the big ice cream cone at the DQ in Raton, New Mexico

It was basically a cabin full of girls: My grandma, my mom, two (of the three) sisters, me and then our one little man. I have been going out to Colorado and staying in this cabin since I was just a few months old and it is just so much fun to be able to do this with my baby. The weather was rainy and cold for the most part so Luke was our entertainment for a good part of the time.

We walked up the road that goes up the mountain behind our cabin a few times. It is just a beautiful walk and I just love being able to get out and enjoy God's creation!

Another tradition we have while in Colorado is driving around in the evenings to look for deer. In years past we have seen up to 70+ deer in one night! I was able to test out my new camera (my birthday gift from David) and got some pretty good close ups...

we also saw a moose!

We had a lot of fun just playing with the newest addition of our family and dressing him in cute outfits! :)

My mom and sisters and I went on a hike on the Continental Divide and it was just a beautiful day to be outside!

me and my momma

Tare bear

Loved family time!

4 Generations

New Mommy Must-haves!

I have been thinking about the items that have made my life easier since Luke graced us with his presence almost three months ago and came up with the following list. I have a lot of friends and family that are also in this baby boom with me and I figured I could share what I consider are must-haves for new mommies! I am by no means an expert and would love to hear what other people consider must-haves. :)

Beauty:

BeautyBlender: I have used other types of makeup sponges in the past, but there is something about the BeautyBlender that sets it apart! Oh my goodness. I feel like it just makes your foundation go on so smoothly and helps cover everything and then also helps blend in concealer. I have been using the Philosophy Hope in a Jar foundation lately and I just put a pump of that on the back of my hand, take the beauty blender and run it under cold water and squeeze it out into a towel and then dab it into the foundation then "stipple" it onto my face. It is fast and simple and I can get good coverage in a very short amount of time!

 

Dry Shampoo: I have oily hair and needed to wash my hair every day until I discovered dry shampoo.  I have gone through trial and error with a ton of different dry shampoos but I finally found two that I think A) really work and B) don't smell completely horrendous.  Detox by drybar is a little pricey but it is worth it if you can't wash your hair for two days. It has a pretty strong smell that I think gave me a slight headache the first time I used it, but after that I think I got used to it.  Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo is also one that I use and it is less than $5.00 at Target!

Makeup Remover Wipes: I love these wipes because they take off all of my makeup (except for some stubborn mascara) and it is quick when you are dead tired...which is basically all the time when you have a newborn! I have these in my travel bag as well.

Concealer: From the lack of sleep, dark circles under your eyes are a constant battle. I have found a few concealers that seem to hide that darkness and help you look bright and awake. Maybelline Fit Me Concealer is affordable and I feel like it has a great formula for coverage and blending and not looking cakey. I dot it on underneath my eyes and use the beauty blender to blend -- it also helps pick up any excess product -- then I pat a little powder on to help set the concealer in place. I have also heard many great things about the Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer by Urban Decay that I have been wanting to try for a while.

Highlighter: So I have been following YouTube make up guru Jaclyn Hill ever since she first started and she recently did a collaboration with Becca Cosmetics for a highlighter called Champagne Pop. I purchased it the day it came out and I have been using it constantly. It is gorgeous and just adds a little shimmer to give you a glowy look. I just lightly dust it along the tops of my cheek bones but I have seen others put it on the bridge of their nose and collarbone.

Baby Stuff: 

Auto Rocker: This rocker is what Luke sleeps in every night and it is AMAZING. It plugs into the wall so you don't have to worry about batteries and it has an option to run for 6 hours before shutting off. I heard about this from another mom at Babies R Us when I was registering for stuff and and she said it is a life saver...I totally agree!

Swaddlers: One of my momma friends told me about these SwaddleMe Swaddles by Summer Infant and they quickly became a necessity for us. We noticed Luke slept longer when he was swaddled for about the first 6 weeks after we brought him home. It has little velcro tabs which are great to keep him wrapped up and when you're half asleep trying to get him in there it helps a lot! The one downside: the velcro is loud and can sometimes startle a sleepy baby if you need to change them!

Baby Wrap: Luke loves to be held and I have found this Boba Wrap gives you the ability to simulate baby being held close to you and you also have free hands to get some things done around the house. There are plenty other brands out there that are basically a strip of stretchy fabric that you wrap around your body and stick your little one in there. It takes a little practice but YouTube tutorials helped me get the hang of wrapping it!

Feed Baby App: This app is awesome. It allows you to set alarms to keep you on top of feedings, changings, pumpings, etc. There are other categories that we don't really use like sleeping, baths, and medicines but they are available if you want them! We paid for the premium app so it would sync between mine and David's phones to keep us up to date at all times. SO worth it.

There you have it! These are the things I think have really helped me and Luke and I'm sure there are things I have over looked. If any of you other mommies have other things I should check out, let me know! :)

Two Month Update

I am a few days late with this but better late than never!

Luke at 2 months

Weight: 12 lbs, 10 oz. Gaining weight like a champ!

Length: 23 inches

Diaper Size: We are still in size 1 diapers... probably not for too much longer though!

Clothing Size: Luke has graduated to all 3 month and wearing some 3 to 6 month clothes. I have already had to clean out the closet and set aside the newborn clothes. I get sad just thinking about it!

Nicknames: Tiny Tot, Little Bit, Big Guy, Luke the Duke

Health: Still a healthy boy! We had a check up with the doctor today and he is "perfect" (His words, not mine -  but I have to agree with him!). Poor baby had to get three shots today and he cried for just a minute or two afterwards and has been snoozing since then.

Sleep: Two nights ago he slept for SIX hours!! I almost couldn't enjoy it because I was worried something was wrong... normally though he is getting up only two times a night and sleeping for 3 to 4 hours stretches at a time.

Diet: Still exclusively breast milk. I am thinking about slowly transitioning to formula, but I haven't quite decided yet!

Loves: He still loves his pacifier and his auto rocker. Luke sleeps very well when he being held and he always want to be walking around and watching everything going on. He really enjoys his changing table and loves kicking and stretching out when changing his diaper!

Dislikes: There really isn't much that he doesn't like. He seems to get bored when you sit and hold him without anything to entertain him.

Other Random Things:  Luke has been smiling and "talking" to us more and more and it is so fun to "interact" with him!

He also met his cousin Madelyn this past weekend! They are exactly 2 months apart and we are so excited about the newest addition to the family. When Luke first saw her, he started cooing and it was like he knew that was his new best friend! :)

Meeting Baby Madelyn

Sweet sleeping babies

Love my baby boy!

Throwback Thursday: Maternity Photos

I have a minute to sit down while Tiny Tot is napping to post some of our favorite photos from our maternity shoot.

We used Jules of Jules Photo & Design and LOVED her! She is the sweetest and we had a great time with her. I would highly recommend her for any of your photography needs. She also did newborn photos with Luke and is like the "baby whisperer".

We went to Lakeside Park in Highland Park, which was the same place I did my bridal portraits, and it is just a gorgeous setting. Enjoy!

Home is Where the Heart Is

A lot of people have been curious about what we are doing in regard to our living situation...

As most of you know, David and I bought a house in Bryan right before we got married and lived there until July 2014. When David got a new job, we moved back home to the DFW area to a two bedroom apartment. We used our second bedroom as my home office where I was able to continue working for the company in College Station, with just some extra travel involved. It was the perfect set up for just us two, and we had plenty of space... especially because we left a lot of things in the Bryan house.

Well fast forward just a few months when we got the surprise of our lives, learning that the newest addition of our family would be arriving in June, and we knew we had a few things to figure out!

Our number one priority was fixing up the Bryan house in order to get it ready to sell. Football season was upon us and we really didn't have much time between working full-time up north and traveling/tailgating/etc. to get the necessary things done.

Projects were never easy in this house:

- As chronicled in this blog, we had a living room paint fiasco that lasted MONTHS. If you are REALLY BORED, you can read about that here, here, and here. (It was a big deal for a while)

- We had a dining room floor that was partly ripped up since October 2013... Thanks to a hot water leak pipe in the foundation between our guest bathroom and dining room, we had to drill into the foundation, and cut a hole in the wall in order to fix it. In the process of that, we had to rip some of the wood floors up, which wouldn't have been so difficult if they weren't glued to the concrete below...  Just getting a square foot of that flooring up took a whole lot of effort and time that we really didn't have!

Thankfully, after months of discussions and deliberation, we finally made a call to a local real estate company and explained our situation. They were amazing and took over everything. We got contractors in the house and fixed up the flooring, drywall, painted and more to get the house in top shape. After a professional photographer and staging, the house was listed and received an offer in less than 24 hours. A week later, the first offer fell through, but another one came in at almost the exact same time and it was even better than the first one! We were shocked how fast everything moved, but we knew it was all a God thing. Prayers were answered, that's for sure!

It is bittersweet to let our first home go, but we just pray that the new family will be able to enjoy it as much as we did. Yes, we complained a lot about it, had many problems and mishaps, but it truly was an amazing house. We had so much room that we didn't know what to do with it all, the kitchen was custom and beautiful, and it was our home.

We closed on the house about 2 weeks ago, and now we are in the hunt for a new house! Wish us luck!