Birthday Celebrations

Mine and Tommy's birthday was Wednesday (the 25th) so we stretched out the celebrations! 

On Wednesday night we met Tom and Courtney (Tommy's parents) for dinner at Happy Sumo in Dunwoody for Hibachi. We were there early so we basically had the whole restaurant to ourselves (#babyproblems) and the chef at our Hibachi table to ourselves. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and each others company. Emma is not her best from 5-7pm so she needs lots of snacks and always ends up sitting with me. Especially on days of daycare because she doesn't nap as well. I know everyone struggles with that time of day with their little ones but it's tough when they won't go to anyone but mom. Overall though she was really well behaved in the restaurant. 

Thursday (the 26th) I went to dinner with some girlfriends to celebrate. We tried out Cooks and Soldiers. I had been really wanting to try this place out after I heard they opened and were owned by the same group that owns Iberian Pig which is delicious. We had a great night. The food was fantastic and the company was even better! The grilled cheese was to die for! Thanks to these ladies for coming to celebrate with me!

Friday night we went to dinner with my family. We tried out the new Mexican resturant in Town Brookhaven called Jefe's. It was good! The twins even came back from UGA to join us which was a real treat. I really appreciate them coming home to celebrate with us especially when it's their last semester in college. The food was good and the kiddos did great! 

Tommy and I sure felt loved and celebrated last week for our birthdays. I think 28 and 29 are going to be good years for us. Looking forward to seeing what all we have in store the next year. 

Thanks for all the love from our friends and family. We are truly blessed!

Weekend Recap- Aquarium Edition

So this weekend was a WET one with all the rain we got! Friday night we went to Vintage Pizza for dinner and then came home and watched "Girl on the Train". To say Tommy was traumatized after is an understatement. First off he hates scary movies and even more he hates creepy movies. I read the book a LONG time ago and sort of forgot just how extreme it was. Next time I don't get to pick the movie! Oops 

Saturday was 100% chance of rain so Friday night we decided since he couldn't do his golf day for his birthday we would go to the aquarium. My parents gifted us memberships for Christmas for this exact reason. On rainy days we would have something to do! We went right when they opened in order to beat the crowds. Emma loved it and so did we! I have a very strong feeling on those extremely HOT Summer days or rainy days over the Summer she and I will be frequenting the aquarium. 

Saturday afternoon we played and she tried figuring out crawling. Once Emma woke up from her nap we met the Mitchlers and Reynolds at Kaleidoscope for an early dinner. We ended the night with a few episodes of Homeland before calling it a day. Great Saturday in my books!

 so much drool....oh the joys of teething!

Sunday morning we made it to the 8:45am service. I had planned on taking Emma to the nursery for the first time but she still woke up with a cough and a runny nose so I didn't want to get anyone else's kid sick so I brought her in with us to the sanctuary. Definitely not doing that again. She is such a wriggle worm these days and definitely didn't want to be seated with me during the service. You live and learn. (just a little pre-church photo shoot)

(wearing a cardigan that my mom's grandmother so Emma's great-great-grandmother made...also don't mind the mess that is our dining room table behind her)

Once we got home I did our weekly grocery shopping before making some appetizers for the Falcons game. We went to the Stellings for the game and WOO Go Falcons. Can't believe we are SUPERBOWL bound! I'm not a big NFL fan (prefer my college football games) but when your city hasn't made it to the Superbowl in a LONG time you root them on! Tommy was happy his tennis match got canceled due to the rain so he was able to watch the game from start to finish. 

I went to bed at 8:15 last night because #mommawastired. Looking forward to this week celebrating mine and Tommy's birthday. 

Friday Favorites

I'm linking up with Andrea, Narci and Erika today for Friday Favorites! It's been awhile and after my post yesterday I thought I should do a light-hearted post today! I usually do my blogging when I'm pumping at work to make the time pass!

1. I bought these new shoes for walking because I wanted to leave my old pair at the beach so it would be one less thing I would need to pack each week. I love them! So light and comfortable and let's be real I'm not a runner so they are perfect for walking Cooper and Emma in the neighborhood!

and these are my go-to Friday shoes to wear with jeans for work with LF spirit wear. Also a Target find and so comfortable!

2. I just started this book and I'm loving it so far! I LOVE Lauren Graham (especially LOVE Gilmore Girls and Parenthood) and I enjoy audiobooks these days because by the time I'm ready to go to bed I'm ready to go to bed so I don't read. This way I can listen in the car, on my walks, when I'm feeding Emma and cooking. Works for me during this season of my life! I'm only part way through but she talks about the beginning of her career and how Gilmore Girls came about. I'm hooked!

3. Along with audiobooks I also enjoy a good podcast on a crime investigation. Right now I'm listening weekly to Up and Vanished which is about a missing persons crime here in Georgia. It's very similar type to Serial if you liked that or Undisclosed. A friend recommended this to me and it's now on my rotation. I'm not as much of a podcast listener as my husband but we both have enjoyed this series!

 4. When I get a free moment once Emma has gone to bed and I'm on my own I like to watch The Crown on Netflix. I've always been fascinated by the British Monarchy (I studied it on my study abroad in college) and I know it's a fictional show but I still enjoy it!

5. So we are on borrowed time before Emma is moving all over my house at a rapid pace! Right now her playroom is kinda a catch-all room (China Cabinet, her toys, my monogramming table, printer, etc.) so we really need somewhere I can pack away my monogramming things because needles/babies don't mesh well. Since it's Tommy and my birthday next week we decided we would get a desk for in there so we could put most of it away and a drawer or cabinet that we can keep baby-proofed. I am trying to decided between these two here! Opinions appreciated! I can't decide if I need a hutch or not is my dilemma. 

6. The Falcons have made it to the NFC Championship which will be their last home game in the Dome so Atlanta is pretty excited. I can't say I'm a huge professional football fan but I do enjoy an excuse to get together with friends over a football game. Let's go Falcons! 

7. So I really wanted a new camera and so with Christmas money and birthday I decided to invest in the Canon Rebel. I am in LOVE! I love that I can send the pictures over wifi to my phone and get some good quality photos of Emma. I am having fun playing with it and it's definitely my Favorite "toy" right now to play with! 

8.  And lastly I'm excited to spend the weekend with these two of mine! They are always my FAVORITES! (and their Daddy but I don't have a recent picture of him...probably should work on not only taking pictures of the baby and dog!)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I know I will!

Being a mom is tough

This has been in my drafts for a few days and after seeing another post from someone I used to work with about something similar I decided to post (she also posted THIS)

Just sitting here after putting Emma to sleep and just had some thoughts going on that I wanted to write down. Being a mom is TOUGH no matter what type of situation you are in. 

Working moms: its tough passing your greatest gift off to someone else to watch all day while you are working. You come home from work and want to pour your tired self into your baby because you only have so long with them that day before they go to bed. By the time they go to sleep and you've made their bottles/food/lunch for the next day you are emotionally and physically wiped. It's TOUGH. Many days that child you've been longing to spend time with all day comes home cranky or upset and you spend your precious time feeling defeated. 

Stay at home moms: you are with your children all day. You don't get to take a "break" when you are home all day. It's TOUGH being the emotional stability of your children every minute of the day, the keeper of the house, answering all their questions, making/cleaning all their food, and you are "on" 24 hours a day. Staying home is not easy and easy task!

 I had a hard day today after having an extra day home with Emma yesterday. I just missed her simple as that. This afternoon I also had a doctors appointment so I didn't get home til 5pm. I came home and she was fussy and didn't want me to put her down to play. She made me feel all the feels this afternoon because nearing bath time she usually starts to get delirious and tired so I sat her down with me on her glider and she snuggled up on my shoulder for me to rub her back and sing to her (even with my terrible voice she still likes it) and she just held on tight. So tight. Tommy came in and said her face looked so calm and tranquil. She needed me at that moment as much as I needed her. I couldn't help but cry because it's those little moments that remind me why being a mom is the best "job" anyone could have. Even on the hard days I wouldn't trade this "job" for anything else in the world. It's a tough one but it's totally worth all the sacrifices you make of yourself for those little people who love you no matter what. 

And two pictures to finish it off because I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

Nursing So Far Take 2

Like in my first post HERE I want to keep track of what I've been doing regarding breastfeeding for my own knowledge to be able to go back to late. 

So we have made it now EIGHT months of breastfeeding. To be quite honest with you when I was pregnant I wasn't sure I would make it this long. I am so proud of us! In my head I felt like 6 months was a good goal but now that we have made it this far it's only 4 more months until she is one so I want to finish through. I may aim for being done just after 11 months because I have a bachelorette party away for the weekend at the end of April and I think that might be a good time for me to say I'm DONE!

Emma is still doing great going between me and getting a bottle. She doesn't show a preference really over either. She now holds her own bottle at school (BIG GIRL status!) and will do it sometimes for daddy in the morning. Little princess prefers for him to hold it for her but we are working on this. 

Since starting solids, we have dropped down to 4 feedings of breastmilk a day and I dropped down to 4 as well. I was debating keeping that extra one but it just seemed complicated and limiting to me that I just like to stay on her same schedule. I still pump while I'm getting ready in the mornings for about 25 minutes and most days I only get 10 ounces now. She still gets the freshly pumped milk in the mornings (6 ounces) and finishes it all so I have 4 extra ounces to work with the rest of the day. I pump again at 10:30am and 3pm at work and get usually 5 ounces so it's important that I get those extra ounces in the morning. It's pretty amazing when you think about it that I'm getting EXACTLY what she needs each day. I still have a decent freezer stash if needed as well from my weekend extra ounces and such.

I've been very fortunate that I haven't had mastitis ever or any clogged ducts. This is probably why I've been able to make it this long.

We are now on to table foods which she loves most of the time. Not all veggies are our favorite but we keep trying. I am going to see how she does with the table food and bottles to see if she self weens herself off one of them and we will go from there. Right now I'm not planning on dropping any milk bottles just yet. 

We are going strong and there is light at the end of the tunnel. I love breastfeeding and I think it's such a cool connection for her and I but man it's a committment and ties you down. I feel like I am constantly thinking about the next time I need to feed/pump and when things come up having to figure out when I will pump if I need to be somewhere during a feeding. I'm still drinking LOADS of water to keep my milk strong. Emma is growing like a weed which is another amazing thing. I know she's not solely on breastmilk but the fact that my body is nourishing her is a beautiful thing. We are in the home stretch here!

I've blogged so much recently that I don't have many new pictures to share other than this from yesterday which shows you how "nourished" this "little" girl is! 

(I must add that I am in no way saying that you MUST breastfeed or that it's bad to not. This is just my journey. I know it doesn't come easy to many and we all do what works best for us. This is just our journey and could be very different with future children)

Emma: 8 Months

It's January 10th and Emma is 8 months old! 

No height and weight this month but I think she's around 20 pounds

Diaper: we are switching into size 4 as we speak
Clothes: 9 months

Wow this past month a LOT has changed and a lot has happened! Since December 10th you have gone to countless Christmas parties, had your first Christmas, went to the beach for New Years, got to spend 2 weeks at home (which Mommy LOVED), and lots of time spent with family. 

Milestones: You got one of your top front teeth and the other one will be here shortly we think, you started getting up on all fours, you can scoot yourself backwards but not forwards, you can scoot yourself in a complete circle on your belly, you have gotten way more stable sitting up (but you still get distracted and topple backwards), and you started table foods (with quite the range of sound effects).

Likes: bread products, all your new toys from Christmas, books (especially board books), playing in the bath, playing with Cooper, and FOOD in general. 

Dislikes: some veggies (weird textures so far), anyone but mom or dad after 5 pm, when an adult take things from you that she shouldn't have, getting your diaper changed or your clothes changed.

Emma your personality is really starting to shine. You love to interact with us as though you are having a conversation. You are so smart and so beautiful. You are such a smiley and happy baby. We could just eat you up! We love you so much sweet girl and can't wait to see what 2017 holds for you. 

( the sound affects when she's is eating is too funny to me)

(oh the giggles. makes my heart melt)