Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Life Lately

 Hi everyone.


I am so, so sorry for the unexpected break. Life has been hectic and having a newborn takes up a great deal of time and energy. I am absolutely loving being a mom and seeing what new and exciting skills she has learned each day. Ellie is the absolute light of my life and I can't imagine how I ever lived without her. She is truly a sweet, easy baby and is making our transition as parents seem rather easy. I couldn't have asked for a better baby, I really am truly blessed. 

Last I updated was early October so let's get you up to date on what has been going on since then.

Ellie turned 2 months old, and then 3 months old.




She is growing far too quickly. She is working on grasping and holding items and now reaches out to try to grab things. She doesn't have full intention on what she is looking to grab yet, but I think that will be coming in the next month or so. She also is eating more at each feeding and sleeping 10+ hours through the night! Although until last night I was still getting up to do a middle of the night pump, not waking up a bunch of times throughout the night is amazing. I know not all parents are this lucky and I am grateful she is giving us the gift of sleep.

Ellie also has started daycare and I've gone back to work full time.


Going back to work was extremely difficult and while I'm not 100% thrilled to be back full time and wish I could be a stay at home mom I can see how much Ellie thrives around other children. I know she will learn so much at daycare and will enjoy the one on one time she gets with my mom on the other days. I am continuing to work but also am open to other opportunities that will allow me to work from home or work less so I can be around for her more often. We will see what the future holds.

We celebrated Halloween.


Ellie was a goldendoodle like her furry sisters for Halloween. I purchased her costume at Pottery Barn and it was just the cutest! 



We also dressed her in her Snow White costume that my moms friend purchased for her. She looked adorable as a little princess. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving.


We celebrated Ellie's first Thanksgiving and it's just so cool that she is celebrating all these holidays for the first time ever. 

We've truly just been enjoying every single day with her! There are definitely more difficult days when she is feeling extra tired or needs some extra cuddles but for the most part she has been an extremely happy, easy baby.

Both dogs are doing great! I was very nervous to leave them for the full days when I went back to work full time but we are now a week in and they are doing great. They are so excited to see us when we get home but they are now adjusted to our new "normal"

Now we are looking forward to our first Christmas as parents, even if Ellie won't really "get" the excitement of Christmas this year it will still be fun to start some new traditions and include her in all the fun!

I have a ton of drafted blog posts that I want to get to and I am going to try to be better about posting, but it is truly a new phase of life and is difficult to commit to a schedule right now! I will try to be better!

Hope you all are doing well! :)

Monday, October 4, 2021

September Empties

Another month of empties coming at ya! Our first full month with a third human in our household and I'm including some of her empties as well.


Pampers Swaddlers Newborn: First up, a box of newborn diapers. Man do babies go through these fast. Ellie spend the first month of her life in newborn diapers even though we had several people tell us that she wouldn't fit in newborn diapers beyond a few days. Note to everyone, you have no idea what your baby will be like until they arrive! We really like Pampers and will continue to purchase them if we need to buy more. 


Pampers Diapers- Two more packs of newborn diapers. 

Lysol Wipes- We use these up regularly and I really like this brand new day scent.

Pampers Wipes- We went through multiple packs of these and they work great!

Carbona Color Run Remover- I had to purchase this when one of Ellie's new outfits bled onto several other outfits. This worked great and we were able to get them back to new. 

Tucks- Postpartum necessity. Need I say more?

Lanolin Nipple Cream- A necessity for breastfeeding/pumping! I would highly recommend getting multiple tubes of this. 

Snuggle Scent Beads- I actually am using these in a dresser drawer to keep clothes smelling fresh. They smell great and I would definitely purchase them in the future.



Gain Dryer Sheets- I like gain dryer sheets and they are my second choice after Bounce. I would definitely repurchase this in the future.

Pampers Wipes- Again, we like these and definitely went through far more packages than I took pictures of.

Pampers Pure Diapers- These were okay. I noticed Ellie had some redness after we used them so I am not sure I would purchase them for her in the future. 

Mrs Meyers Acorn Spice Dish Soap- My favorite! I always buy this in the fall from Grove Collaborative and will definitely repurchase this again and again. I have a few more stockpiled to hold me over.

Mrs Meyers Acorn Spice Candle- I love this scent and it works great with the other products in the line. 

Downy Scent Beads- I really hated the smell of these. I used up what I had but I won't be purchasing them in the future. 

Medela Hydrogel Pads- I liked these for after pumping but they are pricey so I have switched to just plain reusable pads. 

Cake Batter Chapstick- Always a favorite!

Enfamil Vitamin D Drops- These were a free sample from the pediatrician and they worked fine but we have switched brands since then. I would repurchase these again though.

Bath and Body Works Saltwater Breeze Shower Gel- This was an okay shower gel, I probably wouldn't repurchase this in the future. The smell was okay, but not my favorite that I've tried.

Maybelline Eyeliner- This worked just fine but I honestly wasn't able to use the whole thing before it dried out. I would repurchase this in the future if I needed an eyeliner like this.



Downy Unstoppable Scent Beads- I love these and will continue to repurchase them.

Bath and Body Works Leaves Candle- My absolute favorite candle of all time! I will keep repurchasing this.

Lanolin Nipple Cream, Pampers Wipes, Pampers Diapers, Cake Batter Chapstick- All repeats from previous pictures.

Grove Hand Soap- This was nice but I probably wouldn't purchase it because I have other hand soaps I like better.

Bath and Body Works Fiji White Sands Handsoap- This is a hand soap I would repurchase because the beach scent was great!

Bath and Body Works A Thousand Wishes Shower Gel- I liked this shower gel a lot and would definitely buy it again. The scent was really sweet and I think it smelled great.

Lactation Cookies- I went through several boxes of these and continue to repurchase them. I really think they make a difference!

Mrs Meyers Basil Dish Soap-  When the seasonal soaps aren't around, this is my dish soap of choice. 


 Huggies Newborn Diapers- I really liked the Huggies diapers. They worked great for Ellie and I would repurchase them in the future.


Those are all the empties we finished up this month, what did you finish at your house?

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

One Month Baby Must Haves

Well my baby Ellie turned one month old last Friday! I can't believe a month has already gone by it seems like it was just yesterday I was at the hospital with her but at the same time it feels like she has been a part of my life forever. Life completely revolves around Ellie at this point and I spend the majority of my day taking care of her. 

During the first month of her life we had several items that stood out as favorites and I thought I would share them with you guys in case you are about to have your first baby or are looking for a baby shower gift. 

Clothes

Magnetic Me Footie Pajamas



We received these Magnetic Me jammies as a gift and they were wonderful! Although they are rather pricey, the magnets make for easy changes and the fabric is so soft. We have another pair in a larger size and would definitely recommend them as a splurge baby item.

Carters 2 Way Zip Footed Onesies- This is another type of jammies I recommend because of the two way zipper. You can find these all over the place online and they come in a ton of patterns. We love these for nighttime since we are able to get them zipped up and diaper changed very quickly which is important when you have a hungry, angry baby in the middle of the night!

Pacifiers

Nanobebe

This is the first pacifier that Ellie took and we really liked them! For about two weeks it was all she would take and we ordered more thinking they would be great for the future. Well, she has since found a different pacifier that she likes more, but I would still recommend these because they worked when she was super little. 



The magical wubbanub! Ellie loves her unicorn wubbanub and although we are holding off on purchasing other ones for the time being if she continues to love it I will definitely purchase another. 

Sleep




So far, the Snoo is not the magical bassinet that we had heard about. We are getting 2 hours of sleep at a time right now. I do have hope that eventually we will have longer stretches as Ellie gets bigger and can hold more milk in her belly at once. Right now she only eats about two ounces at a time so every two hours she is hungry. I'm not sure if we would be getting any sleep at all if she wasn't in the Snoo since at the hospital she wouldn't sleep in the bassinet since it didn't move. Along with the Snoo we are using the sleep sacks and fitted sheets that come with it. I would recommend purchasing multiples in case you have any late night blow outs or spit up incidents. 

Breast Feeding


Tommee Tippee Bottles

I am exclusively pumping so Ellie is exclusively using bottles at this point. Tommee Tippee bottles were recommended to me and they are the only ones we've used and they are working great. The size 1 nipples are working the best currently although we did briefly try the size 0 but Ellie quickly got frustrated and we switched back to the size 1. 


Coconut Oil

I have been using coconut oil on my pump and it's been working to make it a little more comfortable for me. 



I have gone through so many tubes of this already! It definitely is helping something that is uncomfortable for me. 

Freebie Standard Cups

I ordered these Freebie cups so I could pump hands free and they have been working really well. I just ordered an insert so they will hopefully be a little more comfortable, but the convenience of pumping hands free is totally worth it.  



So far I like the Spectra S2, it works really well for me and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a pump. I was happy to get one free through insurance and am glad I chose this one. 

Play 

Swing


Ellie loves her swing! I can usually get her to relax in here at least once a day which gives me time to wash dishes, change laundry, make lunch, etc...


Play Mat

Ellie does her tummy time and also hangs out on this play mat at least once a day to get some exercise. It is so cute when she plays with the hanging sea creatures and kicks away on the mat!


So those are our one month baby must haves, I would love to know what yours are if you have a young baby too!

Monday, September 20, 2021

The First Few Weeks

 I can't believe tomorrow Ellie will be 4 weeks old and on Friday she will officially be one month old. In some ways it feels like her birth was ages ago and in other ways it feels like there is no possible way for her to be a month old already.

I am so lucky to be Ellie's mom and I am thankful every day that this little girl came into our lives. However I don't like to sugarcoat things and being a new mom is hard. Ellie is a very easy baby, she only cries when she is hungry or her tummy hurts after eating. She sleeps in two to three hour increments and when she's awake she's generally a happy baby. I am so lucky that she is such a great baby but that doesn't mean that there aren't things that are really hard about having a baby. Life has changed so much and our world revolves around this little girl. We are up at night several times feeding and changing her, I am pumping around the clock which is a challenge in itself. 

I wanted to share some pictures from the last few weeks even though all we've basically been doing is taking care of Ellie and introducing her to family. I am planning on creating a post with our newborn necessities that have been vital throughout the first month. When creating our baby registry the items I thought we would need the most were not the ones that we actually got the most use out of so I thought it might be interesting to share.

For now, here are a bunch of pictures from our first 4 weeks with Ellie! (In no particular order since they uploaded out of order and who has the time to fix that?!)


Ellie met her great uncle Dave and great aunt Liz.


Checked out the Atlantic Ocean for the first time at the Naragansett Seawall.


Met Uncle Dan for the first time.


Met Auntie Marie for the first time, and went out to her first dinner for Uncle Dan's 30th birthday.


Met Uncle Derek and Auntie Ally.


Wore her first tutu as her coming home outfit from the hospital...and judged mom for dressing her that way.


Took her first selfie with mom and dad. 


Decided she loves nanobebe pacifiers.


Took newborn photos with Bella Photography.


Which came out adorable.


We also took family photos.


And one with just the humans. 


Hung out with dad while he took a few days off of work.


Met Pops and got held by Nana.




Hung out with my sister Rory.


Slept a lot.


Got dressed up for Uncle Dan's birthday dinner.


Tried out fancy pajamas from Magnetic Me.


Met cousin Callan.


and Auntie Nicole, 


And Grammi,


and Uncle Ant and Auntie Rachel.


Visited Auntie Brittni and Uncle Stephen's house and met Cousins Emma and Parker.


Cousin Parker held me for the first time.


And Cousin Emma did too!


Took my first family picture in the hospital with mom and dad. 


Met my furry sisters and mom attempted to give all three of us attention.


Sat with Dad and Sophie.


Played in my new play gym.


More nanobebe pacifier love.


Visited Nana's house and met Vivian and Great Papa. 


Met Uncle Freddy and Auntie Marissa.


Snuggled with Nana almost every day.


Picked out first pumpkin from Shickasheen Farm.


Met Poppi


Gave some really concerned faces...


Rode in style when we left the hospital.


Rode in the car seat (several times) and did great!


Met Uncle Dan (yes there are two!)


Dined with my parents when they had their Stork Dinner at the hospital. 


Uncle Dan's birthday dinner at The Haversham. 


Met Auntie Brittni and Cousin Max.


Gave some really cute faces.


Went on our first family walk. 


Snuggled more with Dad.



Slept a lot!


Met Cousin Kason.


Had a very happy first four weeks of life! 


I hope you enjoyed these out of order pictures of Ellie's first few weeks of life. I will be sharing more when I have the chance. The days fly by around here lately!