Happy Friday!

I have to admit that time passes differently now that I'm not working outside of the home. It passes in a kind of weird fast-slow pace but Fridays kind of merge into the other days since I won't be coming home from work to plop on the couch with a glass of wine, order out, and not move until I need to go to bed. Still, I love me a good Friday! This post is all over the place. You're welcome.

1. I have been putting pumpkin pie spice in my coffee before it brews and my whole world changed. Why have I been buying coffee that is full of flavoring when I could be doing this?! Bonus that my house smells like Fall, even if it is 90 effing degrees still.

2. Birthday prep is in full swing for a certain 11 month old baby I know! I could literally cry thinking about how much she has grown and changed my world but instead I am throwing myself into party planning. I have been 'pinning' this day long before she was even born but will still keep it simple, though, drive my husband crazy in the process. I'm sure of it.

Um. This is happening. And it doesn't look like that anymore!

3. This is Day 4 of the 21 Day Fix for me and I don't want to eat my arm or that chunky 11 month old on my hip. I'm so surprised because those containers are teeny tiny but they are filling me up. Apparently I've been over eating FORever so this is a great program for me. My SIL's wedding is in less than a month and when I tried on the dress that I had to purchase right after having a baby, I zipped it up and IT FELL OFF OF ME! I was afraid I would be that girl who was all "Oh, I just had a baby, let me wait to order the dress" then have to shove myself inside of it. I keep that thought in my head when Autumn is all "Give me three weeks and I'll give you the body you always wanted". Ok, Autumn! Give it to me!

4. Noelle is getting her molars in. Is that weird? She already has one and it is gigantic compared to her little chiclet teeth up front. Girlfriend has NINE teeth with two other molars starting to poke through. What the what? This seems so strange to me!

5. This song is my jam. I am obsessed. For real, I want this playing around me all the time. Like when I walk into places, I want it to be my entrance song. Not only is the beat fab but the message it is sending is even better. Get it girl.

Happy Friday!!

Fall in LOVE with YOU

Happy Monday!! I wanted to share some great info today. I have a post in the works about 'Operation: Get my body back' but this is where it all started. Scrolling on Instagram, I came across some info for a T25 challenge group so I asked to join it, not really knowing what to expect. I had a blast, got lots of new recipes, lost 7 lbs/10.5 inches, and made some new friends. Those ladies became such a great source of motivation for me and continue to do so, long after the challenge group ended. We teamed together to form the Live Life Fit Community and we are hosting another challenge group. If you need some motivation, a place to find healthy recipes, or just looking to 'meet' other ladies who are juggling life and fitness, this is a great place to start.

The group is filling up fast and will be lots of fun. Here are some important details...

• You get to pick your program.
• You can join if you're already doing a program.* 
• It's all on Facebook and the group is SECRET, meaning no one sees what you post except group members.
• You don't have to post before pictures but you should take them for yourself. You will get points for sharing them but it's your call.
• You don't have to publicly weigh in anywhere. WHY?!?
• You don't have to be super into health and fitness, just be willing to take the first step.
• There will be prizes based on a point system.
• There are already over 50 people signed up, so you can count on a great support group!

*certain rules may apply

Leave a comment or send an email or text if you want more info!

Linking up for #MIMM!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Well, the inevitable happened. After such a long and cold winter, we wished so hard for summer that we enjoyed the heck out of it, and you know what they say about time flying when you're having fun. Or is it time flying when you have a baby? Either way, both of those things are happening and we are chasing after an almost-toddler as the summer comes to a close. Womp. Womp. Thank goodness that Fall is my favorite!

So what the heck are we up to? Big things, people. BIG things.

{Noelle loving my most favorite place, York Beach, Maine.}

First off, Noelle is practically a big kid, not an itty bitty baby at 10.5 months old, 19 pounds and 29 inches. What? She crawls at lightning speed, channeling her inner spider monkey as she scales the furniture, the stairs, our legs, the dog and cat, pretty much anything she can get her sweet little hands on. She says Dada, Mama, Rock, Hi, and is attempting some sort of a Hello. She thinks she is talking just fine so we chat all day long. She is the sweetest little thing you ever did see and truly such an easy going baby.

We made a huge decision for our family and decided that it would be best for me to resign from my teaching position so that I can be a Stay at Home Mom! I have been dreaming about this decision for a long time but it wasn't until recently that a few things happened that made it a reality. A huge weight has been lifted knowing that no one is expecting me to show up next week on the first day of school and that I don't need to be apart from my sweet girl, which was a very real anxiety for me. We don't know how long this will last or what the plan is longterm but for now, this is what works best for us, and we could not be more thrilled that we found a way to make it happen. This has always been a dream of mine so while I'm sure I will miss the classroom, I am beyond happy that it worked out this way.

I became an Independent Beachbody Coach. I finished up T25 and are you ready for this? I lost 10.5 inches and 7 lbs, in 10 weeks! I knew the weight would be slow because I am still nursing and I'm pretty sure that my body is clinging to that weight, as it should be, but the inches? Holy moly! I'm no stranger to Beachbody but T25 is the first at home program that I have ever really stuck with and it seriously made my life so much easier to be able to work out at home while Noelle played on the floor and then as she got more mobile, while she napped. I have a post planned all about this new change and what it means for me and for you!

Speaking of that.. it's also pretty clear that while this blog was once a place that I shared the little details of my life, it is no longer that outlet for me. I love the blogging community and made some amazing friends here but we decided that we didn't want Noelle's pictures plastered all over the place and that made blogging hard. Uh, I can't blog about my baby? Now what? Not only that but I found that it was easy to not make it a priority because I had nothing to write about! When I originally created my blog, my intention was to blog about food and cooking, hence the title, but then I fell in love with the blogging community in general and I accidentally veered away from that. I would like to refocus my blog so that it becomes what I intended it to be, mixed in with what I already do. Not a whole lot will be changing (I don't think) but I'll share more about this later.

{Fenway selfie}

Besides that we have seriously been enjoying this summer, big time. It is the first summer that Jeff hasn't been coaching or playing baseball since we've been together, which means that we have a lot more family time. We have also had lots of parties - weddings, showers, birthdays, graduations, cookouts. We have spent lots of time at the beach, lake, and pool, and even took some mini trips, including our first family vacation to Maine. We also welcomed my best friend's precious new baby GIRL into the world! It was the sweetest surprise ever! We are soaking up the last few weeks of summer and then it's my favorite season! Then Noelle's birthday (HOW?!) then my SIL's wedding, so we have lots of fun things coming up to keep us busy and happy and full.

Memorial Day Weekend & somebody's on the move!

Somehow Memorial Day weekend already came and went! I loved having the extra day with Jeff home and we had plans to go up to my in-laws lake house. The forecast wasn't so great but we ended up with decent weather and had a lot of fun firsts with Noelle.

First time on the boat! I was dying over the teeny pink tankini and big white sun hat that she rocked so flawlessly. She was so mad when we first put her in the life jacket but after her nap she was totally fine.

My sisters-in-law noted that Noelle had "Chronic Bitch Face" when she was in this life jacket. We all couldn't stop laughing every time we looked at her because she was just glaring at us. What the heck are you making me wear, mom?

She cheered up real fast! Already driving the boat around.

We let her take off the jacket for a bit when we docked so she could eat and she turned into a little model baby after. Is this kid for real? Work those baby thighs!

Love my sweet family! We loved our first mini vaca!

I would say she is a fan of summer time and boating. All that fresh air made for good naps!

Back at the camp, she had her first bath in the big tub that she LOVED, her first camp fire (which I didn't get any pictures of), and then this happened...

My baby started crawling!!! We knew it was coming but then apparently when there was something she wanted bad enough on the floor, she went for it! You can tell we are all so excited! Jeff wasn't sure if it counted because we were setting her up by placing the spoon on the ground. You can hear my mother-in-law, "It counts! Of course it counts!"

We had the best weekend and look forward to lots of fun firsts and family time this summer!

Noelle's Baptism

I'm playing catch up a bit and sharing Noelle's Baptism today! Trust that I am better at keeping up with her baby book than I am with this blog! :)

After buying our house, I began searching for a church in our area that would make us feel welcome and ease the transition from having no church to one that we belonged in. I was looking for a true community that would make it so we would enjoy going to church on Sundays. I found that in our little church and have been so happy with it. We have lots of friends, a Pastor that we love, and have spent a lot of time learning about our faith and becoming active in our church. We were married there on April 28, 2012 and on March 16, 2014, our daughter was baptized there, by the same pastor, in front of the same family and friends. It was such a beautiful day.

Noelle wore the same dress that I wore, as well as my three siblings and some of my cousins. My great-aunt crocheted it for me and now it is being passed down. I absolutely love that she wore this and look forward to putting all my babies in it! The dress is so intricate that we decided to go with this headband by Pink Lemonade. Such a little princess!

A little blurry but I was so glad to have these pictures. She did so well in church, which is typical. It didn't seem to bother her one bit that someone just poured water on her head. Such a happy moment for us!

Our little family, celebrating on the same alter that we took our vows on two years ago.

Afterwards, we hosted a small luncheon at a restaurant. We were really happy with the food and it was nice to not have to set up or clean up afterwards.

The cake was delicious and so were the gluten-free cupcakes! Made by Cakes by Michelle.

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For the party she changed into this sweet monogrammed dress made by Plain Jane & Co.

We had such a great day celebrating with family and friends! Just for fun, here is a picture of me with my parents on February 16, 1986 being baptized in the same gown!

Hello? Is this thing on?

Hi! Um, not even going to think about the fact that I last posted in December. What the what. Let's just say that between being unsure about how much I wanted to share about my baby and grad school starting back up after a semester off.. this mama fell off the track. 

So what have we been up to?

I am...

• enjoying being a temporary Stay At Home Mom! We decided, after lots of crying, praying, budgeting, crying, and praying, that I would take the rest of this school year off to be home with Noelle. So I haven't gone back to work yet. It has always been my dream to stay home with my babies and I am facing a harsh reality that it just isn't going to happen right now. Thankfully, Jeff and I were able to make it happen for this school year and we'll see what happens, though the plan is to go back to work in late August.

• back to grad school! I took two online hybrid classes, after taking the Fall semester off. The last day of class was May 11th and I have truly never been happier to end a semester, which was the last one before my practicum!! It was so hard trying to get a ridiculous amount of work done with a child who refuses to nap for more than 20 minutes, unless she's on me, so I've been allowing that for too long just to get work done. The work load this semester? B-A-N-A-N-A-S

• working on my fitness. I'm trying to get healthy and tone this strange post-baby body. It's flabby, it's stretched out, but it's lighter than it was before I was pregnant so it's just weird. I started T25, tried a few Stroller Strides bootcamp classes, and have been making a solid effort to eat well and take a 2-3 mile walk every day with Rocky and Noelle. Mama needs to get fit!!

• fighting cabin fever like whoa. I LOVE being home with Noelle. LOVE IT. But this winter was long and I felt like the sun came out and I didn't know what to do with it. We were inside so much because you just can't take a bitty baby out when it's 5 degrees out. Well, whaddya know, she's not so bitty anymore and spring has sprung, so we're out!

Jeff is...

• coaching baseball and loving it. His team is doing really well, too! It makes for a long day, though.. he leaves for work around 5am and isn't home until about 6-7pm. 

• working, working, working! This is his busy time at work as the nice weather peaks. So grateful for such a hard working hubby!

• L-O-V-I-N-G his baby girl! Daddy is obsessed!! Those two are just about the sweetest thing I ever saw. He was MADE to be a Daddy to a baby girl. Absolutely made for it.

Noelle is...

• getting big!! She is 7 months old, I'm guessing about 18lbs, 28 inches, and has two teeth! She is still deliciously plump but she is going to be tall like her Daddy. 

• starting to become more and more mobile. She is on the cusp on crawling but she sits and scoots on her bum to get where she needs to go. She can spin herself in circles, move from sitting to her belly, back to sitting, and she does baby planks all the time, which is hilarious.

• saying Dada!! I swear she said Mama first but the little stinker says Dada all day long.

• obsessed with Rocky and Princess. OBSESSED. Thankfully they both love her, too, but she loves hard! "Be gentle!" is our new mantra.

• such a happy baby!! I could just eat her up.

• not a good sleeper. We started partially co-sleeping because she won't sleep in her crib for long periods. She starts there and ends up in bed with us. It's working for now and she is seriously the best snuggler on the planet. She loves spooning. For real.

• eating solid foods but still nursing like a champ. She is independent and likes to feed herself but prefers mama's milk still.

I'm hoping to get back to blogging more regularly now. I love this sweet online community and I'm thankful for IG and emailing/texting with my blog friends but I have missed this space.

The best kind of busy

This season of my life is so incredibly sweet that sometimes, in complete awe, I just have to stop and look around. I want to remember it all. 

The past few years have been a whole lot of busy, busy, busy, rush, rush, rush. Working 50+ hours a week, one or two grad classes a semester, summer sessions, and summer school mixed with Jeff's 60+ hour work week and both of his baseball teams, while still balancing family and home life. Sometimes it felt like we were just getting through the week then slogging through the weekend, and for what? In no way will I say that my life didn't have purpose, because it always has, in so many ways, but my purpose has completely changed. 

I have always given so much of myself to my students, throwing myself into my school work and taking too much of it home with me, physically and mentally. But now, as I find myself going into my third month away from the classroom, I have found a new purpose. If I'm being honest, as much as I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom, part of me wondered if I would feel lost without my students, my creativity, the energy of the classroom. I always knew that being a mother was the ultimate goal in my life but in a society that seems to glamorize a busy, overworked lifestyle, I wondered if staying home with my baby would set me apart, even if it is only for a season.

And yet, I am busy. My life is full. It is rewarding. But most days, I don't get dressed until after noon time and when I glance in the mirror, I see that my hair is ten kinds of crazy, my shirt is all sorts of stretched out and stained from being pulled and spit on, and good Lord, my pedicure, if you can call it that, is in dire need. I always felt so accomplished with a good pedicure but I guess my tune has changed. 

Some days, when Jeff gets home from work, I see him glance over at the sink, which is still full, or at the dozen dog toys strewn across the floor, and at my coffee cup still sitting next to me while Ellen is on at 4:00, and I know what he's thinking. Still, as I look down at my daughter, who is nuzzled up to me, filling her belly and looking into my eyes, I know that the day's greatest accomplishment is that 12 pound bundle of love sitting in my lap, smiling, happy, healthy. Even when it doesn't look like it from the outside, I am busy all day. Rocking, shushing, snuggling, singing, swaddling, kissing, changing, reading, walking, kissing, bouncing, tummy-timing, and more kissing. I am so busy. My life is so full. It is so rewarding. 

I don't ever want to lose the person I was before I was someone's Mommy; the person who was showered and out the door by 6:30am and could get 25 kids converting fractions and loving it by 8:00am, but in this short, sweet season, I want to enjoy my new busy. When I feel flustered trying to switch the laundry, take out the trash, wipe down the counters, sweep the floor, so that it looks like I "did something", I realize that I am "doing something" all day long. And on the best days, I am showered and dressed, using my teacher voices to read stories, with the hum of the dishwasher and washing machine in the background, a tired dog at my side and a happy baby in my lap. 

If I don't get to return a phone call, or update my blog, or check the mail, it will still be okay. If I don't get to the dishes or put away the laundry, it will be there tomorrow. At this point, I don't know how long I will get to be home all day with my sweet baby, being the only one who can meet her needs. She will only be this little once and I know that I will blink and be back in the classroom, up late preparing lessons, rushing to get dinner on the table so I can post online for a grad class. For now, I will enjoy being the best kind of busy I can be, because I know too well, that babies don't keep.

Mother, O' Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth.

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek - peekaboo.

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo.

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~ Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Noelle's First Halloween!

As soon as I knew I would be having a Fall baby, I immediately began thinking about Halloween costumes. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays and it would be Noelle's first holiday. Jeff and I always have some sort of ridiculous couples costume so we knew we needed a family costume this year, especially since it was Noelle's first. Thankfully, Jeff doesn't think this is silly and we usually start plotting and making our costumes early in the season.

When I started looking for baby costumes, I ran into two issues. Halloween costumes for small babies tend to be sized 0-6 months and expensive. I think a six month size range is pretty ridiculous, especially considering our little peanut is still wearing some of her newborn clothes. I'm also not a fan of spending a lot of money on a costume that will be worn once and most likely be way too big. Of course, regardless of this, I still began to stress out that she needed the perfect costume. On Halloween, my niece comes up to trick or treat in our neighborhood and I knew that Noelle would be staying home to pass out candy with Daddy, since it was supposed to be rainy. The weekend after Halloween we had a costume party to go to, so I knew that she would eventually need a costume. It was the perfect recipe for stress for a type-A, first time mama.

It all worked out and our little pumpkin had a great first Halloween.

Our bigger pumpkin isn't the biggest fan of being dressed up. He has his 'Mom, you're embarrassing me' look totally down.

Daddy is the sweetest and carved a very special pumpkin for our girl.

And our first Halloween as a family of 3 was a success! Just a couple of farmers with our sweet chicken.

We have called Noelle, little chicken, since she was born so naturally it was the best costume choice.

Have you seen a cuter chicken?! Doubt it!

This was such an easy costume to make. I found some DIY chicken costume tutorials online, but again they all seem to be geared towards bigger kids and use feather boas. Let me just say that feather boas are the most annoying things ever. I bought one to try and there are feathers everywhere just from having it in the bag and I didn't even take the tag off of it. So I improvised a bit so that my chicken would be comfortable and I will be returning the boa. I used a hot glue gun to glue single feathers to the front of a long sleeve onesie. I originally used spray adhesive but it left a heavy chemical smell on the onesie and I couldn't have her hanging out in that all night. So now I have two feathered onesies, live and learn. I bought a pack of plain headbands and used the white one to glue red feathers to. I actually used a peacock feather that had a wire in it, removed the peacock feathers, keeping just the red ones, and used red felt to position it and hot glue it to the headband. My mom picked up orange pants and also gave her Halloween socks, which we reused for this costume. SO simple! The whole thing took less than 15 minutes to put together and cost under $10.

Noelle's first holiday was a success! Even though time needs to slow down, next year will be so much fun when she can walk around to collect candy that her mom & dad will eat. Hope your Halloween was just as fun and that you are getting to eat all your kid's candy!

A perfect Fall weekend!

Anyone who knows me knows that Fall is my absolute favorite. Like most people, Jeff and I go apple picking every year and we try to pick a different orchard each time. We are so lucky that in New England there are SO many choices and hope to keep trying new ones until we run out or find a favorite. This year, we were kind of up in the air about whether or not we would go because we weren't sure when we were going to have the baby and how I would be feeling afterwards. Even though I wasn't really sure about it, I was holding onto hope that we would make it because as much as I look forward to apple picking every year, I always looked forward to apple picking with my babies even more. 

This weekend, we made our annual trip to a new local orchard, as a family of four (no cats allowed). It was a small orchard that allowed dogs so we were excited to avoid the crowds to let our babies experience their first time apple picking. I was a little nervous when we first pulled in because there were only two or three cars there and I thought we made a mistake and that it was just a farm stand. Instead, we found the cheapest prices, nicest people, and an almost empty orchard with the BEST apples we have ever picked. Seriously. The last weekend of picking is usually a pretty lousy selection but almost every apple was practically the size of a small pumpkin and there were so many.

Of course, our little pumpkin slept the whole time. LOVE my Moby Wrap btw.

Our bigger pumpkin enjoyed sampling the local fare.

He was so excited just to be there.

Picking out pumpkins with my babies. Rocky had to be held this tight because he pounced on every pumpkin like it was a ball. He was in his glory.

Since we were practically the only ones there, I started thinking that we wouldn't get a family picture and really, isn't that half the point? Hah! No, but really. Thankfully, my sweet husband is well-trained at this point and he set up the camera on a timer and propped it up on a pumpkin to take my favorite picture, ever.

My sweet family.

This is my happy place. It was such a perfect day. I can't wait for so many more experiences with my little family.

The best three weeks

I am in complete awe that I've been a mama for three weeks. Time was absolutely standing still the last few days that I was pregnant and waiting for my baby to arrive and now it's moving so fast I'm afraid to blink. These past three weeks have truly been some of the best times of my life. Even through the exhaustion, endless stream of visitors, and roller coaster of emotions, I just can't stop staring at my sweet baby and feeling so lucky that she's mine. I love watching her make faces and watching her sleep. I love watching her Daddy interact with her. I love that Rocky takes his role as big brother very seriously and already loves her so much. I love snuggling up on the couch with my little family and knowing that all I ever need is right there.

At our last doctor's appointment, when Noelle was one week old, after losing a bit of weight she then surpassed her birth weight, going from her birth weight of 8 lbs 4 oz to 7 lbs 12.8 oz to 8 lbs, 7.4 oz. I still can't believe that I had an 8 lb baby! As chunky as she seems, she's also such a peanut, and getting good use out of her newborn clothes, that I wasn't sure she would fit into. She is such a good baby! She hardly cries and just makes little noises when she wakes up. She's so alert when she's awake and her awake time is getting longer and longer. Although, the past few nights she decided that her awake time should be from 9pm to midnight. As sweet as she is, this sleepy mama's not a fan of that time frame. She does sleep pretty well, going for 3-3.5 hours at night and she goes right back to sleep after eating. During the day she seems to sleep better when she's being held, so now I move the Rock & Play downstairs with me so I can get something done since she sleeps well in that and I just wake her every 2-3 hours to eat. The hardest part has been breast feeding. She nurses well and has right from birth but the first week and a half I was so sore and I feel like all I do is nurse her. Especially during the day when she goes every two-ish hours between feedings. Breast feeding deserves a whole post of its own but that's been the biggest challenge.

Jeff went back to work after about a week and a half and it definitely takes a lot longer to get anything done without him home. He has been such a huge help and has made it very easy for me to just focus on loving on and feeding Noelle. Now that he's not home in the morning, I've been trying to go back to sleep after Noelle's 7am-ish feeding so that I can catch up on sleep but it's hard starting the day at 10am. Especially trying to eat breakfast, feed and change her, and throw a shower in there. We're doing lots of laundry, too, since her newborn clothes are limited. It's amazing how short the day becomes when you're taking care of a newborn. I am on her schedule which doesn't leave time for much else, besides staring at her. I do a lot of that.

As for me, I'm feeling really good. After labor, I was pretty sore all over, like I just ran a marathon, but that went away pretty quickly. My belly went down much faster than I thought it would, it's just kinda mushy. I thought it would be weird to not have a big belly anymore but it is nice to be getting back to my old self, which actually only took less than a week. I can bend over again! My body definitely needs some work but seriously, the breast feeding diet is the way to go. I am down about 30-32lbs, which is 8-10 lbs less than my pre-pregnancy weight. I definitely had/have weight to lose but it was amazing how it just melted right off. This was the last thing I expected, especially after struggling with my weight for the past couple of years. I'm trying to get walks in but that's easier said than done, especially by myself. I do plan on doing a post completely dedicated to weight loss so that it will motivate me to keep going.

There are so many things I don't want to forget about this precious time.

• The way that Noelle scrunches up her face like a pirate right before she starts nursing.
• The way that the top of her head smells and even her little piggies.
• The way that she looks into my eyes like she knows exactly who I am.
• How sweet her Daddy is with her and how natural fatherhood came to him. There is nothing more precious than watching him interact with her.
• How she wraps her little fingers around mine when she's nursing.
• How she fits in the teeny space in my lap.
• Her sweet little smiles while she sleeps.
• How she crosses her little hands under her chin when she sleeps on my chest.
• The little humming noises she makes when she's nursing and wide awake.
• How sweet my Rocky is with her.
• The way Jeff suddenly has 10 sets of eyes when he's driving with with a baby on board.
• How my heart skips a beat when he says things like "my girls" when he asks about us.
• How many times a day we both look at her and say, "Can you believe she's ours?" or "Look at her now!" when she moves slightly, or "Isn't she the most precious thing in the whole world?"
• How complete I feel when I'm snuggled up with my little family.

Motherhood is everything I thought it would be and more.

As much as I want to document and share everything, I am trying to soak up every moment with my sweet girl and usually don't have both hands free at the same time. (I actually started this post a week ago!) I am taking a bajillion pictures but I'm suddenly having a hard time with the idea of putting my baby's pictures on the internet. I haven't decided what I'm going to do but in the meantime, I'm going to be limiting her pictures on the blog. I know I'm not a huge blogger but it's just weighing heavily on me. I do hope to get her birth story written and may post monthly updates with regular family stuff but for right now, it's really just hard to post anything with one hand :)

Thank you for your sweet comments, texts, and emails. We are so blessed to have so many people who are already so in love with our little girl. I also feel so lucky to have so many sweet friends that I've made through blogging who are genuinely excited for us and check in with us to see how we're doing. Thank you! Thank you! xoxox

Introducing...

Our sweet baby girl... Noelle Mary

Born on October 1st at 3:00pm.

8lbs, 4 oz, 21.5 inches of complete perfection.

We are doing well and trying to soak up every moment with our precious little girl.

Looking back... 41 weeks of bliss!

Being pregnant has definitely been the most amazing thing that I have ever done. Week after week, I am in awe over what my body can do and how it is capable of not only creating life but nourishing it, keeping it safe, and caring for it in a way that I could never understand. We were so blessed that we got to experience all of the joys of pregnancy. I know that not all women have this privilege and that makes it even more special to know that I was chosen to take on this responsibility and that my body was able to handle it. I have also loved documenting everything to always remember how special this time was.


Here's a look back at my pregnancy, over the past 41 weeks.

We found out we were expecting on January 14, 2013. 

Jeff insisted I take multiple tests to be sure.

The very first picture of our little bean.

Seeing the heartbeat flicker at only 7 weeks was absolutely phenomenal.

My first bump picture before there was ever a 'bump'

We entered the second trimester and announced our pregnancy to the world.

Soon enough the belly started growing.

During the second trimester, we found out that we were having a little girl!

We had a fabulous gender reveal party with our close family.

In the third trimester, we also had the most beautiful baby shower.

And the belly kept growing and growing.

I have had an amazing support system from the very first day 

and there are SO many people who are already so in love with our daughter.

The biggest support has been my amazing husband, who will be the best Daddy.

He even shared some of his experience here and here.

Here we are now, 41 weeks pregnant, about to meet our baby, and I am so, so lucky.

What an amazing journey this has been!