A Free Moment...

Whew.

This past weekend, yes I realize we are three days into the short week, was quite the whirlwind. Here I chat all about how we stay home a lot, haven't been getting out, don't have many plans and then all of a sudden the "inaugural" week of summer comes--Memorial Day Weekend--and we are out and about and realized it will be a little bit non-stop for the next few weekends!

Friday, we were up early-ish and out and about running errands. Replacement social security card for me, emissions for Ben, Costco for the family and then home to enjoy the rest of the sunny day. My parents stopped by for a short bit around dinner time to say hi to the baby and then we grilled and hit the sack.

Saturday morning, we were up earlier and trying to time out a feeding and then nap time for Eleanor around 9ish because we were hitting the road. Our group of college friends have been going on the same camping trip since freshman year of college and since it's less than a two hour drive from home, we decided to go up for the day and say hello to everyone. The morning was great, E went to sleep in the car and then it felt like all hell broke loose because we were picking up a friend at A park and ride but apparently there was a mis-communication about which one. Well, we ended up getting lost, having to back track and listening to our whining dog. Eleanor slept most of the time but woke up about 15 minutes from our destination. Had we not been such idiots about the getting lost and such, she would have slept the whole way! Oh well. 

We arrived at the site and hung out for a few hours. We got to catch up with some friends, have lunch enjoy being outside in the nice weather and then we tried to feed and get back on the road for another nap in the late afternoon. Well, she slept the first half hour to forty five minutes but once we got off the freeway to drop our friend back off at his car she was not having it and cried the whole rest of the way home. About another forty five minutes. Awful to listen to but we made it. We played outside a little bit when we got home and I made dinner.

Sunday morning we got up a little slower, made breakfast and then headed about an hour south to some friends' house to visit with them and their seven month old baby girl. We had lunch, some yummy burgers, and played some Xbox Kinect--which Ben even got me to play the Micheal Jackson dancing game. I am NOT a dancer. But it was fun!--and then tried to time out feeding and napping again. This time it worked perfectly and Eleanor was a perfect, little passenger snoozing all the way home!

Monday morning we got up slowly and then headed over to my parents' so that Ben could help my dad slaughter their chickens they had been raising and then we had a late lunch. It was quite the experience seeing the chickens so I pretty much stayed in the house. Obviously I eat meat and it isn't about feeling bad for the animals but more the gory details. Ben and I were talking about how weird it is that most people, including us most of the time, are so far removed from their food and where it comes from. I love the idea of raising my own food whether it be a cow or a head of lettuce.

Anyway, we had lunch, my parents played with E for awhile and then we headed home to relax for a bit before having to gear up for Ben to head back to work on Tuesday.

Come Tuesday, Eleanor and I were playing around the house and I noticed she had some sniffles--I had never seen snot come out of her nose before--as well as a little cough and some sneezing more than normal. Ben let me know he was working from home on Wednesday which he decided before we knew E had a little cold coming on. Wednesday night was not pleasant, we took shifts trying to sleep with her because she was not wanting to lie down by herself so I was either nursing her or Ben had her in the recliner. It was a rough night to say the least. It was great timing that Ben stayed home yesterday and having the both of us here was so great. Ben tried to explain to me that it was good that she had a little cold and it would build her immunity up even more and even though I know that to be true I still figured I could keep my daughter in a bubble as long as possible avoid sickness a little longer.

We used Simple Saline "Baby" to flush out her nose and although it was obviously not fun to blast something up her nostril, it help a lot and we got a lot of mucus out every time. The only downfall of it is that we were only able to use it on each nostril twice and it was five bucks for the container. Slight ripoff.

Anyway, the babe did a little better last night, is on the mend today and woke up talking, laughing and crawling around the floor. Such a relief to my heart because I cannot stand it when she can't tell me what's wrong, she has a pitiful look on her face and we can tell she just doesn't feel good.

That's what's been going on around here. A whirlwind weekend, a baby that didn't want anything but snuggles from mom and dad the past couple of days and tomorrow is already Friday again!

Friday Letters

Dear FOUR day weekend: I love you. Yes, Hub has today through Monday off. Super exciting. We actually have plans, too! Dear New Phone: I think I will learn to love you. I am not too tech-savvy so it will take some getting used to but I think we will grow to become dear friends. Dear Baby Sleeping on My Chest: You are so warm and cuddly and I never want you to stop! Dear Holly: I am sorry we haven't been very good dog parents lately. We are trying, really. I hope you know that Eleanor will be your best friend soon enough and I promise that you will have all the attention you can handle soon enough. In the meantime, I promise to try and get you out more. Dear Chickens: I cannot believe how much you have grown. Also, it is fun for us to create little personalities for all of you. There are some tendencies that all of you have that lead us to create these personas. Don't worry, we aren't crazy. Dear Costco: Why do you always rob us of all our money? We go in with a list and within 2.5 seconds of being in the door, the list is thrown by the wayside and our cart is full of items that were not on our list. We are weak to your forces, I tell you. Dear BBQ: Gosh, I love your ways. Love the char you put on my food, the scent you give off while cooking it and the ease and quick clean-up you provide.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Hope you all enjoy!

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Small Pieces of Fabric can Talk Big...

I love summer. There is no doubt about it. I would love to live in an area where we had more of it but that is not reality right now. We definitely like to make the best of what summer we do have around here by grilling, going down to the lake, going on walks, camping here and there and whatever other summer activities we may dream up. I'm sure this summer we will probably even take a couple trips to the zoo. Even though E may be a little young to understand it, she will obviously like to get out and take in all the sights!

One thing I am a little nervous about for summer is ... a post-baby-body bathing suit. 


Let's face it. I haven't actually bought a real bathing suit in quite a few years. I was the same size for quite some time and since we don't get too long of a summer stretch, my suits don't get too worn out. A couple years ago when I had a wild hair to do a sprint triathlon I bought a couple pieces that I would wear during the swim portion. Basically a sports bra and some little Nike bootie shorts. Cute as they are, I'm not quite in the shape I was then.

So, thoughts of one pieces have commenced.

They are not the oober-mommy-looking suits they once were. There are some downright stylish, cute ones. I don't know why I am so obsessed with the idea of a swimsuit. I don't always wear one. But I think I would if I had a cute one that I felt good in. I got the Nordstrom book last week and of course I found cute ones in there. But, I'd be really off the deep end even more than I already am to think that I could drop that sort of coin on a small piece of fabric!

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I love the bunching in the middle to hide the lil' pooch I still sport. I also love the navy and white--clean and classy.

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So yes, technically a two-piece but covering up what I want to cover up. I know the tie-dye is a little crazy, but I do love that it's different and I am always a sucker for purple.

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Very cute print here and again, I love the bunching in the middle.

I am obviously seeing a little pattern here in all the styles I like. These suits, in regular me fashion, are all well out of my price-range. However, I feel like this may be a good jumping off point to seek out the styles I like in a little more wallet-friendly atmosphere. 

We are going on a vacation with friends in early September and even though that is still a ways away, I think it will be fun to have a cute suit that I am not embarrassed to put on!

A Spontaneous Outing

Last Friday afternoon, E and I stopped by my best friend's house. She has an eight month old and a four year old, both boys. The baby was making noise, the little boy was running around and she kind of looked around and said, "We need to do a girls' breakfast. How about this weekend? I need a break from this!" I kind of laughed and said yes that would be fun.

We had tried to do this for a few consecutive weekends a few months back but it never ended up working out. She invited another good friend of ours but she had to work. I woke up to a text from my friend at about 7:30am Saturday morning saying, I'm ready when you are. I always talk myself out of leaving the baby, of getting out of the house, of timing out the feedings properly so this morning I didn't do any of that. I got dressed, let the hub know the plan and waited until Eleanor was hungry, fed her and then texted my friend. She came, picked me up and we went.

It was a beautiful morning and the place we picked for breakfast was really quaint. It is in a town close to ours but neither of us had ever been for breakfast. We ordered big breakfasts, took our time, visited and relaxed. This girl has been my friend since about third grade so we go way back. She was my maid of honor and I will be in her wedding next year. We have been there for all the big milestones of our lives. In fact, I was laying in be last night, or rather after our morning feeding this morning, thinking of some words to use in a speech at her wedding. 

She went out of state for college but it seemed like our bond strengthened after that. We just always kept in touch. Even if we got busy and didn't talk for a couple weeks, it never mattered. It still doesn't. 

Even though both of us are busy with babies, families, partners and many other life situations we know we can always connect somehow. We used to just pick up and go wherever together, in the car listening to music, head to the mall, to get coffee-- all those fun things young gals do but these days it isn't quite that simple. But that's ok. 

A simple, Saturday morning breakfast was just what we needed.

A New Spin on Peach Cobbler

Like everyone else, I peruse Pinterest. I wouldn't say I look at it all the time but of course I have lots of pins that I haven't "made" but always want to. So this weekend I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try a recipe.

I saw it a couple months back and thought it was so cute.

Source: sugarderby.com via Allyce on Pinterest

I looked at the recipe a couple days before to see if I needed to get anything at the store since I was headed there. The day of Mother's Day I looked at Pinterest again to see what to do and the website with the recipe was gone! I Googled other canned peach cobbler recipes and found this one. The cobbler was easy to make so we took the pan of cobbler, the cones and ice cream to my parents' for the Mother's Day dinner.

After dinner, Ben scooped everything into the cones and served it up.

Our overall review was that, although it was fun to have it in the cone, it wasn't really beneficial to the cobbler. The cobbler was under the ice cream and obviously we ate the ice cream fairly quickly so as not to melt, but that didn't give it any chance to melt over the cobbler which is usually the best part of a cobbler--melted ice cream on top! Also, I am usually only one for using fresh fruit in cobblers and probably would not go the canned peach route again. Just not much flavor. 

A fun experiment but not over the top excited about it. Buy, hey, it was fun to actually try one of my pins!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I am loving that we have a BBQ to go to this weekend to celebrate some friends moving into a new house!

I am loving this fun cake for a spring BBQ.

Source: zoebakes.com via Erin on Pinterest

I am loving these cute dresses.

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I am loving this beautiful, spring weather we have been having!

Source: weheartit.com via Aukse on Pinterest

I am loving that we have our chickens in their coop and our garden planted. A couple months from now we will be enjoying some fresh eggs and fresh produce!

I am loving taking pictures outside because the natural light is so beautiful. I, by no means, think I'm any kind of photographer, but the natural light sure helps my talent-lacking pictures some extra prettiness!

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Being Wished my First "Happy Mother's Day"

I have been a mother for about five and a half months now. But something about my own mother wishing me Happy Mother's Day was very surreal. And then my grandmother wished me Happy Mother's Day. I've never been a person that is a stickler for big celebrations on the specific day but obviously I was aware that this day was a little extra special because it was my first mother's day. 


I finally realize that it is true what they say: "You can't understand a parents' love until you are a parent yourself." Or something along those lines. This thought has resonated with me ever since I had Eleanor. I have always, always, known my parents love me more than life. Or so they would say. But now that I have my own baby, I can feel it. 


So everyday, I learn a little more about what it is to be a mother.

On my first mother's day I was made to feel very special. First of all, I woke up at 5am to Eleanor making some noise after being asleep for eight hours. Thank you for the Mother's Day gift, my dear!

My husband made me breakfast which we enjoyed at the table as a family.

My grandparents stopped by on their way to a brunch and gave me a nice tomato plant.

We chatted with Ben's family on the computer and wished my mother in law a happy day and they did so for me.

We went for a walk as a family on which Eleanor actually took a nap. Her napping on walks has been hit or miss lately.


We cleaned up and headed over to my parents' for the rest of the afternoon on a beautiful PNW day. About 80 degrees and beautiful. Eleanor got to try out her pool, we all relaxed, ate good food and spent quality time together. It was nice because all day long I never felt rushed to do anything, I let myself relax, let others enjoy Eleanor and ate a huge portion of the yummy salmon, prawns, pasta and fruit salads for dinner. Lately, my appetite is insatiable. 

It really wasn't about the breakfast in bed. Being waited on hand and foot. Getting really nice gifts. Maybe down the road when E is a little older and understands that she is making breakfast for me or knows that she is helping me out but this day was more about celebrating my new role. 

As a mom. And loving every minute of it.

Thank you to my husband, family and of course Baby E for making my first Mother's Day as a mother a memorable one.