Easter 2015

We had a really great time yesterday for Easter. Everything went really smoothly and we have plenty of leftovers to feast on during the week, which is my favorite!

First holidays are so much fun, and getting more fun each time as Parker gets a little bit older for each :) Here's how our Easter Sunday went:

We woke up, went downstairs and noticed the Easter bunny made a stop at our house for Parker. He will for sure be one spoiled boy, but I just can't help myself! How cute is he?!

Converse | Frog, Bunny, Metal Bucket | Curious George and Tractor Books | Black Sneakers | Baby Teethers (Here and here)

After we dug into his Easter basket, we made some coffee and got ready for church. Mind you, this was our first time going to church in about eight years (wayyy too long!). Parked slept the whole service, which was great, and it was beautiful out so it was nice to get out of the house for a bit. I couldn't help thinking about how great it would be if Parker could walk and we could hide eggs in the yard but I guess that'll have to wait until next year ;)

When we got home it was time to start cooking. We always get a honey baked ham for both Easter and Thanksgiving so that was taken care of. I made some deviled eggs, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and some stuffing (all homemade of course!). I didn't get any pictures of our table spread with all the fixins' on it, man! But I did snap a few pics of the desserts. I am by no means a professional photographer, but I at least try to take some pictures, that counts right?

It's not much but it was only my husband, our two neighbors, and myself, and we all enjoyed it!

Ok, ok, ok so I'm not a professional baker either. Sue me! I think these turned out cute :)

You know how hard it is to find those huge hearty strawberries to make chocolate covered strawberries?! It's pretty much impossible, so I had to settle for the regular sized ones from the carton. These are supposed to resemble carrots, can you tell? Either way they were tasty ;)

After dinner we sat down on the couch in our food coma and watched a movie. I'd say all in all it was a very successful Easter! I'd love to hear all about your Easter. What kind of desserts did you have and were they as perfectly imperfect as mine? ;)

Color Yourself Full of Delicious Treats

Pre-Pregnancy Checklist Update

Previously I made a pre-pregnancy checklist. I'm now going to tear that up and tell you if it was really necessary, if I actually did it, and what I would add.

1. Schedule a pre-pregnancy doctors appointment.

Ok so I didn't really schedule a pre-pregnancy one. I scheduled an I-Know-I'm-Already-Pregnant one. Which is the common way to go. There's really no need to schedule one because you're going to start to try to conceive. I think that's just a bit too much and who really has that much time anyway?

2. Take folic acid.

I definitely did do this. As soon as I stopped taking my birth control pill, which was about two months before I got pregnant, I started to take prenatals (these have the daily recommended amount of folic acid). Mind you, they were the gummy prenatals so it wasn't that big of a deal. But I would highly recommend this so you have the right amount of daily nutrients needed.

3. Give up drinking, smoking, and drugs.

     I didn't smoke or do drugs beforehand so that was easy. I would drink every now and then, but that all stopped once I found out I was pregnant. This one is definitely at the top of the list though of things to do.

4. Start eating healthy now.

     Ya know, eating healthy is good in theory but actually doing it is harder than it sounds! Once I knew I was pregnant I started getting some healthy snacks and trying to eat a bit better, but all in all I pretty much ate the same as I did before I was pregnant. I did have a few cravings here and there and I couldn't stand the smell of fish while I was pregnant, so there was that. But if you can do this, I would.

5. Try to stop drinking coffee.

     Ok, so I didn't do this. My OBGYN said that a cup or two of coffee a day was perfectly fine, and actually may be better since you won't get headaches from the lack of caffeine. I personally also feel that you shouldn't forgo all caffeine because once you do introduce caffeine to your child (think when they first drink soda), that's when you think your kid has ADHD because their system goes nuts. 

6. Make sure you're at a healthy weight.

     So this only happened to me by chance. I was already at a healthy BMI before I conceived so this one wasn't really something I thought about. But I do think being at a healthy weight helps you throughout your pregnancy and afterwards. Check your BMI here.

7. Start to exercise!

     I'm not going to lie. I didn't really exercise too much at all. Towards the end I was even out of breath walking up the stairs haha. But I wouldn't strike this one off the list. Exercising is something that should be done for your overall health, whether or not you're trying to conceive.

8. Make an appointment to see your dentist.

     Nope. Didn't do this at all. Probably should have. Probably still need to. This one's definitely still on my to-do list.

9. Stop the pill.

     I stopped mine about two months before we started trying to conceive. I know, two whole months! What did I do in the meantime? Well, my husband was gone for two months for training so it wasn't really that hard. But this one obviously stays on the list.

10. Make sure you're ready.

     Ok, so this one I still feel pretty strong about. I knew that I wanted a baby and I knew my husband was ready for one too. I'm not sure if you're ever 100% ready, you'll always have those doubts. Just if you have time to plan, I would recommend it.

As for any additions, I think I would add these few:

1. Get your partying out now! You'll not only be down for the count for those 9 months, but you'll pretty much be down until you decide to stop breastfeeding.

2. Start your stretch mark prevention. I'd recommend Vitamin E oil or cocoa butter. So lather up!

I think that pretty much wraps it up. Of course it'll be different for everyone, but these are just some little tid bits from mine :) I'd love to hear what items were on your checklist!

Color Yourself Pregnant :)

New House, New Baby, New Crazy Adventure!

So a lot has changed within this past year... a new house, renovations to said house, my first pregnancy, and the most precious gift I could ever ask for!

So we'll start off with the house:

It's a gorgeous house located on two acres of land, back in the woods away from all the hustle and bustle of our daily lives. It's a little slice of heaven coming from the city. It's about a mile away from the bay, so that means beach time soon :) I couldn't have asked for a better house to learn and grow with. That being said, it definitely needed some TLC. Stuck in the 90's with the honey oak kitchen cabinets, linoleum floor everywhere, laminate countertops, and ivory trim and doors throughout YUCK! But we definitely saw potential, and hopefully an investment for our future.

Renovations:

As you can tell from my descriptions above we have a lot of work on our hands. But the best part is learning how to do everything and doing it ourselves. It's definitely been challenging to say the least, but the kitchen renovation is pretty much complete. We redid the floor, painted the cabinets, installed granite countertops, and got all new appliances (pictures to follow). All other renovations that need to be done to the house are slowly getting started, and when I say slowly I mean haven't started at all but thought about starting them :)

Pregnancy:

Let me tell you, being pregnant was no walk in the park. Between the morning sickness (well the all-day sickness), the hair growth (ew I know), and the stretchmarks, I did not have the time of my life. I did track my weekly bump progress with a chalkboard so I'll be posting those up soon here as well.

Finally we get to the best part, my sweet baby :)

Worth all of the sickness, all of the pain of birth, all of the stretchmarks. I couldn't imagine anything better than this. He seriously brightens my day with every smile. He's the sweetest little thing that I've ever laid my eyes on. Obviously an insane amount of posts about this little guy are to come, hope you're ready! :)

So lots of things have happened since my last post, but I'm back and ready to share my journey! Hopefully I'll keep it up this time ;)

Color Yourself Happy!

Breastfeeding, Supplementing and Maternity Leave

Back when I decided to get pregnant, I already knew I was going to go back to work after I had the baby. I didn't know how long I'd stay on maternity leave for, but I knew I was going to go back. Financially it was smart to go back, even if daycare was $300 a week (which is still crazy to me!). While I was home on maternity leave I was breastfeeding. It was convenient and cheap, so why not? Also, you hear about all the benefits of breastfeeding so it was a no-brainer for me to give it a try. 

Let me just tell you, the first two nights I was home my milk supply didn't come in yet (which is normal but extremely frustrating). Your baby should be getting your colostrum,and they should only be needing about a teaspoon each feeding, but my baby was crying his head off those first two nights home. He was fine during the day but absolutely miserable at night. We finally gave in at 4am the second morning and made him a bottle of formula. He gulped that right down and fell asleep soon after. 

Honestly this made me feel very down on myself. I'm supposed to be able to feed my baby. I felt like a failure, but the most important thing was that my baby was fed and happy. I eventually got over it once my milk supply came in, and ultimately felt better about the whole situation once I brought it up to my pediatrician and she said that it was perfectly normal and ok to supplement.

We were just fine for about the first 6 weeks or so, but then the dreaded day was coming when I had to go back to work. I took 8 weeks of maternity leave all together. It was a little bit easier on me leaving my baby the first two weeks because my husband took off the first week to watch the baby and then my mom flew down from Ohio to watch him the second week. But before I went back to work I had a little bit of anxiety thinking about what if my baby didn't have enough food when I left him at daycare? I then and there decided to breastfeed and supplement.

This ultimately was a better decision for me because it put less strain on myself and also my husband was able to help out a bit more when it came to the feedings at home, and there's nothing wrong with it. Mom's don't feel bad or down on yourself if you do this. Your baby is still getting the benefits of breastfeeding, but also they're getting all the food they need and it's less stress on you! We starting him off with about a bottle of formula a day, and I would usually pump during this time so that I had a little bit of a supply once I returned to work. 

Currently I've been back to work for about a month and a half and we are still breastfeeding and supplementing. It seems to work the best for our situation and everyone is happy in the end! 

So do whatever is best for your situation. Everyone is different and will have their own way of feeding that will work best for them. 

Color Yourself Stress-Free!