My Top New-Mom Favorites

Ok, so I've been at this mom gig for almost three months now and I can say with confidence that there are a few things we can't live without.

Beluga Baby wrap: I'm not sure who liked this one more, Athena or me. This super soft bamboo baby carrier wrap goes on easy and comes in some really gender-neutral colors which means it's perfect for Andrew or me to wear. I think my favorite part though is that there are really easy tutorials on the Beluga Baby site on how and when to use different wrap styles. Now that I've been using it, it's so easy to cozy Athena right up on my chest so she can hang out with me all day long. She loves the cuddles just as much as I do.

Trifecta of baby sleep magic: Our baby, thus far, sleeps well. And pretty much has since day one. I consider us SUPER lucky and I have my fingers crossed as well as anything else I can cross that this good thing lasts as long as it can! Maybe it's just her or maybe it's the sweet combination of these three things that we use together exclusively at night so she gets the hint that it's nighttime.

1. Zen Swaddle: This unique swaddler was a gift from my mom. It's one of those random items that pop up on my Facebook feed as an ad that I probably would have never tried if it wasn't gifted to me, but boy am I glad it was. It has little weighted sacks on the chest flap as well as the sides that are supposed to mimic human touch. I'm guessing Athena digs this because she is out cold within minutes of putting this on. My favorite part is that this sucker has some SERIOUS velcro and it's the only swaddler she couldn't wiggle her arms out of.

2. DockATot: A sweet little baby dock where you can put the baby down and know they are safe. Athena loved to sleep in hers and up until recently, slept in it every night! She is a tall little lady so she's getting a bit too long for it now but we still take it with us on quick weekends away. Click here to get a 10% off coupon! You're welcome!

 

3. White Noise Machine: This little device drowns out everything around Athena's little head which helps a ton because her nursery is close to the washer and dryer. With this going we can do whatever we want and she stays in her blissful little sleep bubble and isn't distracted! We also take this with us on trips and it fits in the DocATot zipper carrying bag which we use as her all-in-one suitcase! It fits her bed, then in the hollow part we toss her clothes, blanket and white noise machine and we're good to go!

Carters fleece footie pjs: Because any pajamas without a zipper and covered feet is for suckers! Who wants to be snapping in the middle of the night or searching for tiny baby socks that get kicked off instantly? Not me. Cozy fleece + zip-up one piece + footies = easy nights!

Athena's sleeper // She's More Bow

Boon Grass Drying Rack: It's like the one thing that is a dead giveaway that our house has a baby in it. It's not the prettiest thing and doesn't really match our decor but it does easily dry all the silly bottle pieces and tiny pump parts that I'd probably lose in a minute if it weren't for this thing.

Copper Pearl Bandana Bibs: Athena is a drooler and a super sloppy eater so these little bibs are cute, soft and absorbent. As an added bonus she looks like a little bandit in them and when they turn around she looks like a baby super hero in a cape. What's not to love there?

Armitron digital watch: In the early days when I didn't know what time or day it was and certainly didn't know how long I had been nursing Athena, I relied on this little Armitron digital watch to help me remember what the heck was going on at what times of day. Phones are great for time but the thing that made this better is that it was attached to my body. I could see it while my arms were in use.

Lactation Link: Breastfeeding, like most things you've never done before, is hard. And it's not just a one-and-done kind of thing. It keeps evolving 'til you get into a good groove and start to figure out what's ok and what feels right for you and the baby. I wrote a post back here on how awesome they are and how helpful they were in those first few weeks.

Life Update

Jacket // Watch c/o Armitron // Hightops (old from Old Navy but similar here) // White ruffle top // Leggings from The Red Closet Shop

A couple of things...

1. How lucky am I that I get to live in a place that looks like this, on a random spot on the side of the road! I really love living in Utah in the winter. The snow and the mountains are magical.

2. This outfit above is about as fancy as I'm getting these days. There are a lot of leggings going on, and these peep knee ones are at the top of my list and a steal for under $20! This ruffle tee has been my go-to for hiding my post-partum belly so I bought it in two colors. This digital Armitron watch has been a savior for late-night feedings too. It lights up all middle-school style, which is super helpful when I stumble around in the dark. Also it can be worn in the shower, because who has time to take off their watch with a newborn around?

3. Hi! I'm sorry to have been so MIA, but I'm really just enjoying spending time with my girl! So much so that I'm barely even getting dressed in proper clothes, much less take pictures, much less post. I do insist on having my hair blown out. Even if it is dirty for a few days, it's the one thing that makes me feel like a human being when I look in the mirror so I schedule time to blow out my hair after a shower every few days. You have to do some things to make you feel like yourself after having a baby, and that is my one thing.

Ok, so, updates on life...

Andrew and I are insane! We decided that at a time when we are stressed and sleep deprived with a new baby... that the best idea was to also start a Whole 30! If you have ever done one before you know the cooking load is labor-intensive and the food withdrawals are pretty insane. Like having crazy food dreams. It even has a timeline on how strange things are going to get over the 30 days. Quite honestly, now that we are over a week into it, I have to say it feels awesome! For the last 11 months, I was simply not eating like myself. During pregnancy, my usual favorites of fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins all made me mega nauseous. And after having the baby, it became about finding foods that I can eat with one hand. There was a really weird puffy Cheeto phase that I'd rather not talk about. So we are deep in this and even though it sounds insane to do this under the current life circumstances, I actually think it's kind of easier because I just eat what we have pre-made in big batches and forget about it. I don't have time to crave things. 

Enough about me, you didn't come here to hear about me, you want to know about baby Athena, right? Well, even though I talked a lot of smack about her demon-baby ways when she was in the womb (because that's how she ACTED in there), she is now just the sweetest most well-behaved angel baby we could have asked for. She was a champ on the whole trip to Chicago and all the long car rides to Wisconsin. She was cool with meeting a million new people and being cuddled to within an inch of her life by all her loving aunties. She's just such a good baby. She even sleeps like a champ too. This past week being home with her while Andrew is back at work has been interesting learning all her little ways and cues. She really only cries when she wants something, like food or a new diaper, and the situation is pretty easily remedied. 

Even though the days can be stressful sometimes, I'm so lucky to be able to take this time off and be with her and watch her grow this year. It really is a gift and I'm glad I worked 11 years teaching before this to truly appreciate the opportunity.

That being said, we still wouldn't mind some extra sleep! Babysitters anyone?

Snow Bunny

On me: Cardigan (almost identical version here for $29) // Striped Tee // Boots // Jeans // Hat (old Zara) // Athena's snowsuit

Ok, don't get all crazy and think I risked my baby's life for these pictures, especially you Chicago people. I swear winters here are so mild even if they look like we are living in a blizzard. Ever since we moved here our love of winter has grown because in Utah you can actually ENJOY winter and snow. In fact, it's one of the most popular reasons to live here. Last winter we were starting slow, mostly on my account, easing our way into new snow activities. We started with tubing and then with a pretty intense snowshoeing hike. Maybe it was just intense for me because I was newly pregnant and everything was harder then!

This year the snow is fun on a whole new level because we get to take Athena out on short jaunts through it. The last week has been colder, but two weeks ago when this was taken, it wasn't that bad at all. Notice all I'm wearing is a long sleeve tissue tee and a cardigan and I swear I was comfortable. Athena is all bundled up in her little penguin snowsuit that as of a few days ago she outgrew (STOP GROWING) but her new one from my friend Kylee is even cuter!

We are leaving for Chicago today and it will be Athena's first plane ride. No one is more nervous than I am. My anxiety is not so much about her, it's more about how to pack properly for the plane, and a week's worth of bopping around the city and Wisconsin for a week! I know there are stores along the way to pick up anything forgotten, I just get really stressed in situations like this where I have little control over the outcome of things. Luckily Andrew keeps me calm and he'll be right by our side.

Holiday Traditions

Holiday traditions are something you may take for granted until you have your own child. Since having Athena, we decided we needed to keep some of our favorite family traditions going as well as start a few new ones with her so she can share in the special memories.

The first tradition was visiting the Macy's windows. In Chicago this, is a huge event with huge crowds of people to go along with it. We used to go every year with my dad and my niece and nephew. It was tradition to take my niece's picture with my dad in front of the tree, because he hangs the pictures up in order on his fridge and hasn't missed one in 8 years. We also usually get a special ornament to commemorate something important from the year, like buying our new house or our first year married. The Macy's on State Street in Chicago really does have an unparalleled selection of ornaments.

In Utah, there were half as many windows but still throngs of people, especially children. It felt as if every child in Utah was at the window opening this year when we went, maybe because the window displays are made entirely of candy! It turned out to be a very different experience than our usual Chicago tradition but still fun and worth keeping alive next year. And it will be nice to show her that we have proof in pictures that we took her when she was just a few weeks old.

Athena looking unamused to say the least. (Her snowsuit here)

 The next tradition is one that comes from Andrew's side of the family, the cutting down of a Christmas tree. Since I have been with Andrew for 16 years I have participated quite a few times with his family's tree cutting at a Christmas tree farm out in Wisconsin. We usually even cut off rings of the trunk and write our names and years on them to use as ornaments or decoration. 

We tried to make this tradition just like Wisconsin, but last year but we quickly realized that Utah is not at all like Wisconsin. Here, the evergreen trees are up in the mountains. You can get a permit and go up onto public land to cut down your own, but between having a newborn, a Prius and Andrew with a broken foot, a Christmas tree lot would have to do. Andrew's dad was in town with us when we went, so that did help make it feel more like the old days in Wisconsin. We even got a trunk ring to write "grandpa, mom, dad and Athena" on!

My cape (old Forever 21) // Hat  // Athena's pants

 This next one is not specific to any one place or way of accomplishing it.  It's one we are starting this year with Athena. We wanted to be able to tell Athena that she has been doing good deeds for others since she was born, so when Andrew heard that the County Building had three Christmas trees with tags of gifts requested by people in need, we took Athena in to grab a tag for each of us.

My hat, boots, sweater and coat

Here is Athena grabbing her tag.

And I've got one each for Andrew and I as well.

Athena returns to deliver her gift to the Mayor's office.

When we return to Chicago, we have another tradition we started about six years ago that we will get to do again, this time with Athena! We go see the movie White Christmas at the Music Box Theater in Chicago. It's an old theater that puts on a super cute double feature. People get dressed in Christmas gear and bring their friends and whole family.  Last year we didn't make it for the first time in five years because of our move to Salt Lake, but this year we are returning with Athena and will be taking her to the theater along with my dad. We will see how she deals with the whole experience later this week but I'm super excited even if she doesn't make it through the whole movie happily!

So those are our Holiday traditions! What are yours? Any good ones you recommend for a baby's first Christmas?

Our Home, One Year Later

Just over a year ago we closed on this home of ours. It is/was our first time owning a home so we were kind of in over our heads, especially as city dwellers/renters for all of our adult lives. 

When we decided we were moving to Salt Lake City, I became addicted to looking at listings on my phone on my lunch break while teaching in Chicago. I found this one and let our real estate agent know and prayed it would still be on the market in 10 days when we flew out to look at places in person. Literally everything we liked was flying off the market in a day or less! Lucky for us, this one stayed on the market because it was on what Utah considers a "busy street." For us, coming from living on one of the busiest streets in downtown Chicago, the slight sounds of cars and street lights were music to our ears. We fell in love and the rest is history!

Here's a little bit of an Internet tour, before-and-after.

Living Room

This picture of the living room is from the original listing. When we saw it back in Chicago, we liked it, but we were not going to buy a house sight unseen! We fell in love with all the natural light and the beautiful hardwood floors. What I did not love was that every room was this beige color. A bunch of boring beige rooms. I wanted to paint so many things immediately.

I loved the charming touches of our historic neighborhood and the exterior, but I needed to modernize the interior to make it my own. I started with this fireplace. I hated this peach stone around the facade of the fireplace and I used a super sticky (and fireproof) white paint to cover it up. As you can see by the paint swatches I had pinned up above the fireplace, I had originally wanted to paint this room a shade of white. 

The deeper I got into the design of this room, I started to think I could pull off a deep charcoal gray on the upper parts of the wall. You can see the paint swatch on the bottom left corner of the picture  on the couch and one above the fireplace. I thought that between the white wainscoting and all the natural light, it wouldn't look too oppressively dark. Andrew trusted my design instincts and I went for it. The result is probably one of my favorite paint choices of my life! The paint color is Wrought Iron by Benjamin Moore.

All product details for our living room can be found in this post!

Kitchen / Dining Room

Next up was the kitchen. I had never really had a full kitchen before. Certainly never a dishwasher and never a dining room table. Growing up I had a picnic table in our kitchen and my mom would say I had ten dishwashers, referring to my fingers. So having some of these modern luxuries was super exciting for me, as was all the storage space. In our old apartment in Chicago, space was limited. But here I had this whole wall of cabinets you see on the left of the listing photo. Not much of this has changed, but behind it certainly did.  

We actually kept the beige in this room since I think it kind of worked in this room, not to mention I really didn't want to have to climb up and paint behind cabinets. So I guess we just made it work.

Details for all products in kitchen/dining room can be found in this post.

Hallway

On the way to our bedroom and my office you have this hallway. I decided to keep the dark paint running down the hall extending out of the living room. I'm pretty glad I did, even though I worried about the dark color making it feel small. Instead, it feels warm and cozy. I added this beautiful mirror I found at Megmade in Chicago right before I left as well as a Lulu and Georgia runner and one of my paintings (which you can find more of at @hotpinkpaints).

Our Bedroom

Believe it or not, this is actually a different shade of paint than the living room, although it's almost impossible to tell them apart. This one is called Nightfall by Benjamin Moore. I literally painted this room within days of our arrival. Even before our furniture arrived.

My Office / Closet Room

This is the room I spend the most time in as of late. Instead of it being just an office and my closet, it's become my late-night pumping headquarters while the baby sleeps. I actually get work done but feel as if all my blog posts since Athena was born should come with a disclaimer on the bottom such as **Attention! This post was written by the mother of a newborn at 3am while using a breast pump. Please excuse any nonsense, typos, spelling and grammatical errors for she is sleep deprived. 

You can find all the details and products from my office here and here.

Athena's Nursery

Probably my favorite room to put together in our house has been Athena's nursery. It's such a cozy room for snuggling our sweet girl. You can see all the room details and products linked here.

Basement Playroom

This playroom is still kind of a work in progress only because Athena is still so very small and literally has no need for a playroom. Hopefully soon she will get some fun toys to play with in here. Until then it works as a guest room and a place for us to hang out in.

All the details for this room as well as a better view of before and after check out these posts here and here.

So as you can see, in just one year we've pretty much changed this whole beige box into a home full of personality and function. I love having a home full of character where nothing is wasteful and everything serves a purpose for our little family. It truly is the perfect place for us!