Waylen: 5 Months

Well either the g-parents royally messed with Waylen’s sleep patterns or the 4 month regression is no joke! Exactly one day after Waylen turned 4 months he went from sleeping 7+ hours to waking EVERY HOUR. He didn’t even do that as a newborn so it was a realllll change for us. Luckily he still wasn’t really fussy when he’d wake up, just needy. He’d basically wake up and whine, we’d pick him up, and he’d be back to sleep in less than 5. So, easy but still annoying to deal with every hour. Now that we’ve made it to 5 months the sleep situation has improved but it still isn’t back to what it once was and we still have some really off nights. Womp womp. He’s started having more night feeds again which I believe is because he is such a distracted eater during the day! He’s sooo interested in every thing these days it’s hard to get him to focus on food for long but hopefully we can get that back to normal too.

Some of Waylen’s favorite things these days are his bouncer, sitting in his high chair, inch worming across the couch, the Alphabet song, watching the puppies play, and an ugly little elephant car seat toy. He loves to chew everything, especially burp clothes, and is still sliming up the world with his spit. Ha He’s ticklish, laughs like Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, and smiles 90% of the day. He is still my happy, easy baby!

We’ve brought him to breweries, the beach, restaurants, baseball games, bottle shops, and even a house party and he’s been great pretty much every time! I am definitely one of those parents who just brings their baby everywhere and I don’t care what you think about it! Ha. So far we’ve only left Waylen with the g-parents when we had to attend a wedding and to be honest I doubt we’ll be doing it again any time soon.

This next month we have SO many exciting things happening; family trips, beach vacations, my last day of work and I just can’t wait to see what new things Waylen will learn.
I still can’t believe I have a 5 month old!! Where did the time go?!?

Father’s Day Gift Guide

Father’s Day is right around the corner and I am so excited to shower my baby daddy with gifts! Last year we knew we were pregnant so we did a little celebrating but this year is the real deal so I want to make sure his day is extra special. Below I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite gift items for all those baby daddies out there!

Matching Hats: I mean how cute are these?? Jake and Winn have the most adorable hats for your little dude/dudette and they make matching ones for adults. You alwaysssss see cute matching things for mother-daughters out there but it’s rare to find anything for the boys so when I came across these I knew I had to snag a set.
Matching Sweaters: Now this Beau Hudson sweater can work for sons, daughters, mothers, or fathers… like you can literally have an entire family of matching adorableness ha. But really, I love these sweaters so much that I may have snuck in one for myself when ordering for Waylen and Chappy. Can you say awkward family photo???!
Star Wars Coffee Mug: We used to refer to our dog Ramone as Yoda when he was a puppy so these silly Star Wars mugs from Etsy seemed like the perfect corny Father’s Day gift.
Facial: Who says girls are the only ones who want a little pampering on their special day? Charlotte’s Mud Facial Bar offers a facial specifically geared towards men which I figured would be the perfect gift for my baby daddy since he HATES massages but loves getting his hair shampooed. I figured a facial is kind of the happy median, right?? ha.
The Beer Geek Handbook: Now you guys know Chappy is really into craft cocktails but if you didn’t know, he’s actually also really into craft beers. When I came across this book I knew it would be the perfect gift for Chappy and the perfect addition to our coffee table stack.
Funny Card: So normally I think cards are a complete waste of money; that was until I discovered all the hilarious cards on Etsy! So Chappy has this thing where anytime Waylen spits up he panics. “I NEED HELP! I NEED HELP! I NEED HELP!” After seriously RUNNING to help him while imagining all the horrible things that could have just happened to my adorable little baby, I usually only have to wipe a quarter size amount of spit-up off his sleeve. So that is why is card is seriously PERFECT for him!

Overall I think I did pretty good with picking out some great gifts for his first real Father’s Day. No socks or ties for him this year ha. Now that I’ve set the bar though I’ll need to keep up my awesome gift giving skills so I might need help in the future! What are your favorite things to get/give for Father’s Day??!

Breast Milk Cleanser

Alright, here me out. I swear I’m not some sicko who’s gone off the deep end. When getting a facial at MUD the other day I noticed that one of their add ons is breast milk. While I wasn’t quite ready to dive right in and use some strangers breast milk to lather up my face, it did spark my interest. You see, I am a nursing mother who just happens to have a steady enough supply to spare some milk in the quest for perfect skin. Now in general my skin care routine is pretty simple. I use all drug store products and that MUD facial I just had was literally the first professional thing I had ever done to my skin. This is how my typical night time routine goes… double cleanse with Cetaphil, Roc Retinol night cream, then No7 intense night cream. Pretty simple.

To try out this whole breast milk deal I decided to swop out my second Cetaphil cleanse for milk. Here is how it went .. and no judging my extremely flattering no makeup selfies 😂

Before:

I am usually pretty blessed when it comes to acne but with Waylen at the start of his 4 month regression and me upping my caffeine and sugar intake to keep up, a few surprise zits popped up. Now if you went to any baby class while pregnant I’m sure you heard that you can literally put breast milk on anything to make it better. Baby scratches his face? Put breast milk on it. Baby acne? Put breast milk on it. Nipples sore from nursing? Don’t bother buying creams, just use breast milk. Because of this I was pretty excited to try out my milk while having a fresh third eye on my forehead. Hopefully it works wonders and FAST!

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Sooo after all that I didn’t really notice a huge difference. My zit did disappear but then again they always do eventually right? Ha. Ever since giving birth I’ll get these little dry patches of skin around my eyes but after a week of breast milk those are all gone so at least that’s something! Besides that though, my skin looks pretty much the same. Womp womp. Will I keep it up? Maybe, I mean it is free and I wouldn’t be going through my cleanser as fast… plus who knows, maybe I’ll see a bigger difference after more than 5 days!

I’ll keep you posted!

Waylen: 4 months

Waylen is growing up faster than ever! He is now 15lbs. 15 oz. and 24 1/4 in. long and is giving me some serious arm muscle.

He has started to actually enjoy tummy time more and is basically a pro at rolling over from tummy to back. He will go through phases of either constantly rolling over on tummy time or constantly trying to crawl. He has the leg motion down pat but still is working out the arms which essentially leads him to either inch worming along or doing somewhat of an army crawl. He babbles, smiles, laughs, grabs at everything, and unfortunately is also losing his hair! Ha my baby is balding so clearly he doesn’t take after me.

Drooling may also be his new favorite pastime. I’m pretty convinced he is starting to teeth because he also loves to chew on anything he manages to get in his mouth (typically his left fist ha.)

He had been sleeping longer, even going 7+ hours between feedings, but now the lovely 4 month regression has got us back to only 3-5 hrs. Of course those long hours were usually 7pm- 2am anyways so if I wanted a good chunk of sleep I also had to have a bedtime of a baby. But hey, I’d take any sleep I can get! At about 14 weeks Waylen started to have an extra watery and goopy eye. Yum. He would blink out tears and would wake up with mega sleepers crusted into this perfect little lashes. (Yuck) Turns out it was just a clogged tear duct and nothing to worry about! All we had to do was wipe his eye with warm water and the tear duct eventually open on its own. Besides that little hiccup everything else this month has gone great!

We took Waylen to his first sporting event and he slept through the entire night ha. We also went to the beach for the first time and he loved it plus what is cuter than a beach baby?!? He pretty much just slept the entire time we were on the beach. He’d wake up to nurse and then go right back to bed. We even sat him in the water and he stayed asleep ha. I guess the wind, waves, and heat were just the perfect combo for sleep.

We are all still in baby heaven over here and loving every minute of parenthood! I can’t wait to see what new milestones we reach next month!

Waylen: 3 Months

My little bean is rapidly becoming not so little anymore. I mean people always say they grow up so fast but geez, I never realized how fast it really goes!

No check up for Waylen this month so I’m not sure of his exact weight. I would estimate it is around 15 lbs. though. He is still my chunky monkey ha.

As of now Waylen is pretty much a little man. He currently can hold a plank longer than me (during tummy time) and really uses his forearms to lift himself up. Plus he officially rolled over at 10 weeks and now also does this weird inch worm scooting while on tummy time. He has started grabbing at his toys and currently loves to shake Chappy’s musical egg and his giraffe rattle. He smiles and laughs and I SWEAR has already said his first word. Ha okay so I’m kind of kidding, kind of serious. They always say when babies speak their first word (usually Dada) they aren’t actually talking yet, just still putting sounds together that happen to come out as dada. Well Waylen did that a few weeks back, but instead of dada he said wow. And when I said he said wow, I mean he sounded like an adult saying wow. It was weird. So yeah basically my baby is a genius who started talking at 9 weeks. (Kidding)

Now let me just say, sleep regression is reallll. My easy going baby became not quite as easy betweeen 9-10 weeks and my interval sleeping quickly turned into not sleeping at all. As the expert mommy I am (ha yeah right) I’ve concluded that our sleepless nights were caused by a combo of reflux, gas, and good old fashion cluster feeding due to a growth spurt. There were nights he’d eat for 20, I’d sit him up for 20 (to help with reflux,) he’d sleep for 20, and then we’d start all over. I can’t just blame the baby though for my zero sleep, it takes me WAY to long to actually fall asleep. Chappy will seriously hit the pillow and be out, unfortunately for me it takes closer to 30 or so minutes sooo if it wasn’t for that I would’ve at least slept a little. Some nights though he would wake up around 4-5 and only want to sleep someone’s arms. Is anyone else’s baby like that?! He would be fast asleep in my arms but as soon as I set him down he’d be wide awake screaming… and of course as soon as I picked him up he’d be out again. Sometimes being a mom is just like really awesome right?! ha. That’s when I’d wake Chappy up and make him take the bean. He was waking up at 5 to work anyways so I didn’t feel too bad.

Luckily that little phase didn’t last too long and before we even hit 11 weeks he was back to sleeping 4+ hours at night and now will go up to 7 on a good night! Apparently “wonder weeks” are to blame and right after his irritable phase he did roll over so I guess they’re really a thing.

Some of Waylen’s favorite things these days are bath time, tummy time with Ramone, air druming with daddy, looking in mirrors and out windows, kisses from mom, being carried in his Ergo or Boba, and when anyone sings (mom) or raps (dad) to him. He doesn’t have too many dislikes, basically just riding in his car seat in Chappy’s car. That is literally the only time he will scream with no end ha. My car though, he loves! Yay me!

In the end being a mom is still awesome even though I have become a little too dependent on coffee and donuts. Here are some adorable pictures of my tiny human from the last month. Enjoy!

Maple Bacon Brussels

I’m not sure when it happened but somehow Brussels sprouts have gone from those stinky little lettuce heads that everyone loves to hate to delicious little morsels of heaven that nearly every hip restaurant offers. I never even knew people really ate them until they started showing up on about every restaurant menu I saw. Of course I had to try them and ultimately fell in love! The best part of the whole thing was that Chappy also fell in love! So if you’re keeping track we now have three green things that he’ll eat, broccoli, green beans, and Brussels. (He’s growing up so fast.) Ha

Just recently I decided to try my hand at making them at home for the first time. I wasn’t sure how hard it would be so I thought adding bacon and maple syrup wouldn’t hurt! I mean, you can never go wrong with bacon. Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

1 pound Brussels
3 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
4 slices of bacon
1 1/2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
Rinse the Brussels in cold water, cut the ends off, half, and place in a large bowl
Slice bacon into 1/2 inch pieces and part cook in frying pan
Mix the part cooked bacon, bacon grease, olive oil, syrup, salt and pepper in with the Brussels
Spread on a lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes
Season with salt and serve!

Now I’d like to emphasize the LINED baking sheet. Remember you are baking something covered in ooey gooey, sticky, maple syrup so clean up will be a serious bitch if don’t line the sheet. So I’m begging you, line it!! Ha. Anyways back to the Brussels. They were SO good, especially for how easy they were to make. Chappy and I quickly scarfed down the entire pound and will definitely be adding this to our weekly menu.

Hope you enjoy! 🙂

Tips for the Stay at Home Mom

Whether it’s permanent or just for Maternity Leave, being able to stay at home with your baby is seriously the best gift a mother can ask for but let’s be real, it is not a walk in the park. Did you know that stay at home moms have higher incidences of depression? It’s true! And after weeks staying at home on maternity leave I can see why. Being home with a child is hard work. It’s hard to be solely responsible for a tiny human. You spend the majority of your day trying to mold their little brains while also being devoid of any real adult interaction. It is imperative to make sure you make time to take care of yourself both physically and mentally. Here are a few tips I have for any Stay at Home Momma

Get Dressed. I cannot emphasize this one enough! You need to get up and get ready for the day even if you have zero plans, actually, especially if you have zero plans! When your babes are little you can easily get away with that sweat pant life but it will take a tole on you mentally. Even if it’s just some cute athletic wear, I’m telling you, take the extra time to get ready for the day!
Exercise. Whether it’s a hard core fitness routine or simply a stroll in the park. Get up and get active! Getting those endorphins flowing will really make a difference!
Take time for yourself. Get your hair done, get a manicure, take a bubble bath while you guzzle down a large glass of wine. Just make sure you take time out for yourself. If you want a happy baby you need to make sure you’re keeping yourself happy and healthy as well!
Get out with your friends. Whether you bring the baby or not, make sure you get some quality adult interaction. I am still not ready to leave Waylen for longer than a quick trip to Target but I still make sure to get out with my friends, just with baby in tow. Go to a brewery, dinner, walk in the park, or simply just hangout at someones house; do anything that keeps you from only baby talking for the rest of your life ha.
Embrace nap time. Everyone always says to nap when the baby naps. If that helps you, great! For me that doesn’t actually help me. (If needed, I like to nap after Chappy gets home from work.) I used nap time to get my chores done and it literally makes me feel so much more accomplished. Even if I don’t have any plans, have been in the same sweats for days, and haven’t showered in who knows how long, getting my chores list done makes me feel like a rock star ha.

Of course every momma is different so find what works for you! These are just a few of the things I found that have really helped me keep it together, especially since Chappy has been working every day. It is SO important to take time for yourself but even more important not to feel guilty about it, so don’t! Just always remember that a happier momma leads to a happier baby in the end!

Now here’s a cute picture of my “boss” just because

And yes that is a roll in the middle of his forearm ha. He is clearly well fed!