newborn must-haves

when doing my baby registry for ellie, i found it really helpful when bloggers made lists of their must-have items for different age ranges. i have pretty strong opinions on what i like and don't like at this point, so maybe this will be helpful for someone too!

diaper genie

oldie but a goodie. we have a large one upstairs beside ellie's changing table in her nursery and a small one downstairs in the living room so we don't have to go up and down the stairs for diaper changes. they work like charms and we love them! 

adan & anais easy swaddle

when we first brought ellie home from the hospital, and in the first 3 weeks or so, she slept on her back, and this swaddle was instrumental in keeping her asleep. babies look like they're falling when they startle themselves awake, so keeping her arms wrapped up but her hands still free by her face was perfect for her. we preferred this swaddle to the others we tried (including the sleep sack). no particular reasons why, it was just really easy, light, and cute. :) 

and if you're wondering, yes, ellie now sleeps on her belly. we know it's not recommended, but she much prefers it and sleeps much more peacefully that way. she has had excellent head and neck control since early on, so we really don't worry about her on her belly. not to mention, michael and i were both put on our bellies as babies, so it's not something that we're very scared of. [go ahead and call dss on me if you wish, but i'm not interesting in a belly vs. back sleeping debate! :) ]

old navy footed sleepers

i think everyone knows that footed sleepers are a baby must-have, but old navy's are my favorites. they're really soft, plenty long (which is important for our lengthy girl), and very cute! they also have fleece sleepers for colder weather, which we have a couple of, but we generally stick to cotton. it's easy for ellie to get hot while she sleeps, and she seems very comfortable in the cotton version.

medela pump in style advanced

for any breastfeeding mom, i think a pump is a must. i knew i would be going back to work after 6-7 weeks, so i started pumping when she was 2 weeks old to start building up a stockpile for whenever we need it. i also pump at least 3 times a day at work to generate her food for the next day. this pump has worked really well for me and was fully covered by insurance, which was great! it's an electric double pump that's very easy to use and to clean. it comes with a cooler that fits 2 bottles, which is perfect for work days. 

[as i said in my last post, we also supplement with formula if and when we need to. i think formula is a wonderful thing that can and should be used for either convenience and/or necessity. thankfully i've had an overall wonderful experience with breastfeeding, but i know that varies greatly from person to person, and i think the fact that your baby is being fed is the important thing!]

medela quick clean micro-steam bags

these bags are great for quickly sterilizing bottles, pump parts, pacifiers, etc. it's not my general rule to sterilize everything all the time, but ellie had a minor bout of thrush when she was about 4 weeks old, so we had to sterilize all of her stuff during that time and kind of got in the habit of doing it at the end of each day. if you do sterilize, these bags are super easy and you get 20 uses out of each one. they last longer than you might think!

brica baby in-sight mega mirror

this is the mirror that we chose for our cars, but really any car mirror should be on a mom-to-be's list. i don't know what i would do if i couldn't see ellie in her backward-facing carseat while i'm driving. it's a lifesaver for getting her pacifier back in her mouth when she's fussy!

boppy nursing cover

i don't nurse in public often, just as a personal preference, but if i do, this cover is a lifesaver. it's cute and easy to use, and it's not bulky at all, so it folds up really small in my diaper bag. this was also really handy in the days at home right after ellie was born. we had lots of visitors, and i wanted to feed her myself at every feeding during those early days, so this allowed me to visit while feeding.

avent natural flow bottles

i picked these bottles as the ones i would use fairly randomly. i didn't want the hassle of cleaning the trendy dr. brown's bottles, and i read lots of good reviews on the avent natural flows. thankfully ellie likes them a lot and has no problem going back and forth between me and the bottle. [to be honest, i also just really like the way they look!]

4moms mamaroo infant seat

ohhh the mamaroo. this is the piece of baby gear that we were most excited about getting, and we still love it. it looks cool in our living room (obviously important), and ellie really likes it. she napped in it a little when she was brand-new, but now we mostly use it during her "awake time" if we need to be doing something else, like eating or laundry or letting the dogs out or whatever. all of the settings are awesome, and even if she doesn't really care how she rocks or what sound she listens to, i enjoy choosing between kangaroo and car ride just depending on my mood. it's a seat for babies and a toy for adults! win-win.

mam pacifiers

we gave ellie her first paci about a week and a half after she was born. we've tried several kinds since then, and mams are our favorites. we started off with soothies since that's what seems to be most recommended by doctors and hospitals, but we switched from them fairly soon for a few reasons. one, ellie started sleeping on her belly more often, and the soothies are kind of huge on the outside of the mouth. it wasn't very comfortable for her. also, those things are ugly. i hated taking pictures of ellie with a soothie in her mouth! finally, the part that goes in the baby's mouth is really small and after awhile it didn't seem like it was doing much of anything for her. the mams are kind of perfect. they're a good size, she can fall asleep on her belly with them, they work well with paci clips, and they're cute!

aden and anais swaddle blankets

these are the best multi-purpose blankets out there. we use them for everything!

aden and anais burpy bibs

[can you tell at this point that i pretty much love everything aden and anais? i seriously love it all]

these are really handy because they're combination burp cloths and bibs. they're a little pricier than your standard burp cloth or bib, but i think they're worth it. we have 3 at home, and they get used allll the time. i also always have one in my diaper bag. 

graco sweet slumber sound machine

this sound machine helps us to keep a consistent nap/bed time routine. we go in ellie's room, turn the lights off, and turn her sound machine (with nightlight) on. i really think she associates the noise with sleep time, so it's one of her cues that it's time for bed. there are lots of sound machines out there, but i especially like this one because it's really small and fits in to our nursery well.

pacifier clips

i didn't really think i'd be a fan of paci clips. honestly, i always thought of them in the same category as kid leashes for some reason. that bias quickly disappeared once we started taking ellie out to public places, or letting people hold her, at which point her paci inevitably falls out and on the floor. at home we don't care as much and will usually just wipe it off and give it back to her, but in public that's just nasty. these clips come in handy! i don't like just any clip though. the ones we initially bought at target were not the cutest things in the world and the clips were really tough to open and close. i always felt like i was going to hit ellie in the face taking the clip off! i found my favorites on etsy, at the myhandmadeloves shop. the clips are study, but not tough, and the patterns are SO cute!

safety first sound moments audio monitor

of course every family with a new baby needs a monitor, and this is just the one we chose. it's nice because there's one base to keep in the nursery and 2 receivers to keep elsewhere. we have one in our room for nighttime and one downstairs for when we're in the living room. we opted not to get a monitor system that included video because the security system in our house has a video monitor that we rarely use, so we mounted that in the nursery instead. i actually prefer that, because we can check it on our phones instead of just at 1 of the 2 receivers. regardless, a monitor of some sort is a necessity.

skiphop duo diaper bag - herringbone

i can't say enough good things about this diaper bag! it's got plenty of pockets, includes a portable changing pad, and has 2 handle options. i am also in love with the herringbone pattern. i will probably still use it even when i don't have a need for a diaper bag anymore!

------

there they are-all the things i wouldn't want to live without while tackling life with a newborn! [not listed: pampers, common sense, and endless patience]

back in action! [life with a newborn]

it feels good to be back!

i've taken a few months off of blogging while settling into life with our new addition, but now that i'm back to work and the holidays are behind us, it's time to catch up.

in case any of you missed it (which i seriously doubt you did, considering i'm probably friends on instagram or facebook with anyone who reads this blog), our sweet girl ellie charlotte was born on october 22nd at 2:15 pm. she was 8 pounds 4 ounces and 21 inches long. she's the sweetest, best baby in the world and her daddy and i are so in love!

the first picture i took of her. this was in the hospital the day she was born

happy Christmas baby!

i was with ellie 24/7 the first 7 weeks of her life, and i have to tell yall-it was harder than i expected! the first 4 weeks were especially difficult, trying to get her on a schedule, figuring out her different cries, and braving my first solo outings with her in public (not to mention my own healing process and getting back in my skinny jeans!) unlike many newborns i hear about, my baby girl was not a big napper. everyone says that newborns will just sleep all day and you'll have to try to wake them up...ummmm not mine! she has been super-alert from day one. it took me a little while to learn her sleepy cues and figure out the best way to put her down for naps. once all that got worked out, the last few weeks of my maternity leave were much easier!

having a baby has been a huge lesson in patience and going-with-the-flow for me. anyone who knows me knows that i'm always busy, can't relax without knowing everything is in order and checked off my to-do list, and once i have a schedule, i want to stick to it. having a baby throws that out the window, for the first few weeks at least. thankfully ellie did adapt to a schedule really quickly, and has always been a great sleeper at night, which made things pretty easy for us!

as for her schedule, we generally follow the babywise method. we focus mostly on the babywise recommendation of eat-wake-sleep, so ellie isn't ever fed to sleep (except at her bedtime feeding, when we put her straight to bed afterward). she eats every 3 hours, and eats like a champ! right now she weighs about 13 pounds and is maxing out her 3-6 month sleepers in length. she was back up to her birth weight before her first doctor's appointment...show-off! :) she's finishing up her last box of size 1 diapers and wears size 2 at night (which i think has been a big help in getting her to sleep all night). speaking of, she's slept through the night 3 times so far, 2 of which being last night and the night before, so hopefully she will keep that up!

ellie's favorite place to nap is still on her daddy's chest, but she sleeps in her crib 90% of the time. we had her in her crib in her own room from the first night we brought her home. i know that's hard for a lot of people, but it made it so much easier on us to not have to make the transition from our room to hers at any point-she was just there from the beginning. of course the first few nights it was hard to fall asleep without constantly checking the video monitor, but eventually my paranoia went away and we have all been happy in our own rooms!

thankfully i've had lots of luck with breastfeeding, and we really only supplement with formula when we're out and it's not convenient to feed her myself, and at night when we make her last bottle half breastmilk and half formula (in an attempt to keep her full a little longer, since formula takes longer to digest). i pump at least 3 times a day at work now, but if i have to skip for any reason, we'll supplement with formula when we need to. she happily eats any kind of formula we've given her and will take a bottle at any temperature, which is really nice. i also credit breastfeeding with me being back at my pre-pregnancy weight and in my regular clothes at 3 weeks postpartum. i really wasn't doing any other form of exercise at that point, so i can't take any credit on my own!

as for ellie's daily life now, michael is at home with her until he goes back to school on the 7th, so he hangs out with her all day and takes her on his daddy errands. they are having such a good time together! when he goes back to school, ellie's grandmas will be helping out, watching her for a month or 2 until i'm able to bring her to work with me. my company is graciously providing a space for employees to bring their kids under 5 to work, so she'll be coming along with me at the end of february/early march. i can't wait!

the highlights of my work days are getting ellie out of her crib in the mornings, usually happy and smiling already, and rocking her to sleep at night. weekends are full of cuddles and play time. she is such a smiley, happy baby who sucks her thumb to put herself to sleep and is learning to hold on to her rattles. she loves bath time and has crazy long hair that isn't showing any signs of falling out so far. she plays on her activity mat, loves listening to music, and holds her head up well enough to sit in her bumbo seat for a few minutes at a time. she is the greatest blessing of our life and i am forever thankful that she is mine.

[my next post will be a list of all of the newborn must-haves that i couldn't have lived without during these past 2 months! stay tuned.]

sooo we're having a baby next month...

i can't believe september is here! i've been saying for awhile how crazy it will be when we can say "we're having a baby next month" and now we can. mind blown.

i've been a terrible, irregular blogger lately because there is literally nothing for me to blog about other than baby stuff. even i get bored of talking about baby stuff all the time, so i assume everyone else does too. i've spared you for a few weeks, so here's what's going on with ellie baby!

we got SO much done this weekend and are ready for her to show up whenever she decides! i've had 2 showers in the past couple of weeks and got so much awesome stuff, including some very useful and much appreciated gift cards. we put those to use this weekend by hitting up babies r us one last time, getting some major deals at target.com, and, most importantly, exchanging some things at belk to then buy ellie's halloween costume. she's going to be a goldfish. :)

in other news, i reached major beach ball status this week. here's the proof:

isn't that shirt the most perfect beach ball shirt ever? i figured i should wear it on labor day weekend since it's really not so apropos from here on out. although, considering we're still having 95 degree days, i guess i can wear whatever the heck i want!

overall, i'm still feeling really good, trying to eat well, and exercising 4-5 days a week. hoping i can keep that up for a few more weeks! i am definitely more uncomfortable than i've been...well, ever... but it's motivating to be in the home stretch! it's pretty difficult to get comfortable when i'm sitting on the couch watching tv or wearing anything other than yoga pants, but working out and stretching is still helping so much!

i think i'm craving things more now than i have for the past several months combined. i could drink sweet tea and eat crushed ice all day long every day, but my new rule is to limit the drive-thru teas to a once-a-week treat only. we'll see how that goes... i've also been eating oreos with michael, which i just don't ever normally do. i think i want the oreos so badly because we always have them with a big glass of cold milk, which i've been drinking like a champ. maybe dairy is just where it's at for me these days, because ice cream is also a constant craving!

in the "normal" food department, we've really just been rotating lots of our favorite recipes lately to keep things simple. michael is busy with school, i'm busy with work, and we're both busy with the dogs, the house, the yard, and the baby preparations, so nothing shockingly new has made its way into the dinner rotation recently. i am trying to make one freezer meal each week to stock our freezer with food for when ellie is here and neither one of us feels like cooking. i've got 2 in the bank so far: black bean taco soup and chicken parmesan meatloaf. check those sites out if you want to try freezer meals-they've got some great recipes!

don't expect much more out of me in the next month or 2, as i'm expecting things to stay about the same around the segura household. we're not traveling any more and we're trying to enjoy the last of our time as a family of 4, so there won't be much news to tell! of course we will let the world know when miss ellie arrives, and if i happen to come across any ground-breaking recipes or online shopping deals in the meantime i'll share the goods. :)

whirlwind of a week

happy friday everyone!

this week has been a total whirlwind, and i can't believe it's already over! (although i'm very, very happy it's the weekend!) tomorrow will mark 31 weeks of pregnancy-crazy to think we'll have a baby with us in 9 short weeks!

some highlights of the week:

• monday we dropped our pups off at their new doggie daycare/boarding kennel for a trial run, and they passed with flying colors! we're going to my parents' house next weekend for my baby shower, and we really didn't want to drag the dogs along this time, so we found them a fun new place to stay while we're gone. they'll sleep and eat together, but they each have their own play group twice a day with their own size dogs.
  
  the kennel (meadows bed & biscuit in huntersville) has webcams where you can watch your dogs during play groups. i watched loki and kona on monday, and it was so funny! loki is a mini socialite and just follows the humans around waiting for some attention. kona was a big floppy ball of happiness and ran circles all day long. he also went swimming in the doggie pool, which is a big deal for him! he's been swimming a couple of times, but he's pretty reluctant, so we think the "peer pressure" of the other dogs swimming got him in there.
  
  anyway, i'm so happy they had a good time and we have a safe and fun place to leave them when we need a weekend away!
  
  [our sweet neighbors mike and tami also had their baby girl on monday. welcome to the world sophia, can't wait to meet you!]
  
  
• wednesday i worked from home, which was a nice change of pace since i'm pretty much at my desk all day every day right now. we had a couple of appointments to go to, and that night we met our photographer at latta plantation park for our maternity photos! here's the link to the sneak peek: http://chelseahomesley.com/?p=14475
  
  
  i highly recommend chelsea for anyone looking for a family photographer in the lake norman area! i hadn't met her until wednesday, just emailed, but she is so sweet, creative, accomodating, and fast! we took the pictures on wednesday and we got our sneak peek link a day later! we should get all of the shots on a cd in the mail in a week or 2. i can't wait to see what chelsea does with ellie's newborn, 6 month, and 1 year pictures (which yes, we already booked, and i'm thrilled about. planner at heart!)

  
  

  a couple of favorites:
  
  

  

  love that man!

  
  
  
  
  
• last night we went to the onerepublic and the script concert with our friends brad & stacy. while i know a lot of the songs those bands sing, it's not my typical kind of concert to go to, but i really enjoyed it! of course i'm a bit of a party pooper right now and had to make an exit around 10:30, but i had so much fun! thanks again yall for the invite :)
  
  
  
  
  we have a fun and relaxing weekend planned, and i'm excited to spend more alone time with my man before ellie arrives! the weekends are getting more and more precious as time goes on, so i'm trying to savor them as much as i can.  hope yall have a great one!

crafty! baby shower cards

up until about 2 weeks ago, i had 2 boxes full of old greeting cards i've received in the past. these went back to high school, and i hadn't looked through them in a very long time. once i got the nesting bug, i threw about 85% of them away, only keeping a few that mean a lot to me and i actually remember getting.

that said, i was a little anxious about what to do with the baby shower cards we've gotten/will get for ellie. i don't want to start up my hoarding tendencies again and keep them all, but i didn't really want to just throw them out either.

as usual, pinterest has a solution: make them into wall decor!

i saw this idea browsing around pinterest one day and it stuck with me as something i should do when we started getting cards. our shower this past weekend was the perfect opportunity to try it out!

here's what i did:

1. started with a blank frame. we made an ikea trip on sunday, and we both agreed on the below frame. we have lots of gray, white and pink in the nursery, but we've stuck with a light wood color with a touch of gray for the wall decorations which i really love. it makes the whole room look less matchy-matchy, which is a good thing in my opinion!

2. laid out all of my cards and started cutting away! i cut a random heart out of the back of one of the cards to use as my template so they'd all be about the same shape and size. i used almost all of the cards we got from the shower. the only one i kept was one from my brother which made me cry, so i couldn't bear to cut it up! i, of course, tried to cut hearts out of the cutest parts of the cards (see that pink dress? i had my eye on it from the get-go).

3. consulted my canine assistants, who were eager to help. kona offered silent moral support, while loki...

...just wanted to cuddle and step on the cards as much as possible.

4. arranged my hearts the way i wanted them, glued them to photo paper, and outlined them in gold glitter. voila!

this will be hung on the wall above ellie's crib, where we used to have a clock. i love that clock, but it doesn't feel right in the nursery, so we're replacing it for now. this picture was taken in our glider (which is amazing, by the way). hanging it is on michael's honey-please-do list this week. :)

my hearts are nowhere near perfect, and the whole project definitely looks crafty, but that's kind of why i love it. one day i'll be sure to tell ellie about that afternoon i sat on the floor with the dogs in her nursery slaving over cardboard hearts just so her walls would be decorated when she got here. memories!

time to peace out before the crying starts...

weekend/cinnamon roll pancakes

hey everyone!

we had such a great weekend and are still recovering from all of the excitement.

my best friend courtney and her husband harris (and their furbaby lucy) came to visit us for the weekend, and saturday we had our first baby shower! my wonderful friend kat hosted it at our house, and we invited all of our friends. it was the first baby shower for a lot of the guys there, which was fun to watch. we played games, ate a lot, and i had the best time opening ellie's gifts! we got some amazing things that were so fun to put away in the nursery. 

another big event happened this weekend-we discovered the goodness of cinnamon roll pancakes. i ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast pretty much every other day for much of my 2nd trimester, and i think i could still eat them daily if i let myself. i eventually realized the fat and sugar were not the greatest way to start my day, but i LOVE the taste of cinnamon rolls. i've always been a fan, but it's definitely intensified during pregnancy.

anyway, courtney is also pregnant (12 weeks-yay!), and has been a fan of sweet food so far, so i figured a sweet breakfast saturday morning would be a winner for both of us. i pinned a cinnamon roll pancakes recipe on pinterest awhile back and gave it a try.

y'all. it is ridiculously good.

you make a regular pancake batter, swirl in a cinnamon filling, and top it with a cream cheese glaze. the brown sugar in the filling gets all caramelized and crunchy when you cook it, and it is just to die for.

i obviously was not concerned with taking pictures during this process, so here's one from the original recipe source (life-in-the-lofthouse.com):

here's what you need:

• make it easy on yourself and use your favorite store-bought pancake mix. if you have to, or really prefer it, you can make them from scratch using whatever plain pancake recipe you can find. it really cut down on time to make these with my go-to krusteaz honey wheat mix!
• cinnamon filling:
• 1/2 cup butter, melted (treat yourself and use real butter....it's worth it)
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• cream cheese glaze (aka heaven on earth):
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

here's what you do:

1. prepare the cinnamon filling first. (generally i don't follow every recipe direction like this, but i'm glad i did in this case. the filling really does need time to "set"). mix butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and scoop the filling into a small ziplock bag. set aside.

2. prepare pancake batter: if you're me, you add water and mix. if you want to be complicated, go right on ahead :)

3. prepare cream cheese glaze: heat butter and cream cheese in a microwave-safe bowl until melted. whisk together until smooth, then whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla. set aside.

4. heat griddle over medium heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray. scoop pancake batter onto griddle as usual. snip a small corner of your baggie full of cinnamon goodness, and swirl it over the top of the pancake. flip over when ready, and cook until done.

5. spoon warmed cream cheese glaze on top of each pancake when serving.

if you like sweet breakfasts at all, please make these. they won't disappoint! enjoy!

busy weekend = sleepy monday

happy monday everyone!

we had an extremely eventful weekend, so we are equal parts tired and happy we got so much done.

saturday was my company's annual boat party. every year in july, we rent out a double-decker boat and have a day-long party on lake norman. needless to say, this year was a little different than usual given that my 3rd trimester actually started on saturday, but it was still really fun! it rained off and on, and was sort of chilly, so i didn't even have to break out the maternity bathing suit. it was a really relaxing and fun day. it's funny how sitting around and talking for 8 hours can wear you out though...michael and i left the boat at 5:00, got food on the way home, and were passed out on the couch at 7:30.

yesterday we went to church, went grocery shopping, and ate lunch out before we started some major work around the house. i cleaned, did laundry, and got stuff together for goodwill while michael mowed, pressure washed the house and fence, and put down new mulch around the house. then we pruned bushes, made a trip to lowe's and the auto parts store, and finally sat down to relax for dinner. i don't know where our huge burst of energy came from, but it was awesome! it wasn't the day of rest that we should have on a sunday, but it was a great day nonetheless.

[side note: i also discovered my new favorite outfit yesterday. i ordered some maternity leggings from old navy and just got them in the mail this weekend. those, plus a tshirt of michael's (since my lounging around shirts are officially too small) will be my standard outfit at home from now until october.]

now that the boat party is over, we have a lot of fun events coming up to look forward to! this weekend is our first baby shower, which will be at our house, and we're so excited to have our friends come over to celebrate ellie! courtney and harris are even coming in from norfolk for the weekend, which will be so much fun, especially given their recent baby news! i have a feeling there will be some serious dad-to-be conversations between our 2 dudes.

michael is wrapping up summer school and only has a couple of weeks left, so he will be getting a week off soon to relax and get ready for another full year! i'm so proud of him and how great of a student he is-hopefully ellie inherits his work ethic and math brain!

august is going to be really busy for us, in fun ways of course! we're taking maternity pictures in about 3 weeks, and we have several classes scheduled next month at the hospital where i'll deliver. we also have a baby shower at home and at work in august. we feel very blessed to be showered with so much love!

to wrap up this little life update, here's a picture of our youngest but biggest dog kona, who smiles all day long. this is a snapchat that michael sent last week. i think kona is going to make the best pony for ellie! anyone know where i can get a dog saddle?

diy crib mobile

happy hump day everyone!

if you follow me on instagram, you've already seen the final product of my diy crib mobile project. i'm really not a fan of any of the mobiles that i've found in stores or online. they're all just a little cartoony and kitschy for my taste, so i decided to make my own!

i had 2 inspiration pictures that i pinned on pinterest awhile back that i used as my guide:

from the glittered barn etsy shop

this one is from a blog that provided the instructions i used

making this mobile was SO easy! the hardest part was picking out the ribbons (as my bff can attest to, who thankfully was with me when i made the trip to hobby lobby for supplies).

all you need is:

• embroidery hoop (i used a 12" size)
• spray paint (if you want! you could also just keep the hoop its natural color)
• assorted ribbons, cut into varying lengths
• hot glue
• twine or some other hanging material

step 1: spray paint your embroidery hoop (if you choose to!). i used krylon's brushed metallic champagne nouveau with a valspar clear sealer top coat.

step 2: lay out your ribbons and figure out the pattern before you get started gluing. i actually ran out of a couple of types of ribbon and had to change up my pattern 3/4 of the way through, but thankfully you can't tell at all! try to have a plan, but if it doesn't work out it's no big deal.

step 3: start gluing! you want to separate your embroidery hoop and glue the ribbons to the inside of the large hoop. try to glue them so that there's no (or very little) excess sticking out on top.

step 4: once all of the ribbons are in place, put the small hoop back together with the large one and cut off any excess ribbon at the top. tie your twine in 3 places around the hoop for hanging. stand back and admire your super cute and easy diy mobile. :) then ask your handy husband how to hang it...

my favorite veggie side

main dishes get most of the recipe love on this blog, but there's one really simple side that we eat a lot, and we both really love: baked zucchini with mozzarella.

i think i originally got this idea from pinterest/another blog awhile back, but the recipe is from memory at this point!

you will need:

• zucchini (duh)...decide how much you want based on the size of the zucchini in your store and how many people are eating. usually i just get one for each of us.
• seasoning salt (we usually use lawry's or garlic salt. you could also just mix plain table salt with any seasoning you like!)
• shredded mozzarella

1. preheat your oven to 350.

2. wash and slice zucchini into rings, about 1/2" wide.

3. line a baking sheet with tin foil, and place the zucchini slices on it in a single layer.

4. sprinkle each zucchini with seasoning salt. 

5. bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

6. remove from the oven and sprinkle mozzarella on each zucchini. put back in the oven and bake until cheese is melted (about 5 more minutes). 

this recipe is simple, fast, and pretty healthy, so it makes its way into our rotation often. 

hope you enjoy!

salsa chicken tacos & mexican corn

we had such a great dinner a few days ago that was so easy i just had to share!

[actually michael cooked this whole dinner himself, but he vouched for how easy it was! i figure the meal planner/recipe finder can still take some credit, right??]

crockpot salsa chicken (original recipe from recipe-diaries.com)

3 frozen chicken breasts

1 16-oz jar salsa

1 package taco seasoning

1. dump everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

2. shred.

3. (yep, that's it!)

we then took the shredded chicken and put it in hard taco shells with some cheese and jalapenos to make some pretty awesome tacos!

picture courtesy of recipe-diaries.com

mexican corn (original recipe from iwashyoudry.com)

3 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned

1/2 tbsp. mayonnaise

1 tbsp. sour cream (we used greek yogurt instead)

1/4 cup shredded parmesan

1/2 tsp. chili powder

salt & pepper

1. heat grill over medium heat and spray rack with non-stick cooking spray.

2. grill corn, turning frequently, until slightly browned and heated through (roughly 10 minutes).

3. meanwhile, combine mayo and sour cream/greek yogurt in a small bowl.

4. in a separate bowl, combine chili powder, salt and pepper.

5. slather hot grilled corn with mayo mixture, then sprinkle on the chili powder mix. coat in parmesan cheese.

[you can top with cilantro if you like, but we're not huge fans!]

picture courtesy of iwashyoudry.com

enjoy!!

ellie belly update : 23.5 weeks

hey everyone!

i don't know about you, but summer already seems to be flying by. i know summer didn't officially start until a few days ago, but to me it's summer when memorial day comes and goes. i always start panicking by this time of the year that i'm not doing enough to take advantage of these long summer days!

while this is not a pregnancy blog and i don't intend it to be one, i do read a lot of blogs that do weekly updates with questions that they ask themselves to keep track of how they feel and what's going on each week. i haven't done this before and i may not do it again, but i thought it might be fun to keep track of the somewhat-midpoint of this pregnancy with a little dedicated blog post.

let's give this a go!

baby ellie is 57.5% baked :)

michael and i have been taking weekly pictures like the one above since the 9-week mark. this one was taken last saturday. it is so funny to flip them through them all and see how i've changed! i don't typically share them (other than with my mom and bff), so this may be the only one you get! enjoy :)

how far along?: 23 weeks and 4 days

maternity clothes: oh yeah. the dress i'm wearing in this picture isn't maternity, but it's really loose and forgiving so it's perfect right now! if i wear jeans, i'm wearing maternity jeans. i've tried a couple of days lately with my regular jeans and bella band, but there's just no comparison in the comfort level, especially for a full day at work. i can still wear a lot of my regular shirts that were loose-fitting originally, but i'm working in a good amount of maternity shirts too. i also bought my first maternity bathing suit! talk about a weird experience...

stretch marks: nope! i've been using palmer's belly butter every morning and coconut oil every night to try to keep those away. thankfully i hear they're mostly genetic, and my mom was able to avoid them during both of her pregnancies, so let's hope i do the same!

sleep: still good! i've been waking up more often for bathroom breaks, but i fall right back to sleep. i have been waking up about 20 minutes before my alarm goes off in the past week or 2, but that's not really unusual for me. i do use an extra pillow, but that's the only thing i've changed.

best moment this week: michael put the crib together and hung curtains in the nursery last friday, which was so exciting! my parents visited us on saturday and bought us what we needed to finish up the crib: mattress, mattress pad, sheets, blanket, crib skirt, bumpers, etc. it was so fun! the crib is so precious and i love it.

miss anything?: i miss sleeping on my stomach every once in awhile, and getting out of a low car without thinking twice. i didn't realize how much my balance was already affected until this past week when i almost fell out of our altima onto the sidewalk in front of our house. and yes, a neighbor was watching. :)

movement: all the time! she's most active in the morning, around 4-5pm, and when i get in bed at night. we're having so much fun feeling (and sometimes watching) her move!

food cravings: i haven't really had any cravings to speak of. i've wanted a lot of things, but i've been able to live without them, so i don't think that really qualifies. :) in the first trimester i wanted a lot of carb-y stuff like sandwiches and crackers, as well as my intense need for laffy taffy. i've always liked laffy taffy though, so i don't know if it was necessarily a craving or something i just really wanted! i'm still not craving anything, but cold things sound so good all the time (ice cream, italian ice, cold water, cantaloupe that's been in the fridge, cucumbers...i could go on). last night i couldn't stop thinking about ice cream so we went to dairy queen and i had a confetti cake blizzard...you outdid yourself with that one, dq.

anything making you queasy/sick: nope! i've been really lucky on that front too. i was pretty nauseous when i got hungry during the first trimester, but since about 12 weeks i've been feeling normal. 

exercise: still steady! i've been doing the tracy anderson pregnancy project video at least 3-4 times a week, and michael and i take the dogs for walks at night pretty often. feeling good about my exercise so far!

gender: girly girl :)

symptoms: my back will hurt randomly after a long day, and i have had a few days of swollen feet after especially active days at work, but that's about it. 

wedding rings on or off: thankfully on! i imagine this might become an issue later on, especially in the heat of july and august, but as of right now i can't tell any difference in how they fit.

looking forward to: our next major nursery purchase, the glider! we already picked out the one we want, so it will be exciting when we order it and add it to the growing furniture collection. also looking forward to my next doctor's appointment in july, even though it will include the glucose test that i've heard so many stories about!

crockpot chicken & stuffing

happy the-week-is-halfway-over wednesday! as soon as summer rolls around and i know it's warm and sunny outside, my work week countdown goes into serious mode.

today i'm sharing a not-so-summery meal, but it's SO good. i mean, i could probably eat an entire crockpot full of it.

crockpot meals don't scream "summer", but they're really convenient all year round. they don't make your house hotter like an oven tends to do sometimes, and i enjoy the smell of food cooking all day regardless of the time of year. this meal in particular is especially fall-ish due to the stuffing, but i personally think stuffing is under-used and should be eaten way more often than just at thanksgiving!

as usual, i found this recipe on pinterest. it's originally from i save a 2 z. 

crockpot chicken & stuffing

• 4 chicken breasts (recipe calls for defrosted but you can really use frozen chicken too. we did, and we just accounted for the water that would come from the frozen chicken when the recipe calls for extra water in step 6)
• 2 small cans cream of chicken soup (lite if you can find it!)
• 2 boxes of stuffing mix
• 1 cup sour cream (again, lite if possible)
• 1 small package frozen green beans

1. spray your crockpot with cooking spray.

2. put chicken breasts in the bottom of the crockpot.

3. pour the dry stuffing mix over the chicken.

4. in a separate bowl, mix together the soup and sour cream. put this mixture over the dry stuffing.

5. add the frozen green beans as the last layer. (my smart hubby, who is the one who actually made this meal, waited until everything was about halfway cooked to add the green beans. that way they didn't get soggy.)

6. add about 1 cup of water to the top of the mixture. (this is where we accounted for a little extra water that might come from our frozen chicken. we only added about 3/4 cup)

7. cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7-8 hours.

here's a picture of the finished product courtesy of i save a 2 z:

this meal smells amazing, tastes even better, is super easy, and is pretty cost-conscious. win-win-win-win.

enjoy!

highlights (and a few lowlights) from our euro trip

we made it back! our trip to europe was wonderful...so much fun, full of adventures, and lots of quality time with my man. as always though, it's so nice to be home and back with our puppies.

here are my favorite (and a few least favorite) things from our trip:

paris

paris was cool! i really think i set myself up for disappointment in paris because i had such high expectations. i just thought it would be a romantic wonderland of beautiful sparkly things (i know...i know). needless to say, it wasn't, but we did have a really good time there!

our hotel in paris was the smallest of the trip, but it was in a good, walkable location in a safe neighborhood. 

we decided to use subways as much as possible during the trip to save on cab fares, and i'm so glad we did! we ended up using the subways in paris, london, and rome, and they were all good experiences. SO much cheaper than taking cabs everywhere, and it's so fun to ride along with locals and listen to them talk.

one of my least favorite things about paris was the amount of homeless people (and dogs). there were homeless people everyyyywhere, and 80% of them had dogs with them. while i'm glad they take care of the dogs and all the dogs we saw had food and beds, it still made me so sad!

we took a hop-on, hop-off bus tour in paris and i recommend it! we used l'open tour, and it took us to all of the major sights (the louvre, notre dame, the champs-elysees, arc de triomphe, eiffel tower, etc.). we did the tour the first day we were in town, because we landed at 7 am and couldn't check into our hotel room until about 3. we dropped off our luggage then went on the tour in an attempt to stay awake. we almost made it all day before finally succumbing to naptime.

my single favorite moment in paris was having dinner in the eiffel tower. there's a restaurant on the first floor of the tower that serves 3-course meals and is so romantic and beautiful! our dinner reservation was at 9, so we were inside the tower when it started lighting up and twinkling. the food was good, and it was such a memorable moment for us that i'm glad we were able to do.

notre dame..so beautiful, inside and out

laduree for macarons...such a beautiful store,
and amazing sweet treats

celebrated both 20 and 21 weeks while gone...you
have no idea how long it took us to find a 20 that i liked!

favorite moment in paris...dinner in the eiffel tower

london

london used to be my favorite city in the world (so far), and after our trip, it's still my favorite city in the world (so far). i realize i may visit somewhere in the future that trumps it, but as of now it's at the top of my list! it's just so clean (for a major city), i love british accents, and i'm a sucker for the monarchy. i love seeing crowns, royal parks, etc. everywhere..just so different and fun.

we did another bus tour in london since there's SO much to see and it's fairly spread out. we used the original london sightseeing tour and loved it! we made a huge loop of the city and saw all of the sights we wanted to. the bus tour also included free tickets for a thames river boat tour, so we took advantage of that halfway through our main sightseeing day. it was nice to sit and cruise down the river while still seeing some cool sights.

our hotel in london was fabulous! we stayed at the kensington hotel, and, while the room was a little smaller than we're used to, it was beautiful. the staff was awesome, and it was in a great location. we were only about a 5 minute walk from the nearest subway station, which took us everywhere we wanted to go in less than 15 minutes.

we also can say we (sort of) saw the queen! when we visited buckingham palace, we were out front by the queen victoria memorial statue and saw some commotion over by the road. the queen was leaving in her motorcade! we didn't really see her (or much of anything really), but it's fun to say we were there!

ellie's gift from the trip-the cutest onesie
covered in pink crowns!

my handsome husband in front of big ben

a police officer stopped us from walking down this one particular
sidewalk and when we asked, he said there was a parade coming!
trooping the colour was a few days away, and the parade was part of the
festivities kicking off the event. so fun!

venice

i'm so glad we went to venice on this trip! we didn't really know for sure what the 4th city we visited should be, and venice was sort of a random choice, but it was the perfect 3rd stop! 

i know it's sort of obvious that you have to take boats to get around in venice, but for some reason i was still so surprised when we got off the plane at the airport and had to book a boat instead of a taxi to our hotel. it was so fun though! pulling up to venice and starting to navigate the canals on the way to our hotel is one of my favorite memories from the trip.

our hotel in venice was awesome! we stayed at the aqua palace, which was in a great location, about a 5 minute walk from st. mark's basilica. it was right on a canal, and we had a first-floor room with windows opening out over the canal. it was so nice to sit in our room with the windows open and watch the gondolas go by.

we didn't do a gondola ride ourselves while in venice, for a few reasons. one, the whole gondola deal looked a lot cheaper and more touristy in person than i thought it would. i had grand ideas of secluded, romantic gondola rides with singing italian men in striped shirts, but really the only accurate thing about that dream was the italian man in the striped shirt. i only heard a couple sing, and there were so many gondola stands trying to get you to pay them for a ride. it was also pretty expensive for a ride at/after sunset, which is when we would've wanted to do it, so we opted out. i don't feel like i missed anything!

the pizza in venice was awesome, and we had a really good time just sitting at the outdoor cafes talking to people and watching crowds walk by. there's not a whole lot to see in venice like there is in the other places we visited, so it was nice to take some time to just sit, relax, and binge eat gelato. :)

pizza! 

boating

michael hates this picture of himself but i love it. this is a little
stoop at our hotel where they had stools and tables for you to just
sit and watch what was going on in the canal. so nice!

rome

rome was the most difficult city to navigate for me. first of all, it was about 95 degrees both days we were there, and more than half of the establishments in rome don't have air conditioning. secondly, all of the sights we wanted to see were fairly spread out, and not necessarily on a subway line, so it was harder to figure out whether to walk or take a cab to each. finally, being 21 weeks pregnant, i needed pretty frequent bathroom breaks. rome was the least convenient place to find a bathroom on the whole trip. not a huge deal normally, but to pregnant me trying to stay hydrated, it was annoying.

all that being said, the history nerd in me LOVED the sights in rome! it is amazing to see things that were built in 100 a.d. it's hard to even wrap my head around dates like that.

visiting the vatican and doing the guided tour of the vatican museums and st. peter's basilica was probably the highlight of the rome leg of the trip. we reserved the tour in advance through dark rome tours, and they were great! we had a group of about 15 people, and each of us had headsets so we could hear our tour guide talking. she was really knowledgeable about all of the art and history of the vatican museums, so we learned a lot from her.

since we had advance tickets, we were able to skip the mile-long line of hot, tired, and somewhat angry people that were already lined up at 9:30 am. if you go to the vatican, get your tickets in advance! it would be crazy to wait til the day of and waste time in that line.

st. peter's basilica was huge and beautiful, pretty similar to what i expected. we toured the underground grottos too, to see some tombs of past popes. we saw st. peter's tomb and the pieta, which was beautiful. 

i'm not a big fan of art in general, but the art i saw at the vatican was just overwhelming! to see paintings, sculptures, and architecture by raphael, da vinci, and michelangelo all in one place was pretty amazing. unfortunately you can't take pictures in the sistine chapel, but seeing the humongous last judgment painting by michelangelo in person was incredible.

inside the colosseum

outside of st. peter's

pieta

overall, we had a fabulous time and are so happy that we decided to do this trip! we saw a lot of people struggling with kids, strollers, etc., and we're really glad we did this trip before we have kids to either haul with us or leave behind. it was a perfect babymoon, and we are all adventured-out for quite awhile. i have a feeling our next few vacations will be of the all-inclusive beach variety. :) courtney-here's looking at you and harris for a joint vacay!

also, by way of baby ellie updates, she is now moving and kicking like crazy! my belly grew noticeably while we were gone, and i got several comments from strangers while on our trip. i also got offered a subway seat which was a fun, stereotypically pregnant experience :) it's so nice to be able to feel her move-it makes things seem so much more real!

now that the trip is over, we're in full-time nesting mode. nursery updates and a diy or 2 coming soon!