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. :)

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?

the seguras are happy it's may!

it's MAY!

we've been looking forward to this month for a long time!

here's why...

• michael is officially done with his first semester at uncc this wednesday. so proud of him and his awesome grades so far! (he is seriously making me feel bad about my first semester college grades)
  
  
• i have my next doctor's appointment this week (also on wednesday), where i'll get my usual check-up and schedule our anatomy scan ultrasound! can't wait to find out if our little peanut is a boy or girl! i'll also hit the halfway point of my pregnancy in may-it's going by so fast already!
  
  
• i am heading to the isle of palms on thursday to celebrate my frand's dirty 30! it's not going to be too dirty since 1) i'm pregnant and 2) we're going with her mom, but it's going to be awesome! can't wait for a couple of days of relaxing in the sun.
  
  
• after the mini-beach trip, i'm heading home to spend mother's day with my mom. it's a special year and i'm glad i can spend mother's day with her!
  
  
• i'll celebrate 2 years of being married to my best friend on the 19th!
  
  
• loki turns the big 3 on may 27th (judge away)
  
  
• on may 30th, our euro trip will finally begin! we've been planning it for awhile, and i still can't really believe it's happening later this month. so ready to spend some quality time with michael in some fun new places!

thanks for showing up, may! we're happy you're here :)

back in action

hello everyone!

it's been forever since i blogged last, but life has been keeping me occupied outside of blog land.

i'm sure everyone who reads this blog knows our big news already, but we're expecting a baby! i'm due in october, and we are so happy and excited to start this new part of our lives!

our dog babies announced the news for us on social media:

needless to say, all of the excitement, appointments, and nausea/exhaustion that comes with the first trimester of pregnancy made blogging fairly low on my list of priorities. now that the first trimester is finally coming to an end, i am happy to be back!

from now on, i'm sure my posts will have lots of baby news simply because that's a huge part of my life right now, but i'll try to keep up on the other fun stuff too!

upcoming posts: the best lasagna recipe ever and my first go at maternity shopping!