Five on Friday :: Tears, TV, Tunics, Tortoise & Transitions

I'm so happy to be back to blogging and back to my usual Five on Friday post!  I hope you have had a great week and are gearing up for a fun weekend.  

ONE :: TEARS

The big thing happening in my life lately is that I went back to work on Tuesday after a three month maternity leave.  I shed some tears the night before and Jack has been throwing tantrums each morning when I leave, but all in all it's been fine.  Since this is my second time doing this I know what to expect and know it will get easier.  Lots of pumping going on now...

TWO :: TV

Waking up at all hours of the night is so much more enjoyable when I have something fun to watch.  Luckily there are a handful of shows on right now that I'm loving including The Bachelor, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules.  But hands down, my new favorite show is Telenovela with Eva Longoria!  Anyone else watching it?  It's so smart and hilarious.  

THREE :: TUNICS

I'm late to the party on reporting this one to you during my blogging hiatus, but if you don't already own these two tunics, you should consider them as both are on sale and come in lots of colors. 

There is one for when I actually leave the house (Lush tunic) that I own in four {yes four} colors and one for lazy days at home and running errands (Old Navy) that I own in three colors! 

I'm 5'4'' and both cover my butt and crotch area with no problem.  The Lush Tunic fits TTS in my opinion.  I ordered my usual large.  The Old Navy Tunic runs TTS also, but I ordered it one size up (XL) for extra length so I could wear with leggings.  The arms are a bit long since I sized up, but I think it looks great and is so comfy.  If you are wanting this to look a little less sloppy and lounge-wearish, I would stick to your normal size. 

Lush Tunic

Old Navy Oversized Rounded-Hem Tunic

FOUR :: TORTOISE

I am in desparate need of a new pair of sunnies.  My only requirement is that they are brown toroise shell since that looks best with my hair.  I looked the other day at Nordstrom but nothing I tried on seemed to fit the bill.  Well, that's not true...I found two pair that I just loved but both were WAY over my price range so I had to walk away.  Bye Chanel and Celine sunnies... 

I have it narrowed down to four pair online.  Does anyone have an opinion or own these?  It's so hard when you can't try on.  I'm curious how the new J. Crew sunnies are and if they are worth their price tag?!

Option #1 - Kate Spade 56mm Shawna

 Option #2 - Kate Spade 55mm Bayleigh

 Option #3 - Le Specs 51mm Bandwagon

 Option #4 - J. Crew Sam

FIVE :: TRANSITIONS

We've been making lots of transitions lately.  Me going back to work.  Trying to get Jack potty trained.  Dealing with a second child.  One transition I've been dreading for some reason was getting Jack out of his crib and into a big boy bed.  I was worried my good sleeper would go away or he would get up and run amok at all hours of the night.  I'm so happy to report that so far it's been the most seamless transition.  We got him excited for his "Big Boy Boat Bed" as he calls it about one week before we made the switch and the rest is history! 

I will say that I attribute a lot of our success to adding bed-rails on both sides.  It makes him feel confined and safe which helps with both of my worries. 

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Linking up:

Colin Everett: Two Months

Weight: 14 pounds, 8 oz.
Length:  24.75 inches

Head Circumference:  15.5 inches


Clothes: 3 month and 6 month,  Size 2 Diapers

Sleep:  Takes short naps throughout the day and is sleeping at night 5-8 hours straight.  He usually goes down for the night between 10-10:30 and then sleeps through until around 5am or so.  He does a short feed and then goes back down for two hours. 

Schedule:  We still are not on a set schedule until I go back to work when he's 3 months.  He is eating every 3 hours or so and staying awake much longer during the day. 

Health:  Doing great! Colin checked out great at his 2 month appointment.  We also had a followup ultrasound and appointment with his pediatric urologist about his enlarged right kidney.  So far everything seems to be okay.  The right kidney is still larger than the left, but everything seems to be functioning properly.  We are scheduled to do another ultrasound in 6 months. 

Crying:  This has improved a great deal once you hit 6 weeks.  Don't get me wrong - you still have the loudest scream in town, but you seem to be doing much better.  We seemed to have found a great balance of gripe water and Gerber Soothe (probiotic) drops that are helping with your colic/gas/tummy issues. The spitting up is still out of control, but I'm hoping this will improve around 3-4 months. 

Feeding:  Nursing is still going great.  You are 100% breastfed at this point and doing great.  I've had a few supply issues when I was taking certain medications after being sick, but we are still going strong!

Likes:  

• Being held and cuddling
• Watching your brother
• Rainforest Playmat

Dislikes:

• Tummy time
• Evenings

Milestones:  The smiles and the coos have officially started this month!  You also slept through the night a few times which I greatly needed and appreciated!

Places You've Gone:  This month was big because you had your first visit to Nordstrom and your first ladies lunch!

Visitors:  You met Grandma Clem from Arkansas this month and we all welcomed Baby Cameron into the world.

Postpartum:  My body is bouncing back great.  My c-section incision is totally healed and looking great.  My weight is back to what it was this time last year a month before I got pregnant.  It's still not where I want to be, especially with my flabby stomach, but I'm happy with the progress so far especially since I haven't done any type of diet or exercise yet. 


Life with Two: Oh life with two...just when I thought I was getting the hang of things, your big brother (and me) got sick...really sick.  It was overwhelming for a new mom of two to deal with your big brother having an ear infection, strep and HF&M...trying to comfort him and keep you two apart for fear of you catching something was difficult, but we got through it and as I type this, you are healthy and did not catch anything, including my upper respiratory infection. 

Special Memories this Month:  

• Your first Christmas
• Playing Baby Jesus in our church Christmas Pageant at the Christmas Eve service
• First Nordstrom trip
• First ladies lunch
• First time sleeping through the night

Colin's One Month

Just for fun ::  Jack's Two Month Update

Happy New Year!

Happy 2016 everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful time ringing in the new year.  We had a quiet evening at home with our two boys followed by a quiet New Years Day at home.  We had our traditional New Years feast complete with black-eyed peas, cornbread and cabbage. 

So what's going on around these parts? 

We all recovered from being sick, myself included.  I had to go back to the doctor on December 30 after my first round of antibiotics didn't work.  I'm happy to report that I'm finally starting to feel better. 

Jack started back to preschool this week and we've been busy doing doctor's appointments all week - shots for Colin, checkups for me and Jack and an ultrasound tomorrow for Colin. 

Colin is also being baptized on Sunday and we have a ton of family celebrating with us including some out of town folks so it will be a busy weekend. 

My maternity leave is quickly coming to an end.  I am going into the office next week for a long meeting so that will be my "trial run" day to see how things go getting ready for the office and Jack to school as a mom of two. 

Also, in the next several weeks before I return to work, we set some lofty goals of getting Jack potty trained and transition him to a big boy bed.  I did not intentionally plan to cram everything into these last few weeks of leave, however with Jack being sick all last month, we just couldn't get anything done!  Wish us luck...and wine!

While I'm not exactly looking forward to going back to work every day, it will be nice to get into a routine and into our new normal.  Maternity leave is great,but it's hard settling into a standard weekly routine knowing it's temporary.  I'm not sure what our new normal will look like, but just like everything else, I'm sure we will figure it out! 

I'm trying to leave the month of February to just adjusting.  I must remind myself and others that it's a big deal going back to work full-time after having a baby.  Even though I've done it before!  Throw nursing and a toddler into the mix and you've got yourself a more than full plate.  

So that is what's going on with me.  I don't have any crazy resolutions for the year.  I just want to be right now and settle into our new life with two kiddos - focusing on all of my sweet boys : Jason, the kids and even our dog, Tucker. 

And as for blogging resolutions and goals, mine this year is to stop worrying about the "blogging rules".  You know the perfect image, theme, analytics, and ever-growing checklist of what makes a successful blog.  So many times I want to blog, but then sit down and realize I don't have the perfect picture or the time to make a "pinnable image" or all of the other "necessary" things a blogger these days must have.  I'd rather go back to my blogging attitude back when I first started years ago and didn't know any better.  I just blogged because it was fun, made me happy and I had something to say.  So today, I'm putting this philosophy in motion and publishing this post without images {gasp}.  If you need an image just go check my Instagram account!   It's either that or no post at all since I have about 3 more minutes until it's time to nurse Colin again!