Road trip to Charleston with me and my boy

Last week, Matt got to go to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl (which unfortunately did not have the turnout we were wanting or expecting), so Ryan and I decided to go on our first Mama-Son getaway to visit my friend Meagan and her two girls in Charleston.

Matt with his parents getting ready to head to the game

Being that the trip would take us 5 1/2 hours without stopping, I was prepared for Ryan to get a little tired of the car (I mean I get tired of being in the car for that long and I'm not strapped down tightly in a seat), so I pulled out all the stops in hopes of making it the best trip possible. 

I had a bag of toys in the passenger seat ready to be passed back when whatever one he was holding fell or got old. I bought extra pacis and had a bag of them inside the toy bag for easy passing when one fell out during the transition to sleep time of our drive. 

In case the toy bag was not enough, I removed the cover and arm cushion that usually drape over his carseat and strapped a few (understatement?!) toys to it instead. :)

I replaced his regular mirror with this fancy one that we bought him for Christmas (more on that here). He was quite fascinated with it! I don't think you can see this without zooming in, but on the left he's almost asleep and on the right, he's got a big smile on his face. Sweet love.

(Don't worry... we were stopped for both of these pics.)

And just in case all of that failed, I downloaded three Fisher Price apps on the ipad and bought this seat attacher strap so that he could watch the colorful pictures dance across the screen if push came to shove.

One way or the other, I was prepared for the trip to be a memorable one. 

Here's a picture of Ryan and Tally hanging out together on our bed the morning we left while I gathered the last minute things for our trip- sweet buddies. :)

So now the amazing/hilarious part of the whole thing:

We took one stop for lunch, made the best time I've ever made on that trip, and Ryan didn't cry once. Not once! HA! Toward the end of the drive, I think we had about 45 minutes left, I thought to myself, "Even if he starts wailing now and keeps it up til we arrive, this trip will still have been way better than I was expecting!"

Lunch pit stop

I think I even laughed out loud to myself at one point when he was sleeping. I was SO so thankful for a such great drive!

The four days we spent there were so fun and relaxing. We "got ready" one time, and spent the rest of the time in our comfies with no makeup on. It was glorious. And also why the rest of these pictures are of the kiddos. ;)

Checking out Ryan with her magnifying glass. ;)

The first morning we were there, our friend Brittany came over with her three kiddos and all six of the kids played for a couple of hours while us mamas surprisingly were able to catch up with each other. 

Ryan and his lady friends :)

5 month and 8 months

5 months and 10 months

Loves his Aunt Mea!

I looked over and this sweet one was rubbing Ryan's head. Precious.

I asked the girls to pose and this is what they did. hahah- love.

We actually got this! Best New Years Eve yet. ;)

Now that's a way to wake up from a nap. I'm pretty sure Ryan has his first crush. ;)

Love these girls!

I brought my Mickey Mouse waffle iron so I could make a fun breakfast with this sweet girl. She was so excited about making them and asked if we could eat ours together before we made everyone else's. And then she danced in between each bite. Love. her.

:)

Blog Changes in 2015

Blogging for me has not only been a way to document life events, it's been a place to connect with other people, seek advice, share stories, and reflect on life experiences.

Since becoming a stay at home mom, I've come to appreciate the community aspect of writing this blog even more.

While many of my posts are still "for me" (#Nelsendays posts, Ryan's monthly posts, documenting holidays and family gatherings), I have also come to really enjoy writing posts that are more "for others" too (favorite finds, ten on the 10th, last week's meals, etc.) because in those posts I often feel like I'm connecting with other people outside of my immediate family and friends.

In 2015, I would really love to build that community and connect more with those of you who take the time to read what I write on here each week. Because while I would still write this blog for personal documentation purposes if no one read what I wrote, it's definitely more fun to feel like there are other people out there connecting with what I'm sharing, whether personal or not.

With that in mind, I'm going to be making some changes to this space in 2015.

First, I'm really excited to be partnering with Elizabeth Chapman this year.

Elizabeth writes over at Teaching Sam and Scout, but you may know her from her previous blog, E, Myself and I.

She is a working mama who teaches high school English, is expecting her second little love in March, and writes in a way that makes you laugh and cry and feel like you are her actual friend connecting with her over coffee or wine when you read her posts.

Ironically, we both went to Clemson and had mutual friends, but never actually knew each other until we "met" through blogging a few years later.

There are lots of reasons why I'm excited about working with E this year, but the biggest is because you can sense her authenticity in every single one of her posts. She is real. She is funny. And she is a great writer.

Elizabeth and I started emailing each other back in September and found that we have a similar desire for our blogs to contain quality content and foster community with other women. Her previous blog was quite successful and she's managed to build another one from scratch after losing her domain last year, so she has been a huge resource for me over these past few months.

It is our hope that by working together this year, we can connect with more people and provide quality content for you to read.

That being said, we will be collaborating on two monthly posts:

First, we'll be bringing back a blog hop that was super fun on E's original blog. The blog hop will be called Mid-Month Confessions now because we're both mamas and a monthly hop feels a lot more doable than a weekly one. :)

This link up is intended to be a safe place for us to come together and share those moments when we've totally failed but were able to get back up and maybe even laugh about what just happened. It's a place for us to connect with other bloggers and put our non-highlight reel out there so that we can all make ourselves feel better. Because let's be honest, it's kind of encouraging to read about other people having less-than-stellar moments in their lives too, right?! Right.

The first hop will take place on January 15th, so start a running list in your blog drafts or on your phones of the confessions you want to share and get ready to link up!  We can't wait to meet new people and laugh over our failed attempts at being perfect mamas and successful women in the workplace. (Graphic coming for you to use on your blog soon - stay tuned!)

Secondly, at the end of each month, we'll be sharing our Favorite Finds for the month. I have loved writing these posts and y'all seem to enjoy reading them, so now you'll have two posts to read at the end of each month, and we'll invite you to share your favorites in the comments too!

Along with these two posts, you can expect to see me linking to E's blog more (maybe you've noticed this already?!), and hopefully we'll be working together to host some fun giveaways and connect our readers more throughout the year too.

Aside from working with Elizabeth, I'll be posting monthly goals (like these that I posted yesterday), weekly recipes and last week's meals posts, continuing with my Ten on the 10th posts, and will begin #nelsendays2015 posts, where I take one picture a day for a year. If you don't already, you can follow these on Instagram @hmnelsen, or see the recap on here each week, just like last year.

I'm excited about having a more consistent blogging "schedule" this year and hope that you'll enjoy hanging around a little longer in the mornings with your coffee or in the evenings with your wine. :)

Lastly, (almost finished!) I would really like to take on more affiliate/sponsorship opportunities this year to -selfishly enjoy more of a monetary response to the time that I'm investing on this space, and -unselfishly provide more frequent and better quality giveaways to you sweet people who make me feel like what I'm writing on here each week is worth reading.

That being said, I promise to disclose if a post I'm writing is paid and will give honest feedback on products I've tested whether I like them or not.

Okay, I'm finished. Thanks for taking the time to read this and don't forget to start keeping track of your confessions for the January 15th link up!

January Goals

Happy New Year!

I'm in Charleston for a few days while Matt is in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl, so my NYE day was spent hanging out with these six sweet babies, and my night was spent with these two:

Do I look like a third wheel?! hahah.

The house was quiet and we were all sound asleep long before midnight. I just can't hang like I used to. ;)

As I mentioned before, I have decided to start setting and sharing monthly goals to help me accomplish some of those tasks that have been lingering on my to-do list or have been floating around in my head as things that I'd like to be more intentional about completing.

So here they are!

1. Read French Kids Eat Everything

I have heard great things about this book. And considering how much I loved Bringing Up Bebe (particularly the section that talked about how French kids eat), this seems like it will be a great read and beneficial for this next stage we're about to enter with Ryan.

2. Restart a workout routine

Since Ryan has been born, I haven't been intentional about working out consistently. So I've made a plan for this month to complete four simple workouts each week:

1- P90X Ab Ripper

1- Nicole Stewart Pilates

2- Jillian Micheals 30 Day Shred

The longest of these is the Jillian Micheals one which is 26 minutes. So I'm devoting a little over an hour of exercise to my weeks this month, which seems like a realistic place to start.

3. Clean my car

It needs to happen. It needed to happen a long time ago. So this month, I'm making it happen.

4. Have a quiet time every day

Like working out, I've let my quiet times become inconsistent and sporadic. I really want to be more intentional about spending time reading a praying each morning, even if it's only a few minutes of my day. 

5. Wake up before Ryan

I feel so much better when I have time in the morning before anyone else wakes up to drink my coffee and get a few things done. I used to do this every day when I was working, so I'd like to do it at least a few days a week again. This will also help me accomplish #2 and #4. 

So there they are. Hopefully when I check back on February 1st, I'll be able to say that these 5 things happened.

A couple of other posts for you to check out this morning:

I love this post from my friend Laura on her resolutions for the new year.

And Elizabeth from Teaching Sam and Scout is also sharing her goals for January, so head over to her blog now to check them out!

Hope you guys have a safe and restful New Years Day!