Life Lately- It's a GIRL!

In case you missed my post on Instagram, our third little baby is a GIRL!

We asked Ryan and Natalie if they could show their excitement over meeting their baby sister in June, and this is what we got- hah! Their faces pretty much sum up the reactions we get from other people when we tell them we're expecting a third this soon.

Needless to say, we can't wait to meet this sweet baby girl!!

We ate brunch at Mimi's house after church on Sunday. Ryan and Riley are 4 months apart and have been quite the pair lately. They are so cute together and get so excited to see each other. Ryan pronounces Riley's name, "Why-we." Presh.

And this little snapshot somes up their personalities- Riley in the driver's seat with one hand on the wheel posing for the picture (while the car is moving), and Ryan in the passenger's seat with both hands on the top for added safety. Hahah- love these two so much!

I remember feeling this way with Ryan before Natalie was born, but I have been extra aware of the time I have with these two lately. I have been soaking up the days we have where there are no plans with other people and we have nowhere we have to be. I really love this stage with little ones where we can wake up and decide what we want the day to look like. This day was spent at the mall, going to the Disney store, and other fun little spots Ryan likes to visit while we're there.

In the last week, Natalie has started really playing with us on the playgrounds! She used to watch us from the stroller but now she is all in on the action! She likes crawling up all of the steps and sliding down with us. It will be even more fun when she's able to walk her way to the top!

And this big boy in the last week has been seeking out new friends on the playground. Even as we're walking or driving to the park he'll start talking about the big kids or little kids he might meet. And while it makes me so happy that he's growing up and wanting to branch out and play with other kids, the mama- (and pregnant)- side of me feels a little emotional about it! It really is like a flip switched just this week where "just" playing with me and Nonni was not as fun as finding some other friends to run around with. Honestly so sweet and exactly what we want for him, but those growing-up moments are bitter-sweet ones for sure!

This little stinker. :) We typically keep Tally's food and water bowls on the counter, but on this particular morning, I walked into the play room off of the kitchen to put something away, and in the maybe 10 seconds that I was gone, she bee-lined it to the water bowl, dumped out the contents, and had this wide grin on her face when I walked back in. She is a mess!

Post playground one evening- Ryan decided to bring his blanket into the bathroom and rest a minute before getting in the tub- ha!

Hanging around with cousins after church :)

You can barely see Matt in this pic, but this past week was a big one for us! Our first round of furniture was delivered, and we found lamps, pillows, and an outdoor table and chairs to put by the pool at Homegoods! Matt's mom found some things too, so the two of them rented a HD truck and got everything delivered to each of our houses on Sunday. Things are really starting to come together!!

Matt took this picture before he left for work one morning- I was trying to finish up a workout before Natalie woke up while petting Tally and playing ride-the-horsey with Ryan. hahah, oh #momlife. ;)

Ryan and I have a weekly routine when Natalie's goes down for her morning nap where I have coffee, he has "milky" and we watch the Kids Baking Championship. This week was the finale and it was so cute to see how excited Ryan got about who won! He now wants to be on the show one day. Little love.

On our way to meet daddy at the park after work, Ryan found his  "swoosh" hat, put it on and said, "Do you wike my hat?! Do I wook beautiful?!" He's been into saying people look beautiful or handsome lately and sometimes confuses the two. I love this age.

Teaching Ryan how to pump his legs so he can swing like the big kids :)

Date night!! And the nakey boy in the middle wanted to join for a picture before we left :)

If you haven't shared or entered the giveaway for Sleep Baby Consulting, you can check it out here! You have until Sunday at midnight to enter.

French Bread Ham & Cheese Melt

If you're a fan of Firehouse Subs or Newk's French bread sandwiches, I have a new recipe for you!

We've had these for dinner twice now, so they are definitely filling enough to qualify as more than a lunch, even if you have big eaters in your household. I served them with a side salad and Creamy v8 Tomato Basil Soup (recipe coming next week!).

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

One can Pillsbury French Bread

10 slices Publix Sweet Ham

2-3 slices Munster Cheese

1 tomato

2T mayo

1T dijon mustard

1/2T honey

salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

Remove bread dough from can and bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 for 15 minutes, or until bread or barely starting to brown.

While bread is cooking, mix together mayo, mustard and honey, and slice the tomato.

Remove bread from oven and cut with a serrated knife through the center length wise, opening the bread for all of the ingredients that will go on the inside.

Spread mayo mixture with a spatula on both sides. If you're like me and like your ham really hot, stick the ham in the microwave for 20 seconds and then pile it on the bread. Add cheese, tomato, and s&p on top. Put the sandwich together, adding the top piece of bread, and return to the oven for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

You can mix up the ingredients, change out the meat and cheese, or adjust the measurements in the mayo/mustard spread to suite your tastes, but the French bread makes this sandwich so extra yummy and filling!

Next week I'll share the soup recipe that we had with this- Mmmm! It was so good!

Great Resource for New Parents: Sleep Baby + a $150 GIVEAWAY!

I am so excited to share with you today a wonderful resource for new parents, or for experienced parents who bring home a new baby who makes them feel like a new parents. ;)

SLEEP.

It is one of the most challenging tasks for parents to learn how to manage in the early stages of having their sweet little bundle of joy home. 

Sleep for baby and sleep for parents makes all the snuggly moments, sleepy smiles, funny faces, and tiny coos that much more enjoyable. And without sleep, all of those precious little moments are easy to miss behind the fog of exhaustion.

This is where my friend Elizabeth comes in. Elizabeth has turned her passions and experience into an opportunity to help other moms and dads at one of the most important stages in their early parenting lives. She wants to give parents the opportunity to cherish, appreciate, and soak in those early weeks at home because any parent knows they just go by way too fast.

Read my interview with Elizabeth below to find out more about the incredible company she has created for this exact season of life, and be sure to enter the giveaway and share it with all of your soon-to-be or in-the-throws-of-it parenting friends! They will thank you immensely, trust me.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and why you decided to start your company, Sleep Baby.

Hey! I’m Elizabeth and I live in Charlotte, NC with my husband, Ryan, and our two boys - Graham who is 3 ½ and Hayes who just turned 1. It’s wild and crazy at our house pretty much all the time and I’m completely outnumbered, but I love it and am learning more about trucks and dinosaurs than I ever thought I would. My husband and I started dating at Clemson (where I met Heather!) and just celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary in February.

I decided to start Sleep Baby for a few reasons. First of all, I’m passionate about babies and sleeping and helping parents enjoy both of those things. As you know, adding a new little one to your family is a huge adjustment and one that most of us are completely unprepared for. Additionally, when I had my first baby I was very fortunate to have close friends who made themselves available to answer all of my questions and help with everything I didn’t know. A lot of moms and dads don’t have this resource and I want to be that for them. I also am hopeful that this platform will give me the chance to share my faith in Jesus as the best support during this season and throughout our entire lives.

What makes Sleep Baby different from other sleep consulting businesses?

My hope is that all of my clients view me as more than just another voice offering more advice about their baby. I really try to be like that friend who you can text with your baby questions who will give you suggestions that actually work and reassurance that you are doing a great job as a mom. This is why I offer unlimited texting/email with all of my consulting packages for us to stay in touch after our session for additional help and encouragement. 

Also, when I was learning about sleep consulting, I was shocked to find out how expensive it is! I think that any family who is stressed out, sleep deprived and confused about what to do with their baby should be able to get help getting their baby to sleep through the night, even if they can’t afford $500 for a phone call. I’ve priced my packages to be much more accessible so every family can start sleeping better!

What are the various packages you offer for your clients?

I offer 3 different packages and work with families to customize these to meet their desires and add things as needed.  We talk over the phone and each package includes unlimited texting/email with me for 2 weeks after the session. If you live in Charlotte I’m also willing to work out a session at your home where I can check out your nursery and current sleep routines as they happen.

The Basic Package ($75) is a 30 minute phone call where I will listen to the family’s needs and discuss their child’s current sleeping patterns and tips for encouraging good habits to get them on track to sleeping longer at night and falling asleep on their own.

The Advanced Package ($150) is a 1 hour phone call that includes everything in the Basic Package along with a Personal Sleep Plan, fully customized to your baby to give you a framework to start teaching them when and how to sleep, along with coaching tips from me for all aspects of the plan.

The Pre-Baby Coaching Package ($50) is a 30 minute phone call to discuss what to expect with a newborn in regards to sleep, suggestions to make your nursery as conducive to sleep as possible, and tips for those first few weeks.

I’ve got a few more details about what each of these include on my website: www.sleepbabyconsulting.com 

What advice can you give to new moms who are feeling overwhelmed by their new role and unsure about whether they are doing it all "right"?

The fact that you’re concerned about doing it ‘right’ means that you’re already an awesome mom! This is a huge life change and there is no way to be totally prepared. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help or advice when you need it. We were never meant to live life alone, and your community is what is going to help you make it through this wild season without going crazy yourself. Also, there isn’t just one ‘right’ way. Every baby is a unique little person and what works for one might not work for the other. The more babies I get to know the more I realize they are each like a little puzzle and it takes time to figure out the key that works for them.

If you could go back and give a pep talk to yourself as a new mom, what would you say?

They won’t go to college in diapers! Ha! An older lady at my church used to say this to me and it annoyed me so much, but looking back I wish I would have worried less about if everything was going perfectly and enjoyed the snuggles and little moments more. Whatever struggle you are currently going through with your babies, there will come a day when it’s not an issue any more and you might even miss it. (Okay you probably won’t miss changing diapers, but you probably will find yourself looking through your phone at pictures of them when they are sleeping all night.)

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Thank you Elizabeth for sharing your heart for parents and letting us get to know you and your business a little bit!

If you or someone you know could benefit from Elizabeth's services, or if you would like to hear more about the different packages she offers, visit her website or contact here here.

And now for the giveaway!!!
Elizabeth is giving away a $150 credit toward services at Sleep Baby! So whether you're awaiting your first baby and would like to take advantage of the Pre-Baby Consulting package, or are in the throws of figuring out life and sleep at home, $150 toward Elizabeth's services will be the best free money you've ever spent!

Enter the Rafflecopter below and be sure to share this giveaway with your friends!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway entries accepted through Sunday, March 12th at midnight.
Winner will be announced on Monday!

March Goals + update on disconnecting cable

Ah, March. If the rest of the days are anything like the way we spent the 1st one, I'll be one happy mama. 

Warmer weather landed us at the park for a completely unplanned and super fun morning. We played on the playgrounds, fed the ducks, and enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading back home for naps. And the weather was warm enough during naps for me to get some work done on the screen porch for a good two hours while Ryan and Natalie slept! Glorious, I tell you. 

So March, we're excited for you.

Here's a quick look at what what down (and what gone done) in February before I dive into my March goals:

1.

Finish 2016 Photo Book & Natalie's One Year Book
Glory, glory, hallelujah I have finished the last of the photo books that I started in January! These two right here were definitely the most time intensive, but I am already SO glad to have them to look through. I know capturing and documenting memories will only get harder when we add another baby, but I really want to be intentional about doing the same things for each child when it comes to memory books and the first birthday. Which brings me to number 2.

2.

Make & Order Natalie's One Year Signs
For Ryan's first birthday, I made two signs and ordered one and want to do the same for Natalie.

Here they are!

3.

Workout 3x's/week during nap
I didn't get to do the T25 workouts this month because the disc my sister gave me wasn't working with my Mac- bummer! But I did get to try out some new YouTube prenatal workouts that I'm a big fan plus my once/week pilates class that gets me a full hour workout while the kiddos play for free with their little friends in the church nursery- such a great hour for me and for them!

4.

Share 3 New Recipes
This month, I want to share recipes for:
Homemade Meatballs
Taco Bowls
Chicken Enchiladas

The last recipe I will share this month, but here are the other two:

recipe here

recipe here

5.
Read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

This book is good, but long! I am finishing it this month before my March book club meeting and then I'll let you know what I thought about it!

6.
Disconnect Cable
The antennas are set up and we're ready to send back the cable boxes! The thing I didn't consider was how the internet rate increases when we get rid of the cable/internet bundle. Cable companies are definitely onto this whole dropping cable thing but keeping internet. So it took a little figuring out to make sure it still made the most sense to get rid of cable (after all this! hah), but we've decided it's definitely still worth the amount we'll save annually (between $800-$1000 depending on the promotions)- especially considering the fact that we barely watch TV. We've also decided to buy a TiVo like Matt had in college so that we can still watch the shows and sports we do watch without commercials and when we want to (hello March Madness later this month and college football in the Fall). So there's definitely some up front costs (antennas are $40/each), but there are no monthly fees going forward! And the picture is honestly great with the antennas. So that's my free advice on that. ;)


Now onto my goals for March!

1.
Finish All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

2.

Schedule Barre Classes
Thanks to the heads up from my friend Andrea, I'm going to try out 5 Barre classes this month through a deal she found on Groupon! The deal is still available thought tomorrow if you're interested.

3.

Share 4 New Recipes
Chicken Enchiladas
V8 Tomato Basil Soup
French Bread Ham & Cheese Melt
Cilantro Lime Guacamole

4.
Schedule Dentist Appointment for Ryan

Apparently this should have been done as early as 18 months? Oops! We'll get it in (hopefully this month!) before baby number 3 and Ryan turns 3. :)

Have a great weekend, y'all!!