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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

5 Month Favorites/ Product Review






Happy Five months to our Jax Holden!!!!!!

I cannot believe how fast five months has flown by! Everyone told me while I was pregnant to enjoy it because it goes by so fast... how right they were *sigh*

Right now Jax is in such a fun stage he is always smiling, *talking*, and wiggling. We still bring him EVERYWHERE with us because he is so easy going. I love his little personality it sure is blossoming this month!  So far he is observant, SWEET, and laid back. 

Our LOVES for this month are: The TULA- best baby wearing item EVER for ages 4 mos+, Stroller Strides: I cannot get enough of this amazing group of mamas. It is so supportive, FUN, and a true blessing to us. The Excersaucer: I will post specifics below; this entertains Jax for a good solid 15 minutes :) We introduced Oatmeal Cereal and it keeps him fuller longer which in turn causes for LONGER stretches of sleep! Hooray! Stroller Walks, Gymboree class : This is a new one for us! We just joined our local Gymboree and WE LOVE IT! It is so interactive and fun for the babies...and for me! As a former preschool teacher I totally love to do interactive activities with Jaxie <3

1. Tula Baby Carrier
Shop Tula products HERE
Image result for Tula baby carrier



2. FIT 4 MOM SA- I have stated this over and over but I LOVE my stroller stride mom group! Motherhood is challenging, tiring, FUN, amazing, EXHAUSTING... and who better to share these thoughts with than other moms who GET IT?! This was so wonderful for me in the beginning when I was a tired mommy of a newborn who never let me sleep. The vitamin D and fresh air all while talking to other moms who were sleep deprived did wonders for me. I have lost mostly of my baby weight but have gained a bunch of new friendships! If you are interested in a stroller strides group I encourage you to check out their websites. Each major city seems to have one. Here is our North SA group if anyone is interested Link HERE 

3. Bright Starts Activity Jumper found HERE

Image result for explore and roar activity jumper

Jax LOVES this activity center. I love it because each of the toys pops off so I can clean them easily and switch them around for something different. It is dual language and pretty easy to assemble. I give it a five star!

4. Oatmeal Cereal * Earths Best Organic Oatmeal Cereal*


Jax is HUNGRY!!!!! We have slowed down on being Exclusively Breastfed and added some Cereal and formula to his diet. I love being able to BF him but he is demanding SO MUCH FOOD! I also love that the cereal keeps him asleep longer at nighttime.. I needed some sleep y'all. I hear conflicting stories on starting the cereal from my friends. Some moms skip it all together and go straight to solids at 6 mos. Some start the cereal as early as 2 mos and swear that it helps their child sleep longer at night. I started at the recommended four months and instead of doing the RICE cereal I opted for the oatmeal. It had less sugar and contained DHA which is important. I pump BM in the evenings and add 2 tablespoons to that and feed it to him with a spoon... which.. he .. hates.. so it ends up going in his bottle. But hey, I try!!! Also just some mom advice*** If you choose to give the cereal in a bottle make sure the nipple is large enough for the cereal to pass through otherwise you will have a very frustrated baby!!!!


In other news Jaxie boy is wearing 3-6 month clothing...about to bust into that 6-9 month range..YIKES! He is 16 pounds and in the 52 percentile in EVERYTHING! He is almost sitting up by himself, can roll tummy to back and back to tummy, babbles constantly, holds his bottle, takes paci out and transfers it from each hand, Grabs faces...and " pets"  my face to sleep. That right there <------ is literally the best thing ever in my life..my son " petting me" to sleep. 


Next up...6 month update!!!!!!

Christmas Traditions


Image result for Christmas


Doesn't this look cozy??/


Christmas is approaching SO quickly!!! This December has been so much fun with Jaxie in tow! He is FIVE Months old today!!! Happy five months baby boy! My whole life I have dreamed of Christmas with my own family and this was the first year I am living my dream! We have created some of our own traditions as well as kept some of the old ones too! 

Some of our favorite traditions

1. Christmas Cookie Baking! - Each year my mom and I pick around three specialty cookie recipes to make along with our annual sugar cookie cutouts to hand out to friends, family, and neighbors. This is such a fun tradition because we Jam christmas music, light a fire, sip wine, and BAKE!!! 


Jax Holden December 2016- Baking with Mama and Honey


White Chocolate Peppermint Pudding cookies. Recipe  HERE



2. Decorate the Christmas tree!!!! I get a little excited and put my tree out right BEFORE Thanksgiving. My reason for doing so is because I do not host Thanksgiving and I want to have it all up and done before the Holiday season.. plus I like to enjoy it just a bit longer! I usually do a theme tree with certain colors this year to match our living room decor. I have changed and painted a few things in my interior so our tree was different shades of bronzes...it looks really pretty!!! We also have our " story ornaments" up too. We Jam Christmas music and really get into the spirit. 


Cozy Christmas!

3. A new one this year is to VISIT SANTA!!! :) YES! This year we went to Bass Pro shop with our sweet little four month old Jax H. and waited an entire 2 hours to sit on Santa's lap. We ended up walking around, drinking hot coffee, Jax fell asleep so it wasn't terrible. We just sort of looked at all of the stuff. 


He made the nice list I think :)

4. Look at CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!! We do this every year but this year we ventured over to Santa's Ranch and enjoyed an entire drive thru park of beautiful lights!


5. Watch Christmas movies galore in our PJ's' ; our favorites include Christmas with the Kranks, Christmas Vacation, Four Christmases, The Family Man, and The Grinch!

2014


6. Host a Christmas Eve party 

Every year I host a little family party for my family. Since Christmas Day is designated to my mom, we host a fun "themed" get- to- gether on Christmas Eve. This year our theme is " Tapas & Cocktails" years past I have done  Mexican food and Margs, A cuban style dinner, BBQ, A sit down Steak and wine night; I do something different each year. I always include a signature cocktail and matching cute napkins and decor to go along with the theme. This year I am doing " Tapas and Cocktails" so nothing big and heavy just lots of fun little finger foods and a FUN holiday cocktail for everyone to enjoy. A white elephant exchange takes place and I always include little goodie favors for everyone to take home.




7. Send Christmas Cards! Each year we do a family picture mini session and then choose one to use for Christmas Cards! My favorite cards are from Tiny Prints but shutter fly and minted are also super spectacular!!! Last year's Christmas session was my favorite! I was 6 weeks pregnant and we chose one of those pictures to be our announcement picture! It was so special!!!

2014




2015



2016







Merry Christmas!!!!!

Friday, December 2, 2016

The start of a FUN holiday season!



Image result for excited christmas memes


This is so my #vibe right now.

I am such a Christmas freak.

As of 10 years now I officially have a "christmas voicemail" it is part ridiculous/hilarious/traditional for me to do this little sing song voicemail. In fact when I don't do it my friends get upset and ask me where the voicemail is! 

Today my mom and I did our annual cookie baking where we jam christmas carols, light a fire, and make three types of cookies. It was actually cold and rainy so today was a perfect day for it. I designed and ordered our christmas cards ( SO EXCITED!!!!) and ended the day watching a christmas movie and snuggling my boy! I am so excited for this holiday season ..mostly because I get to spend it with a special little boy :) 

a few of my faves from our session;








Being a mother brings me so much joy. Yes I am exhausted at times, frustrated, second guessing myself, and wishing he would nap longer than 30 minutes...but at the same time I find myself not being able to put him back in his crib while holding him at 2 am because I still cannot believe he is mine. I stare at his precious face while he is sleeping and thank a God who listened and answered my prayers to be a mommy...our days at home are such a blessing. I feel like the biggest gift my husband has ever given me is the privilege of being a stay at home mommy. Some days I get dressed and look pretty and other days I stay in my PJ's and nap with the baby on and off all day.. these days are going by so fast!! I sometimes go back and look at his newborn pictures and think to myself " How can life be rushing by so quickly?" It truly makes me happy/sad at the same time.. 

some pictures of my precious little boy..I over post on pictures and I'm NOT SORRY because one day when he is 25 I will have this blog to look back on and remember our days together at home.



Trying out our highchair!!!!



Good morning!!!!



He really is a happy baby!




These people are my everything!


My family!!!



sometimes I can't put him down y'all. 




hanging with my PAW


Mommy's little baker


COOKIES COOKIES COOKIES






Baked Snapper with garlic basil sauce

Happy Wednesday!!!! It is SO beautiful outside today!! We started our morning off with a very long and productive run..we stopped...