bulldog baby!

so when I was pregnant I decided that Sweet P and Ollie were going to be best friends - and so far, so good!  to say he's smitten with her is an understatement -- he even gives me the stank eye when she's crying like "why aren't you helping her?! what's wrong with you?!" we have even started referring to Penny as "his baby" at times because that's really how he acts. I'm really excited for Penny to get a little older so she can start interacting with him - right now she just kinda looks at him like "what is happening? why is this smushface drooling on me?!" or maybe she just sits there emotionless, hah. either way.

anyways, here are some of my favorite snapshots of the future best friends... enjoy!

aren't they sweet?

can't wait until Penny gets a little bigger....

I see a bulldog/baby photoshoot in all of our futures!

I have to get Kristen the picture she requested of course...

[I think the key is going to be getting Penny really full and Ollie really worn out, haha]

what I'm loving wednesday...

happy wednesday! let's get real - the days all run together for me... especially since DJ works from home and has been so swamped that he's been working on the weekends - the weekends really aren't too different for me.  honestly, the only way I know it's the weekend is by everyone's "hooray it's the weekend" blog, twitter and facebook posts. so anyways, happy wednesday [or just another day they all run together for me, haha].... here are the fabulous things that I'm loving this week...

I'm loving... The Bachelorette this season -- I am entirely WAY too invested in who Emily chooses and get way too excited for Tuesdays [I watch them on my iPad during the day]. I'm loving Arie and Jef [not the best picture of Arie]... at this point, I'm going to be devastated if Emily doesn't choose one of them. I know, I know - judge away.

[also, this is definitely NOT the best picture of Arie]

I'm loving... Edy's All Natural Fruit Bars - these are PERFECT for summer... 80 calories a pop, great flavors and they're made with pure fruit [and no high-fructose corn syrup]. These are a great [quazi] guilt-free snack!

I'm loving... yoga pants. real talk: I haven't worn anything other than yoga pants, sweat pants or maxi dresses all summer and I love it.

I'm loving... Penny's newborn pictures! I'm still obsessed with them - I posted our faves yesterday, check them out here if you missed it!

I'm loving... G2 gatorade - another summer staple in my life [seriously - when did I get so lame, I know?!]

I'm loving... our Summer Baby Monitor - I seriously love that we have a video monitor  - I love watching Penny wiggle around [and it makes it easier to creep on my husband when he's taking care of Penny... what? it's fun!]

and of course... I'm loving... my Sweet Pea... crazy to think she's over a month old now!

isn't she so freaking cute?! gah, I love her!

and I'm loving... my sweet, sweet boys!

happy wednesday!

...or if you're like me - happy what day is it again?

Sweet Pea's Newborn Photos!

I am so excited to share Penny's newborn photos with you - we had them taken when she was a mere 8 days old by Shannon Leigh Studios and we are thrilled with how they turned out! If you live in the Atlanta area - she is definitely the one to go to for newborn photos. Shannon and her assistant Jessica were awesome to work with and they truly were baby whisperers -- you'll see by these amazing shots they got of Penny... we love, love, love them!

here are some of DJ and I's favorites...

 ...isn't she just precious??

check out more of Shannon Leigh Studio's work on her webpage and facebook page!

our first father's day...

[father's day 2012 - june 17, 2012]

happy [first] father's day to my best friend, my love, and the best daddy in the world! 

happy father's day danny j! 

Penny and I love you so much and we're so lucky to have you in our lives! 

I'm so lucky to have someone as caring, giving and supportive as a husband and Penny is lucky to have such a hard-working, loving and dedicated daddy!

clearly, these two are quite smitten with each other...

I think we have a daddy's girl in the making on our hands...

[can you blame her?]

...and I think someone is going to be wrapped around his little girl's finger... 

[can you blame him?]

...and me? 

I just love them both so much!

[can you blame me?]

what I'm loving wednesday: the newborn edition...

sorry if this blog is turning into a baby blog - I promise some posts on random jibber-jabber and cute pictures of Oliver soon but for now - all things baby are taking over my brain so that's what you're getting!

hopefully the hospital essentials (first, second and third trimester essentials) that I shared have been helpful to some of you out there! so to continue on with sharing my all-knowing wisdom experiences... here are the things that made our first few weeks adjusting to being a family of four [what? oliver counts] so much easier!

so with all that being said - here is what I'm loving when it comes to "newborn lifesavers" - these are the things that have just made our lives so much easier the past few weeks...

first, I'm obsessed with our aden + anais muslin swaddle blankets - they're great for swaddling as well as just a nice lightweight blanket that we can use all the time and all over the place... these get used daily if not every hour on the hour in our house...

another thing that we use daily/hourly are these Gerber Prefold Cloth Diapers - but not as diapers... we use these as burp clothes, to wipe Penny's face, as a bib when breastfeeding - for SO many things... these are so versatile and I literally find myself always looking for one/grabbing one - especially when I'm nursing Penny!

a huge time/laundry saver in our house are these Boppy Changing Pad Liners - when people say that you'll get peed and pooped on by your baby they're not kidding/lying - who would have thought?! these changing pad liners help us not have to change our changing pad cover every hour day - they were a last minute buy that I'm SO glad we got! I'm not kidding when I say you NEED these...

now - let's talk about breastfeeding -- here is something that I think people tried to tell me but I just either didn't hear or flatout ignored- breastfeeding is HARD. okay, not hard perse - but challenging at first... let me start by saying we were really fortunate - Penny latched right away and [knock on wood] we have had no issues so far with her getting enough to eat/breastfeeding. however, she is a hungry little bugger and those first two weeks she definitely used and abused me to get what she wanted [mommy = food, all day and all night!]. with that being said, I am so glad I had a medela nipple shield - I won't go into details because you really don't want to know but let me just say this SAVED me - around a week and a half in and Penny was bringing me to tears every time she fed... using a nipple shield saved my sanity and made breastfeeding that much less painful while I "healed" - yup, I'll leave it at that...

we currently have two large trashcans in our nursery - one for cloth diapers [which we LOVE but that's a whole other post] and one for disposable diapers/trash... and believe it or not our nursery does not smell?! AMAZING. I did not want our cloth [or disposable] diapers stinking up the joint and I got these Munchkin Arm and Hammer Nursery Fresheners I dropped two of these in the bottom of each trashcan and I really do believe they're the reason that we're still smelling fresh and clean!

lastly, I'm SO happy we have a video monitor -- Penny has slept in the nursery from day one and our monitor definitely makes it easier to check in on her and to at least give us an idea behind why she's crying [has she gotten out of her swaddle? are her eyes open?] - our monitor [Summer Infant Best View Handheld Color Video Monitor] also lights up (green to red) based on how loud things are in the nursery, I really like this because I can turn the volume off when we're eating dinner/watching TV but can still see if she starts crying and turn the volume up/turn the screen on and see if she's crying/what she's doing - I was back and forth between what monitor I wanted to get and I'm SO glad I got this one! 

so there you have it...

definitely not a comprehensive list of our "favorite things" (I'll post that in a few weeks after we've had more time to play with everything and get a real solid opinion) ...just the things that have made a big difference and that I think have made things that much easier to adjusting to this whole "taking care of a baby thing"

speaking of babies... here are some pictures of our sweet little girl... 

I know, she's pretty darn cute.

I think we'll keep her.

yup.

we're keeping her.

hospital bag essentials...

so now that I've had a baby I'm clearly an expert on all things labor and delivery and newborn care, right? hah. not a chance - but I did take a few notes on things I packed (and didn't pack) that could be useful to those of you who are soon to be following in my footsteps into first-time motherhood... so I figure I'd share my all-knowing wisdom thoughts...

first up - the hospital stay... here are the essentials that I'm glad I had...

1. my own toiletries... I was so happy when I was able to shower and that I had my own soap, shampoo, facewash, conditioner, etc.

2. phone charger - no brainer, but don't forget it!

3. if you have an iPad, bring it - for when the baby is sleeping and you're wide awake... games/email/hulu, etc. [we had our laptop too, but only pulled it out once so I could setup my out of the office alert - maternity leave, hells yeah!]

4. Baby Log App (on my iPhone) - thanks to Melissa that recommended this app, it made keeping track of all of the feedings, dirty diapers, etc so much easier!

5. Comfy slippers - things I wish I had done - gotten a pair for DJ - since he was up out of bed more than I was and he kept stealing mine! [thief....] [comfy/warm socks also a must-have!]

6. Comfy clothes for your significant other - it was great for DJ to have sweatpants, clean clothes to change into after showering, etc. He was also really happy to have his sweatshirt since the hospital was pretty cold.

7. Clothes to dress your baby in - most hospitals give you little t-shirts you can dress baby in, but we had so much fun dressing her everyday - especially with the amount of pictures you take while at the hospital (or at least that we did, haha)

8. Swaddling blankets - we've been swaddling Penny since day one - so it was great to have blankets on hand at the hospital to help her sleep better and keep her bundled up! (we love Aden & Anais - but more on that during the "our first weeks with a baby post" which is hopefully coming soon!)

9. Nursing Tank-tops and maternity yoga pants - I'm so glad I packed these... the minute I could shower and change into my own clothes I did - if you're breast-feeding I highly recommend packing nursing tank-tops, makes life so much easier/comfier!

10. If you're breastfeeding:

• lanolin - my nurse gave me some but definitely have some on-hand because you will need/want it!
• Nipple shield - I didn't end up using this at the hospital but did when we got back home (more on that later) but I had it at the hospital just in case (better safe than sorry)
• Boppy/My Brest Friend - I brought my Boppy and this made getting adjusted to breastfeeding so much easier for me, I'm glad I had it rather than having to pile pillows around myself in that big ole hospital bed!

11. Light-weight Robe - I was hot one minute and cold another... this made it so much easier to adjust my clothing to what my body was feeling...


12. Snacks! DJ and I were so happy that we had snacks to nosh on (cheez-its, chips, cereal bars) - it was nice to have stuff right there in the room rather than having to run down to the cafeteria for a little snack every time we were hungry.

13. Gifts for the Nurses - we went the not so creative easy route and just brought Godiva chocolates for the nurses (little two pack of truffles for $5)... our nurses seemed to really appreciate the little thank you and it was a great way for us to show them that we were grateful for all they did for us! (and the nurses did love us - but I think that's more for our sweet dispositions than our lovely gifts, haha) I've also seen a lot of people make goody bags, etc that were probably cheaper and more personal but I was just not in the mindset to be creative those last few weeks of pregnancy...

Things I packed that I didn't need:

• underwear... get ready to laugh but the mesh underwear they provide you is amazing [in fact, be nice to your nurses and ask for some extras to take home, I have no shame - I did and I'm SO happy I did] 
• my "fancy" camera -- I didn't pull it out once, I just used my iPhone... in retrospect, might have been nice to snap some "good pictures" of sweet pea when she was that small/just born but let's be honest - I was exhausted/overwhelmed and more interested in just staring at my baby and being present/taking the moment in
• laptop/books/magazines - you won't touch them. trust me.

Things I didn't have that I wish I did:

• Slippers for DJ [so he wouldn't steal mine the whole freaking time we were there]
• Pillow/blanket for DJ [he had some but they weren't too comfy]
• More snacks [what? homegirl likes to eat]

and because no post is complete without pictures of sweet Penny - here are a few of our favorite pictures of her from our time at the hospital (aka her first few days...)

so that's that.

hopefully this is helpful to those of you heading to labor and delivery in the next few weeks! I'm so excited for y'all - your sweet babies will be here before you know it -- and what they say is true... 

...life will never be the same!