Can't Live Without It | Baby Toy Edition

This week I learned that toys that make crinkle sounds are like crack for 14 week old babies.

Rowan is putting everything into his mouth these days and loves to feel different textures. Enter: the teething buddy and dino tails book.

Nuby Teething Character c/o Nuby | Jellycat Dino Tails

We've rotated these into Rowan's tummy and play time routine and he just rolls around, chews on them, crinkles the fabric, and tosses them around.

They have managed to keep him busy and happy for more than twenty minutes at a time. And if you're a mama, you know that 20-30 minutes of an entertained baby means you can be more productive than ever.

If you're expecting I highly suggest adding some toys like these to your registry! I only registered for a couple toys (I'll share more of our two and three month favorites next week!) but I clearly dropped the ball on the crinkle toys.  Think he forgives me?

I hope you all have a fun weekend planned! Can you believe its the end of May already?

Want to join us for the link up?! Share something you can't live without, link back to Stephanie, Laura and I, and link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Home Decor :: Recent Finds

You know what's more lame than having your husband say you can't buy any more home decor? Having to spend some of your budget on... blinds. Ugh.

I'm quickly learning that buying furniture and new decor adds up quick. Since our new house is going to be about 50 percent empty even after we are finished unpacking all of our crap, I've been on the hunt for some new affordable decor. 

We're kind of starting from scratch in the living room, dining room, and lighting department so I really want to keep things classic. Read: things I won't get sick of quickly or will go out of style.

Living Room. The living room furniture is one thing that we spent a little more money on than we wanted but we know we're getting an insanely comfortable sofa and chair that will last us a long time.

Sofa

We went with Bassett Furniture for both the sofa and chair and I think we had all of our options and colors picked out within 30 minutes. It took us ten seconds after sitting on that sofa to decide this was definitely the one. The downside is we still have a few weeks before its delivered so our current living room looks ugly.

Chair (We got it without the nailheads) | Colors: "Natural" Chair, "Pewter" sofa

We're also planning to make a Restoration Hardware knockoff coffee table like this one. It may be a few weeks until we have time to build it but I'm so excited!

Office Lighting. My office didn't have an overhead light so I had to pick something pretty quickly. I don't get excited about buying light fixtures and I'm still nervous the antique brass will go out of style, but I love the pattern and the price was on point. I'm exciting to install it this weekend! (Wish us luck, we have no idea what we're doing!)

Roxbury Antique Brass Semi-Flush Mount Light (from Lamps Plus, I think its sold out. Sad emoji.)

Rugs. Ugh...The great rug debate. I swear this has been one of the hardest things to pick out because its impossible to find any in person so you're stuck hoping you'll like the real life colors of one you buy online. We've bought two different rugs and both have had really yellowish-ivory designs despite looking white online so back they went.

Moroccan Shag Rug. Trellis Rug.

I hate to jump on the Moroccan shag rug bandwagon but I do really like it and it would go well with our colors. I'm just worried about shedding and the color being more ivory than white. Also who wants to pick up tumbleweeds of rug fuzz while also cleaning up after a baby, dog, and husband?

My other option is to find another rug in a shade of light blue and hope the pattern is actually white. 

Spare Bedroom. We moved the dresser from Rowan's nursery to the spare bedroom because it just wasn't easy enough to open the drawers with one hand while wrangling the kid/keeping him from rolling over with the other. I love it in this room, especially with our new bed frame. 

Bed Frame (Similar). Nightstand.

We grabbed some Ikea nightstands and a lamp out of storage, but this room desperately needs some color! The walls will eventually be painted and the bedding needs some life. What do y'all think?!

What are some of your favorite places for cheap home decor? I'm loving H&M Home right now!

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Memorial Day Weekend

I hope you all had a fun Memorial Day weekend! There is just something about 3-day weekends and vitamin D. I need more of both in my life. (If you saw how pale my legs were, you'd agree)

We got a lot of organizing done in the new house, more on that later this week!

I finally got to meet blog friends Stephanie and Caroline during their vacation here in the Charleston area. It was fun having all of the new mamas there to catch up in real life, rather than via text messages or blog posts. I wish I could say Rowan was his usual happy self, but some evil version of him I've never seen before made an appearance and caused me to miss out on the first part of lunch. More on that at a later date.

Aside from the bloggers and babes lunch, our Memorial Day weekend was very low key and exactly what we needed..

There were lots of cute smiles with daddy. (Side note: I get the stretch marks and Dad gets the cutest photos? This seems like a raw deal.) (Another side note: Ignore the tacky letters on the wall... the painters are getting rid of those stat!)

Moccs

We fell asleep in whatever position we wanted.

And we wore our red, white and blue in honor of the brave men and women that serve our country.

That smile! I can't even.

And just like that, we're halfway through the week!

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Can't Live Without It Link Up

We've almost made it to the weekend... Y'all I can't even contain my excitement!

I'm throwing in the towel this week and have nothing exciting to share unless you count finally finding a bra to wear in this mess exciting. Move 1, Me 0. I swear one of these days I'll get my crap together!

I hope you all have a great long weekend filled with lots of sun, sand and a drink in your hand!

Want to join us for the link up?! Share something you can't live without, link back to Stephanie, Laura and I, and link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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World's Most Unorganized Moving Day

Sorry for the radio silence y'all! It's been one heck of a long weekend.

I'm happy to say we survived the world's most unorganized moving day. And if you don't believe me, take a look at this.

We opted to go the cheapest route possible for this move, meaning no moving companies and minimal boxes. (Because who wants to buy boxes? We used some from my husband's office). And in case you're wondering... yes, we did pack, unpack, and repack boxes several times throughout the weekend.

That's right. Absolutely no preparations were made before the big day.

If there is one thing about moving, its that you learn how much shit you accumulate over the years and proceed to put much more in the trash rather than let it take up valuable box space.

If it weren't for my parents and my cousin who came to help, it would have been a week-long event. Or the friends who offered to help would have sprinted in the opposite direction.

Even just having Grandma around to keep Rowan occupied was indispensable.

We took a break from the moving madness on Sunday to enjoy the hot weather by the water. R slept through everything, including the mad dash around Trader Joe's for two buck Chuck (they can't sell alcohol at TJ's where my parents live) and speculoos cookies.

It's safe to say I'm exhausted beyond belief and our house is barely liveable at this point. It makes my type-A self cringe just looking around. But we're so excited to get settled in! I'm hoping once my office is fully set up I'll have a lot more regular blog posts, so thanks for hanging in there with me in the meantime!

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Can't Live Without It | Amazon Prime Photo Storage

Happy weekend, friends! I've been excited for this weekend for a while now, knowing we'll officially be moved into the new house! I feel like life will finally be able to get back to normal-ish. Maybe I'll have time to relax, get a mani, or make an actual meal?? Cereal and pizza just aren't cutting it anymore.

This week I had quite a scare in the computer department when my computer wouldn't boot up. (Hence, being MIA on the blogging front). I thought for sure I lost all 1000+ photos of Rowan that I've taken since he was born. Thank goodness for random You Tube videos that helped me fix my computer without spending a fortune! All of my photos are safe (I most definitely would have cried for days if not) and it was a stark reminder that I need to backup my photos more often!

So today I'm keeping it short and simple: I can't live without Amazon Prime unlimited photo storage.

Did you know if you're a Prime member (why wouldn't you be?) you can get free unlimited photo storage in the Amazon cloud drive??!! Somehow I just found this out.

As I type this I've got about 4000 huge photo files in my Amazon cloud drive, and its free with your membership.

You can upload your photos through the Amazon website, download the app on your phone, or download the software on your computer. It does take a while to load photos but its worth it to know all of your travel, family, and baby photos are safe! I personally don't rely solely on an external hard drive because I've had one crash in the past. (Super lucky with this computer crap, right?)

And let's be real, who doesn't like shopping online and getting your package two days later? Sometimes I don't even get out of the house in that time frame. So if you don't have Amazon Prime, this is all the more reason to get it. And no I'm not being paid in anyway by Amazon, I just love it.

So there is my PSA for the week! I hope you all have fab weekend plans!

For us, it will be glorious living in just one home rather than two simultaneously. We've made some purchases for the living room and have a DIY project in the works so I'll have an update and some photos for y'all next week!

Want to join us?! Share something you can't live without, link back to Stephanie, Laura and I, and link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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First Mother's Day

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and got to spoil your mama (or be spoiled!)

Our weekend was such a whirlwind! Last night my husband asked if it actually was the weekend because we were so busy, it didn't even feel like it.

We haven't officially moved into the new house yet because we had some painting to do, which turns out is really hard to accomplish when you're trying to keep the baby away from the smells but need both of you there to help. We didn't get nearly the amount of painting done that we had planned but that's just another lesson in parenthood!

On Sunday we took a much needed break from most of the new home prep. My sweet husband made us a huge breakfast and a big steak dinner later that day, plus he got a cookie cake. All of said food is making me really regret stepping on the scale today but it was pretty glorious and worth all of the calories. At least I worked it off painting, right? I also have a much needed mani-pedi sesh planned for after all the painting is done... thanks babe!

Most importantly, I snugged this little dude, told him I loved him and kissed him a million times, and just felt so insanely grateful to be his mama.

The past three months of motherhood have filled me with so much joy seeing our little man grow and develop. It has also taught me so much about priorities and adjusting my expectations (yes, it will take you much longer to get out of the house but the more you do it, the easier it gets!).
 

I'm a pretty spoiled girl having these two (and our girl Ruby) in my life. And with that, I think this fulfills my sappy post quota for the year.

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Can't Live Without It | Hospital Bag Edition

It's been a wild week here! Closing on the house, busy work week, and about 15 to-do lists later... I'm so happy its the weekend. On our agenda: painting! Along with extra trips to Starbucks because its so close to the new house and hopefully some pampering for my first Mother's Day!

Speaking of Mother's Day, today I'm sharing Can't Live Without It: Hospital Bag edition. Also included, what I could have lived without.

As expected, I over-packed. I always over-pack so why would packing for the hospital to give birth to a tiny human be any different?

Learn from my mistakes and pack light! Especially if you live 2 miles from the hospital like I did and can just send your tired but super sweet husband home to grab some things. :)

For Mama

What I couldn't live without: Cheap flip flops for the shower, comfy long sleeve pajamas, socks, nursing tank tops, cardigans, yoga pants, nursing bras, shampoo/conditioner, makeup (just the concealer, powder and waterproof mascara), chapstick

What could have been left behind: big underwear (I used the awesome mesh ones from the hospital, way better at holding down the fort with that whole situation you've got going on), robe (I never put this on, maybe because I was already wearing long sleeves), hair dryer (the last thing I felt like doing was standing in front of a mirror blow drying my hair)

For Baby

What I couldn't live without: Swaddle blanket (at least 1), footed sleepers with built-in mittens (R was mostly in a diaper the first day because the nurses had us do a ton of skin-to-skin before his first bath, but sleepers were so easy to get on and off of him after that), hats, going home outfit (bonus points if there is a monogram!)

What could have been left behind: pacis (we waited a couple of days before introducing a paci), onesies (so effing hard to put on a floppy newborn), burp cloths (just didn't use these for some reason), socks (unless using at mittens, then keep them)

No need for diapers or wipes, unless you have a specific brand you want to use. 

Miscellaneous 

What I couldn't live without: Pillows and towels from home, a nice camera with a fully charged battery, phone charger, extension cord with extra outlets, baby book (they did hand and foot prints for us in our book)

What could have been left behind: This nursing pillow (It did not work for me AT ALL, I actually used regular pillows at the hospital. I wish I could go back and tell my 9 month prego self to leave this in its box at Babies R Us)

So there you have it. Mamas, what would you add or subtract from your hospital bag?!

I hope you all have a fab weekend!

Want to join us?! Share something you can't live without, link back to Stephanie, Laura and I, and link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Weekending

While most of my weekend consisted of packing (so many boxes, and we haven't even skimmed the surface of the crap we've accumulated), we managed to get out in the beautiful weather here in Charleston and it was heaven!

First up, dressing our kid up in the cutest outfit before he grows out of it. I must say, R killed it in the picture taking department this weekend. This kid loves to stand up and the moment I put his little feet on the floor he started grinning. I just wish these weren't iPhone photos.

Pure joy there. I love it.

Also it should be noted that he now grabs handfuls of my hair with his death grip, which naturally makes my curly hair frizz beyond belief. So I guess I'll be wearing my hair up a whole lot more these days.

We headed to World Market for their friends and family sale and scored these gorgeous bar stools for our new home.

Please ignore the mess that is my office... #truelife

I also headed downtown for brunch with Jillian, Meg, and Jessica. Sadly we forgot to get a picture together..  total blogger fail! I guess we'll just have to go visit Jessica in California to get one! Who is with me?!

I did manage to snap a few pictures downtown, the weather was too perfect not to wander some of the pretty streets after brunch. This gem is from Rainbow Row, I wish I had a pink and purple courtyard like that.

I hope you all had a great weekend! And if you happen to get an email from me today regarding a comment you posted like...years ago, its because I'm forcing myself to finally catch up on emails! I read every one of your comments when I get them but its tough to respond right away. Thank you for putting up with me!

Linking up with Biana!

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