Currently – Birthday Parties and Mom Hair

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

Currently

Looking
I’m looking forward to this weekend. Brooke’s birthday party is Saturday and both Saturday and Sunday afternoon she will be performing with her Gymnastics Showteam at the Foothills Fall Festival. My parents are coming to town for both and I’m excited to see them and for them to see how much the girls have grown since they were here in July.

Making
This year, I said no to a Pinterest-y birthday party. I’m making little to nothing myself – and I have no shame about it. I made the invitation and I think that’s it. We’re holding the party at Brooke’s gymnastics club and there’s not enough time for a lot of food or activites besides playing in the gym. We ordered cupcakes and plan to grab a veggie & fruit/cheese tray for parents to snack on while kids play. Bottles of water and jugs of apple cider will be thrown in a cooler. I’ll print some coloring pages for kids who don’t want to play in the gym or need a break. I ordered medals from Amazon as a “favor”. I intend to spend my time watching Brooke and her friends have fun and celebrate my sweet 5 year old instead of filling plates, clearing trash, and all that stuff that doesn’t matter in the long run.

Easiest invitations ever – Use PicMonkey or iPiccy to edit it like a picture. Have 4x6s printed at your nearest 1-hour photo. Great for procrastinators like me!!

Wondering
I’ve been wondering where the vibrant, pretty fall colors are. Its not lush green anymore and its seems like its gone straight to brown. I’m hopeful that its just early still and we’ll see beautiful oranges, reds and yellows still.

View from the window behind my cubicle. Where are the fall colors?!?

Playing
Spending time in the Mommy Room pumping three times a day means I need some boredom busters. My favorite is playing What’s the Phrase. It’s like Wheel of Fortune which I personally think I’m pretty awesome at. I still regret not going to the Wheel of Fortune auditions that were in Knoxville last year. If you want to play too, I’d love to beat play you! I’m username Spartyguard.

Wearing
I’m guilty of mom hair…I’m always wearing it in a ponytail. I’ve probably dried it a handful of times in the past 6-8 months. I did have it down a couple nights ago and hubby oh-so-nicely informed me that its too long. And he told me again a couple nights ago when I took the ponytail out of my hair briefly to re-ponytail it. So I need a hair reboot. I think I’ll go pretty short but I like having the option to ponytail if I want. #firstworldproblems here!!

This was my last hair style…been told I should do it again. Yay or nay?

Leah’s Three Month Update – Our Little Chatterbox

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

I feel like when I posted Leah’s two month update we were in one of those not-so-fun stages…sleep was hit or miss, I was still trying to regulate my painful oversupply of breastmilk and we were all getting used to our new schedule with Brooke in school.

Now though, it seems that we’ve gotten into a pretty good groove with Miss Leah.

Size: There hasn’t been too much change there as far as clothes go. She’s still in 3-6 months primarily and everything fits just right. At her two month well check, she was 14lbs, 7.5oz and I haven’t gotten on the scale with her lately. I’d like to give measuring her length a shot too. I’ve gone up the next rise on her diapers and they seem much comfier(let’s say that’s a word!) on her.

Eating: I’m so happy to say this is still going well. I was very nervous the first day of daycare because up to that point she had still been refusing bottles. Her teacher worked with her and by the second feeding she was an old pro! I visit the Mother’s Room three times a day to pump milk for her and so far, I seem to be able to get enough for her every day. I’m very hopeful that I’ll be able to keep up with that as time goes on!

Sleeping: Leah’s sleeping habits became much more manageable a few weeks ago. She would take a long nap in the morning or sometimes two short ones. With the activity in the afternoon of picking up Brooke from school and then dinner, she wouldn’t always get a nap in before it was time for bed. She gave up her tendency to take 2-3 hours to settle down to bed which I greatly appreciate!!

Now that she’s in daycare, she doesn’t seem to sleep much during the day and luckily that hasn’t affected her night sleeping. We put her in the swing in the dining room while we eat dinner and often, she’ll fall asleep there and I’ll have to wake her up around 8:30 to go to bed. Then I’ll wake her up around 7am to get ready to go to daycare. We don’t see her awake much which makes Momma sad but its what she needs right now so we’ll keep following her lead.

Personality: Its so funny to think that when she was first born Leah was such a grumpy gus because now she’s so happy and easy-going. It’s not hard to get a smile out of this girl!! Her daycare teachers gush every day about what a sweet, happy baby she is. She can still pack a wallop with that noggin of hers when she gets mad enough but generally she’s content and ready to play!!

Milestones:
Babble, Babble – My, oh my, can this girl talk!! Lately when she wakes up in the morning, she doesn’t cry but will starting chatting away in her crib. Let me tell you, that is a much more pleasant way to wake up than a wailing baby!! Daddy is her favorite conversation buddy and she’ll give him an earful!!

Daycare – Mid September meant me going back to work and Leah starting daycare. She’s adjusted beautifully to the new schedule. Her teachers love her, she’s never once fussed as I leave and I get happy reports every day that she loved certain songs, watching bubbles, looking in the mirror. The smooth transition has made going back to work sooo much easier!!

Sister, Sister – One of my favorite things about going from one kiddo to two is watching the relationship evolve between Leah & Brooke. One of my favorite parts of the day is when Leah & I pick up Brooke from her after school program. Leah gets a huge smile when she sees Brooke and watches her most of the car ride home. One of Leah’s favorite things seems to be when Brooke spells her name to her. Sounds weird but its adorable. Brooke loves on her sister pretty much whenever she can and gets super bummed when Leah’s asleep at her bedtime and she can’t give her a hug and kiss goodnight.

Going from month 2 to 3 seemed full of subtle changes but its still amazing to see Leah grow up before our eyes.

Get caught up on Leah’s monthly updates:
Month 1
Month 2