I am sounding like every mom on the planet when I, once again, can not believe it’s time for another one of these. Like, I’m annoying myself, but seriously, time is flying by and I feel like I blink and it’s another month. I’m feeling extra nostalgic these days, I’m not sure if it’s the changing seasons or the fact that her first birthday is right around the corner, but whatever it is, I’m sappy. This past month held a lot of adventures from exploring Australia to finishing our trip in Auckland to coming home and closing on our lake house and spending time up the north shore (just in time for magical peak fall colors!)
What’s new
I feel like the more appropriate question here would be, what isn‘t new? It’s funny, because we are literally with Coco all day, every day (and so dang lucky that’s the case) and so it’s easy for us to not realize all the new things because we’re watching them in real time, but coming home from our three week trip and having my mom pick us up from the airport and spend the night with us, we realized just how different our girl was in a matter of weeks. She went from awkwardly crawling and standing if we set her up to pulling herself up on anything and everything, crawling at the speed of lightning, and getting into everything. We literally can not take our eyes off of her which is both fun and exhausting at the same time.
We’re definitely in the process of childproofing all the things, so we’ve been spending a lot of time at her level seeing what we need to move, covering all the outlets, and installing baby gates and child locks! I definitely thought we had a little more time before we had to do all of this but alas, she’s a mover and a shaker. I’m predicting she’ll be walking in within a month by the way she’s starting to gain confidence on her two cute feet.
Beyond moving, she’s been eating like a champ. There isn’t a food she doesn’t love and her go-tos are scrambled eggs made in ghee, lentil noodles, and mum mum teethers! (I know that list sounds so random and weird, I’m totally aware but those are the things we’ve found that she loves!) She also gets to try and taste whatever food we’re eating and so it’s been fun to watch her try and learn about food! We are also still nursing and I’m still enjoying that time and connection with my girl. I’m really proud that I’ve been able to manage to exclusively breastfeed her while running a business and it’s been such a blessing, especially when we’re on the go. The ease of it is unmatched and we’ll keep going as long as it’s still working for us!
Sleep has been getting better and better and it’s such a gift. We were super flexible when it came to traveling, especially since we were hitting the craziest time zone changes and she managed those so impressively. I plan to do a post about traveling internationally with a baby (which now after 3 countries, 12 flights, and 7 hotels in three weeks, I feel I am somewhat qualified to write) but we were also really adaptable with her sleep schedule on our trip and prioritized keeping things as consistent as we could for her. Now that we’ve gotten home, we’ve returned to our regular schedule of 2 naps per day and getting down for bed around 7PM!
Things we can’t live without
1.) Her travel crib: She’s currently napping in it as I write this post. We’re at the lake house and while we wait to set up a new nursery, it’s been such a gift that she sleeps well in the travel crib and it’s easy to pack along. We opted to order one before our international trip because we were staying at a place that didn’t have cribs available and while it was an investment, I am so thankful we bought one because we have used it so much (we also bought the sun shade which came in handy for some of our brighter hotel rooms!) It was nice having a consistent sleep option for her while we were on the move and it can double as a pack and play, so we’re glad we bought this.
2.) This travel high chair: We first bought this because I honestly couldn’t decide on a high chair that I liked (which sounds silly, right?) because I know it’ll be a staple in our house for a few years and I wanted something that was easy to clean, not an eye-sore, and that could transition as Conley grows. I’m still on the hunt for the perfect stand-alone high chair and debating how much I want to invest in one, so while we wait, I ordered this chair on Amazon and we like it so much, we ordered a second for the Lake House. I love the cream color, it takes a minute to set up or take down, she gets to eat at the island and watch us make her food, and it’s easy to travel with. I love it!
3.) These montessori toys: I learned about the montessori method a decade ago, but didn’t dig into it until becoming a mama. Truth be told, a pitch on Shark Tank was for a montessori subscription and it got me researching a bit more. I love these toys (and the fact that they get delivered to us every few months) and as first time parents, it’s been super helpful to have more insight into how our girl is developing, how we can engage her in new ways, and I love that the toys have intentional purpose. We play with them daily and plan to enroll her into a montessori school next year to start part-time!
4.) This baby monitor: Last night we were with our new neighbors and they are expecting and asking for all sorts of recommendations and since we’re rather minimal, I promised I’d send her a list of 10 things she actually needs for baby and this was on it. We actually bought the Nanit monitor and thought we would love it and while we do use it and it comes in handy when we want to check on her and we’re not home (which is basically never) but I don’t love that you need to have your phone on you to use it. We try to unplug and leave our phones behind as much as possible so the Nanit is great, but probably wasn’t the best choice for us. We are obsessed with this monitor that goes everywhere with us. I’m literally watching it as I write this. You can set it up in a minute, carry the monitor with you, and it’s so easy to use.
5.) These booties: Literally, the only things to stay on her feet! Now that the temps are dropping, we invested in two new pairs of these! I mean, I’ll be honest, she’s spent 90% of her life barefoot but now that winter is coming, we’re back in these booties and I love that they stay on and even provide a little traction for our mover and shaker. We also bought her a pair of these fuzzy little mocs for winter that I’m obsessed with, but we’ll see how those stay on. So far, nothing has beat the booties!
How I’m feeling
As I said above, I’m nostalgic. I can close my eyes and remember a year ago, being super pregnant and expectant and unsure. It’s wild how natural parenthood has come to us but it’s also been a huge transition and life change! I’m feeling sappy, watching my girl grow and change. I hold her hands and look at how big they’ve become, she now covers my entire lap as she feeds, she has hair that requires brushing, and her first tooth finally popped through. All of these changes just have me looking at growth, not just in her but in myself. When she was born, a mother was also born and so when I look at our little fam, I see just so much change and growth that we’ve welcomed with open arms.
I had a moment the other day that stopped me in my tracks, but it was our first weekend at the lake house (literally a dream come true, something so wonderful, I could have never had it on my vision board because I could have never dreamed it as a possibility) and I was making pancakes for the family and there was music playing and I had zero distraction from work and we were just all together in this space that already feels sacred, living out this super simple morning but not wanting to be anywhere else in the world. I don’t know what it is about pancakes, maybe the fact that my grandma made the best, thinnest pancakes and I would eat a dozen of them as a kid and beg for more, or because my mom made Mickey Mouse pancakes when I was growing up but just those little moments to me, like making pancakes and being fully present, those are my favorites.
I’ve been thinking a lot more about another kiddo but it’s also brought on just a lot of feelings. Our plan is to wait another year before we begin trying again, my dream would be to have two kiddos that are three years apart but even thinking about all of that brings up a lot of anxiety, because I know that we have no control over that plan and so I’m just savoring this time with my girl and thinking expectantly about the future for our little fam. I didn’t have the best or easiest pregnancy with Coco, so thoughts of even trying again kind of make me anxious with our history of loss and the fact that I was sick for months on end, but I know it’s all entirely worth it when I look at her and dang, she’ll make a cute big sis some day, we’re just not in any rush!
This month can be summed up by
Newness. All of it — and yes, I used this same word for last month and I’ll probably use it for every month moving forward! From the new lake house we plan to make so many memories in to the new tooth that sprouted, the new way she’s getting around like a ninja to the new feelings as we near her first birthday. She feels like a whole new girl and as she continues to learn and grow, I’m just in awe of all that can happen in a year. She’s been a precious ruler for me to not only measure her growth but to check in with myself more on how I’m growing, transforming, and changing. It’s been an incredible month and we’re excited to be home and enjoy what’s left of fall on the north shore!
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Month 01 | Month 02 | Month 03 | Month 04 | Month 05 | Month 06 | Month 07 | Month 08 | Month 09
