hello again! (again)

so here we are again, again.

it’s been a long time since i’ve thought about blogging, but the combination of a serious candy crush addiction and a desire/need to share a little bit of myself with someone has brought me back again. i can’t promise it’ll be regular (like it ever was), but i will try my damnedest to write every once in awhile.

it’s been so long that i can’t even remember where we left off, so instead of recapping my life over the past six months (more? much more.) i’ll focus on the future. tomorrow my baby girl is TWO YEARS OLD! we are entirely in the throes of toddlerhood, where the terrible twos have well and truly begun rearing their ugly heads. in the bad moments, everything is ‘mine NOW’, epic floor-rolling tantrums, and kicking/smacking/thrashing anything within reach. in the good moments (which to be honest are much more common than the bad), it’s all ‘luv doooo mommyyyy’, cuddles, and crazy developmental strides. i’ll take it. maybe with a glass of wine.

work is the same as ever. mondays at starbucks give me a little bit of a ‘break’ from home. more importantly, they give p and s time together for adorable daddy/daughter dates. most of the time i wish i could be home with them, but there’s something to be said for walking into town without a buggy and worrying about no one but myself. i still don’t think i could handle full time work. i don’t know how working moms do it! (believe me, i still thinking being a mostly stay at home mom is tough too, in different ways.)

speaking of family time, we’re heading away on a ‘mini-break’ to paris next week (thanks bridget jones for the english terminology here!) and can’t be more excited. s is excited too, to take the ‘twain’ through the big ‘nunnel’ and to see the ‘gib ife towah’. and to eat cakeys. obviously. i promise an update after we get back! 

that’s all for now, but we have a mini toddler birthday party planned for this saturday, so i’ll let you know how that goes, too! much more low-key than last year, with more play, less prep, and just as much cake. in the meantime, to make up for my absence, i give you cute toddler photos. you’re welcome. (photo credits to the ever fabulous francesca db photography)

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back to blogging?

it’s been too long, and i’m sorry.

but i’m not sorry, too.

this summer has been a bit of a whirlwind for our little family of three, and it’s been refreshing to have spent most of my time IN the moment, rather than being there but not really there. we’ve been to America, Germany, London (more than once), and North Wales and have had some amazing adventures. i won’t post all the pictures, because there are a silly amount of pictures, but i will give you a little taste of what we got up to.

i’m not sure whether i’ll start blogging again regularly, but i wanted to make sure you knew where we had been. i’ve missed you all, too! so if you’re reading this, thanks for staying by me even when i dropped off the map.

*     *     *

[i also want to apologize to the lovely sara, a fantastic reader and consultant for scentsy (click the link to check out her site) who approached me to review one of her products. she sent me this warmer and two scents to trial and review on my blog. so, very VERY belatedly, here it is! i LOVED the fragrances and found that i didn’t need to have the warmers turned on for very long at all before my whole house was transformed. it really is a brilliant, high quality product. this is what i was sent in the mail (there are TONS of varieties of warmers and scents to choose from, and even stuffed animals with warmable scent packets!):

scentsy is very popular in the US, especially among families with young children who enjoy home fragrance but feel they would rather not have burning candles all over the place. it’s only just starting out in the UK, though, and sara is keen to get in touch with people who are interested in the product and company. if this sounds like anything any of you might be interested, check out her page and contact her there, or let me know and i’ll get you in touch with her. who can resist some online deals?! not me, that’s for darn sure.]

another family update (and more apologies)

i think sometimes i lose my writing mojo. or my precious baby decides to sleep 12 hours a night and reminds me what 8+ hours of consecutive sleep feel like and i capitalize on that shiz. one or the other. either way, sorry for the hiatus. i’m back now with a vengeance! and here’s a song for you.

that’s fort atlantic with their amazing ‘let your heart hold fast’ from my favorite episode of how i met your mother. yum.

so, what’s new in our lives?

p and i are now the proud owners of a TODDLER. and whoever coined the phrase ‘the terrible TWOS’ is a dirty, dirty liar. that crap starts as soon as your baby realizes that there is a world outside of the buggy. i swore to myself i would never be THAT MOM (ie. my mom …i wasn’t a very good baby) but this product is on the to-buy list at the moment. sometimes you just need a leash.

s is officially a social butterfly. over the past month and a bit we’ve had more than a few houseguests (p’s sister and her family, s’s godparents and their four kids, s’s other godmummy and my best friend, and my sister…not including the house full for her birthday party!) and s has had an amazing time dancing, playing, laughing, eating chocolate, blowing bubbles, dining out, and shopping.

and a few other things, in brief:

s is addicted to chocolate.

p and i saw the dalai lama.

s had not one, but TWO babysitters, and appeared to behave to some extent.

never go to the natural history museum (or any other free london attraction) during the school holidays. especially with a sick baby.

my baby rocks out to bruno mars, psy, and macklemore. i’m a bad mommy.

this summer is going to be epic. plane tickets booked to america, holiday in wales with s’s godparents paid in full, and s and i get to join p on the choir trip to germany AND on another weeklong program in london. i should probably talk to my boss.

‘no’ is the new ‘yeah’. and i do not like it.

i bought baby crocs and i don’t feel guilty.

some mummy friends and i started a book club and so far we’ve read one whole book! up next? this one! (thanks e for the inspiration!)

that’s all for now, but stay tuned for a post on the party of the year…it was a good one.

ten months

dear sophia,

last saturday you celebrated your ten month – day. we can’t believe how fast you’re growing (i know, i say it every month!) and can barely remember the days when you were our tiny new baby. you’re almost officially a toddler, and i can’t wait for you to start walking and running and skipping around the house. i’m also terrified of your mobility, since you have SO MUCH ENERGY all the time and never ever stop moving, unless daddy is reading to you or you’re ready for bed. God help us all when you take those first steps.

this month has been pretty epic in your little world. you celebrated your first christmas, new year, and epiphany with us. you traveled around the country to see aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, godparents, and friends. you became fast friends with our goddaughter grace and broke her poor little five year old heart when we came back home. you’ve got eight (!!!) teeth, can cruise around the room like a pro, make animal noises (elephant, kitty, and sheep) and perform other party tricks like blowing kisses and playing peek a boo on command. you’ve begun to stand on your own pretty confidently and you like to dance to the hot dog song from mickey mouse clubhouse and gangnam style (sorry to my classical loving friends; girl is a pop fan!). you’re such a happy baby; you laugh and laugh when daddy carries you on his shoulders or spins you around. you are so adaptable and laid back in most new situations, but you love us so much you cry whenever we leave the room. you give us big, open mouthed kisses and love to cuddle your stuffed kitty (dubbed mr. meowgi by daddy…the poor cat!). you can say dada, mama, and baba, which we’re pretty sure means baby. or boobie. hmm. you are our little love, and we love you more every day!

only two more months til your birthday! we can’t wait to see what these next two months, the last official months of babydom, bring for our little family.

we love you!

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life gets in the way

i’m so sorry for being gone for so long. inexcusable, really, but things have just been a little crazy over the past few weeks. i’ve wanted to blog a million times, but somehow experiencing life seemed more important than writing about it, for awhile at least.

some of you know that we ventured out on our first transatlantic journey with s last month. let me just say this: not doing it again before this child can walk. The trip itself wasn’t actually HORRIBLE. s was a genius baby, as always, sucking her dummy during takeoff and landing on both flights (i had every intention of nursing at these points but it quickly became apparent that a quiet baby was more important than a screaming hot mess of a child…who knew people’s looks could cut you so deep?!) and generally being an awesome baby. the trip back was not quite as awesome. it involved lots of s crying, strangers telling me my baby needed to swallow, and me almost getting kicked off the plane for beating the crap out of said stranger (just kidding, but seriously? do you think i don’t know that my baby’s ears need to pop?). we were very very very happy to get home and back to normal, but it was fantastic being away and seeing my family.

all smiles…before the trip started.

some highlights from the past month:

meeting and visiting with parents, sisters, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, great aunts, great great aunts and uncles, great cousins, and everyone under the sun in my hometown! s loved being the center of attention, chattering away to everyone, waving (i know! genius baby!), flirting, and kissing at every opportunity.

my parents…gram and poppa…with s. adorable!

sisters!

s and gram, who finally got her cuddles!

starting to become mobile…rolling across the room in one direction, arching her back and flipping over, lifting up her knees and bum and pushing off our legs and hands. it won’t be long til we have a crawler, and until i have a big problem. i’m tired just thinking about it.

where did my tiny baby go?

TEETH! well, one officially, but the second one is pretty much cut, too. i can’t believe my baby isn’t toothless anymore! this definitely means it’s almost time to start weaning (in the british sense of the word…). we’re going to try baby led weaning rather than purees and rice cereal, which means just giving hunks of baby sized food and letting her play with it and work on eating it. we have to wait until she can sit up on her own, but she’s almost there and we’re shopping tomorrow for a high chair! i have a feeling this blog will take a turn and follow this pretty closely, so if you’re ready for lots of pictures of messy, happy baby and messy, messy house then you’re in luck!

ok so you can’t really see teeth, but i can’t get her to open her mouth long enough!

FIVE YEARS of marriage. i can’t believe it’s been five years since we got married, and our wonderful adventure over here began! it’s flown by, and remembering it all has made me feel so old, but i wouldn’t change any of it for the world. we had every intention of having a date night on our actual anniversary, but s is a diva (my baby?! no way. ;)) and wouldn’t take a bottle for my mom. we settled for ice cream from coldstone instead. and wine. lots of wine.

p and s…my loves!

it was all over too quickly.

for those of you who came back to read this, thank you. sorry for the silence. i promise not to do it again! for your patience, i give you cuteness.

❤

❤

sign of a good vacation!

freedom!

today i went babyless.

no i didn’t leave her at home. because that would be irresponsible. and silly. i took her in to town with p this morning. we had breakfast together (at starbucks, duh, i don’t go anywhere else. also 30% discount = happy mommy.) and i BFed s in p’s office, which by the way is the best and least stressful place in town to feed the baby, apart from the occasional undergrad student or italian tourist staring in p’s office windows even though signs clearly state the COLLEGE IS CLOSED. anyway. i’ll write about BFing in cambridge soon…i need to try it out in some other places and write reviews. it’s on the list.

after breakfast, i left p with the baby for a whole HOUR AND A HALF. now i know that to some of you moms this is not a big deal at all, but we have no family around here. i am with that child 24 hours a day. i love her so much and can’t think about ever putting her in daycare, but sometimes i need to breathe. so i walked down the street without the stroller and went in not one but SIX stores. i tried on clothes for our vacation and bought a bathing suit. not a mom suit (thanks modg for the advice!) either! here it is:

john lewis fat sucking awesome swimsuit. the model is not me. in case you were wondering.

now i don’t love my legs in this suit, but let’s face it…there is no swimsuit in the entire world that has the power to make your legs look hotter than they are, spandex or no spandex. so this one will have to do. and it’s super cute and retro! stay tuned for pictures post-vacation. also now i have absolutely no excuse not to take s swimming! i cannot WAIT to get that baby in the water. she loves splashing and has faceplanted a few times in the bath without any tears. she’s a rockstar.

so all in all, even though i was shopping for a bathing suit…not sipping red wine on a terrace or taking a leisurely stroll through the park…i was babyless for a few hours. i could taste the freedom. and then i was happy to have my little girl back.

baby steps. 😉

retail therapy

remember those few weeks were i was all, yeahhh my baby sleeps through the night and it’s awesome and being a mom is so easy? yeah, they’re over. s has returned to getting up at 10, and 2, and 6 most nights. yay for never sleeping through multiple sleep cycles! anyway, today i got up and was feeling generally pretty crap about things and not looking forward to a day of eat, play, sleep, repeat all by ourselves.

so we went shopping.

and this is what we bought! (i know that sometimes window shopping is *almost* as good as the real thing, so i’ll let you peek at my purchases…also, when did retail therapy become all about my baby and not about me at all? the only thing i bought myself was an iced tea.)

my first taggies book – who do you see?

frill swimsuit – john lewis baby

spot sleeping bag – john lewis baby

tunic and legging set – next

chevron dress – next

yellow fishermans hat – next

i seriously need to find a money tree.

the summer according to pinterest.

i’d been thinking about writing up a sort of summer to-do list, or a bucket list, but hadn’t got the motivation to do it until the fabulous e tells tales suggested a blog link up. now i’m not nearly creative (or energetic, these days) enough to come up with lots of ideas off the cuff, so for this bucket list i will defer to the other lover in my life. yes, i mean pinterest. my sweet evening affairs with this website leave me feeling encouraged, excited and jealous of other people’s lives. but i have actually DIYed my way through a few of the things on my pinboards over the last few months, including making an adorable hand and footprint salt dough keepsake for p for father’s day (like this one here).

now onto this summer:

1. get my hair did.

Source: sundayinbed.tumblr.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

a few years ago i went crazy and had my hair highlighted completely. i think it was an accident. but i LOVE the full head of highlights look, and want my hair this short again. if i was a millionaire i’d get a brazilian blow dry so it would be kind of straight right after blow drying, but for now i will have to dream. plus, then i’d miss my curls. also, i will allow someone to babysit s so this can happen…i got my hair cut when she was three weeks old, but it consisted of literally handing off the baby to p after he returned from his own appointment, running to the hairdressers, and getting a few inches chopped off. i want an afternoon of styling. maybe with a mani/pedi.

2. organize my life.


Source: mysweetnestblog.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

this site has about 139847165 ideas for baby/home organization. none of which i accomplished before s was born. now our house isn’t exactly a hoarder’s home, but it could be cleaner. and more organized. so i will do at least one of these things on this list.

3. fly to the states!


Source: youtube.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

the tips and tricks from mama natural‘s video blog are going to come in handy when p, s and i all hop on a plane in august to see my family. i’m only freaking out about the trip a little, and most moms who’ve traveled with babies and toddlers say that the earlier you fly (in terms of baby’s age), the easier the trip will be. i just know i’m going to have to kill some bitches with kindness, though, as they give me the black look of death for bringing an infant on board an airplane. it’s ok, i will leave nappy bags full of s’s stinkiest poop underneath their seats.

4. (re)learn to knit.


Source: misadventuresofhandmade.blogspot.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

can you get any more adorable than this? i’m sure it’s super easy and would take about five seconds to do. plus, if you know me, you know that flip flops/sandals/any kind of shoe that doesn’t require socks is the best kind of footwear. s isn’t going to be small enough for this to be cute for that long! my grandmother, who’s in her mid 80s and only has partial vision, is the most amazing artist when it comes to knitting and crochet. she’s tried to teach me how to knit half a dozen times (bless her), so one day i’d like to make her proud by actually learning something.

5. get my craft on.


Source: mollykaystoltz.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

this super cute shag rug will be perfect for the kitchen. it will also solve my problem of having far too many items of clothes. every time we get a charity bag through the letterbox, i fill it up and return it with tons of my junk. it seems to regenerate almost immediately, and makes me a little sad. now is the time to simplify my life ever so slightly and focus on what’s really important rather than getting sucked into the material things of life. (if you’re super duper brave, you could be like my friend awayathomemom and live out of an RV with your family. so cool!) there are approximately a million more craft ideas i have yet to try out on my pinterest boards…check them out.

6. go swimming with s!


Source: waterbabies.co.uk via Kaitlin on Pinterest

luckily this one involves shopping for bathing suits. also, i mostly want to do this because of the photography session. p gets in the bath with s at the moment (TMI? sorry) and keeps saying, can i dunk her? can i dunk her? and so far i’ve said no because i’m scared she’ll drown and we’ll be the idiots that tried to make their own baby swim. so i’m going to let the professionals help! s loves bath time now and i think she will enjoy the pool, too. plus, i need to get back in the water!

7. bake some sexy cakes.


Source: mingmakescupcakes.yolasite.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

those of you who have already perused my pinterest boards probably have gathered that my bff and i have half-joked about starting up a cupcake business. no, not like two broke girls, i hate that show. more like ace of cakes meets starbucks flavors meets english charm. it’s mostly a pipe dream, but if i ever win the lottery i will quit whatever semi-fulfilling job i have and open a cupcake shop. so to prepare myself i must get back in the kitchen and start baking. plus, p once told me that my gift for having our first child would be a kitchenaid mixer. i’m still waiting! (i’m sure it’s in the post. not.)

8. get picnicking.


Source: johnlewis.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

after the disaster that was our last picnic-style outing (yes, i am a wussy mama) i am afraid i may instill the same neuroses in my daughter. so you heard it here first, everyone…i vow to spend more time outdoors with my family. i will lather up my baby with bug spray and sun screen (after six months, i think…before then i will keep her under a mosquito net and hide her from every ray of sun possible) and eat smores with my family. this i solemnly swear.

9. have a date night with p (and without s…sorry baby!)


Source: Uploaded by user via Kaitlin on Pinterest

my parents came to visit when s was five weeks old (they live across the ocean in the states) and tried to get us to go out to see the hunger games. i wasn’t ready to leave the baby and hadn’t tried pumping yet, and figured the logistics of organizing feeds around movie times would be too difficult…ok i was terrified of leaving s for more than five minutes. my mom told me that i’d be ready soon. a few weeks after she left, i sent her a text saying, you were right! i want a babysitter now! so p and i are already talking about date night ideas for our trip to the states. three weeks with my parents, grandparents, sisters, and aunt nearby = lots and lots and lots of babysitters! sorry, guys! s is lovely, i promise! and hopefully she’ll go the *&$@ to sleep for you.

10. lose the baby flab.


Source: bbwprincess.tumblr.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

ok, so i know this photo doesn’t really coincide with the step. but having a positive body image and feeling good about myself includes losing my baby flab. i know that i’m beautiful, but i also want to feel healthy and sexy instead of lazy and glued to the sofa. even though i love me some big bang theory. so this summer i plan to find an evening zumba class, or vow to get up three times a week at six and walk/run (ok so i can’t run…yet. positive thinking!!!) to feel better about myself and to be a positive role model for s.

so that’s the list, for the most part! i’m sure our summer will consist of much more than this (and you’ll all hear about the lot, of course) but i’ll update you as these items get checked off! happy summer! ❤