First Snow

I've mentioned that we are in Virginia this weekend visiting family. We really hoped we would get to see snow since the girls have never seen it being from Florida and all. It doesn't look like we are going to see snow falling but we were able to go to a mountain and play in it. We went to Whitetail Resort in Mercersburg, PA, about an hour from my in-laws and the girls did some tubing. 

She kept eating the snow, I normally wouldn't have cared but it was dirty!

The snow pants were almost too much for me to bear, almost feel the need to plan something else cold so the girls have an opportunity to wear it again. 

Hope you are having a nice, relaxing Sunday. We definitely are.

::Life:: 2014 Updates

April 15th---tax date. (I'm a CPA but not in tax so this date really means little to me)...point is that it's April 15th, 2014 and this is the first real post of the year! Where has this year gone. Henley is almost 16 months old and is a sassy, funny little toddler. The baby is gone! ::insert big mama tears here::  She is so fun and seriously the best ever. Each day gets better and better. I want to attempt to get back on par with this as I really enjoy looking back on things that happened.

So time for some updates!!!

Henley -

• Almost 16 months old
• Walking, Talking, Running
• Loves being outside all.day.long
• Loves painting and coloring (creative like mama)
• Left-handed
• Eats a ton!
• Loves fruit, has 2nd's and 3rd's of fruits with almost every meal
• Tries lots of new food (fish, hummus, queso dip)
• Says tons of words: mama, dada, dog, bubble, bird, butterfly, banana, dirty, Ella, bath, out, down, bad, no no, not nice, ma, shoes, fish, Minnie/Mickey Mouse (that's all I got for now)
• Loves watching Bubble Guppies and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
• Reads lots of books, especially if there are animals
• Makes all kinds of animal sounds (elephant is my favorite!)

Life -

• My Etsy shop is growing more and more every day, I still am hanging on to a hope that I can do this full-time somewhere in the near future
• The house is great. We are totally in and just need a few more decorations on the walls. I'll post a blog post of pictures for that soon.
• We took our first vacation as a family to Disney World last month and it was one of the best moments in my life!
• We just started swim lessons last week with Henley. The class is 7 weeks and I can't wait to see how she does!

I can't wait to post all of the pictures of things we've done lately! Henley is so fun and between not wanting to miss out on time with her and my Etsy shop (plus my full-time job) I have been so busy. I am going to attempt to better organize my time and plan out my days so hopefully I will have some time to keep this updated. 

Have a great week!!

Mere :-)

::Life:: 2013

I have seen tons of posts of Instagram of montages of pictures from profiles throughout the year and of course I had to jump on the bandwagon. I loved seeing all of the pictures from early in the year that reminded me how tiny Henley once was and of how far we have come.

I got a notification on my phone from Google + and it was another video montage and this one has to be the best!

I honestly cannot even begin to summarize 2013 in a way that will truly convey what a year it has been! We rang in the New Year by going to bed at 8pm with a 2-week old baby, being woken by fireworks, pooping up in bed to watch them over the river and immediately falling back asleep to enjoy a few minutes of sleep before Henley's next feeding. (longest sentence ever!)

Through all of the late nights, tears, pain, healing, growing, rolling over, crawling, eating, and walking I have learned that life is flying by. I have loved this year and am excited for what is to come in 2014.

Mere :-)

::Life:: Updates Henley, Etsy, and House

Can I just say “sigh”?! I haven’t posted anything in a while but for good reason---it has been crazy!! I thought it best to just do one giant update post to bring everyone up to speed!


First (of course) Henley! I’m sure you recall from our last few monthly update posts that she has been sick here and there; well we have officially tested her immune system lately. But what’s even more exciting is the Mom and Dad have also been tested (and failed!) in the immunity arena. Here is what the last two months have looked like in the G House:


June 17th: Henley gets a cold and we go to the doctor, out of day care for two days

June 23rd: Mama catches the cold just like the doctor predicted

July 1st: Mama’s not getting better but getting worse, go to the Dr. and bronchitis it is, out of work 3 days

July 2nd: Dad gets a terrible stomach bug and is laid up in bed, out of work 3 days

July25th: Day care calls for us to come get her---pink eye! Mom takes her to the dr.

July 26th: Can’t go to daycare, dad takes off. Aunt Allies watches Henley while Dad goes to the Dr’s, he’s been getting fevers all week, diagnosed as virus

July 29th: Back at daycare for 2 hours before they call with thrush! It is Dad’s turn for the Pediatrician.

July 30th: Attempt to go back to day care but she’s miserable and getting a cold Mom takes a half day and grandma takes the last half

July 31st: Grandma Patricia flies in and keeps her the rest of the week to give time for the thrush and the cold to heal!

Aug 3rd: Mom gets a fever and is sick---looks like a virus

Aug 4th: Back in daycare for a full day!

As you can see that we have been exhausted and have been going to the doctor way too much, especially for someone with a high deductible insurance plan. But it’s looking up. We’ve had a great week and we hear the immune system starts getting stronger and stronger so hopefully we will start seeing less and less of this.


Secondly is sleep! Since she’s been sick off and on and also learning separation anxiety, sleep is suffering. She is no longer putting herself back to sleep and it’s taking us way longer to get her to sleep than before. We’ve been discussing a plan and it looks like Ferber may be coming into play. I’ve been against Cry it Out Methods in the past but after talking to many, many people with kids, I haven’t found one person that didn’t use Cry it Out to sleep train their little ones. I’m thinking that we should definitely do it on a weekend so maybe this weekend?? We will see! All I know is that everyone needs sleep!


Third is my Etsy Shop—It is going so well! I have had at least 4-5 orders a week totaling 33 orders. With being sick though it has been challenging at times getting these out but I’m so grateful it’s going well! I’ve made enough to buy my first “investment” for the business and was able to get an Embroidery Machine. I have spent zero time figuring it out yet but I’m excited for the possibilities!


Lastly is the house! The house is 99% complete, just waiting on the pool. Last Friday we walked through the house with the Superintendent on the job and just made sure we didn’t have anything major for them to fix and noted little things here and there for them to correct. The pool should be finished in the next 2-3 weeks, and then we will just need a screen enclosure for the pool and site work. We are looking to close the 2nd week of September. I cannot wait---the hubs and I have been looking at furniture and planning everything. It’s getting so exciting!


Well I think that’s a pretty good base line for us to start chatting again. Hope you have a great Thursday! The week is almost over!

Mere :-)

::Henley:: A Day In Our Life

I've been back to work for three weeks now and I feel we are into a routine now and are getting pretty good at the day to day activities of being new, working parents. When I was thinking about this post I couldn't decide where to start it, like where does my day start. Once I started thinking about it more and more, it occurred to me that being a mom is literally a 24/7 job---so much so I couldn't even figure out where to "start" my day for this post. That being said, I'll start from my alarm. :-)

5:30 am - Alarm goes off & up and at em I go (I actually get out of bed about 50% of the time, the other 50% I hit snooze and throw off my whole morning) into the shower, get dressed, hair, makeup, shoes, and accessories.

6:15 am - Head into the kitchen. I pack my breakfast and lunch, grab a glass of milk or juice in my Tervis cup. Pack all of my bottles for pumping, all of my pump parts, and the pump. Make sure I have my wallet, keys, and cell phone in my purse. (I put these in the diaper bag when we go out as a family and have forgotten them before----now I check!)

6:30 am - Grab Henley and nurse her before walking out of the house. She wakes up sometimes but most of the time falls back asleep. I secretly hope she wakes up so I get snuggles before walking out the door. Ted wakes up at this point and heads to the kitchen to start the coffee and his breakfast. Once the coffee has starts, he grabs Fitz and heads out the door for their morning walk.

6:45 am - Henley is finished nursing and after some quickly snuggles and kisses, I head out of the door on the way to work. If she's awake, I put her in the swing so she can watch Dad eat breakfast, if not I lay her back down.

7:00 am - Me: I arrive at work, turn on my computer, and heat up some oatmeal for breakfast. Dad: Starts getting dressed and ready for work.

7:15 am - Dad: Grabs Henley and after much changing table cooing and laughing, gets Henley dressed and ready for school. Takes a picture of Henley and texts it to Mom. :-)

 7:25 am - Dad: Grabs the bottles from the fridge and packs them in the diaper bag, grab the baby and is out the door.

7:30 am - Call Mom and gives her a report on the morning, I love hearing when her and Dad have a happy, smiley morning.

7:45 am - Dad drops off Henley at daycare and calls Mom to let her know. (I've read too many stories of people forgetting to drop the kids off at daycare. We live in Florida where the internal temp in cars can reach well over 120* and we aren't chancing it. We've agreed to call before and after drop off duty just to be safe).

8:00 am - Dad gets to work and everyone is set for the day.

9:00 am - I have my first pumping session at work, usually get 6-7 oz.

11:30 am - Second pumping session (usually get 4 oz), heat up lunch and eat at my desk while checking my favorite websites.

2:00 pm - Third pumping session (usually get another 4 oz for a total of 14 oz for the following day's bottles).

3:45 pm - Start wrapping up any last minute emails, grab all of my pump parts and accessories and head out of work by 4:00 pm (I have forgotten my pump and milk twice and had to turn around. I now keep my car keys in my pump bag so I can't leave without it).

At this point, I am so excited to get Henley that I usually drive like a crazy person, cursing at every slow driver and red light I encounter.

4:10 pm - Arrive at day care and pick up Henley, finally head home for the day.

4:30 pm - Home with Henley. Hug and kiss her as much as I can, chat about our day and get lots of smiles and snuggles.

5:15 pm - Dad gets home and we all go for a walk with Fitzy.

Between 5:30 - 7:00 pm - Wash all of her bottles from the day (I send 5- 4 oz bottles but always get one back). Dad starts dinner while Mom and Henley have some tummy time. Henley usually nurses anywhere from 5:45 - 6:30. After we nurse, dinner is ready. We get to eat together about half of the time, the other half we eat in shifts.

7:15 pm - Start the wind down process. Dad starts the bath while I strip her down nudie. Bath time is a joint effort, she loves it so much that both Mom and Dad love playing with her.

7:30 pm - Out of the bath. New diaper on with the Snuza clipped and turned on, lotion massage on the legs, arms, and belly, clean the ears with baby Q-tips, and onesie on.

7:45 pm - All of the lights are turned down, Pandora on the TV is turned on and the Lullaby station is playing. I nurse her while rocking in the chair. She starts dozing off during this feeding so I try to wake her to keep her eating so she gets enough for the night.

8:00-8:15 pm - She finishes nursing, I swaddle her, give her a paci, and rock her to sleep. Once she's asleep I put her to bed. She is going back and forth between the Rock and Play sleeper and the Pack and Play. She's congested at the moment so we have been using the Rocker since it has a nice incline.

8:30 pm - Get ready for the next day: I make up all of her bottles for the next day. Lately I have been 2 oz short so I make all of the bottle except the 2 oz I'll pump later. I wash all of my pump bottles and parts. I pack her diaper bag, lay out her outfit for the next day for Dad.

9:00 pm - Start my 30 Day Shred workout while Dad watches TV or surfs on the computer.

9:30 pm - Workout complete and into the shower I go. Pump last two oz when I get out and add it to the bottles in the fridge. Clean all of the pump parts again.

10:00 pm - Bed!! Totally exhausted at this point! Lay in bed, catch up on Facebook, Instagram, and all of my blogs on BlogLovin'

10:30 pm - Out like a light!

2:00 am - Henley wakes up for her first feed. I usually get out of bed and head to the rocker in the living room for this one. Read Facebook, my message boards, Huffington Post, anything to stay awake.

Anywhere from 4:00 - 4:30 am - Hens wakes up for her next feeding. At this point I'm usually too exhausted to get up so I put her in bed with us and nurse her lying down. We both fall asleep until my alarm goes off and we start this crazy day all over again!

As you can see there isn't much time for "me" time but the one thing motherhood has taught me is that I don't need it. I don't need time to surf the internet for hours at a time, if my fingernails or toenails aren't perfectly painted that's ok. Spending time with my smiley little baby is the best gift I could ever get.

Being a working mom isn't easy but it's going well. Henley likes day care so far and I like seeing how great all of the employees at the day care are with her. Look at her first "artwork"!

How similar is my day to you other new mom's out there? Any tips or pointers you've learned??

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Mere :-)

::Life:: Back to It

Well it's official--my maternity leave is over! (insert a mega sad face here!) Excluding the week Henley was born, this has been one of the most emotional times I've ever had in my life. I've been back to work for one week now and am just now starting to feel like this is my new routine.

I started thinking about returning to work and getting started with our new normal around the time Henley was 7 weeks old. I was lying in bed one night with Henley snuggled tight up against me. I was thinking how awesome the last 7 weeks have been and then I started doing the math---7 weeks old, 12 weeks of maternity leave equals 5 weeks left!! I lost it right there--tears, crying, the works.

I started thinking how I would only be getting a few hours with her at night during the week. I was thinking that there is so much to do at night as it is that I can't imagine adding a baby into the mix and still getting quality time. It was around this time that Henley first started smiling and her smiles and happiest times were much more frequent in the mornings.  I just knew I'd be missing all of those sweet little moments. On top of all of this was the fact that I would be leaving my precious, beautiful little baby with people I had met for 10 minutes tops!

The dread surrounding the day I'd be returning to work was constant, my thoughts ended up there frequently and always ended with tears. At about 10 weeks postpartum, I started coming to grips with the situation. Work was 2 weeks away, I needed to be mentally challenged again, Henley needed to develop socially, all working moms have experienced this, and all of these emotions were normal. I met with my boss and discussed an alternate schedule that would allow me an extra hour or two at night with Henley without sacrificing the amount of hours I was working. Mentally I felt a little more prepared but emotionally I was still a mess.

I returned to work Wednesday but I had received advice to take her to daycare a day or two before I go back for a few hours to get myself acclimated without the added pressure of work. I was scheduled to go back to work on Wednesday so I planned on taking her to daycare Monday and Tuesday.

Last Sunday night I was doing my nightly bed time routine with Henley and was rocking her to sleep. I just started to cry again thinking of all of my worries. On top of all of the normal concerns I had was the fact that this signified the end of the first stage of her life. She is no longer a newborn, I am no longer the sole person offering her care--that chapter was over.

I sat with my husband that night rocking her for at least an hour after she fell asleep just talking it through. Logically I knew this was what we wanted but emotionally it was so hard to think about. My husband is a saint and it always there for me to talk through things. I left that conversation feeling emotionally prepared for the following day. I could do this! Henley would be ok and I would have time to catch up on some things I had to do before work.

Monday morning rolled around, I got up and started getting ready to drop her off. I was feeling so confident that this was going to be much better than expected. I was actually looking forward to this in a weird way. I was feeling pretty proud of myself. We arrived at daycare around 9:30. I walked in, got the tour, got all of her stuff set up (still feeling like a rockstar I might add), then one of the worker's held Henley and said "we got this mom, see you in a little bit" and I lost it! Right there in the middle of the room, crying my eyes out. I wasn't really even thinking about anything that would cause me to cry. I was overcome with this emotion that I couldn't control! It felt so unnatural for her to not be with me---for someone else to be taking care of her for the day. I drove home and just cried.

I lasted about 4 hours before I had to go get her, crying for about 3 of those hours. I walked into daycare and she was just hanging out---totally content. I picked her up and squeezed her and gave her tons of kisses---she was back where she belongs! We survived the first day of "school". Tuesday was much better and not one tear was shed. Once I started work, my husband would be doing drop off duty (huge benefit to me emotionally). Since I have started work, saying goodbye in the mornings is hard, I get choked up and I miss her so much during the day but every day is a little better. On Wednesday I cried the whole way to work. On Thursday and Friday I cried when I said goodbye and now I get choked up but I have something so great to look forward to. (and I might add that tonight she smiled and cooed at me for at least 10 minutes so I still get awesome moments!)

This post really doesn't have much of a purpose other than to tell you about my day and to say that people are right---it gets easier every day. I don't miss her any less. Every day I am just at eager to get her---packed up and ready to go the minute I am able to. I speed over to daycare as soon as possible, cursing every light I have to stop at but seeing her there at day care warms my heart. Picking her up and kissing her makes me melt. Parenthood is the most incredible privilege I have ever been blessed with. I feel so honored to have the opportunity to be Henley's mom. I love that I get to love her and that I get to experience the mother bond. Being a mom is incredible, truly!

At least once a day I am just overwhelmed with emotion and love for her it's incredible. It's crazy that I love this little person so much---I had no idea I had this much love to give.

If you are returning to work soon or if you are worried about it, just know that you are not alone! Every new mom feels this way, it's not natural to be away from our babies but it's going to be ok. They will be learning new skills and meeting new friends (and you will be able to stay challenged and keep your sanity). It gets easier every day. Stay strong!

Ok---after all of that gushing I just want to go pick her up and snuggle her right now (I won't of course--never wake a sleeping baby)!

If you hung on for this whole post, mad props! ;-)

Mere