THE LITTLE THINGS

THE LITTLE THINGS


Being a mom has been one of the most rewarding things I have experienced so far, but it's funny how some days I feel like I can do it all and other days I have crazy mom guilt. It is such a fine line between balancing spending time with the kids and making time for yourself so you can be the best version of yourself FOR your kids! I want to spend every minute with Everly, and I feel so guilty when something takes me away from her. It's challenging to accept that sometimes it is OK to have a night away, that I'm not a bad mom for taking a couple hours to myself because whenever I come back I appreciate the little things that much more! At the end of the day, I have found it hard not to question everything I'm doing as a parent, and it's even harder with things like social media. So many people get mom shamed and it makes me so sad because we are all doing our best. If someone gets a sitter for the night and hangs out with some friends that is ok! If someone needs to take an hour to run some errands and just regroup that's ok too! You're not a bad mom for taking a moment for yourself. It helps me reflect on being a mom and ways I can be better for my daughter and when I come back she gets the very best version of me. 

I have been loving watching her learn all of these new things, it feels like everyday she is learning something new. I find myself taking constant videos and photos to document her life, one thing I never had was videos of myself as a baby/kid so I almost feel the need to overcompensate for Everly. I always saw myself as an sentimental person, but ever since I had a baby it has reached a whole new level and I find myself soaking in every little thing she does. 

We are almost at half a year old and it feels so bittersweet, on one hand it feels like it has gone by in the blink of an eye and in the other it feels like she has been with us my whole life. I can't believe my maternity leave is half over, knowing I will be going back to work also makes me enjoy the little things a lot more because I know pretty soon I will be apart from her for 8 hours a day. 

This weekend we really took it easy, a lot of the time we are out and about but this weekend we dialed it down and spent some home time as a family and it was wonderful. We played on the floor (she is SO close to crawling!), organized the house, and I started making puree for Everly. These are the types of weekends I will always look back on and smile because it is the 4 of us in our element spending time together away from all the craziness. 

I hope everyone is able to take time out and enjoy the little things, whatever they may be!
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WEEKEND ROUNDUP: FAMILY DAY EDITION

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: FAMILY DAY EDITION


This past weekend we celebrated Family Day - our first one as a family of three! The weather was absolutely beautiful for Canada in mid February, blue skies and over 0 all weekend! We kept it pretty low key but also made it a point to visit local family. Here are a few pictures of how we spent the weekend!


Now that Everly is in a convertible car seat we don't have anything to block the sun in her eyes, and the window coverings just don't cut it so I brought out a pair of her sunglasses and they seem to help a bit more! I just can't with her, she is too cute! 


We took advantage of the weather and went for a family walk and brought our dog along too who you can't see because he's running waaaay ahead because he loves the outdoors. Everly wasn't the biggest fan of our walk, she buried pretty deep inside my carrier but it was nice to get out and give her some fresh air! 


Kyle and I managed to go on a little day date, we were supposed to go to Casa Loma but the line up was 2 blocks (not even exaggerating a little), so we thought we would go to the CN tower, but there was NO parking left. So our last idea was to go to Dave and Busters and then go out for dinner which is what we ended up doing! My pizza was amazing, we love going to Pie! 



Everly and I spent the afternoon on Friday hanging with Weston who is her cousin! They don't really see each other very often so it was so cute seeing them interact, he is so helpful with her! He was feeding her and giving her toys, even though in the photo he doesn't look too happy ha he was excited to help her and play with her. 

All in all it was a really great weekend spent as a family and it just reminds me more and more how happy and full my heart is and I love experiencing events and life in general through Everly's eyes.

I hope all my Canadian friends had a great Family Day weekend as well!

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THINGS THAT MAKE MOMMY-ING EASIER

THINGS THAT MAKE MOMMY-ING EASIER


I am the first to admit when I have a problem, ever since finding out I was having a girl I knew I'd be a goner. Everything is so damn cute and I have zero self control when it comes to packaging and cute things. HOWEVER, there are some essentials I have found that have made being Everly's mom a little easier (other than the obvious items like a crib/car seat). 

1. The Diaper Bag
I am a total diaper bag mom, that thing comes with me everywhere! Looking back I feel like I researched a diaper bag more intensely than I researched universities ha but I knew what I wanted and I hit the ground running. I knew I wanted something that didn't look like a diaper bag because it was something I knew my husband would carry as well as myself. For the last six months we have been using a diaper bag from Timi and Leslie and I love it! It has been the perfect size for what we have needed it for. Recently however I just purchased a diaper bag backpack and I'm waiting on that to come in the mail. Now that Evie is in a convertible carseat I needed my hands free, and once the spring and summer get here we will be doing a lot more day trips. I would highly recommend a backpack diaper bag if you're like me and tote it around everywhere - I can't wait to start using it!


2. The Wrap/Carrier
Surprisingly this was an item I didn't really research all that much and it's partly because people who use a specific brand of carriers/wraps are pretty intense and loyal to their brand so it was hard to really grasp what would work and what wouldn't. I knew ultimately that I would want something easy and quick, and I stumbled upon a Baby Hawk carrier that The Happy Baby carried, tried it on, and was absolutely hooked. I love the cute pattern also (again..the packaging!) and Everly honestly loves being inside it which helps too. I believe we paid $126 for it, so in terms of carriers it's pretty average priced. 


3. The Sweedish Bed
This makeshift Dock a Tot bed was essential for the transition from co sleeping to crib. I have written about how our schedule is baby led, and one of the things we really followed was when we thought she was ready to sleep in her crib. This is a subject like so many other parenting things that is completely subjective and everyone has their own opinions about it, I'm only writing about what has worked for Everly. I had watched a lot of reviews about a Dock a Tot and really wanted one, however the price tag was something I wasn't really into. I came across a lady locally who made these and scooped it up! Honestly I'm so happy I did, like I said transitioning her to a crib was seamless because of this bed and it is something she still uses when we are down at my parent's house. 

4. The Owlet
My mom was really generous and gifted us with the Owlet, and an like many other products this comes with mixed reviews. Some say that it does more harm than good, others swear by it. In our case, we really swore by this - especially when she was no longer in the same room as us. We had a rocky start at first with it because we kept putting it on too loose, but now it is a staple and really provides us with peace of mind especially being new parents.


5. The Playard
I bought this teepee playard the day before I gave birth to her and I love it because it will grow with her, we can take out the toys when she gets bigger and she can use it as a reading tent or fort. She loves this right now, we added her lamb mat to make it a bit easier for her to reach the toys and it is one of the only things that she enjoys for an extended period of time. What began as a purchase based solely on packaging has grown to be something we could not live without. 


6. The Cart Cover
My last most used item that has made mommy-ing easier is the carseat cover! Now that Everly is in a convertible carseat we use it as a store cart cover. The floral one pictured is from Covered Goods and we also were gifted a Milk Snob cover and both are amazing. It helped a lot when she was just a newborn and we took her out in public, it gave her the privacy and coverage so that strangers didn't spread their germs and take a peak. There are tons of multi use covers on the market now, but my favourites are both Covered Goods and Milk Snob. It took all I had not to purchase every floral pattern that Milk Snob carried! 
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VALENTINE'S DAY NOW

VALENTINE'S DAY NOW


Side note: how sad that this was the first photo I could find of just the two of us! This was back at the beginning of December. Now our phones are full of photos with the babe and not so much of each other.

Our Valentine's day plans have changed drastically now that we have a baby, and honestly I think it's probably for the best for our poor wallets. We used to go all out for each other, seriously one year he bought me an iPad. We are so used to spoiling each other in the form of extravagant gifts and expensive dinners, but now that we have a baby our schedule is tricky and our wallets are empty (seriously baby stuff is SO cute, I need everything).

My life all day every day revolves around our daughter and I love it, I would not change that at all. With Valentine's day here it has really prompted me to take the time to make my husband feel special too, after all he is half the reason why we have a family in the first place! With a busy schedule and a little less money it has forced me to get creative to find inexpensive ways to make my husband feel special. 

01. A letter: We are big letter writers here in this house! I have kept all the letters Kyle has written me. I love writing them and I love receiving them! It is a personal, simple, and cheap way to let someone know how they feel and how special they are to you. I love looking back every once and a while and reading the letters I have, it brings me back to a special time in my life and it makes my heart so happy!

02. Favourite Dinner: Before we had Everly, we went to restaurants and ate out a lot and it really took a toll on our wallets but we loved getting out of the house. Now, we have a little one who has a structured bedtime routine and a bedtime of 6pm which makes going out to eat tricky. I plan on making one of Kyle's favourite meals for him which is my ground turkey chili. Coming home to a homemade meal is up there when it comes to impressing him - so a dinner is a no brainer!

03. Outing: I decided to spend $50 on tickets to see Casa Loma decorated as the castle from Beauty and the Beast. It is my FAVOURITE Disney movie and this will let us get out together one on one and spend some quality time with each other for a couple hours. 

Those are just a few ideas that are inexpensive ways to show your significant other how much they mean to you, and honestly I think doing any one of these every so often is nice too! Valentine's Day may only be once a year but it is nice to continue the appreciation throughout the year!
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WEEKEND PROJECTS

WEEKEND PROJECTS


One thing I have noticed about having a baby is that it feels like your house shrinks down to nothing and you are left with one corner of your house to make room for a ton a baby stuff. As frustrated as I have been in the past with the size of our home, I have changed my outlook and have become obsessed with finding ways to utilize our space as best we can, and of course Pinterest is my biggest inspiration for that. This weekend I kind of went into overdrive and enlisted my husband for his muscles but also for his building expertise.

I could get lost for hours looking at Pinterest, and when I need DIY inspiration or anything home decor related Pinterest has never failed me - this time is no different. I first wanted to better utilize and spruce up our entry way, so I looked for ways to create a makeshift mudroom in a small space. I found a ton of different pins and tutorials, and ended up putting out own spin on a coat hook using this website. We ended up making this for about $25 which is a total bargain! The most expensive thing was the hooks we needed. I love how it turned out, and I love that we created a shelf to display some wooden signs. The whole thing added something completely different to our entry way and we took a wall that we didn't use at all and made it functional for our family.


The next thing I wanted to do was designate a space for Everly as she grows, so she can have a little "playroom" without having a whole room dedicated to that. There are still a few things I need to add to the space, and I want to maybe make a gallery wall above the shelf, but overall I think this turned out great. We were able to declutter a space in our home and make it useful. I know once Everly can crawl and interact with toys more she will be using this space a TON! It also works great because it is in a corner of our living room so if I am in the kitchen I can see her safely and not wonder what she is getting into. I took inspiration from this post and ran with it.

Every year around this time I get the declutter bug and I'm not sure if it is because I'm home more in the winter and I can pick out flaws in our space or I just get sick of looking at stuff we don't use but either way I'm happy I have turned two places in our home to be functional and also places that everyone can enjoy! 
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EVERLY'S FIRST VALENTINE'S DAY

EVERLY'S FIRST VALENTINE'S DAY



February is the month of love and this year is no exception! Every time a holiday comes around I feel the immediate need to document the shit out of it. I never really had many photos of myself growing up, and I definitely didn't have any videos, so I feel the need to overcompensate almost when it comes to Everly. We had this dress set aside for her to wear for a wedding in September, but because Everly is a chunky monkey and GAP clothes I find run on the smaller side, it fits like a glove right now. I love the blush pink colour of this dress, it feels so whimsical and girly! The headband was also purchased for the wedding and we got it from a local baby boutique in Grimsby called The Happy Baby and it was made by a local mom who has a company called August Baby Co. Honestly one of my favourite things to do is shop small and support other moms so The Happy Baby shop is the best place to do so!

Last week I made a quick little backdrop (one of the perks of being a serial DIYer is having tonsof extra supplies on hand) and decided to snap a few photos for Valentine's day! Last week was also her five month milestone! So we of course had to take photos of that as well! She has changed so much and I know I say that every month but I'm always in awe of her and everything she learns every month.

She just recently found out that she can scream at the top of her lungs for no reason! It has yet to reach the point of annoying, I can't help but giggle every time she does it because it is honestly the cutest thing ever. Lately we have been woken up by her screaming and at first it's terrifying, but we quickly realize she's okay, she just likes to hear herself talk! (Another trait she gets from me I'm afraid). She is still in 6-9 month clothing which is fine by me, we have so.many.clothes that we can never get through because she has grown so fast! She is also still in size 3 diapers, and I have to say that changing her now is a whole different ball game. She moves like CRAZY and it takes a couple tries to make sure that diaper is on right!



We will get a little weight and height update at her appointment next month when she goes in for her 6 month needles, but at our last appointment she was in the 99th percentile for weight and 98th percentile for height!









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