I have a new wrap! And a teething baby.

Homegirl is currently cutting bottom tooth #2. I can't believe my baby is going to have TWO teeth any second now - hopefully sooner rather than later because teething makes everybody involved (aka Lillian and me) cranky. Apparently Lillian's thing is that she doesn't sleep when she's teething. Just Does. Not. Sleep.

Last night I got her to go down before 8:00 for the first time in dayyyyyysssss. I immediately went downstairs to happy dance about it in front of Lee, announce that I was going to take a celebratory bath, and then beeline it back upstairs to our master bath with the fabulous jacuzzi tub that I have barely touched since I had her because #motherhood...

I fiddled with the water until it was the perfect hot-enough-to-make-me-sweat-but-not-give-me-second-degree-burns temperature, added my cup of baking soda, cup of epsom salt, and lavender essential oil. I blissfully sank into the bath, cranked up my book on tape (which I'm not going to share because I am mildly ashamed to be enjoying this series so much), and made it almost ten whole minutes before she awoke and demanded my presence. Assuming I could nurse her back to sleep super speedy like, I grabbed a towel, crawled into bed, and snuggled up to her with my magical boobs.

THIRTY minutes later, she was soooooo almost asleep when our asshole cat, Olive - whom I love dearly, decided that she was feeling social and jumped on the bed and started chirping and mewing (which is normally super adorable). NOT CUTE. Lillian is currently obsessed with our creatures so she immediately woke alllllll the way up and started trying to play with (aka yank on) Olive.

By the time all these shenanigans were over and she was merrily babbling away on her dad's lap, my bathwater was so so cold and uninviting and very sad.

Moral of this unnecessarily long story: tonight Lee is in charge of the baby monitor and if she wakes up, screw trying to get her back to sleep in a timely manner because mama needs her bath.

In addition to not sleeping, teething also makes her super clingy. So I was extra pumped when our new Didymos Summer Breeze Indio arrived today!!! After the longest washing and drying cycles EVER, it was ready to play with!

The above picture on the right cracks me up. She 100% inherited that resting bitchy face from yours truly.

Loooooooooooooove this wrap.

Although I did have one pull within hours of it being delivered. Gonna have to be careful with this one - no snaggy jewelry. But I don't even care because it is just so lovely.

Babywearing. It's my jam.

My little darling has always been a bit clingier than the average baby and lucky me, she is currently deeply committed to the separation anxiety phase.

Thank. God. For. Babywearing.

Robin's Hip Carry w/ My BB Slen Pineapple

via

In addition to all the awesomeness above, I have chronic tendonitis in my right shoulder/arm/neck and babywearing allows me to carry my little nugget without suffering debilitating pain on the daily.

Coolest Hip Cross Carry w/ My BB Slen Pineapple

Babywearing in all forms (soft structure carriers, ring slings, stretchy wraps, mei tais, etc.) is awesome, but I've fallen head over heels in love with woven wraps. The comfort, the versatility, the high snuggle factor, and the relativity low cost (if you somehow manage to stick with just one) are just some of the reasons I'm loving LOVING L. O. V. I. N. G. wovens.

Reinforced Kangaroo w/ Natibaby Magic Grid from Local Babywearing Group Lending Library

I have a 3 step process that will change my cranky baby into a happy baby 99.9% of the time:
1 > Ensure belly is full
2 > Ensure diaper is dry
3 > Wrap in a carry with a high snuggle factor

...and voila. She will almost always immediately settle in to observe our surroundings from the safety and comfort that are mama snuggles. And she will usually fall asleep eventually at which point I can always sometimes occasionally successfully transfer her to the bed for further napping.

Front Double Hammock w/ My BB Slen Pineapple

Babywearing means I can take her out and about without relying on strollers and/or car seats for nap time which is so clutch.

Front Wrap Cross Carry w/ Little Frog Jasper from Local Babywearing Group Lending Library

Babywearing. It's saving this mama's sanity right now.

Gold Leaf All the Things

I had some gold leaf paint leftover from making these. So then I made these.

I've been obsessed with terra cotta pots lately, and the gold leaf ups the anti significantly. 

Fuck. Yes.

Then I made a badass hanging planter using this tutorial and clothesline I found in the hardware section of Wal-Mart. I'm obesessed.

Then I gold leafed some plastic dinosaurs. And put one in a terrarium I made.

My Secret to Keeping a Clean Home (Most of the Time)

It's really quite simple...

If it takes less than one minute, just go ahead and do it you lazy asshat.

No seriously, it totally works. All the little crap (dishes sitting in the sink, a week of mail in a pile, stacks of folded laundry) accumulates quickly, but if you just go ahead and do it you lazy asshat, your house stays neat. Then, when you do decide to get ambitious and vacuum a room or two, you don't have to put away a bunch of baby shit/dog toys/pairs of shoes first.

So many creatures everywhere, all the time.

Also podcasts, so so many podcasts. I wear her on my back, turn on a podcast, and just wander around the house being productive. My new favorite is 99% Invisible.

Lovely Free Desktop Wallpapers and Architecturally Advanced Bipedal Moon Beavers

Check out these fabulous desktop wallpapers. I'm digging my new figgy desktop!

I adore nerdy history stuff like this podcast about this time in 1835 when people thought the moon was populated with architecturally advanced bipedal moon beavers.

I am in the early stages of growing out my bangs (uuugggggghhhhhhhhhhh) and loved this "Tips and Styles for Growing Pesky Bangs Out" video by Cherry Dollface. Below is my new favorite method. It's a bit tricky but after a few tries I got the hang of it.

I learned a lot from these 20 posts on photography tips and tricks.

I have such a lady boner for Amy Schumer right now. Current favorite: Milk Milk Lemonade. Close second: Last Fuckable Day.

I'm very mindful of my iPhone use when I'm with my daughter (aka 87.5% of each day on average... yes I just actually calculated it for reals).
A) I doubt there is anything on that little screen more important than witnessing all the ridiculously cute shit she is doing these days.
B) I want to model good moderation of screen use and I might as well start now.

I'm tempted to order one of these delightful floral penis pattern pillows.

Are you ready to feel super old? Watch this amusing video of teenagers reacting to 90s music.

Last night I burned a sponge... in the microwave.

I was cleaning up the kitchen and the sponge was looking rather used and germy but the dishwasher wasn't going to be run anytime soon, so I popped it in the microwave. (You heat it to the point of steaming and it kills the all the germies.) Only I couldn't remember how long it takes... and I was too lazy to Google it... with the phone that was probably already in my hand... so I guessed and did five minutes...

As the title of this post suggests... that was incorrect.

The entire downstairs reeked of burnt sponge, a surprisingly horrid odor. Thank goodness I had recently purchased these amazeball candles (Amazon Prime frivolous purchase to the rescue!). 

And now I have no sponge. And to be honest, I am tempted to just order more on Amazon Prime. But I draw the line at ordering kitchen sponges.

PS. Cats frolicking in a paradise of boxes. Because Friday.

PPS. Here's a picture of my cute kid.

PPPS. According to the internet, the correct amount of time to microwave a sponge is one minute.

Stepping Up My Babywearing Game: Buying a Woven

It's happening. I can feel myself being sucked in and I don't even own a single one... yet. It seems that all the mommas I know who wear their babies in fancy smancy woven (aka non-stretchy) wraps are completely o b s e s s e d. I can tell that I am about to be sucked right down that rabbit hole.

I love wearing her in our Moby, but she's getting bigger and it's not as comfortable as it used to be (because it's stretchy and doesn't provide as much support as we need). Our Ergo 360 is great for running errands, but not so much for snuggles around the house. 

Yes, that's a Moby on the left. I had a little bleach incident in the laundry room and decided to creatively camouflage it.

The next step in babywearing is the almighty woven...

I borrowed the striped wrap at our local babywearing meet-up a couple days ago and I'm already hooked. I spent an absurd amount of time yesterday researching the different kinds of wraps and watching videos of different complicated ways to tie my baby to myself with what is literally just a long piece of fabric... but such pretty long pieces of fabric!

I know that I will be buying one soon. And I know that I drop a cringe-worthy chunk of change on it. And there are so many options, how will I ever choose? What type of fabric? What weight? How long? Is it shimmery? How bouncy? How long until it's "buttery soft"? Is it grippy? What about breathable? How much shoulder cush? There is a whole babywearing subculture out there with their own forums and lingo and I am one very confused newbie.

I've been researching and pinning some possibilities and  ohmygoodness I want them alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.

I'm stoked to learn a bit more about it all and become proficient at a few simple carries, especially back carries. Oh to be able to wear her on my back while I do housework! We've done a couple of back carries with the Ergo but she's still a little small and it doesn't feel as secure as I would prefer.

Do you have any experience with woven wraps? What would you recommend for a beginner who will be using it on the daily?

PS. The benefits of babywearing vs. carseat lugging.

The Busy, Busy World of Lillian Isadore

Lillian and I have been crazy busy traveling recently. She has been a total champ for all of it except for when we did six hours in the car in one day... she got a bit extremely pissy about that one.

Here she is doing some light reading in the car (pre-meltdown):

It all started in mid-April when we went to my parent's farm (where she was christened in the church where Lee and I were married)...
then to my aunt and uncle's lake house in Virginia (for lots of visiting with lots of relatives)...
then back home for two days (but with house guests)...
then to Sunset Beach (to spend a week with our good friends/Lillian's godparents)...

then to Asheville with my parents (we went to a small music festival and toured The Biltmore House and Gardens)...

we are currently home for three days...
and are flying to Vermont this evening so Lillian can meet her great grandmother this weekend.

Anyone have advice for flying with a four month old? It's her first flight and I'm going to try realllllly hard not to be that family with the baby that wails the entire time.

Lee was home Tuesday and I passed her off to him and literally slept almost the entire day. I was completely exhausted. I woke up to find her passed out in the Moby while he played video games in his basement man cave (complete with our sweet thrift store granny couch from our newlywed days).

Lillian is becoming more and more interactive and it is so fun! She is grabbing at things and talking constantly.

She smiles the second I walk back into the room which of course gives me all the warm fuzzies every time. And she loves to practice standing.

Apparently I never crawled and went straight to walking at ten months and my mom is convinced she will do the same.

Wish us luck with our flying adventures and hope you have a great weekend!

Someone's Teething

Her first tooth is coming in and ohmygoodness she is NOT a happy camper.

Good thing she's so cute.

The Girliest Farmhand You'll Ever Meet

Lillian and I recently spent the weekend at my parents' farm while Lee was out of town for work. I ADORE springtime on the farm! I have so many fond memories of playing outside at the barn while growing up (until I became a teenager and vehemently hated farm life).

That's a picture of a picture of yours truly getting my farm on as a small child. Yes, I'm wearing bling (and possibly eyeshadow?). I was (and still am) the girliest farm hand you'll ever meet. I can shovel horse shit without marring a still wet fresh manicure. TRUE STORY.

My mom used to breed warmbloods for drassage so there were always adorable/goofyass foals frolicking around the pastures. And I witnessed many of those foals being born (And I realize now how crazy it is that as a four year old I was watching mares giving birth!). I would spend hours digging for bugs and worms to feed to the chickens. I had "secret" clubhouses back in the dark, dusty corners of the hayloft. I had two ponies as a kid. Yes, two - Marigold would get carsick when she rode in the horse trailer, so we got Clementine for me to take to Pony Club shows. There are multiple pictures of me riding the ponies in riding boots, a hard hat, and various sparkly princess outfits.

I love taking Lillian to the farm. My dad spends the whole time telling her how someday she'll get to ride on the tractor with him and be his assistant. My mom dangles her feet in patches of clover and then mud puddles and delights in Lillian's resulting smiles.  My mom loves watching little kids enjoy the farm; she is totally going to buy a pony for Lillian any minute now.

Yikes, that girl is super white.

As a kid I spent tons of time exploring our woods, playing in the mud, and discovering all sorts of nature. During this visit, we spotted a hidden bird nest in the wall of a shed. Shortly thereafter, I pried a terrified turtle from the mouth of a very excited boxer. (Don't worry, the turtle was unharmed and was later released beside our neighbor's pond, far far away from turtle hunting dogs.)

I can't wait for Lillian to be old enough to enjoy farm adventures!

We're All Adult and Stuff

Today is our wedding anniversary. Holy crap. I've been married for four years. FOUR YEARS. That's crazy. And somehow, over the course of those four years, we've become adults together. Seriously. Adulthood just snuck up on us. I don't know how it happened.

When we got married we were starry eyed young things (I was 24, he was 27). He was in grad school and I was managing a gigantic antique mall. We lived in an adorable but tiny (500 sq ft) yellow house in a small college town. We still partied like college kids with no one to answer to but our two cats.

That umbrella was not just a fun prop - there were massive thunderstorms and multiple tornadoes the day of our wedding.

Within just the past year of our marriage:
>> I got a big promotion.
>> I got knocked up.
>> Lee took a new job in NC.
>> We moved.
>> We sold our house in TN.
>> We bought our home here.
>> We had a kid.

Whoa. We've been busy. I'm hoping that this next year of marriage is a little less tumultuous.

Best Diaper Bag Ever

Day 14 of rocking my capsule wardrobe! So far, so good.

Tank | Gap // Sweater | Target (old) // Leggings | Banana Republic (old) // Shoes | Target (old) // Necklace | I have no clue (super old) // Bag | Nena & Co.

I love to wear black. Always have, always will.

I wear leggings as pants. Haters can suck it.

My shoes have bows on them. #totesadorbes

Since I wear so many neutrals, I usually like to carry a fun bag to add some color. I adore my new Nena & Co. Day Bag II/diaper bag! You may remember my treat yo' self post that was devoted exclusively to geeking out about how excited I was when I ordered it. What can I say? I love a good bag.

Now I'm really wanting a Nena & Co. huipil clutch for those moments that we're just running in and out of a store super fast; that diaper bag can get awfully heavy. The only con of being a babywearing mama is the absence of a stoller to carry the plethora of heavy baby crap for me.

My Spring 2015 Capsule Wardrobe

Capsule Wardrobe - "Simple definition? It’s a mini wardrobe made up of really versatile pieces that you totally LOVE to wear. For Unfancy purposes, it’s a 37 piece wardrobe that includes tops, bottoms, dresses, outerwear, and shoes." - Caroline @ Un-Fancy

Last week I wrote about why I'm doing a capsule wardrobe. Feel free to hit that up if you missed it.

 >> I currently have 32 pieces. I plan to purchase 5 more: chambray button up (my old one had an unfortunate run in with some bleach recently #laundryfail), strappy brown flats, perhaps a new dress for Lillian's christening, another short sleeved top, and I already ordered this Everlane white tee. And I may need these fringe boots because they have a lower heel than the boots pictured above and would be more comfy and absurdly cute with everything. TBD.

>> I did not include undergarments, lounge wear, or athletic wear. 

>> I've always worn a lot of neutrals. (My mom hates it.) I rely on accessories and nail polish to provide pops of color.

>> Trying on clothes with this new, curvier body was different and fun.

>> A lot of the pieces in my closet are too small for me at the moment. However, only 8 of the above items are post-baby purchases. Once I actually went through my wardrobe piece by piece, I found a fair amount of separates that still fit.

>> I am nursing, therefore lightning fast boob access is a must. The 4 dresses above are the only ones in my entire closet that meet that criteria. Therefore they won.

>> It would appear that I mostly wear Gap and Target.

>> I don't know if I could do this if I still worked in a big office 5 days a week. This is totally doable since these days I spend most of my time in ratty leggings and a tank and never leave the house.

>> I'm worried that I have too many sweaters/jackets. But I'm having a hard time deciding which one to eliminate.

Ok people, I purchased a cheap tripod and am going to attempt this whole regular outfit posts thing. I apologize in advance.

Lillian Report + Spring Capsule Preview

Heyooo!!! My kid and I were up partying until 1:00am last night... or I was sitting in bed rewatching the first half of the new season of Mad Men so I could watch the newest episode (SO EXCITED/so sad that it's almost over) while she gleefully babbled and nomed/drooled all over my hands and arms. But it's 10:00am and she's still sleeping so whatevs, I'm rather enjoying the baby free morning. And painting the fingernails on my right hand which never got painted last night because I thought she was down for the night and painted my left hand and then she woke up and that was that. Call me old fashioned, but I feel fancier when BOTH hands are painted. (Mom tip: only paint one hand at a time... just in case someone wakes up and demands a boob asap.)

Now that she's 3 months we're going to start exploring sleep training. Any moms out there have a method that worked for you?

And homegirl has some new skillz. Yesterday she took a toy out of my hand and put it in her mouth. WHAT!?! I am so not ready for this. Where is my sweet, docile little newborn?

But then again, now she will hang out in this thing for a while and let me do exciting things like eat a quick meal without a baby in my lap. So fancy!

I'm working on taking pictures of all the pieces in my spring capsule wardrobe. So far, so good! It actually wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be. I still have a couple of basic pieces I need to buy though. Stay tuned for further discussion. But here's a preview:

The Capsule Wardrobe Concept + My New Post-Baby Body

I have been working my way through all of the old episodes of The Lively Show. I highly recommend it. Yesterday I listened to the episode featuring Caroline Rector of Unfancy - her minimalist fashion blog where she shares her approach to a capsule wardrobe and the resulting outfits. I am so inspired and am definitely going to give the capsule wardrobe concept a try!

Sunglasses|Urban Outfitters // Top|Target (old) // Necklace|Chewbeads // Jeans|American Eagle // Shoes|TOMS

WHAT IS A CAPSULE WARDROBE?

To quote Caroline, "Simple definition? It’s a mini wardrobe made up of really versatile pieces that you totally LOVE to wear. For Unfancy purposes, it’s a 37 piece wardrobe that includes tops, bottoms, dresses, outerwear, and shoes."

Each capsule wardrobe is for one season; every three months she swaps pieces out for a new seasonal wardrobe.

WHY AM I DOING IT?

I recently had my own accidental capsule wardrobe experience during my pregnancy. I purchased a limited number of maternity pieces because I just couldn't justify spending a bunch of money on pieces I would only wear for six months. In addition, we lived in my husband's parents' basement for several months during our transition from TN to NC and my wardrobe consisted of what I could fit into a couple of suitcases. The combination of these two factors forced me to keep things super simple.

I loved it. I made very intentional purchases knowing that I wouldn't be buying many maternity pieces. Before I bought an item I made sure that I loved it and was pumped to wear it frequently. The resulting small wardrobe made getting dressed so easy and I almost always loved my outfits because they were always comprised of pieces I really really liked.

WHY IT IS GOING TO WORK FOR ME:

I  still have about 20 pounds to go before I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, so I still can't wear the majority of items in my closet. This means that I already have a bit of a post-baby capsule wardrobe going on, but have to select my current pieces from among all my pre-baby pieces that I like but are too small for me at the moment. Every once in a while I optimistically attempt to wear a favorite pre-baby piece, and every time I dejectedly hang it back up.  It's not super great for my already delicate body image.

I am going to box up all of the pieces that are too small for me at the moment which will allow me to focus on dressing in a way that flatters my current body.

MY SPRING CAPSULE WARDROBE PLAN OF ATTACK:

I am a little behind on my spring capsule wardrobe (for April - June) since I just decided to do this yesterday but whatevs, I'll make it work.

I'm going to follow Caroline's rules:

via

Her criteria:

via

And her rule of three for adding variety:

via

I really like Caroline's style and it is surprisingly similar to mine - classic neutrals with fun accessories to add interest. I am really digging her spring 2015 capsule wardrobe.

I am so excited about this new approach to my closet! I have been struggling a bit to dress this new post-baby body of mine. This is really going to help me focus on what I can wear versus all the pieces I can't.

Life Lately

Happy Friday! This afternoon we are heading to Boone, NC to visit some good friends and go to BANFF Film Festival. Then tomorrow Lillian and I are heading to Asheville to stay in a mountain cabin with some of my college girlfriends for a fun baby shower/reunion weekend. Hope you have a great weekend in store for you as well!

My "Oh hey, Friday!" five:

1. The nursery is ALMOST done! I just have to get my shit together and finish putting stuff up on the walls. I'm quite pleased with everything so far. I made that fun bunting recently and I must say, I don't hate it.

 2. Lillian has some mad neck strength going on lately.

3. The goodies in the gift bag for to the mom-to-be in Asheville:

I tried to come up with stuff that I would have been excited to receive at my showers six months ago: 

- A handmade teething necklace from the Etsy shop Stitching to Craft. I ordered one for myself too, oops. (It came with a surprise keychain.) I was having a hard time deciding which colors to choose for her, so I went with her wedding colors from several years ago. Wedding colors are usually a safe bet, right?
- A Babies R Us gift card. We were so thankful for all the gift cards that we received at our showers. We ended up buying a lot of the more practical stuff on our registry ourselves.
- Never used socks, mittens, and pacifiers that I was going to pack away. Hey, why not? It's always fun to have plenty of cute little things when opening a baby gift.

4. I reused wrapping from one of my showers to wrap her gift. Reduce Reuse Recycle!

I chose the cheesiest bag I had, she will appreciate it.

I like to make my bows by hand. Plus bows can be freakin' expensive, dude! I usually just browse through Pinterest until I find one that I like. They're usually pretty easy. I used this one this time.

5. Dexter and I spent the majority of the afternoon yesterday walking around the backyard with a very cranky Lillian. He's been working on this hole when we're not around to scold him. He's quite proud of it.

Dexter so loves Lillian. We have to watch him closely when he's around her though, he wants nothing more than to lick her face and can be pretty sneaky about it. She does not approve.

5 1/2. I've always disliked those stick figure families people put on the back of their cars. Turns out, they are putting your kids in danger! So go take them off. Now.

 Happy weekend!