If you didn’t catch my first baby registry post, here it is! As promised, here’s the next part of my registry guide which includes my take on more expensive items and things you “need” for baby. 
Hope you find it helpful!
Category: Baby
Baby Registry Guide Part 1
After being a mom for 7 months and years of nannying, I figured it was time to compile my own baby registry guide. There’s just a lot of stuff out there and I would say a good 80% of it is a waste. It’s overwhelming to decide what to register for and what you actually need. So, here are my ideas on what you need and what you don’t…but remember, everyone is different. This list is pretty long, so I’m breaking it up into a few parts. Hope you find it helpful! Continue reading
Eloise’s Baby Video
You guys know that I love a good home video or a travel video, but I don’t think I’ve ever really explained why. I really wanted to make sure I documented Eloise’s early days (her birth story can be found here) in video form because my parents were so good at taking videos of us as kids. Those have been so much fun to watch as I’ve grown up and I wanted to make sure Eloise had something like that too. Oftentimes, the family members in my childhood videos aren’t around anymore so it’s always really special for me to get to see them on the screen. I think this has always helped encourage a sense of family and connections to those family members who have since passed away. We live in the age of cellphones where we can constantly reach for our phones and snap a photo or video, but I feel like we never do anything with them. So, here’s the story of my pregnancy with Eloise and the first few weeks of her new life. When she watches this one day, I hope she is always reminded of how excited we were to meet her and how she’s always been such a joy for our family. Hope you enjoy and I’m excited to share more of these videos soon! Continue reading
Favorite newborn items (and advice)!
As promised, here’s my list of our favorite newborn baby items, what we found helpful and a few lessons we learned along the way. Everyone’s journey is different, but these are the top things we found helpful. First, I just want to say that newborn life is really so magical and wonderful. Yeah, there are sleepless nights. Yes, there are a TON of bodily fluids involved. You’re healing, baby is adjusting to the outside world and life is kinda just turned upside down. But, the newborn baby bubble is also really wonderful and sweet. And as everyone says, it goes SO fast. I can’t believe Eloise is already 10 weeks old. Ps. if you missed Eloise’s birth story, here it is!
Eloise’s Birth Story
I can’t believe we’ve gotten to be Eloise’s parents for a month! She’s the most precious, lovely little lady and we feel so blessed God chose us to be her parents. I don’t think I could ever adequately put into words how much we love her. We spend these winter days snuggling and kissing her constantly. I absolutely adore this newborn stage. I just can’t believe these bump pictures were a month ago. Time is moving so quickly (way too quickly), but there are so many things I’m looking forward to doing with her and teaching her. I can’t wait to see what each day brings and how she grows. I can’t wait to teach her how to be a friend and love learning. I can’t wait to take her to New York City and Paris (and the rest of the world) one day with her girl cousins. I can’t wait to see how she experiences the world and learns to love those around her. We pray daily that she’s a joyful, kind, fun, generous, selfless person who never goes a day where she doesn’t know God’s love for her or our love for her.
A few moments after meeting Eloise for the first time! Happy birthday, baby girl.
Bump Pictures
To document my pregnancy, we decided to take a series of bump pictures standing in the same place wearing the same dress. (Similar dress here and here). We weren’t great about keeping up with the bump pictures, but there are enough pictures to be able to tell just how short this dress has gotten over the last nine months from this growing belly. Haha! I’ve loved the journey of pregnancy and can’t wait to meet this little girl! If you’d like to read more about my pregnancy experience, read my Trimester 1, Trimester 2 and Trimester 3 updates.
13 weeks pregnant
Pregnancy: 3rd Trimester
It feels so surreal to be writing my third trimester blog post! If you missed my second trimester or first trimester post, you can find them here. I just can’t believe we are here at 39 weeks, counting down the final days until this baby arrives and looking back on the last 10 months. What a cool journey pregnancy has been and I don’t take for granted getting to experience it. Let me just say that pregnancy does things to your body and mind that you have no control over and it’s probably one of the most humbling things I’ve ever experienced. Even on the tougher days, I’ve still really loved being pregnant. I’m definitely ready to hold this little girl, but I would gladly do this whole pregnancy thing over again to give her a couple siblings! Here’s a summary of what I’ve experienced in the 3rd trimester and what I’ve learned from this adventure.
28 weeks!
Nursery Reveal
One of my very favorite parts of preparing for our baby girl has been putting together her nursery over the last few months. I’ve documented some of her nursery projects, but now it’s time to share her vintage floral nursery. I decided to go with pinks, yellows, greens and blues. I love color, so I figured I’d go ahead and introduce our girl to color at a very young age. 😉 However, we wanted the big pieces of furniture to be white so we can use this nursery for future children, no matter the gender. Also, we have a small nursery, so space saving and utilizing all of our space was really important to me. I’ve linked where you can find her nursery items underneath photos so you can shop our nursery picks. We had a goal of not breaking the bank while planning this nursery, and I have to say, I’m really happy with the affordable pieces we found!
Curtains: IKEA Matilda Curtain |Pom Pom Garland: any craft store (Hobby Lobby or Joanne’s) or you can make it!
Floral Letter E Project
One of my favorite nursery projects was the floral letter E I made to go over the baby’s crib. I found some similar ones on Etsy, but I made this one for about $10-15. Here’s an easy step by step tutorial on how to make a really cute floral letter.
Maternity Photos
Our sweet and incredibly talented friend, Megan can do anything. Take amazing photos, create hair bows (that are so perfect for a little girl), bake, cook, parent, etc. But, my favorite thing that she’s done so far has been introduce Matt and I to each other. So on top of all her other skills, she’s also a pretty darn great match maker. 😉 She took these amazing photos for us when we were visiting Florida a few weekends ago for my Florida baby shower. I will always treasure these photos as they document this special time of awaiting the arrival of our first child. And the man in these photos…well, I can’t say enough good things about him. He’s been such a support throughout this pregnancy and I can’t believe we only have two months left before our little girl’s arrival.
