October already?!

I can hardly believe it's October already! The months are flying on by and it's a constant reminder that our sweet girl, Ava will be 1 soon! Ahh! 

We are kicking off the month with house projects--touch up painting trim, interior doors, refinishing a secretary desk, bar tray table and getting our house more organized. Living in a 2/1 bungalow style home has it's challenges and we are running out of room to be simply put! 

It's a busy month of planning for a few things I'm very excited about! In the beginning of November we have Ava's 1 year pictures/family pictures. Not sure where we're taking them, but it'll most likely be at a nearby park. Let the hunt for coordinating outfits begin! Hoping to get a nice family picture that we can use for Christmas cards. Then, November 8th is Ava's party (!!!) and Ava's baptism will be at the end of the month which we are SO thrilled about! It's a lot crammed into November, so the next several weeks I will be busy preparing for everything. 

We have fun family day and date nights thrown in the mix, too. Some of our fall bucket list to-do's are, Food & Wine Festival date day at Epcot, a trip to the pumpkin patch as a family and attending fun Halloween events such as a trick or treat with her Circle Time buddies and a friends 1st birthday party.  

Trying not to get overwhelmed by it all and remain thankful for all of these great opportunities! Hope you're having a great fall, too! :)

Beverly Happenings

Summer has come and gone, today officially marks fall! I'm excited for a different change of pace-- cooler weather, fall t.v. lineup, fall wardrobe, comfort foods, Epcot's Food & Wine Festival, tailgating & football watching and MOST of all, planning for Ava's upcoming 1st birthday and party!

When I take a hiatus from blogging, I never know where to pick back up, but I thought I'd share what we've been up to, some pictures and recent recipes I've tried and recommend!

First up, for those of you who don't follow me on Instagram, here's some monthly pictures of Ava that I haven't shared on the blog. I was just looking at them as I updated her last picture and I think it's so neat to have these of her and to see how much she has grown!

Some recent recipes I've tried that I thought I'd share are, 

This One Pot Mexican Skillet Pasta via Damn Delicious is SO delicious and easy to make! We ate it with multi-grain scoop chips and grated cheddar cheese. I froze half of it and we had it another night for dinner!  

Another recipe via Damn Delicious that we enjoyed recently is the One-Pot BBQ Chicken and Bacon Pasta.  So much flavor, so easy to make and this also froze well! I highly recommend both recipes.. honestly you can't go wrong with anything on her website!

A little update on us... I'm at home with Ava and really enjoy it!  A little background history to my career path/decision before we had Ava, was that I was in school to be a teacher.  I love children and figured that was the best career choice for me, especially since I have a passion for educating/helping children and just being around them! I also thought it was a great career choice as far as being available for my future family, being the best mom and wife I could be (not saying working moms aren't)-- all holiday's off and summer would be great, too of course.  THEN I had Ava and I just didn't have a desire to continue with school and teaching.  I feel most fulfilled being at home, raising Ava (and more children down the line God willing).  There is a small part of me that wants to still contribute a part of my time towards teaching in some way and doing something for myself, so I applied for a substitute teaching position at a nearby Christian pre-school.  I was hired, given the opportunity, but I haven't been needed/called to substitute just yet.  As you know, a substitute position is an as-needed position and very part-time which is great for me.  The best part is I am able to bring Ava with me to work when I am needed and she can stay in a nursery there with other staff babies around her age.  I'm excited for this opportunity and think it'll be a great chance to fulfill that desire to teach on occasion, while still being able to stay home with Ava--best of both worlds in my opinion!  I am also starting to volunteer again at a nearby Elementary/Middle school.  I am trying to volunteer when I am able to have Daniel watch Ava on one of his lunch breaks.  He works nearby and can take Ava to lunch or a nearby park for an hour or so.  I am so fortunate he is so flexible and enables me to fulfill my needs and desires outside of the home.  I also joined a MOPS group, so I am looking forward to being a part of that and making new mommy friends. 

We had a pretty relaxing, but fun and busy summer!  Late April, we visited family--Andrew and Briana in Ft. Myers. They helped us with Ava while we stayed in Ft. Lauderdale for our anniversary weekend by ourselves which was really nice.  In May, we took a weekend family trip to Atlanta to visit friends and go to the Jack Johnson concert.  In June, Ava and I joined Daniel on a work trip to Panama City Beach for a couple days and visited Seaside as well.  In July, we enjoyed our annual family vacation in Sebastian, FL and visited some friends at the beach at their condo in Satellite Beach, FL. August and September were pretty relaxed, spent at home, but we took many beach trips as a family and Daniel took his annual surf trip to Nicaragua in August.  We are making updates to our home (mostly painting and furniture updating/rearranging) and I am trying to stick to a new daily cleaning schedule.  A weekly schedule that enables me to tackle every day cleaning and upkeep, while keeping up with the not so ideal chores I tend to put off like oven cleaning, wall/ceiling/blinds/fan dusting, etc.  Ideally, I'd love for our house to be guest-ready at all times, but I think that's a bit unrealistic with a baby.  It's fun trying something new, though and it has been nice having a cleaner, more organized home lately! 

That's a little update on us! Hope all is well with you! 

Questions Answered

Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to answer some questions some of y'all had for me a couple months back!

"What's been the biggest adjustment being a mom?"

Ava comes first... always. My free time is limited (although Daniel is great with being home with Ava after work most nights, so I can get out of the house and I'm able to sleep in every weekend). Now that I have Ava in tow all day every day, a day of grocery shopping or running errands is quite stressful-- get ready (i.e. throw up hair, wear workout clothes, no makeup), pack the diaper bag, feed/change her if we're gone a while, worry about her being home for her naps, etc.  It's also physically exhausting some day's taking care of her that I forget to make myself lunch, or even drink water. I'll get the worst headaches. I'm learning to do better with both of these! I guess the biggest adjustment for me has been learning how to not be selfish and put your babies needs before your own while still being your own person, having your own identity. Having patience is also SO important.  I have many days that I am having to remind myself "this season is temporary" when she's sick, teething, fussy, etc. Not every day is good, but there is something good in every day! 

"What are your most used baby items?"

I have a lot of "must-have" baby items!  Let me just preface this by saying I was obsessive about registering/buying everything that had a good review or rating. I did my research and of course, wanted the best for Ava!  However, after the first few months you kinda just learn what works for you and your baby! All babies are different and prefer different things. Keep receipts and take back what doesn't work!

Most used:

Sleepsacks - Ava never took to the swaddle, she wanted her hands out and by her face. I swear once we started using them, she started sleeping through the night! However, we couldn't use them right away, because there was a weight limit and she was underweight for about a month, so we swaddled then with a velcro swaddle. Our favorite sleepsacks are from Halo (we used a micro fleece one in the winter months), A cotton one from PBK, also Aden + Anais makes a lightweight muslin cotton one that we use almost every day. I highly recommend sleepsacks, getting a couple in different sizes. We had 3 in the small size and 2 in the medium size, so far. You will need more than one, because it's inevitable that your baby's diaper will leak and you'll need a backup!  **Sleepsacks are the safest "blanket" you can give your baby. It's a wearable blanket, with arm holes, zips up and is safe for them to sleep with, causing no risk for SIDS/Suffocation.

Swing - A friend gave us her used swing which we were so grateful for.  Ava slept in the swing for the first month of her life it seemed. She didn't have reflux, but she preferred to sleep at an incline. I'd sleep on the couch most nights in the first month or so with Ava in her swing beside me. It just worked best in the beginning! She also took naps in it and I was able to get some cleaning done with her in it.

Vibrating floor seat - There are several names for these, but that's basically what ours was! It was portable, so I could buckle Ava in and take her around the house with me. It especially came in handy when I wanted to take a shower. For a few weeks or so Ava slept in this on the floor beside our bed. Sometimes you just do what works!  When we traveled with her before 3 months, we had her in this and she'd sleep great in it. We got the most use out of this out of all of her baby things, I believe!

Fisher Price Sit Me Up Floor Seat- This was a new product that had just came out shortly after Ava was born. My friend Hailey told me about it and I knew we had to have it! I'm so glad we bought it because with an almost mobile baby 4 - 7'ish months, it was such a lifesaver! We still actually use it now that Ava's crawling. We've taken it to the beach, so Ava can sit up and chill under the umbrella. We use it for feeding snacks, when we take a shower, she can sit and be safe by, she can watch a show in it while I prepare a bottle for her, etc. It folds up almost flat, so it'll fit in a small space great.  I've taken the cover off and washed it in the gentle cycle several times now and it's held up great!

Britax B-Agile Stroller and B-Safe Car Seat - I love the convenience of this travel set. Ava's almost 9 months and still in her infant carrier, but we are on the verge of upgrading to the convertible car seat. I wanted a click and go system, so I just transfer her from car to stroller. I can't say enough great things about the stroller. It is the perfect size and width to fit through tiny aisles, doorways, etc. It's also super easy to fold up and store in your trunk.

Playard - We have the Joovy Room 2 playard, I like it a lot! It's not the easiest to fold up, but it is great quality. We have used it a handful of times for travel and Ava sleeps great in it. We are starting to bring it out on our deck with us, so she can play in it while we do yard work or hangout.

I tried to be conscious about registering for all of our big stuff in gender neutral colors. I don't expect to have another baby shower, even if our second is a boy, so I wanted to register and buy things I knew could potentially be used for a second child whether it be another girl or boy.

Of course, there's a ton of other small things like our preference on diapers (Target brand till size 2 and Luv's) and wipes (Pampers Sensitive), Babyganics foam shampoo & bodywash, California Baby Mineral Sunscreen, PBK hooded bath towel, zip up footed jammies the first few'ish months, Snap onesies for around the house and sleeping in during the warm months, Boppy pillow, cold mist humidifier for stuffy noses/colds, Nose Frida, Aden + Anais blankets & burpies, tons of bibs and pre-fold cloth diapers to use as burp rags, Boppy changing pad liner pads, OXO TOT Wipe case and OXO travel wipe case, Dr. Brown's bottles 4oz and 8oz, MAM pacifiers and pacifier clips for car rides!, Primo bath tub.

I didn't really "wear" Ava a lot. We weren't big on baby-wearing, she wasn't a fan, you get really hot, sweaty with a heavy baby on you, but I do recommend getting one like a Baby Bjorn or Ergo for walks, quick shopping trips, etc. 

Hope that helps! Thanks for y'alls questions, sorry it took me a while to respond!