My Current Favorites

Shorts: Boden (Currently 30% off!) | Beach Dress: Loft | Sunglasses: Rayban | | Top: Vince Camuto (some colors marked down!) | Hat: JCrew 

Happy Friday everyone!  These are a few of my favorite clothes and accessories right now.  I actually have the hat and sunnies.  I had to re-purchase the hat because my old one got crushed in the trunk of the car and I recently got the Rayban's.  I wasn't sure about folding sunglasses, but I am now sold on them and I can't stop wearing them!

Summer

June 11th was my last day at work before summer break.  I am so excited to spend time with Mary-Grace, to have time to relax, and to catch up.  We don't have any big plans for the summer other than going to Charleston/Folly Beach for a week next month.  I imagine most days will include spending time at the pool, meeting up with Josh for lunches, going on walks when it's not too hot, visiting, and whatever else sounds good at the time.

Mary-Grace is now 10 months old and she has been growing like a weed.  I'm so thankful that she is healthy and thriving.  Her personality continues to show.  She laughs and smiles at just about everything, but gets upset if you take something from her.  She loves dancing, clapping, shaking her head no when we tell her no,  Mickey Mouse, taking a bath, swimming, music, flipping through books, and being pushed in the stroller.  She seems to like just about every type of food that she tries (thank goodness!).  She has been standing up now for about 3 months and has taken her first steps, but not really walking yet.  Time just seems to be flying by and I hope it slows down some.  I'm sure all of you other mama's agree!

Mary Grace at 10 months

Also, I'd like to wish a very Happy Father's Day to all the daddy's out there including my husband, dad, step-dad, and grandfather.  This is Josh's first Father's Day which I think he's excited about.  He got his Father's Day gift early; a PS4.  He's definitely a big kid at heart.  Mary-Grace is a lucky little girl to have him as her daddy.  We've got a busy day planned out that I'm excited about.  Hope you all have a great day!

Week recap

How is everyone's week going?  I'd love to be able to say that we've done so many exciting things, but not so much this time.  We celebrated my dad's birthday last Thursday night by ordering some pizzas and visiting with my grandmother.  Our weekend was pretty tame too... grocery shopping, working on a project for the nursery, laundry, caught up on some DVR shows, and of course spent time with Mary-Grace.

We got baby girl to take all but one of her naps this weekend in her crib.  We fell into the trap of either me holding her (which I really do love but it's not realistic for the future) or her napping in the same room as us.  We couldn't get her to sleep more than 30  minutes at a time in her crib.  Hopefully I'm not the only parent this has happened to.  She'll sleep for others with no problem but not for us.  She must know we are suckers!  I use to brag on her when she started sleeping through the night at 4 weeks old, but that has changed.  During the past 3 or 4 weeks she's been waking up 1-2 times a night acting fussy.  I talked to another mom with a little one about the same age and she said the same thing was happening with her.  She said she read about something called a 4 month regression.  Has anyone else heard of this?  From all of the advice I've been given and from what I've read, staying consistent with bedtime routines is important along with putting your baby down before she falls asleep.  We'll see how things keep up!  

Did anyone score some Lilly during the after party sale last week?  I missed out on a few things that I really wanted but did manage to snag the Parrish maxi dress in Sea and Be Seen.  

I was worried about it fitting me but luckily it's a perfect fit!  It's not what I would consider work appropriate, but I'm sure I'll still get a lot of wear out of it and definitely can't beat the sale price! Did you also hear about the Lilly and Target collaboration?  Lilly Pulitzer will have a collection in Target on April 19th.  Over 250 items!  I don't think I'll be able to contain my excitement! 

Lilly Sale

In case you love Lilly Pulitzer and haven't heard yet, I wanted to let you know that the after party sale starts tomorrow morning at 8am and runs through 11:59pm on Tuesday, Jan 6th.  This sale only happens twice a year and the deals are amazing! It's suggested that if you plan on buying something,  you create an account ahead of time to help save time at check out.  I can't wait!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend. We went to a new place for lunch today with family and then went to buy a few necessities for Mary-Grace.  I can't believe that she will need a new car seat soon.  After doing some research, we decided on the Britax Boulevard.  I like the idea that it's re-enforced with steel.  Has anyone else used this carseat?  We currently have the UPPAbaby Mesa infant seat that we love and fits easily into our UPPAbaby Cruz stroller.  By the way, if you're in the market for a stroller, I highly recommend it. When we transition her to the Britax, I'll have to get use to taking her out of the seat before putting her in the stroller.  

We also picked up a larger bath tub for her and some more 8oz bottles.  I'm sure we could have found more stuff that we "needed" in Buy Buy Baby but we were good this time and stuck to the aisles with what we had to get.  

It's back to work tomorrow and I'll be up and out the door bright and early.  Ok, who am I kidding, it's not even bright at 5:45am... so sad.  Hope y'all have a fantastic Monday!

And then there were 3

Well to say that life has changed over the past 5 months is an understatement.  Life isn't completely different, but I'm sure as other moms know and others can assume, it does change quite a bit.  The words wonderful, stressful, happy, funny, and tiring all come to mind when thinking about it, but I feel so very blessed.  When you hear other parents say that they didn't think they could love someone so fast until they had a baby is absolutely true.  This little girl has stolen our hearts and has so many people wrapped around her little finger!  Mary-Grace Caroline arrived (a week late and evicted) on August 5th.  I won't share all of the details because that's quite a bit of info to throw at you after coming back to the blog, but at some point I will try to share it.  I've always found it interesting to read others birth stories myself.  For the most part we have our routines down, but with a growing baby, things are subject to change!  Her personality has really been showing and I can't wait until she starts talking.  I have a feeling she will be the life of the party.  She seriously smiles and laughs at just about everything except when she's hungry, just like her mom and dad.

My husband and I have both had the past two weeks off of work to celebrate the holidays, relax, and catch up on things, which has been amazing.  To say we have jammed packed days when we work is also an understatement.  I've been able to clean out some of the closets, work on a project for the nursery, and catch up with friends and family.

Mary-Grace has had a lot of firsts to share: 1st Halloween, 1st Thanksgiving, 1st Christmas, 1st New Years, 1st bite of food, 1st time rolling over, and you get the picture. Of course like many other moms out there with a smart phone and cute baby girl clothes, I have made sure to get her dressed up to take a picture of the event when I can.

On her birthday

1st Halloween

1st Thanksgiving

1st Christmas

1st New Years Day

1st visit with Santa

I hope you all have also enjoyed the holidays and I promise I will be back soon. Happy 2015!

Fourth of July

Old Navy navy striped dress
oldnavy.gap.com

J Crew blue chambray shirt
jcrew.com

Old Navy graphic design tee
oldnavy.gap.com

J.Crew pleated shorts
factory.jcrew.com

Jack Rogers lace up flat
piperlime.gap.com

J Crew j crew bangle
jcrew.com

Butter London red nail polish
net-a-porter.com



I love most holidays for the meanings behind them as well as the celebrations of course.  I also love holidays that I can dress up for.  To be honest, I really don't have a whole lot of red in my closet other than NCState shirts and t-shirts from the school I work at.  I don't dislike the color but it's not one that I'm usually drawn to.  However, I have enough in my closet to put together a coordinated red, white, and blue outfit.  For those who might need some inspiration, I've created a board above with some patriotic outfit creations that will work for whatever your plans may be.  Right now our plans are up in the air but I'm sure we'll have fun none the less.  Last year, we had some family over for hot dogs and then piled in one car to go downtown to watch the fireworks.  While the fireworks were great, it was super crowded and parking was a nightmare... not really something this 9 month pregnant lady wants to deal with this year.  So whatever we end up doing will be fun but low key.  I hope you all have a fun 4th and I'd love to hear about any traditions that your family has!

What's happening around here...

Hope everyone is having a great Monday (as great as it can be that is!).  I finished up with work last week and Josh (hubby) and I are now off for the summer.  Remember, we are both teachers? This is great timing as our little one's arrival date is getting closer so we have some time to finally rest and finalize preparations.  Unfortunately I've been feeling horrible the past day or two. Doctor thinks it's not pregnancy related, maybe just a bug.  Our AC decided to stop working again last night so we slept in our basement bedroom which was still warm but bearable.  Not what an 8.5 month sick, pregnant woman living in the south needs.  Anyhow, it's working again for now so fingers crossed for no more problems!

Preparations for baby are coming along.  I wish I could say that the nursery is ready to go and the hospital bags are packed but with wrapping up the school year and showers, weddings, birthing classes at night, birthdays, etc. there just hasn't been much time.  We're very blessed to be apart of it all but man have I been exhausted! Josh has been getting the nesting bug too.  This little girl already has him wrapped around her little finger, which he'll proudly admit.  It's so cute to see him go into her nursery to spend time in there and to get excited about putting together the car seat and stroller.  He's also been wanting to help decorate the nursery- helping to pick out the paint color, furniture, and planning where the decor will go.  I count myself very lucky that he is so involved!  I was planning on posting some pictures of the progress in the room but it looks like another bomb went off.  I will however, show you all this awesome rug that I found at Home Goods a few weeks back that looks pretty darn identical to the sheepskin one I've been eyeing at Restoration Hardware.  This rug was $16.99 though and not $99.
                       

Restoration Hardware's Rug

Found here

My rug found at Home Goods

A pretty close match, right?  Below is an elephant picked up by Josh when we were in Pottery Barn Kids that couldn't be put down.  Again, wrapped around her little finger...

BTW, how does the new design layout look!?  Time to get some more rest and catch up with the DVR!