It's Friday!!!

 Thank the lord!! I didn't think this week would ever end. It was a long one for sure. Now I'm just a few hours away from a 3 1/2 day weekend!

 

 

Here's my weekly roundup:

One // I mentioned in my weekend post that we are going through the dreaded four month sleep regression. Some nights this week, she gets up every hour and then some nights she sleeps a 3 hour stretch. We really want her to have good sleep habits, and we really want to be able to get some sleep again! So, after searching Pinterest and doing some research, we hired the folks at the Baby Sleep Site.

 

For $120, we get a personalized sleep/eat schedule for Gracie with 3 emails from a sleep consultant. I filled out a lengthy questionnaire about her personality, sleep habits, medical issues, as well as our goals for her. They ask if you are open to things like "cry it out", and if you are not, they can offer other suggestions.

 

I had previously done a lot of research on sleep training, but no one plan was just right for her. I love that these consultants take bits and pieces and put together something just for us.

 

The best part is they have a 100% money back guarantee, so I figured it was a win-win deal! Besides, can you really put a price tag on a good nights' sleep??

 

Two //  I am obsessed with camo. I never thought I would say that, since I'm a pretty classic/preppy girl when it comes to my personal style. Then I bought a pair of camo flats, and they go with everything, and add just the right touch of "different" to an otherwise plain outfit.

 

I'm dying over these camo pants from Loft, and am waiting for a sale so that I can scoop them up. I'll keep the look simple and style it like this:

Source

 

Gracie even has a pair of camo jeggings from Old Navy, that look adorable on her!

 

Three // I've seen a lot of bloggers posting about the devotional site "She Reads Truth". I had been looking for something that I could read daily, that was short and sweet to fit into my busy life. I signed up for their daily emails and downloaded the (free!) app and am so happy I did! I love waking up in the morning and taking 10 minutes when I'm still laying in bed to read through the day's devotional.

 

source Today's devotional message

 

 

Four // We booked our first family vacation! We are going to Hilton Head Island, SC in November for 5 days, and we couldn't be more excited. It's going to be Gracie's first airplane trip, and her and I will be flying down solo! I will be doing lots of research (meaning: searching Pinterest and blogs!) for tips and ideas on flying with an infant. Since Keith will already be there for a golf tournament, we are meeting him there on a Friday afternoon. I am praying for half way decent weather and a condo with a heated pool :)

 

Five // I can hardly believe it, but our two year wedding anniversary is on Monday! Seriously, where has the time gone? It's crazy to me when I look back on how much we've done in the last two years!! My MIL is keeping the baby on Sunday afternoon so that we can have a date day. I'm so excited to share our anniversary date on the blog next week. In the meantime, I'll leave you with my favorite wedding day photo. Or two. :)

This was from our "first look"

We snuck away during the cocktail hour and got this amazing photo at sunset

 

Have a happy, long weekend my friends!!

Weekend Wrap Up

Linking up with Meghan and Biana!

Even though we had zero plans, this weekend was BUSY. I guess it was just  a lot of big things going on at once!

For starters, Gracie finally slept in her crib! I knew she was outgrowing her rock'n'play. Her little feet hung off the edge, and she's very close to being able to roll from her back to front. I was worried I'd find her on the floor one day! 

 

So Friday night, I fed her and rocked her and then laid her in her crib. 

And then I sat in the chair in her room and waited. And waited.

 

Finally I realized she wasn't going to wake up and scream. And she slept the whole night in her crib! She got up a couple (ok, several) times to eat,  but every time she went back down in the crib. Same thing again on Saturday night! I think since she naps in a crib at daycare, she was used to it, so doing it at home was a much smoother transition. She even napped in her pack n play this weekend!

Big steps for our Gracie girl :)

 

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon out running errands. Keith joined a local golf course and is really excited about it. Golf is one of his biggest passions, and to be a member at a gorgeous course five minutes away, is pretty awesome. He joined now for 2015, and got the rest of this year free! 

We went to lunch at the BBC...

And then we went to the mall. This mama finally decided it was time to stop wearing maternity pants, and I bought some jeans and work pants. I'm only 4 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, but my body is shaped very differently now and none of my old pants fit me. So I decided to bite the bullet, and I've put away all my maternity stuff for good. 

Sunday we went to church...



Keith told me I looked like I was dressed for Easter (??) but Gracie was rocking her adorable sweater dress (on sale!) from babyGap



Those lips

 

 and hung out in our activity seat....



This smile just kills me :)

 

and, most exciting, we met with a contractor about building an addition on our house!

 

Since taking the house off the market, we knew we needed to either re-work our main floor layout or build an addition.

He had lots of great ideas, and we are now waiting on a price from him. Once we get a number, we can start talking to the bank about getting a construction loan. 

Work wouldn't begin until spring, so we have plenty of time to get things in line. This addition would make the layout of our home so much more functional and make us a lot happier staying here. Truthfully, if we do this work, we won't ever need to move! We have plenty of bedrooms, and we are in a fantastic school district (top 50 in the state!). It's a perfect home to raise Gracie in. 

 

We rounded out our Sunday with grocery shopping, meal prep for the week, laundry and ironing. fun stuff.

 

And this weekend we also entered the dreaded four-month sleep regression.

 

 Praying this Monday is kind to me, and that you all have a good week friends!

Our Home in Photos, Part I

I have been meaning (for a very long time!) to do a post of our home. I took these pictures back in June when we put our house on the market. Just this past Monday, we took it off the market and I'm excited to pick up with our home updates.

I would really love a big rug underneath our dining room table. My problem is that Gunner pees on every.single.rug. in our house. He's already ruined several!

I am also contemplating turning this table the other way, just to see if I like it better :)

My striped wall is my favorite part of our house! I would like to add some more pictures to the wall, and change up the items on the blue table ... maybe add a chair?

We may blow through the wall behind the red front door and make the room behind it the dining room, and the current dining room will become our family room.

If we do that, we'll end up opening the staircase up and my pretty striped wall will go away :(

IThis is definitely a #firstworldproblem but I cannot stand the color of our granite. It's too dark for our house and not my style. I would much prefer a lighter granite.

I also want to replace that hideous builder-boring kitchen light. Chandelier maybe?

 

See where the door and window are? We are thinking about opening up that wall into a mud room and family room beyond that. It would be nice to have a more open space for entertaining too. 

In a perfect world, I would also have white cabinets. If we stay long enough, maybe one day I'll paint these :)

My bathroom is pink. Enough said :)

Our house technically has four bedrooms. Two upstairs, and two downstairs.

 

The downstairs back "bedroom" is currently being used as a den. Yeah, it's definitely a little bit awkward of a layout, but since the basement is fully finished and houses all our living room furniture, this makes the most sense for us, right now anyway!

 

I also dislike the color of the walls with the brown couch and dark wood furniture and the curtains don't match either :/ I painted this room when I first moved in (Antique Tin by Behr) when this room was my closet/dressing room. 

 

I'm leaving it for now .... we'll see what happens if we make any changes with the layout!

 

This room is the front bedroom, and we use it as a playroom/guestroom. I love the navy blue and nautical touches.

 

 

The opposite wall of the playroom has her pack'n'play set up. We mostly use it for storage. And changing diapers. But she's getting better at napping in it too!

 

The prints are original maps from the 1960's that I bought at a flea market in Boston last summer. The map on the left is of the Hawaiian islands, on the right is Massachusetts and the center is the world. It represents where Keith and I are both from, and the world map represents all the places she can go :)

 

If we don't end up building an addition off of the kitchen, then this playroom will be opened up to the main room and be turned into a dining room. Are you lost yet??

And now,the outside of our house. I admit that I love the outside of our house! It's a very traditional, New England style home. I love the curb appeal, the patio and the yard.

One day we'll add a fence. Maybe a deck. And a swingset. haha

We also desperately need to do over our front steps. The rail is kind of rusted and the stairs are falling apart. We don't use our front steps much, but for curb appeal, I would love to get them fixed up!

That's all for now! There are two other floors that I'll get around to sharing eventually :)

Has anyone been through a rehab project? Any tips for us??

 

Three Month Pictures

Here we are! It's hard to believe that we are already over three months old! She has grown and changed so much in such a short amount of time ... my baby now looks like an infant. I love that our photographer was really able to capture Gracie's sweet personality in these photos, and I cannot wait for her six month photos!

Headband / Pretty Little Elm

Headband // Etsy shop (I cannot remember the name!!) Bloomers // babygap

Dress // Purchased from an Instagram shop

Outfit // Carter's  -- Headband // babygap

I love this little girl with such a fierceness and looking at these pictures, my heart melts. We have truly been blessed!!

 

*photographs done by KGD Photography*

Mid Week Ramblings

It's been a long week so far .... and this mama is exhausted.

 

Our little nugget is battling a really bad cold, and is very congested and just all around miserable. She's in relatively good spirits during the day, but at night is especially sad.

 

Her and I have spent the last two nights cooped up in our den, sleeping on our couch. The room is small, so the humidifier and Vicks wall plug-ins seem more concentrated then if we stayed in her nursery. Plus, I have zero desire to sleep on her nursery room floor!

 

Gunner even decided to camp out downstairs with us. Secretly, I think he loves her :)



Hanging out watching Curious George

Waiting for the doctor



me and my mini



Helping Daddy with his football draft

Her doctor said she just has a cold - no ear infection, her lungs are clear, and no fever - so that is good news for sure! We are spoiling her with lots of extra love and snuggles, and are nursing non-stop to get her as much antibodies as possible.

 

There is no sound more cute and sad than a little baby snoring :)

 

Happy hump day friends, I hope you are having a better week!

Weekending

Happy Monday friends! I'm linking up with Biana and Meghan for my weekend post!

 

 

Friday: We got out of work early to go to the Pats preseason game. My boss is a big time Pats fan, and goes to every single one of the games. He invited all of us to be guests in his suite, which just so happens to be the suite next to Tom Brady's! We got to see Gisele and their two boys, who are adorbs, and yes, she is just as gorgeous in person. No, I didn't get any pictures .. they will confiscate your phone if you try!

 

A little Monoploy action on the coach heading to the stadium!

Thanks to typical Boston traffic, we arrived three hours later!

Football bums!

View from our suite and sunset over Gillette

We've gone to a game a season since I've started with the company, and we are now so spoiled, I don't think I could have "normal" seats again! #firstworldproblems :)

Enjoying our night out!

My mom stayed at our house on Friday night and watched the nugget for us, but boy did I miss her!!

 

Saturday: This was the first weekend all summer that we didn't have any plans, it was so nice to just hang out! We went to Home Depot and stopped by the local country club/golf course. Keith is hoping to join for next year. We did laundry and picked up the house.

Saturday selfie with the nugget

"we spend a lot of time at this Home Depot store Mom and Dad....."

Oh, just hanging out like a big girl!

Sunday: We didn't get to go to church because we were supposed to have a showing (and then they cancelled FIVE minutes before their appointment). I was so mad and frustrated. I had been sick all weekend and I was tired of always running around getting our house ready for a showing. We've had almost 40 showings!

 

We came home from the park, and Gracie and I took a nap on the couch. Then I cleaned out and reorganized her closet, making room for all of her 3-6 months clothes. I also cleaned out all of my maternity clothes in preparation to consign them in a few weeks. I am in total "clean out" mode!

I love when she does this!

She's a true fashionista!

We went to dinner at previously mentioned country club with our friends Andrew and Kerri Anne. It is SO nice to be able to take Gracie out to dinner. She hangs out, looks around and is the center of attention. She is so happy and just loves to smile at people!

 

And out like a light ... her onesie says "Born to Wear Diamonds" <3

Sunday nights are always the same ... getting ready for the week, enjoying a glass of wine and putting the nugget to bed.

On the agenda for the week: BIG house news, anniversary plans and a recap of Gracie's three month photos.

 

Mondays come too quick! Have a good week everyone!