Bachelorette Party Recap!

I had to pry myself off the Shutterfly site to write this recap really quick. I randomly got an email with a code for a FREE 8x8 photo book (!!!) so I've been obsessed with working on a book to commemorate Hannah's first day's. When I was younger, I loved when my mom would show me pictures of the day I was born, so I am hoping Hannah will love her little book and love to hear stories about the day she changed our lives! 

Anyways....we are here for the bachelorette par-tay recap! My sisters (and joint Maid of Honor's) planned this whole party, top to bottom, by themselves. Despite having never attended a bachelorette party before. I'd say they did a pretty amazing job! 

We headed over to Chelan, WA for a low-key wine tasting weekend. Of course baby girl came in tow...which means Noah came along for Daddy duties. But, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I loved being able to hang out with my girlfriends, but know that Hannah was safe and (better yet) within 10 feet of me at all times. I'm just not ready to be away from my munchkin, so I was SO thankful that Noah agreed to spend the weekend with the girls! 

We got into Chelan late on Friday night...but despite being exhausted after the three hour car ride, we stayed up chatting into the early morning hours. Saturday was low-key....we slept in, had a huge breakfast, watched the movie Bridesmaids, and then started getting ready for the night out. 

Kelly and Kristen had set up a "gift bag" for everyone attending that included a towel, t-shirt, sunglasses and etched wine glasses. They were definitely a hit and SO thoughtful. 

After everyone finished getting ready, we took pictures (where we discovered that everyone dressed up in twin colors!), played a game, and had a glass of wine. Then we packed up into the cars and headed out to tour some wineries and grab some dinner. 

After the wineries and dinner we headed back home to freshen up, change into party t-shirts, open gifts and enjoy some penis cake... ;)

At this point, we were all so tired that we almost seriously considered just calling it a night and settling in with a glass of wine and a movie...but we forced ourselves to go out and I am so glad we did; we ended up closing down the bars! 

Overall, I'd say it was a success! I had an amazing time and can't thank my sisters and friends enough for helping make this weekend so much fun! 

Show and Tell: Stuck on an Island

Life is catching up with us and I haven't posted in awhile, but we have a lot of updates...so I am making that my mission this week! Be prepared for post overload! 
This week we will have: bachelorette party, wedding update, bridal party, and Hannah's 4 month update...so stay tuned! 

In the mean time, here is a little fun Show and Tell link up with one of my most favorite Mommy blogs. :) 

1. Tell us, if you could only take 5 people with you to a deserted island, who would it be, and why?
1. Noah...my soon-to-be hubby! He's my best friend....and he's pretty handy. Plus, I kinda love him. ;)
2. Hannah. Obviously....I don't even know what I would do without my munchkin! 
3. My dad. He's really smart....plus he REALLY likes tropical islands. He'd either enjoy his early retirement, or think up a way to get us off the island. 
4. My mom. I can't live without my mom. 
5. My sis....she'd be the entertainment. She's pretty funny. 

2. Show us which island you'd like to be deserted at.

After I uploaded this picture, I realized that I would probably like a little more vegetation for shelter and food purposes...but this was just really pretty. 

3. Tell us, if you could only bring 3 items with you, what would those items be. And why?
1. A blanket....I don't know why. I think it's a comfort thing for me, whenever I get scared or nervous, its easier to crawl up into a blanket and pretend that it will protect me. 
2. A pacifier. Hannah can't live without it. 
3. A hatchet (this was Noah's pick...he's much more practical than I am). 

4. Show us 3 pictures that you would take with you.
I'd bring pictures of the people I love that didn't come with me to the island.

The sibs. Patrick, Kelly, Kristen. 

The puppy. Hudson.

My girls. Jill, Kar, Heath, Lis...(and I'd need to photoshop a few more faces in there to include the rest of my loves.)

5. Tell us what you envision life would be like on that island. Do you think you would go into survival mode? Would you be like those Survivor people and eat bugs? What qualities do you possess that would help you survive. Do share.
I think I would definitely go into survival mode...I'd try and channel anything and everything I've ever learned about surviving on a deserted island from movies and t.v. shows. I'd definitely use all my resources in limited quantities and hoard everything I found that could come of use at some point. I'd also become crazy overprotective of Hannah. I don't know about the bugs....I'd learn how to fish first. 

Well....that's my fun little post of the day....I promise I am working on updates for everything else! Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

Big news!

We bought a house!!

Well...we put an offer down on a house and it was accepted! There were 12 offers down on this house after the first day it came on the market...and they picked ours! 

We actually found out about it last week, but I didn't want to mention anything in case our offer wasn't picked. I was actually still debating whether or not I wanted to say anything, because the house is a short sale...which means we have a lot of hoops to jump through and negotiating with the bank. 

Our first hoop is this Thursday. We have our home inspection...and since it is a short sale the house is sold "as is"....so we are crossing our fingers that he doesn't turn up anything that will have us running for the hills! (but if there are huge problems, I DO want him to find them so we don't spend all our money on a dud!) 

If all goes as planned we have a move in date of sometime around December 12th. Just in time for Christmas. :) 

View of the backyard....perfect size for Hannah and Hudson. You can see that the deck needs some work...so far the deck is the biggest concern (besides cosmetic issues) and that will need to be fixed before we close. 

Adorable home! I love the front porch and porch swing...you can't really see the swing in this picture (it blends in with the railing) but its to the right of the front door. 

It's a little small and needs some renovations...but they are all projects that Noah and I are excited to take on to make this house our home. 

I am so excited! Cross your fingers that we sail through inspection! 

Bad habits...

I'm afraid to admit that I have instilled some bad habits in my little pumpkin...

First: I wanted to co-sleep with Hannah for the first couple weeks...mostly to make it easy on me. I was still recovering and getting in and out of bed was not easy...so I loved just having her in bed with me and being able to feed her and change her right there at any hour of the day or night. Over time, I couldn't imagine not having my little lady sleeping next to me. I'll admit...I was also being a little lazy; I learned how to side nurse, and it was SO easy to just latch her on and fall back asleep with her. But mostly, I LOVE snuggling with her.
However...our Queen size bed does not make easy snuggling for the three of us (its not a space issue, as much as me being worried that Noah-a heavy sleeper-will roll on her or accidentally hit her in the night), so Hannah and I have been using my sisters room. We've decided it's time for us to try and get back to normal and get on a more normal routine...thus sleep training has started.
I've started with putting Hannah down for naps in her crib...so far I've had no success. She has grown so accustomed to having me right there that she will wake up crying within 5 minutes of being laid down. She's a big snuggler and we think that she loves the contact and comfort of having me there....and she notices almost immediately when I am not.
I'm not an advocate for the "cry it out" method...but everyone says the first couple nights of sleep training are the worst, and you just have to get through them. I'll be the first to admit that I haven't really given it my all because a big part of me wants to keep my little snuggler next to me forever!

My little cuddle bug...she falls asleep to any contact...if we are driving, I have to sit in the back and hold my hand to her cheek.

Second: I LOVE nursing. So much, that I have only allowed Hannah to have a bottle three times in her life...and those three times were in her first two weeks and when she was 6 weeks old for Lisa's wedding.
Wedding errands have become more frequent the past week and we thought it might be a good time to start trying to give her a bottle every now and then. I mean...as much as I love nursing, I don't exactly want to disappear in a back room for 45 minutes every few hours of my wedding!
Hannah HATES the bottle. Like screams at the top of her lungs the second she realizes the difference. We've tried several times over the past week and a half...and it's not looking good. I've tried several different bottles, nipples, techniques, you name it...she's not liking it.
Over all the times we have tried, I was only successful ONE time...and it was short lived because she likes to cuddle after she eats, in a way that she can only do when she nurses...so she was on unhappy girl, when that couldn't happen after her bottle.
I wouldn't be stressed about this...after all, I do love nursing. However, its really restraining. I have my bachelorette party this weekend in Chelan...our only option is to bring Hannah with us...which means Noah is coming. Bachelorette partying at its finest. ;) I have hair trials, makeup trials, tanning appointments, etc, etc, etc that really make it difficult to accomplish when I have a little monkey that I need to feed every few hours.

You want me to drink from what?!

My point is...I'm clearly a first time Momma. I made some decisions that have made for some difficult days lately. Poor Hannah...she can't figure out what's going on that everything is changing! If I could do it all again...I would incorporate sleep training and bottle feeding (once a day) early on so that the baby isn't thrown for such a loop when the time comes for them to really learn! 

Worlds Longest Week

Hi friends! Sorry for the lack of updates...I might have just had one of the longest weeks of my life!

This last week I agreed to watch the kids I nannyed while pregnant for their last week of summer. Full time. I was fine with it because they LOVE Hannah and I get to bring her with me....but jumping back into work (full time nonetheless) as well as being a mom 24/7 really did me in. However, I was careful to brush it off like it was no big deal and did not in fact leave me completely exhausted at the end of the day because I know any complaining I did would come back to bite me in the butt when I am ready for baby numba two...

Annnnyways. I can confide in you guys that it was exhausting. Hat's off to moms of more than one kid! Yikes. Talk about being pulled in multiple different directions at one time. I'm sure it's something I will adapt to over time...but you won't see me taking on two more kids any time soon. My point is...exhaustion=no brain activity=no blog posts.

So, I am going to try and do a quick few updates and then (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) hopefully begin a more routine blogging schedule.

1) First and foremost. Two of my very best friends got engaged over the past couple weeks. I love each of their fiance's and can't imagine better guys for them to spend their lives with. I am over the moon excited for you two! Love you girls!

2) Hannah turned 3 months old! Where has the time gone?! Her 3 month letter will be coming soon.

3) We went HOUSE HUNTING! EEEEK! So much fun...and stressful! I am not a patient person by any stretch of the imagination...so the 'sit and wait' part of house hunting has not been enjoyable. I do love the excitement of finding a good house online and then running up to see it ifs our "dream" home, though. So I guess there are pluses and minuses. :)

4) Wedding planning has been chugging along! We are now 7 weeks out! Some people have expressed interest in hearing more about wedding planning on this ol' blog....that was my intention in the beginning, but Hannah kind of took over. However, now that I am thinking about it, I don't really know what to post....I don't actually want to show too much because I want everything to be a surprise...but I do want to give updates...any ideas?

5) I DID not link up to the Inspire Me:Healthy thingamabob (technical term) on Thursday because...I forgot.....but I am NOT happy to report that I did not lose any weight. What the H is up with that crap?! I was under the impression that my "body would just melt back to shape" because I am breastfeeding. I am here to report friends that unfortunately, that is just not the case. Yeah, yeah, yeah...you burn 500 extra calories a day by nursing...but do they mention how extra hungry you will be BECAUSE you are burning extra calories. No. No they don't. I eat like its going out of style. I actually get stomach aches if I don't eat every couple hours. I suppose I could just eat an apple (and not a bowl of ice cream) when I get those stomach aches...but where is the fun in that?! Joke! In all seriousness though. Body. Get with the program. Do you not remember that we have to walk down the aisle with 200+ guests watching us in 7 short weeks!?

Those are my updates for now! I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! I am soaking up the sun here in Chelan. :)

Just a weekly update

Sorry for the lack of updates...wedding invitations are going out tomorrow so I spent all my spare time (aka the three 30 minute periods of time throughout the day that Hannah takes a nap) addressing and stuffing invites. But they are all done and I am sticking them in the mail tomorrow. Eeek! Sending out the invitations makes everything seem so real!

Last week we celebrated my brothers girlfriends 21st birthday by going out to The Rock in Bothell.

I'm pretty sure she enjoyed herself. :)

This week Hannah discovered that she has a tongue. She spends about 80% of the day sticking it out and laughs (or tries to) when she figures out how to get it out there.

My mom and I also went and did a little bit of shopping. I picked up a few things for the honeymoon...I didn't get any summer clothes this year because I was/am still enjoying this lovely post pregnancy body and didn't want to spend money on clothes that (crossing my fingers) I'll never fit into again. However, I do need some summery stuff for the honeymoon so I sucked it up and picked up some shorts, tops and dresses. 

We also stopped and got Hannah a few things....I picked her up a little Minnie Mouse for her to take to Disney World when we go...I've been making her carry it and sleep with it, in the hopes that eventually Minnie Mouse will be her little comfort lovie. 

We've got a big weekend ahead of us! Today my Erin Condren planner comes in. I'm SO excited. I can't function without a planner to keep me organized and my Lily Pulitzer planner is about to expire.

Tomorrow, our Realtor (who also happens to be one of my best friends moms) is taking us out to look at some houses. We are over the moon excited to start this adventure! I will be sure to keep everyone updated on how our house hunt goes. 

Then on Sunday we have family pictures/Hannah's 3 month pictures. I can't believe my little monkey is 3 months old on Monday! Time is flying! 

Have a great weekend, lovlies! 

Inspire Me: Healthy Week 1

It's been one week since I got on the Inspire Me: Healthy or for me, 'wedding diet' train and I am happy to report that I lost 5 pounds!!

I am now only 5 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight....but I am aiming to lose an additional 10-15 pounds because my body is VERY different since I had Hannah, and I don't think losing another 5 pounds is going to have me looking like I did before.

But I am happy with my weight loss for the week and it is definitely some great motivation to continue on with my Weight Watchers and Stroller Strides!

I'm a little nervous for next week though, because I not going to be able to make it to any Stroller Strides classes...so I will need to just be careful to be very strict with Weight Watchers.

8 weeks to go before the wedding!!! If that is not motivation to get this butt in gear, I don't know what is!