Life Lately

Well hey there...it's only been about 5 months. Sheesh. I'm not good at this blogging thing. But today is a big day so I feel the need to blog it out. Mama turns the big 2-5 today. Yikes. Trying not to get too much in my head about that. For some reason 25 just sounds so much older than 24. I think the biggest issues I'm dealing with is that I really thought 25 would be the year when we would have a second child and that isn't in the cards for us this year. Maybe more about that in another post...I just don't have the energy to go into all of that now.

Anyhow. Life has been pretty mellow around here. Adelyn is learning new things everyday and constantly amazing me. She has 7 teeth (almost 8) and is learning to chatter up a storm. It feel likes just within this past week she's really started to jabber constantly and can repeat almost anything I ask her to say on the first try. Sometimes that comes back to bite us in the butt. Time to start censoring ourselves around her :x

Adelyn has been on an awesome sleep schedule lately of sleeping in until like 9am. Which is cool except then she's up until like 9pm every night and mommy and daddy are in bed as soon as she is. Not a lot of down time together. But I sure do enjoy the relaxing mornings and alone time before she wakes up :)

We're just doing life around here and we're pretty boring homebodies. I'll just post pictures because we really don't have a lot going on in our lives but we do have a really cute kid!

Adelyn loves walks with Gigi and Papa and their dog, Luna :)

Apple picking this fall

Daddy went out to buy her a coat and came home with her first car haha

Helping Daddy put up the tree

These two <3

So there's a quick update! Hopefully it won't be another 5 months before I blog again...I really want to get better about blogging and having our family memories down somewhere so we can look back on them one day when our kids are all grown up :)

New Beauty Routine

Ok so I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog...but lately I've been researching a lot (aka reading everything Food Babe and Mama Natural post on Facebook) about all of the harmful chemicals in our beauty supplies. So I've started a few new routines using kitchen supplies! 

But first...some holiday pictures from last weekend :)

Adelyn and my cousin Alyssa throwing shade :)

Patriotic girl

Loving on Aunt Hanna...unless you look closer and see that she was really trying to shove her fingers in her mouth...

Happy 4th from the Nelsons!

Anywho...on to this new night time face washing routine I've started. It all started when I found this website: http://www.mamanatural.com/good-bad-ugly-beauty/

Seriously....everything we were using was in the bad category :/ This list was pretty overwhelming to me at first so I decided to just try to improve one category at a time.

Skin care was the first thing I decided to change...I'm HORRIBLE about remembering to wash my face at night. I rarely wear make up (score one....no bad chemicals on my face if I just don't wear make up!) so I don't want to take the time to wash my face...which is awful. 

Really...the past week or so I've seen SO much improvement on my complexion because of JP capsules! Amazing what good nutrition will do for your skin! But it was seeing these improvements that made me think hmmm how great can my skin look if I actually start taking care of it!

So Monday night I decided to try washing my face with lemon and honey. Just cut a lemon in half, put a few drops of honey on it and rub it around your face. Let it sit for 5 minutes (I just wait until my skin starts to feel kind of weird because of the honey drying) and then rinse it off. 

I follow this up with an apple cider vinegar toner. 1 part ACV to 2 parts water, dip a cotton ball in it, rub it around on your face. Rinse. At first I thought my skin smelled too much like vinegar but once you rinse it isn't too bad.

Last step...coconut oil moisturizer! I went to Whole Foods yesterday and got some organic extra virgin coconut oil (the pinterest article I read suggested this because it would have  lower melting point and wouldn't clog pores). I scooped some in a bowl, mixed it with a hand mixer until it was a creamy, lotion-y texture, then put it in a small 4 oz mason jar that I bought at Target. It feels weird to put oil on your face and just leave it there and it definitely doesn't take much. My face smelled like coconut...which was weird in a good way. By the time I actually went to sleep, my face didn't even feel greasy anymore. This morning, my face is SO soft. Seriously...awesome!

And the best part is...no harmful chemicals! Raw, local honey. Organic ACV. Organic coconut oil. Such an easy replacement.

Eventually, I want to make improvements in all of the areas listed on the website, but we're also on a pretty tight budget. I'm excited to keep doing this nightly routine and see improvements in my skin!

Confession Friday!

Hey it's only been a couple months since anyone has heard from me...not too bad, right?! I'm a terrible blogger...but I'm hoping to really make this a regular thing...at least once a week. And now that I've said that, someone please hold me accountable! Haha.

So I figured confession fridays are an easy way to get back in the swing of it...so here we go!

I confess that I posted this picture on Facebook last night and it got a lot of positive feedback!

I hate being that person who posts food photos but it is one of the first vegan, gluten-free meals I've ever made! It was a gluten-free meals recipe for rice and beans with cilantro and tomatoes with jalapeños and lime juice. And it was good! The rice and beans could have used a little kick for my taste...I will be trying it with hot sauce next time!

Jake has been telling me I should blog about the healthy changes we've been making in our life lately, but it was official once blogging queen Cassie commented and told me I needed to blog about it!

To stick with the health confessions, I confess I've been having whole food based protein shakes for breakfast for a few weeks now. So filling and so much better for me than the cereal and milk I was eating.

A not so healthy confession: last night after we ate that amazing, healthy meal, we broke down and got ice cream for dessert. You win some, you lose some...and nobody is perfect!

I confess that the babe is watching some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while I write. I don't like letting her watch a ton of tv but she LOVES this show so much that I can't say no. If she even sees the tv or apple tv remote she freaks out because she wants to watch it. Cray baby.

I confess that it's a been a lazy, pajama morning for the Nelson girls this morning. And we're obviously really happy about it :)

I confess that no matter how old Adelyn gets, I don't think anything will make me happier than seeing her smile and hearing her laugh. I just think she's the cutest :)

I confess that I got a gym membership for the purpose of going to the fitness classes but I'm pretty self-conscience about going...I'm not sure I'm ready to show the world my Zumba moves :x

I confess that Jake and I have been staying up way too late over the past few weeks. And by late, I mean like 11pm. What happened to 9pm bedtime for parents? For reals...momma needs her beauty rest.

I think that's about all I have for now...not any really juicy confessions but a good way to jump back in to blogging! I'm looking forward to blogging about my successes and failures with our journey to be healthier! I promise to include my failures, too. NO ONE is perfect and eats perfectly all the time. I'm human and I fail. I break down and get a soda...or ice cream...or fast food. But the goal is to get less and less of the bad and more and more of the good! I'm excited for any of my readers (are any of you left out there?!) to come along this journey with me! And I promise it won't all be crunchy health nut posts...I'm still a normal person...promise ;)

My baby is ONE!

Yesterday was a fun filled day of birthday festivities for Adelyn! I wanted to write it all down and give her a blog birthday shout out...but it will have to be a quick one because she's refusing to nap this morning even though she was completely passed out when I laid her in her crib...it's always something.

Anywho...yesterday started out like this

My mom sent me this idea on pinterest.

She LOVED it! Which is good because I tried putting her in there with them again later and she sobbed until I picked her up.

This was quickly followed by cupcake eating and a horribly out of tune rendition of Happy Birthday...my husband and I are NOT singers, y'all...so no one will be watching our home videos :)

When my husband was growing up, they always got hostess cupcakes for breakfast on their birthday so he brought some home the night before so Adelyn could experience the tradition :)

She caught on quickly....

She napped. Woke up and we got some pictures for her monthly photos before leaving to see her grandparents!

These photos...this was the most difficult one yet.

If she wasn't constantly trying to climb off the couch....

...she was sitting in the most un-ladylike positions ever or....

...doing her big cheesy grin.

We finally managed to get one that seemed acceptable so I quit while I was (semi) ahead.

After that we went and visited Jake's mom at her work, then Jake's dad and sister, Hanna, at their house. 

Then we went to my parents' house, ate dinner, ate cupcakes, then grandpa rocked her to sleep. She woke up right as my mom and I were starting our family book club discussion via google+ so Adelyn got to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Aunt Bekah.

We came home and daddy put her to bed!

All in all, it was a fun day! It involved multiple servings of cupcakes...so could it really be a bad day?

Now for the mushy, cliche stuff...I can NOT believe my baby is ONE! A toddler. Soon to be walking. And then talking. And then back sassing...haha.

In all seriousness, Adelyn, this first year of parenting has been a challenge. I've grown and developed as a person so much over the past year and I have you (and God) to thank for that. We have our ups and downs (which mostly correlate to how well you nap...haha) but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I'm so proud to be your mom. I'm so happy I get to spend each and every day with you, watching you learn and grow and develop.

I'm so excited to spend many many more years watching you enter many new stages of life!

Just don't grow up too fast :)

I love you to the moon and back, sweet girl!

Weekend Wrap Up and a Birthday Week!

Tomorrow...my baby turns 1. This has been so much weightier for me than I thought it would be. She will always be MY baby but by the world's definition, tomorrow she becomes a toddler. 

That's a big word, folks. 

I love watching her grow and learn through every stage but sometimes I miss my snuggly, cuddly little baby. Wahhh.

Anyhow...before I start crying...on to this weekend.

Jake took Friday off, Adelyn got dropped off with my parents, and then we were on the road to Nashville to see Nicole (Jake's sister) play a show.

My husband's selfie face.

The show was amazing! For real y'all...download Stronger Hearts by Nicole Nelson on iTunes...you won't be disappointed. And visit nicolenelsonofficial.com and like her Facebook page...that's my sales pitch...I'm done now :)

We crashed at the hotel around 1am...which was way too late for my old self.

Saturday morning we took our time getting up and getting ready and then went out to lunch with Jake's family. Pharmacy burger did not disappoint...so good! I was craving a burger and fries and they hit the spot!

We then made an obligatory Starbucks trip before getting back on the road to get home to our baby!

Spent the night hanging out with my family, then Jake's family once they got home. Adelyn decided to take a few steps...multiple times...no biggie, right? Just walking, mom.

Also...my parents taught her to crawl up the stairs. And she decided to only crawl on all fours now. No more army crawling. She grew up over night...no joke. 

Pardon the cell phone pics...stole them from Jake's mom's Facebook account :) it was a fun 24 hours in Nashville!

Sunday we took it easy. We got to bed way too late on Saturday night. Baby didn't nap much all weekend so she slept in. I really wish we could have gone to church but it just didn't happen after such a long, busy weekend :(

Instead, we went to Sam's...my first time doing actual shopping for myself there. Holy. Cow.

I felt like I was in a store for giants...like who needs 40 poptarts at one time? Goodness....

Then we did some yard work at home.

Clarification...Daddy did yard work...Adelyn didn't want to nap so we played with sticks in the driveway.

She just seems so big to me! And she's so observant...or nosey...whichever you prefer. So much changes in a year.

We watched Frozen Sunday afternoon since we're pretty much the last people alive to see it. Adelyn was just super hungry all afternoon so she didn't want to watch it for more than 20 minutes at a time without taking a break for food. A girl after my own heart.

We got her to bed fairly early and then just took our time relaxing Sunday night. Jake is awesome and vacuumed and swiffered the first floor.

Because we finally have a working vacuum again!

Best 30 dollar ever spent...4 year warranty through Best Buy...replaced our broken vacuum without even turning it on to make sure it was actually broken. Gave us a brand new one. And we most definitely purchased the warranty again.

We ate some ice cream. Watched some tv. It was relaxing.

Then I got this selfie this morning while I was out getting blood work done...

These two....so adorable :)

Now the baby (yes I'm going to use that word about a million times today while I still can) is awake! So excited to spend her birthday week with her and to celebrate on Saturday!

Weekend Wrap Up

I'm determined not to fall of this blogging wagon for months on end again. So while our weekend was fairly boring, here it is!

I've been sick for the last week...not ben really sick. Just allergies...and a horrible cough that gets so bad at night that I'm not sleeping very well. So momma's been sleeping on the couch and daddy has been getting up with the baby at night if she wakes up. God bless him...he's the best!

Friday - my friend Kristen just got back from Thailand a month ago and she was supposed to come over but with how crappy I was feeling, that didn't work out. 

 I can't even remember what else we did.  I think Friday was the day that Adelyn took 2 awesome naps for the first time in weeks...and hasn't done that since then. Homegirl was all about skipping her afternoon naps and now she's skipping her morning ones. Momma can't catch a break.

Jake got home...I think Friday night was the night we went out and got dinner and brought it back home. Little Caesar's for Jake, Moe's and Smoothie King for me.

Adelyn wouldn't let me drink my smoothie without demanding a sip of her own. Now that she's figured out straws, it's hopeless to try and drink anything around her.

Boring night. We went to bed early I think. 

Saturday - I was supposed to go to the STS opening with Courtney but I'm coughing up my lungs currently and needed to catch up on some relaxing.

Jake let me sleep in a little...then he did a lot of housework that I've been slacking on because I'm basically a walking zombie. Ayiyi. See a theme over this weekend?

Jake's mom came over for a little bit and hung out with Adelyn and ate dinner with us. She watched Adelyn while we went to the store to get the ingredients to make "slutty brownies"...because my husband is all class.

Cookie dough, oreos, brownie mix. They're actually pretty good. 

We ate brownies and started watching a really crappy movie on netflix. We turned it off before we finished it and went to bed early again.

Sunday - Church in the morning....I'm ready for warmer weather so Adelyn can wear her cute spring and summer clothes to church!

The sermon was awesome...convicting and humbling and just what I needed!

After church I cleaned a little and Jake did some yard work and finally took our Christmas lights down...don't judge.

My mom and sister came over and we ate lunch.

Jake took a nap, my sister watched Adelyn, and my mom and I did a little more shopping for Adelyn's birthday...mostly just stuff for the cake and favor bags for the kids. It was a good afternoon!

Adelyn skipped her afternoon nap...of course...so she went to bed fairly early and Jake and I ate dinner and watched Jobs...loved it! I read the Steve Jobs book and it was super interesting to me so I loved seeing it all acted out. That man may have been a ginormous jerk but he was also a genius. And since I'm writing this all up on my Macbook...I have to say thanks to him!

Adelyn woke us up screaming at 1am...Jake went in to change her while I went down to make her bottle, as usual. All the sudden Jake is yelling for me to come up and help him when I can. Homegirl had pooped ALLLLL the way up her back. She even had poop on her arm. 

Guh-ross. 

So we took a bath at 1 in the morning.

Then we overslept this morning by over an hour. Whoops.

I don't have any pictures from this weekend...I figured no one wanted a picture of me sleeping on the couch or Adelyn's poopy nightmare. So here's a picture from Thursday!

I went to my parents' house and my mom and I made Adelyn's birthday banner!

Just need to add some baby pictures to it and it will be ready to hang in our house for the party! Can't believe her birthday is just 2 weeks away! Where did the time go?

So that was our super lame weekend....although with a baby, nothing is ever too boring :) 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Ohhhh this weekend...sigh. Why do the weekends go by so quickly? Why do they start off like a completely blank slate and then suddenly plans on top of plans on top of plans fill them up? Why is it always the weekends when the babies in the world decide not to sleep? Life's questions...

What did we do this weekend? My sleep deprived brain can't even remember.

Friday - Our parents' church was having their missions conference and one of our friends was speaking at the conference. 

So we trekked the 45 minutes to our hometown. 

Ate pizza. 

Caught up with some friends we haven't seen in awhile. 

It was a good night. A late night.

She's pretty cute...if I do say so myself.

 So good to see Blake and Angie!

Saturday - Jake was on fussy/sick baby duty while I went out to get coffee with Courtney, a friend from church. 

We sat and drank coffee and talked for almost THREE hours...clearly mamas needed some socialization.

After that I suggested that we go out to either lunch or dinner to celebrate Jake's raise! So proud of him and all the hard work he does! 

Since Adelyn was covering everyone in snot every time she sneezed sick, we decided she probably didn't need to go out with us. So we went back to Jake's parent's house and they babysat Adelyn while we went out and got burgers. Jake's choice :)

Then we hung out with my parents for a little bit. Came home. Played with Adelyn. I put her to bed while Jake got us ice cream!

She cried and fussed and coughed and sneezed and eventually fell asleep.

We went up to bed around 10pm. She was waking up crying every 10-15 minutes because she was so stuffed up she couldn't breathe. So I went and sat in her rocking chair in her room and played a lot of Candy Crush and Disney trivia on QuizUp while she slept. It was exhausting but I mostly just felt awful for her. She wouldn't let me put her down without crying because she would instantly get super congested again.
However, she did turn 11 months old! Can't believe it's less than a month until I have a toddler. Where did the time go?!

Such a big girl!

Sunday - Jake got up with Adelyn around 7:30...which meant I could go to sleep! Yay!

I slept on and off from about 8 to noon.

 I hate sleeping that late into the day because half the day is gone already but I didn't have a choice after getting no sleep the night before.

Jake took care of Adelyn (and me) for the day. We watched Catching Fire while she took a nap. 

Then it was a night of laundry and cleaning up the house.

We were in bed a little after 9 and asleep by 10! 

PTL she actually slept last night....even if she woke me up with her coughing on more than one occasion.

A good weekend overall! Low-key but not too boring :)

And now either my sinuses are swelling my throat, I'm getting what Adelyn has, or I'm starting to get strep. My throat is hurting something fierce right now. So once Adelyn finally decides to take this nap (pretty please, baby!) it's nap time for mama, too.

Sometimes mommas need a day off...

After the whiny cry fest that was yesterday morning (both on Adelyn's and my part) Jake decided to take a vacation day today so I could get a break.

A break includes, but is not limited to: grocery shopping alone, vacuuming while the baby is awake with no fear of waking her up, cleaning the bathrooms while she is awake with no fear of waking her up, showering during the day, and heading up to Barnes and Noble to spend some quiet time with God in a place that isn't my home. Oh and blogging for the second day in a row. Holler.

I love my husband. Just for being him, obviously. But I appreciate his awareness of when I'm struggling and in need of a break and his willingness to take over. He's pretty much a super hero. I don't know how he does it all.

Even though yesterday morning got off to a horrific rough start, it ended on a better note. Once Adelyn finally decided a nap was a good idea, she slept for 2 hours.

Hallelujah.

We then went to the mall because spring is approaching and a new season means....new bath and body work soaps and candles...obvs.

Then I made the mistake of going up to The Children's Place. They make 4 dollar tshirts that my child will wear all of once before she grows again sound like a steal. Ayiyi. I'm super stingy about how much clothing costs...but anything for the princess.

Anyhow, I realized Adelyn didn't have an Easter dress yet! And since it's her first Easter, this is obviously a priority.

We left with this gem. Love love love!

The best part was this sweater we got with it...for 4 bucks. I got both the dress and sweater for what the original price of the dress was. That's a win in my book. 

We also went into Gymboree. Big mistake. Not as cheap as The Children's Place. Although that Cherry Blossom collection...it took a lot of will power to leave without any of it.

As we were heading out of the store an elderly woman walked by with her middle aged son. She saw Adelyn in the stroller and said hi. I smiled and almost kept walking but stopped and said hi to the woman and she went on and on about how cute Adelyn was and what a pretty name she had and so on and so forth. Her son told me she was a mother of 14 (!) so she couldn't help but stop and look at babies while they were out. I was happy to stop and brighten this woman's day just by having a baby with me but as we were leaving the son thanked me multiple times for stopping and almost seemed apologetic.

I'm not telling this story to make myself look good or get credit for being nice. I'm, probably too pridefully, thrilled when people want to stop and say how cute my baby is. I think she's pretty much the cutest. It obviously made that woman's day to stop and talk to my baby for 2 minutes, tops, so why would her son feel the need to apologetically thank me? I'm sure I put off the persona of the "busy" mom the whole time I was in the mall. We had nowhere to be and no schedule but I was rushing through the mall, all the same. We're just a fast paced and busy society that we feel guilty when we "waste" someone's time or hinder their plans in any way. I left feeling a little guilty that I may have done anything to make them feel like they were inconveniencing me in any way.

I'm writing this story as a reminder to myself...1) Because I started rereading my blog yesterday and some of my favorite stories are the every day things that happened that I forgot about until I read them and 2) To remind myself to be more flexible. To be more giving of my time. To always take the time to stop and talk to the little old lady who loves babies. To take the time to brighten anyone's day when it's possible. I don't ever want to get so wrapped up in my own "busy" life that I don't take the time to do life with those around me, whether their friends, family, or strangers.

Anyhow...I'll stop being philosophical now. Time to get started on the day's chores...plus there's a CUTE little girl jabbering away at a remote control right now...clearly it's VERY interesting.

Why hello, stranger

I can't even remember the last time I blogged. Not that we've been busy...I've just gotten out of the habit...but I feel like it is definitely time to start again. It will probably be sporadic. Not that there's many people out there who read this. Who knows, maybe one day it will warm up here and we can get out of this house and have something to write about.

Let's see...Adelyn is almost 11 months old. Holy cow.

I've started planning a birthday party. Because I almost have a 1 year old.

A toddler.

What the what.

We were playing a game I found on an app. I hid a ball under a bowl and she was supposed to pick up the bowl to find the ball. Well apparently bowls are way more fun to play with. Lesson learned.

This app though...Knoala. So amazing. Yesterday seemed like such a breeze.

It has activities that it suggests for your child based on their age and the weather.

You can choose indoor, outdoor, bath time activities, etc. You can choose cognitive, emotional, artistic, and other skill sets to work on. So awesome.

A stay at home momma's dream. At least mine.

I think my biggest struggle with staying at home is finding something to keep miss thang entertained.

She's at the age where she's so interested in everything but she isn't super independent yet.

She's so strong willed, though. She knows what she wants.

She knows she may not be able to get to what she wants but you can. So she'll cry at you until you do things her way.

It's going to be a long 18 years.

Seriously though...I love being home with her. But it's HARD.

Today Jake went into work like 4 hours late because she's teething (perpetually...for about the last 6 months) and was just a total fuss bucket alllll morning.

There were tears. And not just from the baby.

But I wouldn't trade it for anything. There are moments where I would love a job out of the home to get to disconnect for awhile and have some social interaction but I also can't imagine doing all the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, baby hugging and kissing, and not being home for 40+ hours a week. Major props to you moms who work out of the house. You have so much of my respect. 

Also, PTL that Jake has a job with flexible hours where he can go in 4 hours late and just take some PTO...this momma would be even crazier than she already is without that.

The baby is stirring and that means it's time to go grocery shopping...and maybe just maybe walk around the mall and stock up on some springtime bath & body works soap and candles!

Happy Wednesday!