Pretty Patterns

I've been itching to sew something. I haven't made anything in over a year. I didn't see the point in trying to sew for myself while pregnant and now with a new baby, I just haven't had the time. I've been seeing a lot of cute things that I think to myself "ooooh I'd like to make that".  I'm starting to get ideas and found some fun, new, on trend McCall's patterns (above) I'd like to use. I've seen a lot of off the shoulder dresses recently and I'd love to make one! I've made SOO many peplum tops and dresses, but I do still love them and I love this neckline. It reminds me of the 90's. Last year I was searching everywhere for the cross back cutout pattern! I'm so happy McCall's released this new pattern. I would prefer to add a skirt to it, but I do also like the jumpsuit look.

Hopefully I can get started on a project soon!

Best. Weekend. Ever.

My heart is so full today. We had the best weekend. Seriously, I think Mother's day was better than my birthday! I feel so corny even writing this, but I am just so happy with our life and being a mom.

We started the family fun on Thursday night. Our neighborhood hosts food trucks in the park on Thursday's during the summer months. We strolled down to the park and had dinner. On Friday I found out my best friend is having a daughter. I couldn't be more thrilled for her. It made my day! I'm so happy for her!

Chilling on the deck

Roman is rolling over now!

my new jumpsuit.

 

On Friday we had Dan's poster show. Every year Dan participates in the Indy Film Fest Bigger Picture Show. Each artist is given a movie to portray. It's a really fun event and all of our friends always come out to support Dan. I always look forward to it. This year I was particularly excited as it was the first night I stayed out past Roman's bed time. I had 3.5 beers and stayed out until 11. Woohoo! Success.

On Saturday we had a little family day and also went on a sort of restaurant tour/food binge. We started the day with donuts and coffee at the General American Donut company. 

We ran some errands all morning and then hit Public Greens on the Monon Trail in Broad Ripple for lunch. Excellent fried chicken tenders there. Not your average fried chicken. So good!  

 After lunch we walked over to the Cake Bake as an early Mother's day treat. The Cake Bake is the cutest little shop in Broad Ripple. I can't wait to go back with my sister and mother or friends. It's adorable with it's French influenced décor. It would be a great place to host a little shower or get together with girls! We had the blueberry lemon cake and it was fabulous!

We headed home and my parents came over to watch Roman. As if we hadn't had enough food for the day, we went out for drinks and dinner since we had a babysitter. We always choose Bluebeard on date nights. It's our favorite with it's ever changing menu.

 Sunday I woke up to a surprise from Dan, Roman, and Pancho. We went to church with my parents and ate brunch out on our deck. We spent the afternoon with Dan's side of the family and everyone confirmed what we already think, Roman is the cutest!

So happy!!

It really was a great weekend. I enjoyed all the time spent with family the incredible amount of food we ate!

Roman's Baptism

This past weekend we had Roman baptized at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in our neighborhood. It was such a wonderful day! The weather was beautiful, Roman was so happy the whole mass and it was great to be with our families! Roman wore a baptismal gown that has been in the family for over 90 years! My grandmother wore the gown as well as my aunts, uncles, cousins and myself which made it really special.

Hamming it up during mass.

Godparents Aunt Andi and Uncle JT

 

 

This was the first time I have hosted a dinner at my house. I was excited to use my dishes and nice napkins for once. I used the sear sucker napkins I made a few years ago and folded them like bowties. I really enjoyed getting everything ready for the family dinner!

Zoodles

 

My new favorite thing to make is zoodles! A friend of mine posted on Facebook last week about them and I promptly ordered the Zoodle Slicer from Amazon and we have now had zoodles 3 times in the last week.

 

I love this little tool! It works like a pencil sharpener and is easy to store versus some of the larger vegetable spiral slicers.

 

 

 

I searched recipes and found this one for Zuccini Pad Thai Noodles. I made the sauce according to this recipe and  basically just made a stir fry with the noodles. Here is my recipe.

 

 

Spicy Stir Fry Zoodles

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts or a package of chicken tenders

2 zucchinis

1 red bell pepper (cut into thin slices)

1 cup shredded carrots

3 green onions

chopped cilantro to taste

ginger

cayenne pepper

 

Sauce ingredients:

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar (or regular vinegar)

2 Tbsp fish sauce

3 Tbsp ketchup

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp sweet chili sauce

 

Directions:

1. Prepare sauce by combining ingredients and whisking together.

2. Cut raw chicken into small pieces. Sprinkle ginger and cayenne pepper over chicken for flavor. Pour a small amount of sauce onto chicken and let marinate a few minutes.

3. Use spiral tool to make zucchini noodles and set aside.

4. Slice and cut red bell pepper and green onions

5. Using a small amount of olive oil cook chicken until done. Remove from pan and set aside.

5. Add zoodles, pepper, carrots and green onion to pan. Sauté with sauce.

6. Once vegetables are almost cooked add chicken back in to the pan with cilantro. Toss together and serve.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 Months

It's been 3 months since this little guy entered our lives and while the days (and some nights) are long, time seems to have flown by! Maybe it's still pregnancy brain, but I feel like I have already forgotten things that have happened since he was born. He's getting too big! I want him to stay small, but yet I can't wait for him to get bigger and hit all the milestones (sleeping through the night, sitting up, etc.) I am looking forward to the warmer weather and can't wait to be outside all summer with Roman.

Roman weighed 13lbs at his 2 month appointment, so he's is really getting big. He has grown out of so many little clothes. I feel sad already packing them up when he only wore them once or twice.

A friend asked me the other day if I loved being a mom and I truly do. I can't even believe I am a mom, but I get it now. I get all the clichés, for sure. I honestly never smiled more in my life. Nothing is cuter than a baby reacting to your smile and voice. It's a happiness I can't describe.  Pure joy. And it gets better and better. While my free time is gone and my life is completely different, it's awesome all the same.

I went back to work at 10 weeks and I am working from home 2 days a week while I care for Roman. It's difficult, to say the least, but it works for now and has turned out to be a great transition period for us. When I am at work, I wish I was with Roman and when I am at home a small part of me wishes I was at my desk. I'm pretty pleased with how it works for us.

Thankfully my mom has made trips up to see us every few weeks allowing Dan and I to go on dinner dates. Some friends even offered to babysit on Valentines day, which was another opportunity for us to get out alone. We have recently been taking Roman with us more to do things, but it always makes us so anxious. I'm sure it will get easier the more we do it. We are currently looking for babysitters in our neighborhood in anticipation of summer weddings and outings.

Overall things couldn't be much better and we are truly smitten with our little guy.

Baby's first pair of jeans

wearing a bow tie on Valentine's day

Baby shades

Roman loves bath time

 

Hanging out with Pancho

 

Getting better at holding and playing with toys

Spring Shoes

 

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7.

8. 9. 10.

 

I love this time of year when you can pack your boots away! (Fingers crossed, no more snow!) I'm ready to transition into flats and sandals for the summer.

 

Last year I bought a version of these peep toe ankle boots in nude and I loved them so much that I want a pair of black now too!

 

I really wish I had an occasion to buy and wear these blue fringe heels. They come in black and taupe too. I would take any color!

 

BCBG makes a great knock off version of the Valentino Rockstud pump. Comes in 5 colors from DSW. Great price!

 

I have all the basic (black, nude, gold) flat sandals already so this year I am looking for some pretty colors! I really like the coral Steve Madden ones!

A Baby Story

I can't believe it's been a month since this new little person entered our lives. I have been meaning to blog, but just haven't had the time. We are overcome with joy and love for our new baby! The birth was unexpected, difficult, but amazing at the same time.

On Saturday December 20th I worked out and took pictures of my giant belly. We went to dinner and binge watched TV shows all night. I had accepted that the baby might not come before Christmas as I had hoped and that we might even still be waiting on New Years Eve. The due date was December 30th.

I woke up at 5am on Sunday December 21st to feel my water had broken. I was pretty sure and yelled  to Dan from the bathroom the good news. We called the doctor who said to take our time, but to head to the hospital. From some of my friend's experiences I knew we had a little time. We both showered, got ready, ate breakfast and finished packing. We headed to the hospital around 6:30 am.

We spent some time in triage to confirm my water had broken. I was not, however dilated. Once confirmed, we were admitted to the hospital and my contractions started. I labored for a few hours, but was still only dilated at 1. We began Pitocin to speed up the process after several hours of not dilating past 2. I continued to labor all day and finally made the decision around 5pm to get an epidural. I thought I was only dilated at 2, but I was actually at 5. The Pitocin had worked! Once I had the epidural, I felt SO much better! Seriously I don't know why people (and myself) force ourselves to wait. Contractions are awful!

I continued to labor, but felt nothing! Woohoo! Around this time the baby's heart rate was dropping as we continued with the Pitocin. Things got a little blurry for me during this time. They stopped giving me Pitocin and I had to wear an oxygen mask. Once things were settled we had to decide how to proceed. The nurses helped me lay in different positions to get the baby to drop and dilate more. Since backing off the Pitocin things were not progressing. We started the Pitocin again and monitored the baby's heart rate with an internal monitor. Again, the heart rate would drop.

During this time the doctor spoke to us about the possibility of having a C-section. We discussed our options and decided to continue to try some things to get the labor to progress. After a few hours we realized it wasn't working and the C-section was the best option. Admittedly, I did not want a C-section but knew it was the healthiest option for both the baby and I. After 20 hours of labor, I put aside my fears and went confidently into surgery.

I can't speak highly enough of our surgical team. From the nurses, to the anesthesiologist, and the doctor. It all went so well! I couldn't feel a thing, but was aware of everything going on. Everyone was so nice and so excited and happy for us. It was such a great experience!

During the surgery the nurses got all excited and started commenting on all the hair the baby had as they pulled him out. In my head I thought, here it comes they are going to say "it's a girl" but instead the doctor announced "it's a boy". I have never been so shocked and thrilled in my life. Dan and I were ecstatic! Our baby boy was born Monday December 22nd at 1:04am! He weighed 8 pounds and measured 21 inches.

Dan happily announced to our waiting families the good news and returned to me and the baby. I spent the night recovering from the C-Section. By morning we decided to name him Roman Oliver. Over the next few days our parents visited and the nurses took great care of us. We asked to leave early on Christmas Eve and made our way home as a family of 3.

Laboring

3 Generations

 Since being home we have had so many wonderful visitors! We celebrated Christmas with both of our families at our house and then had the quietest New Years Eve we have ever had.

We are certainly exhausted, sometimes frustrated but overall thrilled with our new son! We take a million pictures and comment "awwww" all day long at his every movement. What a miracle and blessing we have!

 

Roman is 1 month old today! He weighs 10 pounds and 2 oz.