Benjamin is ONE

Our sweet Benjamin is now one. We could never imagine a year of bright smiles, laughs, and memories could by so fast.

We celebrated last weekend with our family.

Adorable fox cakes! The best part is the tail coming around the side!
We went with a fox theme mostly because I always have loved little fox stuff.  Even when we were decorating his nursery I chose fox accents here and there.
I felt like this was the only time I get to choose the theme. Next year he will probably be into Mickey or Paw Patrol...this year..I had all the say!

He received sooo many nice presents. A wagon, a slide, a truck... those are only the gifts from his grandparents and us! This kid is set. He's having a ball playing with them all.

He dug into the cake. It was a long day for him, he fell asleep with cake in his hand! 

Cake banner, custom long sleeved t-shirt, and both the ONE & BENJAMIN pendant banners were all custom made by PorterDesignCo
Cake by The Cake Lady.


Related: 
He's Here!
Ben's Vintage Inspired Nursery
Being a Mama..so far

Being a Mama..so far

I normally like to stick to house stuff on the blog, but want to share a little of our family life too. We'll be back to regularly scheduled house stuff tomorrow. And back to posting once or more a week too!

If I would have had time, I would have posted this BEFORE Mother's Day. But one of the things I've learned in the 3 short months of being a mom is that things no longer are on my schedule. Someone else runs the show now and his name is Benjamin.

photo credit AB Photography

I've learned so much already and love every day with this kid. He's adorable even when he's mad. I still have a weepy melt-y heart when he smiles and giggles. I can't explain how much I love this sweet baby.

We get millions questions from friends and family, so I thought I'd cover the basics here for those in blogland interested in how we are doing too.

HIS BIRTH:
Let's skip the birth story...I will spare you the real details of his birth--here's the short version:
Went to sleep Friday night at 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant and really crabby about it.
I woke up at 3:30 a.m. because my back hurt. Outside we were having a lovely Illinois snowstorm. I quickly realized as the back pain was getting really intense...it was labor pain. Adam loaded up the car and called our parents. Then my water broke. We made it to the hospital in the snow and ice...with not much time to spare. Ben was born at 6:37 a.m.
Thank god we have a Jeep, not sure we'd have made it into town with any other vehicle. The on call doctor apparently does not have a Jeep, because she could not make it to the birth.
Everything happened so quickly. I was not prepared for such an intense and fast arrival. There was not even time for the 'you won't feel a thing' drugs I heard so much about!

SLEEP:

He's a fabulous sleeper. I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying that out loud!

I was prepared for many many sleepless nights with this kid. But he started sleeping through the night at just 3 weeks old. I'm sure he will go through a time when this is not the case, but we're enjoying it while it lasts! We are lucky. But it's not all luck.
I believe we can give ourselves an itty bitty bit of credit too. I believe in a routine.  Kiddo gets a bath at 8 p.m. every night, swaddled, and fed...then put to sleep. Routine is the key. When we didn't do this, we would notice a big difference in his sleeping.  Now, he will still wake up here and there for a late night feeding. But I'd say 9/10 nights he sleeps from 8:30pm-6:30am. 

Routine. Routine and a good sound machine. The keys to getting a good night sleep in my house!

Baptism weekend.

EATING:

I chose to nurse Ben. It was hard at first. It was painful. It was stressful. It still is sometimes. We are both learning and teaching each other. Our hospital is wonderful and sends a nurse to your home shortly after you give birth to help with breastfeeding and baby care. 

For the first month and a half he was nursing every two hours during the day. It was exhausting and stressful. I felt like I never had a break. After awhile we got the hang of it and figured each other out. Now he only eats 6 times a day, and almost on a pretty good schedule. Again, routine makes life easier on everybody in our house.

PUMPING: 

I hate it. I hate finding time to pump. I've had to sneak away from family get-togethers and parties to pump. I've pumped while driving. I've pumped in a parking lot. I've pumped while everyone else is sleeping and I only want to sleep. It stinks. Scheduling pumping time is a pita. However, it's paying off. I have a small supply of freezer stash. This will ensure I get much needed time away from baby.  I will need to figure out an entire new pumping routine when I go back to work (next week!).

GEAR:

I love my Boba wrap. I used this thing several times a day in the first two months. Now we only use it a few times a week since there is less sleeping and more playing and awake time. But I will for sure take it with me while we are on the go this summer. Ben loves being close to me in it and usually snuggles up and naps. I was nervous about learning how to tie it up safely but it's SO simple. A quick Youtube search and you are ready to baby wear!

We also have a BabyBjorn, but haven't use it yet. We purchased it used off a local parent site so we didn't get an instruction booklet with it and it came all buckled weird. We just have to take the time to get it all buckled correctly and we will try it. Any tips on the BabyBjorn are appreciated!

If you are an expecting mom get yourself a Sound Machine. This is one item I did not register for but Adam's cousin Laura gifted to us. She swears by it and now I do too. It's great to cover up noise when Ben is asleep. He goes to bed at 8:30 every night, but we don't. He can't hear us if we are watching a movie, or putting away dishes. We don't feel like we need to tiptoe around when baby is asleep.

Me & Ben & BobaWrap

Adam giving Scout a pep talk on Ben's first day home.

BABY & SCOUT:
We weren't really too worried about Scout & Ben. We've seen Scout play with our nephews, or with our friends' kids, and he loves them. They jump on him and pull his tail, and snuggle him and Scout smiles away and runs around with them the entire time. We knew Ben and him would be fast friends. My mom on the other hand was sure Scout was going to "bite the baby's butt" and Scout would be banished to their house to live. Sorry mom. I think she secretly wanted Scout to just ever so lightly nibble Ben's bum because they miss having a dog at their house.

When we brought Ben home from the hospital Scouty was curious and interested. Naturally he wanted to give Ben a sniff several times a day. Only once we saw him put his nose inside the bassinet though. Mostly he'd just peek and sniff. Now he sits by us every day while I nurse Ben, and I know they we be best buddies as soon as Ben is on the move.  Scout surprisingly respects Ben's toys. We only have to tell Scout 'NO' once each time a new toy comes out.  We're pretty impressed with his manners. However, I do have to say when Ben is upset and having a crying fit Scout quickly excuses himself to the other room. He's not much help.

Proud big brother Scout.  | photo credit AB Photography

DIAPERS:

Boy do we go through these things like crazy. Much less now than when he was just a tiny newborn. But they still aren't cheap! My advice to expecting mamas: sign up for Amazon mom. Diapers shipped to your door--the last thing you want to do with your precious 2 hours of free time between feedings and away from baby is to schlep to Walmart.

So far our favorite brands are Luvs and Target Up & Up brand. Blowouts contained 99% of the time versus those higher priced Pampers.

In all, I love being Ben's mama. It's weird sometimes to think 'I'm a MOM.' My friends even agreed with me this weekend. I'm the first one in this group of friends to have a kiddo. Yep, it is weird.
But, it's also so wonderful.

Did I miss anything? What else do you want to know? I've got all kinds of expert new mom wisdom now. Hah, I kid I kid.
I go back to work on Monday. Any tips for me? I already know this one...no mascara!

Ben's Vintage Inspired Nursery

Photos of Ben's nursery are here! I'll provide more detailed info on our DIYs in the room in a later post. Today, we'll just share the vintage goodness!


Vintage Rocking horse, a gift from Ben's Great Aunt Wendy sits in front of his Jenny Lind crib.

This giraffe used to hang in my childhood bedroom.

My dad made this zen garden for me a few years back. It sits on his side table.

A view of one side of the room.
The chair is missing from the room right now, as it sits in our bedroom for now.

The bookshelf was a DIY which we will share later in the details post!

Plenty of room for more books!

I used scrap fabric from the baby showers to tie back these Ikea curtains.

This corner of the room turned out perfect. The dresser was a DIY makeover. Can't wait to share this makeover... you won't believe the crazypants "before"!

We used the Billy from Cardboard Safari above the changing table. We'll talk about this DIY with you coming up too!

You may remember this hilarious President Scout print from Uncommon Goods I shared a few months ago.

His mobile was a gift from a dear friend.  It goes perfect in the room, and is something I would have chosen for the nursery myself.

All photo credit in this post goes to the talented Andrea Beltz from AB Photography. She did our newborn photos which we L-O-V-E and snapped a few photos of the nursery for us too! Sharing one of our favorites of little Benjamin below.

Isn't that face the sweetest? Happy Friday!

Oh, p.s. A reminder we have a GIVEAWAY going on right now with Body After Baby! Ends in a few days! Awesome for new moms, expecting moms too...would be a great baby shower gift too! Enter here!

Ben's Vintage Inspired Nursery: Preview

Ben's room is not done yet. Will it ever be done? Like the rest of our home, I'm sure I will always be changing out the decor and adding something else to the DIY list.

The BIG reveal will come super soon. Today we've got a few sneaky preview shots!

Way back in November I shared our nursery inspiration and a few flea market finds. We mostly stuck to our ideas, and added a few other items to the room.

We talked about how there wasn't really a theme in the room other than "cute old stuff we like". We pretty much stuck to our ideas, and even did a few DIYs in the room I can't wait to share with you...

More to come!

And, in case you missed it, BabyN's birth announcement on the blog!

He's Here!

Introducing Benjamin Henry.

Ben was born during a snowstorm Saturday February 21st at 6:37 a.m. Everyone is healthy and happy.
We're taking a short break from the blog and enjoying our sweet boy and taking 1 million photos of him. We will be back next week!


P.S. If you want to see a few more baby photos..and maybe some sneaks of the nursery...follow us on Instagram!

Baby Boy N: Nursery Inspiration and Purchases (Flea Market Finds!)

Ever since we found out we are having a boy I have been pinning and daydreaming about the perfect little boy's nursery. Take a look at some of my pins to give you an idea of where we are heading...

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Adam and I both love old maps. The tiny school chair in the above photo is oh-so-adorable too. Simple room, yet makes a statement.

The nursery below is simple and has a similar style crib to the one above, only they kept the wood tone for has a more traditional look. It's the Jenny Lind crib in dark cherry, which is what we have picked out for the nursery.
I just love that it's not big and boxy like most cribs today. Those just aren't our thing. It does convert to a toddler bed too. I can't wait to get it set up in the room so we can figure out what the layout will be!

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Our color scheme is similar to this next photo. I swooned over this kid's room a little when I saw it last week. Again, the vintage map made it's way into the room, and another cute school chair or two.

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 Another one of my favorite nursery pins: Simple, rustic, traditional, and globes instead of maps!

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Are you noticing a trend with the cribs, the maps, the color schemes and textures? I sure did when I reviewed my pin board.

We found an old leather-like chair at a resale shop for 50 bucks. Not as sch-mancy as the one below---but it's the generic version of this.  Adam went and tried it out, and brought it home the same day. It will add a masculine and warm touch to the room. I have a feeling Adam and I both will get plenty of use out of the 50 bucks we spent on the chair, we'll be glad we went for comfort at 4 a.m.

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For bedding I'm going with whites, and navy blues. I like different prints like stripes and geometric.I think it will be fun to have a bunch of different prints to mix and match. Like these sheets from American Baby Company.

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This A-Z prints are just adorable. The Etsy seller has so many cute prints for the nursery. I'm not sure I will be able decide what to order!

 Etsy Shop

Every body keeps asking what our theme will be. But, there really is no theme.
We are drawn to old vintage stuff. We like navy blue, and green. We're mixing those likes together.
We plan to throw some wood tones, and brown leather in there to give it a masculine touch. I of course have already picked up a few items at flea markets this summer.

Here is my stash:

Kelly green school chair: $12 (talked dealer down from $22!)
Basket of old baseballs: $2
The projector slides are of old airplanes. $3 each.
Old rusty Chevy hubcaps: $5
Camp stool: $7

I will share the room as it is now with you very soon. We have some special guests staying with us this weekend, then after that, it's time to get down to business! We have a few DIY projects planned for the room too!

What do you think of where our nursery is headed?
Did you have a "there's not really a theme" theme in your nursery too?