Easter Traditions and My First Mom Fail...

While Zac & I were trying to get pregnant, I had all these dreams and hopes and desires and feelings of, "I can't wait until we have kids so that we can start _____________ tradition."  I had kept a mental list in my head about all the fun traditions I wanted to pass on to my children someday, and even had a few new ideas to incorporate for each holiday. (I'm kind of big on traditions & nostalgia, remember this post about Christmas?)

Last weekend was Easter, and Ellis' first holiday that he got to celebrate...  And I failed as a mom to make it special for him.

You see, aside from being a very important day in our Christian lives, my parents always made Easter Sunday extra special for us.  The Easter Bunny would hide eggs filled with coins all over the living room, and he'd hide our baskets so good, that we had to play 'hot or cold" to find them.  The baskets always contained lots of goodies, including our favorite candy, and a big Seroogy's fudge egg.   We always wore new Easter dresses to church, with matching gloves, and click-clack shoes (shoes with a heel that made noise on the pavement).  I looked forward to Easter almost as much as Christmas.

As we got older, Zac & I both have families who pretty much adhere to the same old traditions as years past.  Even at 29 & 31 years old, our parents still make Easter special for us.  We still color eggs, we still get Easter baskets, and we still participate in egg hunts.

Well, this year was Ellis' first Easter, and I didn't even get him a basket.  I didn't buy a special outfit (which in hindsight might have been OK -- he had a major blow out in Church and we had to change his outfit anyways).  But, I didn't hide eggs, I didn't purchase a fudge egg from Seroogy's, and I didn't take a single photo all weekend, except the one below on Easter morning.  And that basket he's sitting in?  It's from my thoughtful mom, and she of course had it filled with goodies for Ellis.

Now, I'm fully aware that Ellis will not remember his first Easter, or the special things I did or did not do for him.  And, he certainly cannot eat a Seroogy's fudge egg at 8 weeks old.  However looking back, I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me that I didn't make much of an effort to make his first Holiday more special.

I could blame it on being 8 weeks postpartum.  I could blame it on a lack of sleep, and being in the "newborn fog".  I could blame it on the fact that our weekend was so jam packed with festivities, that we were hardly home at all.  But really, it's on me.

Now I know that Easter isn't about coloring eggs, baskets filled with stuff, or egg hunts.  It's about our Savior who died for our sins -- which is something I WILL be sure to teach Ellis once he's older.

I am happy to report though, that we did find time to color Easter eggs as a family, and I even documented it, so that even if little Ellis doesn't remember, he can see...  His mom didn't fail completely.

Happy Easter to you -- I hope your day was filled with the love of Christ, family and friends... any maybe even a Serology's fudge egg ;)

Ellis: Two Months Old

Another 4 weeks has come and gone, and now we have a two-month-old babe!

Ellis had an eventful past few weeks...

- He was Baptized.

- He smiled & cooed at me intentionally (and it melted my heart)!

- He took his first bath in his 'big boy' baby tub vs. the wash pail/sink method.

- He's officially out of newborn clothing & into 3 month clothing.

- He took his first walk outside with me; slept in his Ergo Baby the entire time.

- He had his first Easter.

Mr. Ellis is nursing every 3 hours during the day and also during the night.  He isn't a great sleeper.  Right now, he is breast-fed during the day & throughout the night, however dad occasionally gives him a 4 oz. bottle before bed, and he downs that like a champ.  One time, he even took 5.25 oz & wanted more, but I cut him off -- that just seems like so much for his little tummy.  Breastfeeding is tricky in that you don't know how much they're getting at every feeding...  But he's growing & has plenty of dirty diapers, so I think he's doin' just fine.  I think it's time to try paced bottle feeding, and see how he does with that.  Also, right now he wants little to do with a nuk, but we still offer it.

He is still battling TONS of gas & reflux.  In the evening before bed, he will be sound asleep in your arms, and when you lay him flat in his bassinet, his eyes pop wide open, his arms start waving, his legs start kicking, and the moaning & groaning starts.  Followed by a little spit up, and then farting & poop.  This usually goes on until his next feeding.  After that, we put him in the rock n' play so that we can all catch a few zzz's until he's up again.  He sleeps SO much better at an incline, which leads me to believe he's dealing with reflux issues.  I don't want him to get used to sleeping at an incline, but right now it's the only way he will sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time.  We head to the doctor for his two-month well check on Friday, so we'll see what the Doc has to say.

Ellis enjoys his activity play mat & is starting to swing at, hit, and even accidentally grab on to the hanging toys. He also likes to be talked to and can follow you with his eyes.  Also, according to our home scale, homeboy is just over 10 lbs!  Around 6 weeks, he started to get baby acne / rash, and it recently moved to his cheeks.  Some days it flares up worse than others; I'm patiently waiting for it to pass.

Things I love about Ellis this month:

- Getting big, gummy smiles from him!

- The way he pinches his eyes shut sooo tight when he yawns.

- All the facial expressions he makes... I wonder what he's thinking about?

- How he grunts & groans when you change his position, clothes, or diaper.  He makes it sound as if he’s doing so much work.

- The fact that his farts & burps sound like those of a trucker.  Seriously, they do.  Poor kid!

Overall, he's still a pretty happy & content babe.  And for that, I am very thankful!  Sometimes I just sit & stare at him while he's sleeping, and I can't believe that we made him.  He is such a blessing, even if he's still up every 2-3 hours at night.  He's definitely worth it, but this momma is tired!

Oh!  I caught Daddy in a couple pics this month :)


Click here to see Ellis at one month old...

P.S.  Happy 7th Birthday today, to my beautiful niece, Elena! 

Travel: Pisa, Italy

Continuing our Euro Trip recap... after our visit to Florence, we continued along Italy's Tuscany region & spent a hot second in Pisa on our way to Nice, France.

We had only about an hour to marvel at the iconic Leaning Tower, which is 180 feet high and 12 feet out of the perpendicular.  It's the bell tower for the cathedral that sits next to it in the Piazza del Miracoli.

Naturally, we snapped all the typical touristy photos of us "holding up" the tower, because when in Pisa...

Since we only scratched the very surface of Pisa, I don't have much exciting to share -- expect for the fact we got to see the Leaning Tower.  Oh, also, it was in Pisa that we had to pay to use the restroom... not an uncommon practice in Europe according to our guide.

Next up on the #EverardEuroTrip2015 is Nice, France!

Make: Five minute breakfast bowl

My mom, sister, & I had brunch recently at The Creamery (OMG their stuffed french toast is BOMB), and Becky ordered the Buddda Bowl, which was basically a bunch of good stuff all just thrown together (think: fruit, almond milk, granola, shredded coconut, dates, etc).  It was delicious, and inspired me to sort of "recreate" my own version at home.

My first attempt at recreating the dish, and I quickly realized that I didn't have any granola, so I decided to use Honey Bunches of Oats cereal instead, and I love how it turned out!


Five-Minute Breakfast Bowl

1 c. Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, crushed
3/4 c. vanilla unsweetened almond milk (can be warmed or served cool)
Sliced banana
Sliced strawberries
Handful of blueberries
Handful of raspberries
Handful of slivered almonds
Garnish with cinnamon

If you make this at home, let me what you added to make this breakfast bowl your own.  The possibilities are endless!

Newborn Essentials: Our Top Ten Must Haves

Now that we've been parents for a month (what?!)  I thought I'd post about our most-used items for making life with a newborn a little less stressful -- if that's even a thing :)

1. HALO Bassinest Swivel Sleeper
This is something I wish we would have registered for/bought right away, but live & learn!  We had planned on using the bassinet insert to our Pack n' Play, but after setting it up the night we got home from the hospital, we quickly realized that we were not comfortable having Ellis sleep in there.  In short, it felt rickety & unsafe.  We then spent the first week home having him sleep in all sorts of different things, and I just wasn't comfortable with any of them -- nothing felt right.  And everyone preaches -- keep baby in the room with you, on a flat & firm surface.  Back is best!  Well, nothing that we had was flat & firm, so I finally Amazon primed this Bassinet & we're SO glad we did.  We all sleep better now.


2. HALO  SleepSack Micro-fleece Swaddle 
The first few days home, Zac & I were double swaddling Ellis at night time with two receiving blankets.  They did this in the hospital when his temp dropped, and we always thought our house felt cold (even though we had it at 75 degrees!) so we were worried about him staying warm enough.  But then I read that you should keep your house between 68-72 degrees as to not let your baby overheat (SIDS risk), and you should not tightly swaddle your newborn to sleep at night.  We've now been using this sleep sack and it's been great.  After a night feeding, I'll put Ellis in this & he usually melts right to sleep.  I feel confident that he's plenty warn & safe inside this.


3. Newborn gowns / zipper sleepers with hand coverings
You've got enough going on during the first month and the last thing you need to fuss with are tricky snaps and buttons, and trying to keep baby from scratching his face with his hands.  The mittens they sell are JUNK.  They do not stay on.  So any sleeper or gown with the built in hand coverings and zippers are a MUST!  This seems like such a trivial thing, but trust me -- they will save you a headache.


4. Pampers Swaddlers - Newborn
Breastfeeding momma's are asked to record every feeding, poop & pee for the first week or so, and these diapers have a nice indicator on them so you know when baby has peed. *Along with this, the app Baby Tracker is my best friend!


5. Burp cloths
Have plenty of them so you're not constantly doing wash, although you will be anyways :)


6. Breast Pump
I don't care what kind, just have one.  I'm thankful I had this prior to Ellis' arrival.  I made more milk than Ellis needed per feeding, so I use my pump to "get relief".   Plus, I've been able to start a pretty good storage supply, thanks to the pump.


7. Diaper genie
We have this one, but there are a ton out there.  Basically, it's nice to have this within a foot of the changing table to house soiled diapers.


8. Changing pad
This gets used about 15 times a day :)


9. Fisher-Price Newborn Auto Rock n' Play Sleeper
This is super handy when you need to put baby down -- whether he's awake or taking a nap.  It's lightweight, portable, and Ellis really seems to enjoy it.


10. Freezer Meals
Make them ahead of time.  Or, family & friends, this is a GREAT gift to bring a new momma & daddy.  Mom is still healing; if she's breastfeeding that takes half her day (the other half consists of changing diapers), and both mom & dad are getting used to functioning on just a fraction of sleep.  However, everyone still needs to eat.  Having meals 98% already prepared was a lifesaver for us.



What would you add to this list?