everly 1 month

i cannot believe this sweet little girl has been with us for 1 month already (edited to add, almost 2 before i'm actually posting this!). i truly could not have been less prepared for how much she would change my life. everyone says this and i never understood. i knew things in my day to day life would change, and i knew i'd love her but i had not idea how much. enough about me, let's talk about her!

she LOVES bath time. she just smiles when you put her in and cries when you take her out. 

she LOVES to snuggle and being swaddled. i haven't tried to put her to bed at night without swaddling. 

the front porch swing is her favorite place in the world (which stinks because we're moving). anytime she's unconsolable we go out to the porch and rock and it calms her right down. 

she made her first trip to kentucky. 

she got to meet two of her great grandparents and she has put new light in their lives. they've even figured out how to view pictures on their phone so they can see her more!

she loves her uncle matt and is so content when he holds her (most of the time!).

daddy loves her crab outfit the best. 

she's had three "sleepovers" with mimi (mommy got to sleep!). 

Randomness and the Zone Perfect Winner!

And the winner of the Zone Perfect giveaway is...

Sarah from Sweet and Savory by Sarah! Congrats Sarah! Email me your address and I'll get the package in the mail ASAP!


I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep so please forgive me if this post is a little more random than usual. This picture sums up the kind of night we've had:

Everly finally decided to give in and is currently sleeping on my chest in her Solly Baby Wrap (she either loves or hates being in it and right now it's love).

I should probably be sleeping too, but once I'm up for the day it's hard to lay back down. And if I manage to fall asleep I'm grumpier when I wake up than if I'd just stayed awake. So it might just be a PJ day.

In other sad news, my maternity leave is almost over. I actually worked on Saturday to kind of test the waters because Brad was going to be off. It wasn't as horrible as I imagined, but I still missed her so bad it hurt. I'm very grateful that my boss let me cut back to three days a week, and I have two amazing women that will be taking care of E while I'm there, but it still sucks. Why can't we be in two places at once?

zone perfect blog forward challenge goal check in and GIVEAWAY

It's that time again! Time to check in and evaluate where I am with my 2014 goals. So far I have truly enjoyed this challenge that Zone Perfect has put on. It has really made me check in with my goals continuously rather than making them on January 1st and checking them on December 31st. And this year that would be so much easier to do!

my original post... current updates in purple!

.: fitness :.

• join the 100 club at pure barre by the end of march. done, so let's update this one. i'd like to reactivate my PB package once i'm cleared by my MD and finish out the year doing at least 2 classes a week. i'd love to do at least 3 a week, but i don't know how realistic that is schedule-wise. 

• continue to work out at least 5 times a week until the big day. i wasn't great about this one, but too late to change it now. my updated goal is to be active with everly at least 5 times a week. even if it's just a 15 minute walk outside, i want to start early setting that example for her. plus she loves being outside (it usually calms her when she's fussy) so it'll be a win, win. 

• i don't want to make a bunch of post pregnancy goals as far as this category goes. i've never had a baby before, and i'm not going to pretend i know how i'll feel afterwards. i hope to get my butt back into pure barre for the bounce back after baby program. and i hope to run some races in the fall. but we'll see. i go see my OB tomorrow and she'll hopefully clear me to run. i've felt mostly good postpartum, although i think it's easy to forget what you're body has been through because you don't feel bad, and push it to hard too fast. last week we moved across town and i definitely over did it. carried too much weight, too many times, and got too little sleep. not smart. i'd like my first race back to be the Cherokee Harvest 5K, because it was the last race I did before I found out I was pregnant last year!

.: health :.

• stay within a healthy weight gain range for me (15-25 pounds). didn't happen, i gained a whopping 40 pounds. thankfully, 20 of that dropped fairly quickly. so now it's time to get rid of the other 20. 

• join weight watchers after the baby is born. joined last week, went to weigh in and the meeting times have changed and no one was there. fail. i'm going friday. 

• aim for 100 ounces of water a day. did it, still doing it.

• keep a healthy snack on me at all times! did it, still doing it.

.:  spiritual :.

• finish reading the Bible. finished the old testament, now i'm in matthew!

• join another connect group at church. haven't done it, need to do it, want to do it.

• begin volunteering at church. still helping at the coffee counter (well i took a few months off with E).

• find a book about praying for your children and put it to good use. i haven't found a book so if you know of a good one let me know. i've obviously been praying for E like crazy. 

.:  everything else :.

• date my husband. life gets crazy, we get into routines, not all of them good. i want to make more of an effort to make him feel special and loved. this has been hard, not so much because of Everly, but because of the house sale and move. we're almost settled in our new place and hopefully we'll get back to our normal soon!

• journal about my pregnancy and then the baby's life at least once a week. i might do it on the blog, i might just type it in a word document, i might just write it down in my planner... but i want to write it down. i've been keeping notes on my phone to put in her monthly updates, which i will share on the blog. 

dear future self,
whatup!?! this is your january self. you know, the all excited, ready to make lots of goals self? so wherever you are in 2014 when you read this, remember how important these goals are to you. you spent a lot of time thinking them through, and they are extremely realistic. so when you want to get lazy and quit, suck it up, buttercup! you've got a lot on your plate now, so balance and prioritizing are going to be the key. you know what's most important, your family and your faith... but you've got to take care of yourself too. you're no good to Brad or Everly if you're worn down and a mess. take care of them, take care of yourself, and let all the silly stuff go. 

**giveaway**

the amazing folks at zone perfect have sent me some goodies to pass along to y'all! it's a very fun care package that includes a variety of things... lip gloss, hair ties, hand sanitizer, a pedometer, and a box of zone bars among other things!

enter by leaving me a comment telling me what has been your favorite way to stay active this summer! giveaway closes Monday August 18th at 9pm. winner will be announced next week!