Brad's birthday was Tuesday, August 30th! He took off work and spent the day with Melody and me.
Melody's Two Month Schedule
When Melody was around two month's old, we decided to let her attempt sleeping through the night. My best friend had just started attempting it with her two month old, and we were basically having to wake Melody up for her 2 a.m. feeding. Her schedule did not change at all from her one month schedule except we removed the 2 a.m. feeding. When we first started this transition, Melody would start stirring between 2 and 3 a.m. I would give her her pacifier and see if that would put her back to sleep. If it did, I would also go back to sleep. If it did not work, I would get up and give her a bottle. It took about a week or two, but eventually she started just sleeping through that time frame altogether. Now she will not start stirring until around 4:30 at earliest. Below is the schedule:
Diaper Stork Bundle
For my best friend's baby shower, I wanted to make more than just a diaper cake and mini diaper cake. I decided to also make diaper stork bundles. I thought these would be a cute addition to the baby shower.
What I Want to Do in NYC Next
Brad and I went to New York City back in November of 2015. I did a write up about my planning and our actual trip experience. There is still so much I want to do that we did not have the chance to do while there. Below are just a few of those things!
Formula Bottle Prep
When we transitioned Melody from breast milk to formula, I had to find a way to better prep bottles so that I was not making one bottle at a time. I tried a couple of methods, but in the end, I found a solution that works great for us right now. Currently Melody is taking 5 ounce bottles 6 times a day. As her bottles get bigger, my method may not be the most efficient, but it works great now.
Travel Baby Formula
Brad and I travel a lot. We decided while I was pregnant that we would not let a baby slow us down. We are really trying to stick to that goal after having Melody. Of course some trips are not realistic and traveling is definitely not as easy as before, but we are doing pretty good. We have a baby that loves the car, so that definitely makes traveling easier. One thing we faced on our first big travel (it was 3 1/2 hour trip to Brad's parents' house) was making Melody's bottles. We now usually make all of her bottles for the day in advance, but that has not and will not always be the case. I decided to make use of some of our breast pump supplies and create my own travel baby formula containers. Check it out below!
Tealight Candle Favors
For my best friend's baby shower, I decided to make the favors simple but cute. I wanted something that people might would actually use at some point. A lot of times you go to showers and weddings and end up with favors that you just throw away. I did some research and decided to use candles somehow. I mean people can always find a purpose for candles. Using washi tape, I was able to make some cute and decorative tea light candles for everyone to take home. Check it out below!
Burlap Football Door Hanger
So Brad and I cheer for opposite college football teams. We have good reason seeing that we both attended different colleges. I am an Alabama graduate and fan, and Brad is an Ole Miss graduate and fan. It is very, very hard to find house divided things for Alabama and Ole Miss. I could always get something custom made, but I usually want to attempt it myself if I am resorting to that. So I decided to make a door hanger from burlap. It is a super easy craft. It only took me a few days and that was primarily me waiting on paint to dry! See the steps below:
DIY Baby Bath Gift Set
My cousin is having a baby boy in October. We celebrated baby Samuel at her baby shower recently. I struggle to just go and buy a gift without making a basket out of it. I looked over her baby registry, and I decided I wanted to do a bath gift set. Sure, you can go buy pre-made ones, but why do that when you can make your own?!? So I went to Target and started my search. I bought as much bath stuff as I could from her registry. I wanted the "basket" to be the actual bath tub, but our Target did not have the one she registered for, so I had to improvise. Check it out below:
What to Wear to Disney World in January
Winter is my favorite time of year to go to Disney World. I especially love going in January. My mom and I go almost every year for my birthday, and the crowds are extremely low. You do have to be careful if you go on the weekends, however. There are cheer competitions going on most weekends in January, but during the week is perfect crowds. Some rides are usually closed, but you will honestly find a ride or two closed during all parts of the year. Beyond the low crowds, I love the weather. It is rarely too hot or too cold. However, it can be difficult to dress. The reason is because it starts off chilly in the morning, warms up in the afternoon, and gets chilly again. Below are my tips and suggestions for what to wear in January (or general winter time):
Burp Clothes
I hear with every baby there is one thing you get a lot of. For some people it is blankets and for others it could be bibs. One thing we did NOT get a lot of was burp clothes. I personally did not want to go pay a lot of money for something I knew Melody was going to just spit up all over. Instead, I decided to make my own (well sort of).
Pokemon Go
Brad begged me to start playing Pokemon Go from the moment it was released in the App Store. He would send me links to the app; he would show me the game itself on his phone; and he would constantly ask me to play. Then one day, he just downloaded it on my phone while I was feeding Melody. Talk about being sly...
Melody's One Month Schedule
Our pediatrician gave us the green light to remove one of Melody's feedings when she turned one month old. She said we could now go 4 hours between our nighttime feedings. It is very similar to the newborn schedule except we eliminated one nighttime feeding. I also stopped pumping/breastfeeding after she was 5-6 weeks old, so I am not including the pumping in my schedule. If you look at her newborn schedule, you can kind of figure out where I would have pumped. See below:
Baby Shower Mini Diaper Cake
I made a larger diaper cake for my best friend's baby shower, but I decided to use some of the other diapers and ribbon I had left over to make "mini" diaper cakes. I am a huge fan of decorating with items that can either be given to the guest of honor as a gift or that you get to keep yourself. These diaper cakes doubled a cute décor and a much needed gift for the mommy to be. See below!
Melody's Two Month Pictures
Miss Melody was two months old Monday, July 25th! Below are some of her pictures from a mini photo shoot I did!
Postpartum Expectation vs Reality
Prior to having Melody, I had a lot of expectations about how things would be postpartum. A lot of these ideas came from our childbirth/parenting classes, books, and movies. However, once I had Melody, reality was much different. Below are some of those expectations vs the reality that was.
Melody's One Month Pictures!
So Miss Melody was a month old on June 25th! I know, I know...I am almost a month late, but below are her pictures that I took of her in her cute Minnie Mouse gear to celebrate. I even included a picture of her now at 8 weeks old! Watch for her two month pictures soon-ish :)
Current Binge Watching Shows
Check out the shows I am currently binge watching below!
Life as a New Mom
I would be lying if I said childbirth was easy. I have previously written about our birth story and our hospital experience. I think the difficult childbirth really impacted the relationship that both Brad and I have with Melody.
Baby Shower Elephant Balloon Guestbook
For my best friend's baby shower, I gave her a couple of options for a guestbook. Since she would be the one displaying it, I wanted her involved to an extent without giving too much away. I found some different options through Pinterest, and I let her pick. She thought it would be cute to have an elephant and balloons that people signed. So I took that idea and ran with it.