She's here!

My sister had her baby girl last week and she is beautiful and perfect!  Annabelle Kate was born on Thursday, February 13th and weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces, 21 inches long.  

Isn't she perfect?  It is unbelievably hard to be so far away from my sister and now my new niece.  I want to kiss those cheeks and snuggle her.  Chris and I are hoping to go out there by the end of March to visit, and I hope she doesn't get big too fast! 

And even though they are far apart, I'm convinced our girls are going to be best friends.  Addi and Annie? Could that sound even cuter together? 

Now not to brag too much but her middle name is pretty much named after me.  And my other sweet niece Lena Jane is named after me too.  It really is quite a honor to have nieces with my names and I could not love these girls more.  I did promise Lauren to name my next baby Lauren Lauren Vale, regardless if it's a boy or a girl, just to keep things even. 

I love you Annabelle Kate and think you are the luckiest little lady to be born to such an amazing mom and dad and the best big brother and sister!  I can't even wait to meet you and thank God for giving me another niece to love!

Zipadee-Zip

It's no secret that we've had our share of sleep troubles over here.  Thankfully things are improving but I still fight the nervous anxious feeling when I go to bed, as nights still aren't predictable but are much better than before. 
When Addilyn was about five months old she seemed to be fighting the swaddle, but any time I let her arms out she wouldn't sleep more than twenty minutes.  I was desperate to try anything so I contacted Stephanie, the owner of Zipadeezip and asked her a few questions.  
She was unbelievably helpful, as my emails turned into an emotional, venting cry for sleep help.  She sent me links to articles for suggestions, always responded quickly,  and was so encouraging and understanding.  She definitely went above and beyond what I would expect when talking to the owner of a business.  I was so excited to get the Zipadee Zip in the mail! 

Once we got our zipadee I started using it right away .  Our problem wasn't falling asleep initially, but the second Addilyn would stir once, she'd wake up a little, flip to her stomach and cry and cry.  She did not know how to get comfortable on her stomach or how to get herself back and fall asleep again We ended up going back to the swaddle for another month and a half, and I was always nervous she'd flip over while wearing it. 
We finally bit the bullet and knew we had to get rid of the swaddle and she had to get used to sleeping on her stomach.  Which meant some tears.  I had read so many amazing reviews and stories about the Zipadee helping with the swaddle transition, and I had wished for some magical solution for Addilyn to get to sleep. But what she really needed was a little time and a little toughing it out for myself, while she figured out how to sleep on her own.  Thankfully it only took a few nights for Addilyn to get used to sleeping without her swaddle and not waking up six plus times a night.  

While we didn't end up using it for sleeping long term, we have ended up using our Zipadee-zip for a handful of others uses and plan on continuing to use it.  The other day when we finally had one warmer day this winter, I put Addilyn in it before we went on our walk.  It was so nice to not worry about her socks falling off or gloves staying on and I knew she'd be warm.  
Here's some other used for your zippy:

• Encourage sleep and settling on long car/plane rides
• Eliminates tedious clothing changes at doctor visits
• Provides a germ free environment when in public places such as the grocery story
• Prevents babies from scratching themselves or their moms when breastfeeding
• Can be worn when buckled in a stroller or strapped in a baby carrier
• Babies can get more sleep when transitioning to a crib from a swing and helps sick little ones get more rest

I definitely wish I would've thought of putting her in it when we had our million of doctor's appointments a few weeks ago or when I took her to the McDonald's play place to meet some friends, and this one snotty little girl would not stop trying to touch Addiyn's hands.  I will be using it next time!
Stephanie was such a pleasure to work with and I love her story behind her company.  I don't think there are many people out there like her.  She is generously giving away a Zipadee Zip to one of my readers! Enter the rafflecopter below and the winner will be contacted once the giveaway is over.  
a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Lately . . .

top: loft    jeggings: walmart   boots: discovery  bracelet: old navy 

Apologies for the blurry indoor pictures.  Cold, snowy and dark do not make for good pictures.  I'm a idiot and even tried.  

Some recent instagram favorites from the last month . . . . 

We signed up for passes at the Y and went swimming twice this weekend.  Addilyn LOVES it.
I made these leggings and headband out of an old shirt of mine and clearly  Addilyn was impressed. That or making fun of me for feeling proud of myself. 
Headband and knotted ponytail.  80% of the time. 
This fact that she was sick doesn't make me happy, but Chris sleeping with her  and holding her half the night does. 
31 weeks pregnant.  31 weeks baby Addilyn 
$10 workout top from JCPenney can only motivate me to work out more right? 
My new favorite headbands for Addilyn from Mae and Jane etsy shop. 
Sleeping Molly.  
Picture taken on Addilyn's seven month birthday.  This month seriously flew by!
More instagram pictures? Follow me here!
And if you're a mom with kids that are way more exciting and cuter to dress than yourself, like me, link up on Friday our Baby Mama link up! 

Eddie or Aladdin?

sweater: old navy   pant: gap    wedges: target    necklace: groopdealz

When thinking of a baby name I felt a lot of pressure, as you only get one shot and your kid is stuck with that name forever.  I knew we didn't pick a super common name, but did not think it was that unique.  However this last week one person told me that's "an interesting" name and another "that's really unique."  Which to me translate to "that's weird." 
Plus some random caller (which I'm blaming Chris for when he wasted $15 signing up for some baby model search, which he is still waiting for Addilyn's claim to fame) left a message and said Addilyn's name three times and pronounced it uh - dell - in.  

Thankfully I'm still pretty confident in our name for our daughter, as I can't imagine her as anything else.    But it made me think about how I was pretty convinced ten years ago that I'd name a girl Sophia and a boy Noah.  I also loved the name Ava.  
Fortunate for me my mom made sure to point out that Ava Vale sounds ridiculous to spell.  a. v. a. v. a. l. e. Too many a's and v's.  And even worse than that I would've named my son Noah Vale.  Like to no avail.  Pathetically enough I think when she told me that I didn't even know what that meant.  Given I was probably only 21, but embarrassing nonetheless. 
Thank goodness for my mom.  
Now after Addi was born I learned that my dad had jokingly called her Eddie (before we had decided on that name for sure).  And my sister did once refer to Addilyn as Aladdin, but she was eight months pregnant and tired so I'm letting that go.  
Did your mom ruin your baby name dreams (and okay, thankfully save your kids from future name calling)? Or did your family make fun of your baby names? 

Marriage after baby

 

I've happen to read a few posts lately about marriage after having a baby.  Most of them that I've read recently talk about how much more in love they are after having a baby.  How strong their relationship is and how amazing it's made their marriage.  
I read these posts and have to wonder how honest they are really being.  Then I wonder if there is something Chris and I are doing wrong.  
Let me start by saying that I am confident in the fact that I think Chris and I have a wonderful marriage. We've been married for over eight years and I think we have learned to balance each other out, communicate extremely well and have always been pretty satisfied with our relationship.  While of course not perfect, I feel like overall we have a strong, solid marriage.  

But I have to say that having a baby has made our marriage harder.  I'm not sure if it's because we were together so long and so used to each other being our only priorities or what, but it has definitely brought it's challenges.  We used to spend weekends hanging out together, having some time to ourselves, and being able to do whatever we'd like.  Together or alone.  While our lives were busy and filled with commitments, and we had to work at it sometimes, we always had time for each other. 
Sometimes now it seems almost impossible to find time to really connect and have full conversations.  Once we put Addilyn to bed, eat dinner and clean up the house a little, all I usually want to do sit on the couch and watch tv.  I'm tired from taking care of Addilyn all day and Chris is tired from work.  
I feel like my life now is all about Addilyn, which is great, but it's easy for me to find my sole identity in being Addilyn's mom.  I forget that my identity is also a wife and that should be even more important and I was a wife first.  It's easy to want to just sit and watch tv after a day of tending to Addilyn.  It's easy for me to want my space after having a seven month old attached to me all day long.  But those aren't good for my marriage. 

I love Chris more than anything and seeing him become a dad has been one of my favorite things about him. He couldn't love Addilyn any more and is the perfect dad for her.  I love watching him love his daughter and couldn't ask for a better man to enter parenthood with.  
I think marriage takes work no matter what.  Kids or not.  Stress or not.  But it's clear that having a baby makes it more challenging to find time to connect and to make sure we are putting each other first.  I feel like it seems silly to have to plan and schedule time to connect and talk but I think if we don't, it won't happen as much as we want.  
We decided that at least once a week we are going to not watch tv and do something together.  Play games, read a book, make a nice meal together once Addilyn goes to bed.  And have intentional conversations. Like these questions.  It's nice to sit and relax together but doing that night after night doesn't make our marriage stronger.   
Addilyn could not be more important to me and I love her more than I can even express.  But I love Chris more.  If our marriage isn't our first priority then we're going to get stuck in parents roles and not in our roles as each other's best friend.   I want to be an example to Addilyn of what a solid marriage is, like my parents did for me.  I want it to be so evident to her how much we love each other.  Some day down the line our kids are going to grow up and leave and I want to be left with a marriage that has been growing since the first year we got married.  
Marriage takes work and I'm thankful that we're both committed to working on it.