I can hardly believe the Boss Lady is 3 months old already! Where has the time gone?! When everyone told me to enjoy every moment because it flies by, they weren’t kidding! Even though we don’t have any huge milestones for month three, Miss Isla is growing and changing SO much!

She’s still a great sleeper … during the night. We’re still struggling with napping in the crib (or anywhere else that doesn’t have human arms). We are so grateful for our 8-9 hours at night though! She has transitioned from the swaddle to Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit and it has been a fairly seamless one. I’ll have to share a picture sometime – she looks like a sumo wrestler when she wears it!

I’m really hoping teeth aren’t coming in soon! It’s still so early, but she’s drooling a ton and always has her hand in her mouth to suck on. I’ve heard it’s possible to see signs a couple months before, so we’ll enjoy this stage while we still can! Isla loves to fold her hands across her chest, too. She tends to do it while tilting her head and smiling, which is the cutest ever! She also uses her hands to grab. She grabs her pacifier out of her mouth and then cries to get it put back in, pulls my hair (and has quite the grip), and pulled her puppy’s fur for the first time yesterday. They love her so much and love to sit close to her, so we’ll just have to be extra mindful about keeping them at a distance for now.

Isla is still making great weight gain, but not as rapidly as before. We are ALMOST fittng into 3-6 month clothing. She is getting so much stronger and is soooo close to rolling. She makes it about 75% of the way from her back to stomach, but just isn’t quite there yet. I’m anticipating her reaching this milestone in the next week! Her head is getting so much stronger, too!

Her favorite book right now is Brown Bear, Brown Bear. She listens and coos every time we read it to her. I’ve even started chanting the same rhythmic pattern to calm her down when she’s upset (like in the car), and it soothes her! If anyone has suggestions for books with a similar pattern, please share! Mom and Dad are getting a little tired of Brown Bear, Brown Bear. 🙂 Isla also loves to listen to adults talk to her. She smiles and coos and even tries to mimic some of the sounds. She tilts her head, bats her beautiful, long eyelashes and gives us the cutest smile – such a little flirt!

Probably this biggest milestone this month is Mom headed back to work yesterday. Little Miss was home with Dad all day and even came to visit school in the afternoon, so it wasn’t too difficult being away from her. The great thing about teaching is you’re so busy and have so many other things to think about, the time really flies and you’re home before you know it. I’m just working on getting back into a routine and figuring out how to balance mom-life with teacher-life. Isla will be at home cared for by friends and relatives for the next five weeks until summer vacation, so that will be a huge blessing!

Thanks for reading and sharing in our joy as we watch our daughter grow! Hope to see you back here soon!

“Hoppy” Easter! This year will be especially fun with a little one! My family always starts the day bright and early just kidding (that’s a serious HAHA if you know me personally) at about 9:30 A.M. We begin the day by looking through our Easter baskets, then realizing we’ll be late for church if we don’t get ready immediately, so we scramble to put on our Easter best and rush out the door 10 minutes later than we planned. Church is usually followed by dinner at one of the two restaurants in my small hometown (I’m sure there are more than that, but not many that serve Easter lunch) with extended family. Since it’s a small town, we also happen to know everyone at the restaurant, so it’s important to look our best! 🙂 I can’t wait to dress our baby girl up in her Easter outfit and show her off!

I’m LOVING the fun spring clothes popping up in all of my favorite baby stores. I put together a collage of a few of my favorites for girls AND boys this time (totally out of my comfort zone, but how cute are these little boy pieces??) in hopes that you can find something you like for your little one … or just ooh and ahh over all the adorable baby clothes!

{Each piece is linked below the collages. Just click on the corresponding number.}

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11

Happy Easter and happy shopping! 🙂

XOXO, Jenna

The boss lady turned two months old yesterday and I wanted to give you a little update on her likes, dislikes, growth and new milestones since she is growing and changing so much!

(Isla’s one-piece outfit is from Baby Gap and is a favorite – so cute and easy for diaper changes!  Thank you to The Child at Heart blog for the monthly baby stat tutorial!)

Likes: Isla still LOVES her playmats – yes, she has two. She kicks her feet and punches her arms to the music. My mom noticed she always tends to lead with her left arm or foot when she’s moving, so we wonder if she might be a leftie like both of her grandpas. We are going to give “Kindermusik” class a try this week to see if she would enjoy it since she seems to like moving to music so much.

Isla has also started to prefer mommy to anybody else. I’m sure that might change once I go back to work at the end of April, but right now we just spend so much time together! I’m definitely not complaining though – I love her little snuggles!

We’ve been going to “Baby & Me” class once a week, which Isla loves. There are lots of other babies there and she looks around the room and coos the entire hour! It’s great for me, too, because I get out of the house and get to interact with other moms. There’s also a lactation consultant available and a scale to use to measure her growth each week, which is very helpful.

I don’t know if I would qualify this as a “like” quite yet, but Isla now tolerates baths. A friend saw last month’s photo and recommended trying to warm up the bathroom by running the hot shower ahead of time, and it worked! We haven’t had any tears since – poor girl was just cold!

Dislikes: Logan was so sweet to let me sleep in this weekend and woke up early with the babe. I was woken up by high-pitched screams, so of course had to go check to see what was going on. Logan only had to mutter two words before I figured it out – “tummy time.” Girlfriend is not a fan.

Isla is also not a fan of naps right now. We feel very fortunate that she sleeps so well at night, but can’t get her to go down for a nap during the day. She will usually go back to sleep right after she wakes up for an hour or two which is great, but fights naps the rest of the day. The only way to get her to sleep if she gets really fussy is letting her sleep in my arms, or running errands and having her sleep in her carseat/stroller.

Growth: Little Miss was 23 1/2 inches (92nd percentile) and 11 lbs., 2 oz. (60th percentile) at her appointment yesterday. She has been wearing 0-3 month clothes for about a month now.

I shared this on Facebook the other day, but I think Isla has been secretly using some sort of lash growing product. Her eyelashes are long and thick and absolutely beautiful! It’s funny how they waited 8 weeks to really start growing!

Milestones: I didn’t mention this on her photo because I’m not sure if it really counts, but I’m pretty sure Isla rolled from her tummy to back last week! She was doing some tummy time (yes I know, mean mom alert) and spit up a little on her playmat. I lifted her head just an inch to clean it up and before I knew it, she was on her back! I had to wake Logan up from his nap to tell him about it, and then of course she hasn’t done it since.

She has really started to smile and “talk” this month. She responds to our voices with cute little smiles and coos in the sweetest little voice while kicking her legs. We were woken up at 3 A.M. a few nights ago (which is a rarity these days) to her little voice “talking” to herself in her Pack n’ Play. It’s hard to be even the littlest bit upset about being woken up when that’s what you wake up to!

Whew! Thanks for reading all the way through! Can you tell we love being parents to this sweet girl?! I can’t wait for all of the new milestones we will get to experience in month 3! I’d love your advice for getting her to nap at home. If you have any ideas, leave us a comment below!

XOXO, Jenna

I’m really looking forward to Easter this year because it will be our first big holiday with Isla! I know she won’t have a clue what’s going on, but she still needs a fancy dress and an Easter basket, right?  So today I’m sharing some of the sweet little things on Isla’s Easter wishlist.

Shopping Guide:

Personalized Easter Basket Liner

Sophie the Giraffe Teether

Pink Stripe Bow

Aden + Anais Swaddles

Pat the Bunny Book

Bow Set

Musical Lamb

Bow Ballet Flats

While the Easter baskets and fancy dresses are definitely a lot of fun, remember the true meaning of this season is celebrating Christ’s resurrection, so that we may have eternal life if we put our trust in Him. That is the ultimate gift! Happy Easter you guys!

XOXO, Jenna

It’s hard to believe that Miss Isla is one month old already! This last month has gone so fast, yet when I look back, it’s hard to picture what our life was like before she joined us. Before Isla was born, we both felt like we had a good idea about what life with a newborn would be like, but I don’t think one can ever be fully prepared to bring a brand new infant home from the hospital!

I read somewhere (or heard from someone – I can’t remember) that having a newborn is like having a boss who complains all the time. While that sounds a little harsh, it definitely has some truth to it! We’ve started calling Isla “boss lady” because we’ve learned that her schedule has become our schedule and when she wants something, we had better fulfill her wish!

Despite the nickname, the “boss lady” has really been a pretty great baby so far.  She sleeps about 4-5 hours at night in her Pack n’ Play next to our bed, wakes up to eat, and then goes back to sleep for another 3-4 hours. Her nighttime feeding sessions usually last about 2 hours though by the time we finally get her back down to sleep.

She is really only fussy when she’s hungry, and is a pretty happy baby otherwise. When she’s awake, Little Miss LOVES her playmat. She kicks her feet and punches her arms to the music and loves looking at the designs on the playmat floor. She enjoys looking at the “mobile” on the ceiling in our room (the fan) and stares at designs around the house as we carry her around. We also try to read at least one book every day (hello, teacher mom!) and while she lacked interest at first, has started to look at the pages and listen to our voices.

A lot of you have asked about how the dogs are getting along with Isla. They’ve really adjusted well to her being home, and seem to ignore her more than I thought they would. The one time they really notice her is when she wakes up crying in the night. They look at us with concerned faces until the crying subsides, like “are you going to take care of her?” (Yes, the dogs sleep in bed with us – it’s a crowded room!) Isla hasn’t really noticed them yet except for when they occasionally sneak her kisses before Logan or I can stop them! She doesn’t seem to mind though.

By nature, I’m an “on-the-go” kind of person. I get a little stir crazy when I’m just home all day, so we’ve tried to get out of the house when possible.  I’ve learned that getting a baby ready to leave the house and keeping her happy (or asleep) while we’re gone is quite the chore, but I’ve become more confident with each outing and figured out Isla’s schedule and cues better than I did a month ago!

Logan’s grandfather passed away last week after suffering from dementia for the last few years. We knew he had taken a turn for the worse last weekend, so we made the 3-hour trip to Sioux Falls last Saturday and will be traveling to the funeral in Oklahoma this weekend. Isla will have been to (or traveled through) six states after this weekend! I would say that’s quite the feat for a month old baby! If anyone has any tips for traveling with a little one, I’d love to hear them.

I’m having a hard time accepting the fact that our tiny little girl is already a month old. When everyone told me to enjoy every minute because it flies by, they weren’t kidding! I’m looking forward to watching her continue to grow and change and reach new milestones during month 2.

Thanks so much for reading today!

XOXO, Jenna

Over the last week or two since our baby was born, we have had a ton of visitors. It’s given Jenna and I a chance to tell the “birth story” over and over again, and I feel like Jenna has the entire timeline memorized. Every time we tell it, I enjoy hearing it from Jenna’s perspective, because it is slightly different than my own experience. I’ve decided, though, that I want to thrown in a few variations to the story, as well as a couple confessions I need to get off my chest.

It all started Thursday at Jenna’s doctor appointment where we left with the idea that we would be having this baby on Monday/Tuesday of the following week (via induction).  Jenna called me Friday morning saying she didn’t feel well, but I didn’t think much of it as I would guess very few 40+ week expectant mothers feel in tip-top shape. Plus, I had a few things I wanted to get done at work, so it’s very possible I was in a state of denial.

I knew that with the induction, I would be in at work the following day, so when I drove home that afternoon, I was ready to relax and enjoy my weekend before gearing up for Jenna’s impending labor and sleepless nights.  Jenna was finishing up some things at school, but finally around 6:00pm, I texted her, “Are you alone at school?”. I had these visions of her going into labor at school with no one around to drive her to the hospital. I tried to call her a couple times without an answer and was trying to decide how long to wait until driving over to her school and checking on her. Thankfully, she arrived home before I had to make that decision.

I heated up a couple bowls of chili for us both (I’ll take credit for putting some habanero in there to speed things up), and then by 9:30pm I was ready for bed. Jenna wasn’t quite ready yet, so I talked her into letting me take a nap on the floor in front of the TV while she finished up some things.  Right before my nap, I remember Jenna telling me she felt crampy. Here’s my first confession:  I didn’t really think she was going into labor right then.  To be fair, our doctor said “you’ll know when it’s a contraction”. In fact, she likened it to a bus hitting you…you don’t know what it feels like, but you’ll know when you get hit by one.

A half hour later, Jenna was kicking me on the floor saying “I don’t know when, but I think we’ll be going to the hospital tonight”.

I jumped off the floor (at least it felt like jumping) and hurriedly gather our bags and packed a few final items. In the mean time, Jenna’s contractions were getting worse, so she started timing them.  I saw them go from seven or eight minutes to two and three minutes. Each contraction was lasting between 20 and 50 seconds, and with every contraction that passed, we were closer to them lasting one hour.  I am very analytical, so when our doctor told us not to come to the hospital until 5-1-1 (five minutes between contractions, contractions last one minute, and that cycle lasting for one hour). Confession #2, I almost made us wait longer at home because while contractions were less than five minutes apart and had been going on for an hour, we had not met the “one minute long” criteria…we were only at 50 seconds.

Anyway, I let the dogs out one last time (knowing it could be a long night for them), helped Jenna out to the car, and off we went! Just like they told us in our birthing class, I had called both the doctor and Labor and Delivery to let them know we were coming, and I dropped Jenna off at the ER entrance so I could park and meet her inside.  They wheeled her up to the second floor, and sure enough, they decided these were actual contractions and would let us stay!

At the risk of you losing your attention, I’ll call this part one of the story. Spoiler alert that Isla Melina (eye-la mah-leen) is the end product, but my 16 hours in the Labor and Delivery room were not exactly what I was expecting. I’ll follow-up with part two in a future post.

Logan