I can't even.

I can't even with...

+ Anything on Instagram other than actual stories and photos. Why was Boomerang invented? Why? If I wanted to watch someone clink a champagne glass on a 2 second loop or watch someone take the same bite of the same donut 500 times, I would...well, I wouldn't. Also, Instagram filters. I'm sorry I feel this way, but nobody over the age of twelve should be posting photos/videos of themselves with flower crowns and anime eyes or deer faces. It's just weird and I got rid of Snapchat for a reason.

+ People who passive aggressively belittle your baby's name. Look, there are tons of legitimately weird baby names out there. But, just like you wouldn't look at someone's baby and say they look "interesting", it's not exactly polite to say someone's baby name choice is "interesting." Just smile, nod, and lie. Say it's a pretty/unique/awesome name, even if you think they should have just named their baby Dirt and been done with it. If I had a dollar for every person who asked what my daughter's name was and, when told, looks at me blankly and says "Oh, interesting," (or just a plain old "Huh??") I'd be a rich mother. For the record, we didn't make it up, it is an actual name, it's Irish, it means "maiden" and "innocent", and apparently nobody on the west coast has ever heard of it. And no, I'm not defensive at all about it, why!?

+ Waiting forever in a drive thru for someone with a gigantic order. One of my least favorite things in the world is pulling into the drive thru line at the coffee shop, then waiting ten minutes for the line to even budge. I'm sitting there wondering what's taking so long, then I see 4 frappucinos, 2 hot coffees, a smoothie, three bagels and two sandwiches handed to the driver. Look, if you're ordering for your daughter's soccer team, GO INSIDE. Drive thrus are for quick orders, not so you don't have to walk ten feet and stand in a normal line.

+ The price of some baby clothes. Look, I love Carters and Old Navy as much as the next gal, but sometimes I want to branch out, you know? There's this website full of baby clothes I just absolutely adore, but hail if I'm going to pay $30+ for an outfit she'll wear a handful of times, even if it is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Ironically, I would totally spend $30 on an outfit for a gift. But not for my OWN daughter...?

+ Loop giveaways on Instagram (coming back around to IG again). Simple giveaways from people I already follow, great! Giveaways where I have to follow 30 new small businesses and have about a one in a million chance of winning? Nooooooope. Not happening. Not ever. Mostly because I don't have the time to go back and UNfollow all those people when I don't win.

+ Mommy wars. I've seen far too many of them lately and they're getting on my nerves. Who cares if you breastfeed or formula feed? Who cares if your baby is in cloth diapers or disposables? Who cares if you choose to work or stay at home? Who cares if you give your six month old a jar of Gerber puree or do baby led weaning? Who cares if your kid watches Daniel Tiger or has no concept of what a television even is? We're all doing our best and my opinion is that we all need to make the best choices we can for our families and call it good. Be confident in your choices, and if you're not, make some changes. Getting offended only hurts one person - yourself.

Life Lately #11

Reading: Glory in the Ordinary: Why Your Work in the Home Matters to God. To be completely honest, even though I've wanted to be a stay at home mom basically my entire life, I'm already struggling with feeling like I'm not really making a valuable contribution to society or our family. I've had a job with a paycheck since I was 15 years old (that's already almost two decades of working!). I'm only like a third of the way into this book, and it's already reassuring me and convicting me that while I might not be driving to an office every day or pulling a paycheck currently, raising our daughter is valuable work. Scrubbing out bottles and loading the dishwasher and folding laundry for the fifth time this week is my job, and it's a great one. I may have more thoughts on this later. 

Watching: The newest seasons (on Netflix) of The Walking Dead and The Blacklist. I'm pleasantly surprised that this season of TWD isn't the gore-fest that last season was. Last season felt like "how many people can we kill and how quickly can we do it?" Granted, people are still dying off, but it feels like there's an actual plot and storyline again, and it's easier to watch. And The Blacklist is always my favorite. James Spader for life, y'all.

Listening to: The latest Jack Johnson album. I haven't listened to him in forever and a day, and I forgot how nice it is to drive around listening to his mellow, chill music. This time around, though, it's while the baby naps in the back seat and while I may or may not be drinking an iced coffee with coconut milk and a pump of pumpkin pie syrup. 

Wearing: Pants that aren't maternity pants!! Isaiah bought me two pairs of jogger-style pants that actually don't look like I should be going to the gym in them, and I managed to squeeze into my biggest pair of non-maternity jeans the other day, too. Granted I still have a fun little muffin top going on and a butt that's bigger than it's ever been in my life, but I know it's not forever. My goal is to start working out at least 3-4 times a week again starting this coming week, now that the kiddo is on a more reliable nap schedule. I know I can count on at least a 2-3 hour nap from her during the late morning/early afternoon hours, so I really have no excuses anymore. I bought a new pair of gym shorts and a tank top and a sports bra, so I really have no excuses.

Smelling: Cucumber Melon body wash from Bath and Body Works. Someone please tell me that was their favorite scent, too. It brings back a few college memories, that's for sure. It does make me feel a little old that they call them their "retired" scents, though...

Eating: Everything bagel flavored bagel chips. Delicious. And full of carbs, which is awesome for my aforementioned pants problem. Eating them really fast counts as getting rid of them, right?

Loving: That we're headed down to Seattle next weekend, sooner than planned! Originally we weren't going to go until Christmas, but I'm excited for my mom to get to see her granddaughter again so soon, and she's a little (ha) excited, too.

Not Loving: That the reason we're going to Seattle in the first place is so my poor baby can get a lip and tongue tie fixed. We've had a really discouraging couple of months in the nursing department, and I'm still pretty emotional about it so I won't go into it at the moment, but I'm hopeful that things will drastically improve after this little surgery (for lack of a better word) she has to get. If nothing else, it'll keep her from having speech impediments or swallowing problems later on in life, so that alone makes it worth the pain and suffering (mostly emotional, and mostly mine).

Annoyed with: Several things at the moment. I'm actually writing a blog post about my current grievances - all in fun, of course - and that'll be up soon.

Creating: New blog headers! I ran across a tutorial I forgot I had for overlaying text with a photo, so that's what I did during yesterday's nap time.

Wanting: EVERYTHING from the Zara kids' section for Imogen. Oh my goodness, take all my money and take it now. Currently, I want this, this, this, and this. It's okay if she has a better wardrobe than me, right?

Also, I kind of want this couch, from a furniture store in town:

It's chartreuse. CHARTREUSE. WITH STUDS. Isaiah is about 50% on board, which is basically 100%, right ladies?

Laughing at: Imogen and the "stories" she tells. That girl has gotten so vocal in the last week or two, and I love it. Obviously everything that comes out can only be written like this: "Awwwhhhwhhhaaaaaaawhhwhhwwwaaaaaaahhhhhhhh"...but I love it. 

Feeling: Pretty good, actually. Isaiah's had to work a crap ton of overtime lately and since he's on night shifts, that means I'm basically alone all day and all night taking care of a 2 1/2 month old, but as she gets older she gets more fun and more predictable and easier to take care of in general, so I'm actually surviving okay. She's learned to not entirely hate her car seat, too, which makes getting out of the house a lot easier. I have yet to attempt the carseat + stroller combo by myself, but as soon as we get some nice weather (yeah, it still sucks) I'm going to venture out and try walking/jogging.

Hoping: That, as I just mentioned, we have some decent weather before winter hits. And yeah, we basically skip fall and go straight to winter around these parts. It's been known to snow on Halloween. 

Things I Like #3

Don't worry, they're not ALLLLL baby things...

But let's get the baby things out of the way first, shall we?

These bottles have been a lifesaver for us. It wasn't my original plan to be forced to bottle feed the baby so early, but circumstances have dictated that we've been needing to supplement nursing with formula. Unfortunately, with bottles comes extra air intake, and lots of it. That translates into gas, gas, and more gas. Ever since we switched to these bottles at the recommendation of a friend, Imogen has been FAR less gassy. We still have to burp her like it's our job, but the combination of burping plus these bottles has made life a whole lot easier for all of us.

I didn't intend to go crazy with baby clothes, but I seriously cannot resist anything by Rosie Pope. We have these pants, these pants too, and these pajamas; and I'm love with them all. The sizing seems to be pretty accurate, too - she's just now starting to actually fit the 0-3 month pajamas without swimming in them. The pants are still too long because they're all 3-6 month sizes, but I imagine she'll fit them in the next month or so if she keeps growing at the rate she is. We also have some onesies but sadly the patterns appear to have been discontinued. You can see one of them in the picture of her in my last post. I call her Rainbow Brite when she wears them.

Of course I can't do a Things I Like post without mentioning a small business, so if you're in the market for some seriously cute baby headbands, visit Wuthering Iris on Etsy. I can't handle how stinking adorable and soft her headbands are. We already have a "choose your own" set of five, and I just pulled the trigger on another set because hello, it's fall, and Imogen needed some fall colored headbands.

Okay, now for some non-baby related items.

I love this trail mix from Trader Joe's. It's probably cheaper AT Trader Joe's vs. on Amazon, but I don't know how much because I just have my mom send it to me. I really like that they're individually packaged little bags, because if you're like me, "one serving" of trail mix means nothing.

These washcloths are marketed as baby washcloths, but hear me out - they are SO SOFT that not only do we have a set (gray) for Imogen's baths, but I also ordered a second set (off white) for Isaiah to use in his shaving routine. And, Natemia always includes a coupon for a percentage off your next order, which is always a bonus!

Don't worry, none of these links are sponsored - Mama don't play like that. They're just things I like, therefore you probably need to know about them.

I have thoughts #2

My poor baby had to get her first round of vaccines this week, at her two month check up. Is it just me, or does it seem like SIX vaccines is a lot for such a tiny baby? I know it's for her own good, but my gosh...three shots and an oral vaccine. She was such a trooper, though - her eyes got HUGE when they first stuck the needles in (they had two nurses doing them at one time to get it over with faster) and then she cried so hard she didn't even breathe for a good 15 seconds, but then she calmed down after only a few minutes. She did have a low grade fever later that night and the next day and she slept a TON, but she seems mostly back to normal, now. Still, tell me this isn't the saddest picture:

I have been absolutely itching to be outside lately. I feel like I've been basically housebound the last two months, despite the handful of times Isaiah and I have taken the baby out or the few times I've ventured out on my own. Of course now that Imogen is getting easier to take places and has actually been enjoying her stroller (meaning I can start going on walks!), the weather has gone to crap and we've had maybe two days without rain in the last few weeks. Story of my life. 

Somewhat against my will, I semi-recently had to upgrade my phone to the iPhone 7. Long story short, my iPhone 6 was having major battery issues, and one day finally just died and wouldn't charge at all, leaving me sans phone. I like the 7, except for one thing. It will NOT stay connected to our WiFi. I have tried just about every "here's how you fix that!" tutorial I can find online and have yet to find something that actually works. Instead, all day long I keep having to go into settings to reconnect to Wifi. It's annoying as all heck and apparently it's a known issue, so why they haven't released an update that fixes it is beyond me.

I'm getting excited for fall television. Well, not television - fall Netflix. I just got an email alerting me that season 4 of The Blacklist is now on Netflix (if you aren't watching that show, why not?) and it reminded me that it's almost fall and that means all our favorite shows should be having new seasons added. I'm looking at you, Grimm/New Girl/Portlandia/Gotham/Fuller House/Stranger Things.

We are flying down to Seattle at the end of this month for a minor outpatient surgery for Imogen and I'm really nervous about how she's going to sleep while we're at my mom's house. Thus far, she's only slept in a Rock and Play at night, next to our bed. The plan was to start transitioning her to her crib in her own room by the time she hits 3 months old (trust me, I didn't intend to have her sleeping in our room this long, even) but this trip kind of interrupts the time frame a little bit. My mom has purchased a Pack and Play for her to sleep in while we're there, and I have no idea how she's going to handle suddenly having to sleep on a hard, flat surface, completely cold turkey. I'd really like to not have some crazy sleep regression but I'm bracing for it, just in case. 

On a related note - anybody who has flown with a 3 month old baby, give me all your tips!! I already know about nursing/bottle/pacifier during takeoff and landing...what else?