Grant's Gifts

I have a passion project that I've been working on for a few months and I am (nervous) but ready and SO EXCITED to launch it into the world.

I mentioned a while ago I was working on something and that was taking away from my time in this space (well, and chasing a nearly 2 year old toddler!) and now I am ready to share! 

The 'big' launch of this project isn't until tomorrow, but because of the love and support our family has always had through the blog, I wanted to share this with you prior to the 'official' launch event.

Without further adieu...drum roll...
I present to you...

The mission of Grant's Gifts is to provide love and support to NICU graduate families, primarily in the form of donations of preemie clothes.  

Many of you remember our NICU journey and because of that unexpected (but beautiful) journey, the idea of this project formed.  

I vividly recall the day I walked into the NICU and Grant was wearing a onesie.  We had been so wrapped up in the craziness of what was going on, the option of him being able to wear clothes had not even dawned on us.  I immediately started crying seeing him wearing a onesie.  That one small, soft piece of cotton meant the world to me.  It gave me the sense of some sort of normalcy within a world that was anything but normal (or expected).  (You can refer to my post here where I talk about a lot of very similar things)

 As soon as I gathered myself, I called Mister and asked him to run out and find/buy him preemie clothes for our little man. 

Mister set off for Buy Buy Baby and sadly only found one very, very small section of preemie clothes.  He was able to find a package of plain white shirts that snapped on the side.  I was in disbelief that there were so few preemie options. 

The next chance I had, I ventured to Target to see what their selection was.  It was the same story, but they had even less options.  Now I was beginning to get upset.  I fully understood that retailers sell many more 0-3 and newborn clothes than preemie, but I still felt like it was... unfair for there to be so few options, if any.  

Now that Grant could wear actual clothes, rather than just a tiny preemie diaper, I wanted to find him some clothes ASAP.   I had ours moms and others on missions about town looking for preemie clothes.  We were slowly able to gather some, wash them quickly, and take them down to the NICU.  I would be lying if I said arriving at the NICU and being able to change Grant's clothes each day wasn't one of the highlights of my day. 

The amount of support we had during and after our NICU stay was amazing.  One day in particular will stay with me, probably forever.  Friends of ours offered to bring over dinner (I'm talking a full spread; lasagna, bread, salad, the works!)  But what was even better than the lasagna (which was amazing) was the fact that she found AND washed a preemie outfit for us.  I was blown away by their thoughtfulness, it meant the world to us that Grant had a brand new outfit to take the next day that was already washed and smelled amazing. 

The fact is, while there is a lot of sitting around and cuddling your new one, NICU families are very busy, and when they're not busy they better be sleeping.  This made the search for preemie clothes even more difficult.
Generally, when you have a preemie, you are not expecting to have a preemie.  Therefore, preemie clothes are generally not on those new mom checklists.
And for me (and I am sure many other moms) gone was the idea of the "going home outfit" I had lovingly picked out for Grant.  He wasn't able to wear that outfit until he was almost 3 months old. 

You may think there is not a huge difference between a newborn onesie and a preemie onesie, but there is a world of difference.  Even outfits that are 0-7lbs were too big on Grant.  The frustration of not being able to clothe your child was real in our world.
We always said the NICU is not really a world you think or know much about until you are thrown into it.  

About a year ago this all hit home once again.  Jen reached out to me that her little man had arrived a few weeks early just like Grant, and she was looking for suggestions on where to buy preemie clothes.  Knowing the difficultly of finding them and and wanting to help, I immediately boxed up Grant's clothes to send to her to borrow.  Along with that, I wanted to send a new outfit as well.  Off to Target I went, and they had TWO options (boy and girl).  This caused me to get aggravated all over again and have flashbacks of our journey not so long ago.  This sparked a fire in me.  I came home and told Mister this shouldn't be this big of a problem.

In short I want to put preemie clothes into the hands of NICU/preemie families so they can experience the same joy and normalcy we did seeing Grant in clothes.  
I want to relieve a tiny bit of stress that those families are going through.

I want them to have a special outfit for photo day.  

I want them to have an outfit they remember their baby wearing on the day the graduated from the NICU and were able to go home.

That is the (long) story short of how Grant's Gifts came to be.

After this idea was born, I was introduced to an amazing Cincinnati based non profit called Vivian's Victory whose passion is also to help NICU families.  I am elated and honored to be working under them as a program collecting and donating preemie clothes to families in the NICU.  

Head on over to Grant's Gifts to learn more!  

If you would like to donate you can text 'grantsgifts' to 71777 or clothes can be mailed to the address on the site. 
(fyi-there are still a few tweaks happening to the site if anything looks off, we are working on it!  The official donation page is still having some kinks worked out so at this time, texting may be the easiest option.  I'll update the post once the kinks are worked out.)
 

I always make it a habit to check the sale/clearance rack at any store I am visiting to see if they have preemie items.  Some favorites are Target, Wal-Mart, Carters, Old Navy, Gap and Meijer.

I would love if that was something you incorporated into your shopping trips as well.

Thank you as always for your love and support!!

Follow Grant's Gifts on Instagram here and Facebook here!

Currently : May

Hi friends!

I am happy to be linking up with Anne and Carrie today for the May edition of Currently.  

Like most folks, I am not sure how it is May already but the fact that I'm pretty sure Spring is finally here to stay I am okay with it.  

This month we are talking all things:
Celebrating:  This may seem insignificant to some but I am jumping for joy that we recently ordered new horizontal blinds for our family room.  Last year we had the entire house painted and once we did I HATED our window treatments.  The window treatments came with our house so we've lived with them for quite a while and I was more than ready for an update.  We finally settled on these from Select Blinds.   Even working in the design field, I have trouble nailing down exactly what I want or what I'm picturing in my head.

Creating:  Another simple house update under creating lately.  Awhile back my mom gave me a large wooden monogram 'T' for our front door and I finally managed to get it stained.  I used the same stain we have on our dining table but not as many coats.  It is a subtle gray with a tint of blue and I love how it looks on our navy front door.  There's something about warmer weather that makes me want to update the entire house.

Wearing: More Spring joy here! Dresses and skirts finally!  I picked up this adorable polka dot dress from Loft during one of their sales lately and I'm loving it!  I have also been on the LARGEST jean short hunt of all time.  I feel like Goldilocks.  Too big, too small, too short, just not right.  I really love these but they ran out of my size and I wanted to love these but on my longer legs they were a no go.  I have a pair a Levis in route to the house so I will see how those go. 

Sharing: These muffins with my coworkers.  I did not have super high expectations for them but they are SO good.  They're gooey and so yummy when warmed up and had with your morning coffee.

Going:  OUTSIDE OUTSIDE OUTSIDE with LM.  He LOVES to be outside and so we are go go going out the door as much as possible.  I cannot resist that little voice asking me to go 'ouchtside' so out we go and we play and collect rocks and walk around until bedtime.
And to the zoo as often as we can, because what's not fun about popping down to the zoo?

Next month I am honored to be co hosting with Anne for Currently : June.  Please join us to talk about what you're: traveling, grilling, exploring, planting, playing

Life Lately

Oh hey look, here I am.  I promise I haven't forgotten about this space but you know, life gets in the way.  Also I have another project I am working on that is taking a lot of my time.  I am not ready to spill my guts yet but I am so excited about it and cannot wait to share it with you! I will need your help once the cat is out of the bag so get ready!

Otherwise here is what has been going on in our life:

If you saw my Insta you saw that Mister and I went camping last weekend.  Yes, me, went camping.  We love love love our church and church community and they have land that they do camps on every so often.  Last weekend was 'Couples Camp' and at first I told Mister NO WAY.  However, over time I came around to the idea and I am SO glad I did.  We had a fabulous weekend, so much goodness.  Even when we woke up in the middle of the night to rain in our tent :(  

Little Mister spent the weekend with Nanny and they had a ball! They went to gymnastics and played, played, played.

A few weekends ago some of my best girlfriends came into town and LM had a weekend long play date with his aunts and birthday buddy Edie.  They weren't planned to be so close in age but LM and Edie are only a few days apart and so fun to watch together.

 

Friends of ours moved (major sad face) but they gifted LM their slide and he has been in heaven.  He is constantly chanting 'outside outside! slide slide!'.  When he's not sliding he's really into picking up rocks.  My mom tells me that from about age 2 on I always had a rock in my pocket every time she did laundry so it's only fitting he loves rocks.  

I think those are the only major things going on in our life!
We are still LOVING our insta pot and keeping up our Whole30 diet in an 80/20 aspect.  We need our wine and Diet Coke but otherwise we are doing a pretty good job sticking to it.

What's going on in your life?!

Working Mama : 1 Year After Maternity Leave

Today marks 1 year of being back at work after LM was born.  

To say that was a terrible, no good, sad day would be an understatement.  I was on the verge of tears the entire morning trying to get ready and I think I cried almost all the way to work.

My sweet neighbor met me in the driveway with a card and a Starbucks gift card, both were very needed and appreciated.

 (1 year ago...my last day of maternity leave)

That being said, getting back into a groove was good.  I missed LM like crazy and really just wanted to be at home with him, but it was nice to talk with other adults and put on real clothes.  It had been quite a while since I had done that consistently.  I left work on September 16th (not knowing I would not return for a while) and did not go back until February 2nd.  (Well I went back 1/2 days for 6 days right before he came home...that barely counted since I was only there for 4 hours and had to pump twice during that time.)

The advice I heard over and over again was to take it one day at a time.  And that is all I could really do and over time, it worked.  To all you mamas that eventually have to go back to work, I promise it works.  It sucks hard core but it does get better.  It makes coming home all that much better. 

My other big advice is to not start back on a Monday if you can help it.  I started back on a Thursday and only having to go in 2 days and not dread the weekend (if I had started on a Monday) made it a lot easier.

Even before we had LM I had the upmost respect for working mothers.  Now that I am one, I have enough more respect for fellow mamas (and papas).  It is hard work.  Plain and simple.  It is 100% worth it, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard.

It has definitely taking some adjusting and schedule wrangling but we make it work.

Our days are pretty much nonstop from the moment we get up until the moment LM goes to bed.

I get up at 5:45 (on days I workout) and about 6:25 on the days I don't.  

I start the coffee and get LM's milk ready.  I then speed get ready and by this time LM is usually awake and jabbering away in his bed.  Thankfully he is pretty good about chatting with himself and playing in his bed until it is time to get dressed.

By 6:45 I get him up, dressed and teeth brushed.  After that Mister takes over for milk time and off to the sitters.

It is our goal to pick LM by 5 (or before) from the sitter and rush home for dinner and play time.  It depends on the day of the week but usually he starts crashing by 6:30-6:45.  After pjs its milk and into bed.  

 As you can see, sadly my time with him in the morning is limited.  I have a bit of a commute so I leave as early as I can so I can in turn, leave as early as possible in the evening to return home.
It is my goal to be in the office between 7:30-7:45...barf I know.

But then I can leave around 4:15 and then we are able to maximize our time in the evening with him.

By 7:15-7:30 we all crash in some form.  LM in his bed and Mister and I on the sofa with dinner (terrible habit I know).  

Mister and I both have been pretty busy with work the past few months and often have to work in the evenings.  I do not mind this too much (I mean, yes I would rather be doing nothing ;) ).  However I do think it is important to set the expectations of those you work with and for if you are in a similar situation.  I've made it clear that I am okay with working in the evenings if necessary but refuse to do so while LM is awake.  Since he is only awake a few hours after we get home, I am not going to spend that time sitting on my computer. I did recently have to jump on a call when I got home and LM insisted on sitting in my lap (and I did not mind one bit) but let's just say thank goodness for the mute button.

Having 2 full time working parents is definitely new territory for us and is constantly changing but the groove we are in right now seems to be working as best as it can be.  Whether you work in or out of the house full or part time or your job is to be an amazing stay at home parent, you get all of my props.  Parenting is like 148 jobs rolled into one that you can't train for.  Throw that on top of normal life and craziness and jobs to boot...it can be a doozy!  I am guessing this is an area that we can all give ourselves a little bit of grace.  This is something that I am certainly working on.  

Thankfully Mister and I both work for companies that value family time and a work/life balance.  If LM has a doctors appointment or I need to leave early to get him, my office is great about letting that happen.  That flexibility means the world to us.  It makes a lot of difference to the balance we strive to keep.

I remember counting down the days until I had to go back to work and absolutely dreading it.  We are very fortunate that LM and we love our sitter he goes to.  While I'd love to hang out with him all day, I enjoy my job and he enjoys his friends and our setup is working at the moment.

I have a couple other thoughts on this subject and am thinking about starting a series around working mamas and how we make it work.  Let me know if you have anything you want me to touch on.

16 Months

I realize this is an odd month to do an update on but hey, the last one was 4 months ago so here we go.

I mentioned a little bit about LM in my last post but thought I would dive into the details a little more on this post.  Plus this Mama loves having these posts to look back on.

At his 15 month check up LM was 22lbs and 31" long.  I would say he's about the same weight now.  But he has definitely gotten taller lately...sometimes I'm pretty certain he grows while napping.

He LOVES to eat.  Knock on wood, we haven't found much of anything he won't eat.

He doesn't like lunch meat ham but that is about it.

He loves pb&j, chicken, bananas (dried and fresh), dried mango, yogurt, pudding, grilled cheese, string cheese and basically any form of CHEESE. (Just like his mama)

He loves his milk!  We are working on transitioning to all sippy cups for milk.  Judge away but this boy may get a bottle before bed until college.

He does really like this straw cup and anything with handles.  

He is a walking fool.  And with that comes with a lot of tumbles but he generally gets right back up and keeps going.  He LOVES his blankie and has mastered walking with it, even wrapped around his legs.  Pretty impressive if you ask me.  

His feet are still kind of tiny so we've had a tricky time finding hard sole shoes for him (and that aren't CRAZY expensive) but they seem to be growing so hopefully that won't be a huge issue soon.

He can climb up stairs and is starting to figure out how to climb on the sofa.  He was on the sofa the other day and just up and started walking across it....so I'd say we have a little daredevil on our hands.  He does not seem to have any fear.

LM is saying 10+ words at the moment. His little low voice is so funny.  There are a lot of 'hi's' in our house.
He is also picking up some sign language.  He can do 'all done', 'more' and 'milk'.  We are starting to work on 'eat' and 'water' next.

He is still pretty stingy with his smiles and giggles but we've noticed him laughing and giggling more often.  He does have the stink down pat though ;)
 He has definitely started finding his sillies lately.  He knows how to at least make us laugh, and he does that every day.  

Currently : July

I feel like we are in that season of life where we have a lot going on and nothing all at the same time.

Evenings fill up quickly and days I am lucky enough to have off to spend with LM go by SO quickly.  I took this past Monday off to extend our weekend and by the time we ran errands, came home for lunch/naps and a work out for mama it was already time to head to a cookout.  I sure don't know where the time goes but here's what I've been up to currently....

Documenting: I am doing my very best and hardest to keep LM's baby book up to date.  We have this one an LOVE it.  Its so cute and a little funky and I love how it's laid out.  I also documented LM's entire birth story/NICU stay and a few other things but I've been thinking I need to go back and add little stories along with the other milestones I've jotted down.

Accomplishing: I am happy to say that I am well into week 2 of the Beta round of T25.  It kicks my butt literally every day.  I am talking DRIPPING in sweat but I really, really like it.  I love that it's only 25 minutes and it goes by so quickly.  

Enjoying: This is probably a cop out but I am always really enjoying LM.  His little personality shines through more and more and it is so precious.  He is silly like his papa and his belly laughs are just the best.  I am also enjoying experiencing summer and all the new things that brings with him.  He loves to be outside and splash in the pool.

And on a personal note I am enjoying some new beauty products I had the pleasure of trying out.  Kate reached out to me and asked if I wanted to try EVER Skin's Revive Eye Cream, Daylight Corrector & Concealer.  Yes please!  As a new mom I can use all the help I can get when it comes to making me look more awake and alert!  I have to say I was very impressed with how it all worked and definitely made a difference in my make up throughout the work day.  If you want to learn more check out Kate here and here and I know she would be more than happy to help!  

Reading:  I am currently reading 'The Singles Game' and enjoying it! It's a light, summer read.  I desperately need a book for the car but my library seems to be out of EVERYTHING lately.  I need some new suggestions.  I saw Mix and Match Mama just put up her new list, I need to go jot down some notes.  Her readers always have the best suggestions.

Spending: Truthfully not too much lately in the money department but you know we always need to hit up Target for diapers and food! LM says 'not Target again Mom!'

Kait is doing 'no spend July' and it's inspired me to be a little more conscious of our spending habits.  But the Nordstrom sale is on my radar....

Linking up with Anne and Stephanie! 

Life Lately

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISTER!!!
We love you Papa and are so excited to celebrate you and the amazing papa and husband you are!!

Okay now on blogging!
Remember me? I remembered how to blog, shocking.

This whole working mama thing is a lot of...work!  And generally after I pick up LM all I want to do is snuggle him and that's usually what I do.  You can see where this space takes a small back seat BUT I'm back and I'm going to do my best to keep up now that we are semi getting in rhythm around these parts.

And the easiest way to do that is with one big ol life lately post and photo collage.

Twins much?!

Past summer my mom and I were going through some of my baby clothes and we found an old Super Bowl shirt of mine.  I snagged it up and when we were invited to a Super Bowl party I knew just what LM had to wear! I then found the photo of me wearing the same shirt.  I've always thought LM looks a lot like Mister (and he does!!) but that side by side is also very convincing.
And a new family photo of us! We will work on everyone looking at the camera next time.

1.  LM's first day of daycare!  Only one of us cried...
2.  Just a couple of best buds hanging out
3.  He's getting knuckle dimples and I'm obsessed
4.  Just reading one of his Valentine's gifts
5.  Out for a stroll during the beautiful weekend weather
6.  I was filling up Floyd's food container and turned around and he just decided to help himself...
7.  Right before LM tried green beans for the first time!
8.  My newest, most favorite Valentine
9.  After work snuggle time, MY FAVORITE

And that's what's been going on here.  SNUGGLING, resting and getting in the swing of things.
I promise to do a better job of keeping up but it may take me a while!

Santa Came to Town

It is a shock to no one that I love love love Christmas.  

With that, everyone has said how even MORE magical Christmas is with kids.

Well, they're right!

Because of Little Mister's early-ness we are quarantined to the house for quite a while so that means no visits to see Santa this year.

Obviously, his health and safety is of our foremost concern and going to the mall/somewhere super crowded is out of the question.

Well, Mister knew how upset I was about this and decided to take matters into his own Christmas hands. 

(I can NOT with his face in this photo, dead)

 He reached out to some friends with this dilemma and was able to borrow a Santa suit and surprised Little Mister and I both over the weekend.

He told me he had a surprise downstairs for Little Mister's 3 month birthday (update coming soon!) that he needed to 'get together'.  Little did I know what that meant.   

A few minutes later I heard  'ho ho ho' coming up the stairs and turned around and Santa himself was in our house!

 I have never laughed and cried so hard at the same time.

Seeing Mister as Santa was 1. so funny and 2. incredibly sweet

 Thankfully Little Mister was not phased by this jolly man in a beard and I was able to snap about one million photos.

To say my Christmas was made is an understatement. 

Mama Favorites {& a giveaway!}

I haven't done a favorites round up lately and there are definitely some things I am really loving lately.

I am also planning a baby centered favorites post as well.  We have definitely found some winners in the baby department.

But first, in the mama department ;)

Now that I am home for a few weeks comfort is key and these pants have been on constant rotation.

Libby sent them to me in a little care package, along with this shirt, both are winners.

(they are so soft they put babies right to sleep!)

I generally am not a fan of sleeping in pants but these guys are a total exception.  They are SO soft and just light enough that they don't make me too hot and feel like I am not wearing anything at all. 

 I would add them to your Christmas list immediately.  I wouldn't be mad if Santa brought me another pair...I mean they are on sale and they are SO many cute options.  Just throwing it out there Santa ;) 

Another cozy item I am loving are these baseball tees from Walmart.  Mister spotted them one day and somehow now I own 3 different ones.  They are also super soft and comfy.  I sized up a medium for a roomier, lounge around fit.  So comfy I wore one the day we brought Little Mister home.

And what comes with lounging?  Snacking! Duh.

Being home all day is dangerous you guys.

First up I literally can NOT stop eating these treats, in fact I am making another batch as soon as I finish this post.   Mostly because I ate 95% of the first pan and Mister the other 5%.  They are perfect for grabbing on the go.  Or every time you open the fridge, whatever floats your boat.  I did use gluten free pretzels but I do not think that is crucial.

Another item I cannot stop eating are the Peppermint Pretzel Thins....enough said.

And one more that I think would be a great addition to your Thanksgiving treat table is Rigoni di Asiago's Nocciolata Dairy Free spread-think hazelnut goodness to put on just about anything your heart desires.  Yes please.  I haven't tried it yet but I think on top of my chocolate chip banana bread with your morning coffee Thanksgiving morning while watching the parade sounds delightful. 

If you would like a chance to win your own jar simply comment below with one of your fall favorites and Little Mister and I will randomly select a lucky winner next week!

To round out the (current) stay at home mom favorites list, we have to include tv shows. Duh.

Currently I'm catching up on Gilmore Girls before the new ones come out and The Good Wife.  Mister and I also started Good Girls Revolt.  Any other recommendations?  

PS Little Mister is 2 months old today!! Don't worry I'll have a full post dedicated to it ;)