Good-Bye 2013

This year has got to be one of my favorites! You can't beat the experience of having your first child. Totally magical. I'm sad to see it end, but at the same time...2014 is going to rock!

Here's my summary of the past year!

January
We got the nursery ready and I won $100 from EarthFare for my resolution.

Ikea furniture!

February -
Went to Myrtle Beach with friends for the marathon. It snowed!

Myrtle Beach Marathon

March -
Really getting ready for Sam. Painted master bathroom and fixed up the fence in the backyard.

Traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner for the boys

April -
Hello Sam!

We waited a long time for you buddy!

May -
Got to celebrate my first mother's day and Sam started smiling.

My first Mother's Day

June -
Celebrating my birthday and summer.

Loving the backyard

July -
Having fun at the Farmer's Market.

Fun at the Farmer's Market

August -
Tasting solid food for the first time!

Solid food!

September -
Labor day, trip to the zoo with friends and first hair cut!

zoo!

October -
We baptized Sam and my family came to visit.

Baptizing Sam

November -
New car, Thanksgiving in New York and meeting cousins.

fall!

December -
Sam's first Christmas, it was so sweet and wonderful.

Christmas!

Tackling the Closet

trust me, lots more room here!

Saturday night I was feeling inspired and productive by the upcoming new year and its goal. I decided it was time to tackle the closet and my clothes! Dun-dun-dunnnnn.

This time no holding back. Time to be realistic! I got rid of clothes that would never fit again, clothes that never looked good on me to begin with and clothes I just never wore. In the end, I ended up with 3 garbage bags stuffed as stuffed could be. Yeah, I kept some clothes that may or may not fit, some that does hold sentimental value and some that is just too fun to throw away. But the majority are my classics, clothes that lasted through the years, clothes that look good on me and clothes that'll hold me over till I get back into shape.

I also gave myself new rules to follow. Rules that I've been thinking about for years but never implemented. Now that I'm not pregnant anymore and working on getting into shape, there's no more excuses. My ultimate goal for these rules is to have a closet filled with good quality clothes, clothes that look good on me and give me confidence and clothes that all kind of go together for lots of mix and matching. I want a style, I want a look that really expresses who I am. Not the all over the place girl I've been.

Suzy's rules for clothes:

- Don't buy from stores you know that doesn't fit you properly or falls apart quickly. Places like Old Navy and Target. Time and time again I buy clothes from there, only for it to make me look dumpy. Not worth the lower prices.

- Don't buy from Good Will. While I may have found some awesome clothes at Good Will, a lot of stuff I do buy is on silly whims, thinking I can totally pull off. The last few times I bought pants there ended up looking just bleh on me.

- Don't buy clothes JUST because it's on sale.  So many times I bought things that were on sale that looked ok on me and in a color that I normally don't wear.

- Don't buy clothes in colors and patterns that you know don't look good. Lately I've been paying attention to what colors look best on me. Just because I'm a happy and bubbly person, pink is not my color. Pink is a nice accent on me. Neutral colors look best with pops of color. A grey shirt with a teal cardigan.

- Don't buy clothes in styles that aren't you. I love vintage, but I can't pull it off. I can't pull off the business casual cute or the flowy bohemian.

- Don't buy clothes that are not comfortable. That means too tight, weird cuts and fit.

- Don't buy shirts from events and concerts. Mens shirts rarely fit good! Save the cash, keep the memories.

I can't wait to see how all this hold up and how different my clothes and closet will be by the end of the next year.

Sam & Suzy This Week

I couldn't help it! hee hee

This week just flew by! It's actually nice having Christmas on a Wednesday, it helps break up the week.

Sam's been at Rob's parents for the week. It's so sweet to see them together. Sam does love his grandma and grandpa. ALWAYS smiles when grandpa walks by. Hopefully one day soon, Sam will get to spend more time with them. For now, this is great.


Sam:
Sam is beginning to be a bit clingingy and will cry if I leave the room. Secretly, I've been waiting for this moment...come on, it's sweet! He really does love me! Buuuut, at the same time, I do feel bad. I don't want him to cry. He doesn't cry when we leave in the morning, but if we come home and I say go to the restroom, he'll cry a little. He also likes sitting in my lap and doesn't want to be anywhere else sometimes. I think right now, a lot of it is him teething a bit and he's not feeling the greatest. He's like that as well when he's tired.

Suzy:
It's been a lovely week. With the excitement and joy of the holidays and the sunshine we've been getting, I've been feeling great. Working on Sam's cardboard house and the mat and pillow was a lot of fun. Reminds me that I truly enjoy making things. I also got to bake a pie! Apple pie with beer soaked apples.

AND!! I have gotten a lot of alone time this week with being sick one day and baking the pie another (2 hours to soak apples in beer!!). It's such a weird feeling and I get to the point where I start to get very lonely. But I got to watch a cheesy Christmas movie, catch up on Once Upon a Time, walk the dogs, and just sit. *dreamy sigh*

Sam's Cardboard House

For Christmas, Sam's FIRST, I really wanted to make him something. I love to make gifts. The thing is, I waited till last minute to do something for Sam. I looked through my books and everything either required time or to buy a lot of supplies. I then searched on Pinterest for DIY baby toys and I came across this cardboard house and I KNEW that's what I wanted to do! It'd be a fun little place just for Sam.

here's the house!

I knew my Honest diaper boxes would be great. Not only are they big, but they have a nice design on the outside and is teal on the inside. I got a roll of white duct tape to piece everything together and to contrast with the colors of the box. I modified the house a little because I needed to use two boxes instead of one. This house also folds up so we can put it away easily. Once put together, I put up a couple pictures of Sam and us and I put start stickers on the ceiling.

the interior and cloud pillow

I also made a little mat for the bottom. And I couldn't help but make a cloud pillow just like the one in the tutorial. I had left over fuzzy white fabric that was perfect for a cloud. If Sam really likes being in his house, I was thinking maybe putting up a curtain so he can have some privacy.

Sam loves the photos

I'm really happy how it turned out! It was a fun project. It's hard to tell if Sam is into it since he's still overwhelmed with Christmas and he's just a bit young. I like to give him his morning bottle in the house.

chillin'

Sam's First Christmas

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

Our's was just wonderful! Seriously, it couldn't have been a more perfect first Christmas with Sam.

On Christmas morning we all went downstairs and showed Sam his cardboard house that I had made (I will have a separate post coming up about it, cuz I think it's just swell!). I think he likes it. He enjoyed seeing the photos in there and the stars on the ceiling. I gave him his bottle in it, which he liked looking at the ceiling while drinking. We then gave him his other presents, a xylophone, a wooden helicopter and a couple books. You could tell he was a bit overwhelmed. "Look at this! Now look at this! Ooh! Look!" And then a wonderful thing happened, Sam took an extra long nap and I got to sit and drink my coffee (good stuff too from Rob) as slow and relaxing as I wanted to. For a while, I just sat there in silence, look off into nothing.

We spent the rest of the day with Rob's parents and brother. It was nice and relaxing. Sam enjoyed the toys he got from them. Rob and Sam also got to start the tradition of getting a Hess Gas Station toy truck for Christmas. This something Rob, his brothers and his dad have been doing since they were kids themselves. Very sweet! I got to talk to my family, who all sounded happy (despite colds and flus going around). I even got to video chat with my sister, thank goodness for iPhone right? It makes being so far away a bit easier for me.


Sam had an awesome day. It was everything I had hoped it would be!

Hanging out in his cardboard house

Opening presents at home

Tools!

Rob and Sam with their first Hess truck.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday filled with good food, yummy treats and much love.

Our Weekend

Sam really hit some milestones this weekends!

On Saturday, I was putting him down for a nap and he was being all chatting and awake and then he does it...he grabs the rail and starts pulling up! He gets on his knees and I'm just laughing and starting at him. I take a few steps back to see what he'll do and sure enough, he's standing! I call Rob over and we're both just laughing. Then Rob quickly proceeded to lower the mattress to the bottom level because his brother had broken his leg as a baby trying to climb out of the crib. (let's hope Sam takes after me or Rob and not his uncles, hee hee)

In the afternoon, we went and visited Santa! It was so sweet, I almost started crying. Sam was a little shocked, didn't know what to think of this big furry guy and the person with the big camera.

For dinner we always have Sam sit in the highchair with us. I'll give him little bits of food of it's something we've had before and he usually just pushes it around. He knows its food because if it's on his finger, he'll open his month. That night I gave him some broccoli and carrots and he tried grabbing it and put some in his mouth. Poor little guy kept missing, but he knew what to do! We tried it again on Sunday and he got a few pieces in, which caused everyone to yell out and scare Sam, hee hee.

Oh and then on Saturday (again, big day) I was putting a tape roll on his head and he knew if he turned his head, it'd fall off. I'd then put it on my head and let it fall. We kept doing it back and forth and he thought it was funny! I even put it on the cat and the dogs. It's so cool to see him realize thing like that. That he knows if he moves his head, something will happen. He tried doing it with his hat too the next morning which got me cracking up.

It's just so amazing to see all this happen in such a small span of time.

Sam & Suzy This Week

sam wearing a sweater rob's grandma made for when rob was a baby

Sam:
Sam moved into the Infant II class at daycare! I'm actually very excited for him. He gets to be with some of his older buddies that moved there a while back and he has a few of his other classmates that moved with him. He has a new room to explore, which has tunnels, little hills and other fun stuff.

His teachers say he's really enjoying it. I think a major reason for that is that it's a much calmer environment. The babies there are older and don't required so much one on one attention. Ya can't blame the little ones, it's what they do. But Sam and his classmates are now learning to be more independent and have fun exploring the world. They do a lot more activities like songs and books and working on skills like pushing a toy truck.

I'm curious to see how fast he develops now that most of his classmates either just started walking or are for reals crawling. Seriously, I predict this boy is going to walk at 10 months!

Suzy:
I will be positive in my little section here even though it's been a stressful week and I've been on the negative side lately.
Good things:
- I pulled out some old pants and while I can't really zip and button them up, throw on a belt and I can wear them. Yay for more stuff that fits.

- Me and the dogs took a much needed walk and the sun was shining. I think we all had a huge smile.

- I started doing my back/core exercises again. Thankfully with all the baby picking up, my back has been doing great!

- Starting reading the Golden Compass again for like the 4th time. It's interesting to read a book that I read over 15 years ago and notice and look at it in a different way with grown up eyes.

- I've been putting coconut oil in my coffee and I love it. It all started when I read about butter coffee and I saw that people put coconut oil as well in their coffee.

- I've been a good girl around the holiday treats! Usually just sticking to 1-2 cookies a day. It's going to be extra hard next week, but I know I can still be good!

Throwback Thursday: Christmas Edition

This is me and my sister with Santa around 1987. Sometimes we couldn't be more opposite! I know my sister is going to kill me because I'm posting this, but I just love it so much! Hee hee.

Baby, it's cold season

sick Sam means lots of special cuddles and naps with mommy

Ah cold season. Where germs are just as giving as we are this holiday season.

Sam has had a cold for little over a week now. Our monthly cold. It's the norm right now and no reason to be upset because how do you prevent germs being spread at a daycare where babies learn about their world by putting everything in their mouth?

We ended up taking him to the doctors because he had such a bad cough. It was keeping him US up at night and he'd get so wiped out from all the coughing. But all is good. It's just a cold. His throat is very red, almost thought it was strep. It makes sense if you cough a lot, it'll make your throat sore.

Since he's a bit older, Sam's doctor recommended some tea for him to drink. She recommended Yogi Tea's Throat Comfort and echinacea tea. The echinacea tea will help him get over the cold and build up his immunity. We are to give him only 1oz 2 -3 times a day.

It makes me feeling good that we can help him now when he gets sick. Before all we could do was run the humidifier. I hope the echinacea helps. I'll be drinking that too because I still get sick when he's sick. How can I not kiss and cuddle this little guy even when he's snotty and coughing in my face?

Sam & Suzy This Week

It was so sweet putting up the Christmas decorations. We were all wearing Christmas hats and I had Christmas music playing and Sam was bobbing his head to the songs. I gave Sam some decorations to explore with, which he loved. He had fun holding a plastic snow globe. Sam was being extra silly and army crawling all over with such a happy face. He even went under the exersaucer and hung out there for a bit, hee hee. We decorated our tree, which Sam helped put the first ornament. Definitely a lovely memory I will keep forever.

I also did our mini photo shoot for our Christmas cards. I'm excited we get to do photo Christmas cards this year! The photos I took are just priceless and I can't wait to share them, but I will wait until we mailed out our cards because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. How about on Christmas I show you the photos?

Sam:
Sam is currently cutting a top tooth. We had a couple really bad nights this past week. What makes this a little bit tougher is that it's really swollen and I can tell he's rubbing his bottom tooth over it and irritating it more.

Suzy:
Do you know that since July I have yet to lose a pound?? That's 6 weeks of me running AND eating a salad for lunch every day and the green smoothies I had for breakfast for a few months. Wow...just wow. I was feeling so positive too! I was feeling good thinking that I was losing weight. Ok, I know, it's great to feel good...but you know I just wish I could see at least ONE pound go away, to let myself know that I'm on the right track.

I guess the reason why it bugs me so much is that I just want to wear nice clothes again! Right now I can't really wear my old pants and so I've been buying jeans at Good Will because I don't want to buy new pants if I'm going to lose weight. While I'm grateful I find jeans at Good Will that fit me, they are not the flatterning. So I just feel dumpy. All the girls at work look so cute and put together, doesn't make it easier sometimes.

Sorry for the venting! This is motherhood folks! Not some celebrity who is back in her prepregnancy clothes 3 months later!

Coming 2014...

In early 2014 I will be switching my blog back to Hello-Suzy.com !

I've had my little Hello Sprout blog for over a year now, documenting my pregnancy and Sam. While I still want to keep this blog about my family, I would also like the flexibility to expand to other things like maybe my drawings and such. I'd also like to make special sections about my struggle with infertility and my pregnancy and birth. Making it more of a website and a blog.

It's much easier to remember a domain too. I've had Hello-Suzy.com for a few years now and I hate that it's just sitting there being wasted.

I'm really excited because Rob and I will be trying a new blogging platform called ghost.org . It looks great and I can post using my iPad, which right now I usually write my posts on the computer and when I'm at home, I'm just too lazy sometimes to go upstairs.

Sam & Suzy This Week

I'm so eager for this weekend! It's the holiday season! I can't wait to bust out the Christmas decorations and make the house look festive. We also have a holiday party we are going to on Saturday. I wish we could do Santa this weekend too, but we have to get our house back in order. Poor Rob has so many leaves to rake up. Pfft, grown up stuff!

Sam:
He is on the move! Sam loves it too. He makes happy squeals as he's dragging himself across the room. It's crazy to see him go from the couch, to the front door and then to the other side and into the hall. That's a lot of moving!

Sam's also starting to dance. When you play him a song on one of his toys he starts to bob up and down. I knew this boy loved music, but it's even more apparent now.


Suzy:
Thanksgiving break was just what I needed. I've been a nasty ball of stress lately. Just so much going on and trying to do so much..and hormones, always the hormones. But being in New York and not having to worry about anything other than myself and Sam, it felt great. I'm learning to just cut out the stuff that's stressing me out. I also told Rob I need to start cooking more to help me feel better. Rob's been doing most of the cooking because I take care of Sam when we get home. It used to be because I would breastfeed him as soon as we got home and that's not the case anymore. So now it's time for me to start cooking, which I really enjoy!


Have a great weekend everyone!

*oh and excuse the varying sizes of my images. i'm trying to come up with a consistent size to use from now on.*

8 Months

8 months! 8 months! I can't deal, hee hee.

he loves his bathtime

socks are so yummy!

sam love my camera

always smiling

hello

Our Thanksgiving weekend

(I wrote this on our way home from New York. Nothing like writing a blog post at 1 am in the dark,hee hee)

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and weekend!

Our's was quite nice. We drove up to New York to spend Thanksgiving with Rob's family.

We left Wednesday night, right at Sam's bedtime. Rob had worked from home that day and slept for a while before we headed off. Sam and I slept in the back seat while Rob drove through the night. 10 hours never went by so fast! It was awesome. Sam did great! He slept practically the entire time. He woke up just as the sun came up and just chilled for another couple hours before we got there. He even held out to get his bottle! Although I will admit, I missed mine and Rob's road trip conversations and pointing out the places with the funny names and singing The Office theme song while driving through Scranton, PA.

We spent Thanksgiving at Rob's cousin's house. Sam got to meet his cousins Abby and Danny. Danny is just a couple months younger than Sam. It's crazy to think that Sam was that small just not too long ago. It's also crazy because Sam is usually the youngest when we go places, hee hee. It was a lovely dinner and get together. I always enjoy spending time there.

Friday we went over to Connecticut to the huge grocery store Stew Leonard's. This place is ginormous! The great thing is that throughout the store, there are animatronics of butter, bananas, chickens, cows and even Twinkie the Kid. It's so silly and fun. We thought Sam would like it.

Rob's mom's good friend came by to meet Sam later that day and then Rob's aunt came a bit after that. It's sweet to see Sam meeting relatives. He's always to happy to see new people and doesn't mind being held. It makes me happy too because I know Sam won't get a chance to see a lot of his relatives often and I'd like these moments to be happy ones. It'd be different and a bummer if Sam didn't like being around new people. He knows he is loved!

Saturday we left Sam with the grandparents and me, Rob and his brother went to Greenwich, Connecticut. We went there to go see the 3D printers at the Makerbot store. (Oh yes, we are that geeky) It was actually really cool to see a 3D printer (a machine that uses plastic spools to make 3D objects that were designed on the computer.) Rob is currently learning how to design things. I'm going to learn too once I finish up some projects of mine. I actually have some 3D rendering knowledge from high school. FunFact: I enrolled to learn computer animation in college, but I  changed my mind before I started. Anyways!  We are not getting a 3D printer any time soon, but it's something we thought would be fun to do on the side one day. After visiting that store we walked around a bit and went into this real awesome toy store. It was like Fab.com's kids section. They had such great toys, the kind of toys I'd like to get Sam. A lot of wooden toys, toys that encourage imagination, thought, and independence. We didn't buy anything because Sam was still a bit young for it, but I have a lot of great ideas of toys I'd like to get.

Another thing we did, we looked at old baby pictures again, now that we have Sam to compare. We all came to the conclusion that Sam has Rob's eyes and nose. Sam also seems to have Rob's happy personality, always smiling and looking so genuinely happy. I can't wait to visit my family one day and look through our old photos and see Sam in them.

It was a nice little trip. I am so proud of Sam for how well he did. The car ride, the craziness of meeting relatives and sleeping in a different house. The key, I think, is just to keep it and familiar and normal as possible. We drove during night, during bedtime. We stuck with his night time routine, even reading Good Night Moon in the car. I brought the white noise machine, stuffed animals and blankets that all smelled like home.