Whirlwind

Whew, it's been an odd week.  Back at work one day, then off for a doctor appointment for Ollie and an eye appointment for myself and now back at work again.  Certainly makes for a shorter week, which is nice when you're just coming back from vacation!

It's just been a bit of a whirlwind though - and thankfully has made the time Mr. Monkey's been gone go by rather fast, I can't complain about that!  Ollie's doctor appointment went well - he doesn't weigh as much as I originally thought!  He is not quite 20 pounds yet.  He's close - 19 pounds, 15 oz.  

Shirt - Lauren Conrad for Kohls (thrifted), Skirt - Shabby Apple (won in giveaway)

Necklace - Camy Couture, Sandals - Merona (Target)

I get the feeling today will be the longest of my days as I anxiously awaiting getting to see my Pants Monkey tonight.  It's been a long time since we've been apart for more than a day, so I'm definitely missing him quite a bit!  I'm so happy he's coming home tonight!

Weekend recap in pictures

So, it's already Wednesday of a short and crazy week and I'm just now getting around to recapping the weekend.  I just have to though, it was pretty epic and amazing.

Let's go back to Friday - I did get my bonfire!  We had a nice early evening with Oliver first, went for a walk, played for a bit and then he went to bed pretty nicely.  We grilled ourselves some brats, cracked open a beer and then Mr. Monkey built us a lovely fire out of a bunch of the branches and things that have fallen in the yard since last year.  It was a great way to get rid of that stuff instead of having to bundle it and drag it into the front yard!  We streamed some light jazz music (the Pants Monkey's favorite) on my iPhone and just enjoyed a beautiful evening.  He did have to keep feeding the fire, but it worked out well, when we were ready to be done we didn't have to wait for it to burn out.

Saturday morning I got up nice and early with Ollie, we had a fun morning of playing and then I packed him up in the car and headed to Como Zoo and Conservatory to meet Miss Lori.

I freaking love the Conservatory - especially the Sunken Garden room - everything is in full bloom in there right now, it smells amazing and is just lovely.

This was Oliver's second time at the zoo, and the first time I attempted a trip like this without the help of daddy - he did pretty well and so did I!  I was excited that he even fell asleep in his stroller, gives me hope that we can do some sight seeing in St. Louis when we're there and he'll be able to go with the flow pretty well!  He woke up in time to see some animals - though he's still not too into them quite yet.  We'll keep going back though!

And let's talk about this lady for a second here - I stole this picture from her - I cannot believe in just a few short weeks she's heading to Chicago for good.  I am so happy for her - but sad for me!  She's one of the greatest friends I've made through blogging that I've had the pleasure of meeting up with in person.  I definitely consider her more than just a blog friend now!  I will miss her like crazy, but thank god for social media for keeping in touch - and I see a trip to Chicago in our very near future as well!

After the zoo, we came home and hung out on the deck for a bit with Mr. Monkey - but before that Oliver had to get in some quality time with his BFF.  I love how he loves Taylor and how she loves him.  Taylor was the cat we were more worried about, we seriously thought she would have trouble with Ollie, but she's really taken a shine to him.  Pippin doesn't not like him, but she still is unsure, so he's still unsure of her.  We'll keep working on it.

Sunday morning I got up early for church but got in some quality time with this sweet face before I had to go. He is becoming more and more of a little person every day.  He's not quite crawling yet, but will pull himself up on our laps if we sit on the floor with him.  Later in the day on Sunday we had dinner with my in-laws and worked out the remaining details for our St. Louis trip.  I can't believe the trip is almost here!  I'm still a little nervous about it, but mostly I'm getting excited now.  It's going to be great to see the relatives there and I'm excited for Oliver's first vacation!

Monday we did Oliver's six month pictures - I can't believe he will be six months next week.  We're almost halfway to his first birthday and that just blows my mind!  We did the pictures outside and it was a little bright and warm, but he was a trooper I think.  We had lunch outside after that, then he had a visit from his auntie since she'll be gone before and after we're gone.  We all more or less crashed Monday night then!  It was a busy, full weekend and if it's any indication of how the summer is going to be - I'll take it, even if I had sunburned arms and was totally wiped by the end of it - my heart was full and happy!  Happy summer!!

Eight

I've much to share about the weekend (it was great) and things coming up (there is a lot), but today I'm taking time out to celebrate 8 years of marriage with this wonderful man here.

It's amazing how far we've come in 8 years - several jobs, hellos and goodbyes to friends and family and pets - and the biggest change of all in welcoming Oliver to our life.  I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.  I used to joke that I would have ten million of Justin Timberlake's babies - but hands down I'd have ten million of the Pants Monkey's - I mean come on, the one we have is pretty cute already.

Happy anniversary babe - the ride continues and I never want to get off.  Here's to many more years to come!

Inspiration Monday - Thankful

Hello there!  Happy Monday!  Tough to get back into the groove after an amazing day yesterday for my first Mother's Day!  More on that in a moment.  I'm linking up with two birds today for Inspiration Monday. They chose an awesome look from one of my favorite style icons, Jessica Alba.

I will never turn down an excuse to wear a maxi dress!  I really love the look of this with the vest and scarf. But because it was damp and rainy here today, I opted for a slightly different take - so it really is another "if you blink" type interpretations I guess!

So my first Mother's Day was wonderful.  The Pants Monkey seriously outdid himself.  He (and Oliver too I suppose, but daddy paid for it, lol) gave me a spa day as a gift - I get to go get a massage, mani/pedi, facial and lunch at a local salon.  I cannot wait!  We also went out for brunch.  We didn't go to the place I originally wanted to go (Psycho Suzi's for you locals) because while we got there more or less right when they opened, it turns out they were having a big brunch buffet and there was a line just to get in.  Oliver had just fallen asleep and we were hoping he'd sleep a bit longer, so we opted to go somewhere else (Eli's East). In the end it worked out great, we got the last table at that restaurant, the food was amazing and Ollie stayed asleep the whole time!  I had a pretty pink mimosa and it was tasty!

Dress - Stitch Fix, Sweater - American Rag (thrifted)

Necklace - Zulily, Shoes - Merona (Target) 

After brunch we stopped to see my mom and then my awesome Pants Monkey spoiled me even more by saying "if you want, I'd even go thrift store shopping with you today".  Um, do birds fly?  So we stopped by Savers on the way home and I had fun trying on a few things for Mr.Monkey and Ollie - they gave me their opinions too and I picked a few nice new things!  After that we got Oliver home and down for a nap and Mr. Monkey and I sat out on the deck enjoying the day.  The sun wasn't out but it was still pretty nice! After Ollie woke up we went to see the Pants Monkey's mom and then came home to have a light dinner and get the babe to bed.  Overall it was just the best first Mother's Day.  I feel so blessed and thankful to have Oliver for a son and the Pants Monkey for a husband!

For more Inspiration Monday outfits visit two birds over here.

Fun with Math

I hated math in school.  It was not my best subject.  But sometimes math and numbers can be fun. Tomorrow is my dating anniversary with the Pants Monkey and yes, we've been married a long time now, but I can't help but always recognize this date too.  And this year is not a significant number - not like last year anyway - but it's still a fun one involving some math.  Here we go class - fun with math!

We're 32 years old right now.  Tomorrow we will be together 16 years.  That is half of our entire lives.  But wait - it gets better.  This May we will have been married for 8 years.  That will be half of the entire time we've been together and a quarter of our lives!  It's the year of the halves I guess!  See - math can be fun!

Sweater - Free People, consignment

Cami - Christopher and Banks, from cousin

Jeans - American Eagle, thrifted

Shoes - Steve Madden, thrifted

Bag - Lulu's 

Necklace - S&D

I'm kind of a "Rain Man" about dates and tomorrow is also the anniversary of something else rather significant, but I won't go into too much detail as maybe it's TMI - but if you do the math, maybe you'll figure it out. Class dismissed!  Have a great weekend!

Weekend roundup

Well did you all have a good weekend?  Ours was quite lovely!  My favorite was my surprise Valentine's Day dinner - the Pants Monkey outdid himself once again.  He made us a French themed meal with recipes from the Julia Child "For the Love of French Cooking" book.  We had mussels in white wine sauce, asparagus in a white wine reduction and steak that was seasoned with peppercorn and fried in butter - healthy?  No.  But freaking delicious.  He also just made some store bought twice baked potatoes and chocolate cake.  Oh and a homemade Caesar salad.  We drank wine and just enjoyed the evening - especially because Oliver more or less went to bed while we were eating!  Below are some photos.  I love my chef husband!!

Saturday we attempted to sleep in - Oliver is kind of an early riser so those days are kind of gone sadly, but we managed to stay in bed until close to 8, I'll take it when my days usually start at 5:50 these days!  We got him up, played a bit, then loaded him up to go meet a friend of mine who was in town just for this weekend. We went to college together and she now lives in New York and doesn't get here too often at all, but she was able to come for a brief visit, so she got to meet Oliver and that was nice.  Saturday evening we opted for greasy spoon burgers and laid low for the most part.

Sunday I did two masses with my music group while the Pants Monkey stayed home and played Mr. Mom. It was the longest stretch he's gotten to be alone with Oliver and they did great!  He even gave him a bath and everything all on his own!  When I got home from church I took Oliver to a blogger craft day so he could meet some of my blogger buddies - he had already met Miss Lori, but now he got to meet Megan and Nora from two birds and Erin from Due Midwest.  I didn't really craft anything, but it was nice to see the ladies!

After that we headed back home and then my parents picked us up and took us to dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant in St. Paul (Cossettas for you locals) - it was delicious and Oliver was so well behaved!  He has regressed a bit in his night sleep, waking a bit more frequently again than I'd like, but it's hard to be mad at him when he's so well behaved during the day!  I'm guessing he's in a mini-growth spurt again based on his eating pattern, so I'm hoping we're back to good night sleep again soon.  Next weekend will be a little more crazy, we have his baptism on Sunday.  I'm looking forward to it, especially because I don't have to do any work, my parents are hosting the luncheon for us!  That certainly makes life easier!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I want to thank you all for the love and support you showed on my previous post - it really helped to write that and be honest and while it isn't like it will change overnight, I do feel a lot better than I did before.  For now I stick with my usual mantra of "one day at a time".

So Valentine's Day seemed like an appropriate day to wear my red Mr. Rogers sweater.  It's a good thing it's warm, it's cold outside again and it's been cold in my office too.  Someday winter will be over right? Seriously.  Looking at these pictures too I'm like man, I need a haircut.  Badly.  No time this weekend either. Maybe I'll let it get longer....who am I kidding though?  I am such a short hair person!

Sweater - Vintage, Hill Valley Boutique

Shirt/dress - swap

Leggings - Simply Vera, Kohls

Boots - Target

Necklace - jerseymaids, gift from friend 

I wanted to do a close up of my very special necklace - my sweet friend Jes, who happens to be the person who did all of Oliver's newborn photos as she is a professional photographer, had this made for me from jerseymaids.  I wear it most days to keep my baby close to me when I'm away from him, and I realized I hadn't showcased it yet.  So, here it is.

I'm looking forward to the day being over and spending Valentine's Day with both of my boys.  The Pants Monkey is going to cook us a rather elaborate feast from what I understand, so I'm quite excited to see what all he has up his sleeve, he's keeping it a surprise.  I sure do love being married to a man who loves to cook! I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day and a wonderful weekend as well!

Baby Boo

Well, it's been quite a week here my friends - this whole time I assumed I'd go past my due date, but surprise, our baby boy decided to make his appearance just a little early.  I'd like to introduce Oliver Michael, born Tuesday, December 3rd at 10:13 pm.  7 lbs, 2 oz, 19 in.

We ended up with a snowstorm the next day and a huge drop in temperature - the old wives tale about barometric pressure and women going into labor must be true!  I do have to brag - labor was only 7 hours long.  It was really a fantastic experience - we had a water birth and I won't go into crazy details here but if anyone is ever curious, I'd be happy to share offline.

Mr. Monkey is a fantastic daddy and support to me.  He has helped tremendously in these first days home! We have settled in well and are just smitten with this little guy.

Obviously posting will be sporadic here now, but I will be getting some outstanding guest posts up very soon amidst some of my own.  Thank you all for the support these last nine months! I appreciate it more than you can know!!