Swim Date
The other day we had an impromptu day in a little kiddy pool with Felix after going to Target and buying a swim diaper and bucket hat I couldn't resist.
Sometimes clothes and hats are just so-so then you see them on your kid and you go nuts with the pictures. And you swear your kid is just the cutest. Ever.
Parenthood. I get it now.
Felix just recently started to really get a kick out of water and bath time and we're looking into swim lessons. It's great to get him prepared because the furthest I came to swimming was laying out. So maybe I'll just be on the sidelines cheering him on taking video and pictures, shedding a few proud tears. Thinking, he's obviously going to the Olympics one day.
Until he's signed up though, a few more swim dates in the kiddy pool will do.
mom : swimsuit // hat // sunglasses // towel // sandals
son: hat // towel // sandals // radio // swim diaper
Happy Thursday!
Four Months
My sweet little boy is getting big and I no longer feel like I'm going to drop and break him. He's still on the slim side though. Just under 12 lbs and almost 26 inches long, according to TH's obsessive height check-ins. We'll have more accurate measurements next week at his doctor's appointment. But most importantly, he's healthy. Last month I said he was close to laughing. Not quite sure if what I'm hearing is a legit laugh but he does express heightened bursts of smiles mixed in with gibberish whenever I say, boo. Best word to come out of my mouth. He loves it. I wonder if it's because he was almost a Halloween baby.
For the most part, he's pretty chill and relaxed. He must get it from me. Although he's totally outgrowing his bassinet, he's still sleeping in our room. And sometimes we co-sleep. Don't judge. Grabbing and reaching were big steps this month. Rolling over, not so much, but he has done it a few times. Oh, and he realized he had feet last week and was heavily entertained for a bit but by the time I went to grab the camera he was done. But I saw it and it blew even my mind.
We've been saving his monthly stickers and by the looks of this month, you'll notice he's into putting things in his mouth too.
Being a mom still feels surreal and I still stare at him in awe. And to think there was a time where I couldn't imagine loving anything or anyone more than Bams and Nora. Babies, they really change your heart and they don't even know it.
Happy Monday!
Three Months
Felix is now three months and life feels more normal. After the initial weeks of sleep deprivation, labor recovery, raging hormones, and sore nipples I'm really enjoying our little boy. He discovered his hands not too long ago and sometimes chooses to suck on them in lieu of a pacifier. He's a big time smiler and seems to only cry when he's hungry. He's thisclose to laughing and every day I try new ways of getting him to. He rolled over for the first time yesterday as TH and I were debating his superbowl outfit.
TH: No, you can't put him in orange. Broncos are orange.
ME: Jeez okay, it's not like either of us knew the Broncos were playing.
Rule no.1 of becoming a sports fan, Felix, you turn superstitious. See, if I hadn't changed him out of orange, the Broncos may have won and I'd never hear the end of it.
But back to relevant stuff. Felix, he's a cutie. Of course any mother should say that and I promise I'll never end that with a question. That just begs for the awkward, uhh, uhhh, from people forced to tell you yes. People usually say he looks just like TH or just like me. Although I used to think he looked a little like Mark Wahlberg but TH is the father so that eliminates any cause for concern.
His activities still mostly consist of eating, sleeping and pooping but he's a little more alert every day, making things that much more exciting. I sometimes (all the time) just stare at him, thinking I can't wait until he starts talking or walking. But I know that time will quickly come so I'm patient and enjoying this stage because he'll never be this little again.
Happy Monday!
Felix Bae Lovett and His Nursery
And just like that I had a baby. Ha, I wish it was just like that. It was more like 17 hours and 30 mins of pushing and baby finally came out, on November 1st at 9:18 am. Not too bad considering some of the stories I've heard. I actually think my labor was less scary than I had imagined and my overall pregnancy went by pretty smoothly so I definitely consider myself lucky, which brings me to our baby's name: Felix.
When looking through a baby name book with over 10o,000 names, I was starting to feel overwhelmed and felt like we were going to arrive at the hospital nameless. We knew we wanted a baby name that started with an F to commemorate TH's grandpa's name, Fred. I wanted a name that could easily translate from English to Spanish and nothing on the popular list. It was TH who came across Felix and as the name slipped off his tongue nonchalantly, I remember saying, wait say that again. I liked it pretty much immediately. Short, strong, familiar but not particularly common; it was the definition though that really sold us.
Felix: one who is happy and prosperous; lucky, favored by luck or the lucky one.
Furthermore, reminding me of a quote that TH's dad always says, "I'd rather have luck than skill any day."
It took us a bit longer to decide on a middle name. For a while, I wasn't really sure I wanted one but then thought it'd be nice to give him a name in honor of TH's 93-year-old grandma who's been asking for a baby pretty much since we got married. So we took Baeila, the name TH's grandma was named after and shortened it to Bae.
While in the hospital, Sabra emailed me the pictures she took of Felix's nursery and I finally got some time to look through them and share.
Remember before it was just a guest room where the dogs loved to hang out? I never really put any effort into decorating it because I knew it would one day be a baby's room.
And now it's Felix's room.
After
I knew I wanted to create a window seat for our dogs to continue to hang out on, with drawers underneath for extra storage and bookshelves on either side for displaying books and personal accessories.
Baby's only friends right now.
Green pillows gifted to me by Arianna Belle.
Striped fabric is from Calico Corners and window fabric is from Perennials, welted in fabric I had leftover from another project.
I found this vintage artwork on Etsy titled, Mexican Journey, as a reminder of his heritage.
The Aviary wallpaper, from Schumacher, was the jumping off point. Cool little birds that remind me of TH's nickname, baby bird, still used by his mom.
The moose toy rocker is from IKEA. Moose was a nickname I briefly gave TH when we were first married.
Sparrow crib from Oeuf with sprout kite sheets from Serena and Lily.
I had the campaign style dresser/changing table custom made and lacquered in Benjamin Moore Stratford Blue.
Rocker and midcentury footstool were both found on Etsy. The rocker, however, was refinished and reupholstered.
Check the little guy out
Happy Thursday!
photography: Sabra Lattos
Full-Term
It's almost show time, guys.
I'm now 37 weeks pregnant which, for you non preg lingo types, that means baby is cooked up and healthy enough to make his appearance any time from now until my due date (Nov 9th). I doubt I'll be late, but again, I'm no Doctor. Just slightly psychic. According to my due date though, I still have three weeks to go but if baby is ready that means I have no choice but to be ready too. But I'm seriously hoping he's not ready so I don't have to cancel my plans for this coming weekend.
Other than getting my hospital bag ready, I think we're pretty good to go. And as of Friday, you can consider the nursery done. It's done!
Here's a short montage of some of the room's major changes alongside the growth of my baby bump.
Yesterday Sabra Lattos came by to photograph the room and will hopefully get to share those soon.
Happy Monday!
Baby Shower
Today I'm over on Spearmint Baby sharing some pictures from my Baby Shower. I so hope you'll come check them out.
Happy Wednesday!
photo by Gladys Lara
Baby Lovett is A...
This weekend I revealed the gender of our baby to family and friends at my baby shower. Other than immediate family, no one really knew the sex and it turned out to be a fun way to keep my friends and cousins on their toes.
Of course everyone has their theories. Like, you've been craving sweets so it's a boy. Or, you conceived on a full moon so it's a girl. I just made that one up.
But yeah, people take one look at your stomach and suddenly they think they have x-ray vision. They knnooow.
Me? I just go on instincts. I was right about my nephew so I was one-for-one and thought I was on a roll. I was so certain TH and I were having a girl I was ready to tell the ultrasound technician, I know, when gender was revealed. Instead I couldn't help but utter, really? When he told us...
I was totally surprised, which was actually nice because that's rare.
But what about my motherly instincts, I couldn't help but think? Is there such a thing as fatherly instincts because TH was right. He called it and any time he'd say it was a boy, I'd roll my eyes.
I was already starting to scheme out a nursery for a girl. I was clueless as to what to do with a boy's room.
But slowly the wheels starting turning and now I can't even picture us starting with a girl. And if we have a girl next, well then she better like blue because they'll most likely be sharing a room.
He's an idea of the route I'm taking.
I wanted something kid appropriate but nothing too babyish. Something to grow into, if you will.
I first saw this wallpaper in our hotel room at the Soho Grand in New York a few years ago and when I was reunited with it, I knew it was the right choice. It's a bunch of birds and serves as sort of a nod to the fact that my mother-in-law still calls TH baby bird.
Wallpaper, blinds and built-in are up but for the most part, room is still pretty much full of things that need to be organized and furniture-less, most of which should be coming in this week.
I'm hoping to have it complete by mid October. It'll be nice bringing baby home to a finished room.
There's Nora being dramatic.
It's getting there though.
Happy Tuesday!
Prepping for Baby
Most of yesterday was spent Spring cleaning. Technically summer cleaning since it is now August.
Gawd, it feels good getting rid of stuff. It's also a little embarrassing 'cause you're reminded that every now and then you have bad taste. Like, whoa, I bought this because? So you hide the evidence and take it to Goodwill. And there are other things that you just need to toss. Like, I don't care how in need people are, no one should want this. Trash.
And while cleaning, I feel like 50 percent of the time is spent me convincing TH that, yes, I'm positive we don't need a pile of old papers from 2004. He likes to keep every.thing.
All this cleaning is due to project, Making Room for Baby Lovett.
We're fixing up the garage and creating real storage in there as well as starting on the nursery. Dun Dun Dun.
For nursery, we're creating a window seat with bookcases on either side and pull out drawers for a few different reasons.
A) we need more storage B) I've always wanted a window seat and C) The dogs need somewhere to lay now that Baby Lovett is taking over Bams's hang out room, per TH's request. The dogs, specifically Bams, loves sitting in this room and staring out the window. He lays on the floor now that the guest bed has been taken out.
Don't feel bad for him though, TH created a makeshift bed and he looks mighty comfortable.
You just keep on relaxing, Bams. I know this is a big adjustment for you.
So yeah, this baby thing is really happening. Every day I wake up, see my reflection in the mirror, and know I'm a day closer to being a mom. A mom.
I'm less than three months away. Every day feels like it goes by faster than the last.
And the only thing I feel like I know how to plan for is decorating a nursery (and Baby Shower input. More on that another day)
Hi kid, welcome to your room. Now what?
Exciting things nonetheless.
Happy Monday!
What Do Pregnant Girls Do For Fun?
As of yesterday I'm 22. If only I was referring to my age. This time around, 22 came in the form of weeks.
I'm pregnant.
Ta-da!
22 weeks pregnant. Aka four months sober. Really I'm 5 and half months pregnant but I didn't find out until I was 5 weeks and you knooow I was drinking up until the very second I took the test. Literally. I chugged my glass of wine right before peeing on that stick and the second it turned blue I was like 90% certain the test was wrong because I thought the wine skewed the results. Then I thought the wine was never going to leave my system because it turned the other four tests into positives as well.
And that was it, that was my last glass of wine and I sort of wish I would've opted for the margarita I was craving. And have been craving ever since.
It took me two weeks for the news to really sink in. And according to this picture, taken yesterday, I'd say I'm still a little perplexed by the news.
Irene, you're pregnant.
Huh?
I'm going to be someone's mom? This person is going to depend on me? Like a lot. For a long time.
Sometimes I forget to feed Bams and Nora and I'm thankful they can't tell on me.
I don't know who should be more scared. Me or this baby. If this kid turns out anything like me when I was a kid, I'm calling a priest. And if this kid turns out anything like TH, I'm registering for a Xanax prescription. I'm hoping crazy plus crazy somehow equals semi-normal. Complete normal is boring.
So this goes back to my original question, What do pregnant girls do for fun?
You take away a girl's option to drink and suddenly everything seems mundane. You want me to hang out with you, sober? Yeah, I think I'll just take another nap.
Before I'd be like, free drinks, open bar? Hell yeah, I'll go to your cat's birthday party. My allergies will love it.
Nowadays if I mix sour gummy worms and chocolate milkshakes I'd say I had myself a Friday night rager. The sugar hangover is real.
If you're pregnant or have been pregnant, tell me your fun secrets. I can't keep turning to food. I've tried mocktails and those are the biggest tease ever. I mean it's in the name. MOCKtails. I'm drinking you and you're totally mocking me.
Ah ah, I have no alcohol.
A margarita without alcohol is just salty juice.
Look at me, I'm so mockdrunk.
So I can't drink like I used to but you know what IS awesome?
BOOBS! I have them. I was always part of the ittie bittie tittie committee until about 25 when puberty finally decided to help a sistah out. But now, NOW I really know what's it's like to have real boobs. Where were you in high school? My knockers are a knocking.
Oh and the attention is also nice too. Not talking about the boob attention but the being pregnant in general attention. People always ask you how you're doing and they genuinely seem to care. They let you take it easy, make sure you don't lift anything heavy and they request you rest even when you don't mention you're tired. I don't milk it as much as I should but TH totally does. Because according to him "we're" pregnant.
I catch him telling people we're pregnant and I say he better put that drink down before he harms his baby. I'll probably buy him some paternity clothes for his birthday come September because by that time we'll be seven months.
Which brings us to a due date of November 9th.
We found out the sex a few weeks ago but I think I'm going to keep it a secret on the blog and reveal the gender along with the nursery design. I think we may also have a name picked out, definitely a contender, but I was stressing for a while thinking every name was going to be the same name shared by ten other kids in their class or something verging on, what were your parents thinking?
And there you have it, after seven plus years of marriage, the Lovetts are having a baby.
Send help.
Derby
I wanted to share a few insta-shots from my nephew's first birthday. Mostly because he's so cute. And I really don't think I'm just saying that because he's my nephew, or because I've been told he looks like me, he really is a cute kid. They say he looks like me. Did I say that already?
As mentioned the other day, the theme was Kentucky Derby. It was just a small gathering of close relatives and few friends. And lots of food. There was some KFC in the house.
First year pictures shaped into a one. All great ideas come from Pinterest.
Max and his momma, aka my sister.
centerpieces - jockey hats and horses. My sister cut out felt and put numbers on them.
drink station
one of the most moist cakes I've ever had. I'm not even a cake person, but this was as good as it was cute.
Time to start planning birthday number two.
Happy Wednesday!