don't let their Easter basket be lacking..

Have you ordered your sweet Hazel Village friend for your little one's Easter Basket?
Do it today and get FREE SHIPPING*!!

To see all of the adorable Hazel Villagers click here!

*Enter Promotional Code: HUXLEY at checkout

weekend with the sickies

Yep, the flu bug is going around alright & we were the unlucky recipients of it this weekend.
Insult to injury: I'm scheduled to work every weekend so it was a lose-lose situation, and I am still not feeling good.

Despite running a high temperature, Huxley has been the sweetest ever. He spent pretty much all of Saturday with Daddy since I was racked with fever chills, aches, and not holding anything down. I tried nursing him later in the evening, but I was just too uncomfortable & didn't want him being exposed (even more). So I pumped whenever I could muster the energy, because I worked to dang hard to get my supply up & I refused to let this nasty flu get the best of me! Sunday Huxley and Daddy started feeling icky so our tribe pretty much lazed about in bed all day & just tried to give our bodies some rest.

Highlights of the weekend? Ice-cube popsicles made by the mister who just happens to be the best caregiver in the world (hands down).

& of course my sweet little snuggler Bunny, who is obviously the highlight of my life.

xo

Flashback Friday slash Happy Week Twelve, Huxley Otis!

Can't believe 12 weeks have gone by.
Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago, but mostly it seems like just yesterday I was waddling around looking like this:

Darling Huxley, Mama is so glad you came to this world. You have brought happiness to everyone you greet & I feel so blessed I can call you my son.

xo

ps: thank you Grandma K for Sophie the Giraffe, you have saved me from being a glorified pacifier!

creepy but cute and Huxley LOVES it

Okay, so this video pretty much works miracles on fussy babies.

Thank you Jessica over at IROCKSOWHAT for sharing this video, you are a doll.

xo

What the Frig?! Wednesday

Since becoming a Mama I have been an avid collector of little unknown facts.

It's my goal to share as many of these as possible to all you unsuspecting Mama-to-Bes/new-Mamas & hey, I am all about equal opportunity, so this is for all of you Daddy-to-Bes or new Daddies as well (some of this however, you will not experience 1st hand that's all).

Here's something I was not expecting becoming a breast-feeding Mama:

Milk leakage when Huxley started to cry

After reading up on this I can assure you it's totally normal. Your body goes through a stage of adjustment when you first begin nursing, and it begins to tailor your supply to the needs of your bundle of amazing.

The main culprit causing this spontaneous let-down is Oxytocin. Hearing your baby or another baby crying, thinking about your baby, smelling your baby, or sitting in the chair where you usually nurse your baby might be enough to trigger your body to release the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin causes the cells in the milk-making lobes of your breasts to contract and eject the milk toward the nipple, where your baby can pump it out.

So, if your baby isn't close at hand, prepare for leakage, & always keep some breast-pads handy. I prefer organic cotton reusable breast-pads, and yes, I am proudly sporting my Super-Mama cape today, thank you!


xo

budget friendly lunch of the dairy-less

Easy Peasy Mexi Hash

One about to be too ripe avocado, halved (optional)
Boil-In-A-Bag Brown Rice
Black Beans
Salsa
Corn
Leftover Grilled Chicken (to make this completely vegan you could substitute Fake-Chicken, my favorite brand is Quorn)

Prepare the rice as directed on box, and throw the remaining ingredients all together in a saucepan until it's thoroughly heated.

Layer, season as you please & enjoy!! I used the avocado as my sour cream replacement. It was yummohlicious.

xo

a very productive morning!

So far Huxley has puked, pooed & peed all during his morning 'Naked Time'.

You see, Hux has been a fan of nakedness for quite some time. He hates a draft, mind you, but there is something about a bum sans diapie that makes him the happiest little critter you've ever seen!

So we've made a habit of giving him plenty of time in the buff. Trust me, there have been plenty of errors to our trials, but the end result is totally worth it & his heiny hasn't had a spot of redness to it!

We usually have him laid out on something protective, like a towel, a few cloth diapers, or one of those blue plastic cotton covered mats you put down when you potty train puppies.
(Those work the best since you can just toss them away after any accidents. I know, not very green of me to say, but I seem to have misplaced my Super-Mama cape.)

This morning, however, Mama forgot to put something underneath the little mister and before I knew it our mattress was soaked so I then put a towel under him, which in a matter of no time was covered in poo.

All in all we saved two diapers, yall.

I'd call that success!

xo

an early Easter treat to you from Huxley & his Woodland friends in Hazel Village

Since the moment they first met, Huxley has been in love with Ms. Catalina Mouse from Hazel Village. He loves her so much that he wants all of you to be able to adopt a friend from Hazel Village too!

Huxley & his friends are giving you an early Easter present of FREE SHIPPING on all Hazel Village orders!

Just use the Promotional Code: HUXLEY when ordering your new lovie.
(this code will be good for 3 months from today)

These sweeter-than-Peeps are perfect for an adorable Easter Basket surprise.
Order yours by April 15th (domestic shipping) to receive your new friend in time for the holiday!

Order yours here or on Etsy!

They cannot wait to go to their new homes, so hurry up already & adopt one today!

xo

Hux loves telling stories

Since I only have one free hand right now and no down-time here is a video of our little squacker to enjoy on your Saturday afternoon.


xo

at 7:37 am Huxley entered his Eleventh Week!

Our alarm went off at 7:37 this morning, which was odd because it wasn't set to go off at that time.

At that moment eleven weeks ago we were meeting Huxley Otis for the very first time, & it's been a magical wonderful crazy beautiful dream ever since our beings met face to face.
[...]
& to make this morning just that much more special, it even decided to snow!

xo

drool baby

Are two month olds supposed to be a complete drool factory?

Because this sweet face is...

I've got slobber on pretty much every wearable top I own.

(note: wearable. Not many of my old tops fit my new milk trucks, or allow for easy feedings. Maybe I should stop buying Huxley cute little outfits & get a few functional tops...

nahhhhh.)

We are off to enjoy this dark rainy day by doing what we do best.

Snuggling!

We hope you have a lovely Thursday wherever you may be.

xo

we have a new friend in our house!

Huxley just received a new friend, Gaffney, in the mail from our friends over at Huggable Teddy Bears. They have the sweetest stuffies I've ever laid my eyes on & amazing gift baskets as well.

I'm drooling over the Pancake Memories Gift Basket, perfect for Mother's Day which is just around the corner all you Daddies out there (hint hint, nudge nudge)!

They also have Easter Gifts perfect for your little ones basket, or even an upcoming Baby Shower! We love the Bunny Coat gift set and Lavender Lamb.

There are some sweet snugglies that would make excellent presents for Birthdays, and even Father's Day!

This story behind this company is pretty cool too, started by Robert & Brian who are Big/Little brothers in the Big Brother

Big Sister Program.

Pop on over today and find a new snuggly friend for your home!

(I know a photo is worth a thousand words, but I decided this was a video worthy moment as well!)

What The Frig?!

Greetings, lovelies.

Today I'm starting what I'd like to call What the Frig Wednesdays.

(I've been meaning to do this for, um, ahem, weeks. Whoops.)

These will be dedicated to all of those WTF?! moments us new parents inevitably encounter.

Those moments NOT expected, or explained in all the popular books out there.

Those moments I am SO glad a few close friends warned me about, and when they happened to me I wasn't dialing up our Pediatrician in hysterics.

Okay, let's start with one of our first huge WTF episodes with Huxley:

Galactorrehea.

Galactorwhat?...Oh, I've heard of that band. Great funk band.

No, Galactorrehea. In this case, Neonatal Milk AKA Witches Milk.

& no folks, it's not an STD.

ga·lac·tor·rhea definition or chiefly British

ga·lac·tor·rhoea

Pronunciation: /gə-ˌlak-tə-ˈrē-ə/

Function: n

a spontaneous flow of milk from the nipple

Neonatal milk or witch's milk is milk secreted from the breasts of many newborn infants. It is caused by a combination of the effects of maternal hormones before birth, prolactin and growth hormone passed through breast feeding and the postnatal pituitary and thyroid hormone surge in the infant.

Witch's milk is more likely to be secreted by infants born at full term, than by prematurely-born infants. Breast milk production occurs in about 5% of newborns and can persist for two months though palpable breast buds can persist into childhood ("'Witch's milk'. Galactorrhea in the newborn")

I am so thankful that one of Matt's coworkers warned me of this, but was a little thrown when it happened to my son. In her case, it was with her daughter. I thought it far more likely of a scenario to have a little girl who is born with those components for later in life to have this happen to her than to have a little boy with tiny swollen moobies.

Fret not, there was no need for treatment, and there is only cause for concern if the area becomes red, or tender to the touch.

Huxley is 10 weeks and still has a little engorgement to him but he does not seem to mind, and this Mama definitely will omit this milestone from his baby book.

Many more "What the frig!!??" moments to come in the future, until then, Happy Wednesday!

xo

mama wants, Bunny neeeeds

Tea Collection is having a 3-Day sale on a lot of super cute-for-your-drool-baby tees! I love these two tops! Thinking Huxley may need them to add to his summer wardrobe!

Surfer Stripe Hoodie

Hola Graphic Tee

Pop on over & check out Tea Collection's Sales today!

xo

who's so cute?

Huxley is, that's who.

xo

typical Saturday

I've said it before, we love our weekends, and we started this Saturday just like any other.

- Whole family early morning snuggle session.

- Coffee with almond milk & honey for me & plain black for the mister

- Yummy breakfast & cartoons

Now we're gearing up to do some weekend errand running (laundry, groceries, farmers market, maybe even the gym if time allows) before Mama has to go to work.

My Mom sent me a few of my baby photos since I didn't have a single one laying around to do a comparison. Here's a photo of Daddy, Mommy & Bunny. We are all pretty darn cute as squishy babies.

xo

sickie bunnies

Sorry for the silence on our ends. It's been a rough transition going from 0-full time at work, and keeping things in order at home. Throw in a not-feeling-so-good Mama, and Baby & wallah! The perfect list of excuses, I believe.

Although, I've been feeling worn to the bones I somehow managed to pull off throwing the mister a surprise Birthday get-together yesterday. He has such amazing friends and family, which is why it wasn't so hard to pull it off. I had A LOT of help from one of his Rugby friends, Christine. She basically did everything, and I owe her a million thank yous.

All that aside, and even though we feel like ick...

this is what I wake up to after a nice little nap.

PS Thank you for keeping the votes coming! We are climbing the Top Baby Blog list!

life with the Hux & with out dairy

Last week I started to notice that Huxley's incredibly sensitive skin & mild facial eczema had gone from bad to worse. It was red and inflamed & just looked plain uncomfortable. As a Mama I felt terrible and frantically sifted through books, and online resources to find causes and cures for his sweet face.

All I could come up with & made the most sense was a dairy allergy. The descriptions all matched up.

So goodbye cheese, & hello Nutritional Yeast. It gives a somewhat decent cheese like flavor to my cheese-free pizza, or on top of veggies. It's located in the bulk section at Whole Foods, or packaged in the vitamin section near Brewer's Yeast.

Yesterday, the mister, Hux and I went to breakfast at a little bakery nearby before Huxley's 2 month Doctor visit. He had to get 2 vaccines, which he handled like such a brave little Bunny. I nursed him right before and after---Mamas, this is the trick! He was so relaxed and comforted that he was asleep by the time I was putting him in his car seat. He was so nice to save Mama the trauma of a hysterical screaming hurt little guy. I'm so blessed.

I don't think I could say that enough.

SO blessed.

two months young

today Huxley Otis celebrated his second month birthday & all the little/big/everything-is-a-first milestones in those 8 weeks.

he's been a doll baby since the day we met,

and we are the luckiest.

xo

please dear God don't let my Mom see this...

because this Mama has been shopping!

I know, I know, I know, we are on a TIGHT budget. I mean like jaws-of-life needed tight, but I had coupons, and credit, and I neeeeeeeeeded those nursing jammies and tank!

This Boon Drying rack for our bottles & other baby items looks so much

nicer on our counter than a dish towel.

We now have three, yes, THREE of these ShiShu Baby blankets.

I just had to get it in blue now that Hux is here!

A cute springy onesie for the Bunsie.

Mama's if you are going to nurse, you're going to need nursing tanks. Period.

I have such a long torso that this tank (with slimming effects) was a perfect steal off Zulily. (click to get your membership invite and scope the deals!!)

As I said, I needed this pj set. I'm literally in jameroos 90% of the time, and I'll feel a heck of a lot cuter nursing 'round the clock in this ensemble by Hotmilk.

We are now off for our first little vacation as a family! We're headed to Matt's Grandparents' for the night, and we could not be more excited to let them spend some quality time with their Grandbaby!

Wish us luck!

xo

even on a rainy day

Mama had her first day back at the gym since Huxley was born!

I snuck out this morning since Hux was in high spirits just laying in his crib talking and cooing to his Woodland friends & staring up at his colorful mobile. Daddy was up and about & was totally awesome to let me cut in to his get-ready-for-work routine.

It's been raining non-stop since 2am, but that did not slow me down.

I headed to Planet Fitness after a breakfast of champions

(the rest of a giant vegan oatmeal cookie sandwich from Whole Foods & a small cup of french pressed Organic Yukon Blend.)

It may have been the sugar coma/caffeine buzz, but I felt awesome.

It's definitely going to become a routine for this Mama, sans this carb-bomb:

Huxley's been dealing with eczema for over a week, and it seems to be getting worse.

I've decided to cut dairy from my diet, and eliminate any antagonizers. Too bad I just picked up a case of Greek yogurt from Costco. Fail.

we send love, and all good things.

xo

If you have a moment, could you pop on over & vote for us today?

not so terrible Tuesday

Huxley & I got out today and did a little shopping. I got a few new things for spring wardrobe from H & M. They have a lot of super cute, affordable pieces for this season. Hux was in his Baby Bjorn sleeping so I couldn't really try on anything. We had a fashion show when we got home and happily two out of three worked...guess I haven't figured out how to dress the 'girls' just yet.

I haven't broke the news to him about Mama going back to work next week.

On his 2 month birthday to top it off.

So much to do to prepare for that day.

Until then, Huxie wanted to show you his Bunnies!

xo

all good things must come to an end.

Mama just got her schedule for work next week.

Feeling anxious, sad, excited, and a lot of other emotions about returning to 'Bux.

[...]

I'm still processing, and denying the end is near.

On a brighter note, I actually threw some paint on a canvas today--must become financially self-sufficiant!

Oh, &

we won this sweet lamp for little Bunner's nursery.

It's from Oilo.

Thank's Shari at Spearmint Baby for helping us dec Hux's room in style!

xo

Our slow Sunday

Here at the farm we sure do love our weekends.

We spent our Saturday lounging about the place, taking family cat naps, singing and reading books with Huxley & even got out for breakfast with our lovely friends Eric & Kristen.

Huxley has been very entertaining with all his new discoveries. He's now big enough to enjoy his bouncy seat, which he will sit in & talk to his friends and even bat at them (video of that cuteness to come!) It's awesome because Mama can get things done, and Hux can see me while he plays.

So much to fill you in on, but so much to do during the little man's nap!

our love to all,

xo

our little Babbler

Since there isn't much to update & it's the weekend and we love weekends 'cause we get Daddy all to ourselves, here is a video until next time!

xo

Flashback Friday

As with all new Mama's I am missing my pre-baby bod quite a bit.

It will take a lot of patience, discipline & hard work, but this lady is determined

to get back into my favorite 'kinis.

I'm almost back to being a complete veggie, but since I am nursing the chicken hasn't been

removed from the menu, yet. At my 6 week check-up I'd lost 20 lbs. and have 25 more to get back to pre-Hux weight. How will I achieve that?

Pure luck.

(kidding. sort of.)

Cutting the sugars down & eventually out. Lots. Of. Greens. Water & more water. And finally getting out and about with Hux in the stroller.

Thank Jesus, Spring's around the corner.

Here is the mister & I in West Palm Beach last March.

(My how our worlds were flipped in just one little year.)

xo

Product Reviews with the Hux

The Bumbo (which we scored for a cool 5 bones from a lovely Mama off Craigslist) recieves:

One hand in mouth

=

We likey. Lots.

Again, the Moby, which all 8' of fabric can be quite intimidating at first, is one of Hux's favorite hang out spots.

We have TONS more to review, so hold tight...Huxley can't wait to tell you

what he thinks about all his other cool stuff!

Until then, help us climb the Baby Blog Social Ladder?

Click the image below & then click once more to put in a vote for our little tribe!

Thanks!

xo

my morning with Hux.

Good golly I love my little Bunner. He's such a doll Baby & I am convinced his impossible-to-disturb sleep habits were formed while Mama was still preggoh, whippin' up Lattes & grinding X-Bold beans.

Thanks to Hux's awesome nap, I've managed to:

Shower

Give myself a moisturizing facial

Actually put on a touch of makeup!

Make a yummy blueberry/strawberry protein smoothie

annnnd have enough time to blog all about it!

(he didn't even flinch when I turned on the Ninja!)

Now off to tackle as many not-so-fun things on my To Do List as I can before he wakes up!