Fewer Bottles then Formula to Milk Transition

Not gonna lie, I was not looking forward to these transitions. But I knew I had to do it and the longer I waited, the worse it would be.

Fewer Bottles
I think around 9-10 months we reduced the number of bottles a day from four to three.  Her Doc had told us to keep a total of three a day because eventually those three bottles would transition for her to have milk with all three meals.  And she was right because we are to that point now!  More to come on that.  

The way we reduced from four bottles to three is this:
Molly Anne was getting bottles at wake up, 11:30, 3:30 and bedtime.  All we did was one day we decided to replace that 3:30pm bottle with a snack after she got up from her nap.  The 11:30 bottle we gave to her before we fed her lunch so we were sure she was getting proper nutrition.  Now, she just gets milk with her lunch (and every meal).  I'll explain more on that later.  But Doc was right - I'm glad we did it exactly the way we did.

Formula to Milk:

At 11 months we could move from formula to milk.  I decided to wait until after our Florida trip because I didn't want to chance any extra chaos from already sleeping in a hotel room together for the first time.  I also didn't want to deal with having to bring organic whole milk and taking it out to meals etc.  

So I waited for normal conditions and when we got home, we went cold turkey to organic whole milk.  In her usual bottles (didn't want to change milk and bottles at the same time).  She knew it tasted differently but after a day or two, she drank enough ounces that she was back to her 21 ish ounces per day. Ms. Becky told me to set the milk out for 15-20 minutes before I gave it to her so it'd get closer to room temperature.  That helped a lot because she was used to getting room temperature bottles.  I'm terrible but she has never had a warm bottle in her life.  Again, they only know what they know.  And MA doesn't know what a warm bottle tastes like. Somehow she has survived! ;)

So that transition happened pretty easily.  I took the last box of formula I bought from target back.  I only had bought it in case we had to mix formula and milk to get her used to milk but I didn't. It felt so good taking it back and saying, "we are finished with formula!!!" 

Next up - the bottle to sippy cup transition.  We are pretty much still in the midst of this.  She's finished...she hasn't seen a bottle since last Friday night but we are still working through our new schedule.  And I'm still working on cooling it with making sure she gets the exact number of ounces per day haha!

Special First Birthday Gift

My parents had told us a few weeks ago they had a special gift for Molly Anne's first birthday but that they would have to give it to us in person instead of shipping it.  When I was home last week they gave it to me to bring back to her.  

We got them on FaceTime one afternoon so they could watch Molly Anne open it.  

She knew it was extra special!

It was a white gold necklace!

I love this picture of her looking at it!  

It was hard to take these pictures and it looks tarnished but the lighting was terrible.

How adorable is that?!  The sweetest one year birthday gift for our girl.  She'll have it forever!

Thank you Mom and Dad for always being extra thoughtful.  She loves her PBK Anywhere Chair too!  Yall are too much!  xoxo

Weekend - One Year Appt

Hope y'all had a nice weekend.  We kept things pretty low key and I'm so glad.  

Do any of you bloggers sometime question putting things in a blog post for your friends and family to read?!  I don't know....maybe I'm just going through another sinking spell of blogging.  Sometimes I feel like it's too convenient for your fam and friends.  Some days I wish I had a private blog and only my blog friends read it! 

On to the weekend....

Friday afternoon Molly Anne had her one year appointment.  I always schedule them for late in the day if she gets shots.  

The doc had warned me that this appointment was especially not fun (and she was right!).  Mom told me to get her a new little toy so I ordered a small jellycat puppy.  She loves babyduck so I knew she'd love this pup.  I gave it to her right before the nurse came in at the end of the appointment.  

She had three shots and a finger prick. Bless her little heart. Kevin and I had to hold her down and it was just awful seeing her so upset.  But.  The shots are good for her health so that's what I try to tell myself.  I updated her stats on this post!

It was nothing a little TCBY yogurt couldn't solve. ;) Special treat.  See, she wouldn't let go of that puppy's neck!  Good call, Mom!!

We did a simple dinner and hung around the house.  Watched a lil TV and played a bunch.  

We had a bad thunderstorm that night. See Mills' nose between her crib and bookshelf.  He always hides.  This was also during Molly Anne's last bottle ever.  More to come on this...!

Saturday we did nothing but play around the house until she was taking her afternoon nap.  Kevin and I did a bunch of yard work while she slept.  

Mills can't stand not to be close to her!

Got cleaned up and went to dinner with Brad and Shauna!  Brad gave Molly Anne fries and banana pudding. I'm not sure who loved it more haha!!  

Sunday - we went to brunch at Cantina and picked up groceries on our way home. I left during her afternoon nap and met up with Shauna at Buy Buy Baby to tell her what I thought were baby essentials.  It was fun!  Molly Anne didn't exactly nap but that's another story ha!   When I got home she and I went to the pool while Kevin grilled dinner.  

I chopped all the veggies for the week after queenie went to bed.  This helps me so much!  I think I'm ready for a full week ahead!  

How was your weekend?

Five on Friday - Hatley PJs, Frame, Catch Up

Thank you for all your sweet comments yesterday!  It's been quite a week but we plan to recoup this weekend!  

1.  Hatley Pajamas - I know some of you have asked about Molly Anne's cute pajamas and they are from Hatley!  Are they not adorable or what?  They're super soft and more cuddly than the Carters ones and I think they fit a little looser too.  Her feet get cold so that's why I still have her in these footed PJs.  And a zip up is essential in my opinion.  

Last week one of her new pairs I got in June got a hole in them and I emailed the Hatley customer service asking if that's typical.  They responded the same day and said no and to pick out any pair on the website and they'd send them to me.  No pictures needed.  No need to return the old one (in fact they told me to donate it!).  No questions.  How awesome is that?  I'll definitely be ordering from them again and I hope you all do too.  Good customer service like that is the best.  Thank you Hatley!  Check out how cute their PJs are...

2.  I think you all may remember that I had this watercolor done by a sweet gal in Charlotte.  I gave one to each of our Moms for Mother's Day.  My Mom had it framed at a cute shop in their hometown...how gorgeous is this?!!  The picture of the picture doesn't do it justice but trust me, it's so well done.

3.  We are still working on brick for our new home.  I'm glad our floor plan is finally done.  We hope to break ground in August or September and it'll take around 10 months to build.  

4.  I'm so over the Nordstrom anniversary sale.  I'm sure there are wonderful deals but holy cow, how many bloggers did they pay to talk about it constantly?  Also, I do not like fall clothes and would prefer to live in a Lilly sundress 24/7/365.  Who's with me?

5.  Next week I need to get back on the meal planning train.  I like to meal plan Friday or Saturday nights and pick up the groceries from Harris Teeter express lane the next day.  We eat healthier and cheaper if we do this but most weeks when I'm gone it's hard.  Next week I should be home most of the week so I'm getting motivated to get it done.  

Hope you all have a nice little weekend!

Prioritizing and Really Kind Friends

This week has been a good example of having to prioritize.  It's something I haven't known how to do but I've had to learn (at work and at home).

Dad had a hip replacement on Monday at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.  Molly Anne was teething and had a minor fever which she does get with teething sometimes.  I wasn't sure if I should get on the plane Monday morning but I did and knew Kevin could hold down the fort in Charlotte (even though he has no one at his office right now).  Yup, good times.  I was needed in Baltimore more.  And this was the art of tag-teaming like Kevin and I do often.  

So I flew right up there, Ubered right to the hospital and met up with my parents in Pre-Op, suitcase and all ha.  Dad went back about 12:30pm and we saw him in recovery at 4:30pm (actual surgery only took 1.5 hours).  He had just woken up and looked perfectly normal.  Unreal.  He was up in his room by 5pm and out of his bed walking down the hall at 5:45pm.  Can you believe that?

He felt better than he did 6 hours prior!  Crazy.  

Mom and I ended up leaving around 7:30pm after he was settled.  We dumped my bags at the hotel then went to The Boathouse and sat out on the water for a fun dinner.  We toasted Dad's new hip and wished he was with us drinking a gin and tonic!  

Crab cake sandwich.  

Mom and I spent the night in downtown Baltimore near the Inner Harbor.  Basically I was her babysitter for the couple days (!!!!) because remember she just had major neck surgery a few weeks ago.  Yes, my parents are getting old!  Dad had a geriatric doctor come see him the second day so I got a kick out of calling them geriatric parents!  Hey, ya gotta laugh in times like this.

We zipped back over to the hospital via Uber the next morning with all of our luggage in tow (they had parked at the hospital).  Dad was going home!  

We found out that Dad had been up all night strolling through the halls.  Overachiever.  He had a couple physical therapy sessions on Tuesday where he walked up and down two flights up stairs unassisted.  Oh, with no pain medicine the whole time...he only took Tylenol his entire stay.  Unbelievable right.  Plus, you have to know my Dad but NOTHING bothers him.  He's a champ.  He doesn't complain.  He's easy. 

That afternoon we got out of there and I drove them the 2.5 hours home.  Crossing the Choptank River...so pretty.  

We got home and within 10 minutes, two of our neighbors were outside, one with food who carried suitcases in and one demanding to take me to the airport the next morning.  

The entire time I was in Baltimore and back at my parents house, their friends were texting and calling to check in on how he was.  They offered to meet me at home when we arrived to help us in.  Neither of my parents can drive right now.  So they have offered to take them places and doc appointments.  To grocery shop for them.  To pick up food for them.  To bring them dinner.  To come keep them company.  

SO NICE.  

And really, it made me feel a gazillion times better about coming back to Charlotte yesterday.  It meant more to me then any of them know and I cannot thank them enough.  

We had a big talk about asking for help and when people offer to take them up on it.  So I hope my parents will do that.  If they don't, then I'll talk to their friends and ask them to help them.  The joys of living 8 hours away from your "geriatric" parents.  It isn't fun!  

So thank you to Kevin for doing such a good job holding the fort down at our house, at work and everything else.  And thank you to my work friends for being understanding.

I'm back in biz in Charlotte today knowing I can go to the airport and jump on a flight anytime if they really need something and that gives me comfort.  :)

Chill Weekend

Ohhh yes we needed a chill weekend. 

Friday night we did nothing.  I didn't even take Molly Anne to the pool.  We just came home and played with her toys.  And she crashed. 

Saturday morning we went to the pool for awhile after her morning nap. Then came right home for lunch and a couple hour nap in the afternoon.  We thought it'd be fun to play in our backyard.  

(I tried this rose and I didn't love it. Maybe I don't like the sweetness?)

So playing in our backyard it was!  It started like this....

Then got like this...

Then this!  Haha. 

Then....both of them in the muddy water!

They couldn't have been happier!

Both of them got good baths!

After Molly Anne was in bed, Kevin grilled burgers for us. Delish. He cooked AND cleaned up!  Always a treat!  And I sat on my toosh out back looking at snap chat. 

With mills. 

Sunday - we headed to Chuys for an early lunch then went over to the mall.  Kevin took back a couple shirts and he got some other things he needed too.  

That plastic $0.02 rattle/maraca has been the best purchase to date.  It makes noise and is evidently good to chew on.  I had gotten them for a baby shower earlier this spring. 

At the Disney store. She is OBSESSED with Minnie.  And Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  It's crazy!

Then while Molly Anne had her afternoon nap, we drove to look at houses to get ideas on brick, roofs and shutters.  Isn't this one gorgeous?!!!  Just make ours look like this and all will be well haha!! 

We ended the weekend with a quick trip to the pool.  I know you're shocked by that ha!

Chat soon!

Five on Friday - Brick and Chris

1.  I've been here all last week and all of this week.  Two weeks of no traveling = a dream!  It's amazing what two full weeks in town can do for you.  I'm well rested, I feel sane at home and our house is somewhat clean.  Whoop whoop!

2.  She figured out how to work her little crab this week.  PS the white ruffle tank top and seersucker shorts kill me!

3.  We are on the major hunt for brick right now.  Honestly we should have started 6 weeks ago because it's taking longer than we thought to find something we like.  Samples versus real houses look substantially different.  Plus mortar color makes a huge difference.  

This is our top choice right now. Plus I just LOVE this house.  The guy was in his front yard when we saw it so we asked what brick, stone, shingle etc it was.  We are so thrilled to have this information because when I saw it, I loved it which has not occurred before this one.  Well, actually it has for a painted brick house but our HOA doesn't allow painted brick, ugh!

4. Kevin's Uncle Chris came in to town last night and we had them over to our house for Midwood Smokehouse takeout.  It was way too much fun catching up!

5.  Molly Anne is currently getting three teeth at once.  She's fine during the day but at night she hasn't been too happy.  I've given her motrin and benadryl for a couple nights but last night I didn't give her anything and she was fine.  I think it's just day by day.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!!!