Hi everyone!!! How are you enjoying this fall? Let me tell ya, mine is night and day from last year. I was so sick in my first trimester, I don’t really remember enjoying it- I just remember one long wave of nausea & cuddles with Moose (I did enjoy that part). This year I am living for it allll. When we returned from Michigan on September 5th, we unpacked and ordered in some Piada for lunch since I hadn’t restocked on groceries yet. I finally enrolled as a Piada member, which I should have done a loong time ago considering how much we order from there. I went for the build-your-own bowl with all kinds of yums and a side of the apple cider vinaigrette and vegan harissa. On September 6th I had my first book club meet-up! The book we read was The Last Mrs. Parrish which I included in a recent Friday Faves. We all brought a different snack, so I made a cheese board with various cheeses (including a couple vegan ones so I could indulge), hummus, chocolate covered cherries from Michigan, salami and a side of pretzels and crackers. It was so much fun!! After Quinn was born, DJ and I talked about how important it is to take time to prioritize our hobbies and friends because we realized how quickly those could fall by the wayside. Monthly book club, a weekend run and a monthly brunch with a friend are my “things” for now and DJ tries to get out golfing whenever he can and tries to meet up with friends here and there too. It feels really good supporting each other in making these things a priority.
September 7th, we went out for a morning walk with Mr. Moose on a new trail. The trail was a little noisy being right next to the highway, so we probably won’t frequent it, but it is convenient if we ever just need to get a quick walk in with him.
September 8th, I grabbed a Cafe Au Lait from Nervous Dog and worked on modules for work at the hospital.
When I picked up Quinn from daycare, she surprisingly still had some energy so we did a bit of tummy time before a long nap. September 9th, she had her four month appt. We went on a walk on a trail on the way to the peds office to get some fresh air to start the day.I was sorta dreading the appt. with the next round of vaccines, but it went well enough. This round she seemed a bit fussier/more uncomfortable than the last, so it was lots of carrier naps and cuddles. On top of that she was teething a lot that day. My girl :(. The nurse did give a great tip to put frozen breast milk in one of those fruit strainers to help with teething & Quinn loved that!
That afternoon we were low on groceries, so I was forced to get creative. I threw together this Lavash wrap with sardines, mixed greens, tomato and mustard. It sounds kinda gross, but it was so satisfying.
Aaand it was around this week my hair started falling out in droves. That postpartum hair loss hit hard and fast. No fun!
That weekend was a nice, chill weekend with walks on new trails, watching football (or enjoying the white noise of it in my case), getting the house in order & quality time all together.
Quinn has been so eager to sit up and stand. She loves when we hold her up like this! I feel like sometimes she thinks, “this baby stuff is for the birds!”. She just wants to moveee <3.
I’ve been on a pizza kick lately, but good dairy-free/soy-free pizza can be hard to find. I tried the meatless lovers from Daiya that weekend, and it was definitely one of the better ones I’ve tried!
I worked September 12th & 13th. The back to back shifts are exhausting for Quinn since we get up so early to get her to daycare. But she handled these long days like a champ and seemed to have so much fun with the activities over those couple of days! She has had pretty consecutive colds since starting daycare (which sucks), but I try to see the bright side that she’s building immunity. I also learn a lot from her teachers and implement a lot of the activities they do at home.
September 14th, we went on a nice morning walk. As we trotted along, I admired the yellow blooms on the side of the trail. The next day when I returned they were gone, so I was probably just admiring some weeds, hah. I know nothing about flowers. That day, Quinn was soaking up just chillin’ and kicking this little ball on her playmat. We Facetimed with my Aunt Terry, and she just dribbled the ball the whole time. Maybe future soccer player? Quinn LOVES her Sophie the Giraffe, and we take her everywhere with us. With her teething, forget me, Soph is her best friend hah. Also my baby has turned into a crab. She’s been pinching me like crazy lately lol. I just think, “girllll I gave you life, why must you hurt me like that?!”.One of the activities I stole from daycare was putting water in different containers. I improvised and put them at different temperatures so she could feel a warmer bowl with water and one with cooler water. This girl loves water. I’ll take her to sinks in the house and she gets the biggest kick out of turning the faucet and running her hands under it. Aaaand my first dive into embracing fall on September 17th– this candle 🙂 . September 18th, I had plans to meet with a friend for brunch, but unfortunately, they fell through last minute. I was so looking forward to brunchy food, so I decided to make my own at home. I took a little extra care making a veggie omelette with vegan jalapeno havarti cheese and a side of Dave’s bread with raspberry Crofter’s jam. I added a dollop of hummus on top for kicks.Quinn was just stunned to see I was wearing a. real clothes, b. makeup and c. no baseball cap.We made the most of the time I was going to go to brunch and instead DJ linked his computer up to the TV, and we planned and dreamed up some weekend trips for next year & one family vacation. We are so excited to travel all around with Quinn!
Moose really relished that chill weekend energy. In a world of nervous dogs, be a chill Moose.
Speaking of! September 19th, I stopped into Nervous Dog Cafe for a cafe au lait. I also finally signed up for their reward system. 54987 cafe au laits later…September 21stmy mom and Pete arrived in town!! My mom hadn’t seen Quinn since May- can you believe it?! I worked the day they got in town, so to keep things easy, I ordered in for all of us. Can you guess from where? Ding ding if you guessed Piada, you guessed right.
My mom and Pete unpacked while Quinn napped in my carrier, then we all caught up while enjoying our meals. We go to bed fairly early (730/8ish), so the evening was short, but thankfully we had more to come!
Every morning, I put Quinn in her bouncer in the kitchen while I make breakfast. She seemed especially chipper this morning of the 22nd; I think she was looking forward to a morning with her Grammy and Grampy!
While letting Moose out, I witnessed this gorgeous sunrise. We are in that time of year where the sunrises and sunsets are just spectacular.That morning, my mom and I zipped to Nervous Dog and grabbed au laits for us and a pup cup for Mr. Moose. This time of year I like to get one pump of pumpkin for a little pizzazz. We then headed to the trail for a walk. I realized once we got to the trail that I forgot my carrier, and girly girl never makes it through the whole walk just in the stroller anymore. My mom offered to just sit with Quinn while I zipped home- so I went back with Moose, grabbed my carrier and then we drove back to the trail.
When I pulled back in, Quinn was all cozied sleeping on my mom’s chest on the park bench. It was so sweet. Ok, time to get on with this walk!
It was gloomy with ominous clouds looming, but I just love that kind of weather. We had a wonderful walk and only had to dodge one little drizzle. We also had really interesting conversation. My mom and I love the podcast Cultish and reflected on some recent episodes. The rest of the day was just lotsa playing and spending time with Quinn <3. How cute is she with her Grammy and Grampy?!Quinn has been rolling over from stomach to back for quite some time, but this week I was really working on getting her to go back to stomach. My mom was watching her while I went out on a run, and caught her first time rolling back to stomach on camera! We were sooo proud! You can see how proud of herself she was too 🙂 That evening I made air fryer shrimp tacos for everyone with all the fixin’s. We got your cilatro, we got your lime, we got your fajita veggies. I made ones with vegan cheese for my mom and me and ones with queso fresco for the guys. Quinn was a trooper through the whole dinner! By the end of it though, she was over it and ready to go to sleep.While we went to start the bedtime routine, my mom and Pete so kindly cleaned up dinner and the entire kitchen (and listen, I’m working on it, but I have a bad habit of using every single dish we own while making dinner). Having them around is amazing for their presence alone, butttt it’s also so nice when I wake up to the dishes done and put away, the counters cleaned, and then Pete walks around with his magical fixer-upper powers and repairs everything needing repaired. September 23rd, while I worked, my mom and Pete watched Quinn <3. My mom sent pics of Quinn through the day- I have only ever dressed her first thing in the morning, so it was adorable seeing what my mom chose!
Quinn had a lot of visitors that day! First up was our family friend, Mary :).In the afternoon, her Gigi and Aunt Renee stopped by, and then in the evening, more family friends stopped by before going out to dinner with my mom and Pete.
My mom did say she seemed maybe a bit under the weather with how much she was sleeping. I was really grateful she was home with my mom instead of daycare that day.
I’ll wrap it up here before recapping the rest of the weekend :).
Questions for you:
Do you make a mess when cooking or are you fairly neat? (AKA does anyone else use every single pan/bowl in the kitchen?).
23 thoughts on “Book Club, Recent Eats & Family Bonding ❤️”
I can make a mess in the kitchen but I do clean as I go.
Quinn is getting so big and such a personality! She loved seeing her Grandparents!
Those Shrimp Tacos looked soooooo good!
Happy Fall!
She really does have such a fun personality- it’s the greatest joy seeing it come through more and more!! Thanks for stopping in, Nancy! Happy Fall 🙂 🍁🍂
You know the post is gold when I feel I have so much to say!
1) Quinn couldn’t be any cuter! Her smile is radiant.
2) Ansley is the same way about being ready to mooooove! She has stood with our help for months and now sits up and doesn’t like to lay in her bouncy seat anymore. 😢 She also can scoot and army crawl. 🥺
3) Your food, as always, looks phenomenal! I love that sardine wrap. It sounds perfectly tasty to me.
4) Kudos to you both for maintaining your interests!! Matt is going to the track to race next month, and I want and try to maintain my identity and interests too. I’ve seen people forget this, and then they lose who they are.
5) Your mom and Pete are angels! So sweet of them to visit, though it stinks living away from family.
6) I so hope Matt, Ans, and I can go to Pawley’s Island again next year. She’ll be 13 or so months, and it would be an incredible family vacation.
I love that you guys talked about hobbies and all and are supporting each other through it ❤ sadly all my friends had left the state so I didn’t really see many people but I did make new friends at a group for breastfeeding mothers which I went to once a week, we also always did lots of outings with family, walks, visited my sis in law because she had her baby two weeks before I gave birth to CL so it was nice meeting up with them, and oh, I took up blogging as a hobby when CL was 7 months? Here we are so many years later lol. Cannot tell you how important these kinds of things are and getting out of the house. So proud of you both!!
I’m so jelly, those walks look amazing! We literally only have one* trail that runs pretty much from here all the way to the city by the river. Which is great, don’t get me wrong, but I wish we had more paved trails around here 😕
Yay for family visiting!! Does your mom still live in Texas?
It’s funny you mention using so many dishes, Alex does the same. Me being the one who does dishes the majority of the time, I realized early on that I need to use less. It also helps to Clean up as I use them as I’m prepping/cooking so I don’t have as many to clean up after dinner.
We have a lot of quick dinner recipes but it all depends on what ingredients we have handy. I’m working on making more elaborate meals now that I’m home in the evenings lol
I hope you have a great rest of the week. I cannot wait to see what you guys did over the weekend!
Wow that is so cool about the breastfeeding group!!! I was thinking the other day about how it might be good to join some mom groups . I don’t really know many moms my age that live right in the area (besides family of course, which I’m grateful for!). Awww that’s so awesome you found blogging as an outlet too! I have found how great it is for me when I find the time.
We do feel lucky to live next to this trail- it’s a gem! We are talking about moving in a couple years, but it’ll be sooo tough to move away from the trail! I will say- at least the views where you live are hard to beat 😍.
She does!!!
I really need to do a better job of cleaning as I go!
Thanks so much for stopping in, Rossy! I love that we’re both blogging pretty regularly again 🥺 💕
Definitely join some mom groups, it’s always good to have a few other people who can relate to you and will also serve as an external support group and will even share tips 🙂 and as she gets older, you’ll make friends with other moms. one of my good friends I met in preschool because CL had already been diagnosed with SPD and she was having a hard time with her son and I noticed they had similar symptoms and behaviors, and we became pretty close because of our kiddos because no one else knew our struggle. <3
Ah yes, moving is tough. I haven't moved too far away but I do miss my last neighborhood even though I'm a few blocks away. I'm about to move again, t his time a little out of the town I've been living in the last 20 years but it will be good for us finally 🙂
You're so welcome, I am sorry I haven't been able to keep up as much as I would like but I will always go back and read your blog whenever I get the chance 🙂
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That is so special how close you became with that one mom <3. I definitely am motivated after this conversation to find a mom group in town of some kind.
I'm so happy for you! Sounds like a great change. I know moving is rated as one of the top stressors no matter what, but I hope it goes as smoothly as possible for you!
Aw you are so sweet, no need to apologize, trust me I totally get it! I am SO glad to see some recent posts from you though :). Hope you had a great Halloween- did you do any makeup looks this year?! I know you're always amazing at that!
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Yay, I’m sure you’ll find one in no time! You could try asking at daycare too, sometimes the other moms share a FB group, etc.
I hope so too im already stressed because the bedrooms are a lot smaller than the ones here in this apartment, including the living room so we might have to get rid of some furniture which I’m not looking forward to 😢
I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to plan and create any. I’m barely able to do makeup at all since I have to clean, organize and pack, so most of my makeup is gonna get put away for a while 😭
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Great idea!!
We have had to get rid of furniture with lots of moves too, it can be stressful – but when all is said and done it will be worth it! Hope all goes so smoothly ❤️
Aww totally makes sense!!! Definitely are years like that, and the good thing is, holidays always come back around 🤗
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Oh we all love making messes when cooking! And all I can say is I fall in love with every photo of Quinn, sorry Moose, still love you but Quinn is extremely cute and adorable! Thank you for these amazing blogs and truly all these memories here are wonderfully captured by you with these fantastic photos! Love to all! Gigi
What a brilliant idea to put breast milk in the mesh teether and freeze!!!!! I just love your blog and Quinn is just beautiful, does she always smile for the camera? What a happy little girl.
It has been just the BEST since she found her smile- she’s currently working on giggles. My heart may just explode when she really has her first full on belly laugh!
Aw thank you so much for stopping in & the kind words!! Happy to see a new face around here 🙂 I tried clicking your name, but it didn’t go to a link- do you have a blog ?
I aspire to that for sure!!! Going to try to be better about it 😅
Oh my mouth is watering- that does sound like the perfect autumn meal!!
I can make a mess in the kitchen but I do clean as I go.
Quinn is getting so big and such a personality! She loved seeing her Grandparents!
Those Shrimp Tacos looked soooooo good!
Happy Fall!
She really does have such a fun personality- it’s the greatest joy seeing it come through more and more!! Thanks for stopping in, Nancy! Happy Fall 🙂 🍁🍂
You know the post is gold when I feel I have so much to say!
1) Quinn couldn’t be any cuter! Her smile is radiant.
2) Ansley is the same way about being ready to mooooove! She has stood with our help for months and now sits up and doesn’t like to lay in her bouncy seat anymore. 😢 She also can scoot and army crawl. 🥺
3) Your food, as always, looks phenomenal! I love that sardine wrap. It sounds perfectly tasty to me.
4) Kudos to you both for maintaining your interests!! Matt is going to the track to race next month, and I want and try to maintain my identity and interests too. I’ve seen people forget this, and then they lose who they are.
5) Your mom and Pete are angels! So sweet of them to visit, though it stinks living away from family.
6) I so hope Matt, Ans, and I can go to Pawley’s Island again next year. She’ll be 13 or so months, and it would be an incredible family vacation.
Have the best week!!
Thanks, Kori 😊. Oh my goodness Ansley is going to be an early walker for sure!! Isn’t it so much fun seeing them embrace all these new milestones?!
Aw thank you!! I had a feeling you’d be with me on the sardine wrap 🙂
Absolutely ! It’s easy to feel guilty leaving her too- but I know I’m a better mom and person in general if I maintain those interests.
They realllly are!! We keep trying to convince them to move back here but they are set on retiring in NC whenever they retire!
Oh that will be so much fun!! Have a great weekend, friend !!!
I love that you guys talked about hobbies and all and are supporting each other through it ❤ sadly all my friends had left the state so I didn’t really see many people but I did make new friends at a group for breastfeeding mothers which I went to once a week, we also always did lots of outings with family, walks, visited my sis in law because she had her baby two weeks before I gave birth to CL so it was nice meeting up with them, and oh, I took up blogging as a hobby when CL was 7 months? Here we are so many years later lol. Cannot tell you how important these kinds of things are and getting out of the house. So proud of you both!!
I’m so jelly, those walks look amazing! We literally only have one* trail that runs pretty much from here all the way to the city by the river. Which is great, don’t get me wrong, but I wish we had more paved trails around here 😕
Yay for family visiting!! Does your mom still live in Texas?
It’s funny you mention using so many dishes, Alex does the same. Me being the one who does dishes the majority of the time, I realized early on that I need to use less. It also helps to Clean up as I use them as I’m prepping/cooking so I don’t have as many to clean up after dinner.
We have a lot of quick dinner recipes but it all depends on what ingredients we have handy. I’m working on making more elaborate meals now that I’m home in the evenings lol
I hope you have a great rest of the week. I cannot wait to see what you guys did over the weekend!
xx
Wow that is so cool about the breastfeeding group!!! I was thinking the other day about how it might be good to join some mom groups . I don’t really know many moms my age that live right in the area (besides family of course, which I’m grateful for!). Awww that’s so awesome you found blogging as an outlet too! I have found how great it is for me when I find the time.
We do feel lucky to live next to this trail- it’s a gem! We are talking about moving in a couple years, but it’ll be sooo tough to move away from the trail! I will say- at least the views where you live are hard to beat 😍.
She does!!!
I really need to do a better job of cleaning as I go!
Thanks so much for stopping in, Rossy! I love that we’re both blogging pretty regularly again 🥺 💕
Definitely join some mom groups, it’s always good to have a few other people who can relate to you and will also serve as an external support group and will even share tips 🙂 and as she gets older, you’ll make friends with other moms. one of my good friends I met in preschool because CL had already been diagnosed with SPD and she was having a hard time with her son and I noticed they had similar symptoms and behaviors, and we became pretty close because of our kiddos because no one else knew our struggle. <3
Ah yes, moving is tough. I haven't moved too far away but I do miss my last neighborhood even though I'm a few blocks away. I'm about to move again, t his time a little out of the town I've been living in the last 20 years but it will be good for us finally 🙂
You're so welcome, I am sorry I haven't been able to keep up as much as I would like but I will always go back and read your blog whenever I get the chance 🙂
That is so special how close you became with that one mom <3. I definitely am motivated after this conversation to find a mom group in town of some kind.
I'm so happy for you! Sounds like a great change. I know moving is rated as one of the top stressors no matter what, but I hope it goes as smoothly as possible for you!
Aw you are so sweet, no need to apologize, trust me I totally get it! I am SO glad to see some recent posts from you though :). Hope you had a great Halloween- did you do any makeup looks this year?! I know you're always amazing at that!
Yay, I’m sure you’ll find one in no time! You could try asking at daycare too, sometimes the other moms share a FB group, etc.
I hope so too im already stressed because the bedrooms are a lot smaller than the ones here in this apartment, including the living room so we might have to get rid of some furniture which I’m not looking forward to 😢
I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to plan and create any. I’m barely able to do makeup at all since I have to clean, organize and pack, so most of my makeup is gonna get put away for a while 😭
Great idea!!
We have had to get rid of furniture with lots of moves too, it can be stressful – but when all is said and done it will be worth it! Hope all goes so smoothly ❤️
Aww totally makes sense!!! Definitely are years like that, and the good thing is, holidays always come back around 🤗
Oh we all love making messes when cooking! And all I can say is I fall in love with every photo of Quinn, sorry Moose, still love you but Quinn is extremely cute and adorable! Thank you for these amazing blogs and truly all these memories here are wonderfully captured by you with these fantastic photos! Love to all! Gigi
Glad I’m not alone in that!! And yess I am with ya. Cuteness overload 🥰. Thank you so much for reading!!
What a brilliant idea to put breast milk in the mesh teether and freeze!!!!! I just love your blog and Quinn is just beautiful, does she always smile for the camera? What a happy little girl.
Right?! I was so grateful for that tip!!
Awww thank you SO much, Diane! That means a lot 🙂
Quinn is growing up so quickly and I love that smile. She is a perpetually happy little girl. I have said it before … you all are so blessed.
It has been just the BEST since she found her smile- she’s currently working on giggles. My heart may just explode when she really has her first full on belly laugh!
You’ve got some awesome pictures Mackenzie. She is such a happy and beautiful baby!
Thank you so much, Linda 🥰
I am so happy that I found your blog! It is so well done. The food that you have looks delicious!
1). I like to keep the kitchen tidy, so I prefer to clean up as I go.
2). And one of my quick go to dinners is French Onion soup pork chops with a salad. It’s so delicious! It is the perfect dish for Autumn! 🙂
Aw thank you so much for stopping in & the kind words!! Happy to see a new face around here 🙂 I tried clicking your name, but it didn’t go to a link- do you have a blog ?
I aspire to that for sure!!! Going to try to be better about it 😅
Oh my mouth is watering- that does sound like the perfect autumn meal!!
I found it!! Can’t wait to follow 🙂
Awe thank you for the follow! I appreciate your kind words. It’s so delicious. I like it a lot because you can cook it all in one pan. 🙂
Yess love recipes like that!! ☺️