HAPPY NEW YEAAAAAR! You feeling unstoppable and crushing it already? If you need a little motivation you should check out this post I wrote that maybe will help give you some inspiration to slay goals and just generally crush it.
Follow me on Instagram to see more images from my month.
Also you should follow my personal account — @jamielee841 — if you want to see even more!
1. Riley turned 6 months & our solid food adventures started: Oh man, Riley is SO SO fun. I can’t even tell you. She’s so funny and has THE BEST personality ever. Turning 6 months meant she was ready for solids! We decided to go the baby-lead weaning route (ie skipping purees and going right to table food eating the same meal as us). It’s been kind of scary/frustrating/super messy at first but honestly it’s been awesome so far. I love watching her discover food and I’m so impressed with how well she can use a spoon already in only a couple weeks. She watched me intently while I was eating yogurt and then grabbed her pre-loaded spoon I gave her and mimicked me and mostly made it in her mouth. She loves Stonyfield YoBaby yogurt (banana and mango), avocado toast and LOL refried beans. I die. Will makes great refried beans so I’m not surprised though. I highly recommend checking out The Babyled Weaning For Beginners book and the facebook group if you are thinking about it or want to learn more. (OMG IN OTHER RILEY NEWS SHE TOTALLY GOT THOSE TWO TEETH I TOLD YOU SHE WAS CUTTING LAST MONTH)
2. We started going to our Purposeful Play class — This class is offered at our local-ish community center and we LOVE it. The instructor is amazing and Riley has so much fun going. She hates the maracas though…like super skeptical of them. The other fun thing is that one of my friend’s takes her baby who is a week older than Riley so she gets to hang with one of her future bffs. I’m such a nerd about baby development and I love seeing how the “play” is stuff to complement what they are learning…things you don’t even think about. It’s AWESOME!
3. My friends and I (and the babies) finally got to get together: I think one of the hardest things since I had Riley is how much I miss my friends. I know we are all in the baby trenches right now but ah I miss them so much! So it was nice to see them and see the babies! Next girls day is definitely baby free though!
4. I am going STIR CRAZY with the cold weather!!: I’ve been trying to work on my Make Winter Suck Less plan but UGHHHH. I just miss nice weather. We’ve been trying to take advantage of it as much as we can when the weather is a little nice but I AM NOT MADE FOR INDOORS ALL THE TIME.
5. I had the highest traffic on my site in January than I have in a few years (probably since I went super viral on Pinterest in 2012 getting 10K visits a day): I know sometimes people hate talking about stats and act like they don’t matter, and in the grand scheme they don’t and I don’t live/die by them, BUT it really cool to come back to blogging and put the time into that I can and to see it pay off. It’s a nice feeling to know people are reading and (hopefully) enjoying what you are putting out there. Speaking of blog stuff I added this page and this page to my blog as I start to rearrange my blog a bit!
I put all my Monthly Rewinds in a Spotify playlist so you can listen to them here !
1. The Good Side — Troye Sivan
2. Compass — The Neighborhood
3. God Save Our Young Blood — BORNS
4. All On My Mind — Anderson East
5. On Hold — Fenne Lily
6. Harvest Moon — Handsome Ghost
ALSO: First Aid Kit’s new album!!!! The whole thing! Riley and I have been listening to it a lot in the car.
Check out the rest of my January playlist for more of what I was listening to this month!
I didn’t read enough to have a top 3 because I just have been in a ~creating~ mood where I want to blog and write and do projects rather than read.
BUT here’s what I did read:
1) I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman: OMG GUYSSSS. Gayle never disappoints me. Truly. I have so many thoughts about this book and I can’t wait to share them.
2) The Girl With The Red Balloon by Katherine Locke: I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. If you love historical fiction + magic, you need this in your life!
(also read the Baby Led Weaning book I talked about above)
Honestly I did a bad job of keeping track of quotes this month. Mom life has me lazy.
I posted 15 times in January!
1. 14 New Romantic Reads For Valentine’s Day: Or honestly ANY day obviously! So many newly released or upcoming romance reads I can’t wait to read!
2. My Newborn Survival Guide: The newborn stage is something special…in a good way and also in a OMG WHAT IS LIFE kind of way so I loved putting together this post full of things that worked for me and things that were livesavers!
3. 6 Small Ways I Practice Self Care As A New Mom: I have learned that self care is even more important for me now. It’s easy to realize I haven’t done anything to take care of myself in a while!
4. 10 Books On My Kindle I Keep Forgetting About–– Thanks for helping me prioritize some of my Kindle reads!!
5. My “I Heart It” Gift Guide: Guysssss so much good stuff on this!!!
Either my Looking Ahead to 2018 where I shared some of my goals and my reflections or my 6 Lessons I’ve Learned Lately post because it was so important to me to share.
1. Has Instagram Come Full Circle?: This post seriously says so much how I feel and where I’m at.
2. Carnitas Stuffed Peppers: YUM…this is definitely on our menu for February!
3. How Not To Give Up On Your Goals When You “Screw Up“: Relevant for many of us right now coming off the big NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS surge. I’m pleased with some of my progress but not so much with other things. Love this post!
4. Notes On Surfing; Or On Not Doing Things You Don’t Want To Do: I loved this post! Christine always has the best posts, honestly. Such a good reminder…I always try to envision myself doing all these different things only to realize…yeah I don’t actually really like doing that. Like I love being outside and I love the idea of being into hiking…but I get so much anxiety worrying about what snakes or bugs are going to kill me that I will just stick to the nice flat trail near our apartment and enjoy the fresh air and the exercise that way.
5. Let’s Talk About Romance Novels: Loved this post! Got a couple recs!
1. Grown-ish: Omg YOU GUYS. We love Black-ish and I was so excited for this spinoff and I haven’t been disappointed. You should be watching BOTH of them! I rarely watch comedies but Black-ish is THE BEST.
2. All my new clothes from Old Navy:– I needed a little bit of a wardrobe overall and I had Christmas money soooo I got new clothes. I can’t even pick a favorite.
Fit & Flare Cami Dress // Relaxed Fit Classic Flannel // Jersey Knit Swing Dress // Plus Knit Swing Dress // Jersey Shift Dress // French Terry Dress // Lightweight Shirred Top // Longsleeve Scoop Neck Tee // Bell Sleeve Empire Waist Dress
3. My new favorite legging/sweatpants EVER that I got for Christmas: I’m rocking the athleisure (or as I call it to Will — the momleisure) look hardcore these days and these leggings are EVERYTHING. You should check out some of the awesome things I (and Riley) got for Christmas…some definite new favorite things.
Tell me something GREAT that happened to you during this first month of 2018 or something you are proud of that you did?
Pick a category (or 5… or all of them) and tell me what went on in YOUR life this month!! What sort of things were noteworthy for you this month? New obsessions? Any new song recs?? Best books you read this month? Great posts I missed on your blog? Answer to my question of the month?
[This post contains affiliate links which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a very small percentage of the sale that helps go towards maintenance of this site, feeding my book buying madness and allowing me to do giveaways from time to time ]
Annemieke says
I’ve been hearing a lot of good things aobut baby led weaning these days. Babyled weaning seems to be more of a US thing? I mean it is coming here but purees is just more accepted here. I started solid foods with purees at 4 months but by 1 he was completely eating what we eat (without formula too). It is great to see them eating. I still love watching Merijn stuff his face with banana haha.
And I feel you on the winter weather. I used to love winter but these last few years they have been playing on my mood a lot.
Jamie says
I’m enjoying the process! Just watching the skills she’s learning and watching her experience different textures and foods is fun! It’s a little scary but I just try to make sure everything is cut properly. I feel like I read something about how it gained popularity in the UK and then US! But don’t quote me on it! haha. Is Merijn a good eater or a picky one? I’m hoping Riley is adventurous! Tonight she tried everything we put on her plate! Can’t say she liked everything equally but she tried it!
It’s the greyness and being stuck inside so much and feeling assaulted by cold air for me. UGH. I try really hard to make the best of it but every time I go outside i’m like YEP THIS IS WHY I HATE THIS
Annemieke says
Ah firsts are always hard and some things they might not like for a long while. Like Merijn didn’t like banana until he was 8/9 months or so. He would refuse it every time. He thought it was yucky at first. And now he wants one every day. He has had his periods where he was more picky, not wanting his vegetables for a few weeks all of a sudden or he had a period where he didn’t want his potatoes. But that has evened out again and overal he isn’t very picky.
Ugh yes. I got so lively when it was so sunny Tuesday and yesterday morning. But if it is grey again the next day my mood dampens so quickly again.
Kristin (SuperSpaceChick) says
Elsie’s instagram article is such an interesting read! Last year I was feeling the same way and while I really do miss the days when I would just take a photo and post it, I CRINGE when I look back at some of the photos I’ve posted when I started my account. I definitely crave that freedom but I haven’t yet been able to move past the “omg I need the perfect lighting” feelings. It’s such a catch-22. And it goes the same for bookish posts vs. personal posts. I feel like I don’t post a lot of other things I’m interested in on insta because I now think of it more as a bookstagram account than a personal account.
Jamie says
OMG YES…some of my old photos (also related: blog graphics) are so hideous lol. Def with you on the need perfect lighting. I think that is why I’m LOVING stories so much…I can keep my feed pretty and post those shitty grainy pictures of things I want to post haha. AND OMG I’m having such a crisis of what to do with my Instagram bc it is an extension of my blog but I kept it to mainly bookish stuff and so now I feeel SOOO weird trying to post other things.
JennrRenee says
Your baby so darn cute. Love old navy you had some great buys.
We just started blogging again after a long break. So I am happy about that. Read more in January then I have in a while too.
Jamie says
Thank you! <3 Old Navy is so bad for my wallet but I always find some good sales -- especially for Riley!
Welcome back to blogging! Breaks are always good for my brain and creativity so I hope it's the same for you!
Nida says
Wow! so Pinterest works for you! it’s such a motivation for me to read! How you had a wonderful year!
Jamie says
Pinterest has been a really great thing for me! I still have so many people tell me that they found my blog back in 2012 from that list and have been readers since! It was nice to get outside of my community of bloggers..felt like my blog definitely grew from that!
Emily Fata, www.EmulatingEmily.com says
It looks like you’ve had an eventful January! I also love the mini Spotify playlist you put together. 🙂
Jamie says
Thank you! 🙂
Christine says
You’re so sweet to include my post! And that’s so funny–I feel like I’m going to do a bunch more hiking because that’s so easily enjoyable to me versus being in the ocean. It’s so funny/great how everyone has different things that they love or that freak them out! Anyway, still loving all of your posts and book recs and baby pics! 🙂
Jamie says
lol I hate the ocean too. LIke I love being there…just effing don’t touch me, creatures in the sea!!! I keep telling myself I’m outdoorsy but then I’m like lol only if that means reading on the beach or drinking/eating outside on a patio or just generally being outside. All of the typical “outdoorsy” things I realize I don’t love. lol
An thank you <3 I've been feeling so weird to Officially branch out (even though I feel like I have naturally) because I'm so used to being ~niche~ for the past 8 years. But it's been fun and my creativity is skyrocketing!
Chelsea says
I love your spotify list! A lot of cute options for outfits too.
Adriana Lopez says
Love all your pictures pretty cool and your baby is darling. In my life now just a lot of work and family matters. Hoping things will get better.
Abhinav Singh says
I am glad you are capturing Riley’s moments in this blog. Kids grow up so fast. Congrats for the amazing traffic. I have heard pinterest works really well.
Rosie @ Rosie Writes Things says
HOLY CRAP your daughter is so CUTE! It’s always exciting when a baby tries solid foods. I work at a preschool/daycare, working with infants, and we get so excited at every milestone they hit!
I might have to look for a “purposeful play” class in my area. That sounds amazing! Of course, I still have 3 months until my little man is even born, but it’d be nice to have that in mind when he is old enough!
I am so glad I’m not the only bookworm who only read 2 books last month! XD I’ve been too distracted to read! Will try to do better in February.
Something great that happened? Well… I haven’t gotten the flu, which is pretty GREAT! Considering everyone at work is getting it, kids AND co-workers! 😀
Charlie says
The spiral of blog traffic can be a cycle. It doesn’t matter…but then it does. I am in awe of those who get thousands of views a month. I do good to get 1K each month. Sometimes I think, what am I doing wrong? They’re blog is only 16 months old and has 60K views. My blog is five years and barely has 60K views. Congrats on your great month! Thanks for sharing your playlist – I’ll have to go look at some of your songs.
Philippa says
I’ve been following your blog for a few years now, though I don’t comment very often. But I just had to comment this time because OMG your baby is so adorable!