I cannot believe we have one month left of 2017!! HOW?? What a year — I mean that seriously and sarcastically. Because god what a dumpster fire it was on a world level but on a personal level it was a life-changing one. So shall we talk about November??
My sweater // Riley’s dress pattern is sold out BUT there are so many of the same dress but different patterns and we have like almost all of them lol
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. Lots of Riley stuff: Let’s see..she turned 4 months and had her 4 month check up! Homegirl is 15lbs 7oz and a whopping 26.77 inches tall….99th percentile for height. She started having some amazing sleeps at night (talking 8-11 hour stretches, eat, and back to sleep til wakeup time which is AMAZING) and a couple rough nights (thanks 4 month regression!). She was being a nap champion but lately she’s been taking super short naps. She’s been rolling from her back to her tummy since 3 months (because she got pissed in bed and figured it out because she wanted to sleep on her stomach) but this month she really mastered the front to back and back to front rolls. Her head control is great! She’s just doing SO WELL and is a really happy baby. Just give me my good napper back!!!
2. We celebrated Thanksgiving at my sister’s — It was nice but weird! My dad and his girlfriend came down to our area. I haven’t talked about it TOO much but my dad and stepmom (who is like a mom to me and I’ve known since I was like 6) got divorced and it sucks honestly. I experienced divorce as a kid very young but it really is weird experiencing divorce as an adult because it was 20+ years I experienced their marriage. So it was sad because he decided he was coming down (we ALWAYS go up there for every other holiday) to make it easier for us but that meant we didn’t get to see my stepmom and my sister Paige which sucked. BUT Will and I decided we are going to make a weekend trip this month to see them. I hate that our holidays are even more fractured now. SIGH.
3. Had some friend time: Went to see Bad Moms 2 & had our Friendsgiving!! I miss my girls! That’s what happens when you all have babies at the same time basically….you go from seeing each other almost every week to like once a month. I think that’s been one of the hardest adjustments — I miss my social life from before.
4. I have really tried to embrace my Operation Make Winter Suck Less plan: I’ve been making an effort to bundle Riley and I up and go outside despite how cold it is. Vitamin D for all! I’m pretty sure Riley hates the cold as much as I do. I AM TRYING TO STOP BEING A HATER.
5. I finally got my hair done!!!!: I haven’t gotten my hair done since my BABY SHOWER. It just…hasn’t been a priority. But it finally was bothering me enough so Will took a day off and I spent the afternoon at the salon and got it chopped off and colored again!
Sorry not sorry about the hideous selfie. This was after one of her worst nights of sleep. JUST KEEPING IT REAL…terrible bags under my eyes and all!
I put all my Monthly Rewinds in a Spotify playlist so you can listen to them here !
1. New Years Eve — Taylor Swift (well really all of Reputation)
2. Believe With Me — Raign
3. The Riddle — Kodaline
4. Dream — Bishop Briggs
5. World Gone Mad — Bastille
6. We Are Fire — Saint Raymond
Check out the rest of my October playlist for more of what I was listening to this month!
Super sad list this month….all I read was baby books (basically all baby sleep books) and picture books
NADA
I don’t think you want to have a quote from a baby sleep right?
I posted 18 times this month!!! Nobody is more shocked than I am!
1. Planning For A Great New Year: I am SO PUMPED for the New Year and all that I am going to accomplish! I loved your comments!!
2. On Becoming A Mom & Motherhood So Far: I’m always pretty open but I was scared to post this…but I’m glad I did and I cried reading so many of your comments!
3. How To Make Winter Suck Less: My own personal battle plan! Loved all your input!
4. Gift Guides-– It’s been a couple years since I did gift guides but I felt excited to bring them back! Gift For Book Lovers That Aren’t Books, Gifts For Harry Potter Fans, Gifts For (Almost) Everyone On Your List
5. New Paranormal Books On My TBR: So in a paranormal mood!
This post inspired by a book I read
1. The Rise of Emotional Clickbait: Interesting thoughts!!
2. Why Getting Involved In Local Politics Is More Important Than You Think: THIS. I need to get involved again!
3. 5 Tricks To Avoiding Creative Burnout: Good tips!
4. How Living In Sweden Changed The Way I Think About Food & Health: Love this!
5. Easy Roasted Poblano & Chicken Soup: I’ve been hardcore saving soup recipes lately!
1. All my new sweaters: I went a little out of control with the sweater buying BUT it’s not my fault! Target and Old Navy were KILLING IT this month with the sweaters. Will suggested I take a “break” from buying sweaters…we’ll see. He’s probably right. I shared some of them in my Odds & Ends posts but this is some of the ones I got that are still in stock: this one (wearing it down below), this one, this one (pictured at the top of this post), this one (I love this but I have to be sooo careful…all the snags!!), this one (in grey), this one (literally my favorite out of all of them…so cozy! It sold out but now it’s back in stock! Posted it below) and this one(it’s on sale right now!! I have it in the cream & black striped)!
2. The Stockplace:– OMG I WANT ALL THE CLOTHES FROM THERE!!!!
3. The fact that we have our Christmas tree up: We hadn’t gotten a tree for the past 2 years but this year I insisted because #babysfirstchristmas
What holiday traditions do you have (if you celebrate any of the December holidays)?
It’s fun to think that I’m starting a new chapter of traditions for Christmas!
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 ]
Suzy Card says
Hi Jamie! I love reading your posts! I also follow you on Facebook and Instagram and I just always love what you have to say! I suffered from PPD too. I have a 1 year old and I suffer from depression anyways, so it was really hard some days. I am so glad you got help, I did too, and it does make a huge difference.
So for the Holidays, I am Jewish and my husband is Christian. He has talked about converting (he came to that choice on his own), but we still celebrate both. We mainly do Christmas traditions with our families and do Hanukkah at our house. Last year was our babies first holiday season and we had lots of fun, but this year she is more curious and cognoscente about what is going on around her, so it might be even more fun! We are looking forward to taking her out to a park in our town, that gets decorated, to look at some lights.
This past month, my daughter got to meet one of her great grandparents for the first time, so that was great. We traveled for thanksgiving and I didn’t get to see all my siblings but I am hoping to see them at Christmas.
I read The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden this past month and loved it! I also read some juvenile fiction that was good, since I am a Children’s Librarian. I try to read juvenile materials, mixed in so that I can recommend or talk about them with a child or parent.
I am so glad to know that you are feeling better now and that Riley is doing well! Keep hanging on momma, you are doing a great job!
Jamie says
Thank you Suzy!! <3 That's so nice to hear!!
And *hugs* the more I've talked about my own PPD the more I find more women who also struggled with it which I feel like I rarely heard pre-baby! I didn't know it about A LOT of my friends until after I had Riley. We mamas are pretty kickass!
I love that you celebrate both! And oh yes I bet she is going to be soooo into everything this year!! I thought Riley was going to be super interested in the Christmas tree but alas..not really lol. NEXT YEAR!!
Ah I love that your daughter got to meet her great grandparents! I'm going up to visit my family and Riley will more than likely get to meet some of hers too! She met one when she was just born but that's it!
I have been wanting to read The Bear and the Nightingale! I've heard amazing things about it!
Annemieke says
Aaah I feel you on the whole nap thing. Merijn started sleeping through the night at that time too and then poof went the naps. They’ll get better again though and I hope for you it will be sooner than Merijn did. But once he did around 6 months he became such an awesome napper! Try not to read too many sleep books. I know I obsessively looked everything up to improve his naps but nothing really worked for longer times and I drove myself crazy and further into the ppd. They tend to work it out on their own no matter how frustrating that is for us. <3 Hugs.
Jamie says
UGH awful but glad to know that it got better for you. Will and I were just talking about that we are happy she’s sleeping so awesome at night so we can’t complain but OOF I miss nap time. Hoping she will come around! Just trying to do the best I can! And I think you are right…I do find myself reading and obsessing over it when things are going back and I really do think it brings me down! I was just thinking how there have been so many “sleep problems” she’s gone through since she was born and things were just a phase and then changed. You are right! Thank you for that reminder! <333 (P.S. I have to say I really enjoy that we've gotten to know each other/talk more!!)
Annemieke says
(Me too <3 <3 )
Kim says
Hi Jamie. Reader from Canada here. I’ve been a silent lurker for a while now and I really enjoy your personal posts. I also have a not-so-newborn (3.5 months old!) named Riley. She sleeps an average of 5-hour stretches at night which doesn’t bother me right now since I’m still on mat leave and honestly my boobs would be so painful from engorgement that I’d need to get up anyway to pump for relief. Anyway, what baby sleep book did you like best? Right now I’m reading up on baby-led weaning to see if it would work for my family. Trying to sneak in a holiday romance too but I still have a ton of presents to wrap.
As for holiday traditions with the baby, I plan to bake sugar cookies with her every Christmas. She won’t be of any help to me this year as she’s still working on her dexterity (plus she’s always gnawing on her fists and also saliva everywhere) but there will be a ton of pictures of her with the cookies!
Jamie says
Thank you <333 I always love when previous lurkers say hello!! I love that we both have Rileys!!! At 3.5 months those 5 hour stretches were about what my Riley was doing! I didn't fully subscribe to everything in these books (just as a disclaimer) but I did find Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, Precious Little Sleep, & The Sleep Easy Solution!
I've also been reading about baby-led weaning! Have you found any good books? I've just been reading stuff on the internet!
I like your tradition! That's a good one...we always use to bake cookies with my stepmom as a kid and I have good memories of that! <3
Jamie says
Oh I also liked The No Cry Sleep Solution!
Kim says
Awesome! Thank you for the suggestions. I’ll see if my library has those. I’m reading Baby-led Weaning by Gill Rapley right now and it’s pretty straightforward and very interesting. I go to mom and baby yoga once a week and some of the moms there have had success with BLW with their babies and are very encouraging so I’m thinking we will try it!