Monthly Rewind: December 2017

Last recap for 2017! WHERE DID THIS YEAR GO???? I’m still deciding if I’m going to recap 2017 or not but, for now, let’s recap 2018!

That candy cane doughnut was just as good as it looks.

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 exciting Riley stuff: WHERE DO I START? I’m obsessed with my kid…she’s the coolest! She turned 5 months, she celebrated her first Christmas, she is officially a sitter (literally went from yay she can sit for a couple seconds to the next day or two she was sitting for 15 minutes by herself), she started teething (I can just seeeee the little white right there under the surface), she was a great baby for her first time being watched by someone that wasn’t Will or I, she had her first overnight trip and SHE FREAKING SLEPT THROUGH THE WHOLE ENTIRE NIGHT FROM 7-7 WITHOUT A SINGLE WAKEUP OR FEEDING.

2. We celebrated the holidays (yay Riley’s first Christmas!) — We did Christmas Eve with Will’s family, Christmas day with my sister and her fam and then this past weekend we drove north for the weekend to spend time with my stepmom and sister. Riley did AMAZING sleeping there…I worried so much for nothing (story of my life). She literally had her best night of sleep (the sleeping through the entire night that I talked about) while we were there…in a pack and play. She is way more chill than I could have hoped for.

3. Will and I had two dates this month: I finally ripped THAT bandaid off after 5 months. I’ve gone out with friends but Will and I haven’t been out on a date with someone else watching her. So we went to his Christmas party and then we did a day date and Riley was JUST FINE. Looking forward to more dates without Riley now that I’m not terrified to leave her with someone not us. It’s nice to reconnect though I found half the time we talked about her anyways….we will do better next time haha

4. We had our first snow: Exhibit A that Riley is my child. She was ZERO PERCENT impressed with the snow. WE DON’T LIKE IT THE COLD. She needs to embrace my plan to make the best out of winter. NOW FINN ON THE OTHER HAND…looking like a majestic little snow beast.

 5. We went on our first overnight trip with Riley to visit family: I was looking forward to this THE MOST this month…traveling up to visit my stepmom and my youngest sister. My sister hadn’t gotten to see Riley yet IRL and my stepmom hasn’t seen her since she came up when she was 3 weeks old to help us for a week when I was not doing well at all due to the PPD. It was a short trip but it was so nice to spend time with them, we visited a brewery we like up there and Riley did GREAT. It’s times like this that makes me wish all my family could just be closer together. I miss them.

Little Starbucks pit stop on the road

I put all my Monthly Rewinds in a Spotify playlist so you can listen to them here !

This was the first month I really didn’t listen to much music — except Christmas music and Hamilton!! SO WEIRD…all these years and I don’t have 6 songs for you!!

I was in such a weird mood all month where I barely read anything except picture books with Riley. I started some things but didn’t finish. I just didn’t FEEL like reading much…so I didn’t. Oh man though..I’m raring to go for January.

My top 3 picture books I read:

1. She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton
2. Thelma The Unicorn by Aaron Blabey
3. Little Blue Firetruck by Alice Schertle

HA…I’m going to need to revamp this now that I’m not reviewing anymore and doing more just like roundups/recommendation posts.

Not a quote from a book I read but just a quote I stumbled across on Pinterest and it kind of is the inspiration for my “one word” for 2018 which is CREATE

“The road ahead is not some predetermined path that I am forced to trod, but it is a rich byway that I can help create.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough

I posted 13 times this month!

1. 42 Books That Will Become Movies/TV Shows In 2018: This post is always super time consuming to do but I really love doing them!

2. My most anticipated adult fiction books for 2018: Seriously I need like 12 more hours in my day to get to all the books I want to read.

3. On New Traditions: I loved talking about my childhood traditions and the ones I want to adopt with Riley!

4.  My Most Anticipated YA Books For 2018–– SERIOUSLY SO MANY GOOD SOUNDING BOOKS! And I am so excited for how many faves have new books out!

5. 5 Products I Will Rebuy & 5 Products I Want To Try: Definitely adding more ~lifestyle~ type stuff (especially after you all were so nice about me talking about how the blog is definitely shifting in different ways…still books but a little less and adding more stuff)

My gift guide for the kids on your list — I was really excited about this one but out of all my gift guides it was definitely the least popular! Growing pains of shifting what you talk about on the blog, I suppose!

1. 20 Resolutions That Have Nothing To Do With Losing Weight: While fitness is a goal of mine, I really liked this list and kind of gave me inspiration for my monthly “challenges” I’m creating for myself.

2. Thai Crunch Salad With Thai Peanut Sauce: YUM

3. Crush Your Goals With This Goal Planner: Saved this so I could download one to help me on my goals this year!

4. Cinnamon French Toast Roll: I want to try and make this for Will sometime!!

5. Coolest Playgrounds Around The World: I had to save this for SOMEDAY so we can visit some of these with Riley when we travel!

1. My new Harry Potter ring: I love love love my new ring from Alex and Ani!!! I had put it on my Harry Potter gift guide and put it on my OWN personal Christmas wishlist from my MIL.

2. ALL THE TEETHING THINGS:– As I mentioned above that Riley is teething and WOAH BABY is she gnawing on everything and miserable if she’s not gnawing on something. I did so much research to find THE BEST ONES and I think I got a variety of them that she loves all day long. Seriously they are always in her mouth. I think if I picked my fave it’s the Comotomo one because she previously liked to have her fingers in her mouth and this is designed with that in mind but also I just love the Oreo ones because they are so cute. We’ve also been going through her cute Copper Pearl baby teething bandanas quickly with all that drool! Always doing laundry!

Comotomo teether // Oreo teethers // Nuby teethers //

3. My new boots: I am super obsessed with my new boots that I got for Christmas although it’s a tie between these new boots and THESE ones that I bought on Black Friday. They are really comfy!

What is one of your goals/resolutions for the new year?

Two of my big ones are 1) getting back into working out…I haven’t at all since Riley was born and 2) really work on my change of direction for my blog (get things organized, new design, etc.)

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 ]

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