Home Sweet Home {Tour}

Last fall we put our house up for sale...for like 5 minutes. We had found another home in our neighborhood with a little more space and our realtor advised us to sell while the market was hot. Well, a few days later (and a ton of scheduled showings on the calendar) we learned we would be welcoming a new baby into our family so we quickly pulled the sign out of our yard and cancelled our open house. I know a lot of people do it, but I don't think we could handle the adjustment, stress and expense of a new baby and new home all in 9 months. Not to mention keeping a home perfectly tidy with a crazy, messy toddler was not a task I was up for while also being pregnant. So we decided to stay put for awhile which is quite alright because we really, really, really love our cozy little home! We did get some really great pictures of our home out of the deal though! And since I've never seen our house this clean and de-cluttered of baby things, I thought I'd take advantage and take y'all on an overdue home tour! Welcome to our humble abode...

 {our home in spring}

 {our home in fall}

The family room aka the "play room." In real life there are toys everywhere, burp cloths every 3 feet, a play kitchen, a gigantic swing and baskets of toys. This room is pretty tiny but we spend most of our time here playing, watching TV, eating dinner, entertaining, etc. Matt is also obsessed with changing the furniture around every other week for some reason so this is not the current layout anymore.

Next up - the kitchen. This is the other area of the house I spend most of my time. One of my favorite features of our home is how open the floor plan is. I love being able to cook while also participating in whatever is going on in our family room.

Right off the kitchen is our dining room which is really only used as a catch-all for the car seat, the stroller, mail, high chair, piles and piles of unfolded laundry, etc. Matt built our dining room table {post here} and I wish we could say we use this room to sit down and eat as a family but we definitely do not. In fact, we constantly joke about pitching the table and turning this room into a "play room."

Now, for my favorite room - Thomas & Caroline's nursery! This cozy room is really special to me and I am so happy with every detail we put into preparing this space for Caroline (and later Thomas too). You can read all about Caroline's original nursery {here}. And even though this room is already pretty tight {it's 10 ft x 10 ft} we successfully squeezed in a second crib on the back wall for Thomas to avoid having to purchase another dresser, rug, chair, etc. and also keep our guest room.

And now with two cribs...

Right outside the nursery is the guest/kid bathroom. If you pull that curtain back you'll find a slew of bath toys hiding.

The guest room is probably one of our more "complete" rooms. There are a few things I'd love to still do in this room but they are ridiculously low on the priority list.

Oh, the master bedroom. This room desperately needs some TLC but again, not a priority. I thought by now we would have replaced our furniture {or at least our lamps} so it all matches but nope. Maybe someday.

{the master bath}

The laundry room is another space we eventually plan to re-do so it's more functional {unstack the washer/dryer and run a counter top over them} for a super short person to do laundry. This is also Charlie's room and contains his baskets of toys, bowls, etc.

Last but not least, the backyard! We love this area and have hosted countless parties back here.

Our deck looks presentable maybe 10% of the year. Here is one of our summertime set ups.

This home has been so special to us and we love it dearly. It's so cozy and it's the place where we became a family of 3 and a family of 4 (well, okay 5, Charlie counts)! You can read about our adventure in finding our home here.

Thomas Dean {1 Month}

Happy 1 month, baby Thomas! It has been wild and fun since you've arrived. We are still settling in to our new normal but we'll eventually get there! As much as we want you to stay little forever, we also can't wait to watch you grow and see the little person that you become. You are awesome and we love you so!

One Month Highlights:

Thomas,

• You are 8 pounds, 6 ounces (12%), 21" long (23%) and are still wearing newborn clothes. 
• People are now starting to comment that you look like Caroline. Phew - glad you look like one of us! 
• You are so laid back. In fact, you are much more go-with-the-flow than your sister was. You are perfectly content running errands any time of day, lounging in the boppy or swing, riding in the car (hallelujah!!!!!) and happily eat or nap anywhere!
• You are a sweet, sleepy babe by day and a high maintenance terror at night. Most of your naps are on the couch with me, in your swing or in your car seat. However, you prefer to dangerously bury your face into blankets or in between me and the couch. Bedtime is 9 pm and you're up and hungry around midnight. Between 3-4 am you want to party and wake up your sister across the house. Then after you've been fed and swaddled you fight going back to sleep and instead are up making fussy noises and can't seem to get comfortable despite our countless attempts to flip you from back to tummy or move you around the room from the rock n' play to the pack n' play and eventually to our bed out of desperation, inserting your paci back in your mouth every 2 minutes until the sun comes up. Fun times.
• Any unexpected loud noise (clinking of dishes, a sneeze, Charlie barking, etc.) sends your little arms flailing above your head in sheer terror. 
• You're rolling to your side now but I'm still not sure it's on purpose. We'll celebrate the little milestone anyway.
• Your baby acne is in full force right now but we still think your handsome. Oh, and you have more hair than your sister.
• Your head control is shockingly strong since tummy time usually lasts about 90 seconds before you lazily pass out on the activity mat for a long snooze. At least you don't scream your face off like your sister did.
• We're attempting Moms on Call so you're taking a 3-4 oz bottle of formula every 3 hours right now and mostly sleep in between. However, at your check-up the doctor said to still feed you on demand so we're keeping the schedule flexible.
• My goal for breastfeeding/pumping was to make it to your one month birthday. We did it! But it was terrible so I'm slowly tossing in the towel with no regrets. On the very best day I can pump one 4 ounce bottle so I've decided it's not worth the frustration. 
• Your sister loves to bring you pacifiers when you're upset and bottles when you're hungry. It's seriously the cutest thing ever. She loves being your big sister and I think you love being her little brother despite her poking your eyeballs, shoving her fingers in your mouth and aggressively patting your head and belly.
• Every few days Daddy gives you a bath in the bathroom sink but you're getting a little too long for that so we're transitioning to the infant tub. 

  One month favorites: Onesies / Infant Gowns / JJ Cole Agility Carrier / Baby Bjourn / Snuza Baby Movement Monitor / Mustela PhysiObebe No Rinse Cleanser / Sleep Sheep Sound Machine Soother & On The Go Sleep Sheep / Microwave Steamer Sterilizer / MAM Pacifiers / Bella Tunno Pacifier Clips / Sheet Savers / Boon Grass Countertop Drying Rack & twig accessory / Aden & Anais Swaddle Blankets / Summer Infant SwaddleMe Swaddles

  Other Thomas posts & pictures: Welcome / Birth Story /  Life with Two / Updates Lately / Newborn Announcement   And for fun: Caroline at 1 month!

Thomas' Newborn Session

A few days after we came home from the hospital our friend Allison came over to take pictures of our sweet little squishy peanut and family.

 

A few..okay, a LOT of my very favorites...

In my opinion, you can't have a newborn session without a few nakey photos. I want to remember every little roll and dimple in this little man.

I love these candid shots Allison took of Matt swaddling Thomas. I didn't even know she captured these moments when they were happening but I am so obsessed. Matt is the swaddling king. With Caroline he would watch countless YouTube videos at night learning different swaddling wraps and techniques. It became his mission to create the ultimate unbreakable swaddle...and he accomplished that mission with the double swaddle burrito supreme technique!

Mommy's turn!

And then we attempted to include our crabby toddler into our photo session but she was not having it. Caroline didn't want to smile, didn't want to sit with us, and definitely wasn't interested in her baby brother that morning. But Allison worked her magic and was able to still get a few pictures of all of us despite Caroline being incredibly uncooperative. 

 Aaaaaand we're done...

A huge thank you to Allison for taking these photos of my family that we will cherish forever. Other family sessions with Allison include our 2013 Christmas shoot, maternity shoot and 2014 Christmas shoot.