Welcome to the new life.

We're back!  Welcome to the new normal, and it only took two years to get back behind the scenes.  The holidays are in full swing and my heart is full of thankfulness for everything and everyone around us.  Christmas makes me remember family both near and far and the friends we have made that are close like family.  Moving away is never thought we would find as good of people around us as we had. 
I wanted to introduce our two little balls of spunk, energy and lots of love to spread around.  Meet E and Lu.  My life would not be as much fun, as rich, or nearly as exhausting with out you girls.

j

She's a little excited Christmas is coming if you can't tell already.  Happy December 4th.

What you need Wednesday - Petunia Pickle Bottom

Better late than never... This is the "diaper bag" that I fell in love with when baby E was on her way.  I saw it first in Pottery Barn Kids and it spoke to me :)  "You don't have to run around with a bag that screams I"M A MOM!"  People pick up on that already - this bag said - "I am fabulous and you will love me," and I have everyday since.

The front of the bag hides a built in changing pad which means when you have baby in one hand and a changing table in front of you it's a no brainer.  Plus, the outside is wipe able so you can clean it up well after it's been tossed around.

She makes all different types and colors and they are currently on sale at Layla Grace - click here Petunia Pickle Bottom sale

We also have the clutch for all those times you don't want to carry the whole bag!

Happy Shopping!
 

What you need Wednesday - Taggie Blankets

Most people have seen these nowadays they seem to be all over the place.

A sweet friend of ours made a taggie blanket for baby E and she LOVES it!  It goes with us everywhere.  The cool thing about these is all of the different textures on the blanket and in the ribbons along the outsides, and they come in really cool patterns.

Here are a few that I found on etsy.com from Little Miss Monkeys.

For the little man or lady in your life these blankets sell for $11.50 plus shipping and handling.  

I have been loving buying homemade things for E.  They are unique and different, not to mention we're helping people working from home :)  I wish I have the creativity these people have.

Thanks Megs for our blanket!

Until next time - Jenna

What you need Wednesday

Over the last few months of having Baby E people have been approaching me about what I have found useful in the world of baby products and what is a waste of time and money.  I remember registering for things and thinking.... where do you even begin?  I had never had a baby and knew nothing of what the day to day would bring us.

So in light of that question I thought I'd start a "what you need" series.  I'll give tips of what I've found useful and what products Baby E loves.  We would also love to know what you have found useful!

This is one of the wet bags we have for the diaper bag c/o Lavender Strings  I use it to put all the dirty diapers in when we are out on the town, they are a cloth exterior with a waterproof plastic lining.

They are all handmade and come in all different fun colors - bonus they are machine washable and to dry turn them inside out.

I have a couple for Baby E because as some of you know with babies you are always misplacing things!  I have even used one as a makeup bag :)  This week Lavender Strings is running a coupon deal!  

Type in Jenna10 and get 10% off any purchase!  

Thanks Ali (owner of Lavender Strings) for being so creating and such a good Auntie to Baby E!

Day 5 - In search of fur seals

 Hiking to a waterfall never seems to get old.  Learning from my mom, we have come to appreciate them in our family.  She used to tell her now famous Queen of the waterfall ones stories on long car rides, so good we're still encouraging her to publish them. Two years ago my parents visited us in NZ and on a road trip around the west coast she spotted over 100 waterfalls that had appeared just after a HUGE rainstorm - I'm talking our car drove through lakes in the road over 1 foot deep, not highly recommended but fantastic for adventure.

 Here are some pics of our last day in the Catlins before heading up to Ashbuton, NZ to see more friends just south of Christchurch.

 Footprints in the sand - daddy carries E.  I love this pic because of all it stands for.  T loves his little girl just like God loves us and carries us when we need him too.  I am blessed to have a hubby that loves his little girl as much as T loves E.

 We went to Suret Bay on our way home in search of fur seals that like to hang out on this beach and sun themselves.  We did find one big guy laying out sleeping, it looked like a big brown lump about as big as a cow!  Forgive the lack of pictures  - to be honest it didn't photograph well :)  The daddy, daughter duo did however.

Day 4 - Baby E caught a cold...

Day 2 of our Catlins adventure and our little E has caught a cold.  The good news is we had the house all to ourselves this weekend, the bad news... she cried most of the night and we had to sleep on the couch.  Baby girl does not like being stuffy.  However, with every problem there is a solution - saline spray, steamy showers and the nose sucker and we were back in business.

We had a beautiful little cottage for the night, I highly recommend coming to visit this area - it was beautiful.

On the way we stopped at Curio and Porpoise Bay both well know for dolphin sightings.  In Porpoise Bay you can actually wade out into the water (if you dare - we are pretty close to Antarctica) and the Hector dolphins (smallest in the world) will come swim around you! 

Baby E traveled quite well in out snugi circa 1984 - thanks mom, we had a few layers over top and she stretched out her little neck to see all that was going on.  I would have to say this is the best way to travel with an infant if your back can handle it.  They get to look around and be a part of what is going on and it's much easier to navigate than a stroller in uneven terrain (which is everything other than pavement).

Lots of love to our traveling buddies Morgan and Hayley - we miss you guys heaps!

5 days and counting...

It is official.  Baby girl will be here in the next five days or so!  It's really hard to believe that it's already been 9 whole months and that soon our lives that have already been changed will drastically change again.

Here we are at 37 weeks, this same time last year I believe our pics looked more like this.  Running around, not even thinking this is what God had planned for our next big adventure.

Feeling a mixture of nervous and excited all at the same time.  Going from can we really do this to ...  I absolutely cannot wait for baby girl to come out so we can meet her!  As of right now she is weighing in at about 5 lbs. 12 oz., just a little peanut.  We are hoping she will grow a bit more this week before she finally joins us to say hello.  So we wait in excitement to grow our little family from just us two to a wonderful three.