FRIDAY Q&A: HOW WE SPLIT HOLIDAYS BETWEEN OUR FAMILIES, LOSING THE BABY WEIGHT, GETTING READY TO RENOVATE OUR KITCHEN, AND MORE

Happy Friday! We have Teddy’s eight-week check-up today and then we’re getting ready for Will’s parents to arrive before Thanksgiving at our new house! Most of the rooms are nowhere near furnished but I’m excited to set a pretty table and enjoy a few days with Will working from home. The week of Thanksgiving is always a crazy one as I try to do all our Christmas shopping between Black Friday and Cyber Monday as well as share my favorite deals on the blog, so fingers crossed I can get a head start this weekend! I hope you all have a great one!

design darling friday q&a

1. I’ve loved watching Teddy’s tummy time on IG stories! How old was he when you started?

Our pediatrician gave us the green light for tummy time at our one-week check-up and we’ve been doing it daily ever since! We started with just a couple minutes at a time after each daytime feed and worked our way up to longer stretches. Most days he loves it (we use the plastic mirror from this play mat and he loves staring at himself and sticking his tongue out!) but if he’s getting fussy we don’t force it and move on to something else. He also loves doing tummy time on one of us!

2. How did you lose the baby weight?

I’m still working on it! I gained 33 pounds during pregnancy and still have 7 or 8 to go. I think breastfeeding is helping a fair amount but getting out and walking around our new neighborhood has been a saving grace both for getting some activity before I was cleared to exercise again and just getting outside the house. Now that I’ve had my six-week check-up, I’m back to working out with my personal trainer once a week and have been layering in postnatal workouts on Obé Fitness a few times a week (either while Teddy naps or with him next to me in his bouncer). Some days it’s easier said than done, but I’m determined to give myself grace in this department — I know my body will never look the same as it did before giving birth and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

3. How are your nights going? Is Teddy sleeping longer stretches?

I wish I had a better update here but we are pretty much on the same schedule attempt I outlined here. I felt like we were doing pretty well for a couple weeks but never totally got the hang of the Moms on Call 4-8 week schedule. ? It’s really my fault because I struggle putting him down early at night — Will usually gets home from work right before Teddy takes a bath and I always want them to have a little quality time together! I know we need to adhere to the recommended schedule more closely if we really want it to work for us. I guess I’d say I definitely don’t want to be on our current schedule a year from now, but we’re surviving with two nighttime feeds for the time being!

4. What holiday traditions are you most excited to share with Teddy?

I am SO excited for our first Christmas with him. It will be his first time meeting several of my cousins and all our usual traditions — picking out a tree, lighting candles in the windows, each family member reading one page of ’Twas The Night Before Christmas — are going to be even more special with him here!

5. How do you guys split the holidays between your families?

We alternate years spending Thanksgiving with Will’s parents in Dallas and my dad’s side of the family in Rhode Island, though this year his parents are coming to our house for Thanksgiving since Teddy is so little. And this will be our fifth Christmas with his parents joining my mom’s side of the family for Christmas! We got engaged on Christmas Eve in 2015 and it was really nice to have both our families there so we’ve continued that ever since. I’m really grateful that his parents are willing to travel and join our 20+ person chaos! 

6. Have you picked out a Thanksgiving outfit for Teddy?

We are having a pretty lowkey Thanksgiving this year so he will probably wear something like this or this! But I’m already having way too much fun planning his outfits for Christmas. These, these, and these are all en route! 

7. When will you share kitchen details? We are renovating our kitchen and I love your style.

We just met with our architect and builder this week! We’re getting closer to finalizing our plans for the space and it’s making me so excited. We’re hoping to start construction in January or February but right now we’re still focused on saving up and crossing our fingers we can make it happen! I’ll definitely be sharing tons of inspiration photos and progress updates after the holidays.

8. How did you deal with jet lag going to Australia? Going in January!

Ahh I’m so jealous! We loooved Australia and would go back every year if the flights weren’t so brutal. I was 10-11 weeks pregnant and newly diagnosed with hyperemesis when we visited so I really listened to my body and we went to sleep right after sunset pretty much every night. It was actually pretty nice to hit the ground running early in the morning and call it a night right after dinner! The jet lag was worse for me once we got home but maybe it was just the excitement of being in a new place!

9. Do you / did you go to your high school reunions? Mine is over Thanksgiving and I’m TBD!

I went to my five year reunion and we were in Dallas the year of my ten year reunion, but I will probably go in the future! We now live in my hometown so I run into people from high school with some regularity, but it’s still fun to reconnect with high school friends and see what everyone’s up to. If only to remember how much better life is post-teenage years! 🙂

10. Bridesmaid gift ideas? Thinking Lake pajamas or a Mejuri jewelry case but open to any ideas!

I love the idea of Lake pajamas! I also have one of their robes and it is a dream. I gave my bridesmaids these monogrammed pajama sets and I love that we could all wear them together getting ready but that they could all get real use out of them after our wedding!