Ryan was at the gym while I watched the wedding and Chase slept in until nearly 8 a.m. which was amazing! I got to ease into the morning and as I watched the wedding, I finally did some shopping for our baby-on-the-way. I ordered a crib (the same convertible crib we have and love in Chase’s room), crib mattress, mattress cover, crib sheets, a changing pad cover and a few more necessities.
Though I’m waiting to make a few of the bigger nursery decorating decisions until after we know the sex of the baby, right now the color scheme is mint/gray/white with tiny pops of mustard yellow and either navy blue or blush pink. It feels good to check some things off my list! (Also, if any of you have a glider you LOVE for your kid’s nursery, please let me know! Bonus points if it comes with a matching ottoman. I am currently eyeing this one in gray.)
Once Ryan was back from the gym, we swapped workouts and I headed off to boot camp.
I took a major break from the gym last week after feeling so sick on Monday and it felt good to return to boot camp and work up a sweat on Saturday. It was an athletic conditioning workout which meant lots of high-intensity cardio, so I modified the heck out of everything and morphed it into a total body workout. My workout included three 60-second rounds of the following exercises:
- 10 med ball toe taps + 1 med ball slam
- Dumbbell squat to bicep curl to overhead press
- Mini band standing side leg lifts (10 on each side then switch until time is up)
- Deadlifts
- High knee march
- Triceps extensions
I made it home around 9 a.m., took a quick shower and then joined my boys for a morning out and about. The weather was supposed to be rainy all day so we wanted to take advantage of the morning sun and headed off to Hope Park in Mooresville which is one of Chase’s favorites thanks to the race car theme.
We all had a lot of fun at the mostly-deserted park and the highlight was searching for 32 hidden race cars.
Chase is all about seek-and-find game these days so this was right up his alley!
Hope Park is set up with a big kid section and a toddler section and the section for older children proved a little too irresistible for Ryan since it is basically a giant “lava” course and you can get from one end of the park to the other without touching the ground.
Please tell me all of you played lava as kids!? We used to use couch cushions, blankets, etc. to set up lava courses all over our house as children. It was always a blast!
In addition to the park, our Mooresville adventure took us on a few errands as well. I placed an online order for a teal craft cart I needed to pick up at Michael’s and we also spent some time browsing for toddler big boy room furniture at HomeGoods. We’re planning to move a few of Chase’s nursery furniture items into the new baby’s room (namely the changing table and a few nursery prints) so we’re on the lookout for a dresser and possibly a side table and a new chair. We didn’t have any luck with furniture but had a fun morning out and about and arrived home ready for lunch.
After smoothies and sandwiches, we settled Chase down for his nap and while Ryan took Sadie on a walk, I assembled my new craft cart.
I’m hoping to use it in our baby’s nursery to either hold baby books and toys or an assortment of diaper-related goods, burp cloths and swaddle blankets. Thank you, Pinterest, for this idea!
The rest of Chase’s naptime was spent doing random household chores until he was up again and we headed off to the early evening service at our church. Chase absolutely LOVES our church’s childcare and sprinted into his 2-year-old room while Ryan and I attended the service. It was a good one and we arrived home feeling uplifted and ready for dinner! While I made dinner and Ryan and Chase raced their cars around our house, I FaceTimed with my friends for the second time on Saturday to stay in the loop with Carrie’s wedding (I had serious FOMO all weekend long) and it was amazing to see Carrie 15 minutes before she was about to walk down the aisle. Such a gorgeous bride!
Ryan, Chase and I decided to curl up on the couch and watch the first half of a movie as a Saturday night treat and since Chase is super into dragons lately, we settled on How To Train Your Dragon which Ryan and I both happen to think is a really cute one, too. Chase was really into it and I loved the extra family cuddle time!
Sunday
Ryan and I have a goal of doing a few extra fun things with Chase before our little one arrives in a month or so and one of the top activities on our list was taking him back to the North Carolina Zoo! We visited the zoo on Mother’s Day last year and he loved it so we had high hopes that the zoo would be an even bigger hit for Chase now that he’s a year older. The North Carolina Zoo is located a little over an hour and a half away from our house but the drive was an easy one and we arrived around 10 a.m.
The forecast called for cloudy weather and a high probability of afternoon rain but we completely lucked out with mostly sunny skies and very few crowds during our visit.
Ryan and I both agreed it was one of the best zoo experiences we’ve ever had and Chase was ALL about it!
He was so into the animals and as we walked out to the parking lot hours later he said, “We go see the animals again!?” Apparently he was ready for round two immediately!
We made our way home slooowly with stops for food, bathroom breaks (potty training joys!) and gas and while we fully expected Chase to nap in his car seat on the way home, he surprised us by chatting away the whole time. Once we arrived home, Chase immediately hopped on his PlasmaCar for a bazillion laps around our kitchen and played with toys and Ryan and I commented for the 10,000th time in our parenting journey how much we wish we had even a fraction of his energy. We eventually got him to settle down and hang out with us on the couch as we wrapped up the second half of How To Train Your Dragon and rounded out the night with a bath for Chase, showers for us and reading in bed.
I’m pretty sure I was fast asleep by 9 p.m. last night and even though I still woke up a million times to use the bathroom, it felt good to get a jump start on some solid sleep going into the week since that’s a bit tricky around here these days.
I hope you all had a great weekend and enjoy the week ahead!
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Hi Julie! What is that adorable head band you’re wearing at the zoo?? Love it! Can you link please??
Thank you! I bought it at a booth at the Davidson Farmer’s Market a year or so ago but I’ll try to figure it out and report back. It actually has a little wire in it to help keep it up which is key for me since whenever I try to tie a scarf around my head it always slips!
What a fun weekend! I love zoo dates
I loved watching the royal wedding! They looked so gorgeous! I LOVE that Kate wore an outfit for the 3rd time to the wedding (I read that online!) I’ve definitely worn a favorite outfit to two different weddings before. Love her!
I love the mint cart you bought! My second son’s nursery is a teal/mint theme and I love it so, so much!!! Those colors are everywhere lately and so beautiful – perfect for a boy or a girl! You are getting SO close!
Oh yes, I remember playing lava as a kid! That park looks amazing!
I read “The Family Next Door” this past weekend and loved it!!! 🙂
Wasn’t that book a good one!? It roped me in immediately!
yes!! so, so, so good! Thanks for recommending it! 🙂
I love the NC zoo! We haven’t taken our little one there yet, but my husband and I really enjoyed the large natural exhibits.
I would highly recommend getting a rocking recliner instead of a glider. Someone gave us this suggestion and it was a great one. The amount of time you spend in the chair (sometimes even sleeping there) its was so nice to be in such a comfortable chair. And it includes a foot rest 🙂 It also makes sense that after you don’t need it in your child’s room it can easily be placed somewhere else in the house without it looking like a “nursery” chair. We bought a smaller comfortable la-z-boy that looked great in the nursery (not like a big recliner you usually picture). This is similar to the one we have https://www.la-z-boy.com/p/recliners/casey-reclina-rocker-recliner/_/R-010767. Test them to see which is most comfortable and has an arm height good for nursing.
thank you for sharing!! i liked my glider with chase (the rocking ottoman with it was key) but a chair that actually reclines sounds heavenly!
We have this one and love
https://www.wayfair.com/baby-kids/pdp/dutailier-modern-frame-glider-dtl1776.html
Can we talk about Ryan’s hair?! I almost didn’t recognize him!
It’s getting so, so long! He’s not cutting it until our baby comes 🙂
Literally scrolled down to leave the same comment! What are those curls/waves?! They look great but man, he looks like a different person. Hahaha,
I love your craft cart idea! So smart!
If you’re looking for a dresser, we love this one from Ikea: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00318598/ It’s such a great dresser – lots of room for storage and the perfect height to put a changing pad on top. Lots of our friends have it and it seems to be a popular choice judging from pinterest too.
And PS – definitely loved playing lava as a kid!
We have that exact dresser in black in our bedroom!! It’s a great one!
Love that picture of you and Chase with the ice cream. I can’t wait to take our little one to the zoo – probably not for another year or two!
Oh my gosh! Ryan’s hair is awesome! Haha! Glad you had a nice weekend!
We are going with the Delta Reston glider from buy buy baby! We both sat in it and love it! Waaaay more comfortable than the wood-based glider we had the first time! It comes with an ottoman..but separate. So I guess it doesn’t come WITH it haha, but it’s available!
Just Googled it and I love the look of that one! Was the back high enough to rest your neck on?
So I’m 5′ 4″ and it felt very comfortable to me! My husband is 5′ 11″ and he felt comfortable as well, but it was definitely higher in the back for me than for him! He didn’t mention it bothering him though when he sat in it!
I’m so glad you had a fun weekend!
I highly recommend the dutailier glider with ottoman. It is so comfortable for nursing! I could stay in it for hours at a time. It even reclines for those middle of the night feedings. I originally bought a pottery barn rocker, but this one is so much more comfortable.
Sounds like you all had a fun weekend. The zoo sounds like it was the highlight for Chase.
I ordered this glider in white that comes with an ottoman (a must for me!) for our nursery last week and it’s getting delivered today! I haven’t sat in it yet obviously, but with 4.7/5 with 58 reviews I’m feeling confident! A few of the reviews mention the higher back being nice especially with the sides that you can rest your head on. We also spend an extra $37 for the protection plan that honestly looks too good to be true, but at that low price point we decided it was worth it for the free 30 day return policy alone!
https://www.jossandmain.com/furniture/pdp/toco-swivel-glider-and-ottoman-mir1538.html?piid=21386709
Here’s where I found it if you want to see what it looks like in a nursery. http://whitneyport.com/2017/09/25/sonnys-nursery-with-joss-and-main/
My siblings and I definitely played lava as kids! I still have a scar on my lip from falling on the fireplace during a particularly rousing round to prove it, haha 😛
OH MY GOODNESS JULIE!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been reading your blogs for years and years and years! Way before babies, etc… These pictures of you and Ryan with Chase are literally the best EVER!!!!!!!!! Framers for sure! The one of you two with the icecream cone is PERFECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Based on your love of icecream and obviously Chase’s as well it just was so gorgeous and perfect. I could not be happier for all of you on the arrival of your precious sweet baby soon!
Thank you Donna!! <3 I really apprecaite you reading for so long! And I love those pics with Chase as well -- he was in such a fun and excitable mood all day so they're great memories for me to keep forever, that's for sure!! Thanks for following along and being so kind to us!
I recorded the royal wedding and was able to watch it back later in the day! So fun, I loved everything about it!
I just took my two toddlers to the zoo a couple of weeks ago and they had so much fun. I think we are going to make that a regular summer activity!
We just purchased this glider and ottoman from a Wayfair and I’m really happy with it. Super comfortable for nursing and lounging.
https://www.wayfair.com/baby-kids/pdp/karla-dubois-soho-comfort-upholstered-swivel-glider-krla1010.html
https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/karla-dubois-soho-ottoman-krla1011.html
WOW! that last picture of Ryan is SOOO CHASE!!! Ive never really seen them look so similar until now!
Chiming in on the glider… I bought a glider/ottoman combo with my first baby last January and regretted it about 3 months in. Even with a decent sleeper, the nights where she was sick and just wanted to be held for hours were miserable in that thing. I would have so much preferred a seat that rocked and reclined. I cant even begin to describe some of the positions that I slept in on that thing 🙂
As we plan for #2 I will definitely be swapping it out for a recliner. One problem with ordering online though is a lot of items sold for baby rooms have a short back. With me being 5’10” and my husband being 6′, the height of the back of the chair is pretty important to us as i want to be able to lay back in it.