Good morning, my friends! How are you doing today? I survived what I can only assume was Chase’s first big growth spurt yesterday. He was cluster feeding like a maniac and I felt like quite mama milk machine. Ryan said my one-handed skills are quickly improving as I get more and more comfortable juggling a baby and tackling random tasks simultaneously, but for the most part all I really want to do right now is cuddle Chase, kiss his soft face and give him all my love. And that’s basically all that’s been going on in the Fagan household these days!
I am typing up today’s Things I’m Loving Friday post with a sleepy baby on my lap. (One handed typing is an art I have yet to master, but I’m trying!) Below you will find a short list of things that are making me smile this week. (I did my best not to make every single bullet point baby-related!) As always, please feel free to chime in and share something that is making you smile as well.
Things I’m Loving Friday
- Ross and Leslie’s Arrival
My sister and brother-in-law (and their chocolate lab!) left Jacksonville around 6 a.m. this morning and are currently en route to our house in Charlotte! They will be spending the weekend with us as they get to know their new nephew. I am so, so excited for Leslie and Ross to meet Chase and know he will love them dearly! Woo!
- Honey Sriracha Chex Mix
Breastfeeding hunger is REAL and I cannot stop snacking these days. My mom took the time to throw together this easy-to-make Chex mix on Tuesday and I was psyched… and then addicted! It is so, so good and I love the unique spicy/sweet flavor. We had no trouble polishing off an entire batch in less than 24 hours.
- Grey’s Anatomy
When I was in college, a bunch of my sorority sisters would gather together in the living room of the Kappa Delta house to watch Grey’s Anatomy every week. I was never into it because I am horrible with medical stuff and came in one evening when the show zoomed in on a surgery of some sort that totally flipped my stomach. Well, now that I am glued to the couch for hours on end as I nurse Chase, I was looking for a new source of entertainment and stumbled upon Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix and decided to give it another shot. Now that I’ve made it through labor, I think I can make it through fake medical emergencies on a random drama TV show, right!? I’m a few episodes into the first season and enjoying it a lot so far. Great mindless breastfeeding entertainment!
- $3 Target Cup
Though my Bubba Keg is still my BFF since it holds a ton of water, I couldn’t resist this adorable $3 cup when I saw it on sale at Target a few weeks ago and have been pouring some of my favorite sparkling water in it and sipping from it every day. I’m a sucker for the gold and mint green colors. The $1 and $3 spot at Target gets me every time! (Side note: My friends at La Croix sent me some of their new flavors to try and the pink grapefruit cantaloupe La Croix is fantastic. So refreshing!)
- Food from Friends
Ryan and I feel so fortunate to have such wonderful friends in our lives and we have yet to make one dinner ourselves since Chase arrived thanks to meals our friends have brought to the house or had delivered from afar (and thanks to my amazing mom)! We’ve had pizza, barbeque, Chinese… The works! I am so grateful for everyone’s thoughtfulness and generosity. (Special thank you shout out to my blogging buddy Monica and real life BFF-turned blogger Laurel since I can link to them! Everyone else needs to start a blog ASAP so I can stalk their lives online, too.)
After a few nights of nursing Chase under way-too-bright lights, I placed an order on Amazon Prime for a Himalayan salt lamp, thanks to Gina’s recommendation. I am in love with it! The soft glow is perfect for middle-of-the-night feedings and it has a calming effect I adore. (You can actually control the level of light the lamp emits which is fabulous.) I cannot recommend this one enough to any of my expectant mom friends out there. I didn’t really think too much about what lights we’d turn on during late night feedings before Chase arrived and only wish I would’ve had this lamp ready and waiting for us when we arrived home from the hospital.
Question of the Day
- What is one thing you are loving this week?
And, just for fun…
- For my fellow mamas out there: Did you binge-watch any shows while feeding your baby? Any recommendations?
I know Colleen is all about Bloodline… That one is on my radar! Right now Grey’s Anatomy is entertaining me, but Friends will always be my go-to show when I am looking for something to make me laugh.
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I loved watching shows while nursing; however, there came a time when I was SO tired it hurt to keep my eyes open. I then started downloading audiobooks from the library so I could listen to a story while I nursed. Then I started reading on my kindle too. I seemed to be able to go back to sleep easier after reading, then having the tv on. Good luck and congratulations!
This post makes me miss those first few weeks so much! Awesome job with the first cluster feed! Once you’re past the 3 week growth spurt you’re golden! I think I may have to invest in one of those salt lamps; it would have been so helpful instead of trying to use my cell phone to find things. I watched Parks & Rec during my maternity leave; it’s hilarious and seriously laughed out loud.
Gilmore girls and gossip girl got me through maternity leave!
We binge watched Modern Family when our son was born! It was the perfect thing because we laughed out loud through every episode.
Bloodline is amazing. Have you seen Friday Night Lights? I am in LOVE with that series. Just finished it but so sad there isn’t more.
Oh, goodness. I have watched an embarrassing number of TV shows since my baby was born 5 months ago! My favorites have been Bloodline, The Fall, Top of the Lake, Foyle’s War, and Orange is the New Black. I would also highly recommend Friday Night Lights if you haven’t watched it before (that was the show I watched during my late pregnancy laziness days, haha).
Friends for life. How you doin’ (Joey is my spirit animal)
Other shows that I binge without the excuse of pregnancy: The Office, Parks and Rec, UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT (watch!!!), The Mindy Project, New Girl (the earlier seasons, it’s slipped since then), and 30 Rock. Basically, I watch a lot of TV.
#thisiswhatsummerisfor #andalltheotherseasons #noshameinmygame
ha ha, you are me. All my fave shows and sentiments. Also check out Grace and Frankie.
Check out White Collar on Netflix if you’ve never seen it. I would call it a light-hearted crime drama. It’s about a professional con artist who strikes a deal with the FBI agent who locked him up: they’ll let him out of prison on the condition that he becomes a consultant to the FBI white collar crime division. Each episode is a new case to solve, and each season has an overarching mystery to crack. So addicting!!
AND, if you were a Saved By the Bell fan, you’ll be interested to know “Kelly Kapowski” plays the FBI agent’s wife. 🙂
I have a salt lamp!
And I love you. Sending happy baby thoughts.
I don’t have the pregnant/nursing mother excuse, but my shameless binge-watch shows are definitely Friends, Dawson’s Creek and Gossip Girl. Can’t wait to try the new LaCroix flavors! I always have a stash in my desk.
I binge watched Gilmore Girls while on maternity leave and day-long breastfeeding sessions. I definitely recommend it! I have all of the seasons on DVD. It was before Netflix, so I was a bit lost when it was over. Then I had to rely on my old standby of Friends to get me through the last few weeks before returning to work.
Happy Friday, Julie! Love that you’re surrounded by loving friends and family. The best!
Another fabulous binge watch show: Revenge. It’s unique and holds your interest really well. I’ve also been re-watching Parks and Rec all the way through (once you get to know the characters, it’s literally laugh-out-loud HYSTERICAL. How Chris Pratt has escaped Emmy nominations is beyond me….) So if you’re looking for a comedy, that’s a good one. ((Note that it might take a few episodes to get into it, but then you’ll be hooked. There’s a reason critics loved it and demanded it stay on air, and the reason why Amy Poehler keeps getting nominated for Emmys, and why there are so many memes including the characters. It gets better and better with age, too, i.e. each season better than the last.)
My little one was born with a cleft palate so she had a g-tube in her belly for feedings. I still pumped for the first seven months so that she could have that milk through her feeding tube. I would wake up in the middle of the night to pump and always watched Intervention. Not exactly the most uplifting television, but I was obsessed!
God bless you and your little one! I love Intervention too! lol
one of my friends is obsessed with that lamp, too! apparently you’re supposed to lick them when you first get them?! or maybe he has a candle?! haha but they look so cool. so happy you’re loving mommy-hood!
Suits is a great show to binge watch. I think it’s on Netflix and the first few seasons are free with Amazon prime
He is a doll – i totally watched all 5 seasons (that were out at the time) of The Good Wife and loved it! Babies are just good for the soul – hard, but good for the soul 🙂
Glad to hear your first week home with Chase was a success. I would love to hear what a “typical” day is now for you and Ryan, as my husband and I start to prepare for the arrival of our son. The salt lamp is genius.
I recently started watching Parenthood on Netflix. It seems very fitting for a new mom. 🙂 Dawson’s Creek and Bloodline are also on my list.
If you want something that is funny that will make you laugh is The Big Bang Theory – best show on TV! Even though you cannot go wrong with Friends! I have also recently started watching Christly Knows Best on demand on USA – the family is crazy but it makes for some great entertainment thats for sure.
Chrisley Knows Best <– I didn't see that it had been auto corrected.
We are loving the honey sriracha combo in our house. One of my favorite chicken wing recipes in honey sriracha, but it is really good on pizza crust!
Two shows I did start watching were Girls and Homeland. I would also usually watch episodes that had been recorded the night before or record movies and watch those during late nights feeding and getting my son back to sleep.
I used to love Grey’s so much. The first four seasons are amazing! And then it gets real, real bad. I hung on until around season 7 or so and then had to stop. Enjoy the beginning! I’ll still go back and watch the first four seasons from time to time.
Chase is so cute! Congrats again!
I bought my best friend a six-month Netflix subscription just for her late night nursing sessions. Had the idea thanks to all the new-mom bloggers who said they’ve binged on shows while their babies were newborns. She was like “HOW DID YOU KNOW?!”
How is breastfeeding going? Did your milk come in right away? I had a c-section and mine didn’t come in for a few days. My son had almost lost 10% of his body weight before we had left the hospital. now hes 15 months and almost 25 lbs..tank!. The hunger is real, I snacked all day long. Breastfeeding takes a lot out of you and there are always ups and downs but you are doing the best thing possible for the start of Chase’s life!!! Congrats and keep at it!!
I binge watched Parenthood during the early months of my daughter’s life. It seemed fitting after becoming a new mom. It’s SUCH a great show! But just a warning, between being a new mom and the crazy hormones I had going on, I cried during the show all.the.time. Scandal is also a great show. I moved on to that after Parenthood. Chase is adorable! Hope you’re getting some sleep.
That salt lamp looks like a brilliant idea! I binge watched Justified and Veronica Mars right after my daughter was born – loved Justified since I’m from KY, and Kristen Bell was great as Veronica Mars!
I am so impressed (and happy) that you have been back on the blog so quickly! It seems like motherhood really suits you and that you are already a natural! I will be curious to see how breastfeeding goes for me. I am not assuming it will be easy at all, but who knows, maybe I will be surprised. Does the breastfeeding hunger happen during or right after? In an ideal world I would have homemade muffins, snack bars, meals etc in the freezer ready to go once the babe comes, but seeing as I only have 5 weeks and still soooo much of the nursery to do, I don’t think that’s going to happen! Yikes.
I (slightly embarrasingly) watched a “ridiculous” amount of Ridiculousness on MTV. In the first few months I had my little one, they had a marathon on of it in the middle of the night, pretty much every night. And I don’t have Netflix or anything, and it was all that was on other than infomercials (I’m really trying to justify here, but hey, it does make me laugh 🙂 I did eventually get bored of it and busted out my Gilmore Girls DVDs!
Chase is just the sweetest. Soak up the time, it goes by in a blink! My baby is already 8 months!
Shows= The Americans, Downton Abbey, House of cards, Nashville, and Covert Affairs (current addiction since we’ve watched the rest).
That Chex Mix looks super yummy!! I’ll definitely have to give it a try! I’m not a mama yet, but my boyfriend and I love binge watching shows and Lost (an oldie, but goodie!) and the Blacklist are two of our favorites! Enjoy your first weekend with your new baby 🙂
My baby boy will be a month old tomorrow and we’ve been hooked on Friday Night Lights. Tami Taylor is basically my hero now.
I have a one month old right now and am re-watching Friday Night Lights- so good!!
One Tree Hill! Now I am on to Gossip Girl! SO good!!
Well, I don’t technically have a baby, but I’ve been loving Astronaut Wives’ Club!
Have a fun weekend with your sister and brother-in-law! Chase is so adorable and tiny, and already seems so alert in your pictures!
My show of choice when I was breastfeeding was Frasier. It’s a comfort show for me and it’s hilarious and I didn’t have to think to hard! All good combos when your glued to a seat holding a baby. My sweet husband also ordered Big Bang Theory for me and so I watched several seasons of that too. Mindless entertainment is a must with a newborn!
Pretty Little Liars is hands down the BEST show to watch while feeding/staying up late with a newborn! Such good entertainment and there’s a bunch of seasons on Netflix. It was my go-to show! Now I watch the current season religiously each week.
My go-to show will always be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, haha. But Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix is super funny. I was an avid GA fan all through college and then somewhere in the middle I realized it gave me way too much anxiety and I stopped watching. Occasionally I consider watching again, but I haven’t taken the plunge yet.
Chase is sooo adorable!
Thanks for recommending that lamp. Since my baby is due next month (omg!), I am always looking for extra little things I can get before baby gets here that I hadn’t thought of. I hope you continue to write more about your experiences in motherhood and suggestions on what is helping you most!
I don’t think I binge-watched much, but I found lots of new blogs to follow! I did rewatch some of my favorite shows, so that if I had to get up or go somewhere while feeding I wouldn’t have to “worry” about missing something. How I Met Your Mother, Friends, Parks & Rec, etc. 🙂
Felicity….oldie but goodie! Definitely helped those late night feedings to pass a little quicker! 🙂 Enjoy that little munchkin!!! So cliche but it’s true what everyone says. Kiddos grow up way too quickly!
I loved Felicity!!
Currently typing this as I nurse my 9 week old son! I loved Call the Midwife on Netflix, I’m so sad it’s over!
Congratulations on your beautiful boy! Motherhood is the hardest but most amazing thing you’ll ever do.
OMG, there is something about being post-partum that just makes Greys so watchable. With my 1st baby I feel like I didn’t leave the couch for 3 months and I went on a total GA bender. My husband and I had this joke that I was basically a doctor bc I watched so much. Your baby is adorable, congratulations and enjoy!!!!
I had a baby this past winter, and between the newborn days and being completely snowed in for about 6 weeks up here in New England I binged on tv more than I’d like to admit. I joked to my husband that our daughter will become a chef because I watched (many, many) seasons of Chopped while breastfeeding! It was a mindless, short and yummy pick!
My nursing shows with my 3 month old have been Grey’s Anatomy (I saved the last season and a half or so to binge watch while nursing), Gilmore Girls (I tell my husband I’m watching it so that I can take notes so that my baby girl and I can be besties), the unbreakable kimmy schmidt, and chopped – my hubby and I are re-watching friday night lights because it’s awesome, and sometimes I’ll watch friends too. Also I was into the bachelorette this season because of nursing and now bachelor in paradise, too. I am also amazing at the dots game on my phone. And candy crush. It’s embarrassing.
He is just so incredibly beautiful Julie.
Sounds like you and Chase are settling in quite well!! I saw on the blog you purchased a Salt Lamp and it came to me that
I had read online a warning about salt lamps….just a precaution…. I am not sure if it pertains to all salt lamps but here is the info:Sign UpLog In
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eHow Health Alternative Medicine Alternative Remedies Dangers of Salt Table Lamps
Dangers of Salt Table Lamps
By Chris Deziel
Remodeling & Maintenance Consultant
Last updated July 23, 2015
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Crystal salt lamps can originate in any country with the mines to produce them, including Russia, Poland, Iran, and of course, Nepal and Pakistan, two countries that border the Himalayas. Salt lamps generate negative ions, which purify the air and create a number of health benefits, and they generally aren’t known for creating a hazard in your living room or bedroom. Nevertheless, certain dangers are inherent with the use of salt lamps that you should be aware of before you buy one.
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The color of salt lamps ranges from deep red to white; white is the color of pure salt, and reddish hues are imparted by minerals — mostly iron — mixed in with the salt. Besides imparting color, minerals reinforce the salt crystals; without them, the crystals are brittle and can shatter. White salt lamps are often marketed as those with the purest vibrations, but beware — they are also the most fragile.
Salt Is Corrosive
A salt lamp is a poor choice for placement in a high-humidity environment, such as the bathroom. Salt is hydroscopic, which means it absorbs water; as a lamp sweats, salt-laden water collects around the base and corrodes whatever surface the upon which the lamp is resting. If the surface is metal, it will quickly rust. That the salt attracts water is also a desirable feature, because it’s this ability that creates beneficial negative ions. Most salt lamps come with a base — you should never deploy a salt lamp without one, especially in the bathroom, kitchen or basement.
Salt Lamps Are Heavy
Salt lamps range in weight from 5 to over 50 pounds, and generally, the heavier a lamp is, the more expensive it is. The reason for the extra cost is that larger crystals, besides being more expensive to ship, disperse more light and more negative ions. Because salt lamps are hand-hewn, they can be asymmetric. If yours is top-heavy or has a poorly carved base, it can fall, and the larger it is, the more damage it can do to a pet or child who inadvertently upsets the table on which the lamp is sitting.
The Lamp Holder May Be Substandard
Because salt lamps originate in parts of the world that may not enforce safe electrical practices, many come to the market with little more than an electrical cord and a lamp holder loosely installed in a hole in the base of the crystal. Besides the fact that the air inside the lamp is loaded with corrosive salt that can damage electrical parts, this arrangement also makes it difficult to change the lamp. You may have to pry the holder out of the lamp and risk breaking the bulb.
Avoid this scenario by buying a lamp that is firmly connected to a base that has a clip to securely hold the lamp in place. The lamp and holder should bear a label confirming that they are UL listed.
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/list_6613595_dangers-salt-table-lamps.html
With my first I binge watched Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. It was always on and I was obsessed for some reason.
I binged watched Nashville and Secrets and Lies (Ryan Phillipe is in it), both on Hulu.
I binge watched The Good Wife and Scandal. Thank goodness for Netflix/AMAZON Prime!!!!
I didn’t binge watch anything, but I always wanted to read Tolstoy and read Anna Karenina while breastfeeding-when I wasn’t marveling at my baby, of course! Growth spurts are so random…and remember everything is “just a phase” for a lot of kids’ childhoods. Enjoy! I am remembering so much about my babies from reading your blog. I love that lamp you got and wish I’d have had one!
I bought that same salt lamp right after I found I was pregnant and it is great! I can keep the lowest setting on while she sleeps and turn it up high for feedings. She’s 10 months now so we don’t do many night time feedings of course but still loving the lamp! The color gives the room a nice calming glow. Congratulations on your beautiful baby!!
I love the lamp- I’m storing that one away in my memory bank!
I binge watched Ugly Betty and The Paradise, both on Netflix. I’d also recommend Jane the Virgin on Hulu and Lark Rise To Candelford (if you love oodles of heartwarming sappiness!) but I don’t think that last one streaming anywhere at the moment, much to my sadness.