Weekend Recap: Holiday Festivities

'Tis the season for holiday parties, festive attire, not counting calories and all the chaos and everything in between that comes with Christmas. I haven't checked in on here in a while but I'm hoping I will find more time in the new year. Most of my spare time is spent with our little one and I wouldn't have it any other way. He was such a trooper this past weekend as we took him along with us every where we went. 

Friday night we celebrated my girlfriends birthday with dinner at Zen Asian Fusion. We were all so busy catching up that we didn't take any photos. Zen is one of my favorite local sushi spots. If you live in Charleston and haven't been, do yourself a favor a pay them a visit. I did manage to snap of pic of my sushi. The West Ashley roll is the way to go!

Saturday mornings are easily my favorite part of the weekend. Whit gets Sawyer out of his crib around 7:30 and brings him in our room. After I feed him we lay in the bed and snuggle. It's so nice to not be in a rush like I am during the week. I slipped out of bed to get some coffee and left these three like this. 

Saturday afternoon we headed to Bluffton to celebrate the engagement of one of my oldest and dearest friends. She's going to make one gorgeous bride! 

 The view was beautiful, especially as the sun started to go down.

Sawyer was along for the ride and did a pretty good job of keeping it together and allowing everyone to pass him around.

The festivities continued on Sunday afternoon with an ornament exchange with the ladies. Sawyer joined in on the fun too. 

Two parties in one afternoon, meant I had to pack several bags to get us through the day. How cute is this plaid canvas tote from Lands' End. It's the perfect size to take to parties and my champagne and appetizers fit perfectly in it. And I love that they can be personalized. 

We headed from one party to the next and joined several friends for more holiday festivities. 

 How sweet is this?! baby Rosie was reaching to hold Sawyer's hand. 

Although there wasn't much downtime this weekend, it was so great to see so many of our friends! Cheers to the holidays!

Baby Sawyer: 5 Months Old

Sweet Sawyer is five months old today and has quite the personality already! I can’t get over how much he has grown since last month and all the new things he does. He has the cutest little baby giggles, brought on my the ridiculous noises we make. He has started to splash in the tub, tries to hold his bottle himself, loves his toy giraffe, wiggles all over the place and likes to bounce. He can roll from his tummy to his back and is still working on rolling from his back to his tummy. He enjoys when we read books to him, he naps well in the car, and he’s really starting to notice his surroundings. So much love for this little one!

Milestones and changes
He started blowing spit bubbles. I'm not sure if it may be a sign of teething in the near future. He has also increased the amount of milk he drinks. I'm pretty sure he's going through a growth spurt. I increased his milk to 7 ounces per bottle. Needless to say, it's a struggle to keep up so I've had to tap into my freezer stash of breast milk.

Favorite Things
His activity table seems to be hit, although he could stand to grown into a little bit more. But it keeps him entertained. We actually took it with us when we traveled for Thanksgiving. He also loves to splash in the bathtub when we talk to him and make silly sounds.

Current schedule
We've been on the same schedule from the Mom's on Call book for a while now. It seems to be working so I figured we wouldn't change it up.

Hardest moment (s)
There were a few of them this month. Leaving him to go to the Clemson/Carolina game was one. He was in great hands with Whit's parents though! We've only left him overnight one other time and it's just not an easy thing to do. Also, having the stomach bug and being quarantined from him for three days was extremely hard. And lastly, he developed a cough that lingered long enough for us to take him to the Dr. where they told us he had a milk case of RSV. Thankfully it was very mild, but hearing that sad little cough at night was just heartbreaking.

Sweetest moment (s)
The way he lays on my shoulder, nestled up near my neck and totally relaxes after he eats. I wouldn't trade those baby snuggles for the world. Also, visiting with my grandfather and seeing his face light up. He just adores Sawyer!

Something fun we did this month
Spending Thanksgiving with family. We thoroughly enjoyed the extra time off from work that we were able to enjoy with him. Our family loved it as well.

Breastfeeding
I'm still going at it! Although the stomach bug really gave me a run for my money. Trying to pump when you can even keep water down is miserable. It took a lot of effort to get my supply back up after I was sick.

Baby Sawyer: 4 Months Old

I’m popping in to share a four month update on baby Sawyer (before he turns 5 months next week). Time is flying by way too fast! His personality just keeps getting better and better. He has the cutest grin and is ticklish under his arms and his neck. He loves bath time and his bear lovie. He has great head control and loves to kick his little legs. He wants to put everything in his mouth, especially his hands and he’s an expert hair puller. He is easily distracted by anything on TV, babbles to himself as he goes to sleep and he still hates getting dressed. He enjoys going on strolls and being outside. Whit and I love watching him grow and learn new things. His smile melts my heart every single time. We are so lucky to be his parents.

4 month stats

Sawyer is 24.5 inches long, which puts him in the 20th percentile for height. And he is currently a whopping 13 lbs 6.5 oz which puts him in the 10th percentile for weight. He may not be the biggest guy but the Dr. was pleased with his consistent growth. His head on the other hand is in the 37th percentile. Here's a photo of him after he got his shots at his fourth month appointment. He was surprisingly in much better spirits than he was after the first round.

Current schedule

We’re still on the 8-16 schedule in the Moms on Call book, or at least for the most part. His naps are getting shorter. I laugh at the daily sheets that are sent home from daycare. Sometimes he only naps for 30 mins, the entire day. It makes for one tired baby when he gets home. The struggle is then to keep him awake for his nighttime feeding. But he still drinks his milk like a champ, taking three bottles at day care and breastfeeding twice a day. He also tries to hold the bottle himself now.

Favorite things
We bought this sit, spin and stand activity table and he is finally starting to love it. I think he could stand to be a little taller in order to fit in it more comfortable, but he’s loving it. He’s also a big fan of Sophie the giraffe, which we’ve recently renamed, Jeremy.

Hardest moment

I was warmed about the constant sickness that would come and go with him in daycare. At our last Dr.’s appointment, we were informed that on average, children that attend daycare are introduced to a new virus every 2 weeks. Lovely! He’s had a stuffy, runny nose multiple times now. 

Sweetest moment

Morning snuggles are the best and I really try to soak them up on the weekend. We’ve been putting him in the bed with us on Saturday mornings and he will just lay there, play with his toys and “talk to us.” I could just lay there with him for hours.

Something fun we did this month (October)

We celebrated Sawyer's first Halloween! He was the most adorable little lobster. We rode around on the golf cart with friends while the toddlers were trick or treating. He wore the costume the whole time and surprisingly didn't get upset. 

Breastfeeding
I’m still going and can't believe I've made it this far. I hope to be able to continue for a few more months. So far Sawyer is still exclusively on breast milk, although we were told at our 4 month check up that we can start to introduce pureed food whenever we would like. I think I’m going to hold out until at least 6 months. 

 This photo pretty much sums things up. :)

5 Year Wedding Anniversary + Charleston Staycation

Last month Whit and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary. For past anniversaries, we've always taken a trip somewhere. Year one we went to the mountains, year two we went to Thailand, year three we went to the BVI's and last year we took a trip to Italy. This year we had more than just ourselves to think about. Being that Sawyer was only 4 months old, we weren't comfortable traveling far away and leaving him behind, so we decided to do a staycation.

We love living in Charleston but have never really "played tourists" in this beautiful city, so that's exactly what we decided to do. We booked a quick overnighter which was the perfect amount of time away seeing as how we had never left Sawyer before. We checked into the The Vendue  and were immediately  greeted with a glass of champagne. I had never been inside before other than to take the elevator to the rooftop bar. Our room was so cozy and quaint with exposed brick walls, a gas fireplace, antique furnishings and complimentary sherry. Our room was in the building across the street from the main part of the hotel and had a view of the rooftop bar in the distance. 

Dinner reservations were at the hotel's new restaurant, Revival, a modern restaurant with a focus on recipe and ingredients from South Carolina's past. The service was wonderful and the food was delicious. 

We really enjoyed being downtown in a prime location where we could walk around afterwards. Whit and I decided to take an evening stroll at the battery to walk off all the food we ate and called it night.

Saturday morning we walked across the street again to take advantage of the complimentary continental breakfast. I went the sweet route and enjoyed fresh cinnamon buns and coffee. It was so nice to just sit outside and people watch as everyone was getting their morning started. 

It was gorgeous on Saturday, so we decided to extend our check out time and explore the city by bikes provided by the hotel. This was also something we've never done and we are now convinced that we want bicycles for Christmas. It was fun to roam the little side streets downtown and admire all the beautiful old homes.

After our bike ride we decided to walk and find a place for lunch. Just a few steps down from our hotel was a cute little spot called the East Bay Meeting House, so we popped in for a warm sandwich and a cold glass of beer.

By the time we finished our lunch, we were itching to get back to our baby boy. Our trip may have been short but we had a great time and most importantly survived our first night away from the little one!