Leighton Turns TWO!

Is it just me, or is parenthood a constant roller coaster of hypocritical thoughts?

Hear me out. Last week, we got a note from Leighton's daycare saying that as long as we were comfortable with it, they were okay with him starting to wear underwear during the day instead of diapers. UNDERWEAR. Not pull-ups, underwear. I had such conflicting emotions about this. On one hand I was incredibly proud that my almost two-year-old was making it through the day without wetting his diaper. On the other hand, I couldn't believe that we were having this conversation before my baby turned two. 

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With Sprinkles on Top

Or around the edges. Whatever it takes to put a little extra sparkle on your day. Nate gave me a hard time about wanting sparkles or something when we went to the store to buy the ingredients for these cookies. Yeah, I don't have to be a 5 year old to get sparkly things okay? It is my birthday, I'll add sprinkles and sparkle until I'm gone.

Anyway, thankfully I got a nice little coupon for a tub of Country Crock in the mail from Influenster to test out a new, simpler buttery spread that was made up of things I can actually pronounce. There are no artificial preservatives, no artificial flavors and 0 grams of trans fat per serving. 

So yup, the butter used in these cookies was free but I was going to make cookies anyway. Plus the butter tasted good, smelled like butter and worked for baking. Winning. Let's get on with the cookies shall we?

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Welcome Home Little One

Well, it is pretty apparent that I have been absent for the last week or so. I swear I have a good reason though, our little bundle of joy decided to make his way into the world a bit early. Here is the story:

Thursday, December 10

Our last doctor appointment was at 39 weeks, and was also the appointment we set up an induction. Based on my doctor's rotation, we were all set to go to the hospital to have a baby on Tuesday, December 15. Well, obviously as soon as you plan something things are bound to happen differently. We left the appointment excited to know that the day was quickly approaching and soon our little guy would be here with us. At that, we continued on with our lives as normal.

Friday, December 11

Again, life went on as usual. I had some contractions every once and a while, but nothing that was throwing my life off track or getting consistent/stronger. That night though was a different story. Around 11 p.m. I started noticing that my contractions were getting stronger and staying pretty consistent so I started timing. By midnight they were 8 minutes apart.

Saturday, December 12

I rolled over and woke Nate up to let him know that I was having contractions and was going to stand up for a bit to make sure they stayed around and see if they continued to get stronger. His response was okay, just tell me when they are closer together and then he went back to sleep. I decided to take a shower to keep me up and then see what happened. By 1 a.m. they were 5 minutes apart and slightly stronger. Around 1:30 we made the call to the doctor (which I felt very guilty for waking her up about). She said to wait another hour and see if they get stronger/closer still before heading in, just to make sure it wasn't false labor.  Well we waited until 3:30, by which time they were coming about every 3 minutes. Now they still weren't stop you in your tracks strong, but they were strong enough that I was uncomfortable and decided it was time to go in and get checked.

By the time we made it to the hospital and were put in a room, I was staying steady at 3 min apart and was about 3 cm dilated. They kept me for an hour or so to see if I made any progress and then kept making sure I wasn't wanting any pain medication or anything yet. I explained that I wanted to go as long as possible without medication and then they decided the best route then would be for me to go home until I was to the point where I really just couldn't stand it any more. This way I could walk around and be comfortable instead of laying at the hospital all day.

We came home around 5:30 or so, got some breakfast and then Nate got a warm bath going for me to try and help ease the soreness in my back. Then we both tried to get some sleep, it doesn't work that well. I think I got a grand total of 2 hours of sleep. Eventually I gave up on sleep and we both headed downstairs for some more breakfast. Following breakfast we took a walk. I knew I needed to keep myself moving. After some general clean up around the house and a little sitting around we headed out for another walk. 

Around 3 that afternoon we were off to the hospital. I really just couldn't take it anymore and was praying it was time. After being checked again, I was still not quite 4 cm but my contractions were definitely stronger. The doctor had the nurse tell me to just walk around as much as I can for an hour at the hospital before they checked again. If I made any progress they were going to admit me.

During that hour was when I started to get contractions that legitimately stopped me in my tracks. It was probably the slowest Nate has ever walked in his life, but he stuck by my side through the constant laps I was making. About 40 minutes or so into it I got tired of walking so we headed back to the room for good. By the time I was taking the last bite of my protein bar, the nurse came in and said we were getting admitted. Looking back I am so beyond grateful for that protein bar. Once we were admitted (about 4 o'clock) I was put on a clear liquid diet, never have chicken broth and Gatorade tasted so good.

I spent the next 7 hours bouncing on an exercise ball, trying to make due with just Pitocin in my IV. Our parents were there which was a nice distraction. However by 11 p.m. I had hit my limit and the anesthesiologist was brought in to give me an epidural. At this point I had gotten maybe 3 hours of sleep since waking up Friday morning, so getting the epidural and the relief I felt from it was exactly what I needed and I was able to sleep for a little bit.

Sunday, December 13

My water broke on its own when I was 8 centimeters and I got to 10 centimeters pretty quickly after that. Around 3:45 a.m. the nurse had me start pushing and and hour and a half later I was holding our precious little boy.

I cannot express the feeling I got holding him for the first time. This tiny human that grew inside of me for nine months is finally here. The process was long and hard at times, but I had the best support system ever. Nate was my rock through it all and helped me keep going when I felt like I had no strength or energy left.

Leighton Wayne Blair was born at 5:14 a.m. on Sunday, December 13, 2015. He weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches long.

We have survived two weeks with this little one and are doing our best at this parenting thing. Just like with my pregnancy and labor we couldn't do this without the support of our friends and family.

You can follow along with our journey through parenthood by following on Instagram and Snapchat (katianne1519). Make sure to keep up with the blog too by following on Facebook and Bloglovin'.

Thank you for your patience in waiting for my return back to this little corner of the blog world. Please bare with me as I get the balance of mom life and blogging figured out.

Follow along with my daily life by following me on Snapchat (katianne1519),  Instagram and Twitter

and keep up with my blog by following me on Bloglovin' and liking my page on Facebook!

Check out some other blogs while you are here:
[Link-Ups]

Her Heartland Soul | Healthy Diva Eats

MICHELLE'S PA(I)GE  | B Loved Boston
Champagne and Suburbs | More Pieces of Me
Life of Meg | Bella and the City
Tutu Tuesdays

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Oh, October

It is October people. October!  I love this time of year, if you hadn't already picked up on that from my last three wishlists. But really, the weather finally seems to be choosing one side - I mean this is Indiana, the weather never makes up its mind, but we have had two days under 70 in a row now so that is saying something.

I want to make October great and really set some attainable goals and get my life in order. Before I do that though, lets revisit September.

September's Goals:

Blog:

✔1. Post 5-times a week and schedule them ahead of time 

✘2. Do at least one outfit post - and get the hubs to photograph it 

✘3. Get all of my social media connected to my blog and public worthy

✘4. Create a media kit for my blog

Home:

✘1. Decorate my living room walls - they are so bare! 

✔2. DIY decor for above the bed in my room

Fitness:

✘1. Run 20 miles over the course of the month 

✔2. Lift at the gym at least twice a week 

✘3. Create a workout plan for the month and stick to it!

Life:

✔1. Make a Fall bucket list

✔2. Meet up with an out of town friend

✔3. Plan a fun celebration for Nate's birthday!

Speaking of Nate's birthday, we had so much fun going out to eat for his birthday and seeing our family and friends. I had Shepherd's Pie and a Red Hearted (Two Hearted and Smithwick's) and he had a chicken sandwich and "chips" with a few different beers and shots. Happy birthday right!? It was all so good.After we got to walk downtown a bit to get back to my car and it was so nice to have that time for just us. Of course we stopped to snap a couple pictures while we were walking, I am really trying to get better at this take pictures all the time thing.

Ignore the vampire eyes please.
Pants (here) | Shirt (here) | everything else is old...

These shoes!

With the Birthday Boy!

Ending September right, with a kiss.

I love how majestic these churches look at night.

October's Goals:

Blog:

1. Post everyday as part of Blogtober!

2. Do at least one outfit post - and get the hubs to photograph it (for real!)

3. Get all of my social media connected to my blog and public worthy

4. Create a media kit for my blog (I am enlisting the help of my brother for coding purposes)

5. Makeup tutorial for fall

Home:

1. Add some fall touches

2. Better organize my closets

Fitness:

1. Run once a week

2. Lift at the gym at least twice a week 

3. Create a workout plan for the month and stick to it!

Life:

1. Plan outfits for photoshoot for Nate and I

2. Have a girl's night

3. Read 2 books

What are your goals this month? How do you stay accountable?

Check back later today for my first Blogtober post!

xo,

KatiAnne

Follow along with my daily life by following me on Instagram and Twitter

and keep up with my blog by following me on Bloglovin' and liking my page on Facebook!

Check out these other blogs for more Wednesday fun!

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Weekend Wrap Up

So this weekend was a big one. We joined Nate's family at a Vineyard & Winery for his cousins birthday and I got to join Nate on his first official wine tasting. It was so much fun. Granted, Nate and I can only share one type of wine - Moscato - and I wasn't even super fond of their's, so we bought a bottle of Cab for me and he ended up getting wine slushies. Everyone was happy. If you ever find yourself in Northeast Indiana, make sure to take a trip to Country Heritage Winery. It is so pretty inside and the wine is fab. On the weekend they have something called "Wine Down" where they get a band/musician to come and play for three hours while everyone drinks their wine. They also brought in a food truck that I didn't try, but our family members were raving about.

We called it a night earlier than the rest of his family because I had a class to go to at 8 on Saturday morning and Nate had a paper to write for school. By that afternoon though, we were back at the birthday celebration joining his cousin and her friends for a pond party. Drinking games, food and plenty of conversations ensued and it was a wonderful time. I did however fail on the picture-taking so I apologize (blogger fail).

Sunday was bittersweet. Nate and I skipped out on church to get him ready to take off for his first week of labs down at Indiana Wesleyan - yay grad school! We used to have a (short) long distance relationship and he travels for work when his sports are in season, so we are used to being apart for periods of time, but it is never fun to say goodbye. He will be back soon though and I will be very happy.

I am glad that I have found things to do here and have made friends. Recently, I joined a group of girls on a 4's sand volleyball league in addition to my co-ed 6's team. I need to pick up an at-home hobby though to keep me busy while Nate is on the road - suggestions?

Below is an Insta update of everything I have posted since my last update. I will get better at this - I promise!

xo,
KatiAnne

Follow along with my daily life by following my on Instagram and Twitter

and keep up with my blog by following me on Bloglovin'!

My view on the course on one of our golf dates.

Nate and I on the golf cart, me looking bald.

Puppy playdate

Beer pong on the lake.

With my Pi Phi lil' sis on the lake.

Tired pup!

Can you spot the mullet?

We always take a goofy picture, it never fails.

With my love on the Lily Pad.

Thanks to my bestie for creepin' on us and taking this!

'Merica shirts for the 4th

My June beauty buys and samples

Best giveaway ever from one of my favorite
beauty vloggers! Check her out here.

In love with this outfit.

After my hair appointment, I'm blonde-ish!

Out night at Wine Down

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