That's a wrap!

Christmas season 2014 is all done! I vacillated between excited and exhausted all month long. Here are some of our best moments. 

Furniture Friday | Amateur Furniture Refinishing

Happy Friday y'all. I sure need this weekend. Coral isn't sleeping well lately, but that's a post in itself. 

So, not much home decor things are happening in casa de cook lately, but I've kinda got a back log from Coral's nursery. For once in my life I actually finished a room! And really, really loved it. My favorite piece in the room is her dresser pictured above. It was one of those rare times that I didn't look at the finished product and go, "hm. Something didn't go quite right." 

We used a superrrr old dresser, painted that baby "Swiss coffee" by Behr with primer. I'm lazy and always get primer in the paint so I can skip sanding. I'm not necessarily recommending that, but we skipped it and don't really mind the few nicks on the paint here and there. 

My favorite part of this dresser is the hardware. I searched high and low, and was very picky about hardware.  Coral's room is shades of coral (duh), muted pink/peach and gold. So the gold handles were incredibly important to me. We bought 4 from ansaldi hardware, (the modern pull) and 6 from Lowes that we very carefully spray painted with a brass finish color. 

I'm gonna post more pics later, but am currently rushing from task to task. Have a good weekend! 

Winter White Inspiration

I always have fun with holiday outfits, and since I have darker skin winter white is my go to. It's just so elegant & timeless, and not overly bold like a red pick. Here are some pieces I'm lusting over this holiday season. Also, this is my first polyvore collage. Stuff is addictinggggg. Happy Hump day!

winter white by tessytessio featuring a white coat

Long sleeve mini dress / Ann Taylor white ivory dress / White coat / Polka dot skirt / TOMS foldover boots / Charlotte Russe bracelet / Gorjana ring / Jules smith earrings / Ted Baker stud earring set, $33 / Kate Spade post earrings / Nars cosmetic, $32 / Essie pink holographic nail polish

3 monthss for my wittle baby!

Phew! This month as been the most hectic, yet the most fun thus far! Coral wakes up babbling, and doing her fake cough (I think she thinks she is laughing?) and runs her mommy and daddy in circles all day! She absolutely loves to be talked to. She kind of demands it actually. “Talk to me, look at me mommy and daddy!” is what she would be saying all day. IF she could talk ya know?  It’s the cutest thing and we just stare at her and love on her all day. We often call her our spoiled firstborn, and we wouldn’t have any other way. We just adore her. And know we won’t do half of these things with our subsequent children ;)

So super big deal, I did go back to work this month. I opted to go back the Thursday before Thanksgiving week to “ease back into” it. I highly recommend this for any other working mamas (Thank goodness for my mommy-guru-neighbor-BFF, Jessi, and all of her advice). I worked a 2-day week, a 3-day week, then POOF it was Turkey day! This really helped me get the hang of pumping at work (during a very slow time workload wise!) and still felt energetic after work to see how she was transitioning at home. I can tell this balancing act is going to get much harder. After my first full 5-day week and a fun weekend in Galveston this mama was E X H A U S T E D. Sunday night I could barely keep my eyes open, but you bet your bottom dollar I stayed awake for HOMELAND! Who else is watching?!

So a little bit about Coral:

Stats: no update on weight, but size 2 diapers (loving swaddlers still), and mostly 3-6 or 6M clothes. Sometimes she doesn’t quite fill them out, but there is no point in buying 3M anymore, especially since the pants are usually too short. We also want all the clothes we buy to last her the entire winter season, which is only until February in Texas!

Likes: kicking, talking, chewing on things, pulling mommy’s hair, her wub-a-nub, getting out of the house! I swear she’s so bored of our house. Being looked at and talked to, and being sung to. Daddy has a song he’s been singing to her since the hospital days and she smiles every time he sings it. Baby girl LOVES bath time. Sleeping in motion. Watching TV? she turns her head from wherever she is to look at it. (eek?)

Dislikes: Diaper changes and getting dressed. Waking up alone. Not getting attention. The Carrier. Cue the tears on that one!

Eating: Coral is still exclusively breastfed/bottle-fed breastmilk. She’s mostly getting bottles during the week, and I nurse on the weekend (to get a pumping break), but not excessively so we can keep up with her weekday bottle routine. She also has a snacking problem when we nurse, so bottles are really best. She usually takes 4 oz a feeding. Even though we run through the drop-ins quickly, the Playtex nurser is still her favorite bottle. She won’t take a full feeding out of a Medela bottle, and I refuse the 4-part bottle. We did give her a few formula bottles before I went to work just in case something happened to my supply, but it mostly just made her gassy. And nothing happened to my supply - SO- the breastfeeding journey continues. Quitting seems like more work than continuing on, and it sure is convenient to nurse your baby on the go!

how my thanksgiving looked

Sleep: We’ve regressed here. Coral now tries to roll out of the newborn boppy lounger, so she is no longer sleeping in it from 10p-4am. Yup, she’s in our bed full time! I’ve been putting her in the crib some nights, usually until midnight, and my mom naps her there during the day. I’m planning some serious sleep training over the Christmas holiday since I’ll have 6 nights to try to get her out of our bed. I’m putting decorating and gifting as 2^nd priority this year so I can focus on her sleep. The good news is I really enjoy sleeping with her (hello dream feed!), and have gotten used to fragmented sleep. She’s just so adorable, but I do think we need to cut the cord now. If not, I’m afraid she’ll be sleeping with us until she’s 3.  I also have no idea why Coral hasn’t dropped feedings and just started sleeping through the night on her own. I’ve tried holding her off, blah blah blah and nothing seems to work. We may try a tinsy bit of cereal in the nightly bottle in a week or two to see if that helps.

Milestones: She rolled over! The day before she turned 3 months actually. I’ve already lost track of smaller milestones.. need to get better at tracking!

What a month it has been. Love ya girl!