five years of wedded bliss

It seems like just yesterday and forever ago that this picture was taken. In the last five years our marriage has gotten stronger, more communicative, harder and easier at the same time. It's all very paradoxical, but my love, admiration and respect for Alex has only grown and gotten stronger. 

As newlyweds we made a five year plan and it included the typical house, dog, travel, baby and advancement of our careers. But, I could never have imagined how it would have played out in real life. I feel like the last five years have gone better we could have ever imagined and I wouldn't change a thing. I love you Alex and I am so thankful that you are kind, patient, hard working, dedicated, loving, God honoring and now a wonderful dad! Happy anniversary and I can't wait for what's ahead! 

margo: five months

Five months have flown by since our sweet Margo burst into the world! This month she has become so much more alert and engaging. She is getting so much stronger and according to the bathroom scale she still weighs 15 pounds and is now wearing 3-6 month clothes!

I say it every month, but I am so thankful for how happy and content Margo is. She has started staying awake and alert for longer stretches and it has made playing with her feel more like playing! She hasn't mastered any big, new milestones but she is improving her current lineup- she smiles and laughs more freely, rolls over every time we put her on her belly, plays with toys, can sometimes put her wubbanub pacifier back in, sit supported and has found her sweet, chubby feet. 

Last month she we struggled with a sleep regression, but we've come out on the other side (I hope I didn't just jinx it...).  Her schedule hasn't changed in the last month, so we've settled into a nice routine.  

There were a few chilly days on vacation, so we bought her a jacket...and conveniently Alex and I have matching jackets

Celebrating our friend Melinda's birthday, party hats and all!

Margo finally got to meet her Uncle Jim and Aunt Shannon!

She really did love the art museum, but that pout gets me every time!

michigan city 2016

Last Friday we packed our bags, loaded our car and headed north to Lake Michigan. For the past few years we have spent the week of July 4th at the lake with my family and this year was just as fun as always! With Margo we had to be a little more strategic with our timing/packing/sleeping, but she was worth it and we all had a great time. We played, swam, shopped and lazed the week away in true vacation form and it was wonderful. We were all sad to see the week come to an end, but looking through pictures is almost as good...

I have succumbed to the world of Snapchat and Atley loved it!

Hanging out at the beach with my girl Nora

The house next door had bunnies for sale...so sweet and cuddly!

Back off ladies, he's all mine!

Matching on the beach

margo: four months

Margo is a 1/3 of a year old!! This month came with several exciting milestones and we're loving every second of it! We go to the doctor next week, so I'll update the official weight and length then, but for now our bathroom scale says she's weighing in at a whopping 15 pounds!

**Doctor visit update:
Margo weighes in at 14.8 pounds (58%ile), measures 24 1/4 inches long (36%ile) and her little noggin is 39cm (3%ile). The doctor is going to continue to monitor her head growth, but for the time being she is cognitively and developmentally on track or a little ahead, so there is little concern. **

This girl is a happy baby and I am so thankful for that. She has such a sweet personality and I love getting to see it come out more and more everyday. This month she has started smiling on demand, sitting up (supported), rolling belly to back, giggling when we make silly noises, grabbing at toys intentionally and putting everything into her mouth.

I know every stage of her life will bring a lot of new excitement as well as some set backs, enter the dreaded 4 month sleep regression. We had a rough few naps and nights, but I think we're going to come out stronger. I reread Baby Wise, Googled everything I could, polled all the moms I encountered and gave sweet Margo a bit of a talking to ;). She is now consistently napping, in her crib after her 1pm feeding (she goes down around 2:30) and wakes up between 4 and 5pm. Her morning naps are a little less structured, but she does sleep after her 10am feeding (falling asleep at around 11ish). I usually run errands, meet friends for coffee or work in the mornings, so she naps on the fly. I'm sure at some point that will stop, but for now this mama's got to get out of the house. Nighttime is getting better every day. We've started putting her to bed earlier at night so she's sleeping about 10-12 hours (mostly) consecutively.

Our daily schedule is:
7am- eat, play, cat naps--usually in the stroller when we go for a jog
10am- eat, play, sleep
1pm- eat, play, sleep
4-5pm- eat, play, cat naps--in her swing or in our arms
7-8pm- eat, bedtime

Enough of the details of our daily life, on to pictures from the last month!

Our second wedding of the summer

This girl wakes up so happy in the morning- it makes getting out of bed a lot more fun!

She loves the pool- we've been twice and are looking forward to taking her while we're on vacation

I may or may not love polka dots...

A girl has gotta have options

"Push faster mom...no pictures please"

She sat in her highchair with us at dinner and talked the whole time