family Archives - Page 11 of 15 - Popcorn and Pandas

Millions of Peaches

I came across these photos that I had taken back in August. Our yard has a peach tree out front that grew more peaches than we could possibly eat! After passing them out to the neighbors, I swore I was going to make my first peach pie on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend. I was planning on gathering all the ingredients early in the week, and I was going to make a blog post of how amazing it all turned out. Well, folks, that clearly never happened, because I went into labor on Labor Day Weekend. I had more important things at hand, like meeting my baby boy. I can’t believe that was three months ago, today. My life has changed in more ways than I could have even imagined. I thought I could never love any more than the day when they put Nico in my arms for the very first time, but that love has continued to grow and grow with every day that passes. My husband and I just constantly look at each other, look at Nico, and verbalize how lucky we are to have been blessed with such an amazing boy. They told me time would fly by, and they weren’t lying. Happy 3 Months my little guy. We love you.

Oh and by the way…those peaches did not go to waste. We were lucky enough to have my mother-in-law stay with us for a few days after Nico’s birth. One of the ways she helped out was by baking that amazing peach pie. In my haggard new-mother state, I failed to capture this pie with my camera, but let me assure you, it was delicious!

*This post was intended for Nov. 29th, but we were on holiday celebrating Thanksgivingkah. Hope you all had a great weekend! I’m off to partake in Cyber Monday sales!

XO,

Gina

{18} Lately…

Lately I’ve been…

reading Attempting to read the 6th Harry Potter Book. It tough to get a lot of reading done without my hour long subway commutes, but trying to enjoy a chapter here and there when I can.

writing Questions to ask potential nannies. We are starting our interviews this Wednesday. Excited to find someone great for our little guy, but sad this means I will be spending a lot more time away from him when I go back to work.

listening Frank Sinatra. Nico just loves him!

thinking I am happy the weather looks nice for this week! Makes taking those walks around the neighborhood so much more enjoyable!

smelling Blueberry coffee. It sounds kinda gross, but trust me, it’s awesome!

watching Teen Mom. Makes me so glad I have a stable, loving husband, a good job, a nice home, and lots of family support. I could not imagine being a mom at their age.

wishing That time didn’t go so fast. My little guy is growing up too quickly already.

hoping To go for another run this week. This past weekend I went out for my first run since getting pregnant and having a baby. I stayed active by walking, but hadn’t run in probably over a year! I suddenly got to the urge to get back out there, so I went for a 2 mile run, and it felt great! (despite now being sore haha). Hoping I can keep it up and at least get a run or two mixed in with my walking every week.

wearing My typical mom gear of activewear. Although, I actually did get to wear real clothes yesterday for a mini trip to Manhattan for a mani/pedi with a friend.

loving The crockpot that my Grandma bought for us. We tried it out this weekend, and made two awesome dishes: White Bean Chicken Chili and Carnitas Tacos. I love being able to prep a meal quickly in the morning, let it sit all day, and come home to an amazing meal with leftovers! Yum!

laughing At the @HonestToddler Twitter feed I just discovered yesterday. Cracking me up!

wanting My Christmas cards to arrive! Maybe it’s the fact that I now have a little guy this Christmas season, but I am extra giddy and excited this year.

needing Christmas lists from my peoples. I am ready to start shopping already! Send ’em over…you know who you are.

feeling Happy that we were able to go to Florida and spend time with my parents and Grandma. It was really great for them to spend that quality time with Nico, and it was nice for Zack and I to get some alone time as well.

craving Some snuggle time with my nephew, Nathan. It’s been too long since I’ve seen him…is it Thanksgiving yet?

clicking Through weeks worth of blogs that I am behind on.

What have you been up to lately?

Hope you all had a great weekend! Enjoy your week ahead!

Love,

Gina

***I was inspired by Tina of Like Ordinary Life to create this post, and she was inspired by Lauren of siddathornton, who started The Sunday Currently.

Autumn Days

Autumn is here, which means beautiful foliage to view in Prospect Park. We took a walk over the weekend and enjoyed both the beautiful colors and the warm sunshine. We sauntered over to Drummer’s Cove, which is always a fun place to view people from all walks of life coming together to create music. What are some of your favorite things to do in autumn?

Speaking of autumn…today almost feels like winter! Luckily, the sun is out, but it looks like it’s time to not only start layering but also bundling!

Happy Thursday friends.

XO,

Gina

A Formal Affair

The Notes clan took our first family trip down to Maryland two weekends ago to celebrate the nuptials of our dear friends, Teri and Charlie. It was a beautiful weekend to celebrate a beautiful couple. The bride looked absolutely stunning, and she carried the most unique and amazing bouquet I have ever seen! Made completely of brooches, many of them were passed down from her family members to add to this masterpiece. The best part is that she can save this bouquet forever in it’s original form. I could see it making a beautiful decorative piece for their future dining or living room. Her lace dress was exquisite, and her cathedral veil was perfect considering their wedding was held at the Baltimore Cathedral. Teri and I have been friends since high school, and I was lucky enough to be chosen as a bridesmaid to stand up with her on her special day. My only regret with these photos is that I was unable to capture anything from the ceremony, since I was in the wedding. Typically, if I’m in the bridal party, my husband will play second shooter to capture photos of the ceremony, but he was on baby duty and was unable to play photographer. I am looking forward to seeing their professional photos, because that cathedral was just phenomenal. During the reception, our little one stayed with my mother-in-law at the hotel, and we are very thankful to have had our first adult night out since having a baby. It was also great to catch up with so many of my best friends all at once. Congrats to Teri and Charlie! Wishing you both lots of love and happiness for many many years to come.

Hope you are all having a great week so far!

XO,

Gina

{17} Lately…

Lately I’ve been…

reading What to Expect The First Year by Sandee Hathaway, Arlene Eisenberg, and Heidi Murkoff. Rather than read the entire book all the way through right away, I have decided to read each month as we are all going through it as a family. So far I have finished the first month, and I’m starting on month 2.

writing Well, Nico’s birth announcement cards just came in the mail today, so I am super excited to address and send them out!

listening The Coffee House station on XM Radio has been a top contender for most played the past few weeks. It’s soothing and Nico falls asleep in the car to it.

thinking I can’t believe we survived our first weekend trip to Maryland as a family! Although it was extremely stressful at some points, everything ended up working out well and the bottom line is we did it.

smelling Pumpkin Spice coffee…mmm…

watching Million Dollar Listing LA. My husband used to be a real estate agent, so this is one of the few shows he will actually watch with me.

wishing A lifetime of happiness to my friends Teri and Charlie! They are the reason we went down to Maryland. We celebrated their wedding, and it was phenomenal. What an amazing couple. I am so happy for them!

hoping To survive my first 48 hours as a single parent while Zack goes to Chicago to present at a conference. Hopefully it will be nice outside and Nico and I can take some walks together.

wearing Got dolled up this past weekend for my friend Teri’s wedding, and man did it feel good! Hair, makeup, mani, pedi, a sexy bridesmaid dress…the works. It felt good to be pampered again after rocking sweats for so many weeks!

loving The fact that I have amazing friends and family. While on our first trip as a family, there were some bumps with the weather, traffic, fire alarms in the hotel, etc. I am so lucky to have had my friends and family to help us out on our first trip. From helping me carry diaper bags, driving my car, watching my little boy, holding him during dinner so we could eat, and more. I know I am super lucky to have such wonderful, trustworthy people in my life.

laughing Every time Nico farts, I think it’s the most hilarious thing. What am I, 5?

wanting My bags to unpack themselves.

needing Snuggles from my little boy. I just can’t get enough!

feeling Sleepy sleepy. While we had a great weekend, it was a bit crazy trying to figure out our new normal. Did I mention the fire alarm going off in the hotel? TWICE.

craving These over-the-knee boots by Sam Edelman.

clicking Through photos to try and figure out which ones I want to frame and hang up in the apartment.

What have you been up to lately?

Hope everyone had a nice long weekend! Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Love,

Gina

***I was inspired by Tina of Like Ordinary Life to create this post, and she was inspired by Lauren of siddathornton, who started The Sunday Currently.

Pumpkin Patch

This past Saturday, we celebrated the fall season by taking our first family day trip to the pumpkin patch. We trekked outside of the city to Alstede Farms in Chester, NJ where we found a sprawling PYO (pick-your-own) farm littered with TONS of people. The crowds were a bit overwhelming as we didn’t know what to expect, but once you got out to the fields for picking, it was a lot less crazy. There were tons of crops for the taking including pumpkins, apples, corn, lettuce, eggplant, tomatoes, raspberries, blackberries, and more. And these items were just currently what was in season. Other seasons of the year you could pick strawberries, peaches, black raspberries, and so much more. It was definitely a place for kids with a moon bounce, corn maze, hay ride, farm animals, etc, and even though Nico is still too small really remember the experience, you could tell he was enjoying himself. He was looking around and in a happy mood the entire day. This adventure was our first foray into sharing and experiencing the world with our little guy, and it only made us more excited for the future ahead.

Nico’s Pumpkin Outfit: Absorba via Gilt

My bff, Meg, is arriving today to hang out for a few days and meet little Nico. I am so excited to spend some quality time, since we rarely get the opportunity these days to hang out with just the two of us. We head down to Maryland on Thursday to meet our new nephew Nathan, and to celebrate the wedding weekend of another one of my best friends, Teri. It will be our first long weekend trip with Nico, and being the obsessive compulsive paranoid person that I am, I’m a little nervous about how it’s going to go. I’m crossing my fingers that I don’t forget anything and that it all goes smoothly. Either way, my new mantra is “just go with the flow!”

XO,

Gina

Nico’s Newborn Shoot

I am so excited to share these photos of Nico from his first couple weeks of life. Photographer Justin Goldberg of Eudora Video captured these precious moments of our Little Monkey when he was only 11 days old. Looking back at these now after only a month, he has already changed so much. His long, skinny arms and legs have plumped up, and he now has his eyes open much more often. It hasn’t been that long, but it’s hard to remember just how tiny Nico was when he arrived. It just goes to show how fast time flies. I am very grateful to Justin for shooting our first family photo op, and I will treasure these photos forever.

This week has actually been a busy one around here (and busy definitely has new meaning as getting out of the house is a feat in and of itself). I made a Target trip on Monday with some moms/babies in the neighborhood, and took a long walk in Prospect Park with another mom/baby on Tuesday. Have I mentioned how awesome the Cortelyou Moms group is? Amazing. Today, I have a doc appointment, and tomorrow Nico has his. If we make it to Friday on the minute amount of sleep we’ve been getting, we are having lunch with Zack and his coworkers as they celebrate our Nico’s arrival.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week and enjoying this fantastic weather!

XO,

Gina

First Family Dinner Out

With all of the craziness of figuring out life with a newborn, I sometimes find myself not leaving the house for days on end. I also find that this isn’t very good for my sanity. The constant 24/7 loop of feed, change, sleep, repeat can be a little mind numbing, and as adorable as that little face is to look at every day, living in a constant loop can drive you a little nuts. Therefore, to break up the monotony, I have been trying to get out of the house for walks whenever possible. Nico loves the stroller, and we have been super blessed with amazing weather these past couple weeks. Two weekends ago, I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to take advantage of one of these walks and go out for our first family dinner. I put on “real” clothes (the pants are still maternity, but at least they weren’t sweats!), make-up, and even semi-did my hair…that’s as good as it was gonna get that day. We tried a new place in the neighborhood called Dogwood, which boasts southern comfort food, and was absolutely delicious. At three and a half weeks, Nico was an angel the entire time. It was as if he was allowing Zack and I to actually have a date night. Amazing. I know they say these “quiet sleeping times” won’t last forever and eventually he will be a toddler and impossible to bring out to dinner, but I am living in the moment, people…living in the moment and loving it.

On me / Shirt: StyleMint – similar / Pants: Motherhood / Shoes: Nordstrom Rack / Bag: ALDO – similar / Watch: Michael Kors / Necklace: Baublebar / Bracelet: Baublebar – similar

On Nico / Shirt and Pants: Carter’s / Socks: Gymboree

Happy Monday everyone! Have a great week.

XO,

Gina

{16} Lately…

Lately I’ve been…

reading Children’s books. You know…Green Eggs and Ham, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Ugly Duckling, Blueberries for Sal. Starting Nico young and he is definitely soothed when people talk to him, so we are starting a nightly ritual. As you might imagine, I haven’t had much time for grown-up books these days, but I have been glossing over Health, Marie Claire, and Redbook magazines while pumping.

writing The majority of my writing these days has been logging feeding times for my little guy while we made sure he got back above his birth weight. He was born at 5 lbs. 1.6 oz, and dropped down to 4 lbs. 11 oz. At our last doctor’s appointment, he was well above his birth weight, and I’m pretty sure he is still gaining well! We are very happy he is a healthy growing baby boy.

listening Since Nico has arrived, I have been finding myself listening to more mellow jams. My “Relax” playlist on my iPhone has gotten a lot of play lately.

thinking I can’t believe how fast time is already flying. Nico is already over three weeks, and will hit his four week mark this Thursday. Insane! I’m also thinking that I am very lucky I got to enjoy the first family dinner out with my boys last night, and he was an angel the entire time!

smelling Mrs. Meyer’s baby oil. It smells amazing!

watching I basically caught up on every single TV show that I had on my DVR since I’ve been home. Not that I’ve had a lot of free time on my hands, but just a lot of time at home!

wishing For a little bit more sleep!

hoping To find some more time this week to work on this blog. I have a lot of posts I want to share of things that have been going on, but with a new baby on board, it’s definitely been a challenge!

wearing Mostly leggings and sweats lately. Comfort is key when nursing and staying at home. It’s also a challenge finding things that look flattering on you post-partum. What looks “adorable” with a baby bump does not look so adorable when it’s a post-prego fat bump. I am, however, happy to say that we shot our first post-pregnancy outfit shoot this past weekend! It was nice to put on real clothes again (although I’m still in my maternity pants), and I’m looking forward to sharing soon.

loving Being a mommy. As crazy and exhausting and emotional as it can be sometimes…the good times FAR outweigh the bad! I love seeing Nico smile and those newborn cuddles are just the best. He is such a sweet boy, and I feel so very lucky to have him in my life.

laughing Just took a look at my friend’s wedding highlight video, and saw all of us crazy clowns on the dance floor. One friend was even captured mid cartwheel. It was pretty hilarious!

wanting The weather to be nice this week. I have found that when I can get outside at least once a day and out of the house, I am so much saner and happier! Nico also loves riding around in his stroller, so we both win.

needing A mani/pedi. I was supposed to get my last one the week I went into labor, and so that never happened. I keep saying I will do it myself, but how do you pick up a baby with wet nails? Haha. Needless to say, I have also been sporting closed toed shoes when I leave the house.

feeling Pretty good! It took about two weeks for me to start feeling like my normal self again since giving birth. Besides being tired from a few sleepless nights, I feel quite good. I have managed to take some walks in the past two weeks, met up with a new mom group in the neighborhood last week, and I’m loving it.

craving A personal chef and a house cleaner. I barely have time to eat, let alone cook my food or scrub the floors.

clicking Googling three week baby milestones, and catching up on all my favorite blogs I have missed out on for the past few weeks.

What have you been up to lately?

Happy Monday! Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Love,

Gina

***I was inspired by Tina of Like Ordinary Life to create this post, and she was inspired by Lauren of siddathornton, who started The Sunday Currently.

DIY: Decorate Wooden Letters for Nursery

I got this idea from a friend who recently had a baby, and I just loved her nursery letters! I really appreciated her filling me in on how to make these yourself rather than spending tons of money to have them made, so I figured I would pass this idea along to all of you! It’s simple, quick (it helps when you only have four letters to work with), and easily custom made for any name, color, or theme. Take a look and get crafty!

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The Before:

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Materials:

Wooden letters

Scrapbooking Paper

Scissors

Paper Glue

Scrapbook Stickers

Pencil

All of my materials were purchased at Michaels

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How to DIY:

1. Choose a scrapbooking paper print that you like and flip it over so you are looking at the back of the paper. You can choose all the same or a variety of patterns in the similar color palette depending on your preference.

2. Flip over your wooden letter and place that on top of the paper. It’s very important that these are both flipped over for tracing purposes!

3. Trace your wooden letter, and then use the scissors to cut out the letter shape from the scrapbooking paper.

4. Flip over both the scrapbooking paper and the wooden letter so they are now face up.

5. Use the paper glue adhesive to glue the scrapbooking paper to the top of the wooden letter. Press firmly and set aside to let it dry while continuing with your other letters and scrapbook paper patterns.

6. Once they are all dry, jazz up your letters with some fancy stickers or other types of adornments.

All finished and super easy!