Inspiration Monday - A wonderful weekend

Hello everyone!  Welcome to another fun filled week!  Did you all have good weekends?  I had a much better weekend than last weekend!  I'll get to all of that in a minute, but first up, Inspiration Monday with two birds.  The model this week is Poppy DeLavigne, who has been an IM model before, but I still don't know who she is....I'm so out of touch with life.  Anyway, here is her look.

I'm totally coveting those pants - I have never tried snake print though!  Anyway, here's my total blink if you look outfit - I tried.  I wanted to keep it work appropriate and had a hard time finding just the right thing, so yeah, not my greatest attempt, but here it is!

Sweater - Mossimo, Target, swap

Pants - Style&Co, Macy's (old)

Shoes you can't see well due to my extra long pants - Steve Madden, thrifted 

So the weekend was fantastic.  Oliver is getting over his cold.  He went to bed nice for us on Friday night and we streamed a grown up movie off of Amazon that is actually recent!  That is a big deal people! We watched American Hustle.  It was really good!  I was impressed with how well the costuming reflected the time period and the acting was good too.  I highly recommend it!

Saturday I actually got to go out for a little bit sans baby in the morning to go shop with my mom, she wanted to get a new dress for Easter and a wedding we have in the family later this spring, so The Pants Monkey hung out with Ollie and I went with her.  It's rare to get out and do something like that these days!  After I got home we were going to go somewhere for lunch with Ollie but he was a little on the cranky side so we opted to stay home.  He was really sleepy on Saturday - maybe still recovering a bit - so we just let him nap as much as he wanted.  We did go out on a nice family walk since the weather was good.  We ended up renting a movie that evening too - a movie called Drinking Buddies that was pretty cute.  We also grilled for dinner - yum!

Sunday was my favorite - we took Oliver for his very first visit to our local zoo!  I adore this zoo we have nestled in the middle of the city.  I've been itching to bring him there and since the weather was finally decent it was just the day to go.  He loved it!  I have to share a couple of pictures.

He wasn't too into a lot of the animals which I kind of expected - though he did show some interest in the penguins seen above here and also the giraffes and kudu - I think because we could get him nice and close to those.  He also loved the indoor Conservatory - tons of plants and greenery, I think he liked all the color.

When he gets a little older we'll come back and take a picture of him sitting on this turtle, but for now I figured a picture next to the turtle would work!  There were lots of other folks out enjoying the nice day there - we got there plenty early though and were able to get a good parking spot and were more or less done before it got super crowded.  We stopped at one of our favorite delis to get sandwiches for lunch on the way home.  Then Ollie took a nice long nap and mama got a haircut.  It was even warmer when he woke up so we went on one more walk.  The weather isn't going to be as nice the rest of this week so we figured, better soak it up while we can!  

Overall it was just a lovely weekend, we had some really nice quality family time.  I'm so ready for spring to be here to stay, I hope it will be soon.

For more Inspiration Monday outfits - hit up two birds over here!

Still standing

Well we've made it to Friday my friends!  It has been a week.  Sorry for my radio silence yesterday but I ended up staying home with my kiddo - teething plus catching his daddy's cold did not make for a happy baby.  We did not get any sleep on Wednesday night, so I was pretty much a zombie yesterday, there was just no way I was going to function at work.  We rested yesterday and at least got some sleep last night, so I'm back at it today.

Given the challenging week and the fact that it snowed a bit yesterday, I just needed to pull out something springy and fun to perk things up a bit, so I chose this new to me tank top that I got from Court's Crazy Closet on Instagram at the same time as the bird shirt I wore last week.  Add a sweater and boots and you're still set for winter weather, but at least I feel like it's pulling a bit towards spring.  The big news is it should get up to about 60 degrees here on Sunday - that's going to be cause for celebration around here I think!

Sweater - Mossimo, Target

Tank top - Daytripper from Court's Crazy Closet on IG

Jeans - Levi's, thrifted

Bag - Lulu's

Boots - Mossimo, Target

Necklace - gift from friend

So anyway, it was a week of all weeks, but I'm here and still standing and looking forward to a weekend to rest and relax with my baby and my hubby and hope that it's better than last weekend!  We just go one day at a time!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Mini-Ollie Update - 16 weeks

I haven't done an Oliver post in awhile so felt compelled to do so today.  His four month birthday isn't until next week, so we'll still do an update post then too, but I can still share a little bit now!  16 weeks old yesterday.

He's become quite a chatterbug as of late, I just adore listening to him babble.  He's definitely a morning person - he's at his best between about 8:00 am and noon or so.  If he gets good afternoon naps we can get some pleasantness in the early evening before bedtime too, but it depends on the day.

We've started adding a book to our nighttime routine and I love that he actually looks at the pictures.  He cuddles in and even seems to be listening to us.  It's one of my favorite times of the day.  Our nighttime routine has been go for a walk on the evenings it's been warm enough and if it's not, we play a bit, then pajamas, storytime, nurse a bit, swaddle, lullaby, bop to bed.  Yep, bop to bed.  He likes to be bounced more than rocked or swayed.  We learned that trick from the book The Happiest Baby on the Block and it seems to work well for now. I don't take it for granted though that we have a routine that works right now - it could always change!

I've been having fun with the A Beautiful Mess app for pictures I've taken.  I have to thank Lori for telling me about it!  It's pretty easy to use which is pretty much a requirement for me.  It's getting harder to get good pictures of my little guy too, he moves around quite a bit whether he's doing tummy time, floor mat time or jumping in his jumperoo.  This boy loves to move and I fear a bit the day he starts crawling - and especially walking. I don't know that we'll be able to keep up!

I could watch him sleep for hours.  He had a difficult evening the other night and just didn't want to go to bed on his own right away, so I cuddled him while we watched TV and I remembered how much I love watching him sleep.  I don't ever want to forget these moments.

The teething fairy is still hanging around and doesn't look like she'll be leaving anytime soon.  We are using both Naturals Baby Orajel and sometimes Tylenol if it's bad enough and it does seem to take the edge off. Other than those issues though he's really coming into his own as a sweet little person and I could not love him more!  I'll share more in next week's monthly update, but I just couldn't resist taking time for Ollie this week too since he's changing by the day!

Fresh new day

Hello!  Thanks to all of you who read my vent yesterday and left such sweet comments!  The day got a little better and ended with Tylenol for baby, Nyquil for daddy and a beer for mommy, so it could have been worse!  We all got a little more sleep last night at least!  Today seems a little better so far!

So even though I am a little more rested I still was having a hard time deciding what to wear today - so I decided to let Pinterest dress me again!  I have a bunch of outfit ideas pinned right now that I can very easily put together and it so helps me some mornings when I'm in a fog!

It would be nice if I could start wearing items I've pinned that are more spring like, but since winter is holding on here, I chose a "winter to spring" type look with my mint jeans, boots and a scarf.  It would be very easy to do this look again later in spring by removing the scarf like the gal above did in one picture and maybe even wearing flats instead of boots!

Sweater - Decree, JcPenney, thrifted

Tank top - Liz Lange nursing top, from friend

Jeans - JCP, JcPenney 

Boots and scarf - Target

I always feel so fresh when I wear these jeans - I suppose part of that is because they are mint and mint equals freshness!  I just love that I can cheat and wear jeans to work as long as they are colored!  I should get a few other pairs in various colors - the only other pair I have is red.

So anyway, today just feels better overall so it seemed like a good day to wear a "fresh" look for a "fresh" new day.  Hope you are all having a wonderful Tuesday as well!

Inspiration Monday - Thanks, Universe

I'm going to put this disclaimer out here right now - I didn't have a great weekend.  So I am going to whine a little bit about that.  But before I do and in case you don't want to hear my sob story, I'll first talk about this week's Inspiration Monday with two birds and my take on the look they chose.  This week's look is from Olivia Palermo. 

I did my best to make it work appropriate and my take is far less fun than hers as I do not have any fun colorful shoes like that, but I did my best.  Here we go.

Sweater - H&M, thrifted

White blouse - via swap

Pants - Simply Vera, Kohls

Shoes - Mossimo, consignment

Necklace - gift

And now on to my sob story.  Basically it boils down to this - having a sick husband and a teething child at the same time is simply not fair.  And that is what I was dealing with this weekend.  The Pants Monkey has a bad cold and Mr. Oliver is still teething - I swear these teeth must be coming in from Rome, they sure are taking their sweet time.  So between those two things, I felt like the Universe was kind of having it's way with me. I need a vacation.

On top of that, I got a rejection letter for something I applied for - not work related, but it doesn't really matter what - and it just kind of made me go "what am I doing here?" (and then my head goes "with Fatty and Spotty and Fatty and Spotty" because apparently I live in an episode of Black Books - if you've never watched that show, it's on Hulu right now, go watch now.  You won't regret it).  I'm over it now, but it is no fun getting that kind of news when the world is already pushing you down.

The bright spots of my weekend were going to a baby/kid consignment sale (the same sale I went to when I was still pregnant) and finding lots of new clothes that will fit for Oliver and then getting a ton of stuff washed in my awesome new washer and dryer.  The new washer and dryer are so awesome!  And they play music when they finish which is just too adorable.

Anyway, the TL;DR version of this post is, I had kind of a crummy weekend, but it's Monday, it's a new day and we're moving on!  For more Inspiration Monday looks, hit up two birds over here.  Back to your regularly scheduled happy Bethie tomorrow.  I hope!

Fun with Math

I hated math in school.  It was not my best subject.  But sometimes math and numbers can be fun. Tomorrow is my dating anniversary with the Pants Monkey and yes, we've been married a long time now, but I can't help but always recognize this date too.  And this year is not a significant number - not like last year anyway - but it's still a fun one involving some math.  Here we go class - fun with math!

We're 32 years old right now.  Tomorrow we will be together 16 years.  That is half of our entire lives.  But wait - it gets better.  This May we will have been married for 8 years.  That will be half of the entire time we've been together and a quarter of our lives!  It's the year of the halves I guess!  See - math can be fun!

Sweater - Free People, consignment

Cami - Christopher and Banks, from cousin

Jeans - American Eagle, thrifted

Shoes - Steve Madden, thrifted

Bag - Lulu's 

Necklace - S&D

I'm kind of a "Rain Man" about dates and tomorrow is also the anniversary of something else rather significant, but I won't go into too much detail as maybe it's TMI - but if you do the math, maybe you'll figure it out. Class dismissed!  Have a great weekend!

First day of spring

It is the first day of spring - but it still isn't anything spring like outside.  We actually had a freezing fog alert this morning - what the heck is that?  Seriously.  Anyway, I chose a nice green for spring look today - I probably should have wore this on St. Patrick's Day, but oh well.  

 It's crazy to me how fast this month is going.  I guess it's true what they say when you have kids, time really does go fast sometimes!  I'm looking forward to this weekend, we don't have plans and it will be nice to have some family time!  I just wish the weather was going to be a little nicer, I'd like to take Ollie to the zoo or something.  I know we'll be able to do all of that soon hopefully.

Shirt  - Mossimo, Target, thrifted

Pants - Athleta, from sister in law

Necklace - DIY by me

Purse - Lulu's

Most exciting blog post ever.  I just have so little to share I guess!  So I'll just leave with a question - is it springy where you are?

Also I am linking up with Heather, Andi and Ashley today for a Green Week link up!  Head over to any of their blogs to see other green looks and add your own!

The Bethie Bunch

One of my co-workers said "hey you're wearing the Brady Bunch pants today!"  These wild pants are reminiscent of something out of the 70's I suppose!  I still love them though!  Long time readers of this blog know how much I love plaid - and these pants!  

My co-worker is a good guy though.  Really I have a great team of folks to work with.  We're our own version of the Brady Bunch I suppose!  They make it easier for me to be at work and away from my baby, I think if I didn't have great folks to work with, it would be a lot harder.  My new boss is working out well too - he also is a dad to three little ones, so it's helpful that he understands when things come up with Ollie.

Sweater - Derek Heart, thrifted

Pants - No Boundaries, thrifted

Necklace - S&D

Bag - Lulu's

And our never ending winter continues, so today just called for a cozy sweater with my crazy pants.  I'm relieved we didn't get as much snow as they originally predicted!  Spring starts tomorrow - maybe we'll actually get a spring this year.  One can hope!  In Minnesota we have to always have hope!

Birds fly

I still need to charge my regular camera battery, but I had to share this adorable shirt today - this was another purchase from an Instagram shop - and it has freaking birds on it!  I had to have it.  I'm such a nerd.  But it's birds!!

Bird shirt - Gap, via Court's Crazy Closet on Instagram

Sweater - Decree, JcPenney

Pants - Express, consignment

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Boots - Target 

And beyond that I have nothing terribly witty to share today - the baby had a rough night, there is no coffee in my office yet and I pulled a muscle in my back so I'm kind of in a fog right now.  And it's snowing again, but when isn't it lately?  I did get a new washer and dryer delivered to my house last night and I'm kind of excited to go home and wash clothes in it - that just tells you the level of excitement in my life these days!  I'm such a mom.  And a 30 something.  Woo hoo!

Inspiration Monday - Luck O The Irish

Hello everyone!  I'm actually participating in two birds Inspiration Monday for the first time in weeks!  Can you believe it??  Anyway, the model this week is Alyssa Miller - Jake Gyllenhaal's girlfriend.  

My pictures aren't the best, my regular camera died so I had to rely on the cell phone this morning - but I kind of went for a mishmash on both of their outfits in a way!  And it's St. Patrick's Day so I had to pull in some green too!

I am a small amount Irish - and I know, aren't we all on St. Patrick's Day? - and it may not be much, but I'm proud of what I have!  We'll be celebrating this evening with corned beef brisket and a little beer.  Last year Mr. Monkey and I may have went a little overboard in our celebrating, so I'm kind of glad we will be keeping it a bit more low key this year!

Shirtdress - Gap, thrifted

Jacket - AMX, from cousin

Leggings and boots - Target

And before I go, I have to share this picture of my little lucky charm  - he just barely fits into this onesie I bought him for today from Old Navy, but it at least works well enough for today!  He's my favorite.

He was so well behaved at my cousin's wedding this weekend - I was pretty proud of him!  He did great in the car too which gives us encouragement for a bigger road trip we'll be taking this summer!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!  And be sure to check out two birds here for more Inspiration Monday outfits!

Spring is springing

We have finally had some decent weather here in Minnesota this week - it's been wonderful!  So much stuff is melting, it's just fantastic.  We've been taking little family walks in the evenings and Oliver loves it!  Sadly, next week is not looking quite as nice, so we've just been enjoying it while it lasts!  Anyway, in the spirit of spring, I pulled together a very springy outfit.

Sweater - Mossimo, Target

Scarf - Mossimo, Target

T-shirt - Mudd, Kohls

Pants - JCP, JcPenney

Shoes - Xhilaration, from Lori 

All my favorite colors rolled into one look!  It just feels so fresh and happy - but still keeping me warm as it isn't so nice you can't go without sleeves quite yet.

This weekend we have a wedding to go to for one of my cousins.  It will be a couple of firsts for Oliver - first wedding and first longer car ride as we'll have to travel almost two hours to get there.  I'm a little nervous about it, but hopefully he will nap in the car and be fresh and happy at the actual wedding.  We'll see how things go I guess!  Wish us luck!

I'm also linking up with the fabulous Renae for Fashion Item Friday - she's talking spring and I think my springy scarf fits the bill perfectly!  Head on over to her blog to see what Fashion Item Friday is all about! 

Pinned and Did It - Striped skirt

I have tons of outfit ideas pinned for my jersey black and white striped skirt.  I told my mom the other day if I could live in this skirt everyday I would.  It's so freaking comfortable and yet it's stylish and I can't get enough of it.  There will be more pin-spired looks from this skirt, I can guarantee it.  Today I chose this one.

How adorable is this chick, seriously?  Anyway, this outfit could not have been easier to put together. Sweatshirt, scarf, striped skirt, black tights, brown boots. Boom.

That's right.  I'm wearing a sweatshirt.  To work.  The scarf and the skirt make it dressy somehow.  It works.  Really.  Maybe I'm trying to convince myself too much - it does seem like a crime to be wearing something this comfy at work.

Sweatshirt and skirt - Mossimo, Target

Scarf and boots - Target

Apparently I'm also a walking ad for Target in this outfit.  Oh well, it is my home away from home after all.  I won't be surprised if Oliver's first word is "Target".  He's been there quite a bit in his short little life so far!

For more Pinned and Did It Posts, head on over to Heather's blog!

That's Entertainment

I tell you guys - I am so behind on entertainment and pop culture right now!  Even though we have been lucky enough to get Oliver to bed early enough to watch TV a little bit in the evenings, we've been choosing to watch old shows in favor of our current ones because we're just nerdy like that.  Right now we've been making our way through The West Wing.  I never watched it the first time around.  We just started season two, I am so hooked!  We've also been re-watching Dead Like Me for the third time through I believe. Sometimes the tried and true shows are just more fun to watch.  Some of our regular shows are just not as good anymore and I feel that now that my time is more precious, I'd rather not waste it on something that I'm just lukewarm to.

The one show I have made sure we've stayed current on is Shameless - it is a show that has yet to let me down in terms of entertainment quality.  I find that to be true of most of the shows from Showtime or HBO. It is definitely not a lighthearted show or one for the faint of heart though!  This season has gotten exceptionally dark. Thankfully Portlandia is back now too, so we always have that watch and decompress after we watch Shameless!

Sweater - Love 21, swap

Pants - Herbergers

Bag - Shiraleah via Zulily

Necklace - S&D

In other entertainment news in my world - there are about five movies coming out this month that I want to see and not enough time or babysitters to make that happen. Mostly it's time - we have very willing babysitters actually.  But anyway,  Muppets Most Wanted, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Divergent and the Veronica Mars movie are all out very soon or maybe are already out and I'm dying to see all of them.  Who knew March was such a big movie month?  Someday I'll get around to all of them!

Oliver the Overachiever

We've been joking on and off since Oliver has been born that he is a bit of an overachiever.  He has been trying to hold his head up on his own since his second week of life, he has been trying to stand with assistance almost that long as well, he seems to hit his growth spurts about a week to even two weeks before the normal age.  Well we can add one more early bird milestone to the list.

Teething.  TEETHING?  Lord, help us all.

I wish I was kidding.  Over the weekend we noticed he seemed to be a little extra fussy again and we thought that was odd because he had seemed to finally be outgrowing his fussy stage.  He was kind of resisting the bottle too, which again, was odd because he was finally starting to get pretty good at the bottle within the last week.  Sunday night he had two extreme crying episodes, one while we were over at my in-laws for dinner, and at first we chalked it up to maybe daylight savings time messing with his bio-rhythms.

Then yesterday I started putting two and two together when I looked at some other behaviors he had been exhibiting - chewing on his fists like mad, drooling so much his PJ's were soaked beyond being able to be warn, seeming perfectly happy until it was time to eat - I started thinking, maybe this is the beginning of teething.  I don't rely on Dr. Google for everything - but much of what I was finding from very reputable sources also said it's perfectly normal for teething to begin as early as three months or as late as twelve months.

My mom ended up calling me late in the afternoon when he had another uncontrollable, inconsolable crying fit and said he wouldn't take the bottle or anything.  I left work early and managed to get him to nurse - but we checked his gums and sure enough, the bottom gum has a little swollen bump.

Now that we know what we're dealing with we can try to help him.  I tell you nothing is worse than knowing your baby is in pain and not being able to magically make it go away.  Thankfully it hasn't seemed to affect his nighttime sleep too badly, he slept pretty well last night.  We also took him for a walk yesterday evening - our first one outside in our neighborhood.  It was so nice out we just couldn't resist and I think the fresh air really helped relax him a bit.  I just hope and pray this phase is a quick one and we have our happy guy back as soon as possible!  Until then, the best remedy is cuddles and patience.

Even on the worst of days we still get some smiles - he's pretty damn cute if I do say so myself.  And hey, if he keeps on this overachieving track in life maybe we'll hit other more awesome milestones early - potty training perhaps??

Everybody wins

Well, I tell you, I just had an interesting weekend.  What started out as a simple plan to put new tires on my existing car somehow turned into me finishing the weekend with a new to me car instead.  Never a dull moment friends.

My old car was a 2001 CR-V.  We've slowly been doing work on it here and there to keep it going and it's been treating us pretty well.  After getting the new tires put on it on Friday, the tire guys mentioned that we had some broken sway bars that we might want to have replaced so they wouldn't cause problems for the new tires.  My dad was with me since Mr. Monkey was at work and he said he'd go to my mechanic with me and pick me up while they worked on it if I wanted.  I figured, I have the day, why not.  My mechanic said they'd call when they had everything figured out.  Well, when he called it turned out there were far bigger issues going on with the car than we realized.  Major issues that would be cause for safety concerns. The cost to repair these things were suddenly almost as much as the car was even worth at this point.  My parents had a quick pow-wow away from me and then came back into the room and offered to sell us their much nicer newer 2008 CR-V for a very generous amount of money considering it has extreme low mileage and has been very well cared for.  I got the Pants Monkey on the phone and we chatted briefly and agreed we'd be foolish to turn this down.  My parents had been wanting to upgrade to a newer one anyway, so they got themselves a nice new 2014 and we get their 2008.  Somehow everyone wins, but this certainly wasn't how I expected my weekend to turn out!

Tank top - Old Navy

Blazer - Bill Blass, thrifted

Skirt - Tandem Vintage

Necklace - Gumeez teething necklace via Zulilly

Boots - Target 

We will be under a bit of a tighter budget even with my parents giving us a nice deal on buying their car, so it looks like I might be giving up shopping for Lent after all.  I wasn't going to this year!  Fortunately, I had a gift certificate to Tandem Vintage - so I picked up this fun leopard skirt at their sale this weekend.  I had done a little shopping at Target and Old Navy last week before this all went down too, so at least I got myself a handful of pretty new things.  Time to lock up the wallet for a little bit though!  But hey, I have a pretty nice new ride, so I guess things could be worse!

Feline Friday

I haven't talked about the cats in ages here.  I feel for them, they most definitely have taken a backseat to Oliver, but we have done our best to show them as much love as we can, especially when he's sleeping.  His new evening schedule is working well for this, he goes to bed, we eat a little dinner and then we get kitty snuggle time.  And even though I mostly share pictures of Oliver here - believe it or not I still take pictures of my fur babes too - they were my first babies and I still love them like crazy!  Here are a few:

Pippin loves to sit pretty much anywhere she shouldn't be.  She was hanging out on the top of our basement bar the other night.  Maybe she wanted a beer.

Taylor has made friends with Oliver, it's really quite cute.  I really thought being that she's a little older and has some emotional issues (a lot of rescue cats do) that she'd have a hard time with him, but she seems to be handling him just fine - she'll even jump on my lap when I'm nursing or playing with him and lick his head. And he thinks she's the bees knees, he gets so excited when she comes near him.  I've slowly started teaching him how to "pet the kitty" - I fear for her when he really figures it out though!  I think Pippin will like him a bit more when he's just a little older and a little less noisy.  At least I hope so.

We have a giant homemade diaper bag that a friend of my mother-in-law made us and I use that to take back and forth to my parents house each day.  After I got home a week ago, Pippin decided it would make a nice bed.  Pippin is a huge cat - so that should give you some idea as to how big this bag is!

As you've heard me complain, it's been a freaking cold winter.  You know it's a cold day when these two are cuddled up together somewhere - and I found them like this quite often when I was home on maternity leave. They'd keep Ollie company when he'd be napping in my bedroom.

They're good girls and really, they've taken the whole "new baby in the house" thing pretty well overall.  It could be much worse, my parents had to re-home a cat after I was born, so I'm glad things haven't gone that badly at all!  Of course my son comes first, but I sure would miss these little furballs!