Kids, hotel rooms & why you should wash your hands after reading this.

I know what you're thinking. Oh My Gross. You let your child eat goldfish off a hotel couch?!

No, I didn't really. She was way past the point of eating them here, she was merely playing with them. Making a mess of them. Giving us two seconds of peace & quiet (aka. pretzels & Nutella). Let me tell you about the actual unsanitary shenanigans that took place in this hotel room.

I will preface this by saying that if you haven't already stayed in a hotel room with a baby/toddler, it is nothing short of a nightmare. I've seen people put hotel remotes in ziplock bags while they use them because of the germs. I'm really not much of a germaphobe, but I draw the line at hotel rooms, especially hotel rooms on the beach that college kids & their beer bongs may have just checked out of. One of those places where you just never know if your child is going to pull a piece of bologna out of the bottom nightstand drawer. Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do, other than keep them contained in their play yard, but that's not really fair (and isn't going to help much when you put them in there to sleep), so just be prepared to go through eight hundred packages of Hand & Face Wipes.
On to the story.

We came upstairs one night after dinner, Harper was up waaaaaypastherbedtime, so we were instantly in tag team mode trying to get the show on the road before there was a meltdown. Harper, of course, is running around the room like a mad woman, ornery as ever, squealing with excitement about being awake.  Five seconds into the "you get the baby, I'll get the bath water, everybody panic" routine, I realize my phone has gone missing. We decide that it probably fell out of the beach bag on the way upstairs, so I step out for a second to look for it in the hallway. Of course I find it immediately, lying on the ground outside of the elevator & rush back into the room.
I hear the water running in the room & peek around the corner to catch Brandon trying to blow up the portable tub that we brought along to shelter our child from the diseases that probably lurk in that giant, wet, porcelain ashtray of a bathtub.
I giggle for a second, then quickly realize Harper is not in there. Brandon sees the panic on my face & assures me that she is in the back room. NAKED.
As I come around the corner, I look down & will never forget what I saw.
My sweet, precious baby girl, wearing nothing but her sunglasses, squatting down on the carpet, taking a shit on the floor.

 A disgusting, human shit. With a huge smile on her face. Which she then proceeds to stand up & walk through, tracking it all across the maroon shaggy carpet.
HOLY. MOTHER.
I scoop the kid up, run to the bathroom in horror & drop her straight into the very tub that I swore we wouldn't touch with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole. Of course I scared the daylights out of her, so now she is screaming bloody murder, sitting in a half-filled-cold-water bathtub, surrounded by particles of floating poop.

Needless to say, the rest of the night was a literal shit show, we called the hotel to get them to do whatever was necessary to "sanitize" the area(s) & spent the rest of our unfortunate stay tip-toe-ing around the contaminated room. It's like when you see a spider & then instantly feel one crawling on you? Yea, like that. Poop, everywhere. I feel like I need to wash my arms just retelling the story.

So the next time you're in a hotel room and you drop a goldfish & still consider eating it or think about taking a seat on the floor to chat on the phone?
Think twice. My kid shat there.

Vacation Recap Part Two

One more fun vacation recap post before we get back to reality! :)

Thursday & Friday, we took a few more strolls out to the beach to play in the sand. Harper really couldn't get enough & cried her little eyes out when we had to take her back to the hotel. I love the pictures of her hair blowing in the wind (minus it being greasy as hell from sunscreen), she looks like such a little lady!

I seriously could not get over her baby bikini, I'm not sure if it's the belly or the rolls, but it was certainly the cutest thing I have ever seen. It gets a little awkward with sizing though, we went a size up, but once you cram a diaper in the bottom (we used these swim diapers) it was perfect. The top was a little too big (don't worry kiddo, mama's got the same problems), but hopefully she can still wear it next year! ;)

And for the record, baby powder really does work like a charm in removing sand!! Putting her straight into the bathtub when she was sandy was a horrible idea (more on that later), using baby powder to clean her off outside is totally the way to go.

Ruffled Color-Block Bikini

On our way from St. Pete Beach down to Bradenton, we had to make a pit stop at Mazzaro's, our favorite Italian Market that we used to visit every weekend when we lived there. Harp loved it just as much as we did! :) And for those of you who have asked, we LOVE the Origami Stroller, talk about the absolute MOST fun stroller to push! It is such a smooth ride, opens & closes at the touch of a button & it charges your cell phone?! Total win!

4Moms Origami Stroller, Striped Sun Dress

Updated: Stripe Halter Maxi (Red Haute from Von Maur last season, similar here)

The rehearsal dinner was Friday night, where we ate the most delicious food at the most beautiful restaurant... string lights & all! :) Harper tried bruschetta, asparagus, steak & garlic mashed potatoes, but favored the dinner rolls more than anything. Like mother, like daughter! (I secretly love little pads of restaurant butter, so gross, I know)

The entire thing was going on much past her bedtime, so it wasn't long before she got overly tired & lost her shit.

Saturday was the wedding. Since we were both in it, Harper spent the day at a friend's house, so we were kid free for a few hours! We had so much fun with the bride & groom (and the entire wedding party), it was a beautiful wedding! And open bar... holla!

Harper joined us halfway through the reception & of course, loved dancing her little booty off on the dance floor. This is the only picture that we managed to get of the three of us (epic fail) but after hours of dancing & stuffing our faces with wedding cake, we were a HOT MESS.

But hey, that's what weddings are all about! :)

Vacation Recap

First, I'd like to wish all of you beautiful mamas a very Happy Mother's Day!! We spent the entire day driving (apparently my husband didn't get the memo to buy me a plane ticket) so we will be celebrating next weekend instead :)

Today, I am sulking because vacation is over, but of course very thankful that we made it home in one piece. Traveling (basically spring-breaking in this case) with a baby is bit of a challenge, but overall we had a complete blast! I mentioned before that this was our first vacation, we never took a real honeymoon since we lived in Florida when we came back to Iowa to get married, so we took a lot of time off work for the wedding (and were still living on post-college funds). The beach means a lot to us since we lived there for a while, so we loved getting to take Harper to all of our favorite places.

She was a total beach babe & loved every second of it.

She was all smiles until she dug up a cigarette butt out of the sand & tried putting it in her mouth. Every single one of us said NO! at the same time, which lead to an immediate bottom lip & tears. It was too cute not to take pictures of, although she looks so incredibly sad.

She loved the water. Every time the waves came up to our feet she would get so excited & pant like a puppy with her tongue out.

Confetti Swimsuit (Gap), Coverup, Sunglasses, Jeweled Black Two Piece, Fedora (Target last year, similar here & here)

 She even wrote her name in the sand ;)

 Aside from the sandy beach, we also had a blast in the pool! Harper was so little last summer that she could only go in the pool once or twice for a few minutes, so it was fun to see how much she loved it this time around. Don't worry she had a floppy hat & shades on most of the time except for in this pic right before we hopped out of the pool :)

Green Punk Floral Bikini, Neon Yellow Swimsuit from Gap last season (similar here)

I want to go back.... right meow.

Up next... Vacation Recap Part 2 (aka. more photos), Roadtripping & Beach Essentials & our firsthand account of why hotel rooms are one of the most disgusting places on earth.

Greetings from Florida!

It's official, Harper loved the beach!

 

She couldn't get enough of the ocean & found the sand to be endless entertainment. We rock-paper-scissored for who got to walk her into the sand for the first time (Brandon won), and were lucky enough to have friends around to capture her first steps into the ocean with both of us holding her hands. It was a pretty magical moment seeing her eyes light up & listening to her say "oooooooooooh!"

  Thank you all so much for the sweet comments on my last post & on Instagram, we have all been having such a fun time! We feel so blessed to be able to make these fun memories as a family. (I didn't go to the beach for the first time until I was twenty!) The rest of the weekend will be filled with wedding festivities (champagne & chicken dancing) & our 7 hour drive back on Sunday. (Is it too late to ask for a plane ticket for mother's day?)

Can't wait to share more pictures when we get home. For now, we are sending lots of sunshine your way!

Sources: Confetti Swimsuit (Gap), Coverup, Sunglasses, Jeweled Black Two Piece, Fedora (Target last year, similar here & here)

Maycation!

Fact: My husband & I have never actually taken a real vacation. Granted, maybe this isn't even considered a real vacation since we are in a wedding, but it feels pretty vacation-esque to us! Not to mention, it's our first family vacation! Harper gets to sink her sweet little baby toes into the sand & see the ocean for the first time! 

She is ready to roll with her floppy hat & beach bag packed!

 Straw Hat, Sunglasses, Canvas Duffle

You'll hear from us soon, posting from the Sunshine State! And of course I'll have a tasty, poolside cocktail for each of you... dare me! ;)

Weekend Recap

 Hope you all had a fun & festive Cinco De Mayo weekend! I was excited to see so many of you on Instagram enjoying industrial sized beergaritas & giving your babes finger mustaches. Arriba!

Saturday, we ran some errands, Harper ate Chipotle for the first time & we shopped for bathroom accessories. All while in the pouring rain. I know, exciting business over here.

 Origami Stroller, Leggings (sold out from Old Navy) Towels, Gold Shoes, Lime Baseball Tee

Harper had her first water table experience this weekend.  As soon as we got outside to play with it, mother nature laughed in my face & the temp immediately dropped ten degrees. So, we threw a sweatshirt on her & let her go to town. She surprisingly didn't try to drink out of it, but she promptly took dad's idiotic golf hat off his head & slam dunked it into the water. Well played, kid.

If you can't tell from that hilarious little gremlin smile, she was loving life.

 Water Table

Sunday night, we celebrated Cinco De Mayo with a fajita dinner, sans beergaritas.

H-bomb clearly wasn't as amused with our festive dinner as she was with the water table, but such is life.

And now for the exciting part!

We also finished our downstairs half-bath (for the most part) with the new navy paint! We used Deep Space by Behr & I LOVE how dark it turned out! You can see the before pictures in this post.

 I ended up getting lighter mint colored towels from Target, but haven't found a rug yet. I actually get a little grossed out by bathroom rugs, so I'm not opposed to not having one at all.

 We also changed out the light fixture (purchased here) with the same one that we put in our upstairs guest bathroom (shown below). I love the industrial look of it! We are still in search of a new, much smaller mirror, but overall I am happy with the update.

So what do you think? Do you think I am crazy for painting the smallest room in the house, the darkest color on the paint spectrum? :) I happen to love it. I am considering it as a possible choice for the guest room.

Hasta la Vista, amigos!

Memorial Day Baby Style

Who doesn't love a good three day weekend, hot dogs on the grill & listening to their husband overuse the word 'MERICA. (Maybe that's just me?) I always consider Memorial day to be the start of summer, but I really can't believe all of the cold weather that is still lurking all over the midwest. Mother nature needs a bomb pop.

Either way, it's time for red, white & blue baby style, perfect for both Memorial Day & 4th of July.

 Red & White Striped Dress - Blue Polka Dot One Piece - Floppy Hat

Chambray Pleated Top - Striped Bow Romper

White Tassel Top - Poppy Flower Headband - Navy Dress

Star Bow Headband - White Eyelet Onesie - Jelly Flats

I would wear each & every one of those little girl outfits if they came in my size. Unfortunately they don't so I will probably settle for a navy maxi (my go-to weekend attire). And for those of you who still have a chill in the air, this red, white & blue tissue scarf would be the perfect way to make any outfit festive for the occasion!

 

Striped Button Shirt - Navy Cargo One Piece

Striped Overalls - Little Peanut Onesie - Plaid Conductor Hat

Scuba Shirt - Denim Shorts - Hamburger Shirt

Without a doubt, if I had a little dude, he would be rocking the hamburger shirt with those cutoff shorts. In fact, I think I'll get it for Harper. I have a weird obsession with trying to make boy clothes work as girl clothes.

Ruffle Sleeve Onesie, Headband

Although I guess it's pretty obvious that I like girl clothes on girls too :)

We are hard at work this weekend painting our half bath black navy, packing for Florida & apparently (not by choice) transitioning Harper to only one nap. Over the last week, she has been boycotting second nap, so we have been trying to push back her first nap a little later each day. Sometimes this means feeding her lunch at 11:00 am so she will nap with a full belly, but then she sleeps much longer. 

We are hoping to get it figured out just in time to screw it all up on vacation.

PS. Etsy is now offering instant downloads! If you purchase any of my chalkboard digital prints, you can download them right away AND there are a few new prints in the shop! :) A huge thank you, as always, to everyone who has purchased prints & to everyone for all of your support of the blog/etsy shop!! I appreciate you all so much!