Life as a New Mom

These past 8 weeks have blown by incredibly fast, as I mentioned in my post below. It's hard to remember what life was life before Owen graced us with his presence. It's even harder to think I've only been a mommy for 8 weeks (plus 40 weeks, if we're counting pregnancy). I was looking at my bump pictures the other day and I couldn't believe how big I was!

I'll be honest with you guys, when we first brought Owen home, I never thought I would sleep again and while I enjoyed life with my new baby boy, it was so rough getting used to life with a newborn. That, on top of recovering from giving birth and dealing with all the insane hormones (or lack thereof) that my body was trying to adjust from was so hard. I was so thankful that Tyler was able to get a week off of work to help me regain some strength but unfortunately, he had to go back to work the first day that we were able to take Owen home and I had no idea what to expect and that first night was so tough to push through. I thought it would never get better...

Even though that was only seven weeks ago, I wish I could go back and tell myself that it is all going to be okay, so I'll tell you guys, as some of you will be new moms soon: life will get easier, taking care of a baby will get easier, it just takes some time to get into a schedule, and don't be afraid to cry and let it out. Cry.. and cry some more! I don't think I've ever cried as much as I did those first couple weeks after Owen was born.

Now that it's been 8 weeks since Owen's birth, we have gotten our routine down. While Owen still runs the show over here, life is easier and I'm much more adjusted to the lack of sleep. My days are filled with many lattes (my espresso machine is a life-saver), feedings, diaper changes, diaper washes.. (hooray for hand-washing cloth diapers everyday... we really need a washer & dryer), google searches (if you have kids, you completely understand), and lots of cuddles. It's amazing when I find time to make dinner for me and Tyler (yay for bacon-wrapped meat loaf tonight!)

Espresso is good for the soul... and sleep-deprived moms

Even though I have a lot on my plate, I still find myself craving to work and craft. There are so many things I keep adding to my to-DIY list (I have even been looking at 1st birthday party ideas.. I'm getting a little ahead of myself) and I can't wait till I have an opportunity to do some of them. Some crafts I hope to do sooner than later are: baby leggings, making a tablecloth for our dinner table, and hopefully getting around to getting our photo gallery up. We moved into our new apartment in the middle of November and still really haven't gotten around to doing any home decor (we still really need an ottoman and end tables). By the time we have it all situated, our lease will be up!

I wish I had unlimited space & money for fabric alone..

Being a new mom has been such stress and fun and I wouldn't have it any other way (okay.. maybe I wish Tyler could work from home) and while there are days when the house isn't in the condition I would like it to be, it's still filled with the people I love the most and if I spend more time cuddling with my son rather than cleaning a few dishes, who cares? I am going to enjoy every moment I can as a new mommy with my adorable family..

Little Owen enjoying his first fire!

Quiet Morning

Good morning, sweet people. 

This morning, I find myself reflecting on this past year, especially these past couple months and how much they have changed my life. I am sitting in bed, coffee in hand, enjoying the oddly quiet feeling in the apartment this morning. I don't know if it has to do with the fact that my little guy slept for 5 1/2 hours straight last night (an all-time record!) or what but, it has me in an extremely reflective mood.

I am in utter shock as to how quickly life is going by now that I'm done with school, married, and have a little one.. to think that I did all of these things in just under a year is impressive and I'd like to say I'm at a point in my life where I am just content, I don't need anything else in my life right now. It is just right.

All my life there has always been something to strive for whether it be a degree, a perfect guy to share my life with, or a sweet little person(s) to fill our home with.. there's always been something, but today, I find myself really relishing in all that I have. I am truly grateful for my little family and to be honest, a little emotional towards the fact that time is just going by too fast, no matter how slow the days seem to go by. I had my precious bundle of joy almost 7 weeks ago and in all honesty, it feels like just yesterday I was in the hospital. You always hear people tell you, "cherish every moment, they will be grown up before you know it", and I'm just now realizing how true those words are. Tyler and I were talking yesterday about how we're going to be old before we know it and if time continues to go at the rate it is, we will be in our 60s by next month.

I can be extremely uptight sometimes and it's easy to get wrapped in frustration from the day-to-day activities, so I hope I can hang on to this peaceful feeling for a while. I am so happy that I'm able to document these experiences and I can only hope that by reading this posts in the future, I can recapture this sense of calm and peacefulness I am experiencing today.

And I'm off to go to tend to my sweet baby boy.. I hope you guys have a great day.

xx

Something Sweet Sunday

Hello everyone! I hope you all had an amazing week. Things were pretty boring in the Johnson household (well as boring as they could get with a newborn), but we enjoy the slow life here. Before we get started here are my favorite pictures from our week. The many faces of Owen. Life with a newborn is so much fun... we are getting good at this!

 

 

  

He cracks me up! 

Anyways, for this week's 'Something Sweet Sunday' I made a blueberry-cream-cheese-croissant-bake! For names sake, let's just call it Blueberry Bread Pudding, because that's what it pretty much is.

This was such an easy dish to pull together and with my little guy, easy and quick meals are a necessity. My favorite part about this is that it serves well as a breakfast or dessert dish (at least it started out as breakfast and I found myself eating it later for dessert.. Haha). 

Okay moving on to the recipe.

Blueberry Bread Pudding:

• 3 large croissants (I had 6 smaller sized ones)
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1 16oz package of cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 package of blueberries (8oz, fresh or frozen but, fresh is best, frozen blueberries tend to retain a lot of water)
• Powdered sugar
  
  ** if you want to use regular sugar it's 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 cup of milk

 I'll start with my ingredient picture, doesn't it all look so pretty together? Haha, anyways, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and gather all your supplies! 

Now get to whipping your cream cheese (so there's no clumps!) and always make sure it's room temperature.

Mix in your honey with the cream cheese until combined, then add the rest of your ingredients. 

Then put your croissant pieces in a bowl (or you can put them in an 9in square pan and skip the nonsense) and then add your cream cheese mixture and let sit for 20 minutes.

Then sprinkle your blueberries all over. I put half the blueberries in first and kind of mixed it in with the croissant pieces and then topped the rest with the remaining blueberries. Then put in the oven for 20-25 minutes. YUM! Almost there...

Okay, now let your beauty cool just a bit... and get the powdered sugar ready! (I love my oven mitt and I thought it looked good with the picture :])

Cut a nice slice out and powder it up! Of course you can always put maple syrup as well, or you can eat it plain. Either way, it will be great! The cream cheese definitely makes this recipe shine. Yum, yum, yum! 

Next step, EAT and enjoy!

Something Sweet Sunday

Hello everyone. I hope you are enjoying your Superbowl Sunday (& Groundhog Day, too!). This week I have been wondering what to post about and while I came up with a couple good ideas (I'll save those for later), I wanted to find something to inspire me to continue to post on here and I thought what better way to do that than by baking!

Over the past few months, I have found that I have not been baking nearly as much as I'd love to and of course since having the little guy, there really is not a ton of time to get that done. So, my recipe collection has continued to grow. To eliminate this problem I have decided to set aside one day a week (or maybe more) to make one of the delicious foods I've been meaning to! So, this Sunday will mark the beginning of that journey for me and I thought that it would be a pretty great thing to blog about since there's no better inspiration than food.

This Sunday I made Oatmeal Cake w/ Coconut Pecan Frosting! Ahhh, I have been meaning to find a recipe like this since me and Tyler went to San Francisco for our anniversary this past July. We stopped by an adorable little (seriously.. it was maybe 150 sq ft) coffee shop, Hollow. At Hollow, we enjoyed this cake, coffee, and endless conversation. Ah, I love San Francisco. It brings out a whole new personality in me and Tyler. We need to go back soon!

Anyways, this past week, I saw that a friend had pinned a recipe for that cake that I forgot about and I knew I had to make it this week!

So here it is--

Oatmeal Cake:

• 1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal
• 3/4 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of butter

Coconut Pecan Frosting:

• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Now gather all your ingredients and take hundreds of photos of them! Haha... I'm kidding.. sort of. ;)

Then combine your oats & boiling water and SET ASIDE.

 

Take the remaining ingredients and combine well. 

 Then add in your oatmeal mixture and it will look like this picture above. 

Butter & flour an 8x8 pan (square, circle, whatever floats your boat) and pour mixture in. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Gather all your frosting ingredients!

And combine until it looks like this.. just take a spoon and mix it all together.

 Then once your cake is out of the oven, spread this on top and send it back in on BROIL until the coconut is browned (this part goes quick, so keep an eye on it), then VOILA, you have a cake.

 

Then the hard part comes and you have to wait for it to cool. Yep, awful.. to speed the process along, I usually just set it in the fridge because I'm impatient and tired of waiting! 

Once your cake is cooled, cut that bad boy up and serve with a couple shots of espresso or a big glass of milk. Or whatever you want. I don't mind.

Welp, that's all I got for this evening. Tyler and I loved it and I haven't officially had a slice yet so I better go do that before the babe wakes..

xo