Hey friends! I wanted to pop on here and give you all a low down of one of the best sales of the year that is about to start: The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale! Normally they preview the items in a catalog but this year they have done an online preview! I’m actually loving this so i can see absolutely everything that is in the sale and what I need to snag. I’m excited to share a few tips and tricks & my early look before it starts in a few weeks!
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Shorts- $15! || Top- part of Nordstrom Sale || Sneakers || Belt Bag ||
Thoughts on this week & Nordstrom's Surprise Sale Picks
Cheers to Thursday night and the longest week of all of our lives!! I can’t even put into words how crazy, overwhelming and stressful this past week has been. We went from having a normal life, living our lives ….. to literally seeing everything including stores, gyms, and salons shut down. And to top it all off..schools are closed & we are homeschooling our kids (more on that later!) My heart hurts for so many who are affected by businesses being shut down for an unknown amount of time.
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Top 15 Nordstrom Anniversary Must Haves!
PBB’s Top 15 #NSALE Picks!
Hi friends! Happy Weekend!
I’m super excited to share a ton of content over the next week or so with you all as the #NSALE gets started. There are some really great deals to score over the next few weeks. I thought that I would share my 15 most important items - the ones that have the highest sell out risk or that have the best bang for your buck/most use for years to come (neutrals/basics)…. and then publish another post in a few days grouping everything else(ie. sweaters, jeans, leggings, beauty, mens, kids, Plus sizes, maternity/baby…etc.) that way it makes it really easy if you’re looking for something in particular. Also, availability will be different by the end of this week when the sale goes public so I’ll be sure to select things still available.
I personally ALWAYS focus on stocking up on the basics first before they sell out - short sleeve tees, jeans, leggings, shoes and LS tees. In addition, I look for coats & sneakers for my kids, and shoes/activewear for my hubby!
Right now you can only shop with a Nordstrom Card- BUT the sale does open next week Friday the 19th to the public so stay focused on that if you aren’t a Nordstrom Card holder.
So..without further adeiu ….
I got these booties last year and they are fantastic. Great color options, comfortable enough (even if you’re a mom running around after kids!)
SPANX. If you don’t own these, please buy them. They suck everything in and I swear you don’t see a dimple!
These are hands down my favorite every day leggings. Lifesaver as a mom, especially in postpartum life. I HIGHLY recommend them. They are thick, great quality. Just love.
This pullover is soooo warm for the cold winter days!
Hunter Boots on sale…insert into cart.
I love these booties and purchased them. I’m not so sure about the snakeskin (for me, I’m more of a leopard kind of girl) but they have that print as an option too!
Basic tee for a great price
These tees are great - good for wearing now, layering later. The best purchase I made last year was the LS version of these! Wore them ALL of the time when I was pregnant and then postpartum. Cute top to look put together but comfortable!
I live in my barefoot dreams cardigan in fall and winter! So cozy and worth the price (esp when on sale.) Makes an awesome gift.
If you’re pregnant, or have a friend who is pregnant…BUY THESE. These were the only leggings I wore during pregnancy and wish they made them my first two pregnanies. I swear by these. They don’t roll down, are comfy, can be dressed up or down.
One of my favorite brands of jeans is on sale —check out this pair. They are so comfortable and I love the slight distressing on these bad boys!
These were on sale last year and I waited too long to get them and they sold out. Perfect for now (summer), or layering in the fall/winter! Some great prints.
I’ve wanted this for quite some time and I’m going to splurge on it! I’ve bought a couple as gifts and they are SO dang soft and cozy.
I love these wedge sneaks.
I wear my Sperry’s pretty often in fall/spring. So cute and fun color options.
So excited to share the rest of my picks! Happy Shopping friends! xo
Alex
4 Month Sammy: Favorites, Sleep & Routine
4 Month Samson
Wow, first of all I have to say that I’m literally going to pat myself on the back for actually getting this blog post up and out on the actual day that he turns 4 months. That. is. impressive. Haha. Most of the time I’m like 3 days late with the photo and I get around to the blog post a few days after that! Ha! #MOMLIFE
So, here we are… 4 months! The last month has brought a TON of smiles, his first plane ride & first time in florida, some pretty crappy sleep (ha), lots of rolling and dirty diapers, and his first giggle!
We went to the dr. yesterday and the little guy had a few shots and had his 4 month check up. Currently he’s rocking in at almost 16 lbs (!!) and is in the above 70th percentile for height and weight. Kid doesn’t miss a meal! ha!
He continues to be a SUPER super happy baby. So smiley, engaged, and talkative (in a baby way I mean, of course). He was a pretty good traveller (other than the sleep side of things) and napped on the go pretty well when we were out and about. He loved the water! I’m totally looking forward to experiencing his first summer starting next month and seeing the “summer world” through his eyes! Every single day, regardless of how tired I am, I feel so thankful for our three boys!
Sleep & Routine
I always find it interesting when people share what sort of schedule, if any, that they have for their infants. Sammy is still on the Eat, Play, Sleep schedule and I’m proud of myself for sticking to this! With my older two we always fed before sleep so they got used to nursing to sleep…which makes it harder on you because they always associate falling asleep with nursing or a bottle! Hopefully this pays off.
Naps
Currently we are on a 90 min wake schedule rather than timed naps because every day is a little bit different. Traditionally I have waited until baby has gotten to be 6 -8 months before trying to implement set times/drop down to just a morning and afternoon nap. The last couple of weeks his naps in the morning have been shorter (about 45 mins). In the afternoon he tends to take one long nap (2-3 hours long)This works out alright because my older two are generally napping at the same time so we aren’t missing out on doing anything during that time frame! I know a lot of people do a set schedule like Moms on call, but I want to have the flexibility to take my older kids to the park, walk for one of his naps, etc. and I don’t want too much structure especially with 2 older siblings. So, I try to shoot for 75% of his naps at home and the rest we just roll with!
Vacation, Swaddling & Nighttime sleep
Nighttime sleep hit a real tough patch when we went on vacation. This happened with both of my other kids at the same age, so it doesn’t really alarm me. Its just part of the process. ((sigh)) Unfortunately none of my kids could just adjust really easily being somewhere new when they were babies!
He NEVER got comfortable in the pack and play and then ended up catching a cold from my middle son. So, needless to say it was rough. I think his best night he was up twice, worst was 4-5 times! Ouch. When we got home from the trip I feel like he was all out of schedule and honestly he was just a mess. It took a couple of weeks to get him back on schedule (and a few nights of crying) because he was routinely waking after the trip out of habit and expected me to come into his room like I did when we were in Florida. On top of the travel, we had to remove him from the swaddle and he was also going through the sleep regression. So, yeah. Fun stuff. ha.
I tackled all three problems (unswaddle, post-trip hangover, and the sleep regression) with the following:
Unswaddling: bought the Merlin Sleepsuit and used it for a week to help him transition out of the swaddle. Doing one arm out of the swaddle was NOT working and going cold turkey would have been disasterous. We loved the Merlin! He felt cozy and his reflex didn’t wake him up with it, but he could still move around a little bit which helped the transition. Once I felt he was somewhat used to being out of the swaddle with the Merlin, I put him in a sleep sack because I didn’t want to have to wean him off the Merlin in 4 months.
Post trip Hangover: I tried as much as possible to get back into a routine STAT and try to limit naps on the go for a few days. Things improved after a 5-7 days but he was definitely still waking more than usual…which brings me to….
Sleep Regression: This has always been such a challenge for me with my boys. Each and every one of them went through such a difficult stage with the 4 month sleep regression. This basically means that their sleep cycles are changing to be more like ours, and not like a babies. Which is ultimately good, but CHANGE is hard y’all. Especially when you WERE sleeping and now you AREN’T. lol.
So, I reached the point where I had to let him cry a little bit to learn how to self-soothe. We would periodically go back in and check but after one night (two rounds of intermittent crying), he slept 7pm-4 am. Not every night is like that, but at least I have him back on somewhat of a schedule sleeping from 7pm-1 or 2 am. Usually after that he might be up every 2-3 hours but it sure beats being up every 2 hours like clockwork after I put him to bed! ALSO..he’s out of the swaddle! So #winning!
If he’s still waking when he gets a little older, I’ll get a little more aggressive/serious about sleep training to sleep through the night (between 6-9 months)
Breastfeeding
Nursing is going great- I feel like I’m almost at a point where I’m almost not going to be leaking anymore (yay). He generally nurses about 5 times a day . He still nurses once a night, twice on a bad night. I think its more of a comfort thing for him, not necessarily hunger because a few nights a week he only wakes once. I found with all 3 of my babies that they wanted the comfort and connection when we nursed in the middle of the night. I’m okay with the one wakeup at night, 2 is a bit excessive. ha. So we’re working on that!
I currently still pump when I’m at work or out although I do try to plan things around when he eats (mornings and weekends) because pumping is such a drag. I do love my willow pump though. I can move freely rather than being stuck to an outlet plugged into my hospital grade pump. My review for the Willow is coming in the next 10 days on the blog!
Milestones
Giggling, hands ALWAYS in the mouth (discovering), tons of smiling and rolling from side to side (not onto his belly yet)! Its so fun watching him do new things. A little part of me dies inside because I know its “my last firsts” but I guess thats all part of life, and part of parenthood!
Likes
The Jolly jumper
His playmat
Walks
The Swing
Being around people
Smiling
his brothers
bouncy seat
Baths
Dislikes
Dirty diaper
Car rides (for the most part)
Not being entertained!
Wind
Shots
Sitting in the car seat for too long
Here are a few of our 4 month favorites & some cute apparel we either have or that I think is so adorable!
Hope you all have a great day! xo
Alex
3 Months Postpartum: the Body
3 months Postpartum: the Body
Happy weekend peeps! So glad this week is over-I always find coming back from vacation is so busy. Laundry, cleaning, unpacking, and then being slammed at work! Yikes! Also, sleep has been few and far between so this mama needs some chill time this weekend!
Last week my little guy and I celebrated 3 months old and 3 months postpartum, respectively. I always found 3 months to be such a milestone. Everything is still hard, no doubt, but by this point nursing is usually in a rhythm, you’re getting some (key word: some…I guess some is better than none!) sleep, some smiles, and you’ve somewhat gotten used to baby and the new family dynamic.
State of Mind
This month brought an interesting dynamic to the postpartum body edition. Going on vacation at 3 months postpartum with your 3rd baby can be tough on your confidence and mind. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it weighed a little bit on me (no pun intended ha!). I am definitely heavier than I was, and what I want to be, and was reminded of this about 100 times when packing for the trip haha. Packing shorts, bathing suits, etc. was tough especially when hardly any of it fit. Not to mention making sure I had nursing friendly clothing! Basically 70% of my closet still does not fit me.
However, I was determined to not let it ruin an ounce of my excitement for or during the trip.
I focused on these things heading into this trip and threw my bathing suits on with confidence:
My body has created 3 human beings in 4 years (!!!!)
The extra that I’m carrying is allowing me to feed and nourish my baby.
I’m only 3 months out and I need to respect the process
My experience will not be determined based on whether or not I’m at my pre-pregnancy weight. End of Story.
In saying that, you can bet your bottom dollar I took advantage of the weather and was extremely active down in florida. Tons of walks, runs, good eating and gym sessions were had because I have some goals to crush. And, yeah, body positivity is great. But something I always remind myself is that there’s nothing wrong with respecting and loving your body and still wanting to see change!
The Stats
The good news: down a pants size. The bad news: I only have lost one more pound. I’m slowly inching my way into the 140s which is going to be a HUGE milestone for me (I was around 135/136 pre-pregnancy). On delivery day, I was rocking about 170 lbs so getting into that 140s range is going to mean a lot to me. Also, disclaimer here that many people may not believe I was 135 when I got pregnant but I was strong/muscular and muscle is so much more dense than fat so that is why I weigh a lot more than what people may think. I know a lot of people are very touchy about disclosing how much they weigh (I totally get it) but I want to be completely transparent on my road to fitness so I’ll be sharing everything!
The scale can be tricky. As I’ve stated before, I know that by being consistent with workouts and nutrition may not show on the scale right away, and show in other ways like losing inches or just looking leaner. So, my hope is that from month 3—>month 4 is when I see a 2-4 lb drop that gets me into the 140s. Because whether we want to admit it or not, the scale does matter to all of us, at least a little bit! I think the fact that its measurable has something to do with it.
Nutrition
I’m definitely doing a much better job of increasing my protein macros and decreasing my carbohydrate macros which was a goal of mine over the last month. Since I’ve returned from vacation, I’ve been more strict with my post dinner snack which is going to help me for sure in the long run.
My meals for breakfast and lunch are always pretty basic. Breakfast i generally have eggs and oatmeal. Mid morning snack is a quest bar, followed by lunch which is usually chicken and a salad. Mid afternoon is a protein shake and dinner varies every night. I usually post my dinner on my instagram stories so hop on there for meal ideas!
My biggest battle from Month 2 continues to be eating some sort of processed carb at night (ie. cereal and granola). I’ve not had any all week since I got home from vacation and I’m determined to stick to it. Instead, I choose greek yogurt with some fruit.
Goals for the next month include staying strict with the bedtime snack, and ensuring my macros are on point every day, not just 4 or 5 days of the week.
The workouts
Right now I’m grinding out about 3-4 strength workouts per week. Generally, they are broken up into lower and upper workouts. Usually I get 2 lower, and one upper in. The 4th day is usually a workout filled with some HIIT weight exercises and simple accessory work that I make up on my own in my basement with bands, and kettlebells.
Cardio wise I’m slowly trying to increase my HIIT workouts. All the way through 10 weeks postpartum I strictly focused on steady state cardio with some HIIT thrown in here and there.
My goal is to ideally get 3 days of HIIT in with one steady state. On average right now I’m getting 2 HIIT and one steady state, which is alright. As the weather continues to improve I would love those workouts to be at the track doing intervals. I find that these work excellent for me in terms of fitness and burning fat.I also find that being active outside of workouts is super important, so I try to ramp up my general activity. Getting anywhere from 8-10 miles a day is definitely a goal of mine over the course of May, June, and July.
How I’m feeling & how I battle sleep deprivation when working out
How am I feeling? I guess thats a loaded question. I feel 100 times better than I felt when I was pregnant. And about 2000 times better than the first month postpartum. My incision is fine and I feel great working out-no issues other than fatigued muscles lol!
But I still have such a long way to go before I really, truly feel like myself. I’m up 2-3 times a night and I think thats not so bad….but when you’re going on month 3 , 4, 5, 6 of doing it …it gets real old, real fast.
How do i find the motivation/fit in working out when I’m not sleeping well?
Well, thats pretty tough. Because there are some days where I don’t want to do it. Sure, not sleeping is definitely a legit reason to not workout.
But, at the end of the day, it is still an excuse regardless of whether or not its valid reason.
So, I grind it out. And getting to where i want to be is an accumulation of little choices I make each and every day that add up to be big choices. Like, take a nap or go for a walk. Eat the yogurt or the processed cereal. Tons of tiny decisions on the daily that will make or break whether I get to where I want to be.
I also get creative with workout times-I try to avoid super early AM workouts for obvious reasons (normally when I get a good amount of sleep I love them), and try to do more on the weekends when I have help.
My biggest motivators are knowing how good I will feel about myself when I’m strong. How much more energy I’ll have because I’m fit and healthy. And …. the feeling when my clothes fit me great, and I’m a confident Bad ass bitch.
Exercise of the month:
I’m (hate) loving burpees at the moment. What a great exercise. No equipment needed, works the whole body, raises the heart rate, and you don’t need much space for it! BOOM.
Thats all for now!
Have a great day! xo
Alex