Baby Marin: Week Six

Six weeks. Week six. I now have only 35 days until I return back to work full time. Who's counting? Clearly I am. Clearly I'm not fully ready to return just yet. I want to just hang out with my kid all day, write my blog, work on some other business ventures, and scrub my kitchen. That sounds good to me.  I plan to embrace the next 35 days with gusto, with determination, with a focused passion for the little details in the everyday and to witness every little change in our little girl as she continues to grow far too quickly. I want to soak it all in.



This week is going to be a good one. My first order of Doterra oils should be arriving on my doorstep any day now. I had my 6 week postpartum appointment yesterday and I plan to dive head first into really exercising again. So far it's just been little walks here and there. I'm ready for some intensity in my workouts, to really feel it the next day. It's been a while, that's for sure. My jeans (well, not my old jeans, the ones that are a way larger size than I'd like at the moment) still don't fit well. Nothing fits well. It's true what they say: your post-pregnancy body is very different from your pre-pregancny body. Even though I'm slowly losing the weight, everything has settled different. Jean shopping isn't one my favorite things right now. Yoga pants are lovely. Elastic is my friend.

Marin is still growing like a weed. I am always surprised in the morning when I sit down to nurse her and realize that she feels bigger than the night before. Every time she smiles, Ryan and I can't help but comment on how adorable our child is. We made that. We are some proud parents, that's for sure. No shame in that, right?

We are so close to sleeping through the night. Sunday night she slept from about 9:30pm to almost 5:00am! Hallelujah! I know going into week six, we will probably see a growth spurt which is probably going to alter our sleep schedule yet again, but I'm rejoicing while I can. I feel far more like a functioning human being now that I'm sleeping a little more every night. Thank you, baby. Thank you.



We are still working on getting rid of cradle cap and baby acne. My current remedy is coconut oil, which seems to be helping far more than anything else we've tried. I'm also going to try altering my diet a bit this week and see if that helps. I love me some dairy: yogurt, cheese, milk, etc. But, it could be affecting her skin? I'm also going to try and back away from stuff that's too spicy (I will maybe have put a hold on the sriracha that I just bought. Sad day.) Maybe it will help, maybe it won't. There seems to be a lot of opinions out there on the subject. There's a lot of trial and error when it comes to breast feeding.



Our little girl is 42 days old. 42 days. She'll be in college before we know it. I don't want to blink and miss anything.

Weekly Lovelies: Currently Clicking Week #3

Here are all of the places I've been clicking this week. I'm sure there's many more, but these are the ones I made sure not to forget.


  1. As a cat owner, I relate to every single one of these.
  2. Since I'm still home on leave, I will be participating in this online conference. For moms! Even though my little one is still young, I think I can benefit from a ton of the classes. I love stuff like this. 
  3. I love this blog. So simple. So perfect. 
  4. A Beautiful Mess came out with some amazing Photoshop actions a few weeks back. Now they are offering a $10 sampler pack to get your feet wet and try them out. You better believe I purchased the Photoshop ones to try out. Super excited. They also are offering sampler packs for Photoshop Elements & Lightroom. 
  5. I find this fascinating: Seeing Famous Places From Above Is Surreal 
  6. I love this online store. Especially these pants. 
  7. Pretty much anything in this store as well. Like this. 
  8. A floor to ceiling spring cleaning guide.

Also, I did a little sprucing up around here on the blog. What do you think? I'm pretty pleased with it for now. It's nice to have a bit of a change every once in a while. 
Happy Friday! 

Bullet Journaling: How I Organize My Chaos


I am currently on maternity leave. My life is chaotic now and will be even more so once I have to return back to work. (Notice how I said "have to?" I haven't quite come to terms yet with returning back to real life in a month of so....baby steps.)

I am an organizer by default and I have been writing in journals for as long as I can remember. There's a box out the garage now that is full of my scribbles all the way back to grade school. It's been a part of my life for a very long time. I like to document. I like to make lists. I like to check of the little boxes once a task is completely and move on to the next. I like to be able to look back and see what I've gone through and how I got on the other side of all of it. I like to see what has been accomplished and what still needs to be worked on. 


About a month ago, I stumbled across Bullet Journaling. I believe I first heard about it here or on this podcast. Probably both. I had to learn more. 

I've been using Moleskine notebooks for a few years now. These pens are also my jam. I have horrible (note: REALLY BAD) handwriting and these pens help a little. I'll take what I can get. I guess it works to my advantage sometimes. If I don't want people reading my notebooks, they can't even if they try because they can't read my scribbles. It's my secret skill: bad handwriting. 


I am slightly obsessed with this way of note taking and to-do list making. (That rhymed.) I have been making my lists daily this way for about a month now and plan to continue doing this for a long time. I usually begin my day by making a cup of coffee and some breakfast (after feeding the little one) and then sit down to make my list for the day. 


Learn all about Bullet Journaling here. You will learn about having an index, a monthly calendar, monthly tasks, and daily tasks. There are certain symbols for certain things. There are ways to make sure you don't lose any points in the process, even if you fail to accomplish that task on that given day. 

I love this stuff. I do. I'm slightly obsessed and I don't care who knows it! 


Baby Marin: Week 5

We are sleeping much better around these parts. The past few nights, we've only gotten up once with Marin around 2:30 or 3:30am and then I'm up with her again in the early morning. This is a joyous change. I should quit talking about it so I don't jinx it.



Smiles are slowly creeping into our everyday around here. Marin responds to us a lot more lately and her little grin is starting to light up rooms everywhere she goes. I love being able to see little snippets of her personality showing through every day.

We are slowly battling a bit of cradle cap and baby acne. I feel like I am raising a little teenager because of her poor little skin. We've tried a few remedies and nothing is really working. Any suggestions out there?  I know it will pass but I feel bad for her little face right now! 

Tummy Time

Last week marked the first time I ventured out to the grocery store alone with Marin. She was so zonked out in her car seat that she probably didn't even realize that we weren't at home hanging out with the cat.



She spent some time with each set of grandparents so we could have a date night and so I could have a pampering day that involved a much need massage, manicure, and pedicure. She also visited her Great Grandparents. We've been doing  a lot of visiting lately. A lot of car trips. A lot of cuddles with every member of our families. That's how it's supposed to be. It takes a village, right?

This past week was a good one.

One final photo from this week. I posted this on Instagram (username: bailyhollen). Be still my heart.