Friday
Our Friday night was low key since Ryan wasn’t feeling 100 percent. (Is it just me or is EVERYONE getting sick right now!? It’s definitely that time of year!) We stayed close to home and spent longer than expected putting together the big Christmas surprise we got for Chase. The Little Tikes 4-In-One Trike was actually the only gift we got for him this year (his grandparents were all more than generous so we kept our gifts to a minimum) and man it was a beast to put together!
After we spent way too long putting his gift together, this is the reaction we got from Chase when we sat him on the trike for his first ride:
Christmas present fail! He was horrified!
We were totally shocked because we thought it was going to be an instant hit. Thankfully ever since his first terrible ride, things have improved a great deal and I think once we actually get him outside with the trike, his experience will only continue to look up. Right now he is completely avoiding the seat and likes pushing it around the house.
Whatever works!
The rest of our Friday night was spent baking banana muffins, watching The Big Bang Theory (Ryan gave me the first nine seasons on DVD for Christmas!) and digging into the quart of marshmallow s’more ice cream we picked up from Kilwin’s. (If you live near Kilwin’s, you MUST try their marshmallow s’more and toasted coconut ice cream flavors. We are obsessed!)
Saturday
Saturday morning began with his and hers workouts after breakfast! Ryan headed off to the gym first and once he was done, we swapped Chase and Sadie playtime duty and I headed out for a boot camp class. After a week and a half of minimal workouts over the holidays, I was craving a good workout and Saturday’s upper body workout delivered!
We went through three rounds of the following exercises for one minute each:
- Triceps Pull Downs
- Bicep Curls
- Pike Push Ups
- Equalizer Tricep Fall Throughs
- Overhead Shoulder Press
For a burst of cardio we alternated 30 seconds of burpees, high knees and pick ups in between each exercises. Loved it!
Before driving home, I popped into the grocery store to pick up ingredients for caprese salad skewers I planned to make for a New Year’s Eve party that night and arrived back at the house to find my boys snacking on muffins.
We hung out and played inside until Chase was ready for his nap. We used Chase’s naptime to shower and take down most of our Christmas decor and before we knew it, he was up again and it was time for us to get ready for a snazzy evening out at Laura and Steve’s house to celebrate 2017!
Laura has quite the reputation in our group of friends for being the ultimate hostess and continued to impress all of us with the incredible spread and beautiful New Year’s Eve-themed decor she had set out for everyone to enjoy.
Everything looked amazing and especially appealing to the little ones…
It’s times like New Year’s Eve that I feel especially grateful we have such wonderful friends in our lives who are also in a similar stage of life. Since finding babysitters for NYE is a headache, we opted for an early party and celebrated from 4:30 to 8 p.m. with our kiddos in tow. It was so fun and we had a great time at Laura and Steve’s which was followed by a wonderfully fantastic early bed time at home later that night.
Not too shabby in my eyes!
Sunday
Our Sunday began bright and early because Chase decided he wanted to ring in the New Year at 6:15 a.m. How lovely, right!? Ryan headed off to the gym while Chase and I eased into the day and ate muffins and Greek yogurt together.
By the time Ryan was back, we were ready to get out of the house and drove to Birkdale Village for smoothies and immunity booster shots to hopefully help keep sickness at bay in our house.
The shots were made with a combination of carrot, ginger and lemon juice and were so refreshingly delicious. Even Chase loved them!
The rest of our Sunday was spent hanging out as a family, running errands, cleaning, exploring a new park and relaxing!
Not a bad way to kick off 2017!
Happy New Year, my friends!
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Happy New Year! The food your friend put together does look incredible. We spent the night with friends and had a huge oyster roast. As sad as I thought I would be that the holidays are over, I feel fresh and reguvinated to start a new year. 🙂
Oooh! That sounds amazing! Oysters are one of my favorite foods — jealous!!
Love the idea of the kid friendly early party! I’m such an old person at heart anyway I was in bed at 10:00 so that would have been a perfect party for people like us with toddlers. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!!! What a fun way to celebrate! Hoping Ryan is feeling better!!
We’ve also been sick so have spent the weekend close to home (and this weather is not fun, yuck!!). We rented Sully which so far is great!! Finishing it later tonight!!
Hope you enjoy your day!!
-Sarah http://www.thefrugalmillionaireblog.com
Julie, I hope everyone is back to feeling 100 percent! We chose to only buy our daughter (who turned one five days ago) one Christmas gift as well! With everyone buying more than generous gifts for her for Christmas and her birthday, there wasn’t really a need for us to do more. We have decided that from now on we will get her a Christmas present but spend her birthday taking her to do something she enjoys to prevent present overload, lol! Those skewers you made looked delicious, and I personally believe sleeping in the new year (especially with a little one) is the way to go! I hope your new year is filled with joy, adventure, and love!!
Yes!!! I love that idea so much. I always think experience gifts are the most memorable!
Happy New Year! 😀 Looks like a fabulous way to ring in 2017! I agree with you on the sickness–it seems like half my family members and friends have some kind of cold or sickness happening. I’m crossing my fingers it doesnt come my way!
That poor baby, lol! Who new a trike could be so terrifying?? Hopefully he loves it when y’all get it outside. And yes, everyone is sick right now! My nephew (Chase’s age) had RSV last year at this time and now has something similar again. Sick babies are the worst. Well, sick mamas with sick babies are the worst, ha! I hope you guys stay healthy as 2017 kicks off!
Looks like a fabulous weekend! I love the idea of celebrating early, that sounds way easier with a little one! We only got our son a couple gifts (like two) for Christmas as well. He’s only four months old and buying him things he wasn’t even interested in wasn’t too appealing. 😉
Hope you all feel better quickly!
Exactly! Hope you had a wonderful FIRST Christmas with your baby!! <3
We also had an early NYE celebration but stayed up till midnight once the kiddos went to bed. It was fun to fit in time with friends and family even if it was in the afternoon. Happy new year!
I’m glad that Chase’s trike is growing on him. I wonder what it was that prompted his first reaction. I’m sure once he gets it outside he’ll see how much fun it’ll be.
The new year’s eve spread looks delicious!
Question for you! How did you manage breastfeeding and returning to workout out? What did that look like and how did you maintain supply? I’m cleared and ready to get back but am looking for tips from people who’ve been there!
Hi Melissa! Woohoo for feeling up to working out again! I hope the transition goes well for you! I definitely eased back into things (I began with Pure Barre for a couple of weeks which was low-intensity) and just REALLY kept an eye on my supply. I feel VERY fortunate that exercise did not seem to impact my milk supply negatively at all but I would’ve dialed things back a little more if it did impact it at all. I think just monitoring how your body and baby respond to fitness is key. I also met with a lactation consultant in the early weeks after Chase arrived who encouraged me to do the workouts I love when I was cleared and just see how it impacted everything on a trial/error basis.
Where is your black and red hat from? Love it!
Thank you! The brand is Tart and it came in a Stitch Fix delivery a few years ago!
Ugh please stop complaining about your child’s wakeup time. That is a perfectly normal time, and clearly nothing he does is good enough.
Hi Kate! I’m sorry if you took my comment as me thinking Chase isn’t “good enough” but that is not at ALL the case. AT ALL. I am honestly SO proud of my boy every single day and so in love with him so your comment really hurt me since I would never want anyone to think I have anything other than love, pride and affection for my son. My remark was more of an “off the cuff” remark about waking up early on a weekend morning and was absolutely not meant to elicit this kind of negative reaction. Truthfully, I think most moms would agree that having their little ones sleep in would be wonderful and I thought just joking about an early wake up time was harmless.
I think the funny thing is that you used to routinely wake up quite early back in your early blogging days to fit in a work out before you went to your job. Now it seems to be such a burden to wake up early if it’s not for exercise.
Hi Julia! I’m sorry if it come across this way! I actually DO still wake up early (around 5 a.m. most days) to work before Chase wakes up so I suppose my “complaints” when he wakes up early are more centered around my inability to get work done. I definitely don’t mean to come across as a complaining mom because I feel so fortunate to be able to spend my days with my son and work from home. I’ll be more aware of this in the future and honestly didn’t expect it to be taken so negatively. I apologize!
it WAS totally harmless. i think 99.99% of readers get that you weren’t actually mad at chase, but were making a joke as if he actually knew what time he was waking up! and you’re right that most moms would love a little bit of extra sleep. nothing to feel guilty about.
also, anybody can see that you truly love chase and saying that “clearly nothing he does is good enough” is so overly dramatic. you rave on and on about every little thing he does; how could anybody think you don’t feel like chase is the bee’s knees?!?! i hope that your hurt was very temporary, because “kate” is clearly just trying to get a rise out of you.
But you used to wake up every morning at 5 am to workout anyways so how is it any different? You were never the kind to sleep in anyways. Long time blog reader here and I remember in many occasion pre baby you had said that Ryan and you were not capable of sleeping in past 6am even on weekend. While I don’t think Kate’s comment was kind, it does seem like you ‘complain’ about chase especially with the lack of sleeping in.
I actually DO still wake up at 5 a.m. most weekdays but now it’s to work rather than exercise. I just typically look forward to “sleeping in” until 6:45/7a.m. on the weekends and didn’t mean for my comment to come across so negatively! It truly was a silly remark I thought fellow moms would relate to since I feel like most moms would welcome later sleepers! I absolutely do not mean to complain about Chase a lot in this space, especially since I feel like I focus on how much I love him and love being with him every day in real life. Any complaints on the blog are honestly meant to show that motherhood isn’t all “butterflies and rainbows” and I’m sorry if it came across in another way.
Its tough because as readers we are only given the words you write. In person, you could use tone, nonverbals, smiles, winks, etc to convey your true meaning. Also – in person, most people just KNOW you, and know which comments are joking, genuine, sarcastic, etc. However, the readers only get your words. Make sense? Kind of reminds me of the advice to never argue over text message. Same idea. Hopefully, my comment is helpful and not hurtful to you.
Good Grief!! Julie, you don’t have to explain yourself or your words to anyone. I agree with Brittney.
Ladies!!!! Sheeeeeesh … all mothers wish that their kids could sleep in at that age.
Obviously she was kidding ….it is how Julie writes things and always has written things tongue in cheek.
Let’s all have a cup of caffeine, cut down on the crank and RELAX …. it is too freaking early in 2107 to be lashing out with hatred…don’t follow the blog if you don’t like her (ALTHOUGH I CANNOT IMAGINE ***why*** A SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET WHO WOULD HATE JULIE!!!!!!!)
Wow!! I can’t believe these women are attacking you by saying you aren’t proud of your son and that you are complaining! I think most people took your comment the way you intended it….as silly and off the cuff. I’m a new mommy to a beautiful 3 month old baby girl and am appalled at how judgmental motherhood is. Why can’t we band together and support each other? You say he woke to early and your complaining….you say he slept in and every mother with bad sleepers wants to tear your eyes out. You can’t win for losing. Keep your head up! You are a wonderful mommy!
Happy New Year Julie! Love the idea of a kids party. We hung out at home with a few friends and watched football games, it was a great way to ring in the New year. Now I’m thinking about 2017 goals and planning today. =)
Looks like a nice weekend, Julie! I hope Ryan is feeling better. Happy 2017 to you!
Currently lamenting that Kilwins does not exist over here in San Diego. It sounds amazing. We do have a lot of local ice cream scoop shops though, so I cannot complain too much. You did just instigate a pretty hefty craving though, I have to say! Happy New Year, Julie. 🙂
LOL the trike! we got the same one for P and she is obsessed with it. like i have to hide it from her, or she runs over to it and cries until i push her around the house hahah. that’s cute he’s warming up to it! it’s a cool trike (and yes, a thousand pieces that thankfully tom put together)
happy new year, friend!
We had six other couples over for NYE and had two toddlers and two infants. It was kind of nice, we had them in an assortment of pack’n’plays and cribs and we brought out my son’s swing for the littlest guy. It was fun- we all took turns checking on the babies!
Happy New Year, Julie! Ha ha, that pic of Chase raising his hand? LOL It looks like he’s in a little class. So adorable! And I’m also lol-ing over the pic of him in the new trike (only because he is totally safe, so his reaction is priceless, similar to his reaction to your friendly Santa!) I’m sure he’ll love it in no time! I hated water when I was teeny tiny, and eventually I was a dolphin – always in the water!
Love your NYE party idea – I think this earlier party idea is a great idea even if you don’t have kids! I used to go out every NYE to massive parties hosted by me or my friends or at a club or ballroom, but we’ve stayed in the last several years. I get nervous of driving on NYE (and never used to be). So the idea of being safely home after 8:00 sounds like such a good plan.
Thank you for your wonderful blog! Always so happy to read it. 🙂
P.S. So surprised you took down your Christmas stuff already! I know how much you love it! (I take mine down when I get sick of it – not there yet!) Happy New Year!
Kilwins! We don’t live super close to one anymore but toasted coconut and raspberry sorbet are my everytime go-to combo.
This seems like a great way to enjoy NYE! I love the early parties and bedtimes myself, and I don’t even have a little one! #grandmaatheart
http://www.poweredbysass.com
What fun New Year’s eve plans! I am a new mom and we tried to keep our little guy out too late. I guess you live and learn! p.s. Chase’s clothes are so stinking cute!
Thanks Lindsey!! And it’s ALWAYS a learning game with a little one, isn’t it!? 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful 2017!
Thank you!! I hope you do as well!
Hey Julie! Can you tell us/link up the top you are wearing in the beanie pic? Thanks!
The pullover is from Gap (direct link: http://bit.ly/2iEOvPQ) and I paired it with a vest I bought from Zulily!
Happy New Year! Can you share where you got the beanie as well? It’s so cute! Thank you!!
Yes! The brand is Tart and I got it in a Stitch Fix delivery.
This is an older post but I am coming back to it to say LOL at the negative comments about you “complaining” about Chase. It makes me so sad that you were hurt by them. You are a seasoned blogger and I’m sure don’t even need to hear this but you just can’t win – either it is too sunshine and butterflies or it is too negative. I can see dealing with it on recipes, workouts, whatever but if it came to my relationship with my child I’d be flipping out at these people in a second and instead you handle it with grace. It is MORE than obvious that you love your son more than anything and are an absolutely incredible mother. All while continuing to be a fantastic wife, sister, daughter, friend etc. If there’s anything your blog shows it is that you are always surrounded by people who love you because of the love that you give. And your son is the biggest beneficiary of that. Alright I’ll stop this gush now but I really couldn’t stand that you were hurt by such ridiculous comments.
Omg Julie! I thought I was reading my own journal when I read your post about the 4-in-1 trike! We had the same exact sentiment- we only got our lil one (20 months) one gift – the radio flyer and you are so right- it was a beast to put together! It took us over an hour to figure that thing out! Luckily Liam had bit more positive of a reaction but still-haha! These lil guys are so funny:)
I tried to post a photo in here of Liam on the same trike but can’t insert photo into the comment section 🙁
Ladies!!!! Sheeeeeesh … all mothers wish that their kids could sleep in at that age.
Obviously she was kidding ….it is how Julie writes things and always has written things tongue in cheek.
Let’s all have a cup of caffeine, cut down on the crank and RELAX …. it is too freaking early in 2107 to be lashing out with hatred for ANYONE BUT DONALD TRUMP 🙂
(notice the smiley peeps???)
…don’t follow the blog if you don’t like her (ALTHOUGH I CANNOT IMAGINE ***why*** A SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET WHO WOULD HATE JULIE!!!!!!!)
This is late but as a first time mom I have to chime in and say how gracefully you handled the negative comments that were thrown at you. I would have FLIPPED if someone insinuated that my little man was just a burden or that nothing he did was good enough. That is so sad that people thought that of you and I really hope, like another reader said, that your hurt was very temporary because their assumptions were completely ridiculous. Of course moms would love more sleep at any given time! Raising a tiny human isn’t easy! I’m sorry this happened to you…
Happy New Year Julie! I’m just getting a chance to catch up on your blog after a busy holiday season and as a long time reader I fully understood that your comment regarding Chase waking up early was made in jest. I’m very surprised that people took it so harshly, but hopefully you don’t take the comments to heart. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2017!!
Hi Julie!
Also a late comment – jesus christ, these horrible women criticising you for an (obviously) in-jest comment…I guess you can only really feel sorry for them for the toxicity they must have to deal with in their own minds must be unbearable. I can only think that they are must be conflicted in some way themselves to actually say those things. I am not a mother but I can only imagine a sleep-in, of any kind, any where would be much to be celebrated.