motherhood

Follow me on @inspiralizedkids to see Luca's plates everyday! Our general philosophy about feeding Luca, our almost-17 month old toddler is this: nourish him as best we can, while having fun and exposing him to all types of foods. For the most part, we try to eat as healthy at home, because we have the time and resources to do so. We can shop for the right ingredients, prepare meals in advance, and control what's in our fridge and thus, what's in our bellies. This is our opportunity to eat our best, so that when life happens, it's okay if we all need to grab pizza (those are our favorite types of meals anyway!) We want to teach Luca how to...

Our second child is due at the beginning of the summer, at the end of June. The closer and closer we get to my due date, the more and more I think about what I want to do similarly and what I want to do differently. We feel very blessed with Luca - he slept through the night on his own (no sleep training necessary) around 9-10 weeks, he's always been a playful and happy baby who rarely cries (he whines for sure, but rarely ever cries!), and he's extremely affectionate and loves to give kisses and hugs (without being provoked to do so!) While we hate to change anything, because Luca is such a wonderful boy, there are certain actions...

It all started with a shower. Seriously. It did. But first, let me talk about what we were going through with Luca before we trained him off cosleeping. Luca's sleep story Luca started off a great sleeper - on his own, he started sleeping through the night by 9 weeks, from 7pm to 7am. We thought we were the luckiest parents ever! Then, around 6 months, he started teething real badly and would wake up all night. The only thing that would work was nursing him in the middle of the night. Instead of sitting in the rocking chair a la the newborn days, I took him into bed and side-lay nursed him and we'd all fall asleep peacefully until 6:30am. And then,...

When Luca was 5 months old, I decided it was time to go back to work full-time and so we hired a nanny (more on how we found her and our thoughts on the whole thing, here and our 3-month nanny update, here.) Our nanny has become a part of our family, and I couldn't imagine life without her! She's amazing with Luca, reliable, trustworthy, dependable, understanding, and has honestly helped me through many stages of infancy and toddlerhood with her expertise (not only having 3 children herself - including twins!, but having nanny-ed for several other families, she has a lot of experience.) Finding the balance between working full-time at home and having a nanny at home definitely has its challenges,...

It's so hard not to buy clothes for your baby. Everything is so cute! And the time when you can decide what your baby will way is limited, because then they grow up and they have their own opinions! I've loved buying Luca's clothes, from his first outfit home from the hospital to now, with his big puffy vests he's been wearing now that the temps are dropping. Babies grow so quickly, so you feel silly buying clothes they'll grow out of in a month. For me, I say what the heck, babies are only babies once, and his cute little outfits make me so happy and we need a bit more happiness in the world! Sometimes, it's the little things,...

Around the time that Luca turned 1, a lot started happening. He really shifted into a schedule, he started walking, he started drinking less breastmilk, eating lots of solids, and to my delight, started sleeping on his own! Every stage is so much fun and this stage just seems to be full of so many milestones! So, let's give an update and chat about his schedule, weaning, and just how we're doing! Sleep We never sleep trained Luca, primarily because we're not "schedule" people (we don't like to be on a schedule, so we didn't want to put the baby on a schedule that we'd have to follow.) The downside? He can't really sleep well on his own - he needed coaxing,...