The Weekend

Weekends are so great, aren't they? Now that I'm a SAHM, I look forward to the weekends for time spent with my husband. Sometimes though, it's just me and the munchkin. Duke left on Friday for a work trip and weekends are the most challenging days when he is gone. Everyone else is spending their time as a family and the days are long! This weekend was a good one though! I tagged along with a few other families on Saturday to Mamasan Beach on Ikei Island, one of the prettiest beaches here in my humble opinion. Sunday was church and then I attended a beautiful baby shower for my friend Emily. 

Other noteworthy happenings...

For background-Lucy has not been interested in drinking from a bottle or sippy cup since about 4 months. I have about 6 different sippy cups in my cupboard that we've gone through. We were most successful with the straw-type ones, but she mostly just wanted to play with it as a toy and they were leaky. Well I decided last week I was going to offer her a bottle several times a day until she learned to like it! Well, miracles do happen and all of a sudden she is back on board with a bottle! It is so liberating! Today she probably drank more from a bottle than she breastfed. It is a little bittersweet though. I had such a rough go in the beginning with breastfeeding, but it has become something I enjoy with her. I know once I quit there is no going back, so it's hard to eagerly throw in the towel. My goal was always one year and she will be there the end of October, so I wanted to get her used the bottle now and start the slow process. I'd love to hear how any of you guys have gone about this and your thoughts on it! I had a little engorgement today and got a little emotional thinking that the end is coming. I'm also in debate because I'll be making a looong flight back to Arkansas by myself with Lucy in October...would she do better breastfeeding or bottle feeding? I DON'T KNOW!!

the beautiful swollen ankle picture ;)

Let's see...I sprained my ankle or something yesterday. That was fun. I ran upstairs to grab something and while upstairs I heard winston snarl/growl at Lucy. In that moment I had no idea what was happening, for all I know he could have been biting her face off, so I just screamed "NOOOOOO!!!!" and dropped everything and ran downstairs and on my way I twisted my dumb ankle. Lucy was fine, but I was hobbling around for a while. My first thought was, "of course this happens when Duke is gone!!" But I'm fine. It still hurts and is swollen, but it's walkable. 

Also Lucy legit posted her first Instagram today without any assistance lol. She's always messing with my phone and today I open Instagram and saw I had 23 likes and thought, that's weird I haven't posted anything. Then I click over to my page and saw a new picture up there. Thanks Lucy! Thank goodness it was a normal picture. That little crazy girl.

I hope everyone has a good week. Please leave me any weaning tips you have!! And now for the rest of the pictures!

To Cut or to Keep

Short hair is IN guys. Well, the LOB is at least. I've gone back and forth the past year trying to decide if I should give in or keeps my locks long. I know anything above my shoulders is no good for me..had to find that out the hard way. I haven't had my hair "short" for about 9 years! I recently read THIS article that has a super simple trick for finding out if you will look good with short hair. I was "scientifically" reassured that I need to keep my hair long. If you're sitting on the fence too then you better find out! 

Moments in Motherhood

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I've been reflecting on the beauty of motherhood lately. I've reached a point in this journey where I can confidently say that I enjoy being a mom. It was a hard transition for me. Seeing Lucy grow into her own person though--there's nothing like it! However, let's not forget it is one of the most challenging things anyone will ever do. I know that along with the highs will come many lows. Motherhood is the roller coaster of all roller coasters.  One of my all time favorite quotes is from Thomas Paine, "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value." There is so much truth in that statement! Especially in motherhood. 

For me, the best moments in are the ones most people don't see. When I'm nursing Lucy and she looks up at me and pauses to smile; when she stops moving for just 5 seconds to lay her head on my chest; watching her try to figure things out--I can almost see the wheels in her head spinning while her brow furrows; talking to herself in her high-pitched gargly voice; her giant smiles that make her eyes all squinty; nursing her to sleep while we cuddle in my big bed. It's strange how these perfect little moments make up for the constant daily struggles I go through. 

Here are some pictures I love that seem to have captured those perfect little moments that make motherhood worth it.

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Updates!

Hey guys! So I decided it was time for a complete blog makeover. I renamed it, got my own URL, redesigned it and I'm feeling much better about it all. Like hip hip hooray good about it! So from this point on this blog is THE SUNNY SIDE! I still have a few tweaks to make (like changing that picture on the side that is FOUR years old..sheesh), but it's come a long way. I'm really into the minimalist blog look (if you can't tell), so I settled for a really, clean simplistic design and I feel so much better when I look at it. I hope you like the change!

Other things I've been up to lately....

My friend and I came up with a business idea a couple months ago and I've been really busy the last couple months working with her during my free time. We've hardly told anyone about it to be honest. However, things are coming together and hopefully we'll be able to launch in the next couple months! I'm excited to share what we've been doing.

It stormed all weekend here and today (Monday) we had a typhoon. I don't even know what number typhoon this was for the summer! There's been a good handful. Kind of a bummer when its bad weather all weekend, but nice of the typhoon to come on Monday because Duke got to stay home. Any extra day I get him at home is fine by me!

I've started listening to podcasts again and I'm loving them! I listened to Serial along with the rest of the world and loved it. I listen here and there to Stuff You Should Know, which I enjoy but it isn't super engaging. This last week I started listening to This American Life and Fresh Air and I am in love with them. Mostly This American Life. Such interesting topics that makes me think about things in new perspectives. I use to listen to NPR all the time in the car when I lived in the states, but since there is only ONE english radio station out here I kinda fell off that bandwagon too. But I really enjoy that kind of stuff!

The Hydro Flask water bottle has changed my life. My friend converted me and then I converted Duke and now we never leave home without them! Keeps your water COLD for 24 hours.  Or hot beverages hot for 12 hours (haven't tested that one out). It's a little pricey for a water bottle, but it makes it so much easier for me to drink my water when it's cold. Also invest in the flip top, if you are lazy like me and unscrewing a water bottle is too much work ;)

Tomorrow I start my 4th week of Kayla Itsines Beach Body Guides. It's a 12-week program of intense but quick (28 minute) workouts. Actually she includes 4 weeks of pre-training for beginners-so I'm in the pre-taining week. Still killer. I've been following her on Instagram for months, and finally decided I want to give it a try. This is the most consistent I have worked out since BEFORE having Lucy, so it feels really good. I dread them and look forward to them all at the same time. I'd highly recommend them!

Planning our trip to Taipei over Labor Day. It's such an overlooked country-but the more I research, the more excited I'm getting. It's just a hop away from us; about an hour or so plane ride. Perfect for a long weekend. If anyone has been there I'd love to hear your favorite things you did there. I love exploring this world!!!!! AHHH!

I'm looking forward to the rest of the week! I'm working on getting out of the house more with Lucy and really exploring this island. I can't get enough!!

Nakagusuku Castle

Guess what? Okinawa has castles. How very European of them, I know. Actually they're just castles ruins but they date back to like 14th and 15th centuries I believe. Saturday I ventured out with my friend Natalie to one of the closeby ones while our husbands went scuba diving. It was so extrememly hot outside, so maybe not the best idea for the summer. But we got some pretty views of both the Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea from the top, so I guess it was worth it. Out of the castle ruins I've seen here, this one seemed to have the most left standing.