The Frank Tank (better late then never)

So, it's been a while, but I've got a legit excuse.

 I was offered a pretty cool new gig just after I had returned to my old job from maternity leave. I had been working from home part-time at the old place, but couldn't pass up this new opportunity, so I scrambled to find some quality childcare, fired up my pump, and returned to the corporate world full-time. This is the first time I've had to leave one of my little nuggets full-time before they were a year old, and it has been a serious emotional challenge, but I'm doing my best to find balance in my life and have decided that part of that balance will include some occasional visits to HMD....because I miss y'all.

Since I am barely squeezing in the time to write this post, I realize that it is time to come to terms with the fact that the nursery, while I had big plans for its "completion" that involved diy roman shades, painting and some flea market scavenging, will need to be considered, for all intents and purposes, to be complete. So, it is with that foreword, that I present to you, the Frank Tank:

Sheets are from Dwell Studio. Bird Mobile from Bla Bla.

Lamp from Ikea, pillow from Etsy seller Robin and Mould, and fox from Bla Bla.

My painted rug! Came out kind of awesome if I do say so myself.

Sara Jane Studios print (also in love with this one)

A few more DIY's- My faux zinc letters and some homemade versions I whipped up of these prints .Smaller art pieces are greeting cards from Rifle Paper Co, and the giraffe is by Sharon Montrose.

I spared you pics of the changing table- cause it's nothing spesh- but overall, it's kind of cute. Not as cute as these guys though: 

Yes, that is a massive wound on his forehead, and no, they don't let me brush their hair. 

I'm back. 

Maybe. 

xoxo

hmd

Rested.

This is what 13 hours of sleep looks like:

I returned to work two weeks ago and decided that waking up 5-6 times a night to alternately feed, binky and place Frank in crib, swing, bed, swing, etc- was not going to be very conducive to my sanity once I was actually expected to shower and pretend that my brain was operating at full capacity. I returned with a sleepless Frank in tow from a very last-minute trip to LA because Tia was undergoing a pretty serious surgery (What's Tia Doing, btw? Recovering- and doing super awesome :). The stress from months of severe lack of sleep, traveling alone with baby, stressing about Tia and my impending return to work, suddenly became more than I could handle. I literally walked in the door, put down the infant seat and my bags, and in a ridiculously melodramatic, but completely authentic way, fell to the floor and burst into hysterical tears. It was time.

The following night, I fed Frank at 6:30, calmly placed in his crib, walked-out, shut the door behind me, turned the monitor volume all the way down, poured myself a heaping glass of wine, rented a movie, and pretended that I did not hear him crying for the next 45 minutes. There were intermittent cries throughout the night- but I held my ground until around 4 in the morning. The following night, I repeated the previous night's bedtime routine. Only this time- he woke up only once- at 4 am, cried for ten minutes and slept until 8AM. It was glorious. I felt as if I had just returned from a week at a wellness spa.

There may be some of you who disagree with the whole cry it out thing, but for me- there was just no other way. I was exhausted- and what was worse- my little man was even more exhausted. He was irritable- he hated the car and the stroller, and he couldn't spend more than 5 minutes entertaining himself.

The changes in him were almost immediate. After just two nights on his new regimen, he was literally, like a different baby. Max calls him our new and improved baby (he even asked me what we did with the old one and I'm still not sure if he was trying to be funny). Frankie now happily goes for walks and lazily drifts off in his infant seat for naps while we stroll the aisles of Target. He plays contentedly in his saucer while I deal with his out-of-control brothers for considerable chunks of time and he smiles ten times as often as he did two weeks ago.

While he still has an occasional rough night and cries before naps- I'm doing my best to stick with the program. 

This is my motivation: 

 

If you are looking for more info on sleep training your infant or toddler- I highly recommend Dr. Marc Weissbluth's book- Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It's the best. I'm off to get some sleep ;)

What's Tia Doing?

Let's see what Tia is up to, shall we?

Eatin' some corn dog with her besties at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Jetting off to NYC twice in less than two weeks and hittin' up some D&D

 

Dining with this handsome guy at Bouchon.

And, of course, because she's got to keep that bootie high and tight- she follows it up with a juice cleanse. What's Tia Doing? Eliminating, apparently. 

Sorry Ti. Love you. (if it makes you feel any better, the only thing I've eliminated this week were a couple dozen Girl Scout cookies).

Lorax Love

The Lorax is one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books. I love it not only because it conceptualizes something like deforestation in a way that's easy for little minds to grasp, but also because of the classic Seuss syntax. The Lorax is chock-full of my favorite Seussisms, with ridiculous words like "Snergelly" and "miff-muffered moof"that I use quite frequently now

After watching the trailer several times daily for a few weeks now, the boys and I were chomping at the bit to see the big-screen adaptation. We went yesterday and were not disappointed. In fact, we kept the Lorax love alive by whipping up some truffula tree-inspired crafts as soon as we got home:

In honor of the Once-ler's favorite snack (according to the movie)- we snacked on marshmallows (against my better judgement). This was Max's idea.

I think the finished project came out pretty cute! Want to make your own Truffula Trees? Here's what you'll need: 

Cotton Balls

Paint & brushes- we ended up using acrylics mixed with water, but I'm sure tempura would do

Straws- paper straws would have been cuter, but Walgreens isn't that fancy. 

White cardstock 

Green construction paper

Marshmallows & fat baby optional.

Bananas for Milk

The boys had taken a liking to Ryan's pricey banana Muscle Milks that he had been regularly buying post-work-out, so I decided to try my hand at a simple homemade version.

It turned out to be a super easy crowd-pleaser- and a great way to get the boys to down a big old glass of milk!

For each serving:
1 cup milk
1 banana
1 scoop Vanilla flavored whey protein

Voila- light and frothy, banana flavored goodness!

Check out Mini Meals on With Two Cats for more ideas!

Haute Links

An awesome way to showcase your bounty of Instagram pics! The Prinstagram poster- found via Effortless Style.

In light of my impending return to work- some insights on Mommy Guilt. We've all got it.

1 guitar plus 100 fingers = Awesome. Walk off the Earth cover of "somebody that I used to know" found via Super Swoon.

String Art from Honey and Fitz. Totally Doable.

Quick Fix for chipped nails- via See Jane.

Leopard Limbs

Y'all know by know that I have a serious thing for leopard- and although I realize it can be a little Mob wife at times- I just can't help myself. We all have our vices. 

I've been feeling torn, however, about the new leopard print jean trend, but after spotting them on one of my favorite new blogs, Brooklyn Blonde, I was sold on the look:

Jealous.

There are still two problems with this look. The first is the price tag. These Current Elliot beauties have a hefty $198 price tag, and we're spending all our cash on diapers and Gogurts these days. But then.....

I spotted these spotted legs via Kendi Everyday- just $23 from Target! So, just the second problem remains- do I want to draw that sort of attention to my thighs in their current state? Probably not, but for 23 bucks, I'm willing to find out!