Newborn Pictures!

August 11, 2021August 11, 20212 Comments

I blinked and somehow my maternity leave is over as of Friday and I’m back to work Monday. It’s been crazy and I literally feel like it’s been only a week off work with everything going on (i’ll go into my feelings on that another time). It’s bittersweet.. but creating some “normalcy” will be good since I feel like nothing has been normal for the last few months!

Sweet girls – hard to believe little Clementine was 5 pounds!

In lieu of my leave being over, I’m finally getting around to sharing some of our newborn pictures!

We took the first set about 10 days after the twins were born and it was a definite cluster!

No joke… babies were screaming, Magnolia was over it and our photographer had an event so we were trying to kind of get it all done quickly!

I had not prepared or even thought about outfits in advance or swaddles or anything since we didn’t know the genders until they were born (and it was such a blur those first 10 days that I couldn’t even think about what to order for pictures).

So thanks to Jess Spinner (our one and only photographer always) – she agreed to come back a second time since we didn’t get a ton of good ones the first time!

The second set was taken when the twins were almost 5 weeks old and we took the pictures in our front yard! Totally not planned but so glad we did since we left this home a month later!

*It blows my mind how tiny Clementine was compared to our sweet chubby cheeked girl now!*

We bribed Magnolia with a “trip to the beach” after the pictures and Annabelle was upset for 99% of the pictures but sweet Clementine was just so chill, as usual 🙂

And one of my favorite pictures of us all…

By the end (when the picture above was taken), the girls were beyone done but it’s still so special to have a picture in front of the home we brought our babies home to and where we really started our life together!

It’s been a wild ride bringing these two babies into this world and I’m not going to lie, our world has been completely rocked with 3 under 3 but their little personalities are showing through and I still can’t believe I’m a Mama of 3 girls!

Griedl Girls Birth Story

June 23, 2021June 23, 20211 Comment

The girls are officially a month old and I figured it was time to get to writing this post.. mainly for myself to share with the girls when they are older and to remember all the little details. Everyone cares about these things, right?! 🙂

At 28 weeks, we planned when, God willing, the girls would make their entrance into this world; 38 weeks. I just needed to make it to 38 weeks with them and all would be good (or so I thought!). We would have someone here for Magnolia – versus trying to scramble, and the girls would be fully baked… We put May 21 on the calendar and my doctor made sure he could make it (on his day off) to deliver the girls. If you’re new here, Magnolia’s birth didn’t go quite as planned and basically anything that could go wrong, did so he knew that I was a little apprehensive about this delivery. Even though it would be a planned C-Section (based on my previous delivery), I knew I’d feel better if he delivered the twins and because he’s been such a huge part of our fertility story, I really wanted him to be the one to tell us the genders of the babies!

I wasn’t SUPER surprised that I made it to 38 weeks… I feel like, while my body doesn’t do a good job of making babies, it does does do a good job of holding them in. With Magnolia, I made it to 40 weeks and she certainly didn’t want to come out – and with my miscarriages, I never miscarried on my own at home (meaning, we found out each time at the Ultrasound that the babies didn’t have a heart beat but my body didn’t want to let them go still…). I was anxious they didn’t come early because things don’t usually go as planned for us but I was so thankful that we made it to May 21. Less stress, I thought since my in-laws would be here with Magnolia and I thought it would be a peaceful delivery as planned and we could focus on the babies…

Fast forward to May 21 and we were getting all prepped for about 2 hours before actually going into the OR. My doc came in about 20 minutes before we headed into the OR to chat, ask if we had questions and to ask ONE last time what our predictions were for genders. We literally said (for the millionth time) that we’d be completely shocked if they were both girls (clearly, we have that intuition – ha!). He laughed and said he had no clue what we were having – and didn’t even have a feeling leaning a certain way! Anyway – I headed into the OR to get prepped and Logan waited in the other room until they were ready for him….

This is where things started to a little “out of the ordinary” for us… Imagine that! The anesthesiologist did my spinal tap in 2 different places, and we thought all was starting to go normal. After a few minutes, they checked me and while my legs were tingly, I could still feel the pricks up my sides. They waited a little longer, and kept checking me and were shocked every time I said, “Yes, I feel a prick”. They would test up my legs and stomach area and told me to let them know when I could feel it and it was pretty quickly, I felt it. They would tilt me basically on my head for a few minutes to see if that helped get it flowing down but I still felt all the test pricks. At this point, the anesthesiologist made it very apparent that this wasn’t the “normal” and that I should have been numb a while ago. She said they couldn’t do another spinal (their original thought) because my legs were tingly and numb so they wouldn’t be able to do another. Their only option would be to put me out completely – she got to my level and started explaning things to me (keep in mind, Logan was still out in the other room waiting to be brought in) and I couldn’t help but start to cry. I was scared, nervous, and thinking “why is this happening?!” Side note – my epidural did not work with Magnolia no matter how many times they flushed it and they believe it was placed wrong and that was the reason why but it’s odd this would happen with the spinal as well now! This is where i’m SO THANKFUL my doctor was there!

My doctor got to my level and explained to me that he had about 3 inches from my incision to work with that was numb – and that he believed he could do it and get the babies out with that amount of space. He said he knew I didn’t want to be put under (if I was put under, Logan couldnt come in to the delivery either and neither would be with our babies until they woke me up well after they stitched me back up) and that he didn’t necessarily want me to be put under either because that would get in the babies blood stream. I could tell the anthesiologist wasn’t happy with the option because there was literally 3 inches for my doctor to work with – but let me listen to my options. I knew my doctor and trusted him so I said, let’s give it a try. He had said if at any point, I felt anything then they’d knock me out immediately. He started the procedure and Logan was finally let in the room. He said later on that he knew something wasn’t right since it was taking so long! He was immediately pulled over to my face by the anesthesiologist who said “dad, here’s what’s going on..” and she said to let her know if I feel discomfort at all because she can give me something that wouldn’t affect the babies.. Logan’s comment was “don’t be superwoman! Let her know ASAP”

Baby A was pulled out pretty quickly and we heard a “Baby A is a… GIRL” and I said “a girl?!”. They brought her over to where I could see her while they cleaned her a little bit and in the mean time, the doctor started getting Baby B ready to come out. He was trying to deliver her “on call” which is where a baby is delivered outside of the womb in their sack still. It’s considered good luck and rare to have it done. We have pictures of Baby B in her sack still but as he was going to pull her out out, she had other plans, of course! 🙂 Still so neat to see in the pictures. My doctor started to laugh at this point and said “Baby B is a…. GIRL” and I looked at Logan who was laughing. Of course, 2 girls! We were literally both STUNNED like How?!?! Logan went into Daddy mode and helped immediately. Baby A (Annabelle) was crying so hard until Baby B (Clementine) came out and made one cry which caused Baby A to immediately calm down. Sweetest thing ever since it was their first time hearing each other. Annabelle was 6 lbs 13 oz 19 inches and Clementine was 5 lbs 14 oz 19 inches. Such little peanuts compared to Magnolia at 8 lbs 12 oz!

I could definitely feel a lot of tugging before the girls were born but afterwards, it was pretty bad. And my doctor immediately asked the CRNA to give me a shot in my shoulder and I knew something wasn’t right. I could also hear them saying “2200 ccs” or so I thought that’s what I heard and I couldn’t focus a ton on the girls because I had been crying previously, my eyes were itchy, I couldn’t breathe with my mask on and I knew something wasn’t right. I asked Logan “is everything ok?” and he said “Yeah, I think so!” as he held Baby A to my face. My doctor heard me ask and immediately said “Kristi, you’ve lost a lot of blood.

At least double of what you should have lost. Baby B’s placenta was attached abnormally and in a weird spot so it’s taking a lot more to get it out. You’re going to feel a lot of uncomfortable tugging because we can’t get it” He later, explained that he had to physically scrape it with his nail to try to get it to come off even which then caused it to bleed profusely. Once they got me stitched up, he explained that I would most likely need a blood transfusion because of the amount of blood lost and they’d be checking my hemoglobin ASAP. At this point, I thought “of course… heaven forbid, it be a normal, routine delivery!” He headed out afterwards and said he’d be back the next day later in the afternoon to check on me.

I got back to my room – which was almost like a “suite” it was so big thanks to having 2 babies!- and they began checking my levels as well as checking my bleeding to make sure I wasn’t hemorrhaging due to the blood issue at delivery. They monitored me very closely and once they got my numbers back, they were shocked with how low they were. They said when I started the day my hemoglobin was at almost 13 (10 or higher is normal range) but at this point, it was down to 6.

They wanted to do another blood draw later that day to check the levels and make sure they began to climb before making a decision for the blood transfusion. The nurse said she was stunned they were waiting because she had never seen numbers this low and with higher numbers, they do a transfusion. Due to the all of the liquids they gave me, they needed to make sure it was safe to do the transfusion as well…

Fast forward to a few hours later and the nurses wanted me to get up and start moving, if I could so they could get the catheter out of me. I thought all was well but the first time I stood, I wasn’t dizzy or light headed but had an immediate terrible cramping in my chest near my heart. As soon as I said that, they had me sit down right away and said they would try a little later… We tried again a little later and it was horrible again.

As soon as I sat down, (TMI) there was a gush of blood and the nurse called the doctor worried again about hemorhaging and was concerned with the chest cramping. The doctor on call thought that maybe I jsut needed more time to relax after everything that happened and said to keep the catheter in over night until they could figure out what was going on… REAL comforting at this point, huh?!

First time doing skin to skin with them! I didn’t get to do this with Magnolia due to complications so this was so sweet!

A new nurse checked in on me later that night and had me try to get up and move around again. Thankfully, this time, I was able to move, slowly, but without chest cramps. They said they got my levels back again and they had increased to 7.5 and the doctor was waiting to decide what the next step would be and we’d find out in the morning. The next morning, early, my doctor surprised us to check on me and the babies and explained they would do an iron transfusion instead (apparently at a level that none of the nurses had seen before because it was so much! And a 3.5 hour drip that they triple checked with my doctor the amount before setting it up) in hopes of increasing my levels up to a 9.

He said it would take months to get back to normal due to the amount of blood that was lost. He also said he was really nervous about me all day/night and kept checking my test results all night to make sure all was OK. He explained what happened again with the placenta and said they’d never seen that before (not a shock for all who know me!) and were really worried with so much blood lost. He also said he could tell I was a lot more sensitive/feeling a lot of it based on the way my body was reacting during the delivery and especially with removing the placenta…

I was definitely bloated with all those liquids!

Y’all… I swear I’m not meant to give birth! Ha! I can say that now but my goodness, both this delivery and Magnolia’s were ROUGH. My doctor kept checking on us throughout the day and actually was able to set up my discharge for Sunday AM so that I didn’t have to wait for a doctor all day the next day to go home. So we’d only have to wait for the pediatrician before being discharged for the babies (thankfully she came in at 7 am Sunday!). I was surprised he allowed us to go home on time but he said he’d still check my levels and assuming all is good after the iron transfusion, he didn’t see a need to stay any longer. He knew how worried I was about being away from Magnolia (since it was the first time ever) and didn’t want to keep me longer than necessary!

I can’t even tell you how good to feels to be done being pregnant and delivering! I am 4 weeks post partum now and while my stomach is still insanely sensitive – not even where the incision is but my excess skin, etc – it feels good to be done with some of the recovery. I’m looking forward to week 6 when I can be released to lift Magnolia again and I guess to start working out…. 🙂 We’ll see when that happens though! The craziest thing though? I don’t know that I feel like that was my last time being pregnant?!?!?! I know people say you just know when it is… but I didn’t feel that way during my pregnancy at all or even now? Ask me again in 29 minutes though because I’m sure my answer will change! Ha! But it’s too soon to tell… we need to survive the twin newborn stage first, right?! Because it’s not for the faint hearted that’s for sure!

I can’t wait to share all of our adventures with our 3 girls – and hope you’ll follow along our craziness! Now, if I can just get myself dressed and out of the house with all 3, right?!

Weekend Whereabouts!

June 21, 20212 Comments

Happy Monday! If that’s a thing at least.. although on maternity leave, I welcome Mondays for Magnolia to keep busy at school while I focus on getting stuff done for the twins/around the house!

Today’s a little different for me though because we have a cleaning person here doing a deep clean! We’ve talked about hiring a weekly or bimonthly but haven’t pulled the trigger.. although after this, we are definitely going to!

We didn’t have a super busy weekend (and I’m not going to lie, yesterday was not a “cake walk” or fun “celebration of daddy” like I’d hoped! We’re a month from having the girls and my goodness, life doesn’t get any easier! I keep waiting for it all to just “click” but clearly it’s going to be a bit longer for that to happen..

Let’s chat about our weekend though..

Friday, we had our first car ride with all 3 girl and it seemed like such a big deal! 🤣 We took the twins to pick up Magnolia at daycare and then real quick up to Old Navy, so I could run in for a pick up order (legit got the cutest matching things first the 3 girls! Magnolia will be obsessed!).

Clementine did great and fell asleep almost immediately.. AB on the other hand… cried for the majority of the drive! Fell asleep for 3 minutes then continued to cry… Magnolia is the sweetest ever and kept saying “it’s ok, Annabelle. Honey, I knowwww” and told us she was trying to hold her hand 🥰 Clearly, Annabelle didn’t get the memo because she just continued to cry… 😳

Fun times, right?! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Saturday AM, Jess came by to take some pics for us since our first newborn session a few weeks ago, didn’t go so well. I’m telling you…. 2 babies and a toddler is hard in general, let alone to get ONE good picture of the 3 of them, is impossible. Because well, we have a toddler and at least 1 crying baby..

Wide awake and content after crying for 30 minutes during the ACTUAL pictures.. 🤦🏻‍♀️

We were able to get them outside since it wasn’t too hot and I’m dying to see them all! Magnolia cooperated for a little bit and AB cried for 90% of it but Clem did GREAT as usual! So hopefully we got one good one, right?!

Angel baby after being a rockstar at pictures!

Logan hit up the driving range while all 3 girls napped and I sat out back and relaxed a bit.. until it was time to wake this baby up..

Doesn’t want to sleep at night but try to wake her during the day, and it’s impossible!

We follow Taking Cara Babies for sleep training (did the same thing for Magnolia thanks to my sweet friend Brittany!!) and we can’t let them sleep longer than 2 hours at a time… in theory, it’s great but legit, they don’t love waking during the day still!

After the girls all napped, I took some much needed time with Magnolia and headed to the beach!! She was SO excited (literally kept saying “I go to the beach” every 3 seconds during pictures) and when we got out of the car, she RAN yelling “I go to beach!” Over and over again until she got to the sand!

I thought she’d want to play in the sand more but she ran for the water!

She kept saying “mommy, come on!” And her little voice is the sweetest thing ever.

We played in the water, sand, splash pad and play ground! And it was just SO nice to have time with just us while Logan had the twins at home!

We finished our “date” with an ice cream from the ice cream truck and yall… she ran, screaming “it’s the ice cream truck” to every kid she saw and was first in line! She watches it on Blippi always but hadn’t seen one in person before!

Sunday, we didn’t have any plans in honor of Fathers Day, mainly because it was 80% chance of rain all day and we have twin babies sooo tell me how fun that is, going out and about?! 🤣

I had these sweet shirts made for all 3 girls saying “daddy’s girl” but Clementine threw up on hers before I could get a picture and the other two weren’t feeling pictures soooo.. this is what we get.

It was also National Wear Your Lilly day yesterday and I wanted to get a cute picture of us girls all matching in Lilly.. do we think that happened?! Of course not! I got Clementine and myself dressed and then Magnolia proceeded to want to keep her yellow shirt on.. and Annabelle needed a nap SO.. I thought we’d do one after nap but that didn’t happen because #life. And y’all.. I’m not going to lie, I was sad about it! 😭 I think it was a mixture of other things that happened that day that made it seem like an “ugh” moment! Because how stupid is that to be sad/upset about?! #firstworldproblems

Thankfully, Magnolia celebrated dad at school on Friday with donuts!

We just have a lot going on aside from having the girls – I’ll be sharing soon! So it’s been a mix of that plus adjusting to life with 2 babies and a toddler who doesn’t looooove listening (aka she just had to play with my makeup and blush… and it went all over the carpet and even Folex couldn’t get that out!).

Our night ended with trying to get Annabelle down for THREE hours… sounds fun, right?! 😭

It’s funny, I said to Logan “how can we expect a 4 week old to just know how to do things; go to sleep, etc” and he schooled me with “well we have one 4 week old who does it, so I can expect that” 🤣 Oh yeah.. forgot our sweet Clem is a rockstar!

We love daddy BIG even if it’s been a rough stage for us right now! 😭

Sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s just a stage we’re in right now when you’re in the trenches but I know this will pass and I’ll miss seeing the girls so little! When we see snaps of Magnolia little, we always say we can even remember her so little and how much we miss it.. surely, we’ll miss this right?! 🙃

We have a big week this week so we’ll take all the prayers that things go well and that Annabelle feels good! 🙏🏻

Welcome to the world, Griedl Twins!

June 16, 2021June 15, 20216 Comments

My goodness, I can’t believe it’s been SO long since I’ve written a post on here. To say that life has been busy, would be an understatement! Between the lasts few weeks of my pregnancy (really thankful that I felt pretty good for the majority of my pregnancy)..

And welcoming the twins..

Sweet girls – Baby A (left) Baby B (right)

Our lives have become crazy! We have even more going on in the next few weeks that will really rock our world – as if it wasn’t already rocked with these two’s arrival right?!

I’m working on the twins’ birth story because things never go as planned.. but in the meantime, I wanted to share our beautiful girls!

Blue Lilly Pulitzer swaddles since I thought they were going to be boys… Ha!

Annabelle Rae “Baby A” was born at 11:10 am on May 21, 2021 and weighed 6 lbs 13 oz – 19 inches long. She came into the world screeching until her sister was born and she heard her screech back. NO joke.. it was so sweet to hear and a shock when we heard “Baby A is a….. GIRL”

Clementine Irene “Baby B” was born at 11:12 am on May 21, 2021 and weighed 5 lbs 14 oz – 19 inches long. She came into the world almost “on call” and Logan saw her come out in the sack still (I, of course saw it with pictures and it’s pretty amazing to see what it looks like in real life) and screeched to let her sister know she was here with her! When we heard “Baby B is a… GIRL”, I looked over at Logan and laughed because we both SWORE that there was absolutely no way that both babies were girls.. Joke was on us 🙂

Our lives have gotten a whole lot crazier – and I truly can’t believe I’m a Mama to 3 girls! It’s definitely not all bliss and we’re just trying to survive this newborn stage with TWO babies and a toddler but we’re so thankful for healthy babies and trying to soak the time in! Magnolia is obsessed with her sisters and is the sweetest big Sis- they cry… a lot… and she will just keep watching her show (or whatever she is doing) and doesn’t ever get mad that they’re so loud. I was washing bottles yesterday and they both started crying while playing on the floor, and I looked up to see Magnolia running around trying to give them both nuks and saying “it’s OK! I know…. I know… it’s OK baby Clem!” It was the cutest thing (Logan and I say “I know baby…” a ton when they’re crying so its sweet she picked it up).

Anyway – I’ll be documenting our crazy over here on the blog (Logan asked that I do at least 2 blog posts a week so we can keep up with our lives since it’s fun to look back at these!) and sharing things that we are loving as well!

Next up… the birth story!

My pregnancy so far….

December 6, 2020December 11, 20203 Comments

Now that you’re all caught up… (if you’re not, go here to see the news!) I’ll give an update on my pregnancy..

I’m 15 weeks pregnant and am finallly starting to feel better. I was nauseous 24/7 with Magnolia and this pregnancy has been no different. The nausea started at week 5 and regardless of what I ate or didn’t eat it didn’t change. Although I did notice eating sugar, made it a litttttle worse. It’s been rough!

**13 weeks with Magnolia (left); 13 weeks with twins (right)**

Weight gain has been surprisingly low compared to Magnolia – I was only up 2 pounds at my 12 week doctor appointment (and we go back next week!! I’m living for all the doctor appts and am still so nervous in between) but with Magnolia, I gained like 8 pounds in the first trimester alone!

We found out we were having twins at 6 weeks after experiencing some bleeding followed by an ultrasound… I will tell you, Logan couldn’t come with and I was so nervous. I had a miscarriage in May (we can talk about that another time) and had to find out myself, there was no heartbeat, at the 8 week ultrasound since Logan wasn’t allowed in. I facetimed Logan and made sure to not look at the screen or show Logan it until we heard either way. I heard the doctor say “I think there’s a heartbeat there…” and I thought to myself… “YOU THINK?!” this isn’t good… and she said Yep there’s a second heartbeat! AND Y’ALL……. my first response was “There’s a heartbeat???” and I look at Logan and he has a huge smile and he says “There’s TWO heartbeats”. It was surreal to see. We knew it was still early at only 6 weeks but a heartbeat for us, after losing 2 babies and seeing them with no heartbeat, a heartbeat was what we needed! We’ve seen the babies 2 more times since then and it’s so sweet to see them!

We do not know the genders of the babies and we’re actually going to be CRAZY and not find out again! I thought for sure, our next baby, I’d want to find out ahead of time since we didn’t with Magnolia (and I reallllly wanted to) but this time around, it just doesn’t matter to me!

Hmm I’m trying to think of anything else to update you on with the pregnancy and babies so far… If you have questions, leave them below!

Kristi

I’m back… with beyond exciting news!

December 6, 2020December 9, 20206 Comments

I am back after a LONG break from this blogging world…. like 10 months?! I didn’t necessarily mean to take a full year off – but after putting Magnolia to bed, it was so much easier to relax for about an hour before we went to bed as well!

I feel like SO much has happened since my last blog post but also that a whole year went by with not much to chat about due to Covid.. we haven’t done anything or gone anywhere in like 9+ months and y’all…. I’m so over it! But I didn’t come on here to tell you that…

I’m back to blogging about our lives and what we’re doing to stay from going too crazy in this new world we live in! To catch you up, I still work from home (not due to the pandemic but before that I did as well) and now Logan got a new job in September so that he is 100% remote as well (he had been remote since March with his old job due to Covid) and our sweet girl is now going to be TWO on Christmas Day. She’s absolutely precious and has such a fun personality (and girl LOVES to talk – wonder where she gets that from?! :)) and I think we’re both in disbelief that she’ll be TWO!

Otherwise… not a whole lot has changed for us this year… except one thing…

Just a little change for us to end 2020 on a high note 🙂

I plan to share more about our journey to TWINS and what we’ve been experiencing fertility wise the last few years after having Magnolia (I know many of you follow me from our previous infertility journey which lead us to our miracle).

Short and sweet to say Hi, I missed you all – and hope you haven’t had too rough of a year with what seems to be the “new normal”. Let me know how you’re doing below… and we’ll chat soon!

Kristi

6th Annual Crawfish Boil

August 12, 2019August 11, 20192 Comments

My goodness.. I haven’t written a blog post since May?! I thought I was starting back out but apparently not!

Logan asked me why I hadn’t posted one in so long on Friday (I didn’t realize it had been THAT long!) and I said “what do I have to write about?! I’m in a slump and my life is Magnolia Kate right now” but then he reminded me that the reason I started this blog was to document our lives through pregnancy and a baby – even if that came a bit later!

So I think I’m back… and ready to document for ourselves things we’ve been doing with Magnolia and her growth! She’s beyond amazing (can I say that enough?!) and I want to remember it all!

Now onto our weekend.. we hosted our annual crawfish boil and it was Magnolias first!

Last year, we celebrated “Baby G” with a crawlfish boil/diaper party and this year, she was the “Belle of the Boil” of course!

We lucked out this year and had rain all day (I think it was the first year it actually rained) so most people hung in the garage and driveway.

Magnolia’s first boil! Y’all she WANTED to eat the shrimp and crawfish! She kept opening her mouth when I’d eat it 🙂 Sweet girl, maybe next year!

We have had the same group of people at our crawfish boil’s and it’s just funny to see things change over the year!

Our very first boil, Logan proposed and there were only 2 kids there and now, there were 7 babies ages 1 and under alone!

Magnolia’s a huge fan of babies and kids ever since she started daycare so she was totally content just watching them all (and trying to crawl into their carseats with them and hold their hands :)).

Sweet baby Coco – Magnolia kept trying to hold her hand! Be still my heart ❤

I’ve had questions how we do it and this is how…. Logan! Ha! He orders the crawfish from Louisiana and it’s delivered a day before the boil and he mans everything and boils it while we all mingle/eat apps/have drinks!

This is our sweet Godson, Sully who just turned a year old! They were so cute together!

Everyone joked that we’ll need a bounce house next year with all the kids!

I’m not gonna lie though… it was our first “big event” with just us two and Magnolia and it was a lot of work! We had all of our families at the boil last year and this year, no one was able to make it so it was a little bit of work! It also was a little harder since Logan was busy with the boil so i’d have to remind myself “oh shoot, when did she eat last?!!?” We definitely learned that we’ll need more help this year!

Magnolia just loves her some Gayle time 🙂

I was shocked though – Magnolia was awake for almost 6 hours by the time she fell asleep for the night and she was SO good!! She really went to anyone, as long as she could see Mama or Daddy and we had NO meltdowns! That’s a huge win!

And she loves Jess 🙂

Logan does 2 batches every time and it’s enough to make sure everyone is good and full!

Everyone hung around for a bit and it’s a little different as the years go… everyone was gone by 7:30 and the boil started around 4. Gone are the days that we stay up and have drinks for days with everyone! But honestly, it was my favorite year so far!

This month, marked 9 years of living in Minnesota and we really love our tribe! None of us live by each other unfortunately (meaning we’re all about 30 mins apart so not too far), but it’s always so great when we get together!

And look at this…. at my cookie exchange in December…

We thought only 4 of us were pregnant…

But turns out there were over half of us pregnant! It’s fun to see so many little ones (missing Katie and her little guy who came a little later!). See why we might be needing a bounce house next year?!

And it’s funny to think that all three of us were pregnant in this picture from last year (they were in very early stages and hadn’t quite made the announcements yet) and now this year…

Our good friends stayed the night since they were from out of town and it’s so sweet to see these two “playing” together!

Best we could do with them always on the move! 🙂

Yesterday, we just relaxed, cleaned and relaxed! Sweet Magnolia Kate was very happy to not be held and to be able to crawl allllll over all her toys!

We’ve been so busy on weekends lately and it’s not slowing down until end of September so we’re trying to soak in the “stay home” days and just relax!

Have a fabulous Monday!

Kristi

Magnolia Kate is FOUR months old!

April 25, 2019April 25, 20192 Comments

You are a third of a year old and I’m in total disbelief! I’ve never had time go as fast as it has these last 4 months! I swear, I blink and you’re doing something new or learning something new!

This is a crazy long post since I’m WAY behind but I’ll be making sure to do these monthly again! So I can look back and remember always 🙂

{Two Months}

We cuddled a lot this month as you were navigating into being a big two month old!

We had our first big roadtrip as Mama and Magnolia 🙂 We headed to Eau Claire for a night with Grandma and Great Grandma!

You didn’t love the car ride and decided to scream the last 45 minutes to Eau Claire but were such a gem while at Grandma’s overnight!

You became more content this month and decided you kinda liked your bouncer and looking at the hanging toys!

You continued to LOVE tummy time and can hold your head up SO well!

You still REALLY enjoy your time on the ball!

We went on our first Costco trip as a family – you didn’t love it though and ended up throwing up on yourself 😦

We celebrated Valentine’s Day and you might have gotten a Valentine or two 🙂

You went to your first big Golf show that Daddy loves so much! I think he’ll be getting you some clubs there next year already!

And you had Auntie Dee and Marcus visit you because they missed you oh so much!

We also did your first trip to Bingo and you were Auntie Dee’s good luck charm!

You also found your voice this month and learned that you LOVE to hear yourself talk! We love it too!

We had our first Mexican lunch date with Jess and you made us work for it! Jess did lunges for you most of lunch just to make you happy!

You had your first big day with Daddy while Mama went to a baby shower – and you did so good!

We also went on our first Target run which was the first time Mama took you somewhere by herself so we had to document that with a photo 🙂

{Three Months!}

This was a big month for you! You started pulling toys down and trying to hold onto things!

Grandpa and Janean visited you for the first time and you LOVED it! No tears for you 🙂

Even Grandpa enjoyed holding you!

We had our first appetizers and brunch with the girls – and let’s just say… you were a peach for a little bit but then you got HANGRY and refused to eat – oh yeah you started your weird not eating thing this month too! 😦

You found your hands and you can’t keep them out of your mouth! Which makes for some gross smelling formula hands if we don’t clean them ASAP!

You went on a REALLY long car ride to visit your Daddy’s family and Mama’s side too!

The car ride wasn’t fun but once we were there, you were so good!

You got your first cold this month too – right before our trip to Wisconsin and you were SO congested! Poor thing!

We started to get your smiles on camera this month too! You have the BEST smile!

We visited Mama’s work this month and you were able to meet Mama’s coworkers. You did pretty good for a while but then got pretty upset but I’m sure it was because you realized Mama was going back to work and you’d be headed for daycare soon enough!

Mama and Daddy had our first date night to a hockey game while you hung out with Auntie Gayle. You didn’t love it but we made sure to rush home for bath time and bedtime! I also vowed that we don’t need any date nights again any time soon 🙂

We also made our first trip to the Doctor (sans a baby well check up) because your left eye was full of goop! The doctor’s were concerned but after seeing you, they figured it was just a blocked tear duct. Thankfully, it went away after a few days!

We visited daycare this month and you met your teachers. Mama cried quite a bit (and we weren’t even dropping you off yet!) when you gave your pouty lip.

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day and you looked so cute in your pretty outfit and bow!

You still really LOVE to kick and do so anytime you can!

Our yoga ball broke this month but you showed us that you didn’t really need it anymore! Rocking in your nursery helped us BIG time!

You rolled over from tummy to back for the first time (March 22) and showed us that you are beyond determined for the next thing!

Your Uncle Alex, Auntie Anne and Cousin Nora came to visit you for our first NICE day outside! We played and played and finished the day with a walk 🙂

We matched for the first time this month in Lilly Pulitzer – and your obsession with their clothes begins!

You grew SO much this month and we’re beyond blessed to be your parents!

{Going into Four Months}

You started giggling more this month and it’s the CUTEST thing we’ve ever heard! You think Daddy’s really funny!

You still love to tell us stories and all about your day!

We had our first Mommy and Me Event and we made the sweetest Easter plate with your little toes! I can’t wait for more of these!

Your Papa Jay, Shari and Auntie Cam visited this month for a few days and you loved showing them how you can roll over like a big girl!

You went in your jumper table for the first time this month and somehow grew overnight to touch your feet to the ground!

You started daycare this month and after a few rough days, you’re a rockstar with your teachers and the other kids! We enjoy all the pictures we see of you learning so much! 🙂

You even sent Mama flowers your first day at daycare because it was a rough rough few days for Mama!

You still LOVE music and love to hear us sing to you! Your current favorite is “Happy and you know it!” and it just makes you smile smile smile!

We finally finished your nursery this month to add the girly Magnolia Kate touches it needed and we love it!

We celebrated your transfer day and couldn’t believe it had been a year since you were put inside me!

You rolled from back to tummy this month and are obsessed with doing it anytime you are laying down! Once you get onto your tummy, you swim swim swim and want to move already! Constantly grabbing at things to try to pull yourself further!

You are sitting up so good this month unassisted! Not 100% but I think by month 5, you’ll be sitting up all by yourself! You don’t like to sit back or lay back anymore – you’re constantly trying to sit up!

We had our first snow day with daycare this year (we didn’t know that could happen!) and we enjoyed a day of playing and snuggling instead!

We went to LaCrosse to visit your friends Sully and Preston and while it wasn’t your best day ever, we were so happy they could all meet you!

We had your first urgent care visit this month and found out you had a double ear infection, sweet girl!

We went to see the Easter Bunny this month and you did SO good! No tears at all and we even got a little smile out of you 🙂 We can’t wait to have you visit Santa!

We went to Chetek for Easter this month and you met all of your cousins/great aunts/uncles on Mama’s side.

It was our first FULL day outside and you did amazing! No tears or meltdowns at all!

You got FOUR Easter Baskets this month – so many!

And you found your Easter basket from Great Grandma Marilyn!

Grandma had a little shower to welcome you, Baby Girl with our family and you got the cutest gifts! I can’t wait until the weather stays nice for you to wear them all!

We celebrated Easter Sunday at home with Mama and Daddy and you matched with Mama 🙂

You are loved baby girl, more than you will ever know! We can’t wait to see what’s in store for us with you – you are just incredible!

Kristi

Mommy and Me Outfits!

April 24, 2019April 24, 20191 Comment

I asked and y’all responded.. you want to see more Mommy and Me outfits and trust me.. I have only about 20 in our closet as we speak 🙂

We matched for Easter…

And our dresses are from Old Navy – mine is on sale for $11.88 today BUT I got it for $3.99 on our clearance rack so double check there if you have one near you! Magnolia‘s is $7 but they always run deals on hers lately, I’ve noticed! There’s also a cute top that could match her dress perfectly too, that’s under $10!

Another favorite is from Old Navy and it’s the same dress for Magnolia but in black!

I didn’t know if this top would be TOO flattering on me with my larger chest but it actually is super cute! And it’s under $10 so mommy and me outfits for under $20 total?! WIN!

Lilly Pulitzer is HUGE for mommy and me pieces but I’m going to be honest… I have a hard time paying full price!

I stocked up during the last sale (their after party sales are usually in August and January!) and now, Magnolia and I have 7 mommy and me outfits that I’m dying to put her in this summer!

However, if regular price Lilly is in your budget, I’m loving these prints for Mommy and Baby!

Y’all, I’m all about a good deal – my dress is comfy and I love the contrast between stripes and gingham and little Miss‘ is $6! My version also comes in a top that looks really flattering!

A girlfriend told me about this line at Belk and I’ve been obsessed ever since!

Isn’t the dress for Magnolia just the sweetest and I love this top for myself!

All of these outfits come in toddler and girl sizes too so if you have a little one older than Magnolias age, you could still match!

To be honest, you don’t even have to have a little one to match to wear any of these either! I just love the prints and prices that they’d all be great for spring and summer!

Let me know if you have some mommy and me outfits you’ve been wearing (or wore in the past!) because I’m always looking for more, if that’s possible! 🤣

Kristi

Gender Neutral Nursery

March 18, 2019March 17, 20194 Comments

I cannot believe how long it’s been since I’ve come back to this little space! It’s been so busy with Magnolia the last few weeks and I just can’t get enough of her 🙂

I’ve had requests for Magnolia’s nursery when I was creating it and I’m just now, finally sharing it! I’ve ordered pieces to truly make it more “Magnolia” but am waiting for those to come in so I’ll share more of how I transformed her gender neutral nursery into a girl nursery after I have it completed!

One of the harder things for me while pregnant was creating a nursery that I loved and didn’t scream “baby” or “gender neutral” but was more seen as “serene” and “peaceful”. I scoured Pinterest for some inspiration and just couldn’t find anything I loved that didn’t seem “overdone”. Most of the gender neutral ideas on there were so similar to each other that it made it hard to get excited.

I knew I wanted to do a statement wall and after searching online for wallpaper, I found my beloved gingham print and knew that was the first piece that would go in the nursery. Convincing Logan to put wallpaper on the wall was the hardest part of the whole nursery! 🙂 He wasn’t sold on it but it really brought everything together! Her wallpaper is from the Joanna Gaines collection with Home Depot and it was pretty easy to put on the walls.

After I found the wallpaper, I knew I’d stick with a very neutral color palette of white and gray and I could build onto that with pinks/blushes for a little girl or blues for a little boy.

We purchased the crib early on when Babies R’ Us went out of business and after all of our showers, we used the 15% off for the crib and glider (both from Target!) from our registry.

I love mixing prints so adding in the striped tassel curtains was a no-brainer with the wallpaper! I’m glad it turned out because there was no going back after we put it up on the window.

I knew I wanted to put a small area for books on the wall by the glider because that was something I loved. Magnolia received books at our last shower with sweet messages in them and I love having an area to read those to her 🙂

The last thing left to figure out was what to put above her changing table. I’d seen ideas of collages, shelves, mirrors, etc but none of them were exactly what I wanted. In the Christmas edition of the Pottery Barn catalog, I saw a sweet wreath above the baby’s crib with lights and I knew immediately that’s what I wanted to do. Since it was getting closet to Baby G’s due date, I googled and searched for places to buy the little wreath like I saw but the only place I found them on Etsy wanted $70 for them and that wasn’t really what I wanted to spend! So I decided to head to Michaels and create my own!

I was a bit nervous that it would be too plain but I absolutely love the way it turned out! I’m going to add a few flowers to it to make it a bit more girly and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

When we have Baby #2, it’ll be easy to keep this room as a gender neutral nursery (even though we’re finding out the gender next time around!) and I can keep the pops of pink/blush or switch those out for some blues/greens. Don’t worry, we’re a bit away from the next one! Ha!

Did you find out the gender of your Baby or did you create a gender neutral nursery for your little one?!

Kristi

happily ever griedls

Category: Baby

Newborn Pictures!

Griedl Girls Birth Story

Weekend Whereabouts!

Welcome to the world, Griedl Twins!

My pregnancy so far….

I’m back… with beyond exciting news!

6th Annual Crawfish Boil

Magnolia Kate is FOUR months old!

Mommy and Me Outfits!

Gender Neutral Nursery