hrmarciano

Two Months with Ryder

Since this is my blog, I want to use it to document the really great things we do with our sweet babe & the areas where we are growing. I want to leave advice to myself & to other mamas, too. So this will probably be a rambling blog that will pop up once a month with a little recap of the month and how our babe grew.

In Ryder’s second month of life, he enjoyed many firsts —

his first plane ride (to meet lots of Michigan family)  • his first snow day (& snow angel)
first vintage market weekend
first bridal shower (for Aunt Hannah of course)
he got to meet his friend, Arie (when your mamas are friends, you’re destined to be friends too)
he gets to spend a few afternoons a week with his GREAT grandparents while mom & dad go to the gym
he loves to smile at you
his new party trick is sticking his tongue out at ya

Highlights of month 2:

he met his Michigan family (Great grandpa Jim, Uncle Jay & family, Uncle Brian and Uncle Lyle)
lots of time with his great grandparents while mom & dad go to the gym
we started to love tummy time and can officially hold our head up on our own
he loves to smile at everyone who gives him attention
he absolutely loves bath time with daddy

Can’t believe he’s already been around for a whole two months. Can’t wait to update you soon. Follow along on our daily journey over on IG!

Xoxo,

Hil

Valentine’s Day Outfits

With Valentine’s Day coming up in one week, I thought I would share some of my fav pink & red finds with you in case you need a new outfit to wear to celebrate with your boo (& sharing some of my favorite finds for newborns, too)

Need an outfit for your little one too? I got you covered (especially if you waited until the last minute like me & need Amazon Prime shipping).

Happy Valentine’s Day, babes

XO,

Hil

Amazon Workout Favs

Since we’re back in the gym and have this hot new postpartum bod (LOL), I wanted to get a few new things that I looked good & felt good in. I scoured Amazon for some Lulu type dupes, and here are some of the best ones that I came up with.

Tap the photo above to shop the items linked in this post.

I do mostly weight training workouts for now & these pass the squat test and hold in the breastfeeding boobies. They’re padded enough that they can catch a little milk leakage too! If you tap the picture above, you can get the link to show these items! If you go through my website or my LTKi, I get a small commission from these products & that goes to support me & my growing family! Thanks for shopping with me!

XOXO,

Hil

Traveling with a Newborn

Yesterday I got on a plane with my 5.5 week old. Was I a little nervous and probably unprepared?! Absolutely. But was it worth it? 1000%

We heard that my grandpa wasn’t doing too well! He lives in Michigan and hasn’t met Ryder yet. I could’ve used multiple excuses to not make the trip —
I have a newborn.
I don’t have anything warm for him to wear.
What does it even look like to fly with a 5 week old?
What happens if he’s miserable on the plane. That’s embarrassing.

But you know what I learned when I talked to those around me (because everyone wants to talk to you when you have an infant on an airplane), that everyone has been here. No one was concerned about his fussing. No one was complaining when he blew out his diaper and smelled a little. They’ve all been there. Or if they haven’t, they were probably the child in the situation at some point. And almost everyone is wearing headphones and in their own world anyways.

What’s my point? Is flying from Florida to Michigan with an infant intimidating? Yes. Is there any reason you shouldn’t just get on the plane and take the trip? Nope. Family is so important. If you live far from yours, take the trip — plane or car ride. You’re capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for & your baby will probably do better than you imagine. You got this, mama 🤍

Here are some tips for flying with a newborn that I compiled for ya —

nurse/feed on the take off & landing to help their ears
Try to plan the trip so they can nap on the plane if possible
Keep a easy accessible bag ready to grab to take to the bathroom with you in case of a blowout
You can gate check (or drop it at the ticket counter) your car seat and stroller
Your diaper bag doesn’t count as an item for you — it’s a medical bag exemption for your baby
You can bring more than the allotted “ounces” through security of formula or pumped milk. Just let them know what you have ahead of time
Not every bathroom on the plane has a changing table. Look for a sign marked or ask a flight attendant to make sure yours does
Each airport has nursing rooms if you don’t want to nurse in public. You can locate them on the map (and google the airport map ahead of time if it’s a new airport to you or you have a short layover)
If they start to fuss, do not stress. Go through the checklist of things that could be wrong — need a change, hungry, cold, hot, need to burp, etc — and try until you solve the problem. Don’t let others around you put the pressure on you to calm him down in a way that stresses you out. You got this, mama

Do you have any other tips for flying with newborns? Drop them in the comments for others mamas to see!

XOXO,

Hil

Working out post partum

Haven’t worked out in 7 weeks. The last time I walked into the gym was the day I hit full term in my pregnancy. Back then, I was working out for my health & the health of my baby. Seven weeks later, I’m back at the gym working out for my health & the health of Ryder.

My focus is on feeling good. I’m working out to feel good — to take time for me & to boost those endorphins and get some energy. I’m working out to give me the energy to take care of my son. I’m working out for me & I’m stoked to be back.

There’s such a toxic push in post partum to get your body back. Instead, I’m taking the mindset shift of working to feel good instead of focusing on looking good. & I’m pretty sure that by focusing on feeling good & taking care of my body, that in the process I’ll start to look good too.

Everything that my body is doing, it is doing to provide nutrients and life support for my son. IF that doesn’t put into perspective how I should be treating it, then I dont know what will. So yes, I’m working out. Yes, I’m fueling it well. Yes, I’m telling myself daily how good I look and that this body not only grew a human, but is still providing 24/7 for one.

You’re a rockstar, mama. Make sure you’re not just taking care of your baby, but you are also taking care of yourself!

XOXO,

Hil

Pups & Babes

Are you struggling to spend time with your pups while having a newborn? Look, I’m not saying it’s easy by anyyyyy means, but it’s something we committed to.

There are days when I finally get Ryder disk for a nap and the dogs go nuts because someone goes running by our house and it makes me want to scream. There are times when I’m nursing him & the pups need to go out or need water and are whining to let me know, and I have to tell them to wait until I’m done. There are times when I’m nap trapped and can’t rescue the ball that rolled under the couch.

But Josh and I keep reminding either other that they didn’t choose this. I know it sounds funny, but we chose to have pups, then we chose to have a kid. We knew our dogs were high energy pups and still needed to be walked and played with every day. So that’s something that we’ve made a priority. We take them on a walk daily (well josh walks then and I push Ryder). Then most days, josh will also throw the duck with Persy in the yard and I’ll be intentional to give the older pups attention during a nap or when I’m doing tummy time.

Our first date post baby, we chose to stay home and just intentionally cuddle the pups. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying there’s days I think we’re crazy for having 3 dogs and a kid, but I’m here to tell you that they adapt so well to having children around if you can also remember that they were there first and don’t immediately understand the change in roles.

I’m not a dog expert, but my best advice for someone bringing home a baby to pups is to make sure you still take time for them. Make sure to do some of the things you did before. Make sure you take 3 minutes a day to cuddle with them like you used to every day. Take the baby over to the couch they’re on and feed them there so they’re a part of it too. It makes them have a better relationship with both you and the baby.

XOXO,

Hil

Lollipop Baby Camera

For baby Ryder, we were looking for a baby monitor/camera that could let us do a few things —

easily portable for our parents houses
easy to switch between the bassinet and the crib or whatever else he is sleeping in these first days
something that connects to our phone so we dont have to remember a monitor when on the go

I did a little research on Amazon and came across the lollipop baby camera. This camera is so easy to install with just one little piece (but can also be mounted in a permanent location). It took me 40 seconds to get it working in our bedroom for nap time in his bassinet and the getting started process was as easy as downloading an app & connecting to your internet.

You can see here that I simply wrapped it around the end of the bassinet and got this picture below of baby Ryder while he was sleeping.

At first, I wasn’t sure how good the connection would be because I’ve heard sketchy things about wifi only to app connectivity, but a week in & I haven’t had any issues at all. It is super easy to open, you can turn it off on the app when you aren’t using it and it even notifies you of noise disturbances (aka every time my dogs bark).

Overall, I am super pleased with this camera & can’t wait to use it on the go at families houses because of how convenient it is. Drop a comment if you have a question about the camera or how it works.

Let me link it here for you.

Here’s to baby sleep & a good view for mama!

XO, Hil

Breastfeeding Favorites

I’ve only been at this for a month, so I am by far no expert, but these are some of my breastfeeding favorites (aka necessities) these days —

Silverette Nursing Cups: these miracle workers are a necessity if you are breast feeding. They are better than having to carry balms and creams with you & they are so easy to clean and care for. They slip right in your bra and protect those nips.
Milk Catcher: if you want to start building a small backstock of milk without adding in pumping, this is a great way to do it. Just use the haaka on the opposite side of the breast you are feeding on and it will catch all the leakage. I also have one boob that leaks more than the other, so I started wearing the Elvis catch throughout the day inside my bra to catch all the milk I would normally leak and start to use that to store.
Boppy Pillow: again, this is amazing to save your arms while feeding. Lay it around your waist/lap and rest your arms on it under baby while feeding
Storage Bags: eventually, you’ll need a back stock – whether to allow dad to feed or because you’ll have an occasion when you need to leave baby behind and someone else will need to feed him. These storage bags make it easy to add your haaka milk to & store it in the freezer until you need it
Reusable Pads: tend to leak and not wanting to deal with milk storage? or those boobs let a little milk out whenever baby (yours or not) starts to cry? These are a great solution to that to catch a little milk that leaks out. Slip them into your bra, then throw them in the wash when you get home

Tap on the photo to be taken to all the links in this image

Is there anything here you can’t wait to try? Let me know in the comments.

XO,

Hil

One Month with Ryder

In Ryder’s first month of life, he enjoyed many firsts —

his first live sporting event (watching his cousin, Ollie, play HS basketball)
his first road trip (to watch his cousin play — Deland, Florida)
his first stop at Disney (just Disney Springs, but still)
his first Christmas (& he met Santa)
his first sunset (first of many)
his first church service (Christmas Eve 2021)
his first wedding

The first week or two were pretty wild at home. We were thankful beyond words to have Josh home full time, but there was a lot to adjust to. Josh was now working full time from home, but having 3 barking dogs & a crying baby is a lot to take on while trying to focus. There was definitely a learning curve, but we loved taking walks as a family each morning and learning how to fit our sweet babe into our routine.

Highlights of month 1:

mom & dad took two evening date nights away from babe
babe has done a few 4-5 hour stretches overnight giving mom and dad some good sleep
Ryder is sleeping overnight in his bassinet
Mom got an elvie catch so she can start storing milk so dad can help give bottles

Struggles of month one:

the first two weeks, he would not sleep in his bassinet
mom healing from her C-section and struggling to bend over and do household things
Odys was pretty overprotective at first and would bark at us when Ryder starting crying. Now he will come check out what is happening, but has major chilled on the stress level
babe just wants to be held all the time; working on putting him in his bassinet/crib for naps, but for now, he usually sleeps on mom or in his bouncer in the kitchen so we can keep an eye on him

Overall, it’s been such a good month. The fastest & slowest month of our life all in one. Can’t wait to update you soon. Follow along on our daily journey over on IG!

Xoxo,

Hil

Stop Comparing

If you find yourself opening up IG && starting that comparison game, here’s a few tips for ya:

don’t just sit and scroll forever; find something else to do on your phone or even pick up a book or watch a show when you’re nap trapped. The endless scrolling will eventually get ya
unfollow unfollow unfollow anyone who makes you feel less than or unworthy as a mom; it’s your dang page, don’t let anyone into your space who makes you feel like you’re not good enough
take an IG break; yup. You don’t need the gram. Take the weekend off or a week off. You’ll realize you’re killing it as a mom when you have no one to compare yourself too.
do something for you && that makes you feel like the best mom ever; does your babe love when you make silly faces or go to the park or share ice cream? We all feel like we’re killing it when our kid looks up & smiles at us. Whatever puts that smile on their face, do that and remind yourself you’re killing it

Seriously girl, you do you && don’t compare yourself to anyone else. You’re killing it.

Xoxo,

Hil