i document my life and arlo all day long but sometimes i forget to really share it here. sometimes i even look back on my instagram and regret not posting more baby photos because i was worried about the lack of likes, and i wish i could look back and see more of him now. so maybe that means i should write more personal posts again when i can, because i like having them!! and you guys always told me on the surveys you did too.

anyway, with the year ending, i wanted to take a moment to look back on it.

arlo went from baby to toddler

we sleep trained him back in january and never looked back. 6 months of having him sleep in our room was plenty for me, i loved having our own space back and having him sleep better. he’s done almost everything behind schedule but he went from toothless for almost a year to 8 teeth, bald to becoming a blonde, having a giant roll covered body to basically being skinny UGHHHH. i know that i’ve said how lucky i feel a million times, but arlo is truly so special. his huge personality literally shocks me everyday, and has his whole life. watching him grow up this year and turn into a full fledged toddling kid has been incredible and gut wrenching. 

i stopped breastfeeding… and started feeling better

at 11 months i decided to stop nursing, and while a lot of mothers don’t want it to ever end — i was surprised at how happy it was for me. yes i missed that connection we had and the peacefulness of that time, but i felt like this giant weight had been lifted and i finally started feeling like myself again. it was so freeing and really gave me back my own sense of identity a little, obviously that’s mostly gone once you become a mom, but it was something.

i learned how to make bread

in the scheme of a year it’s a small thing i know, but doing new things like this are so good for me — i never really take the time to learn new tasks or try new recipes or do challenging things. and something that seems so daunting that was so easy is a really good reminder for me to try new things. and make it a point to. i make the same dinners all the time, and very rarely branch out, so i am hoping this year to do that more. bread recipe is here!

we redid our dining nook

it’s hard having a small house and not being able to design full rooms, our living room, dining room and kitchen is one space so it’s an interesting challenge to design each space individually and make them work together. so so happy with how this corner came out (still definitely dream about having a formal dining room someday though…) i am planning to swap out the art though because the frame is not the most comfortable to lean against.

my best friend got married

i spent a large chunk of the year being a maid of honor, and when the wedding was finally over i really did feel sad like i was losing my part time job. it was so much fun helping to plan for the wedding, hosting the bridal shower and planning the bachelorette party, even my speech went well! (you can watch it here) looking forward to when i can plan the baby shower next 🙂

arlo turned 1

you know damn well i went bonkers planning arlo’s party and i don’t regret a thing! it was such an amazing year, i am so glad i got to create a beautiful day to commemorate it. and i made him this birthday video if you didn’t get a chance to see it.

it was sad to stop doing the monthly updates because i feel like everything is such a blur now that i don’t document it regularly. but i guess that’s how life works. TEARS.

we fixed up the guest room

a long long time coming, we finally made the guest room presentable and pretty! it’s so nice to have a space that i don’t cringe when i walk by. and poppy loves it too 🙂

we did little trips without arlo

a lot of parents don’t realize how FREAKING AMAZING it is to travel without your baby. it’s obviously sad and so you miss them so much but i am now not only a firm believer in a regular date night but taking trips too. even if it’s just a night away, the feeling of not having to be responsible for feeding someone else or scheduling or napping and just being your own person again for a day is incredible.

we went to my best friends wedding without arlo and decided to spend two days in cambria afterwards for our birthdays, it was so peaceful and so nice to have a little break. we planned to go to todos santos for our anniversary in september but the weather said there would be a hurricane coming, so we cancelled the trip and went back to palm springs instead for two days. lastly, we also spent the night in malibu at the surfrider and it was sooo nice to do even a night away.

definitely want to do that more this coming year, it’s so nice to reconnect with gid because lets be honest, basically all we do is co-parent when we’re home.

we went to hawaii

you might be wondering why we get to go to hawaii so often and it’s because we tag along with my in-laws! you might also notice we pretty much only go to hawaii because gid only gets so much vacation time so we just use it to go on the family trips. in august we went to maui and arlo was having such a better time than the trip before that when he was sick from day one, but then a hurricane was supposed to come and it sort of halted everything on the trip because all the beaches, pools and restaurants closed lol — still so much fun though.

arlo trick or treated for the first time

of course had to be a kitten. and so did we lol — we struggled at first with him being ok wearing his costume but i bribed him and put it on him daily leading up and he actually wore it! it was so much fun to trick or treat around my moms neighborhood with him and all his cousins, most of the time when people opened their doors he’d walk right in.

our house was featured on glitter guide

my first house tour ever! it was so exciting to have the entire house photographed and made me feel so legit.

we hosted our first thanksgiving

my mom had a shoulder replacement close to thanksgiving, so we took over the hosting duty that usually belongs to her — we delegated a lot of dishes (including the turkey) so it wasn’t as high pressure as a normal first thanksgiving would be, but it was a beautiful night and you know i love setting a table!

we hosted our first christmas morning

we have always gone over to my moms for christmas morning, but this year my mom wanted to come to us and it was so fun to start a new tradition now that we’re our own little family! i made blueberry pancakes and we gave arlo a dozen gifts that he actually loved. he was so sweet and gracious and excited, we can’t even believe how well it went.

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i enjoyed december so much (as i always do), i’m obsessed with the holiday spirit and sad it’s over, but looking forward to 2019. my dad is coming for a few visits, we’re doing a little family weekend trip in march, we are hoping to start the master bath reno and finally fix up our terrible front yard, going to try to actually use my cookbooks and take arlo to disneyland again — lots to look forward to!