On an arrival.

Welcome to our world, Elliott Rose, my darling girl.

On Wednesday July 22nd, at 5:53pm, our little peach made her way into our bursting hearts. She was 7 pounds 10.2 ounces & 20.5 inches long, with a head of sandy blonde hair & deep blue eyes.

Her birth story is the most amazing, joyous, exhilarating series of events I have experienced in my life so far. After 19 hours of labor & just 15 minutes of pushing, her little cries filled the room. They placed her on my chest & the entire world stopped; Eric & I looked at each other in complete disbelief. She was here, with wide eyes & a quiet curiosity. It sounds cliche, but there's a reason women say their hearts just crack open. I am so overjoyed that I was able to have this experience. The intense relief, the outpouring of love, the face of my husband as he laid eyes on his daughter for the first time - all memories I have relived over & over, to never forget.

headed home :).

She is beautiful & perfect & the most precious thing. I have spent countless hours watching her sleeping face, taking in every detail, every expression & change in breath. I'm completely enamored with her, & I'm guessing this has to wear off eventually or I'll never get anything done!

Also, my phone has become a shrine to Elliott photos ;).

Week 1 & 2:

• She loves to be swaddled & won't settle properly without being wrapped up like a burrito.
• She is s u p e r chill! Loud sounds don't bother her & she gets mad for all of 5 seconds. I hope I'm not jinxing us.
• She doesn't really like a pacifier. She'll take one when she's upset, but spits it out pretty quickly.
• We're getting used to baths & I think she's starting to like them a bit. She likes the water a bit warmer, & lots of chit-chat about how great she is. A bit of an egomaniac, this baby of ours ;).

& now she's waking up to be fed again, so I've gotta run!

Take care, guys.

xo Chlo.

On a nest for our little peach.

We've finally gotten it all done! Here's a peek at our nursery, all ready for baby Elliott Rose.

I'm so happy with how everything turned out; it's a bit nerve-wracking to order furniture & pick out all the pieces without really knowing if it's all going to come together in the end. But I think we did alright.

We are so excited & anxious for her to get here. Our official due date is July 29th, but it's looking like she'll be coming a bit earlier than that. She's already almost 7 1/2 pounds! She's going to be so squishable, I can't stand it. Just gotta hang in there a few more weeks. Wish us luck :).

We'll keep ya posted!
xo Chlo & Eric

Life Lately.

Hey guys! Just a few snapshots from life lately. We're not doing a whole lot besides getting prepped for Elliott & relaxing (this pregnancy thing gets tiring!).

Yes, that's a picture of Eric with his new chainsaw. He climbed on the roof (!) & trimmed our tree. I wasn't having a heart attack or anything.

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary last week! It's amazing to look back at all of the things we've done together, & how much we've grown since we were 18 years old, haha! Life really couldn't be sweeter.

Hope you're all having a wonderful start to summer. The countdown is on to meet our Elliott Rose - just 6 more weeks.

Take care,
xo Chlo.

On happy birthdays.

Last week was Eric's birthday! We had a relaxing weekend of family dinners & time together. Enjoying the dwindling days of just the two of us.

Man, I can't tell you how amazing it is to share life with this guy. This is our 11th birthday celebrating together - the first as best friends, & the last 10 leading to today (married, with a baby on the way, can you even believe that?!). We have done so much together in the last decade. The picture above pretty much spans that time: our first apartment together, traveling to Japan, an early winter, first sonogram, our wedding day, Eric's first trip to Australia, concerts, California wine tours. It's been an incredible whirlwind of growing up & adventuring, trying new things, challenging ourselves to accomplish goals we're not really ready for (buying a house at 21/22, anyone? Ha.). & through everything, it has been an absolute blast.

Eric, you still fascinate me everyday. As I type this, you are sitting across the desk from me acting like one of those raptors with the frilly necks from Jurassic Park, spirit fingers & all - you make me laugh constantly. Your silliness & pure joy in life is something I will always try to treasure, & can't wait to see you share with our daughter. I think she is going to agree that you are the craziest, weirdest, most supportive, & most generous person. Here's to the many, many, many decades that we get to enjoy you.

I love you for always,
xo Chlo.

On what's in a name.

Sweet girl, we cannot wait to meet you.

xo Chlo & Eric

Life Lately.

 I realized today that I was so busy through my birthday & this week that I barely took any photos! What a dork. At the very least, I had a wonderful & full birthday weekend :). Let's see:

Thursday / 9th: We met Jenna & Marc at Smoke in Plano for dinner. E & I had been to the Dallas location quite a bit, & the new digs do not disappoint. It has the same ambiance, & the same amazing food. Jenna's brother is a bartender extraordinaire, so go visit & get a good cocktail.
Friday / 10th: We had a free day (gasp!), so we ran some errands & took some much needed couch-time.
Saturday / 11th: I got to join Liz's gorgeous family for brunch at Mercat Bistro, which is always so much fun. Those ladies are just so cool. We kidnapped Liz for the afternoon & hit up the Old Monk before dinner with E's family for my b-day. That was my first time at Whiskey Cake, & it was prettyyy good! If you go & you are alcohol-free, ask Dave to make you a Jessica Wabbit - carrot juice, ginger, mint, & some other delicious things that made me feel like a grown-up.
Sunday / 12th: E & I slept in a bit & took it easy during the day. We met up with Liz before she had to fly back home (wahhhh!) & had a quick dinner with Mum. Full-on exhaustion at this point, haha!
Monday / 13th: I woke up to coffee & breakfast in bed :). Along with presents & lotsa love. We headed over to Mum's in the afternoon to hang out & then out to dinner with those awesome, pesky little brothers (heh). I picked Cheesecake Factory, for a huge helping of Chicken Bellagio & lemon raspberry cheesecake. It was a great end to 27, & a yummy hello to 28.

Thank you, everyone, for making this birthday a special one. It's one I think I'll always remember - the last before little one arrives.

Since then, we've just been hangin' tight, getting ready for peach. I had my glucose tolerance test today, so the past 2 weeks I've been keeping an eye on my sugar intake & making sure I'm not giving in too much to the sweet cravings (they are intense!). I'm still at least 10 pounds down since I got pregnant, so I'm not doing too bad ;).

We had lunch at Braindead Brewing in Deep Ellum on Sunday, & I had an amazing BLT. I had to take a picture of it. Just thought I'd share, it felt wrong to keep it to myself.

The painters are coming on Wednesday to get our nursery done; I am STOKED. This means all the organizing & decorating is coming up, which is the fun part, right?

Hope you guys are having a wonderful April.
xo Chlo.

On Sunday confession.

Real talk: I have a bad habit of running over past conversations in my head, wondering if I said the wrong thing, or upset someone, or shared something I shouldn't have. I have a small dose of social anxiety, paired with a nice tall glass of judging myself a bit too harshly. I have two fears: representing myself inaccurately, & leaving another feeling judged or criticized.

When I have a full day of conversations with friends & family, I also have a full night of reliving those conversations & dissecting if I've said something stupid or thoughtless.

We all have times when we can't express ourselves effectively, or we accidentally say the wrong thing, or everything just becomes misconstrued & you're left trying to correct yourself with a bad taste in your mouth.

It's ridiculous, right? We all have these things that go bump in our heads. We all have shortcomings, things we're working on, things that make us want to be better. I'm just thinking about this now because my day-to-day conversations are becoming so much more embroiled with opinions about raising our daughter, & I'm entering into conversations with other women that I would have avoided like the bloody plague before. As much as I want to continue avoiding them (please, just let me smile & nod), I can't get any better at it without practice. So, I suppose my point is - please ignore the foot in my mouth. It's sort of lodged there & I have an appointment with my communication skills to have it looked at. Also, your hair looks great.

xo Chlo.