Hazel Louise :: 5 months

Hazel Lou! You're FIVE months! I'm loving this stage with you. You're fascinated with almost everything (from my hand, to the bus, to Ginsberg...you actually find Ginsy hilarious and then I start laughing which makes you laugh even more. It's so fun.) and you want evvvverything in your mouth. Oh & the drooling...so. much. drool. I love it. You want Sophie the Giraffe with you at all times, you're sleeping so well at night, and you cannot wait to sit up all on your own.

This past month we moved apartments. I am beyond thankful for how the Lord provided for our new home, but I still cried when we left. It was the first home your dad and I ever had together, one of the only places where I felt like I could breathe & just "be" when we first moved to the city, where we brought you home from the hospital, & where so many of our "firsts" as a family took place. We are loving our new space though and I'm sure in no time it will start to feel like home.

This month you attended your first Fall Retreat & went to your first college football game (Columbia vs. Penn)! It's been a fun month, kiddo.







Eating
Still eating like a champ & growing! Next month we're going to start some solid foods...I'm verrrrry excited about it! :)


Sleeping
Girl! You are sleeping through the night! Last month sleeping was limited in the Pursley household....so we had to make some pretty significant changes. We let you cry-it-out & although there are lots&lots of opinions on the matter of sleep & babies...it worked for you! You're sleeping about 12 hours at night and I think you actually look forward to bedtime! Nap time...well that's another story ;) You love yourself a nice, short nap, missy!




Temperament/Personality

Daily I can see more&more of your personality coming out and I'm loving it! You're not big on cuddling--you would rather squirm and play. You're super active and like room to move! Being on your play mat with toys is one of your favorite things, although I think your favorite thing is being tossed up in the air by Dad. You love to look at yourself in the mirror and will laugh for as long as we hold you there. :) You like your space and are totally fine playing by yourself with us close by.


Physical
I'm not sure how much you weigh now, but you're definitely growing! You're wearing size 3-6 month clothes, but in pj's you're up to 9 months. You're hair is getting longer and thicker. You are trying so hard to sit up on your own...I think it'll happen this month :) You're still in size 2 diapers, but I think we're going to move ya up to 3 within the next week or so. You're healthy and growing lots, little one!

Memorable
-new home!
-first fall retreat
-first college football game

heading to fall retreat! you look thrilled ;)

        

You are so very loved, Hazel Lou. We are beyond thankful that the Lord chose us to be your parents. It's so much fun being your momma! Love you, baby girl!

weekend fun

Fall is my favorite season. I think a huge reason is the fashion (I love boots, scarves, and layers!), but I also love all the fun actives that come with fall...apple picking, football, drinking a warm drink when it's chilly outside. Oh man, I just love it!

This weekend we went to Columbia University's homecoming football game (go lions!). It was also our alma-mater's homecoming back in North Carolina (go bears!) and I was pretty bummed to be missing it, so I was grateful to be at a football game. 

I had been up by Columbia's stadium before (it's right by Indian Road Cafe...ah-mazing.), but I'd never been inside. As we walked into the stadium Matt and I couldn't stop smiling...we couldn't believe we were in a college football stadium right in Manhattan! On top of it being Columbia's homecoming it was also family weekend. It was so fun being there and experiencing it all!

 lil miss before we headed to the game:

 waiting on the bus:

  We made it! 

It started getting pretty windy and cold during the second half so we headed out and went to Indian Road Cafe (yum!).

Hazel tried to take a sip of my latte...she has good taste ;) thankfully that didn't happen, ha!

We had a lot of fun & made it home just in time for

baby girl's bedtime.

I hope y'all are enjoying fall!

moving apartments in NYC

We've been thinking about moving apartments for over a year now. We've looked a few times, but never found anything that we fell in love with or felt like would be a good move...so back in June we decided to stay put and figure out how to make our small space work. Fast forward 3 months and we get a call from some of our best friends in the city, "We think you guys should check out this apartment..."

Long story short: 

our friends had to move out of their apartment because their landlords decided they wanted to renovate their place so they needed to be out...in one month (crazy, out-of-no-where, NYC livin'..ugh.). They searched like crazy & found a great place on the 6th floor (praise the Lord for elevators) in a building that had another apartment open on the 1st floor. We checked it out & fell in love. It's a smart move for us and in so many ways feel like the Lord made all of this possible. We really did nothing to find this place!

So thankful God is in control and made something beautiful (2 families getting new homes) out of a pretty crappy situation. I was beyond angry for our friends when they were being asked to leave their home and prayed, "God, WHY are you doing this?! It feels so unfair & wrong." God is so patient & kind with me...as I now pray, "Lord, THANK YOU! Your plan is so much better than mine...please help me to see that in every situation. Help me to trust you more."

We are SO excited about living in the same building as our friends! It's going to feel like college all over again. ah!

So before we can settle into our new place, we have to pack. Packing can be a stressful task--especially when you have less than 2 weeks to make it all happen. Thankfully, I love organization & structure so I'm in my element creating a packing plan and executing it!

First I like to do a little research...and where else but Pinterest?! But when I searched "moving tips" I laughed when I saw a checklist of things to do starting "8 weeks from moving day." I then started typing "NYC" in front of everything I searched...even then I only found a few blogs talking about moving from one apartment to another in the city. (I found this one really helpful!)

Many talked about moving to NYC from another place (I found those helpful 2 years ago though!). So I thought I'd share our experience of staying in the city, but moving to a new apartment. It happens fast! We signed our lease for Oct. 1st (this gave us just under 2 weeks to pack up our current home and make the move.)

Here's how we did it:

1. Get rid of stuff! Thankfully having a small apartment *usually* means less stuff...Matt and I are not fans of clutter so if we don't use something/love it then it usually is given away pretty quickly & frequently. Even with our frequent purging, we still needed to go through all our stuff and make a 'give away' pile. We had a lot of stuff to give away!

2. Make a moving plan. I found this to work best for us.

3. Order Bin It. Seriously. Bin It made packing & moving SO easy! They brought the bins right to our old apartment I packed all of them up (no tape, no cardboard, no awkwardly shaped boxes...so easy!) and stacked them on top of each other (when you're in a small living space being able to stack the bins safely on top of each other makes a serious difference. it saved so much room!). They'll come pick them up at your new place when you're all unpacked too! This made packing a breeeeze!

4. Change your address (along with everything else...cable, utilities, bank, zipcar, etc.). When you're all moved in you'll have a LOT of unpacking to do, so it's nice to already have this done beforehand.

5. If at all possible clean your new apartment before you move in. It's so much easier to clean an empty apartment! & it makes moving in so much easier.

6. Ask for help, make it fun, & buy your friends lunch. We are so thankful for ALL the help we had to move. From people carrying (heavy...) boxes, to taking Hazel's crib apart so it would fit through the door (& putting it back together in our new place...!), to holding our baby pretty much the whole day, to helping us clean our old place before we left. THANK YOU! We couldn't have done the move without you, friends.

I wish I had taken more pictures...it all happened so fast! Not that I'm planning on moving annnnytime soon, but I'd love to hear some of your moving tips!

 I'll post some pictures of our new place soon!