Coffee Break

Taking a break from my regularly scheduled recipe posts to say hi!

Let’s catch up. Obviously this has been an extremely chaotic, eventful, and completely blissful fall in this house. Noelle is 5 weeks tomorrow and you all totally warned me: the time flies!

(by Megan Brodie Photography ♥)

We’re in love with our baby girl, though obviously it’s been a huge adjustment. And even though I now operate on small amounts of broken up sleep and my new definition of “me time” is a 5 minute uninterrupted shower, every single snuggle with our baby girl is worth it. I’m sort of in a fog, both wonderful and overwhelming. One day I wake up feeling like I can conquer the world, then the next day even making coffee feels like a triumph. There’s no question: becoming a mother is extremely difficult in all aspects. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. A lot of women told me this would be hard, but no one warned me it would be this hard.

A couple weeks ago, I felt a degree of guilt admitting that new motherhood is a struggle and not every single second is pure bliss. Noelle has my heart and I love her with my entire core, but I began recognizing that it’s ok to have those feelings. As the weeks go on, I savor every moment that I can but I’m also grateful that we’re beginning to establish a routine of sleep/eat/snuggle/play. Each week is slightly less overwhelming and once we hit the 1 month mark this week, things seemed much more manageable. I’m finally becoming confident in my role as a mother.

My favorite thing to do? Sit in the rocking chair on the porch with Noelle in my arms listening to soft music.

I hope these words strike a chord with any new moms reading. You’re not bad at this, you’re NEW at this. You’re doing the best you can. Read these words over and over again when you feel like you’re failing: you’re not failing, you’re learning.

This was a tough week for our little family. Our younger pup, Franklin, had to have emergency surgery on Monday. My little buddy had been feeling ill for a few days and after going back and forth to the vet a couple times, they finally found a small object blocking his digestive tract. It was a piece of corn cob. We haven’t eaten corn on the cob in over a year, so an animal must have tracked it into our yard?! He doesn’t stray from our yard and we usually keep a good eye on the dogs when they’re outside. He’s recuperating from the surgery just fine. It breaks my heart, but we’re so thankful we caught the problem before it got even worse. Keep him in your thoughts. Poor little thing has to wear a cone for 2 weeks!

I think Jude secretly enjoyed being the only dog around the house for a couple days while Franklin was at the animal hospital. Jude is obsessed with Noelle and never leaves her side. He cries when she cries, sleeps right next to her, and is very clingy to whoever is holding her. You know, just to make sure she’s safe.

I’ve been missing the kitchen, so I baked some cookies this week to cheer us all up. Baking is my therapy. Felt so good! Tasted so good! I made another batch of these deeeeeelish chocolate turtle cookies. (That’s actually my 1st recipe from my 1st Sally’s Cookie Palooza back in 2013! This year will be year #5, so get excited– it begins Monday, November 27th.)

Speaking of cookies. I hope you’ve been enjoying all the new recipes in Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook! Tell me, what have you made so far?

We’re still eating our way through all of the freezer meals I prepped. This past week was slow cooker turkey chili. Want to hear about something our friends bought for us though? Two meals from Chef’d. They sent them to us 2 weeks after Noelle arrived and we were SO excited. I’m in no way affiliated with Chef’d, but let me tell you why we loved this gift so much. Kevin and I don’t have any meal subscription services, but we sincerely appreciated a couple dinners with portioned ingredients on the ready. We had to cook the dinners, which took some time and effort but it was so nice to spend time together in the kitchen. You can buy Chef’d meals on Amazon– always a plus. (Just search “chef’d” on Amazon.) I thought the meals seemed pricey at first but then thought about how much it costs to go out to dinner for us both. Sure, you have to cook the meal yourself but we love to cook anyway! Kevin and I both said this would be the perfect date night for us. Buy a meal, something completely new to us, crack open a bottle of wine, and spend time together cooking and eating. Again, I have zero affiliations with Chef’d. I’m just super pumped about it!! And PS: the spinach enchiladas were incredible. I loved that creamy tomatillo salsa.

Anyone else pumped for season 2 of Stranger Things today?!

PIE WEEK!

Remember pie week from last year? I dubbed the first week of November 2016 “pie week”– I shared new pie recipes the entire week. I already tested, photographed, and wrote the recipes for this year. (I admit it was strange to make Thanksgiving pies back in July!) Pie week begins on Monday, so get your pie dishes ready.

PS: here are a few pretty pie dishes I’ve stumbled across!

• this pink and floral pie dish is GORGEOUS


• imagine displaying your pumpkin pie in this covered pumpkin pie dish!


• I have this ruffled pie dish already, but had to share. I have it in white and the “pumpkin” brown color. They’re gorgeous!

And, as always, it’s not the fall season without the great pumpkin pie recipe (pictured at the top of this post!) or an extra fat slice of deep dish apple pie.

See you on Monday for PIE WEEK!

Share this post