This month has brought on  A LOT of new tastes to little man's palette and many more opportunities for him to sample foods outside of the house. This has made going out, and bringing him along on our date nights, much more fun and easy. 

Not having to bring so much external food from home makes it easier to be spontaneous and I'm thankful he is eating so many fruits, vegetables, healthy oils and meats now because we can order something for him at almost any restaurant I can eat at. 

He's moved to having lunches and dinners that are unique to what we are having, so moving forward you will see separate breakfast, lunch and dinner sections for even more meal ideas. 

We also introduced, GLUTEN. (insert shocked gasps here), for many reasons, that I will talk about in next months post, but you will see some bread included in the meals below. 
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​*Note that these are the meals he's served from breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also gets two-three snacks a day. Snacks include apple slices, pear slices, organic teething cookies, organic puffs and vegetable based baby food purees

If there's ever a chance to infuse more music into our lives. I'm all about it.

Experts say exposing your baby to a variety of music can increase their social skills and their intelligence. 

Myself, being the fan of music that I am, and my significant background in the field, I knew I wanted our children to have a well-rounded sense of the music arts. 

With this in mind, I started a tradition with Grey that allows him time to soak up different genres, sounds and artists every day, giving him a chance to find what it is that he prefers. And I have to admit, it's been quite cute to watch, and so far, 60's rock is winning. #OldSoul. 
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Just in case anyone else is interested in doing something similar to expose your little to a variety of genres, instruments and songs, below, I outlined the music I play on different days of the month. Since I limit TV in our home to only 1-2 episodes of educational shows a day (less if we go out with daddy or for a playdate), and no music or tv while we are doing our "learning time", music has been a fun way to break up the day and make meal times more entertaining. 

I usually play music during breakfast, while I'm prepping dinner and during one of the play times after a nap. All sticking to the same genre on the specified day. I use a music app on my phone to randomize songs in the particular genre I choose to play that day. 

Feel free to be creative and tailor your list to YOUR tastes, and to the types of music you want your littles exposed too. This is just what works for us! 


Mondays:

1. 80's Pop
2. 2000's Pop Mix
3. Christian 
4. French/European Hits

Tuesdays:

1. 50's oldies
2. Kids Music / Nursery Rhymes
3. 90s Mix
4. Hawaiian Radio (his roots on Mr. Charming's side)

Wednesdays:

1. 40's Oldies
2. Swing
3. 70's Rock
4. Country Mix (my least favorite) 

Thursdays:

1. 60's Oldies (Our favorite so far!)
2. Techno/Dance
3. Kids Music / Nursery Rhymes
4. New Indie Artists

Fridays:
(Classical and Opera proved to be too hard to listen to all throughout the day. I felt like I lived on an elevator, so we do Friday mornings or winding down before nap to the list below.) 
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1. Classical
2. Jazz
3. Meditative/Chill
4. Opera
   

On weekends we just mix it up and listen to Christian or Top 40 Radio when we are out and about with my husband, as the weekends are for adventures, errands, day trips and quality family time.

For more on what I'm doing in music, check out www.NVERecords.com where I've just accepted a position as label director and couldn't be more thrilled to be back in music full time once again! 

As we dive deeper into Baby Led Weaning, I thought it would be fun to share the meals that little man enjoys. He's got SUCH an appetite and it's no surprise he's our child, since he's a foodie through and through. We stick to organic, healthy choices for him, and as of yet he's still dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free and pretty much Top 8 Free. We are going slow with introductions and now that he's almost 1, we will be introducing more and more for variety and nutrition. 

I've posted some photos of the meals I put together for him, and I plan to share along the way, leading up to toddler meals. These are the meals he's currently enjoying at 10 months of age. 

I would love your ideas too! If you have some great infant or toddler food or meal ideas, feel free to share. Any recipes of a specific dish I make for him, I will link to the recipe here on NoshandNurture.com! 

*Note that these are the meals he's served from breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also gets two-three snacks a day. Snacks include apple slices, pear slices, organic teething cookies, organic puffs and vegetable based baby food purees. 

The beauty of eating clean, whole foods, is that Grey can usually eat some of what I order. 

When traveling in Long Beach, we stayed at the Westin and for breakfast I ordered scrambled eggs, gluten free toast and avocado. 

I shared my avocado with Grey, ordered him a side of bananas and brought a puree pouch of baby food to round out his meal. 

Mama + baby were satisfied. Done and done! 

Keep an eye out for What Grey Ate, every month on Nosh and Nurture! And as always I'd love to hear your feedback and what you're feeding your littles.

I also share a lot of our mealtimes, and more, on my Instagram Stories, so if you're over there, follow along! Find me @noshandnurture. 

Today I packed up Grey's Easter outfit in his baby memory box after church and my breath caught in my throat. 

I glanced in and there they were.

The outfit we brought him home in, his first Halloween costume (Donald Duck), his Thanksgiving onesie, his Black Friday attire (haha), his Christmas outfit and jammies, his Valentine's Day outfit, his dedication/blessing suit and as I placed his Easter outfit atop it all, I smiled. And then I teared up. Because it's going so, so fast. My baby has experienced all the major holidays already! My baby will soon be my baby no more and his next milestone will be his BIRTHDAY. 

Easter was so beautifully special. For the past five years, Mr. Charming and I have attended the sunrise service at our church and really did plan to make it this year. But the babes stayed up until nine and at the 5am alarm, we couldn't bring ourselves to wake him. So we planned to attend the 10:30 service. 

We got to church a little early, because the grounds are BEAUTIFUL and made for the perfect location to shoot his Easter photos and give him his Easter basket. It was a gorgeous sunny day and lightly breezy. His basket was simple, a bible book, a bunny book and a cuddly bunny. We talked all day about Jesus and God's love. 

As we finished photos we went in to get a seat and were turned away because it was FULL! (YAY CHURCH!) Which we didn't mind because we love to see our church growing and thriving and we came prepared with lunch for all three of us.  We would just hang out until the noon service.
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We sat at a table outside and enjoyed a healthy lunch while Greyson ate and watched the big kids play. After we ate we played some corn hole (our church is so fun, haha) and let baby crawl around for a while. We got our seats for the noon service and Greyson made it halfway through before he was over it. 

I took him to the Mom's Lounge and nursed him and rocked him and held him as he napped while Mr. Charming stayed in service. What was SO nice was there was a screen playing it all for me to see while he napped so I didn't miss the message. 

This year our churches focus what on the importance of the Resurrection. That you can't believe in Jesus' teachings if you don't believe in his Resurrection. That its pointless to do so, because the Resurrection is what its all about and what ultimately saved us all.  

After nap and service we took flowers to my husbands mom and she gave Grey some more Easter goodies and snuggles and we relaxed at home the rest of the evening. 

It was so perfect and special and I loved spending SO much of the day at church. I'm hoping to do that a few more times before the weather becomes too much to bear to be outside here. 

I hope you all had a beautiful Easter with your family and friends and that the message resonated with you and your soul. Refreshing you as ours did mine. 

Celebrate always! For He is Risen! 

Today our precious little bubs turned 6 months old.

Half a year old. We are halfway to his first birthday and I am feeling alllllll the mama feels today. 

As hard as the early baby days were, and sometimes still are (we will sleep good someday again right?) I am starting to see just how lightning fast all of this goes and with each new milestone I see him moving further away from being my tiny baby and more of him growing into my little boy. 

Today was a beautiful day to celebrate him, as Sundays are our favorite around here. We get daddy cuddles in the morning. Slow, delicious breakfasts, THIS breakfast was on repeat all weekend and we spent the late morning in the sunshine playing with toys. We also decided to implement a family tradition of celebrating his half-birthday.

And although he can't yet enjoy these delicious cupcakes (he seemed to love on his carrots today though) I hope he appreciates the traditions that we are creating with him. I remember growing up, being three, four, five years old and loving when I could say I was a half a year older! Always in a rush to grow up when we're young... so I thought it'd be fun to make it a fun day where we could bake cupcakes, maybe pick a special toy and have family time just celebrating him and his life. Every step of the way.

If you want to snag my recipe for my white cake mix that is gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and soy-free you can click here. It's SCRUMPTIOUS. For the frosting I used Miss Jones organic vanilla frosting and dye-free sprinkles by Indian Tree. 

This month has really been a favorite with him so far. His little personality is bursting out and he makes me smile bigger and love harder than I ever thought imaginable. He's weighing in at just over 18 lbs and his chubby cheeks and chunky thighs are EVERYTHING. He is loving and cuddly and ADORES his daddy. I know they will be best pals.

He laughs and it's the best sound this side of heaven and he smiles and talks with his eyes. A trait that made me fall in love with his daddy. His sandy blonde hair and hazel eyes goes to show we really couldn't have guessed how he'd turn out (we thought it'd be dark features all the way from daddy) and listening to him "read" his little books is probably the cutest thing ever. My little smarty. 

We love every new milestone, month and experience with our sweet little Grey. 

Do you have a favorite tradition you've implemented with your littles?

SPOILER ALERT!

If you haven't yet made your way through the 4 episodes of Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life, this post will be filled with spoilers. But seriously, how have you not binged it multiple times like the rest of us? To be kind, I waited until January in case anyone needed to catch up. 

For those of you that don't know me yet, Gilmore Girls is in my top two favorite television shows ever Friends and Gilmore Girls. I have memorbilia. I've been to Stars Hollow and Luke's Diner on the Warner Brothers set and much of my pregnancy was spent in bed binge watching the series. 

My new years resolution for 2017 even revolves around the famed "Friday Night Dinners" concept. 
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And I did that to my baby for his 5 month photo shoot. :) Good thing he loves me oh so very much. He's almost sitting up alone for longer than 30 seconds, he's rolling EVERYWHERE. He wants our food OH SO MUCH (but we are waiting until  months) - naps are better, night sleep is very broken most nights, he talks so much, his laugh is infectious and is the BEST SOUND IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. He loves his toys, being out of the house exploring and playing with his hands and feet. He is just the light of our lives. Our little nugget.

​On to the recap...

First off, I have to say, overall - it was a mix of warm fuzzies and dissapointment. That was until "Fall". Then I felt like the cast was back into their groove and we were back home with them again. To bad it happened so late in the game. 

As you know, the four-part series visited Lorelai, Rory and the gang nearly 10 years after we watched Rory graduate Yale, turn down Logan's proposal and after Luke and Lorelai FINALLY got back together. When the revival was announced over a year ago, the countdown begun for us to see where our favorite small town folks would pick up. 

So, onto the good, the bad and the ugly. Ending with the good, as I always love to save the best for last. 

The Bad:
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• Did Alexis Bledel forget to brush up on who Rory was? The acting in Winter was forced at best and it just felt awkward. Glad she found her groove. 
• The storyline with Paris and the almost-surrogacy of the Luke/Lorelai baby. WHAT WAS that? And why, at almost 50, are Luke and Lorelai JUST now coming back around to the baby sitch? 
• I get that Bunheads was cancelled. And it was cute and all. But this didn't need to be a Gilmore Girls meets Bunheads mashup. For those of you that watched Amy's other show, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 
• The 30-something gang. What? Maybe if the episodes were 60-minutes instead of 90, there needn't have been so much filler and we could have had just richer story line. 
• Paul. Poor, poor weird, out of place Paul. 
• The weird pool scenes. And Lorelai and Rory's odd, elementary age pool boys. 
• Wasn't a fan of the rotating chef cameos. Wish Sookie could've been there the whole time :( 

The Ugly:
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• The musical number that went on FOREVER. That was just the worst part to have to sit through. I think it was the first time in the history of watching this show that I actually fast-forwarded. 
• Rory being a homewrecker. AGAIN. Seriously woman. I get it. We love Logan, but he's MOVED ON. And is now just as douchey as Dean was when he cheated on poor Lindsey. 
• Gypsy also being cast as the maid and calling it an Easter egg. Odd. Odd odd odd. Did anyone actually find this charming? Or not know it was her? Not to sure what they were trying to do with that one. 

The Good - and what redeemed the show: 
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• Getting to see so much of the original cast. It was heartbreaking to have lost Edward Herrmann, but I loved how they made him such a beautiful part of the revival. 
• The best scenes were the emotional ones between Rory and Lorelai. They really came back to who they were and we got all the warm fuzzies for our Gilmore Girls. 
• Michelle FINALLY came out. Thanks to it being on Netflix they could let him be himself and mention his husband. We always knew. 
• Luke and Lorelai were still together and very much themselves. YAY. I was going to have words with someone if they didn't stay together. Because. Luke + Lorelai forever! 
• Luke and Lorelai getting married. Could've done without the weird musical montage. What is WITH the musical montages this time around?
• Jess. 
• Dean wasn't completely obnoxious this time around. So that's something. 
• Emily. Everything about Emily. My goodness, Kelly Bishop is phenomonal. 
• The "Parenthood" cameos. LOVED them. 
• Lorelai finding herself again. Leaving Luke behind for it was sad., but doing "Wild" just fit her characters love of film and I loved seeing her come home again. 

​Final Recap:

​While I'm glad they did it, it was different than I think a lot of us expected to be. But as stated above, I loved so much of it and really do hope they continue the series after a cliffhanger like that one. 

I know some see it as the "perfect" way to wrap it up and leave Rory as the "next Lorelai" with her single motherhood-ness and all. But I would really like some of the strings tied up and I'd love to spend as much time in Stars Hollow as we can. 

Because who doesn't love small town charm, familiar faces and of course, all the Luke's Coffee we can get our hands on?

So if you've read Part One and Part Two of Grey's birth story you would have read that I was in labor for 26 hours and pushed for 4 hours. We had a completely medication, intervention free natural labor and birth that was not without it's complications. 

Within moments of Grey being born I started losing a lot of blood. My uterus had worked so hard, too hard, and I had to be administered many medications to get my bleeding under control. I was also in a great deal of pain, having also torn in multiple places, and skin to skin wasn't what I had always imagined it to be. I had to ask Mr. Charming to take him from my chest. 26 hours of natural labor to feel connected, euphoric, and that endorphin rush was elusive. 

I felt robbed of that moment, and it took me a long time to accept what had happened. What had gone wrong. I wanted to feel empowered, strong, and I know now that I am. But it messed with my mind a lot, that had I done that, birthed him naturally in the exact way that I did, anywhere but in a hospital, I probably would have died.

​And that shook me to my core. 

In the days following his birth I had to have a double blood transfusion because of the blood loss and I will be honest and say fear totally stepped in at that point. But with MUCH prayer, an AMAZING nursing staff, a competent doctor and my beautiful husband and baby to distract me, I got through it. Praise Jesus yet again. And again and again. And in everything, always. 

Following the traumatic experience I endured, our little one became severely jaundiced and had to be put under lights for 18 hours. They brought him to me to nurse every three hours though, so I got my cuddles in and Mr. Charming walked to check on him often. While he was in the nursery the hospital treated the hubs and I to a filet mignon dinner with sparkling cider to celebrate and we stayed up well into the night talking and having our last date night before we'd go home as a family of three! 

We stayed in the hospital an extra day to watch both mine and Grey's recovery and then we got to pack up to take our babes home!

He is a dream. Our son, our moon and our stars and we now see why God's timing is perfect. If it wasn't at this time, it wouldn't be Grey, and we can't picture our little one being anyone but him. Our mini Mr. Charming. Our little love. Our rainbow. 

For information on our doula and her company, visit: ​http://lovebugdoula.com/

Continued from Part One...

Once in a delivery room we continued in our pattern set by our doula. Three contractions on the ball, three in the bed, three standing (those sucked the most), three on the toilet and walk around, repeat. My room had a shower though and I will tell you, when my labor progressed to 8, 9 centimeters that shower was a GOD SEND. Hot water felt SO good. 

I must take a moment to speak about my labor in general. I grew up an anxious person. I grew up fearing the day I'd have to give birth. Before marrying Mr. Charming I actually had decided I wouldn't birth children. That the pain looked to great for "someone like me" and I'd just adopt. Then I married my other half. And I wanted, more than anything, to see the beautiful babies we could make together and God put it in our hearts to make a baby together. And while we were on the long journey to finally meeting our rainbow baby, I prayed. I prayed that God would be with me EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. That he would hold me fiercly and tightly and not let go. That I could know His peace in birth the way I knew His peace during our first loss and He didn't let me down. Because He is God. 

I had affirmations and Bible verses play on a screen during my entire labor, Christian songs I had downloaded that speak of strength, purpose in pain, God's love and of motherhood played in the hospital room, our doula and Mr. Charming spoke love and affirmations to me the entire time and my sister recited bible verses over me in labor. It was pure beauty and I can say, with all the gratefulness in my heart, that I felt God's immense peace THE ENTIRE TIME. From the moment I felt my first contraction until I was holding our son in my arms, I wasn't anxious once. I never felt an ounce of fear. I never felt I couldn't do it.

Was it painful? The most painful thing I've ever endured. 
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Was it hard? Yes. Really hard.

​I said a couple of times "Guys, not sure I'm still cool with this" haha, I even did joke a couple of times. Maybe not toward the very end, haha. But yes, of course it was hard and intense and I wasn't sure I'd want to do it again in those moments. But He got me through it. Using my amazing birth team and being in that room with us the entire time, He showed me a strength I never knew could come from within me. And it was because I called upon HIS strength and not my own, to birth my son into this world. And, it was just beautiful. 

Fast forward HOURS. I stayed between 7 and 8 centimeters from 3pm until 1am on August 5th. Yep, guys. That was not awesome. But I didn't want intervention and baby's heart rate was PERFECT the entire time (praise Jesus!) so there wasn't a medical need for anything else to move us forward but time itself and so we kept working hard. 

At around 12 we came to the conclusion, along with my amazing nurse and doctor, that the baby was stuck on my pelvic bone (not a shock to me with how messed up I've been down there from an old dance injury) and that it would take a lot of work for me to birth him naturally at this point. 

I was determined. I was determined not to have drugs. I was determined not to have surgery. For him. For myself too. But mostly for him. 

at 1 AM I had reached almost ten centimeters and at 2:27 I was able to start pushing! What I thought was the short light at the end of the tunnel ended up being another lengthy part of the process and it took me four hours to push little man out into the world. 

At 5 am, and beyond exhausted, I wanted to be done. My doctor actually had a flight to catch and said we could administer Pitocin as my contractions had slowed and become weaker due to my uterus being so worn out. I knew I DIDN'T want drugs and in my exhausted haze I actually told her I'd rather have an episiotomy and the use of the vacuum. My doula and husband suggested of those two options to take the Pitocin. Seeing this exchange my doctor stepped out of the room and cancelled her flight (which I didn't know until much later, she is an angel) and said we were going to do this the natural way. No drugs, no cutting, just hard work. 

So I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. And at 6:13 our baby Grey was born. Mr. Charming looked at him and cried and I fell deeper in love with my husband in that moment. A big beautiful love. Beyond anything I could have fathomed. 

And then I held him. Our little miracle. Our wonder of wonders and I just couldn't believe the beauty I saw in him. 

Unfortunately, due to what my body had to endure, complications arose immediately following his birth, read Part Three to understand why it's taken me many months to finally write our story. 

And of course to see many more photos of this cutie.