William’s 5 Month Update

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // November 10, 2016 // 5 Comments

This sweet little boy is 5 months. 5 months???!!! Mercy. The last time I had an update for him was at 2 months.

This poor kid is lacking in the updates and monthly pictures… every time I tried to take a pic at month 3 and 4, it was either a stinky lighting day, or a bad spit up day, or he started crying the minute I set it up. Sigh… but hey! At least there’s a 5 month picture.

I’m happy to report that we, as a family, feel all settled in. Having a baby feels normal. Having a 3 year old feels normal. It’s a nice phase to be in.

Here’s the best part so far – Elizabeth and William are adorable! Elizabeth just thinks he’s the cutest thing ever. William thinks she is just the funniest thing ever. We have so many videos of baby giggles because Big Sister is doing something fun. And Elizabeth relishes in any small job I give her, even if it’s just restocking diapers in our diaper basket. (so handy!)

Height/Weight: William is 24.5″ (6%) and 15.5 lbs (23%). He looks MASSIVE! But he’s not really that big when you see the percentiles. It must be he proportions, being short but stocky. Here’s a funny story though – I took William and Elizabeth to the doctor at the same time for their checkups. They are only 10 lbs apart. HAHA!

Routine: We’ve been through transitions getting settled in to his new routine. But we’ve got a good groove right now.

Here’s his current routine.

7:00am – Wake up and bottle, then play time
9:00am – Nap
11:00am – Bottle
1:00pm – Nap
3:00pm – Bottle
4:30pm – Has been taking a quick cat nap, no longer than 1 hour
5:30pm – Up and play time
7:00pm – Bottle and then bed. William and Elizabeth head up at the same time for bed time.

Sleeping: We were going through a phase the last 2 months where he went from sleeping through the night to waking up every few hours! He wasn’t hungry… just more annoyed that he woke up. Now that he’s figured out how to go back to sleep, his new problem is the whole “I’ve rolled on my stomach and can’t roll back!” panic. But I feel like that’s almost figured itself out. This last week, I’ve made sure he’s kept his naps consistent, and even put him to bed early a few times, and he’s sleeping straight through the night! That whole “sleep begets more sleep” concept seems to be working.

Eating: William, I swear, was born without an ability to tell he is full. He’s now eating 8 oz bottles at a time!! And downing them quickly! He’s still spitting up quite a bit. But it’s definitely lessening, because I’m not needing to run a load of burp clothes every day in order to survive the next morning. So that’s something!

William also started eating the baby cereal thing this last week. He gobbled it up! Loved it! I did baby led weaning with Elizabeth at 6 months, and I think William will be all about that too.

Sizes: William is now in between sizes. He can still wear some 3-6 month clothes but also is wearing 9 month clothes in PJs and tops. He’s also wearing a size 3 diaper… but I swear that’s even starting to look small on him.

Milestones: Oh so many fun ones!

Sitting in the high chair is tons of fun!
We hauled the jumperoo down and he… tolerates it HA!
William is so close to sitting up on his own.
Officially tried his first bite of cereal.
Can easily roll over from back to stomach… now to master stomach to back!
William grabs toys so easily now. He plays and chews now.
He also loves grabbing my face.
If you wave good bye, he does a quick hand wave back.

You can also catch up on the other month updates, take a peek at my latest diaper bag backpack, or read William’s birth story!

Empties #3 | Drugstore Makeup + Haircare

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // November 9, 2016 // 2 Comments

Oh man, it has been SUCH a long time since my last empties video! It’s been so long that my basket I use to hold it all was overflowing. Oops!

You know I have a strong love for drugstore stuff. There are so many things to try, so many winning products, and all at a great price. There are also quite a few duds, and I’ve definitely got some duds to share as well.

A few highlights I want to give a special shout out to:

The Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge is just fantastic! It’s only $7 compared to the Beauty Blender’s heafty $20 price tag. It’s soft, easy to clean, and makes applying and blending foundations and concealers so easy. It’s even handy toning down heavy-handed blush or bronzer (yes… looking at you, Katie). You can easily pick it up at Ulta. Honestly, it may be my best buy of the entire year!

Another specific product shout out is the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. After talking about it in this empties video I realized how much I missed it! It’s cheap ($7 for a huge bottle) and really does a great job easily taking off make up. It’s not as effective at taking off waterproof mascara, even if you get the “waterproof mascara” formula like I have. You get it off, it just takes a bit of rubbing. But it is a small price to pay for a pretty effective cleanser.

Want to see more reviews? Want to hear me talk REALLY fast? It’s empties time!

Any products I mentioned that you LOVE as well? Any products you don’t like? Let me know!!

Products Mentioned:

L’Oreal True Match Lumi Foundation in W1-2 Warm

L’Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte Foundation in Classic Ivory

Neutrogena Eye Makeup Remover Lotion

Pond’s Cold Cream Cleanser

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream

Umberto Beverly Hills Dry Texture Spray

Maybelline Brow Drama in Deep Brown

L’Oreal Miss Manga Voluminous Mascara

Up+Up Makeup sponge

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water

TRESemme Tres Two Hair Spray

Garnier Fructis Volume Extend Instant Bodifier Dry Shampoo (discontinued)

TRESemme Volumizing Dry Shampoo

Dove Volume Dry Shampoo

Neutrogena Healthy Volume Waterproof

Maybelline Pump Up Colossal Volum’Express

L’Oreal Boost It Volume Inject Mousse

Maybelline Dream Velvet Foundation in Warm Porcelain

E.L.F. High Definition Undereye Setting Powder

E.L.F. High Definition Powder

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla

Maybelline Define-A-Line Eye Liner (discontinued)

High Five for Friday #95 | Halloween Recap + A Planner Oops

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // November 4, 2016 // 10 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

First, a HUGE Happy Birthday to our very own Tif!!! Welcome to your 30s, friend!

Today’s featured blogger is Casey from Cattails, Rabbit Trails and Thistlefish! Casey is newly married, full time student in Virginia Beach, Virgina! One of her huge passions is changing the impression that modest outfits are boring. Not at all! She loves sharing her affordable, adorable modest outfits on her blog, like this post. She’s also just launched her online knitting shop – super cute! Go over and say hi!

How was your week? Can’t wait to share what we’ve been up to?

1. We had a fun weekend! It was full and busy with quite a few activities. There was a birthday party on Sunday. I can be super organized… claim to have everything figured out… but it does no good if you don’t look at the invitation. I thought our party was at 11:00… turns out it was at 1:00! This wouldn’t have been a big deal but it was on the opposite end of the sprawl. We drove almost 40 minutes there. And it would have been silly to drive home because we’d just need to turn right back around. So we improvised and found a local playground to kill the time. It was a beautiful day to sit on a park bench, so it all worked out.

Funny of the day! We are at a random park enjoying the beautiful day! But we're here because we arrived at a birthday party two hours early. Oops!! ?#ididntcheckthecalendar

A photo posted by Katie (@ktcupoftea) on Oct 30, 2016 at 8:37am PDT

2. Halloween was pretty fun! We packed the day with some theme-y activities at home, and then we speed baked cookies before Elizabeth’s first dance class. Then it was BACK home to decorate, eat and head out!

This was Elizabeth’s first year going door to door. She lasted quite a while! We even got to wander with some new neighbors who also have small kiddos so it was a fun evening. Elizabeth’s costume this year was a raid of our existing dress up gear. Why get more?

3. This week William tried his first bites of baby cereal. Don’t let that disgusted face fool you. He GOBBLED it up! And was annoyed when we were all finished. I just knew this kid was going to be a real food fan.

4. I snuck in voting this week… I’ve been putting it off because… let’s face it. Voting stinks this year. Just before filling in the bubble for President (which I saved for the end) I had to take a moment, say a final prayer, shed a tear and then filled in the bubble. What a year. Because I had both kids in tow, the kind voting officials were extra sweet and patient. I was offered a sitting spot to fill out my ballot, and someone gave Elizabeth a blank sheet of paper. She scribbled all over it and said “I’m filling in my ballot!”.

5. Last night was AMAZING! You may remember that my church is in the middle of building a new building. We are almost done! Move in is the first of January, and our big grand opening celebration is at the end of January. We’ve already got a small plant church that will be renting our building on Sundays. This was TOTALLY a God thing connecting our churches together. We even have similar church names! They are excited, we are excited. It couldn’t be more lovely!

So yesterday they organized an evening of prayer and praise at our new building to just bless the building. It was my first time meeting this group, and I was just overwhelmed with excitement over what God is going to do with this new partnership. My brain, in between songs and verses being spoken, was ticking with all sorts of ways we can team up – teen worship nights and service projects, vacation Bible school programs, joint worship services… on and on and on! There is a reason God brought our two congregations together, and I’m just SO excited to see what He has in mind.

What was your highlight from the week? Can’t wait to hear about it!

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

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Currently + Favorite Things from Beauty, Clothes and Baby

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // November 2, 2016 // 6 Comments

Holy moly, it’s the start of November already! Where did October go? Our October was full of vacation, sickness, constant baby night time wake ups, and some Fall fun.

Here are some things that I’m currently up to:

Discovering | I realized these last few weeks that I’ve gotten stronger and my endurance is longer thanks to my 3 months of boot camp! Hooray! I also discovered that I can’t do jump rope….. two hops and I’m done.

Celebrating | This month was the month to celebrate Elizabeth turning 3 AND William turning 5 months! Can’t believe it. We did a few small family parties for Elizabeth in lew of the jumbo party this year, and it was delightful.

Starting | I haven’t exactly jumped to planning for Christmas yet but I am researching/thinking about what Christmas activities I need to get tickets for. I am definitely leaning towards a Nutcracker performance. And then maybe a Breakfast with Santa event… what do you look forward to?

Wearing | I can’t get enough of my mustard yellow cardigan featured in my video below! My Fall staple for sure.

Googling | If I looked in my history, it would be “5 month old keeps waking up at 5am!” and “why does my kid constantly wake up?”. HAHA Elizabeth was a solid 12 hour sleeper at night. She barely woke up, and if she did you knew something was up. William has been going through…. a thing… for the past 2 months. Wakes up at least 4 times a night for no reason other than he just woke up and now is annoyed he’s awake. He’s not hungry… cold… dirty diaper is a no…. ugh.

BONUS! Who’s ready for a favorites video???

Stila Sending My Love Face Pallet (also comes with lip gloss, eye shadow pallet and liner)

Urban Decay Naked Basics Eye Shadow Pallet

Target Merona Brand Open Cardigan

Skip Hop Bandana Buddies Puppet Book

Bunny Teether from Little Peaches Shop

The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson

I’ve linked up with the Currently link up at In Residence and A Short Blonde

High Five for Friday #94 | Tea + Fall Fun

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // October 28, 2016 // 11 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

Today’s featured blogger is Lisa from Coast to Coast! She’s an East coast girl living on the West coast and loves sharing all the fun things she tries! Her recipes, everyone. Those are a MUST read! Especially these SUPER easy ghost cookies. Aren’t they adorable? Go over and say hi!

How was your week? How is it Friday already??

1. We had a fun weekend full of friends and laughter! We had friends over after church on Saturday and it was SUCH a good time! We all got to eat some delicious food, potluck style, and our kids all played well together. I even found myself at one point sitting on the deck, enjoying the Fall weather, chatting with friends while the kids frolicked in the back yard. A win!

2. One of our new traditions around here is having afternoon tea and snack instead of watching something. It’s tons of fun and it’s a chance for Elizabeth and I to chit chat and be silly. She gets to pick music and we sit, sing and sip. It’s fun! You should try it in your house!

New tradition for the last month – afternoon tea time! ☕️❤️ there's a little behind-the-scenes peek in my IG stories! #sahmlife #teatime #kidlife #preschoolfun

A photo posted by Katie (@ktcupoftea) on Oct 24, 2016 at 2:33pm PDT

3. William turned 5 months on Monday! Holy moly! When did that happen?? Both kids had check ups on Tuesday and they are only 10 lbs apart! HAHAHA! Also, funny enough, William is 30% for weight but only 6% on height, while Elizabeth is 30% in height and 6% in weight. Exact opposites. Next week I’ll have some posts dedicated to a William and Elizabeth update!

4. I managed to squeeze in a 5 month picture update for William (poor kid is missing month 3 and 4… oops!) but he was more interested in what Elizabeth was up to!

5. We’ve had beautiful Fall weather around here! One morning, while William slept, Elizabeth and I headed out to the back yard to collect leaves. This child loves collecting! Give her a bucket and an item and she’s collecting for hours. So handy!