It's spring time and my spring fever is in full force.... as is my urge to do some spring cleaning.  I don't know what happened to me toward the end of pregnancy and now even postpartum, but I have been having these urges to purge all of the clutter in my life, and keep things simple and organized...and clean. It's like my nesting went into overdrive once this little peanut was born. So, I thought it would be fun to share three ways that I am de-cluttering (besides cleaning every inch of the house) in case anyone else is having the urge to spring clean and de-clutter + organize, too!

One: Clean out your inbox + hit unsubscribe
If you are like me, you have a few email inboxes (my married name email, my maiden name email, my junk email account, my work email, my blog email - ah I'm stressed just typing this)... and the emails just start to pile up. By law, any marketing messages have to have an unsubscribe link, so you can get off of their email list. I literally went through all of my email accounts and unsubscribed to so many different company's emails so they stop filling my inbox and piling up in there, and so I can focus on the emails that I really do want to read. 

I also created folders in my Gmail accounts and started organizing and saving the important emails, and purging all of the ones that I no longer need. I let so many emails pile up while I've been off of work and on maternity leave, and am finally responding to emails that have been left unread for awhile now. That's so unlike me, but this exercise has helped me so much... so I can stay on top of things and not get bogged down with junk mail. I'm halfway through this purge and I already feel a little weight off my shoulders! 

Two: Clean out your closet + donate & sell things
You know that quote Carrie Bradshaw said in Sex and the City "I like my money right where I can see it,  hanging in my closet." - I think I had that mantra for many years and the amount of clothing that I have been hoarding is absolutely ridiculous. I have a real problem going into Target and not coming home with a cute top...or five plus a pair of shoes. When we remodeled I was lucky enough to create/design a closet for just me that is the size of a small bedroom....yet I still need to swap out my winter/summer clothes using our downstairs closets. That's crazy. All of my clothes should fit in my closet where I can see everything. No one needs that much clothing and accessories! So, I went through everything in my closet (twice, maybe three times) and asked myself - when was the last time you wore this? Does it fit? Will it fit when you lose these last few post baby lbs? Is it in style? I ended up with a HUGE pile and broke it out into the following groups: 
1) Donate this is where I put all of my Target items, items that are more worn out or just aren't in style anymore
2) Consign for my more expensive pieces that just don't fit or I never wore
3) Sell via Poshmark, Clothes Mentor or Plato's Closet. There are also a lot of Facebook groups out there where you can sell gently used goods and make some good money, too. I've made quite a bit from selling items on there and am saving it up for something special. If you know of any other great places to sell, let me know, I would love to hear them! :)

I love having everything in my one closet and organized, where I can see all of my clothes and accessories. It helps when I am getting dressed too, because there are a lot less options to choose from and I know that everything fits (or hopefully will soon!). 

Three: Delete and organize your photos
I have so many photos on my phone, like 17K or something crazy like that. My amazing "Instagram husband" knows to just click away when we are taking pictures so we can get a good one out of the bunch, but then I'm left with all of these extra pictures that just pile up. All of the photos from my computer and phone have merged too, so I also have all of these pictures from going out in college, my early 20's etc and I definitely don't think I need all of those. Haha. So when I'm pumping, I try to go through chunks of my photos and keep what I really want to keep and delete the ones that I really don't need. An added bonus? It'll free up a lot of storage space on your phone, too. I can't wait until I am all done with this one.

Bonus: Be present + Take a Social Media Break.
Ok, I know this one isn't about de-cluttering, but it is about time management and balance. There are days that I find myself consumed with blogging/curating content/ideating, or just keeping up with all of the accounts that I love on IG, and before I know it I've been on there for like 20 minutes and the milk I pumped is overflowing the bottles...and that could happen multiple times a day. (Face palm.) I love Instagram, the beautiful content that people share and the inspiration that fills my feed, but sometimes its really nice to take a day off, focus on being present, and soak up all the joyous moments of being this little guy's mama and all that's happening around us. Taking a day off from social media here and there has been really nice and helped me find a little more balance.  

Thanks for reading! I'm super excited about my next installment of this post, too - so stay tuned for some more organizing/de-cluttering ideas! :)

Below is the screensaver that I have on my desktop in the photo above- I downloaded it from Design Love Fest - they have the CUTEST screen savers under their "dress your tech" section for both your phone and computer. #cactuseverything

Last bump pics!

Last picture as a family of two.

Meeting our son.

Top: Our first family photo with P. 
Bottom: Skin to Skin in recovery before he went to the NICU.

Below: Visiting my sweet boy in the NICU after the CPAP was removed.

We welcomed our sweet baby boy, Parker David, on January 24, 2017 - 5 lbs. 11 oz, and 18 inches of pure heaven. Below is his birth story.

Parker was due on February 8, but because we were delivering via C-section, we were scheduled to deliver on February 1, at 39 weeks. We knew that we were going to be delivering via c-section since early in the third trimester, but as my doctor continued to monitor baby, the date of delivery continued to move up due to some issues that were being watched carefully throughout my pregnancy, and he was born at 37 weeks (almost 38). Going through IVF, there weren't many surprises along the way - we knew the day we got pregnant, and so did our families because they were supporting us along the way. Then we opted to do the Progenity testing at 12 weeks, when we found out we were having a boy! Then, at Halloween we shared our baby's name, that we carved into a big pumpkin at a family Halloween party. I have a hard time keeping a secret when I'm really excited about something. So, when our delivery date kept moving up, we decided to keep it a secret from our families so that we could surprise them when Parker arrived a little early. It was the sweetest surprise. (Although, I went to get my eyelashes done the day before I had Parker - after coaxing her to squeeze me in because I was going to have my baby early. When I was getting them done I told her that it was a surprise that we were having him early and she told me that she did my sisters lashes the day before and didn't know that it was surprise - and accidentally told her. Oops!)

It was such a crazy feeling waking up on January 24 knowing that we were going to meet our son. I was so so excited, this was the moment that we had been waiting for since we found out our little embryo took in our IVF cycle. But I was also so incredibly scared, I had no idea what to expect and I was headed into a major surgery. When we checked in at the hospital, I walked up to the desk and started sobbing, "I'm here to have my son." like a crazy, hormonal pregnant lady. Haha. We were in our pre-op room for about two hours and met with several doctors, nurses, etc. and finally at 11:00am we walked back to the OR. I cried walking back and sitting on the operating table as they were putting my spinal block in. I couldn't believe I was going to meet my little miracle baby. As I sat there crying I just started to pray, I prayed so hard. And before I knew it, they were operating and I heard the sweetest little cries. They had pulled the covered part of the drape down so it was clear - and I saw my son for the first time. His little eyes were open and we just stared at each other as I was ugly crying. It was the most incredible moment. They took him away to weigh him and clean him off, and while they did, I felt this heavy, heavy weight on my chest. Like I felt like there was literally an elephant sitting on me, which can be a side effect from the surgery. When they brought Parker over for me to hold for the first time while they were closing me up, I could hardly hold him I was in so much pain. All I wanted was for them to sew me up so I could go to recovery and do skin to skin with my son, which I got to do about 20 minutes later, and the pain subsided. (Side note: my doctor used the Insorb to close me up, which uses dissolvable staples so you don't have to get them removed, and it leaves a straight, clean incision, no train track marks. If you know you'll be having a C-section, I'd highly recommend asking your doctor about this. I feel like it really helped my recovery and my incision looks way better than I ever thought it could.)

When Parker and I were doing our skin to skin in recovery, the nurses said they needed to check his vitals and I just had this weird feeling that something wasn't right. His oxygen levels were low due to 'wet lungs', and they let me know that he was going to need to go to the NICU so they could put the CPAP on him and monitor him further. I told my husband to go with Parker to the NICU while I stayed in recovery. A few hours later, they wheeled me by the NICU to see Parker from my bed. He was wearing the CPAP, so I could hardly see his cute little face, but was so glad to know he was in good hands with the amazing doctors and nurses there. Our NICU nurse actually knew who we were because she read my blog, which for some reason made me feel more comforted, knowing she knew our story and how hard fought to get here, and that she would take great care of our sweet boy.

At our hospital, once you are done laboring (or in our case, done with surgery), they wheel you up in your bed to a different level to your room for post-partum care, and when you ride up in the elevator they play a lullaby to indicate that a baby was born. Todd and I rode up the elevator alone because P was still down on the L&D floor in the NICU, and that was really hard not having him in our arms when the lullaby played. When I got to my room, I told my nurses that all I wanted to do was to see my son and to get back down to the NICU as soon as possible. After several hours I was able to get out of bed into a wheelchair to be with Todd and Parker in the NICU. I just stared at our sweet little boy in awe, I couldn't believe he was ours. I think the hardest part about his delivery day was having to recover alone (I didn't want visitors the first day) while my husband bounced back and forth between Parker and I, and all I wanted to do was to be with both of my boys.

Luckily, after three days and two nights our little guy was healthy and ready to come stay with us in our post-partum suite, and graduated from the NICU. We stayed in the hospital a total of five days and four nights and had such an amazing team caring for us along the way. When we were ready to go home it felt so surreal that we were leaving the hospital with our son, this tiny little 5 lb. human, and we get to be his parents. When we walked into our house with our baby in tow, my husband and I both hugged each other and cried happy tears, it was so emotional. This is what our hearts longed for and prayed for every day and night for so long. It was the most incredible feeling in the whole world.

We love you our sweet boy...our hearts are so full, and you are so loved.

Crib, Dresser, Glider, Pouf, Animal Prints and Tree Stump Side Table:
All from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child  (I've linked similar, less expensive animal prints below.)  | Golden Hare Lamp | Sheepskin Rug | Birch Shelf | Plush Elephant | Crib Sheet | Decorative Moon and Cloud Pillows | Gold Circle Mirror | Changing Pad & Liner | Diaper Pail | Storage Bins | Paint Color is Sea Salt by Benjamin Moore

I am so excited to share Parker's nursery on my blog today. Ever since we saw those two pink lines on the pregnancy test (ok the 10 pregnancy tests, lol), I dreamed of decorating our little one's nursery. We chose to find out the gender when we did the Harmony genetic test around the 12 week mark. I had every intention of doing a fun gender reveal cake with family, but I was too excited to find out and my husband and I listened to the voicemail together - to find out we were having a BOY! I was so excited to start preparing for his arrival and the nursery was one of the first things I started planning. I wanted a neutral color scheme, incorporating a lot of grays and whites. I found inspiration from the Restoration Hardware Baby & Child catalog, and pieced together all of the items I wanted to pair together, keeping in mind the aesthetic of our whole home. Once I had all of the furniture here, I was still not 100% happy with the way things looked. I ordered two different rugs and returned them, and then decided to meet with a designer at Restoration Hardware and it turns out I just needed to rearrange the room a bit, which made a huge difference. We also ordered the animal prints, the side table and she encouraged me to get the golden hare lamp too. She gave me great advice: when people open the door to a room they want to see the main feature (which is the bed or crib), so once I rearranged the room a bit and swapped out my glider for a solid white one, I was so much more pleased with the way it all came together. I love how this space came together and love spending time with Parker in here (we spend lots of time in my favorite little corner feeding). 

Thank you to my sweet friend Jillian for capturing these photos!