.back at work.

[photo's taken by my friend, chelsea. also jack's carer and friend :)]

well, if you follow me over on instagram you may have seen that tuesday was my first day back to work. i started the day with bittersweet emotions. a mixture of sadness, excitement, nervousness, and worry. i knew this day was coming and like the organized fool i am, basically had everything ready by the front door like a kindergartener. jack's multiple items were packed for his carer [he's spending a mixture of days between my amazing mother-in-law and my amazing friend, both of whom jack and i love and trust impeccably], my outfit's for the week were picked out, and our meal plans were done. i was ready, but i just couldn't shake this feeling of sadness. 

after the initial drop off, i should share that i did shed a couple of tears in my car as it was parked outside my office. and it completely surprised me. perhaps because i wasn't really sure as to why i was crying.

i enjoy my job enough that i wasn't scared to go back. in fact my coworkers are great and i get along with a plethora of different clients which makes it fun. i'm not stuck in an office 9 - 5 and i'm pretty confident at what i do. i wasn't crying because i was sad at leaving jack with someone else [although that does kinda suck] and i understand that i am lucky that i have both my mil and my friend watching him rather than a stranger. i know jack is comfortable and probably about to have the time of his life playing with someone other than his old momma.

no, i was crying because it was yet again another change. yet another adjustment to make. our routine, that i felt was perfect, about to fade away.

as a girl who prides herself on usually embracing change, being a mom has really made me appreciate the normalcy of routine. the normalcy of just having the small moments count. the normalcy of family and good friends and how important love and respect is. i used to thrive on being busy, on not missing anything. on never saying 'no', but since jack has entered our lives those feelings of always having to do something different and exciting and wild has slowly diminished. i now simply enjoy knowing what's going to be happening today, tomorrow or the week after. and i think i felt that was all about to change. i sat in my car and cried because i didn't know if i would be able to handle this change, yet again. could i juggle work and being a mom? could i get us back to the perfect routine we had just the day before?

and then something great happened. my husband called just to say "you'll do great, erinn. i'm here for you if you need me". and like that, i realized that i don't have to juggle it all. i don't have to have a perfect routine fully organized to the last minute. life is about living. so with that i marched through those doors and was welcomed back with a bunch of smiles. and although i won't lie and say i'm not entirely pooped out, i can say that it wasn't that bad. the change, i mean. everything is going to be okay. i realized that a little change was good for jack and for me. and i realized that we're all much stronger than we sometimes give ourselves credit for.

**side note: i was struggling on what picture to add for this post and when chelsea sent me these pictures throughout the day today, i knew they were perfect. a play-by-play for a momma missing her baby boy.

.threads: big/little style - the mother/son edition.

a couple weeks back, i had the absolute pleasure of having over two of the most creative ladies i know for a little blog collaboration and play-date. the girls behind just bella and adventures in pinksugarland, or christine and andrea, respectively. if you've been following my blog for a while, you probably have seen this guest post from christine, or our wedding photo's done by andrea [she's also the talent behind the lens of pinksugar photography]. yep, not to gush or anything, but those beautiful ladies and i hung out all morning!

we let the kiddos run wild [i personally think jack was in heaven just following cole around, alice in heaven in my jewellery cupboards, and lila in heaven ransacking jacks bookcase], and then us ladies sorted through mine & jacks [extensive, as christine and andrea called them] closets for a special edition of those adorable big/little style posts that are a personal fave of mine over at just bella. 

this one, a special mother/son collaboration.

here is jack and i working our picks, but if you want to get all the links [and to check out christine's beautiful styling] click here to head on over.

we tried to get the suspenders on the dapper little dude, but with a grumpy and tired baby, this was all we were going to get. so we took our loss but still think he looks so darn adorable.

thanks again, ladies, for the awesome play-date and just fun being had all around. till the next round....

.fancy napkin on instagram.

yep, i've finally entered into the realm of a real[-ish] blogger. i got an iphone and instagram all in one day. and my gosh! what have i been waiting for?! instagram has quickly enveloped all my free time this last week and i am completely enamoured!!!

what a great way to show our simple day-to-day details and i can't wait to look back on them a year from now and reminisce.

here's what my first week on on instagram looked like. 

me and the boy, just hanging out together at home. how i'll miss these moments, just the two of us, when i head back to work || melissa and bryan's amazing wedding invitation and my happy mail day. we leave in a month to san diego for these festivities and cannot wait! || this boy and that hair. jack freshly napped and wanting out. he just looked so darn cute that momma just had to snap a picture!
|| outfit-of-the-day, aka: ootd. loving my new mustard jeans and camo sweater [found in the men's department] || me and this boy at oliver's first birthday picnic. he's just my favourite || announcing our win for the h&m fashion family contest. we'll be in the december issue of today's parent magazine!!!
|| sunday brunching with my two favourite people || three ikea prints that found their way to our house || out with some fabulous ladies for gilly + rob's engagement party

and if you want to follow along on a daily basis, you can find me under http://instagram.com/erinntreb [or just click here!]

.jack's firsts: camping.

this post is late in getting to you, but i didn't want to miss out on posting it and sharing another one of jack's firsts! camping! 

this was a 'cheat' camping trip as we just spent 1 night over in my parent's fifth-wheel, but there was a fire and s'mores so i'm counting it.

jack handled it like a champ, staying up as late as he could before falling asleep in grammy's arms as she sang him my childhood song, edelweiss. we also survived freezing to death [in the fifth-wheel no less!] after grandpa dan decided that april was warm enough not to turn on the furnace [it wasn't!!!].

all-in-all, it was a fun overnighter with my family. i guess its these simple and sweet memories that i want to preserve forever, and it makes me so grateful that i have this little blog to solidify them. 

^^^trust me jack's bottle was empty! and what a cheeky daddy^^^

.simply put but not simply meant, thank you.

i'll let the video do the talking, but this is a sincere and from the heart, thank you. 

xoe