The Winner of the Turbans fot Tots Giveaway! (Drumroll Please)

And the Winner Is...
Congrats to Meagan Dickerson, the winner of our Turbans for Tots Sibling Set! You've won this bow tie for him and a matching hair bow for her! We will contact you for your mailing address :)

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway, it is officially CLOSED. And of course, many thanks to Jenna at Turbans for Tots for collaborating with Oy! - we're pretty obsessed with your gear.

For all who entered and didn't win, don't cry yourself a bow tie river. Right now, Turbans for Tots is offering FREE SHIPPING on all domestic orders with the code "50SHIP" and make sure to follow on @turbansfortots on Instagram for other exclusive discounts and giveaways :)

Check back here for info on giveaways in the future!

Remembering and Forgetting.

My little boy is 6 months old, and I'm starting to forget.

I close my eyes really tight and try to conjure up the moments leading up to his birth. That incredible pain. Fear. The anticipation of meeting him. The strange wonder if it really was a him or if the doctors had somehow detected the "It's a boy!"-fact wrong. The clinical taste in the room. The sweat slicking all too easily off my skin. The early afternoon light peering through the window, bending in prisms around the Atlanta skyline. My husband's face, spilling over with hope and confidence in me. I can see his mouth forming words, coaching, encouraging, but I can't hear anything. He's speaking to me, for me, cheering me on, but I can't hear. I want to hear it, but I can only feel. His words are pulsing me. My body metabolizes every morsel, each utter, energizing the next push, and the next, and the next. Crying? No, there's no time for that. All the energy, emotion, spirit, power, it's all channeled into these few final, steady, manic moments. Breathe and push. Push like you never knew you could. The intrinsic, most feminine forces of my existence knitting together for the final gasps. This heady, rich sensation. Like being close to death but also very close to life. Everything suddenly crisps and I am there, body stammering, squatting, peeling my way around, and then. Then.

I. Am. So. Glad. It is over.

He's here. He's mine. Wow, that's what he looks like. He looks so small and yet so so big. Rippled body, ruddy face, covered in a slimy something that I should find disgusting, except that I can't. Because he is so mine. And instantly I am his. And I know know know this is what I was created to do. I don't understand the journey until that very moment, the whole life journey that I've taken, but all of the sudden I know that he was part of the purpose all along.

Well, I guess I can remember it.

But I am forgetting a little bit day by day and I don't know if that's a good thing. Because I want to remember it as much as I want to forget it. And at the same time I find myself staring at him, this little boy who can already do so much, this beautiful specimen that I created, and I just wonder if it happened to me at all. I wonder if it was all unreal, if I'm remembering some scene from a movie, and not the most authentic moment of my being.

These are the feelings I haven't quite been able to process for 6 months. Six months to the day, actually. I'm starting to come out of a fog, though. Out of the fog, and I am grasping for this powerful memory that I may or may not be able to really remember. But as it unfolds itself to me, I am undone and overwhelmed at the gift. Staring in wonder and amazement at my dear-hearted, beautiful boy.

7-Month Bumpdate

7-Month Bumpdate!
Well, Happy Memorial Day, folks! I hope your weekend has been splendid :)

We are currently driving down to the beach for a fun family vacation - I can't wait to put my feet up and soak in some rays for SIX DAYS IN A ROW.

I can't believe I am 7.5 months pregnant. I felt like I was stuck at the 4-month mark for quite a long time... and yet here we are! The belly is growing fast, I have a crazy line running down the middle of my abdomen, and this little one inside of me has decided to take up kickboxing as his first sport. More like kickmommy.

The Progress.
I love how Jenny over at Jenny Highsmith has been doing baby bump updates during her pregnancy. Here's mine:

How Far Along: 7.5 months (30 weeks!)

Gender: Boy!

Name: Everett Lee Hale. Ahh I just love typing it!

Sleeping? Yes, thanks to my handy-dandy new pillow that I lovingly refer to as "my leach baby". It grosses Stevie out like crazy, but the brand is literally called Leachco (find it here!), and you know me, once I get a schtick its reeeeal hard to let it go. Beat that dead horse and such. I held out for SO LONG on buying a pregnancy pillow because I knew it wouldn't fit in our queen-size without someone getting kicked out of bed (Stevie, duh), so I kindly deferred purchasing. Well, things changed. I started waking up angry, feeling robbed of my sleep for weeks on end. Which resulted in a sleep-deprived, panic-stricken flurry of Amazon Prime purchases, one of which was this gigantic, larger-than-a-human, snake-like pillow. You know. My leach baby.

Eats: Trying to eat healthy, but it seems that my taste buds have shifted again. Salad is the enemy. I wish everyone would stop trying to feed it to me. I KNOW I should be scarfing down tons of greens at this point, but I detest salad. I caught a whiff of kale last night and gagged. Trying to add it in other ways, like green smoothies and homemade kale chips. In the mean time, I just really enjoy berries. And pizza. Burgers with avocado. Tacos. Yeah okay I see why everyone keeps trying to feed me salad.

Emotional Check: Doing pretty good, especially since I am still in the midst of processing the fact that we are moving this month and having a baby in less than 3 months. Oh, and we have to buy a car, figure out a childbirth class and you know, prepare for the babe. I currently have one package of diapers. Yikes.

Movement: ATHLETE. That's all I have to say. Because the twirls, twists, kicks and just overall stature of this child is seriously my entertainment. Gross details? Okay. At the end of every night, I roll up my shirt and just watch my belly dance. I'm not bellydancing, I'm watching my belly dance. Because clearly this is the time Everett chooses to exercise. He really knows how to put on a show.

Looking Forward to: Decorating his nursery! I have literally bought ONE THING for my child (this custom-made name print by Jenny Highsmith). I don't know anyone who has waited this long to begin the "nesting" phase of their pregnancy, but I truly haven't had the space to store baby gear of ANY kind in this tiny NYC apartment. After we move to Atlanta, I am really looking forward to putting together his sweet little baby space (let's be honest, the nursery is going to be more like MY ROOM), and letting myself shop a bit for him :)

I hope you have the happiest, sunniest holiday ringing in the superior summer season.
XOX

GENDER REVEAL

Baby Hale Gender Reveal.
Our gender reveal was outrageous. Our dear friends, Anthony and Jessica (along with a few other smug party planners), gave us an incredible party that we will never forget. They created festive decorations, baked delicious desserts (brownies with ice cream for Stevie, citrusy lemon bars for me PLUS additional cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery and Sprinkles!), came up with hilarious celeb baby games and themed the entire event around my favorite Dr. Seuss book. They even sneakily invited both sets of our parents to enjoy the surprise (unbenounced to us), by Facetiming them in for the big reveal. That really added a personal touch, because our parents really wanted to be part of it. It was the perfect way to find out our baby's gender. Anthony and Jess, we are so SO thankful to you for creating this beautiful party that will always live in our memory. Like always.

The photos truly say it ALL.

A few iPhone snapshots:

Photo Credits: Deborah Choi, Bronte Hughes, & Dara Adeeyo.

It's a Boy!
But best of all? Finding out that the banana-sized baby inside of me is A BOY. Oh my goodness. I literally know nothing about little boys. I come from an all-girl household. As in, even my father watched Calamity Jane with us. (That man deserves a medal of honor. When Stevie comes home to visit, my dad kind of squashes him into a bear hug that always lasts a smidge longer than is conventionally normal.) But oh my. A baby boy. We are beyond thrilled. I know everybody says it, but we would have been thrilled with a boy or a girl. It's just that I had this feeling. This boyish feeling. So did Stevie. So we dressed for our guess (and our guest!!) But now, it's just so incredibly fun to actually know and begin making plans. Blue plans. Muahahaha.

Well, that's as priceless as it gets. Enough of my glee for now. Any advice for upcoming parents of a bodacious BOY??
XOX