Ali Hynek

Bohemian luxury is how I describe the product my company Nena & Co. produces but it's also how I like to describe my home - another description might be contemporary and eclectic. I wanted to have fun with my guest bathroom and powder room and thought worst case scenario, if I don’t LOVE them, at least it's not my master bathroom that I use everyday. I took more chances using a colorful custom pattern on the floor and using white on the walls but in the stars and cross pattern. I was definitely inspired by my recent revisit to morocco. I am so touched by the designs and color combinations found in morocco and wanted to incorporate that into my home and the guess bathroom was where I experimented. Again, I consider light blues and greens neutrals because they give a space a sense of calm. So i was automatically drawn to those colors.

I love the tile I was able to use for this project because not only is it sustainably sourced but it is actually hand painted! The blue “Vitoria” pattern is a custom pallet I was able to create myself which makes it feel even more special. I also love that I was able to do a white tile one the wall but made it more interesting by choosing the Stars and Cross pattern by Fireclay in the large size. Using this bathroom feels more like an experience than just a necesity.

I’ve been a fan of Signature Hardware since my first remodel in 2015 because of their quality products made at affordable prices. The shower system, sink faucets, vanity, towel warmer and toilet were all curtesy of Signature Hardware and tied in so nicely with the theme of the room.

Lighting has become such a big deal for me since I remodeled my master bathroom in 2018. I never realized how much a sconce, can lights or even undrecabinet lighting could do for a room. If you’re going to be effort into creating beautiful details in a remodel than really consider creating the perfecting lighting to highlight your work! Hudson Valley Lighting was an amazing source for the tall mirror sconces you see below!

The one thing I kept very similar is this remodel is the glass tile block window. I actaully replaced the one that was used when the house was built with just a new version of it. I really like the idea of these types of windows because of all the natural light they allow in with out testing the integrity of ones need for privacy.

Here’s my one tip that I think everyone should implement, it gives you warmth and a bit of luxury for just $250; install a Panasonic cieling fan that also has a heater on it. The amount of warmth it creates allows a large bathroom to heat up quick and then gives you the freedom to forgo an enclosed shower if you like the look or feel of a more open one. I put on in my master bath after I got flooded with comments on what a mistake an open shower concept would be. Putting heated floors in is much more expensive and doesn’t do the trick like a ceiling fan does!

Scroll to the very bottom to see the before photos.

We took the kids to a family friends ranch just down the street to meet some of their friendly goats and horses. And I really mean that they were friendly! The goats and the horses seemed to really love people which makes me think our friends the Garretts take really good care of these sweet creatures.

Ethan was a little scared at first but warmed up to the animals pretty fast. One of the horses kept nudging Alejandra and she would just nudge it right back! Brave little girl!!

We made Easter eggs for PEA but that turned out to be a bad idea since they immediately broke them and wanted to eat the shell!

Penelope and Alejandra wore dresses from little-minis.com and Ethan is in a cute little outfit from Old Navy.

I like to combine business with pleasure so I get good photos to use for my brand Nena & Co. but also beautiful family photos I'll treasure forever. We took this opportunity to take our family Christmas photo and I already can't believe how much they have grown since then!

We wanted to document our daily life around the house with PEA. Plus I needed to take some executive portraits of myself and I thought we might as well throw the babies in it too! I work from home a lot, I work cause I want to but also have to. As many of you know, I own my own business and want to see it succeed!

But above all else, I want to spend every waking moment with PEA (Penelope, Ethan and Alejandra). I decided to redo my home office and turn it into a room I'm happy to work in. I keep the babes on a strict schedule that really works for THEM. Right now they luckily sleep 17-18 hours a day which leaves me time to get on my email or have a meeting at the house. When PEA are awake I like to be there with them.

It's been a dream come true to feed them, pat a stubborn burp out, change about 21 diapers a day (I'm a big advocate of not getting a diaper rash cause I was too lazy to change a wet diaper), or snuggle a crying baby to sleep in the middle of the night. 

Jeremy is actually the one that gets up with a baby if one wakes up. I've had major sciatic issues that has put me out of commission for a while. Sometimes I'll ask him to just hand me the baby and the bottle and then I get to snuggle them to sleep.

The cutest thing is that Jeremy really enjoys those middle of the night baby moments. We've waiting for so long to have these babies that everything that happens just feels right even when everything is going wrong!

Welcome to our home life.

xx

Ali

I was so excited for Halloween this year since it was PEA's first time to dress up! We were doing it just for fun of course but one of the editors at the Huffington Post Parent caught wind of our Baby Series and asked if they could do a little story on PEA! It was so fun to see them in their little costumes! Brittany from The House That Lars Built teamed up with me to create the costumes and went the extra mile and created the costumes "recipe's" and video on how the costumes all came together!

I was able to chat with the gals at Well Rounded NY about why I choose to formula feed. I feel so lucky that I was able to breastfeed PEA for the first 6 weeks of their precious lives. It was such a special time for me to experience that skin on skin time and I was grateful to provide that nutritious colostrum but eventually I had to change to formula feeding. It wasn't a hard decision for me cause of my situation but it took a while for me to feel confidant about it. Read more about my story here.

xx

Ali

Photos: http://beckykimball.net

Even before these babies were born, I was lucky enough to have parents, family and friends that flooded our house with love and help and nothing changed once the babies came home. 

My parents would come 3-4 nights a week from 9pm to 3am to let us sleep while they fed them and changed them every 3 hours. Jeremy's mom would come twice a week at night to do the same. To be honest the days are a blur. All I can remember is that we fed them every three hours and were constantly worried about their monitors going off. Ethan and Alejandra both came home on oxygen. We graduated from that schedule as Jeremy and I had more energy to figure out a schedule (and my parents went out of town so we sorta had to). Jeremy would go to sleep from 6pm to 3am and I would sleep from 3am to 9am. It was easier to just stay awake instead of trying sleep while they slept cause it took so long to feed them all. 

I scheduled this photoshoot and asked my parents and Jeremy's parents to come cause they were already such big part of PEA's little life and I wanted us all to remember that.

On March 11th, 2016 Penelope, Ethan and Alejandra came to this earth. I was 31 weeks and 6 days pregnant and miss Alejandra decided she was ready to meet us. 

We had a doctors visit every other week from the beginning of my pregnancy but half way through we started going weekly! I felt a little lucky cause as you pregnant mothers know, everything made me worry about the babies and it was good to see them on a weekly basis. We actually did an ultrasound at every visit which was another bonus or us. We knew them as baby A (Penelope), baby B (Alejandra) and baby C (Ethan). The girls are identical (monochorionic-diamniotic) and Ethan is fraternal. 

The last two months of my pregnancy were really rough. I couldn't walk any more cause I was in so much pain which put me on bed rest. The pain mostly stemmed from my sciatic nerve and it was debilitating.  But the babies were doing just great! By now we were seeing our doctor twice a week. On Tuesday March 8th, Dr. Porter asked us to come in daily since Alejandra's heart rate was dropping and then jumping back up. On March 11th we came in for our visit again and Alejandra was getting worse. Her "episodes" were happening more frequently. Dr. Porter was at another office about 4 hours away but the attending doctor told us he was on his way and they thought he would still be able to deliver the babies.

We were sent down to labor and deliver where we began the nonstress test on all three babies. There were just two nursers helping us but about 20 minutes after being in Labor and Delivery the room was rushed with about 8 nurses and one handed Jeremy scrubs. I asked what was happening and they told me the babies had to come now. Like, NOW.

I remember the anesthesiologist talking me through the process as I tried to control my breathing and tears streamed down my face. "If the anesthesia doesn't kick in fast enough I'll have to put you completely out soon." Luckily that didn't happen. Within 3 minutes they were cutting me open and I just focused on Jeremy's eyes. The curtain was covering my pregnant belly and at 2:57 PM we heard the first cry of a our first new born baby Penelope. Jeremy and I began to cry the same tears of relief accompanied with nervous laughs of "we're parents." A doctor said, "ok a lot of pressure here" as they literally pushed Alejandra and Ethan out by 2:58 PM. We heard Alejandra cry but the only baby they showed me was Ethan before they whisked him away to the NICU to join his sisters. 

There were 5 nurses per baby waiting through a window from the OR to the NICU. And my team of 10 doctors and nurses had done their job successfully.  

I look back at photos of PEA now and can see what other people saw; little beings that didn't look ready to be here that you could hold in the palm of your hand. But at the time, all I could see were my beautiful babies and they were perfect. 

Penelope 3 lbs 3 oz, Alejandra 2 lbs 8 oz, Ethan 3lbs 11 oz.