Goodbye 2015...

2015 was quite the year! So many milestones! Here is my 2015 in review:

January
We took our 3rd trip to the Hawaiian Islands (Maui, Hawaii and Molokai) while I was 20-21 weeks pregnant. I took a few precautions flying, like wearing compression socks to keep my feet and legs from swelling.

February
Just moved through the motions of weeks 24 - 27 of my pregnancy... And planned my baby shower.

March
My travel themed baby shower! When I saw the "Welcome to the World" baby shower theme on Pinterest I knew that this was the baby shower for me! I LOVED how everything turned out! Thanks to my mom, mother-in-law and my bff.

April
Much to our surprise our sweet baby girl arrived 5 weeks early (gestational age: 35 weeks, 1 day)! Even though she was in the NICU my husband said, "think of it as a blessing, we get to spend an extra 5 weeks with her!" and then I started to cry... one because he was right and two he never uses the word "blessing" so it was a very sweet moment and one I will never forget.

May
Alana turned 1 month old, and Matt and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary!

June
Still on maternity leave and loving it!

July
I went back to work and towards the end of the month my mother-in-law came to stay with us for 3 weeks to watch Alana before she entered daycare. It was such a blessing to have her and I know she enjoyed every minute of it! And it was the longest her and my father-in-law had been apart since they were 16! Quite the sacrifice!

August
I started a new job within my company.

September
Seems September was a pretty low key month since I cant remember anything that happened.

October
Alana turned 6 months old!!! Where did the time go? And we dressed up together as a minion family! And I became a Nerium Brand Partner!

November
We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the 2nd time. We had tons of food and started decorating for Christmas. It was discovered that Lola had right sided heart failure :(

December
The Christmas celebrations were at our house for the first time! We had 5 extra people staying with us! And it was Alana's first Christmas so it was an overall joyous weekend! And we rehomed one of our dogs :(

Here is to an amazing 2016!

8 Month Update

How was everyone's time off? Mine was great! I really needed those 4 days! And I feel like it is a crime to be back to work today :/ We spent it with family and friends and it was so amazing to watch Alana enjoy her first Christmas! We actually didn't take a lot of pictures but we got a lot of video! I cannot believe she is already over 8 months old! How the time flies! 

So how are we doing? 

Alana

She is fantastic! She is talking up a storm and using her hands to talk. She loves talking to Lola, as I suspected she would. She is starting to giggle and it’s the cutest thing I have ever seen. Babies make happy sounds/noises but she is now starting to laugh and giggle!

She is also starting to crawl! OMG! She started this at the beginning of the month! She is not up on all 4s yet but she is belly crawling like you wouldn't believe! 

She is still eating 5 times a day but I am hoping by the new year we can change that to 4 times and then as we near her birthday we can change to 3 times a day + snacks.

Mom & Dad (a.k.a. Alexa & Matt)

We’re doing well, we found a babysitter we trust so we have been going out once a month which has been nice and a much needed break. Our first date night was actually a day date and we went bowling and hung out at a tapas bar.

I haven’t been keeping up with my running but I have been keeping up with Pure Barre. My membership ended on the 13^th so since then I have been trying to run more. It works best if I come home, change, run and then pick up Alana. It pushes her pick up time back about 30mins but sometimes you need to take some time for you. Running can be pretty good therapy.

Lola & Coco

I am sad to report that we had to rehome Coco. It broke my heart and it’s something I never thought I would have to do. We found her an amazing home and new family and she seems to be fitting in well with them. She left us on the 20th; I am glad my mom and brother got to see her one last time before we sent her off. I am hoping one day I can visit her if I am ever visiting Dallas.

{my last day with Coco}

Lola is hanging in there after heart failure. With Coco gone I think her life will be less stressful. I just hope we can hang on to her for a few more years. (For those that don’t know, a bulldog’s life expectancy is 10 yrs. Lola is 6 and now has a major heart condition so I feel every day is a blessing.)

On Holiday

Y'all I am so excited for the weekend! Pretty much because its the weekend and I want to catch up on sleep. And we are attending a few Christmas parties. And I may still throw some Christmas lights and decorations up! I'll be taking the next week off from blogging to just relax and de-stress a bit. BUT I'll still be at work :( boo! Because I had a baby this year and because of how my company’s maternity leave policy works I don’t have any vacation time left for the year. So I’ll have the 24th and 25th off and the 31st and 1st off – Two 4 day weekends. Here is what I wish to accomplish with those days off:

Dec. 24th - 27th

These days will be filled with family gatherings, cooking, eating and opening presents! Not much else will happen. Period. And I will utilize my family to help me clean up all the Christmas decorations and get as much as we can put back in the attack! All our guests will depart either the 26th or the 27th and we’ll have our house back.

Dec. 31st

Lola has an appointment at the doggie cardiologist, I really wanted this day to clean and reorganize the house but Matt will have to take care of that while I take Lola to her appointment, that’s over an hour away. Alana’s daycare is actually open on the 31st so we plan on bringing her in for part of the day while we get stuff done! So far no party has been planned for New Years…I know, LAME. But it’s how we roll; and how much partying can one do with an 8 month old?!

Jan. 1st – 3rd

We will probably spend these days continuing to get the house in order. Have you seen Gayle getting the house ready for company on YouTube…HIL-arious! And I want to binge watch some Downton Abbey; I’m half way through season 3. We need to paint some walls to cover up all the dog slobber that has been flung everywhere. And I want to update some things on the blog, have a good stock pile of posts ready for the new year and get back into the social media game. We'll also be going out to dinner to celebrate my birthday that was earlier in the month (our babysitter wasn't available for my birthday weekend). 

{don't pretend *NSYNC's Christmas song inst stuck in your head now}

Trial & Error – Baby Products

So when you’re pregnant its really easy to get overwhelmed with all the baby stuff that is out there. You’ll have friends telling you one thing, thank them for their help and advice, and then you’ll walk into Buy Buy Baby and go, “what the f---!” because there is SO much stuff for babies! And I think these are also trial and error type products. Here are a few items that I have had to buy a few different brands till I found one that I liked and worked well.

Car window shade: So I have a really odd shaped window in the back and I thought that this Brica Stretch-to-Fit Window shade would be prefect because it would be any shape that I wanted…well it didn’t really work. The suctions just don’t stay on the window and if you need to really stretch this thing the suction cups just slowly move to where they are comfortable (the elastic will pull them back together).

Then I bought the Munchkin White Hot Static Cling Shade. While this doesn’t cover my whole window it stays on and provides her shade most of the time. It’s “HOT” decal will tell you when it’s too hot in the car and you may want to turn on the AC before you put your little on in there. I noticed that it was saying “HOT” when it was about 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit. Which really isn’t that hot for us here in Texas.

Bath tubs: When I first saw the 4MOMs bath tub I wanted it but I swear the price tag said $150. For that price, I don’t think so. So I bought her a mesh chair to put in the sink. Well it didn’t quite work in our sink, our sink was too small. So my mother-in-law bought the flower thing for us. The hospital said they didn’t recommend this for newborns and to wait until she could hold her head up. So I finally said okay, lets buy the 4MOMs tub. It turns out its only $50 (I am thinking it was stocked in the wrong place when I first saw a $150 price tag). And with a 20% coupon in tow the tub was mine! Alana LOVES this tub and LOVES bath time! She splashes so much that we had to move her mini tub into the bath tub.

Bottles: Bottles can be hit or miss for your baby. I had asked for a starter kit of Tommee Tippee and Dr. Brown bottles. I only got the Tommee Tippee ones at my shower. So that is what I planned on using. Well, with Alana arriving early and being in the NICU when it came time to bottle feed her at night when I wasn’t there the nurses said to get some Dr. Brown bottles; they pretty much laughed in my face when I said I had Tommee Tippee. They tried to mask it by saying those were better suited for older babies. So now I have 4 Tommee Tippee bottles sitting on a shelf in their shrink wrap. I will probably use them in a giveaway on here at some point…or re-gift at a shower.

What are some of your experiences with baby products? 

Finding the Right Babysitter

We live in Houston, TX. My parents live near San Antonio, TX and Matt's parents live near Little Rock, AR. So we are not fortunate enough to have a "build-in babysitter". We are however fortunate enough to have my parents close enough so when my husband wants to go to a football game and I have a Nerium event my mom can come for the weekend to help; thanks mom!

But finding a babysitter for date night is hard. They have to know how to change and feed an infant and you have to trust them. How we found our babysitter is a funny story, so here we go.

The people that own the daycare we go to own about 6 in the area. They were opening a new one in our neighborhood but with construction delays they wouldn't be open when Alana needed to enter daycare. So she was enrolled in one in another neighborhood. For some reason I absolutely loved the morning teacher in her class. When it was time for us to leave to move to the new school I really wanted to ask her if she would be our babysitter, but I chickened out (I don't know the school policy on that sort of thing).

She sent a sweet note home with Alana and I immediately regretted not asking her. So what did I do? I social media stalked her of course. All I knew was her first initial and her last name. I finally found her on Facebook and sent her a message but since we're not friends she hasn't seen the message. Then I went to Instagram. She has a private account so she had to approve my "follow". About a week later she did and comments on one of my pics. Then I told her to please email me if she wanted to babysit and she did! I was so happy! All of my crazyness paid off!

We went bowling and then a topas bar for some drinks; it was really nice to get out and just hang. We have thought about having her over to watch Alana while we clean the house. But daycare is open on the 31st and we have that off so we're going to utilize that day for a deep clean!

{going out is fun and all but its moments on the couch that are the best!}

Have a happy weekend!

Christmas Time Is Here

Last week I was really starting to get into the Christmas spirit; it was starting to cool down, our tree was up, and lights wrapped the trees in our front yard (I still want to put more lights out). Then the forecast for this week came out…it’s going to be in the 80’s on Friday! WhAt?!? I’ll be back in my flip flops in no time!

We got the tree up right after Thanksgiving with the help of my brother and dad. They also helped me string up the lights outside. We have most all the presents already wrapped and it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! My mom was here to help up over the weekend and she brought all the presents she had wrapped and it’s looking like we’ll have an epic Christmas! I am excited to host it at our house for the first time. After hosting Thanksgiving I am ordering a Honey Baked ham and I think we're going to use festive paper plates so it lightens the dish washing load!

The past couple of Christmas' there really hasn't been a whole lot that I want - everything I want is for the little one. Last year she wasn't here yet but she was on my mind and this year all I want/need is stuff for my growing little girl!

What are you doing to get in the Christmas spirit?! Watching movies? Singing carols? 

7 Month Update

Holy Moly, where has the time gone?! Alana is over 7 months old! About a week before she turned 7 months she started to sit up on her own and she is a pro at it! She is also now starting to scoot backwards while in the sitting position. She has gotten very animated as well, when she “talks” she puts her hand out like she is preaching to the people! It’s quite funny!

{it gets harder and harder to get her to sit still!}

She is quickly growing out of the 3-6 month clothes but the 6 month clothes are still a bit on the large side. They truly grow too fast – but it’s fun to watch them grow and develop into a tiny human.

Her hair is starting to grow and she now has enough to have bed head, it’s quite adorable! It’s almost long enough to start putting some clips in it. We are so surprised that she has blonde hair; I thought for sure she would get her daddy’s dark hair (dark hair is dominate gene over blonde after all). So she gets her good hair from her mamma!

I just love the picture of her with the hat on! Daycare took that of her yesterday and I can't stop staring at it! I find myself looking at her pictures all day - that is why I wanted to start selling Nerium! So I can see that cute face all day every day!

Hope you have an AMAZING weekend! 

Thanks for reading!

5 Things I Love about December

I love December! I love it because I like getting presents and what month is better for that than December when you celebrate Christmas AND my birthday! 

1 – Presents! Call me materialistic but I just love getting presents and giving presents! My husband and I usually open our presents sometime before Christmas since we travel to see family but this year the celebrations are at our house and we must wait! Plus Alana is with us now and I am so excited to see what she will be doing by the end of the month!

2 – Christmas/Holiday cards! Call me old school but I just love getting cards in the mail. And this time of year seems to be the only time people actually send cards; it’s wonderful! This year I am sort of cheating and I am creating the cards online and they are going to pre-address them for us, I just don’t have the time.

3 – Watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music! Having Christmas movies on in the back ground is a must. Elf usually always makes it on the TV a few times this month (one of the only DVDs my husband and I both had when we moved in together). We had Home Alone on the other night and last year we watched this really cute, newer movie called Arthur Christmas. Now I do think some of the radio stations start a little early with the holiday music but it’s fun to start getting into the Christmas spirit!

4 – Decorating! As much as I wish I could pay someone to decorate for us, I love having the decorations up. I love looking at the lights in the yard and the ornaments on the tree that remind me of past travels.

5 – Time with family and friends! I have only spent one holiday without my family and that was when my best friend and I went to Italy for 2 weeks back in 2008. It was quite the trip! We missed our family but we had fun and it was a trip we will never forget! Buon Natale! And one year I hope to spend Christmas in Hawaii :)

joyeux Noël | god jul | Maligayang Pasko | Nollaig Shona | Frohe Weihnachten

Feliz Navidad | Buon Natale | Mele Kalikimaka

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah

How to link up your post

Just pop your post up over the first week of the month (the 1st - 7th December), add it to the link up widget found on Kelly's, Rebecca's or Emma's, or our twinkling guest host Ayla's blog at Mrs Ayla's Adventures from the 1st of the month.

First Family Thanksgiving

My title is a little deceiving - obviously its not our first family Thanksgiving but it is our first Thanksgiving as a family of 3 (or 5 if you include the dogs). We are hosing both Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house this year because I did not want to deny any Grandparent their first holiday with their grandbaby (and I didn't want to travel with a baby and 2 dogs). So my family spent the long weekend with us! Which is good because we need some extra hands to help with the decorating.

Some of the best recipes I have found in the past have been on Buzzfeed and this year was no different! I used their Cranberry Relish recipe and their Sweet Potato Stacks recipe - which was a hit! Both the sweet potatoes and the stuffing were made in cupcake tins and my husband's suggestion for next year was to make everything in cupcake tins! Challenge accepted?!

Our Thanksgiving Feast consists of the following:

• Cranberry - Orange Relish
• Simple Mashed Potatoes
• Sweet Potato Stacks 
• Green Bean Casserole
• Corn
• Turkey Breast
• Stuffing
• Dinner Rolls
• Cookies
• Brownies

I hope you had a WONDERFUL holiday and I cant believe November is over and December is here! I love December because it is the most wonderful time of the year!

Lola a.k.a The Spotted Bulldog

If you ready my first post then you know I named my blog after my little fur baby Lola. We had quite the scare last week when we found out that she had/has right sided heart failure. And quite the shock to my wallet!

Here is Lola's story. We got Lola back in 2009 when she was 3 1/2 months old. At that point my husband and I had been together for 4 1/2 months. So Lola is our first (4-legged) baby together. Lola brought so much joy to us!

When Lola was in for her 1 year check up the vet detected a hear murmur and suggested we see a specialist. That's right, we needed to see a k-9 cardiologist. After that visit it was determined that Lola had pulmonary stenosis and would need heart surgery. After they opened her up they realized that her particular case was inoperable.

Pulmonic stenosis, also known as pulmonary stenosis, is a dynamic or fixed obstruction of flow from the right ventricle of the heart to the pulmonary artery.

Lola went on 1 medication and for the past 5 years she has responded really well! So well in fact that the cardiologist said her condition was better and that we no longer had to being her in every year. That was this past January.

Fast forward to earlier this month, she started to get winded easier, she wasn't really eating as much and early last week her abdomen started to expand. I had made her an appointment the week prior and we made our way in on Nov. 18th. The vet walked in an immediately knew something was wrong. They took her back for some tests and ended up draining her abdomen of the fluids that had been pushing on her lungs making it hard for her to breath. She had high blood pressure and a rapid heart rate. I brought her to the ICU for over night observation and the next morning she would see internal medicine.

Lola was able to come home on Nov. 19th but she still really isn't eating much. She is more than happy to take her meds but she wont eat. Other than they she seems to be doing okay, she is moving slowly and we are letting her sleep in our room in a nice, HUGE new bed. I am not sure how much time we have left with our sweet girl. She will forever be loved by everyone who has met her.

Baby Travel Essentials + Giveaway!

Today I am hosting my first giveaway! :-o How exciting! I wanted to host it before Thanksgiving because I am so thankful for all the gifts we received while I was pregnant and after. These are great products and I really hope you enjoy them!

So whats included?!

• Travel size Babyganics daily moisturizing lotion
• Travel size Babyganics pure mineral sunscreen (SPF 30)
• Travel size Johnson's Baby Head to Toe wash
• 4oz (120ml) Munchkin Latch bottle
• $5 Wal*Mart gift card

So enter below! You have one week, good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(for US residents only)

Turning an IKEA Spice Rack into a Cute Book Nook

So I really wanted to have this post up yesterday but I didn't have time to edit the pictures yesterday of last night so it's getting posted a little late. More on why later.

Alana's room is made up of some cost saving ideas and IKEA hacks I have found on Pinterest. One was dressing up an IKEA dresser. And today's post is about another.

IKEA has these wooden, unfinished spice racks that, with the help of Pinterest I'm sure, have quickly become just regular trinket racks. My favorite idea was turning them into a book rack/holder.

So I painted them to match her room and up they went! We utilized the dead space behind the closet door. Of course she is too young to read but by the time she can she'll have a little stool made for her that she can use to reach the top and middle one. And as you can see they quickly filled up with some of my old books and new books of her own!

I can tell she already enjoys story time; her eyes follow along, taking in all the pictures and colors. And now she is grabbing at the books to try and put them in her mouth! Babies are so funny!

Side note: We used these in our last house as extra storage in our master bath. They really work great for adding a little extra storage space!

Nursery Art

So I am finally starting to get around to taking pictures of Alana's room and the art I have hung in there. Unfortunately, the lighting was total crap yesterday! So I apologize for the bad pictures. We sort of have 4 areas showcasing pictures and art:

The first is above her crib - I ordered these pictures from etsy from a photographer in Ukraine. I love these pictures that were taken in Paris, France and that they have been changed to have the purple in them matches her room perfectly! They are 8x10 and my husband wishes we would have gotten the 11x14.

Then we have what I am calling the gallery wall - I decided to stop worrying about how the pictures line up as this will be something that we continuously add to. And I don't want to end up with more holes in the wall because this picture needs to move 2cm to the left. I bought all the frames on sale and I spray painted them the same gray so they would all match. I made most of these and here is how:

~ So Many of my Smiles: I made this using a design I found on my Silhouette machine and just changed the color and printed it using my printer.
~ A: Michael's Arts and Crafts had these small frames for like $0.25 and then I bought a set of scrapbooking letters and made that cute little piece.
~ You Are My Sunshine: I made this with my Silhouette too, the "sunshine" is actually raised and I love the look.
~ Mirror: I found this on sale too and I spray painted the pink on there to add a little somethin', somethin'
~ Street Lamp: The photographer from Ukraine included this card in her delivery so I framed it and put it on the wall :)
~ Hello, Love: This I found at Hobby Lobby

I have a few more pieces that I need to finish and get up there but it's looking good so far.

There is the area above and the top of her dresser that I posted before:

And then we have the most meaningful pieces of all, the hand made birth announcements that my mom made for me and for Alana. Mine is actually being fixed at the moment but below is Alana's! I am so thankful she has something like this to keep and treasure forever!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are having a great start to the week!

Busy Bee --- Buzz, Buzz!

I have been absent here for a few posts now and that is because I have just been so busy! We had a lot of visitors this weekend; my in-laws were in town to visit the little one, my bff came over for a night out and another one of my friends came over to join in the night out - it was a mini high school reunion! And then on Sunday we have a neighborhood holiday vendor event where I was showcasing how fantastic Nerium is.

I also got A BUNCH of Christmas shopping done! I went a little crazy on etsy this year but I am super excited about everything I got. I love to open presents just as much as the next person but I also love to watch people open their presents! I just love the holiday season! I think I am a little excited about Christmas this year because we're having it at our house for the first time. Ever since Matt and I began dating we would spend the holiday with his family one year and then mine the next. But I did not want to deny any grandparent their first Christmas with Alana so we said, "We're having it here, come if you want!" I am also debating putting up a Christmas tree before Thanksgiving because I don't think I will have the time to get everything up in the 3 December weekends before the 25th.

I am also staying busy with trying to keep my deal to myself about working out - pure barre twice a week and running 3 times a week (but sometimes I can only manage to run twice a week). I started pure barre this past weekend because their new location just opened; I have gone 3 times already and I am SO sore!

Anyway, that is what I have been up to, what have you been up to?

The Minion Family

I love Halloween! And I was super excited to dress up as a family this year. We went as minions and Gru!

Alexa a.k.a. Kevin
I was Kevin, the tall minion. My outfit was pretty easy to throw together. I ordered my overalls and yellow shirt from Amazon and I got my minion beanie from Etsy. For shoes I wore my black converse. And I just printed the Gru symbol off the internet

Overalls
Yellow long sleeve shirt
Minion beanie
Black converse (already owned)

Alana a.k.a. Stuart
Alana was Stuart, the minion with one eye. Her outfit was pretty simple too: a yellow onesie, blue tutu, socks and I made her little eye from a kit I got a craft store.

Yellow onesie
Blue tutu
Mudpie Mary Jane socks
Build Your Own Minion kit (seen to the right)
Yellow headband and bow (already owned)

Matt a.k.a. Gru
We already had most of his costume, all we had to do for this was order the right scarf and some fun foam for his nose. And I just printed off the Gru symbol for his jacket zipper.

Black pants (already owned)
Black jacket (already owned)
Black/gray scarf
Fun foam nose

And we had a Build-A-Bear Bob minion to complete the minion trio!

I hope you all had a super fun Halloween!

Gru Nose Tutorial
I bought a pack of sticky fun foam that included some skin colored tones and I cut it into a triangle pyramid shape. I fit it to my husband's nose..ish... Once I had the shape drawn out I scored it to make it easier to bend where I needed it and then took the paper off the backing and stuck it on! I think it turned out pretty great! However with the humidity the nose only lasted about an hour until it didn't stick anymore.  

Raindrops on Roses...

...and whiskers on kittens. Now is that song stuck in your head?! It's in mine :)

Sometimes I participate in a monthly link-up and this month is it all about our favorite things! Here is my current list of favorite things:

1 - Being a mom and having a daughter. When you become a new parent you are full of new emotions, schedules, and priority changes. My best friend said that she has never seen me look more happy than I do in the picture below (and she should know, next to my family she has known me the longest). Perhaps motherhood looks good on me! I read a quote the other day that went something like this:

The days and nights go by slow but the years go by fast

And it couldn't be more true! It feels like just the other day we were rushing to the hospital because my water broke 5 weeks early...fast forward today and our little sweet pea is over 6 months old! Where does the time go?!

2 - Traveling, well duh! We have a trip to Boston planned for early next year and I know with the holidays fast approaching that trip will be here before we know it! I am also trying to plan a big family get together for late Summer of 2016. I am thinking Florida! Alana needs her first beach trip to be someplace nice, not the shitty beaches we have here in Galveston.

3 -  Nerium AD! This stuff is the bomb DOT com y'all. I just love the way it makes my face feel! You won't be disappointed! But if you are, that's okay because Nerium offers a 30-Day money back guarantee! And if you are interested in getting free product (...this is the home of the brave and land of free gift with purchase...can you name that movie?) I can totally help you with that too!

4 - Running, I am finally getting back into my groove and trying my hardest to run 3 times a week. Its best if I can get home, changed and get back out the door within 15 mins or so or it ain't really happening. If I have Alana with me and I have to feed her before my husband gets home and then it's pretty hard to get off that couch. I also purchased another round of Pure Barre, they were offering a deal I couldn't pass up for their new location.

5 - Halloween! I was really excited about Halloween this year because we were getting to dress up as a family! We decided to be minions and Gru! I'll be posting how I got our costumes together later this week!

To join the link-up click here! And tell me what are some of your favorite things? 

#EndMommyWars

I recently saw a post that was going around the Facebook world and I just LOVED it! Here is why -

Women today do A LOT of judging. And I'll be honest, I'm quick to judge too but I tend to keep my thoughts to myself and may only share them with my husband or closest friends (ones that I know won't judge me judging). But as a new mom my world opened up to a whole new way of being judged.

The other day at work as I was volunteering to help set up an expo to launch our new maternity/paternity benefits package the discussion of breastfeeding/pumping came up along with coupons for formula. When I brought up formula you would have thought the Earth stopped moving. The other women I was with all had said they breastfed for a year or more and here I was with an almost 6 month old and feeding her formula...HOW DARE I... They totally eye judged me and I could SO tell.

They don't know my story, they don't know Alana's story. They don't know that she and I only got to spend a few short minutes together before they whisked her away to the NICU. They don't know that she had a feeding tube through her nose because she didn't know how to suck a breast or a bottle. They don't know that it's next to impossible to be at the NICU 24/7 and how is my baby going to feed when I am not there, through a bottle the nurses give to her. They don't know that I only produced 10oz of milk pumping 8 times a day.

To all moms out there, let's not judge other mothers for how they choose to parent and raise their kids. How about we all focus on raising great kids!  

#EndMommyWars | #LoveMoreandJudgeLess 

You can find the original article here. All of the pictures came from there, I love it! Great job ladies!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

I can't believe another month has come and passed. Time really does fly

4 Month Check-In | 5 Month Check-In

Alana

So many things have been happening in our little baby world. In the past month Alana has started to eat baby food, she has upped her formula intake by almost 2 oz. per serving, and she got her ears pierced! And we are getting ready for our first Halloween as a family :) No spoilers here but I am super excited because I haven't dressed up for Halloween since 2009. I talked about how she is scared of the dogs but now only seems scared sometimes. 

{talk to the hand Bear}

Mom & Dad (still a little weird when I hear or say I'm a mom)

I think we are still getting use to changing schedules and life feels SUPER hectic during the week. I have launched a new business, Nerium, and I am trying to get that going. My goal is to generate enough income to hire a nanny for Alana. Our daycare really messed up and it left us disappointed and with a bad taste in our mouth (I haven't blogged about this yet mainly because I was so upset about it). And what is hard to swallow too is that we have her in one of the best reviewed daycares in our area so I feel moving her wouldn't be a good idea either. 

p.s. when do you get use to calling yourself a mom? I mean I was not a mom for 28 years and have only had this title for 6 months.

I have also committed to myself that I will run 3x a week and do Pure Barre 2x a week. It will be tough but I am working up from a mile with my goal being 3 miles (which is about what I was doing before motherhood). 

The Dogs

Our pups are doing well and enjoying the cooler weather that is finally coming our way. Lola has a UTI which makes things even more hectic since she has to go out every 15mins to go to the bathroom! But other than that they are good. Its also crazy for me to think that Lola is 6 years old! Since she is white we don't see the white/gray hairs dogs get on their face as they age :( my girl is getting up there in age (bulldog's life expectancy is about 10 years).

How are things on your side of the world? 

Will You Have Another?

When you get married people immediately ask, "So...when are you going to have a baby?" Excuse me?! My sex life is none of your business!

And then when you DO have your first born you get asked, "So...when are you going to have another one?" REALLY?! Already with the personal questions again?!

I feel that society has put this thought in our heads that the "normal" family is husband, wife and 2 kids. But things are changing (and I'm not going to get into same-sex marriages here but those make up families too).

What if I don't want to have another kid? It's hard to think about because I have a brother and my husband has a brother. We didn't grow up being all that close but now that we are adults we are and I like my relationship with my bro. It would be nice for Alana to have that relationship with someone in the future.

But is it something WE want? It's hard to think about when you're up all night with a sick 5 month old and not getting any sleep. Its also hard for me to think about since I had very uncomfortable pregnancy. For those that have not read about it on travel mi amor, I had HG was throwing up for most of my pregnancy - even going to the ER because I couldn't stop throwing up. I can't imagine having HG with a toddler running around. And then there is the fact that Alana was 5 WEEKS EARLY!!! Will all that happen again?! Since she came naturally at 5 weeks early I am going to be put on bedrest for my next pregnancy? Or some sort of high risk watch?

Then there is the financial burden of having two kids. Not only do you have to provide for them in the here and now but you also feel inclined to try and provide for them in the future (i.e. college). Guys, daycare is HELLA expensive! If we do have another kid, I don't want them to be in daycare full time at the same time. It would literally be one of our paychecks.

{Source}

So will YOU have another?!

Weekend Happenings

Well we had a pretty busy weekend! First thing Saturday morning after my run I took THE Spotted Bulldog, Lola to the vet to get a vaccination and have her nails clipped and glands taken care of. Ever the drama queen she howled and shrieked at each clip... silly Lola.

Alana is fast approaching the 6th month mark which BLOWS my mind! She finally mastered turning over from back to belly and she is so proud! We also had her ears pierced this weekend. I'm not sure if there is any controversy in having it done so young but I know if my mom hadn't done mine when I was a baby I'm not sure I would have pierced ears today. She took it like a champ, she cried as much as she does when she gets her shots. Now it's up to me to keep them clean and rotate them!

{look at her face on the far right, lol, she is so mad at me}

Sunday we took her to a pumpkin patch and took some pictures all dressed up in her Halloween gear. It was the perfect morning for it! Her little ghost onesie was made by a friend, you can see her other work here. p.s. those are some of my pre pregnancy jeans! HOLLA

How was your weekend? Was it lazy or eventful? 

The Scary Bulldogs

A new development has made its way into our house... Alana is scared of Coco and Lola! OH NOOOO!

How can my little girl be scared of 2 pups I love so much?!

This all came to be when I was letting the dog sniff Alana - which I do from time to time. But this time Alana cried and "backed away" (as best she could in my arms). And I could see the horror in her eyes. I guess before she was too young to know what they were and didn't care too much about her surroundings. Now she is starting to become more curious and look around.

I guess when we see the left, she sees the right?

Does anybody have any tips to getting babies acquainted to dogs faster? 

Baby Products We Didn't Use

There are going to be a few products that you'll buy or get as a gift that you just won't use. Or you'll use once and it's not what you thought and you'll move on. Here are some of the items I didn't use:

Booby Ice Packs - Lansinoh makes these ice packs for your boobs for after breastfeeding. I never used them. I never really fed Alana from my breasts, I just pumped so maybe that is why but my boobs never hurt enough for me to pull these suckers out. I now use them in Alana's bottle cooler bag for daycare.

Angel Care Monitor - I really liked this monitor as it will go off if there is no movement in your baby's crib (movement = breathing). These monitors have a sensor pad that you put under the mattress and if there is no movement after 20 seconds then there is a loud beeping. It all sounds good except when you have an infant (and your SIDS fears are at an all time high) your baby is getting up every few hours. So you will walk in there half asleep, pick up your baby, make it halfway to the kitchen and then BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. SHIT!!! You're running back into the baby room because your sleepy self forgot to turn the monitor off. Or at least that's what happened to me. I think I might use this more when she can roll over from back to front but until then it just sits there.

10/14/2015 Update: We are starting to call this thing a false alarm monitor. When we first used it when she started sleeping through the night the battery on the monitor for the parent had started to go out...has the SAME beep as the actual sensor. Then the other night Alana has curled up in the corner of the crib and the monitor could not detect her. So it went off. I ran to her room as fast as The Flash and she was fine...and I'm pretty sure I broke my toe on something while I was running through the house...

Sleepers - You can buy these at Carter's or any other place that sells baby clothes but I found a product that I like better - Kickee Pants! I like Kickee Pants better because the material is SUPER soft, they have both feet and hands covered. And the feet are actually lined so they stay warm! Sleepers seem to come in all different shapes and sizes and it might be hard to find a brand that fits your baby perfectly.

What products did you not like or use?

Kickee Pants vs Regular Sleepers

Sorry I have been away - first I was sick with a cold and then Monday night I got a BAD stomach bug that lasted a little over 24 hours...no bueno!

Back to our regularly scheduled blogging... Kickee Pants vs. Sleepers Whats a sleeper? Check it out here. Now I want to tell you why I love Kickee Pants so much!

1 - They are made from bamboo and spandex which make them fit any baby wonderfully! Some sleepers seem to come in odd sizes and just fit my baby wrong - some are not long enough and very wide. 

2 - The footies are lined with felt to keep your baby's feet warm. Baby's feet always seem to be colder than any other part of their body so I find this added touch comforting. While regular sleepers do have footies they are not lined for extra warmth. 

3 - The hands can turn into little mittens so your baby's hands stay warm and they don't scratch their face while they sleep. Most sleepers don't have this option - gowns do (but gowns, at least to me, don't offer the warmth the lower 1/2 of the baby body needs). 

I recently did have a quality issue with them, one of the suits came out of the wash with one of the arms completely ripped off, like it had been cut. I contacted their customer service and they gave me a credit for their online store. I will state that they asked where I had purchased it from (it was a gift) and I had a feeling that if it had not been from their website they may had made a fuss. To me it's their product and they should take responsibility for it, no matter where it was sold. If our Toyota had a recall I'm not going to take it to the VW dealership we bought it from to get it fixed, I'm going to take it to the Toyota dealership...duh!

Have you tried Kickee Pants? Do you love them?

Relaity Check

Before I became a mom I enjoyed a good workout - and I worked out 3-5 day a week. When I became pregnant I didn't work out at all because of my HG and lack of energy. I thought that I would hit the physical activity hard after baby and get back into shape in no time.

FALSE!

I just can't find the time and I call bull shit on all the "post baby workout blogs" out there. This is my truth/reality about post pregnancy weight and getting back into shape.

A couple things that irritate me about these get fit after baby blogs is that not everyone is a work from home/stay at home mom. And even if you are, when do you find the time?!

1. I really don't have time to work out after I get home from work. If I do work out, its time away from baby. And I am tired from my workday and commute and when I get home all I want to do is relax and play with my daughter before she goes down for the night.
2. I feel like they are targeted and work well for people that are predispositioned to be fit. I have never had a high metabolism or been naturally thin or "skinny" I worked really hard to have my pre-baby body! And I always wanted to lose that last 5lbs to get to my goal weight.

MY reality is that after I had my baby my hormones and body chemistry is different. And my weight is distributed differently. Will those things ever get back to "normal"? AND - while this isn't surprising but something some women might forget (I did) is that your body doesn't get "back to normal" until you stop breastfeeding! And that can include what is going on in your lady parts. I still have that light brown line some women get down their stomach and I'm 5 months postpartum!

My daily schedule is pretty busy. My husband and I tag team on everything; I like this quote from momanddadmoney.com:

Having that first child represents a HUGE change in your relationship with your spouse or partner. You basically go from being best friends with benefits to being business partners in charge of running your family corporation together.

When she finally does take a nap between her 5pm and 8pm feedings we take this time to relax or clean up the house. Even though her clothes are so small she creates so much laundry!

I see my body going soft and I need to do something about it! I am going to start and try to squeeze in 15 mins a day using the Nike Training Club app. If I can manage this for a month I think I'll be back on track! I might use How Does She for inspiration!

{Source, How Does She?}

On a lighter note, we are expecting some great weather here in Houston this weekend and I can't wait to get out there for a nice jog! A great weekend to get this workout party started! Goodbye 90 degree weather!

What Goes Around Comes Around

I think the hardest part of being a parent to a newborn/infant is when they get sick.

Alana got sick at the beginning of September, she was better for all of 1.5 weeks before what she had was given to my husband. Then he gave it to her again and I caught the bug too. Now its a month later and we are right back where we started!

DAMN YOU daycare germs! DAMN YOU!!!

We are using saline spray and the NoseFrida in the morning and at night since she is so congested. We have the humidifier going when she sleeps and we're back to doing the neutralizer treatments again too.

I say its the hardest because 1 - your little baby is sick your heart just breaks for them. 2 - Neither one of us has anymore time off to take care of her. (I had to use all of mine for maternity leave and my husband just used his last too trying to get himself better).

We'll see if the little darling needs to go to the doctor's office again this week.

Other than that we had a nice weekend; my parents were in town to see Alana and we enjoyed a little stroll though our neighborhood park.

{this chick is ready to ride}

How was your weekend?