#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!