Work & Play

I just realized it's almost March! Wow. Do the days seriously just go by faster and faster as you get older? Pretty soon it will be May when Layla will turn 2 (sniff....sniff) and I haven't even begun to plan her party. With three children and a business to run, most of my free time is spent on my business hence why I haven't planned to well thus far. I'll get on it though.

Recently I met with the boutique that carries some of my items to show the owner my latest which are burp cloths, and I was thrilled to find out that all of my bibs sold really well! The owner placed a bigger order this time so I have been busy sewing up a storm. I gave myself a deadline of having it all done by the end of this week, but I may run over into the next week. I also have more boutiques I plan on targeting so I've got a lot to do.

Hospital Photo Shoot

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was pretty fun. Saturday I had a leisurely day at the house with my family. I did some sewing and some cleaning. Later in the evening the girls and I went to my parents house where I had way too much pizza and pepsi. H had gone to a rodeo cook off with his buddy so he wasn't with us.

Sunday I woke up at the crack of dawn because I had to get up early and get ready for a hospital stock image photo shoot. I was sooo sleepy considering Mariam had woken me up at 3am. Nevertheless, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready and left the house to arrive at St. Joseph's hospital by 7. I've never done a photo shoot for stock images, but I've done some modeling and extra work in the past. It's been years though. It's a fun way to make some extra money--and let me tell ya, girl's are expensive so I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity. ;)

I worked with a really nice group of people. The photographer Ben was a charming English man and the rest of the team were friendly and easy going. I played a nurse, doctor, and patient. I don't think I was that convincing as a doctor though. I look pretty young for my age. The shoot lasted 5 hours so that was perfect because I wasn't away from the girls that long. I really should of eaten before I went. By the time it was over I was starving and I was really engorged. I took my breast pump but I forgot one piece so the whole thing wouldn't work without it! Once I left, I headed straight for home, stopped for fast food and then pumped at home while I ate. Multi-tasking at it's finest. 

Sometimes we wear blue..

I can't believe this little tulle skirt from Children's Place fits Mariam already! It's a 6-9 month and she's only 3 and a half months. It must run small. I mean she has outgrown her clothes quickly but she is still in some 3 month, though she has been wearing 6 month clothing too.

I love these shades of blue on the girls. Sometimes if we are going somewhere, I usually dress Layla and just coordinate Mariam a little to go with Layla's outfit. It's fun!

What happens when your mom cuts your hair

It comes out too short!

I also can't do too much with it. It's choppy and heavy at the bottom but I don't want to get it fixed because I refuse to lose anymore length. In fairness I've let her cut my hair a few times before and it's come out good. I'm really not too picky about a haircut because I always keep it long and I'm lucky in that I can get my hair to do what I want most of the time. However, I always get my hair colored professionally. 

It's probably a good thing that it's shorter than I'm used to right now because it's just been taking FOR-EVER to detangle and blow dry. Not too mention I've entered into that dreaded post partum hair loss stage. I'm shedding like crazy! I even found one of my hairs in Mariam's neck rolls the other day. Oops.

I want this hair back stat. I took this 2 and a half weeks after Mariam was born.

Here's a piece of advice for postpartum moms. Do not do anything drastic to your appearance the first few months after having a baby. In fact, don't change your appearance. You will go through many a hormonal rollcoaster and if it's cold outside, you'll probably be more pale than usual. If you are sleep deprived, you will probably have bigger under eye bags, or darker circles. Your stomach will be squishy and soft, and your complexion might be the worst it's ever been. In other words there will be times when you feel like a hot mess. I was feeling pretty good between 2-4 weeks postpartum but then my hormones took a nosedive and hurricane Mariam happened with her many tears and I am weathering this storm. As all things, this will pass and I know I'll come out better and stronger than ever.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Got any special plans? I decided it would be best if H and I keep it low key this year and celebrate as a family. I plan on picking up some dinner and setting up in the formal dining room. I'll put some music on for a little ambiance and light some candles and maybe...just maybe, Mariam won't have a meltdown mid dinner, Layla won't whine, and Serena will eat quietly. ;)

I just realized I spent Valentine's 2011 and Valentine's 2012 pregnant. Ca-razy. Well I'll toast my non-alcoholic drink to not being pregnant this year then. 

Mariam Month 3

Clooooose up...;)

Weight

I'm not sure what she's weighing these days, but she is getting to be quite the little chunker. Yes sirree. Baby likes to eat!

 Health
 So far so good. Her stomach still gets upset from time to time over things I might have eaten that don't agree with her, but I can't pinpoint exactly what they are. I already am dairy free.

Sleep

You know how babies are supposed to spend most of their newborn days sleeping? Well not this one. Sometimes I'm convinced she's a robot. How does a newborn only take about 2-3 10 minute cat naps during the day?! Some days she's good and will sleep at least an hour here and there, but not often. She's still sleeping through the night for the most part, so I can't complain too much. She wakes up once around 2-3 am. She used to go down around 11 pm and not wake up till 5 am which was nice, but not anymore.

Clothes  

Sad face. I packed up all the newborn clothing about a month ago. She outgrew those quick. She's in 3 month clothing now.

Diet
 Milk! Mariam doesn't really have a schedule. Since I stay home I pretty much just feed her on demand, or offer her some if she's being fussy for no reason. It's so hard to believe that in the next month, I can start giving her baby cereal if I want to. Where does the time go people!?

Crying
 I thought her crying was getting better but that only lasted for a week. She cries so much. From sun up to sun down, I'm dealing with this. It's exhausting. It really is. She still will not sit quietly on her own for more than 8 minutes. Needless to say I wear her a lot because she wants to be carried ALL. THE. TIME.

This is what I get for having such an easy pregnancy isn't? It's ok. You can say it.

Milestones
 Why just the other day she played Beethoven's fifth on the piano while reciting the national anthem. 

Kidding.

She is really good at focusing on objects now and can spot you easily in the room. I can be off in a corner trying to hide and she'll find me. Mariam also has great neck strength now and leg strength. She loves to use those legs.

Products I'm loving.

No products I'm loving this month. You know why? Because nothing works to keep her happy other than a pair of arms. Harumpphh! In seriousness though I may be loving the Mei Tei baby carrier. I just got it a few days ago from a friend, so I'm still learning how to use it, but I like that you can wear the baby on your back or side. I still love the Bjorn, but I can't wear Mariam on my back with the Bjorn.

Scenes from the weekend

A day late on this as I got my posts mixed up. I'm super exhausted. "These kids." I tell ya. I'm still recovering from Saturday and Sunday night. Let me tell you what happened.

Around 4am on Saturday night, something jarred H and I from our sleep. It sounded like a thud but we couldn't quite be sure because we were asleep. We just knew there was a noise that woke us up. H and I both looked at each other asking "what was that?" He tiptoes quietly down the stairs to inspect and what do I hear next?

"jingle....jingle" 

The noise was coming from Layla's room. That little stinker threw herself out of the crib (hence the thud we had heard) and was trying to turn her doorknob. I was relieved to confirm the noise was not a robber, but not happy that little miss Layla can now climb out of her crib. She didn't want to go back to sleep that night either, but finally did around 5:30 am. Her crib is a transitional one so the good news is we won't have to buy a toddler bed. 

Breastfeeding with muscle knots

Early last year, I shared my story about how I hurt myself breastfeeding Layla due to bad positioning. To understand my update, you probably want to read the original post here. 

In one of my pregnancy updates with Mariam, I mentioned that I was pretty nervous about dealing with pregnancy along with the muscle knot pain in my right shoulder. I figured I was going to be miserable my whole pregnancy, but lo and behold it was my best pregnancy yet and the pain pretty much went away. I was very surprised. I believe two things were at play that made the pain start going away. One, I had stopped breastfeeding Laya like two weeks before I found out I was pregnant with Mariam--that means I had stopped putting my arms in front of me in the cradle position, and two, the hormone relaxin that I was producing during pregnancy may have started to help. I'm so thankful the pain went away during pregnancy. I also thought I may not breastfeed Mariam as to not aggravate the situation. However, I decided to breastfeed her after all...and guess what? The pain came back. I'm not trying to be a martyr, but breastfeeding is the best thing for Mariam, and if it can save her from some sickness, and extra doctor's appointments than it's worth it. I have been trying to be careful about positioning and tylenol actually helps on the really bad days whereas it didn't before. I've learned how to manage my pain better after having gone through it so long pre-pregnancy. I know the muscle knot pain in my shoulder can go dormant, but it's not going to happen while breastfeeding and there will be things that trigger it even when I'm done. Long term, I hope to finally have the muscle knot release but that can only be done with a series of trigger point massages, and then trying not to let them knot up again. 

So that's where we are at. It doesn't hurt every day like it used to so that's a plus and even when it does come about--it's not always the whole day. Breastfeeding is such a short period in one's life so I know I can do it at least till she is almost a year. I love the bond and knowing that it is me and only me that is nourishing Mariam. Breastfeeding is a beautiful thing and I have no issues doing it in public. It baffles me when people get up in arms about a woman breastfeeding. I've had a few friends tell me that I do it so discreetly they didn't even realize I was breastfeeding. I also want to note that there is nothing wrong with formula feeding either. I had to start supplementing with formula when Layla was four months old because I went back to work and my supply went down. You have to do what's right for you and your baby.

Recent purchases & review

Well I never thought I'd see the day, but shopping for myself is just not the same anymore. Don't get me wrong, I still love shopping or browsing, but a mall experience is just not the same anymore (sad trombone). For one, if I plan on trying anything on, I either have to go alone or make sure that Serena is with me to push one of the strollers. If I go and just take Layla and Mariam, I usually push Layla in her umbrella stroller and I wear Mariam in the Bjorn. This is how we get around anywhere when it's just us three. 

However, I did buy myself two things recently when I popped into Marshall's and Walgreens. I needed some new sunglasses because Layla had broken mine. The brand is Naturalizer.

Since I had already gone through the trouble of getting Layla out of the car in her stroller and had Mariam strapped on, I wasn't about to have gone through all that just for one quick stop, so I headed over next door to Children's Place where I bought Serena some jeans and found this adorable periwinkle skirt for Mariam. It's a 6-9 month so still too big for her, but I couldn't pass it up. It was a clearance item so I couldn't find it on their website anymore.

On a separate day, I bought a black eyeliner pencil from Walgreen's. "Ok, can I just say how freaking hard it is to find a decent waterproof black pencil eyeliner that doesn't smudge?" The first time I tried looking for a replacement, I must have debated for about half an hour and in the end gave up. Ha-ha! This is how serious I take my eyeliner. Really it's my "if I was stuck on a deserted island and I could only choose one makeup product" pick. So in the end, I decided on Rimmel's scandal eyes liner in Kohl. What I love about it is how easily it glides on. It is smooth and creamy like it says, but guess what? This one still smudges! Maybe it's just my eyes, and I'm just doomed to need to touch up some smudging after a few hours. I find that liquid liner doesn't smudge as often, but I'm more of a pencil fan. Another thing I'm not feeling is how black it is. At least they are true to advertising. For the price point of $3.99 though, it's really really good.