Layla & Mariam Wear

 I've been a bad blogger lately because I've been exhausted. Mariam is going through a 5 month wakeful or something, so I've been up 1-3 times with her between the hours of midnight and 6am. On top of that, I've been going to sleep close to midnight daily because she doesn't want to go to sleep till about 9:30 pm-10:30 pm. Most nights after she's asleep, I've been tip-toeing down the stairs to get to sewing. I've got some new things I'm working on so I've been a bit obsessive about it lately. This weekend I've got to get Mariam transitioned to the crib. She is one wild sleeper and that is the safest place for her. The only problem is our house has just three bedrooms and it's not time to room the two littlest ones in together for fear of waking each other. In the meantime, it's either buy a toddler bed and have her room with Serena, or get a bunk bed. We'll see. I desperately need a good nights rest though. 

The best strawberry pie

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We did. It started Friday with a wedding to go to, then on Saturday we went to my in-laws for my nephew's birthday. Sunday we had my family and an aunt and uncle from out of town come over for outdoor grilling and crawfish. 

I made a strawberry pie for yesterday's shindig and it was delicious! I had never made a fresh strawberry pie before. It's so easy!

I used a frozen crust so it ended up looking like a sad little tart, and it didn't look as red as the original recipe but it was still good. Just top it off with some whip cream and mmm..mmm...mmm..delicious.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

1 quart (about 2 pounds) fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 unbaked pie crust
1/2 cup whipping cream, optional

Wash strawberries and hull (removing the green tops and core). Chop 1/2 of the berries with into small pieces or process in food processor.

Place chopped berries into a sauce pan and begin to cook over medium heat. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl; add to pan with crushed berries. Add lemon juice and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.

Cut remaining strawberries into halves and mix with the cooked mixture.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place pie crust into 9" or 10" pie plate. Flute edges. Prick with fork all over, about 40 times. Place piece of foil inside pie crust, lightly pressing around inside bottom edges of crust. Fill with dried beans. (The beans allow the pie crust to remain its shape.)

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and remove beans and foil. Return to oven and bake for 5 minutes until edges are golden brown.

Pour strawberry mixture into baked pie shell. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours, or until pie is set. Serve topped with whipped cream, if desired.

Source: http://www.shortstopblog.com

The hunt for the right dress

It's late and I just finished sewing a large order so I'm unwinding now and catching up on some blogs. Sooo....I mentioned that everyone in the house had a cold last week. H and I were the last to get it, and let me tell you this was a bad one because Layla's cold turned into a double ear infection (her first ear infection ever) and I was just diagnosed with strep throat yesterday. I'm on antibiotics and I'm still not feeling great, but not as bad as I was yesterday. I'm hoping I perk up by Friday because a good friend of mine is getting married! I've been looking forward to this for months. Looking forward to my friend tying the knot with her love, and looking forward to dinner and dancing with my love (and no kids!) I hardly get out much with friends. For one, pretty much all my friends are also married with kids, and they don't live that close. I mean I get out but it's always with one, two, or all three girls. H and I haven't been great about scheduling date nights either, but it's hard to get away when you have a baby at home (especially one that doesn't take to a bottle very well).

 

This past weekend, the girls and I went on the hunt for a dress for me. I tried my local mall and found a few things I liked, but like always there are never enough small sizes made. I then tried the outlets and walla! The first store I walked into had a dress I loved for a great price. Here are some I tried on first and liked.

 

I was really wanting something long and strapless. I love strapless dresses! I loved the first long dress a lot (top left), but I did not like the orange color. This ivory and peach dress is the one I bought. It's adorable and it fits good. I may end up sewing a longer lining underneath but I'm not sure if I'll have time by Friday.

 

 

 

The first dress is from Dillards and the other three are from Windsor. I really wish there was a Windsor closer instead of all the way in Katy, but it was worth the drive. I was picking up Serena from my parents house anyways which is close to there. Windsor has such a wide range of beautiful dresse and a wide variety of appearal and accessories. You can shop online here.

 



Mariam Month 5

I'm a bit behind on this because Mariam is 5 and a half months now. 

Weight
  Mariam has her appointment scheduled next week. I'm not sure how much she weighs, but like every month, she's packing on the pounds. I haven't taken her to get her 4 month shots yet. I just hate having them get shots, but she will get them. I'm not against vaccinations, I just delay them sometimes (we are talking a few weeks to over a month max). I have also spread out the vaccines to two visits on occasion because I hate the fact of them getting 4-5 shots in one sitting. See with my first, I did everything by the book, As a first time parent I wasn't about to pretend I knew anything about parenting. I was also to immature to research these kind of things. I let my mother and doctors tell me what was best. I guess what I'm saying is do your research and don't freak out if you don't do everything by the book. Even now with my third baby, there are still things I'm learning or have never come across. 

Health
  Well Mariam got her first little cold at 5 months. I was a little surprised because my other two never got sick until at least 11 months. However I think two things were at play here. Or maybe a combination. Serena got sick two weeks ago with another common cold she caught at school, and then Layla got it, and then Mariam. H and I were the last to get sick with it. (I'm still sick). So this was one strong cold as everybody in the house got it--which has never happened before. Mariam got a runny nose and it would keep her up, so we spent the weekend before last pretty sleep deprived. However that was the worst of it and her nose pretty much cleared 2 days later. I'm crediting the antibodies in my breastmilk helping her rid it quickly. However I couldn't help but think if had I ate healthier this pregnancy like I did with Layla, would Mariam's immune system fought off this cold completely? Probably not but I couldn't help but wonder. With Serena my first, I ate terrible. In fact I think I lived off dollar BigMacs from McDonalds--back when they used to advertise them for a dollar, and Totino's party pizza. (These days you couldn't pay me to eat a burger there...and this was 10 years ago.) I also only breastfed her for 3 months and it wasn't exclusive. She didn't get her first cold till 11 months. It is a fact that even just colostrum or a little bit of breastmilk can really help protect a babies immune system. 

Sleep
  Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. She still wakes up once a night but it's usually between 4-6 am. She will then go back to sleep till about 9:00 am if someone doesn't accidentally wake her up. She also has a nap schedule of 10:30 am, 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm. Not exactly at these times, but around them. She goes down for the night between 9-10 pm. 

Clothes
 Mariam is wearing 6-9 month clothes. She's always been ahead early on. Little chunk. I love it! She is so squirmy and curious though that changing her diaper and clothes is no longer as easy as it used to be. 

Diet
  Milk and so far so good with the breastfeeding. She still latches on great and eats about every 2-3 hours. Oh, I did start cereal around 4 months but only gave it to her twice. Since a week ago, I give it to her once a day around dinner. She seems to like it. I'm thinking she's going to be ready for solids soon. She reaches for food constantly.  

Crying
 So much better. If you've read the last few updates, you'll remember that months 1-3 were rough. Really rough. Like "I don't think I can do this" rough. After three months it got so much better and it's continued to get better. 

Milestones
  She is just super alert and her hand eye coordination is great. Since about 4 and a half months, she is just the biggest rolly polly I ever did see. She'll roll from one side of the room to the other. The other day she ended up under the couch little silly. Oh but something exciting I discovered this week is that she can army crawl! I saw it with my own two eyes. She can pull herself forward with her elbows and arms. Slow down baby girl! There will be plenty of time for crawling and walking.

Products I'm loving
 Still loving the Bjorn for running errands. A baby carrier is a life saver if you already have one in a stroller like I do, and you don't want to lug around a huge double stroller. I don't even have a double stroller yet. I have three single strollers and two baby carriers so I didn't want to add yet another one, but I am going to have to get one, because I can't really go for walks during the day if it's just me with the two little ones. I mean I could, but the baby carrier starts hurting my shoulders after awhile. I'm also loving the bumbo my friend let me borrow. Mariam has liked sitting up for awhile, so this little seat lets her do that. 

Missing my pregnant body

Don't get the wrong idea though. I have no desire what so ever to be pregnant again right now. No way! No how! I just miss the body I had while being pregnant (minus the last month when my belly gets as big as a house!) I always feel most beautiful when I'm carrying a baby.

As I sat down last night to write this. Part of me almost hesitated posting it. See the thing is, I almost feel like I shouldn't even complain and I should just be thanking my lucky stars that I have never had to watch what I eat--as far as for weight is concerned. Health wise that's a different matter. However, as a woman I too am plagued with scrutinizing myself under a microscope and finding every little flaw. I have mentioned before that I don't like the weight I am now. I've always had a fast metabolism and been thin, but right now I am underweight. Coming in at a scrawny 94 lbs. I'm really hating pants and shorts right now because they feel saggy in the butt and I have to keep hiking them up and I do wear a belt but it's annoying. One thing I'm not minding is the boobs though--thanks to breastfeeding. I'm also sort of glad it appears that my hips got a little bigger after birthing this third baby. So I guess yay for not looking entirely like a pubescent 12 year old.  I've had a lot of people look at me while I'm holding Mariam and tell me how good I look for having three babies and being 4 months postpartum, and I thank them graciously, but to me, I don't feel good about the way I look. Every woman wants and deserves to feel comfortable in their skin--myself included.

So one of the main reasons I'm putting this out here is because I'm setting a goal for myself, and if I put it out there that just means I'll be more pressured to reach my goal. By mid May I want to gain 5-6 lbs and get back to being toned. I know it may sound easy, but it's really not for me. That's just how fast my metabolism is, and the fact that I'm constantly moving around and exclusively breastfeeding, which burns a lot of calories. Before you say go eat a Big Mac everyday for lunch or stuff myself with cupcakes and cookies, I want to gain weight by eating healthy fats and constantly eating. Yes I still intend to eat sweets because Lord knows I love sweets, but I need to keep those refined sugars to a minimum. I have been getting a leg up by drinking calorie shakes, so I'm going to continue those in addition to eating a lot and exercising at least 5 days a week. I'll be keeping cardio to a minimum because I don't want to burn a lot of calories, so I'll be working more on strengthening and toning. I hope if you made it this far, you aren't rolling your eyes at me, but this is something personal to me and a goal I would like to accomplish. I want to feel good in my body again and feel healthy and energetic for my girls. 

Trendy Tot Tuesday-Layla

Linking up with Kelly again at mrsintraining for Trendy Tot Tuesday. I've been bad this past week. I don't have any outfit note worthy that I photographed except for this one of Layla at the zoo on Sunday.

I just love her hair. Why can't my hair be that color? In some lights her hair will look like gold spun thread. It's just so pretty. My hair was a really light brown when I was little, but not that light. But back to the topic, since I don't have that many outfits of the girls to showcase this week, let's take a trip down memory lane of some outfits of Layla's

Have a great Tuesday!

Zoo Day

I hope everyone had a great weekend! The weather has been beautiful for the past few days, so Saturday the girls and I headed to my parents house to hang out, watch movies and eat pizza. On Sunday we woke up early and H mentioned that we should all go to the Houston zoo. When we got there it wasn't too crowded and we didn't have to park like 5 miles away so that was nice. Layla enjoyed the animals, Serena did too (though complained a great deal) and Mariam would hardly nap. Yep! Sounds like my girls alright.

Besides taking the girls to enjoy themselves, I had an ulterior motive for going. I wanted to get some sun, and do a lot of walking. I've been so pale (mainly for being a hermit most of last week) so I figured I'd throw on some shorts, wear no foundation and do just that. I did come back with some color and a bit of a sunburned nose, but my cheeks only got a tad of color. Why is the face so hard to tan? 

Easter weekend

I hope you all had a great weekend spending time with your families. Saturday, I got everyone showered and dressed and out of the house by 10 am for the H-E-B commercial audition, and after doing that, we headed to a friend's birthday party. My friend's son turned 3 and she threw a great birthday party for him. It was batman themed and she had these adorable tutu's and capes made for the kids! 

Sunday the girls and I headed to church in the morning. I really wish I could have sat and listened to the service better, but between Serena blowing her nose every five minutes, Mariam fussing, and Layla just being Layla--I really couldn't focus. We ended up leaving 15 minutes early because Mariam was getting cranky. Once we got home the girls took their nap and then we headed to my in-laws where the kids had a small easter egg hunt. All in all, a fun weekend....but now my arms need a break. I carried Mariam so much that my arms are super sore!