Ava 8 months!

Weight

I haven't weighed her in a while so I'm not sure, but she's probably around 17 pounds. She doesn't have another checkup till 9 months.

Health

Her health has been really good lately as well as the rest of the family. Nobody has had a cold in awhile which I'm pretty relieved about. Layla and Mariam did get a stomach virus the first week of May, but thankfully Ava didn't get it and neither did Serena.

Sleep

Sigh....Still not getting any sleep around here. Her naps are short 20 to 45 minute naps and usually on the shorter side. It's been really difficult not getting any sleep. It's bad every night, but some are worse than others. Last night was a particularly rough one and it's really starting to get to me. I've been quite emotional about it all day frequently welling up with tears. I wish she was a normal sleeper. 

Clothes

She currently wears 9- 12 month clothing and it's been fun using some of the girls old clothing again.

Diet

Still exclusively breastfeeding and eating solids. In my last update I was contemplating weaning her to see if it would help with her sleeping, but I wasn't ready to break the bond. She still won't take a bottle so I'll be starting to offer her a straw cup soon and she how she does. I'm going to breastfeed her at least till 12 months and switch her to cows milk if her sleep still doesn't improve. I would have liked to get to 2 years like Mariam, but we'll see.

Milestones

She's still crawling up a storm and says da-da, but I haven't been able to make out any other new words. She's such a joy to be around and a happy baby. They really do grow so fast, so even though I'm feeling like I'll never get sleep again, I know it will come. I just hope it's sooner than later. Not sleeping does a number on you emotionally.

Have a great Monday!

Dull nails no more! Emjoi Micro Nail review

Recently I got the opportunity to try the Emjoi micro nail polisher and it is amazing! I wasn't exactly what to expect at first wondering if the product was going to do what it said it's supposed to do, but it does! The Emjoi Micro nail electric polisher is a device that's designed to buff and shine your nails in a matter of seconds. It works really fast and is really so simple to use. 

It's a battery powered roller system. You first use the micro smooth roller which buffs the nails and smooths out ridges. Then you swap and use the micro shine roller to buff the nails to a high shine. You can spend a bit more time on this part. There are also spare parts of each roller included in the pack. It's a great product that delivers fast and beautiful results.

Here is the before picture

After using the smooth roller

The final result after using the shine roller

As you can see it really does give your nails a nice shine. You can see it even better in person. It seriously looks like I applied a clear top coat. I'm very impressed with this product and would recommend it! The Emjoi Micro Nail polisher retails for $29.99 and is available here. 

Have a great weekend!

I was sent these products to review but I was not compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Layla's enchanted garden birthday party!

For Layla's birthday party, we rented a pavilion in a nice park near our house which backed up to one of their nature trails, so it really gave a nice setting for the perfect enchanted garden party. I didn't have a lot of time planning the party, but everything came out beautifully. Layla likes fairies so the idea hit me about 2 weeks before her birthday. I tend to plan the kids birthday parties late because I'm always busy, but multi-tasking and getting things done quickly is my specialty! My best advice on where to start with decorating whether it's your house or a party, is to find that one or a few items that you love--that you know you are going to incorporate and start building from there. Maybe you have several items you love and know you're going to use, in which I think you've made it easier for yourself. In my case I am extremely picky and it takes me a while to settle on decor sometimes. For Layla's party, it was rose floral garlands from Hobby Lobby that I knew I had to have and I built the rest of the party from there. 

I bought several since they were 50% off and then proceeded to walk around Hobby Lobby throwing butterflies, gnomes, more greenery and other garden related items in my cart. I have a lot of faux florals at home so I also saved money that way by bringing a lot of decor from home. I also wanted to incorporate gold as an accent color and could not pass up this awesome faux gold foil chandelier from Hobby Lobby as well. How cool is it?!

For the tables, I bought white plastic covers from Party City and the decorations were a picture of Layla in a gold frame, faux florals in a vase and some butterflies. There were also tissue paper flowers on some of them. Another table was used for crafting, cake table, food table, and goodie bag present table. For food we did two kinds of chips, fruit, salad and dressings, donuts, chick fil A cool wrap sandwiches and chicken nuggets. Drinks were water, sodas, and capri suns. We also had a snow cone machine for anybody that wanted some. This is our personal one from home. They are pretty inexpensive on Amazon. For entertainment we had a bubble machine going that you can find at Target here, two hula hoops, and a paint your own wooden creature crafting table. The kids did a lot of running around as well. For the cake I did a previous post on all the details which you can find here. 

 Have a great Monday! I'll be doing a separate post on the faux floral hair wreaths.

Weekend scenes

So blessed to call them mine!

Just what the doctor ordered....Sweet Therapy by Kim!

When I was planning Layla's enchanted fairy garden party, I came across a few cake pictures online that I fell in love with. I settled on a few inspiration cake pictures and then set on the task to find a local baker in Boca Raton. A few people on a south Florida mom's Facebook group recommended Sweet Therapy by Kim so I decided to reach out to her. It was short notice but Kim was able to accommodate my request and let me just say, I was blown away by her perfectionism and creativity! Picking up the cake was seriously the highlight of my day--it was so beautiful!

This past Saturday we had the party and despite all the other decor I had, it was the focal point. All of our guests loved it. I was almost afraid to cut into it. Layla had requested chocolate and the whole cake was actually edible, The flavor was delicious. I had one guest comment that it tasted like a delicious family recipe their grandmother used to make. The cake was more than enough to feed everybody and we got to bring some home. I may or may not have been enjoying a small slice nightly with a tall glass of milk. 

If you are in South Florida and in need of a baker check out Sweet Therapy by Kim. You won't be disappointed. I definitely plan on using her again for Ava's 1st birthday in a few months.

I'll be doing a couple more posts on Layla's party details so be sure to check back.

Have a great Thursday!

Happy 5th Birthday Layla!

It's hard to believe my sweet Layla is 5! 

Ava 7 months!

Weight

Currently about 16.5 pounds. She is wearing 6-9 month clothes. 

Health

This past month was not the greatest healthwise. No colds thankfully but she did get a bout of roseola about 2 days after she got her 6 month shots. Poor thing was miserable and hardly slept. She hardly sleeps as it is, so it was terrible. She had two days of fever and then a rash for 4 days. 

Sleep

I want to sleep! I want this child to sleep! She still won't sleep for more than 3 hours straight! It's awful. Most of the time she is up every 2 hours at night. Sometimes I wonder how much longer this will go on before I collapse from exhaustion. My muscle knots are aching more now and I've started to get migraines. My skin has not been great. I hate this. 

Clothes

She is in 6-9 month clothing and some 12 month. 

Diet

Still breastfeeding and I've contemplated weaning her because I'm her human pacifier at night and maybe she will sleep, but it's too hard. I do love our bond and it's still the best thing for her. She lost interest in solids for about a week but has slowly been eating a little bit again. 

Crying

It's better. She's been more independent so at least she doesn't need to be in my arms all the time like she used too. 

Milestones

She is a little crawling machine and said her first word "da-da" two weeks ago. She's also started to pull herself up a little higher but not on her feet yet. Today we started baby sign language so we'll see how that goes. If I stick with it, it can take up to two months before she does her first sign. 

Have a great Monday!