Firmoo Glasses Review

 A few weeks ago an online eyeglasses store Firmoo contacted me about reviewing a pair of their glasses. I was more than happy to oblige, being a glasses/contact lens wearer myself. I normally wear contact lenses during the day and at night in home, I switch to my eyeglasses. Sometimes I'll wear my eyeglasses all day if I'm not going anywhere. The email could not have come at a better time because the eyeglasses I wear are a little cracked and over 4 years old. Even though I get a yearly eye exam and my prescription fluctuates, I always just order contacts with my benefits and haven't changed my eyeglasses.

When I placed my order for the Firmoo eyeglasses, they arrived quickly and I was impressed with everything it came with and the glasses themselves. I couldn't wait to try them on! In the package was an eyeglass case with the glasses inside, another soft case, a cleaning cloth, some screws, and a mini screwdriver for the glasses. I liked them immediately. They are lightweight but sturdy and sit nicely on my nose. I love how sleek they look and the design gave me much better peripheral vision than my other ones. I find them very comfortable and have been putting them to good use.

Ordering from Firmoo was super easy. I found the website user friendly and the customer service was great. Firmoo offers very affordable stylish eyeglasses and sunglasses and I highly recommend them. I definitely see myself ordering from them in the future.


This is a sponsored review from Firmoo however all opinions are my own.

Christmas Pictures

 

 I just wanted to pop in real quick and post some pictures of my three loves. It is so fun to dress up little girls. Serena doesn't really let me pick out her outfits anymore, but at least the littest ones can't protest. ;)

 

The red dress Layla is wearing was a custom made dress that a friend gave us for her and Mariam is wearing an Old Navy dress handed down from Layla with a cardigan from Target. I made the headband. I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and enjoyed plenty of time with your loved ones!



Multi-tasking at it's finest

 

 

Layla having a straw hat, ride your scooter, while working your cell phone kind of day.

 

Have a fantastic weekend!

 



6 Weeks Postpartum

I am now 6 weeks postpartum and I'm happy with the way things are coming along but I'm still not comfortable wearing form fitting tops. My stomach went down really fast in the beginning and while it is a little smaller than my 2.5 week postpartum update here, progress has slowed down as expected. I think it's really close to the point where it's gone down just about as far as it can on it's own and now it's time to start exercising.

 

I still have loose skin around my belly button and I get self conscious around H when I pull up my top to breastfeed and I've got this roll sitting on top of my pants. It takes about 6 months after pregnancy for everything to come back into place and exercise will tighten the skin, so I try to remember that. I've been waiting for the 6 week mark to start exercising. I haven't done any at all--and really I'm not in a rush. I know I'm lucky to have fast metabolism, but as I mentioned before, you can actually hinder your progress of getting back to pre-pregnancy size if you start too soon. I actually plan on waiting till the weekend to start walking and I will start incorporating other exercises next week. I plan on waiting at least two more weeks if not longer for ab work.

 

My stomach got so stretched out last year and this year so I really want to give my stomach muscles a chance to come back together and not aggravate the process by doing standard situps. I have to build up my core first.

 

Here is the progression thus far:

 

 

As far as other postpartum issue besides getting back into shape, I'm happy to report that I haven't had any baby blues. I still get some random sciatic nerve pain in one of my legs here and there, and my neck and shoulders hurt related to breastfeeding from last year (that's another post), but that's pretty much all I can think of. Later this afternoon I have my 6 week postpartum appointment where the nurse will check and make sure my uterus is back to it's normal size and we'll be discussing birth control...because this baby making factory is closing up shop! I'm not ready to do anything permenant in case I ever change my mind, but I really don't see that happening. I've got more than I can handle and I feel like my family is complete with three girls.

Movie date & outfit

On Friday, I dropped the girls off at my parent's house and  H and I went to go see The Hobbit with another couple and it was AWESOME! I loved the movie but then again, The Lord of The Rings movies have always been my favorite. I found the movie humorous and endearing. I'll gladly watch it again when it comes out on DVD.

 

I do love this coat I bought from Forever21 a couple years ago.

 

Getting ready that day also taught me that I can easily give my hair body with no teasing by blow drying my hair and then putting it in a half messy ponytail and leaving it in for at least an hour. I really just put it up so I can go about the day tending to the girls and I was going to fix my hair later so it was by accident I stumbled across this trick. To start, you can't just do the ponytail by standing up straight, you have to flip your hair upside down and put your hair up in a ponytail that way. When you look in the mirror the sides of your hair should be poofy. Sort of like how the hair of a geisha would look. I'll see about photographing the steps soon and posting. I did create some waves with my curling iron once I let my hair down but the half ponytail really helped me cut the time I would normally spend in half.

 

 



FHJ Baby Sale!

I wanted to share that my shop is having it's first sale!! This Saturday 12/15/12 & Sunday 12/16/12 take 40 % off your entire purchase! The bibs and headbands can make unique and adorable stocking stuffers, and for you boy mom's we also have boy bibs.

 

 



Have a great weekend!



2011 Family Christmas Picture

We did family Christmas pictures last year at home, but this year--time just got away from me. I really wanted to take some with the new baby, but maybe we'll just take family pictures in the spring.

 

 Here is last year's Christmas picture

 

 

Did you all send Christmas cards this year?



My life is so glamorous right now

 

NOT!!

 

As much as I'd love to have a pretty picture of Serena and Layla frolicking in the backyard, me cradling Mariam as she sleeps blissfully in my arms--that's just not my reality right now. Where as when it was just Layla at home, I had plenty of time to take a leisurely shower, blow dry my hair and take my time putting on my makeup. I could also tend to the house pretty good. Layla was still taking two one hour to three hour naps before Mariam came along you see.

 

Now it's one crazy thing after another. Or just the reality of having a newborn and a toddler. I'm not going to lie, it really kicks my butt sometimes. I'm talking about having moments where I don't think I can handle this on my own. I even looked into a mother's day out program a week ago. I was thinking about putting Layla into a program about twice a week for a few hours so I can keep my sanity and she can socialize with other children. H nixed the idea though. He only has a small understanding of just how difficult I've had it.

 

Mariam can get colicky and Layla has been sick so the past few days have been tough. Let me start with Tuesday night. Around 9 pm all the way to 2am, Mariam was colicky. I could not soothe her and she literally fussed/cried the whole time unless she was at the breast. So you would think, "Ok well she was up most of the night so maybe she'll sleep most of the day?" Nope! Wednesday she was was up pretty much the whole day and only slept for 20 minutes broken up. She was pretty much attached to me most of the day and to make matters worse, Layla had a fever and was also super clingy. I also got vomitted on twice, once right after Mariam had just had a bath. The next day (yesterday) Mariam sleeps well in the morning so I hop in the shower and bring Layla with me to knock out two birds with one stone. Well call it lack of sleep or just a big ole mom fail, but I left my razor out and Layla knicked her thumb. Oy Vey! So I'm trying to rush out of the shower with conditioner in my hair and find something to stop the bleeding. She didn't cry at all. In fact it didn't even faze her. She was just looking at it oddly. So I'm holding a washcloth to her little thumb and I saw it was just a small nick but that thing would not clot! I scrambled around looking for a bandaid and I find one measly one in the back of my makeup drawer. I put it one and it quickly becomes saturated and then she takes it off and starts playing with something. Great....That was my last bandaid...

 

So back to scrambling around trying to find something and I find some gauze and medical tape. Ah ha! I will save the day. However Layla takes that off shortly after as well. Thank God Mariam was still sleeping through all this. I would have been much more frazzled with a screaming baby. So anyways, by now all I've got is some toilet paper and medical tape. I put that on (which also came off a few minutes later) and I call my friend who lives closest to me crying to see if she could bring me some bandaids and just to help. She shows up 15 minutes later and by then Layla's nick had pretty much clotted well. Mariam had woken by then. She literally came to my rescue and I was able to get us all fed, Layla down for a nap, and Mariam taken care of. In the afternoon Serena comes home complaining of a stomach ache. We leave shortly after to take Layla to a doctor's appt for her cold and just as we walk in the doctor's office Serena throws up.

 

Really world? I mean really?

 

She feels immediatly better after so that's a relief for me, but what a day! Thankfully last night Mariam slept from 10pm to 4am this morning. I fed her and she went right back to sleep. Thank God! She's also been a good napper today and I've been feeling like a normal person again. Well I think I hear her now so gotta run.

 

Have a great weekend!

 



Mariam Month 1

It's ridiculous how fast the time flies. I mean really! How has it been a month since I gave birth to Mariam? It feels like just yesterday I was lugging her around in my belly and feeling her little kicks in my belly. I miss those days.

 

 

Headband c/o Morgan at The Smores. Party of four blog
 



Isn't her top cute? What you didn't hear? Cutting off the sleeves on your babies onsies are all the rage now. I'm kidding. I didn't even notice till after I took the pictures and I wasn't about to change her because waking a sleeping baby after they spent a good portion of the morning fussing is just crazy talk. Little miss Serena cut the sleeves off because she decided she'd take it upon herself to help herself to some of Layla's old clothes and refashion them to put them on her build-a-bear. Kids!

 

Weight

I couldn't tell you at this point, but she's putting it on because she feels heavier and she's gaining length too because her newborn onsies are almost not fitting her in length.

 

Health

So far so good! Her dry peeling skin has gone away and her belly button has healed up nicely.

 

Sleep

Let's see...pale face, bags under eyes, dragging throughout the day. Yep! I'm still sleep deprived so not much has changed on the sleeping front. On a good night she wakes up twice, on a bad night it's 4 times. She sleeps either in the swing (not on), or on our bed. I don't like bringing her in the bed because I don't sleep good and wake up with a kink in my neck, but I tend to bring her in if she just won't go back down and I need to nurse her back to sleep.

 

 Clothes

Still in all newborn and yay for getting to use the clothes Layla used to wear.

 

Diet

Milk. I have recently cut dairy out of my diet which is a little hard because I loooove dairy. Love drinking milk by itself...but now...no more. I'm pretty sure it was upsetting her but I'm not 100% sure. I just know that it's one of the main culprits that causes breastfed babies to get painful gas. I've been thinking of trying it again and seeing just to confirm because I'm just not sure that's it since she still gets gassy and colicky. She has had espisodes where she likes to clusterfeed already and it's always fun when she wants to be fed right when dinner is ready..::cough...not...cough::...

 

Crying

Mastered! If she was competing in a crying contest amongst newborn babies, she'd win the grand prize. Ok I'm exagerating. She's just more of a crier than my other girls were. It's not constant and mostly when she gets gas.

 

Milestones

Not a whole lot going on at one month, but she is starting to focus better and following my face.

 

 



Life Lately

 

This week has been challenging to say the least and yesterday was particularly rough. I know everything is harder when you are running on a little bit of sleep, and I knew this was going to be

hard, but I wasn't expecting Mariam to be such a high needs baby. She gets colicky and constantly wants to be held. Poor Layla, I hardly even get a chance to play with her because Mariam is constantly attached to me either nursing or just wanting to be held. I feel like all I do is tell Layla "NO!" since she is in EVERYTHING.

 

Yesterday I yelled at her after she kept bothering Mariam when she was trying to sleep and then I felt guilty for the rest of the day. A lot of tears were shed and I really had thoughts like I wasn't cut out for this, and what have we gotten ourselves into? Sometimes I find it miraculous that I've managed to get Layla and I fed breakfast and lunch. Of course my meals are practically scarfed down because Mariam has a top notch hot food alarm.

 

I mean really! How do these babies know the moment your food is ready?!

 

I know this will pass and I'll get through it, but I need to vent. Talking it out helps. I called my mom yesterday and one of my dear friends came over in the afternoon and it was better. I'm good at handling most things, I'm an excellant multi-tasker but this has been kicking my butt. I'm just glad tomorrow is Saturday because it means a lot more help around here. On the bright side, my baby bjorn should be arriving today so I can start wearing Mariam and having my hands free. I hope she likes it. I also have a hair appointment tomorrow so I'm looking forward to getting a small break.

 

If any of you guys have some tips on dealing with a newborn and a toddler, I'd love to hear them! Have a great weekend.



Saving on text books and helping those in need..

I must be behind in the times because how did I not know that you could rent college textbooks online? Why didn't they have this when I was going years ago? Or maybe they did and I just never heard of it?

 

What a novel idea. Had I known, I could of saved money by renting from campusbookrentals.com Instead I have stacks of college books I never even use. I think maybe I've only referenced one book that was on marketing years after I graduated. The rest just sit there collecting dust! Campus book rentals offers new and gently used textbooks for typically less than half the price you'll pay in your school bookstore. Along with their live help, they offer monthly giveaways, textbook scholarships, and other prizes. They also have a 30 day risk free guarantee.



One of the other neat things about this company is that they are commited to making a difference! They are partnered with Operation Smile which is a great organization that performs life changing cleft lip surgeries on children whose families could otherwise not afford it. Cleft lip and Cleft palate are facial and oral malformations that occur very early in pregnancy. Clefting results when there is not enough tissue in the mouth or lip area, and the tissue that is available does not join together properly. Cleft lip affects one in 700 babies annually, and is the fourth most common birth defect in the U.S.

As a mother, I can only imagine how another mother must feel whose child is born with a physical deformity. Aside from it's physical attributes, it can cause eating problems, hearing loss, speech problems, and dental problems. We all want our children to be healthy, but what does one do when their child is not, and they can't do anything about it because they don't have the means?

 

That's whats great about companies like Campus Book Rentals that want to make a difference. You can too by visiting Operation Smile and purchasing products that support their cause. I'm particularly interested in Charlie Banana which is a luxury brand of cloth diapers since H and I are interested in cloth diapering Mariam soon. There are also other ways to give by either donating, or holding a fundraiser.


2.5 Week Post Partum Update

I'm 3 weeks postpartum today, but I took these photos this past Friday. I'm happy with my progress so far. Honestly, I was worried about how my stomach was going to look after being so stretched out with this pregnancy and it being my third....and the fact that it was this big last year too!
 

I mean hello torpedo belly!....

 

 

I gained a total of 25 lbs and I'm not sure how much I weigh right now because my scale is broken, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting close to my pre-pregnancy weight.

 

Ok, so you are probably wondering what my secret is--and I'm going to tell you.

 

Control top underwear. Yep. I'm not wearing them in these pictures, so that is my stomach not compressed, but I'm telling you these things are miracle workers! The brand I've been using is Bali in style 8710. I totally have to credit my mom on urging me to bind my belly down this time. Whether you get a corset, an actual postpartum belly binder, or control top underwear. Just get something that keeps your belly nice and tight. The type that I used has the top that goes all the way up to about an inch above my belly button. .

 

I still have a ways to go but I'll get there. I'm in no hurry to exercise yet. You have to take it easy the first few weeks. I stayed busy but I didn't lift anything heavy, or drive the first week and a half.  You don't want to strain your belly or put any type of unnecessary pressure on it. It won't help your recovery and you could get a hernia. Also continue to lotion your belly and drink lot's of water. Another thing that helps is breastfeeding since when the baby nurses, it makes your uterus contract and go back to it's natural size faster.

 

This recovery has gone so much better than last year. I haven't had any postpartum blues--minus being a little extra sensitive and I'm bouncing back faster. I really credit the fact that I stayed active and busy this pregnancy. I was pretty much on my feet for much of the day since I had Layla to tend too.

 

Happy Cyber Monday!



Mariam week 2

I was hoping to do bi-weekly postpartum updates for awhile but I've had no motivation to photograph myself these days so I'll do them every 3 weeks or so. I'm sooooo tired and shying away from showing my pale face with huge circles from lack of sleep.

 

I desperatly need some zzzzzzzzz's!!

 

 I am however pleased with how fast my body is bouncing back and a large part of it is due to belly binding. I'll have more about it and pictures of my progress on Monday!

 

Onto my littlest squiss. I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks that she's been with us. I swear it just goes by so fast. TOO FAST.

 

 

Weight

7lbs 8 oz. Last week she weighed 6 lbs 14 oz so I'm really happy with this.

 

Health

All good! Her skin looks like it's shedding but the doctor says it's normal and her umbilical cord fell off last week.

 

Sleep

Ho boy. Where do I begin. Mariam started off the first week sleeping pretty good at night. For the past few days she has her days and nights mixed up. It's been awful. Last night she was up from 11pm to 3am. H and I both woke up at 6 am so we only got 3 hrs of sleep. I was beyond frustrated last night and shed a few tears in the process. I just need some sleep and napping during the day isn't an option. Tonight I plan on getting some batteries for our lamb swing and seeing if that helps. I'm also not going to let her sleep more than 2 hr increments starting today and see if that helps. She spends most of the day sleeping.

 

 

Clothes

All newborn and even some of those are a little big. She's such a little peanut. I feel bad getting onsies over her head. I wish there were more cute snap on ones so I wouldn't have to bother her too much.

 

Social

A sleeping baby isn't very sociable so not much to report here. She will stay up for a little while just quiet but not too much. She is starting to focus a little better on our faces.

 

Diet

Milk, milk, and more milk. This girl loves to eat and breastfeeding is going well--other than feeling like she's constantly attached to me which isn't as easy as you think when you also have a toddler to tend too.

 

Crying

There's a lot of crying especially at night. I think she gets gassy and I need to get some gas drops to see if it helps. I made the mistake of feeding her one night everytime she would cry and root around and she ended up projectile vomiting. She has taken to a pacifier, but it doesn't always help.

 

Milestones:

Nothing yet to report, but they will come. No rush. Except for her sleeping through the night. That one cannot come soon enough.

 

I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving tomorrow and don't forget to head over to Schue Love to enter the giveaway to win an FHJ Baby bib!

 

Back to the nitty gritty and a giveaway!

Blogger world hold me...H is back at work today after being off for two weeks. Today is the first day I'm on my own. No H, No Serena, just me with a toddler and a newborn. I'll report back in the next couple of days and let you know how it went. The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind of feedings, diaper changes, and fussy babies. I've been completely spoiled since H has been cooking all the meals and just really helping with everything! Now it's back to official housewife status for me. I've been able to still work on my business and get things done while the girls nap so I'm happy about that.

With that being said, I'm really excited that sweet Natasha over at Schue Love is hosting a giveaway for FHJ Baby! Head on over to her blog for your chance to win a bib of your choice!! The contest will end Sunday, November 25th at Midnight (Pacific time).

Also in case you missed it, I'll be launching a collection of hair accessories for newborns through tweens later this week! Over the weekend I spent some time photographing them and had a little shoot with Serena and Layla wearing two of them. Serena was an easy subject. Layla....not so much. Toddlers don't sit still for very long and it works best for us when we are in an open field. I literally run with her pointing and shooting and I definitely can't do it alone. It's a lot of fun!

 



Lady Mariam

I promise every post this week won't just be about her, but I've got to show off these adorable pictures of her. I'm completely enamored by this little peanut. H is completely taken with her too and I fall in love over and over again with him watching him interact with the girls. I've said it before but he's such a great father. When I gave birth to Mariam and he saw that she made it safely into the world, I got to witness that look in his eyes I've seen before of love and awe of another baby--and my heart melted.

 

 

Mariam's birth story & my recovery

 

Delivery

 

As I mentioned, Mariam decided to arrive right on her due date! Last Sunday I decided to take the girls for a walk to get out of the house. We walked about a mile (me pushing Layla in the stroller) and then we stopped back at the house so I could drop Layla off with H. Serena and I continued walking and all in all, I walked a total of 2 miles. I remember my belly tightening while walking but that was normal for me. Once I got home and for the remainder of the evening, I felt no additional contractions. I was a little bummed. So I went to sleep around 11:00 pm thinking that I was just going to have another long night of waking up to use the restroom multiple times like usual.

 

Around 2:00 am, I wake up to use the restroom and I realized I had my bloody show. This was new for me so I wondered if Labor was coming. I went back to bed and that's when the first contraction hit. It was like my others in the past, but I still needed to breathe through it. The next one came 12 minutes later so I started timing them with an app on my iphone. the next one came 10 minutes later, and then 5 minutes and then down to 3. Once I checked the times in between and they started getting pretty painful, I knew this was the real deal. I called my mom about 3:00 am and had her head over to stay with the girls so we could head to the hospital. By the time we arrived at the hospital it was 4:30 am and I was in a lot of pain. They got me in a room and I hated having the contraction monitor strapped to me. When I'm in labor I don't want anything restricting on me, or anybody touching me.

 

At that point, I was in PAIN. I can honestly say that out of my other two labors, the contractions this time around were by far the worst! I could see the peaks on the moniter and most of them were off the charts. All I could do was grip the sides of the bed and writhe around. Some of them were so bad that my midsection would literally spasm. It was unbearable! At times I would just talk to myself saying over and over again..."it's almost over, you're almost there".

 

I wish they could administer the epidural right away, but it doesn't happen like that. You have to answer all these questions, you have to have an internal check and your blood needs to be drawn and sent to the lab. I finally got the epidural close to 8:00 am. Let me tell you, it was heaven after that. Omg! Sweet relief. Once it kicked in, all I felt was just slight pressure when a contraction hit. After about an hour I had to wear an oxygen mask and lay on my left side because Mariam's heartrate went down with two contractions. It wasn't an issue again, but it still worried me and I had to wear it while I delivered as well. Around 11 something, I was at 10 cm and ready to push. I pushed 10 times and she was out. I felt no pain. This delivery was a far cry from Layla's. It was so much easier. She was born at 11:40.

 

Recovery

 

It's been so much easier this time around, and a huge part of it is because I didn't tear or need an episiotomy. So in other words, my nether regions don't hurt. I've had cramping which is normal--especially during nursing, and I can definitely feel uncomfortable if I overdue it...oh and my back hurts here and there but that's about it. By Friday I had left the house with H to run some errands and I felt ok. I also left the house yesterday. Mariam has been waking a lot at night but for the past 2 nights she has given us a three hour stretch at one point during the night. I feel much better equipped to handle lack of sleep this time. Maybe it's because I did it not too long ago. When I had Layla, it had been almost 8 years since having a newborn so it was like a cold slap in the face. I even feel better about my appearance post partum this time. Last time I felt disconnected and like a zombie with huge bags under my eyes when I would go out in public. Right now I feel pretty much like myself, just more tired.

 

It's been a week and so far Mariam hasn't been too difficult. She spends most of the day sleeping and has a period in the afternoon and evening of wakefullness. She nurses all the time and it's going well, but her latch isn't the greatest. She also snacks a lot rather than get her belly full in one sitting. As far as dealing with three children in the house, and two of them being under 2 yrs old....welllll let's just say that needs it's own post and I'm sooooo glad H is home for 2 weeks.

 

Baby Mariam is here!!

 

Mariam was born on Monday November 5th 2012 on her exact due date!

 

She weighed 6lbs 10 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

 

We are so in love with our little dark haired beauty.

 

We arrived home yesterday and are adjusting so I'll have the birth story up soon. I can't believe we are a family of five!

 

 

40 Week Baby Bump!

 

Oh hello there. As you can see I'm still here at 40 weeks. I can honestly say I've never been this pregnant before. I have mixed emotions. I love pregnancy and I know I'm going to miss it, but at the same time, it's the not knowing and her not being on time that has me a little on edge. I've been pretty restless and wanting the days to go by fast--I can't wait to meet her!

How far along? 40 Weeks!!

Total weight gain: 25 lbs. Looks like I am weighing less than I was last year pregnant. With Serena I gained 12 lbs and with Layla I gained 35 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Yes some, and I'm sure H is tired of seeing me wear the same old black yoga pants at home all the time. They are the most comfortable though.

Stretch marks? ::Cries:: Yes. I noticed new ones a little over a week ago. They waited till the end to come out. They are by my belly button and luckily are light, but are still unwelcome permanent residents visitors.
Sleep: Bad. Im getting up nightly around 2am thinking it's morning and then it takes me awhile to fall back to sleep. I also get up 2-3 times to use the restroom.
Best moment this week: The week just started so hoping we get to meet our little baby.
Miss Anything? Something not hurting.
Movement: Yes but she is cramped in there, so I don't feel her as much.
Food cravings: Chocolate and sweets
Food aversions: Nope.
Boy or girl: Girl!
Labor Signs: Meh.
Symptoms: Lot's of going to the bathroom, lack of sleep and emotions are riding high.
Belly Button in or out? Out and flat..sorta
Wedding rings on or off? Off
Looking forward to: Dr's appt & Ultrasound tomorrow. The last one tomorrow I hope. I know we'll be scheduling an induction date since the practice doesn't let you go past 41 weeks. I'm thinking Friday, November 9th would be good. In for the weekend and out by Monday. Not too mention Monday, November 12th is Serena's 10th birthday and I know she wouldn't want to share her birthday.

 

Just have to throw this one in there, because it really is a true picture of how this belly actually looks! It's very oddly torpedo shaped. Whenever I go out I immediately see people's eyes zone in on it. Sometimes I feel self concious but I'm pretty used to it. Haha.

 



Body after baby...

 

Let's face it, most of us aren't going to have a personal trainer on hand ready to call upon after we have a baby. Chances are we aren't even going to be motivated to work out due to being sleep deprived. You don't want to work out too fast anyways until it's cleared by your doctor. Jumping too quick into an exercise regimen after a baby can cause long term effects--and not in a good way.

 

When I had my first I was barely 20 and I had youth on my side. Not that I'm not still youthful now, but this is 10 years later people. I had lost all my weight within the first week. I had only gained 12 lbs as it was. I liked my body after giving birth. Being slight my whole life, I felt it added some curves I didn't notice before. Muscle tone was always easy to put on since I played sports most of my life, but this was different. I felt more womanly. 2 years after I had Serena I started playing soccer again and I was even happier with my body--and proud that I was doing this after having a baby.

 

 

I quit soccer because we were having difficulty conceiving Layla, but still tried to stay active here and there. With Layla I gained 35 lbs and wasn't crazy about my postpartum body. My belly was huge pregnant with her (like I am now) and it took about 3 months to lose all the weight. By 4 months postpartum I started rapidly dropping the weight. I got too skinny and my clothes were hanging off me. I was back at work at this time so I'm sure being sleep deprived, busy and stressed wasn't helping. I gained some weight but it was hard until this recent pregnancy. (9 months postpartum I was already pregnant again)

 

The challenge I see myself having this time is my belly. Around 8 months postpartum I was barely targeting my stomach and then got pregnant so I never got to see it toned and flat again between these two babies. I know that I would bend over and it would still wrinkle around the belly button, and if I got too full, you could see roundness. Sort of like my intestines hadn't fully moved back into position. That's why shortly after this baby, I plan on getting a belly wrap. My mom told me to wrap my belly after I had Layla but I didn't listen. I thought I'd have no issue like with my first.

 

 

 

So the plan after this baby is to start with something not too strenuous like yoga and pilates coupled with walking and then move onto toning followed by ab work once my abdominal muscles have gone back into position.