Life Lately + Upcoming plans

Wow, I don't know about you all, but this time change was brutal! I woke up super groggy and not rested. I suppose hearing little feet running across the hallway in the middle of the night, and then Ava calling my name and whining for about 10 minutes didn't help. In the morning I found out Layla woke up for some water, and that was her running through the hallway, and she had woken up Ava in the process. I was pretty close to going to her, but decided on tough love and she fell back to sleep on her own. She had a much better week last week as far as sleep goes. I've mentioned in the past that she goes through these cycles now. Sometimes she's on an upward trend of sleeping through the night, and sometimes she's back on a downward trend and not sleeping through the night. "One day....one day." That's all I can tell myself at this point, and just continue to make sure I don't fall back in the habit of letting her crawl into our bed and staying there. So far so good. 

She's doing great with pre-school lately. She loves it! It's been soooo nice to have the house to myself for a few hours and concentrate on work. I just rolled out my newest product: Ruffled bonnets. Super cute! I made a few for Ava and my friends a few years back, but wasn't ready to make them available for purchase at the time. You can find them here: FHJBaby

I'm so excited about spring break next week because that means no waking up super early, and trying to get everyone to school on time without losing my mind! Also REALLY looking forward to a small break from all the driving I do for the kids. My neighbor and I were trying to plan a small getaway with our spouses and kids, but our schedules are no longer lining up, so we won't be doing anything together. For now we will probably still take a small trip to Sarasota since we haven't been yet. Hank was originally supposed to take the week off but work engagements came up. Also this week or next, I may be flying out to Houston. My brother is having twins and I would love to see them when they are born! I also want to visit my mother. If there's time hopefully I can swing by my in-laws and visit my best friend. It will be a very short trip. I still have no idea how I'll swing it with the kids schedules, because I don't know the days yet. It's still up in the air as far as what day they will be delivered this week. There is also the matter of the twins being premature and I'm praying for a safe delivery. 

Yesterday we were also looking at flights for Houston in the summer. We go every year (except last year I stayed home with Ava), and most likely we'll be going late June. We also need to start thinking about summer camps for the girls. How are we already in March?! I feel like before we know it, we are going to have to start thinking about Christmas. What?!

Lastly, I'm getting close to wrapping up my final furniture project. I just sold Serena's old bedroom set yesterday, and this week I'm listing the bed frame I've been working on. I'm so done with furniture projects for awhile! Dealing with some of these people on Offer Up makes me lose a little faith in humanity each time! Like how hard is is to be a decent human being and communicate, and not stand people up? Over it! Also ready to start parking my car back in the garage. I'm looking forward to working on smaller projects this year. Next week I'm going to start fixing this little patio we have off our breakfast nook. I have ideas of putting a little bistro or patio set out there and being able to enjoy some fresh air out there....and secretly hoping the mosquitos won't eat me alive. I need to level the stones, paint it, and then find an outdoor rug. Still thinking of more ideas. Little by little...like the rest of my projects go ha! I'll finish it. We have another patio area off the living room in the backyard, but it doesn't have these hedges for privacy. Right now we just use this small patio for our food smoker and grill but those are going to be moved.

Maybe it's the gemini in me, but I tend to have about 10 projects going on all at the same time. Sometimes I'm the same with books. I'll have 2 or 3 going on at various times before finishing just one. 

Have a great Monday!

Ava sleep update & why my situation needs to change

I wish I could say that at 3.5 years Ava is finally sleeping like a normal child. I wish I could say I'm finally feeling rested, but I can't, because I'm not. Ava is still waking up at night several times a week. Sometimes it's the whole week. She was doing good for awhile in November and December, and then it got bad again. The week before last, she woke up 8 days in row and would patter over to our room and climb in our bed. Last week she did better and had 3 nights in a row where she didn't come to our room. Then she was back at it again. For the past three nights though she has stayed in her room. I've been telling her that I'm locking my door and she's not allowed in--but I have yet to do that. I am going to start though and if I hear her, I will walk her back to her room. I used to be good about doing that, but I got lazy and I was letting her climb in and stay.

Imagine being sleep deprived for over 3 years, and having to parent 4 kids who all have various needs, and busy schedules, and you're still trying to run a business, and be a good wife, mother, sister, friend. It's enough to make life feel really really hard. 

At 3,  Ava is also extremely needy, clingy, and bossy. She doesn't nap during the day, and it literally feels like a 24 hour cycle of Ava especially when she won't sleep through the night. It's been making me increasingly agitated, and overwhelmed and like I'm losing the joy in motherhood. Last Wednesday I cried myself to sleep and the next morning I was still really sad. Something needed to change. I needed to change my circumstance.

While I've had it on my mind since last year, I hadn't planned on it until the fall of 2019, but it can no longer wait. I registered Ava for pre-school and she starts today! I'm no longer nervous, I'm excited! She'll be just about 5 minutes away at my top choice. Several of my friends have children that go there and I know Ava will be in good hands. While I was hoping to have her in a 3 day program, they didn't have it available this late in the school year, so she'll be going just 2 days a week for now from 9-12 pm. It doesn't sound like much but it's a start and during those times I'll be dedicating my time to my business FHJ Baby With Ava not sleeping good for the past 3 years, it really affected my time and motivation that I used to have. In the beginning it was hard to come to terms with it, but in the past year I made peace that this is the way things are, and eventually I'll get back to being able to put more time towards the business--at least like I used too. I'm a mother first and foremost, but I'm also a person with dreams and aspirations of my own. I believe that when we feel fulfilled in our own lives, that carries over to our children and our loved ones.

Have a great Tuesday!

Ava's simple & pretty 2nd birthday party!

I've been meaning to blog about Ava's 2nd birthday party since September when it happened. Yet it's about to be November. Well! Better late then never right?!

This year I wanted to do something small again for Ava, but invite close friends and have it at the house. With this year being crazy busy and just entering the second month of having 3 in school, I didn't have a lot of time to spend on it. She's not big into characters or has too many favorite objects, but she is into farm animals. I did some research and felt like a girly farm based birthday party was going to be too much of a hassle at this stage in my life. I decided to go with a theme utilizing a few things I had already and just go from there. I find it's easiest to plan a party by finding one decor piece you really love and building it from there. 

With Ava, I had a pink, gold, and white tassel I had gotten back in 2015 and decided that those were the colors I was going to use. I also drew inspiration from the party fashion blogger Rachel Parcell threw for her little one. I loved the floral details!

The first things I purchased for the party were Meri Meri gold foiled kraft placemats, glitter candles, birchwood forks and pink paper plates.  

I searched high and low for a green leaf garland but could not find one I liked! I ended up making it myself based off a tutorial from The House That Lars Built. 

I prepared the garland ahead of time and added fresh pink roses about an hour before the party started. 

I like to say that it's all in the details. As you can see, there's nothing too elaborate on the table, but it's the tiny details such as the pop of pink, scallops on the place mats, and the cutlery that made all the difference. 

For her cake I went with a simple 9 inch round cake from Publix. the baker gave me a little funny look when I told him I just wanted a plain white cake with no decorations, but he didn't know what I had in mind. I found an adorable gold glitter cake topper off Etsy and just added a rose with a little bit of greenery.

I loved the way everything came out! This party was definitely one of my easiest to plan and not expensive either. For food we ordered pizza, and snacks were: veggies, fruit, and chips. I'm not crazy about having tons of sweets around when I throw a party. For drinks we had water, fresh squeezed limeade, wine and cocktails. All in all Ava had a great time and it was nice sharing her birthday with her little friends. 

Gold foiled scalloped place mats: Amazon

Fancy birchwood forks: Shop Celebration Lane

Meri Meri gold glitter candles: Shop Celebration Lane

Pink paper plates: Shop Celebration Lane

Cake topper: Glitter Topper

Green Crepe Paper (color moss): Amazon

Pink, gold, white tassel: Love Pretty Details

Gold glitter happy birthday banner: Hobby Lobby

Have a great Monday!

Because you know I'm all about them bows...

Hellooooooo blog readers! Did ya miss me? You guys I've had family back to back over here. The last set of in-laws isn't leaving till another week and a half, so things still aren't normal around here. Couple that with my business and not sleeping great thanks to miss baby Ava still, well....I'm one tired momma. That's the story of my life now.....being tired. 

What can you do though? Just have to keep pushing through and pray this baby sleeps sooner than later. At least I can slap on like 20 pounds of concealor to help hid the bags and wear something cute like this absolutely adorable gingham bow peplum top. I love it! It runs big, but it's super comfy, easy to put on and looks great dressed up or down.

Gingham top {Romwe}

You guys I love it so much I even stayed up late Monday night just to sew a matching bib for Ava so we could twin in Miami. I'm a little crazy like that. 

Cute no?

Have a great weekend!

Ava oh Ava..

I haven't done one of these detailed posts on Ava since she was 11 months. I normally stop doing monthly updates once the girls reach 1 year and then update here and there. One thing I love about blogging is being able to look back at the past years and remember how the girls were. Treasured memories for sure. 

Weight

She hasn't gone for her 18 month checkup yet (she's 19 months now), so I'm not sure how much she weighs but I'm guessing around 23 to 25 pounds.

Health

She's been really well minus a little cold here and there. Her sister's had gotten the stomach bug around New Years and thankfully she was just fine. I feel really blessed that the girl's don't get sick very often minus common colds or upset stomach's. 

Sleep

Ava has always been a terrible sleeper. She's the worst one out of the four and pretty much drove the nail in the coffin that we don't want another child. I really want to sleep again one day. Her sleep has improved since my last update, but still to this day since she was a newborn, she has only slept through the night 5 times. 5 times! That's it! I weaned her four months ago to see if it would help her sleep. I would have nursed her till beyond 2 years old if I could have, but I really needed her to sleep better. While I was nursing she was waking up every 2-3 hours. It went on like this until I stopped nursing. Once I stopped, it really helped. Like immediately. I started putting her down with a bottle of organic almond milk (she's lactose sensitive) and she started only waking up twice a night. A couple months of that and she was up only once a night. It was glorious. Currently she's still waking up once, but she's really really sensitive towards anything like gas at night, or if she has a runny nose. If something is amiss with her body, she will be up 2-3 times a night. 

Clothes

She currently wears 18-24 month clothing. It really depends on the brand. Today she has a skirt on that's a 3T so just goes to show. 

Diet

She eats pretty much anything, but goes through these picky phases. She can handle a little bit of eggs and some dairy if it's in food like mashed potatoes, etc. For liquids she does strictly almond or an almond coconut blend. She also drinks water. No juices. She hates anything green so I still give her at least 1-2 baby food pouches that have the green vegetables mixed in. 

Milestones

She's done so much since I last updated. She's really so smart and seems to pick up things faster at this age then her other sisters. She can identify her body parts and when I call out an animal she'll make the sound of it. I've been trying to be better about working on some spanish and arabic words with her. She's also enjoying to be read too more and more. She is so sweet. I love seeing her head full of curly hair walking around everywhere. She could stand to not be so clingy sometimes and maybe let me eat in peace sometimes, but that's what babies do. As much as I get frustrated sometimes or stressed out, I know when I'm older I'm going to look back and wish for those days back. 

On being the baby of four

I've been enjoying seeing the girls interact with each other. Ava has started to want to do things just like her sister's and feel like a "big girl". With just Ava and Mariam my 4 year old at home in the morning's they've started to play with each other more and more--and even fight. It's been nice to see Mariam mature a little more and seeing what a good big sister she can be to Ava. 

Have a great Sunday!

Ava's 1 year pictures!

I can't believe I didn't post Ava's 1 year pictures. She turned a year on September 12th and we had just a quiet party at home. My mom and some of H's parents were able to skype in when we sang her happy birthday so that was nice. Currently she's 14 months and I'll be doing an update on her soon. 

Have a great Wednesday!

In the Fall spirit

Rose lace headband: {FHJ Baby}

Fringe booties: {Old Navy}

Ava 11 months!

Super behind on these seeing how she turns one tomorrow, but here is a recap of 11 months.

Weight

I haven't weighed her in a while so I'm not sure, but she's probably around 20 pounds by now. She'll be having her one year checkup soon.

Health

Over the summer nobody got colds, but with Serena and Layla back in school, the back to school germs are back. Layla started to get a cold which Mariam then got, and then Ava. She never got a fever with this one, but it was over a week of a runny nose. She sleeps even worse when she's sick, which is expected, but super hard when she already wakes up 2-3 hours a night on the regular.

Sleep

Still the same. Two short naps a day and then waking up every 2-3 hours at night. Only once a month will we get like a 4 hour stretch thrown in there. Several friends tell me to let her cry through the night, or feed her something heavy right before bed, or stop nursing her etc. The list goes on, but H and I don't feel comfortable letting our kids cry it out. I've debated not nursing her anymore since everytime she wakes up she expects it, but I'm not ready to end this bond yet. I really want to make it till two years old like I did with Mariam. I know I need to make some changes as the pediatrician suggested, like cutting down on nursing at night. Start trying to wean her off the night time feedings. Believe me my muscles are tired and I don't want to nurse her almost every time she wakes up, but I'm so tired and I know it makes her go back to sleep pretty fast instead of thrashing around for an hour. I have some great news though! She slept through the night last night! After rolling around in her crib for what seemed like forever she fell asleep around 10:30 am and didn't wake up till 5:38 am! I nursed her and then she slept for another hour. I can't stop smiling. I want to shout it from the rooftops! Tomorrow is her one year birthday so she picked an interesting time to do it. I hope she does it again. 

Clothes

She currently wears 12-24 month clothing. Depends. If we are at home I usually put pants and knee pads on her since we have all hard wood floors. 

Diet

Still exclusively breastfeeding and eating solids. She loves beef and she's not a fan of anything green unless it's mixed in with other foods and she can't see it. We still don't give her eggs and dairy since she starts getting a rash when we do, but we'll try again at a later time. She's never taken to a bottle, but she has started to take a sip or two from a sippy cup. 

Milestones

She's done so much these last few months. I haven't updated since she turned 8 months, but she's started to take a step here and a step there. She also points to things and says "da" when she wants something. She enjoys blocks, getting into the spice cabinets and knocking her sisters books off the shelves in their closet. She tries to repeat words, she loves to give hugs and she's just so sweet and getting more social. I know I'm missing a lot of things here, but it's not all coming to mind right now.