I have resigned to being sticky!
As a new mom there were things that I was expecting. Being sticky/dirty was one of them. However now that it is here :) it is a bit of a different experience. I constantly have breast milk on my stomach because my son slobbers a lot. I have spit up on my shirt and/or pants. And goodness knows what else is where!!
I love being a mom, but it did take me a bit of time to get use to this. I love to be clean and take care to be clean. But now that I am constantly breast feeding, burping and changing diapers I am not so clean any more. It truly makes you appreciate a fresh shower and a blow out!!!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Happiest Baby on the Block Review
There are a lot of baby books out there. This is the one that I was able to get something from.
Happiest Baby on the Block has some great tips and is very practical. It is all about soothing babies and helping them go to sleep and sleep longer. I don’t have a colicy baby thank goodness. However I want to get my baby to sleep as long as he possibly can :)
There are great tips and simple principles that are easy to remember when you are in the heat of things. The main point is that you baby just was in the uterus and now is out in the world. There is a shock to his system and doing things that mimic the womb (swaddle, swooshing sounds, jiggling) will help sooth your baby. I think it is great and an easy read. I would recommend it to all of my preggers.
I love a sleeping baby :) Way to go Remy 5 weeks old and sleeping 5 hours in a row at night!! Whahoo!!
Happiest Baby on the Block has some great tips and is very practical. It is all about soothing babies and helping them go to sleep and sleep longer. I don’t have a colicy baby thank goodness. However I want to get my baby to sleep as long as he possibly can :)
There are great tips and simple principles that are easy to remember when you are in the heat of things. The main point is that you baby just was in the uterus and now is out in the world. There is a shock to his system and doing things that mimic the womb (swaddle, swooshing sounds, jiggling) will help sooth your baby. I think it is great and an easy read. I would recommend it to all of my preggers.
I love a sleeping baby :) Way to go Remy 5 weeks old and sleeping 5 hours in a row at night!! Whahoo!!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Footstool DIY
Simple problem simple solution.
I have a wonderful rocking chair given to me by my parents. It is an amazing heirloom (5 generations old). I love rocking my son to sleep in it. There is just one thing that would make it easier and that is a footstool. I have to keep my ankles flexed when I am rocking and just a couple inches of support would really help. So I decided to use some of the things around the house to make a footstool. Here is what I did:
1.) Took an old drawer that didn’t belong to anything and turned it upside down.
2.) I padded the told with batting
3.) Wrapped the drawer with fabric and stapled the fabric into place
I don’t have any great plans for the drawer front but this has worked great for me. I am a little more relaxed and comfortable while rocking my son to sleep. Yeah!
I have a wonderful rocking chair given to me by my parents. It is an amazing heirloom (5 generations old). I love rocking my son to sleep in it. There is just one thing that would make it easier and that is a footstool. I have to keep my ankles flexed when I am rocking and just a couple inches of support would really help. So I decided to use some of the things around the house to make a footstool. Here is what I did:
1.) Took an old drawer that didn’t belong to anything and turned it upside down.
2.) I padded the told with batting
3.) Wrapped the drawer with fabric and stapled the fabric into place
I don’t have any great plans for the drawer front but this has worked great for me. I am a little more relaxed and comfortable while rocking my son to sleep. Yeah!
Monday, January 21, 2013
Saving on Time
This is fast and simple blog to save us all some time :)
It is hard for me to find time right now. I have limited hours in the day to do much of anything. In order to capitalize on more time in the day I had to take a look at what was time sucks. TV is a time suck for me. In order to save on more time, TV watching had to go by by. Also, in order to get more sleep in the day I had to go to sleep earlier which also cut out a lot of TV watching time in the evening (I now go to bed at 9pm with my son).
However I do love a good story. If you haven’t heard of Hulu check it out www.hulu.com. You can watch many of your favorite programs on your time. I watch late night shows while I am cleaning the house. I can take my laptop into the kitchen or into my bedroom and catch up on the Daily Show while putting away laundry or making dinner. It works for me and might work for you.
It is hard for me to find time right now. I have limited hours in the day to do much of anything. In order to capitalize on more time in the day I had to take a look at what was time sucks. TV is a time suck for me. In order to save on more time, TV watching had to go by by. Also, in order to get more sleep in the day I had to go to sleep earlier which also cut out a lot of TV watching time in the evening (I now go to bed at 9pm with my son).
However I do love a good story. If you haven’t heard of Hulu check it out www.hulu.com. You can watch many of your favorite programs on your time. I watch late night shows while I am cleaning the house. I can take my laptop into the kitchen or into my bedroom and catch up on the Daily Show while putting away laundry or making dinner. It works for me and might work for you.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Not Looking so Tired
Only sleeping in 2-3 hour stints really takes a toll on your eyes.
With my new sweet love I have found that I do not get a lot of sleep all at once. I can get sleep, but since it isn’t all at once I never really get into a deep regenerative sleep. So I have sleepy tired eyes which makes me look a mess. Here is what I do to combat that!
1.) Correct: I use a color corrector to cancel out the redness under my eyes. I use Philosophy.
2.) Conceal: I use a salmon colored concealer in order to brighten up underneath my eyes.
3.) Fresh Face: I use bronzer, blush, or both to brighten up my whole face. It depends on the overall look I am going for but putting in color to my whole face makes me look less sicky/sad :)
4.) Eyes: Now this is where I take a different direction. I DON’T use mascara. Normally I do and wouldn’t leave the house without it but normally I have the energy to take it off at night. Since I don’t really take it off because I am so tired it get racoon eyes. In trying to avoid that I have decided to just not where mascara for a while. In order to make my small eyes look big, I do still put on linear. I wing it would and make sure it is really dark and it works to make my eyes look big but doesn’t end up making me look more tired. Second bit on my eyes, I put a white eye linear on my water line. It cancels out the redness and brightens my eyes.
5.) Finally, to make myself a bit more dressed up I have been putting on a darker lip. It instantly makes you look dressed up but you really don’t have to do much. I like the lip stains so when I kiss my little guy I don’t transfer any color onto him.
This all really helps me to look a bit more together. The more I look together the more together I feel :)
Thanks for reading and let me know if there are any make-up tricks you use to look less tired!
With my new sweet love I have found that I do not get a lot of sleep all at once. I can get sleep, but since it isn’t all at once I never really get into a deep regenerative sleep. So I have sleepy tired eyes which makes me look a mess. Here is what I do to combat that!
1.) Correct: I use a color corrector to cancel out the redness under my eyes. I use Philosophy.
2.) Conceal: I use a salmon colored concealer in order to brighten up underneath my eyes.
3.) Fresh Face: I use bronzer, blush, or both to brighten up my whole face. It depends on the overall look I am going for but putting in color to my whole face makes me look less sicky/sad :)
4.) Eyes: Now this is where I take a different direction. I DON’T use mascara. Normally I do and wouldn’t leave the house without it but normally I have the energy to take it off at night. Since I don’t really take it off because I am so tired it get racoon eyes. In trying to avoid that I have decided to just not where mascara for a while. In order to make my small eyes look big, I do still put on linear. I wing it would and make sure it is really dark and it works to make my eyes look big but doesn’t end up making me look more tired. Second bit on my eyes, I put a white eye linear on my water line. It cancels out the redness and brightens my eyes.
5.) Finally, to make myself a bit more dressed up I have been putting on a darker lip. It instantly makes you look dressed up but you really don’t have to do much. I like the lip stains so when I kiss my little guy I don’t transfer any color onto him.
This all really helps me to look a bit more together. The more I look together the more together I feel :)
Thanks for reading and let me know if there are any make-up tricks you use to look less tired!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Breastfeeding Cover DIY
I am not Cheap I swear!!!
I don’t like to buy things that I feel like I can make on my own. There are some great breast feeding covers out there. Target sells some for $20. Not anything that will break the bank, however I just couldn't pay for it. It is just a piece of fabric. So I decided I would either use a blanket or make one on my own.
I had some great fabric laying around (it was actually a moo-moo type dress I had picked up from the Goodwill for maybe $6) so I decided to use it for my breastfeeding cover.
For starters, just cut the fabric it a large rectangle that will cover you body. Make sure you will be able to have some extra fabric sitting in your lap, and enough to cover your shoulders. Dimensions will vary as all of our body types will vary.
So you can be fancy & sew the ends or you can be a bit ghetto like me and just use a lighter and burn the loose ends of the fabric.
Final step, wrap the cloth around your neck as if you were about to cover yourself. Mark where the fabric will need to connect. I used bra clips that I had rolling around in my sewing kit. You could also use a button and some embroidery string to connect the two pieces of fabric.
And that is that! Very simple, but nice to have something that you can throw into your diaper bag.
I don’t like to buy things that I feel like I can make on my own. There are some great breast feeding covers out there. Target sells some for $20. Not anything that will break the bank, however I just couldn't pay for it. It is just a piece of fabric. So I decided I would either use a blanket or make one on my own.
I had some great fabric laying around (it was actually a moo-moo type dress I had picked up from the Goodwill for maybe $6) so I decided to use it for my breastfeeding cover.
For starters, just cut the fabric it a large rectangle that will cover you body. Make sure you will be able to have some extra fabric sitting in your lap, and enough to cover your shoulders. Dimensions will vary as all of our body types will vary.
So you can be fancy & sew the ends or you can be a bit ghetto like me and just use a lighter and burn the loose ends of the fabric.
Final step, wrap the cloth around your neck as if you were about to cover yourself. Mark where the fabric will need to connect. I used bra clips that I had rolling around in my sewing kit. You could also use a button and some embroidery string to connect the two pieces of fabric.
And that is that! Very simple, but nice to have something that you can throw into your diaper bag.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Organize, Organize, Organize
The busier we get the harder it is to feel sane.
I find less time for myself and I only have one baby!! Well three if you count Lobo the dog and Rudy the husband. So I have resorted to some old tricks I learned while in college and that I use at work. These tricks help me manage my life and tasks.
So for starters, every Sunday I sit down and figure out what I have to do for the week. I have a simple notebook that I write everything down in Monday-Sunday. Then, each morning I check in with the list of tasks that I have to do and plan out when in the day that I can do them. Since I have had my baby I realized that your day with a infant is broken into sections of sleep and awake. During the awake times you really don’t have the ability to do much. To keep track of how many “sleep” times I have in order to do tasks I have the general times of sleep and awake written out. This gives me the number of opportunities throughout the day to get stuff done.
At end of the day I check in with what I got done, and what I didn’t. If I didn’t get a task done I re-assign it to another day.
Wow, writing this all out makes me sound super nerdy, but I swear it works. I also get a really good feeling every time I cross something off of my list. Also, it is an awesome feeling when I know that I have completed all days tasks. But alas, that isn’t generally the case today.
Most importantly, and this took me years and years to learn, don’t stress if you don’t get something done. The hardest thing to do is to track tasks. If you have to push something out a day, it isn’t a big deal. Just keeping it on the list is the victory and is quite a bit more than some folks.
I find less time for myself and I only have one baby!! Well three if you count Lobo the dog and Rudy the husband. So I have resorted to some old tricks I learned while in college and that I use at work. These tricks help me manage my life and tasks.
So for starters, every Sunday I sit down and figure out what I have to do for the week. I have a simple notebook that I write everything down in Monday-Sunday. Then, each morning I check in with the list of tasks that I have to do and plan out when in the day that I can do them. Since I have had my baby I realized that your day with a infant is broken into sections of sleep and awake. During the awake times you really don’t have the ability to do much. To keep track of how many “sleep” times I have in order to do tasks I have the general times of sleep and awake written out. This gives me the number of opportunities throughout the day to get stuff done.
At end of the day I check in with what I got done, and what I didn’t. If I didn’t get a task done I re-assign it to another day.
Wow, writing this all out makes me sound super nerdy, but I swear it works. I also get a really good feeling every time I cross something off of my list. Also, it is an awesome feeling when I know that I have completed all days tasks. But alas, that isn’t generally the case today.
Most importantly, and this took me years and years to learn, don’t stress if you don’t get something done. The hardest thing to do is to track tasks. If you have to push something out a day, it isn’t a big deal. Just keeping it on the list is the victory and is quite a bit more than some folks.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Baby Delivery...How to Save a Buck!
How to save a buck on delivery.
This goes back to what I posted earlier...plan & save for your pregnancy/delivery. In order to save some money on the overall costs, it is important to have some cash as leverage. When you receive your bill, ask your provider if there is a prompt payment discount or payment in full discount. Legacy Health Centers will give you a 10% discount on your overall bill if you pay in full. This ended up saving me over $600.
Keep in mind that I had a c-section so my overall bill was higher.
Check with your provider in advance if there is an opportunity for prompt payment discounts. There might be some give and take unfortunately. If you OBGYN doesn’t deliver at a hospital that offers discounts for prompt payment you could either switch providers or just lose the discount opportunity. Neither of those options are appealing so call the accounting department of the hospital first and foremost and see if you can work out a deal.
Additionally, keep in mind it pays to ask. Depending on the integrity of the person you are talking to, they might not offer up the discount unless you ask first so always check!
This goes back to what I posted earlier...plan & save for your pregnancy/delivery. In order to save some money on the overall costs, it is important to have some cash as leverage. When you receive your bill, ask your provider if there is a prompt payment discount or payment in full discount. Legacy Health Centers will give you a 10% discount on your overall bill if you pay in full. This ended up saving me over $600.
Keep in mind that I had a c-section so my overall bill was higher.
Check with your provider in advance if there is an opportunity for prompt payment discounts. There might be some give and take unfortunately. If you OBGYN doesn’t deliver at a hospital that offers discounts for prompt payment you could either switch providers or just lose the discount opportunity. Neither of those options are appealing so call the accounting department of the hospital first and foremost and see if you can work out a deal.
Additionally, keep in mind it pays to ask. Depending on the integrity of the person you are talking to, they might not offer up the discount unless you ask first so always check!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Baby Must Haves
As a new mom there is a lot that I didn’t know I would need or would want. Below is a list of all of my favorites from the past month.
1.) Everyone knows this is great. I wasn’t sure how much I would like it but I love it
BOPPY.com
2.) This is great. It helps keep my tummy from jiggling all around. I also makes workouts way better
Baby Baboosh babooshbaby.com
3.) Nuk Bottle. I am breast feeding, but we try to give my baby a bottle every one day or every other day. This has been the only nipple that he likes.
nuk-usa.com
4.) Organic Olive Oil. This is great to cracked, sore, and dry nipples from breast feeding and is safe for the baby. Lots of organic olive oil available, not need for a brand reference on this one.
5.) Swaddling blankets. We tried the cheater swaddlers but found that Remy would bust out of it easily. These blankets allow us to get a nice tight rap on Remy. He sleeps better and for longer in a nice swaddle. Oh, my son's name is Remy :)
www.target.com aden + anais swaddle wraps
These are just a couple of the things that I have found to be really great.
1.) Everyone knows this is great. I wasn’t sure how much I would like it but I love it
BOPPY.com
2.) This is great. It helps keep my tummy from jiggling all around. I also makes workouts way better
Baby Baboosh babooshbaby.com
3.) Nuk Bottle. I am breast feeding, but we try to give my baby a bottle every one day or every other day. This has been the only nipple that he likes.
nuk-usa.com
4.) Organic Olive Oil. This is great to cracked, sore, and dry nipples from breast feeding and is safe for the baby. Lots of organic olive oil available, not need for a brand reference on this one.
5.) Swaddling blankets. We tried the cheater swaddlers but found that Remy would bust out of it easily. These blankets allow us to get a nice tight rap on Remy. He sleeps better and for longer in a nice swaddle. Oh, my son's name is Remy :)
www.target.com aden + anais swaddle wraps
These are just a couple of the things that I have found to be really great.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Momma Love
I love being a mom. Definitely a new mom, but love being a mom. I am learning so much about how to do things and about myself. A friend once told me that you don’t know what love is until you have a child and that is exactly how the last four weeks have played out. The love that I have for my pets, friends, etc has somehow waned now that I have my son. I know I it is not that I care less for others, it is that I care so much for my son. Amazing experience.
Some things that I have learned and would recommend to everyone wanting to have a child:
1.) Plan your pregnancy. Accidents happen and I am not judging those that have gotten pregnant by surprise, however since my husband and I planned this pregnancy there is a lot I feel that we could be prepared for. We were able to save money in advance for the hospital bill and for wages lost while at home. Prepped other areas in our life like paying down debt, getting wisdom teeth pulled etc etc. If you can, prepared for your child in advance. It took us about 4-6 months to get pregnant once we started to try, but we knew 6 months before that we would want children and started saving then. That is my recommendation. Start saving before you start trying to have kids!
2.) Dad’s, stay at home at least two weeks with moms. My husband has done that and it is an amazing help. We are always on the same team, but having two people to tackle the chores of the house and take care of the baby really helped me keep my wits about me.
3.) Plan your week out in advance. Once a week plan your activities through the week. Don’t keep really busy days, but it is nice to have one for two goals for each day. Once achieved you feel like you actually did accomplish something and I started to feel like myself again.
4.) Get yourself dressed & ready (at least a little). I felt much better, and more like my old self, by doing my hair a little bit and putting a little bit of makeup on every day. I didn’t want to feel lazy and grubby and this really worked for me.
Those are just a couple of the difference maker my family. Lots and lots of love!!
Some things that I have learned and would recommend to everyone wanting to have a child:
1.) Plan your pregnancy. Accidents happen and I am not judging those that have gotten pregnant by surprise, however since my husband and I planned this pregnancy there is a lot I feel that we could be prepared for. We were able to save money in advance for the hospital bill and for wages lost while at home. Prepped other areas in our life like paying down debt, getting wisdom teeth pulled etc etc. If you can, prepared for your child in advance. It took us about 4-6 months to get pregnant once we started to try, but we knew 6 months before that we would want children and started saving then. That is my recommendation. Start saving before you start trying to have kids!
2.) Dad’s, stay at home at least two weeks with moms. My husband has done that and it is an amazing help. We are always on the same team, but having two people to tackle the chores of the house and take care of the baby really helped me keep my wits about me.
3.) Plan your week out in advance. Once a week plan your activities through the week. Don’t keep really busy days, but it is nice to have one for two goals for each day. Once achieved you feel like you actually did accomplish something and I started to feel like myself again.
4.) Get yourself dressed & ready (at least a little). I felt much better, and more like my old self, by doing my hair a little bit and putting a little bit of makeup on every day. I didn’t want to feel lazy and grubby and this really worked for me.
Those are just a couple of the difference maker my family. Lots and lots of love!!
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