Needed: A Christmas Miracle

The last few days have been incredibly difficult.

And I know that I shouldn't even complain.  I know that what I'm going through is nothing like what parents are facing in Connecticut. 

BUT this is my blog.  I need a place to vent.  I shouldn't even be venting b/c I'm basically running on fumes at this point and I should be sleeping.  But it's hard to sleep when your 5 month old amazing daughter has been in the hospital, on an intensively monitored floor, and not progressing for over 48 hours.

It all started last week.  Gloria started vomiting REALLY heard when eating.  And when I say hard, I mean it got everything SOAKED and it was PROJECTILE.  The first time it happened I freaked.  I wanted to immediately take her to the ER.  But this happens sometimes with babies and then sure enough, she got better on Tuesday.  We still don't know if that was just a cold that went away because she was back to normal and perfect Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

On Saturday she turned for the worse.  She severely vomitted again and then developed a high fever, cough, etc.  By Sunday we were concerned.  She was vomiting every single thing we gave her (even when feeding her one ounce an hour) and hadn't made a wet diaper due to dehydration.  Evan and I decided to head to the ER.  The second we got there, she threw up all over him and we knew we had made the right decision to bring her.

The second the doctor heard the symptoms he immediately looked concerned. 

Then the doctor came in and said "ok, her RSV is positive."

I could feel the tears in my eyes already.

That was Sunday.  This is Tuesday.  Gloria hasn't gotten better.  I could write all the details out, and need to because I am so incredibly in need of a place to vent, but I should sleep.

But long story short, on Tuesday, not only have things not gotten better, they've gotten worse.  She has a feeding tube now (worst experience ever hearing them have to do it twice while I cried in a pillow).  Evan has been AMAZING, as usual.  He took off of work on Monday (WELL not so much took off ... told them he was not coming in) and helped so much.  He worked today, but much shorter hours (well, 8 hours but that's significantly less for a resident). 

At this rate we don't have plans for anything.  We've cancelled any Christmas plans and our new wish?

I want my baby home for Christmas.  I want her in my arms.  I want my husband, my daughters, and I in the same room (something that we can't do in the hospital).  I want it.  So badly.  SO SO badly. 

We need our own little Christmas miracle.

The Last Day

Today is the LAST day I'll be taking Christmas orders in my etsy shop! :) And I'm sorry I don't write much now, but that shop is my life and I want to make sure everyone's SO pleased with their orders.

Take advantage and do some last minute shopping.  If you have someone on your list that you just don't know what to get, just write me an email at

prettyprintsshop@gmail.com

and I'll give you some ideas!  If not, go to the shop and you could do all your shopping in one quick minute!  I have something for everyone! :) 

Have a great Sunday!

Did I Really Just Write a Post About Pigeons?

(written two nights ago and I forgot to hit publish.  doesn't surprise me considering)

It's late.  Midnight.  I can't sleep.  Evan is at the hospital (sigh, story of life) and that means I'm wide-eyed wanting my man to hold me so I can fall asleep.

So in this delirious state I thought, "I should write a blog post!"  But what should I write about?

The first thing that came to mind.

Pigeons.

Yep. You read right.

That's what happens when you've been working 70 hours a week on your new business.  (and truth be told, 70 might be an UNDER estimation)

But here's the thing.  I think I've found the best children's books ever.  Have you guys seen the Pigeon series?  They are HILARIOUS.  I love the humor, I love the vocabulary, I love the message (it's ok to be sassy, but ultimately nice and have a good laugh).  They're just all around fabulous.

We own "the Duckling gets a cookie" and Liliana has asked for it every single night for the last 2 weeks since we bought it.  Some nights I tell her no, just because I don't want to ruin the book for myself! haha.  So ... we read it every other night instead. :)  That's expert parental balancing there for you.

We're getting others for Christmas from family members and Santa found her two of them in Spanish!  Here are some that I DESPARATELY want Liliana to read and giggle to:

SO in this delirious state I discovered something ... an epiphany of sorts.

Guess who is having a pigeon themed birthday party?

NAILED IT!

And I'm going to have to design it all myself from scratch b/c there is LITERALLY NOTHING on etsy.  But that's ok.  My gal's worth it.

Here's a sample of one for a good laugh:

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

I don't know much else for now ... except for the fact that she's going to have a big cookie her cake in honor of "the duckling gets a cookie."  And that's good enough for now.

Sweet dreams (pigeon ones).

Happy 5 months my G girl! :)

Gloria love:

Yesterday you turned 5 months old!  I can't believe that!  It truly feels like you were born just yesterday.  You are SUCH an easy baby that the time flies by because we never have feelings of frustration!

This month you started doing two things: around 4 1/2 months, I sat you down as a joke and ... POOF you were sitting!  SO now you're sitting for extended periods of time and LOVE it.  Your sister wasn't sitting this early so we're in love with this because you can play more now!  You are rolling from your tummy to your back, but not often.  The problem is you love being on your tummy!  You don't mind it one bit so getting you to actually roll takes work.  Usually we have Liliana entice you to something that would force you to roll over and then you do it.  Otherwise, you just smile and laugh on that belly with your head and belly held high.  You are SO close to turning from back to belly but haven't quite done it yet.  I would think within the next couple days you will.  I wouldn't be surprised if you have done it already, but I haven't witnessed it so as far as I'm concerned it hasn't happened. :)

One BIG thing that you're doing as well is holding your bottle.  Your sister started doing this at the EXACT same age.  SPOOKY.  The DAY Liliana turned 5 months she fed herself an entire bottle and you did the EXACT same thing yesterday (the day you turned 5 months).  You guys are so similar it's spooky! haha.

You continue to be a BIG tall girl.  You're wearing 6-9 month clothing and we already bought you size 3 diapers but are finishing out our size 2 ones (can't wait b/c you keep leaking out of them but the cheapo in us makes us keep using them until we run out).

Your sleep is BEYOND awesome.  You go to bed around 8 pm and wake up around 8 am.  If you do wake up earlier, or we put you down later it goes something like this: go to sleep at 9, wake up at 7 for a bottle, back asleep by 7:15 and wake up ... at 10:30 or 11!!!! YES!!! We are SO lucky!!!  You and your sister are amazing sleepers.  Your Dad and I get to sleep as if we're teenagers. ;)

While all these developments are fun, the main thing I want to relay to you is your personality.  You continue to be SO easy.  You NEVER cry.  When I say never, I mean NEVER.  You wake up not by crying.  Sometimes we just go in to your room to see you've been awake.  I mean obviously, you can have tears but they're just SO rare.  Last weekend when we were putting you to sleep we realized you hadn't shed one single tear all weekend.  And it's not like we hold you all the time.  In fact, sometimes we feel bad at how little we do!  You just LOVE your exersaucer and will bounce around giggling in it for over an hour at a time!

You truly are a wonderful blessing.  Your Daddy and I are so enamored with you and love just kissing you, reading books to you, seeing you play with your toys, seeing you grow.

Happy 5 months my G girl.

Mommy

(I still need to take your 5 month photos but we take those with Daddy and it's dark by the time he gets home so we might have to do it over the weekend. I wanted to write this though!)

A Funny Turkey, A Cyber Sale, and a Gorgeous Tree

This last week was pretty crazy, as holidays usually are.  It's interesting now that I make my living being a business owner because as much as I'd like to say "shop closed for 2 days so I can enjoy family!" I know that's a CRAZY thing to do because this is probably my busiest time of year!

SO it was a balance.  A balance of being with family that I see but once a year, and a balance of working hard for the money.

Fortunately I think that balance went swimmingly.  On Wednesday my family from Puerto Rico (well they live in LA now) came to visit and we went around town!  It was a ton of fun.  I took them to the Clinton Library, to a park, and for lunch.  By the time we got home we were pretty beat but there was much to be done.

Come 5 o'clock and suddenly it dawned on me ...I hadn't gone to pick up the turkey!  Some expletives were definitely shouted and then I sent my awesome cousin's husband Lu to go pick them up.  WHEW that was close right?

10 minutes later Lu calls and says "what size was this turkey?"  I told him, just pick it up dude!  I have this all arranged ...

And he came home with the tiniest turkey and ham you've ever seen.  I mean, it's like Evan said ... we got a cornish hen, not a turkey.

We laughed our BUTTS off.  Seriously you have no idea how much we teased that turkey.  But the ham was even more laughable.  It was the size of my fist.  Not even kidding.

We're Puerto Rican.  We only know how to cook for 40.  SO the second my Mom got off that plane we already were laughing knowing she would flip a lid when she saw the little rotisserie chicken.

She just looked in the fridge, pulled it out and said "pero ... Cristy, que es esto?"

"translation: umm ... Cristy, what is this thing?"

Cue everyone laughing so hard we almost peed. 

WELL don't worry.  Thanksgiving was saved.  We're just so accustomed to seeing 30 pound turkeys that we didn't even realize that we were teasing the juiciest Turkey ever AND we ended up making my Momma's awesome turkey casserole AND having ham sandwiches the next day anyway!  GO figure!  Poor Turkey!

(PS Turns out Fresh Market gave Lu the wrong bag, but they charged us less so it all worked out just fine)

Cue yesterday when Evan and I decided to decorate.  We got out tree out and the next thing I hear is

"Sherman you moron!"

Sherman, our beloved sweet previously notorious big chewer ate ... well, parts of our Christmas tree!  HAHA!  SERIOUSLY?  couldn't make it up.

SO off we went to Target and bought a gorgeous new tree.  It even rang up $50 cheaper than we thought and then we used our new Target red card (credit card that gets your 5% off ALL Target purchases which for us, is a crap ton of $!).

We came home and I gotta say ... we put together one BEAUTIFUL tree this year! 

NOW for today ... you guys know I wouldn't leave people short handed!  I've got a cyber sale going on ALL DAY today in the etsy shop.  How does 12% off an ENTIRE purchase sound in these last few days of 2012?

Put in coupon code CM2012 for 12% off the entire thing! :)  HAPPY SHOPPING!!!

Things I Never Thought I'd Say as a Parent

I've been thinking of making a little "book" about "things I never thought I'd say as a parent.  Having a 2 1/2 year old, and a BIG ball of personality in that 2 1/2 year old, things come out of our mouths that we just NEVER thought we'd say!

I need to write them down.  I need to remember these things b/c soon enough I'll blink and instead of saying funny things I'll be saying "stop texting so much!" or "I'd better not catch you kissing that boy young lady!"

So for now, these are weird things to say ... but they're SO funny.  I think it's a universal language between parents eventually and you don't even realize you're saying them.  But everynow and then Evan and I take a step back and say "did we really just say that?"

Here are some gems I can think of off the top of my head (for the record, yes I realize there is a theme around these)

"We don't eat while going pee pee or poo poo."

"Don't stick your head between your legs while going pee pee or poo poo because you'll get yucky stuff in your hair"

"I don't talk to you until you have underwear on."

"What's the rule?  No going outside without panties on!"

"We don't need to bring all the toys in this room.  Only a couple."

"We can only wear one pair of sunglasses when we leave the house."

"We don't need to carry a purse and lunchbox when we're going to the grocery store."

"Stop eating your boogers, that's yucky."

"Stop trying to pick Mommy's nose.  That's yucky."

"We only use the word penis and vagina when we're at home.  We can't shout that in public."

"Let's not tell everybody if they're a boy or a girl in public anymore ok?  Sometimes you get it wrong when it's difficult to tell and that can be really awkward for Mommy."

 "Stop hitting our booties and saying "nice booty!"  Mommy and Daddy can't do things like that to each other in front of you anymore because you're obviously picking up on things too much."

YEP, these are off the top of my head.  There are probably a million more!  I love being Liliana's Mom.  She gives us CONSTANT laughs.  Her honesty at this age is so scary, yes, but mainly endearing. 

Gloria's 4 months!

My dearest Gloria:

Here I am again writing you your monthly letter late.  I'm so sorry about that!  Truth be told the main reason we're behind is because we didn't take your pictures until a few days late because your Daddy has been working so hard.  I always want him to be with us for picture time b/c he basically insists on it, but when he leaves and gets home when it's dark outside it makes it difficult.  Fortunately we snagged one free moment that he was home (and left shortly thereafter) last Sunday afternoon to get some pictures.

You look unsure of the fact that Liliana's got you in a headlock. haha.

 Let's see, what can we say about you?  You continue to be SO stinking easy going and the main development you made this month is the art of smacking your toys.  You take your paci in and out of your mouth, you grab on to blankets as if they're your life support line, you hit your toys on the exersaucer, etc. You aren't as talkative as your sister except you have recently started to find the volume that your voice can produce and get a kick out of that.  It is a BREEZE to make you smile and laugh.  We basically just say HI and off you go smiling and giggling.

The best part about this is we don't tell your sister to do anything.  We just turned on a camera and she got in the chair, wrapped her arms around you, and wanted to smile and kiss you constantly!

I took you to your 4 month appointment a couple weeks ago and was SHOCKED to hear your stats: you're in the 60th percentile for weight but the 98TH percentile for height!  I knew that you were tall since we had you in 6 month pants but they were big on your waist.  But for some reason it really struck me as WOAH when they told me the percentage.  I couldn't get over it!  I'm hoping we've got a Volleyball player in you! : )

You're still wearing size 2 diapers and are still a fabulous sleeper.  You're going about 10 hours every night (about 8-6) and then get up to feed ... fall back asleep at 6:15 (yes it's VERY quick) and usually I wake you up around 9:00 so I can take you two to school!  You're eating 5 oz every 3 hours and 6 at night.  You still have issues with spitting up some after each bottle but the Doctor said that should start going away pretty soon.  I hope so because I'm not liking this whole soured milk smell! haha.

You look like a chubster here.  I love it! : )

My favorite thing on earth is seeing you and Liliana together.  When you're upset she'll say "Don't cry Gloria, your big sister Liliana is here and I love you!" (YES, your big sister has a heck of a vocabulary for a not even 2 1/2 year old ... 3 - 5 word sentences before 2 1/2?  PSH try that one at 13!) We have quite a morning routine where Liliana pulls a stool up to your bed and INSISTS on being the first person to give you a kiss everyday.  If I steal that thunder she insists on giving one more kiss than me.  She just wants to love on you constantly.  While I'm changing your diaper Liliana moves her stool over to the changing pad and tells you "Gloria you want to hear your ABC's?"  and proceeds to sing you all her favorite songs.  You look at her, giggle, smile, and grab her hand.  Seeing you two interact more and more is absolutely my favorite part of this entire parenting process.  Knowing the bond you two will have as sisters is indescribable and I'm so glad you'll always have a best friend, a confidant, and a person to laugh with forever.

BFF

Your Daddy and I are absolutely enamored by you and can't wait to see you grow more each month.  I love you darling.

Mommy

The BIG 1,000

For the last couple of weeks I've been working like a mad woman.  It's funny, I thought I would have SO much more time than what I do have!  Something at home always comes up (for example: did you know that in order to clean your dogs teeth they have to go under anesthesia, must be dropped off at 7:30 am, and will set you back $200?).  Yeah, those things had been put on the back burner for the last ... I dunno ... EVER and I thought I'd have time to do all of that and the business.  Turns out, the business is the most AMAZING, FUN, WONDERFUL experience and I just hit 1,000 sales today!! : )

I'm so stinking excited!  This has always been one of those "man wouldn't it be cool if I could sell 1,000?" things and I did it! : )

And though I need to get back to work, I wanted to put on a big sale, the biggest I've ever had.  For people that need Christmas gifts, or just want a fun, unique print I'm doing 15% off your entire purchase with coupon code YAY100015 OR if you get 3 + prints, 20% off the entire freaking order with coupon code YAY100020.

Yeah, I'm that excited about the big 1000.  This sale will last until tomorrow at midnight so shop around and PLEASE do tell your friends (that's how you build a business right?)!

Here's a link to the shop:  www.etsy.com/shop/prettyprintsshop

PS We just took Gloria's 4 month pics yesterday.  It has been a hell of a weekend and though I was in one pretty crummy mood, this made it better fortunately.  I'll actually update on life tomorrow (or the day after, or ... how about soon?)

One to Remember

I don't blog nearly as regularly as I used to, but that's because I am SO busy lately guys!  I have now been a work at home business woman for 6 days and I am LOVING it.  Seriously it just about the best thing ever.  I usually wake up before the girls around 7:00 (and coincidentally am much less crabby since I'm sleeping in for an extra hour and fifteen minutes!).  I throw on some clothes or take a shower (depending on whether I plan on exercising that day) and then get the girls.  They're getting to school later (sometimes too late which is my fault b/c I'm still so excited that I get to spend so much time with them) and I usually do a big post office run after that.  I finally get back home around 10 am and just sit down at my desk and work my butt off.  I seriously don't stop.  I love fulfilling these orders for people and making some party, anniversary, or new baby arrival all the more exciting.

I usually break a couple hours in for a workout at the $10/ month gym that's a couple minutes down the road.  I come back, shower, and go back to work until Evan and I start texting about who's going to pick up the girls.  95% of the time it's me since he still has to work.  So off again I go.

Lately we've REALLY been in to soups, probably b/c it's gotten quite chilly here lately.  So either we cook or we've gone to whole foods and gotten a big thing of soup for $8 and all 3 of us eat for that ... cheaper than when I cook myself and their chicken and dumplings are GOOD!  I think tonight we'll go for Beef Stew.   Tomorrow I'll make Rachel Ray's White Lightning Chili.  DELICIOUS!

The beauty of it all though?  Once the kids are home, I do write people and convo with updates, but I don't spend the WHOLE evening fulfilling orders!!  It's divine.

Speaking of divine ... this weekend was a TRUE treat.  It is something that we REALLY needed as a family.  A FAMILY weekend.  Evan didn't work and didn't have presentations or papers to work on (a big time consumer lately).

On Friday, we went on a date while the girls stayed for a couple hours at Meme's house.  We went to Bravo and just enjoyed each others company.  Then on Saturday we went to Liliana's Halloween Carnival.  While the girls napped, Evan and I just watched football together for 2 hours.  SANS kids, SANS others.  Just us.  WONDERFUL!  Cuddling, screaming at TV, cursing at TV, perfection.  In the evening, we watched the Aggies STOMP all over Auburn which was a rare treat to see such a victory when you're an Aggie fan.  Sunday, the wonderfulness continued.  Evan made some chili (I'm telling you, we've been in to soups!) while I worked some and we went to the Pumpkin Patch just us four.  Liliana had a blast and I loved seeing how gorgeous Arkansas is!  I LOVE that there is SO much to do around the city and that so much of it is either free or very cheap.  After the pumpkin patch, the girls napped and we watched Quantum of Solace together.  Again, just us two!  Kissing, laughing, and mainly saying "holy crap I can't wait for the new bond movie to come out in November!"  After the girls woke up, we ran some errands and came home to eat a relaxed dinner and watch "Monster House" one of our Halloween movies.  Liliana actually watched a good portion of it!!  This is a MIRACLE since the girl doesn't watch more than 3 minutes of television EVER!  She's WAY too fast paced for that.

All in all, a hell of a weekend.  One we needed and cherished!

BUT that's it for now ... this business woman has to get back to work!!! I'm making Christmas cards and already have one designed.  I'm thinking a digital giveaway is in the making!

My First Show!

A couple weekends ago, I really ventured out of my comfort zone.  I think going full-steam ahead in to this etsy business is easy for me because I'm giving it my all behind closed doors.  If I fail, the only person that will know is me (well and Evan but he's so supportive that only I'd feel like a failure).  Taking this business to the public?  That's an entirely different ball park and I finally took the plunge on it.

I wouldn't say it was a failure in the slightest.  The circumstances simply weren't right.  I signed up to sell my prints at the Little Rock Food Truck Festival.  Last year Evan and I went to this glorious idea of a party and didn't get to eat ONE DAMN THING.  It was so freaking packed and annoyed and hungry, we left empty handed.  This year when I saw that I could sell my prints, I thought "this is it!  I have to take my prints to the public!"

Things started going sour a few days before when they said "it might rain."  Two days before the festival, we got an email from those organizing and they said "we're moving you inside in case it rains.  Hope people can find you." (might not have been the exact words, but you get the idea)

The day of?  DOWNPOUR.  Not the entire time ... just 5.5 out of 6 hours.  I kid you not.  NOBODY was outside buying food (well except for Evan who bought me some delicious (yet soggy) nachos).  All the thousands of people that had come last year?  They were snuggled up in their beds at HOME. 

That being said, like I said, wasn't a total failure!  I still sold 8 prints and heard that about 40% of the vendors didn't sell a thing so I can't complain.  But I'm not too sure when I'll do another show again.  They're a ton of work, I have to find babysitters, and I have to count on the weather to not mess me up, haha!  It was definitely an experience and a fun one at that.  Evan was SUCH a great sport waking up at 6:30 on his only weekend off. 

I worked really hard at making my set up adorable and googled and pinterested the heck out of "craft show booth."  Here's what I came up with:

It takes a lot more work/ time / preparation than you'd think to prepare for a show.  What should you bring?  How should you price things?  What kind of look are you going for?

The first thing I had to decide was how I was going to display my prints.  A craft show, in my opinion, is 50% what you've got and 50% how you display it.  While I'm fully aware that my set up wasn't outstanding, I also think it wasn't bad for a first time attendee!

Evan built me the stand in all his free time (note: HUGE amount of sarcasm shooting out of my fingers as I type that).  We bought all the pieces at hobby lobby.  Next I went and bought some cheap, but not too cheap (b/c the whole point is for your prints to look cute) frames at Michael's.  Did you know you get 15% off ALWAYS with a Teacher ID there?  So I got them 50% off PLUS another 15%.  LOVE.

Then I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought two contrasting Fabrics on sale plus those baskets were on clearance for $1.50 a piece.

I think, as silly as it sounds, that my two favorite things were the flowers and glass bottles on the side (those flowers are STILL ALIVE two weeks later at home) and the little welcome banner I made.  I plan on putting something like this in my etsy shop with kiddos names.  How cute would that look in a maternity picture or hanging above a crib? 

That being said, I have some HUGE places in which to improve.  I thought that bringing about 10 pieces was a better idea than inundating people with tons of different things.  Turns out that is totally wrong.  I got asked about two prints that I DO make but hadn't brought with me.  Sure you can give them their business card, but if you have it in person they are much more likely to buy it. 

I also wish I had put quite a few more prints/ frames on the actual stand.  It looks too bare.  I hadn't had the time to set it all up to see how it would look until I arrived the morning of.  I had planned on doing all of that the night before and did work until about 11:00 pm but by then I was exhausted.

All in all, I think the booth was a "welcoming" haha ... wow ... one and I definitely didn't look TOO out of place!  The creative in me is slowly coming out and it's a BLAST in the process! : )

Gloria's 3 month letter

 My dearest Gloria:

Yes this letter is 12 days late ... PLEASE forgive me!  I truly don't have any excuses!  We just took forever to take your 3 month pictures and should never have let it drag on that much.

This month you spent time becoming even MORE wonderful:  you laugh now, mainly with your Daddy when he tickles you, and you smile ... ALL THE TIME.  It doesn't take anything to make you smile.  If we just say "HI!" you smile.  It's so contagious and I love it.

Your hair didn't fall out quite like your sisters did at this stage in her life.  It's not particularly long either, but we're hoping that this will help the hair situation ... only time will tell.  You grab on to your toys SO well now!  You like grabbing on to blankets, hold your pacifier in your mouth, and hold your head up oh so well.  You're not routinely rolling over yet, but I know that will happen in this next month.  Part of the problem we have is that you LOVE tummy time.  As in, it soothes you to sleep ... your sister used to roll over because she was so annoyed with being on her belly that she wanted ANYTHING but.  You?  You just turn your head from side to side and eventually those eyes close in to a sweet sleep.

Speaking about sleep ... DEAR LORD child, you're amazing.  You always do 11 hours a night (about 8:30 - 7:30) and have done 12 hours before a few times.  It is SO glorious that we actually get to sleep as parents.  That is one area that, as parents, we are so blessed.

Now size wise: I'm not too sure how much you weigh and to be honest, it's because I haven't weighed you. You aren't quite as big as your sister was I don't think, but you're longer.  You have been in 3 month clothing for nearly a month.  Now you're wearing them really perfectly and we have all our 3-6 month clothing in the drawers too.  You LOVE the water and find so much peace when getting a bath. 

If I had to use one word to describe you, it would be EASY GOING.  You just go with the flow to anything we're doing.  It's crazy how well you fit in to our lives.  I really thought that having a second baby was going to rock our world, and truth be told, it hasn't!  It's just worked brilliantly!  Maybe it's because we were more prepared for the work that kiddos are, but the truth of the matter is that we are SO blessed and happy you're here!!

Your sister continues to be obsessed with you and asks for you first thing every single morning.  She has never had a bit of jealousy (surprising really) and is actually quite helpful ... she puts the paci in your mouth when you're getting hungry and want your bottle, she puts away your dirty clothes, she brings me burp clothes, etc.  She's a handy girl to have around and I can't wait to see you guys become the best of friends.

We love you baby Gloria!  MWAH!

Love, Mommy

Big, Huge, Colossal Changes

I'm sure you've noticed by now that blogging has taken a HUGE backseat in my life recently.  Yes this is technically when I really SHOULD be blogging more because this is when my two gorgeous girls are growing before our eyes!  But I've just been SO dang busy.  And quite frankly, it's been draining.

Here's a run down of a typical day:
- wake up at 5:48 (I get every last minute of sleep I can).  Get ready and head to Liliana's room around 6:45.  Wake her up and hold her for a couple minutes while she looks at me like "WHY you mean woman?  Why would anybody be up at this ungodly hour?"
- head to Gloria's room around 7:00 am and wake her up (don't hate ... our babies are FABULOUS sleepers ... Gloria would sleep 11 to 12 hours if we let her and she's only a tiny bit over 3 months)
- go downstairs, get Liliana milk for the car ride to school - head out around 7:15
- be the FIRST person to Gloria's daycare RIGHT at 7:30 and drop her off
- drive over to Liliana's daycare and drop her off
- get to work about 9 minutes late at 7:54 (it seems to be a habit to arrive at that time)
- work during the day and leave around 4:20
- repeat process of both pick ups and arrive home around 5:30
- basically play with children praying for Evan to get home because I have so many orders to fulfill on the etsy business
- Evan gets home sometime (ranges ... sometimes 6 pm, sometimes 7:30, sometimes he leaves b/c he's on call) and I go immediately to my office to do the etsy business
- Evan's an angel and handles the kiddos until bed time and puts them down EVERY night he's home while I work
- I head to post office around 8:30 to send off as many packages as I had time to print
- I get home and keep working until about 10 pm
- Evan and I relax from 10 - 10:30 and head upstairs for bed (or actually, usually for... winky winky ... HEY, I'm busy, but I have my priorities people!! haha!)

YES this sounds exhausting.  YES it is.

SO ... this routine wasn't working.  And quite frankly I haven't been very content/ challenged/ fulfilled with my job lately.

SOOOOOO ... here's the big, huge, colossal news:

I put in my two weeks at work on Monday!  My last day of work at the school is 8 days away!  I will now be a full-time business woman and these etsy shops are MY JOB!  I am SO elated, feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and feel QUITE ecstatic about the whole thing.  Work?  I think they're quite perturbed, but life is about choices and this job challenges me, makes me happy, and makes me enough money to support our family along with Evan's salary.  No we're not living in luxury, but we weren't before either!

The girls will stay at school still (or at least until January since I'm hoping Christmas brings even more business). These businesses will be my JOB.  I will treat it like a job.  Well, except for the fact that I can jam out to music while working, and can be in my jeans, flip flops, or butt naked if I wanted to be.

Here are the links again to the businesses (Pretty Prints Shop AND C'mon Let's Celebrate)!  Please do keep me in mind for anything you want done!  Now that it's full-time, it's only like donkey kong and I just want to expand expand expand!  Christmas is coming up so get started early!

We've Got A Winner!

So we had 30 entries for the mint giveaway and we have a winner!!!! ....

DRUMROLL ....

Lauren Nygard is our winner! : )

CONGRATS Lauren!  Send me an email at lilianateachesus@gmail.com and I'll send you the info soon!

One SWEET (think Mint) Giveaway!

A few weeks ago someone from Minted.com emailed me and asked if I wanted to host a giveaway for one lucky reader!  I immediately emailed him back and said YES b/c I had heard of the website before and mainly b/c they are ALL over pinterest for their beyond adorable stuff.

guys, I'm not kidding when I say this next sentence:

This website has the CUTEST Christmas cards I've EVER seen.  Like ... EVER.

And I have visited a ton of them!  They're honestly, not just saying this b/c I'm hosting a giveaway, so freakin stinking adorable.  I wish I could submit my name in to this giveaway to win it.

Wanna see what I'm talking about?

newlyweds anyone? CUTE!

This one in particular ... dear lord ... has my heart!!!!! I would love to say "all we want
for Christmas is our girls (or them)!"  See minted.com should hire me! ; )

I think this one might be the winner for our family.  It's just so bright and fun!

And it doesn't stop there.  They have beautiful birth announcements too!

AND you want to know what you could get?  One lucky reader will receive

$50 dollars + free shipping !!!!

Wanna win?  Here's what you have to do.  Leave me a comment letting me know whatcha did!

(1) Go to minted.com and tell me your favorite thing they have (1 entry)

(2) Follow "lacefields in love" (1 entry)

(3) Facebook this giveaway/ tweet this giveaway with a link to this post (2 entries)

(4) Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post  (3 entries)

And there you go!  I will announce the winner next Friday (October 5th!) so you have an entire week to keep entering!! : )

My Losing the Baby Weight Plan (Part II)

With Liliana I documented my weight loss journey after giving birth to a T.  I updated every week and stepped on that scale religiously until I got the number I wanted.  I watched what I ate.  I hit the gym hard.  And it happened.  And I was really proud of myself for that!

This go around, life has been different: more hectic, more kids to watch, two jobs, and no gym to join.  The exercise hasn't been happening b/c our gym that had a daycare built in moved MUCH further away from the house.  BOO.  Apparently the owners of the gym we used to use got a divorce and it was a nasty one.  Hence gym moving and hence my crying.

And as for my diet?  Well I just eat horribly and I'm ashamed to admit it!  Evan and I have repeatedly sat on the couch with a bag of chocolate chips just chowing down.  It's embarrassing really.  I can, however, say that I have a healthy snack with Liliana every afternoon/ evening while we're waiting to see if Evan will be home in time for dinner (yesterday not so much for instance).  We eat grapes and a slice of cheese together.  It's one of my favorite times of the day b/c she comes home, says "grape and cheese snack Mommy!" and opens the fridge and pulls out her grapes, a bowl, and her slice of cheese all by herself.  Independent booger.

Other differences: I am on the go ALL THE TIME now.  Yes my job requires I sit in a chair a lot and when I'm home, I do job #2 that takes up a ton of time (the etsy shop) and that also requires sitting on a chair, but let's just say I don't STAY in the chair for long.  At job #1 I'm getting up to go have meetings, to help students, etc.  I walk from building to building.  I put kids in car seats 12 times a day.  I run around with Liliana, dance with her in the kitchen, pick up babies and give kisses WHILE doing job #2.  So that's one change that has helped the baby loss journey a wee bit.

The  big difference between the two though?  I gained less weight this go around.  I ate better (read: didn't eat a bag of gummy bears every single day like I did with Liliana).  And here's the skinny:

WEIGHT wise, I'm doing pretty poorly ... I think.  I wouldn't know.  I haven't weighed myself in over 2 weeks.  Whenever I remember, I'm like "eh, I'll do it later."

SIZE wise ... I still have a ways to go as well.  All my dresses fit me snug (which Evan freaking LOVES.  We have this joke that I'm wearing "jump me now!" outfits because the dresses hug my ... assets shall we say?  Regardless of the TMI, point is, they fit YES ... but quite snug).

That being said, with Liliana I only had 7 pounds to lose at this stage.  This go around?  I have ... let's just say I'm guessing it's more like 12.  BUT at the same time ...

MY PANTS FIT THIS MORNING!!!! 

I REFUSE to buy other clothes after I'm pregnant.  I did it with Liliana and I'm doing it here.  I think it's a way of MAKING me want to lose the weight.  If I go buy a size up, I'll never force myself to lose the weight.  SO here I am, in my normal pants feeling pretty damn great about myself even though I've done a whole lot of nothing to get there.

Typing out this post has really made me want to start this journey again.  I want to feel good about myself once again.  SO, what is my plan?

Truth be told, as long as I keep the two jobs, I can't exercise during the week.  I simply don't have time.  Take yesterday for example (not a rare day at all).  I got home with the girls around 5:30 and fed Gloria.  Evan texted at 6 that we should eat dinner without him.  We did.  He called around 7:40 that he was on his way home.  The second he got home, I went in to the study to work on the etsy shops and did non-stop until 10:00.  Evan and I decide to sit on the couch and watch New Girl so that we can actually talk to each other a tiny bit (ugh, this schedule is draining).  We stay up watching until about 10:30 and then go upstairs.  SO, no workout time as long as these two things continue.  SURE I could MAKE the time for it.  I've always said it's an excuse when people say the don't have the time, but I would much rather have my 30 minutes of cuddling with my husband every night so that's what I'm choosing for now.

SO my plan?  Exercise on the weekends.  Two times a week is better than nothing.

ALSO, I'm going to really start watching what I shove in my mouth. 

HOPEFULLY these two things will motivate me to really get it going.  I don't just want the pants to fit like they do now.  I want to go back to feeling good about myself in a swimsuit. And right now, I'm pretty sure everybody would run for cover. ; )

Mind BLOWN

The last two days I've come down with a wee bit of a cold.  I feel a tiny bit better today than I did yesterday (probably b/c I took two HUGE swigs of nyquil last night that had me drooling on my pillow until Evan's alarm went off).

It all started on Sunday.  I was running some errands while the girls napped and I felt that sudden intense pain in the throat.  That "oh SHIT" pain where you know it's a comin and you dread the feeling of cruddiness in your throat, lungs, etc.

I got home and whimpered about it like a baby.  When I woke up on Monday I felt even worse.

I whimpered about it at work (where people promptly told me "you better not get me sick!") and after Evan got home he asked me

"How would you like some apple cider?"

I am a HUGE believer and advocate in apple cider.  I HATE coffee, but will take a Caramel Applce Spice from Starbucks ANY DAY.  Sure they're $4.00 which is an absolute rip off for what I'm guessing is straight out of a jug apple juice heated up, but whatever.

I notice it takes Evan a smidgen longer than normal to make my apple cider.  Then I had a sip.

OH DEAR LORD.  It was AMAZING.  This wasn't out of a packet and this certainly wasn't my "recipe" (aka taking Liliana's apple juice and nuking it for 30 seconds).

I looked up with big eyes that said "you are the best husband EVER and are so going to get lucky for this!"

So ... you want your own version of the Starbucks $4.00 apple caramel spice but on a CHEAP budget?

ALL YOU DO IS ...

Take cheap-o apple juice from sams.
Squeeze some caramel sauce (like that you buy to put on sundae's) in to the cup
Put in a few dashes of cinnamon
Put in microwave.

VOILA!!!! YUM. 

One of those Moments/ Days/ Weeks/ Months/ Life

Lately I've been able to sit back and really realize how treasured my life is.  I have just about everything I want in life, I can't really complain about much.  I think having a second baby has made me more relaxed ...

Yes I'm perfectly aware this makes ZERO sense.  Usually a second baby brings more tension, less sleep, etc. but it's had the opposite effect on me.

Here's an example: our oven is broken and will be until Friday, but you know what?  You just deal with it.  You plan on sandwiches and cereal for the week and move on because that is such a tiny thing to stress about!

I am just one lucky, happy lady lately.  I've found a lot of peace with my role as a mother, a wife, and a working woman.  I know the plans I have, I'm excited to fulfill them (can't really disclose what I'm talking about on this for another couple weeks). 

I am so ridiculously happily married.  Evan's and I marriage is always strong but like most marriages it's a roller coaster ride.  Lately though?  I swear, we're at the peak and we've been there for months!

Every single stinking day, we have those moments.  Those "wow, we're so happy together" moments and they last and last and last.  Our relationship, our love life (yes this has to be included b/c it's so important!), our ability to put our careers aside to spend time together, etc...it's all so AMAZING lately and meshing well together. 

We're such a team with the girls.  For instance, I take them to school every morning and pick them up 99% of the afternoons.  But then again, he puts them down for bed about 80% of the time.  He showers them 90% of the time.  Balancing that out, for the most part, makes neither one of us ever frustrated or exhausted with the kids (which is easy to get!) When I get home from work I usually have to do a couple hours of work for the etsy shops and if he gets home at 7:30 (common thing these days ... life has been BUSY for him, as usual), he just puts them to bed without a concern or worry.  How he maintains his sanity by working those hours and then just coming home to work more I don't know.  But he does it.

And he does it so well.

Yesterday afternoon he was upstairs showering after a workout and putting away laundry while I was working on the etsy shop.  When he came back downstairs he told me "there's a dress in your closet that I have never seen before!"

I thought "have I gone shopping lately and didn't tell him?"  Evan's ALWAYS telling me to go shopping more.  In fact, just yesterday he told me I needed to play hooky from work one day and go shopping.  Haha, great husband I know.

Anyway, I suddenly realized what he meant.  The stinker had bought me a new dress at Target and it is OH SO CUTE!

As for the other huge source of happiness in my life?  My girls ... they are just the most incredible girls on this planet!

Gloria continues to be Ms. Easy-going.  She was fussier this last week and turns out ... the poor baby was EXHAUSTED and isn't getting the sleep she wants at daycare (I seem to remember this happening to Liliana too, that they get woken up by other kiddos and Gloria is a VERY light sleeper so it's not surprising).  Friday night, she slept 12 hours straight and Saturday another 11 hours!  She's 2 1/2 months! AWESOME!!

Liliana is the most hilarious kid I've ever seen. She's got personality for 50 kids put together.  Her new obsession are "cools" and purses (or any bag works ... even a Kroger one).  We've had to limit our outings to only ONE pair of sunglasses and ONE purse b/c if not she'd have 10 of each on.  She loves her sister and this morning the first thing she told me was "Where's  Gloria?  I just love my sissy so much!"  Good lord, how can your heart not melt? 

I haven't been blogging as much recently b/c I tend to blog when I'm redoing a room in the house or when things are tough, but I think it's also okay to blog and just say

Life is Amazing.

Making Time

Last night Evan stayed home cleaning the house with Gloria while I ran to the post office to have a date with Liliana.  Evan and I try to each have our Liliana one-on-one time to remind her how special she is to us.  She LOVES this time with us.  She's a great helper at the post office too! :)  On my way home we stopped at Kroger to get some chips and I decided it was a great evening to rent a movie and cuddle on the couch with my man.

Cuddle nights on the couch are one of our favorite pasttimes.  We're BIG on putting the kiddos to sleep and making us time.  Lately we've really focused on getting the kids down for bed at a decent hour so that we can spend time together SANS kiddos.  I realize this isn't the easiest task with a two year old and a two month old, but I must say, we're excelling!  The girls took naps at the same time on Saturday AND Sunday and both were asleep by 9 pm each night. This means we get LOTS of time together as a couple (I mean that in the hubba hubba way and in just the fun sitting on the couch watching a movie way).

I rented a movie I had been wanting to see for a while called "Friends with Kids." The movie is your typical decent romantic comedy: 6 friends (two of them couples) .... 2 of them having kids, those two couples seem miserable.  The two single friends decide to have a kid together but not be togheter. Spoiler alert: they end up falling in love with eachother. WHAT?  Didn't see that coming! ; )

Anyway, the movie really focused on the miserable aspect of having kids and the number it does on a marriage.  This kinda pissed me off.  It doesn't HAVE to be like that.

YES the kiddos are time consuming.  YES Evan and I have less down time than we used to, but it DOES NOT consume our lives.  We have a 2 month old and a 27 month old and both work full-time jobs (his counts as two jobs actually).  And yet, we still MAKE the time.

One of my pet peeves is when people say they don't HAVE the time to do something.  "We don't HAVE the time to clean." "We don't HAVE the time to workout." "We don't HAVE the time to ...." you get the picture.

NONE of those statements are true.

You HAVE the time.  You just don't MAKE the time.

Honestly I don't MAKE the time to clean our house often enough.  I've realized it won't be spotless and the vacuum will be run about every week and a half.  And that's as good as we're going to do it because I would rather have a cuddle night on the couch with my husband.

We MAKE the time to be together.  Having kids hasn't changed the hubba hubba time AT ALL ... it's just as strong as ever (TMI sorry!) and same with just watching movies etc.  We make it a priority.  If we have work to do (be it the etsy shop or Evan's job since he not only has to work 80 hours but is required to write papers as well), we say "we'll work for 30 minutes and then we're done and will spend time together."

One BIG change we've made since having kids?  We're on the internet and on our phones SO much less.  Our computers don't get turned on for DAYS sometimes.  We used to surf the internet while sitting next to each other but now, our time is more limited since we do have the kids taking more of it so we MAKE the time by putting the laptop away and spending time together.

We spend time together by reading books side by side, by playing games (cards, board games, or even a 2 player game on our tablet that we've been particularly addicted to lately), by baking together (which often results in flirting by putting brownie batter on each others cheeks etc).

During the movie, Evan had his arms wrapped around me and told me something that he says frequently but I never get tired of hearing:

"You're my favorite."

I love when he tells me that.  I'm his favorite.  And he's mine.  And that is  SO worth making time for.

Having kids doesn't have to kill your relationship.  I don't even believe it has to slow it down.  You just work with it. And if you're lucky, like we are, you find so much joy in your new found family that you're happier than ever before.

Gloria's 2 month letter!

My Dearest Wonderful Gloria:

I can't believe you're already 2 months old.  I know they say time flies when you have kids and it has with your sister, but I suppose since we're both working like crazy AND have sissy, these first two months of your life have literally FLOWN by. 

I can't stress enough to you how AMAZING you are as a baby.  I type that, I tell people that, and I scream it off the roof tops and then when people meet you?  They can't BELIEVE how chill you are.  You'll lay on your tummy, look around, roll over occasionally, and be content.  Then I'll turn you around and you remain ... guess what ... content! ; )

You are such a TALL girl.  You're weighing a little over 11 pounds (smaller than your sister was at this age) but you've been in size 3 month clothing for about 3 weeks and you're in size 2 diaper and have been for about 3 weeks as well.  The other stuff just wasn't tall enough for you.  You're a smiley and cooing machine too.  It's so fun to hear you talk to us.  You respond so well to someone tickling your nose (especially when your Daddy does it).

We've brought you in the water a few times and your Daddy is convinced (and this is  a quote) that you "have a feel for the water."  He was so impressed with how you floated on your back and kicked your little legs.  It was with purpose.

 

As for your sleeping habits?  Holy moly you're fabulous!  You're averaging about 7 to 7.5 hours if I had to guess, but less than 6.5 is a thing of the past!  You had some ROUGH nights when we went to Washington D.C. for your Uncle Tyler's wedding.  We don't really know why.  You wouldn't necessarily fuss, you just didn't want to sleep.  I think you knew you weren't in your room because literally the SECOND we got you home, you took a 3 hour nap and then slept 7 hours that night.  Since then, you've given us a couple nights where I had to WAKE YOU UP to go to work because you had slept 9.5 hours.  Seriously, what 2 month old does that?

Your sister continues to be amazed with you.  She's a GREAT helper too!  She tells me "Mommy I get sissy's bottle and milk!"  "Mommy, I will help with sissy's pacifier!"  She has learned the baby lingo and is a great big sister to you already.

You started daycare full time this week and that was a rough transition for Mommy.  She has a 50 minute commute to and from work everyday just so you and sissy can get to school.  It's frustrating and exhausting I must admit.  Hopefully we can figure out a solution for this soon because your Mommy isn't superwoman!

OK my champion baby girl, I think that's enough of a letter for the month.  We love you.  We really do.  You complete our family SO perfectly!!! A perfect match.

Love you,

Mommy

my businesses and my BEAUTIFUL gals

It's been a long while since I've written!  In fact, this might just be the longest bloggy break I've ever taken.  Don't know why ... I haven't felt very inspired to write I suppose.  Nothing much to write about as well.

That, however, doesn't mean I haven't been busy as can be!

We've had quite a few visitors wanting to see our adorable, beautiful, and SO easy going Gloria.  I've also been at work quite a lot already.  My godmother came to visit this entire week and I put in about 25 hours to get things settled and organized so that when I do return in a week, things will be more put together for me. 

I've also been VERY busy with the etsy shops.  Yes, I said SHOPS.  I started a second one with some invitations, menu cards, etc. and while it's not nearly as stocked as the other one, it has added some more work for sure!  I've already printed about 150 invitations for people and it's so fun bringing some happiness in to these events and doing it for a reasonable price.  I get so ANGRY when I see how much others charge.  Yes, it takes me a HUGE amount of time to print them, cut them, and go to the post office everyday, but I like doing it at a reasonable price.  Not everybody can spend $50,000 on a wedding.

I digressed.  When I finally got the inspiration to write today, I thought I'd write about the two things that have been occupying my mind lately: my businesses and more importantly, my beautiful gals!

C'mon Let's Celebrate. Here I have invitations, menu cards, programs, and more.  I'm trying to add more listings (because I have the BIGGEST list of ideas on my phone and computer) but it takes quite a lot of time to design them and my attention is more on the sides of looking at this beautiful face as often as possible. ; )

Gloria has been SUCH an awesome baby.  She had 3 rough days last week because I gave her a stomach virus and while I was sitting on the toilet she was spitting up.  It wasn't pretty.  But the good news is she continued to sleep through it all (we're averaging about 5.5 hours between feedings, but sometimes get as much as 6.5).  I'd LOVE for it to be longer sleeping, but we go from about 9:30 to 3 and then 6:30 we wake up for the day.  Evan does the 3 am feed most nights so I'm sleeping from 11:30 to 6:30 most mornings and with a newborn that's pretty dang good!  As for the daytime, she continues to be SO easy peesy.  She just does tummy time or sits in her boppy for 45 minutes looking at the world without a fuss.  Then when it's time to eat, she lets you know!  But, she feeds quickly, and then takes a snooze or continues on her merry way looking around happily.  It's so wonderful!

So I've discussed one beautiful gal and one business.  Here's the SECOND business.

Pretty Prints Shop is all about that: any print I can imagine.  I've done signs for people's weddings, quite a few baptism gifts, things for the kitchen, and of course a ton in the nursery! I add more to this one because it's my baby and I've had ideas for it forever.  

And my original baby ... here she is ... in her full glory.  She is SO stinking fun right now.

Liliana sings and talks up a STORM.  Her favorite things to say are "Daddy and Mommy are silly!" or she's a big fan of saying "Ok Mommy be right back!" when she goes to the potty.  This morning, she told me "Madrina has my heart"  Yeah, she's warmed up to my godmother quite a lot!  She's such a brilliant little stinker.  I'm pretty obsessed with her.

All in all life has been great since Gloria was born.  I'm REALLY overwhelmed with the thought of going back to work full-time without any help (Evan's hours continue to be insane).  But, that's another blog post for another day. : )

The Daycare Debacle

I wish I could say I've been on maternity leave this last week, but that isn't the case at all.  In fact, I went to work full-time all of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week.  To be completely honest, I was less than thrilled to be there.  It was a great conference, but I had to bring Gloria with me on Wednesday and let me tell you, conferences are QUIET and I felt horrible any time that she made the slightest peep.  She is SUCH a good baby, but babies do make noise and they do require time.  On Thursday and Friday, I had Evan's Mom here to watch Gloria and it was really hard leaving her.  It was the first time I had been without her and I just wanted to get home to hug on her more.

This week, I've worked a few hours everyday and brought her to work with me.  I'm just trying to get things ready for school starting and trying to make sure everything is in order for the first couple of weeks (until I return and have her in daycare).

Going back to work made me realize that I really had to get this daycare situation in order.  I've had a hell of a time finding decent daycare in this city.  From what I figure, Little Rock has two GREAT daycares for infants and the wait list on them is insane.  I put Gloria on the list when I was 11 weeks pregnant and was no where near the top.  Had I know, I would have put her on the list when we were TTC!  Sounds ridiculous, but that's the way it is.  In another life, I'm going to open a QUALITY amazing daycare.  It isn't even the price ... I just want a place that is worthy of my children.  Believe it or not, I don't mean a palace.  I mean a safe, nurturing, and educational environment.

We ADORE ADORE ADORE (yes all 3 in caps is necessary) where Liliana is now, but that took time to find (if you recall, we had a horrible experience at the first daycare we had her at here).  Unfortunately, her current school starts at 18 months.  It's a Montessori school and we have had ZERO complaints with them since she started there 9 months ago.

Last week I went to the daycare where I planned on putting Gloria.  When they took me to the room I saw a baby with poop ON HIS FACE.  ALL over his face. When I mentioned this to them they said "don't worry, we change every hour and he'll be changed in thirty minutes."  Yes they were going to leave that baby in his crib with SHIT on his face for 30 minutes.  I showed them the check in my hand, and swiftly walked out.  I made a statement.  I don't care if I seemed overbearing, but I refuse to let my child be at a place like that.

I had attitude ... big time attitude in front of them.  But the second I got to the car, the water works started.  Being a working mother is stressful sometimes (ok all the time) but the last thing I want is to feel guilty for working.  And leaving here there was NOT AN OPTION.  I would have rather stayed home.

When I was at the conference the head of our upper school heard my story and the next day she told me "I made some calls.  I got her a spot at a great place."

No it isn't one of the two "go to" places, but I toured it and it's pretty great.  I thought about taking Liliana out of her current place to not have 2 drop offs in the mornings, but I couldn't do that to my Liliana.  She's just too happy there.

So for now, I'll have a pretty long commute to do this, but it looks like Gloria will move in January to a place one block away from Liliana's.

Ultimately, we've got something settled for now.  And I won't feel guilty.  I'll have to leave earlier than I'd like, but we make sacrifices as parents and I am glad things are resolved for now.

BUT ... I still have 24 days of leave left (well, semi leave ... as you can see, I've still been working) and I plan to cherish time with my two gals as much as possible.

Gloria's 1 Month Letter

Gloria:

I wrote a letter to your sister nearly every month for the first year of her life and want to do the same for you.  That way, one day, when you ask me "what was I like as a baby?" I can pull these letters out and have you read EXACTLY what you were like!

The main thing I can tell you so far is that you are SO very easy as a baby.  Your sister was a good baby, but I must admit, you are MUCH easier going.  You NEVER cry unless you're hungry or aren't finished burping.  It's so nice to be able to take you places without being concerned about your being very fussy.  I know that as long as I've fed you recently, I'm good.  Many times people say newborns just sleep all the time, and while you of course are sleeping like a newborn, you also LOVE to be awake and just look around.

You're so content being awake and focusing on different lights, contrasting colors, etc.  You adore lying on your belly.  I know this is REALLY uncommon for babies, but really and truly it's your favorite thing.  You just lie on your belly, turn your head from side to side, rollover (yep, you rolled over a NINE days!), and then after 45 minutes or so, you just fall asleep.  I can't get over it.  I keep looking over and saying "she's still wide awake!" because normally babies would  be crying by then.

As for sleep, have to admit, sissy has you beat there because she never slept less than 4 hours at a time, but you are getting better!  You were going about 3 hours and 15 minutes for a week, went up to 3 hours and 30 minutes, and now most nights you give us one 5 hours stretch and then another 3 hour stretch.  Last night though, you did three 3 hour stretches ... Mommy's sleepy! : )

You're just like sissy and love the water already.  Your Daddy insists that most babies are scared of water because parents make it that way.  So he's already dumping water on your face without fear and you don't even FLINCH!  You take it like a total trooper.

My favorite thing on earth is seeing Liliana and you together.  Liliana is completely OBSESSED with you!  She gives you kisses CONSTANTLY, hugs you CONSTANTLY, and always wants to help no matter what we're doing.  If you are hungry she tells you "no sissy, don't cry sissy!" and tries to give you a pacifier (which you do take for about 15 minutes, it's glorious!).  Whenever Liliana's going to sleep, she always insists on blowing you a kiss (even if you're in your room asleep).  I can tell you two are going to have so much fun together.  I'm so glad Liliana hasn't developed any jealousy issues yet.  She simply sees you as her friend and that's exactly what you two are: BEST friends! : )

You are truly a gorgeous little girl.  I have had SO much fun being with you these weeks.  I didn't get any maternity leave with sissy so this has been a true opportunity to bond with you and I've really taken advantage of it.  I'm going to CRY when it's time to go back to work, but I know you're going to make amazing friends at school just like your sister has done.

LOVE you Gloria.  You are the perfect addition to our family!

Love,
Mommy

Makes You Think

Last week we were at Meme's house (Evan's aunt, aka Liliana's favorite person on earth) and his uncle told us "Mike was in Colorado this weekend and I still haven't heard from him.  I texted him 2 days ago.  He would be the kind to go to a midnight showing of a movie."

We didn't think too much of it.  But then again, I thought "Mike doesn't seem like the kind of guy to not text back for TWO entire days when he knows his Dad is worried." 

Turns out, Evan's cousin WAS seeing Batman on opening day.  In Aurora.  At the same movie theatre.

Evan and his cousin Mike get along really swimmingly.  We even had him over for dinner a few months ago and I can see why Evan always enjoys his company so much.  He's a laid back guy, super kind, a brilliant artist, and just a really good person.

Mike scraped by though.  He went to the 12:01 showing and not the 12:00 showing.  So he was in the movie theatre RIGHT NEXT to where the shooting took place.

This story isn't over though.  A bullet went THROUGH THE WALL and hit the arm of the man in front of him and some debris hit Mike's ear.  In other words, his life was spared by a SMIDGE.

I told my Mom this story and she said "his EAR?  That's an INCH away from his brain ... imagine."

And it made me think.  WOW.  That is absolutely crazy.  My heart breaks for the people that lost their lives.  For the family that lost their 6 year old in the shooting.  And it really hit close to home when Evan's cousin nearly lost his life last week.

As I type this post, I look at my baby girl sweetly asleep on a blanket on the floor and realize HOW MUCH it would hurt to not have my family in my life.  I am so fortunate that we're all safe and healthy.  And I'm so sorry to those that lost their loved ones, because I can not imagine the pain, anger, etc. that I'd be feeling.

Every now and then, these things unfortunately happen where there are shootings and  every time I promise myself to "stop and smell the roses" and spend quality time with those I love.  But this time it just hit a little closer to home, and I promise, this weekend, it'll be us 4, watching the Olympics, and being thankful for what we have.

PS TOTALLY off topic, but in honor of my 150th sale in the etsy shop, I'm doing a 15% discount on anything until Sunday!  Simply email me at prettyprintsshop@gmail.com if you want a custom order (I do invitations, announcements, etc too!) or convo me on etsy letting me know what you want!  THANKS!  I've added some cute things lately ... take a look ...

Get it while it's hot print.

This is a fun print for the kitchen!  I think I'll also make one that says "drop it like it's hot" ... you know ... taking me back to my high school days!  : ) 

Make Today Totally Awesome print. 

 I just think this will look so fun in any dorm room, office, or kids room.  FUN, positive reinforcement.

Like Highschool All Over Again

Evan was off this weekend which was such a treat.  We haven't really been able to have time to "sigh" and "relax" in nearly a month.  This weekend we had a TON of things planned and got basically NONE of it accomplished.

It was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

Sometimes when you have children, you don't realize how much you talk about them.  And yes they're SO important and you should talk about them a lot, but without realizing it, you don't talk about your lives enough.

On Tuesday, I asked our neighbor (who had been asking multiple times "when can I help watch one of the girls?") if they could watch Liliana so Evan and I could go get some ice cream.  She said yes, but nearly right after that, Evan's aunt texted and said "Can we keep Liliana over night on Saturday?  We miss her too much!"  While we love our Liliana and love spending time with her, I knew that since we would have all Friday evening and Saturday during the day with her, we would have a great time and knew she was in great hands.

We dropped Liliana off (actually, Liliana kicked us out ... about 5 minutes after we dropper her off she said "ok Mommy, bye bye!"  When I asked her if she'd miss us, she quickly told me "no."  HAHA.  Gee, thanks Lili!) around 5:30 and took Gloria to Bravo (an Italian restaurant that's pretty darn yummy.  Their lasagna is awesome).  We both bought drinks (my first alcoholic drink in nearly a year!) and Gloria slept through the entire dinner.

And we talked.  And talked.  And talked.

It's amazing how we never run out of things to talk about.  I see him nearly everyday, we text a few times everyday, and we do a really damn good job of always staying in communication with each other, but I still want to know MORE about my husband.  I want to feel like I'm falling in love all over again, constantly.

And that's exactly what this dinner did.

We talked about my future, about his job, about his plans, etc. I love knowing what Evan does all day.  Since he works such long hours, I want to feel like I'm there as much as possible.  I want to hear about his challenges, his victories, and how happy he is to have chosen what he loves to do.  The world of a Urologist is lost on most people, and though I know more than most since my husband is one, I still know SO very little.  He told me about the different cancers he sees on a daily basis, his favorite thing, his least favorite thing to do, etc. etc.

Knowing what he does all day, how much GOOD he does during the day, and the sometimes funny things he is told as well (I can't repeat them on this blog, but if you can imagine, as a Urologist he sees and hears some pretty great stuff) just made me respect him all the more.

When we got home from dinner, we watched "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen."  HIGHLY recommended.  SUPER cute movie.  We cuddled on the couch, talked more, kissed some, stared at Gloria, and realized that we are so blessed to have what we have.

I often realize how fortunate I am to have two beautiful girls in my lives.  And I often sit back and notice how fortunate I am to have a husband that makes me feel gorgeous, loves me unconditionally, and is my perfect match.  But this weekend really made me realize that a million times over.

I felt like I was in high school all over again.  I sat back and stared at him and thought "he is my match."

Oh, and it doesn't hurt that he made some damn good Spaghatti Carbonara last night either.

PS This great blog is hosting a giveaway from my etsy shop HERE!  Go sign up to win!  I'm giving away two digital images! ; ) 

Losing the Baby Weight ... AGAIN

Here I am again!  I feel like I was trying to lose this baby weight two months ago, but it was actually two years ago.  Two years ago, I lost the baby weight with Liliana by eating less and working out A TON.  I was able to join a gym and went 5 days a week for an hour.

This go around, I don't have a gym to join and I certainly won't have an hour a day to spend working out.  I will still work out, but our gym with a daycare here closed so my exercise will be happening at home after the girls are asleep.  And that's going to be TOUGH to convince myself to do it ... I'll be VERY sleepy, exhausted, etc. but I will get it done.

I am 16 days out.  And obviously, I'm not permitted to exercise yet, but I did the inevitable ... "huh, wonder what I'm weighing in at?" this morning and was scared, pleasantly surprised, depressed all at the same time when I saw the results.

I gained less weight this go around.  I gained 36 pounds with Liliana.  I gained 29 pounds this go around.  Considering that the Doctor wanted me to gain between 25 and 30 pounds, I was pretty happy with this weight gain!  I didn't necessarily TRY to gain less weight this pregnancy, but I definitely ate healthier and craved food MUCH less often.  I ate more than normal, of course, but I wasn't eating a bag of candy everyday and weirdly enough ... that helped! haha.

So where am I now? 

WELL, here's the moment of truth.  The moment where I throw my weight out there on the internet for everyone to see.

With Liliana, I had a GOAL dress about 4 1/2 months after her birth because our brother-in-law got married.  My OTHER brother-in-law is getting married this time ... but in 5 weeks.  SO, I know I won't be able to lose all the weight 8 weeks postpartum.  Not really a plausible goal.  I'm not a celebrity who has a trainer, nannines, and a chef. As a result I don't really have a "goal date" to lose all the weight by.  I'd like to do it as quickly and safely as possible.  I miss feeling like myself.  I miss having my toned booty (yeah, you think that's TMI?  Keep reading!) and boobs that don't look like I've been breastfeeding (equivalent = HUGE and HARD followed by DROOPY and LIFELESS... yay childbirth!)

Sorry, I digressed AGAIN. 

Where am I?  Here we go.

Weight when I got pregnant with Gloria: 130 pounds

Weight when I went into labor: 159 pounds

Today's weight: 145.0

Weight to lose before I go back to prepregnancy weight: 15 pounds exactly!

Goal for the next two weeks: lose a couple more pounds at least!  I hope to do this by not eating too much junk food and while I can't workout for 2 more weeks, I 'm going to just try to walk around (without dying in the heat) and maybe doing VERY short workouts depending on how I feel.