Mamas make up

As a new mom my make up routine has been seriously simplified. When B was first born it was a good day if I brushed my teeth and got deodorant on. I've now upgraded to mascara and lip balm. And just recently I picked up some BB cream at Target along with some Baby Lips chap stick. I am very pleased with these products and highly recommend them for mamas on the go!

 

We're off to the beach again this weekend for one last hurrah. Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend!

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Thursday's Things for Baby

Next week B will be six months and I'm anticipating that her pediatrician will give us the green light for solids! So with that coming I decided to feature some of my hopefully soon to be favorite baby feeding itemizing.

the baby bullet

avocado puree...what i plan on her first food being

the baby bullet cook book...so helpful!

her svann high chair that converts to an adult chair

test run with dada

baby bjorn dish

munchin spoons

I will definitely have the video camera ready for B's first taste of big girl food! I will probably wait till next weekend though so M can be home to watch. The baby bullet book has so much useful information for baby's first foods...I had no idea! Such as you feed them around lunch time and not before bed just in case they have an allergic reaction. It also discusses all the benefits to each food, how to pick out the best produce in the store, and what items to steer clear of for the first 18 months (strawberries were one I didn't know).

Work it Wednesday

The life of a stay at home mom makes my outfits pretty uninteresting but I really do try to get up and get dressed even if it is only to go to Target, the grocery store, or the dry cleaners.

 

Me

Blouse: boutique

Shorts: j crew

Shoes: boutique

Blair

Blouse: Janie and jack

Shorts: Carter's

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Wild Side

I've been wanting to try this nail trend all summer and finally had time to sit down and do it. I was pretty pleased with my end product!

OPI: shorts story

Leopard nail by Sally Hansen

 

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Motherhood Monday's

I decided after reading many other mamas blogs that I need to be more organized with my Motherhood Mondays. I was really good at being organized during Maternity Mondays so I know it's possible!

B is 24 weeks old...almost 6 months! I distinctly remember shopping with her at H&M when she was about 12 weeks and seeing a mom who looked like she had it all together. I asked her how old her baby was and she said "6 months." She pitied me and said "it gets better." I'm happy to report that I'm there now and it has gotten better! Better and different. There will always be some struggle surely but I feel more confident now as a mom. And here is our weekly update...

Weight
 Nothing official. I'm thinking she's around 17 pounds? Super chunk. We don't call her lil meatball for nothin'!

love me some baby thighs

Health
Still hasn't had a cold yet but she sure seems to be teething! Major drool, aggressive chewing, ear batting, and a general whineyness have set in. So far I've given her teething tablets that are "all natural" and some baby Orajel. She digs the flavor of the Orajel. :)

Sleep
Nighttime sleep is no problem. She wakes once at night to eat and goes right back down afterwards. It's the naps that I am STILL fighting her on. I think part of it is a lack of consistency on my end. Some days I want to go to the beach and am not willing to stay home just so she can practice napping! Call me selfish. It's how I stay sane.

Clothes
She is wearing anything from 6-9 months. Stop growing like a weed please!

Social
This week we have a shopping date on Thursday and Friday we are heading down to the beach one last time for the summer. Oh, and Sundays she hangs with her pals in the cry room at church. Where ironically not that much crying happens because church is fun! 

Diet
100% breast milk. I gotta say I'm kinda proud that I made it six months solely on milk. I read in a parents magazine that only 15% of babies/moms make it this far. I feel blessed to have her so healthy and lovin' mama's milk!

Baby Gear
She loves her jumparoo and Bumbo (not Bimbo, Mom). She's also taking a keen liking to her crib bumper. LOL. She lays in bed at night and touches it and talks to it till she falls asleep. Cute and weird.

Crying
B is really generally happy. Unless it's nap time. Then there is crying. Lots of crying...

Post Partum
Back to my pre-prego weight. Which is good but I still should lose a few more. But can we talk about the amount of hair I'm losing now?! So sad. They say 50-100 hairs a day is normal. I'm probably at about 500. No joke.


Milestones
Well, she's not sleeping through the night. Or sitting up. Or crawling. But she is maybe getting some teeth. Does that count? She is rolling over. Oh, and on September 5 she will start on solids after her 6 month check up!

PS a big THANK YOU to Strawberry Swing and other Things for letting me borrow steal your headings. :)

Beach Babies

This week B and I have been quite the beach bunnies! We went to Newport Beach this week twice with one of my best friends, Rikki. The weather was amazing and B slept for an hour and a half one day! I was in heaven while B slept because I was able to look at the latest issue of Lucky magazine with my BFF. I felt like I was in college again with no minimal responsibilities. We cooed over the fall fashions and I ate my lunch without bouncing a baby on my lap. Heaven!

Beach day with the best!

Cupcakes on the beach! Mine was better. :) banana chocolate chip!

 

Don't let this smirk fool you. Baby girl is teething and is not so fun to be around lately. More on this Monday. Have a good weekend!

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Thursdays Things for Baby

B finally made the transition from her "swaddle me" to her "sleep sack." At 5.5 months old it's about time! The sleep sack by Halo below is one thing we can't live without lately.

While also on the topic of sleep we Blair also can't live without this white noise machine by First Years. It allows me to get things done around the house without worrying about waking her up. I like this particular model because it doesn't look too babyish or cutesie. I have this thing about baby items looking too childish. Weird, I know since she is exactly that...a baby.

Another necessary sleep item for us has been this monitor by Summer Infant. I'm pretty sure if my mother-in-law could take it home with her and watch it every night she would never go to bed. :) She just loves watching her grandbaby sleep! I love that I can peak on her on the video screen whenever I want!

 

Finally, a bedtime must for B is her Jesus Storybook Bible. A friend of mine received this at her baby shower and was so jazzed about it that I had to get one for B. It has beautiful illustrations and M enjoys reading it to B at night while she nurses before bed. 

So there you have it! At 5.5 months these are our bedtime essentials. I'm sure these things will be ever changing as she grows older.

Tonight we are going out to dinner with my family as a farewell to my youngest brother who is heading off to college Friday morning! He will be attending Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. B is really going to miss her Uncle so I guess we will just have to give him a surprise visit at his dorm?! :) My parents will officially be empty nesters but I plan on filling this void by dropping B off often. Ha. Just when they thought they were done with kids.... muahahhaa. We will miss you Uncle Jake but we know where to find you... :)

Work it Wednesday

This marks the end of my CAbi outfits...until October when I host a party at my house with my mom! I already have my eye on a few pieces from their fall collection.

It's all I can do most of the time to get out of the house dressed in something decent (aka not workout clothes). So you will have to excuse my total lack of accessories lately. Plus, B is quite grabby and I get tired of prying my earrings, necklaces, hair etc out of her death grip.

I decided that B needs to be included in work it Wednesday and I will be adding a weekly photo of her as well. :)

Me...dress by CAbi

B... Onesie and shorts by koala kids, headband from banana pickle designs on etsy

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Pulling Your Chain

Last weekend I forced asked Matt to do a few things around the house. Some of our drawers did not have "pulls" on them when we moved in. I found some that I liked at homedepot.com and M installed them for me. I also ran across some darling pulls at Anthropologie (of course) that I had to get for B's room. Here are out befores and afters below. The first shots are in our junk area buffet. Next comes the laundry room, followed by B's room.

 

 

We aren't quite done with the laundry room. The drawer we left without a handle is a faux drawer and butts up to the sink. We haven't figured out how to attach a handle without drilling into the sink. We're thinking some kind of super glue...

I'm not a fan of the cupboards pulls in the buffet but haven't found a replacement yet for those. I'm still wanting to paint our oak cabinets a creamy white...

Notice how Bella sneaks into my pictures...she loves to be where we are and insists on following us around the house while we work. Love her. :)

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Motherhood Monday's

This post will probably only interest those readers who have young infants with sleeping issues...

While we were at the beach B slept in a playpen in the same room as us and it didn't go over so well. By the end of the week she was waking up practically every two hours because we were right there. And although everyone insisted that they couldn't hear her if we let her cry, we opted not too ( especially since that meant we weren't sleeping either! ).

Needless to say when we got home from our vacation at the beach I had some serious work to do with B's sleeping. It was time for me to lay the smack down on her and get serious. No more Mrs. Nice Mommy. I read up on one of my favorite sleep books, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and went for it. I started by putting her down for her naps and not soothing her anymore. I used to go in her room after she had been crying for five minutes and soothe her. Then if she was still crying I would soothe her after ten minutes etc. Usually she didn't need to be soothed more than twice. But B is a big girl now (almost 6 months!) and I'm over dreading nap time and bed time. I should have done this a long time ago but with your first baby it's hard to be confident!

So on Monday I waited for B to give me her tired cues and then snuggled with her for five minutes, put her in her crib and walked away. She cried for 45 minutes before she fell asleep the first day but lately now she either doesn't cry at all or cries 15 minutes. It's not easy to let her cry but I know it's so she can learn to sleep and I can already see the benefits. She's back to waking only once at night which I can deal with. She still wakes from her naps after 30-45 minutes but I let her cry herself back to sleep because I know that is not an appropriate length of time for her nap.

I highly recommend the mentioned book above along with Baby Wise. I'm determined to help B learn to become a good sleeper and since I only have one child and I'm staying home I really have no excuse not to.

I know that most people don't care about this stuff but as a mom it interests me so I hope some readers found it helpful. Feel free to ask any questions!

And finally we have B's five month pictures...

I love pic stitch! Here is what B is loving this month...

- sitting in her Bumbo while we make dinner

- reading books about farm animals

- chewing on her stuffed animals faces

- playing in her jumperoo/ play mat

- going on walks

- going to church

 

Here is what she is doing...

- sucking her toes

- talking to her toys

- reaching for her toys

- returning strangers smiles

- spending more time on her tummy

- going to bed without her swaddle

 

Today we are going to the beach with my friend Rikki. A great way to beat the heat!

 

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Caught Red Handed

A couple of days ago I went out back to let Bella inside and escape from the heat. I called her name a few times and when she didn't come I went around the side to see what she was up to. Here is what I found...

 

 

 

So apparently Bella had tried to remove the fencing around the tomatoes and ended up fencing herself in! I was in disbelief at her bad luck and I just about fell over laughing when I saw this. Serves her right for eating all of our tomatoes! Needless to say she was caught red handed! I felt too bad for her to scold her. She was probably roasting outside!

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