Weekend Wrap Up

What a fun weekend! I am so glad we were able to go up to Jacksonville to visit my family & friends.

 

We didn’t make it to the beach, only because it’s a LOT for a few hours- trying to time nap time along with actually spending time at the beach, so we just decided to skip it this time. We are trying to plan another family vacation for September at the beach, which will be nice. Will make it MUCH easier with Gabriella, since we will be staying at a condo- easier to feed & nap the baby.

We arrived Thursday morning and just spent the day with my family. My uncle was in town from New Hampshire, and then my parents were there (of course ). Shortly after my Aunt, my Sister & brother in law & nephew and niece arrived.

^That picture makes me laugh. It’s my niece, brother in law, nephew & my sister. My nephew is reaching for my sister- nothing like a mother & her son…and a father & his daughter. ❤

Gabriella THOROUGHLY enjoyed herself & we were SO impressed with HOW good she was. Not just on Thursday, but the whole weekend. Little miss social butterfly! She is really coming around to hanging out with other people, rather than just Craig and I.

^She was having some bonding time with Grandpa. (please notice her gut. Cracks me up!)

On Friday I got to go running with my Dad, which I always enjoy. I was planning to take Gabriella in the BOB, but she fell asleep in the crib, so I was able to run BOB free! I feel so naked without that stroller- haha! But it’s a nice break, and it gives me a chance to really FLY!

Once we finished our run and I was able to shower (thank goodness ), I met up with one of my best friends, Jayme. I just love her & so does Gabriella.

We wanted to meet our other very good friend Tara’s new baby boy!! Sweet baby Ford. I fell IN LOVE and held him for about an hour- he just fell asleep in my arms and OH MY GOSH, totally did NOT help my baby fever.

He is SO very precious!! & it was SO nice to be able to spend time with Jayme and Tara. Love them both, I should say all three (must include little Ford ) very much!

The rest of Friday we spent with my parents and Uncle. Craig bought rib eye steaks for everyone at The Fresh Market– LOVE that grocery store! And since I don’t eat steak (or beef of any kind), I got Seaweed Salad with smoked salmon.

SO SO SO GOOD!! It was on the ‘seafood bar,’ and if you have a Fresh Market near you I HIGHLY recommend it. I EASILY ate a HUGE container all by myself. Way too good, and I’m so sad we don’t have a Fresh Market closer to us.

Saturday we actually decided to come back home, just so that we could have Sunday to get ready for a new week. I also spent the whole day making baby food- I plan on doing a post on that this week!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well! Looking forward to this week, I feel like it’s going to be a good one!!

Coming up on the blog this week: Baby food making 101, All about 8 months, a few new recipes & a must try workout!! Can’t wait to share it with you

Anyone run any races for the 4th?? Did you PR??

Favorite part of July 4th?? Do share!!

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Day in the Life of a SIX Month Old

HALF a year?!?! How in the world is Gabriella ALREADY six months old?!??!

She went from this:

To this:

I have to say, this is my favorite age so far. She is just FUN! She laughs NON stop…and seriously what sound is better than that of a laughing baby?! She can sit up on her own, which she almost insists on doing now. No more laying her down. This girl wants to know EVERYTHING that is going on around her.

What she enjoys the best though is when you hold her up so she can stand…or help her hold herself up on the coffee table.

She’s crawling around like a crazy lady. So far she’s just going backwards, but she is SO CLOSE to going forwards, and you can see the frustration in her little eyes when she just can’t quite GO.

But she will…VERY soon, probably this week. Which means Mommy & Daddy have a big job to get done- Baby proofing!

Other things I’m really enjoying about this age is that she can entertain herself for a little bit. She loves her jump-a-roo, and honestly one of her favorite activities is just sitting in her Bumbo seat watching me cook. Mommy’s little helper.

It’s nice that she is more ‘sturdy’ now because we can take trips to the pool & park- which she LOVES. Also helps break up the day more since we can really get out & DO stuff…other than just running in the stroller, which we still do daily.

We bought this float for her, and she likes it, but she prefers to have someone hold her & pull her around in the water. 🙂 She also likes to just sit on the side & splash around.

My favorite thing though is taking her to the park. She loves the swings, and we just started taking her down the slides.

It made us laugh because while she was swinging, she actually started to yawn & get VERY sleepy…even though she had just woken up from a nap. Park swings are the KEY 😉

At this point we have a nice little routine. (Soon to be Moms out there: Just an FYI- babies don’t know weekends…;)They are still up at the same time, even when Saturdays used to mean sleeping in. Haha!) Gabriella is typically up for the day between 6:30am & 7am. Then we head out for our run around 8 or 8:30am and during our morning run is when she also takes her nap. I usually run between 6- 10 miles each day, and she will sleep for about 30 minutes to an hour. This is her short nap, but it is MUCH needed. Girl misses this nap & it’s NO good for the rest of the morning.

Once we get home, I’ll shower while G hangs out in her seat & then we will run errands or just play until around noon when Craig comes home for lunch. He will play with her while I make his lunch & do other random things around the house.

Once he leaves, which is around 12:30pm, I will feed her & then she will sleep on me from about 1pm until 3 or 4pm. This is the time that I get work done. (That & early in the morning before she wakes up & after she goes to bed at night.) I move my computer to my lap, carefully so that I don’t wake her, and actually get a lot done during this time. This is one of my very favorite times of day. I will sometimes just sit there & stare at her sleeping…she is so peaceful & sometimes it’s hard to believe she is ours! I mean this little baby is OURS! It is the very BEST feeling in the world!

When she wakes from her afternoon nap, we go for a walk- usually 20- 30 minutes, just for some more fresh air (she really enjoys being outside..and so do I!) – we’ll swing by the park, or the pool…just depending on the day.

Then we play at home (tummy time, crawling, etc) until Craig gets home, around 5:30pm. He will feed her some solid food- her favorite is still sweet potatoes, but she is also a big fan of apples & pears.

Then, if she is up for it, we will play with her again before bath time. Craig also does bath time- around 6pm/ 6:30pm, he likes having his ‘Daddy time’ when he gets home. – it’s nice too because it gives me time to make dinner, clean up Gabriella’s dinner (& high chair, floor, etc.). Once she is clean, I head up & feed her (nurse her) and then put her in the crib once she is asleep.- which is usually around 6:30pm or 7pm. She’s not always asleep when I put her to bed, but she is good about ‘putting herself to sleep.’

Now, for the night feedings…well, she is still up quite a bit. Her usual wake up schedule is typically up around 10pm, 1am, 4am & then the next time she will be up for the day. I know…it’s a LOT of getting up for me still. BUT, every time I go in to feed her, she actually DOES eat. (& I waiting 5 minutes before going in, just to see if she would go back to bed, but she doesn’t) So I’m thinking she actually is hungry. I’m going to check with the doctor at her 6 month appointment this week & see what he says- possibly about cutting one feeding out. The good thing for me is that the feedings around usually only 20-25 minutes (fast flow)- which INCLUDES the diaper change before I start feeding her. My problem is that sometimes I have a really hard time falling back asleep once I’m up because my mind goes a thousand miles a minute. Some days I am VERY thankful for coffee 😉

There are a few ‘issues’ that we are having, but I’ll discuss those in the next post. This one is getting pretty long…and you have probably had Gabriella picture overload. 😉

Sorry my blog doesn’t have new posts daily. I was trying to keep up with it everyday, but then it started to get to be a pain…and I didn’t want it to become that, so I took a little break. I figure I will post when I feel like it, and if you ever have any questions, or would like a specific post about a topic- please let me know! OH, and in the upcoming week or so, I will be writing about my Crohn’s disease six months post pregnancy!

Favorite thing to do at the park when you were younger? I always loved the dome- you know that big half circle that you could just hang on upside down, or sit on the VERY top spot & pretend like you were queen (or king) of the play ground. 😀

Favorite peanut butter brand? I’m a loyal JIF lover-  creamy or crunchy – I don’t care – I will eat it all!

Moms: At six months, how often was your baby waking to eat during the night? Also, were you doing formula or breast feeding? Babies favorite solid food?

Hot Topic: Being a Parent is TOUGH

Good Morning!

Today I wanted to discuss how being a parent can be REALLY hard sometimes.

I know that things are usually light & fluffy on my blog, and I like it that way. But this is something that I want to talk about because I feel like EVERY Mom out there can relate to.

During those ten months leading up to having your baby are a time of LOTS of thinking. Worrying about EVERY little thing that could happen while you are pregnant & also what will happen during birth. If you have never given birth before you have NO idea what to expect. It’s a WHOLE new journey and as much as you can hear EVERY labor story under the sun, you really have NO idea what to think until you go through it yourself. And even then you may not know what to expect since a lot of pregnancies & delivery are different than your first one.

One thing I can ASSURE is that it was the ABSOLUTE BEST day of my ENTIRE life. There are NO words that I could ever write to tell you HOW special that day was for me. My whole world just stopped when that little lady was born…and the moment that it went from the two of us to the three of us was a moment that will forever be embedded in my heart.

But once your baby is born you have a whole new sets of worries. And I hear this will NEVER end. There are always a new set of worries as your child ages. All part of being a parent, right?? 🙂

Here’s one thing that people might not tell you…being a parent is TOUGH. It’s HARD work, and honestly it can really test you in a lot of ways. Now, please do NOT take this the wrong way. I love my daughter more than anything in this world. She has completely stolen our hearts. But she really can test us. Not only can she test patience sometimes, but she can also test our marriage and test our sanity. 😉

<—sometimes that’s how I feel- AHH! 😀

The good thing is that all of these ‘tests’ are GOOD & only make us stronger, but sometimes they are hard to get through when you are right in the middle of them.

Now, let me explain a bit more.

As for testing our marriage. First…NO WORRIES, our marriage is 100% great!! But children can make you take a step back & re evaluate how you view things. Like Gabriella’s doctor told me, when you are dating someone you talk about things you enjoy doing, the topic of ‘How do you feel about a baby crying?’ never comes up. It is SO true…and you will probably not understand that statement until you are a parent.

When we first brought Gabriella I didn’t want her to cry for a second. I mean the minute I heard even just a peep out of her, I was right by her side- holding or rocking her. Whatever she needed. I would never change that. I think when they are that little they NEED to immediate comfort, even if they really are just crying to cry. They need to know early on that you will be there for them.

<—Not even a month old! so tiny.

As time went on, probably once she was about two months old, Craig had the ‘crying baby’ talk with me. He was ok with the idea of letting her cry for a little bit.- IF we knew everything was ok. (fed, clean diaper, burped, etc) I was not. I believed that she was still too young (I still believe this), and if she started to cry I went & got her. He told me to talk to her doctor about it to see what he said. He told me it was OK to let her cry for a bit- babies need to learn to self soothe at some point.

It was still VERY hard for me, and most times I just could NOT do it…but I let her cry for maybe two minutes. HEY, it was a HUGE step for me. 🙂

As time went on, and she got older, I kept giving Craig the same reason for immediately going to get her if she cried- that she was ‘still so little.’ He then reminded me that I have been using that excuse for months now. He caught on to me- lol! 🙂

He kept encouraging me to TRY to let her cry, even if it was just for five minutes. I tried, but sometimes I can’t always do it. He just looks at me and says ‘Well, you’re the one who is with her all day…so you’re going to have to deal with it if you can’t let her soothe herself.’ He’s 100% right. Although I have gotten better, and I CAN let her cry for a bit (ok, let’s be real…probably at most 10 minutes), I still have a hard time hearing it. But I DO acknowledge the fact that she does need to learn how to self soothe.

That’s just one example of how it can be tough on your marriage at times- you have different views or opinions on how to raise your child. It’s OK to have different views, but you have to learn to compromise to a point. Our new issue now is trying to get G to sleep in her crib. She’s in her room & has been for about 2 months now, but she is still in her Rock n’ Play…and is NOT into the idea of moving to her crib.

Now, on to the ‘losing my sanity’ side of being a parent. I think this is a CRUIAL side to being a parent. You have to admit that sometimes you feel as though you are going INSANE.

<—Mad G. Even mad G makes me smile.

As much as I ADORE and completely LOVE my daughter, I have days that I really could just use a break. Of course I’m sure some of it has to do with the fact that I AM with her 24/7. I would NOT change that fact. I am so blessed & lucky to be able to work from home and take care of her.

But there comes a time when you just feel like you might pull your hair out if you don’t get a little bit of a break. Just time for ME. Even if it’s just to shave my legs. Now how lame does that sound?! But it’s SO true.

I was having a REALLY rough time on Sunday. I just felt like I was going to break down. I really just wished that I could spend the day out of the house. That I could have Craig take care of her for the day. I just NEEDED, desperately, some ME time. G has not been sleeping well (she was doing SO much better before…I’m not sure what happened), she’s been a bit fussier than normal, and she did NOT want to nap no matter what we tried. (I’m guessing it MAY be a growth spurt.)

What makes it harder is the fact that she will not take a bottle…which means that no matter what, even if I do go somewhere, I HAVE to be back within 3 or 4 hours.  Now, this isn’t a ‘poor me’ kind of post, please do NOT feel bad for me. I am SO incredibly luck to be a Mom and I LOVE it so much. I just could use a day, or even an afternoon to do stupid stuff. Like look around Target (without an Ergo attached to me 😉 ), go clothes shopping, go to the MALL, or to go to the spa. What I would give for a spa day…probably my right arm. No, just kidding 😀

The WHOLE point of this post is to tell you (all of you new parents and soon to be parents out there) is that it is TOTALLY 100% OK to admit you need a break. It’s OK to try to take a day for some YOU time. It’s OK to say that you may lose your mind if you don’t get out of the house. IT’S OK! Do not feel bad. Do not feel guilty. I used to be REALLY hard on myself. I was constantly putting the guilt trip on myself if I ever felt like I needed even a ten minute shower. (it’s amazing how showers suddenly turn into MINUTE showers once you have a baby…you had no idea HOW fast you can actually shower. 😀 )

As much as I would love an afternoon for just me, the pathetic part is that I know that I would INSTANTLY miss G.

Even when I go on long runs on the weekend, when Craig is home, I might be gone for 2 hours & the second I get home I HAVE to hold her. Talk about attachment issues 😉 But I also know that I NEED those two hours- just to clear my mind and enjoy my run.

Oh, and if you have family near by (we do not)- take them up on some date nights out with your husband/ significant other!! How I miss those- even just the late night runs for a Wendy’s frosty. 🙂 (HUGE pregnancy craving)

I just want to tell you that being a parent is HARD WORK!! It’s no easy task. Just remember to try to take a little time for yourself every now & then. You NEED it & you DESERVE it. Your child will appreciate a refreshed Mommy or Daddy. 🙂

We Pulled It Off!

Well, we did it!

I had been planning my Mom’s surprise 60th birthday party since the end of last year, and it finally happened…and it worked out PERFECTLY! She was completely surprised & had a WONDERFUL time!

After running the River Run on Saturday morning with my Dad (I just ran it for fun, not competitively, so that my Dad & I could run it together) we headed back home to get everything ready for the party. My sister was able to get my Mom out of the house Saturday afternoon- I told my Mom that I was having the family over for a get together, she had NO idea all of her friends would be there, she just knew I wanted to decorate & get the food together.

She arrived around 5:30pm (the party start at 5pm) to a room full of her family & friends! Her face was priceless.

SURPRISE!! 🙂

Another surprise was that my Uncle & Aunt had flown in from NEW HAMPSHIRE for the party! They were in another room when she arrived, and after the initial surprise, they ran out and surprised her again.

We were able to get a family picture, which was nice. This one was the best out of all of them…you should of seen the other ones…they were quite interesting 😉

As you can see, Gabriella was being very anti social. I had her in the Ergo the ENTIRE time. She actually ended up sleeping in there for a good three hours, until she went to bed. She was just miserable. Poor little baby was teething like no other!

Most pictures with Gabriella looked like this:

Just a little G head 🙂 That’s me & my Mom’s best friend, Jeannie.

One of my favorite families was also able to come- the family I used to babysit for! Hard to believe how BIG they are now. They were around 6, 4 and a year old when I started babysitting. Now, the oldest – Harrison- is in COLLEGE, Jackie is a Junior in high school and DRIVING (O.M.G! She DROVE to the party & I couldn’t believe it!) & the youngest, Montgomery is in middle school.

Just goes to show- WHERE DOES TIME GO?!?!?! I LOVE this family! I’m so glad that we are still in touch, and we still see each other 🙂

It was such a fun time! I’m so glad that everything worked out, and that my family was able to keep the secret!!

My Mom was still recovering the next morning when I went to see her. Needless to say, she had a GOOD time that night. 😉

Hope you had a very happy birthday, Mom!

And don’t forget that frosting on your mouth 😉

A Leap Day Celebration..on March 1st

I can’t believe today has been a YEAR.

A WHOLE year!

One year ago today I found out that I was PREGNANT!

February 29th, 2012

It was actually leap day last year, a day I will never forget…EVER. But since it only happens every four years, we will have to celebrate March 1st instead. 🙂

Shortly there after we announced it to our families. Here is how we told Craig’s family:

(eek…I really just had run. pardon the scary picture)

Hard to believe that just a few months ago I looked like this:

8 months pregnant, getting close to being ‘ready to have my girl out!’

^my little bean.

And then the BEST day of my life happened, November 5th, 2012.

My little girl, the light of my life, entered the world. ❤

Forever she will be my little girl.

Even when she prefers to cry rather than nap, or when she refuses to take a bottle. One thing is for sure…that little girl has stolen my heart. EVERY ounce of it.

Oh, these two together. Be still my heart.

It’s totally true, whenever you see your husband (or significant other) holding your child you fall SO MUCH MORE in love with them. You wouldn’t even believe it. The best part is when I see G smile whenever she sees her Daddy. OH my gosh…it melts my heart. Sometimes I even tear up…I blame it on the hormones. 😉 I mean breastfeeding still makes you hormonal, right?! I’m going with it!

Hard to believe in a few short days she will be 4 months old. Yes, FOUR.

I’m soaking up EVERY single second of our time together.

The other day I thought of her leaving the house & going to college. I cried. Like had a full on melt down. No more thinking about that!

I always tell her to slow down, no need to grow so quick. But I’m not going to miss a minute of it. We have SO many memories to make & I’m so lucky and blessed to have her in my life. God knew I was supposed to have a girl…and I got my girl. ❤

Our Weekend in Maryland

Good Morning!

We had such a wonderful weekend! Remember how our trip to Maryland ALMOST didn’t happen?! Well, we worried for no reason. Gabriella did PERFECT on the plane! I could not believe it…well, I should clarify- Craig couldn’t believe it 😉 I had faith in my girl & she totally pulled it off.

She ended up falling asleep almost for the whole plane ride BOTH ways. I kept saying that we need to get a plane engine sound machine in her room. 🙂 She didn’t even wake up when the plane LANDED, hello BUMP! And BOTH flights were pretty turbulent at some points- the drink service was even suspended! But my girl just slept through it all- I would swear she’s a world traveler!

One REALLY nice part of the trip is that we were able to use my nephew, Nathan’s, old car seat & various toys/swing/ bouncer/ etc. My sister in law, Stephanie & brother in law, Mike, brought everything over to Craig’s parents before we got there.

Hope you are ready for picture overload!

She LOVED the nice & cozy car seat.

She’s a Florida girl through & through, so she wasn’t used to the cold weather. But when she got in the car seat with the extra warm fleece insert she fell right to sleep.

Once we got to Craig’s parent’s house, Mike, Steph & Nathan were already there.  The cousins FINALLY got to meet!

We just spent the day with them and Craig’s parents. We just talked a lot & enjoyed seeing the babies together! Craig’s Mom even made us crab cakes for dinner with NO filler ;)…SO darn good! I can never get enough crab while I’m there. I even ate the two leftover crab cakes one day for lunch cold, I didn’t even care, I just love crab so much!

The next day was the big day- Nathan’s FIRST birthday & we were also celebrating Mike & Steph’s 30th birthdays. (Mike’s birthday is February 24th & Steph’s is March 9th) So it was a HUGE day & LOTS to celebrate!!

Of course the best part of first birthday parties is the SMASH cake!

Nathan went from this:

to this:

In a matter of minutes. It was hilarious! & he definitely enjoyed his cake. 🙂

The birthday boy is also a PRO at walking! I was seriously impressed.

How cute is he?! Those big blues steal your heart.

I would say little Nate Dogg had a pretty awesome first birthday!! 🙂

The other cool part was that a lot of Craig’s family got to meet Gabriella for the first time. She showed everyone how much she LOVED being held & how she is not fond of being put down. 😉

Luckily for her she had a TON of people who were more than happy to hold her!

Someone enjoys eating her clothes. We won’t name names. 🙂

On Sunday G got to meet her boyfriend Smith. They are only a DAY apart! G was born November 5th & Smith was November 6th. She’s a little cougar 😉

They even held hands. Oh boy, we’re in trouble!

I know you aren’t supposed to call a boy beautiful, but isn’t he BEAUTIFUL!? And he was just SO sweet!

Once Gabriella said goodbye to Smith, we spent the rest of the day with Mike, Steph & Nathan and we also got a few family pictures.

Cousins ❤

Craig, me & G$

The whole Notarange family! Craig, me, Steph, Mike, Grandma & G, Papanote & Nate

It was such a fun weekend! Times like that when you wish we were all closer together! The good thing is that we will be seeing them soon- Gabriella’s baptism will be in June or July, so they are all headed down for that & I am counting the days! 😀

Hot Topic: Letting Baby Cry

Welcome to another round of Hot Topic Tuesday! Again, he’s my little disclaimer- if you have no interest in babies, please feel free to pass over this post…tomorrow will be back to normal workout/ cooking/ Gabriella posts! 🙂

Now for the most part Gabriella is a very happy baby. I constantly get smiles from her, just even a glance at Mommy & she will smile. It completely melts my heart. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

I mean she even lets me dress her up in all of these silly outfits.

But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get fussy sometimes…and it definitely doesn’t mean she doesn’t cry. She has her fussy periods every day, and we know they are coming. Usually it’s right before nap time, we always can tell when she is tired. And she ALWAYS gets cranky around 5pm every afternoon. Since she usually goes to bed around 6/ 6:30pm, this is just her pre bedtime fuss.

The thing is that once you have a child, you QUICKLY learn their many cries. There is the ‘I’m hungry cry, the ‘I’m tired cry’, the ‘Leave me alone cry’ <—we NEVER hear that one! haha, the ‘fuss to fuss cry.’ The one we get the most is the ‘fuss to fuss’ cry. It’s when Gabriella doesn’t want to do whatever it is we are doing. A lot of our runs start this way. She doesn’t want to be in the stroller, so she fusses. But then we get going, and about a mile in, she the smiling, happy girl we know.

But before 8 weeks I absolutely refused to let her cry. Any kind of cry. Craig was ok with letting her cry for like 5 minutes, but I wasn’t ok with any of it. I immediately would pick her up & comfort her. I just believe that under 8 weeks is too little to let a baby cry. They may be perfectly fine, fed, changed, and burped…but they may just want some comfort.

I told Craig that after 8 weeks I would try to let her cry a little. And by a little, I mean about 2 minutes. Well, I wasn’t very good at that either. I grabbed her pretty much the second she starting crying. He told me to ask the doctor about the crying situation at her 2 month appointment, so that’s exactly what I did.

I will never forget what he told me at her appointment. “In 20+ years of being a pediatrician, I’ve never heard of a baby expiring from crying.” It was kind of funny, and I definitely understood what he was saying. He said there is NOTHING wrong with letting baby cry a bit, especially since she was now 8 weeks old.

I asked him how he did with his daughter, and he said that he would let her cry. He said he knew nothing was wrong with her, and he had no problem letting her cry. His wife on the other hand was like me. She did not want her daughter crying. But he also said that it’s part of being a Mom, the whole ‘maternal instinct’ part of being a Mom kicks in.

After that appointment and hearing it from a doctor, I figured I could at least try 5 minutes. The only time she really cries is when it’s time for a nap or bed. She doesn’t really cry other times, I mean she will fuss if she wants to move around or do something different than what she is currently doing…but she doesn’t cry much other than when it’s time for sleep.

That night, once I put her to bed, she woke up about 15 minutes later crying. It started out as a little fuss & then it lead to a full on cry. I turned the timer on for 5 minutes. If she didn’t stop within that amount of time, I was going to go get her & rock her back to sleep.

Well, she didn’t stop…and I ended up going to get her. Craig told me that night he was proud of me though, because at least I TRIED & got 5 minutes.

It was NOT easy. I was like this close to crying myself, because I HATE hearing her cry. (even though I know it’s the ‘fuss to fuss’/ ‘I don’t want to sleep even though I’m tired’ cry)

One thing that helped me was thinking of what parents with multiple children or single Moms/ Dads do. I mean if you have more than one child, and you know that baby is just crying to cry & the other child needs you, you are going to attend to the other child & let baby cry for a bit. And then single moms & dads…oh how I give you all SO.MUCH.CREDIT. (it’s amazing how MUCH more you appreciate them when you have a child of your own) I mean if you are in a bind & NEED to get something done, like I don’t know..umm…go to the bathroom for example, and baby is crying the fuss cry. Well, you really have no choice, you have to let baby just cry. These are just examples that I would think about when she was doing her fuss cry…and it helped a lot.

^love that picture, because the onesie COMPLETELY describes her ‘small & sassy.’ 😉

Once I got past letting her crying tear me up inside, things got easier. Not just for me, but for G too. She knew when it was time to nap or go to bed that I wasn’t going to go & rush to grab her…and that she better at least try to sleep. She’s sleeping better, and her little routine seems to be working a lot better too.

Sometimes when I am having a hard day, and I hear her cry, I don’t care I will still go & get her the second I hear it. I don’t think that will ever change though. I absolutely LOVE holding her every second of the day, but there is nothing like holding a baby after a rough day. It is just heaven on earth. Just sitting there staring at her. I love it.

I know this is a HUGE hot topic in the parenting world. Some people are COMPLETELY against letting babies/ children cry at any age. And there are others that have no problem letting baby cry from day one. I honestly just think it depends on the person and the family. Whatever works for YOU & YOUR FAMILY is what is right. No sense listening to people that want to tell you what you are doing is the ‘wrong way.’ You know your family, and you know your baby!

If you have children, what is your opinion on crying? How did you approach the situation?

40 Days of No Frozen Yogurt

Good Morning!

First things first…Gabriella wanted to say something.

Happy Valentine’s Day from us to you 🙂 We hope your day is filled with lots of chocolate & candy!

Now this morning’s post may be a topic some of you are sensitive to, so I’ll just go ahead & throw it out there that I will be discussing religion. Now this isn’t going to be a post pushing religion on you, or bashing any religion, I am just going to discuss religion in general.

I have decided that I am going to give something up for Lent this year. I thought about it Tuesday night and I just feel in my heart it’s what I want to do.

Now let me back track a little bit. I was born & raised Christian. I went to a private Christian school for elementary & middle school. I ended up going to a public high school, which was VERY eye opening. Going from a TINY Christian private school to a HUGE public school was a shock to my system. I really think it’s a big part of the reason that I had such bad body issues.

Once I got to high school I kind of separated myself from church. I was pre occupied with running track & cross country (we had practice Monday- Saturday & an optional long run on Sunday…which I ALWAYS did- that’s when I first ran a full marathon!) that I put church on hold.

Once I moved to go to college, church was the farthest thing from my mind. I was too busy attending classes, but of course, like most college students, partying it up. 🙂

Oh yes, that would be me & my husband….way before we were husband & wife 😀

Once I graduated, & Craig and I got married, things started to change. We both knew we wanted to start a family right away. Which we did 🙂

The one thing we also wanted to do was raise our daughter in the church. We didn’t necessarily have a preference on the church, but we just wanted her to be raised in the church.

Craig was born & raised Catholic. Once he went to college he was pretty much in the same boat as me. He still went to church on holidays, but it was not a weekly occurrence.

So when we decided to start attending church again, which was when I just found out I was pregnant, we weren’t sure which church we wanted to attend. We tried a few churches near our house, and eventually decided on a Catholic church.

The Catholic religion is very different than the church I was raised in. There are a lot of rituals and a lot of kneeling, standing back up, etc. Not that there is ANYTHING wrong with it, I just wasn’t used to it.

So now that I understand Catholicism a bit more, and after speaking with the priest, I have come to appreciate it. We have also decided that we are going to get Gabriella baptized at this church, so she will be raised Catholic. Now there are a few aspects that I differ on in my beliefs, and we will let her decide what she wants to do regarding those topics. Just to give you an example, in the Christian religion, there is no such thing as confession. We believe that you can speak directly to God regarding your sins, and that you do not have to ‘go through’ the priest. Just a personal opinion, and something that she can decide when she gets older.

With ALL of that being said (props to you if you have stuck with me for this entire post 😉 ) I am incorporating different aspects of Catholicism into my life. One of those being Lent. Also we did not eat meat at all yesterday, since it was Ash Wednesday & we will not eat meat every Friday until Easter.

So for lent this year I’ve decided to give up frozen yogurt. Will it be hard? ABSOLUTELY. I eat it nearly every night. But with the whole reason of lent is “giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of penitence.” Frozen yogurt is definitely a luxury that I very much enjoy. Since I do enjoy it so much, that was one of the very first things that came to mind.

I know I can do it! It may be hard for the first week, but I’m sure it will get easier. Oh, and if you’re wondering, Craig is giving up beer for lent. We have each other to hold accountable…and we both are up for the challenge.

Are you giving anything up for lent?

Oh, and just one more picture because I thought it was cute.

Currently..and Can You Help Me?

I came across this survey on Alyssa’s blog, and since I’m a huge fan of surveys…I had to partake.

Currently…

Current Book(s):

Honestly, I’m totally lacking in reading. 😦 I hate that. I love a good book, but my time has been occupied on other things right now. BUT, I did just read ‘Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child‘ & cannot recommend it enough for Moms & Moms to be! It has helped us so much. G slept NINE, yes 9!, hours the other night.

Current Music:

LOVING the song ‘Thrift Shop.’ I played it about three times on my long run – G & I did a 15K (9.3 miles) – and we knocked it out in 1 hour & 16 minutes…I definitely think listening to this song helped…I was so pumped up. Haha!

Current Guilty Pleasure:

Frozen yogurt. All the time. Love the stuff. Or this light ice cream…

Current Nail Color:

Essie. To buy or not to buy. (it’s hard to tell, but it’s a light purple)

Current Drink:

Water. Lots of it!

Current Food:

Not eating as I type this, but I ate lunch a little while ago- which was a smoothie with spinach…again with a side of Popcorners.

They are so good! They taste like popcorn, but are in the shape of a chip. My Mom & I saw them while we were at BJ’s, the wholesale club) this weekend, so we decided to try them. SO GLAD WE DID! If you see them while you are out, I highly recommend them.

Current Favorite Show:

Modern Family. The New Normal. I have a few, but I just LOVE those two shows. I can’t get enough.

Anyone else absolutely adore Sofia Vergara?!

CAN’T. GET. ENOUGH.

Current Wish List:

The Ergo carrier.

Current needs: (this is where the ‘Can You Help Me?’ comes in)

My lovely daughter to take a bottle. Can anyone help me?? I’m still exclusively breastfeeding, just pumping too. We had her used to a bottle for the first month of her life, she took it perfectly. Then during the month of December we didn’t really give her a bottle at all. Just with the holidays, it was easier just to breast feed. Well, LESSON LEARNED. If we do have a second child, we will make sure we stick to at least a bottle a day! This will save us in the long run.

But now Gabriella REFUSES a bottle. I mean it’s BAD. She SCREAMS when we try to give her one, she gets herself so worked up…to almost where she hyperventilates. I’ve tried three types of bottles: Dr. Brown’s, Tommee Tippee, & Playtex (the one with the brown nipple, so it’s more natural). Now I have been reading about the Medela Calma, the new bottle that’s supposed to be ideal for breastfed babies…but I’m still not sure if I should spend $20 on a bottle that cannot be returned if she doesn’t like it. (and $20 is for ONE bottle) I’m willing to do it, IF I can get some kind of feedback on it. But at this point I don’t think it’s the bottle…it’s just she doesn’t want to take a bottle in general.

We have also tried other people giving her a bottle, like Craig instead of myself. Or Craig’s Mom or my Mom…just so she won’t see me and assume she is going to breast feed…and babies can smell your milk I believe up to 20 feet away. (they are like little dogs- haha!)

ANY suggestions on bottles or in general, PLEASE let me know!!!!!! PLEASE 😀

Current Bane of My Existence:

Oh goodness, I don’t know if I have anything that I can think of right now. …well, except now I’m kicking myself for not keeping up with the bottle a day

Current Celebrity Crush:

Oh this is easy…it’s always Mark Wahlberg.

Current Indulgence:

Am I allowed to say frozen yogurt again?! 😉 My nightly frozen yogurt is a daily indulgence…and I love it.

Current Blessing:

Oh, this is even easier.

These two. My WHOLE world.

Current Outfit:

Ha…it’s always gym clothes. Always. Now that I work from home it’s weird for me to dress in anything else. Can’t say that I mind 😉

Current Excitement:

Going to Maryland in a few weeks!!!! It’s my nephew’s 1st birthday & my brother in law & sister in law’s 30th birthdays!! I.CANNOT.WAIT! G will finally get to meet her cousin & aunt & uncle!

Current Link:

Some AWESOME photos.

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G 😀

Now your turn…tell me something that you are currently loving!

My Crohn’s Disease Post Pregnancy

Finally. Can you believe it? I’m FINALLY writing this post about my Crohn’s Disease post pregnancy! 😀

If you have been reading my blog (& previous blog) for a while, you know that I have Crohn’s Disease. I was diagnosed at 16 years old, and for the past 10 years it has been pretty severe. I was on some pretty strong medications, and at one point the disease was so bad that I couldn’t even drive. Which means I had to actually work from home at one point because it was so bad.

But in February 2012 I found out I was pregnant! 😀 It was actually on Leap Day- how cool, right?

I was a little nervous about my Crohn’s disease. You really are not supposed to try to get pregnant if your Crohn’s disease is flaring up. My Crohn’s was definitely no where near being in ‘remission’ & I was having a LOT of issues with it when I found out I was pregnant. I immediately stopped taking all medication for it, until I spoke to my gastroenterologist.

I was able to get into my gastro’s office the very next day so that we could discuss everything. He informed me that typically when patients with Crohn’s get pregnant their symptoms either ‘hide’ during the pregnancy OR they get worse. That’s what scared me. I did NOT want the disease to get any worse…it was already pretty bad. But either way, I was going to do whatever was best for my baby.

After speaking with my doctor, and having him answer all of my questions he put me back on the really mild medication, Asacol. I was on the medication years ago, but it was too mild to treat my symptoms. It was really the only ‘safe’ medication for pregnancy. There are other medications that you CAN be on during pregnancy, if your Crohn’s starts to flare up. If your symptoms are so severe that you are losing a bunch of weight & nutrients, obviously you have to do what is best for your body- and that may mean being on a stronger medication. If you are so ill from the disease while pregnant, obviously your baby is not getting the nutrients that it needs, so you need to do what is best for your illness, which could be a stronger medication. (& that’s OKAY! Do not get too hard on yourself!!- stress during pregnancy is NOT good)

Thankfully my Crohn’s actually went into remission during my whole pregnancy. I could NOT believe it. I had NEVER felt better in my ENTIRE life. I felt like a whole new woman. I didn’t need to run to the bathroom every 5 minutes, I didn’t have to miss events because of the disease, I was able to truly ENJOY every second of being pregnant & not having to worry about the disease.

But in the back of my mind I kept wondering how things would be once I delivered my little girl. I was worried, not going to lie. I CANNOT imagine how it would be to take care of a newborn while living with the symptoms of Crohn’s disease. Having to constantly be in the bathroom while caring for a newborn would be impossible.

Fast forward to now. G is 10 weeks today. (HOLY COW does time FLY.) And I’m still in ‘remission’ from the disease. I’m amazed. I always said she was my little miracle baby, because of how she ‘took away’ my Crohn’s disease during my pregnancy, but she really has no idea (yet!) of what a MIRACLE baby she really is. (for way more reasons that just the Crohn’s, but there are way too many reasons to list 🙂 )

A lot of people thought I was absolutely INSANE for starting to jog/ run at 2 weeks postpartum. But, do you want to know the real reason?? It’s because I CAN. I honestly cannot tell you how long it has been that I was just able to go out & ENJOY a run without having to know where every single bathroom was along my run. And honestly I haven’t been able to run outside for a LONG time- I always had to run on the treadmill- due to needing a bathroom near by.

I did run during my pregnancy…actually up until the day she was born. (I even did a run the morning we went into the hospital to have her 🙂 ) But I thought the whole idea of running outside was just a temporary thing…that once she was delivered, I would be back to the treadmill.

(weekend before we had her- that was after our run as a little family. Craig went with me 🙂 )

Well, I was wrong. & I’m SO SO SO glad I was!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

No longer do I take running for granted. When I was in high school, on the cross country & track teams, I never really valued how LUCKY I was to be ABLE to run. I really never even thought about NOT being able to run.

Now every time I go for a run I cherish it. Whenever I really don’t feel like going for a run (which is VERY rare these days), I just remind myself of the times when I couldn’t run & that just makes me want to run longer.

G & I run daily and I love every minute of our runs. She is my favorite running partner. 🙂 I feel like she remembers when we would go for runs when she was still in my belly…haha! I think she was born a runner.

(out for a run this past week. She’s a lucky girl..gets to go for a run in her pj’s 😉 )

I love that I get to run with her. She makes me smile the ENTIRE run. I’ve actually had people that I know that have seen me out running with her tell me how they saw me smiling & they could just see my love for her. Melted my heart!

I really hope that the disease continues to stay in remission. I just know that it has really put things into perspective, and it makes me appreciate the littlest things SO much more.