Mamarazzi Monday: Let's do this!

I came across this really cute idea for a link up on Counting Blessings blog.  She just had a cute little boy and I love seeing all those newborn pictures so I thought I would join in this week!  Hope you enjoy the extra pictures of my girl.

This weekend we went to Coast Guard open house at a local CG station.  It was chilly and the walking around was a bit much for me...but Carmen had fun checking out the boats and especially the helicopter so it was worth it!

We also got our hair trimmed!  Mommy got her pre-baby haircut and Carmen got her bangs trimmed!  They were getting in her eyes and so it was time!  She did so good and had fun at the salon!

 Lastly, we got her a potty seat!  I'm still not ready to push the potty training as the idea of having a newly potty trained toddler and a newborn brings me a bit of panic.  I am hoping once the baby comes and we get settled a little bit that she'll be ready to train but I'm not in a hurry and just plan to wait until she's ready.  She does look TOO cute sitting here on her new potty on her fake phone! ;)

Well, hope you enjoyed the first week of Mamarazzi Monday! Can't guarantee this will be a regular post but it's an awfully cute one! :)

Blogger 411: All you need to know about Me and my life.

I recently came across the blog "From Mrs. to Mama." It's a great mom blog that I have enjoyed catching up with. She posted this link up last Tuesday but I just found it and wanted to join up before it closes!

1. How long have you been blogging? And what got you started on blogging? Has your blog changed?
I have been blogging for over 5 years.  My first post went up on April 2, 2007.  I've written about this recently in this post, however, it started out as a place to write thoughts/online journal and no one really read it and then became a knitting/dog blog and now it's this mash up of all things me.  It's changed so much as I have changed in the last 5 years and I have a feeling I'm not done changing so this blog will change as I do.

2. Did you go to college? If so where, and what did you study?
I started my college career at the University of South Florida and spent 2 years there.  I then took a leap and went to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and got a B.F.A. in Computer Arts, specializing in 3D Character Animation.  Not sure I really thought that degree through all the way but it's what I saw myself doing until it was actually time to do it and now I haven't animated in so long I wouldn't even be sure where to start.

3. Where have you traveled?
I grew up in Panama and traveled throughout the country, however, there are still places I would love to go back and see.  I have mostly traveled throughout the US.

4. If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you would buy?
A house! Pay off my student loans! A minivan! (Yes, that's three)

5. What are your 3 biggest pet peeves?
Lying, being mean to children/pets, and neglectfulness

6. What is your favorite movie?
Shawshank Redemption

7. What is your drink of choice; wine, beer, or liquor. Or Water, Soda, Tea?
I mostly drink water and at least one cup of coffee in the morning.  For a treat, I love me some Cranberry Ginger Ale or some Maracuya aka Passion Fruit juice.  My alcoholic drink of choice is beer then wine...specifically either a Blue Moon or Stella Artois but I've been getting more into stouts as well.  And I like both red and white wines depending on my mood.  Summer time a light white wine is nice but I love good red wine too...on a cold day a glass of red wine warms you right up!

8. What is something you enjoy to do when you have me time?
Me time consists of all things fibery, be that knitting or spinning.  A comfortable spot with a nice view or TV show/Movie and my knitting or spinning and I'm a happy camper.  I love being able to spin or knit outside but in the FL heat...that is NOT possible most the year.

9. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, which store would it be?
Oh this is so hard!  Right now I think it would be Home Depot or Lowes because well...not really ready to go into details why but soon.  Otherwise, I would think Target would be nice because we'd be set on diapers and living for a while.  I know this all sounds so practical!  I should say some store to buy new clothes or fun stuff...but honestly I can't think that way right now.  I'm in the land of saving and being practical so this is the answer I have now.  Some day it may change. :)
 
10. Share with us an embarrassing moment of your past? Or present.
 Oh I am sure there are many many many of these but right now I just can't pin point one to share.  Let's just say I have a tendency to shove my foot right into my mouth. 
 
11. What day would you love to relive again?
I'm not sure I can answer this.  I started by thinking my wedding day but then Carmen wasn't there and so that's out.  Then I thought about her birth...umm...really not sure I want to relive actually giving birth to her when I already got through that...not that I'm not up to giving birth again but I already gave birth to Carmen.  Check that off my list and move on.   Then I thought about those first days with her...but I was SO tired and learning so much that it's not the best option either.  I would love to be able to experience all the firsts with her again and be "awake."  There you go...the best answer I can give.

12. If your life was turned into a movie... what actor would play you?
America Ferrera

Photo Source

13. What are the jobs you had in high school/college/the early years?
My first job was the first summer after high school and I worked for a temp agency doing computer jobs.  In college, I worked for the computer lab in the library at USF.  When I got to San Fran, I worked at a Fitness Club as the front desk person and got a free membership!  SCORE!  I also worked at the Children's Museum, and for a short time I worked for a small indie coffee shop that was right down the street from where I lived.  Oh and I worked at Border's downtown San Fran in the coffee shop there.  That's where I first started drinking coffee...I knew I could get it to taste as good as it smelled.
 
14. Show us a picture from high school or college. 
High School Volleyball days.  I'm on the far left.

15. If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?
I would love to go to Italy! 

16. Show us the most current picture of you or you, or your family, or anything of meaning to you. 
Here are just a couple from the last month of our little family...I'm sure those who read this blog see LOTS of pictures of my family. :)

 

17. Where do you see your life 5 years from now?
In 5 years, I see myself as a mother of 2 or 3 kids(don't tell my hubby as he only wants 2), our 2 pups getting older but hopefully still around, and still happily married to Special K.  I see us owning a house and finally having finished any major renovation I'm sure any house we get will need.  I'd also like to have taught more people how to knit and spin!  I've only taught several people how to knit but really want to spread the spinning love!

Happy Linking!

This link up closes 7/24/12 at night...so if you want to join...get on it!

Was there something I shared in this link up that surprised you?  Something that didn't? Let me know if you join so I can read your answers too!

Journey into non-family daycare

I feel the harder I try to blog more frequently the longer between blog posts.  I'm working on it and I do have a review and giveaway coming really soon!  I just need to make sure to get the pictures set and then I'll post it. 

This past week has been a whirlwind of looking for a new daycare.  My niece has been taking care of Little Miss CGR since she was 2 months old.  They have been having lots of fun and my niece has been there for the last 6 months Mon-Fri other than a trip she took to Italy back in March.  She of course sees her on weekends too so you can imagine they have seen a lot of each other.  I have a feeling they will both miss each other a lot.  My niece posted a picture of CGR the first day she started and then this week. 

2/1/11 to 8/1/11

It's amazing to see how much she's grown both physically and emotionally.  She's a happy baby and I'm so proud to be her momma.  And for those counting, she turned 8 months old yesterday. 

So, knowing the my niece was going off to Grad school this fall, I should have started looking for daycare a while ago but every time I did no one knew if they would have an opening in Aug and said to call back.  I decided just to wait then. 

Well, August was fast approaching and I decided to make an apt with a lady that was close by and see if she would work. It took us a week to finally meet her as our schedule didn't work out.  At first I thought she would be fine, but then right before we were leaving she felt the need to impart her "wisdom" on how I should be raising my child.  I didn't sit well with me as I am not ok with the whole cry it out method of sleep training and I feel if my daughter wakes up at night and wants to nurse that I will nurse her.  Nursing isn't all about food but I won't get started on that.  After meeting her, I decided to check her up on the licensing board and I was further disappointed in her when I found a complaint.  I won't say what the complaint was but It wasn't one that I was willing to over look.  Armed with the knowledge that this lady wouldn't work, I had to figure something out and soon!

I put a call out to my mommy and me group on facebook and a mommy mentioned that her daycare had an opening. I quickly called her.  The lady was very sweet, however, she lived too far away.  Graciously, she said that she can post on her daycare board for people to email me if they had openings.   She forwarded me the email she posted and within several hours I already had 5 options to meet. 

Since SK had gone to the last one and I knew he really wouldn't want to meet all these ladies, I asked my sister Fleas to come with CGR and me.  Looking back, thank God I did!  That night we met two ladies, and they could not have been more polar opposites!  The first lady was such a sweet woman.  She brought us into her home and we talked and did a tour and then about 30 mins after being in the house, she asked me if she could hold CGR and of course I said yes.   CGR cuddled her and seemed to feel very comfortable with her.  I left with a good feeling after being there for a little over an hour.   From there, we trekked up to the 2nd lady.  I should have just called and cancelled when I was driving up there but I insisted that I needed to meet all my options.  When we got to the home, I already knew I didn't want to be there.  We walked in and as soon as the woman opened the door we were bombarded with a very strong perfume smell.  She had not even closed the door when she snatched little miss CGR out of my hands.  I felt a wave of panic and the intense need to get my daughter back as soon as I could!  We were polite but asked very few questions and I could not get CGR back and us out of there fast enough.  We drove home and all I could think was absolutely NOT!

The next day, we met with another woman during lunch and she was another very nice woman.  I enjoyed her and I think she would have been a great choice.  She had a comfortable home, however, she has 3 boys of her own on top of the potentially 6 daycare kids and I just felt that CGR wasn't ready for that.  After driving far for the one woman's house, I decided it was better to find someone closer and cancelled the last two options.  Since we had all loved the first woman I met, I decided to have SK meet her and if he liked her then that's who we would go with.  We met her on Friday and I think SK felt as I did that she would be perfect to take care of our little girl.  We signed papers and put a deposit down on Saturday and worked out the details of the switch.

We are not going to switch her over to the new daycare for another two weeks so everyone has some time to transition over.  It's going to be a bit tough as I have to change my hours at work and SK will need to be doing the drop off in the morning.  And the hardest of all will be losing our nanny.  At this new daycare, CGR will be one of 2 girls around the same age and then there is another boy who is 10 months old who comes twice a week.  She has openings for 2 over 18 months but she has not filled them yet.  I'm feeling good that most the week at least in the beginning, she will be with only one other girl around her age.

It is so hard to pick someone you can trust to take care of your child that is not your family.  Family is always best but when you have to choose I feel it all goes with your gut...and as the daycare lady we chose said to us, we really have to feel we trust her in order for it to work.  She's been doing daycare for 26 years and she is a grandma to several grandchildren.  As she also said, no one is perfect but you have to find the best pick.  We've had to make some changes, such as we introduced a sippy cup finally even though I still just give her water in a glass most the time.  We've also introduced cereal which to be honest, she really doesn't like.  She will take about 2 bites and then wants whatever else we have to offer her.

In the long run, I didn't feel these were things I couldn't compromise on.  I had wanted to ask her to do cloth but at the time I just really wanted to find someone great after the bad experiences we had.  I am sure the first day we drop off I might cry...but I thought that about the first day coming back to work and I didn't.  Only time will tell if we made the right choice but I feel we did.

Thanks for reading my story and I hope that you enjoyed it.  If you have any daycare stories good or bad, please feel free to share them. 

Happy Mothering!

Journal Day #1: Firsts

As I find a way to make more of this blog, I have found a solution! I was just yesterday thinking I'd like to make it more of my journal again. When I started this blog back in April 2007...wow, this blog is 4 years and 2 months old...my first post said it all!

This blogging thing is harder than it looks. I've always loved to journal but what craziness that I write do I really want others to read. :) I don't always make sense to others but when you keep reading it might in the end. I plan to post videos, pictures and what I can share of me. Hope you enjoy. :)

Crazy that this thought has come full circle.  Fast Forward to present day, and I've been knitting for almost 4 years, this blog turned into a podcast, and now facebook, twitter, and plurk exist!  So many outlets to post random things about yourself but what I really want again is my journalling blog where I posted my thoughts and just let people either read them or move on! :)  I say this often about my podcast, but not everyone enjoys every blog or ever podcast.  The blog and podcast is part of that person and let's be honest...not everyone likes each other and that is FINE by me.  So, if you don't want to read my ramblings or like my writing style and you liked the format of this blog lately...very little posts and mostly pictures...then you might not want to keep reading because I think it's about to get wordy in here.  For those of you willing to stick around....ENJOY!

Danielle over at Sometimes Sweet is starting a community blog project called Journal Day! Weekly, she’ll be sharing a writing prompt to spur your creativity.

This week’s prompt is:

Describe a “first” (first date, first lie, the first time you experienced something, first time in a particular setting, etc). Include as many details as possible to paint a picture

I bet most of you will not have to even read further to know what I'm going to talk about. :) I'm pretty predictable in the fact that when I start thinking about something...if it's something I become passionate about...I get a little obsessed.  At first I was trying to think of a different first so that most of my family wouldn't just let out a collective groan but honestly...whatever!!  You will all love me anyway and it's on my mind and so here it is.  For my first journal entry I want to share my first cloth diaper weekend trial with you.  It's the first time I've ever tried cloth diapers and so there were a TON of firsts.  I'll go into more details in another post about the types and such but for now we'll just talk cloth diapers.

I had been so excited to try cloth diapers after all my researching and waiting for the diapers to get here from my cousin that I wanted to slap on a cloth diaper on her Friday night after work but we were going over to my father-in-law's house for a birthday party so Special K kindly asked that we wait until Saturday morning.

For a little background, he is not as excited about this, what he really hopes stays as just a trial, cloth diapering experience.  He is happy with using disposables, however, he only changes about one diaper a week so in all honestly I don't think using cloth is going to effect him much.  The only way he even agreed to the weekend trial was that there was NO initial cost.  Our cloth diapers were purchased or gifted to my sister in CA and never used, then were passed on to my cousin in TX and never used, and now they live with us and other than two of them have now been used. :)  Those two will get some use this week I promise!

Carmen in her very first cloth diaper

Back to my firsts...Saturday morning I finally got to put the cloth diaper on her!  We have 10 BumGenius 3.0s which are hook and loop closure aka Velcro. (did you know that Velcro is a brand and hence copyrighted?) We also have three Econobums prefold and covers. I started with the BumGenius because those were the ones I was most excited about.  They are bulkier than disposables so I had to use a onsie that was a bit bigger but they fit her pretty good on the medium setting.  She wore that during her first nap of the day and we went over to my sister's house and she was great.  I changed her and used another one and it was strange not really knowing when she is wet.  Usually you can tell because the gel in the disposable starts to feel a bit solid...now that I think about that...that just grosses me out so much but anyway.

When we got back to the house, I put a prefold and cover on her because we were just hanging around but she fell asleep for her nap and the prefold made her feel a bit wet so it didn't really let her sleep long.  I used two of them and they worked GREAT but I think I'll try to avoid using them for naptime.  At least until she is more comfortable in those.  I think the BumGenius's are much more comfortable for her even though they are bulkier.

At the end of Saturday, I had used 6 diapers.  One poop diaper which REALLY wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  However, using 6 out of my 13 made me nervous for Sunday so I did a wash that evening.  The washing was not nearly as bad as I had thought either!  I would love if I had a little more of an advanced washer that I could preset the extra rinse and set the temp more but they got clean using it and the Rockin' Green Soap (review and giveaway for this product to come).

Saturday evening, I added the infant insert alone with the regular insert for a night time diaper and she slept FANTASTIC!!  She was sleepy so I'm not sure if it was the diaper or the need for sleep but she did great!  I've already decided to use these for night time diapers during the week too. Sunday worked out pretty much the same but I skipped using the prefolds.  I had to change a poopy diaper at the restaurant Sunday night and again...not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I just put it in the wetbag. That night I did another load of the ones I had used that day.  All the diapers were then clean but the one she was sleeping in.  I have to stuff the inserts into the diapers because we are using pocket diapers but other than that I'm set for next weekend!

In conclusion, my first weekend cloth diapering went great!  Lots of first and lots of learning.  I have a lot more to learn about cloth diapering but I'm very happy with how it went.  I promised myself that I would give them three honest weekends of trial before making any decision but with the fact that I'm already using them as night time diapers...I have a feeling that I'll be a convert.

Happy Mother's Day! My First as a mom.

Mother's Day has always been a bit of a sad day for me.  As many of you may know, my mom passed away when I was 6 of breast cancer.  She was an amazing person and so many people have told me so many wonderful things about her. I don't have many memories of her as I was so young but I love hearing stories about her. Here is a picture of my mom pregnant with me.  She was making a cake with my sisters.

I also found a fantastic picture of my mother breastfeeding me, however, I'm just not sure I want to post that on the internet for all to see. :)  I do want to make sure I have pictures of my daughter and I breastfeeding because someday she might want to see them.  One of my favorite pictures of my mom and me is this next one.  It's one of the few of us together that I have and I just love how happy we look.

 On Mother's Day, I always think of my mom and the fact that I haven't had her with me on Mother's Day for 24 years.  In the past, I've gotten through this day in thinking of the women in my life who stepped up and mothered me.  When you don't have a mom of your very own, often times your friends share their moms with you.  This isn't always an easy process but I did spend a lot of my childhood at my friend's houses with their moms.  One in particular is my friend Lynley's mom.  I remember so many weekend's of my childhood spent as their fourth child and 2nd daughter.  When I was in high school, I spent lots of time with my best friend Annemarie, and hence spent lots of time with her mother as well.   Even though, I think Annemarie did her own mothering of me. hehe...just don't tell her I said that.  :) 

The ones that have been there for my whole life and have always been like moms, best friends, sisters, and so much more to me are my four sisters.  Each one of them means more to me than I could ever tell them.  They each are so special and I'm not sure how I could have gotten through all these years without them.  They have wiped up my tears, made me laugh, taken me along on their adventures, and taught me how to be a mom.  They were bridesmaids in my wedding even when they all said that they didn't want to be and pleaded with me to ask my friends...but they gave in when they realized how important it was to me.  They were there when I gave birth to my own child and helped me get through those tough first weeks at learning to be a mom.  I will forever be grateful that my parents had each and every one of them and for teaching them the skills they needed to be there for me.  Here is a picture of us with my hubby and dad at my wedding.

Today's Mother's Day was both bittersweet at usual but was more sweet than bitter for the first time ever.  This year, I am a Mother to the most amazing little girl I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  It's my very first Mother's Day I got to focus on what it means to be a mom and not what it meant to be without my mom.  My husband wrote out two cards to me.  One from himself and one from our daughter.  They were the sweetest cards and made me tear up.  I enjoyed my day spent with my girl and my family.  She made me laugh a lot and just watching her explore the world makes me so happy.

She also will forever remind me of my mom because when it came to naming her...only one name came to mind for me and that was my mom's name Carmen.  My sister Cristina gave me a wonderful present this Christmas and until I opened it I had not thought of myself this way.  She gave me a necklace with two charms.  One charm says "Carmen's daughter" and the other "Carmen's mom."  It's kind of amazing that both my mother/daughter relationships in my life are with a person named Carmen. :)

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day and that you think of all the blessings in your life.  Thanks for stopping by my blog and hope you made sure that you celebrated all the "mother" relationships in your life...even your furbaby ones! ;)

Carmen is 4 months old!!

4 months ago today, little miss Carmen Grace came into our lives and changed it forever.  It's amazing how much she has taught me about life, love, and motherhood already.  She's changed my view on so many things in her short time on this earth.  Just watching her grow makes me happy.  I can sit and watch her discover the world and just be amazed.  Her little voice brings joy to my heart and I can't wait to watch her learn more and more.

She grows so fast and I try so hard not to miss anything.  That has been the hardest thing about going back to work...missing the things she does during the day.  As my dad has reminded me over and over again..."It's about quality time not quantity."

In her first 4 months, I've watched her learn to smile at more than just gas, roll over from her tummy to her back, start enjoying tummy time, cry less and less and communicate more, discover her hands and the taste of her fingers, and learn to giggle.  I look forward to what comes next.  She has been concentrating so hard on getting moving.  As we continue to learn about the world together, I hope to share her experiences as well as my thoughts on motherhood and more.  Stay tuned!

Happy 4 months to my little baby girl Carmen Grace.