Monthly Favorites| Teething

Teething is a bitch. There is no light way to put it. I looked back in Tracens baby book and his first tooth poking through his gums was at 6 months, so well see how long it takes Sky. I'm predicting in the next few weeks well see/feel something or at least I'm hoping! This kid is a MONSTER droller and hand sucker. His poor poor checks and fist are so raw from a combo of sucking on them and this crap ass winter weather.  I've been putting Vaseline on his cheeks and hand and then a sock over his hand. He looks so helpless but I don't want anything chapping or bleeding so a sock hand it is!

One of my favorite blogs to read for monthly baby favorites (and in general) is littlebabygarvin.  She always has great items that I already use or ones I've been eyeing to try, I trust her judgment, I also secretly want Tracen to meet Harper! I've compiled my current favorites of all teething related items that have helped me on a daily basis with Sky.

|1, 2, 3, 4, 5|

1. These keys are great on its own but put them in the fridge or freezer for a little bit and you are good to go. I also throw them in the diaper bag as it is a good toy/teether to keep him busy while out running errands.

2. I hadn't heard of these when pregnant with Tracen so this was my first time trying them. I had a coupon for Target so I snatched them up. There are about 100 in a pack and you can give 2-3 tablets, up to 4 times a day. I've only done 2 tablets, twice a day so far, once in the morning and once right before bedtime. It seems to take the edge off but not knock the kid out, which is what I want!

3.This is another thing that I didn't have for Tracen. I bought mine at a local natural boutique and have had it on him since he was 2 weeks old. It does not chock him and if he ever pulled on it, which Tracen had once, the clasp automatically pulls apart and the necklace drops off. Plus each bead is individually tied on so there will never be a ton of beads rolling around on the floor if anyone tugs on it and it falls off. I know some people say they can tell when their child(ren) aren't wearing it compared to when they are, but I haven't taken it off him so I don't know how he would be without it. I do think it has helped as he just chews on things and never really cries while teething.

4. These are just your basic teething rings. I like these better than the larger rings though as they are easier for Sky to get his little lips and gums around. Tracen never liked the big rings I bought because he could never really 'teeth' on them.

5. I picked up this little elephant guy for Sky's stocking this year. This is another thing I throw in my diaper bag as a toy/teether. Plus it's easy to wipe down when Tracen thinks its his and puts his grimy little lips all over it.

I really wish kids were born with teeth. I would take the risk of nursing with a mouth of teeth over the long process of teething any day!!

six month update

|6 months in my belly vs. 6 months out of my belly|

WEIGHT: 17.5lbs

HEIGHT/LENGTH: 27.5 inches

SLEEPING: We slowly started putting you in your crib for naps and in the beginning of the night to help you get use to it.  I'll have you know though, I want you to sleep in bed with us forevvvverrrr, daddy says he wants his snuggle buddy back though!  You then wake up screaming, longing for me (or so I like to think!) and I bring you back into bed with us to eat and snuggle you silly. You then wake up as happy as can be, full of smiles and laughter and I forgot how you woke up every 90 minutes throughout the night and love on you until I have to leave for work. In all honesty though, the schedule goes like this:

830pm-feed, put down in crib
1230/1am- wake up screaming, feed, try and put back in bed, fails, bring in bed
330am- wake up, try and rub belly to sleep
430am- wake up, try and rub belly/skin to skin and go back to sleep
530am-wake up, feed, falls back asleep
645/7am-wake up smiling, full of life and usually just in a diaper because I took your jammies off in the middle of the night because you were a sweaty mess!

EATING: We started some solids this month as the kid is never full it seems! Last month we were just doing oatmeal once in the morning and now we do oatmeal and a fruit (banana, apples or prunes) in the morning (around 10am after his morning nap-gotta get that poop chute flowin!), sweet potato or avocado at dinner (around 7pm) and bottles in between. Bottles are about 5 ounces. I made all Tracens food and I am doing the same thing with Sky. It's so easy and cost close to nothing compared to baby jarred organic food and this way I know what I'm feeding him because I am doing it all. I do have a few organic pouches of Happy Baby for when we are on the go or away from the house for long periods of time.

FAVORITE MOMENTS: The way Tracen and Sky are interacting lately is so cute! Tracen will bring toys and put them on Skylor's Bumbo or highchair tray and Sky will reach for and play with them and giggle with excitement! Tracen likes being the one to bring him toys, diapers, you name it, he has it known that HE is the helper!

LEAST FAVORITE MOMENTS: Mommy meltdowns. I am getting real worked up lately when you wake up screaming and I can't soothe you with a feeding, paci or skin to skin. It's a wake up call when Tracen can tell me WHAT hurts, WHAT is wrong or WHEN he is hungry and you can't, it breaks my heart. Then there is Tracen who is a three year old little boy and drives me nuts sometimes! I feel like I'm going to loose my shit any day now. Between you not being able to tell me what you want and Tracen not listening I've been having some major meltdowns lately and I hate it quite frankly!  You also HATE with a capital H, tummy time, you are honestly the opposite of Tracen in every way possible, besides your looks, which are a spitting imagine of him!

FIRSTS: Solids, sleeping in your crib, sitting in your big boy highchair. You also shit yourself up into your belly button, all over our bed, pillows and dads sweatshirt.

LIFE CURRENTLY : Today is Mimi (my mom) and my cousin Tiffany's birthday so you share your half birthday with them. I think I said this last month but life is hectic! We are trying to decide if we want to start looking for houses again and when we are going to plan a family vacation. Mommy and daddy have both been spending long hours at work and are exhausted when we get home. The amount of snow has kept everyone inside and our cabin fever is at an all time high! Tracen started swimming lessons with Cousin Griffin and is not a huge fan, hopefully this summer we can get both of you into the pool together! I'm looking forward to spring time with flowers and rain, because rain is better than snow! I'm excited to start going to the park again and for warm weather! I'm excited for you to start sitting up and interacting more with Tracen and crawling and teaching you sign language like we did with Tracen. It's crazy that it's already been 6 months, time has flown by!

10 Things I hate

My mom always told me that hate is a very strong word so be careful how you use it. So now at the ripe age of 27 I make sure I really mean it when I say it. If you are guilty of any of these things, we might not be able to be friends. Minus number five, as I'm happily stuck living with that offender.

ONE: I hate when you buy something from Forever 21 and it becomes your absolute favorite top and after a few wears it falls apart at the seams and you get so pissed off because you can't understand how a shirt that cost $17.80 falls apart just like that, that shit is weak! [Yes that was one sentence]

TWO: Gas Prices. Theres no reason for it to go up and down 30 cents in 24 hours, absolute horse shit!

THREE: Feet. Why on earth did God make people with weird feet. WHY!!!

FOUR: People that talk about how they have to thin their hair out because its too thick. I'm over here, throwing weave in left and right, hoping I don't look like Kim Kardashian soon with all her bald spots.

FIVE: The way Jer cleans his ears out. Sticking one Q-tip in each ear and then twisting both at the same time. There is something about the motion of it all that makes me cringe! And he ALWAYS makes sure I'm around and stares at me when he does it!

SIX: When I sneeze and people around me don't say bless you, so rude!

SEVEN: How kids clothes ALWAYS shrink a size smaller, no matter the brand. I did not buy a 3T to have it REALLY be a 2T.

EIGHT: The Secretary of State office.  I can't STAND being there!!! I could care less if I got a brand new Porsche that I need to register, I HATE standing in line there! Okay I'm lying about the Porsche part.

NINE: People that drive UNDER the speed limit when its 70 and sunny out. I'm the first person to drive like a grandma when it's snowy in the mittin but DAMN people! At LEAST drive the speed limit under normal circumstances!

TEN: People that cut their nails at work. I am surrounded by them at work and I will get the balls to tell them to do that shit at home...one day.

Sleepless in Detroit

This morning I woke up and my right arm was numb. Not because I fell asleep with it above my head or because I had been sleeping on it all night.  I didn't want to move it but I needed to get up and get ready for woke. I grabbed my phone as my first alarm at 5:10am started going off to silence it. I silenced the next one and the one after that and the one after that. It was then 6:05am and Jer whispered next to me, are you going to get up and shower? I ignored him, who needs to shower, it's Friday.  At this point my arm was starting to tingle, I think it knew I needed to get my ass out of bed or we all were going to be late. Just as soon as I started to move it upwards, it started. Fussing, farting and crying. Sky was awake and not happy that I was moving my arm his pillow. I laid him on my pillow, tucked him under the down blanket and started to cover the dark circles under my eyes that have made themselves a home. He watched me and smiled.

He was now happy.Content and just plain cute. 

As I searched for something warm and comfortable to wear I couldn't really think about how exhausted I was from the night or weeks before.  I really just wanted to crawl back into bed and snuggle that little guy.

The last few weeks have been hard. If it's not one kid, it's the other and sometimes it's both..at the same time, at that same moment. They need you. They want something from you. Sometimes they don't know how to explain it and sometimes they do. They may just want you to lay with them a little longer, to scratch their back till they fall asleep or sing 'you are my sunshine' just one.more.time. But it's hard. It's hard not knowing, and it's hard knowing what they need, all at the same time. and when you're tired, it's even harder.

From experience I know that these sleepless nights will end though. They will also resurface when teething, night time potty training and when bad dreams happen.  Although it's Friday and I look forward to spending the weekend with the boys, today was a fight.  It was a fight to get Tracen dressed, a fight to put shoes on, a fight to get out of the door and a fight when I had to leave them to go to work.  Today, I cried while driving to work. It doesn't happen all the time but more frequently than I'd like.  Here's the thing. Both boys need me in two totally different way. I hate giving timeouts and I hate saying no but both things have to be done so Tracen learns right from wrong. I also hate when Skylor screams at the top of his lungs every two hours and no feeding, rocking or skin to skin will appease him. I'm exhausted but I really don't mind, what I mind is that you just don't know what's going on with these little humans when they act like this. It's frustrating and it got the best to me on the drive in.  But I will survive, I always do.

Motherhood is a crazy journey. One that is full of unlimited surprises, some good and some bad.  Every day I am blessed to be with these two crazy kids as well as the person that keeps me sane and raises these munchkins with me.

Manicure Monday

I couldn't tell you the last time I paid someone to give me a manicure. Honestly, its been over a year that I've been doing my own nails and that is for a few reasons. First and foremost, it's hella expensive! Depending on where you go it can cost you $13-$20 for a regular manicure and I for one am not down to pay that EVERY week! Second, I can honestly file and paint my own nails just as good, if not better than the ladies that do my nails. So with that being said, I paint my nails an awful lot. I change the polish very often and try out different shapes and new nail art designs, curtsy of Jen. This is something I enjoy doing so I have a decent amount of colors to choose from. Although I've watched many nail polish collections on Youtube, I am no way shape or form on that level but I do probably have about 50 different colors.

Todays manicure is a combo of two drugstore polishes. I'm pretty partial to my Essie and OPI polish but I'e found some great drugstore ones as well. Both of these brands are high quality for a mere $2.99 each.

Colors Used:

||All over color-'Dance in the dark' by Julie G||

||Accent nail-'Waiting for my Solo' by Wet n Wild||

While I almost refuse to pay for someone to paint the nails on my hands, I RARELY do a pedicure myself. First and foremost, I HATE feet.  I also hate the process of washing, clipping, filing, buffing, and painting my toes while hunched over my boney kneecap trying to make sure I do a good job on those little guys.  I do tip really well though, I mean, I'm pretty sure no manicurist really WANTS to give pedicures, it's just part of the business. So save yourself an Andrew Jackson and learn how to give yourself an at home manicure, I promise, you won't be disappointed!

Weekend Recap

|FRIDAY|
It was a long week. I spent too many hours in my car, driving to and from work and too many minutes giving time outs to a certain three year old. The weather turned to crap again and I will admit it, but I wished we lived somewhere nice and warm, like California. Speaking of Cali, my best friend, and other half was coming back from Europe after spending 3 weeks in 3 different countries. We met in undergrad and worked together for about a year before she made the decision to go back to school and get her Masters at Berkeley. She was home for a few days before heading to Europe so I wanted to make sure I got to see her before she headed back to the beautiful, warm state of California. So I left work and raced over to her house to spend some much needed time with her and her parents.  The hardest part is, I'm not sure when I'll see her next.  As we live totally opposite lives on totally opposite sides of the country and I can't except the fact that it might not be until NEXT Christmas, I just can't.

||SATURDAY||
Forts were made, naps were taken, amazing pizza was devoured eaten and a movie (Argo) was watched until 3am (bad idea on our end, we were exhausted come Sunday!)

|SUNDAY||
This day is precious to me. Weekend after weekend, I live for Sundays. We spend the whole day with family and we never get sick of it. We started off with our usual Starbucks order and headed to Air Time to meet our nephew so the boys could run around like the crazy little three year old boys that they are.

Followed by brunch and then nap time. While the boys napped Jer and I watched another Redbox movie, Elysium, which was better than I thought it was going to be.  I did too many loads of laundry and picked up what felt like a billion toys for the millionth time.  Sunday family dinner is one of my favorite and least favorite parts of the day. I usually get depressed because it means in about 12 hours we have to get up again and head to work. But today, today is different because Jer and I don't work tomorrow for MLK day. Thank you corporate job world and also thank you daycare for NOT being closed! Day date tomorrow ya'll! Jer's mom made her classic spaghetti for dinner, which never disappoints and we are almost caught up on Homeland now, just the season finale to watch. If you know what happens do NOT spoil it, we are weeks behind, ugh!

|Hope you all had a wonderful weekend spent with the most important people in your life, I know I did|

Pizza Party Friday, on Saturday

I think I've mentioned this before but I'll mention it again. Jerek is THE best at whipping up AMAZING creations from things around the house. I think it has to do with our college years where we lived on the standard Ramen and canned goods.

Here's one thing I think I've also mentioned before. I am NO chef. My dad was a chef growing up and when it was Friday night and mom was home with my brother and I we either ate pizza, mac & cheese or left overs from the night before. So I got my mothers cooking skills, and I say this loosely!

Fast forward to Saturday night and we are doing the usual 'what do you want to eat?' 'I dunno, what do you want to eat?' conversation. As soon as I turned my back to pick up Skylor there was my counter, covered with delicious items from our panty and fridge. Then came the pizza crust. I knew what he was thinking, I got his vibe, but I was still shocked and amazed when it all came together!

INGREDIENTS: 

• fresh spinach
• milk
• feta
• semi-firm tofu
• fresh mozzarella
• yellow peppers
• cappers
• spices (Jerek's own mixture)
• thing crust pizza crust

There was no red pizza sauce used, instead, Jer made a spinach/Alfredo sauce and it was ON. POINT! I can't tell you if I've ever seen Jer eat pizza without some type of meat on it. I'm pretty sure this was a first! I'm extremely partial to my usual pepperoni and yellow pepper pizza so this was a change for me as well. I can honestly say I would love to have this more often! Not only was it something different but I didn't feel like a fat tub-o-lard afterwards. Score!  For the past couple weeks I've been trying to persuade Jer to start a Youtube channel so stay tuned folks!

Five on Friday

If you live in the Midwest or East Coast you know that a few weeks ago we had a snowmageddon, snowapocalypse, snow storm. It's winter guys, it snows in Michigan. People were damn straight off their rockers, clearing out grocery stores, buying snow blowers, water, can foods, igloos! It did get a tad cold but you wouldn't catch me posting pictures of the -10 weather on my instagram or twitter, instead I called into work, stayed home with the boys and drank a ton of coffee and watched movies in my sweats for days on end.  As much as I enjoyed not leaving the house Tracen was going bat shit stir crazy. I hear we are suppose to see another one of these "storms" this next week so stay inside guys!

With it only being January and living in Michigan we have about 3-4 more months of winter left. *gag me* 

|ONE| MUSIC: 

• Bon Iver
• Ron Pope
• Ben Rector
• American Authors
• Seven Lions

|TWO| TEA:

This tea is one of my faves. Thanks to Rachel Talbott for this recommendation, I just can't get enough! 

|THREE| PANCAKES:

I myself could eat chocolate chip pancakes every morning but lately Tracen has been on a colored pancake kick. I figure that whatever way I can get this kid to eat breakfast is fine by me. Insert food coloring + pancake mix. I make a ton of small ones so we a stash in the fridge for snacks.  These haven't been lastly more than 3 days in our house!

|FOUR| HAIR:
Washing my hair is just so unappealing to me because I HATE blow drying it with a passion. Meet my best friend, dry shampoo.  Sometimes we are together 4 days in a row. Don't judge!

|FIVE| MOVIE|

Jer and I have Monday off and daycare is open. Do you know what that means??? DATE DAY!!! These days are better than date NIGHTS because we don't have to feel like we are imposing on family to watch them. We also have over 8 hours of time to ourselves to do whatever the hell we want! Me, I want to go see Frozen. Oh and day drink. Or possibly go to Emagine movie theater and do both! We'll see what Jer thinks of my plan.

Workout Schedule

Last month I talked about my January goals which you can find here if you want to read. One of them being 'get a work out plan together and actually stick to it.' Here is what I've figured out that will best fit my lifestyle as a full-time working mother of 2 that suffers from laziness and having too much on her plate at once. It's a real condition, I swear.

The Answer: small, concentrated workouts

The reason this will work for me is because of the above. I get up at 530/545am as it is and I REFUSE to get up any earlier than that to work out. I need SOME sleep to function and Sky doesn't sleep through the night like all you other lucky moms of a 5 month old. I also need a schedule, some type of structure, to push me. I can't just say every night after dinner I will work out. I have to have a plan as to exactly what I'm doing or I won't do it. So below is what I've come up with as a schedule, which was half the battle. Sticking to it is a whole other story and a conversation at a later date.

So here it is folks!

MONDAY/THURSDAY:

These are hard days. The beginning of the week where you dread going to work, let alone getting out of bed! This will get you excited for the week and excited that it's half way to the weekend! It's a great full body workout that gets all limbs moving.

TUESDAY/THURSDAY/SATURDAY:

These days I do the morning workout below, right before I shower. Then I will do my Jillian Michael's 30 day shred at night. Or if I'm really feeling feisty, in the morning (this will probably NEVER happen because as I said above, I NEED my sleep!)

WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY:
Bootay time! I should have also explained that I really want to work on my bubble butt...that I don't have...but want! You know, that real nice bootay that looks good in oh ANYTHING.

I've found a lot of these workouts through other blogs and Pinterest and have taken bits and pieces and put together my own plans. I then, printed each of these out so I can easily refer to what I need to do that day and not get on my laptop to search for them, which might will lead me to be on Youtube, watching hours of videos and NOT working out. I also keep these workout cards in the same spot, next to my weights, so I always know where they are. (TIP: If you don't know what a certain workout term means IE: Burpee, bridge, etc, Youtube that shit, don't just guess!)

Another thing I've found that is helpful is Spotify! They have workout play lists that are amazing. You no longer have to stop what you are doing to change a song because 'Train-Marry Me' comes on and you're sobbing like a baby...Just me?

I plan on making more workout cards once I try out more things but for now, this works.  In the days or weeks to come I might get real ballsy and show some 4 weeks post baby bod pictures compared to now and hopefully there is some improvement. We can then revisit the pictures at a later date and maybe I will look like this, but probably not. Oh and if you are wondering why there is nothing for Sunday, that's because I rarely get out of my sweats on Sundays. So unless I'm feeling real feisty will I even attempt to work out on these holy days.

Currently Craving

The holidays have come and gone and I've shopped my little heart out but surprisingly there are STILL some things I can't get off my mind. Oh that's right, tax season refund is just around the corner isn't it.

|1| |2| |3| |4|

Can you tell that I really like coral and mint colored anything!  I've told myself I won't shop anymore in January so these things will just have to wait. I am open to receiving gifts though...anyone...anyone?

Review: Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser

Recently I was taking a nice little gander down the CVS makeup isle, waiting for a Rx to be filled and spotted a few products that I had seen here in blog world and on Youtube. I finally found one of them that I had been looking for so I just had to purchase. This would be the new Maybelline Baby Skin Pore Eraser.

Now I never jumped on the Baby Lips train because I had already jumped on the EOS train and I wanted off and my money back. So before I bought up all 5742564732 different kinds, shades and flavors of the Baby Lips, I took a step back, counted all 256 lippies I had in my makeup collection and decided to hold off until seeing fit. So instead, I bought the new Pore Eraser.  I popped that sucker on the past few days and wa-la, here we are!

Lets set the scene shall we. It is currently 5 degrees in Michigan, there is a winter storm warning and I thought I might get blown over while dropping the boys off at daycare. Needless to say, my skin gets real irritated in the winter months here in the Mittin and I'm always on he hunt to keep it in place without breaking me out. I leave for work at 7am and normally don't take my makeup off until 9pm after the kids are in bed.  It's currently 7pm and I've blown my nose about a bajillion times, eaten breakfast, lunch, dinner, been on the phone constantly for work and I don't see much movement of my foundation.

I have been on the hunt for something that is comparable to my Benefit POREfessional as I use it every day and it costs a pretty penny.  I'm here to tell you I found it, remember I said comparable, not replaceable! The smooth application, weightless and non-greasy feel of this product on my face are just a few of the highlights.  The real winner here is the amount of product you get for the amazing price! You get .67 fl oz for $6.99 (price depends on where you live). Compare that to the POREfessional from Benefit that you get .75 fl oz for $30! Guys this is a huge price difference for only .08 fl oz difference!

I could not give this a 5/5 as I still love other primers/pore minimizers more but for this price point, you can't beat it!