another random post

I have a whole bunch of things I want to blog about but have little to no time to do so. Here's a shortened version of what's going on in my head right now:

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I'm particularly saddened that I didn't get to blog about a recent significant holiday:

I want my son to know how important the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is- it's not just an extra day off. I can't wait to take him to the King Center in Atlanta and I myself would LOVE to visit the King Memorial in D.C.- despite all of the controversy surrounding it.
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Today the Internet went black. Well sort of- and this is the thing: I kind of have no idea what's going on. I'd like to blame in on the fact that I'm a mom, but it's really more of the fact that I just don't have everything quite down pact yet. I'm still figuring out how to get everything done (or at least the essentials) and still spend time with my son and husband. I'm back to work now (more on this another day) and finding the balance between home and work has been elusive. I'm sure I'll get it- Noah didn't build the ark in one day. Needless to say- I have a DVR full of unwatched television shows (I'm sure it's at about 80% full or my husband has been sneaking and deleting my shows). So, I'm embarrassed to say type acknowledge that I have no idea what SOPA and PIPA is- I'm glad there is someone in this world concerned about our #firstworldproblems and protesting. And in case you've been living under baby poop, milk, and teething rings go to wikipedia (the English version) and google right now (January 18 is the only day they are doing it as far as I know). Yea- crazy. Even craigslist and Pinterest have joined in. I would sit here and think of random websites to go to but who has time for that?

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I'm a Beyonce fan... not quite a Stan. Well maybe. I used to think I was Beyonce on weekends. Okay, I know that sounds weird but whatever. I know there are a great deal of people who don't necessarily care for her, or her music, or celebrity- but I find most of her songs to be very catchy, I think she's quite fashionable and she gorgeous and gracious. I admire her drive. I remember in an interview she stated she wanted to be the first person to win a Grammy, Oscar, and a Tony- that's ambition. She's found a goal and is working toward it. I definitely think she can do it. We all know of her insane amount of Grammy's and she came so close to that Oscar- she will find another role that will take her to the top (although Dreamgirls may be the only movie I truly liked her as an actress. We won't bring up Obsessed). I also believe that like many other successful singers (Sheryl Lee Ralph) when she's done with the main stream spotlight- she can make it on Broadway.

So my point...

I'm kind of getting sick of the recent news of her giving birth. I mean I will read or watch legitimate news, good news. Every since she announced her pregnancy there has been so much gossip surrounding the ordeal that I actually at this point feel bad for her. She has been accused of wearing a fake baby bump and using a surrogate to avoid 'ruining her body', She's been ridiculed for continuing to wear heels throughout the pregnancy, there have been reports of giving birth in December to a 'Tiana May Carter' (although I think this was just a twitter rumor). It has been reported that her security caused some inconveniences to the parents of newborn babies in NICU. I have no idea what's true and what's not because I haven't been there to witness any of it. But I draw the line at going after newborn babies.

photo credit

Really?? Really?? Seriously???

If I new someone had said something so malicious about my little boy when he was born not only would I be extremely hurt and disgusted- but I might just flip my lid. I get that celebrities are targets of all sorts of craziness but this was just plain unnecessary. Especially because we are all born into sin (Psalm 51:5) singling out a child who has no idea of the life she was born into is just plain wrong. And an inappropriate jab at her parents nonetheless.

I really just want it all to stop. I really feel bad for baby Carter's family and if she ever googles her name in the distant future- how is her parents going to explain that, although I'm sure in her lifetime they will be explaining a lot due to their high profile lives. I wish them lots of love (which has already been expressed in Jay-Z's "Glory") and I hope they do decide to do an interview- in their own time- just to let their fans know how blessed they are ( I know they don't owe it to us) and let those who care share in their joy.

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I am obsessed with Pinterest right now. I could waste hours everyday pinning away.

Source

BEST. PIN.EVER.

I swear my son makes that face sometime.

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And if I can ever get my life together stay tuned for upcoming posts:

A day in the life of a working mom
Craving: Cheesecake
365 366 love letters: week 2
A day in the life: Weekend Edition
My New Year's resolutions (Yea I know)

4 months!

My oh my!

No longer a newborn :( You have accomplished so much in these few short months and we are looking forward to so many more milestones! Let's start with the basics.

You are now a whooping 16 pounds! I can't really tell how big you've gotten while I'm carrying you around, but once you are in your car seat- whoa! You are in the 90th percentile for weight and head circumference which is 17.25 inches. This is actually a little less than your last appointment- I guess your brain is giving your body a chance to catch up :). You are 25 inches long now which is in the 75th percentile. My baby boy is two feet tall now!

You are doing so well growing and developing - it amazes me. You are begining to show small signs of independence like trying to hold your own bottle when you eat. Pretty soon I know you'll get angry if someone tries to hold it for you.

Since you are holding your head so well (as you have been for a while now) we introduced a new toy for you to play with- your jumperoo! You love it so much. It lights up and plays music whenever you jump and you get such a kick out of it. You love excersizing those little legs but your feet don't quite touch the ground when you are in it yet. We just put a pillow under your feet and you get going!

We are also begining to introduce solids this month. Your first time eating cereal was so cute. You have to learn how to eat from a spoon but I'm sure you'll get it relatively quickly. You were very happy with your new meal option and we can't wait for you to try it again.

onsie by baby gap

I am looking forward to the many moments that we will share this month. It is especially sentimental because I also returned to work. I miss our 'mornings with mommy', our trips out to wherever, whenever. I miss you period. Sometimes I think you get mad that I leave you for so long- you don't always smile when I pick you up. I know we will both need time to get used to the change though. I always count down the days until the weekend- or until I get an extra day off.

Love you much!

Week 1: days 1-7

I am so pleased with my first installment of my 365 366 day photo challenge. I must admit day 3's picture was taken at approximately 11:42 pm. I was in the bed and hubby was feeding little bit and suddenly I remembered that I hadn't did a photo that day. The majority of these pictures are iPhone photos as well. I am getting the hang of always having my camera with me though. I mean, I always have my camera with me but it's not always in my hand.

In this one short week of photo sessions, I've learned that

-I need more background space if I intend to write a message on each picture. I love to zoom in on his face and that leaves little space for messages.

-It's not easy to photograph a wiggling baby. I knew this before I started this project but it's become even clearer now.

- I may need to invest in a good photo editing program, although I'm sure I wouldn't have the time to learn how to use it or actually edit pictures using it considering I did all of these on the fly in various locations.

- It doesn't have to be perfect. I think he's going to look back on this and smile.

All in all, I also think it came out pretty good considering I used free photo editing websites to edit all the pictures. I still think this is a huge undertaking for me considering I photograph him often in various situations anyway. I just received his birth story photo book I made for him and currently I'm finishing up his 0-3 months book. Needless to say, I think he's beginning to recognize the camera. He still ignores me sometimes but I think he's starting to get it. So without further ado...

Outfit by: BuyBuybaby

My favorites photo wise are days 4 & 6. I love seeing him play. The newborn meaning of playtime is so adorable. My favorites editing wise are days 5 & 6. Simply adding frames does wonders to pictures especially when you are trying to hide messy bed clutter as in day 6. I'm linking up this post with Baby Making Machine's love letter's linky :)

 

TV hopping

Yes, this is our current TV situation. Yes, you should feel bad for us. You can see what our previous TV situation used to look like here. I'm not exactly sure what happened. It just went...kaput!

So my husband moved the TV in the kitchen to one of the end tables in the living room and plopped it in front of our old TV. But that's not it. When he goes back into the kitchen to cook or eat- he takes it with him! Sometimes I catch glimpses of him walking down the hallway, TV in hand and it is absolutely hilarious!

The good news is we get to upgrade our TV! :) The broken one is a floor model from quite a few years ago. I'm hoping to upgrade to something like this:

We can't have a real fireplace so an electric fireplace will suffice... for now. Plus it's a forced air heater so I can crack it up 'to knock the chill off' a time or two. And for the actual TV- this is my top choice. If you have time-check out the specs. Apparently 3D TVs are the next big thing crazy thing is this TV doesn't require dorky glasses to get the 3D effect! But that's not happening in this lifetime. And if you are bored one day and want to torture yourself please get to a Best Buy and sit in the home theater set ups (in front of that TV) and prepare to waste an entire afternoon (or morning or evening) staring in awe. We are going to wait for a major holiday sale and hope to score some major savings on a more reasonably priced one. But until then- we'll keep TV hopping.

3 months young

Hey Sweet Potato!

Yea, I've taken to calling you that nowadays- but don't worry I'll stop before it embarrasses you. And I promise to come up with some equally if not more mortifying :)

So I better get this done before you turn 4 months old. I know this is super (by super I mean a month) late, but what can I say, we've been super busy!

Time is going by so fast! You are almost no longer a newborn :(. You have grown so much since you were first born - God's miracles are amazing.

I'll start with your stats. At your 3 month well visit you weighed in at 15 pounds 2 ounces. Whew! That's the 90th percentile! You're getting pretty heavy- but it's okay that means you are healthy and growing. You measured 23.4 inches long and it's pretty much confirmed- you've got your daddy's head: 17.5 inches.
Although you are obviously growing like a champ you haven't quite doubled your birth weight so the doctor says we will see what's happening at your four month visit and maybe you can start cereal! I'm very excited for your next milestone but I'm also worried that you will eat me out of house and home.

Yep, you saw that correctly, you're getting some thumb action. I actually think it's quite cute- but I won't let you make it a habit. You also got some more immunization shots but I'll spare you the gory details :).

You've done so much this past month it's amazing. This is your second trip to the grocery store (sometime Mommy forgets to take pictures of some things- but you will appreciate a picture from your second grocery store experience right?!) The first time we went you were sleeping when we arrived so I left you in the car seat. This time I strapped you in the Moby and let you look about. I think you appreciated all the colors around you. I had to take this picture because your G-Ma thinks I don't dress you warm enough sometimes (even though you sweat like a cup of ice water left in the sun while you are in the car seat) so I had to verify your warmness (she worries about you a lot) and show off the cutest hat in the world!

We've celebrated 3 (I think) holidays!

Thanksgiving... although you would think it's Christmas with all the gifts you received.

Christmas... (really Christmas!)

and New Year's Eve.

You've visited your 92 year old Uncle...

Had a playdate...

 And still continue to enjoy bathtime...

Mommy and Daddy keep you very busy. Well, that's it for now. I'll be writing you again real soon!

This week's obsession

It's no secret that I'm a crafty wannabe. I've always had an appreciation for creativity and the great things that come of it. I came across this blog while I was still trying to conceive and I completely forgot about it until it resurfaced in my twitter TL. Now that I think about it- I came across a lot of great things that were shared via the message boards- none of which I bookmarked, all of which I regret. But anyway to my point...

photo credit

I am so excited about the release of this book! Basically this mom would create scenes around her baby while she was napping based off what she thought the baby was dreaming about. I fell in like from the first time I saw this. She used only fabrics and household items to create the scenes and I am so impressed that she was able to do this without waking baby. Actually she explains this in her blog: http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

If you have a moment please hop on over and have a look see. While she has removed all of 'Mila's daydream photos' due to the insensitivity of a lot of people- you will get the gist of what she's done. I wish you could have seen it before mean people started stealing photos of her daughter (which is why I am deathly afraid of posting pictures of my little guy- thank goodness for watermarks) {but check out what is now her first post}. Also check out her FAQ page. It gives a lot of insight into how something so sweet ballooned out of control.

While you are browsing her FAQ page to understand what she, her daughter, and her blog has been through, i'd like to point out something I find to be a little "unfair" for lack of a better word. She talks about Finland's (where she's from) maternity package which contains clothes and other goodies for baby. And if you peruse the site a little further you will come across the maternity AND paternity leave allowance. While I understand American customs such as baby showers help the parents a lot with baby goodies I think their government is pretty supportive of mothers and new babies. Did you see that you may take maternity leave no more than 50 days before your due date and no later than 30?? I know some moms who didn't even get the standard 6 week leave but rather had to use PTO (personal time off) days. I'm not saying- I'm just saying

My hubby and I were very blessed to have supportive family and friends to help us celebrate the birth of our first born and we are truly grateful for everything we have been blessed with. I just find it nice that their government also celebrates with mom and dad rather than penalize. I am sure that Finland may have issues that Americans may not have ( I am in no way versed in wordly governments)- my husband always says "Yea, the grass is always greener on the other side". So I should be grateful for what I did receive... Now back to the regularly scheduled program.

It's no secret that I love good photography. I even want to start a photography project dedicated to my son this year - all which is why I'm excited about the release of the book. I know it takes me a while to get to the point. I love it when ideas come to life to be enjoyed for years to come. So the book release along with Jen's 365 tips, and Lacey's link to the helpful list, I think I may be able to pull off the Love Letters to my son. Wish me luck!

Year in Review

January- We found out we were expecting

February- I became an author

March- second trimester

April- My 30 day challenge

May- Felt baby move for the first time

June- Won my first blog prize

July- Got my iPhone!!!

August- Road Trip!!!

September- Met my baby boy face to face

November- Baby Boy's first Thanksgiving

December- Baby Boy's first Christmas

I hope 2012 proves to be as blessed and eventful as 2011.

 

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year folks!! I wish you all many many more years of blessings.

To start of the New Year, here are my top 10 posts (by page views) from 2011.

#10. Packing while pregnant

#9. My early Christmas gift

#8. My favorite Christmas gift

#7. Happy Halloween

#6. My first blog tag!

#5. The nursery reveal

#4. The breastfeeding campaign

#3. Baby's first Halloween

#2. The day my son was born

#1. My DIY makeover

That list was unexpected to say the least. I'm surprised the birth stories didn't make it and I can't believe the Happy Halloween post actually made it. My tracking skills are really lacking but this is still interesting to say the least. 

I hope that in 2012 my blog continues to grow in readership and content. Most importantly my blog will continue to be my personal documentation to through motherhood. I look forward to what 2012 brings - hopefully good things just as 2011 did :)


Happy New Year!!!