10 Months

Darling Girl, 

Happy 10 Months! You are growing up so fast - every month it seems you are a different baby. You are learning at an exponential rate and I am starting to realize that you pick up on everything!

You are 16+ pounds and 29.5 inches long. You already grew out of all your size 3 shoes and are now wearing size 4! All of your clothes are 9-12 month, but your legs are so long that your 12 month pants are starting to look a little short. I am so happy to finally put you in all your cute summer dresses (most of which are hand me downs) and bathing suits too. Your hair is longer than last month and your eyes are looking like they will be dark blue for good! You still have no teeth, although I can feel the top and bottom two almost breaking through.

You still nurse first thing in the morning when you wake up but have dropped the night nursing. You drink about 20 ounces of formula a day, and eat 3 solid food meals and one snack a day. Most of the time we let you feed yourself, but I still have to hold those puree packs and yogurt sticks for you so you won't spray them across yourself! You tried avocado, blueberries, sour cream, ice cream, BBQ, and corn this month and loved all of them. You also started to like cheese finally.

You sleep 11-12 hours a night, wake up around 7 or 7:30 a.m. to nurse and then play for about 2 hours until you take a morning nap around 9, then another nap around 12:30 or 1pm. Sometimes you'll sleep 30 minutes; sometimes it's 2 hours - it all depends on your mood, how you feel and how active you are. It seems the more active you are, the more you sleep! 

This month you have turned into a speed crawler. You zip around the house, chasing us, the dog or the cat from room to room. You still love to walk holding our hands, and you stood on your own for about 2 seconds the other night in front of your entire paternal family. It almost made me cry! You are still saying some of the same "words" but have started to make these hysterical noises to get our attention, like growling and blowing raspberries at the same time you say a word. You now can wave hello, clap your hands and you also dance when music comes on. You have also learned the meaning of the word "no" as we are starting to use it a lot given you want to get into everything and you have been testing the boundaries. We have had a few adventures this month - we took you paddleboarding for the first time (you were in the Ergo on your daddy's back), went on a few bike rides with the new bike trailer and swimming in your new baby pool.

You're still in love with Bella and Tiny, as well as any other baby or small child you see. You have kissed and cuddled 3 of the 4 baby boys in our church small group, as well as a few of our friend's kids. You have the sweetest demeanor and you are such a cuddle bug. You have adopted two or three blankets as your lovies - you make sure you have one in your arms as we rock you to sleep for naps or at night. You pull your blankie over your face and make funny noises and then roll over and cuddle it - it is so cute!! You give kisses on command to your parents, grandparents and your pets. You raise your arms up to be held. Honestly, I love this phase so much because you are intentional about your love for everyone.

Brighton Love, you continue to amaze me with your sweet personality, your playful and joyful spirit, and your zest for life. Everyone who comes in contact with you comments on your constant smiles and happy and calm personality. You are such a precious and special girl, and I can't wait to see how you continue to grow.

Happy 10 months darling girl. We love you! 

 

Love Affair With Beauty: Makeup Tips

For the introduction to this little series, click here. 

My love affair with beauty started as a young child sitting in my mother's salon all those afternoons after school. I wanted to share the best tips/tricks I have learned from my mom and her salon co-workers over the course of many years. Some you might have heard these before and others might be new to you. (I'm sure most of them can be found on Pinterest or in a beauty magazine - nonetheless, I still wanted to share them!) 

Me and my mom at Halloween. I'm probably 3 years old here.

These are tips about makeup that I wanted to pass along:

• Curl your eyelashes, even if you choose to not wear mascara. It opens up your eyes.
• Black mascara and a shimmery nude eyeshadow look good on everyone. 
• Don't over pluck your eyebrows - thick eyebrows are a sign of youth. But do pluck any stray hairs between your brows and under your arch. If your eyebrow hairs are long, you can brush them straight up and trim with some small scissors to shape them.
• Blush makes everyone look young and fresh. Apply it to the apples of your cheeks with a fluffy brush in a circular motion. Don't apply blush up to your hairline, otherwise you'll look like an 80's pop star.
• Don't use bronzer in the fall or winter - it does not look natural unless you live in a climate like Florida or Southern California.
• Red lipstick is a learned art. First find the right shade (blue red for cool skin tones and orange red for warm skin tones), then learn to apply it properly - line your lips in a nude pencil, apply one coat, blot, dust with powder, then apply a second coat.
• You can wear a lot of eye makeup and you can wear a bright shade of lipstick, but don't do both at the same time.
• If your foundation is too thick, mix it with your moisturizer to make it more sheer. 
• Invest in some good makeup brushes for loose powder, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner and brows. They will help you apply the right amount and are useful for blending.
• Find what works for you - if it's just concealer and chapstick or a smoky eye and lots of false eyelashes, then do it! Don't be afraid to try something new to see if it works. Soap and water can wash it right off if it's the wrong look for you.

What no one tells you... (part 3)

Part One here, Part Two here. Again, this post is for the ladies only! 

It's been almost ten months since I was pregnant and delivered my little lady, but there are still post-partum things that I have been surprised by. (It seems like the "after effects" are spread out over the first year or two of your kid's life?)

Hair Loss and "Baby" Bangs

Pregnancy finally gave me luscious, seemingly thick hair and it was amazing. I didn't start the shedding process until Brighton was about 6 months old - at first it was just more hair in the shower and in my brush, but then I noticed it on everything and started to panic.

And then it got worse.  One night as I was pulling my hair into a top knot, I noticed that around my entire hairline, there were tiny 1/2 inch hairs growing in and I had bald spots around my temples. Bald spots!!!! My self esteem took a little nose dive that night. Of course, I have made it worse by fretting about it constantly, pointing it out to friends and attempting to dye said baby bangs to match my blonde highlights. Now I have orangish-blonde baby hairs around face. Awesome. I need to call my hairdresser.

Peeing when you sneeze

Need I say more? Invest in some panty liners ladies! Do your kegels! 

Night Sweats

I had this for a week after Brighton was born, but thankfully my nurse warned me about them (and told me the cause was my body trying to shed the extra fluid due to pregnancy. Is that actually true?) But as I have started to wean Brighton from nursing 6 times a day down to 1, my hormones are leveling out again and one side effect is night sweats.

I have woken up almost every other night for the last few weeks totally drenched. We change our sheets a lot around here. Lots of extra showers too. Ugh.

Aunt Flo

My first post pregnancy period was awful - heavy, tons of cramps, felt like a psycho. The second one was twice as bad. On the flip side, at least I didn't have o buy tampons for almost 17 months!

Alright ladies, what other post-partum horror stories do you have to share? I know I am not alone in these!! Happy Friday!

just because

she makes me so happy

Rule Breaker

 I made all these rules for myself before I had Brighton. Some of them were based on parenting books I read, or things I noticed other parents do that I didn't agree with, and some were just based on principles that Matt and I thought were important.

But good lord, I broke so many of them once I became a parent. Here are some of the ones I threw out and am laughing about now:

I will not co-sleep with my baby.

Although we technically never let Brighton sleep a full night in the bed with us, she spent a lot of her first 6 months snoozing in our bed for naps and in the early morning. It was easier for me, comfortable for her, and Matt loved it too. Even at 9 months, I bring her into bed with us every morning to nurse and cuddle and I cannot imagine changing that any time soon.

My boobs will never be used as a pacifier. 

I will admit that I massively judged women who did this, but when the crap hit the fan and Brighton was inconsolable I totally used my boobs as a pacifier. And guess what? It worked every single time. And still does... although she is much easier to console now that she is older and can be distracted and likes to cuddle.

Once the baby is old enough to be sleep trained, I will stop rocking her to sleep.

All those parenting books warn you that if you rock your baby to sleep they won't be able to learn how to fall asleep on their own. That's not true at all, at least for my child. Brighton can fall asleep on her own pretty easily, but I rock her to sleep most nights because it's the few minutes where she is calm in my arms and I can hug her tight and kiss her soft hair as much as I want. One day she won't let me rock her to sleep, so for now I relish these sweet moments when my baby girl lets me hold her for as long as I need.

Once my baby starts crawling, I will make sure my floors are clean and dirt free.

HAHAHHA. Pul-leeze. Honestly it would take a daily cleaning to keep our main living space clean given all the foot traffic and our pets. Ain't nobody got time for that! Brighton has been crawling for over a month and has probably ingested a few dog or cat  hairs, plus a little dirt already. I figure it will help build up her immune system and not have allergies later in life.

My baby will eat a healthy variety of foods.

I'm eating crow on this. Brighton is pretty willing to try anything once, but she is already showing a preference for the "fun" foods - sweet fruits, puffs, bagels, butter, cream cheese, yogurt and cookies. Yes, I have let her eat a cookie (just the cookie part - no chocolate chips or anything). Some days when she refuses every thing healthy I offer her, I just give in and give her more fruit, or something with butter on it so she'll get some calories in her.

Ok mamas what rules have you broken? I know I'm not alone in this!