Surviving Motherhood: Sleep training edition

I am a first time mom and with that comes a lot of firsts and lets face it, times when we have NO IDEA what we are doing. I took this thing called "sleep training" with a grain of salt. Not that I was fully skeptical about it, but I thought OHHHH I won't need to do that.  So fast forward to the present and welllll Aria is not sleeping through the night. What do I mean by she isn't sleeping through the night, she is basically waking up more than 2 times a night.  Let us go through her sleeping the past 10 months.  At 2 months she was sleeping about 6 hours during the night (WOOOHOOO right?) and she slept that way until about 6 months. This is when we moved to San Antonio and into our new house.  First of all, not only did she not sleep through the night but she decided I don't want to sleep in my pack and play OR my crib. Ummmm HELLO that's where she's been sleeping since she was born, so we took a step back and got through it and finally had her sleeping again. She was sleeping 10-12 hours at this point. Kyle and I were in HEAVEN to say the least, then came teething.  So teething started and she started waking up at all hours of the night, and this lasted until her teeth broke through (bottom two to be exact). So they broke through and you would think that she would just go back to sleeping again, welllll you thought(as did we) wrong. Aria then started waking up 1-2 times a night, which wasn't THAT big of deal to me because she would wake up and then I'd give her a bottle or put her back to sleep.  Then came her first ear infection, she was running really high fevers and we made the BIGGEST mistake of all and let her sleep with us and now she wants to sleep with us.  So we went to the Dr. and we got antibiotics, which she is allergic to and she broke out in a rash.  Well now her rash is gone and she is not having it going back to her crib. Like you know crying at the top of lungs not having it.  We are literally at our wits end, we don't know what to do.  We have tried it all well at least I thought we had, and we even gave in and tried the cry it out method that the pediatrician suggested (which I do not like and by the way does not work with Aria) This is when I start thinking I'm the worst mom ever, then I google sleep training without cry it out method and there is a lot of information and it gives me hope.  Then I YouTubed sleep training a 10 month old and lo and behold I'm not the only one in the battlefield called sleep training.  You guys do not know how great it feels to know I'm not the only one out there that has a 10 month old(plus) that isn't sleeping through the night.  I also don't mean it as though I am the only one with this problem in a conceited way, but sometimes when you are where we are, well you feel realllllllly ALONE.  Although I'm not happy that we are in this boat, at least I'm not the only one sailing into hopefully a better nights sleep!!!!!
XoXo,
Perfectly Pink

are there any advice you used with your baby? or have heard of any advice? seriously I'm ALL ears!!!!

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Motivational Monday

Good Morning lovelies!!! 

I am again on path of getting fit and healthy. Sometimes I get discouraged because I'm not seeing the results that I want to see but I have to remind myself that it takes time and that I need to find the patience it takes to trek on the fitness journey. I feel like it's a no ending cycle but alas I'm okay with that since I want to be healthy for my daughter and husband.  I have a long road ahead of me but one that I welcome!!! Although it's really hard to stay motivated, lets start off today with a little motivation:

And most of all

XoXo,

Ana =)

Monday!!!

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Oh man it's Monday again!! I feel like weekends go by soo fast. I petition we have 3 day weekends every week!! How was your Mother's Day?! I must say I very much enjoyed my first Mother's day!! I still cannot believe that I'm a mother! I feel like it's surreal, but man am I blessed with such an amazing daughter! =) I'm taking this monday to update you on my life.  For a while now my husband and I have been toying with the idea of moving to either Austin or San Antonio, it wasn't like a 100% for sure that's what we're doing thing but we said if it happens then so be it.  So the hubby then started looking at jobs, and applying for a few here and there.  Not thinking it would EVER happen, he got a call for an interview!!!! So he had THREE(yes three) phone interviews before they flew him out to do a face to face interview.  Well dun dun duuuun....HE GOT THE JOB!! YAY! We're moving to San Antonio!!! I'm so excited like AHHHHHH I cannot believe it's happening!! We had also been trying to get approved for a home loan in Dallas and I'm glad we never found a house we liked. Another thing that is happening in my life is that since we're moving I've decided to transfer schools and finish my masters in San Antonio!! It will add a couple of years to my degree plan but I'm really excited because they offer the exact thing that I've been looking for.  If I get accepted I will be getting my masters in counseling with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy with a military emphasis! This is exactly what I've been wanting to do, but I never found a program in Dallas that offered it! So I had been doing community counseling! So yeah that's what been happening in my life!! So cross your fingers and say a littler praying that everything works out the way that it should!! =D

XoXo,
Ana

Cobwebs at my fingertips...

Obviously, those are metaphorical cobwebs since I'm super scared of spiders.  But cobwebs on my fingertips seemed to be an appropriate way to describe how I'm feeling.  I've been pondering the ways to jump right back into blogging after my blog hiatus that lasted WAAAY too long.  But there is no easy way to jump back into it and get the blogging juices rolling.  I've asked myself what could I do to get myself back into it, and honestly guys I cannot think of any besides baby steps.  I can't come back an automatically start breaking out the blog posts that used to come somewhat easy to me.  So I've decided to start by writing about my current obsessions at the moment.  Lately I've been seriously becoming a planner addict, I mean I loved planners before BUT I'm like ADDICTED to it.  There are so many cute planners out there that I just want!!!






Like the Erin Condren Life Planner (which I ordered last week and am waiting very impatiently for it)

There is the Kikki K Planner... let me tell you guys this company sure makes cute planners!!!

The Arc System from Staples... it's super cute and really easy to customize

and of course FiloFax..... I mean there is no other way to put it filofax planners are ADORABLE.

Perfectly Pink Fridays: I love pink edition

The return of Perfectly Pink Fridays is amongst us =P.... I know many of y'all, if not all of you know how obsessed with pink I am!!! Even my daughters outfits reflect how much I love pink!! So I thought I would post some of my favorite outfits, and nail polish.

XoXo,

Ana

Baby Item Reviews

As many of you know, I had a cute little baby girl. :) Which means a lot of new items that my husband and I buy and try out, some things because we absolutely need them and some things just for fun.  I thought I would do my very first review post on some of the baby items that we have purchased and how I've liked them.

1. Snuza hero

So the Snuza hero clips onto the baby's diaper and monitors movement.  Although the Snuza hero does not prevent SIDS it does monitor the baby's movements and it gives you warning if your baby stops moving.  What does this mean? well since it clips onto the diaper the movement it registers is the baby's breathing, if the baby doesn't move for 15 seconds the Snuza hero starts buzzing and if at 20 seconds the baby hasn't moved it starts an alarm.

My Thoughts: I LOVE IT, BEST $100 that we have spent.  I had read a lot of reviews where they had lot so false alarms and although it has happened twice with me I just can't express how much better I sleep at night.  I definitely recommend it!!

2. Tommee Tippee bottles (9 oz)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Tommee Tippee bottles and let me tell you so does Aria. They are easy to clean and the nipple is really soft (idk if that the word I'm looking for) so it's easy for Aria since they have different flow variations (she is at the first one which is low flow).  We tried Avent bottles and Aria DID NOT like them.  We have never had a problem with Tommee Tippee though. 

3. Diaper genie elite

Okay when the husband was like lets get a diaper genie I was like Pffffttttt we don't need a diaper genie, we can just get a trashcan. WELL aren't I glad that we did. It's AWESOME and our baby's room does not smell whatsoever.  It is extremely easy to change the liners and it holds a TON of diapers!!!!

4. La leche league sports nursing bra

I don't know what I would have done without this bra, especially when my boobs got engorged. SERIOUSLY it was a lifesaver, because I was in so much pain.  It seriously helped me a lot even though I ended up not being able to breastfeed :(. 





5. Munchkin high speed bottle and food warmer with pacifier cleaning basket

I do not recommend this bottle warmer.  You have been forewarned. It lasted like a few days before it didn't work anymore. We had to go buy a new one because it stopped warming the bottles.  =( 






XoXo,
Ana

Organizational/planning

I LOVE LISTS!!!!!!!! Like I'm obsessed with them, I LOVE MAKING THEM.  But what ends up happening is I have lists EVERYWHERE.  From my samsung snote to sticky notes to random pages in my notebooks to my filofax (that I recently sold *cries* I'll tell you why in a minute).  So in order to counteract all the not so organized lists, I scoured the internet in search for something that would stop it (since in my goals for the year I have GET ORGANIZED).  This is when I found bullet journaling, if you don't know what that is well you should look it up because it's GENIUS.  If you want to also add to the organization and find something that helps you time manage you should also check out spiraldex because I'm about to start using it soon because it's awesome too!!!! Okay so the reason why I sold my filofax was that well it was TOO big and I had to leave it at home all the time because it didn't fit into my purse (and now diaper bag that is super cute that it doubles as my purse) so I started not using my filofax as often which made me quite sad because I LOVE it.  This is when I decided that it was best that I part ways with my lovely A5 yellow finsbury because I wanted a new one, probably a personal filofax.  Well because they are so expensive I decided to add another goal into the array of goals I already have.  Since I found the bullet journaling I decided to buy a notebook that I could bullet journal in and IF I use all of it, then I can buy a new filofax (which gives me time to save up for it).

GOALS I'm adding to my YEARLY GOALS:

• bullet journal
• buy a new filofax
• get better at time management
• blog more often (okay you caught me this is already in my yearly goals, but I thought I should remind myself) so I guess in the world of bullet journaling I should put an arrow ------>

2014

New years resolutions are awful... there I said it.  Almost everyone makes them and almost everyone breaks them.  As we embark on a new year (I know I'm like a month late) I have a few goals that I would like to work on.  This isn't a new years resolution by any means. Just some things I want to accomplish and work on.

• get back on my weight loss journey, as I abandoned it while I was pregnant. (weight loss goal post to come once I've worked it out) 
• Lose Weight
• get organized
• buy a new laptop
• stay on track with assignments (I'm a master procrastinator) 
• clean out my closet (and not the Eminem song)
• drink more water 
• plan cute date nights with my husband
• cherish every moment with my daughter & husband
• work on my blog 
• blog more
• find out what works and doesn't work on my blog
• buy our first home (although this one will be a little harder than the rest but I can't wait to own a home)
• get matching bedding 
• bullet journal
• buy a new filofax
• get better at time management
• blog more often (okay you caught me this is already in my yearly goals, but I thought I should remind myself) so I guess in the world of bullet journaling I should put an arrow ------>

These are some of the things that I want to work on and accomplish throughout the year, I will be adding and crossing out the ones I've done so stay tuned =)

XoXo,

Perfectly Pink