Professional Pictures

We had professional pictures taken of Jill a few weeks ago from a family friend of ours. She did just a great job, I am just so happy with how they turned out. Jill was such a cute little ham, you can really start to see her personality coming out in these pictures!!! I just can't stop looking at them.

Our Weekend

I am so excited that we are starting to venture out more as a family and becoming more comfortable with life with a newborn. It's been fun and challenging trying to adjust to the new "normal". It's amazing how different everything is. Just trying to get out of the house brings a whole new meaning to getting ready to go out.

On Friday, we hung out on the couch as a family and watched the snow come down. We caught up on our DVR and went to bed early. At least Jeff did, Jillian still wants to nurse for an hour and a half at night and still doesn't want to go to bed until after midnight. Hopefully we get this turned around by the time I go back to work in March!!! Jill also had a little baby workout in her gym. She is starting to grab on to a few of the low hanging toys which is so cute! I love watching her look around at everything and watch the blinking light on top of the gym. She makes the cutests noises and starts kicking her little legs like crazy.



We had a lazy Saturday morning relaxing on couch with Jill and listening to all of the neighbor's snow blow their driveway's from the Friday evening storm. Jill just loves hanging out on her Daddy's lap on the couch.



On Saturday, my girlfriends Erika and Liberty stopped by to meet Jillian. We all met as sorority sister's back in college and still live relatively close to one another here in Cleveland. Erika and I also work for the same company and live in the same city. Jillian was so happy to meet her new friends and showed Liberty some love by filling her diaper right on her lap. That's my girl!



On Sunday, Jeff and I actually had a little outing of our own and attended our church's Baptism class. Jeff's parents came over to watch Jill which gave us some time to run a few errands after class as well. It's the first time that I have actually rode up front in the passenger seat beside Jeff since Jill was born. I typically ride in the back with Jill to and from doctor's appointments. We haven't figured out yet how to rig the baby car mirror. Any recommendations on a good one? The one we purchased is just not working with our Saturn Vue and we either need to buy a new one or figure something out with the one we have. It's amazing how the littlest things change when you have a newborn! Jeff, Jillian and I headed over to the neighbor's house on Sunday night for the Superbowl. Our first neighborhood outing as a family! Our neighbor's watched my pregnant belly grow throughout the Summer and Fall months and were so happy to finally meet her!


Take care,

Snow Storm 2010

I have been looking at all blizzard pictures across the country and thought I would post ours. Cleveland was hit with the blizzard but not as hard as other areas of the country. The snowfall around the Cleveland area varied depending what side of the city you lived on. We live in the very Northern tip of the city which was the outer cusp of the storm. Our suburb borders Lake Erie so you can't get much more North then that! We only received around 4 inches of snow which is barely anything for what we are used to. The wind was pretty fierce here for awhile and still continues to blow which created several large snow drifts. My parents and sister live in the south western side of Cleveland which had over a foot of snow. I can't wait to see a few of their pictures!





Take care,

Show Us Your Life Beauty Tips

I am really excited to be participating in this week's Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner. It's all about beauty tips and products which is a favorite topic of mine. Per my post below, I love make up, but completely clueless about applying it! I have been focusing on trying to get my appearance back in order since my pregnancy so I really looking forward to reading all of the great tips!!! Here are a few of mine that I love!

HAIR

CHI FLAT IRON - This product is by far my favorite. I have tried a couple of flat irons, even a few of the more expensive ones from Sally Beauty Supply, and none of the hold a candle to the CHI. This thing is a miracle worker. I have very thick hair that has random waves through out. Nothing gets my hair as straight and smooth as this.



Before I use my CHI flat iron, I use this product by Aveda. It smooths out my hair and adds a protective barrier from the heat.



I love pretty much all Aveda products and use several of their styling products. A few other favorites are:






MAKE-UP

My favorite make up lines are MAC, NARS, and Aveda. A few of my favorite products are:

MAC STUDIO FIX POWDER PLUS FOUNDATION - I ran out of this product right before I went into labor and haven't had a chance to go to the mall to pick up a new one. I am thinking of just purchasing it on line and having it shipped to my house because I really miss it. I am using a drug store compact right now and it just isn't the same.



MAC LIP GLASS -



NARS EYE SHADOWS - I went to Chicago several years ago with friends. For fun, we had a NARS make over done at Barney's of New York. I loved all of their products, especially their shadows and lipgloss.



NARS LIP GLOSS -



SKIN CARE -

As a thirty something girl, I am sad to admit that I do not have that much of a skin care regime. I have been intrigued lately by all of the Olay Regenerist commercials and am thinking of picking up a few of their products. I do use the Olay Total Effects 7 - 1 Anti Agind Moisturizer Daily after a shower which I love.



I may be a thirty something, but seem to still have the skin of a teenager. I am prone to break outs and love the Clearasil Daily Face Wash. I have used this for years and love it. I have tried using other daily cleansers but will notice that I will start breaking out again once I stop using the Clearasil. I hope they never stop making this product or my skin is in big trouble!!!!



Be sure to post your favorite products here or on Kelly's Korner. I look forward to learning a few new tips!!!

Take care,

Mommy's Day Out

I was able to get out of the house today for a few hours. How liberating it felt! It was also one of the first days above 32 degrees that we have had in some time so I felt even better about taking Jill out. I can only imagine how different my maternity leave would be if it were during a Summer month. I would be taking Jill around the neighborhood all day long if it were a lot warmer outside. Cabin fever is definetly here!

I decided to start attending our hospital's Mom's lactation support group to get some advice on breast feeding. I am still experiencing pain on my left side and wanted one of the lactation specialists to give her opinion on what was going on. I had my OB check things out at my appointment last week and their was no sign of an infection. At least we were able to rule out that possiblity. According to the lactation specialist, Jill may not be opening up wide enough so we are going to try a few of her suggestions and go back next week. There were three other Mom's there which also made it nice to converse with other women!!! Their babies were 2 and 4 weeks old and so tiny! It's amazing how quickly you forget how small your baby was, and Jill is only 6 weeks old! She looked huge compared to them. It really is amazing how much they change in just a few short weeks.

Trying to get out of the house was interesting too. I was trying to get out the door before Jill wanted to be fed but it just didn't work out that way. Sure enough, she started crying and demanding food so I decided to feed her on the one side and run out the door. At least she had something in her belly and hopefully left her a little hungry so she could eat again at the lactation group. That seemed to work out pretty well even though I think the lactation consultant would have been able to see Jill in action a little more on an empty stomach and a full feeding. Perhaps things will go a little smoother next week.

Jill getting ready for her big day out!



Pulling into our meeting:




I had not eaten all day and was starving when the meeting wrapped up at 2pm. On a rare sunny and above freezing temp day in Cleveland, I did not want to head home just yet. So to McDonalds drive thru I went. Oh, the shame!!!



Jeff told me last night that close friend's of our's just bought a home near us. Still not wanting to go home, I thought I would drive through our friend's new neighborhood to look at their new house. There is nothing more fun to me than checking out new homes. I was in heaven. There were actually three for sale that could have been their's. I loved the one with the porch.





We are home! Jill all tuckered out:

Let's Make Up!

I really love buying new make up but admittedly am not a pro on applying it. I have been in a bit of a beauty funk lately and have been trying just to use up the products I have lately so I can start fresh.

I recently came across this amazing make up blog by blogger TiffanyD. I really love how she gives tutorials on how to properly apply make up and documents every product she uses. This is really helpful for a girl like me! I have been compiling a list of new products that I need and have been studying her videos. My observation is that it has more than just the products, but the tools that she uses to apply the make up. I have always just stuck to the standard make up applicator that comes with the eye shadows so I really love the fact that she mentions the brushes she uses as well. Have fun watching her videos, I hope you are as inspired as I am!

In Transition

Jeff watched Jillian for a few hours today which allowed me to venture out to my ultimate happy place:



I realized that while I was in Target, I am still not able to fully appreciate my non-pregnancy self just yet. I was so sick of wearing my maternity clothes and still find myself not able to shop just yet. I was looking through all of their cute spring clothes and bathing suits (I still can't get over that they have all of their bikini's out, it was only CHRISTMAS the last time I was in Target which wasn't THAT long ago) and can't even consider buying anything. I have lost most of the pregnancy weight, however, I still have 10 pounds to go in addition to the 10 pounds of infertility weight that I put on. With a weight loss goal of 20 pounds, it is really pointless buying something that I will hopefully (knocking on wood) not wear very long.

I am in a bit of a transitional period and trying to get to know myself again as a non-pregnant girl. I have been thinking and acting like a pregnant girl for so long, that I sometimes have to remind myself that I am not pregnant anymore. I CAN have that diet pop again and I CAN wear those high heel boots again! I tried so hard to stay away from those things when I was pregnant that it's hard to jump right back into thinking like a non pregnant girl again.

I had my post partum OBGYN appointment on Thursday and was blessed with a clean bill of health. She even gave me a prescription for birth control pills which honestly makes me laugh. They are for a good reason because they will help keep the endometriosis away for when we do start to try again. When will that be you ask? Probably not for several months but we'll save that explanation for another post.

Anyway, with that clean bill of health, I decided that step one in making the transition back to my old self is to start working out again. Tomorrow I plan on starting this:



I really miss my FIRM videos and "Fanny Lifter" so I am looking forward to dusting them off and getting back to business. I used to workout all of the time and have found that intervals of cardio and weight resistance training are the best way to sculpt your body and to lose weight. I can't wait to get back into shape again. I know it's going to be a challenge trying to workout and take care of a new baby, but I am up for that challenge. Ask me again on Friday to see how easy this really was :)

I really think this is step one in helping me to feel more like me again be able to be able to shop like I used to. Any advice from mom's, especially those who are breast feeding, on how to keep up your workouts and coordinating your breast feeding? I would really love to hear from you!!! I am really glad that I can breast feed Jillian and do not want to sabatoge my milk supply in any way.