Thriftanista in the City

Yesterday I took a breastfeeding break. I've been whining so much about it. Little Miss nurses every 2 hours or less during the day. She receives bottled breastmilk at night so I pump and then I feed her when she wakes up in the middle of the night. I'm so over it. Yesterday I spontaneously decided not to do it. Well, I gave her a little bit of bewb (intentional misspelling to decrease the changes of appearing in a p0rn search) but mostly bottles yesterday. Bad Mommy Confession: I've been feeling trapped lately. She's been really clingy so I've been overwhelmed with the constant holding, rocking, bouncing, and feeding. She also claws at my face, lips, and hair so I'm pretty jacked up by the end of the day. Burnt out. I'm glad I took this break. I feel refreshed. I also had some epiphanies: She may not be getting enough to eat. I only pumped about 6 ounces. Maybe that's why she always wants to eat. I can feed her less often. She was able to take in more o...

Before there was a baby, there was sewing (overly dramatical, I know). There have been times when it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up and the last thing on my mind at night. I've been really "fiending" to cut into some fabric and hear my sewing machine roar. It's not possible right now (sewing room is now baby room) so I decided to work on some small easy peasy no muss no fuss projects. I experimented with whipping shea butter. This batch was a bit thick and wasn't as fluffy as a I wanted but still I love it. It has the consistency of cake batter. I like the way it feels on my skin. I can't stop putting it on. Next time (I have a pound of raw shea and cocoa butter to go through) I think I'll need to add more oils to the mix. The sound of the mixer lulled Little Miss to sleep. She's always so cozy in the Moby wrap. Also, I finally worked with the flowers from this  post . I attached clips and a headband. Voila! I want to ...

The winter months are hard on me. I do not like cold weather and can spend days in the house with the heat cranked or with many layers depending on what the energy bills look like for the month. I spend a lot of time looking a vacation photos and imagining the day I return to the coast of Kenya. I can't wait to take Little Miss here and watch her play in the sand. It's on my vision board so it has to happen this year. This is as close as I got to being in the water. I can't swim and I need to learn. I'm wrapped up even though it's really hot but I was trying to keep the sun allergy from flaring up. (Click to enlarge) My view from the cot I was glued to on the beach. (Click to enlarge) Another cot view. (Click to enlarge) Glued to a chair this time. White sand and palm trees. I love it. (Click to enlarge) View from vacation cottage. (Click to enlarge) Love these flowers. They were everywhere in so many different colors. (Click to enl...

Gickr fun!

She thought the high chair was tastier than rice cereal. Blech!

Cuticles still raggedy, I know. Pretty glitter polish. One of the free (had to pay shipping) polishes I received from Zoya.

Me When I was pregnant, I overheard a mother talking to her toddler son and she was super-overly-dramatical (new word) about some project he did in school. I thought to myself, how am I ever going to be able to get that excited over some scribbles on a piece of paper? I just knew she had be faking that level of excitement until I walked into her room this morning.  Little Miss woke up this morning roaring and babbling to herself.  I prefer that so much more than screaming her head off. I walked into her room to find her on her STOMACH! She rolled over! EEEE! No easy feat especially with her humongous sleep sack on. I had been waiting for this "milestone". I was excitedly squealing and scooped her up in a big hug. I could tell she was pleased with herself too. Normally she doesn't like being on her stomach.  This is one of those moments where I ask myself "who am I"? It's just such an unexpected response from me. I'm rarely ever super-overly-dramatical. I...

I blame the cold dry air for my raggedy cuticles. My polish is cute though.

In my former life I was never tardy for the party. I like  love to party! Not in an a$$ out drunk as a skunk kind of way, just being out and about having night life experiences. Getting dressed up. Eating sushi. Drinking pink colored sugary sweet barbie juice. Listening to live music. Doing a bit of dancing. Cackling with the girls. I love it all so much I put it on my  vision board . I have been out 1 time since the birth. It was during my 4 day Thanksgiving momcation weekend . I miss it. As a way of sparking the fire, I am throwing a party of my own next month. We'll be designing vision boards and drinking wine. I've never planned a party before (stepping out of my comfort zone in 2011). I've also tried to make friends on meetup.com to get the energy going. I've "joined" many groups..parenting, crafting, "girls night out", natural hair, and law of attraction groups. So far nothing has really come from it. It's like being back in the dating ...

Because we say it several times a day while Little Miss is in the Jumperoo. Jump/Ruka Very poor quality of Jumperoo in action.

Is my week up? Can I resume baby sleep talk? This will be my last one for awhile. Last week my hold on Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber came in. I read/skimmed through it all week. I've had good results so far. She's back to sleeping through the night (at least 5 hours). I've had 2 nights where she slept 8 hours before needing a feeding. Thank you, Mr. Ferber! I've also been using the method for naps as suggested and she's managed a few hour long nap. Not always. It's still sporadic. I now feel confident that she is getting enough sleep. My only concern is that she isn't getting it. She is going to sleep on her own. Sometimes with tears and sometimes without. For the naps, I have to time it just right. I still bounce her around a bit to make sure she's drowsy and then lay her down and walk away. Most of the time she will go right to sleep. If she cries, it's never more than 15 minutes and seems to be less and less as the ...

Her friends

The truth shall set you free...... . . . . I'm breastfeeding in a lot of the photos I take of myself. I once sent a secret admirer email to a co-worker. 90% of the time, I walk around the house with at least 1 boob exposed. I'm tired of breastfeeding. I'm tired of pumping. The weight on my drivers license is about 15 pounds off (I know I'm not the only one.) I've flashed passing cars on the expressway. I have 726 subscriptions in my two google readers. If I were sober when I met Him, we probably would have never gotten together. My daughter's name has a connection to my father that most family members don't know. I have been meaning to write my cousin in jail for at least 6 months but I don't know what to say. I like going to non-english as a first language countries because I have an excuse for not talking to people. I rely on liquid courage in a lot of social situations. Get it off your chest. What do you want to confess?

Doing my nails is just one of the ways I de-stress and feel pretty. When I'm wearing ugly sweats and a milk-stained nursing top, I just take a gander at my nails (on the hand not holding the wine glass) and all feels right in the world.  The color on the left was seen here in the bottle and the right is the new Sally Hansen polish strips . (Click image to enlarge) What do you do to make it all better?

I do believe those sleeves made an experience in 2010. Balmain stole my idea! No that is not a bump-it giving me the Snooki pompadour. This dress had everything I loved in one dress! Purple color, big bows, heart shapes, puffy sleeves. I'm a hot mess. I've shown you mine now you show me yours. Show me your "fly at the time" outfit. I dare you.

I know the horse is dead but I just can't help giving it another beating. Wednesday morning Little Miss woke up at 1:30 and refused to go back to sleep. He spent the next hour rocking and sssshhhhhing her. After that I went in and fed her. She dozed off. I put her in the crib and did some more rocking and ssssshhhhing. I gave up and left her alone to cry. We listened to her cry for at least 30 minutes. At 4:30, I brought her to our bed and let her use me as a human pacifier. She slept until 8:30 AM. Seriously considering co-sleeping now. Is this a bad move? We have regressed so far that she's practically in the womb! We have never had her in the bed with us all night. Now it seems like the only option for a half way decent night of sleep. If we co-sleep will it be harder down the line to get her to sleep on her own? Will she miraculously just learn to sleep on her own? Is something keeping her awake? Too cold? Hunger? Is she getting enough sleep? How am I suppose to make that h...

The signing has begun. We've started with 5 signs and will speak the swahili word (His home language) to her. I'm using the  My First Signs  book and Baby Sign Language Basics - book and dvd . Mama - Mama Daddy - Baba Milk - Maziwa Bath - Oga Bed/Sleep - Lala I feel kind of silly signing to her but I figure if she can understand when it's bedtime (I know because she has a total meltdown when putting on her diaper every night) she can pick up on the signs. Is your child learning more than one language? When did you start? What is/was your method? How is the retention?

Sleep has been all over the place for the past few weeks. I know she's a baby. I know her sleep will be erratic. I know about the growth spurts and teething. I understand all that but right now I...don't....care. I want to sleep. I'm selfish like that. Her sleep has plummeted. It's the worst it's been EVER. At least as a newborn she slept during the day. Now I'm lucky when she takes a 20 minutes nap. She no longer starts with 5 hours . She's not even getting to 4 hour stretches. She's waking about every 2 hours. I give her boob. She dozes off. I remove her from boob. She fusses. I give her more boob and place her back in the crib asleep. I return to bed and spend the next 30 minutes trying to go back to sleep. Repeat cycle. The past couple of nights I have refused to get out of bed and made Him go tend to her. That has been helpful. I only have to get myself back to sleep. Still I want more. That is all. Just having a pity party. Join me. Wh...

Her likes: fake laughing having the drool wiped from her mouth panting staying up late talking grabbing baths spit bubbles pulling my hair scratching everything to hear what it sounds like nibbling on her toes hanging upside down Still enjoys: kisses hanging out in Jumperoo trying to stand and standing sleeping in Moby wrap or Baby Bjorn while I'm in motion roaring morning eating fresh diapers Enjoying one of her favorite activities

20 seconds ago I started the coffee. 20 minutes ago I fed Little Miss breakfast in bed. 20 weeks ago my water broke and I was still excited about being in labor. 20 months ago I had a drunken conversation with him about whether or not we were going to have kids. We agreed on yes. 20 years ago I was sweet 16 and never been kissed. Crushing hard on Ori Dixon (wonder where he's at now). Hating school but still excelling.   What were you doing 20 seconds, minutes, weeks, months or years ago?

Little Miss had her first play date(s) today. We finally had the opportunity to check out a neighborhood meetup. There were 3 other babies there. One that is 4 months old just like Little Miss. She looked a little confused when we entered but quickly warmed up.  She's such a Chatty Cathy. She dominated every conversation with her babble. Other than the adults, she was the only one talking. I'm glad. I think she will be like Him in that respect. I was a shy baby, child, and depending on the situation I'm still scared of people. I may have a little Oprah on my hands! In preparation, I reserved a bunch of Baby sign language books and DVDs. I also want to make sure she doesn't do the point n' grunt for everything. I wanted to take a class but it's friggin cold out there. I'm prone to hibernation. There's no guarantee I'll make it to every class plus the library is free! I can't wait to get started. It seems I'm not the only interested in the subj...

Taking care of Spirit is on my " Get It Together " list and after 4 weeks of saying I'm going to visit this one church in particular, I finally made it there! However, I'm not sure this is the church for us. I really liked the it is non-denominational. I also chose it because the church principles aligned with my beliefs in the law of attraction. The message this week was "Naming the New Year". The minister spoke about the universe conspiring for our good. We said a group prayer stating "I claim my good. The Universe is boundless" and then we did an exercise. We were given a marker and a stone to write on. We meditated and then chose a word that would define our 2011. It tied in well with my Dreaming Big  vision board . So in theory this was a perfect place for me and the family but some things were missing. Diversity for one. It was definitely an older crowd. An older caucasian crowd. I thought there would be more of a mix considering the dive...