Wednesday

Moms Magazine






I am so excited and proud to say my blog post was featured on momsmagazine.com!! I submitted the article a few weeks ago in hopes that my little voice would raise awareness on Clubfoot. I really didn't even expect to get published or hear back, but to my surprise, it was approved and published! I still can't believe it! Honestly, sometimes I get so discouraged and think how nobody want to hear what I have to say, especially about such a unknown deformity, but when this happened my perspective turned around and snaped me back into place. I speak for a cause and even if my attempts fail, I have to keep on. I have promised my son and myself to raise awareness on Clubfoot and I will keep my promise until I am old and can no longer keep up with technology and social media! Haha. 
With a new month beginning, this gives me so many new goals and motivation. I am so focused on setting out on new dreams and adventures for the clubfoot community and my family. I am so excited and ready for this season of my life. "What could you achieve if you knew you would not fail?" I have this quote constantly playing in my head and I intend to find out the answer. 
I know October will be a great month for me! What about you? What's on your agenda to conquer? What steps are you taking to get there? Remember even if they are baby steps they count! Good luck in all your future endeavors and never give up on your cause or your dreams!
WMF

Monday

Baby Food

Happy Monday! Josiah is now 4 1/2 months and has officially started solid food! Now a days they recommend not starting on baby food until 6 months of age, but I've always just gone off of whenever my baby looks interested in whatever I am eating. Abram started at 3 months and Eli at 4 months, every baby and parent is different and my kids handled it fine except for Abram- whose first food was the baby rice cereal stuff they recommend you start them on. Well let me tell you it did not go well and he had an upset tummy for the rest of that day and all through that night. It was a nightmare and he didn't even have much of it! After that I swore my babies would eat real food and not the dust stuff. Eli's first food was avocado and he loved it! I try to start them on veggies, because if they have the sweet fruits first they won't like veggies. Josiah started on sweet potato. 









It got all over his boots, we had to take them off ! Haha



He was so excited and kept kicking, he managed to kick his sock off!







He was so excited, he ate it all and to wash it down- some milk!


I go with all natural recipes, they are the best for new tummies.

What you'll need: 
-a blender/ nutribullet/ food processor
-sterile bags or baby food trays
-foil
-sweet potato
-potato peeler



1. Peel the sweet potato, it makes it easier to do it before than to try to peel it after its cooked, hot and soggy.
2. Wrap it in foil, going a couple of times around the potato to avoid juice spilling in the oven.
3. Cook at 300 degrees for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours depending on oven. You want to make sure its cooked all the way through, you can't have hard chunks in the middle.
4. Once cooked, throw it in the blender/ NutriBullet/ food processor, until pureed. (I added a pinch of cinnamon for flavor. Never add salt to baby food!!)  Let it cool for 10-15 min.
5. Serve about 1 oz for baby to eat. Store the rest in a sterile Lansinoh Bags or this storage system.


It's important for babies to only have the same food for about 3-4 days to make sure there is no food allergy related to this food. Like I stated above try to make veggies a first food so they don't reject them after having sweet fruits. Wholesome Baby Food has great insight for making baby food at home. Hope you enjoyed this recipe Moms! Have you made your own baby food? What are some of your recipes? Share in the comments below!
WMF

Friday

Nude Rose Eye Shadow Palette



 
Bh has launched a beautiful palette named the Nude Rose Palette and I am totally in love!! This is such a great shadow palette for the Fall. I actually think some of the shades look a lot like the Naked palettes by Urban Decay. The hues are gorgeous, I can not wait to get mine! Of course being as the palette launched this week it is at an awesome price,  and I know it will sell out soon as did this lovely palette. They also have a great sale on some of their brushes. I recently bought these brushes and let me tell you I absolutely LOVE them! Not only are they beautiful in color, but they are sooooo SOOOFFFTTT and perfect to do your eye makeup with. The great part is if you buy both the eyeshadow palette and brushes right now you'll only be spending under $30! To me that is an amazing steal for both these products, especially since the Urban Decay palettes are $54! So if you haven't given Bh Cosmetics a shot yet, now is the time to try it, trust me you will not regret anything you buy, and you'll have to come back to tell me how right I was! :)
Happy Friday Everyone!!
WMF

Wednesday

Autumn











My all time favorite season is Autumn! The smell of cookies and pies, Turkeys and stuffing, the leaves falling and the nice cool evening breeze just make me feel so extremely happy. I also love sweaters, scarves and boots, I can literally live in those combos. I love pumpkin spice lattes and other warm drinks while cuddling up in a blanket! My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, its the only holiday where you are just grateful for what you have, you spend it with family and friends and you don't have to spend tons of money (unless of course you start your Christmas shopping early). This time of year just makes my heart smile, I started decorating the house already, I know I'm crazy, but if I don't start the fall decorations now they wont be up for to long, since I set out the Christmas ones the weekend after Thanksgiving! We spent the whole day, yesterday, cleaning and decluttering the house so that we can start decorating. In case you didn't notice I am also very strategic with the decorations this time of year! Haha. Anyways, I went to Target yesterday and I browsed their dollar isles and I found some awesome little projects the kids could do to put their own little stamp on this years decorations! I have so much lined up for this season! I brought some out after dinner and they were so excited! They managed to work as a team in painting this wooden turkey- which by the way I think looks pretty darn good! I am so excited that they are old enough to enjoy this kind of stuff, they insisted we go to the store and buy more projects to decorate the house. 
Autumn reminds me there is so much to be grateful for and my family is at the top of the list. I can't wait to start new traditions, cook new recipes with the boys, take tons of pictures and just enjoy life. They are only this little for a short time and I intend to make the most of every moment. 
What kind of traditions do you have with your family? Is there fun projects you do with your children? Whats your favorite part of Autumn? I'd love to read about them, share in the comments below.
Have wonderful first day of Autumn and a memorable season!!
WMF

Monday

Lifelong Friendships












Definition of friend: 1. a person who you like and enjoy being with

2. one attached to another by affection or esteem.


The definition of friend fits my best friend and I perfectly. We are 9 years strong and counting. I met Sarah when she was 18 and I was 20, we were working together as front desk agents at a hotel. She was so quiet and kept to herself, and I was so open and never shut up! No matter how much I talked, Sarah was not interested in anything I said, I never could get her to open up at all. I think I had finally given up on cracking her code when she finally decided to give me a chance! Haha. I really am so glad she did, I couldn't ask for a better friend. We have been there for each other through it all. She moved a few years back and we lost touch for a few months, but when she moved back we just picked up where we left off. She came to visit at the hospital after each of the boys' births and I was actually in the room when her beautiful daughter was born. Our friendship has endured so many changes through all the different seasons of our lives, in the whole 9 years we have only had 1 major fight. There is so much balance in our friendship, she is cool, calm and collected and I am loud and crazy, which is good thing because when my world seems chaotic, she proves there can be a calm.
I believe friendship really is all about enjoying each others company and having affection for your friend. I also think I would add, a true friend stands by your side when you need them, is not judgmental, understands the words you cannot speak with just one glance, encourages your dreams, and most importantly you can be yourself around them. I have never felt like I couldn't be myself in front of Sarah, she knows me and accepts me- flaws and all. I trust her with every being in my body and I know she feels the same about me. I am so grateful she has stuck by my side even the moments she knew I was in the wrong, or I stressed out about parenthood. We have our different ways of looking at life, but it has never effected our friendship. Our kids play so well together, in fact they tend to let us know when it's time to hang out again. I love her family like they were my own and I know she feels the same about mine. You can only hope to meet someone one day and somehow form a lifelong friendship and I feel so blessed to have found mine 9 years ago. I admire Sarah and I have the utmost respect for her, I couldn't even picture my life without my bestie! 
I hope today you can reflect on who is in your life, look back on the good and bad times. Who has really been there for you? Who loves you unconditionally? Whoever that is give them a call, or send them a text or whatever way social media allows you, but let them know how grateful you are that they are in your life. Maintain those lifelong friendships because when times are tough or you want to share your joys, you could really use that friend!
Have a wonderfully blessed week and don't forget Fall officially starts on Wednesday!!!!!
WMF

Thursday

Throwback Thursday Blog Edition


Why I Love Throwback Thursday | Lovelyish:

I've been wanting to give an update on some of the posts I've written in the past, so I am doing that today!
This is one of my favorite posts and a must read for all mommy's! Eli has not been sick in months! I give him the probiotic daily or sometimes every other day. I've heard him cough a couple of times in the mornings or at night, and I immediately give him the probiotic with his chocolate milk and the little cough goes away! I am telling you people probiotics have changed our lives!! Josiah takes one as well being as he kept getting sick when he was born. Since he has a dairy allergy he takes this one and has yet to get sick as well!

I started the paleo way once I discovered Josiah's dairy allergy and once I did, both myself and Josiah felt better. I have had cheat days here and there mainly when we travel or go visit family. However I have continued to lose weight and I am only 9 lbs away from my original goal weight! I am slowly, but surely getting there. 

I still continue to use this product on Josiah. There are days he tends to have some dry patchy skin, but now that he can take actual baths whenever, I just throw him in the bath and when we are done I rub this all over him. Usually by the next day the patches are gone. I really love this product and I believe it will work for adult eczema as well. Seriously the smell is divine and a little goes a long way.

I am still using all of these products except the hoppe in a jar. After I had Josiah I think my hormones changed and it might have been too strong for my face. It made me really itchy and gave me hives whenever I applied it. I am currently using this for day use and this for night use. I really like both of these products and have noticed they keep my skin soft and smooth without the greasy feel. I am constantly tired and feel like I have bags under my eyes that need to be picked up off the floor, from all the sleepless nights I've been having. However people always tell me my face looks great and you can't even tell I haven't slept. Thats a relief! I really recommend all these products especially the eye cream.

Lastly Things Happen. Around this time last year I found out I was pregnant with Josiah. I was so excited and was hoping for a girl, but I am so beyond happy with my perfect little boy! Josiah is such a huge blessing in our family. He keeps me motivated and goal oriented. He has completely changed my view on life and I can't even picture a different baby. I love him so so much and I am so grateful God chose me to be this perfect little angels mother. Everyday I fall more in love with my little stinker!! 

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed my throwback Thursday segment! Have a wonderful day!
WMF

Wednesday

We Survived The First Week









We have made it through the first week of Josiah's boots and bar! It seriously has been a week from hell! I am sorry, but I can't sugar coat it. I have probably had less than 10 hours of sleep if you combine all 8 days. Josiah really did not take a liking to his new shoes. The problem wasn't really during the day it was mainly at night he was waking up like 6 times a night. When I checked his feet during the one hour free time, his feet looked okay, besides some redness on the heal.  I started to notice that his heal would come up after a few hours of wear and I kind of got worried that the shoes were not giving him the proper position it needed for the treatment to work. There are these little holes on the heel of the shoes, where you can see the foot to make sure it is in the proper position. I just had a gut feeling something was not right.







I gave it a couple of days to see if the heel would start planting more. It didn't and the redness on his heels was getting worse. I looked through the Clubfoot Facebook page to see how other babies who had just gotten their boots were doing. It was pretty common that there was redness, but something that stood out to me was how big Josiah's shoes looked compared to the other babies who had just gotten theirs. I also saw that Dr. Dobbs  had commented in a thread the importance of the boot to be the right size and fit tightly for the boot not to cause any sores or blisters. I then was pretty sure his boots were not the right size. I called the boot provider and the guy we spoke to said to send him pictures of Josiah wearing the boots to confirm what I was talking about. After less than an hour of sending the pictures the guy called me back saying he would send me a new set of smaller boots. I was so grateful I would not have to travel the 3 and a half hours to go get new boots.
These are the first set of boots, you can see all the space in front of his toes.
The new pair fits a lot smaller and he still has a little room to grow.

Monday night was the first night in his new boots and he slept so good. He only woke up twice! I felt so relieved because I thought for sure it really might be worse. By Tuesday he started flipping to his stomach again and being a lot happier and calmer. I was able to get pictures of him flipping to his stomach as it was happening.




I think even he was a bit surprised he was able to flip again. I'm sure little man was missing the mobility of his casts. Well after a few hours I noticed he was trying to push himself forward, so I believe my little trooper will be crawling soon! I am so proud of him and I am very happy his treatment is back on track.

I have high hopes for sleep in week 2! Haha. I must say that even though I am exhausted I feel great. I know Josiah will have other obstacles as time comes, but I am proud to say I caught the size issue in time before his feet got worse. When moms have gut feelings, most times they're right. I love my son and will do anything in my power to make this easier on him. Heres hoping for some smooth sailing from here on out.



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