Thankful for

Found via Pinterest

It was a rough week but in the middle of all the insanity going on around here I am thankful for so many things.

I'm thankful for boyfriend. He is so so supportive and even though he may or may not agree with me in some things he is still with me no matter what. I am crazy in love with him and I adore him for picking me up when i'm in tears and telling me he thinks i'm beautiful.

I'm thankful for rainy days

...and the 30 minutes of sun we get in the morning before it starts pouring down.

I'm thankful for my dad and his wise words.

I'm thankful for Amelia. Because she FINALLY understood that mommy needs some love. (She comes up to me whenever she feels like it and gives me kisses and hugs and cuddles with me. Some people might not now how huge of a deal this is because she's never been very affectionate and i think she is a very independent little person.)

I'm thankful for boyfriend's family that opened the door for us to stay here for the week.

I'm thankful for burgers, because if you know me you know I could live by only eating burgers and sunshine.

I'm thankful for boyfriend getting home early from work. I love love love spending the afternoons with baby and him cuddling and being lazy,

I'm thankful for having inspiring words in my life that help me look at things from another perspective.

I'm thankful for my family.

The Many Faces Of Amelia

Phone Photo Dump

 
 
 

"My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more"

This quote is actually getting me through the week.

Enough said.

Memos from my phone

I wrote this on a memo on my phone October 31st 2011 at 12:09am while i was supposed to be asleep:

"I feel lately like my emotions are bursting out of me and i can't even control them. Last week there were mayor meltdowns and fights accompanied by laughter and 'i love you's just hours after. I sometimes feel like i have a strong love for people in general and people around me but then something goes a little on the unexpected side and it seems like the end of the world to me. The thing is, it is really not and most of the time it takes me some time to realize it. Things might not go as i want them from time to time but at least they go and I still have the ones i love by my side and they are very supportive and caring.

I kept thinking about something I was told once in a random conversation. "If i am having problems with everyone maybe i might be the one doing things wrong" and I am.

Yes i am entitled to be frustrated and moody sometimes but the way i react is the thing that matters and its not always good. I really don't want Amelia to see and learn and imitate that behavior from me... and from anyone from that matter. I want her to be surrounded by happiness and joy and the only way i can give he that is by changing my attitude. It is obvious that we don't live in a bubble and sometimes things go wrong but for now i have to power to control what Amelia is exposed to, so for now I have to learn how to react and teach my baby that things like that are not really the end of the world and that everything will be ok as long as you have Love and Passion and a creative, positive mind. 

This will be the first of my advise to her and this are the words I want her to remember when she is feeling frustrated and sad:

And moreover, i would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of god. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with god in a state of never ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

They sure work for me and i feel blessed to have found this great inspiration for life."

*I'm not really THAT religious but I feel it is important to believe and have faith and i would love to teach Amelia about that. Also, I find that scriptures can give you answers when you have true questions about life and are great when you need inspiration or a little push to have a wonderful day. They just make me want to be a better person*

October Faves!

Big Birthday Bash

The top of the cake was made specially for Amelia. It is made from banana and has no sugar or eggs in it. And the bottom and cupcakes are apple and cinnamon. The lady who made the cake is kind of a baking goddess. She sure knows what she's doing. 

Amelia didn't want to sit by herself not even a second, she demanded to be carried around ALL the time.

"A" Shaped cookies. Yummm.

Cupcakes to complement the small cake.

My 2 favorite girls. My mom and my baby.

Table layout.

My dad and the tiny one.

Party details.

This right here almost melted my heart. Baby A took a nap before the party started... She looked so peaceful and calm.

 I kind of went with it and the result was a lot of things that didn't get photographed such as:

-Pink lemonade (Made by me and may I say it was a HUGE hit)

- Mini hamburguers and

- Yummi chocolate covered bananas with cherries.

<3

Birthday Party Inspiration

This past week we had the luck to see our baby girl turn one and throw her a big birthday bash in the company of all of out closest friends and family (even Amelia's aunt and cousin were there via skype and we loved it) and it was quite an event. I really wanted to make it special, but i wanted it to be more about the company of our loved ones and make it cozy and warm than about the decoration. It was a private celebration with about 27 of our closest friends and family (we have a big family).- 

I never really cared for baby birthday parties before and i will probably tone it down in the future but the first birthday seems to me like SUCH a milestone i felt like i needed to go all out with the celebration. I initially started looking through Pinterest for inspiration but then i got all excited with it and felt like everything i saw i wanted and some of these things were waaaaay out of my crafting skills. Then, I proceeded to look through my embarrassingly big pdf folder of freebies and printables i've gathered over the years and saved up for special occasions and ended up frustrated and overwhelmed with everything (after all this is the first time I planed a) a whole party by myself and b) a baby party. )

*Its not like a had to plan it out all by myself, I did have a lot of people who offered to help but i was really particular about the things i wanted and i kind of had it planned out in my head 6 months ago so i decided to do it all. At the end I accepted some help because I didn't have enough time.*

Mini rant: (If you are not interested you can go ahead and scroll down to de pretty birthday inspiration)

I got this close to just throwing the towel and quitting but i felt really bad to not give my baby a special celebration as i know she deserves. So i kept going and it was not always easy and   just happy times (Thanks to me and my jhsdfgjhds mood) and tears of frustration were shed (again by me) and now looking back I think it was worth every second of it all.

It really was a happy moment for all of us and I'm glad we did it and i am really proud of myself for being strong and being patient and I don't think I have to apologize for my not.so.great.mood  because sometimes dealing with people is hard and sometimes you don't want to do it but sometimes you just HAVE to. You can't make those people go away. but what you can do is make de best out of the situation.

Now, getting back to the pretty pictures...

I'll try my best to link to every single source but some I don't know where I got, it's been several years since I started saving pdfs and pictures in my computer and sometimes its hard to keep up. If you happen to know where any of this images are from I would greatly appreciate if you inform me so I can link to the proper source.

1. Mini burgers fom The Appetizer Store

2. Party printables found at Hostess With The Mostess

3. Icre Cream Balloons from ?

4. Yummi treats from Party Bliss

1. Cake from Beyondbeyond.com.uk

2. Cake from ?

1. ?

2. Invitations from Beautiful Ordinary Day

3. D.I.Y stamps made out of a potato

4. Cake from ?

Printable we used on the invites from my favorite blog to get free stuff from. Eat Drink Chic is AMAZING! There is practically everything you might need to print/make yourself/craft for a special occasion or a special someone.

And of course the always handy, already made, easy to put together bunting template.

I really do have a lot of other pdfs and links to share with you, but boyfriend just got home from work and Amelia woke up so thats my call. I'll be sure to share later.

Our Mornings

Our morning routine is pretty fun (maybe not that much when mamma is sleepy still) but today thas wasn't the case.

We had an AWESOME time when we both woke up.

I'm so lucky to have this little play buddy that makes me laugh when she comes up with random games such as 'Let's take everything out of mommy's purse and fill it with toys instead' and 'Sticking my tongue inside the formula dispenser' or maybe 'Opening it and turning it around making a mess all over the floor because formula is really not THAT expensive'.

We then proceeded to roll over on the floor, play with the Backyardigans' plush dolls and press every botton of every stereo in the house. Let me tell you, those are Amelia's favorite activities in the world along with taking out every single toy she owns and throwing them around. This girl is a messy one. ;)

Letters to Amelia: Tiny Baby

Amelia, remember when you where a teeny tiny baby?

You are all grown up now and just days away from your first birthday. WOAH.

I never thought I could be so lucky and so blessed as I am right now. Having a baby to take care of made me realize how much I was in need of something meaningful in my life. And there you came, quietly and so so beautiful to make out lives complete. Thank you for existing and for breathing and for being the amazing person that you are. You have taught me so much about life and my purpose here. I want to make you happy, so very happy every second of your existence and my heart is in so much pain when you cry and when your little body feels pain.

I don't ever want you to feel pain.

I love you

with every fiber of my being I love you so very much.

Happy way too early birthday baby.

Ps. Thank you boyfriend as well, you are and will always be my better half.

Olive juice.

;)

From the archives: Pictures that make me happy.

 

A whole lotta nothing.

So, it's Sunday.

The last day of the suckiest week of the year.

This week was awful, terrible, horrendous, hideous, atrocious, unpleasant, awful, dreadful, terrible, appalling, horrendous and that is just the start.

I've been sick.

Amelia was sick.

Boyfriend was sick and full of work.

Amelia had a bloody nose.

All that blood made me sick and I could hear my heart pound through my ears, I thought my skull was going to explode.

Then, I was sick again.

The days went by and it's finally Sunday.

Boyfriend took Amelia to his mother's house to spend the day there and suddenly I'm here all alone. I have nothing to do. No responsibilities, no work to be done, no bottles to wash, no food to be cooked, no baby to entertain NO NOTHING.

I can't remember the last time this happened and I can't remember what I did with all that free time i had. Besides obviously annoying boyfriend with phone calls every 3 seconds and bombarding the phones of everyone with them with 454656654 whatsapp messages whining about how much I miss my baby and I have nothing to do with my time.

They left 2 hours ago and here is what I've done so far:

- Took a nap

- Had lunch

- Look through my phone pictures

- Watch a bit of lds general conference to get some work for school done.

- Then remembered I have next week off school.

- Whine

- Whine

- Nothing

-Whine

- Whine

- Whine

- Nothing

- Whine

AND you guessed it whine some more.

I tried picking up the house and getting some chores ticked off the to do list but then I felt too bummed out to do that.

I though I should get some reading done but then I didn't feel like doing that.

I really don't know what I'm supposed to be doing but I feel like I'm wasting my time.

For now I'm just going to lay in bed quietly and fantasize about this place:

Hilton Hotel Bora Bora

Absolute highlight of the week

Little Picasso finger painting.

Things we do/ don't do/ need to do

Silly. Please don't mind my face.

What I love about my days with Amelia:

• Waking up late (God bless that lazy baby) and cuddling while watching cartoons.
• Her urge to touch and lick every single thing that she sees.
• The way she claps and laughs and makes fun of my dancing.
• Playing with food.
• For the past week and a half or so she has been crawling like a pro and this is so exciting/exhausting. We constantly have to chase her around to make sure she is doing ok. The good thing is that she gets entertained with every single thing.
• Going out. Yes, we still aren't over our new stroller. 
• Our weird sleeping accommodations that only seem to make sense to the two of us.

What we still have to work on:

• Crying while getting dressed.
• Refusing to let mamma change the dirty diapers.
• Not wanting to fall asleep while dad is in the same room. 
• Steady naping schedule and duration.

What I need to work on:

• It is no surprise no anyone that knows me fairly good that I get super lazy at nights.
• Maybe helping boyfriend out with bottle washing from time to time?
• Look for plans and different stuff for us to do on the weekends as a family. (Maybe start a weekend tradition)
• Sleeping shortly after Amelia is put down.

Again with the bath time thing...

I know i know this bath stuff is BO-RING... but I needed to show the world this.

I now present you with Amelia sipping bath water.

BathWater from Marie M on Vimeo.

The wonderfulness of the Quinny Buzz.

Can I get an AMEN?

We purchased the Quinny buzz stroller after months and months of drooling over it. From the moment when new of its existence it was like everyone owned one and took it out to rub it in our face. We used to have a crappy old stroller and we never payed much attention to it because... well, basically it worked just fine and did the trick.

We went several times to the store and hung around making a bizzillion questions about it trying to figure if it was going to work for us.

Then it Happened.

We walked in one day and saw it. The quinny buzz curious colors limited edition.

OH.MY.GOD. It was beautiful. No, it was more than beautiful, It was perfect. I knew it was THE ONE from the moment I saw it but boyfriend was a little hesitant due to the fact that is more expensive than the regular one.

We discussed it and of course I got my way and boyfriend said yes.

Finally, we got it and its been the best purchase we've done so far in regard to baby stuff (Also the biggest expense). From the moment we sat baby A in it she was as in love with it as we were. She laughed and clapped and squeaked from joy. Ahhh, it was a beautiful moment. She loved something that daddy worked so hard to give her. She could not believe her eyes. After the thrill was over, Amelia took a moment in silence to inspect every last detail from the comfyness of her stroller and finally gave a smile in form of approval.

Seriously one of the best days. 

So, after a week of owning this beauty there are a few things I can say about it.

1. It is SO comfortable for the little passenger! Amelia loves to nap in it.

2. Super easy to maneuver and move around.

3. The little diaper bag that comes in the back is THE best. We used to carry an insanely oversized diaper bag with a ton of things we didn't even need or use. Now we get whatever we may need in that small one and it's been working just fine.

4. Super easy to fold and unfold.

5. The design is beautiful and will definitely generate double takes everywhere. (Expect to get asked about it)

6. The chair can be turned around so the baby is facing you. This has been probably the best thing for me since I love to talk to baby A while we are out and about. Also this way I can check she has everything she needs. It has 2 different leves of inclination while the seat is facing the parent and 3 while the baby is facing front.

The only bad thing I have to say about the stroller is that living in a tiny apartment it is a little frustrating trying to store two fairly big parts (The chair and the body) instead of just one.

But hey, I think we might let that one pass because it is definitely worth it.