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Showing posts with label Little Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Little Love. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

A Letter to My Firstborn

A Letter to My Firstborn


I always knew if we were fortunate enough to have more children, I wanted to write an open letter to my daughter before she took on her new role as a big sister. This letter has been a lot harder to write than I initially thought; not because I do not know what to say but because there is so much to say and I know this letter will pull out all the emotions. However, that is my purpose of this letter - the purpose of this blog and the monthly updates - is for my daughter (and other children) to have a small glimpse into my mind of how much they are loved and cherished and that they will always have a piece of me once the Lord calls me home.


Dear Sophia,

As I sit here to write this letter, I look at your picture and see your beautiful smile. Oh how that smile gives me such great joy. How you give me such great joy. The Lord is so so good and I am so thankful that He would even allow me the opportunity to be your mother. What a great charge it is to be on this journey of motherhood with you as my daughter. You teach me more about myself and about the Lord every day, every second. Your curious yet cautious nature is amazing to watch and that is what makes you a great leader. It is what is going to make you a great big sister.



You certainty are a natural born leader. Mommy knows how difficult it can be to ring in that leadership ability (mommy has that trait too, haha) but mommy and daddy will do our best to cultivate your ability unto the glory of God so that it doesn't lead you into trouble or misusing that ability on your baby brother.



Your attention to detail and sense of awareness is absolutely amazing for your age. You catch on to things so much more quickly then we even realize so I know adjusting into this new role as a big sister may be a little tough at first but you will fit into your role quickly and will enjoy loving on your new baby brother.



Most of all princess, I know you will be the best big sister because you love playing with others especially other kids. Seeing the joy and excitement on your face when your favorite people are around playing with you gives us such great joy that we knew the best gift we could give you, with the Lord's will, was a sibling. It will be an adjustment going from just us three to a family of four but I cannot wait to see the bond you will have with your brother.


ps. Mommy promises to always make a special date for just you and I so I can enjoy one on one time with my favorite girl.


I love you princess.

Love,
Mommy


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stormieariel
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Friday, September 15, 2017

Fall Capsule Wardrobe 2017 | Toddler Edition

Fall Capsule Wardrobe 2017 | Toddler Edition


We have gotten some nice fall like weather here in Houston lately which has inspired me to get Sophia's fall wardrobe ready. If you remember from last year, I put together a mini fall capsule wardrobe for her as a baby girl and you may notice a few of those pieces will reappear here in her toddler fall capsule wardrobe. Again, most of the pieces were found at second hand stores with an exception of a few that were given as gifts at her birthday (I made sure to request the next size up from our guests). I did try to find as many exact or similar options for you all in case you want to create a similar look for your toddler girl.

Top (similar) | Leggings (similar) | Flats


Top (similar) | Leggings | Flats


Dress (similar) | Flats

Top & Leggings (similar outfit set) | Flats


Dress (similar) | Sweater | Flats

Top (similar) | Vest (similar) | Leggings (similar) | Flats

Dress | Vest (similar) | Flats

Top (similar) | Leggings

If you are wanting to hear more about how I thrift shop for baby and toddler clothing, let me know and I can prepare a tips and tricks posts later on (UPDATE: see Tips for Thrifting Children's Clothes here). I am also in the works of creating a new baby capsule wardrobe (UPDATE: see Infant Wardrobe here) so be sure to stay tuned for that!
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stormieariel
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Wednesday, September 6, 2017

18 Month Update | Little Love

18 Month Update | Little Love


It's hard to believe my little girl is a year and a half old. This sweet girl has been in our life for 18 months and she is going to be a big sister. It's crazy to think of how much has happened in less then two years. Even more so it is crazy to see how much she has grown in the past six months from her last update at a year old. Sophia has learned so much and has developed the cutest personality ever. She also has quite the sense of humor that she inherited from her daddy (she inherits her geniusness from me, haha).


There are so many things to brag on of what all she has learned since becoming a one year old. Sophia learned to walk between 13 and 14 months old. We recognized that she could complete a 7 piece puzzle around 15 months old. We aren't sure how long she was already doing it because by time we noticed she was a pro. She now can also complete her name puzzle, a number puzzle (0-9), and 8 piece shape puzzle and an alphabet puzzle (A-Z). Pretty sure we have a baby Einstein on our hands. She also learned to put her dirty clothes away and her diaper in the trash can around this same time all by herself. I really believe she has a photogenic memory and is very observant to all that we are doing. She started brushing her own teeth (she now has 11 teeth in total with a fourth molar waiting to break through) around 16 months old just by mimicking what mommy does as well.


We also started transitioning Sophia into her own room and crib around 15 months for naptime and 16 months for bedtime which I plan on sharing in greater detail in another post. She currently takes about a two hour nap and will sleep for around 11-12 hours at night and wakes up in the happiest and silliest of moods. 



Sophia also weaned herself from breastmilk a little before turning 16 months old. It was bittersweet realizing she was more okay having bottled dairy milk then mommy's milk. Although, I am curious how she will handle seeing baby brother being breastfed and if she will want to start breastfeeding again.


Sophia can also identify her head, belly button, hands, toes, mouth and teeth although she does get shy if she is put on the spot and it is the cutest thing ever. She also does her own version of patty cake. Basically everything she does is the cutest ever and we go crazy over her and every new thing she learns.



Firsts
bloody nose
First molar (top first left) at 15 months
Two lower front teeth (incisor) at 15 months
Can climb up her slide and slide down unassisted 
Can step up on things like a small box or her small chair 
Swimming

Words
Brew
Duck
Mama
Dada
Milk
More
Teeth
Ball
Bloo (Balloon)
No
Dog
Trash
Yum Yum

Loves
Eating
Puzzles
Balloons
Mega Blocks
Lovey
Water
Milk
Boxes
Bathtime
Five Little Ducks YouTube Video
Slide
Balls
Shoes

What I Want to Remember
Her big ol duck lips when asked for a kiss
Her sweet hugs
How she loves to be a helper and put our stools in the living room
How she pulls us to show us what she wants
Her accomplished smile and the excitement to show us after she has completed a puzzle
Her rocking and patting stuffed animals
How she holds our fingers
Her surprising secret face
Naptime/Bedtime cuddles
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stormieariel
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Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Baby Girl Nursery | Sources

Baby Girl Nursery | Sources


I am finally back with the sources for Sophia's Nursery since I got antsy and wanted to share the room as soon as possible, haha. I am absolutely thrilled with how this little girl's nursery turned out but it wouldn't have been possible without all the wonderful gifts and monetary gifts from our loving friends and family. Their generosity over the last year or so is what made this room possible!

I tried to source everything as much as possible but there were certain things I just couldn't find the exact link to or I wasn't satisfied with any similar items. If you have any questions, ask me in the comments and I will respond as soon as I can. And please feel free to pin and share this room on your social media, we are so proud of how it turned out!

 Crib | Amazon
Crib Sheets | Amazon
Kites | DIY
Quilt | Etsy
Corner Shelves | Target
Pink Vase | Hobby Lobby (similar)
Mermaid Statue | Hobby Lobby
Rainbow Stacker | Amazon

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stormieariel
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Thursday, August 3, 2017

Sophia's Nursery Tour

Sophia's Nursery Tour


The time has finally come my friends to share Sophia's nursery with you all. It's funny that this journey started in December of 2015 with a goal to be finished by March 2016, ha. That clearly did not happen as we are already more than halfway through 2017. All in all, I am sort of glad that it took this long to complete as it gave me time to finalize certain details that I was unsure of without feeling rushed to do so. The biggest reasoning for taking so long with this room is simply put, budget. You can find the full source list here!

Although I must admit, we only spent about $100 on this room. How? Everything was gifted or was purchased with gift cards or monetary gifts Sophia received from our baby showers, Christmas and her first birthday. So my biggest advice for anyone designing a nursery or a toddler room is to save up those gift cards and monetary gifts to be used where actually needed. Sophia has plenty of toys and clothes that she is gifted throughout the year that we rarely need to spend any of those monetary gifts on those items.

I hope you guys enjoy this peek into our home as this is a room I truly love spending time in and I enjoyed every minute designing it and styling it.

Gallery Wall here | Kite Tutorial here

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stormieariel
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Thursday, July 27, 2017

How to Make a Gallery Wall

How to Make a Gallery Wall


Hey guys! I am back for a second time this week, can you believe I was able to do two posts in one week? Let's see if I am able to keep up with it. Anyways, I decided to share the method it took for me to finalize a gallery wall for Sophia's nursery.

For the longest I didn't know what I wanted to do above the dresser in Sophia's nursery but when Shutterfly offered a free 16x20 print, I knew I should do a gallery wall. I didn't know exactly how I wanted it or if I would include only pictures or a mixture of prints, pictures and printables. I did know I wanted to include her birth stats in some form though. Well then I got another offer from Shutterfly for another free 16x20 which I initially thought I would gift to my in-laws but when I received the picture I was too in love to give it up, haha.

Once I knew I would use two 16x20 pictures for the wall, I instantly had an idea of what the gallery wall would look like and initially came up with this layout:



It would include the two 16x20 prints, a wood slice with Sophia's birth stats engraved and a printable or a custom wooden sign of Psalm 139:14a. Once I started staging the frames with the two prints to get sizing for the other two items, I realized this layout wouldn't work as my proportions in my head were clearly off scale. So back to the drawing board and scouring Pinterest for inspiration. I fell in love with the contained layout of a gallery:



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stormieariel
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Thursday, June 15, 2017

Sophia's Carnival Birthday Party

Sophia's Carnival Birthday Party


Hey guys! Sophia is now fifteen months old and I am barely getting around to sharing her carnival themed first birthday party. Typically, you hear parents are so stressed out during the planning stages and during the actual party and I must say I don't remember being stressed at all during the party. I enjoyed every second of it as my vision for Sophia's first party came to life. Some may say we went over board but can you really for a little princess? Haha. I'm sure you can but it was so worth it to us to have this beautiful memory of our babygirl turning one. If your interested, I will be sharing all the sources at the end of the post.

If you have been following along here long then you know I do monthly updates on Sophia (which I need to get one together for her fifteen month update), and I wanted to display those photos at her party to take everyone down memory lane of how much our sweet girl has grown in just a year.



The design of this cake was the starting point for my vision and I am so glad our cake lady brought it to life so perfectly (check the end of the post for her contact info).


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stormieariel
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Wednesday, May 17, 2017

My Breastfeeding Journey with Sophia

My Breastfeeding Journey with Sophia


Before a few years ago, I never gave much thought into breastfeeding. I was so accustomed to seeing my family use formula that I didn't really understand that there was another option. In my entire life before pregnancy (so about 20+ years), I have only seen breastfeeding twice. The first time I witnessed it was from the movie "Me, Myself and I" and of course they perverted the act of breastfeeding and the second time I witnessed breastfeeding was when a family friend breastfed her baby boy when I was in high school. 

As Motherhood came in my mind more and more (before I was pregnant), I decided I would breastfeed just because of the simple fact that it was free and formula is expensive. I had no other knowledge about breastfeeding besides it being free and that sometimes you don't make enough (this is actually a common misconception of breastfeeding as only 2% of women in the ENTIRE WORLD actually cannot produce enough milk, if you are struggling with breastfeeding, it is highly suggested you seek help from a LICENSED lactation consultant as they can troubleshoot what is really going on)


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stormieariel
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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Ten Month Update | Little Love

Ten Month Update | Little Love








My sweet baby, how time keeps flying. I wish I had more time but instead, I will do the best I can to make the time we do have truly count. I love you more than you could ever know or I could ever express.

Ten Month Stats
Weight: ???
Height: ???
 Head Circumference: ???

Firsts
Standing for a few seconds at a time
Shows understanding of colors & shpaes
Can sort through pairs
Opening and closes hand
Opens cabinets
First Christmas
First New Years
Tooth

First Foods
Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Words
Possibly saying "baba" for Babcia
Possibly saying "moe" for more food

Loves
Red Shark and Blue Dolphin Bath toys
Wooden blocks
blue cyclinders
Giraffe and alligator puzzle pieces

Words
Bo for bye
Mimics tone of "thank you"


What I Want to Remember
How she pats Mommy in the morning to play
Her giggles
Wakes up in good moods in the Morning
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stormieariel
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Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Bedtime Routine with DockATot

Bedtime Routine with DockATot


This post was created in partnership with DockATot but all thoughts, opinions and night sleeping are of my own.

Once upon a time, there was a baby who did not like her mother to sleep. She needed to be near her mother and felt the need to wake up every one to two hours to ensure her mother was near. This little baby was my daughter, Sophia.

There was a time when she did sleep and only woke up twice to nurse in the middle of the night but after our vacation, time change, sickness and a new tooth, Sophia decided to act like a newborn again. When she was a new born I coveted the DockATot but I honestly didn't feel comfortable spending the money not knowing if it really worked or not.

However, this momma was desperate for sleep when Sophia's sleep regression stepped in. DockATot did provide me with my DockATot Grand but I am really kicking myself for not using all those Visa gift cards in the beginning to start off with the DockATot Deluxe. I think it would have saved me many nights of sleep lost.


For the past month, we have been doing the same nighttime routine almost every night and Sophia sleeps approximately five hours before waking for her first nighttime feeding.

Side Note: I have always purposely not followed our routine at least once a week because I do not want Sophia to become too dependent on routine to the point that she cannot fall asleep otherwise so we shake up the routine at least once a week.


After dinner, Anthony usually has one on one playtime with Sophia in her room and once we notice she is getting sleepy (rubbing eyes, overly whining, etc), we know it is time to start our bedtime routine. We do not have specific times or an amount of time we do any one thing, we follow Sophia's cues to know when to start or stop something within our routine. This is something we have found that works best for us and our daughter.

Bathtime 

Anthony and I take turns on who will bathe her. Whoever is not doing bathtime, is preparing the rooms for bedtime such as turning lights off, turning on lullaby music, setting up humidifier, undoing bed, getting out pjs, etc.

The one who is bathing her allows her to play in the tub after washing (we only wash her hair once a week due to cradle cap and this has helped tremendously).

We try to always take her out on a good note as we had a bathtime regression for a few weeks where she hated baths and mommy had to bathe with her so now we sing and play and watch her carefully to be sure to take her out before she is fussy.

Pajamas

The same person who bathes her also dries her off, puts on a fresh diaper and her pajamas. If the house still isn't ready, she is distracted for a bit.

Devotional

Anthony and I take turns reading a daily devotional to her from my childhood devotional book. Sometimes I nurse Sophia during our devotional and sometimes I do not, it just depends on how tired or fussy she is. For the most part, we can do this without nursing.

Nursing and Lullabies

Anthony turns off the light in the nursery while I rock Sophia in our rocking chair and I nurse her to sleep. FYI, I know there is controversy over nursing to sleep but this is what works for my family at the moment and we are perfectly okay with that.

I use to check my social media, catch up on blog stuff, etc. while I nursed her but I noticed the light would distract her from falling asleep no matter how dim I have it so now I put my headphones on and tune in to a podcast (I am currently listening to Read-Aloud Revival and A Delectable Education).

DockATot

Sophia is typically asleep by time I finish a podcast episode so I will text Anthony to come help me move from the nursery to our room. I take the headphones off and leave my phone on the end table in the nursery and Anthony grabs the iPad that is playing the lullaby music and follows behind me to our room.

The DockATot is in the middle of our bed and I lay Sophia down in it as Anthony puts the iPad on our nightstand. Every once in awhile, she will wake up during the transition so one of us will try to get her back to sleep.



We started this whole routine in November (and we actually use to follow this routine before our vacation expect Sophia would put herself to sleep) and received our DockATot in December. It wasn't until we started using the DockATot that we saw real progress for how she use to sleep before the regression. The first night in it, Sophia slept six, S-I-X, hours and the next day she napped for a whole hour and a half in it (nap regression is a whole other story).


Now I seriously cannot imagine life without our DockATot and I am really wishing we would have gotten it sooner. Thank you DockATot for giving this momma and daddy more sleep!


Have you tried the DockATot? What does your bedtime routine look like?


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stormieariel
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