{In my Opinion} The Best Way To Prepare For Labor

Its taken me longer after having Baby #2 to get back into regular workouts than it did after Baby #1 -- that is a post of its own -- but recently I decided to get my butt in gear and do this.  
Blake and I have been doing the "30 Day Shred".  
That baby is TOUGH!  
Day 1 -- afterwards I literally felt like I had the flu the rest of the night.  
But next day was much better (and no "flu".)  
And every day after that has gotten better and easier.  
We've been at it about a week and half now.  
Fingers crossed that I'll get to finish this time.  (Last time -- after baby #1-- I hurt my knee and had to do some other less-impacting work outs.)  

But anyway, my point of this post is: 

What I keep thinking every single time we turn the DVD on is

how much working out is like labor (baby-having-labor.)  

After having Baby #1 (which was a 12 hour induction [for post dates], including 2 hours of crazy-hard-nearly-passing-out-pushing, all ending in a c-section [due to baby malposition]) {Birth Story Here}, I was pretty disillusioned about all the stuff people told me about how to prepare for labor.  Nothing actually helped me cope.  And I didn't like hearing any new ideas on how to prepare for labor because I was SURE none of it would have helped me.  I was adamant that there was no way to actually prepare.  

When it came time to get ready to have Baby #2 however, I changed my tune and was out to read EVERYTHING about labor preparation.  I wanted to be able to get through it this time.  

I read a lot of stuff.  And a lot of it was wise and good.  But almost everything I read was specific coping techniques.  
What I did really not read in any having-baby-stuff-books was the concept that to prepare for labor you should work out.  I did find articles online about it --- when I specifically searched for that sort of idea  --- but most stuff out there just glazes over the idea that to do the suggested coping techniques (over and over for hours and hours) you need to be in good shape.  

(Please note: I'm just sharing my thoughts here, based on my own experiences.  I do acknowledge that many a non-working-out-women has made it through labor and delivery naturally.  And I also realize some women are placed on bed rest so that they can't work out --- this isn't a guilt trip.  This is just me talking about what I've gone through.  And hoping it might help someone else in their journey --- I know everyone has a unique one.)  

I blogged about it before, but during my first pregnancy I purposefully chose to be sedentary.  I thought this was my special time -- and lounging was how I was going to spend it.  
So then when I was in labor, and my body was telling me to do this squatty-bouncy-thing every time my contraction started, my muscles were so out of shape it was nearly impossible to make it through my whole contraction before my legs were on fire with muscle fatigue.  
And then when I was pushing (with every ounce of my being), I clearly had these two thoughts: "Why wasn't I preparing for this every single day --- like I would if I was doing a marathon --- this is more than a marathon!  Why did no one tell me?  Someone should have MADE me work out for this." and "I will never complain during a workout again.  If this is work --- I've never worked before."  

So, 
because of those two thoughts I knew that if I ever went into labor again, I would be ready.  I wasn't going to lounge the next time.  I was gonna train for the marathon of labor.  

So --- I got in shape between babies, and with my next pregnancy I ate healthily and stayed active (I mainly swam laps --- usually 5 days a week.)  (At the end of my pregnancy, I quit swimming and walked about 4 miles a day trying to get that baby out!!  My babies think they should be able to attend college from the womb!)  

And can I tell you?  All that effort --- My labor benefitted immensely!  {Birth Story Here}  

Me and Ruby right after she was born.  

My body wanted me to do a similar squatty-bouncy-thing with my contractions this time too --- but this time my legs didn't burn at all.  I could have kept going like that for a long time (physical-exersion-wise... I ended up switching to other positions because that's what my body told me to do.)  

But I just had so much more endurance overall.  

It's amazing to me the ways in which exercise gives you endurance beyond just getting better at each particular workout.  It's like a whole person kind of benefit --- body, soul, and mind.

Its come to this!

So I had been getting pretty good (not great) at getting dressed daily, lately. I mean, often it took me till Ruby's second nap to get it done, but usually had had accomplished it.

Today however, I just didn't feel like it. I thought, "We have nothing to do. I'm kinda just not ready for the week to start after the long weekend. I'm just gonna leave my lounge clothes on." (Today they are a very old sleeveless knit black dress that has now become pjs since it is cozy and easy to nurse in and its all pilly and unacceptable to wear in public.


So...just because of this (I am sure) the mail lady needs me to sign for a package, so she gets to see me in my un-made up glory. Which doesn't phase me much. This is definitely not the first mail person to see me in a very stay-at-home-mother-of-a-baby disheveled-state.

But then I tried to take a nap when the girls did. But of course that didn't work (at least for me -- they got the sweet end). So I never got dressed at all.
I had just woken up Jasmine from her nap and she was crabby about it. Ruby's diaper really needed to be changed and....

someone is coming up to my door.

I see her through my window. I think she sees me.

A women and two children on bikes.

I know who this is.
But I don't know her.

Blake just met this family down the road. The husband works where Blake does and we all go to the same church. But I've not met any of them yet.
He mentioned how we should me sometime.
She must be taking the initiative.

Oh no! Oh no!
I'm still in my sleep bra in pajamas...she is already at the door, there is no way out!

I open the door and she is seriously... beautiful: looking way more perfect than I ever could in a work out tank. And...here's the thing, I don't think she's wearing any makeup either -- But she looks good.

Sigh.
I'm not sure if my face showed just exactly how much I wished I had gotten dressed today. Or at least fixed my hair.

I tried to make conversation anyway -- like I was totally in my happy place.

But I'm holding Ruby, and wouldn't you know....my side is getting wetter and wetter by the moment. Yeah....her diaper is giving way. Its done. And I'm still smiling and thinking, "wow I wish I were more equipped to live in a world where its the norm for people to drop by unannounced. "

But how many days have I gotten dressed just so the 3 other members of my family could see me? All the other days I get dressed .... no one drops by those days. And those days the mail lady doesn't need a signature...she just rings the doorbell and leaves.

Sigh.

There is no point to my story.
No moral.
Just me needing to say "Oh my gosh! I'm super embarrassed."

She seemed really nice.
So hopefully I'll be able to redeem myself by wearing clothes next time I see her!

Oh my.


Any tips on how to avoid another moment like this?...aka...best get dressed every day tips: go!

Project: C-Section Recovery Deadline

EDIT: This Project has been completed. You can find the results HERE.

Ok Ladies,

I'm planning on putting my post on this together at the end of the summer.

So if you would like to participate with me, 

please fill out this survey and get it emailed to me by August 1st.

Original Photo Credit

I have heard back from some ladies on this

(And THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR RESPONSE! It means so much!)

but I haven't heard back from nearly as many as I had hoped.

So if you've thought about doing this, please do.

I think it will be a really helpful post.

My goal in this specific project is 

to help OTHERS (who've not had c-sections)

 to know how to help women who have had c-sections.

(Think husbands/partners, parents, siblings, friends, co-workers, even just random strangers.)

I think most people have no idea how to support women going through the recovery process and would genuinely appreciate some tips.

(In fact one response I got to my first post was just that -- someone emailed me who had not a c-section but who needed to support someone who just had one. This blessed my heart to pieces. And this is exactly what I hope my post will be able to allow for many.)

Therefore the questions I'm hoping you will answer for me are all geared towards helping me equip others in supporting women who've had c-sections (with both physical recovery as well as emotional recovery.) 

So I'm really hoping you will be willing to open up on the talking points listed and be as specific as you can. Because I want to give others very specific insight into what would be helpful.

Here's an example of what I mean, from my own experience, for the question:

What were some of the most painful statements you heard from others?

I have a few different things (and I don't wanna take your whole day with my post -- but feel free to take my whole day if you choose to email me!), 

but one specific that comes to mind right away is:

I came back into work to show my old co-workers my  new daughter, and a women asked me how much she weighed when she was born, and I told her "nine pounds" and she replied, "Oh then you should be GLAD you had a c-section... woo!"

Honestly, I really liked the lady who said that, and I didn't take that comment as hard as I could have because I knew where her heart was in it, but it has never stopped coming to mind at random moments for me. I was not glad I had a c-section, and it felt strange to think how pushing a nine pound baby out could have been worse than the incision that was still hurting me the day I came in. 

OR, for the question:

Is there anything you wish that your husband/partner/support had known about c-section recovery before leaving the hospital?

One big one we both wish he had known was that it hurts to be driven in a car after a surgery. My mom drove me home from the hospital (and she had had her own surgeries so she knew to drive very smoothly) but later when my husband went to drive me to the store, my panicking over hitting a bump shortly before we would take a sharp curve was a total surprise to him and he thought I was worried about waking up the baby. But I was actually desperately trying to get him to slow down before it started to hurt me even worse. We both ended up hurting each other's feelings in that moment of confusion, as well as in the rehashing of that event later.

So now, if I get the chance, I like to tell my friends's-who've-had-c-sections' husbands to make sure to drive smoothly, avoiding quick car movements as much as possible initially. 

So try and give me what you got memory wise.

And then I will try and combine it into something that may help other's understand better how to help.

Well see how it turns out! I may spilt it into different posts like: "cheat sheets for husbands"," lists for friends", "what to say to your co-worker" if I need to...who knows. (I doubt those will be the actual titles.) I'm just hoping to get some good stuff out there since its still kind of an untouched area.

So if you would like to participate with me, 

please fill out this survey {HERE} and get it emailed to me by August 1st, 2013.

Removable Contact Paper Backsplash

Our Family relocated a little over a year ago.

We went from our house we owned, to this duplex we would rent.

I absolutely love to decorate our home -- especially with paint! But alas, its not to be had here.

So for over a year I've been brainstorming how I could liven up our kitchen, but temporarily -- so when we move out we won't be in trouble! 

This is our kitchen the day we walked through

And after many a crazy idea that wouldn't have worked... 

I came up with 

CONTACT PAPER!

I apologize for the horrible color tone of this photo -- I took it at night, and no matter what I did in editing, it looked crazy.

First I started with just contact papering a couple cabinets and drawers, to mix it up. 

But I still was longing for a backsplash.

I don't know why but contact paper for a backsplash didn't come to mind for quite a while longer.

When it did, I went on a hunt for a shape I could handle.

I settled on this tile:

via

I printed that photo out, cut out the tile shape, and then made a stencil from cardboard. 

Then traced it OVER and OVER and OVER!

I got my contact paper from the dollar store -- I used easy remove contact paper from Dollar Tree. (This one.)  And I ended up using three rolls to do this. So this was a $3 project.

(The contact paper on the cabinets was probably another $3.)

As I traced a row of these it would create one row of the stencil shaped tile, and in between it would create a row with a bit more of a pointy-top (than the straight-edged-top I had traced.) I just decided to keep those and alternate rows. It worked just great, and I don't mind the differences.

I learned that you want to apply theses by going across the wall diagonally. That makes your spacing work out right. Going left to right, top to bottom makes spacing a nightmare.

Here's a photo showing the way to move across the wall:

 This is not a fast moving project.

And since I have a two year old and a baby, this crazy thing took me like three weeks to get around to finishing. 

Of course that's accounting for MANY breaks where I was too busy wiping noses, or not sleeping to work on this random project.

So this is not for someone who wants to get this done in an hour.

This kind of project needs someone who's willing to commit!

Also, this is a temporary solution.

We are planing to be in this duplex a year or less. So I'm not worried about long term .

This is "easy remove" contact paper, so I'm not worried about ruining the walls or cabinets when we move out. It peels right off.

I love it though.

It makes it feel so much more like home in here.

I'm really glad I did it.

If you are feeling inspired,

I made a pinterest board full of tile shapes that could easily translate into your own contact paper backsplash.  Check it out {HERE} and see if you can find something to suit your eye for design.

Its a pretty dramatic effect for $3!

UPDATE:

 I had it up for approximately 6 months before we moved. I used easy remove contact paper from Dollar Tree. It came off cleanly and easily with no residue. The paint on the walls was semi-gloss, that may have helped, but that easy remove contact paper really peals off easy. Behind the stove where it was getting the heat peeled a little more tricky -- but still came off great. So for me there was no damage to the walls whatsoever.

Revamping our Food Ways

For a while now {years}, I've been trying to figure out how to cook seasonally.

I didn't grow up doing that.

And its felt like an uphill challenge figuring it all out.

So sometimes I try and sometimes I just throw in the towel.

Recently thought,

 I've felt more serious about it, 

because I think it will be really good for Jasmine's digestive health, with her allergies and such. 

(Not that it won't be just as good for the rest of us.)

Initially I was totally overwhelmed by the idea of figuring out what I was doing.

There are so many things in the grocery store, its so hard to really know if its in season or not. (If -- like me-- you don't already know.)

But for the last two weeks we've gone to our Farmers Market here, and wow, does that ever make seasonal shopping a no brainer.

If its there, its in season.

BAM.

EASY!

So these last two weeks, we've just gone and bought some of what we see 

and then go home 

and google what to do with it.

Like today we bought collard greens and I have no idea what to do with those.

But 5 mins later I've read how to wash, pull the steams off properly and cut nicely.

And sometime this week I'll cook them up!

I'm liking this Farmer's Market thing!

Plus, you get to do fun stuff too! Like listen to Blues while sitting in sweet sunshine, letting the wind blow your hair, while you stare at your adorable little ones.

Win -Win!

Before we left this morning I cleaned out our fridge. 

I needed to realign our shelves so I could fit our new half gallon canning jars on top.

I'm mainly using them to hold our non-dairy milks I make for Jasmine.

But I'm also using them for culturing Kiefer Water. (But that happens outside the Fridge.)

I'm LOVING how cute these things are.

I ran out of room for them in our cabinets, so I just set the extras on top when I'm not using them and they look adorable!

The Fridge looked so nice I had to take a picture.
(Because it never looks like this!)

Then I thought, you know, I bet we have some stuff in here that would be interesting, since its stuff I've never heard of till the dairy allergies. 

So I thought I'd tell you some of what we've got going on.

1. I don't know the right way to store Asparagus, so I thought this would work, and it looks cute. :)

2. Homemade Coconut Milk. Its really easy to make. (I think I do a post sometime) And I think its delicious! I have a hard time not hogging it all!

3. Our washed and prepped veggies from the Market. (Carrots, Kale, Collard Greens.)

The white stuff up high, behind the green, it is the left over solids from making coconut milk. (I'm gonna try and bake some cookies or something with it.)

Behind the greens - that yellowy stuff, you can hardly see, that's vegan Mac & Cheeze (fake cheese)

4. Nutritional Yeast. That's the key to most vegan "cheese." It looks like instant mashed potatoes that are really yellow. That or, yellow fish food. :) (Here's a great explanation of it.)

5. We are trying Farm Fresh Eggs this week from the Market.

6. Short grain brown rice. This stuff is soo much more delicious than long grain brown rice. Its sweeter and a bit sticky. I use it to make our rice milk. (Its supposed to be the best kind for rice milk -- but I still can't convience Jasmine homemade is as good as store bought.)

But we generally all love to eat this rice.

Its harder to find in stores. We get ours in bulk at a local co-op.

7. JUICE -- the only thing Jasmine wants to ingest all day long! Sheesh!

8. Two gallons of milk, because we like to make our own greek yogurt. (Sadly, I've been really slow to make any lately so poor Blake is dying for me to get on that!) 

( I should mention, we need to grocery shop soon. There is no meat in there!)

Here is our Kiefer water juice!

Kiefer water is cultured sugar water. 

So it has probiotics in it, the way yogurt does.

I'm wanting Jasmine to get lots of probiotics to make sure her gut is healthy. 

(And it is harder to do when you can have dairy. But she can have coconut yogurt. So that's good.)

Anyway I like how Kiefer Water Juice tastes. 

It smells yeasty. (It's a healthy mix of yeast and bacteria in there.) 

It kinda smells a bit like beer, but there is less alcohol in it than there is in juice.  So its totally kid appropriate.

You can also do Kiefer milk, if you don't have dairy issues.

The bottle on the left is empty right now. (I'm about to refill it when I start our next batch.)

The middle one is Kiefer Water plus some apple juice.

Jasmine loves when I use these bottles to fill her juice cup -- I think she feels fancy. I know I do, when I pop these babies open.

The small jar is plain kiefer water. (I made a big batch once and ran out of space.)

So that's my short and random tour of our fridge and food life right now.

Its totally new to me.

And I'm starting to see it as exciting!

I'm starting to look forward to random things as an actual adventure -- not drudgery!

We ordered a new blender and it should be showing up this next week.

So I'm really excited to start doing even more with its help!

Sometimes Semantics are Important

They started telling me it while I was pregnant.
They being: people I know, people I passed by in the grocery store, people at doctors appointments, and all these voices of the internet.

They all said, "It goes by so fast."

via

This sentence is offered as advice.
"Enjoy it, it goes by so fast."

I totally see where they are coming from.

I mean, I myself, recently caught my heart wanting to chase after a random college student I saw crossing the road near campus {as I drove my two-carseat-sedan to the library} so I could tell this stranger the same sort of thing. "Enjoy it. It doesn't get easier. You're life is already in play. It doesn't start later once you graduate and have a family. Its already your life right now."

The thing is, I don't know where she is coming from. I don't actually know if she isn't fully enjoying herself right now. She might not be waiting for her life to start. She might well be living it.

And that's the problem when someone says to me, "Enjoy it, it goes by so fast."

It always feels to me like an assumption that I am not enjoying, and need to do so promptly.


I have stressed, and stressed over this sentence.

I know some of that was due to the fact that I started motherhood in a happy, but sad, state. Having had my c-section disappointments, having to struggle to nurse, and then fearing for my baby's health over the course of a year -- because a lot of her levels seemed out of place and we had to continually go get her blood drawn {poke her. watch her cry. wait. get told a lot of intense stuff. repeat - for a year.}

Entering motherhood is intense in general. I would have felt pretty overwhelmed by the whole shock of being the caretaker of a person, who've life depends on me. But add in all the rest and I really felt the strain.

Hearing "Enjoy it, it goes by so fast." was really hard for me.

I loved Jasmine with a crazy love I never knew possible from the moment they lifted her out of me. It was like a magic wand was waved over me and I was forever changed.

So I was enjoying her to the ends of the universe. (I couldn't peel my eyes away from her. I gazed all day long.)

But I was also aching to the depths of me.

It was simultaneous.

So with that mix of emotions raging inside [one day {every other moment} one was on top, the next the other was king] hearing "Enjoy it, it goes by so fast" literally made me feel like I could crack.

It hit both parts of my battle, each in the wrong way.

"It goes by so fast" made me fear that I wasn't staring hard enough at her gorgeous little eye lashes. It made me fear I wasn't smelling her sweet skin enough, or pulling the sent in down deep enough. It made me fear I wasn't doing the most with our time together. It made me afraid to go vacuum because I would be missing what's most important. (Seriously.)  It made me feel like no matter what I was doing, I couldn't possibly be enjoying it to the fullest.
I would see the happy, but clear ache in the mother's eyes who had told me this, and I would be haunted by how I would never get it right, because it seemed certain that no one else had either.
And so while I was enjoying it I was worried that I wasn't.

And then words "enjoy it" would rip at all my scabs: The incision I had hoped to avoid. The way I had to fight so hard to breastfeed. All the trips to the hospital lab to watch someone hurt my baby, and how I tried to thank them and mean it, because I knew they didn't like doing it. The sweating in the office as I waited to hear what that blood work would say.
I did not enjoy these things. But they came with motherhood. So maybe I should have been, I'd wonder.

And that was just the big, out of the ordinary, stuff. Then there was the day to day things that were a struggle to enjoy: The horrible shock that was my postpartum body. The extreme effort I was putting into getting healthy now. The total lack of sleep. The messy house I could no longer keep up with. The way just going to the grocery store could feel like it drained me of a months worth of pre-momma energy. etc, etc.

I would struggle so much harder when I was weary because, that line would come back to haunt me, at the times when I could least enjoy anything in life. And I would fear that because I wasn't enjoying in that moment I was missing everything.

The line is still hard for me now.
Jasmine is almost three.
And I full well know its flown by. I feel like its been 1 year, at the most, since she was born.
And you've got to be kidding me that Ruby is almost one!
That birth feels like 3 months ago.

I can get in all those same mind holes --- where I don't feel like I am enjoying anything enough. And therefore failing. Failing terribly!

Recently, in my more-than-I'm-normally-accustomed-to sleep deprived state (teething meets colds, repeat), I've been getting angry when I hear or read that line.

I know there will be things I will miss about this phase of my life. I know I will look back on it and smile and ache a bit.

But I know there will be things I won't miss.

I'm in the middle of hard things.
Things that might not change a lot. But they will change based on age.
Like Jasmine's food allergies.
Its hard right now to not be able to get a real answer from her when I feed her a new food. Its hard not knowing what's she's really feeling when she eats.
I look forward to when she can express that with accuracy. I anticipate that bringing me some mothering relief, when compared to the way I have to stare at her after she eats and try and guess if she's acting any different because if I ask her she just makes things up.

When I hear, "Enjoy it, it goes by so fast." Its like a tidal wave of pain. Because I know its going by fast. And part of me is glad. And part of me is sad. And since I love to critique myself, I'm always telling myself I'm not enjoying it enough, "suck it up and have fun already!" Which only makes me want to go to sleep and ignore the strain of all this. (And I really could use more sleep! All mommas can!)


So that's where I was yesterday. In hole of "Holy crap I am so exhausted." at the corner of "I'm wasting it." adjacent to "you just missed it all."


I went to bed in that hole, then Jasmine coughed until she ended up in ours bed (again). So of course she talked, and rolled, and touched, keeping me awake until about five minutes before Ruby woke up and then I was back on call with her.

So this morning. I opened this blog post I had seen on Pinterest the last few days which had been ignoring.
It was on co-sleeping. I don't like to read articles on baby sleep stuff anymore, because I don't care anymore. Everyone can do what they like and if its getting them sleep I say more power to you do it and don't let anyone stop you! I just don't want to waste anymore time reading about all the differences out there, I don't see a point -- the writings are usually so emotionally charged. (I have enough emotions, thank you every much.)
BUT this morning, since I technically co-slept with my two year old last night, I opened it up --- hoping it would make me feel like "see its ok."

But what I accidentally came across in there was this life changing semantic. The women speaking in the post said this: "So, it’s a trade off and we know it won’t last forever. Having these small kids in our lives is fleeting, so I think it’s worth it..." 

She of course was speaking about co-sleeping. But what happened when I read it was a reordering of the words "Enjoy it, it goes by so fast."
I saw, "we know it won't last forever."
And a peace flooded over me.

For me (and I don't know how anyone else would feel about this exact phrasing) this way of stating the idea calms me down and gives me hope and joy.

I think one thing I really like is that a mom in the moment got to say it. It wasn't coming from a far off place looking back. The sentence leaves room for me to say it now. "I know it won't last forever."

"I know it won't last forever." is something I can say to myself when I'm not getting sleep this month.
"I know it won't last forever." is something I can say when my two year old runs down the hallway doing her whiney-pouty-cry for the 17th time in a row because I told her she can't watch TV before breakfast.
"I know it won't last forever." is something I can say to myself when I worry about what she ate for breakfast.
"I know it won't last forever." is something I can say to myself when Ruby keeps waking up and crying every half hour because she's getting 4 teeth at once.

And when that phrase runs through my mind I get the relief of knowing it's just a phase. But with that relief I can step back and smile at the fun parts of my day -- and hug them to my heart and remember to give them their full value. And I can laugh at that whiney-pouty-cry that was about to send me off the deep end.

I've tried all day today to compare the two sentences, in question, in the hard moments that come. And inevitably, every time I run them both past a situation, I can find hope and joy in "It won't last forever" but I can drowned "Enjoy it, it goes by so fast."
As I analyze the actual words, I see how they are the same. But to my heart they are worlds apart.

So from now on I'm going to be saying to myself "I know it won't last forever."
And when well meaning people try to offer me, "Enjoy it, it goes by so fast." I will repeat in my own head "I know it won't last forever."

Postpartum Hip Binding

I am just now, FINALLY getting around to doing that post I promised (oh like what, 7 months ago?!?) on postpartum hip binding. (Sorry...it just fell off the radar.)


Here it is!!


I got myself one of those "HipSimmers."
Yep. I did.

Honestly, it wasn't because I cared about my hips. (I've always been curvey, with hips, so I don't have much riding on adding a couple more inches.) It was because I was on a roll researching all things pregnancy, and I just couldn't stop!

I just had to see what this was all about.

So I am not being paid to do this review. These are just my observances and opinions. (The company did discount my Hipslimmer a bit, but that was strictly because it got lost in the mail and took longer than expected to arrive. Which speaks well of their customer service.)


So what is this thing?

Well, when pregnant your body makes this hormone called Relaxin that relaxes your joints, and their connective tissues, to allow your hips the ability to grow and stretch to let your baby out.
(Which is a very good thing! You want this to happen!)
So after pregnancy your hips have been widened.
(And sometimes your feet are bigger too! But thats another story.)

Your body keeps making relaxin even postpartum. So this hip corset is taking advantage of that, by using your joints mailability in the early postpartum weeks to guide the joints back to their old position. And therefore hopefully get you back in your pre-pregnant pants.



So when looking into these types of things I decided that only this brand looked worth my while.

I only saw two brands selling this type of postpartum hip thing.
The other brand was not as tall (meaning it only covered a small strip of your hips) and it used velcro. The reviews I read said it would roll down and shift around.

This one looked like it would stay put, and stay tight. So that's how I made my call on getting the HipSlimmer.

When it arrived I was really surprised at how sturdy this thing is.
I had pondered trying to sew myself something of this nature (I'm a die hard DIYer) but there is no way I would have been able to make this thing.

The fabric is quality, and very unique. (Read I don't know where I'd buy anything like it.)

The front and sides have this thick, stiff-but-padded insert inside. (You can kind of see the shadow from it on the right side in this photo.

Then on the inside are these strips of grippy lines that hold it in place.
And you can see the part behind the lacing (on the right) and how it has a soft, almost fleecy fabric.

These things are really well made.

Spring Scarves

I've been on kind of a clothing journey.

You see, after having my first, I was on a mission to get fit  --- so I knew any clothes I bought would be a very temporary fit. Therefore I basically just bought a couple tees I could nurse in and called it a day (or a year).

(Well I did also pick up a couple items on clearance here and there, anticipating our next pregnancy . I like to pre-pregnant shop.)

Anyway, for awhile now (about three years) I haven't felt like the clothes in my closet really fit me, my style, or lifestyle (read: nursing, spit ups and toddlerdom) any more.

So after Ruby (my second) got here, I was READY to shop!

(I was so excited, I think I started shopping too soon...my figure wasn't quite ready to allow for accurate shopping. But outside of one shirt fail, I think I did pretty good still.) (I'm still hoping to recover that shirt with some kind of creative sewing....just haven't put my finger on what it needs to make it work.)

I've been spending time trying to figure out my new style. Its kinda baffling when you realize you have a style you don't know anything about! So I've been pinteresting ideas to kinda help me in my quest to get it right on the cheap (with a few as possible of those types of buys where you think you'll wear it, but you don't). As well as my quest to have less in my closet, but do more with it. (Here's my spring style ideas board.)

When I was younger I lived for shopping, and loved to experiment with all sorts of things. I made a lot more bold moves. (And bought way too many things!)

But now at this point in my life I'm starting to see I'm really into classic, pared down looks.

The overall chicness is so perfect. But I gotta be honest, they just look easier. And right now easy is good. 

(I'm tempted to keep blathering on all day self analyzing why I like the looks I do. But I doubt its all that interesting of a read -- so I'll stop there and move on to the point of this post.)

One thing I came across that I really liked was this floral scarf. 

via

I like how the flowers clearly state "spring" but functionally it works so well for the likely still-chilly weather.

I love the scarf over the stripes, and I also would use it with lots of other looks.

I've really started enjoying scarves recently.

They are a great way to mix up those basics I've been veering towards.

AND they are way more baby friendly than necklaces --- not to mention they are great discreet-nursing helpers!!

I really liked that exact scarf....so I did some online shopping looking for a similar one. The best I could find was this one from forever 21. But I didn't want to pay for shipping (we are about an hour away from forever 21.)

So instead, I poped into our Joann Fabrics the other day and went straight to the clearance shelves. 

To my delight they were running a 50% off the clearance price sale!! (You have to love that!)

So I picked up a half yard, of two different floral prints with scarves in mind.

Know what I spent?

$4.00!

Both both!

That's $2.00 a scarf!!

Now that's the way to do fancy!

(If you are new to sewing, this is a great project. You just do a hem around the edges -- Its basically just sewing a straight line a few times.)

I got two different types of fabric: one sheer, one a dressy opaque satin.

The sheer was a little harder to sew. I had to look up how to do it (I did the rolled hem). 

I didn't try too hard to do a great job. I just got er done!

I also kinda liked the way the edges looked off the bolt, so I left the two edges undone on this one.

Here's my messy hem and a close up of the unfinished edge.

And you can't really tell when on.

Forgive my quick photo taking.

Here's the other one.

You can see the dark, dull(no-real-sheen) side                 and the shiny, a-bit-pearly side.

I hemed it so the pearly-side hem is visible on the dark side.

This fabric was easier to sew. I just did a normal hem.
It is thicker so it can stand up a bit on its own and hold more of a shape around my neck.
I feel more French in this one. (Not that I know what I'm talking about in that regard.)

Once again forgive the no-time-invested photo. 

It doesn't do that great of a job showing its shape. But you almost get the idea.

This scarf would also make a nice wrap over a sleeveless/strapless black dress.

They are fairly similar. But one is drape-i-er, and one is more malleable. One is sheer, and one is pearly. I tend to like the sheer one over black, and the pearly one with white. 

So there you have it.

$4.00 for some classy spring pizazz. 

Give this a try with some fabric you like sometime!!

You can save yourself some cash and get some creativity out in the process!

Mommy Legs

I've come to the conclusion that skirts and dresses are really my thing.
I wear pants a lot too.
But skirts are just something special.
They are classically feminine and simultaneously cozy.

The only problem is you may end up flashing people if you are moving around a lot in one.
And....when you have little people around, you will definitely be risking the flash!

Solution?

I took my beloved leggings, of my second pregnancy, and gave them a little repurposing.

(First I needed to give them some TLC -- they were starting to get holes along the inner seams. So I gave those a quick new seam just beyond the holes.)

Then I tried on my shortest skirt and cut the leggings off about a inch shorter than that.

Bonus for me, in using these pregnancy leggings is that they are definitely not going to risk giving me a muffin top! :) Nice and roomy.
Plus...if they need to, they can work with a big belly later.

And now I can strut the mini (or any skirt) 

and keep my dignity ---

despite my little ones giving me 87 reasons within 20 mins to bend down.

Where for art thou sleep?

Recently we've been having a sleep crisis.

Last week, or so, Jasmine got a cold.
And Ruby's been teething, with 4 teeth attempting to break through within 2 weeks.

Jasmine's generally a good sleeper now. But when she has a cold... game over.
She's had RSV in the past and she can get wheezy easily, so its really hard for me to make a call on when to just tell her she has to sleep alone while sick. Plus she's generally just a affection needier lady.
So about a week (or was it two?) ago she was in our bed most the week. No one liked that but her.

And Ruby has been sleeping so lightly its crazy. But I mean who can blame her, she has 4 teeth shoving their way through her gums at once! I mean, yeah, that sucks.

But this means I really don't sleep during this phase.

Jasmine got over her cold. Ruby's been getting some of those teeth through.
So we all started to sleep a bit more.

But then last night it all fell apart for no real reason.

For a while, in the evening, the girls were almost waking each other up over and over.
Then by 1am...
Everyone was awake.
Blake had all this stuff to do for work so he was up doing that.
Jasmine said she couldn't sleep, she was in our bed with just me. Ruby woke up and didn't seem like she was too excited to sleep anymore. So while I rocked Ruby in her room, Jasmine ended up out in the living room playing with toys during that.
Poor Blake was just trying to get this stuff done for his deadline and I was like "I NEED YOU TO TAKE CARE OF THIS!!" AH AAHHHHHHH!!!! I was one crabby momma!

I eventually got some sleep.
But....
Blake got to bed at 6am, and slept till 8am and then went to work.
I feel so bad for him.
I wish I could have not gotten so crabby last night and somehow figured out a way to take care of both the girls. (But I'm not sure that's even possible.)

Its at times like that where I really question our possible-more-children-thoughts.
I already feel out numbered.

This is how I coped today.

Ruby napped.

And since Jasmine has kissed naps goodbye (SO SO SAD about that!) so she got to cut paper in my bed while I closed my eyes for a while.

Sadly, I couldn't actually sleep because after a nice chunk of silence she then wanted to know, "Like this mommy?" "Like this?"

But it was nice to just lay there. My heart rate kinda napped, even if my brain never really made it there.

But I realized soon that her diaper was leaking onto my bed.

Sigh.

I cannot talk her into using the potty at all.

She insists she needs to be older.

Did I mention how we ladies are all super moody, for our individual reasons? (Sickness & the resulting tiredness which refuses sleep, teething, and extreme exhaustion.)

But in happy news.

I have a few projects I've gotten done recently that I can show you once I get the gumption (which may be sleep-based) to photograph them!