Mothers Day

So I had a busy mother’s day and didn’t get a chance to post about my gratitude for mothers.  First off I want to say that I have multiple mother figures in my life and I am grateful for all of them.

I have an awesome mom.  We have gone through lots of ups and downs in our relationship but I always know she loves me and I love her.  I am living back at home now and I have gained so much more respect for my mom and all the sacrifices that she makes for her family.  She is very selfless and is always willing to lend a helping hand.  She has been such a big help with Kirra and I am glad that they are able to build a relationship.  I love my mom so much and I am glad I have her in my life now to help me to be a better mom now.

I also have an awesome mother in law.  She did a great job raising her boys.  Trevor is the best husband and father and he takes great care of us and is very sensitive to our feelings.  I know that one of the main reasons he is that way is because he had great mom.  I love that my mother in law is so caring.  She is always thinking of others.  She remembers everyones birthday’s and makes every holiday a day worth celebrating.  She has been with me every time I needed her since Trevor and I got married and I love that I can depend on her that way.  I am so glad that Kirra has two amazing grandmothers!  They are both great examples of they type of mom I want to become.

Finally I am grateful for Kirra.  She made me a mommy!!  I feel so lucky to be her mom.  She is such a bight star in my life.  Even if I am having a terrible day, Kirra will come over and give me her goofy little smile and make everything so much better.  I love that this little girl depends on me for so much and I love that she has changed my perspective on motherhood so much.  I had this idea of the type of mother I would be and then Kirra came and it taught me so much.  She has softened my heart in more ways than one and I really do feel lucky to be her mom.

So Happy mother’s day to all the wonderful mom’s out there.  It may not be the highest paying job but it is the best job.

Beauty Secrets.

So I decided to share my most recent beauty secret.  I was going to keep it to myself so that everyone around me would continue to age and it would just make me look that much younger.  I guess that is a little selfish of me so I will share.
When I got to Virginia my mom was telling me about how she had started to use Argan oil on her face instead of lotion.  I have extremely dry skin and I breakout very easily if I use products that are too cheap.  The only face lotion I have found that doesn't make me break out is about 30$ for a little tube at Ulta.  I was a little skeptical at first because oil usually leaves your face shiny and makes my makeup look caked on.  I decided to give it a try and I am in love with it.  Not only is my skin not dry anymore but I have not had a pimple since I started using it.  I have not done too much research on it but I do know that you can get it at Sally's beauty supply for about 9$ a bottle.  I strongly recommend you give it a try.

Virginia fun

This is how we roll.

SLEEP!!

When Kirra was born, a lot of people were really shocked that she was such a great sleeper.  She would sleep 8 hours a night and it was awesome.  It unfortunately did not last.  Around 3 months old, she started waking up more often and eventually she was waking up multiple times a night wanting to nurse and taking up half the bed.  She has been sleeping with Trevor and I for a majority of the night since she was born.  Needless to say we have been a little sleep deprived.  I really thought I would be more hard core about making her sleep in her own bed but she was just so cute and little and I always gave in.

Since we have moved back to Virginia I wanted to try to get her on a better sleeping schedule.  I thought it would be easy  if I couldn’t hear her but it was not.  I still found myself waking up in the middle of the night and running upstairs to check on her and eventually taking her out of the crib when she cried.  My friend Nicole has 4 kids and they are all excellent sleepers.  She has been telling me to let Kirra cry herself back to sleep at night since she was 6 months old but I always had an excuse.  One day when I was at her house her mother-in-law was there and we were talking about how Kirra does not sleep well and why I won’t let her cry herself back to sleep.  She explained how really I was letting her our of her crib at night for selfish reasons.  Usually it was because I didn’t want to hear her cry or I was worried something was wrong with her.  It is better to teach her to be a good sleeper now.  I know that good sleep is essential for growth and development so I decided to be strong and make Kirra sleep through the night.  Nicole explained that they have to teach themselves how to go back to sleep at night when they wake up.  I have a brother who slept with my parents till he was 8 and now he still has to sleep with a T.V. on or something to help him relax.  I did not want Kirra to have this problem so about a week ago I put her in her crib determined to let her sleep through the night.  I slept in the room next to her just in case she really really needed me.  She woke up around 3 and started crying.  I think she was a little offended when I did not run to her rescue like I normally do.  She cried for about half and hour but then the crying stopped.  I was so excited.

It has been about a week.  A few times she has woken up in the middle of the night and cried but each time the crying lasts less time.  I am now sleeping in the basement so I can’t even hear her and I can’t tell you how much I am loving sleep.  I will never take a full night of sleep for granted again.  It is good for Kirra too.  She has bad allergies and she gets a really stuffy nose during the day and a bad cough but it has cleared up since she got on her sleeping schedule.  She is also taking better naps during the day.  She goes down twice during the day and she is sleeping the full 2 hours for both her naps.

I admit that I was one of those moms that thought my child was different then all other children and was not capable of sleeping through the night.  I will never think that way again.  Babies are perfectly capable of sleeping through the night.  Next baby I am starting a lot earlier.