10 months, really?

I have been a terrible blogger, and have not contributed as much time to my lovely family blog as I should.  SO many wonderful things have happened since December too.  The store is doing quite well for a tiny Vegas mom and pop shop, and we are (hopefully) influencing these kids in a very positive way.  I think we have been successful at promoting the positives of skateboarding, which was our whole intent.  I have felt pretty stifled creatively though.  I haven't been able to focus on anything makeup in quite a while, which is sad!  It has always been my passion, and I can't forget these things even though I am a wife, mom, and store owner/buyer/merchandiser/everything.  Before I met Tim, my whole goal was to pursue real makeup artistry, no more freelancing, and I think I would have been successful.  I know I am still able to pursue it, but in a different light.  SO, I am contributing to a beauty blog (this helps calm the writing bug too,) makeuptalk.com, and starting up the freelance business again.  I am not even charging right now as I have to build an entirely new portfolio.  It will take some work, but if I can secure a bride a month, or photo shoot, I will be fulfilled. 

And of course, there is Olivia.  We are just so blessed with her, such a happy easy baby!  Since December she is eating all kinds of solids, graduated to a much bigger and better car seat instead of the carrier, and started crawling at exactly 9 months!  She is moving right along, and her doctor is very happy with her progress.  She used to be in the 90th percentile (yikes) in weight, and she has been since the day she was born!  A big baby, but typical in moms with gestational diabetes.  She is now in the 80th, which is much better for her.  Crawling has certainly thinned her out, and it has made her a lot happier.  She used to get so frustrated when she couldn't move the way she wanted!  Now she goes everywhere, including straight to the cat water dish and litter box.  She is fascinated with the refrigerator and freezer too.  She still gets to hang out all day long with me at the store, so we save lots of money on babysitting and I don't have to miss anything.  This can sometimes get frustrating though, as I often have lots of work to do with no time to actually do it. Once in awhile Tim's parents will spend the day with her and give us time to work.  At first this was hard for me, but I am now used to it and realize it's sometimes nice to get a break.  Plus, she has Grandpa wrapped around her finger.  He just melts with her, it's so cute.

Throughout all of Olivia's stages, I have been so impressed with the toys available to babies now!  There are some that she can play with everyday and never get bored. Leap Frog's Picnic Basket is the coolest, by far the best and most entertaining.  I am hoping this comes in "boy colors" too, so every baby can love this.  It's just so cute, it sings picnic songs and teaches them to open and close and put things in and take them out.  Always a favorite, Fisher Price's Glow Worm is still amazing, and she has loved it since day one.  I went on eBay to find a classic childhood toy of mine, the Fisher Price Happy Apple.  Very simple, it just has a nice chime inside and is fun to roll around.  She loves this also.  Olivia loves music, and will stop an activity just to dance.  All the musical Leap Frog toys have been awesome for this!  I think for the earlier months, nothing beats the Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube. It's easy for babies to move, has big buttons, and plays amazing classical music.  Every time a button is pushed, an instrument is added in. It's great to hear the full orchestra deconstructed.  At the Vermont Country Store (love this site!) they carry some old-fashioned Fisher Price toys, like the record player.  

 I wouldn't mind buying these for myself!

 

Speaking of toys, when I was growing up my most prized stuffed animal was a beat up Grover. He is still my favorite and I have him even now.  Well, Tim also had a Grover, the same one in fact, and his Mom recently found it.  Now our Grovers can live happily ever after, just like us!  If that isn't a "meant to be" moment, I don't know what is.  Tim and I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary and are still as happy as ever.  Even working side-by-side every day hasn't caused any issues.  There is really no secret to a great relationship, and it comes down to respect.  We hold each other on pedestals, and we'll never forget it.  

Hopefully soon Olivia will start pulling herself up on things, and these two teeth will appear!  They have been causing her issues for months, and are just taking forever to pop through.  Soon she gets to visit with her aunt and uncle, 4 cousins, grandma, and great grandparents!  We can't wait to see everyone too.  Sometimes it's nice to take a quick trip out of Vegas. I recently submitted Olivia's picture to a local baby boutique that was holding a casting contest for their TV commercial. Olivia wasn't chosen, nor was she cast as ANY of the 8 background babies!  All I can say is that when I see this commercial, the babies better be SO CUTE they make my eyes temporarily blind.  How can you not choose this cute face??  :)

I will be better at posting.  For now, I will leave you with my number one favorite product at the moment, Retinol Fusion PM Serum by Peter Thomas Roth!  It's a must-have.

Roll/Grab/Eat

As each day passes, we can't believe the new things Olivia learns.  After her initial rolling over she has been using this newfound skill as a mode of transportation.  The best is when we go to congratulate her rolling over again, the biggest smile ever appears.  I have a feeling she will be a very interesting person as she grows.  She is very adamant in what she wants and often listens intently to conversations.  This milestone is fantastic, but can pose a few new challenges.  She will roll over and over again in her crib when we put her to sleep, and can't yet figure out how to roll back all the time.  She actually started doing this differently of what is expected; she rolls from her back to her stomach.  Most babies will start to roll from the tummy to the back.  I shouldn't be surprised really, as I only crawled backward.  We have been having issues with her sleeping through the night the past month, so we moved her bedtime up an hour and it seems to be working.  This is especially wonderful for me, as Tim simply doesn't hear her in the middle of the night.  Good thing I'm around!

Olivia also is developing a love for grabbing anything and everything in sight.  This includes the massively dirty diaper I just changed to the entire bowl of baby oatmeal I'm holding.  It definitely keeps us on our toes much more.  It's pretty funny when she takes a fistful of our dog Lucy's ear and tries to eat it.  Poor Lucy just takes it.  It's really cute to watch her be more aware of the animals in the house though.  She also tries to pet the cats, but it's a little rough on them.  She is starting to really love her Baby Einstein Sit and Spin.

Speaking of oatmeal, we had a major rookie parent mistake in our quest to feed solid food.  I am proud to say until this point, the only little mistake we had in raising our newborn was keeping her in newborn diapers too long (they have weight guidelines on the boxes for a reason.)  Well that and also being so freaked out about burning her during baths we kept the water pretty lukewarm at first.  In retrospect, I realize it's okay to give your newborn a warm water bath.  Otherwise all of my reading and years-long observations of my sister's parenting have really paid off.  As the doctor advised, we started with rice cereal mixed with formula.  It took a few days but she got the hang of the spoon after awhile.  After one week, it was time to give her oatmeal.  Mind you, the doctor's written instructions merely stated "oatmeal," not "infant oatmeal," nor "baby oatmeal cereal."  We literally thought good old oatmeal.  Obviously now we realize this was a pretty big "duh" moment, but then we actually gave her a full spoon of real oatmeal.  She looked at us like we were crazy.  After this I asked Tim to try to find some kind of baby oatmeal.  Well, lo and behold, it's right there next to all the baby food.  Many, many different brands even.  How I missed this golden knowledge nugget, I do not know.  Luckily, she loves baby oatmeal, and is currently enjoying baby mixed grains as well.  Tomorrow we try bananas!

The last time I wrote we were certain Olivia was teething.  After a visit to the doctor, he confirmed that she is in a teething state for sure, but the first teeth can take even months to appear!  I bought baby tylenol and homeopathic teething tablets to help, and then a week later those tablets were recalled!  Thankfully only the tylenol helps when she is in pain anyway.  It hasn't been much of an issue lately though.  I can't wait to see those cute teeth!

Our days spent at the skate shop are still filled to the brim, but we are still having tons of fun.  We had a fun night of skate video premieres with free popcorn last week with a great turnout.  It is rather difficult to make and serve popcorn and feed a crying starving baby all at once, so thank goodness for our friends who helped!  We also set up our shiny black Christmas tree ( I insisted we get a real tree this year for our house.)  We are so blessed to have this opportunity.  Now all we need is a vintage-inspired pin-up boutique with cosmetics studio and persian cat mascot named Dixie.  That one is MY dream.  :)

I'll leave you with Olivia's favorite thing to do...Stand Up Baby!

Teething?

Things are moving right along in Olivia land!  She has definitely gained a considerable amount of weight in the past 2 weeks.  It's getting harder and harder for me to lug the car seat around and still look like it's no big deal, however the stroller continues to make me look like an idiot every time I get it out of the car.  I swear there must be a better contraption out there.

I was beginning to feel terrible that Olivia has to stay in the shop with us day after day.  Her naps are never perfectly on schedule, and when she is finally sleeping Tim always has to noisily put a skateboard together.  I was starting to really stress out about it, but a very wise mother of 4 girls (sister Stephanie) reminded me that this is normal for her and she doesn't realize she could be sleeping a more perfect schedule.  Plus we are beyond lucky we both get to hang out with her all day every day.  I think being closed Mondays will help me feel a little more rested too.  She usually enjoys her naps in stroller anyway.

I can't believe I have to get back on the weight loss journey yet again.  This up and down weight over the years is terrible for my health.  I know this time I at least did have a baby to explain the gain, but I still am not happy about it.  I am hoping my most recent purchase from craigslist will help me get back on track.  The elliptical is a little budget and kind of rickety, but I think it at least gives me the opportunity to work out again.

We are still trying to figure out if Olivia is indeed teething at this early age.  She was drooling, irritable, not eating much, not sleeping well.  The baby books all point to teething when babies are like this, but I don't see any teeth yet.  Perhaps just a huge growth spurt?  Who knows, we are certainly learning as we go.  She continues to maintain her chunkiness with her formula/breastmilk diet.  All we could have hoped for was a healthy, chubby baby, and we sure got one!

She definitely has her mom's legs, unfortunately!

We Are Blogging!

So we finally decided to jump on the ol' bandwagon and write a family blog.  Tim made it painfully clear to me today that we are extremely behind the times, we being iPhone-less, so I feel this will be a great way to keep everyone updated with family happenings, baby, business, that sort of thing.  Facebook can only do so much, and not everyone can sit there for hours at a time reviewing old posts.


For those unaware Tim and I have had a crazy but blessed year so far.  We got pregnant with our perfect little daughter Olivia Rose last October.  I had a stressful and very uncomfortable pregnancy with scares of placenta previa, gestational diabetes, extreme exhaustion and bad muscle pain.  I am not one of those women who misses being pregnant!  We both feel very fortunate and blessed to have had a big healthy baby girl after such a ride.  Olivia is now a happy 3 months old, smiley as can be, and such a joy to have.

We have also embarked on a brand new business venture, Tim's dream for quite awhile.  With the help and expertise of the entire Lay family, we have opened a boutique style skateboard shop here in Las Vegas.  With my retail background and Tim's passion and knowledge of the sport we felt it would be a wonderful joint venture, especially as Vegas lacks that great down-to-earth local shop.  Olivia gets to hang out with us all day at the store, which is more than I can ask for, and so far it has been quite fun and interesting.  I am learning way too much about skateboarding, and Tim has taken an extreme course in retail.  We are here all day every day so the house work suffers, as does my sanity sometimes.  Everyone needs a day off at some point!  But we had a killer grand opening full of people and even a P. Rod. appearance.  Chanel from Fantasy Factory on MTV also signed autographs.  Kids were really happy!

I am trying to get better at taking pictures, so some will be posted soon.  Thanks for reading!