Vacation 2014, Part II

The contents of our week at home on vacation were quite different than a normal week here. Our fancy shmancy hotel vacation and our trip to Orlando transformed into a "STAYcation," over night. So not only was it a vacation for Ryan away from work it was absolutely grand having Ryan home all week helping me with the stay at home mom stuff (this also means sleeping in advantages).

We switched off mornings being able to stay snug in bed while the other did all the morning stuff with Lola. 

^ A perfect example of our Staycation. Sleep, Sleep, and lots of sleep!

This also worked wonders because Sims 4 just released the Tuesday of our vacation and I was getting antsy about staying up late some nights building mansions and becoming a master chef via Sim world. So it totally worked out and we got to pretend we were kids again, feeling like rebels staying up as late as possible AND sleeping in till' noon.

We also took a trip to SAM's to get some bulk shopping done. We went a little crazy, but our house needed re-stocking in stuff we use daily, so it was nice to get it all done in one shot and (bonus) it will last us for quite a while (green tea and cereal heaven). 

So the rest of the week we vegged and vegged some more, and prepared ourselves for the weekend ahead. We were taking our first overnight trip as a family! A while back we scooped up Frozen on Ice tickets because even at a very young age Lola adored the movie and Ryan and I had just visited our first Disney on ice event and loved it. So bringing Lola was a nessecity. We incorporated our vacation around that time and decided that getting a hotel the night before would be the best option for our busy baby schedule (and because we still think it's super cool to stay in a hotel, it also gave us an excuse to spend all of Saturday roaming Orlando.)

Which we did. We explored Seuss landing and went on the few measly rides that were 1 year old accessible, it was still a blast. We took Lola on the Hogwarts express and brought her to Diagon Alley because we just couldn't get enough, but Lola had enough. And after like 3 hours she was pooped, starving and ready to crash. Too be expected bring a 1 year old to an amusement park, how do you pro parents do it?!

Our hotel was smack dab in downtown Orlando which was pretty nifty since the Amway center was right down the street. Our hotel was super nice, and Lola had a blast (minus Ryan dropping us off to get dinner and Lola and I being hotel-less because I forgot the hotel number). Oh boy...that was a story and don't get me started on burger 21 burgers with a hefty scoop of guacamole....ew and our exhausted attempts of pulling out the futon from the couch... AND forgetting our frozen tickets all the way back at home and not realizing it till the night before....our evening wasn't the best, but it's pretty hilarious to think about now. 

The next morning we found a small place for breakfast, ate our bellies full, and arrived in the parking lot really early to let Lola nap before the show. I was so nervous that she was going to be a typical one year old...and she was. But luckily we purchased club seating which meant we had our own little zone and swivel comfy chairs. It made the whole process a gazillion times easier. We were able to stand up and bounce Lola when she got antsy and fussy, and the chairs kind of enclosed her in when she was actively watching the performance and enjoying it. So worth it, and she adored watching her favorite movie unfold with real life characters and real ice! (Well sort of real...). 

A Fairytale Space

One of my favorite rooms in our apartment is Lola's. Actually it might be my all time favorite room. When we first moved in, we had an infestation of german roaches. It was freaky and my pregnant self got sent over the edge. I spent a good 2 weeks over at my moms house, afraid to step foot back into our new apartment.

We moved here a month before Lola was born, so I was itching to start the nesting process. Lola was going to have her own room and that excited the creative crazies going on in my head. Lola's room was a sanctuary of sorts. Mainly because during the extermination of the roaches, none creeped into her soon to be bedroom. Mother Nature was on my side, because Ryan and I were able to complete her bedroom before she arrived (little did we know, she wouldn't use the bedroom until she was 3 months old). New parents...

We sleep trained Lola the day she hit 3 months old, and she snuggled up in her crib and never thought twice about wanting to come back and sleep next to us. But even as the months went on, she had little interest with her bedroom. I suppose she was too little to really adventure in her very own space.

When I found out what I was having, after I bought an abundance of little girly clothes, I started brainstorming her bedroom layout. I've never really believed in "themes" for a room. I never liked the idea of it, so my house is sectioned by color scheme. I like being able to walk into each room and it be a different shade of the rainbow. So I started simple and became totally obsessed with the, "coral peach" color.
Every where I went I brought her color palette with me (garage sales, thrift stores, IKEA, Target, etc.) Pretty much everywhere, and I bought a mixture of pieces that sat in my old childhood bedroom until we moved into our bigger apartment.

And once we moved...I nested...

nested...

and nested some more.

Each piece flowed wonderfully with the other, and it almost became this fairytale bedroom that I dreamt up. I even added some of my own personal touches (hand-sewn curtains and a dream catcher painting to hang above her crib).

Recently, Lola has a grown a fascination with her bedroom. I often catch her crawling in there, and she will play in there for hours, flipping through books or coloring. She's entering the exploring stage and it's so fun to peek around the corner and watch her discover this little space of her very own.  

Flipping the Pages

I love to document everything.
That might be why I started this blog. Before this blog I had a livejournal, that I started back in the high school days. Every once in a while I will sneak into the past and read some of those whiny, "I hate my life, oh my gosh he broke up with me," posts..and I laugh and sometimes I even cry. Those years were so cruel sometimes, but they made me the person I am and sometimes I like to meet up with that old me, especially when I have questions about my life now.
Documenting those years was one of the best things I ever could have done, and I'm glad that I have stuck with this blog for a 9 whole months now! I will appreciate this later, I know it.

When Lola was born I took a lot of pictures, like too many most of the time, whether it be on my phone, or my camera, or sometimes jerking a phone out of a strangers hands to snap a quick photo....(no, that didn't actually happen). Photos are important, but so are words. So I decided to take snapshots of Lola on her monthly birthdays and write about the milestones it held within.
Each month I signed into Shutterfly, plopped the picture down onto the digital "book page," and typed away. As her birthday neared I typed what was left of the 12th month and shut the book and had it shipped.
Shutterfly is such a great website for pretty much their whole selection of goodies. In the past year, I've made three photobooks with them and there is never a disappointment. Not to mention, they always have coupons (especially right when you have a baby, they load you up with free photo books).

Anywho, so the book arrived and I read it a bajillion times. I laughed and I cried and I couldn't help but long for those moments back, but I felt complete because they were right there, staring back at me in my lap. Each page held the most precious moments of her tiny life and all I had to do was turn a page and relive them over and over again. And someday she will go back and flip through the pages of her little self.

Right then and there, was when I made the decision to keep documenting, not just my life here on this blog, but Lola's life written out on pages.
So this year I will be documenting her life through here, monthly, and by the end of June next year a new book of Lola's Life as a One Year Old will be shipped for me to laugh and cry over again...and cherish forever.

If you haven't seen Lola's First Year, here it is:

The Fresh Market

You know what makes me giddy inside?

Organic markets.

We have one close by to our house that we go in once in a blue moon (prices are...yeesh.) So it's pretty much a treat to stop by in there and grab all the greatness that isn't found in a local grocery store. The greatness on this trip = raw organic hazelnuts. My ninja has been really handy lately and becoming a daily used tool. With Ryan and I both exploring the concept of eating healthier, it's becoming my best friend in the kitchen. So I'm bringing scratch made to another level. Step aside Nutella.

Walking into the Fresh Market makes me feel so humble and cozy. The lights are dim unlike the eye scorching fluorescents in most supermarkets and there is always so some sort of smell that lingers throughout the store that kind of entrances you. Maybe that's their motive to get you to splurge to the fullest...hm. 

Well, I bypassed the lovely aromas and went straight for the nut bins. The nuts are all safely tucked away in their own little barrels with a silver scoop that tags along. I think that's one of my favorite things about The Fresh Market. The fact that little scoops and self serve centers are scattered throughout the store for coffee beans and candy and snacks.

I scoop my hazelnuts and weigh them. It's like 10 bucks for a bag and I'm sighing over the cart. Instead of doing the walk of shame to the register to purchase my overpriced nuts, I decide to peruse the market fully. Why not right?

The produce section was calling my name, so I ended up with a pair of the juiciest plums ever to enter my mouth. Then the walk of shame didn't seem so shameful. 

Oddly enough, no matter how much I spend at that place, it's always a necessity every few months to make my rounds and gawk at the gigantic apples and prices and still feel giddy about the rustic simplicity of it all.

Oh and the scratch made Nutella? FANTASTIC. So much yum in one jar. A super easy recipe will be shared soon.

    

Fruit Ninja

So Sunday morning my parents brought us a box of heaven in the form of a Ninja blender/food processor. They can be so sneaky sometimes, but Costco had a great deal on them for like 80 bucks off the normal price and you get two machines in one, PLUS single serve cups that knock the magic bullet out of the water.

I never thought it was possible to fall in love with appliance until I gave this baby a whirl. Well...the KitchenAid mixer will always be my baby, but they are all different forms of babies to me. It's so funny, our little apartment kitchen is slowly but surely getting decked out in superb kitchen goodies, but our kitchen has like one prep station, a mediocre oven, and it's like the smallest rectangle of space ever built. 

We make it work though, and all these great little goodies are what keep us sane in the kitchen.

So to make things just THAT much easier, I spent about 15-20 minutes chopping up fruits and packing them in small ziplocs. Why? 

Well, since Lola is eating legit meals now with real food not the jar stuff, my breakfast has pretty much diminished completely since I'm too enveloped in getting her breakfast thrown together. So I spent a small portion of my night the other night, making fruit combos for breakfast smoothies, marking the bags accordingly and throwing them in the freezer. That way I can just plop them in the blender in the mornings and BAM breakfast!

I also found this little gem on pinterest and it's sort of been my guide to making a great smoothie.

Yep, I definitely see a lot of smoothies, hummus and salsa in our near future. And maybe a few frozen coffee beverages thrown in for good measure. 

A Little Scorching Hot Mermaid Birthday Party

We decided to celebrate Lola's birthday on the Sunday before her actual birthday because we like to live our lives rebelliously. No, but really we did it because we were trying to escape the crazy Fourth of July freaks on the weekend of her real birthday.
Ultimately this means that we got to celebrate her birthday twice, which turned out being the best part of all.

I was super overly prepared for this day. I had like four big reusable bags filled with decorations that were packed a week in advance, we got the food and cake ordered on time and got all the drinks and food nicely set up in the car the night before so there would be no mishaps. My parents watched Lola while Ryan and I headed to Phillipee park to start the decorating process like 2 and a half hours in advance. I WAS READY.


But not really.
After an hour of being out there I was drenched in sweat (it was 11 AM people). My forever hatred of Florida remains deep deep in my soul. Also, after an hour of decorating, getting it all cute and super decked out the ferocious wind starts gusting through blowing all our hard work to hell. Literal hell, because it was 100 million degrees outside. sigh.
And to top off all that lovely excitement I go to take pictures and forgot my memory card at home, lost in the wilderness. Instead of having a mental breakdown, I sat down with my best friend and stuck a super fancy paper straw in a cup of Hawaiian Punch and let it all happen.

Guests start arriving and so does Lola with my parents. Everything is going peachy until all our guy friends start trying to wish her a Happy Birthday and the world probably ended just right then. She cried...and cried...and cried some more. And if any guy (yes only men) of any sort looked in her direction she started crying alligator tears. We scooted the guys off, with all their dreams of being Lola's favorite, to go play some sort of sport so Lola could actually some what enjoy her birthday party. And that she did, with sweat running through her wisps of hair and being held by Mommy or Daddy the majority of the time.

The last half of the party ended up being a whole lot better, thanks to melted cake smashing and icing face painting. She went to town on that cake and the world kept on spinning even with all the men spinning with it, and she started to be somewhat okay with that.
I was so happy to throw her a party and get all her family and friends together to watch her turn One (kind of). All the people that have been there for us this whole year and supported us through it all. You guys are truly the greatest and I can't wait for Lola to grow up knowing such wonderful people.
^ yep we got a play kitchen for a 1 year old. I couldn't contain myself.



Now as far as next year goes...I'm not too sure yet, but I have eternally vowed to never allow an outdoor party involving Lola's birthday ever ever ever again. Unless a pool is thrown in the mix. Time to get creative from hear on out.

Lola is One

My little Lola turned 1 year old today. Actually precisely at 9:55 P.M.
A year ago at 9:55:
I was laying in my hospital bed with a rag on my head, Ryan at my side with a Monster energy drink in one hand, and Lola was being welcomed onto this earth with a big wailing cry. The nurse laid her directly on my bare chest and our heartbeats connected. At that moment I felt like the one thing in this world that could keep her as safe as she could ever be.
I know one day I will have to let her go and so she can try to change the world and stuff, but I will always stand by those words.
I will always keep her safe, no matter the circumstances.

This year has been the most beautiful experience of my life. It's funny how such a small being can change your life so drastically. It took so much adjusting and loopy turns, but we've made it. We are still making it and now our adventures are becoming more and more crazy since she will be taking her own little steps on this earth right along side us soon.
There is so much yet to come, but I'm just kind of relishing in these last 12 months. I'm taking a swim with the little moments that made my heart pump a little stronger every day. All the belly laughs, the early morning bottles, all the little things we did all over this town as a trio, all the scary sick nights, and of course all the firsts.

Everything about this year has been, gosh, I don't know... indescribable.
Our job as parents is to be the guide through the messy mazes of this life. Never did I think the tables would somehow turn and my (now) one year old would be holding my hand and guiding me along the way as well. I have learned more about myself this year than any year of my life. I really thought I had myself all figured out until I became a Mom.
I learned that I sometimes over control situations and that sometimes the easiest solution is to just let it all go.
I learned that waking up early, has a lot more pros than cons. There really is life at 7 AM.
I learned to just walk away and breathe. It really does work.
I learned to accept help and quit trying to be wonder woman.
I actually taught myself how to cook this year, and I'm damn good at it. Which in turn has taught me to keep up with things that I normally would give up on (this blog, keeping the house clean and well organized, opening up an etsy shop with handmade goodies, and reading many many more books).

Being a 'stay at home' mom scared the living hell out of me, but oh my gosh I would never trade doing it for anything in the world. It's funny. I don't talk about this often because...whatever, but before I got pregnant, I said over and over again that I was not a "mom" type person, I was clueless and I was happy with my life and didn't want kids. Not that I hated kids or anything, it's just the idea of them didn't mesh well with what my "used to be," future held.
When Lola was born, I fell in love with this mom thing and especially staying home with her.

So as you can tell, so much has changed.
A year came and went. I now have a happy, healthy 1 year old that is bound and determined for another year of exploration with Mommy and Daddy side by side.