Weekend Happenings

Mondays are always a little rough. But they’re especially rough after a 4 day weekend (thanks Rodeo Break!!). Sofia and I spent the day at home Thursday. Everyone in our house has been kind of sick, so I thought we would take the day to recoup the best we could before the actual weekend. We had breakfast in bed, watched some Sesame Street, played with bubbles, and took a stroll around the neighborhood.

On Friday, we hit up the children’s museum. I have been wanting to take Sofia to the children’s museum ever since my class went on a field trip there in October. Girlfriend enjoyed it just as much as I thought she would! There were all her favorites: books, balls, blocks, puzzles, pretend food, bubbles, chalk, markers, paint, slides, and tunnels. I had equally as much fun watching her enjoy herself so much. Friday night, Erik surprised us and took us out on a family date. We went to a really great Asian restaurant just down the street from our house. After we put Sofia to bed, Erik and I scoured Netflix for a movie to watch (actually it’s more like Erik surfing through Netflix and me saying no to every option). We ended up agreeing on a movie called Dope, and I was shocked by just how much I enjoyed it. If you’ve never heard of it (I hadn’t) I would suggest watching it. FIVE STARS from a harsh critic right here. 

Saturday morning, we picked up some Starbucks for breakfast and headed to the park. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and Sofia just loves being ‘side! When we got home from the park, it was nap time (for her, not us, unfortunately). Erik and I had big plans. CLEAN THE HOUSE. I’m truly not a fan of the word “adulting” but I felt like we were totally adulting Saturday afternoon. That night, we decided to reward ourselves for all our hard work with some surf & turf on the patio. It was perfection.

Sunday morning Sofia and I went grocery shopping (which was an absolute disaster, but we lived to tell the tale!). Basically she decided she hated HAAAAAATED sitting in the shopping cart and needed a ball from one of those obnoxious ball displays. So now envision me holding Sofia holding a huge bouncy ball pushing a full shopping cart. Needless to say, when I put her down for her nap yesterday afternoon, I said, “eff folding laundry! I’m laying out by the pool!!” After her nap, we hit up the outdoor mall and perused around (and bought Sofia some cute new spring ensembles). We ended our night watching part of the Oscars (only made it about halfway, because boredom, honestly). Sofia made it about a tenth of the way through and it is so hilarious watching her watch a show that involve applause because little miss loves copying anything and everything. 

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Happy Monday! xoxo

Friday 5 | Life Updates Since The Blog Resurrection

Instead of making these into 5 separate blog posts, I thought I’d link up with September Farm and do it here on my Friday 5. More concise. More fun! Without further ado, this week I bring to you 5 life updates since the blog's comeback.

O N E | Erik and I got married!!! About 4 years ago, Erik & I visited one of his friends in Temecula, CA. Funny story: prior to that trip, the only person I had ever met from Temecula was a convict (yes, you read that right), so I always pictured it as a kind of shady place. Spoiler alert: IT’S NOT!!! It’s beautiful!! And full of wineries! And avocados! Could it get anymore perfect?! NO! My point is, on that trip, Erik & I decided whenever we got married, it would be at a vineyard in Temecula and on June 13, 2015, it happened.

T W O | We bought a house!! After quickly outgrowing our two-bedroom apartment, we bought our very first house this summer! There is nothing like having a baby, getting married, and buying a house all in one year!!! Everyone should try it! We moved into a great little neighborhood, with tons of parks, and have a pool in our backyard to help us survive the AZ summers.

T H R E E | Sofia turned one! (she’s 16 months now) but her First Birthday needs to make a blog appearance. The theme was pink & gold (if that can even be considered a theme…?). We celebrated with friends and family at our house. Although it was a day she’ll never remember, it was a day I’ll never forget. Oh, and Sofia and I had matching rompers. It was the best.

F O U R | I turned 27! Not super exciting, but it’s crazy for me to think I was 25 when I found out I was pregnant and Sofia was born. Like 25 seems so young…. and 27 seems…. so close to 30.

unrelated photo-but accurate depiction of how I feel being ever so close to 30

F I V E | My sister is getting married!! A couple days before Christmas, my sister’s boyfriend (now fiance--Joey) took her on a hike and proposed to her. Oh the romance! And yay! I can go to a wedding that I’m not getting married in! Because planning a wedding is something I never want to do again.

Happy Friday, friends!! xo

Sofia Belle [Sixteen Months]

Today Sofia woke up as a 16 month old. She also woke up in one of the best moods ever! Until I tried to get her dressed, everything went downhill fast from there. Sofia is obsessed obsessed with jackets. I don’t really know why, it’s a little weird, but whatevs, there are way worse things in life than a baby obsessing over a jacket. Last night, after Sofia’s bath, I put her new robe on her (baby in a bathrobe-there is nothing cuter!) but instead of calling it a “robe” I told her it was a “jacket.” Like I want to go back in time and slap myself in the face for doing that.

As soon as I tried to take it off to put her jammies on, she freaked out, but I let her wear it over her pajamas, after I was able to wrestle those on. We played a little bit more, read some books, and then it was time for bed. And I let her sleep with her robe (ahem, jacket) on. Mistake numero dos. But I thought, “what could possibly go wrong?! in the morning I’ll take off her robe and put her actual jacket on and she’ll be just fine.” 

Well well well, like I said, little miss woke up in a great mood, until I tried to take her new beloved jacket off. Literally, I have never seen a meltdown quite like this. Girlfriend was PISSED. The good ole jacket switcharoo did not go as planned (of course). She calmed down a little once we got in the car, but as soon as we got to school, it was not a pretty sight. Sofia loves school and is usually such a happy camper when I drop her off. (sometimes she even cries when we leave in the afternoon-like the kid loves daycare, which makes my mama heart so happy). But this morning she was anything but pleased to be there. She threw herself on the floor of her classroom and cried & cried. Her teacher picked her up while I left and I could hear Sofia yelling, “mama mama!” down the hall. It was THE worst. I cried. Probably more than she did. Luckily her school has cameras, so I hopped on my phone as soon as I got back into my car and could see she looked like she was already doing much better.

I ended up being late for work and when I explained to my coworker what went down this morning, I started to cry again (it also doesn’t help that Aunt Flo showed up this morning), but she hugged me (even though she prefaced the hug with, “I know you don’t like hugs”) and told me I was a really good mom, which of course, always makes a gal feel nice. I called Sofia’s daycare just to make sure she was doing okay, and she was.  

Oh this adventure of mommyhood, it’s really something else.

[16 month update]

stats: At her 15 month appointment, she was 25 lbs. 13 oz & 31 inches – 95th percentile for both (fun fact: I had my mom pull out my baby book the last time I was at my parents’ house, and Sofia & I have almost the exact same growth pattern). 

eating: She is getting a little pickier, especially at home, because apparently at school she eats everything. Her teacher told me the kids had red bell peppers the other day and Sofia was the only babe who ate them. I have tried on T H R E E separate occasions at home to give her bell peppers, but she turns her nose up at them. I even tried to give her some hummus to dip those suckers in, and she used the pepper solely as a vessel to transport hummus into her mouth (can’t even be mad at that).

Some of her favorite foods include, black beans, bananas, avocado, egg whites, pancakes, pasta with olive oil and parmesan, green beans, and crack-ahhhhhs! (crackers, of any variety).

sleeping: She goes to bed around 6:30-7 and sleeps 12 solid hours. It. Is. Glorious. Especially since she didn’t start sleeping consistently through the night (+ past 6am) until she was 10 months old.

likes: her jackets (obviously), Elmo, animals, music & dancing, reading books, mama+dada, Kobe, ring around the rosie, the park, bathtime. 

dislikes: being separated from her beloved jacket, sitting in her stroller, sitting in a shopping cart (Erik let her ride in one of those stupid carts with the little car in front of it and now every time we go to the grocery store, she sees it and yells “BEEP BEEP!!” and you must let her ride in it. OR ELSE). 

words: mama, dada, baba, woof woof (when she sees Kobe or any other dog), cow, MOOOOO!, cluck cluck, RAWR!, ooh ooh ahh ahh! (monkey), bop it (yes, she loves her bop it), jacket, on, off, up, down, hi, hello, bye bye, Elmo, no , mine, ni-ni (night-night), schooooo! (school), crack-ahhh, nana (banana) bathtime, bubbles, PAAAPA! & mama (for grandpa & grandma), ball, cheers!, bump (for when she wants you to fist-bump her), get down!, snack.

#choosingtolovemyself

Yesterday, I came across a pretty amazing campaign about choosing to love yourself, which I think is especially important now that I’m a mom to a daughter.  While I was pregnant, I had a strong intuition from early on that Sofia was a girl. At our 19 week scan, my intuition was confirmed.  On the drive home from that doctor appointment, I cried. Not because I was disappointed or sad, but because I was scared of the world my daughter would grow up in, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to teach her all she needs to know, and of course, pregnancy hormones.

But I knew the best way to show her how to love herself, was to love myself.  It’s hard not to put yourself down, be self-deprecating, and point out your flaws before someone else does. But I want Sofia to be confident.  I want her to be kind.  I want her to be independent.  I want her to be compassionate.  I want her to be herself, and love herself, ALWAYS. Even typing that all out gets me a little teary-eyed (because everything makes me cry now) and there’s still a little voice in my head asking, “will I be able to do enough to make sure she’s all those things?”

crazy hair, don't care

That’s why I’m #choosingtolovemyself.  I am the best version of myself when I am with Sofia. I am patient. I am fun. I am funny (although Sofia & Erik might disagree). I am relaxed. I am confident. She sees that I love her, and she sees that I love myself. So I can do this. I love myself. We got this, mamas (insert fist bump emoji).

xo

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5 Lessons Learned In 9 Days

Erik comes home tonight after being out of town for 9 days (!!!!).  The good news: Sofia and I survived. The better news: only a handful of things were damaged (my ego, quite possibly being one of them).  Let me begin by giving all the praisejesushands to moms and dads who do this solo everyday. Like some sort of novice, I thought this would be super easy. I could get so much done! I would have so much free time! Oh, the possibilities!  While maybe there wasn't a whole lot of productivity going down, memories were made and lessons were learned.

Lesson #1: Don't get cocky and think you can take a solo trip to the bathroom.  Your child will find and break a full bottle of balsamic vinegar all over the kitchen floor.  Luckily no one was hurt, and unfortunately no photos of the crime scene exist, except for those that came and went on Snapchat (christinarienzo in case these kind of shenanigans interest you).

this happens a lot on Snapchat too

Lesson #2: Drink wine while sitting on the floor at your own risk. My brother and sister-in-law came for dinner one night, and before we ate, we were all hanging out in the living room playing with Sofia.  Kobe started barking, I looked over at him, and from the other direction, Sofia came crashing into me. Wine. Everywhere. Including all over my brand new VS Pink sweatshirt. Side note: after I purchased the sweatshirt, the thought of "am I too old to be wearing Pink?!" crossed my mind. Maybe now that it has been completely ruined within a matter of days, someone is trying to tell me the answer is YES.

Lesson #3: When in doubt, park it out. We started going a little stir crazy being home all day on the weekend, but the park was our sweet, sweet escape. The weather was absolutely perfect! And after each trip, Sofia came home and promptly took a nap. Win-win.

Lesson #4: Whatever you're about to reach for at the moment your child starts having a meltdown in the grocery store, double check you've grabbed the right thing...... or you will get home and realize that 12 grain bread you thought you bought, is in fact cinnamon raisin bread. Avocado toast on cinnamon raisin bread ain't too bad though---said the starving mom.

Lesson #5: Get yourself some good friends.  The kind who bring over pizza and Chinese food. The ones who hang out with you & your baby on a Saturday night and invite you to sushi on a Sunday.  My heart is seriously so full from the girls week Sofia & I had, and all our girlfriends who came to hang out with us along the way! But we are so so ready for Dada to come home!!

xo