My Baby Must Haves

Recently I was asked to make a list of the things I couldn't live without as a new mom and the things I could have done without as a new mom. I figured I might as well make this a blog post, who knows this list might help someone or it might make someone giggle!

Things I couldn't live without:

1) My family - goes without saying I know! But honestly, I am surrounded by the most amazing support system and I think it is the most important thing as a new mom!

2) A really good bed - no not for the baby but for mom. You don't get a lot of sleep so when you do get a some you want it to count and a nice bed is essential to that. Nick and I got our $5,500 bed from Macy's for only $300.  Sometimes, they clearance out mattresses and its a great way to get a good bed for a great price! Doesn't hurt to ask!

3) A great hairdresser - seriously a great haircut can do wonders for your soul, your self esteem, and your spirit. For me, a great haircut helped me feel more like me again and that's what i desperately needed after having my daughter. To look in the mirror and sort-of see me again was priceless.  I don't normally do shout-outs but I HIGHLY recommend Laura at Honey Saloon! 

4) Oxiclean - I love this stuff. A baby gets everything they wear dirty and this stuff takes everything out! I stock up on it. It is truly a mommy must have!

5) A swing - this ones for the baby! We got ours as a hand-me-down (thanks Heidi and Peter) and I couldn't live without it. I can put her in to nap if she refuses to sleep in her crib, she well sit in it happily if I need to accomplish something or if I just need to take a break.  I love our swing!

6) Gardener - this is a personal one. Despite how tiny our yard is, its maintenance was a great stress for my husband and I.  Lets just say we don't have green thumbs.  Having a gardener freed us from that stress and gave us the time to focus on more important things, such as spending time with our family.  In fact, I just recently told my mother-in-law I would rather go without my cable TV then the gardener. Ask yourself, what totally stresses you out? Whats your stresser?  Doing your bills? Cleaning you house? And see if you can make it work to hire someone to help you out.  Its worth every penny.

8) A good thrift store and/or a local Just Between Friends sale - having a new baby brings with it the fun of buying baby clothes. But that can be expensive especially since they grow out of the clothes so fast or ruin them. Hence, buying second hand allows the thrill to be guilt free. An insider tip - find out if your second hand store does 50% off days! Also, consign the clothes they grew out of at a JBF sale and make back what you spent.  Consigning at a JBF sale takes some work so be prepared but it is worth it when you get your check in the mail a few weeks later. 

9) Infant Tylenol - my daughter was born with a tooth, yes a tooth, and she started teething at 6 weeks old so infant Tylenol has been a must have in our house. Another teething trick a great friend taught me and I well pass on -mini frozen waffles.  They are great on their sensitive gums and dissolve in their mouth.

10) Jillian Micheal's - her 20 minute works outs are incredible! I have blogged about this before so I won't go in depth but check them out. 

11) baby Einstein exersaucer - awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Like the swing this gives you somewhere to put your little one for a little while so you can do other things and take a deep breath!

12) A diaper caddy - the whole family loved this baby shower present, also from Heidi and Peter! Thanks guys! This was a slum dunk.  When I first got this I had no idea how amazing this little box would be but it turned out to be wonderful.  You just grab it and you can change your little ones diaper anywhere in the house. 

13) A diaper bag plus a travel bag - I know most of you are going huh? Isn't that the same thing?  No its not.  We quickly discovered if you carry everything you need in your diaper bag for the whole day the bag is going to be crazy heavy and way too full.  So we designed what we call the travel bag.  Its just a plain canvas bag we had in the house and we pack it with all the extras you need but don't need in your diaper bag.  The contents of the travel bag are constantly changing because what the baby needs changes as they grow.  This bag is also nice because you don't have to take it out of the car every time you get home and clean it out but can leave it in the car and always have a surplus of goods in the car ready to go whenever you are!

Okay... I think I may have covered all of our favorites.  This list is in no way comprehensive and there is no way it could be because babies needs are constantly changing, plus what works for me is not always going to for you! I well try to follow up this posting with a blog about what I got and/or purchased that I could have lived without.

Losing Sleep

It is 2:11 a.m.  Everyone in my house is sound asleep except me.  It might be because I am sore from doing P90x the Ab Ripper.  I truly despise the "host" but Ill save my rant on him for another day.  He does Arnold Swarchenegger impressions in the middle of the work out...need I say more?  Sorry...got lost in my disdain for him.  I am also up because my dreams and my thoughts are consumed with photography.  Literally consumed. 

It is amazing how challenging and rewarding it can be when you pick up your camera and you shoot a picture "purposefully."  Okay let me explain.  Before we really delved into this whole photography business I would take pictures and if some turned out good that was awesome.  Now when I photograph a shot, I have a goal in mind.  I am out to capture an emotion or feeling.  And in order to do that you have to think about the shot before you take it.  It cant just be a knee jerk reaction.  It really is an art form. 

Yes, yes some shots are knee jerk because a moment is suddenly happening and you want to capture that moment.  I think this is the kind-of photography my husband is more into. Hence, his love of the website Moment Junkie. I like staged shots because it allows you to create the atmosphere you need to capture a specific feeling or mood. Oo la la. Crap...as I say that my mind is immediately taken to the movie The Little Mermaid and the scene where Sebastian is encouraging Ariel and Eric to kiss.  Come on... you know the scene where they sing "Kiss the Girl" and Sebastian is setting the atmosphere.  Classic!

Crap my hips hurt from that damn work out. Okay.. I have been up way to long and I must get some sleep otherwise I will be a nasty person tomorrow.  June is not good without sleep. I'm speaking in third person now...that cant be a good sign.

(I was planning on uploading pictures with this post but stupid blogger is distorting every image I put up and I am not in the mood to fight with it at 3:00 in the morning.  Maybe Ill try again tomorrow.)

Play Time

I got my hands on Nick's camera yesterday and I snapped some photos of Claudia and Claudia Mia. We just sat and played in the front yard. It was such a nice way to spend the afternoon.

I spent most of the time learning how to adjust the shutter speed. Lol... I actually thought I was adjusting the ISO but Nick corrected me this morning and told me I was actually adjusting the shutter speed. My bad!

Despite my confusion, I learned a lot about what adjustments to make according to what kind of light I am shooting in. An important lesson when shooting in manual mode. Hehehe.. I actually sound like I know what I am talking about.

This last shot, I took when we were goofing off and I was pretending to be that stereotypical fashion photographer. You know the one that doesn't look through the lens but just snaps shots and says "perfect, yes, love it!" I think it turned out cute and funny at the same time.

Blueberry Lemon Muffins for Tami Sue

 

Yesterday was my dear friends birthday and her one request from me was to make her homemade muffins.   I just cant say no to such a request.   So these muffins are for you Tami Sue - Happy Birthday!

This is the first time I have ever made Blueberry Lemon Muffins and I am SUPER glad I did.  They are delicious.  A wonderful combination of sweet and tart.  Can I say "yummy!"

What I choose to bake is normally dictated by what I have in the fridge and in the pantry.  Yesterday my neighbors gave me a bunch of lemons off their tree and I had blueberries in the fridge, so Blueberry Lemon Muffins was what I created. 

Also, when ever I bake I always make two batches because I tend to give half away.  My neighbors always get a couple of whatever I bake because they give us their coupons out of the Sunday newspaper and well they lent us the toilet plunger - thanks guys!  (If you haven't read my post The Toilet Master..check the archives...pretty funny story)

I adapted the recipe from the blog The Sisters Cafe.   The only thing I changed from the recipe below was the sugar - I used half brown sugar because I love the taste brown sugar gives to baked good.  Enjoy!

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

zest of one lemon

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/2 cup shortening (or butter*)

1 cup blueberries

Topping (this makes extra – you can try cutting it down if you want):

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 Tb lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Beat egg, milk and shortening. Stir in blueberries. Add dry ingredients and lemon zest. Stir gently to combine. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Combine butter and lemon juice. While the muffins are still warm, dip the tops in the butter and lemon juice, then dip in sugar. Makes 12 muffins.

A Great Day

Yesterday I had one of those rare moments in life where you realize that in ten years from now you'll want to look back and remember everything about the day.  It wasn't an exceptionally amazing day and nothing immensly extraordinary happened either.  In fact, most of us spent the day in pjs and the only person that left the house was my husband because he had to go to Home Depot to buy sprinkler parts.  Heehehe...and then he had to go back because the hose he bought splintered.  Who knows how that happened.  The rest of us spent the day working on Mia Hope Photography.  We purchased a domain name, responded to craigslist ad's looking for photographers, and even defined roles within the company.  Yes...we defined roles.  All my Macy's friends can stop laughing now.  I may not be employed as a manager anymore but you cant take the manager out of me I guess. 

If I was to say what made yesterday such an amazing day it was the realization that we were in the process of doing something great.  We were in the process of actually starting a business.  A business that could fail or could be great.  My bet is on great but whenever you start a new adventure the reality that you could fail is always in the back of your head.  I don't like failure.  I don't like the feeling of failure.  So sometimes, I find that I wont try something unless I know for sure that I am going to be successful.  Starting our Photography business for me is a huge lesson in life about taking a leap of faith.  About believing in something and someone.  I believe that my husband is extremely talented.  I believe that we can do this.  I believe in my family's strength to make this happen.  And if  we fail I am going to be proud of us for at least trying.  And trying is half the battle right? 

So yesterday was a great day!  A really great day.  Thank you to my wonderful family who supports me and loves me.  Who stands by me.  Who believes in the same dream that I do.  I am very lucky to be surrounded by such loving wonderful people everyday.  I love you guys.  Awe, huh?

Froggy Crawling

My daughter is officially a froggy crawler.  I dont think I have ever seen something so cute in my life.  We have seen signs for some time now that she was going to start being mobile and then today while doing her tummy time she maneuvered herself across the living room floor.  She literally moves her feet like a froggy and propels herself forward.  She also found a new trick while doing it - licking the floor.  Totally disgusting I know, especially if you know that I have 3 puppies.  With 3 dogs you never know what is on that floor.  And yes... I wash it.  Geesh, I am not that untidy. 

So my avid readers are probably saying, you have been silent on your blog for some time now except the recipe post over the weekend, so what have you been up to?  I have fully plunged into the world of photography.  At least, the back end stuff of running a photography business.  I am quickly learning how to edit pictures and impose them with a watermark.  Interestingly, I love the work.  I honestly love it.  There is something magical about watching a great image come to life.  Now this isnt the first time I have made that statement, if you are a fan of our facebook page Mia Hope Photography, you have seen it before.  And if you are not a fan...shame, shame, shame on you.  My husband takes beautiful pictures and by looking at one of them your life becomes instantly better.  Okay...that was a little over the top but you get the point. Now go and fan our facebook page! Now! You can always come back and finish reading my post at a later time (you well find at the end that this post really has no point anyways!).

I have a great yearning to pick up the camera and start shooting along side my husband.  In fact, we are looking into investing into a second body so I can have his old one.  This idea was originally presented to me as a mothers day present.  I know doesn't sound like a very good mothers day present, I get the old body and Nick gets the new upgraded version, but it really is.  I have this intense phobia of messing up something mechanical that belongs to my husband.  For example, I have never driven his car.  Nor did I ever drive his last car.  Now... stop frowning at my husband for this phobia because as much as I like to tease him that it's his fault it's not, it's mine.  I'm scared of messing up something that he loves.  Hence, me getting the old body and having the freedom to really learn on it is a great present.  Anyone interested in being a model for me?  Seriously, if you feel like letting me experiment and take pictures let me know.  Of course we have to invest in a new body first!

Hehehe.. today's blog appears to have no point but I warned you of that already, didn't I?

Sausage and Cheese Muffins

I have baked these "muffins" a few times now and my family loves them. I put "muffins" into quotations because they are more like biscuits. They are doughy but delicious. What I like best about the recipe is that most of the ingredients are interchangeable. I have baked them with bacon instead of sausage and they were great. You can take out the green chile's and use chopped onions instead. It really is a recipe that you can play with. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does...they beg for me to make them!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 7 Turkey Sausage links, cooked and chopped
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 oz can Green Chile's

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. In a another bowl, beat the egg, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Sprinkle more cheese on top. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.

Yummy!!!

Practice run

Test run! Yep... Testing to see if I like a iPad!

A Step by Step Guide on how to NOT visit the Peruvian Consulate:

1. Leave your house at 12:00
2. Pick up passport picture from Walgreen's, which was taken earlier that day. Then head out of town.
3. At 1:10 call consulate to find out what time they close. Perfect, they close at at 2:00 and you are only 40 minutes away.  That gives you a leeway of 10 minutes, cakewalk!
4. Drive like the wind
5. Get stuck behind every idiot driver
6. Don't eat before you leave the house. It makes the drive down that much more exciting.
7. Ensure you hit a ton of bumper to bumper traffic.
8. Wave "hi" to the cops on the side of the road giving someone else a traffic ticket. Deep sigh of relief it wasn't you.
9. Hit road construction but quickly move to the left and get out of the cluster fuck that is developing where the lanes are all merging.
10. Flip off every fast food joint you pass because at the moment they are just not fast enough and you are starving.
11. Once you get to the toll bridge celebrate your ingenious self for buying the Fastpass on your last SF visit. Saved a lot of time here!
12. Enter into the city with only 12 minutes to spare before 2:00
13.  Drive faster
14.  Quickly at a stop light switch drivers
15.  Drop off Peruvian 3 blocks away
16.  Now run Peruvian run... 8 minutes and counting
17.  Find the building with the consulate in it
18. Not there yet... the office is on the 10th floor.
19. Now which office is the Peruvian consulate in? Ahh... maybe the office with the group of Peruvian speaking individuals outfront.
20. Read note taped to the door: Were only going to be open from 9:00-1:00 until June 3rd
21. Success!!! No visit to the consulate today. Round 2 tomorrow.

Am I a Flatlander?

This picture was taken over 12 years ago in one of my family's favorite places, Sliding Rock. It's a locals hot spot because it is a natural water slide on the American river.

Over the weekend my husband and I traveled back to our hometown where this picture was taken and it got me thinking about the term "flatlander" versus "local." What is a flatlander you ask? Urban Dictionary defines it as a "a term that all mountain people use to describe tourists that don't have the skills/knowledge to recreate in the mountains."

The Coupon Fairy

Have you ever heard of the Coupon Fairy? A mythical creature you say? Someone you only hear about on the Internet but doesn't really exist? Wrong. I have found evidence that she is real. I know your screaming "blasphemy!" But I swear we found evidence of her existence today in Raley's. No I didn't see the fairy in the flesh but every where we turned there was coupons taped to the front of product. That's pretty compelling evidence of her existence if you ask me!

It was like Christmas day for us because she left 4 Similac coupons in the baby food aisle. We were in fact giddy with excitement because they are like gold for us. No I am not exaggerating, we were actually giddy with excitement and we snatched the 4 coupons up. I know I should have left a few for someone else but I plan on paying it forward. Next time I clip coupons I will clip some I don't need and sprinkle them across Target. And then for 1 day I'll be the Coupon Fairy. Hmm... Maybe I'll even wear wings and carry a wand.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So pretty in green! I bought this dress at the Roseville Just Between Friends Sale for $5.00. Great deal and super cute. Who says you cant dress your child super cute inexpensively?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fresh Strawberry Muffins

Today, strawberries were buy 1 get 2 free from Safeway. Basically, they were begging you to buy them. Which for me is a perfect opportunity to make fresh strawberry muffins and there was enough strawberries to take 2 containers to the local Food Bank. A win win situation.

I used a recipe from realmomkitchen.com as my template. They came out delicious, moist and so sweet! My husband who is not a strawberry man devoured his. In fact, I think I may go buy some more strawberries tomorrow just so I can bake some more muffins.

Fresh Strawberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups chopped strawberries
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture. Gently stir in strawberries.

Spoon batter into muffin pans.

Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over muffins.

Bake at 400º for 20-25 minutes. (my oven runs cool so I had to bake them for 30 minutes.)

Mmmmm....so yummy!

I found the Easter Bunny!

$#*! You Hear at Our House

One day I realized that we say the oddest and most random things at our house and I have been joking ever since that I should compile a list and blog them.  Well here goes.  This is a sampling of a few things you might hear at our house if you stayed with us for a couple of days.  Dont judge becasuse you know that you say random crap at your house too!

A Prank to Remember

Do you remember playing pranks at sleepovers as a child? Such as putting someone’s hand in warm water to make them pee or putting someone’s wet underwear in the freezer. I was a sad child because I never did any of these things. The only thing I ever did was toilet paper my teachers house in high school and that was awesome, especially since the pictures made it into the year book. It will forever be immortalized!

A couple of weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity and gumption to pull one of these pranks. It was a sweet moment not only because it was a long overdue first but because the prank was pulled on my husband. We were all watching TV when my husband dozed off and one of us jokingly said "we should paint his nails." Most of the time, I find these moments are passed by with someone saying "yeah that would be funny" and then it never materializes. This time we seized the opportunity.

The Workout Battle Part 2

A lot of people have asked me recently if I am still doing the workout DVD Self: Slim and Sleek, Fast!  For those of you who are curious, I am not.  I actually got bored. So what am I doing now as a workout regimen?  Honestly, I would love to say nothing but in reality if there is no sweat there is no gain.  Gosh I hate that cliche but it applies here. Currently I am doing Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred it DVD which I have rented from Netflix.  Yes...the same Jillian Micheal's from the show The Biggest Loser.

Im Back

Yep...I am back.  Technically I never left but I haven't blogged in a long time either.  I can give you a million reasons why I haven't posted and they are good reasons: my daughter is teething, we photographed our first wedding, and then of course there is the best reason of all "LIFE."  You know life.  The one we lead everyday that includes such tasks as dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, etc! The list of excuses really could go on forever but I think if I really analyze it, I would admit that I stopped blogging because of insecurity.  Insecurity of being vulnerable.  The act of putting yourself out there and open to criticism.  I know most of you are shouting at me "criticism makes you stronger."  And yes I believe that it can and it does but when I write I put myself out there. And that is scary. Flat out.  It just is. I admit I don't have thick skin.  Never have.  I am trying to grow some but at the moment all my mad science experiments have failed and my skin remains thin.  If anyone knows a special recipe please pass it my way.

The Plunger Master

Have you ever had one of those moments where swear you can do something and then immediately afterwards the universe presents the opportunity to prove whether or not you can? Well last night Claudia and I swore to my husband that we could declog the bathtub on our own and it wasn't something that only he knew how to do. Of course today what gets clogged but the toilet! The universe couldn't throw us a bone and have the bathtub clog... oh no it had to be the toilet. At the time, Claudia was in the middle of cleaning the bathroom and I was on baby duty so the nasty task fell to her. Prior to last night, the first thing I would have done was call my husband or simply wait for him to come home from work to fix it but since I had just sworn that we could do it on our own we HAD to fix it without involving him.

Date Night With My Hubby

Once a week my husband and I are given an amazing treat and opportunity to have date night. Yep...date night. A night out on the town, just the two of us. Tonight is that night and do you know how we are spending it? In a night club, you say? Yeah right! No we are sitting here at home in our pj's, watching tv, drinking our adult drinks, and working on our laptops. And its AWESOME! Its amazing how you take for granted the ability to do the simplest things like watch tv before you have children. In fact, I can't even remember what we did before we had our daughter on a Saturday night. When I was pregnant everyone told me that having children would change everything. I am still not sure if having our daughter changed everything but having her definitely changed me and I know it changed my husband. We have never been the "night club type" but whatever we did on a Saturday night before just doesn't seem so important anymore. I mean come on...it was so important that I can't even remember what it was we did! So lets raise our glasses and toast to date night on the couch.

The Workout Battle

Today working out won the battle! What battle you ask? The internal battle that occurs every time I contemplate working out. You know how it goes... "I need to work out but I don't want to work out. I hate working out but you need to work out. Just do it! But I don't want to!" When working out wins that's a big accomplishment in my book.

Beginnings

Thats me...on the right! In the picture, I am 6 months pregnant with my daughter Claudia Mia Hope. The very handsome man on the left is my husband, the love of my life. And the beautiful women in the middle is my sister (not by blood but by spirit) and the godmother of my daughter, Claudia.



I am not sure the purpose or my intetion of doing this blog but I have a great yearning to share my story. We all have a story dont we? And I hope my story helps others...oh who am I kidding I wonder if my blog is ever going to be read by anyone else. We will see...