Co-sleeping and breastfeeding

Believe it or not, I didn't choose to co-sleep, my husband did it for me. During my pregnancy I read several books that talk about co-sleeping and I was decided to put Allison in her crib. I talked about it with V and we both agreed.

Then she was born. 

We fell in love with her.

And our plans changed.

If I was putting her in her crib, she would start crying. Val couldn't handle it and asked me to let her sleep with me. I did it but telling him that when we arrived home it would not be like that. I was still decided to put Allie in her crib.

Then I loved feeling her peacefully sleep.

And my mind changed. 

How would I reject that incredible feeling? How would I destroy the bond that was being created? I couldn't do it. 

Besides, having a baby is tiring. Not the fact of giving birth, but the fact of taking care of her -specially the first months. A new mum needs to sleep too to be able to give the best of herself to that tiny creature. 

So, I co -slept and still co-sleep. I have breastfed my daughter and, leaving aside the sentimental part, co-sleeping has allowed me to sleep "through" the night. Nursing her half-awake-half-asleep and both falling asleep together is great! I don't think I had been able to get up every two hours at night, sit on the rocking chair, nurse her, put her back in the crib and fall asleep again. That must be tough!

Now I'm thankful to Val for making me discover all the precious moments that I have shared with our daughter.

Now that it's coming to an end.

Allie is one and things are changing. 

I'm breastfeeding her twice a day only: for her afternoon nap and at night. Soon it will be only once a day. And then it will be over. 

I am sad. Maybe more than her. She will probably forget and continue with her life, but I will always remember those moments.

Our moments.

Pancakes (o tortitas)

On May 5, this is what my mum ate for breakfast. I cooked it for her -it was Mother's Day in Spain. Since this is typically an American breakfast, I will post the recipe in Spanish. However, for the quantities I will use their Cups and Spoons measurement utensils. 

Ingredientes:
3/4 Cup  Leche
2 Tbsp  Vinagre de vino blanco
1 Cup  Harina
3 Tsbp  Azúcar
1 Tsp  Levadura
1/2 Tsp  Soda
1   Huevo
2 Tbsp  Mantequilla derretida
1 Tsp  Extracto de vainilla

Preparación:

   En un bol pequeño mezclad la leche con el vinagre y dejadlo reposar unos 10 minutos, así conseguiremos leche agriada (no agria). No os preocupéis que no notaréis el vinagre en el producto final. 

   Mezclad los ingredientes secos en un bol mediano.

   Pasados los 10 minutos, añadid a la mezcla de leche y vinagre el huevo, la mantequilla derretida (no caliente) y el extracto de vainilla. A continuación, lo vertéis sobre la mezcla de ingredientes secos y mezcláis hasta que no queden grumos.

   La masa quedará espesa. Dejadla reposar unos 10 minutos. Entonces veréis que aparecen unas burbujitas, no remováis. Sacad la masa en porciones de 1/4 C y vertedlas en una sartén previamente engrasada. Deberéis darle la vuelta cuando veáis que empiezan a aparece burbujas en la superficie. Un minutito más en la sartén y listas para comer. 

Nota:

Aquí las van apilando para que no se enfríen las primeras y las comen con sirope, nata, chocolate, fruta, mermelada... Vamos, que las podéis comer con lo que queráis.

Monthly Update

Allison likes books

Her first tooth

We went to a Moroccan bbq

Her first tooth

"Welcome to my place!"

We celebrated New Year's Eve

She crawls fast!

Monthly Update

Our live lately, according to the pictures we took :

*Making new friends*

*Watching Christmas Parade*

  *Getting the house ready for Christmas*

 *Pic after receiving three shoots*

 *Thanksgiving's day at the McKenzie's*

 *On the way back from the mall*

 *Getting started on the reading habit*

*Helping mum to do the groceries*

Monthly Update

One month since we landed in Houston. 

The flight was good, but way too long and tiring since we were traveling with the baby. Allison is such a sweet girl... she didn't cry! I have to admit that that was our biggest concern.

As per the month itself, we have spent at home most of the time organizing stuff, cleaning, cooking... and we have tried to adjust our internal clock to the actual clock, which has been difficult but we made it.

In between some cool things have happened:

Allie's first time sleeping in her new crib

Fun talks

Tidying up stuff from Ikea with a baby

Allie eats cereals

Allie can sit and crawl

Just The Two Of Us

Since Allison was born it has been just the two of us. We had to wait for all my legal paperwork to be accepted to be able to join my husband in Texas. But the waiting time is over: we'll be reunited as a family in October 7.

Although I've had my parents around all this time, in certain situations it would have been very helpful to have him near. Sometimes it has been hard, sometimes tiring, sometimes frustrating, but always satisfying. My baby is the cutest (as all babies are for their mums) and I would do anything for her to be happy so she can give me her best smile. That's all I need to forget all the hard, tiring and frustrating times.

I know adapting our just-the-two-of-us life to the just-the-three-of-us one will not be easy, but we will make it. We will be happier, stronger and... busier, specially Bi Zan and I. But we cannot wait to see Allison grew together, to share the same moments with her, and to love her and let her amaze us every single day of her life. 

We cannot wait to be just the three of us.

Breastfeeding in public

Before being a mama, I tend to look at women who were breastfeeding in public, but with an innocent look. When looking at them I was imagining myself doing the same in the future because I think it is the most wonderful thing on earth, and we don’t have to hide it. I believe it creates an unbreakable bond between mother and baby. It is a unique moment just for the two of them. Now that I am a mama, I can say that I would never change that time with my baby for nothing in the whole world. I totally love it.

Currently doctors recommend mothers to breastfeed when the baby demands it, and to forget about the old theory of doing it every three hours. It isn’t only used to feed them, but also to calm them down when crying, to relief their stomachache, to help them sleep… I confess I follow my doctor’s advice: every time I feel she wants teta, I am more tan pleased of giving it to her.

It is true that I have only been a mama for eleven weeks; but since I am breastfeeding Allie when she demands it from the very first minute she was out of the womb, I have been able to hear lots of comments about it, comments like “are you giving her teta again?” or “why don’t you cover her head?”; apart from weird looks from strangers in the street that make me want to yell at them “I’m not showing you my teta, I’m just feeding my baby”.

Anyway, I’m happy with the way I’m doing and handling it. No matter where we are, I am always ready to open my shirt and feed my baby looking at her with a huge smile on my face. Those people will never make me feel uncomfortable when doing something so natural.

If you want to read a good story about breastfeeding in public, click here.

Baker Mode

Ha! Baker Mode is the perfect one during summer time: a lot of free time, no big plans or deadlines, hot weather outside... Just the perfect time!

This time, it's the carrot cake's turn.

Easy recipe, check it out:

Enjoy it!

Busy Mama

Since May 17th I am a busy mama. The blog will be on standby mode. I will be concentrated on giving Allison all my love.

12 months -> 12 projects

I said in January that I'd be making coasters for my friend and my cousin, but February has been a very short month, it went by very fast! So I decided to postpone that project.

Instead, this is the project I accomplished:

It will be hanging in Allison's bedroom when we move to Houston about three months from now.

*The white frame is from Ikea*

// smile //

I haven't blogged for the past months and I apologize. I've been very busy with school and getting everything ready for our baby.

This doesn't mean that I haven't had time to SMILE. Here you have the most important moments:

snow | sunset | st. valentine's | coffee with 

friends and happy news (Maria is pregnant 

again) | Allison's teeny tiny clothes

Apart from those moments, there is a very special one: we get to see Allison in 4D. That was pretty exciting!

12 months -> 12 projects

JANUARY: a quilt for Allison

It was kind of a challenge for me because that was my first quilt ever! I think it has turned out pretty nice. Although it's not perfect, it's made with love and that's the most important :)

The documentation phase involved reading some blogs of really good quilters! They make such amazing things... The two of them that I liked the most are: Quilting in the rain and Crazy mom quilts.

This are the steps I've followed: 

   1. Cutting the fabric

   2. Assembling the pieces

   3. Putting together the three layers

   4. Machine basting

   5. Sewing the binding (machine and hand stitch). For this step, I followed this tutorial.

Really happy with the result, I can't deny it. Challenge overcome!

Next month: I'm planning to make some coasters for one of my cousins and for a friend. They have recently moved to a new place and I noticed they didn't have them. Hehe! Documentation phase starts NOW!

Sew Yellow

Another softie added to the shop. There's only one available for now. If you are interested in buying it, contact me. 

SFT11-014

// Smile //

Last week I couldn't post my reason to SMILE for the previous week but I did have one. It was my father's birthday and we went to a restaurant to have lunch. He was really happy that day and his happiness rubbed off on us that much that on our way to the car we took some silly pictures...

This weeks SMILE was caused by the fact that our baby girl's nose is going to look just like her father's. The doctor did another ultrasound and we could clearly see it. It was sooo cool! I can't wait to see her again. Sorry, but I'm not posting any picture of our baby until she's born, that's how we decided it to be, I hope you understand. 

Excited to see what makes me SMILE this week!

Some kind of change

A change in my body (growing belly)

A change in my style (new glasses)

// Smile //

[Picture in process… Georgina took it, just waiting for her to send it to me]

Those girls in the picture above are the ones that made me SMILE last week. The picture was taken almost 10 years ago in one of our trips around Europe.

We met at the Fashion School, we had just finished “bachillerato” (high school) and were anxious, happy, shy, excited, nervous to start something new, something that we had chosen.

We were the youngest students in the class, and we became pretty close friends until now. Although each one of us has her own life -some of us are married, some others live with their “chicos”, some of us work, some other not-, we always find time to meet for a coffee or dinner or any other plan.

The reason to meet this time was that one of us, Georgina, was leaving to Brisbane, Australia, in a couple of days and she doesn’t have plans to come back to crazy Spain. She has been planning it for a year and she is ready to go!

Spending time with them means chatting, laughing, remembering, helping each other, thinking about trips… and always SMILE. 

12 months -> 12 projects

Yesterday I worked on my project: a quilt for Allison. I have already all of the pieces for the back and front and the next step will be sewing. I'm so excited that I'm going to finish it on time!

I'm also working on a little softie for Sew Yellow. It's a car and it just needs some sewing too. I'll do it all at once. Whenever it's available on the shop, I'll let you know. 

Have a nice week!

// Smile //

I had a lot of reasons to SMILE last week but the one that I felt the most was the one you can see represented in that picture.

He opened his Reyes gifts with the excitement and innocence of a kid and I loved it. That’s the way gifts should be unwrapped. He really wanted to get that F. C. Barcelona T-shirt and his face mirrored it.

Some other moments that made me SMILE were watching Valéry feeling Allison’s kicks, meeting Cristina and Germán for lunch, watching Maya playing in the sand, spending Reyes’ eve in the theatre putting smiles on children’s faces or unwrapping my own gifts. But the most important moment was spending the whole week with my husband after three months of being apart: I really missed him.

Let’s see what moments this new week brings.

2012 goals

Since setting a lot of goals stresses me out and I end up doing nothing, I have decided my goals to be kinda flexible. Let me explain myself.

Last year I wrote a list of 28 things to do during my 28^th year. 28 things? These are too many things to accomplish and four months later I decided not to follow my own list. All those goals overwhelmed me.

So, as a solution, I have decided to reduce that list to 3 big goals. It looks way easier to me, having in mind that I am still a student and a momma-to-be.

The first one is called “12 months -> 12 projects”. The last week of every month I will come up with a new project for the following month and I will post the previous one finished. The January project will be sewing a quilt for my baby girl. I have to say that I have never done a quilt before so it is also a challenge for me. I have been reading several blogs of quilting women and I think I know how it works. We will see how it will turn out. This does not mean that I will not create anything else apart from those 12 big projects, I will, I promise I will. 

The second one is related to “Sew Yellow”, the brand that I started with my friend Maria. More info on that very soon.

And, the third goal will be posting regularly. I must create a habit because when I update my blog I feel happy and good and it really makes me smile. 

My word for 2012: SMILE

Smile.

While working on a project, this word attracted my attention and I knew that it could guide me through 2012. I am going to have a lot of reasons to smile this year and to be thankful for, so this is my word.

I’ll be posting those reasons weekly, since posting regularly is one of my goals this year for my blog.

Has anybody chosen a word for 2012?