Traveling Tips and Etiquette

These are just some few tips for those of you who either travel alone or with family for vacation or while visiting relatives.  This is very helpful to make all parties want your visit over and over again :-)

WHILE TRAVELING:
1.  Make sure you pack light by limiting your wardrobe to clothing that is neutral and interchangeable.  You will most likely be buying souvenirs or more clothing where you are going to anyways.  Take an extra empty, or nearly empty suitcase or duffle bag for those new extras you will bring back.
2.  DO NOT travel with gigantic containers, even when on a road trip...especially if you'll be staying at a relative's place.  They take up weight in cargo, might explode if you've changed elevation, and precious space in a bathroom, that won't allow you to be clean and simple.

3.  Be CLEAN.  Clean after yourself if staying with relatives.  I know some people think that traveling means being careless of how you organize yourself, but that's not ever the case.  Even of you stay in a hotel, it's best to always put EVERYTHING you travel with away to keep everything under control.  If staying with family, wash your own dishes, put your dirty clothes away, and pretty much leave your things in order so you don't make your gracious hosts feel stuffed or overwhelmed.
4.  Take a CAMERA for memories!  So, bring a compact camera even if you have a gigantic one, unless it will be in it's own traveling bag.  The smaller your camera is, the easier it will be to take on outings and will be less likely to break than a large DLSR.
5.  Limit your restaurant splurges and dine-in LOCAL FAVORITES instead.  You'll get a better feel for the location anyway. This is especially important if staying with family because you never know what other people's budgets really are and local favorites and sometimes better than an over-priced meal.
6.  When you plan outings, don't expect your relatives or friends to join in every ocassion.  Afterall, you're the one on vacation, not them, which is why they'll most likely be going to work and taking care of their home so you should be considerate and free to EXPLORE ON YOUR OWN time frame and budget.
7.  Take your own GPS and take advantage of visiting new places and traveling.  Don't limit yourself, your on vacation!

Finally here!

I am proud to announce the birth of my little girl, Lilybelle Elena Hernandez.  Born on a Sunday, July 1st, 2012 at 2:31pm. Weighed 7lbs 11 1/2 oz, measured 20 inches long.

Small details about her labor process:
-2 days with contractions

-Water leaked while walking to the car then rode to the hospital

-I withstood more pain than I thought, reached 1 minute contractions without feeling like dying, but was persuaded to get the epidural (I really wanted to try, but people were freaking me out)

-After epidural, body relaxed and contractions subsided to 4 minutes apart. 10 hours of epidural later, I was dilated to 10cm. Read about it's effects HERE.
-15 hours total at the Kaiser Permanente hospital to deliver. The staff was wonderful! Had my mom with me as my husband slept, my son stayed with family.

-30 minutes pushing time, no cut nor tearing "down there."  The relaxation breathing techniques REALLY worked to relax my body. Easy to find on YouTube or click HERE.

-Lilybelle breastfed like a champ within 10 minutes from arriving, and big bro finally came to see her 2 hours later...told her he loved her a lot (still tells her that daily).

So that was the short of it all. I want to keep blogging really soon, but I need to focus on the baby, which is very demanding since she only breastfeeds...resulting in 14 feeds per day (through the night included). That's besides taking care of my toddler, feeding the family, cleaning, etc.  So you can imagine it can get super busy. I'll be writing soon about what nursing on demand is compared to scheduled nursing, tips, and sacrifices that come along with it to give your baby the best possible from birth.

See her newborn photo shoot at MariaElenaPhotography.com

So happy to be a new mommy all over again 

Taking it slow

This past half year has certainly been a very eventful part of our little family's life.  Let me list some highlights in the past months that we experienced:

January...We find out I'm pregnant...surprise! 17 weeks already with an IUD.
February..."It's a girl!" and my husband gets a call from California for a new job.
March...We leave Utah and I leave behind a wonderful group of Young Women (that I still pray for every night :'-/ ), but I had complete faith in our new journey in California.
April...Hubby's Birthday and we move out yet again into a new apartment. Got anemia again and IUD causes delicate pregnancy. New calling again in Young Women's organization.
May...Most painful month, couldn't even sit. Put on bed rest until I deliver. IUD falls out at end of month, which Doc totally reprimands me for because I removed it myself (totally dangerous, but I felt it almost out, so I went for it. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS, very PAINFUL and RISKY!).
June...1 month left til delivery! Most challenging month as I struggle to keep energized and start really bad contractions. Doc tells me she'd like to induce delivery after 35 weeks due to size and circumstances.

Well, we have had our ups and challenges, but it's been quite memorable and full of joyful news because we're expanding our family.  I've decided to let our little girl decide when she's ready to come to this world and not induce like recommended.  I've also decided to get a midwife this time for delivery and I'll be attempting to go as far as possible without any pain medication.  I want to try natural delivery and have been learning relaxation techniques of all sorts in the meantime.  Although delivering naturally is somewhat scary, I know it's possible and hope to have the strength when the time comes.

So, because of everything still going on and me needing more rest, I won't be able to blog as much as I wish I could.  I wish I could share so much more and do more, but as a mom I gotta learn to prioritize and manage my time appropriately.  I will sorely miss blogging while my boy naps and creating posts that helped inspire me to be better too.  I won't be gone for too long though.

Hasta luego!

It's a GIRL!

I don't recall if I was able to show some of my new baby's ultrasound pictures.  If not, here it is: (I have even lower memory intake lately, I blame the pregnancy!!!)

Well, so far I keep thinking about the name and what-not, but then I thought to myself, " You're just shy of 5 months left, why not relax, focus on the move to California, enjoy Andrew and maybe browse ideas for princess' theme and colors." So I searched and searched, more like quickly scanned, and found some lovely ideas.  Though the hot bright messes and pastel colors are both popular and common choices, I wanted a different approach.  I've always liked fairies, not Disney, just classic and garden type.

So below I'm showing what the feel is mostly and some adorable outfits I found real quick too.  Starting from the top right and going clockwise: A personalized Fairy Growth Chart, Fairy Booties (classic), a Baby Fairy Dress (isn't she adorable?!?!?), some Fairy Giggle Dust in a bottle for decoration sealed, a Pewter Bubble Wand with 3 stars, and a yellow Fairy Costume, a magical Fairy Flower Staff, and topped with a Fairy Flower Garland on her hair.

All of these items can be found online at chasing-fireflies.com boutique store. Sign up for a FREE catalog!

I love flowers, and much more when they're given to me ;-) so I think this is something that works well for tiny, little. angelic newborns, especially one I plan to make a home with too.  Then I thought of colors: Well, I love gray (such a neutral color) and like pink, but also like the happiness of yellow too. So I came up with this for a color scheme:

I know the colors aren't common, which is what I'm all about and I love a challenge, especially one that makes me appreciate everything more.

So this is it for now.  I need to get back to my moving-out-life with boxes and clothes that keeps shrinking when I try them on...I wonder why :-)  I love being pregnant mind you, simply because my husband becomes very sweet and caring and tender and touchy and...well you get the picture.  It becomes excessive sometimes, but I love it! Plus, he buys me anything I want at this stage.  I'm not much of a craver though mostly nauseous, and I don't think it's all true since I never experienced constant cravings with my first pregnancy. Mostly you either lean towards either salty or sweet foods.  This one is sweet and I love fruits and fresh salads without dressing or anything, just crunchy and fresh.

Got to go!  I hope I can update again in the future since I love to write, create collages, do anything creative.  Online is my only tangible source for now, so it helps me out :-)

PS. Can't wait t make her vintage flowers, paint her tiny nails, and fix her soft hair!!!

Our family Photos!

This was not an easy task! A regular session would have been much more easier for me as the photographer and person in the pictures, running back and forth(10 sec countdown), checking my hair in a split second's time, relaxing my facial muscles, making sure everyone was looking good and then CLICK!... RETAKE! ..I'm sure you get the picture :-) I'm just glad we took our yearly photos now before the real bad snow came in.  Next time, I plan to find a local photographer that I can relate styles with for personal results.  I don't mind paying them as long as I get to relax and just smile and enjoy my kid and husband fully :-)  Here's the outcome I wanted to share!

Playing before the horrible rain returned

So, I had to go grocery shopping one day last week and I was really lovin' the sun outside so I decided to take a small detour with my little one...well two. We first went to the library and checked out books, then we went to the nicest and closest park to us and since I carry my camera around almost everywhere, I took some pictures of my little one having fun.  He loved the slides and I loved that I could read a few pages every now and again while looking up to make sure he was okay.  The park was completely reserved just for us, it seemed and the sun was warm enough to make your skin feel hot, but not too hot.  There was a really fresh breeze and local workers were working along the trail surrounded by bushes and tall, yet thin trees.  In the end, my child got a little battle wound from the fun on his knee, luckily I always carry wipes, disinfectant and kisses :-)

Here are some of my favorite pictures we got to take and we also ate some fruits and drank plenty of water.  I had also taken a container with leftover pasta from the night before and even that seemed to taste so whimsical:

I tried to help him look upward to other marvels, bu the preferred staying down to earth I guess ;-)

his little scrape, hardly noticeable, but it happened on the cement as he ran away from me.   It was fun!