5 on Friday - August 7th!

Happy Friday! Tonight I played "single mom" due to the fact that poor Andy was stuck at work really late tonight. While I enjoyed spending the time with Luke, I felt like a piece of us was missing without Andy here. I know he was really bummed about not spending time with Luke too. 

ONE

Covergirl Colorlicious Lipstick in Sweet Tangerine

Not sure what's come over me lately, but for the last couple of months I have been really into makeup. Trying new products, watching vlog reviews of makeup and seeing what works best for me! One of the vloggers I regularly watch suggested this lipstick color and I've have looked everywhere for it. Well props to Amazon and Prime shipping! I'm excited to try it out tomorrow.

TWO

Makeup Blender Sponges, Beauty Blenders

Another new favorite makeup item of mine are these beauty blenders from good ol Amazon again! For $14.97, you get 4 of these. I tried these without googling "How to use beauty blenders" and wasn't thrilled. Then I decided to get smart and GTS (Google that S*!t) and found that you need to get these sponges good and wet. They then expand to 25% bigger in size. Wring out as much water as possible, apply foundation and "Wah-la", foundation that looks flawless on your face!

THREE

Bsn Syntha-6 Diet Supplement Protein Powder, Chocolate Cake Batter

I can be picky when it comes to protein powder and this takes the cake for tasting good. Granted I don't drink this with just a liquid and a shaker. I like to make mine in a smoothie format. I fill my cup with ice, add a splash of a coffee flavoring (this is my favorite right now), a scoop of protein powder and fill the cup with milk. Blend and put in a cup with a straw. It's my go to breakfast to drink in the car on my way to work.

FOUR

Pampers Baby Dry Extra Protection, Size 5

Yep, gotta add in the "Mommy Blog" part of this blog and say how much I love these diapers for Luke to use at night. Luke woke up 2 mornings in a row with wet mammies and I started to look for night time diapers. I tried another store brand and I didn't like them. They didn't do well and were just like the daytime diapers. I then decided to try the Pampers brand and LOVED them because Luke no longer had soaked jammies. We order these from Amazon and get a subscription every other month.

FIVE

What a better way to end this blog than with an adorable photo of my baby! We did a little photo shoot at home with my Canon dSLR on Saturday night. I needed to order Luke's 1st Birthday invitation and wanted to get some adorable photos of Luke with a neutral background. Trust me, we have a bajillion photos of Luke, but none with a background like the one above. 

I hope you all have an enjoyable Friday and hope that your weekend is just as fabulous!

All of the products I mentioned in this post I enjoy and am blogging about for my own pleasure. I was in no way compensated to speak about the products above. If you are looking for product endorsement opportunities from me, please email me at bettertogetherandforever@gmail.com

First etsy.com purchase!

I'm Holy cow, I am so excited that I just made my first etsy.com purchase!! I've been planning Luke's first birthday in my head for quite sometime now and now that I have finally nailed down a theme, I could order the invites! 

T-Minus 42 days till his actual First Birthday AND his birthday party!!!!! So exciting and also so hard to believe that we have been blessed with Luke in our lives! 

Family is where my heart is!

Hello everyone! I feel bad that I haven't blogged lately, but then again I don't (not sure if that makes sense or not, but whatever). I feel like some parts of my life are coming together and other's aren't and thats ok. Not everything has to make sense all at once! :) 

Luke has been amazing! He's getting bigger and bigger by the days and it's just amazing how fast he learns new things. Our lives were forever changed for the better the day that the pee stick said "Positive"! He is 10 months old (as of yesterday, 7/12) and is the light in our eyes.

Andy has been great too! I know he is having some hard times dealing with work but I get it and am as supportive as I can be. We have been getting along great (like always to be honest) and we just have a great time together. Yes we bicker and sometimes fight, but what couple doesn't?

Keeley has been jealous of Luke but to be honest, he does care a lot about him. In fact after a grocery shopping trip with just Luke and myself, I came home and got out of the car and Keeley ran over to Luke's side of the car to find him. Every once in awhile she will sneak him kisses and it's just too cute!

Smokey is reallllllly great with Luke! We couldn't ask for anything more from him, well maybe one thing, to stop meowing at 5:30am when he thinks he needs to eat every morning; including the weekends! 

Other than that, that's about it. I am hoping to make blogging become more of a priority now that I have a bit more time in the evenings.

Working Out?

Oh hey there! Yep I'm alive and here and what not. Guess my blogging has been sporadic at best (obviously) which makes me sad because I love to read back at what was going on a year ago. Oh well I'm doing the best I can. 

So one of the many perks at my new job? A free gym to use! Yes I said free!! The last two weeks I was acclimating myself at the company and trying to get comfortable. Over the weekend while I was bloated and felt like an absolute cow I decided "gosh dang it Jess, get off your butt and work out". So that's what I'm doing! Today was the treadmill! You've got to start somewhere and that is what I am doing! I need to tighten up this stomach and lose some weight. Do I have any baby weight left to lose? No actually I didn't put much baby weight on at all and after birth I dropped the weight so fast. So now it's time to finally get rid of the flab and make me look fab? How about just make me feel comfortable about myself. Working out on lunch has even motivated Andy to work out, so watch out! 

H-A-P-P-Y!!!!

HAPPY is the exact mood I felt all week long last week. I can't even describe how happy I am without wanting to cry. Tuesday I started my new position as a Human Resources Specialist at a new company and all I can really elaborate on is "Night and Day" from my last job. 

I'm official!! New name badge for work. 

I moved all my stuff in on Wednesday and made it more my office. It makes me feel at home to have my photos around. 

Of course going in on my first day I had butterflies and didn't really know what to expect but by the end of the day and even by the end of the week I knew that I had found a great company. Not only is it a great opportunity for me to advance in my career, but it is also a place where they take care of their employees!!!!! What a concept! I know that not everything is perfect and yes every job has their flaw, however; I am taking this opportunity and running with it. 

I am also doing somethings different now than I have in the past:

1. Stop stressing so much! 

2. Ask questions from everyone you can at your job. Don't be afraid to speak up!

3. Be positive! Not that I'm not a positive person, but don't play into bad moods or think the worst in every situation. 

4. Stop comparing people to the people you've worked with in the past. Keep an open mind about everyone!

5. Stay on top of filing! Lol!! Seriously though, I hate to file and if I don't file after awhile the pile gets bigger and bigger and the hatred of filing gets worse! 

Luke's Nursery

This post is a LONG time coming now! I can't believe it's taken me this long to post about Luke's room. Especially since it's my favorite room in the entire house!

It was always known that our first child's room would be "Finding Nemo" themed. Now try to create a room with the theme of "Finding Nemo" when the movie last came out in 2003 (the year that Andy and I graduated high school....) At first the thought of creating a room sounded daunting, but in the end I think it came out great without it looking like Nemo threw up all over the room. :)  

First up was the paint color. I knew that I either wanted a teal or ocean blue color for the room with a possibility of an orange accent wall. I also had Andy agree to do stripes on one wall. I chose some paint colors at Lowe's even before knowing the gender of the baby. I then began to second guess my color choices because I thought if we were having a girl, I would then want more of girly colored room. Also the thought of teal colored walls with an orange accent wall began to make my head hurt and I began to second guess my color options. Back to Lowe's we went and Andy decided on agreeing to paint one wall with chevron stripes. I was soooooo excited for those chevron stripes. We chose a bright blue color for 3 of the walls and 2 different grey colors for the chevron stripes! 

Painting began in April (2014) with the help of our ex-neighbors (long story, but basically we are no longer friends with them). The 3 walls received the blue color and the grey wall received it's first coat of paint, the lighter grey color. They then used a chalk line and measured out and taped where the dark grey color would be painted in. In the end, the paint job came out great and I was so pleased with the results! Our ex-neighbors also helped designed some vinyl stickers to add to the wall. This is where the pop of orange color came in effect. I designed Luke's name and we even were able to cut out of vinyl a Nemo and Dory for the wall. 

Next step was to get some furniture in that room! We knew we wanted white furniture in there seeing the color of the room came out, we knew the white furniture would pop just perfectly in there! My mom graciously purchased Luke a gorgeous white dresser, Andy's parents so kindly purchased the tan rocker/glider and we received the crib from my brother (his kids used this crib also). The crib originally was a dark brown color and we thought it would be easy-peasy to paint the crib white. WRONG! Note to those out there, just get a new crib in the color you want! We spent over $60 in spray paint alone just to get that crib white. We also purchased a white bookshelf for the room from Ikea when we went there in April. I love his bookshelf, seeing that it is so unique. My only complaint about the bookshelf is, it doesn't hold books that well. We also picked up a white side table from Ikea to put next to the rocker/glider. I found the "Finding Nemo" prints online from someone selling them. I purchased them for $15. We found some white frames at Michael's to put the prints in but I wanted a little bit more orange pop to the room. So we spray painted them orange. I think the prints look great against the orange frame!

Obviously this post was written a-while ago. Now that Luke moves around in his crib we have moved the crib up against the wall under his "Luke" name so that he cannot pull or possibly choke on the monitor cord.  We are also wanting to get another white bookshelf for his room to display his books. I want to make it a habit once he gets older to pick out a book at night to read before he goes to bed. I think we will just convert his crib into a toddler bed and then when we decide to have baby #2 the crib will be moved over to the baby and Luke will get a big boy bed. 

Well there you have it and I am sooooo glad that I was finally able to share his room with you all. Like I said, its my favorite room of the house! :) 

Luke Andrew - 8 Months Old

Month - 8 Months Old, May 12th, 2015

Height - unknown

Weight - 21.1 pounds. I had to weigh him to find out how much ibuprofen that I could give him. Weighed myself and then weighed myself while holding him.....whatever works people! :) PS, I like my weight soooooo much more without holding him if I am being weighed.

Diaper Size - 4 and should be in these for quite sometime. I also tried some overnights diapers in size 4 and they are ok....had some leaks still so I am not sure if it is the brand (CVS) or if they just don't hold as much as regular diapers. I have a box of Pampers overnights headed my way next month thanks to Amazon, so we shall see.

Clothing Size - 9, 12 and 18 months. 9 months are beginning to get a little tight on him so I am slowly fazing those out and just sticking to 12 and 18 month clothing. I use to put socks on him everyday but he likes to take his socks off now and the new room at daycare doesn't like to chase socks all day long (who would); so I just don't put socks on him. If its a warm day he will either wear a romper or onesie with shorts. It's becoming apparent that I love onesie's and it's sad that he has only one more size up before he can no longer fit into them. Jammies have been the two pieces (either shorts or pants) and a t-shirt. He is comfy and that is all that matters.

Sleep - not bad at all. We have been slowly pushing bedtime back. So far we are at 6:45 pm to start the 3 B's (bath, bottle and bed). He will be asleep by 7:30 pm at the latest and will sleep until around 4:45 am. He will then eat a bottle and get up for the day if it is a work week. If it is the weekend, I will feed him and then lie him back down for another hour. 

Eating - 6 ounce bottles, around 5 a day. He is also eating a combo of either pureed food or whatever we are eating. I received notification from the daycare that Luke started to refuse pureed food so I gave the go ahead for him to eat the "big boy" food and he has done fantastic. He eats anything you give him. He's had yogurt, frozen peaches in the mesh feeder, puffs, vanilla waffers, any and all veggies, pizza, hot dogs, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, toast, english muffins, pancakes, any and all fruit, etc. You name it, he eats it. We just give him whatever we are eating and let's him go to town.

Likes - stroller walks, bath time, his "bink", blankets, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Keeley and Smokey, watching kids play, his bed, his carseat (he loves the new carseat now that he is sitting higher up and can see outside), 

Dislikes - having his nose wiped, teething, being in the car by himself (he wants me to sit in the back with him and entertain him #spoiled)

Oh hey!

Oh, hey there! I'm here, I'm alive and doing well! New things are happening for our family and time just get's away from you. I use to get sad that bloggers once they had a baby would "neglect" their blog. I then had my baby and now I get it...... Time is a precious thing and I swear I never get enough time with Andy and Luke. 

My job - It's been something I have been dealing with lately and more times than not, I was not happy where I was. With being pregnant last year, I felt it was not a good time for me to leave. Now that Luke is a little older and I am not pregnant, it was perfect timing for me to start looking for a new opportunity. Thankfully it wasn't a long process and I have accepted an offer at a new company. I am looking forward in learning new things, working with new people and in general working with an entirely different industry. I start my new job on Tuesday, May 26th.

Luke - how is he already 8 months old!?! He is so much more interactive, smiles 24/7, and is getting so big. He sits up on his own, refuses most pureed foods, wants to eat like a big boy, currently has 3 teeth (two bottoms and one upper) and is cutting at least 3 more and possibly more. Teething is so hard for my little dude, but he tries to smile through as much as he can. 

Daycare - it's been a challenge the last couple weeks, but it seems to be calming down also. I plan on explaining more about this on a later date. All I can say is, don't mess with Mommy....cause us Mommy's will go all "Momma bear on you when we feel like our baby isn't taken care of very well".

Home - we FINALLY had a patio poured out back in our house. It's about dang time....and of course it couldn't go smoothly. How does this happen to us all the time??? It's like I just figure that things will not go smoothly because it never does. We also decided to upgrade our dishwasher and we LOVE our new Bosch! 

Okie doke, that's about it. I will leave you with a photo of Luke because, well, he is the light in my life! :) 

Luke Andrew - 7 Months Old

Month - 7 Months Old, April 12th, 2015

Height - unknown

Weight - unknown

Diaper Size - size 4

Clothing Size - 9 and 12 month clothing still. It's been nice that he has stopped growing so fast and we can enjoy him wearing some of his clothes more often than a couple times and then pack them away and move him up in size again. Now that it's warmer out I've been trying to get some clothes to get him through summer time too. I'm really liking the rompers (for boys obviously) and hope they will work out for him this summer. Problem with rompers/shorts is that he will be crawling, but his knees will get use to it. :) 

Sleep - Not too shabby. Some nights he is up once or twice but usually puts himself back to sleep. Other nights he sleeps the entire night through. Very rare we wake up crying and screaming so it takes a bink, sometimes a night bottle, or other times its a cuddle on the rocking chair with Momma to put him back to sleep. Teething has taken over out lives and Tylenol/Ibuprofin is a staple in our household. Good thing he likes the grape flavor. 

Eating - avocado, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, oatmeal, apples and pears. We eat oatmeal with a fruit for breakfast and a veggie for our afternoon meal. Then we have about 4-5 bottles a day with 6 ounces of formula. He eats every 3-4 hours and sleeps through the night.