Baby

Coco is here!!

I started feeling mild contraction on April 2nd at about 3:30pm while my mom and I were getting pedicures. It was so different from Mira’s birth (my water broke first during hers) so I was confused if it was really going down or not. Dave and I decided to grab a bite to eat and walk around capitol hill while my mom went and got Mira from school.

I think it was around 5:30pm when we thought we might as well go to the hospital and see if we could be admitted. Things were still very mild at this point and somewhat inconsistent, but I could tell it was headed in the direction of labor.

We went to triage and they took some measurements and sent us away. Told me things needed to be further along for them to admit us so I should walk around the hill a bit more. We came back around 9pm and they took more measurements, unfortunately things hadn’t progressed very far so they admitted us under the pretense that we would be planning on helping things along. Mild contractions continued until about 11pm, but nothing really intense, so we decided to break my water. At around 12am contractions went from a 2 on the pain scale to about a 10 and I tried for about an hour and a half to find my rhythm, but damn it hurt. It was at about 1:15am that I decided I needed an epidural and it was an hour more until I was ready to push! I remember looking at the clock and thinking to myself I couldn’t have handled that pain for another hour and I was so happy I got the epidural.

It’s funny though because in my labor with Mira the hard part was the 7 hours of contractions, and the pushing was the relatively easy part. During this labor, once the epidural kicked in the contractions went pretty easy, but pushing was SO difficult. I had a really great team working with me and Dave is the best support a person could ask for. I call him Doula Dave. Once we found the perfect combo of doing a pull up squat + using a mirror for motivation she came pretty swiftly.

It was 4:42am when Colette Margaret Paolone-Webb made it into this world.

Our stay at Swedish was the same as the last time, awesome! It’s a great hospital and have wonderful amenities.

The only thing that we forgot about the first time was how many people are in and out of your room at ALL times. Just when you think you can sleep (because your baby is sleeping) some professional comes in and needs to do something to you or your baby. Luckily there were some nurses that acknowledged this and would let us sleep a little longer before running any tests.

The highlight of Swedish is their room service. Damn those breakfast burritos! So good!

My mom came by with Mira the day after Coco was born and seeing her meet Coco was pretty much the greatest moment (next to my wedding day) of my life. She’s so in love with her.

We are so happy to finally have our littlest little home with us!

Be well ❤

April 12, 2019 2

Helping The Picky Toddler With Meal Time

I rarely bring my speech/language pathology training into the blog, but I’m just so proud about what I’ve done for Mira in this last week (and how it’s impacted meal time) that I felt it was too exciting not to share. Here’s a little bit of the back story: As many do, our toddler is having a hard time with food. She used to eat pretty much anything and everything that we put in front of her (or at least would try it), and then about a month ago all that changed. We would get ‘no, no, no’ or ‘all done’ and the dish/bowl would be pushed off her tray onto our table (at least not the floor, amiright?). This is a super frustrating phase, and it’s especially frustrating when you love cooking. As you know from the blog and from my stories both Dave and I really enjoy cooking, and seeing Mira take a bite of something, make a gagging face, and say ‘all done’ can be soul crushing.

I decided that rather than lament and get frustrated with every meal I would try something that would give her autonomy within a structure of our choosing. I decided to make some ‘Individual Graphic Symbols.’ I always refer to these as ‘PECS,’ but I know that technically that’s not accurate as PECS is a specific communication system, and what I’m doing is much less structured. When you are using ‘Individual Graphic Symbols’ for an individual with a communication disorder you are using a low tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system to help the person express themselves. They may not have the spoken word to communicate what they want, but they have the pictures (and sometimes that awareness comes first). For us we wanted to give Mira access to images of a variety of foods that she likes to eat, giving her the independence to choose what she wants. At the same time, we needed to keep these choices within a small set that we are willing to make and/or have on hand at a given time.

When I was working in early intervention many parents expressed concern that using an AAC system (e.g., baby sign, PECS, Individual symbols) would negatively impact their child’s use of speech and I am here to say that that is NOT the case. Research has shown us again and again that using these supplemental systems only helps facilitate language development.

Mira can say many of these words already and if she doesn’t know them on her own she will readily imitate; however, she is unable to recall most of these foods independently when sat down at a table and asked what she wants to eat (as I wouldn’t expect many 18 month olds to be able to do). So having these images helps her recall things she’s already seen and helps her associate the food with the word.

Here’s what you need to make a an individual graphic system: a mini binder (or large, depending on how far you want to go with your food choices), laminator (I have this one), laminating sheets, velcro fasteners, couple pieces of white paper, printer (I have this one), and a word processing system.

Assembly: First you will need to make a list of the items that you want pictures of (I find that this list is ever expanding). Then you will search for images of the items you’ve listed and copy and paste those images onto your word processing system. Once the image is on the word processing system resize it to be about 1.5-2.” Continue until you’ve filled the entire sheet, and then print. Cut each picture out and arrange them on your laminating sheet (making sure there is space between each picture so the laminate will completely seal around the image). Send the laminating sheet through the laminator and let it cool. Now it’s time to make the pages of the binder (where the images will be fastened to), cut an 8″ x 11″ paper in half and send them both through the laminator. Apply the velcro hook to the page and the loop to the images. Organize your images however you choose (I tried to separate meal type, snacks, and fruits/veggies).

The ultimate goal of giving her autonomy when it comes to food choices has definitely been accomplished. I can feel the tension releasing at meal time, we are worrying less that she will never eat vegetables and she is enjoying making her selection.

As with all things related to raising a child, this phase will pass and we will be onto some new challenge, but I hope that I can always find a middle ground between bringing what I’ve read, learned or heard to the table for Mira and accepting who she is as a human.

Be well.

January 20, 2019 3

Mira is 18 Months!

As of December 16th Mirabella is officially 18 months!

She is in love with all things musical! She enjoys singing, dancing, and playing her instruments. She asks for “How far I’ll Go” from Moana on the daily and I have to confess that might just be my fault. The reason is two fold: 1.) Ever since that movie came out I have dreamed of the day that I would have a child who wanted to listen to that song on repeat (I am a ‘listen to songs on repeat’ kind of gal, judge as you will). 2.) The last time Mira had the flu there were very few things that made her happy so we watched Moana together. There’s definitely some mom guilt that I feel, but she barely watched and seeing her light up during her song was everything.

This girl is so much fun! She loves running around, and if she can have a solid hour or two a day of walking/running she is the happiest girl in the world. Being pregnant has made this slightly difficult, but the only thing I really feel incapable of at this point is holding her for long stretches, luckily she doesn’t really want that anyways.

In the last 6 months Mira has had quite a few firsts and a ton of seconds (I kind of feel the seconds have been more fun, but maybe that’s because I feel like things just keep getting more and more cool). She experienced her first trip to Disneyland, which was extremely fun!

Mira met a few new friends (and she absolutely loves babies – she gets a little iffy when I’m holding them, so we may have some areas of growth when our second comes along, but then again don’t we all have areas to grow in?). This last month Mira started a new school, and she is in love with her teachers and rushes to the door in the morning saying “bye bye, later” because she’s ready to go.

Mira has always been fairly autonomous, basically from birth, and that time helped me give her the space she needed to flourish into the amazing human being that she is becoming. It also makes me relish the times that she wants a snuggle, hug, or kiss. I always think that she’s giving me a gift because I will be rather prepared for the time when she needs space because of teenage angst. Her papa and I have definitely been loving the times when she wants to be close.

I’m a firm believer that all children are different and parenting is not a one-size-fits all kind of thing, it’s why you’ll never find me giving advise to anyone (I’m always willing to share what I’ve experienced though), and Mira has always been a girl that seems to prefer space to work through things. Often when she wakes up sad she needs a few moments on her own sometimes to cry a little and calm herself, holding her seems to make it escalate more. It would be really easy to try to force her to be a certain way, but that wouldn’t give either of us joy and what I really want her to know is that I love and respect her as she is and I’m here to help her grow into who she wants and is meant to become. That being said, in these last six months we’ve had a number of wonderful quiet moments together, and I have really relished those.

In the last six months Mira has experienced her second Halloween, which if you recall…last year wasn’t her fave…

This year she had a blast. She really liked running around our friends’ neighborhood, and I could tell she felt a lot of pride when someone handed her a treat.

You all know how I feel about sharing milestones (I have them written down so that if Mira needs access to them at some point or if we need to reference them for medical purposes we have them at our hands), but I will share that this girl is talking up a storm! She’s using a few two-three word phrases, has soo many words, and imitates EVERYTHING! It is soooo much fun, and it’s making me realize I swear a LOT less than I thought I did.

I love this little bean so much! I’m so extremely excited for her to become a big sister, she talks about her baby ALL the time and gives my belly kisses (sometimes body slams too, but I know she means well). The next time I’ll be sharing an update Mira will have a little sister, I’ll let you know how things go.

Be well.

December 21, 2018 2

Let Me Tell You About The Period Of Purple Crying

This is a topic I’ve been meaning to write about since July 16th 2017. You may be wondering why I have such a specific date in mind, and that is because July 16th was the day that Mira entered her ‘Period of Purple Crying’ Of course, we were in denial about it for a good long while. It wasn’t until we were out of it that we really determined what we had experienced. Before I talk about this really difficult experience and a hard thing that my baby girl, her dad and myself had to go through, let me share a couple REALLY cute photos of her…

Now the reason I chose this photo is intentional. It’s because in Mira’s 15 months of life I can count on one hand the amount of times she has fallen asleep on me without crying, for some extended period of time, beforehand. This moment was beautiful, she was tired, she fell asleep, and that was it. I definitely savored the three times it happened.

But I digress, because although I believe sleep (without intense crying) is harder for a purple baby, that’s just my own experience speaking not scientific fact. And after months of sleep training Mira is an AMAZING sleeper (on her own, in the dark, with a noise machine)

Alright, back to the topic at hand. First off I want to explain what the ‘Period of Purple Crying’ is. Previously the term ‘colic’ has been used to describe many babies that go through this period; however, there is now a shift because ‘colic’ can lead people to believe something is ‘wrong’ with the baby or that there is an ‘illness’ present. Often medicine is prescribed to ‘colic’ babies and that creates this cycle of thinking ‘something is wrong.’

The ‘Period of Purple Crying’ can starts around 2 weeks of age and can last until 3-4 months. The characteristics of this period are described by the acronym “PURPLE.”

P: Peak of Crying – your baby may cry more and more each week peaking at 2 months and getting better over the next 3-4 months.

U: Unexpected – crying can come and go and you don’t know why.

R: Resists Soothing – no MATTER what you try.

P: Pain-like face – may make a face that looks like in pain when in fact they are not.

L: Long lasting – crying can last up to 5 hours a day or more.

E: Evening – your baby may cry more in the late afternoon or evening.

I remember taking a class through Swedish and being told about “Purple crying” and I didn’t think very much about it, Dave and I even watched the short video that tried to describe what the experience feels like. Still nothing. I think it’s because you want to believe that when your baby arrives you’ll be able to handle the crying and that there will be things that you can do about it. For some babies this is definitely the case, and for others there is no amount of soothing that can help.

The problem with believing that there is something you can do (remember the acronym, 5 or more hours a day, nothing you do will console them) is that you are caught in a cycle of thinking ‘what am I doing wrong?’ I also remember feeling trapped because the crying could come on anywhere at anytime. I couldn’t make it around greenlake for a walk with friends because at some point Mira would start screaming and would scream all the way home.

I often hear from people, ‘I would just let them cry,’ and I would say that I was right there with you, PRIOR to having Mira. There is a reason people don’t want to sit on an airplane next to a crying baby. It is torture. Couple that with the fact that this is YOUR human that you are suppose to be able to soothe and comfort. It is unlike anything else.

I want to jump back to the term ‘colic’ again, because I think it’s important to talk about the things we tried when we thought ‘something was wrong.’ At the one month appointment we were told that we could try probiotics to help her build healthy gastrointestinal functioning (which is often thought to be the ailment that plagues colic babies). We were vigilant to no avail, we still give her probiotics frequently. At the two month appointment we were told it might be reflux (another problem source for colic babies); however, 1.5 weeks into that medication Mira began throwing up every time we gave it to her and there was no change in her level of crying. It was at that point where the doctor really talked to us about this period that we might be going through.

Dave and I reflect back on things like our PEPs group meetings and how even being a part of a parenting group felt isolating because it felt like no one could relate to what we were experiencing. I have some very empathetic friends, and I do believe they have heard me and care about us. But prior to having Mira I NEVER would have understood, I would have thought, ‘well maybe there’s something your not trying’ or ‘are you kidding? there are so many people DYING to have a baby and you’re complaining that yours cries!?’ Now that I’ve lived it I know it’s not complaining, it’s about surviving, so you can be okay and you can TRY and help your baby be okay. It was also hard interacting with other parents because it felt like we got a lot of judgement when we would share our experience and we didn’t know if they had a baby that didn’t go through that period, they weren’t being honest about how hard it was, or they just didn’t even realize that they were in that period. Everyone copes with things differently.

I often find in life that leading up to something I dread doing it, even if it’s something excited, I’d rather stay in the comfort (or discomfort) of my current state and not move. For example, when Mira was 3 months old (in the thick of her crying – I should say hers went from 4 weeks – 4.5 months) my good friend invited me for a baby sleep over (she had just had her baby too). For the whole day leading up I was slightly dreading it, not because I don’t love my friend, but because Mira had cried a LOT that day and I wasn’t sure I could make it (mentally). In fact, on the drive over I nearly lost it, I made this video.

I share this video with you for three reasons, because 1.) I’m a very transparent person, I think we should share the good, the bad and the ugly with people, even on social media. In fact I think if we did we would be more united and less competitive (especially women) with eachother. 2.) This is what I sound like when I’m running on very little sleep, with a baby that cries hours and hours daily and I’m just trying to cope 3.) The last part of the video is my favorite, because no matter how frustrated a parent is, if they think something is wrong with their baby they will bust an illegal u turn on 25th by the IMA to check and make sure their baby is okay.

I made it over to my friends house that night, and Mira had one of the best sleeps she had had in her 3 months of life. I woke up and had a cup of coffee and then my friend and I walked to a nearby restaurant. It was such a lovely time.

One of the things that they say about purple crying, is that the word period is used for a reason, because it has an end! When you’re in the thick of it you feel like you won’t survive, but it will be over. Unfortunately I do have some PTSD. I find that the first minute of Mira’s cry now does make my heart start pounding and I find that I have to take a few deep breaths to really calm down. Sometimes that doesn’t help, and I turn to Dave and say ‘pizza time’ (our code word for when we need the other person to take over entirely, no questions asked), and that’s the only thing that helps.

I do remember when it ended though, it was quite monumental. We had planned a trip down to California to introduce Mira to quite a bit of Dave’s family and to enjoy Thanksgiving in a warm place. The trip began with Mira falling asleep on the plane while we carried her (without crying beforehand), it was a shock to both of us.

Of course we didn’t fully believe we were out of the woods until around Christmas time. I think that’s when it became clear that the period had past and it truly sunk in that more of the day was happy and less was spent crying.

I’m going to tell you some things that helped me get through this period of purple crying. You all know my feelings on unsolicited advice, so know that I’m not giving advice to any moms out there, just telling you what worked for me. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF when you can. For me taking care of myself looked like eating healthy, exercising and taking breaks (and we are talking 100% away breaks) from baby. During the period of purple crying I couldn’t take Mira to the YMCA childcare because they would come and get me during my workout saying she was inconsolably crying and it was traumatizing (plus I knew I’d be going home and she would be inconsolably crying for me). What I was able to do was utilize the nanny we had for when I was working to get workouts in as well as when dave was home, force myself to go out for those runs or open the Jillian app. It’s helpful that Dave and I love to cook because it motivated us to focus on healthy recipes with whole foods, but there are so many useful options out there now (blue apron, hello fresh, etc.) that can really help you get those healthy foods into your life easily. Lastly, complete breaks away from baby were sooo essential for me, over thanksgiving break Dave took Mira a couple times to visit his family while I went to the spa and Disneyland with my family and those were awesome. There were definitely other breaks both by myself and with friends/family, but those ones in Southern California were so great that they stick out in my mind. I think the time apart makes the time together even sweeter. I definitely feel that aside from my slight PTSD I have healed from this difficult period, but I will never forget this tough time that we all went through together and that’s okay, because “happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the lights” (Albus Dumbledore).

One of the things that I think about is if this has any long term implications for our little boo boo. I haven’t read a lot of information on this, but I’ve heard anecdotally that anxiety may be a difficulty for babies who had really difficult periods of purple crying. Currently she does not show any signs of anxiety; however, I will definitely be on the look out for indications of an underlying complication that may impact her ability to enjoy life to the fullest. I know some really kick ass early interventionists that, should this be the case, can help her out (prevention over rehabilitation). For now I’m just going to enjoy my beautiful, funny, social, spicy, amazing daughter and all the wonder that she brings to our lives.

If you have any questions about (what I know of) the ‘period of purple crying,’ my experience during this time, or specific things that transpired for us please feel free to ask.

Be well.

September 12, 2018 7

Summer, Bloomsday, Mother’s Day

Can you believe it’s already June?? Where did the time go?? I felt like just yesterday it was winter break! I’m really excited for this time of year though because I’m off work for the next couple months and Mira and I will get in some hard core hang outs! Before I go too far into our summer plans I want to recap a couple of important happenings that recently occurred in the Paolone-Webb family.

First, I’ll start with Bloomsday weekend. It’s a family tradition to do Bloomsday, in fact when I got my finishers postcard this year I saw that this was the 17th year I’ve done it and I felt a mixture of pride/where did the time go? It’s a great event, centered around getting out and doing something physical which makes it awesome in my book.

We started the weekend by grabbing lunch with my cousins who flew/drove in from Canada.

Always a good time with these ladies!

I spent the rest of the day with Dave and Mira, which was nice because we hadn’t seen Dave for a week! After the ladies got home from running errands and such we got ready to go!

I still laugh thinking about this photo shoot!!!!!!! I’m talking laughing so hard I’m crying!

We went to a great brewery called Iron Goat Brewing, which had some good beers and some GREAT pizza! I had been craving a wedge salad for almost a week, and this place was soooo good!

We had an interesting uber ride home, let’s just say it involved gasoline and a lot of talk about ratings…..I thought for sure that I was going to die and become a part of his seats, but I was riding with some murder experts and they weren’t concerned so that gave me some reassurance.

The next day was more fun around Spokane, and resting up for the main event.

Sunday morning my mom, brother, and sister in law walked with Mira B so that Dave and I could run run run. Thank you so much to mom, Daniel and Aya for being so awesome! Mira had a lot of fun and was people watching the entire time.

I wanted to talk for a minute about Bloomsday last year. I hadn’t ran much during my pregnancy and so I knew I wouldn’t be running, but I had a goal to walk, with a little running throughout. Things didn’t go as planned, I experienced a lot of weird feelings and listened to my body when it told me to take a few long breaks. Needless to say it really bothered me to see my time last year, but I just kept reminding myself that with a lot of hard work and determination I could run again. I had a lot of people tell me what they found post-partum fitness to be like, and many telling me how it would “probably” be for me. I found no ones predictions to be accurate. Some people said that weight would just fall off and things would feel the same very quickly, some said I would never be the same again, others said if you don’t lose weight in the first six months fitness would be much more difficult and you’ll probably never lose it. This is why I try never to tell anyone what their experience will or will not be like.

It has been a long hard road, and I don’t plan on giving up any time soon. I found that along the way I tried things that did not work for me and I needed to modify and move forward. Knowing that I could do that and it didn’t mean I needed to give up was crucial! I was proud of myself that I was able to run the entire race this year (stopping once for water). I’m training for another half marathon and I plan to get it in before the end of this year (#goals).

It was a great weekend and I’m so happy I got to spend time with my family!!

Guys, guess what?? It was my first Mother’s Day this year! I know, I mean technically I was a mother last year, but she was still on the inside. I was really excited to celebrate being a mom this year, but also to celebrate my mom. She has been such a tremendous help to my family. We had some child care difficulties and she really stepped up and helped us out lot, so I wanted to make this years celebration special for her as well.

After much discussion and a few grocery store trips, we decided to have a bagel bar.

We also hit up the bakery at Metro Market and found some yummy baked goods/berries/chocolates.

It was nice to celebrate with all my family. Especially since it was my sister’s first Mother’s Day as well. This year we welcomed Elio into our family in February. Lot’s of mothers to celebrate!

Everyone was pleasantly full after breakfast and many were ready for naps.

Bet you thought I was going to say Mira????? HA!

We hung out in the back yard all day and welcomed Kodi and Tara over later in the afternoon for a walk and BBQ.

Man, when I see him he still looks like this to me…

All in all it was a great Mother’s Day!

I think I’ve caught you up on what’s been going on in my life! Spring/Summer are my favorite time of year, especially now that we have a garden. I can’t wait for these little babies to grace us with their presence.

I plan on doing a lot of gardening this summer!! We’ve never had a yard/garden of our own so we are really just getting the hang of keeping up with it and I’m so excited! I love spending time outside, getting my hands dirty, and seeing the results.

Mira and I plan to do a lot of runs this summer. She’s been loving the stroller and jogs as long as she has a couple toys and can see people along the way.

And we are very excited to visit family and celebrate Mira’s 1st birthday!!!!! Woohoo

Be well.

June 7, 2018 0

Mira is 10 Months!

Can you believe it??????????????

Oh and just so you know, this is what happened minutes later….

My sad lil’ bunny!

I am happy to report that more often than not Mira is lovin’ life (I know, I know, I mentioned this in the last update….but guys…..she HATED those first 4.5 months of life, that’s so much better and I still feel like I need to shout it from the roof tops).

Here are a few of her other favorite things:

People – she’s stares and stares, and then smiles.
Imitating coughs – if you cough she’ll imitate you, or she coughs trying to get you to imitate her.
Crawling – it started a couple weeks ago and she is fast!
Standing
Balls – throwing (or attempting), watching you throw, slapping, etc.
Books
Eating – still an all time FAV, that’s my girl!
Puppy – she loves watching Oliver play, trying to throw his toy, having him lick her hands.
Other babies – and kissing them

She also kisses herself in the mirror, she’s just one for giving kisses.

Here are some of her firsts over the last two months:

Crawling
Swim lessons – though they fell right on nap time, so we have more consistent ones starting in August, all I really care about is that she can FLOAT!
Easter
Trip to Whidbey Island
Too many new foods to write

Our little bean laughs so much these days! She thinks her nonna and papa are extremely hilarious!

My favorite part about our little bean right now is that she’s so social. The other day I was doing a workout and she was doing it right along side me in her jumper. Later that day we were playing with blocks and taking turns throwing them into a box together, it was magical!

So I’m gonna tell you something, she is crawling all over the place, AND I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s the kind of energy I don’t mind expending! It’s the best! Everyone kept saying to watch out, it will be tiring! Maybe it will be, but currently all I have to say is that: NOTHING COMPARES TO AN INFANT THAT WON’T STOP SCREAMING FOR 4.5 MONTHS! And here’s the thing guys, I will continue to say that until I am proven wrong. Sorry. You just. need. to. know.

As far as words go she is demonstrating emergent use of the sign “all done,” though it still needs prompting. She is consistent with ‘more’ for food, actions, and toys! We have heard ‘dada’ but also ‘papa’ so we don’t have any spoken words yet, but she is babbling a storm and I can’t even wait to hear her little voice!!

This girl is killing me guys with her cuteness, at night she has started nuzzling her head into my chest (it’s her first semblance of a snuggle…she’s never really been a cuddler) and it melts my heart. I sing extra goodnight songs so I can get extra nuzzles.

Okay, I think I’ve filled this post with enough Mira cuteness (what? never!) Okay, okay, one more before I go.

Okay, that one was mostly because I think Dave looks handsome in it ❤ #swoon

Be well.

April 17, 2018 5

Mira is eight months

as of two days ago, but I mean, hey, I’m getting it done, so back off.

Look how big she is!!! **banana for perspective 😉 **

This little girl has grown up tremendously in the last couple of months!

She has so much to say ALL the time, she really likes the consonant sounds: /m, b, p, k, g/, and we’ve heard something similar to ‘hi’ and and an approximation to ‘mama.’ Her only true word right now is ‘more’ in the context of eating, I’m currently trying to help her generalize to toys 🙂

I think Mira’s face speaks to how she feels about me applying my speech therapist skills on her.

Her current likes:

Having friends/family all around her
Going on walks – this one hasn’t changed since birth
Her lovie- bunny – thanks auntie Kate, Emily, and Lo Lo
When her mama dances and makes funny faces at her
Oliver playing with toys
Papa putting her on his shoulders
Eating ALL the food.
Going for runs

Current dislikes:

Still hates going to sleep – the amount of tears involved have GREATLY decreased, but there are often tears nonetheless.
She went through a small phrase of separation anxiety, but that was short lived and she’s back to being super social. **knock on wood, because I hear it can get worst**

I left that last one blank because honestly guys there is not a lot that Mira doesn’t like right now! She is a bad ass chick and SOoooOO much fun to hang out with. I’m just really relishing in it because developmentally she’s suppose to hate me/structure pretty strongly in a year or so. So don’t worry, I know, “enjoy these moments!”

I will say, I love it when I see mamas posting pics of their older children, just loving those moments too (like, they do happen!) My girlfriend recently posted the sweetest pic of a snuggle moment with her four-year-old daughter, and all I thought was “YAY, I can’t wait to cuddle like that with Mira!”

Mira had some awesome friend moments over the last couple of months, and she is really looking forward to more chances to hang out with friends!

We had to say goodbye to our boner boy, Charlie. I’m so happy that Mira was able to spend the first part of her life with him. He loved her so much, and I know he will be watching over her as she grows.

Mira celebrated her first Valentine’s Day and thanks to her aunt Rebecca she was pretty dolled up for the occasion.

Mira’s had a great couple of months, and we are looking forward to what this little firecracker has in store for us 🙂

Be well.

February 18, 2018 0

So This is The New Year…

And I feel that everything’s different!!!

Flashback to that time when my husband ran 6 miles with Ben Gibbard and then got this for me because he knows my love runs deep and I was extremely close to pushing our child out my vag:

SWOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This post is brought to you by nap time. It wasn’t easy to get to and always requires at least 5-10 minutes of screaming; however, I know she feels so much better after it’s happened and I suspect it will get better. Although, I’ve never been a great napper so, maybe not. My best friend always says, “Hope for the best, but expect the worst” and I find that to be such a good way to live because then you are pleasantly surprised when it all goes well.

2017 was a bomb ass year! Here’s my list of things that really rocked my world:

Amazing baby moon on Lummi island

So much standing for equality

Walk/running Bloomsday at 34 weeks pregnant

Amazing baby shower

Saying hello to our little wonder, Mirabella on 6/16/17

Watching Mira grow and experience all of her firsts

It’s been a whirl wind of a year.

I’m looking forward to everything that 2018 has to send my way because I know that with the wonders we learn what joy is and with the hardships we learn what appreciation is.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can make the most out of next year, and one of the ways I have been thinking about doing that is setting my intentions in all aspects of my life. I figured the blog was the best space to share those goals and hold myself accountable. So here goes, I’m going to share something I would like to do and something I would like to continue with…

Work

Create a home work space that is conducive to productivity and creative thoughts.
Continue coming to sessions prepared, valuing organic learning opportunities, but keeping structure in appointments.

Mind

Journal and/or meditate daily 5-10 minutes, either before bed or first thing in the morning
Continue reading every night before bed.

Body

Complete a half marathon, my first group run is tomorrow!!
Continue getting in 2 strength training sessions a week and 2-3 super sweaty cardio sessions.

Family

Set aside 30 minutes a day to talk to Mira in Spanish, between 6-8 months is when babies brains are really becoming hard wired to a certain language (nows my chance to impact that)
Continue to unplug when I am with my family.

Love

Take Gottman’s bringing home baby class. While I feel like Dave and I are getting the hang of it, I also feel that a relationship that isn’t constantly looking for ways to improve is often leaving someone’s feelings behind, so I’m always looking for ways to make our love better.
Continue to put keeping myself healthy first, then my relationship with Dave second, and finally our family. As my cousin likes to say “put your air mask on first, because you ain’t shit to no one if you don’t” – OK, I remixed that last part Em, but it was something like that right?

Food

Move back towards a plant based diet. While I was pregnant with Mira I craved meat (like Phoebe from friends style) and I decided to go for it. But I feel I am ready to move back to my pescatarian diet.
Continue intermittent fasting. My mind feels more clear, I sleep better, and (TMI…) my GI tract feels so much better when I give it a 16 hour break from digestion.

Blog

Blog MORE!!! Also, get back to why I started my blog as an accountability for healthy living. That means more WIAW, fitness, fashion, recap, and Friday favorite posts.
Continue with my Mira updates, they are so fun and I really think she’ll love looking back on them.

So those are my 2018 intentions. I’m so looking forward to an amazing year with my family and friends. Thank you all for the impact you continue to have in my life.

Be well.

Nicole

January 5, 2018 0

Mira’s 4 months!

Well, I missed three months, so this will really be a recap of Mira’s third and fourth months of life.

Our little bean is extremely adorable, especially between the hours of 7am-5pm. It can get a little shady anytime after 5pm, see this video to find out just how Mira’s doing at 3am.

Our little girl currently enjoys:

-Balls

-Hitting her toys with her feet

-Whenever her nonna says “piccanina de la nonna”

-Her good night stories for rebel girls (we read 2-3 a night before bed)

-Her night time songs: “You are my sunshine” “Baby mine” “Golden slumbers”

-Water (pool, bath, shower)

-Other people/babies

-The dogs

She also really enjoys dancing

Mira’s dislikes:

-5pm or later (as I mentioned before)

-She continues to hate sleep, outside of the first couple of weeks of her life, she really hasn’t fallen asleep without some level of tears.

-Loud laughing (cue my anxiety ****sensory disorder?!?!?!!!****)

-Tummy time – we do it anyways, but man does she hate it. Oliver sure makes it more appealing.

Oliver isn’t so sure. I think it may be jealousy, but it’s not about her it’s more about her toys….

Mira experienced two big firsts this month:

-Swimming

-Pumpkin Patch

both were so much fun!!

These last couple months have had there ups and downs (we made sure to get footage of both so Mira knows the good, the bad, and the ugly), but it has definitely been so amazing to see Mira laugh and really interact. Her personality is really shining through and it’s been so fun!

As you probably saw in my previous post my nonna passed away a couple weeks ago. Last week we went back to the town where I was born and attended her funeral. It was a really hard time, but it was also really nice to see family.

Nonna got Mira the jacket and cap and I thought she looked really cute in it!

We miss nonna every day, but I’m just so happy that there’s a little nonna in me and my mom and everyone in my family and we can share that with Mira.

❤

Be well.

October 21, 2017 0

The Art of Running in the Rain

"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift." -Prefontaine

Category

Coco is here!!

Helping The Picky Toddler With Meal Time

Mira is 18 Months!

Let Me Tell You About The Period Of Purple Crying

Summer, Bloomsday, Mother’s Day

Mira is 10 Months!

Mira is eight months

So This is The New Year…

Mira’s 4 months!

nicolettaful

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"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift." -Prefontaine

Category

Baby

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