Momma In Focus - Grandma Lulu

This is a special week because my mom is in town and wow how fast it went by!  Thankfully I have one more wonderful week left!  I haven't seen her since Christmas time when we flew out to California.  Every time she visits I feel like I ache even more to be near family all the time because I realize more and more that nothing beats in person visits.  It is so hard to be so far away from loved ones especially now that we have a child who I would love to see her family more regularly.  Daisy has learned to recognize her Grandma's name, Lulu, and she is enjoying her company everyday! Another person to show off for and to make laugh!

The hubs is still going through a lot of stuff and having my mom here in this season to pray with us, encourage us, counsel us and love on us is such a huge blessing.  Having someone else who can shoulder the heaviness and understand better what things are like is for all of us is a relief.   It feels good to not feel alone or to feel misunderstood.  It can be challenging to keep fighting the good fight month after month.....after month but, having people who can come alongside and press on with you makes a world of difference.  I hope you all have those people in the harder seasons of life...and if you don't you come bug me and I'll be there for yah as best I can through the airwaves!

It is an incredible gift to be 28 years old and to have the priceless gift of friendship that I have with my mom.  I do not take it for granted! Many people say they could not live too close to their families or they might get sick of them.  The honest truth is that I could live right next door to my family and would never tire of them and if I for some reason did...we are comfortable enough to lovingly express what we feel and give each other space without harm done. 

I especially LOVE this first picture of the three of us.  It feels so timeless and classic and evokes a certain emotion in me for some reason.  D. was loving the picture time sitting in between my mom and me.  She was clapping, making lots of loud noises and smiling so big!  And on that note she is currently needing my attention so off I go to do my mom thang.....I hope you all had a wonderful week and have a relaxing weekend!  If you got any pictures this week with your little ones I'd love to see them!

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Quotes In Honor Of This Mother's Day Celebration

I wanted to do a really cute post with lots of pictures and be all sappy and say all the things I love SO much about all the moms I know but, I am short on time unfortunately.  So instead, I want to give a warm and hearty shout out to my Momma who is also my best friend, to my hubby's momma, to all three of our amazing Grandma's, to our aunts and then to all the wonderful momma friends we have all over the globe!! Today is a special day for us all.  A day that we get a little extra TLC just for being Moms....the toughest yet most fantastic "job" in the world!  Soak it up ladies...soak it up!!! 

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.  ~Abraham Lincoln

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts.  A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.  ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.  ~Marion C. Garretty, quoted in A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul

Mother - that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries.  ~T. DeWitt Talmage

A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done.  ~Author Unknown

Never raise your hand to your kids.  It leaves your groin unprotected.  ~Red Buttons

Your arms were always open when I needed a hug. Your heart understood when I needed a friend. Your gentle eyes were stern when I needed a lesson. Your strength and love has guided me and gave me wings to fly. -Sara Malin

Day 4 - Picture in a Favorite Outfit and Other Things

“You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her”

I don't have a favorite outfit or a favorite anything for that matter. I tend to like different things depending on my mood or the weather. lol. I am very much a casual person. I would say my black yoga pants, Uggs and a comfy sweater would be high up there on my favorite outfit list but, those things are in the laundry because I wear them so often. hehe. So, my next favorite thing to wear is something that is both comfortable and yet makes me feel feminine and pretty. As a mom I have very little time for hair, makeup or outfits that take too much thought. This is easy to pull on, easy to chase a baby around in and yet nice enough to go out and run errands in and feel somewhat classy. Thanks to my hubby for patiently watching Daisy while I got ready and for taking this picture!

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Daisy and Daddy playing on the swing set in our church nursery while I took some pictures for a friend whose daughter is turning one soon.
Gotta love Wal-Mart for an affordable and yet somewhat stylish storage solution for baby toys!!

Yeah! They only look that organized for the picture!

Joey scoping out some crown molding at Lowe's. We are really excited about starting our dining room molding in the spring!

mommy and Daisy hanging out while Daddy checks things out

Ever since the CIO episodes with Daisy at nap time I have noticed an improvement in her nightly sleeping routine. She never slept through the night prior to this but, since she has slept through the night (which for her is 7ish until 5AM) a good 6 or 7 times now. My body doesn't even know how to handle the extra sleep it is getting. I generally go into Daisy's room and give her pacifier back to her and lay her back down (as she is always standing up in her crib at 5 AM) and she goes back to sleep for another hour or so. It is brutal how early Daisy likes to wake up...brutal, but for now I am praising God for the fact that she is sleeping almost 10 hours without waking...not every night but, most nights lately. Baby steps right!

Daisy always holds onto something to keep her balance when she is standing but, just in the past couple of days she is letting go when she gets to a standing position. She wobbles and usually catches herself before falling but, it is really neat to see that she is already exploring her limits. I think walking is a good couple of months of yet but, maybe not. Who knows!

Daisy is clearly saying mama and dada now. She often will say it on cue if she is in a good mood. She imitated Joey several times today and it was the coolest thing ever to hear her understand and repeat after him. It is awesome to hear her holler for us...annoying too sometimes but, mostly awesome! haha

Daisy has begun to do a silly little dance when she hears music. She waves her hands above her head and shakes them back and forth. It is darling! Hmmmm, I really need to get a video of all of these new things!

Okay, that's all for now!

With More Free Time...Or Better Use of Time

My sleepy baby hanging out on her play mat whilst (lol) she sits in her bumbo seat
Sorry, I couldn't help it. Rarely does Daisy fall asleep in my arms so I just had to snap a picture of her gaping mouth and zonked out face. Love it. Below: Daisy's first time sitting in her high chair to eat instead of her bouncer. She's such a big girl now!
Thought I'd privy you to a little Martinez family time video. Welcome to our world...hubby doing yard work out back, finding black widows, baby playing and getting bored, mommy running out of ideas to keep her little girl preoccupied. Ah yes, this is the life:-)

I get about 40 minutes of down time each day shortly after I get off work when my daughter is taking her last nap of the day. Sometimes I spend this 40 minutes running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to accomplish a little of all of the things I want to get done: dusting, laundry, dishes, dinner, paying bills, vacuuming (nope, not when the baby is sleeping), cleaning the bathroom or more pleasurable things such as working on my photography challenges, watching a quick show in peace and quiet on the couch, or taking a 20 minute cat nap! Do you ever wish you had just a little more free time to get things done or do you need to learn to make better use of your time like me (or both:)? What would you want to do with that time if you had it? Last night the errand we needed to tackle was grocery shopping. Since we both work full time we try to shop together just to make life more bearable for both of us... or just more fair. We went to our current favorite store, Trader Joe's, Yum! I decided that since I don't have enough free time that I would have to multitask so I lugged my huge camera bag on my shoulder while pushing my daughter in her stroller and grabbing groceries with my other free hand. The store was packed and people were swarming all the aisles. I began to feel a trickle of perspiration dripping down my forehead. How ever would I find a place to snap a few pictures with all these people staring at me, with my daughter fussing in her stroller, with an enormous grocery list needing to be tackled?? Ahhhhhhhhhh. I waited until we were almost done grocery shopping and then I just said to myself, "yah know what, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," and I pulled out my camera and began taking pictures of various things in the aisle ( for a photo challenge...I'm not a weirdo with a camera in the grocery store!) while also trying to keep the little one distracted and entertained. I couldn't seem to get the picture I wanted and I was getting frustrated, which only makes me more bold. Love how that works:). Finally with all my built up energy I began marching around the store and taking pictures of whatever I felt like with full confidence and fully embraced my photo challenge. Success! I got the grocery shopping done with the hubs, kept my baby from having a melt down in the store and got the picture I was hoping for. Now, that was making good use of my time. hehe

Mommy Blahs

Above: Daisy is fascinated by Dakota now. She loves touching her, staring at her and watching her every move. I think it's great but, I can't leave the two of them alone for a second or else Dakota would lick Daisy's face off and I as much as I love my dog, I think her tongue is stinky and dirty and I don't want it all over my child's face. I love seeing babies and animals interact though. It's so neat how early the bond can begin!
Below: Her shirt says it all, "mommy loves me." Yes, I do...I love her drooly, messy, whiny, perfectly adorable, smiley, serious little face so much!
My bro just left after spending a few days with us. He actually visited us on his way back from some amazing places such as Paris, Amsterdam, Holland, Germany etc. He is a school teacher so he took a month and a half of Summer to travel the world a bit...I'm so jealous but, fortunately he took amazing pictures and documented his trip so we got to enjoy a virtual tour. I want to go there so bad now!
I love my big bro! We are totally opposite in so many ways but, we also have some things in common such as our love for Jesus, the funniest show ever "Top Gear," good food, laughter, blood (haha) and our fun brotherly/sisterly banter. I haven't seen much of my bro in the past several years due to us living on opposite coasts and being so busy. I am so thankful that he visited us and that we got to be stuck in the house together for three days. Truly, it's like we caught up on a lot of lost time plus more importantly than that I'm so glad he got to see Daisy while she is still so small. Miss you bro and love you lots!! This picture below is for you mom and I'm sure Ryan would rather that I not post it on my blog but, I will use the excuse that this is Daisy's baby book and the more pictures I post of him here the more she will see him when I get it printed up someday:). hehe

Anyways, in regards to mommy blahs....I woke up this morning and it was just one of those mornings and I'm sure you ALL can relate. I had to put on 4 shirts before I found one that didn't have a stain or defect, my hair desperately needs to be colored, my face is breaking out like a high school teenager on a really bad day, I broke my toe nail in half somehow simply by getting it caught on my sweats last night...uh, ouch and uh ugly toe nail now, I haven't had time to cover my exhausted dark eye circles and my shoulder has been hurting for a few weeks now prompting me to feel older than I should and well...I just feel BLAH.

I will admit that on days like these a good bible study or time in prayer with the Lord often refocuses my heart and my outlook and gives me the boost I need to overcome the blahs...have I done it yet, no. Why? Because I'm tired, lazy, blogging, lazy, blah, lazy and have I said lazy yet. Yes, laziness is often the reason why I slack in my quality time with the Lord and I am the one who suffers from this the most because my spiritual tank gets super dry and my mind gets inward focused instead of "heavenly focused." Plus there are plenty of other things that can distract me from this such as, hmmm, I'll get my hair or nails done today, I'll go shopping and buy a new shirt to cheer myself up, I'll put a ton of makeup on and feel pretty for the first time in lots of months, I'll watch a mind numbing drama on TV, talk to a friend for hours on the phone, or perhaps I will just wallow in this mood all day because I'm...you guessed it, feeling lazy:-). For the record, I am feeling much better and this mood was super short lived thank God..but, nonetheless I know as moms we often have these blah days because we usually put ourselves last after the countless errands, chores, children tending tasks and wifely duties. So, my question for all you ladies is this: what things help you to overcome your mommy blahs?

Things I Never Thought I'd Do as a Mom

1. Love kissing my daughter's feet and rubbing them all over my face regardless of how sweaty or dirty they might be.

2. Get up over 15 times in one night because I'm too much of a softy to let my baby CIO.

3. Get so used to being spit up on that the stains on my clothes don't even bother me until someone else has to point out that I should change. hahaha

4. Become extremely aware of what my daughter's ears are being exposed to on the radio, TV, etc. since the day she was born!

5. Enjoy how loud my little girl can fart..uh, excuse me, toot. I think she has her daddy beat! hahahahah

6. Open my mouth when I am feeding Daisy her cereal. It seems to be almost uncontrollable...when I move the spoon towards her mouth...mine opens too!

7. Get grossed out by Daisy's diaper blow outs. Poop in a diaper I can handle just fine but, for some reason when it comes out and gets on things that it isn't supposed to be on...including me on a daily basis, I get a little bleh, if you know what I mean.

8. Be able to lay on the floor and play with Daisy for hours on end. I actually have a pretty short attention span for monotony but, I never seem to burn out on playing with my daughter. I surprise myself!

9. Put Daisy's pacifier back in her mouth even when it has just fallen in the street...hold on, let me explain. I don't do this frequently but, at the time we were away from home, we had no other pacifier and no way to clean the pacifier other than brushing it off...Daisy was screaming and heck, I just really didn 't care about a few measly germs at that point, GASP!!! That is SOOOO unlike me!

10. Get extremely annoyed (and in a boxing mood) when a strange man in our neighborhood who I don't even know reaches down and picks Daisy up out of her stroller when I am on a walk without even asking me if I mind....okay so maybe this one doesn't qualify (for things I never thought I do) but, I just had to share (weird people alert)!

11. Be 100% content to savor and relish every single moment with my daughter with no need for her to hurry and move on to the next milestone. I tend to look ahead a lot in life and I worried that I might miss out on things in the present with Daisy because I am too excited about what she has yet to do...this has not been a problem at all. I am loving every single second of this!!!

My Little Angel

Grandpa Hart spoiled Daisy by sending her a super cute Angels outfit complete with bib and booties. My Dad is a big Angels fan and being that I grew up in Southern California I'm a fan of the Angels too....though I have to be honest if I had to choose...I lean more towards the boys in blue...sorry Daddy!! Regardless, the outfit was darling and as you can tell, Daisy liked it too:) Thanks Grandpa! xoxo
Flying with Grandma Lulu

Just hanging out in her diaper. She was making so many funny faces while I took her picture!


Bath time is quite messy now. Water gets kicked all over the counter and floor and now Daisy grabs the wash cloth away from me. It's a crack up!

Play time with mommy
Can you tell that we adore her?
Say Cheese!

She loves giving me slobber "kisses" now:)
Catch up will continue for a few days so bear with me:) Hope you all are having a fantastic weekend! Today was a day of touch up painting, running errands and trying to relax. Joey grilled the most amazing chicken for dinner tonight. He really has become the master griller! Night Night.

Don't Forget - You are Amazing!

I love this little girl! :-) I had this long, elaborate post written out to encourage all you mamas out there, but I just don't have the energy to finish it right now...bummer. It appears that I have Mastitis again and oh my golly this is as unpleasant as the first time around. Don't you ever wish you could clone yourself just for the days that you are super tired, sick, burnt out or just needing someone to go to the doctor for you because you are too beat to go yourself. It's days like these that I really admire you mamas that have more than one child because at least when my munchkin naps after I get off work, I can nap too (for 30 minutes). It's also days like these that I realize how amazing and resilient moms are! We don't get the down time we need to recover from things but, somehow we keep chugging and we push through even the toughest of days! I think every mom should wear a hot pink cape and a hot pink mask with a suit that says, "SUPER MOM." hahaha. During one of my college classes a few years back I learned that the minimum salary for a stay at home mom (if she were to be paid for her labors of love) would equate to over $150K a year...minimum!! So, just be encouraged that even though you might not be bringing in literal money, your investment and diligent efforts to take care of your husband and children are extremely valuable, priceless in my opinion!!! Mom's, you are AMAZING!

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Colosians 3:23

First Giggles and Squeals

In the last week or so Daisy has discovered her lungs and her voice. The first time she squealed I was washing my hands and she was laying in her crib playing under her mobile. She squealed/shrieked and my heart stopped, my body freaked out and I totally thought she had cut her arm off or something. I went bolting into her room and saw her smiling up at her mobile and screaming in excitement at it as it spun around. It took me a minute to calm down and process that not only was she okay but, she was having a blast listening to herself talk. Oh how I love her little voice! Please forgive my annoying voice (it's what Daisy likes) and repetitive blog talk at the end of this video. I was excited...what else can I say:-)