; World of Dennifer: June 2011

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

DIY summer wreath + my little model :)

So my errr spring summer wreath for our front door has been done for a little while now, but I just have been SUPER busy & unable to post about it, so ::drum roll:: here it is in all it's burlap & fabric flower glory:


{another view}

In retrospect, I should have taken more close-u p pics of it...FAIL. But, WDYT?! I love the way it turned out. I would have liked to do more fabric flowers, but they take so long to make & I thought the amount on I have on it look good too. Anywho, to make my wreath, I used this tutorial for the base & this one for the flowers - both have great step-by-step directions that are super easy to follow. This is my very first DIY project since Baby AJ got here! It gave me back the DIY itch, but unfortunately, my job has cruelly STOLEN my itch away. I am literally ex.haus.ted everyday after work, but the good news is - stuff is about to slow down because my workload is being reduced, ha! Thank freakin' goodness.

Soooo, that means I should be back in full blogging effect soon!

PS - I recently registered my little pumpkin with Adora Models, so now she's an official model! It's a pretty cool service, vendors/shop/boutique owners send your kid their products to model, they model it & you take a bunch of pics (or have them taken by a professional photog). Then, send them the pics for their website/shop & your little one gets to keep the gear/items. If you're interested in signing up your little one, just contact the girl's from Adora Models & tell them I sent you! Oh & if you're a shop owner & you'd like a {really, reeeeeeeeeeeeeally} cute baby to model you're stuff, please contact Adora Models & request "Amaya J." in the girls 0-12 months category - it's free to shop owners!! Here's a little look at her model card:


She hams it up for the camera, lol. Love her! 'Till next time!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Headed to Jamaica!

And boooy do I need it! Work is still crazy & I'm hoping it calms down soon. But in the mean time, I'll be lounging here for the next four days:


It's a {all-inclusive, woo} girls trip with some of my friends & it's the longest I have ever been away from the munchkin. Here's hoping I make it without her. I love her soooo much & hate to miss that many days with her, but she'll be in good hands with my sister & the hubbs. Hope everyone has a great week...'till next time!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Amaya 6-7 months!

Wowza. Did I type that right, 7 months already?! She's actually almost 8 months & I tell ya what, every passing day she's doing something new & getting big sooo quickly. It makes me sad my little baaay-be is growing up so quickly, but of course, I'm happy that she is doing well & healthy. I can't believe that in a little over 4 months, my munchkin will be ONE YEAR OLD! Ugh. I can't believe it.

Side note - sorry I missed WIWB Wednesday yesterday (yeah umm, I def started writing this on Thursday :o/), I was SO busy at work this week because we have this crazy re-organization happening next week & we JUST found out on Tuesday, so we are scrambling to get lose ends tied up. It is pretty drastic & I don't want to get into all the details because I'm still absorbing the news myself, but basically that rotational I am/was doing for that possible promotion, well let's just say I'm still doing the work but I'm preeety positive that the promotion is not gonna happen for me or anyone else that was in the running. It sucks because I busted my arse working hard on the rotational, but hey, I'm trying to be positive & just see it as a good learning experience & something awesome for my resume. Note the word trying, it's a process. ;)  But back to WIWB, I actually bought a couple things for the munchkin yesterday from my fave spot - PBK!

I got her this really teeny personalized preschool backpack for her birthday {yes I realize it's over 4 months away, but they have a great sale right now!}:

Isn't it adorbs? And at $19.99 (without personalization), I couldn't resist! I got it personalized for $7 more. More on her birthday party plans & other possible gifts later, but I just wanted to share this cutie & the deets on the sale.

You may just think I'm a little crazy for the next thing {lawd knows my husband does}, but I couldn't pass up the deal & I'd been wanting this next thing. Spring/summer crib bedding. Yep, seasonal bedding, for my 7.5 month old lol. Well, this is how it happened - so I was buying the little backpack & decided to check out PBK's sales & saw their super cute "Spring Bouquet" set {bumper, sheet, crib skirt} set that will coordinate well with the colors in her room for $59.99. Yes, you read that right, under $60 for a PBK bedding set. And, of course, I couldn't pass it up:



Under $60! ::dies:: Annnywho, I digress. Back to the original purpose of this post...

So last time I did one of these updates, I mentioned that we had begun searching for daycares to enroll munchkin in when she turns 1, but we (along with my sister) decided to actually get her started at just about 9 months now, so that's NEXT MONTH. I am so nervous, but I am just hoping she takes to it well. We finally did find a place that we both really love & feel comfortable taking her, and it is not gonna break the bank so that's good. We get one free day before she starts full time, but I haven't decided when to use it...likely closer to her first day, which is...drum roll please ::cue drums::...July 11th. I'm excited, but scared. I just hope she does okay & doesn't completely lose it when I leave her for the first time. Sigh. Talk about major anxiety provoking event!

Here are her 6 & 7 month pics - she's getting so big:


And her 0-5 months for comparison's sake...


{6 month outtakes}

{And 7 month outtakes}

In the last pic, it looks like she's saying, what mama?! I love that baby! But seriously, can you believe how big she is now?! She looks like a little lady now, haha. I feel like she's starting to look more & more like her daddy, booo. I mean, he's cute & all, but I want her to look more like her mama! Ha!

So since I never updated after her 6 month appointment, her official 6 month weight was 14 lbs. 4.5 oz. (50th %tile) & she was 24.5 inches (15th %tile)!! She is catching up on the charts, woo! My little chunker as I like to call her. I'm guessing she's about 16 lbs. or so now. She shortly wore 3-6 month clothes & is now fully in 6-9 months or 6-12 months in certain brands, like Gymboree & Gap. She wears a size 2 shoe now & we are starting to stock up on cute little shoes between my sister, my friends who gave us hand me down shoes & her daddy & I. She also got her second pair of earrings recently! Little "diamond" butterflies courtesy of her daddy. :) Speaking of "that guy" as I say to AJ, they are SO cute together, it seriously makes me melt when I see him talking & playing with her....love them!

Her night time sleep is still pretty good on most nights, but her napping hasn't gotten much better unfortunately. Ideally, she'd take a decent nap (1 hour or so) in the morning & a long (about 2 hours) nap in the afternoon, but it rarely happens that way, sigh. Sometimes she'll do something close to that, but more often than not, she takes about 3 40 min. or so naps. It sucks b/c it's hard to plan stuff or get anything done while she's napping when her naps are so.freakin.short. Eh. Oh & my hypothesis about darkening the room - not correct, they didn't help much to lengthen her naps. too bad we found that out after dropping over $400 on custom shades + installation! So, I hope once she starts daycare that her naps will be better since I'm sure she'll be exhausted. I know it won't happen at first, but I'm hoping they get better after she adjusts. Annnd speaking of daycare, she starts July 11th. :( My sister is getting burnt out driving all the way to our house every morning & quite frankly, I kinda want her to start, for lots of reasons, one of which being because I'm nervous that the older she gets, the worse her {or my!}separation anxiety will be. We really like the center we chose for her though & I plan to visit often at least at the beginning. I just hope she adjusts quickly & likes it there.

As for her nighttime sleep, she is now going down between 7:30pm & 8:30pm - sometimes earlier or later, but I try to keep it in between that window of time.  She normally (unless she's not feeling well or if she's having an off night) sleeps between 9-11 hours at a time, then sometimes we'll give her a bottle & she'll fall back asleep for another hour or so. I'm nervous to see how/if her night sleep will be effected when she starts daycare. I really really want to avoid having to wake her up in the mornings (especially since nighttime is her only really good sleep), so I may end up changing my hours so I can go in to the office a bit later. We have a flex time option, so I may look into it. One thing I really don't want to give up is my every other Friday off since the hubbs has the same day off & we normally get to spend time together as a family on those days.

Another big "first" over the last couple months is that she started solids! She started right around 6 months & her first food was apples, homemade by her mama. I make all her food, except cereal & snacks. I don't think I have the patience to make baby biscuits or rice/oatmeal cereal, so I just buy it. Everything else, I make! Maybe I'll do a post about that one day soon, but it saves us LOTS of money & I actually really enjoy being able to know exactly what's going in my kids mouth. I make mostly organic, unless I read it's unnecessary to buy organic. So far the munchkin has had (in no particular order): apples, avocado, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pears, plums, peaches, green beans, peas, bananas, plus oatmeal & rice baby cereal, mum mums & puffs. And she's doing solids 3 times per day + 24-26 ounces of formula per day.  I give her little bites of my food here & there as well, stuff like bread, waffles, etc. She is teething hardcore, so she loves chomping on frozen fruit in those mesh feeders - loves it! And she got her first set of teeth - the middle 2 on the bottom!! Right around 7 months, I felt inside her mouth & felt the sharp tips of teeth! They both popped out about the same time! She's getting so big. Sigh.

As far as milestones, she sits pretty well unassisted, still hates tummy time. She still doesn't quite roll from back to tummy when laying on a flat surface. If she's slightly elevated, then she can do it, but not from laying flat. And she lifts herself off her tummy, but definitely doesn't even try to crawl. We still don't do much tummy time because of her reflux, which is getting better, but still not completely resolved. She still "talks" a lot & even raises her voice when she gets sleepy, ha! It's so cute when she yells! I'm sure it won't be for long, but it is now! And I think that's it for this go round - more next time & hopefully I can get back to doing these monthly. Only a little more than 4 months left till her first birthday, guess I should get planning. Sigh. 'Till next time!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

What I wanna buy Wednesday - 06.01.11

Oh hai there blog friends! Once again, I must apologize for being sooo absent. work is so crazy right now, because {as I mentioned a little bit ago} I am doing a rotational assignment in addition to my normal workload in order to possibly get a promotion at the end of this year. This promotion would mean A LOT to the Dennifers. What with all our {ahem} added expenses (read: Baby AJ).


Annnywho, the summer is upon us here in Northern VA & IDK why, but it's kicked me back into a DIY'ing mood! I finally finished up my spring summer DIY wreath & I can't wait to show it off to all of you - likely later this week, I'll need to upload the pics first. Also, my munchkin is now 7 - YES SEVEN months old. Ugh, I can't believe it. Time flies way way too fast. More on her cuteness also coming up soon in her 6-7 month recap. I really need to get on the ball & start doing these monthly again, but the only time I have to blog is either at work, which right now, is not an option &/or at night when the munchkin falls asleep. But I am determined...I love blogging & I will get my mojo back! I know, I know, I keep saying it, but I really do try to get back on the ball & then time just escapes me.

Okay, so now back to the purpose of this post - my favorite weekly feature: "What I wanna buy Wednesday," woot. I have gotten a lot of good feedback on this feature, so I'm thinking of making it a weekly linky party. I'd love to see what all of my blog friends come up with & have you all link back here! WDYT? Would you do it? Who doesn't love fantasizing about the things we'd love to buy? In any event, here's my top 5 things I'd love to buy this week:

1. A large ottoman with storage space:


A certain someone will be getting mobile here soon, as such, the Dennifers are in the process of assessing our baby proofing our casa de Dennifer so that our little munchkin doesn't hurt herself once she starts crawling 7 walking running all up & thru here. Our current coffee table from Target is nice, but is not exactly baby friendly. It has sharp edges & I'm not really into the look of those table edge thingys (although, we'll likely have to use these in a few other places regardless), so I suggested to the hubbs that we buy a nice {soft}, stylish yet functional ottoman to replace our coffee table. And, he actually agreed with me! We just missed the memorial day furniture sales, but maybe we'll be able to catch a 4th of July sale somewhere so we can pick up one of these babies!

2. A couple large storage baskets:

Again, a certain someone has made it necessary that I purchase large baskets for toy & misc. storage so that my living room can avoid looking like a playroom! I have been searching online for nice looking & most of all, affordable baskets for our main level - LR/DR area & found these darlings at Crate & Barrel. I think I'll most likely put them under the entryway table that I have between the living & dining rooms. I might even get a smaller one to put under one of our side tables! I heart basket storage & you can't beat the price!

3. PBK Beach Wrap:

Can you see a theme?! Most of the stuff I wanna buy has something to do with my little munchkin! PBK actually just had a sale on these wraps that I missed out on, but I think their beach wraps are totally cute. I think I'll wait to see if they have an end of season sale on these & maybe grab one up then. We are going on our first family vacation to Orlando in November, so this would be perfect for that. Also, someone is a big time water baby & loves the pool:

 :) 

Buuuut, if they don't go on sale again, I doubt I'll buy one. I can't bring myself to spend over $30 (after S&H) on a towel! Very cute though. :)

4. Waterproof Labels for Baby AJ Stuff:


Sigh. My little munchkin will be entering the world of daycare here soon (more on that later), so I'm trying to stock up on everything we'll need to send along with her everyday. Could I buy a label maker & make plain labels? Sure, but what's the fun in that?! I LOVE Cherry Hill Designs cute labels & they have such a huge assortment to choose from & best of all, they are very affordable! Oh & one more great thing about these labels - they are waterproof, so you can easily wash whatever you stick these on without worrying the label will come off in the dish or clothes washing machine!

5. Victoria's Secret PINK lounge pants:


I always make sure to stock up during the Victoria's Secret semi-annual sale, which is going on NOW - go check it out!! Well, in my most recent VS shopping splurge, I decided to try out a pair of these lounge pants & I am totally in lurve with them. They are comfy & lightweight, but still stylish enough to wear out of the house if I need to, woo. The perfect lounge pants. These babies get 2 thumbs up from me & I'd love to grab another pair!

So that's WIWB this week, how about you?! (Don't forget to let me know if you'd be interested in a weekly link party to this feature, I'd love to hear your feedback!) 'Till next time!