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make the most out of january

January is the beginning of many things. For one, the year itself, but on another note, it’s the beginning of this ‘New You’. You’ve thought up your resolutions, you’re ready to start eating healthy and workout, and then, before you know it you’ve fallen off the bandwagon, again. Here are some tips on how to make the most of January and start the New Year off in the best way possible:

1. Take a big goal and break it up.

Sometimes, big resolutions can seem overwhelming or like you don’t know where to start. Think, how can I push forward on this goal this month? What about next month? Set smaller goals for each month to ensure you stay on track all year!

Recap your successes from last year!

Take note of all the things you are most proud of from last year. When making resolutions for the new year, we tend to focus on things we want to change. There’s something to be said for bringing in more positivity and taking the time to feel great for all the things you accomplished and improved last year!

2. Set a focus word for the year.

This is a trending idea that works on the idea that instead of making hard set resolutions, you come up with your FOCUS WORD of the year. I’ve been thinking for a few weeks now on what I wanted my word to be. Where I wanted to put my focus and set my intention and I’ve been pulled towards the word Kindness. Twoards others and towards myself. I want to wake up every day and ask myself,  “how can I be kinder today?”. It’s hard to track a goal like “Be kinder”, or “Don’t get upset so quickly”, but setting my focus of the year on kindness will allow me to be mindful of what I do that day and how I can work on being kinder every day.

3. Finish what needs finishing.

Do you have some projects left behind from last year that you can check off quickly? If so, do it as soon as you can. Dragging around projects we need to finish makes us heavy and weighs down our creativity and spontaneity. Don’t get trapped in last year’s to-do list, get out of it quickly so you can tackle our new goals for the year!

4. Put yourself first.

This January, focus on your health, on your body, on your mind and on your sanity. You’re being pulled in many directions at the start of the year. Work has new goals for the year, your children have birthdays coming up and you said you’d volunteer at the next bake sale. Whatever it is you’ve got on your plate already, take the time to take care of you. Your future calmer you will thank you for it.

5. Figure out your WHY.

Why are you doing this? Why will you not do this? Why are you working towards this goal? Why that other goal? It’s easy to get in the mindset of picking a goal and figuring out how you’ll achieve it, but if I learned one thing from last year it is that knowing WHY you are doing something is a much more powerful motivator than simply knowing how you’ll do it.

If you have any other tips, send them my way.

I hope these will help in making sure you get all you can out of the first month of the year to start the new year off in the best way possible.

Love,

Mariangelica

 

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NMM11

This post is part of the New Mom Monday series! A series about moms and their advice to new moms! Books and videos can only teach us so much, but there’s something special about hearing from real life moms. Honest, true, and always beautifully inspiring!!
What’s your Name?

Diana Conforti

Tell us a little about yourself!

27 years old. Born in Bogota, Colombia but grew up in Florida. I married my high school sweetheart when I was 21 and we have been married for 6 years now. I’m a firm believer that if you put God first in your life, no matter the challenge or circumstance all things will work out for good. I’ve experienced it, even in the most dire circumstances. My favorite activities/sports are yoga, volleyball, wakeboarding, snowboarding. I’m a realtor and I love it but nothing compares to my job of being a mommy, the best and most challenging job in the world. 

How many kids do you have? What are their names and ages?
I have 1 child, Jesse Ryder Conforti.

How do you find your “me time”?
Jesse just turned 1 month and finding “me” time has been very challenging. I’m hoping this changes as he gets older. This first month of my child’s life I’ve become a singer, professional rocker, swaddler, clown and a great multi- tasker. I learn something new everyday. 

Me time for me is: Basically, the ME time I have is while my son naps or sits in his swing. Also, when a family member comes over to watch him or spend sometime with him. 

Although my priorities of “me” time have changed from:

– getting my nails done to getting laundry done.
– getting a massage to getting to take a nap.
– going shopping to going grocery shopping.
– watching TV to watching what I eat and preparing a healthy meal.

– listening to my favorite band to listening to black noise or a lullaby.

My priorities and ME time have changed ALOT. It’s nice to have my family around because it makes “me” time a possibility for me.

What is the best baby related book you’ve ever read?

How to become baby wise

What’s the most useful baby product you have? Why do you love it?

The pacifier. Babies have a suckling reflex and that’s why they love being attached to the breast(even if they are not hungry, it’s soothing for them) the pacifier allows me to get things done and keep the baby happy at the Same time.

If you could say something to yourself when you first brought home your first baby, what would you say?

Congratulations! The hardest part is just getting started! Life as you know it has now changed.

How much planning did you do before your baby was born, and how do you think that it helped or didn’t help?

I planned to move to a bigger place, got a new car, moved closer to my family, got all the list for the baby shower and organized everything as much as I could to be ready when the baby arrived. It helped a lot! There is so much going on when the baby comes that being as prepared as possible gave me peace and one less thing to worry about.

What do you believe are the top three pieces of advice a new mom or someone trying to conceive should know?
– exercise. I exercised up until the day before I gave birth and it made my pregnancy and labor so much easier as well as bouncing right back to my pre-baby weight.
– eat healthy and drink lots of water. I made a point to nourish my self and skin from the inside out with ALOT of water. It helped me not get stretch marks along with spoiled mama body butter, scrub and oil.
-make a journal. Everyday of my pregnancy brought on new feelings, changes in my body, emotions and habits. It’s really neat to go back and re-live my pregnancy through my journal because when I think back now it was a blur.
What is your best memory so far of being a mom?

The first time my son looked in my eyes when I was breastfeeding him. I felt such a deep connection with him and was overwhelmed with gratitude and amazement at how God had given me a little angel to love and care for.

Give us the short form version of your birth story.

I gave birth two days before my due date. I had my Obgyn strip my membranes to help induce labor and speed the process along, I was over being so uncomfortable. Over all I gained 35lbs but it felt like 95. I started getting steady contractions between 4-5 minutes apart. They admitted me into the hospital, broke my water, gave me the epidural and before I knew it I went from 3cm dilated to 7. The midwife helped me along with pitocin to help me dialate from 7 to 10cm. The whole process was about 12 hours. When it came time to push it only took 8 minutes. The nurses were amazed as most first time moms usually spend 1-2 hours pushing but they said because I was in great shape it helped a lot. My husband and sister were by my side the whole time holding my hand. It was a beautiful and very intense experience. Hearing my baby cry was very emotional and exciting. 

Lastly, for fun, define motherhood!

Gods’s gift to women. An opportunity to learn unconditional love, selflessness, sacrifice and joy.

NMM11-2

If you would like to participate in New Mom Mondays please feel free to message me by using my contact form! I would love to not only feature you on my blog but learn from your answers, as I’m sure many readers would too! 
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NMM10
This post is part of the New Mom Monday series! A series about moms and their advice to new moms! Books and videos can only teach us so much, but there’s something special about hearing from real life moms. Honest, true, and always beautifully inspiring!!

Today’s answers come from a dear friend! I met her when i worked in Georgetown, ON and we clicked right away. Maybe because we’re both Latinas or maybe because she’s so outgoing and friendly. No matter the reason we have stayed in touch since I left and I have watched her share her story on Facebook and on her blog on her journey to being an amazing mom! Her little Zoey is so cute and I can’t wait for you to read her answers! Enjoy!

What’s your Name?

Christie Lazo

Tell us a little about yourself!

I am an outgoing, too confident for my own good, sassy, nerdy and outspoken Latina. By career, I am a digital marketing professional; and by passion, I am the creator and writer of A Style Soiree (a blog for the chic & stylish mama). Of course, though lots of love, I am a wife and mommy.

How many kids do you have? What are their names and ages?

I have 1 very energetic, sassy and smart little lady who is a year old (14 months in Mommy speak), and her name is Zoey.

How do you find your “me time”?

I achieve me time with the help of my husband. He hangs out with Zoey so that I can get away to take a nice long uninterrupted shower, go get my hair done, or out with my girl friends. Truth be told though, now that I’m back at work full time, I’d rather spend every second I can with Zoey when I’m not at work.

What is the best baby related book you’ve ever read?

I very recently finished reading “Boobin All Day Boobin All Night” by Meg Nagle , also known as “The Milk Meg”. I highly recommend it to all those interested in the gentle parenting approach, it has the BEST advice. I wrote a review of the book on my blog if you want to check it out 🙂

What’s the most useful baby product you have? Why do you love it?

I decided to go with The Honest Company line of products for Zoey; and was very grateful for it as I discovered she had VERY sensitive skin soon after her birth. The life saver product they have is their “Healing Balm”. I use it for her diaper changes as a diaper cream; particularly since it’s oil base coats her skin so well that it keeps wetness away. She also suffered from baby ezcema as a newborn so that was a the very best product for spot treatment.

If you could say something to yourself when you first brought home your first baby, what would you say?
“You’re doing better than you think; and no, you’re not alone”
I was very lucky that my husband was home with me during the first 4 months after Zoey’s birth. He was with me, right beside me, every step of the way; but sometimes I would get emotional and feel so lonely. Not many people talk about this, but it’s important to as I believe it takes away the stigma of postpartum depression or postpartum emotions. I was never alone and I was doing an amazing job! But I doubted myself sometimes because I was overwhelmed with something so big and so new; of course the crazy hormone levels during that time don’t help either. They don’t call it the 4th trimester for nothing!
How much planning did you do before your baby was born, and how do you think that it helped or didn’t help?

I did A LOT of planning. I started pre-natal yoga at 3 months with the plan that I wanted a doula assisted natural birth. I did however have to acquire the help of an OBGYN, which I was VERY happy with, as I had serious complications early in the pregnancy. Throughout my pregnancy, my husband found himself living, breathing and eating, Babies R Us and Snuggle Bugz everything as I wanted to be SO prepared and have everything the baby could ever need. Like every parent, you want to give you baby more than you had, right? It just so happens, I was a spoiled child so I was taking this to a ridiculous next level. God bless his soul and all the patience he was given! He even came along with me to visit a doula and was so supportive with my super early weekend morning pre-natal yoga classes. All that changed when I was schedule for a c-section because of the size of my baby; having her naturally would have been too much of a risk to the both of us. The pre-natal yoga did help a LOT though, as I was able to relax and breathe perfectly through the prep for the c-section, mainly during the spinal block procedure.

What do you believe are the top three pieces of advice a new mom or someone trying to conceive should know?
1) “Trust you instincts and follow your baby’s lead”
This is advice I found through The Milk Meg’s Facebook page after Zoey was born, and it has worked wonders. As a new mom, I thought I had to watch the clock and be on a schedule all the time, once I disregarded all that and went with what I thought my baby wanted/needed, it resulted in a happier baby and even more sleep for my husband and I. She’s a year now and I still follow this advice with other aspects of parenting.
2) “It’s okay to say no!”
Zoey was born right before Christmas and everyone wanted to see her and wanted us to go to their Christmas dinners. I love my family and I love my friends, but at the time I just wanted to be home with my husband and my baby; therefore it’s okay to say “no”.
3) “Things happen at the right time and place, when you’re ready for it”
It took many months to conceive Zoey, It didn’t happen right away, but we were as patient as we could be. We believe in God, and we left it up to him; “when the time is right it will happen” is what we would say. We didn’t follow any calendars to conceive or any plans, we let it be and we conceived when we least expected it so it was an incredible surprise.
What is your best memory so far of being a mom?

So cliche, but there are too many to pick just one! Zoey is walking now and she does this thing where she randomly walks up to me with her arms up in the arm with the biggest smile on her face so that we embrace and I give her a hug as I pick her up. When I do pick her up, she gives me the tightest hug right back. She may not say “I love you” yet, but I know that’s what she means. I want to engrave that image of her walking up to me in my mind forever.

Give us the short form version of your birth story.

At 36 weeks pregnant, my OBGYN measured me and discovered that I was measuring as if I was 40 weeks along. An ultrasound at 38 weeks revealed my baby was 9 pounds. We then discussed the option of a c-section as I wanted to avoid any risks involved with the size of my baby being born through the birth canal. My strict natural birth plan went out the window as I had to adjust for the safety of myself, and most importantly, my baby. This helped so much because not only were we safer, but this became a preview of how my parenting style plans would change too once Zoey arrived; I went from the idea of a very modern sleep training mom to a bed sharing mama.
We arrived at the hospital very early on December 3rd to my c-section appointment. Fast forward to the operating room, I had to go in there alone while my husband put on his fancy scrubs in another room. The nurse was an angel that was there with me as she was so supportive and kind. This was my very first surgery of any kind so she held me while they put in the spinal block, quickly after this they got me to lie down so it could take effect. Once everyone was in the operating room, OBGYN and husband included, they were set to begin the surgery. I looked up to the ceiling and noticed that the white reflective material of the ceiling allowed me to see the whole surgery as if it was a mirror. I watched the whole thing! I looked away for a few moments as it was weird to think of my abdomen open on the table while I just hung out there. I was looking out for the moment they broke my water; I read that it gushes out and then you can see your baby;s head and shortly after they pull the baby out. That is exactly what happened! My OBGYN and the nurses even sang Happy Birthday to her as they pulled her out. It was so memorable! A nurse had pre-warned me and told me that when she was born, she’d hold my baby on the left so that I could see her before they took her for examinations. My husband did not cut the cord, which he was very nervous about, since we had the blood cord of my baby banked so the doctor had to efficiently do that procedure. They brought Zoey over for me to see her all bundled up and I could not believe it! She was outside of me! My husband was able to take a picture of her and I, and then they were taken back to my hospital room. After this, I had to wait to be put back together, which took longer than I thought,but it was totally fine as my OBGYN turned out to be the greek god of stitches as I have the nicest scar I’ve ever seen. After this, I was taken to recovery and was VERY antsy to see Zoey; as I was mostly concerned about her skin-to-skin contact. The great thing was that the nurses had my husband take his shirt off and cuddle with her skin-to-skin while they waited for me; which was a great way for Zoey to have that first bond with her daddy.

Lastly, for fun, define motherhood!

Motherhood is cuddles, kisses and endless love. It is the ability to love someone more than you could have ever though you could love anyone or anything. It is sacrificing in a way you didn’t think you could ever sacrifice before, you don’t even think twice about it, because you’re no longer number 1, your child is (and that makes you happy). Motherhood is also realizing that you parents were right; their advice, their sacrifices, their love and their long lectures….they were right.

To hear more from Christie be sure to visit her blog A Style Soiree and follow her on Instagram!

NMM10-2

If you would like to participate in New Mom Mondays please feel free to message me by using my contact form! I would love to not only feature you on my blog but learn from your answers, as I’m sure many readers would too! 
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perfectroadtrip

Road trips are my most favourite way to vacation. Form my longest road trip of 18 days to short ones over a weekend. Traveling by car, with the hubs and blasting my music are definitely the way I unwind. Having just come back a couple months ago from my longest Road trip ever I thought I would share some of my tips on having the most perfect road trip.

1. Create a Budget

The first thing we did was a little backwards. We picked some of the places and things we wanted to do  and worked our budget around that. But for our next trip when we’re a bit more conscious of how much we can spend we plan to create a budget, then fit in the activities from there! There’s a million techniques on how to save! And I’m also huge on budgets so maybe post on that in the near future!!

2. Pick the furthest Destination

How far are you going before you head back home? This will help in calculations of days and gas! Our trip was from Kitchener, ON to Miami, FL which was a pretty far destination! This helped when calculating gas costs, days on the road, and food etc!

3. Who do you know along the way?

Next, is there family along the way you haven’t seen in a while? Do you have a friend with a couch along the way? Depending on how long you are traveling you will need to stop in places to sleep and recharge your energy! And you can save yourself a significant amount of money by staying with friends and family! Plus, you get to see some friendly faces!! We stopped to see family and friends in almost every location we went to!

4. Get the tunes going

Make an amazing playlist or two! I think I made four playlists for the trip! Different moods called for different playlists and it also depended on the driver! Every time I drove we were blasting the Disney tunes and singing along! We sang SO MUCH.

5. Make healthy snacks

We saved an incredible amount of money! In our ENTIRE 18 day trip we stopped to eat on the road twice! And that was because we had purposely wanted to eat at these specific places! Guilty pleasures and places we don’t have here in Canada! We made many healthy snacks! In the car, we had fruit and dips, small meals and quinoa salad etc in the cooler! We didn’t even have to stop to eat, we ate as we drove or took turns! Once we left Miami on route to New York, we did a bit of groceries and prepared more meals that went right into the cooler!

6. Make a plan but be flexible

We had quite the spreadsheet… I don’t generally like excel but it was helpful when making the itinerary for the 18 days of our road trip. It had addresses so it was easy to put them into the GPS, it had estimated times of arrival, when we had other things to get to, or events to attend. But generally it was flexible in the sense that we were ok with whatever happened! Like when the flooding from the hurricane closed all of the major roads on our way to the motel and we had a two hour detour in the rain and no streetlights. Laughter got us through everything.

7. Stay in cheap places, unless it doesn’t make sense to

Our roadtrip involved many nights in family places with warm and comfortable beds, to sleeping at the creepiest motel I have ever stayed at and then in five star resorts with king size mattresses (which I fell in love with, no seriously, I want a king size mattress.) The resort we stayed at had perks like early entrance to the Universal theme parks and skip the line passes! These were perks that saved so much time (and $$ because we were planning to buy them anyway) and allowed us to enjoy the parks for longer! So in this case, staying somewhere cheaper didn’t make sense!

8. Go with a friend or two

I traveled with my husband so it was pretty magical. I’d read in places we would get sick of each other after so long in a car but it was totally not true! We loved our time together and making memories with each other is an incredible blessing! Originally we thought of going with another couple but for such a long trip we opted for it being just the two of us.

9. Capture the moment but live it!

Our phones were our cameras for the majority of the trip but we also used the GoPro to video many of our most fun moments. Like being at the parks or going down slides in Atlantis Water Park! Remember to also look at the scenery with your eyes rather than through a lens! It really makes a difference!!

10. Have fun and be open to adventure!

A road trip is meant to be full of adventure! If the GPS breaks down, get a REAL map! Or better yet, get a real one to begin with, though this was more difficult when traveling through so many states! Do NOT stress! You are on vacation and if you meant to arrive to x point by Thursday night but you’re too tired and won’t make it now until Friday morning that’s alright too. Roll with the punches, laugh often and enjoy every second of it!

Have fun & be safe, but not too safe ;D ~

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NMM9-2
This post is part of the New Mom Monday series! A series about moms and their advice to new moms! Books and videos can only teach us so much, but there’s something special about hearing from real life moms. Honest, true, and always beautifully inspiring!!
Your name:
Kelly

Tell us a little about yourself:
I’m a Jesus loving wife and mama from Georgia on a mission to find and create joy in every day.  I love the SAHM life but I’m also a dance teacher three nights a week so I like to think I get the best of both worlds.  I am currently pregnant with my second little boy and am due at the end of September.  On my blog you’ll find a little bit of my journey through motherhood/second pregnancy and a good helping of DIY!
 
How many kids do you have? What are their names and ages?

I guess I technically have 2! Gavin (aka Mr. G on the blog) is 3.5 and Roman (aka RC) is currently in utero and due September 25th.

How do you find your “me time”?

Most of my me time is found after Mr. G goes to bed.  I’m a bit of a night owl with morning person tendencies so I’ll stay up a little later at night to browse a few more Bloglovin’ posts or catch up on a project even if it means less sleep when the little man wakes up.

What is the best baby related book you’ve ever read?

The only book I ever really went all in with was the classic “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”.  I read that thing religiously when I was pregnant with Mr. G.  The only other book that I read in regards to parenting was “1-2-3 Magic” once we started preschool and wanted to use the same discipline method as they do.  If you’re looking for a great discipline system, I highly recommend it!

What’s the most useful baby product you have? Why do you love it?
Since I couldn’t breastfeed my first due to the medication I had to take, I relied on bottles for feeding.  The Avent microwave bottle sterilizer was the best thing that ever happened to us!  Forget to clean those bottles for yesterday? No problem! Rise, pop them in the sterilizer, and just a few minutes later you have clean, sterile bottles ready to go!
If you could say something to yourself when you first brought home your first baby, what would you say?
He’s ok, you’re ok, you can do this!
How much planning did you do before your baby was born, and how do you think that it helped or didn’t help?
Not too much to tell you the truth.  I didn’t take any classes, not even birthing classes, and I don’t feel like I really missed out too bad.  I  mainly read materials about the pregnancy, visited the pediatrician (very helpful and necessary!), and did a hospital tour.
What do you believe are the top three pieces of advice a new mom or someone trying to conceive should know?
Trust YOUR instincts.  Nobody is right or wrong when it comes to raising their own child, unless they are harming them of course.  So whatever you choose to do is what works for YOU and YOUR baby.
What is your best memory so far of being a mom?
It’s seriously hard to pick just one but I have to say it was the first moment they laid my son on me, seconds after delivering him.  I have never experienced such a flood of joy in my life.  It as a feeling of “You’re finally here!” and “Oh my gosh, I’m a mom!“. 
Give us the short form version of your birth story.
I remember walking around the mall, it was the middle of January, the day before he as born to try to coax Mr. G into coming out.  I just didn’t “feel good”.  That was the only way to describe it and sure enough, 3 AM came around and my labor had started.  I had no birth plan other than I wanted an epidural and whatever the doctor thought as best for the health of my son and me.  I was not dead set on having a natural delivery, if I suddenly needed a C-section, than so be it.  But that as not the case, he just took his sweet time, 20 hours to be exact, and was delivered naturally.  For the full story, you can check out my birth story post.
Lastly, for fun, define motherhood:
It is joy, it is frustration, it is terrifying (at times), it is the epitome of the phrase “all the feels”.  You can have so many emotions, sometimes all of them, all at the same time!  But above all, it is joy.

To hear more from Kelly be sure to visit her blog The Little Things and follow her on Instagram.

NMM9

If you would like to participate in New Mom Mondays please feel free to message me by using my contact form! I would love to not only feature you on my blog but learn from your answers, as I’m sure many readers would too! 
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