Fun Friday: Liebster blog award

This is a post that got lost in the shuffle, so for funsies. Here you are.. I am not nominating anyone because I have been out of the blogging world for awhile and don't even know.

The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It is to show new bloggers that they are appreciated, and to help spread the word about new blogs. 

Back in November 2012, I know I know I am way behind. 

I was nominated by Shannon from Sewing Barefoot here, thanks shannon!

The rules:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.

2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.

3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

4. Choose 11 blogs you love (with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.

5. No tag back (but please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you)!

11 Things about me:

1. I have been married for 1 1/2 years to P

2. I have 2 pets: a cat, Daliah, and a dog, Alex

3. I play roller derby

4. I often get a crafty bug to do something around the house

5. I don't often finish those projects

6. I like making unusual crocheted items

7. I love running for the sake of running

8. I will be running my 8th marathon in march

9. My favorite number is 8, my derby number is 88

10. I was born in Hollywood, Ca

11. pinterest is my downfall

Here are the questions I'm asking the blogs I nominate:

[1] What are a few blogs that you read on a daily/weekly basis? Young house love and Bower Power

[2] What is your favorite TV show? Parenthood and Grey's Anatomy
[3] How long have you been blogging? 3 years [4] What project(s) are you currently working on? Crate bookshelf [5] What is one of your New Years Resolutions? Be happy, healthy and spend more time with the hubby [6] What is your favorite pin on Pinterest? that changes daily [7] Are you a dog or cat person? both [8] Where do you buy most of your clothes? thrift stores [9] What is the #1 item on your holiday wish list? didn't have one [10] Do you need coffee to function? Or are you more of a tea person? coffee daily [11] How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to start a blog? my bf from high school

Mommy review 1.5 years in

So, I want to start with .. being a mother is easily the hardest thing I have ever done.

As Willow quickly approaches 18 months I just wanted to reflect on this wild adventure we have taken.

I love being a mother and it has given me a new sense of self worth and gratitude. Being a mother is unlike anything we know or want to know. You can read and prepare, but you don't truly know what it will be like until you are in the moment.

This also comes from being a postpartum nurse now, because I do see it EVERYDAY. 

Both P and I are pretty relaxed on our parenting methods.

This comes from several places, but we want to shower our baby with love.

We both work full time and want our daughter to know us so that also plays a role in this.

Mostly we try to take her lead and let her go with some corrections when needed. 

There are so many things, products, opinions, etc., out there  and we have found what works best for us, our family and, our needs.

Here are a few things we did..

We clothed diapered for over a year until she started to develop a chaffing rash because she is too tall/big so we had to switch to disposables. We use seventh generation free and clear.

We supplemented her from birth with Enfamil AR. This is just what worked for us.

We started solids  around 5 months, she was so interested in food earlier than that, but could not handle it. Now she eats everything and is food motivated. She had a real interest in eating with utensils so we let her and now she can feed herself.

We weaned her off the bottle just after 13 months.

She still mostly takes two 1-2 hour naps a day and sleeps 10-12 hours through the night in her crib. We give her milk in a sippy cup before bed (I know, big no no but that's what works).

She has slept in her own room from around 4 months and in a crib since about 6 months. We just all sleep better with this arrangement.

At the 18 month mark, she has about 20 ish words and some signs such as thank you, all done, more, etc. She runs, climbs, likes to feed her dolls and wipe their faces. She loves being outside and playing. For the most part she is a pretty happy and relaxed kid.

Having a toddler though, is like going on a blind date every day,

you do not know what your going to get.

~ Steph ~

Roller Derby Trophies

I was at it again making MVP roller derby awards for a bout this past weekend.

If you want to take a look at awards past click here, here and here

Thee is something about making these awards that I love. For this particular bout, it was a double header. Our leagues travel B team, Wipeouts and Wasteland Derby Dames for the first game and the Topanga Maulrats and Reseda Wreckers, a home team rivalry for the second (I played in the second as a Topanga Maulrat)

All photos by Chuck Gay

There was no "real" theme so I just chose something from the Dollar Tree and went from there

I had spare wheels and asked my dad to make the stand. So he mounted them using a dowel rod. I originally found a dinosaur, but saw the robots and yeah?! who doesn't love robots?

We screwed the robot into the wheels and sprayed them gold. I love the way they came out.

For the second bout, which was near and dear to my heart and wanted to resemble both teams.

The Reseda Wreckers have a bomb (see above grey shirts) as a mascot.

I found these plastic ornaments at Michaels. My dad made the bottom  base with a groove and a cork for the "fuse." I painted the bombs black and base red for there colors. What do you think?

So, the rats were last and they were harder to think of because its not halloween and plastic rats are not readily available. So my hubby and I made the rats out of clay, yup clay. Sprayed them black and purple base. They were a little unstable and wet so I should have planned ahead. Oh well. 

All the girls and there awards.

I really like making awards. 

What do you think?

A $2 picture

It's not just any $2 picture.

Last week I went to a local thrift store that I need to frequent more often and found this $2 picture with a project in mind. Well, that one project turned into three.

That's right.. I took that picture and turned it into 3 different functional projects.



1. (left) a handmade print for my derby wife
2. (right) a picture for my fall table decor
3. (bottom) a ribbon holder for W



The ribbon holder is the real reason why I bought the picture in the first place. So, I took the picture apart and really only wanted the frame. I sanded it and added the hooks on the bottom for headbands. Than sprayed it teal. I took some ribbon, I had, and stapled it to back. Super easy and functional. Now that W wants ribbons and bows in her hair, she will carry them around until you put them in, this is a great way to see what we have.


Do to unfortunate circumstances I did not have access to my money, but still wanted to decorate for fall. I found this printable on pinterest. I glued it to the cardboard that came with the picture. I added teal paper as a frame and added an extra piece of cardboard with some yarn as a leg to keep it upright



I really love how it came out .. FOR FREE!!

So, thats the frame and the cardboard keeping the picture in place.
Lastly I used the back side of the picture which was done on wood or particle board so it was thicker than a piece of paper. I knew I had been wanting to do this for awhile, than the idea hit me. My derby wife and I always say love your guts. Awhile ago Mandi over at Vintage Revivals posted this printable and tutorial for christmas. The problem is it is intended for a silhouette, which I do not have. So, I free handed in onto contact paper. I spray painted the picture gold (bottom color) and once that was dry I placed my cut out of the contact paper onto the picture. I smoothed all the creases and than sprayed in navy blue x2. While still a little wet I removed the contact paper. I was not sure how it would come out, but I love the result and so did my derby wife.



What do you think? Have you made anything fun recently?

halloween costumes of halloween pasts

As October is quickly approaching.. How did that happen?

ANyways, I was going through pictures of Halloween pasts and looking at my Halloween costumes. 

Let's get something straight.. I love Halloween, I love getting dressed up and I love making my own costumes.

So here we go..

2008: P is a pilot and I am plane decal; one of the pin-up girls painted on his plane. 

2009: We just moved into our new house and I found this dress at a thrift store. Pretty self explanatory.. Lucille Ball

2010: a 5 pack of crayons

and my individual costume as an orange crayon

2011: We went to a zombie themed roller derby bout in October and I made this whole outfit for $1

and than for halloween we did Super Mario Brothers + a 90's kid playing the game as a group costume

I was princess peach, again the dress was a another thrift store find

2012: the cast of Sleeping Beauty as a group

I was Merryweather, the blue fairy

2013: I had the help of my mom on this one and pretty much was still sewing this together the day of the party. It was my take on Ariel, The Little Mermaid.

And last but not least..

2014: My daughter and I as popcorn and a concession lady 

 SO there you have halloween costumes of my halloween past. I already have an idea of what we are going to be this year, but have not started to make them yet.

What are your favorites? What are you going to be this year?

Oversharer: The truth about Breastfeeding

Around Willows birthday I shared "our" ( I say our, because it was my body who did the birthing) birth story and everyone loved my over sharing so this "series/post" for all of your over sharers out there. 

This is all my opinion and what I have experienced through this process and was written intermittently during the process
Warning: this post is about breastfeeding and may or may not include pictures, fyi

Since birth, I have breastfed my little Willow.
She latched immediately and than we ran into multiple problems



When I held my breast my nipples would invert, thus making it hard for her to latch on. When a nurse saw this she recommended a nipple Shield. She measured me and gave me several. When the lactation consultant (LC) made her rounds she double checked and also approved the use of the shield to start off with and wean from there. In the hospital you have a ton of support available and we learned a lot and tried not to get frustrated. Especially that babies don't actually need any food for the first couple days, so the colostrum you do have before your milk comes in, is enough.

We were discharged on a Tuesday and had to go back to the pediatrician on Wednesday for a weight and jaundice check. Turns out my milk had not come in and Willow was losing a lot of weight and her bilirubin (jaundice) levels were high, which was concerning and we needed to start supplementing. This started the first of many internal fights of why my body was not goo enough to not be able to feed my baby without help. The next day we had a follow up weight check and she gained 4 oz from all that formula. From that day on we supplemented. Let me tell you that that little formula made me feel awful and I hated the fact that I was not given the full opportunity to try 100%. Granted I could have said no, but I was scared. Even as a nure when it is your baby or your body it is a very scary thought to think about.



A week later Miss W and I spent days naked and just did nurse ins. I took fenugreek, drank tea and baked cookies. It helped here and there, but the only thing that improved things was the amount of feedings I was having. Some days we gave her more formula than others and some days, mainly when P was away, she didn't get any. Still til this day she usually gets at least one bottle of formula before bed.



I am a modern women and have slowly come to the conclusion that I can not have everything. Every ounce I give my daughter is better than nothing. I have been back to work for over  a month now and pumping sucks. Again I was back to eating cookies, drinking tea and taking supplements. I changed the amount and frequency I was pumping. Last night I pumped 10 whole ounces while at work, I know women who do not have a problem with supply and that is not a lot, but it is a huge improvement for me from the 5-7 ounces I was pumping.

As time went on breastfeeding and pumping became second nature, but I still felt tied down by it. We started solids just shy of 6 months and that made her very happy. Willow weaned herself from the breast around 9 months. When I say she weaned herself she would scream at me when I would put her on so we stopped. I still follow her cues and take her lead. It was amazing to go as long as we did and that makes me happy. I am glad that I could provide for her for that long. At her 12 month visit she is 90-95th% in height, weight and head circumference so we can not complain.


How was your breastfeeding journey?

Life

Hello.. Web universe.. How are you! [crickets]. Ok .. That's fine. 

I have just  been thinking about where I have been and where I am now.

Two years ago, I was working on my beast of a unit that I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot of my basic nursing skills from and miss every day. I was traveling a lot because P was working for the airlines, which was tough but fun. We lived in our house on Pennsylvania street. And.. Almost married 2 years.

Fast forward..

We are living in our 2nd apt in California, have a 9 month old daughter, I work at Cedars-Sanai, and P is flying rich people around in a G4. Yeah, it's different but I wouldn't change it for the world. If you would have asked me 2 years ago if I would see my self here the answer would be no. I never thought we would leave Illinois or have kids so soon, etc etc. it's funny how life works that way?



~ Steph ~