Still sick

Just when I thought Blake was over the worst part of this sickness, it got worse. Of course.

He had a runny nose and hoarse throat the past few days but he got his voice back on Wednesday so I thought we were almost in the clear.

When he's sick, I continue to breastfeed but I also thaw out frozen breastmilk to see if there are any antibodies that could help. He started showing interest in solid food again yesterday. We had soup rice soup with chicken. Yummy dinner for mommy and Blake!

But then while we were playing before his bath, his nose started running again. I ended up skipping his bath and have him a lukewarm wipe down instead.

He pooped in his diaper, which doesn't sound surprising but it is for me since he hasn't pooped in his diaper for awhiiiiiile. He goes on the potty... So that's how I knew he was still sick.

It was incredibly tough getting him to sleep last night. His nose kept running like a monster was inside his nose scaring the snot out. Ha! I took the NoseFrida out a few times and he hated it but at least he could breathe.

He finally fell asleep around 8... About an hour later than he normally does. He woke up a half hour later and his body was hot. I unsnuggled him from his blankie and laid with him until he fell back asleep. He woke up again... 30 minutes later and he had the saddest, little cry ever.

His bottom lip curled and he covered his eyes with his little hands. Then the heartbreaking cry came out and the tears started flowing. My poor baby...

He had a temperature of 103.3 F last night...

And of course neither of us slept.

I finally broke down and called BD early this morning. He doesn't usually visit on Thursday nights but I needed a hand and some shut eye. He didn't answer... And honestly, I started crying.

I was so heartbroken seeing my son so miserable and I was extremely exhausted. I was mad at the world at 5 am. Ugh...

BD finally got back to me around 7:30 am but I was so flustered and tired. Blake finally went down for a morning nap so I tried to go down for a nap too. 20 minutes later he woke up. We went downstairs so I could make coffee and saw BD was here!

Thank goodness!

I started getting tears in my eyes and BD just gave Blake a big hug. Then he sent me to bed.

I slept for an hour then BD had to really get to work so here I am. Up and at it! All I needed was that one hour.

I doubt BD reads this blog but if you do, thank you for the help this morning!

So today will be all snuggles and love for Blake. Hugs and kisses and as much fluid as he can drink. He can even watch some TV today! I'm kind of sad we'll miss his playgroup's egg hunt but if we stay home and rest, hopefully he'll be better for the real big egg hunt on Easter!

Catching Up

Since Blake has been crawling, I haven't really had much time to get things done. This boy is all over the place!

We definitely need to start babyproofing soon...

I have most of the stuff, like outlet covers (which by the way, I can hardly take out of the outlet... those things are tough) and door handle locks. I'm not worried about him opening and shutting doors just yet.

What I need to invest in are baby gates, cabinet locks, and drawer locks.

When he's not crawling, he is moving around like crazy in his walker. Back, forth, side-to-side, diagonal... every which way!

Aside from crawling, he's learning a ton of other stuff and it's just been so fun playing with him. I can't help but just bask in the happiness he brings me. He can point his finger on command and meet it with your finger (the funny thing about this is that his dominant finger on his left hand is his middle finger... so you'll probably see a lot of pictures with that thing sticking up), clap his hands, high five, and he is picking up on the sign language I've been teaching him (like how to say "more", "all finished", and "milk").

Yesterday we went out for a little "car" ride around the neighborhood and we brought Langston out with us. Blake had a little cold the past few days so we really needed the fresh air. I strapped him in his car, leashed up Langston, and out the door we went.

Blake loved the sunshine! He loved driving his car. But what he loved most was holding Langston's leash! Ahhhhhh... the sweetest sight I ever did see!

When Langston started to wander off, Blake took his leash with both hands and gently pulled on it to get Langston to come back to us. Man... that kid is a quick learner. Here's a quick little video I made with the Vine app. :-)

Anyway, that's my reasoning for not blogging as much as I'd hoped lately.

On another note... I've been giving Blake's old clothes away. He had a boatload of baby clothes that he grew out of and I sold a huge trash bag of them and kept the "special moment" ones. But then as I was cleaning the other day, I found two more bins of clothes! Not even sure how a little baby had so many things. I can't even remember how I fit all of this into his room.

I started selling some of his clothes on Instagram (you can follow us at @fromblakewithlove). We set it up kind of like an online pop-up shop. There really are some internet/phone-savvy moms that came up with this idea. I wish I was original enough to have come up with it first lol!

instagram @fromblakewithlove

I was surprised to see that most of the items sold! I shipped them all out yesterday and tried to make the shipping boxes cute so when they arrive, the buyers get excited. I know that usually helps me accept and enjoy the things I purchase online lol!

"one of the secrets of a HAPPY LIFE is continuous SMALL TREATS"

He Sleeps So Hard, He Sweats...

But the thing is, he doesn't really sleep thaaaat hard! Little homeboy still wakes up every so often, like every 90 minutes, during his nighttime sleep cycle. I never take him out of the bed, but I do breastfeed him and after 2 minutes he's back to sleep.

Even though he wakes up, he sweats like he's been sleeping in the same position for hourrrrrrrs. When I say he sweats, I mean he REALLY sweats! I have to put a waterproof pad underneath the sheets because his little head is just on fire. I tried dressing him down to just a diaper and a shirt and socks (because his little feet are always cold), but he still sweats. He only sweats on his head though. The rest of his body feels fine. He wears full on jammies again because his body gets a little cold. Regardless what he's wearing, his head sweats sweats sweats!

I would say it started when he was around 2 or 3 months. During his naps, I noticed little droplets of sweat under his full head of baby hair. Then it started getting worse during his longer sleep sessions at night. It's to the point where the sheet under his little head is SOAKED. Like he peed or something? I don't know how to explain but there's definitely a circle of wetness under his beautiful little head. I feel so bad for him so I try to shift him while he's sleeping just so he's not sleeping in a puddle. That can't feel good to him. Can it? 

Has anyone had sleep sweating issues with their little ones? I always forget to ask his pediatrician when we see her. Someone, please remind my forgetful @ss when we go to his one year checkup!

I Can Feel the Difference

Stroller Strides is a mommy workout I do with Blake. He doesn't get a workout, but he does get to hang out in his stroller and play with the other kids after the workout is finished.

Our classes are every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. I try really hard to go to as many classes as I can because it's a great opportunity for Blake to get out of the house and be around his friends. But there are times when I have to miss class...

I missed our workout last Friday and this past Monday... after a week of not really being physically active, I could feel the difference!

Does this mean I'm getting old? My metabolism is slowing down... again?!

I look in the mirror and the "kangaroo pouch" is back. WTF?!

So I'm going back to my gym routine on Tuesdays and Thursdays and going to try extra hard not to miss Stroller Strides on MWFs.

Has anyone seen a major difference in their bodies after just a week of missing your workout routine?

He Finally Did It

Blake's third tooth finally broke through his gums last week. Or maybe earlier, but I just found it last week. He's been drooling like crazy but no major complaining. Just chewing on whatever he can and soaking bibs all day!

The past few nights, Blake has been flipping over onto his belly to sleep and he has never done that before. It's frustrating because he'll do it while he's sleeping and then wake himself up. That just means mommy has to wake up, too.

Last night, after his bedtime bath, he flipped over onto his belly and... CRAWLED!

I was honestly starting to think he would never crawl. He enjoys standing and jumping and trying to walk but he always hated being on his belly. But he did it!! All on his own! Like it was nothing. Like he's been crawling all along behind my back and finally decided to share it with me. Lol! I'm thinking all that flipping in the middle of the night was him DREAMING of crawling!

I wanted to cry and giggle and jump for joy all at the same time. I was shocked. He started crawling 5 minutes before his dad came by to visit. When BD walked into the room, he saw the look of amazement on my face and asked what happened. I put Blake down and let him crawl over to his dad. My jaw dropped open again...

I saw the joy and excitement on BD's face. Blake was all giggles and smiles because he reached his dad by himself. And I was just happy. So super happy that my baby reached another milestone!

BD ran to get the camcorder and I cleared some of Blake's toys from the floor so he could have more room to crawl around. Naturally, he wanted to crawl to all the things he can't usually play with... Like my iPhone, a plastic bag, the iPad, and all the wooden furniture. BD wanted to run to Home Depot to start babyproofing lol!

Now that Blake figured out how to crawl, that's all he wants to do. Even when I tried to put him to bed. He flipped over onto his belly and crawled all over me and under and over the blanket. He was up a little later that night and I'm guessing it was because he was so excited. He didn't even want to lay still during story time.

And now that he's crawling... mommy's getting a little more of a workout with him. LOL!

I'm Not a Baker

I would say I can cook, but I don't bake. I was never really a baker mainly because sweets just weren't my thing. And with baking, everything has to be exact. Packed and unpacked sugar, exact leveled measurements, and baking times down to the second. I don't have the patience for all that. That's probably why my holiday cookies are always questionable. Out of the 10 batches I make, maybe 2 batches turn out tasty enough to give as gifts. lol!

But I'm trying to plan Blake's birthday and cake pops were an idea to have around the dessert table. They pose as decorations but Blake's guests can also stuff them in their mouths. ;-)

I've been working on getting pricing for them and didn't realize how the cost would add up. And if you know me, I try to cut costs where I can and find an alternate solution.

That means... I had to try and make cake pops on my own.

So I baked the cake and surprisingly it didn't end up burnt or mushy.

Then crumbled it.

Added some frosting and rolled them into balls. Pretty impressive I made it THIS far!

Next, I dipped the pop sticks into candy melts and stuck them into the cake. This is what makes it into the wonderful cake pops that they are! And guess what? My cake didn't topple over, slide down the stick, or fall apart on the stick! WIN!!

But the hard part was the coating. Did I want to use candy melts? Fondant? White chocolate? Royal icing? I was lost on this part so I tried a little bit of everything. The fondant looked smoothest, but didn't really hold the cake in after a few hours. I guess if I kept it refrigerated, the fondant would've held up but... I didn't. The candy melts held up the best (with some shortening mixed in). The thing is... it was just too sweet for my liking. The cake tasted just fine... it was the sweetness of the candy melts. :-/

Does anyone have any suggestions on making the cake pop less sweet?

Review Wednesday: Sugarlimelane Baby Leggings

I keep seeing all of these adorable babies in adorable leggings on Instagram and Facebook and, well, all over the web! I would love for Blake to be as stylish! We love one-of-a-kind type things over here and totally support mommy-owned and operated businesses.

Looking for some printed leggings that had patterns suitable for boys was a little tough. Just a little. First off, BD doesn't really like Blake wearing leggings. The word "leggings" gets to him so I just called them "printed pants" around him or "modern sweats". LOL!

Then after I finally found a few prints I liked, the price point was the next deciding factor. I needed some sort of deal here.

And on one of the baby discount sites I stalk follow, I found sugarlimelane. Perfect timing, perfect patterns, and a perfect price point! So I ordered two pairs!

Lyndsay, the owner and founder of sugarlimelane, is such a doll! You know how you can FEEL a person's vibe through reading their email responses? Lyndsay radiates through her messages. I could honestly feel her enthusiasm, excitement, gratefulness, and politeness all through our email conversations. She is a mommy of an almost-one year old boy! And she is very talented.

Blake is now crawling and he loves crawling in his sugarlimelane leggings. He's 9 months, but he's in the 75th percentile for height (and 25th percentile for weight) so all of his clothes are on the 12-18 scale since his legs are long. I ordered 6-12 months and 12-18 months from Lyndsay. 6-12 was a little bit snug on him but the 12-18s fit perfectly!

The fabric of the leggings is thick, but soft. They stretch well while he's moving around, too. Definitely great quality. Lyndsay even has her own cute sugarlimelane tag sewn in the pants. It's a nice reminder that I support mommy-owned small businesses. :-)

Blake looks so serious in the pictures, but it's because he was tired at a birthday party. He needed a nap but I couldn't resist taking pictures of him in his sugarlimelanes! We love the prints over here! So fun!

Go visit http://sugarlimelane.bigcartel.com/  and take a look at her other patterns. We ordered the yellow arrow leggings and the bicycle leggings. Can't wait to get our hands on some of her other prints!