Love, Life and Appreciation

We took a trip down to NC this Thursday and got back yesterday. We went down to Ahoskie to visit my aunt, cousin and grandfather. To get to Ahoskie, driving takes about 4 hours and 30 minutes. May slept most of the way down. We stopped once to feed and change her, as well as grab something to eat for ourselves.

We really think May enjoyed her time in North Carolina. At first she was crying when my aunt held her, but after a few moments she settled down and was cooing and aahing. When my cousin stopped by, May was so talkative. She was so observant.The country air did her good ;-)

Here she is with her Great Aunt:

We took May to the neighboring town of Winton, to a river. The river was very relaxing and every time I visit my aunt, I like to go to it. It's a nice place to look out and reflect.

Here's a couple of pictures we took:


 The ride back to Maryland took a little longer. There were a lot of cars on I-95 for the Easter weekend. We stopped twice and got caught in about three traffic jams. This wasn't May's first long distance drive. She's already been to New Jersey to see her grandparents, as well as attend my best friend Kate's bridal shower. From our house to NJ is about 2 hours and 30 minutes and May sleeps pretty much most of the way.

We'd also like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!!!

Today is our six month wedding anniversary! I'm so happy to be married to the love of my life. My love for my husband grows more each day. Though it hasn't all been smooth sailing, we will continue to learn about one another as well as caring for our daughter together. Here's to many many more months and years to come!

May is three months old today. She's getting stronger each day. I'm sure she's past 26 inches now and probably close to 15 pounds. May has been doing great during tummy time. She's holding her head up more on her own and it's pretty steady. Here's a picture from a few days ago:

We did one of those ink hand prints and foot prints. That's the little hand in the background. It was actually pretty simple to set up. Her hands and feet never touched the ink. Getting the imprint was a little bit challenging. Miss May wanted to move about. We got pretty good prints though :-)

I'm still breastfeeding May, though we're thinking she might be more preferring the breast over the bottle now. In a couple more months I'll be leaving Howard and right now I'm in the process of applying to jobs. I know I'll be on the go more so she'll more be getting the bottle. I hope that I can pump enough milk for her. I'm going to try Yogi Nursing Support tea, to try and increase my milk supply.

May still wakes up about three times a night. Some nights she'll only wake up two times. She's much more active during the day. When she does sleep she'll sleep for maybe an hour or two at least two times during the day. When she is up, I sometimes place her on her play mat and she kicks at the toys hanging down and pulls and tugs at the bird and rattle hanging down. She kicks with such great strength too.

May is also starting to suck her thumb, though she doesn't suck her thumb for long. We'll keep our eye on when she sucks her thumb. She doesn't have teeth yet but when she does we'll have to take that thumb away. My mom said I'd suck on my thumb a lot and I need braces. My mom also told me I didn't take to the pacifier and would always spit it out. May spits out the pacifier when she doesn't want it but she does take it when she does. May also is losing a bit of her hair due to a bout with cradle cap. Hopefully the cradle cap will clear up soon.

May isn't the only one losing her hair. I've had a bad case of postpartum hair loss. I was wondering why so much of my hair was coming out in clumps these past few days, so I Googled it and it all made sense. Now I know why some new moms wear short hair styles. I might have to join that train.

As I sit here and write this on my laptop, she's on her play mat just talking away and hitting her swinging rattle. She is going to be such a talker. We can tell. 

Got May playing with her rattle the other day. She was staring at me like "Mom, what am I supposed to do with this?" She's been grabbing on to more things lately. When we put her in the car seat she'll grab a hold of the belt. She'll hold onto my strings hanging from the top of my shirt, when she sits in my lap. I'll feel a little tug and look down and she smiles. She's been holding onto the rattle more since this video was shot too. Shake it May!

A few weeks ago, I filled out an online request form to receive free samples from Juara. The request form can be found here. I was first introduced to Juara, in the Spring Yuzen box. There I had received the Avocado Banana Moisture Mask. I tried the mask and found the smell a little odd, though the mask did provide my skin with more moisture in this dry winter weather.

I decided to research Juara more and saw that they offered many products that seemed wonderful for the skin. I have oily skin that is quite acne prone, and recently I've been looking for products to help with it. I decided to try the Rice Facial Cleanser, the Rose & Willowbark Blemish Free Mask and the Turmeric Antioxidant Radiance Mask. Within a couple days of filling out the form, I received the samples, absolutely free.

Here's the samples:
 Here is the Rice Facial Cleanser. I thought the packaging was very pretty. I really liked this product. The cleanser was a little slow coming out of the bottle, but it lathered very well and my face felt clean and soft after using it. It did not break out my skin and the smell was very pleasing. I think I'll purchase the full size of this product soon.



Thanks Juara for sending me these free samples to try.