Mother's Day Trip to NY

Jesse, Emi and I spent a week up in central NY visiting Jesse's mom and stepfather for Mother's Day.  I got to enjoy my first Mother's Day relaxing, taking two naps and not changing a diaper or preparing any food the entire day. :)

We always enjoy our time in CNY with Fred and Connie.  Here are some highlights:

Not so sure about Grandpa Fred yet, but at least she wasn't crying. :)

Playing with Nonna

So much fun!

Having lunch at the lake and trying to minimize sun exposure- hence the awesome sun hat.

Me relaxing with a cold one.  Haha, jk.  That is Grandpa Fred's.  I don't know why I think it is so funny that it looks like the beer is mine.

We took a short drive to the town of Cazenovia, which is about 20 minutes away up in the mountains.  It has a cute main street and happens to be the hometown of Ann Burrell from the Food Network (one of my favorite Food Network stars).  After a little stalking and talking to store owners, we found out her mother owns a flower shop on main street.  So of course we stopped in and chatted with Momma Burrell for a little bit, which I just thought was so cool.

Fred and Connie live way out in the country.  The closest town, Chittenango, is about 10 minutes away and happens to be the birthplace of Frank L. Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz. They have an Oz festival every year, and there are a couple of stores devoted to selling all things Oz that I have always wanted to visit and finally got to during this trip.

Poppies!

Emi 4 & 5 Months

OK, so I'm a bad mommy blogger.  Maybe Emi will just get posts every other month. That's not so bad, right?

Four Months
My little girl is getting so big way too fast. At four months, Emi's pediatrician told us we could (and should) put her in her crib to sleep.  I knew it was time, she was just getting too long for her little bassinet.  So the night of her 4 month checkup Jesse and I did normal bedtime routine: bath, lotion/massage, jammies, family prayer, nurse and down for sleep.  When we laid her down she was looking up at me with those big brown eyes and looked so tiny in her big girl crib...I told her I love her then walked out and balled!  Jesse was already sitting in our room ready to console me and let me cry on his shoulder.  I really do like having our bedroom back to ourselves so we don't have to tiptoe around and whisper, but I still miss her once we put her down at night.

Mmmmm, so yummy!

Also at her four month mark we were told that she could start eating solids.  I bought some organic oatmeal cereal and we invited my parents over for dinner and to see her eat her first food.  She got cereal for three nights.  We had a rough couple of days around that time, the third day was full of particularly high-pitched painful wails that ended after a big diarrhea (TMI? I think baby bowel movements are ok to talk about). I figured her tummy wasn't handling the cereal very well and decided to skip it that night and see if we had a better day the next day.  Lo and behold my angel baby was back, smiley and happy as ever. Jesse and I decided we should wait until she turned 5 months to try cereal again.

Somewhere in between 4 and 5 months...

Emi has been "talking" since she was really tiny, but lately she has been finding new things to do with her voice and mouth that are just so cute...or maybe just cute to me. :)

Five Months
Five months has brought so many changes!  Emi has gone through a major growth spurt- at least it seems so, I should probably weigh her. We started her on cereal again and her tummy is doing really well, she LOVES to eat (not a huge surprise). Thank goodness for that too, because I would feel so horrible whenever we would eat because she would smack her lips and drool because she wanted some too!

I love Mr. Elefante!

Emi has also begun grabbing everything and putting things in her mouth.  Thankfully she is pretty content with her toys right now and doesn't get upset when I don't let her take my phone, the remote, my iPad or other non-Emi things. It's really cute when I am dressing her or changing her diaper and she grabs my arm with both hands like she's captured me.  Along with the discovery that she can use her hands, she has also learned to play games with me. She thinks it is hilarious when someone "eats" her hands or feet, so she will put her hand up to my mouth and I will gobble it, which makes her giggle and pull it away, then she'll repeat.  It is just so neat that she can interact and show her sense of humor. A few short months ago she couldn't even smile and now she is giving me belly laughs and squeals of joy. It's just too precious.


I can't even describe how much I love this little girl, and my love grows more and more every day which really kind of baffles my mind.


Months 4 & 5.  Serious growing action!

My Little Shark Baby

I love Emi's hair. Jesse and I were pretty sure she would come out with a full head of black hair, but we didn't expect her to have quite so much...volume. No matter what I do, the hair on the back of her head sticks up and curves to a point like a shark fin, earning her the nickname "shark baby." Some days it sticks straight up. People have asked me if I mowhawk her hair on purpose, but it's quite the opposite. I have tried combing her hair in all different directions to make it lay down, but to no avail.

I love my little shark baby.

Happy Easter!

Emi's 1st Easter was pretty uneventful because she is too little for baskets, egg hunts and learning about the resurrection of our Savior. I think it will be so fun to have the Easter Bunny come next year though, and I'm sure she can learn a little bit about Jesus Christ at that age. For now I will just enjoy my cute little baby that isn't running around getting into everything.

My mom worked extremely hard sewing for weeks to make the prettiest dresses for my 4 nieces and Emi. The girls all looked adorable. Emi spit up on hers about five minutes into church and then decided it would be fun to chew on it, but I don't think you can really tell in the pictures.

She also had a couple of "My First Easter" outfits courtesy of CocoPop (Jesse's dad) and his girlfriend Carol. Sadly I only got a picture of her in one of the outfits. I love how Emi's feet are blurry in almost every picture I take of her. She is always kicking, kicking, kicking!

Emi 2 months and 3 months

Apparently I am a bad mommy and forgot to write a post about Emi at two months. And I had visions of myself scrap booking for her...hah! I looked back in my journal to see what was going on at that time and at two months Emi was smiling more and more, and was cooing a lot. The biggest thing going on at that time, and I think the reason for not posting about her 2 month birthday, was the hours of screaming and crying she went through every night. Jesse was traveling quite a bit around that time and I think I was just trying to survive. I'm pretty sure that is why God created families...because parenting is way too hard to do alone. I have a new respect for single parents.

Emi's 3 month birthday was the magical birthday. It's like she matured over night and became a completely different baby. I was holding her one night and noticed that it was about 7 pm and she was calm. I took advantage of the situation and started the bedtime routine that I had been dreaming of for a couple of months (since her jaundice wore off and she was no longer a peaceful, sleepy baby). I gave her a bath, then a mini lotion massage while singing songs, we had family prayer, then Jesse rocked and sang to her and we put her down and she fell asleep all on her own. We have done this every night since and she will even put herself to sleep if we put her down while she is wide awake and stays that way till about 4am. It's amazing. She is such a good little baby. We've also magically worked into a routine for the morning and now we are working out the afternoon as well. I really think it is because she is so good and has worked it out for herself...maybe she was trying to do that all along and it just took me three months to figure it out. Hopefully I'll do better with our next one because I'll have some sort of clue as to what is going on!

Emi has developed into a sweet, smiley, happy little baby and I feel so blessed to be her mommy.

Look at her grow!

Notice the receding hair line and extra volume on top. So cute!

Kristal's Drug Store Beauty Favorites

Now that I've said goodbye to my beloved high end beauty products, it's time to move on to more affordable items that I love just as much...well, almost as much.

1. Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark Circle Eye Roller, $12.99

My name is Kristal, and I have dark circles under my eyes. I love this stuff. I used this even before changing over to drug store products. All you do is roll it on under your eyes and gently spread it around. Your eyes are instantly brightened without having the heavy look of concealer. I don't wear foundation on a daily basis, usually just on Sundays for church or when Jesse and I are going on a date. Most days I will swipe this on and just do my eye makeup. On really lazy days I will use this, eyebrow powder, mascara and the tiniest bit of eyeliner.

2. Maybeline Color Tattoo Cream Eyeshadow, $5.84

A lot of people say these work just as well as Mac paint pots as a primer to keep your shadow on all day. I've never used paint pots but this keeps my eyeshadow in place almost as well as my Lorac eye primer. I think the key is not putting it on too heavily, or else it will crease. They have all sorts of crazy colors, but I only have the shade shown above, Tough as Taupe. I swipe it on my entire lid, blending up into the crease a bit, then lighten up the inner corners of my eyes with a champagne colored shadow and darken the outer corners with whatever darker color I'm in the mood for that day.

3. Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume mascara, $6.94

This gives a good amount of volume and drama for a great price. I have the regular and waterproof versions and they both work great. I like the plastic brush because it allows you to get every little lash covered with product.

4. Maybeline Great Lash Mascara in Clear, $4.44

I love this mascara. It makes your lashes look so luscious, and is the perfect product to create "come hither" eyes. Haha, just kidding. Clear mascara, seriously? What's the point? I use this for eyebrow gel. After I fill in my brows I brush them into place with this and it helps them stay put throughout the day.

5. Loreal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black or Loreal Telescopic Waterproof eyeliner, both $8.49

These are both great liquid liners. The felt tips make them easy to apply, and the formula is super dark which I love. The lineur intense does rub off pretty easily if you cry or your eyes water. The telescopic stays put through everything, and actually comes off with relative ease at the end of the day which is always my struggle with waterproof products. I haven't found a pencil eyeliner in the drugstore that I like because I have chronic eyeliner smudge problems. I use this stuff almost every day anyway, and my Urban Decay eyeliner will last for a long time if I only use it occasionally. :)

6. Loreal HIP Eyeshadow Duos, $7.14

These shadows have a lot of pigment and go on smooth and easy. They're the best shadows I've found at the drugstore by far. However, they come in all sorts of crazy color combinations which makes it hard for me because I may love a pretty brown shade, but what in the world am I going to do with the lime green that comes with it? The one in the picture above seems like a nice neutral combo, it is called Energized.

7. Loreal Colour Riche Lip Balm in Nourishing Nude, $7.99

I'm not big on having a lot of color on my lips, I prefer to put all the drama into my eyes. This product gives the perfect hint of color and I love that it is a balm. It just feels so good on my lips and it smells like cotton candy. They have more adventurous colors if that is your thing.

I don't feel like my quest of filling my beauty arsenal with quality drug store products is complete. I just bought Garnier's BB Cream. BB Cream is the new craze in skincare- it's supposed to be a moisturizer, primer, foundation and sunblock all rolled into one miracle product and I think Garnier is the only drugstore version out there. Unfortunately I think I may have snagged the last tube of the light/medium shade in Bel Air. OK, maybe not, but the Walmart in Fallston has none left and I got the last tube at the Bel Air Target. I have read some glowing reviews for the product so I can't wait to try it!

I'm not sure if anyone actually reads my blog, but if you have some product recommendations I'd love to hear them!!

Kristal's High End Beauty Favorites

Emi hasn't had a blog post in a long time! Bad mommy. Actually, I have written a couple of posts, but the pictures from my phone aren't loading onto the computer so daddy has to fix whatever is going on before I can add the pictures and publish them. He's travelling most of the next two weeks so it will be a while longer.

It's no secret that I love beauty stuff. I am like a kid in a candy store when I am in Sephora. I can stay there for hours and want to take everything home with me! I love hearing about people's favorite beauty products because I am always looking for something better, or just new and exciting, so I thought I would post some of my favorites here. Since we have recently become a one-income family I have been on a mission to find the best drug store beauty products that I will write a post about soon, but first I thought I would write about my favorite high-end as a way to say goodbye to them and for those of you that aren't adjusting to losing an income.

1. Lorac Behind the Scenes eye primer.

Don't you hate it when your eyeshadow creases or is basically non-existent at the end of the day? Me too. That's where this miracle of an eye primer comes in. You just spread a touch of it on your eye lids and up to your brow bone before you put on eye shadow and your make up will stay exactly as you applied it all day long. It also makes your shadow colors show up better. It is $21 which is a bit pricey, but the tube lasts forever. Plus you can get it in a kit which is another favorite of mine:

2. Lorac Closeup: Real Life to Red Carpet Eye Tutorial

This kit is a $110 value which retails for $37. With the eye primer alone being worth $21, I think it is a great deal. I use the eye shadow trio all the time. The liquid liner is also really fantastic and long wearing. The mascara is pretty good, but the brush is a joke. I think I threw mine away. It comes with a little flipchart of instructions to do three different looks that take you from very natural to dramatic. It's a great kit for someone who wants to learn to do a more dramatic eye look. Although I wear a dramatic eye pretty much everyday.

3. DiorShow Mascara

The best mascara ever. This is the closest your eyelashes will get to looking as luscious as they would with false eyelashes without having to deal with the glue and awkward feeling everytime you blink. You're supposed to replace your mascara every few months for sanitary reasons, so with a retail value of $26, this was one of my first beauty products out the door. Santa did give me some in my stocking, so I am saving it for the right time. Who knows what that is, but it certainly hasn't been during the first few months of Emi's life; I've been rocking the bleary-eyed new mommy look. :)

4. Ojon Full Detox Rub Out Dry Cleansing Spray (that's a lot of words for dry shampoo)

I know it is not good to wash one's hair every day, but I really don't like having greasy hair. This is the perfect solution to that problem. Shake the bottle, spray it at your roots, rub it in, and voila. Your hair is no longer greasy and has extra volume. I think the smell is a little clinical, but some people love it. I've also heard that the bottle can get clogged so I would go with the smaller version which is $10. The large bottle is $24. I have tried many different drug store brands of dry shampoo and none of them work. The best solution I've found so far is to just rub some baby powder in my hands then rub it into my scalp. It works alright, but leaves a slight grayish hue in my black hair.

5. Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil in Zero

The perfect pencil eyeliner: it goes on smooth and dark and stays put. $19

6. Anastasia Brow Powder Duo

Ever noticed how much eyebrows make a difference? No? Well google "eyebrows make a difference" and you will see what I am talking about. I never go out of the house without my eyebrows filled in and I have been using the same little compact for about 4 years. It's probably not sanitary to keep it for so long, but I don't care. This retails for $22 and I may continue purchasing it because it lasts so ridiculously long.

Here are a couple other favorites that aren't as gush-worthy, but still great:

Makeup Forever Mat Velvet Foundation, $34.

Sephora Ultra-Shine Lipgloss in color 06

Goodbye my trusty beauty products. You will be missed. Next post: drug store products!