Me Time

Now that I'm more settled with my Mommy duties and routine, I finally have some time to focus on myself and other hobbies I enjoyed before Miss Nora came along.  I wanted to Blog about decorating, one of my favorite hobbies has to be decorating and re decorating my home.  My friends and family can vouch for me,  every time they come visit my furniture has been rearranged or something has changed with the decor of my home.  I give my mom full credit for this trait, she was always adding fabulous pieces to our home and tearing our pictures from magazines for inspiration.  One of my favorite projects has been decorating my daughter Nora's room, its given me a reason to pull out my old American Girl dolls and be as girly as I want to be. Here are a few photo's

 Mobile Scrap Book  I made this from acrylic bulbs, and filled them with special items such as Nora's hospital bracelets, ultrasound picture, and sand from the beach she visited while in my tummy.

 Daddy Project, here Matt and my Dad taped off a mod square grid and painted it purple and grey. 

 Framed Art, I framed the invitation to my shower and displayed it above her changing table.  The art was done my the talented Jamie Mick.

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                                  Nora's Room

New Mom Report Card

Happy 2012, my oh my how my year has changed.
My sweet girl is now 5 weeks old, so I thought I would give myself a little report card on my performance.  As a new mom alot of what I do is trial and error so I wanted to share with you what has worked, what has FAILED and what got me an A for effort.

Our first Cold: Nora got a pesky cold right before the holidays, as a neurotic new mom I immediately called the Pediatrician. After checking her out they suggested a few non medical treatments, I also did some research on a more natural way to help get her through this cold.  What has worked for us:
1. Sleeping with a cool-mist humidifier (night time sleep as well as napping)
2. While my husband or I are in the shower we close the vents and steam up the room, we bring Nora into the steaming room and hang out for a few min.  We immediately noticed a difference in her congestion after her steam room experience.
3. The Bulb Syringe is our Friend, sucking goop from her nose on the hour every hour. 
4. Sleeping on an incline, we propped up her mattress with a blanket to create an incline to increase nasal drainage.
With these techniques her cold is on its way out.  I give myself an A for this one!!!

Night time Sleep: To help Nora establish a "better" sleep schedule we created a routine.  After a short feeding around 8:30 pm we start our night time routine.  Starting out; warm shower with mom, we did not have good luck with the sink bath tub (F for fail) so one night I put her in the shower with me, she literally fell asleep in my arms from relaxation. (A+ !!!!) We now shower for a short time every night; this also helps with her congestion (extra credit!).  After the shower we lotion with aveeno Lavender scent, put on warm P.J, and then feeding to top off her appetite.  To end the routine Daddy and Nora rock or dance to a few soft tunes on the Ipod. (A++for cuteness).  Knock on wood; we have got 5-6 hours of sleep every night this week!!!

Giving up Caffeine: Over the holiday I over did it on the caffeine intake (C- oops), by the end of the holiday weekend, Nora had a diaper rash and was going much more often the usual.  I eliminated caffeine from my diet and wa laaa problem solved.  If your little on is having this issue take a look at your diet (if breast feeding) try eliminating items to see if the problem clears up on its own.  Non Medical Cure, always and A+.

Overall I have to give myself an A+ for effort and Love