Letter To Luciana: Ten Months Old

Dear Luciana,

I'm tearing up just getting ready to say it ...
Today, you are ten months old.
(You need another haircut!)
You can walk.
You prefer to crawl, but you can walk. And you do it all the time.You love your books. You love SuperWhy and Barney. You love helping momma bake cookies or do the laundry. You are SO helpful in putting away your toys or clean clothes. And them taking them out again. But then putting them back. And repeat. About a dozen more times.

You love the bathtub. And dogs. Every animal you see is called a "Duuhhh". No matter how many times we tell you "Cat" or "Bird" ... you say "Duuhhh".
You wave HI to everyone. Your personality makes us laugh all the time. You crack up at the silliest things.
You're wearing size 3 diapers and you're 9-12 month clothing.

You caught a pretty nasty stomach bug this month where you were so miserable. We all were, actually. Fevers, stomach issues, nausea, fatigue. All you wanted to do was snuggle for days. It was so sad to see, but you're finally feeling back to normal.


I cant believe that in two short months we'll be celebrating your birthday! Where oh where has the year gone?
Happy ten months!
We love you, Luciana.

Our Leap Day Wedding Anniversary

Remember this post?
When I was saddened by the fact I had nothing planned for our upcoming wedding anniversary?
The day we had FOUR YEARS to plan?

Fast forward several weeks and backtrack a few days (since it is now March 6) ...

We had a lovely anniversary.

Our morning started with no alarm clock as MrB had taken some vacation days. It felt wonderful to sleep in. And by sleep in, I mean to wake up by a hungry baby instead of a beeping alarm.

MrB and I had been gifted massages from my brother this past Christmas, and since we had never gotten a massage before, it would be a great way to start our anniversary. Even though it was a cold and rainy day, we glammed it up a bit (dress and heels and dress shirt and tie), dropped Luciana off at Oma's and headed out to start our day. The massages were great. Our beds had heated mattress pads, which I am pretty convinced we need to purchase now. That thing was magical. And so were our massage therapist's hands.

Our next stop was a local Italian restaurant, where we probably ate too much. Ate too much? Italian food? Impossible.
Trust me ... it's amazing how large your stomach can expand when being fed Italian food. My Grandma used to make the.most.delicious.homemade.noodles when we were growing up. We would seriously stuff ourselves to near explosion. That pasta was so amazingly delicious. And I digress.

Around midafternoon we picked up our baby girl (whom I missed oh-so-much while we were gone) and the three of us spent the afternoon snuggled by the (fake) fire, candles lit, pjs on and napped. Oh yeah, MrB had class that night too.

Around 1am I was awakened with gurgling stomach noises. And a wave of nausea. I spent about an hour hovered near the toilet and finally climbed back into bed around 2am, when I noticed MrB was tossing and turning, just like I had been. Chills. Nausea. What the heck!? Did we have food poisoning? A result of the massage?
By daybreak we were full on SICK. I called off work and we spent the entire day struggling to survive. And take care of Luciana. She was so wonderful - it's like she knew we were nearing death.
Days later, I'm still struggling with a bit of fatigue, Luciana is slowly recovering from the same illness and I've talked to my neighbors, my parents, friends - all of whom have been hit with this same stomach bug lately. Apparently it's going around and I can sympathize for anyone reading this who has suffered the same illness.

All I can say is thank goodness we were hit the day after our anniversary.

Internal Struggles

:: This post was written earlier this month. Please note that today, I am happy. I wrote this post while in a funk and had it saved to draft since then. I decided today that I am comfortable enough to post my downer day emotions. ::

They seem to creep up every so often.

The internal struggle with life. With work. With family. With blogging.
And the balance of everything in between.

I'm confused. I don't know what I want with my life. Actually no. I do know what I want with my life, but I'm not sure how to achieve it. And that, my loyal readers, is where the struggles lie. It seems that in my moments of weakness is when confusion rears its ugly face. I'm sure many new moms struggle with these same emotions. I know I'm not alone.

..........................................

I have sat and stared at this blank screen for minutes on end. Typing my feelings out and backspacing it all away. I wish I could backspace my confusion. And for once ... I'm almost speechless as to what to write about. I'm not afraid of baring my soul or sharing intimate details about my life. I range from feelings of anger. Hate. Confusion. Sadness. To feelings of pure bliss and happiness and love. And I must continue to grow and thrive on the latter.

I've turned off comments for this post. Not that I don't want your support or advice. I am actually finding comfort in those friends saying I'm in their prayers and that they're going through similar emotions.

Letter To Luciana: Nine Months Old

Dear Luciana,

Miss Personality.
Today, you are nine months old.This month was full of "firsts" for you.
You've learned how to clap. You can stand on your own. You can even take a few steps, unassisted. And those stairs? You climbed them the other week. Ohmygosh. You have learned some new coordination ... for example, the balls in your musical toys - you can now pickup the balls and place them in the slot they belong so they return to you - and cycle. Also? You can pop off the Puffs lid (not just with your teeth anymore!) and even pop it back on with your fingers. Amazing.

You're starting to gain a bit of independence and you'll sit and play with a toy or read a book by yourself. Speaking of books? You LOVE books. And will ask Daddy or I to read them to you repeatedly.

You know how to give a hug and will give us kisses when we ask. Actually, you give us kisses even when we dont ask. You give us kisses ALL.THE.TIME. Which is awesome. At any point during the day, you'll look over at one of us, purse your lips and stick out a semi-curled tongue. That's your way of asking for a kiss. And we never turn it down. Because it's just too damn cute. (this is your kiss)
You love to eat. You eat everything your Momma and Daddy eat. Hotdogs, chicken salad, rice, pasta, wings, pork, ice cream, pretzels, fruit, etc. Baby food? Yeah, that phase didnt last long. You've got a great little stomach. And we are extremely thankful.

Today was your nine month Dr. visit. You weigh 16lbs 15oz and are 28" long. He cant believe how far advanced you are. Your daddy and I wouldnt have it any other way. We LOVE how active you are. We've moved you up to size 3 diapers and you're wearing 6-9 month clothing. You're now bathing in tub, instead of your baby bathtub. You LOVE the tub! Splishing and splashing and playing with toys. And when momma gets in there with you? You have a blast!

You have been communicating with us in ways which we understand. We're still working with sign language and you've got "more" down. But when you can say "ma ma ma ma" and we know you're asking for "more more more more" ... who needs sign language for that word. You say "gog" (dog) and "ga" (cat). "Gook" is book. "Da" is dad. "Dood" is good and "Hi" is ... well, hi.
You love to snuggle in your blanket. And you love your monkey stuffed animals.

We still watch Shushybye and you smile every time you see them. Your nightly routine has been consistent - falling asleep between 7:30-8:30p and waking up around 6:30a. We're still nursing each morning, a couple times during the day, and before bed.
You're growing up every day. And although the thought of you no longer being my "baby" will bring tears to my eyes, I LOVE watching you learn and experience new things. You're so smart and so beautiful.

Happy nine months!
We love you, Luciana.

DIY Backsplash Kit Installation and Review

You know me, always looking for the next household project to work on.
Let me introduce you to my kitchen.

Kitchen. Meet blog readers.
Blog readers. Meet kitchen.
Kitchen's about to get a facelift.

I've been wanting to do "something" to my kitchen for awhile. It's nice. But it's a bit plain. MrB and I have talked about replacing our countertops with a beautiful granite. We've also discussed having our kitchen cabinets refinished. Both of those cost money. And a lot of it. Money that we work hard for. Plus, even though our countertops and cabinets are builders grade, they're in pretty good shape for a house built 15 years ago. And it's really hard to part with money for an aesthetically pleasing granite countertop or dark walnut cabinet finish.

So what could we do to spruce up our kitchen.
Cue DIY Backsplash Kit.

I've had my eyes on it ever since I saw it on tv. It almost looked too good to be true.
A DIY kit. Containing peel and stick tiles. Premixed grout. A float. A utility blade. Extra tiles. Gloves. Measuring tape. A sponge. Seriously - everything you would need to cover 15sq ft. So I researched. And read reviews. And vowed to one day adorn my kitchen with the beauty of it.

Here she is. Bamboo Mosaic Tile. I was like a giddy schoolgirl when UPS came knocking on my door. The color is absolutely stunning.

But I couldnt jump right into it. I had to do the prepwork first. My countertops had a back-countertop/backsplash piece installed. I can guarantee most of you have it too. I peeled it off. And by peeled, I mean shimmied and pried and strengthened those ab muscles while leaning over the counter to get it removed.
I wiped down the walls and removed the coverplates. So boring, when all I wanted to do was start playing with my shiny tiles! So I layed them out on my countertop - measuring and aligning and prepping everything beforehand. I wanted to do it right!

And then I started to stick. What an exciting moment! I knew I was going to love the difference!
The adhesive backing on these tiles is no joke. You better hope you get it right the first time because once it's in place, it's staying there. Or you'll be spackling some accidentally removed drywall. Trust me.
The best technique is to peel a small section of red backing off, line up your tile and slowly start removing more backing as you're lining up the backsplash onto the wall. It was also incredibly easy to cut out assorted tiles, like around the outlets or lightswitches.


Once the tiles are in place, it's now time to grout.
I will be completely honest ...

It's at this point that I curse myself. I dislike grout. Very much. But the DIY Backsplash Kit makes it so convenient and easy to use. Cut the bag, squeeze some onto your float and grout away.

Only grout small sections at a time because it will dry quickly and be difficult to wipe away. Take a wet sponge and start wiping the tile down. And again. And again. You can see below the difference between a grouted section of tile on the left, and the ungrouted tile on the right.

After grouting is all done, a slight film will appear on the tiles. You'll want to wipe them down once more to remove that haze. And the final result?


The size of my kitchen did require more than one kit. There are expansion packs that can be purchased which supply you with an additional section of material for a smaller cost.

So who loves before and after shots? I've put some together for your viewing pleasure. It makes an incredible difference, no? My kitchen feels so much more expensive.



What do you think? Are you amazed at how easy it appeared and how stunning it looks afterwards? Have you been thinking about purchasing a kit for yourself? Has this review helped you in your decision?

Here's why I ask ...
I was gifted a limited number of coupon codes for the online store. And I would love to pass it along to you, if you're truly serious about making the decision to purchase a kit for yourself. And I'd love to see your before and after photos, as well. You can follow DIY Backsplash Kit on Facebook HERE or on Twitter HERE.