I Lost 50 Pounds and You Can, Too!

It's that time of year where "Congratulations Class of 2015" is displayed all over Hallmark stores, gift shops and photos of college grads celebrating are flooding my Facebook newsfeed. I remember being excited that I was graduating, but besides the literal raining on my day that happened (it was cold and pouring rain), I also felt FAT... probably because I WAS fat. Starting my second year, the weight just slowly crept on, and I slowly got bigger clothes. Senior year, I stayed up late at night drinking wine and eating cheese. I thought I was so cool. I was never "thin" in high school, but probably a size 8 or 10, and around 150 pounds. My college graduation dress was size 14.

After I graduated college, I moved back home to Florida and spent the summer drinking tropical drinks poolside and eating tons of food. I was stretching the limits of the "normal" clothing sizes offered at that time in stores, wearing a size 16. I had heartburn, I was mildly depressed, and I felt terrible about myself. I decided that maybe I shop hop on a scale. I did not own a scale so I weighed myself at the local grocery store (Publix). 189. How did this happen??? What am I going to do?

Who I Am & Why I Blog

This blog started as a way to document my pregnancy, I took weekly pictures of my baby bump and shared them with friends and family. Then I started reading information that seemed so important to me that I just had to share it. So I started posting "public service announcement" types of notices in an effort to spread the word. There were some things I feel so passionately about that I post about them frequently, because I know that if more people knew about them, the world could be just a little bit better.

I recently described this blog as a place where people can hear more about my life as a:

babywearing, cosleeping, coshowering, baby-led weaning, extended breastfeeding, extended rear-facing carseat supporting, parent-facing stroller using, postpartum OCD, attachment-parenting mom.

Those are all things that are related to being a mom, that I was trying to keep off of Facebook (not all my friends want to hear about extended breastfeeding and things of that sort).


I am also a:

part-time working, husband-loving, dog-walking, weight-losing, nature photographing, style-searching, extra-wide shoe buying, control-freaking, project managing, sunshine-loving woman. 


I would love to know more about my readers... Who are you?

Review: StitchFix #4

I will be totally honest and admit this wasn't my best Fix. There were some good pieces in there but they just didn't work quite right for me. I received a nice email apologizing that this wasn't my best fix and urging me to update my Pinterest page. So I have been happily Pinning away!

You can check out my style inspiration here: Stylish Mommy

And here's the photos of me "modeling" my Stitch Fix...

Tips for Traveling with Baby

With another trip right around the corner, I thought this was a great time to share my tips for traveling with a baby with you all. These generally apply to babies from 4 months to 24 months of age. We have taken three multi-state (i.e. over 6 hours) road trips and three flights with baby. I even did the solo flight with baby-  it was totally fine!

I know these won't work for everyone, but here's what has worked for us...

(this post contains Affiliate Links)

Getting to the Airport: 
I pack one suitcase for baby and me. I use Rick Steves Packing Cubes to keep our clothes organized. I also pack a giant pack of diapers and wipes. I put our secondary convertible carseat in a JJ Childress Ultimate Carseat Travel Bag.

On travel day, we drive our car with our primary carseat (Peg Perego) to the airport and put the secondary carseat, a Britax Roundabout Convertible Carseat, in the trunk so its ready to go. The suitcase and carseat immediately gets checked (at the curb) when I get to the airport.

EVERY MOTHER COUNTS

Looking for a great gift idea for the mom in your life?
Try shopping here: http://everymothercounts.org/pages/shop

All of these companies have partnered with EVERY MOTHER COUNTS to provide safe and healthy pregnancies and births for women around the world.

One of my best friends just became a new mom yesterday and I immediately knew that I wanted to get her an EVERY MOTHER COUNTS product to welcome her to mommyhood. I know that she'll love the fact that it's helping other moms, too.

MAKE EVERY PURCHASE COUNT

Article: Perceived Insufficient Milk

I posted this article on my Facebook page a year ago and I still think it's one of the most important issues regarding beginner breast feeders. I've heard so many people tell me they stopped breastfeeding because they had low supply. Cluster feeding plays a big part too, if a mom doesn't understand that it's normal for baby to want to just keep suckling, she may think that baby is starving and she may supplement or totally give up.

Check out this article from the always helpful KellyMom website:

http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/perceived-insufficient-milk/

What do you think?

Recipe: Pesto Quinoa Chicken with Lemon Pepper Pappardelle Pasta

Do you need an easy meal for your family tonight? You can make this delicious meal with simple ingredients from Trader Joes that everyone will love!

Review: Mama's MilkBox #2

My second Mama's MilkBox just arrived and I couldn't wait to try this stuff on! It is packed full of awesome brands- boob, milk, and Loyal Hana. My only complaint with this box is that I wish I could keep everything, I want it all!

Video: Growing a First Food Movement

My favorite Lactation Consultant sent out this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhx-R6p1xAQ

The video explains the history of breastfeeding, and how formula was developed only for those babies who cannot breastfeed.

Workout Wednesdays

Doctors orders! At my annual physical last month my doctor said she wants me to drop the guilt of leaving work, baby, dog, husband behind and take time for myself, once a week, to go to the gym. I have been going constantly for four weeks because I always go on Wednesday- it's easy to remember, "it's Workout Wednesday"!

Being a Champion for the Working Moms

Since I returned to work, I have been lobbying for improvements for new moms and championing a support group for all working moms in my company (the group is 100 moms and growing). I feel very passionate about making moms feel comfortable and happy in the workplace, so this has come very natural to me. At today's working moms lunch I was given a very special gift from some of the moms in my office.

Milk Nursingwear: Take $10 off $50

My favorite nursing clothing store is offering $10 off your $50 purchase from now until next Wed, 5/20/15.

Here are my favorite summer pieces from Milk:

Follow us on PINTEREST

Follow us on Pinterest here:
https://www.pinterest.com/ExpectHappiness/

We've got almost 3,000 pins of all your favorite things - maternity style, newborn photos, baby shower ideas, home decor ideas, and of course food and drinks!

Happy Mother's Day!

{under construction}

I apologize for any confusion that may occur while this site is under construction. As I'm going back through all of my 300+ posts and adding Topic tags and making some other adjustments, some old posts are appearing as new.

I can assure you that I am NOT pregnant and that any bump photos you may be seeing (again) are from 2013!

I hope you like the changes and look forward to your feedback!

Best,

Kristi

Review: Mama's MilkBox

My Mama's MilkBox arrived last Saturday and I had so much fun trying on all the comfortable, practical clothes!

The box arrived to my house last Saturday and opening it was like a burst of color. Such a nice experience to have a little box full of happiness delivered right to my door, instead of digging through racks of clothes or doing endless internet searches.

Favorite Baby Products

I have several soon to be moms and soon to be moms to baby #2 reading my blog. Below I've listed some of my most favorite baby products- many of them are so awesome that I was sad when I discovered them because I wish I knew about sooner!

These are things that I learned about through word of mouth, things that may not be obvious registry picks, may be underrated, may be new items that moms of previous babies might not know about, or just random things that I like!

Baby K'Tan
Best wrap ever for new babies. I carried Keira in this until she was around 7 months, and got too heavy. Its soft, easy to use, and keeps baby in the ergonomic frog position, facing mom. Babies should never be worn facing outwards.

StitchFix Shipment #2

StitchFix is an online personal shopping service that selects clothes and accessories for for you and mails them to you!

My second shipment had some fun stuff and I ended up keeping a pair of awesome pants!

Mama's Milk Box (Review Coming Soon!)

I stumbled upon this awesome website via Instagram and I was so excited to talk to Elena, the owner of Mama's MilkBox- the clothing delivery service for Nursing moms! What a great idea!

I filled out the survey and my MilkBox is being shipped in the next day or two. I am really looking forward to sharing all the wonderful fun, colorful, functional nursing clothing options with you all.

Sign up for your own MilkBox HERE!
http://www.mamasmilkbox.com

High Needs Babies and Toddlers

All babies are "high needs" but some are more than others. I pretty much (happily) catered to anything Keira wanted, right away. I breastfed her, carried her, slept next to her, nonstop. I loved being attached to my little baby- it was like an extension of pregnancy, which I missed.

Things got difficult when I needed to do something that requires me to be separated from Keira- like shower, go to the bathroom, laundry, Etc. She never wanted me to put her down. She tolerated the swing (when she was a newborn), but that only lasted the first couple months. I started coming up with work-arounds, like a water friendly baby sling for the shower, once she was big enough, I wore her on my back (then I could do laundry, dishes).