Felt bows

I've been trying my hand at a few felt bows lately. I love how bows look on my little one, and they keep her bangs off her eyes, so that's an added plus. 

I followed a simple tutorial I found at Ruffles and Stuff. I like that all you really need are scissors, a ruler and a glue gun. 

You can find the easy to follow instructions on her website. Disney recommends 1.5" for the small piece that wraps around the middle, but I found that to be too small and had to stretch out my felt to about 2".

I'm pretty happy with this style. I might try it again in green. 

Battling Anxiety

I had no idea the calming effect that coloring would have on me. I'm seriously obsessed with it. I've been battling anxiety all my life, and the older I become, the more I realize how greatly it diminishes my quality of life. It's a daily struggle for sure. 
For the longest time I'd chew gum thinking it was gonna be relaxing, but turns out it was quite the opposite; I chew really hard without realizing, and then I get tension headaches. 
My next thing was playing with Play-Doh (who doesn't love the smell anyway?). This one still works, but when I'm feeling really anxious I squeeze too hard and then it's no fun haha
And just by chance, I discovered coloring just a few weeks ago. It is super inexpensive. 

Here's my first masterpiece, ha!

The book I bought is Flower Designs Coloring Book (Volume 1) by Jenean Morrison. I got it on Amazon for less than $10. I chose it because it's full of flowers and mandalas. I don't really want to color anything realistic. I like these intricate designs.

I got myself some Pentel markers on Amazon as well for $16. Other people like to use regular coloring pencils, BUT I have a feeling I'm gonna start pressing too hard when I color and it'll become a problem. So, I like how I have to actually make a point of coloring gently because these do bleed onto the next page. I'm using a scrap paper to protect the other drawings, but there's only one per page, so it doesn't make a real difference if the ink shows on the back.

You can also download a ton of pages for free. I found a mermaid drawing I really can't wait to color. 

It's been fun. I don't get to do it all the time because, HELLO! I'm a mom haha but if I'm feeling really anxious I try to stop what I'm doing and color, even if it's for a few minutes to regain mental balance. 

Giuliana's bday

Giuliana turned 1! OMG, this was such an exciting day for us and I planned for a few weeks what I wanted to do. I basically was glued to Pinterest for a few hours every day trying to decide on the perfect decor.

I settled on a pink lemonade theme and it was so cute. We had play stations with all the wonderful gifts Giuli received from family before the big day.

This turtle was the hit of the party.

I got most of the pom poms from The Dollar Tree (they're great for party supplies) and the others I got from a generous mom. Hobby Lobby was running a 50% off sale on most of these super cute lemonade items, so I got pretty lucky. 

To make matters even better, I received a coupon for a free Shutterfly photo book a week before the party. We had done a photo shoot and it was perfect timing. 

Since most of the guests were babies, I got these non toxic bubbles from Toys R Us as favors, and then ordered these personalized stickers from Chicabug. She sells all sorts of cute party supplies and decor. I highly recommend her. 

The party was mid-afternoon and we offered light snacks and pastries, as well as baby finger foods for the littlest ones. I got these raspberry lemonade cupcakes from Sweet Daddy Cupcakes. They were soo good!

The final detail, and one of my favorite decor items, was this amazing poster I ordered from Princess Snap. I got the file and was super easy to print at Costco.com. 

Overall, I'd say it was a pretty successful one-year old party. There were minimal tears and lots of giggles. Giuliana was excited and we were beyond proud of our little girl.

Peg Dolls

A lot has gone on in the last year since my daughter was born and even though I had every intention to keep up with the blog, I was barely able to keep up with getting dressed in the morning haha. Giuliana turned the big ONE last April, and we had lots of fun. I'll share some of the bday decor later.
The other day I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a picture of a friend's little girl playing with peg dolls. OMG! Where have you been all my liiife? I decided I Giuliana needed to have these, but was sad to find they were a little pricey. They're handmade and making the real deal is truly an art, so I get it, but I couldn't justify spending $40+ on peg dolls.
SO, as usual I thought to myself, I could probably do a simpler version of that, and turns out I can!
I bought the pegs at Michaels, but you can get them for cheaper on Amazon. I just wanted to get a couple to see if I could actually pull it off.

I drew the hair and dresses on with pencil first and painted with regular acrylic paint and voila!

I was pretty nervous about making them, but I felt more confident as I went along.

Life changes

You truly don't understand how much your life is going to change once you have a baby. Sure! Everyone understands that your life is going to change, but not to the degree that it does. It's both terrifying and amazing at the same time. 
Well on top of that, my saint husband was relocated to Arizona and so we sold our stuff, waved our friends and family goodbye, and left the comfort of the life we knew in Costa Rica. Giuliana was 10 weeks old. Talk about your life changing forever haha
Right now we're in corporate housing in a lovely apartment. But our "real" life is beginning tomorrow and we're moving into our rental home. I'll be sharing a lot more about our new life, house, car. Heck! even our dogs have to adjust to living in the desert. We're still waiting for the temperature to go down a bit so they can fly out here. The flying mutts should be here soon though :)
We'll see where our American dream takes us. 

What a change a few months can make

Hi! Just wanted to take a little time to update you on Vicentico, the poor puppy I found near my job's parking lot. I'm sad to say that he lost his leg. Apparently the damage was too severe and the accident where he broke his leg had taken place a few months earlier. He must have been in a second accident right before I found him because his eye was filled with blood and he nearly lost his eyesight. 
I know this all sounds like terrible news, but I'm happy to report that Vicentico is doing great. He lost all the thick, coarse hair he had and now has a shiny, silky coat. He's no longer covered in ticks and his teeth and mouth have been cleaned. It didn't take him an hour after surgery to be back on his feet. He looks fantastic and he's doing fantastic. 
He adapted so well to our home, that after he lost his leg, we decided to keep him. He was neutered during the amputation surgery and his behavior changed greatly. He was skiddish and a little territorial before. But now, he's the sweetest dog. 
I think there are very few other things I've done in my lifetime that have felt more rewarding than caring for this animal. He's won our hearts with his superb attitude and I've learned a lot more than I could've ever imagined from this little 10-pound dog. 

It's a GIRL!!!

I had the most wonderful gender reveal party this last weekend. Our families came to our home and we had a great time. I put a lot of effort into the details because I wanted to make it special for everyone. I think my family got the most surprised about the happy news because they were all convinced that I was having a boy hehe. However, I have to say my best friend and mother in law were the ones who got the most excited. You can see them jumping up and down in the video below :)

We had little pink and blue clothes pins with dimensional embellishments. 

Everyone had to make up their minds before the reveal and wear one of the two. My mom went back and forth haha She originally said I was having a girl but that everyone convinced her otherwise ;) I guess mom knows best.

But I think the star of the party was the cake. Not only was it delicious but it looked amazing. 

My hubby and I made a cute chevron banner for everyone to see the names we had picked. So we're having a little Giuliana in April. 

Here's the video of the big moment!