My favorite new beauty tip :)

So have you heard of BB cream yet? I kept hearing about how wonderful it was but I was hesitant to try it. I finally "splurged" and holy wow am I impressed! I've been blessed with pretty decent skin. I rarely break out but I've still never been happy with my complexion. I have insane persistent dark circles under my eyes tht never go away and my skin one is a little uneven. The only time I'm comfortable is when I have a tan. I don't wear much makeup but I always prefer to have a little bit of foundation on to try to cover everything up. Anyway, I finally decided to try it. I just bought the CVS brand to get a feel for it. I was instantly amazed! It has a thick and creamy consistency but it doesn't feel like it when it's on your face. My skin was immediately transformed, and it felt amazing too! It gives you an amazing natural look. I didn't feel like I had anything on and kept catching my reflection in the mirror and actually not cringing at every small imperfection on my skin. It's definitely worth a try, especially this week. The CVS brand is only $10. They have a sale, spend $20 on CVS brand health and beauty items and get $10 in extra bucks back. I picked up my favorite undereye roller concealer, too. Which had a $2 coupon attached to it for the BB cream. Pretty amazing deal if you ask me :)

Ps... Does anyone know how to change the time on these silly blogs? I have my time zone set, but it always says I'm posting a few hours before I actually am. It's 5:05am now. (Why I'm up before Addie is beyond me) 

Have a great day everyone :)

My pregnancy...

Why am I up? I have the sweetest baby in the world. She'll be 2 months old tomorrow (don't even ask me how that happened!) and she sleeps through the night. Yes, I'm bragging :) Trust me, I know the alternative. Aiden was up every 2 hours on the dot until he was at least 9 months old. I know how incredibly lucky I am with Addie. She wakes around 5am everyday, eats, then falls back asleep for a few hours. The problem is, I usually can't. So here I am. I still can't wrap my head around writing a blog... Putting my thoughts out there knowing that someone else can read them. It's still a strange concept for me. 

So some people know what I went through with my pregnancy with Addie, but a lot don't. I was so sick, the whole time. What started as what I thought was "routine" morning sickness NEVER went away. I had to take zofran with Aiden. I thought I knew how bad nausea could be after my pregnancy with him. With Aiden it was an immediate change as soon as I hit my 2nd trimester. The sickness was gone and I had energy again. With Addie I suffered the entire time. By Nov (still in my 1st trimester) I was on 3 different nausea meds. I was taking zofran, phenegran and reglan around the clock. I still couldn't keep anything down. As Dec started I was so incredibly weak. If one more person told me to "eat saltines or try ginger" I was going to lose my mind! My dr had me admitted to the hospital for fluids. I was there for 5 days. I was finally released on a Friday, but told I had to make an appt in their office Monday to check in. When I went Monday I had lost another 5lbs. They immediately sent me back to the hospital and I was again admitted. This time I was in for 6 days. As the week progressed it became very clear that not much was going to help. I was diagnosed with hyperemesis and put on bed rest. My drs decided I was probably going to need fluids on a daily basis and iv meds around the clock. I had a pic line installed (a long term iv that is inserted into the major artery of your upper arm) I was attached to a zofran pump which gave me meds constantly and was able to give myself fluids daily at home. I had to meet with my home nurse once a week to have the dressings changed. A little over a week after I was home I was giving myself fluids and I felt a strange sensation on my chest. Its hard to describe, it was almost like a "flutter." It only lasted a min or so but I knew something wasn't right. I dismissed it thinking I just had air in my line. I finished my fluids and went to bed. I couldn't sleep though. I just had an uneasy feeling that what I had felt was really weird. Even though it had stopped, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I called my home nurse, basically so she could reassure me that nothing was wrong and I could get some sleep. She told me to go to the hospital, immediately. I reluctantly went. They did an EKG and the results were negative. I was ready to go home. The dr insisted on an ultrasound of my arm, just to be safe. While the girl did the ultrasound I began to realize that something was wrong. She profusely apologized, saying "I'm so sorry, I know that has to hurt." It didn't hurt, but I figured she was seeing something she thought should hurt. She took me back to my room in the er and said the dr would be right in. As soon as he walked in I knew something was wrong. He sat down on my bed and said "I know you are ready to go, but we have to admit you. You have a blood clot in your arm. A very large blood clot" He explained how very lucky I was that I had the symptoms that I did. He said a small piece had probably broken off and caused the fluttering sensation i had felt. By that happening it alerted them to a much bigger problem, one that probably would have gone undetected until it was too late. I had no arm pain or swelling. Absolutely no other symptoms that would have alerted me to what was going on. I was immediately started on an anticoagulant and wheeled up to a room. I remember the guy who was taking me to my room saying "I hope you get home for Christmas" Wait, what?? It was Saturday. Christmas was Tues. I thought I was just staying the night. Once in my room the nurses came in and explained just how big the clot was and how serious of a situation I was in. I did end up getting out on Christmas Eve, around 7pm, but mostly because I cried all day begged every nurse I saw to convince my dr to let me be home for Christmas. I had been so sick I didn't have any of my Christmas shopping done. James had been wonderful and picked up a few things for Aiden but I couldn't give him the Christmas he deserved. A wonderful friend picked me up from the hospital (James was working since we didn't think I'd be out) She took me straight to Walmart and we grabbed as much as we could in the hour we had before they closed. The rest of my pregnancy was pretty uneventful. I was still sick, and miserable. On top of that I had to give myself shots twice a day, in my stomach, for the blood clot. The injection itself wasnt so bad, but the medicine was SO painful as it went in. My stomach was soon covered in bruises and knots. 

Aiden was amazing throughout the whole thing. He would always ask me how I felt, he would make me auper sweet cards and never once got upset when I had to miss school events or little league games. When I wasn't vomiting I was dry heaving. I was ALWAYS dry heaving. One day Aiden was walking around making wretching sounds. I asked what he was doing and he said it was his impersonation of me :/ It's all he heard for months. I swear it was the longest 9 months of my life, but it already seems like it was so long ago. There is probably so much more that I am forgetting to add, but I'm tired and going to take a nap before Addie wakes up. Have a fabulous day!

Procrastination...

I've taken procrastination to a whole new level with this blog. I'm pretty sure I even completely forgot I had started it for at least 8 months. The rest of the time I am blogging in my head but never putting pen to paper. Or fingers to keys, whatever. I can't even begin to put into words how much has changed since my last entry but my very favorite thing, is that I am now a mommy of two! :) you don't understand, I never thought this would happen, ever. Not only had I decided that I was perfectly happy being single, I had several surgeries in 2010 for severe endometriosis and was told I'd be better off getting a hysterectomy because the chances of me ever having another baby were virtually none. They said I was lucky to even have Aiden. Fast forward and I've met the man of my dreams. He makes me so happy and as cheesy as it sounds I seriously fall more in love with him everyday. Then we found out we were expecting! I was excited, but sick. Very, very sick! I was in the hospital for 3 weeks in Dec. (I'll get into all of that in another blog) So fast forward and I now have an amazing daughter! :) She is seriously the cutest thing ever. Aiden has become the BEST big brother. I am so proud of how well he's adjusted to all of the changes. Long story short, I'm a lucky girl :) 

A Hair Affair

I think the number one think I've used Pinterest for is finding super cute hairstyles. Although I havent been on in a few weeks to update anything or look for any more fabulous things. I was actually pretty excited to see that a bunch of people I don't even know are following my hair board. I only wish I could take credit for creating those awesome styles.
I am so lazy in the mornings and I always end up pulling my hair up. Now that my hair is long (yay!) This morning I pulled my hair back and put on a headband and then I remembered one of the styles I had seen on Pinterest... It's called the Carrie Bradshaw bun and I had originally seen it on my friend Sunny's page. It turned out super cute (or at least I thought so) and it only took me a few minutes. I know I had a lot of people asking before when I had posted pics of styles I had tried. I figured I would do it in my blog rather than facebook because quite frankly I'm getting sick of Facebook and I need to write more tha 1 blog a month. Not that I'm sure anyone cares to read it :)

Mama Bear

When I decided to started a blog I think I forgot how much I love to procrastinate :/ I am forever thinking of things in my head to write but I never find the time to do anything about it. If I had someone to dictate to I'd have it made ;0 hehe It doesn't help not having internet at home... or should I say "didn't help"... as in past tense. (I probably shouldn't admit this because then I'll have one less excuse...) Oh yes, I finally took the plunge and got internet. I held out for as long as I could. I hardly ever use it, and for what little I need it for I always just use my phone or walk across the parking lot to my office. If I sit in my sunroom I can pick up the wifi on my laptop, but I still need to get the screen fixed on it so that doesn't help. I got an awesome deal on a super cute net book but it doesn't pick up the signal from that far and with Aiden working so far ahead in school he enjoys going on the advanced sites the school provides passwords for. Plus Sprint offered to send me a free mini tower for my apartment to boost my signal, but the catch is that it runs through, you guessed it, your internet.

Ok, I'm obviously rambling. The real reason I'm up hours past my bedtime and not able to sleep is because I have a million things running through my mind. I should be excited that my little man is turning 7 on Sunday, and don't get me wrong, I definitely am! :) But I am also sitting here thinking that we live in a scary world. :( We are raising our kids in a scary world. Do you know how easy it is for anyone to find out pretty much anything they want about you? What's even scarier, do you realize how much we tell total strangers about ourselves, and our kids? Take the other day for example, I don't even know where we were now, or how it came up. I'm sure we were in line somewhere, and Aiden being as cute as can be (I'm not just bragging, the kid is seriously freaking adorable) caught the attention of a woman who asked him his name and how old he was. Me (looking back wanting to kick myself!!) told him not to be rude and answer her. She then said she had a boy that age and asked him where he went to school and who is teacher was. Innocent enough, right? This happens all the time. It's the South, people are friendly, right?

Fast forward to today. I had lunch with Aiden at school. His teacher came up to me and said she was going to call me and she had received a call Wed that was strange. She had sent me an email Wed am to tell me Aiden's school pictures were in first thing that morning. I replied and told her I couldn't wait to see them. She replied and asked if she should send them home with Aiden that afternoon but I had gotten busy at work and forgotten to reply. Anyway, she said she received a call in her room after school (When you call you have to call the main line and then ask for the teachers room) and the woman said "This is Aiden Coller's mom" and so his teacher she said "oh is this Becca?" and the woman said, "No, this is Jessie. She's not his mother, I am and I want his pictures." His teacher didn't feel comfortable and wasn't sure if there was a step parent in the picture that maybe was the one calling so she said she was keeping Aiden's items at school until either myself or his father picked them up and she wouldn't give the woman any further information. I talked to Aiden's dad about it immediately, he has no idea who it could be. Neither of us know anyone named Jessie. He does live with his girlfriend, but she would never do anything like that, ever. If she did ever call for anything for Aiden she would never claim to be his mother or use a fake name. I like her a lot and she's very good with Aiden. I wasn't extremely worried about the situation at first but this has been eating at me all day. Why would ANYONE be calling for ANY reason for information on my son? I am so uncomfortable right now. The more I thought about it throughout the day the more these awful senarios ran through my mind. I remembered the woman we talked to at the store, and how many times people ask him what school he goes to and who's class he's in. And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that you probably think that I'm crazy right now, but this is my child and it's my job to protect him with every fiber of my being. I'm like a mama bear right now. I called a friend of mine who is a police officer and asked him if they would be able to track where the call came from. I told him I didn't want it to seem like I was over reacting but I just feel so uneasy about the whole thing. He said actually the school probably should have reported it as soon as it happened because they are supposed to be on alert when anyone other than a parent calls about a child and I should have called earlier in the day (like when I found out) because at that time, 6pm, there was no one at the school and now they have to wait until Monday to take any kind of report and try to track the call. I'm sure it's nothing. I hope to God it's nothing, but I would never be able to live with myself if something happened knowing I could have prevented it. I just don't understand why someone would call the school and claim to be my son's mother... Ugh! People!! You see these awful stories on the news and you realize that there are just plain awful people in this world and I will do everything in my power to protect my baby for as long as I can.

Yay!!

Ok, so now that I have an iPhone I have an app that will let me write my blogs so I have less of an excuse to not get it done. Not having Internet at home makes it kind of hard, and my Evo was too unpredictable to write something because before I know it, it would be gone. Sadly, I don't have anything more important than that to say right now. I do have lots floating around in my head that needs to be written down eventually, but for now I've got a sick little man home from school who wants to cuddle. Have a fabulous day all!

So, my first blog should be about something super important, right? Hmmm. Ok, I am about to share one of my biggest beauty secrets... Baby powder. Yep, I can’t live without it. I had read a long time ago that Angelina Jolie (or someone along those lines) uses it to get volume in their hair. I could usually care less about celebrities and what they are doing, but one day after trying a new shine product that left my hair a little too greasy I was running late for work and in a bind. I desperately looked around the bathroom and in an act of desperation sprinkled some in my hair hoping to absorb some of the greasy mess I had made. What I got was amazing results! Not only did it absorb the extra product, but it added a ton of volume! Even though I have super dark hair you couldn’t see a hint of the baby powder, I was amazed.

Like all good ideas I have, I completely forgot about it. That is until the next time I slept in and hadn’t washed my hair in 2 days. I grabbed the baby powder and dumped it on my head, and viola, amazing results (we are talking one of those days where people kept stopping me and telling me how gorgeous my hair is). So now I use it regularly, it’s great for volume. I usually use it before I go to bed, so that way I don’t have to worry about combing it through completely since my hair is so dark. It’s even better since I am the queen of the snooze button!! I finally got out of bed at 8:08 this morning (I have to work at 8:30.) I was here, on time, and I’ve gotten 3 compliments on my hair. I love baby powder! You seriously have to try it.