Ever since I started watching HGTV more and more as I grew older and had the babies, I became obsessed with interior design. Watching shows like Fixer Upper and Property Brothers, inspired me to want to decorate my home the way you see the beautiful houses in the shows. Of course with two kids and a tight budget, it is always so hard trying to make your home look like something that could be in a magazine or famous blog. I always stick to Pinterest and YouTube videos on how to decorate on a budget or make my own home decor, and somehow I have managed to make my little home look cute in it's own way! With that being said, having a cute house is the easy part even if your decorations are subtle, but cleaning? Not so much! Trying to keep the house clean with an almost 4 year old and 1 year old running around like crazy as they play with their toys while you get started on dinner, is sometimes almost impossible! The other day, I managed to get some deep cleaning done while Penny took a nap and Ben watched a movie. I normally kick back and relax during this time but I told myself, no way Jose you are cleaning NOW. The night before the next day, I always pick up the living room. I usually pick up the living room throughout the day since Ben always messes with my cushions and I like the living room to look nice and tidy, but at the end of the day, the living room always looks a mess so I always TRY my hardest to pick up so that the next day I can wake up to a nice and clean space. The Dining RoomWhile the kids are watching morning cartoons after breakfast, I quickly pick up the table and wash the dishes and clean the stove. I keep a pack of wipes nearby so that I can easily clean Penelope's high chair. Baby wipes are a blessing! Afterwards, I always make sure to wash dishes as soon as possible after every meal because if I don't do this, the dishes just pile up and washing a huge mountain of dishes at the end of the day is worse than taking 5 minutes out of my day to wash 3 or 4 dirty plates, cups and skillet. A lot of the decor you see in the kitchen such as the Utensils jar, sign above the stove, fruit bowl, cookie jar and bottle drying rack are from Target. Other little things like the owl tea set on the stove, were gifted a long time ago that I managed to keep all these long years! The cow portrait was from Family Dollar that was gifted from my mom. If you couldn't already tell, my favorite color is turquoise/teal/Robin's egg blue. So you'll see a lot of this color in subtle decorations throughout my home. Going to the staircase, I keep a coat hanging device (idk what you call these haha!) right by the door. I hang here things like a small tote for when I'm on a run that doesn't require a diaper bag, rain coats, and the kids backpacks. I also keep a basket of shoes by the stairs for easy access. We keep the shoes that we use the most here. Up the stairs and into our one and only bedroom you will find our king sized bed! Every day after breakfast and washing dishes, I quickly come up here to get the kids clothes for the day. While I'm up here, I make sure I do the bed. I have said this once and I'll say it again, but I feel like if the bed isn't made, the room isn't clean! I feel like by simply making the bed, the room instantly looks crisp and clean. Even if there is a bunch of toys on the ground! Since my favorite colors are Grey and Teal, I like adding little pops of yellow here and there for a nice but subtle contrast. One can never have too many toy baskets! I feel like large baskets with cute prints or designs are a cute way to make a room look cute while hiding the kids insanely amounts of toys. And last but not least, the bathroom! I hate the bathroom when it comes to cleaning. I can honestly say that out of all the rooms in the house, the closet and bathroom are awfully neglected. Of course I make sure the toilet is clean because who wants to sit down on a filthy toilet, but I tend leave things out of place in here the most because no one is really in the bathroom or closet as much throughout the day. For the decor, I have things that are gifted like the bouquet of pink flowers that were a decoration piece at Penelope's baby shower, to things from Family Dollar like the golden Pineapple by the sink. Overall, there are many many days that I don't clean as much. Some days I'm mentally or physically exhausted, or BOTH and don't want to clean a thing. There are days when I go to sleep and leave the living room a mess or I forgot to wash the dishes. But as a stay at home mom and wifey, I feel like it is my duty to maintain the home clean. And as weird as it sounds, I like cleaning! It's not always fun but seeing my home clean just makes me feel great! Decoration wise, I buy a lot of things on clearance at Target, or cheap at Family Dollar or sometimes even dollar tree. If I get lucky, I'll find things at goodwill like our lovely dining table! Hitting up stores like Ross or Marshalls, is also a great place to find decorations for a lot cheaper than other retail stores. I'm not a type of person that NEEDS or WANTS brand items or expensive materialistic things, Because FAMILY is what makes a home, not the things in it! <3
As most of you already know, if you follow me on Instagram or have me as a friend on Facebook, baby Penelope is finally here! In a couple of days she will be 4 months to be exact. I know it has been a while since my last blog post, but lets face it, having two babies is hard especially when you're a stay at home mommy with a boyfriend that works busy hours. I have finally got the hang of taking care of two kiddos and managed to sneak some time to write about Penelope! It all started Saturday, April 16th, 2016. I remember waking up with a sudden urge to seriously pee! Or so I thought. I tried to roll my pregnant self out of bed without losing control of my bladder, but no matter how hard I tried to not "pee", it just came out! Oh no, I thought, am I getting to that point in my pregnancy in which I can't even control when I pee?! I ran to the bathroom, did my business, and as I was washing my hands, I felt the fluid again. I just knew at this point, it wasn't pee, it was my "water"! It all felt too familiar as my water broke with Benjamin as well, but unlike Benjamin who was full term, Penelope was barely 35 weeks and 5 days. I was freaking out; I was home alone with Ben, my parents were at work, Alberto went to go fix his car, and to top it off, my cell phone wasn't working so I couldn't call anyone! As I made sure that I had everything packed up in the hospital bags, I was finally able to contact Alberto through Facebook messenger and he made it home as fast as he could! When I got to the hospital, I was already 2cm dilated and I wasn't feeling any contractions then. I was practically pain free until around 6pm where my contractions begin to get a lot worse, and on top of that I hadn't ate anything since Friday night. I was shaking uncontrollably that the nurse had to give me oxygen since Penny's heart rate was beginning to drop. I began to get anxiety and my shaking got worse! I was finally 5cm dilated and I decided to get the epidural so that I wouldn't be in too much pain later on. At around 10:30 pm they checked me again and I wasn't dilating so they gave me Pitocin to speed up my labor, and boy did it speed up! At 11pm I began to have pressure in my vagina, the pressure when you know you HAVE to push soon. I informed my nurse and when she checked to see if I was dilating well, she gasped, "I feel her head!" she said, so she told me to start pushing as she called in my doctor to come in to deliver Penelope. I gave a good 5 pushes until I began to crown, and my doctor was still nowhere in sight! The baby nurses and nurse assistants came in to get everything prepped up, and suddenly, one nurse exclaimed in surprise "oh sh*t!". My nurse hurried towards me and literally caught Penelope in her arms! I wasn't even pushing at that point, the contractions did all the work! Penelope Micaela Gonzalez, born April 16th, 2016 at 11:27 pm, measuring 19.5 inches long and weighing in at 5 pounds 7 ounces! My little girl was born with a head full of hair but super tiny! I was sad that I wasn't able to hold her right away but I understood that they needed to go ahead and check her vitals and to make sure she was nice and healthy and that she could breath on her own. When I finally had her in my arms, I didn't want to let go! A week later I took Penny to her check up to see how her little premature body was doing. She seemed alright except that she looked yellow; jaundice. Ben had jaundice as well so I knew the drill: prick her foot, go home, put her in some sunlight and wait for the doctors phone call to see how her levels are. A couple hours later I got the call, "Her levels are at 22, take her to The Texas Children's Hospital as soon as possible". I was scared. Little Penny was in Phototherapy for a whole night. I never left her sight as daddy decided it was best to stay home with Ben. The next day we stayed so that they could monitor her and they finally discharged us the next day. 3 months later here she is! Penny is such a chatty little girl. She loves to smile and her favorite things so far are looking at fans, lights, rattles, and loves to nurse! Ben is still getting used to her but I know in the future they will be best friends! XOXO, ThaliaI have been meaning to post my monthly pregnancy update which is long overdue! I was going to post my 25 week update when I was about to turn 28 weeks pregnant but I figured, why not just wait after my 29 week check-up? Anyways, I have been beyond stressed and busy this past month and a half. With getting things ready for our new apartment, to getting things ready with the baby shower and the new baby. It has been rough! As I mentioned, I had my 25 week check up 4 weeks ago which included the fabulous glucose screening test! I have to admit, I was rather nervous to take the sugary drink. I hadn't been eating my best, and being overweight made me start to worry. On the day of my check up I had the worst anxiety! Please let me pass. Please let me pass! I remember thinking as I chugged down the sugary drink. After an hour of waiting, they drew my blood and I was off on my way home. The next couple of days were filled with anxiety for me. Do I have gestational diabetes? Is everything ok? Luckily, my tests came back normal and I was relieved to know that I in fact did not have gestational diabetes, but I did however, got diagnosed with anemia and was prescribed some pills to take with my prenatal vitamins. At my 29 week check up I began to get anxiety again! I haven't been feeling great since anemia gets you really exhausted. But of course, I let my hypochondria get the best of me and I was certain that I was getting preclampsia. My mom had preclampsia with my older sister so I had a feeling I would get it too. Thankfully, my blood pressure was great and I have no protein in my urine and little Penelope is doing fine. I don't know why lately I've been getting anxiety almost every single day. Is it the move? Preparing for a new baby? Both? All I know is that I need to relax. Which is something I'm working hard on! Let's Talk About Symptoms!
More About The Baby!![]() By now, Penelope is the size of an acorn squash. And if you're like me and have no idea what that is and how big that is, she is roughly 15 inches long from head to heal. She is finally starting to store fat under her skin which is causing her to become more energetic and her bones are hardening more and more each day. Even though her brain and lungs are still developing day by day, she has a great chance of surviving if she decided to join the world already. As much as I'd like to meet you, stay in there a little longer babe! XOXO, ThaliaAs the stay at home mommy that I am, I personally don't think it's absolutely necessary for me to do my make up every single day. Although it does make me feel 10x more better about myself, I also enjoy having a naked face that I can rub all day long if I wanted too without having to worry about smudging my eyeliner or my eyebrows, haha! There are times where I do my make up even if I'm just staying home simply just to feel pretty as I stated before, but on most days, I prefer to do my make up if I'm going to leave the premises of my little apartment to run errands or to go out for a date with my boys. Most of my make up, actually about 99% of my make up, is "drugstore" make up, especially e.l.f. which is my all time favorite and extremely budget friendly! So lets hop into my makeup routine to see what I use! WashIf I didn't wash my face the night before because I can be a lazy mom, I make sure to do so minutes before I put on my make up. I don't use anything fancy and depending on my mood I'll either use the apricot scrub from Target or the Ocean Salt face and body scrub from LUSH that my boyfriend got me for Christmas. Both are equally awesome! Moisturizer & PrimerAfter I have washed and patted my face dry, I make sure to apply some moisturizer just when my skin is still slightly damp. I feel that this allows my skin to absorb the moisturizer as it "dries" and it always leaves my skin super smooth. I'm not very picky about moisturizers and sometimes if I don't have this little guy in hand, I'll even use Benjamin's baby lotion and I feel that it does the trick. Next, I prime my face to help smooth out my face in preparations for the heavy stuff! Foundation & Concealer/HighlighterNext, I use the Matte Poreless Fit Me! foundation from Maybelline. Although this isn't a high end product, I absolutely love it. I feel like I can use just a little to cover up and even my skin tone without having to cake on the foundation like I have used with other products. I gently dab my foundation with this cute little dabbing sponge I got at Palais Royal for like $3 and it does the job perfectly. It totally makes my skin look smooth and even and not streaky. Next, I use the Covergirl concealer stick to help hide my dark circles and also to highlight my cheekbones. I then like to set my foundation with the e.l.f. translucent mattifying powder instead of using a colored powdered that matches my skin tone. I feel like this does just the trick without making me look cakey. Next, I slightly "contour" my cheekbones. My cheekbones are my favorite part of my face because although they aren't no beautiful Cate Blanchett cheekbones, I like that they're high and prominent and I'm sure if I was thinner they would look even more amazing. But of course since my face is chubby, I like to make sure they're something I will notice when I look at myself, so a little contour wont hurt. I use the e.l.f blush and bronzer cream and follow it with the blush and bronzer powder to help let it sit. By the way, just ignore that missing chunk on the cream bronzer, a little someone thought it was fun to poke at it one day...ahem...Benjamin. EyebrowsI remember I started filling in my eyebrows my senior year of high school back in 2011. I have always been very insecure about my eyebrows because they're very thin and patchy due to a strange little "freak" accident I had when I was 8 years old that involved the window shades. Long story short, I dropped the window shades on my face while I was laying on the floor and they landed clear across my eyebrows and did some pretty gnarly damage. Anyways, I try my hardest to stick to the natural shape of my eyebrows, so I use a small angle brush and the e.l.f. cream eyeliner in a brown color to match my hair. I also use the Brow Wiz by Anastasia Beverly Hills that I also received as a Christmas gift from a very good friend of mine. (Thanks Janny!) Eyeliner & EyesOnce my eyebrows are done, I proceed to do my eyeliner. I have been doing my winged liner since I was 14 years old so I can proudly say that I am now a pro at this. Totally kidding, but over the years I have mastered the trick to do my own eyes and that was to follow the natural crease of my eye. First, I take the two lightest shadows from this NYX eyeshadow palette I got at Target to lighten up my eye lids. I feel like a light color makes my eyes POP. Then, I take the KatVonD eyeliner that was also gifted (since I'm so broke haha) and make my wing. This eyeliner is amazing and the process of making your eyeliner is so quick and easy! I then finish off with some e.l.f. mascara to make my eyelashes pop. LipstickIf I'm going to go out somewhere nice or would like to look extra nice, I put some lipstick on. If I'm not wearing a red shade of lipstick, I wear this one by e.l.f. which is my absolute favorite. And sadly for it being my absolute favorite, I have no idea what it is called nor I can find it on their website, but every time I go to Target I see it there and I'm sure the word "Rose" is in it. Sorry about that! Setting SprayAnd last but not least, I spritz the e.l.f make up mist & set to make sure that my face stays looking nice and fresh throughout the day, and with Houston's unpredictable weather, I feel like this is a must! I absolutely love this product because I feel like at the end of the day, my make up still looks as if I just put it on, I look less shiny, and my eyebrows and eyeliner don't get that "smudgy" look after a long days wear of make up! ResultsI'm not even kidding when I say that these are two different pictures! I have no idea how I managed to do the exact same smile and pose but I did! Anyways, sorry for the absolute crappy quality of my camera, my apartment has the worst lighting and this is as good as it was going to get. It might not be a drastic change but making sure that I look like the picture on the right before I go out, sure as hell makes me happy! XOXO, ThaliaSo I've been a little behind on my blog posts, sorry about that! I am currently 23 weeks pregnant but went for my check up and ultrasound at 21 weeks. We were so excited to FINALLY find out the sex of the baby since last time it was a definite no-show with closed little legs. If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or have me as a friend on Facebook, you will definitely know that we are having A GIRL! It's insane how sometimes the motherly instinct comes out being correct. I remember with Benjamin I automatically knew I was going to have a boy and started buying boy stuff at around 9 weeks pregnant, surprising many people as to how could I possibly know what I was having. This time around, it was the exact same thing! I just knew I was going to have a girl although many family members predicted a boy. Mama bear just knows! Thinking about names for the baby was so difficult for us this time around. We went back to Benjamin's baby book to read the names we had liked then in hopes that we'd like one of them for the baby, but we didn't like any at all! One name we did like though was Penelope. This time around Alberto couldn't think of a middle name so I chose the entire name: Penelope Micaela Gonzalez! Micaela was chosen to honor my Great Grandma. <3 Let's Talk About Symptoms!
More about the baby.![]() By now, little Penny is about the size of a large pomegranate, or a carrot. At my 21 week check up she was already weighing in at 1 pound! Her brain and lungs are still developing and she can even taste some of the food I eat through the amniotic fluid that she swallows! She is also sleeping as much as a newborn by now, about 12-14 hours a day and can hear very much of the outside world by now. Hope she is used to Benjamin's tantrums and wails! Poor little Pea! XOXO, ThaliaI am a couple weeks late on this post but I hope that everyone truly had wonderful Holidays with their loved ones and a Happy New Year! It's insane to me that it is already 2016 and that 2015 came and went before I knew it. 2015 started off kind of rocky for me to be honest and I'm glad it's over! At the beginning of the year we got into a pretty bad car accident, I had a miscarriage a couple weeks later, I wasn't able to continue my schooling (for personal issues) and then on top of those school bills, I added even more bills with my crazy heart attack scare. Regardless of how crappy 2015 started, we all finished it very well! We got blessed with another little blessing, and I got to spend all of my December month with my parents that I missed oh so much! Although I love spending time with my hubby-ok with my boyfriend, I enjoy going to my parents an awful lot. I'm sorry poop please don't be jealous! I grew up being very close to my parents, we always did activities together as a family and that was something that stuck with me growing up. Now that I have Ben and a little one on the way, I want them to experience all the joys that I did growing up, especially all the joys I had around the Holidays! This year we decided to write a letter to Santa! Inside, Benji wrote (ok...I wrote) to Santa how much of a good boy he had been-which could be a bit of a lie haha. We did our traditional Christmas tree foot prints that we do every year! We made Christmas tree cookies for my aunt's Christmas party. And afterwards, he got to open all of his awesome presents that he received from all of our family and friends! Lucky kid. I'm so glad that he got to spend his Christmas holidays surrounded by people that love him. I can't wait for him to grow up and look back to the festive and joyous year that he had! xoxo, ThaliaIf you haven't noticed by now, I have decided to do monthly pregnancy updates rather than weekly ones. I thought that since this pregnancy is so different than my first, it would be a little pointless to do a weekly update when there wasn't much of a difference in the weeks and thought it be boring writing the same thing until I saw a difference in my pregnancy. With that being said, I had my 18 week check up this Tuesday! I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to have an ultrasound this week since it was so close to my last ultrasound and I'm honestly dying to find out the sex of the baby! My next appointment is of course in a month and all I have to do now is wait! Other than that, we got to hear the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler and both me and the baby are doing just fine! Soooo.... Let's talk about symptoms!
More about the baby.![]() The baby is now about the size of a sweet potato and is now yawning, hiccuping, sucking, swallowing and even practicing to breathe! The baby's nervous system is maturing rapidly and his or hers little body is now covered with a substance called myelin, which speeds messages from nerve cell to nerve cell. With that being said, the baby is beginning to develop it's senses! That's right, touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. So I'm sure this little sweet potato is enjoying some of the ice cream as well! xoxo, Thalia I am officially 14 weeks pregnant since November 17th! It's such a relief being in the second trimester as the chances of miscarriage drop significantly and if you're lucky, most of those dreadful first trimester symptoms are starting to diminish as well. I had my very first doctors appointment on November 17th and to my surprise I was very healthy! I actually had lost 2 pounds in my first trimester due to all the morning sickness and lack of appetite, but other than that the doc said everything was A-Ok and scheduled me for my first (ahem...second) ultrasound. I was packed with anxiety as I waited in the waiting room to have my ultrasound taken today. Was the baby growing fine? Is the baby healthy? Will I hear a heartbeat? I honestly don't even know why I was so nervous because I wasn't even this nervous with my ultrasounds with Ben. As a matter a fact, I was never nervous and was actually quite the opposite and was always so excited! After what seemed forever (it was actually just 15 minutes of waiting), they called my name and I hurried off to the ultrasound room with my mom and Ben. It was actually cute how the ultrasound tech remembered me and Ben through his 3d ultrasound! As I laid there with the ultrasound goo on my pelvis, I began to feel excited and a lot less anxious. How will the baby look like?! As soon as the ultrasound technician turned the screen for me to see, there he/she was. I couldn't believe just how big he/she had gotten. Everything was so well developed; the legs, the skull, the arms, the spine...everything looked perfect. It was amazing to me how different this baby's skull shape was compared to Benjamin's second ultrasound picture! Benjamin's skull looked really round with a pointy little chin just like his dad's. Meanwhile this little baby's skull looks fairly long, just like mine! The baby's heartbeat was also great. A whopping yet strong 148 bpm. After the ultrasound technician checked all of the vital organs and bones, I asked if it was possible to check the gender and she was delighted to show me, but of course little baby thought the complete opposite! The entire time he/she would have it's little legs criss-crossed and at one point even decided to cover it's little genitals with it's hand! Stubborn little baby! Although I didn't get to see the gender, I am very excited and happy to know that the little bun is baking just fine. Maybe we'll find out for my next appointment or when we go get a 3D ultrasound like Ben's. Let's talk about symptoms!
More about the baby.
Over the course of parenthood, there's many things we can all agree on despite the different ways we raise our children. I found these comical posts on Facebook throughout the month and thought, oh my goodness, yes! To EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. And I'm sure you will too! ;)
I hate when I go days, weeks and months without writing on my blog, but today I decided that I will finally TRY HARDER to stick to writing here as much as possible since writing is very therapeutic to me. I started the idea of using "hashtags" almost a year ago that were inspired by Anna Saccone to help me stick to writing but the idea quickly fell apart since I couldn't think of a way to incorporate hashtags to the days of the week. As Ben got older and so did my wisdom (haha just kidding), I decided to stop being a giver upper and to just be creative! Of course I will probably not do a hashtag for every single day of the week but at least a couple days is a start. As I started to think about a subject to write about I realized that today was Monday, so I decided to steal Anna's idea and use the "hashtag" #mommymonday to write about myself. I always tell myself and other moms that it's always important to remember yourself through this motherhood journey because you are just as important as your baby! A happy mommy equals a happy baby. So let's begin! This Mommy Monday I decided to write about a couple of my favorite things that I've been using this week, and by a couple I mean three! First off I want to talk about this candle! I got this candle at TJ Maxx last month but have been obsessing with it ever since! I've always been a fan of candles for as long as I can remember, especially the ones that smell likes decadent desserts! This one makes the apartment smell like an out of the oven double chocolate cake doughnut and I wish it could last forever! Next has to be this beauty product that I got at Marshall's by the check out line. I have this little problem of "forgetting" to wash my face at the end of the day simply because I get lazy and the thought of getting my face wet and lathering and rinsing seems like a hastle. These little wipes though are just what I needed to clean my face at the end of the night! One, they smell great, and second, I really feel like they're cleaning my face just fine and they leave my skin feeling soft! Last but not least is this wine. I'm not a big heavy drinker and I hate the taste of beer. If I do decide to drink alcohol it has to contain very little alcohol just like this wine. While doing some groceries, I got offered to try this wine and fell in love. It isn't dry and it's very fruity, it definitely reminds me of something I'd drink during a relaxing summer night!
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Follow Me :AuthorHello there! I'm Thalia. 24 year old mommy of two, enjoying life as it is! <3 Categories
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