an indoor boredom buster / 01

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. Ours was pretty good. We spent a LOT of time inside thanks to the lovely weather. When I found out on Friday that we were going to mostly be indoors, I went to see my good old friend Pinterest to figure out how in the world we were going to entertain an almost 2 year old inside for 2 days. I saw a couple of ideas that seemed fun, but let's be honest, needed some prep time from this mamma. So I skipped all of those for now (judge me! I don't care haha) and focused on the no-prep-time-needed-whatsoever ideas.

And... drum roll please... the big winner was: to bring snow inside. THAT IS IT! Can we get more simple than that? And let me tell you it was a big hit. We did it both Saturday and Sunday and it entertained him for almost 45 minutes each day, which in toddler world is an eternity. All of his Little People friends and animals jumped from the fire truck into the snow pool. They all partied it up in there and then they took some nice long naps in the barn. Epic!

So there you have it folks. Bring some snow inside next time and let the fun times roll.

What about you? Any simple indoor toddler friendly activities? Next weekend is a 3-day weekend so I need some ideas ASAP!

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5 last minute mother's day gift ideas

 Greeting card from Julie Ann Art

In case you were unaware, Mother's Day is this Sunday. So if you "forgot", here are 5 last minute gift ideas that any* mom would love. 

*And by any, I mean, I would love. Matt: if you are reading this, pay attention.

1. A day at the spa.

You can't go wrong with this one. You probably ran out of time to schedule her a day at the spa on Sunday, but you can still give her a gift card that would cover a couple of services. Tell her to pick whatever day she wants and that you will take care of the kiddos. If you live in Boston, I highly recommend Bella Sante. They have locations in Boston, Lexington and Wellesley. 

2. A coffee mug painted by you and your kids.

Go to a pottery studio that has ready-to-paint pottery shapes and paint her a nice mug. Have your kids participate to make it extra special. Check out Made by Me in Cambridge.

3. A pretty potted plant in a homemade hanging planter.

You could buy a hanging planter at a store but then it's not as special. Buy a plant that is easy to take care of and hard to kill. She already has enough to worry about. Here is a fun tutorial. 

4. Schedule a professional family photo shoot.

She would love to have some nice pictures taken of all of you. 

5. A year of dates

Give her the gift of 12 awesome dates planned by yourself. Do one date a month. It can include the kids if you want. Just make sure it's something different, fun and that she would enjoy. I gifted this to Matt for our anniversary. 

Have a great rest of the week and don't slack off when it comes to Mother's Day! Take care of breakfast and make her feel special. We moms work very hard and a little appreciation is nice ;)

Xoxo Dylcia

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and just like that, maternity leave is over

I'm still in denial with the fact that today is my last day of maternity leave and that I have to be back at work tomorrow. The past 4 months have been an emotional roller coaster. The first 8 weeks were definitely rough. Emotionally and physically. Thankfully, my mom was able to stay with us for the first 3 months which was a HUGE help!

I'm so grateful that I was able to spend 4 whole months at home with Diego. Not only did it give me time to fully recover, but it also gave me time to bond with him and really enjoy him. He just gets more fun every single day!

Here are some of the things I'm going to miss the most:
1. Our morning naps on the couch.
2. Our walks to the library where we picked new books to read and really enjoyed the A/C.
3. Our Friday mommy group class where we got to sing, read, complain, vent and learn from each other.
4. Our picnics in the Spy Pond.
5. Our walks by the bike path.
6. Our adventures to different stroller friendly trails around the Boston suburbs.
7. Meeting up with all my mommy friends that were also on maternity leave.

I really hope that I can transition to this working mom journey with ease. I've always pictured myself as a working parent. My job doesn't define me, but it's a big part of my life. I enjoy what I do and I really like the people that I work with.

Just because I had a kid, doesn't mean that my hopes and dreams are going away. They might be slightly changing, but they are still there.

Please send lots of good vibes my way tomorrow. It's definitely going to be an emotional week.

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our 0-3 month favorites

I can't believe Diego is already 3 months. When I look at the pictures from the day he was born, I'm amazed at how much he has grown. It's crazy how much babies change in such a short period of time. I'm savoring all of the time I get to spend with him and really dreading going back to work in less than a month :(

He is getting more and more fun everyday. He giggles now which is the cutest thing in the world. I spend all day finding different ways to make him laugh. Animal noises are his favorite right now. He is also grabbing toys and working really hard on his neck control. And he already got his first haircut this past weekend. Yes. He is 3 months and he already got a haircut. This must be some sort of record.

Now that we have been doing this parenting thing for the past 3 months, I want to share with you our favorite baby items. These are things that we use all the time, that Diego really enjoys and make our lives easier.

1. Boon lawn countertop drying rack - We have tons and tons of bottles and bottle parts and we don't want to mix them in the drying rack with all of our other stuff. This is a nice way to keep them separate and you can fit a lot on this rack.

2. Tiny love gymini - Diego loves his playmat. We started putting him on it since he was a newborn. It's a great way to entertain him, especially once he started being more alert and sleeping less during the day. He also gets to work on reaching, grabbing, pulling and tummy time.

3. Avent bottles - I got these bottles because of its natural nipple shape. Apparently this makes it easier to go from boob to bottle and vice versa. I also like them because Diego can hold them better thanks to the way they are shaped.

4. Rock and play - This is a MUST. When people ask me for one item that they need to get, I always say a rock and play. Diego sleeps in one and he sleeps really well in it. If you want your baby to sleep in the same room as you, this is a good option. You can rock him very easily when he is fussy and it props him up a little bit which is nice for acid reflux (if your baby has that). He also hangs out here when I'm getting ready or cooking.

5. WubbaNub pacifier - Thankfully Diego likes pacifiers and he loves these. We have the giraffe and the lion. The little animal makes it easy for him to grab the pacifier and it makes for a great toy as well.

6. Boppy pillow - I use it to breastfeed and to put Diego on it when we are sitting on the couch hanging out. He also does tummy time on it.

7. Skip Hop diaper bag - This is one of the few diaper bags that I liked. You wouldn't believe the amount of ugly diaper bags that are out there. I love this one because it has a lot of pockets so you can fit tons of stuff and it's also a neutral color.

8. Breastmilk and bottle warmer - We got this one as a package deal with a bunch of other Kiinde items. It's an easy way to warm up formula or breastmilk.

9. Chicco KeyFit 30 infant car seat - This car seat was rated #1 by Consumer Reports. They tested it and they think it's very safe. It's also very popular among my mommy friends.

10. Sensory giraffe - We only got a couple of toys before he was born and this was one of them. We put this one on his car seat. The colors are very bright which he likes and there are different sensory pieces for him to explore.

11. Manhattan Toy mind-shape multi-sensor soft activity shape set - These set is great because it's visually stimulating, it has different textures for tactile stimulation and they make noise for auditory recognition.

12. Citi Mini stroller - Most of my mommy friends have this stroller and there's a reason why. It's very light, so it's easy to carry with one hand. It's also very easy to open, close, maneuver and you can buy an adapter to fit your car seat on it.

13. Baby K'Tan - There are tons of baby wraps out there and they are pretty much all the same. The reason why I liked the K'Tan is that it comes ready to wear. I use this all the time. Inside the house when Diego wants to be held but mommy needs to also do other things and on the go.

14. Waterproof changing pad liners - I love these because every time Diego decides to pee when I am in the middle of changing his diaper (happened more than I would like to admit at the beginning), I only need to change the pad liner instead of the changing pad cover.

15. Giraffe sound machine - White noise will become your best friend when it's time to put your baby to sleep. The giraffe hangs from his rock and play.

Do you have any favorites? We are still getting the hang of this parenting thing, so feel free to leave a comment below with your favorites.

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one month check in

Diego turned one month old last week. Can you believe it???? Our little prince was born on May 4 at 11:40am. He was 7lb 6oz and measured 21 inches. And yes. He was born with all of that hair :) In a way, I can't believe that a whole month has gone by. But in another way, a LOT has happened in just 4 weeks. This past month has definitely been an eye opener to childbirth, motherhood, relationships, faith, hope... You name it. Here is a little recap of this past month for me and for Diego.

**MIND AND BODY AFTER BABY - 1 MONTH CHECK IN**
I knew that labor would be hard and that I would be sore after giving birth. But man. Oh. Man. No one really told me how hard recovery was going to be. Not only physically but mentally.

Before giving birth, I read a lot of birth stories to prepare myself mentally for labor. I mostly read positive ones because I didn't want to be freaked out. I knew of some complications that could happen but never thought those were going to happen to me. I had a pretty easy pregnancy so I figured that I would have a relatively drama free labor. Well, I was wrong. Long story short (I will write a birth story one of these days) I ended up being induced, pushed for almost 4 hours, got an infection after giving birth, had to be admitted to the hospital for an extra week and needed 2 surgeries. So as you can imagine, recovery has been pretty rough.

I know that my case is not the norm, but no matter what, recovery is hard for everyone that goes through labor. I realized that when you are pregnant the focus is on you, but once you give birth, it becomes all about the baby and you take a back seat. People talk about how the baby is doing and rarely talk about how they are feeling. And let me tell you, you feel like shit. You are in pain, sore and you come to the realization that your body will never be the same again (hard pill to swallow on that one! yikes!). Maybe it's because of the media's insane focus on how celebrities are back to their normal self after just a couple of weeks that you feel you will be back to normal soon after giving birth. Well that is not the case. After lots of reading and asking friends that have kids, it could take several months to feel like your old self again. And I'm not just referring to weight loss. There are a lot of other changes in your body that people don't talk about.

I was also very surprised by how off and hormonal I felt after giving birth. People talk about the baby blues, but you don't really know the reality of it until you experience it yourself. Let's just say I cried for the first 3 weeks after Diego was born. Thankfully, I have a great support system and I've started to feel more normal in the past 2 weeks.

**BABY DIEGO - 1 MONTH CHECK IN**
Diego is such a sweet and happy baby. He is also so cute! OMG I love that face so much.

So far he is pretty chill. He cries when he is hungry, has a dirty diaper or wants you to hold him. I love those big eyes and I still can't believe he is all mine!!! It's also pretty surreal that he grew inside of me. He is such a blessing and I already can't imagine life without him.

Unfortunately, he currently has a milk and soy allergy, which means that I'm on a dairy and soy free diet as well :( Good times. Hopefully he is not allergic to anything else and he will outgrow this within a year. Has this happened to anyone? What formula did you use?

My favorite moments with him are our naps on the couch. They are just so sweet and it's one of those moments that I will always cherish.

I also love how he smiles when he is sleeping. Can't wait when he starts smiling for real!

I also love seeing Matt taking care of him.

**THE BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED THIS MONTH**
If someone offers help, TAKE IT! I am so thankful for all the help I have received this past month. My mom has been my savior! She has been here the whole time helping us take care of Diego and also taking care of me since there are things that I need help with until I fully recover. My dad and my two sister's-in-law also came and helped and it was such a blessing. So take the help when it's offered. Trust me.

Overall, I love our little family so much and can't imagine life without Diego. It's crazy how we lived without him for so long.

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