I Heart Target's Dresses

Zakiah spent the past weekend with her second family (close Church friend's house who Zakiah truly sees as her family especially since they have a son and daughter who she loves to play with). I forgot to pack up her Sunday dress so asked my friend if she can find her a nice dress to wear to Church that's anything BUT pink or purple. She said sure, no problem. Well, when I saw Zakiah after Sunday School, she had on this gorgeous white and blue polka dot dress with a hot pink bow. What an awesome combination! Of course it had to come from Target because Target makes some of the CUTEST dresses for little girls. I haven't been there recently to see what is out for little girls, but I know a couple months ago, they had some really pretty winter dresses on sale.

Target never fails even when Zakiah fails to smile for the camera...

Still ignoring me...

Dada's little girl. They were so coordinated Sunday. Love it!

Blowing Away the Dust on This Blog

Man, it is dusty in here...been too long, but guess who is back?! Zakiah! Do you even recognize this 'once ago' little baby? Well, this 19 year old toddler is not so little anymore and is constantly on the GO. We both have been doing WELL and SO much has happened since our last update back in May (yeah, ages ago). Zakiah is in daycare, I am back in school finishing up, and Joshua finally 'put a ring on it'...yep, I'm engaged! :)

I even managed to find time to run a jewelry shop on Etsy:
BE.adifully YOU.nique Handcrafted Beaded Jewelry

I miss blogging so much but time seems to disappear more and more as Zakiah gets older. You can catch me on Twitter, which I absolutely have enjoyed since first joining back in November. Here is my profile page: BEadifullYOUniq

I peeped around some of the other mommy blogs I used to read up on and I canNOT believe how big the 'babies' are! Such a beautiful thing! God is good!

Well, this is just a quick drop in but I hope everyone who reads this is doing well!

Until next time and hopefully not next year (lol)...

Be blessed and Be.You.Always!

We are out...

Yeah. We Have Been Away Too Long!

Ever since Zakiah has been walking at the March, our lives have definitely not been the same. Walking brings on a whole new set of adventures for Zakiah, challenges for mommy, and even more opportunities for us both to really get out and do things outside the house.

This girl LOVES to walks and run and walk and run. She loves to chase mommy and daddy and loves when we chase her too. She is so full of giggles and laughter when on her own two feet. She keeps me on edge most times.

I miss blogging and I miss my blogger friends. Life has taken over for the moment so I haven't had as much time to keep my blog updated. I have a million things running through my mind and a girl running a million times back and forth from the kitchen pantry to the couch. I have been really focused on taking better care of myself. I am tired of being heavier than I have ever been so ever since April 1st, I have been exercising at least 5 to 6 times a week and went down from 173 to 165 pounds. My goal is to be at least 160 by my birthday next month. My ultimate goal is to get down to 135-140 by the end of this year.

I also got back into grad school to finish my Masters this fall! So I am mentally preparing for my return.

Still looking for employment. Haven't been as consistent with my search like I want to because of things going on but I have been looking and know I will be employed sometime this year because my God is more than able.

I am looking into day care and it is a tedious process. Plus day care is so friggin expensive. Crazy! But once again, my God is more than able.

Ok, there is so much I want to say but I need to go back to sleep. I miss everyone and want to let you know that we are ok! I am still taking pictures and video clips of Zakiah everyday so I am not missing a beat. Even though Zakiah is my baby, she really acts like a toddler to me ever since she started walking. She is joy to watch grow and I am so grateful to be able to spend the first year of her life with her. I might not get this chance again in the future so I am cherishing this experience to the fullest.

Gosh, time to plan for her first birthday next month! Bananas! Home girl will soon be stuffing cake in her mouth AND saying bye to the booby for ever. Bittersweet.

Happy early first Mother's Day to all the first time mommies and happy early Mother's Day to all the seasoned mommies out there! Hope Sunday will be very special to all of us.

I am not making anymore promises when I will update again but hope not to be away for a whole month again.

Take care!

Can Friday Come Any Sooner??? Happy Friday Follow!

Ugh!!!!

I can't believe I let another week go by without posting on my blog. So much has transpired since my last post.

I went to a career fair on Friday to meet with some recruiters from several local biotechnology companies. It was an invitation only career fair (oo la la) so that made me feel somewhat special. I was able to really interact with several recruiters so I felt like this career fair was pretty much productive on my part. No, I didn't get any offers but I am more confident about my job search and expanding my network.

After that, my advisor from a summer internship way back in the day (2004 to be exact) finally responded to an email I sent him at the beginning of the month. I was afraid he didn't remember me since it has been so long but I just wanted to touch base on the status of the project I worked on while at University of Virgina (I LOVE that school!). He stated he definitely remember me and said that the research I worked on was wrapped up some time ago and that he is working on a paper that he has me listed at the second author! That is pretty good in my book to have my name published on a paper involving a project I only worked on during the summer. We will see how this paper plays out. Would be a nice addition to my resume...::smiles::

On Saturday, I went to a baby shower out of town. So that was a busy event in itself that lasted a few hours and left me drained. Sunday is Church day so I went to 8am morning service, did a little grocery shopping, ate dinner with some friends, headed to 4pm service, attended a birthday social, and finally went home.

So there goes my weekend. Sorry Erin for not getting back in touch with you about getting help with my blog design.

Anyway, this week was busy, busy, busy. Not going to get into the details to bore you anymore. I did manage to get some new bows posted on my Etsy shop! I finally got around to making my flower hair bows for the spring!

They are so cute! Zakiah gets compliments from lots of women about her bows (when she keeps them on her head long enough to be seen...lol).

Oh, and speaking of Zakiah...

She took her FIRST steps on Tuesday.

::tears::

My baby is walking. What more can I say?

She is ENJOYING her new ability. She squeals with delight when she steps (more like launches) toward me and Josh. So freaking amazing!!! So much joy! I love my baby!

Oh, and she cut her 7th tooth with tooth number 8 on the way.

Happy Friday Follow! I am pooped so I am going to bed (Finally)

Side note: Why must Zakiah get up at 6:30 in the morning? This is killing me (ok, not really) but I really need to learn how to go to bed earlier. Ugh!

Side note 2: I will try to post up a video of Zakiah taking her first steps sometime today.

Until then...be blessed!

Friday Follow Topic: To Coupon or Not To Coupon

When I go to grocery store shopping, I notice two distinct groups of people: those who use coupons and those who do not.

For a long time, I was one of those people who never gave a second thought to using coupons.

Now, I RARELY go shopping without them.

FYI...coupons=money!

Let me share my reason why I have to have those little pieces of papers:

Ok, so Harris Teeter is a fairly large grocery store chain in NC (and VA, I think).  This week, they are having this huge triple coupon event, where they triple the face value of coupons up to $0.99. So essentially you can save up to $2.97 with a coupon, although I never seen a $0.99 coupon. Anyway, this means you can rack up on a lot of free and cheap stuff.  Check out Southern Savers for an extensive list of free and cheap products you can get with coupons.

So I made my third trip to Harris Teeter today (because they only triple up to 20 coupons per day) and got some 2 packages of butter, mustard, relish, 4-pack of Dannon yogurt, 4 packs of rice, barbeque sauce, and two packs of gum. My total would have been around $25 before coupons. After my coupons were scanned, the receipt showed that Harris Teeter owed me $0.12! HA HA.

This was a first and the cashier and I looked at each other with confused looks. She did not know what to do but I knew that I could not get cash back. The manager had to come over and override something and told me to have a nice day after giving me my receipt. I didn't think my total would come out to be free. I thought I at least had to pay taxes. I am still confused how this played out but of course, I am not complaining.

I walked right on out with my free items.

I heart coupons. So much better than monopoly money! :)

If you want to hop on the couponing bandwagon, check out deals around your area at Hot Coupon World. You will be amazed how much money you are spending on your favorite items when you really do not need to do so.

Zakiah got her first balloon today. Harris Teeter gives away free balloons for the children.  She had a good time playing with it.

So my question is do you use coupons or not?

If you do, what influenced you to start using them?

If you do not, why not?

Do you think it is worth the time and effort of clipping and sorting and being called the crazy coupon lady by the long line of customers behind you waiting for the cashier to scan your pile of coupons? LOL

Happy Friday Follow!

Z and Her First Balloon!

It was such a nice day today! Too bad tomorrow will be cooler and rainy.  Zakiah was such a good sport while we went grocery shopping today.

Don't you love her new shoes? These are her first pair ever bought by her grandpa (my dad).  She wore them for the first time this past Saturday. Before then, she never wore a pair of shoes because we didn't think they were necessary.

With all the cute sandals coming out for the spring and summer, we could not wait any longer to put her in some shoes especially since she is really trying to walk. We got a silver pair too to go with her plethora of spring and summer dresses. Cannot wait to dress her up!

Fun, Fun! 

Wordless Wednesday

The first picture is from Zakiah's first pediatrician visit. She basically slept during the entire appointment. Can't believe we were able to wrap her in a receiving blanket.

9 months later and 13 pounds heavier, she was alert, active, and playful as ever at her appointment yesterday. No shots this time but the doc said the next set of shots will probably be a doozy.

Until then though, we are all smiles!

Oh, and her receiving blankets turned into burp cloths to wash cloths to clean up cloths.  I guess they serve their purpose of receiving a lot of "stuff".

It is Looking Funky in Here!

I am redesigning my blog for the Spring. Please bear with me for a few days until I figure out what I want to do. Thanks!

Oh, Zakiah had her 9th month check up today. All is well and she is a healthy 19lbs and 4oz. She is 27.50 inches so she is about average height. So glad no shots were administered today.  Yay for no tears!

Today Was Good BUT Tomorrow WILL Be Better

I am talking about the weather.
It was NICE today.
And guess what?
Mid to Upper 70s tomorrow.
And guess what else?
My 'rents are coming up tomorrow (supposedly) lol
Can't wait!
Spring is here!
(finally)
Still no computer access so hopefully tomorrow I will do a real post and follow back my new followers (that sounded a little off, oh well).
Have a great weekend and first of spring!

Friday Follow Topic: To Spank or NOT to Spank--What's your take?

I was trying to figure out what post I can write up to submit for tomorrow's Friday Follow visitors.  One of the topics on my mind is whether to spank or not to spank.  Josh and I have been discussing how we will go about disciplining Zakiah when she misbehaves.  There are so many conflicting views on the matter.  My questions to my readers are:

Do (will) you spank you child? Why or why not?

If you don't spank, how do you discipline your child?

What age do you think is appropriate to start disciplining your child?

I will start with these three questions. Hope to get a good input from you readers.

Much appreciated from both seasoned and unseasoned parents.

 Please feel free to check out these:

My Labor and Delivery of Zakiah Camille (Video)

Watch the Zakiah's grand entrance into this world!

Visit my Uniquely Chic Bowtique

Find beautifully handmade hair bows for your baby girl

Followers get 10% off their first order

Is This Going to Be My Life Everyday?

Is 9 months too early to explaining the importance of picking up your toys???

Just kidding (kind of)

But just an update on Zakiah. She is doing fine. The swelling and redness has gone down a lot just like we prayed for last night.

God is good! I cannot deny that!

I appreciate all the wonderful comments you ladies left me in the previous posts. You know how to make a mommy feel better!

“You are STILL a Really Good Mom”

Those were Josh's words as he consoled me after putting Zakiah to bed.

Ok, let's rewind.

When Josh got to apartment from work, Zakiah was so happy to see him! It is like she knows by now when the door opens around 5ish, she knows daddy is back. She almost always crawl toward him and forget about me. So cute.

Such a daddy's little girl. I would know.

So daddy saw the boo boo and picked up his little girl to hug her and get a closer look. I felt bad and irresponsible because one of the last things you want to come back from a long day of work is seeing your baby got hurt (see the previous post). He took her by his job (works at a medical center) and was able to get one of his coworkers to get Zakiah all cleaned up and bandaged. Josh said that Z was a good sport while she was getting fixed up.

Hence the picture.

So when they got back, Zakiah was still being Zakiah as usual (which is of course a great thing). When I called her pediatrician shortly after the accident, the advice nurse told me to monitor her behavior to see if she starts to act differently. Not something I want to see but know it is something important to catch especially after a head injury. Like I said, all was normal all the way up to the time I put her to bed thank goodness!

Still cannot help to be a little paranoid though.

After I got her to bed, I was still SO upset at myself that I asked Josh if we can just pray right then for Zakiah. I had so many thoughts running through my head from Zakiah's accident that I needed comfort. As we prayed, tears just started to flow down. I just hope all will be ok.

Josh wiped my tears away (aw moment) and assured me it will be because God is looking over Z. Then a little while later, he told me I am a really good mom.

I love this guy so much!

He checked on Zakiah before he left for the night and said everything looks fine. He will come back in the morning to change her bandage and check up on her before going to work.

Hopefully the swelling will be down in the morning. I will keep you posted.

Pray for her please and pray for me.

Thanks!

A Sad Wordless Wednesday

This is my first ever wordless Wednesday so I am not going to say much. Just that Z bumped her head on the corner of the coffee table today and got a bad little gash on her forehead. She cried for a few minutes and was back to normal. I still feel horrible.

Bad mommy moment.

Sorry, I Just HAD to Post This Video!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Zakiah is getting much stronger in her legs. She can support her weight on her legs very well and is getting better with her walking coordination when assisted. Sorry if you got dizzy watching the video. We were kind of going in circles. :)

Zakiah Update!

Attention folks!

Madame Z has discovered a new skill.

She has learned how to open up cabinet doors AND pull stuff out.

She is really learning things at an alarming rate.  She can walk really well assisted and cruise like a pro. 

She is fast and fearless.

I see really fun times ahead of us around the corner!

Oh, and she is really interacting with her toys now.  Not just banging on them or watching them light up.  She is actually focusing on pushing buttons to see what reaction/effect will come up from her action.

She is so bright...not saying that because she is my child but because she just is.  Others notice that about her too.

I love this girl so much.  God, you gave me a great blessing!  Thanks over and over again!

::tears:: Please Pray for Layla Grace's Family...

...for the loss of their precious 2 year old girl. I happened to see a post about her and spent the last hour reading about her story on her blog, reading through the heart wrenching tweets from the past week leading up to her passing away, and browsing through 165 pictures that captured her beauty and strength. She had stage 4 cancer and passed away on Tuesday. So sad.  Her family needs prayers. I can't even imagine how hard this is for them.  It is heart ripping when babies suffer.  ::tears::

So glad you are safe in heaven with God, Layla. May you rest in peace!

http://laylagrace.org/

Today Has Been A Great Day!

I got a load of clothes washed.

I got a few more hair bows posted on my Etsy shop.

I got my first sale today thanks to Erin @ The Bailey Family!

I won several auctions over at ebay for some more ribbon at really great prices (and free shipping).

I completed my upper body circuit training, which I have started on this Monday. I am alternating between upper body training (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and lower body training (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). I guess I am getting stronger...lol. I get sore the day after so I am assuming I am doing something right).

I ate a delicious healthy dinner prepared by Josh. Praise God he knows how to cook and ENJOYS cooking. Praise God AGAIN! LOL

I found someone to watch Zakiah for 6 hours tomorrow so I can have a break...woohoo! LOL

I got a few new followers from Follow Friday! I will follow you all back tomorrow if I haven't already. I am blogged out right now.

And on that note, I am signing off. My bedtime for some reason is around 10ish. Every night, I just shut down around that time (which is right now). I guess Zakiah getting up at 6ish in the morning kind of shifted my sleeping schedule a bit. Hopefully day light savings time will put things kind of in order BUT I am not sure how to deal with the fact that it will be straight daylight when I put Z to bed. We are not used to that so this may be interesting. Hopefully she can still go to sleep with a little light outside for an hour or two before it gets dark.

Here is a slide show of some pictures from the past two weeks. Enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thank Goodness It Is Friday!

It has been a long week! I have been working on my Etsy website and is baffled on how much work it takes to set the whole thing up! It took me a whole day just to figure out what my shop policies are. Geez! Maybe it is just me and the fact that this is my first store and I want everything to go right.

Then it is taking good quality pictures of my bows that is taking forever because I had to play with the camera and lighting to attempt to get the best shots and angles of each bow without too much shadow in the picture.

Next it is editing each picture to put my Etsy name on it to help reduce the chance of someone copying and pasting my pictures somewhere else.

Then it is listing each item on the website which seems to take 30 minutes per item because you have to list so much info on the item you are selling before publishing live on your site.

Not to mention I have a wild silly girl tugging at my leg and pulling at every cord from the laptop.

I got a few items posted and hopefully will get the rest posted by the end of today.

Here is my unfinished shop web address:

www.uniquelychicbowtique.etsy.com

Things are subject to change around until I get everything posted and finalized. I will post again when all is done!

Hope everyone had a great week. It is FINALLY getting warmer, yay!

I will catch up on your blogs soon.

Oh, Zakiah learned how to clap as of last Thursday and knows to clap either when I say 'clap clap' or when I start to sing patty cake. It is so awesome. She also knows how to wave bye bye by flapping her left hand up and down. She is so cute!

Will do a better Zakiah update later. It is late.

Finally It Is March!

Meaning Spring starts this month and we spring forward an hour for daylight savings time. I am not sure how that will affect Zakiah's sleeping pattern when the days get longer since she sleeps almost 12 hours straight at night. I don't know. I will tackle that when it comes.

I forgot to mention that Zakiah ate some small pieces of turkey sausage on Saturday evening. She loved it but boy did her diaper smell horrible from it! She likes blueberry pancakes just like her daddy!

I am typing from my blackberry so it is boy really that convenient for me to update my post about the bows right now. Hopefully I will get to it tomorrow. Thanks Erin for your compliment on my bows and your support! I will definitely let you know when I get everything set up on Etsy! Happy 6 months to your precious Clint! His eyes are gorgeous!

Happy 6 months to Gemma! You are doing a great job Kacie! I can tell she is a very active baby!

Well I am pooped so I am signing off. Some friends from Church hosted a Breakfast for Dinner feast and I am nice and full from all that yummy food! I didn't get Zakiah to bed til nine but she didn't fuss too much at bathtime. She was active and rough as usual. LOL.

Any tips on how to teach Zakiah to hold her head back while drinking from her sippy cup? I decided to tackle this again and be more persistent this time. She never held a bottle so she hasn't got the concept of holding her own drink.

Finally, I Present to You...

So, I finally found the time to take clear pictures of all the hair bows I have made so far. I have an etsy shop set up but wanted to post my hair bows on my blog first to see if I can get any feedback from you before posting them up on my etsy website. I have many more ideas for the spring but wanted to go ahead and put these out there for you to see. Every bow was handcrafted by yours truly from a pet free, smoke free home. The ends are sealed to prevent fraying. They are all attached to alligator clips that can be used in the hair alone or attached to interchangeable headbands and crochet hats. I will update this post soon with more details such as the width of the bows and description. I will do a special discount for my followers for sure. If interested in any of the bows now, follow me and leave a comment below. Earrings are coming soon. Thanks!