Our Hidden Talents

Today was the annual Serve the City. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a day when many churches among Lexington get together with many opportunities for community service. Everyone groups together and disperses into the community at the same time. Daniel and I worked with some members from Immanuel Baptist and Crossroads Christian church at the Irishtown Baptist Mission. IBM does a lot for it's surrounding community members. It's a small church serving it's neighbors which most of it's members are uneducated and are poor. The church provides hot meals, worship services, GED classes, and they help the children of uneducated parents learn how to read and write hoping that this will help to keep them in school--in their area only 1% of children graduate high school. IBM just got a new director last year and she stepped into a lot....the church is very unorganized, old, breaking down, lacking clean water, working toilets, etc. It was almost sad because this church tries to do so much good for it's people and sometimes their food is the only meal that people will get.

While at the church, we put on a fresh coat of paint on the walls, repainted the trim, created stairs for the elderly to be able to step up on a platform, organized and cleaned our two rooms including a craft closet and a room that we turned from storage into an area where children can have their own place to play, read, etc. We also fixed and painted tables, book shelves, etc. There is still much work to be done in helping this place and we only had today, but we got a lot done and I plan on returning on my own to do more. Anyone want to join me?

So you may ask why am I spending so much time blogging about this? Well...let me start off saying that I'm not proud to admit that when the day started out, I was not happy about going to IBM. I had never heard of them, I didn't know anyone besides Dan that was going and there were so many other great projects that I thought I knew I would love. I complained to Dan for a few minutes and then we were on our way. When I got to the church and heard the director speak about the mission, I instantly had a "seed planted in me". We started working right away and I immediately was drawn the children's "wanna be" room. It wasn't on the list that the director wanted us to complete but once I got the idea, I decided I was adding it to the list. I'm SO SO grateful for a few other nice people whom I don't even know their names who openly let me take the lead and did anything and everything to help me. The more I worked...the happier I got...and then a fire was placed in my heart. Dan would come up to me and say we need to leave soon and I kept responding 10 more minutes....15 more minutes...I'm on a streak, let me continue. One lady that was helping me, mentioned to me that I had everything taken care of and she was going to help others paint. Then I had a gentlemen who was basically my "muscles". He took out all of my trash, cut wood for me, moved tables for me, etc....as I was organizing the craft closet, he commented to Dan..."is she always like this?"....Dan replied "At home, yes". The gentlemen said "Haha....I'm doing nothing, I'm just sitting back letting her do her thing and doing what she tells me to do".

So what does this have to do with my title of Hidden Talents? Sometimes when I hear others talk about how Heavenly Father has given them talents, I get down on myself because I feel like I don't have any TRUE talents. I was a cheerleader for years but that is done and over with, I have no musical talent at all including reading music, instruments, singing, etc., I'm not SUPER crafty, I can't cook....UGH no wonder I couldn't do pageants that had talent portions...I am officially talentless. Except today. I have done a lot of volunteer work and service in my day so why does today stand out from all the rest I don't know. But for the first time ever, I felt like I received more from my serving that anyone I was actually doing service for. The compliments, stares, and feelings I got from people today who were watching me work made me realize that my home, my "office", my cleaning....all of it, is my talent! Give me the materials and I am a great organizer! I love cleaning up places, organizing, setting up displays, etc. For once, I felt I was needed and accomplished something meaningful. This opportunity has been an amazing rewarding experience for me. I know I have more talents...I'm just not sure of them yet but maybe through me serving others, I can get to know myself better.

Kid's Room Before

Kid's Room After

What stinker was doing at my brother in law's while we were busy serving.

Yay for new pj's!!

This was from a few weeks ago but I wanted to add it anyways....our first stroller ride out of our carrier :)

Not only was it conference day on the 7th but it was Daddy's birthday. Thanks to Lesley and Scott Thalman for Dan's cinnamon bun "birthday cake".

Before & After: My 1st Make-Overs Ever!

The next few pictures are going to be ones of my good friends who let me practice on them...being new to Mary Kay and wanting to take this far, I need all the practice I can get. Thank you ladies for being my guinea pigs :D I think they look fabulous if I do say so myself ;) Love you girls!

Here we go!!

Are you ready?!?

Okay, Okay....

 

Mary Kay & The NEW me :)

Welcome to my new life! ^This^ is what I do for work now, along with staying at home with a little stinker who is almost 9 months old. I am LOVING being a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant :) It is great to sell products you truly love and believe in. I was introduced to Mary Kay make up about 6 months ago and from that day forward I knew I wanted to become apart of this wonderful company. Let me know if you want to have some free facials, products, and have some great girl time! ;)  

Soooooo Dan and I had to move. We looked very hard for a place within the boundaries of our ward in church aka the famous "Tates Creek Ward"..WOOT! WOOT! Unfortunately, Heavenly Father lead us in a different direction and we will now be apart of the Bluegrass Ward. Even though I am sad about leaving my friends, I'm still in the same town AND I believe the Lord has guided this way and that it was meant to be. I am excited to meet new friends!! 

 

Sophia wouldn't have it any other way. No matter what, this girl HAS to have her face covered in order to sleep. Needless to say, we constantly check on her.

 

My mother in law got this book for me and I enjoying it so much! I've been thinking about the future I want for my daughter a lot lately and the things I want her to know. I also have the world's worst memory so this book is great at making you think of wonderful thoughts, stories, and ideas to pass down to your child. I love it! I am officially a stay at home mother. Heavenly Father continues to bless us every day and despite the hard times I've gone through lately and the stress I've had, I know I am truly lucky and blessed to have Him on my side. I miss working with my foster kids and think about them often. I'm not allowed to keep updates on them now that I'm not with the agency anymore, but I still think of my kids often...you get attached to the children because you see them so much. The kids look up to you and you grow a bond with them. But at the same time, my heart was aching to be at home with my daughter and it's where I knew I needed to be. 

I've been thinking of my testimony lately. For a few months I've been going through rough patches on and off especially surrounding my family and friends. Rumors have spread around about "what Mormon's believe"...because you know of course, non-Mornons will know everything that Mormon's believe and they know more than Mormon's themselves ;) My point to that comment? If you see or read something about Mormens--especially if you are my friend or a family member, and you question it, then ASK me! I am not easily offended and I LOVE sharing the gospel and talking about my religion...I'm very open :) But please do not go around telling others what we believe when you have no clue or what you know came from weird sites or sites that are as credible as Wikipedia. I used to attend Baptist and Christian churches, I smoked, I partied, I drank alcohol, and I did many many things I should have never done and made MANY dumb mistakes. I changed my way of life...my heart...my mind....my soul....all to be closer to my Father. Since the day I got baptized, I have been forgiven of sins, reborn, and blessed. I didn't change overnight. For a long time I had slip ups but I continued to pray and work on myself. I've never been happier, I've never been healthier mentally and physically, and my church family has stepped in to be there for me when much of my family has abandoned me due to their selfishness, addictions, and lifestyles. I want a better life for my children than what I had. I want a better childhood and better opportunities for my children than what I had. I want a happy, God loving, and supportive family for my child and it will start by my husband and I creating that family with our Heavenly Father. Sophia is the most perfect creation ever and I thank the Lord every day for her and Dan in my life. I am LOVING my life despite the obstacles I continue to work through. 

Look at this little stinker...she makes my heart melt into a million pieces!

Totally Pointless Post

 

  

 

Just a little review about some of my absolutely FAVORITE things!!

• Covergirl Lash Blast Waterproof Mascara - doesn't clump, stays on for a LONG time, doesn't make my eyelashes stick together, cry all you want to and it doesn't come off! :) 
• Twilight- Need I say more about this series? I've been to a Twilight convention, seen all movies, books, gotten autographs, t-shirts, rings, bracelets, posters, clothes, cups, flowers, cakes, parties....the list could go on about all things Twilight I own or have done.
• Everything Mary Kay!!
• The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth- Amazing series that you will love if you remotely like the Hunger Games!
• The Vampire Diaries- Can you say yummy?!? I got my vampire fix on this show ;) I'm lucky their are so many seasons! This show got me through many dark long weary nights while having a newborn baby.
• The Hunger Games- The books are amazing! The movie is okay...hope the movies get better though!
• The Delirium Series by Lauren Oliver- Not only is the author amazing and sweet but this new series is wonderful!! Again, it is one of my favorites and it is becoming a movie too!
• Revenge- Have you seen this show at all? Where have you been hiding? It's dark, intriguing, interesting, suspenseful, steamy.....all wrapped up in a shot with a never ending plot that keeps surprising you.

While this blog post may seem pointless...well it is, haha. But if I can point anyone in the direction of any of these products, books, shows, etc....then it was worth it. I have to brag about my absolute top favorite products :) Need any more reviews?

Busy as a bee :)

I had to post this photo of my Sophia at 7 months old :) This was right after her bath...lil stinker is too dang cute that I could just gobble up those cheeks!

This is the culprit that almost set me on fire. It exploded with pieces and sparks flying everywhere, burning my arm and putting three holes in my shirt. Just glad Sophia was not harmed :)

Adorable drawing that my niece Addison (6 years old) drew for me :)

UPDATE ON MY FAMILY AND I 

• One of my key tasks in my life is examining baby poop
• Sophia is officially 7 months old! She LOVES standing and jumping, hates tummy time and has no desire to try to crawl. I have a feeling she will be walking instead of crawling. She is sitting up well. She has no desire to be on a routine when it comes to sleeping, every day is different. 
• Sophia's smiles, coos, sleeping, etc...everything she does absolutely melts my heart into mush!
• Dan and I are doing well....both juggling full time jobs and watching Sophia with no nanny/babysitter. We stay busy, tired, and did I mention tired? But it is all worth it!
• Last and somewhat the least, my blogging has taken a back seat to my busy life so I'm sorry that I don't update it as much as I should but I do it when I can :)

XOXO!

The Busy Mommy Life & Unseen Photos

So I was going through photos on the computer and realized the hubby had some photos that I never seen before. This is 24 hours into labor I think? I'm feeling pretty high at this point...and tired...

 Daddy and his baby burrito!

 I remember these exhausting days. I know you are not supposed to sleep with your child but at this point, I was in survival mode. I needed sleep and if this is how I was to get it then so be it. Note Lola has joined us...lol she wasn't the only baby anymore.

Little princess when her newborn clothes swallowed her :) Just a couple of weeks old :)

Since Sophia was a little over 2.5 months old I began to work full time. My whole life I wanted to be a social worker, Sophia comes and in a matter of months she changed my whole mind set. I love being at home with her and my family. I love sleeping in the mornings with them and just being with them at every moment I possibly can. It definitely is not easy either working full time and being a mother to a baby...I don't have much free time which is why my blog gets updated once every 5 years....sorry readers :) My free time I do have is spent cleaning, working extra, eating, sleeping, showering, etc. I am so grateful I have a wonderful husband who helps me out so much tho! Love him!

So until the day I can eventually be a stay at home, I will continue to work and think about my baby every second I possibly can. For those that know me well, you also know I haven done everything I possibly can to keep up with breastfeeding Sophia. I have come to terms with feeding her some formula when I don't have enough milk or Dan and I want to go on a date night. I am okay with giving her as much milk as I can from me then supplementing with formula. I am finally at my last resort...taking a prescription medication that helps me produce more milk. The only problem with it is the side effect of depression. I am usually a very happy go lucky person and now it is a battle to sometimes make myself happy because I know the medication is affecting me. Is it worth it to be depressed and feeding her or being happy and feeding her formula? Problem is, I LOVE feeding her....I almost quit in the beginning because breastfeeding was so hard for me but now that Sophia and I got the hang of it, I love it, and I love the bond I have with her, and I love knowing I am giving her something healthy. I am weening myself off of the medicine...although, the less I take the less I am producing milk. It wasn't supposed to happen like this, once I stopped the medicine, my milk was supposed to stay up but of course, my body won't cooperate with me. Soon she will probably have to be on formula full time....boo :/ But at least I can say I tried everything in my power to do it for her.

Well I'm coming to the end of this for tonight...I'm tired...of course ;)

Happy 1 Month Sophia!

 Welcome to the world baby! Sophia Rae Marino born 6/14/12 at 11:57 p.m weighing 8 lbs 1 ounce.

Kangaroo Care: The above photo is what is called Kangaroo Care and it's amazing :) Right after you give birth, they put the baby on your chest with skin to skin contact and then throw warm blankets on top of you. For 1 hour, your precious baby is all yours not even your hubby's (sorry hubs!). No one is else is allowed to hold for one hour so I was able to lay there while the doctor finished up and finally relax while sweet Sophia rested on my chest. It was an unbelievable moment!

No onto labor...terrible, horrible, no good, very bad labor!! Oh it was awful and I give major PROPS to any woman who goes through natural child birth! So here is my story:

I was not dilating and I was about at my due date, I was miserable and my doctor didn't want to go past my due date if she didn't have to because it would make the baby bigger and harder for me. So I was to get induced @ 12am on Wednesday night going into Thursday, June 14th. I was given medicine to help me sleep as I had never slept in a hospital before and I was so anxious! Needless to say, I didn't know I would have to sleep with all of these wires and monitors hooked up to me so I maybe slept 30 minutes that night. I had been dilated a half cm for over a month and so they gave me medicine to soften my cervix...by 9am on the 13th, I had not dilated at all. Then they gave me Potusin (however you spell that...it's the medicine that induces you) and had me on the maximum dosage till about 1:30pm. During that happy, I was a happy camper because it was a waiting game and I couldn't feel the tiny contractions I was having. At 1:30pm, I had only dilated to 1cm. At that point Dan and I had a major decision to make. I was to go home and return a week after my due date to try again or I could have my water broken and if I didn't dilate by 11pm then I was going to have a C-section which I really did not want. After a lot of thought, we decided I had already been through a lot of pain (see picture/explanation below) so let's go for it...time to break my water! Immediately after my water was broken I began to have contractions. But since I didn't have my "cushion" anymore during the early part of my labor, all of my contractions were extremely painful despite the pain medicine they were giving me. Finally about 8:30pm that night (still NO sleep),  I was told I had dilated to 4cm and it was time for my epidural. I screamed out "Hallelujah" as I was happy to soon be out of my pain! The epidural didn't hurt a bit since I was too busy with the pain I was already in! Well well well....after just an hour or so I began to feel the worst pain I have ever felt in my life! I couldn't describe it except to say I felt like my pelvis bone was breaking in half. I began to scream constantly in pain and everyone including Dan thought it was just normal contractions but I knew something was wrong. The remote I had that I could push to give myself extra pain medicine wasn't working. So finally the anesthesiologist came to my rescue! My epidural had fallen out while I was 8cm!! Phewwwww there is no way I could ever do natural childbirth after I got just a taste of it! As soon as the epidural kicked in for real this time, it was Heaven on Earth and I let out a huge breath! Finally for once that day I was not in pain! But I did get nauseous and started throwing up right as I got to 10cm so they gave me some more medicine that also has a side effect of sleepiness. At this point, I was delirious! So much that I had an apparent conversation with my doctor that I completely do not remember! I was only told of it from my doctor and Dan who were all laughing at me, I was 10 cm, ready to push, talking about pineapples and rainbows, and despite her hard work, my doctor couldn't get me to concentrate on pushing. So they were forced to leave the room, turn off all the lights, and let me sleep for 30 minutes or so and then when they came back, they said your 10 cm, it's time to push! Yeehaw I was ready! I had that bad girl out in less then 30 minutes! What a relief it was when I heard the doctor say how she had a head full of hair and to hear her cry for the first time (not so happy about hearing the crying now, haha). We stayed in the hospital for 2 more nights and all was well!!

Parenthood: Now my little princess is 1 month old and what a shock she has been to my life! I've always wanted a little girl and I got her but shewww motherhood is not easy! I was used to my 8-10 hours of sleep and if I got less than that, I literally couldn't function right. Now I get 2 hours here and if I'm lucky 3 hours (since I'm breastfeeding and she hasn't been given a bottle yet) and I am able to do everything I did before on less than half the sleep! Go me! I admit, in the past month, I've probably done my hair and make up less than 10X which if you knew me, I basically did my hair and make up every single day, and I'm probably a bit more grumpy then normal but I know all this will improve! Looking at the big picture, Sophia really is a good baby. She doesn't just cry over anything, if she cries there is something wrong and once it's fixed she is okay, she doesn't throw up a lot, and although we had our meltdowns in the beginning because she wasn't a good latcher, we are all better now and she eats a lot!!  I am very blessed to have her AND my husband who has been incredible at helping me in anything and everything! He basically showered me when I was weak in the hospital and has done anything and everything for me and the baby! I couldn't do it without him!!

Above is why I chose not to leave the hospital and return a week later to restart everything. I loved the hospital and nurses where I gave birth except the first nurse I had. One arm she got my iv stuck in a valve and the other needle blew my vain. Finally after both of those tries she gave up and had a "real" nurse come in who knew what she was doing and put my iv in me in 10 seconds painlessly. But these first 2 tries hurt so bad I was in tears just as much as I was when I was having contractions. I had gone through too much pain already to give up, go home, and then possibly go through that again! I'm blessed and lucky that me and the baby were kept healthy and safe through it all though :)