Photo Dump Wednesday: A little bit of this...a little bit of that

We had a very busy but fun weekend. It was an opportunity to make new friends, catch up with old friends and celebrate a milestone. 

We registered JOE for soccer practice a few months ago. J & I figured since JOE is at home, it is a good way to let her socialize and help her make new friends. Sure enough, one of the moms whose son also plays invited us to her son's birthday party on Saturday. 
J, JOE, JAE and I all went for the party and we had a great time with them. They really are very nice. 

We've invited them to JAE's "introduction" a.k.a. "Sip and See" celebration later on this month. 

In the meantime, here are some new pics of JOE's soccer practice from last Saturday.

We had 2 birthday parties to attend last weekend. I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the first birthday party. Well, more like I didn't feel comfortable doing so since it was my first time hanging out with the family and I didn't want to seem weird pulling out a camera and taking pictures at their home. 

The next party though was for a friend I made through this blog and who I now know in real life. It was a joint birthday party for both her sons. We were really happy to attend and JOE had a fabulous time there as well. 

How awesome is it that they had a bubble machine? PRETTY AWESOME!!! Even I got to play a bit.

J & JAE. I love the look on JAE's face. It is almost like she is saying "oh come one, must you take a picture all the time???"

J tried to take a selfie with JOE and she was being a goofball about it. These 2!

Then there's me and my little JAE. 

I tried to do a family selfie but obviously, that didn't work out so well. JOE didn't want to take a picture with us and JAE was distracted with what JOE was doing. Clearly, family selfie fail. We'll just keep working on it.

J and his his little princesses!

On Sunday, we went to Church. Afterwards, I cooked our lunch for the week. JOE decided she wanted to have a tea party with real cookies. She had mentioned it late last week so I picked up a package of cookie dough when I went grocery shopping. I am glad I did because this was an activity she enjoyed.

In the midst of it all, on Monday, JAE turned 4-months. I'll do a separate post on her milestone but I just can't believe that my baby is 4-months already. She really is awesome and I love the bond she is building with her sister. 

I hope you're having an awesome week. I am so ready for the weekend. I feel like I am always ready for the weekend. I told J last weekend that we should have a day off in the middle of the week every week in addition to Saturday and Sundays :-). If only right?

Manetabolism update: 6-weeks

Well, this post was actually written last week and pictures were taken last week Monday. I just never got a chance to update and post so it is somewhat late. 

As of last week, I have been taking manetabolism for 6-weeks. While I didn't have a lot to say about it during my one month update post, I have had an awesome/positive experience since then.

Since a picture says a thousand words, here are pictures of my postpartum hair journey so far with manetabolism. 

My 6-week verdict is that it is working great! I've gained about an inch in all areas of my hair. I haven't taken great pictures since I barely have time to but I'll try to do better next time. 

On a VERY positive note though, my shedding has significantly reduced. It is almost non-existent! Now, that's what I'm talking about. 

I'm looking forward to taking more pictures next week when I complete my second bottle of the vitamin. 

The great thing about being natural is that I can experiment with different styles. I know you can do that with relaxed or texlaxed hair but my hair could never really hold a style while I was relaxing or texlaxing my hair. Being natural, my hair is fuller and I can do more with it. 

I follow several natural hair pages/people on Instagram. Earlier this week, I saw this style. I feel in love with it and decided to try it. 

But instead of a puff, I wanted something I could wear throughout the week so I did a bun. Check it out. 

I am very proud of this style because it is my first bun since going natural. And not just that, it is ALL MY HAIR!!! I didn't have to add anything into the bun. So obviously, as a good reminder of it, I had to take multiple pictures of my bun :-). Now, I am excited about straightening my hair. Perhaps I'll do it on the 1-year anniversary of my big chop in November. At which point, I'll have a full 2-years of natural hair growth since I transitioned for a year before doing the big chop. Definitely something to look forward to.

In other news, here's my weekly mommy-daughters selfie. I love taking pictures with these beautiful faces. Being a mom is by far the most rewarding thing I have every done. 

We have 2 birthday parties to attend tomorrow and JOE is pretty excited about both of them. I'm looking forward to them as well. 

Have a fabulously blessed weekend and remember to be kind to strangers!

Photo Dump Wednesday: About last weekend...

We always manage to pack a ton into our weekends and last weekend was no exception. But even though we do that and are always very tired when Monday rolls around, the best thing about the weekend is the family time we get to spend together.  

Last weekend, JOE and JAE's grandparents (J's parents) and their Uncle M came to watch JOE play soccer. JOE was really excited to have them watch her and it was all she talked about all week. She did great and is following instructions very well. I didn't get a chance to take pictures since I bombarded you with them when she first started playing :-). 

After the game, J's parents treated us to breakfast at a local diner. Then we headed home to get ready for a birthday party. We got home a little after noon and I thought to myself "oh we have 3-hours before we have to leave. Not bad." But by the time I was done giving both girls a bath, washing and braiding JOE's hair, I barely had 30-minutes to take a shower and get ready before we left. Why does time go by so fast?

The party was for a friend of mine's daughter who turned 3. It was a Peppa Pig themed party. 

My and my girls at the party. 

J and one of his girls. JAE loves to eat :-). You'd think she'd be in the 90th percentile weight-wise with how often she eats but she was only in the 10th percentile as of her 3 month appointment. Hoping she's moved up since then.

They had a zumba instructor for the kids who just made it an absolute delight. The kids stayed on the dance floor. Good way to burn off some of their endless supply of energy :-).

J and the other one of his girls.

How awesome is this idea? Kids often can't finish a full size cupcake anyways so this was absolutely the best. Plus the kids definitely don't need the excess sugar. I am definitely going to consider doing this or perhaps a slightly bigger size for JOE's birthday. I love it and JOE loved the "yummy cupcakes!"

Peppa pig cookies. YUM!!!

How cute is that cake?

It was a lot of fun and JOE had a fabulous time. By the time we got home, we were all really tired and had just enough time for me to pump and get things ready for Church the next day. J brought JAE in to keep me company while I pumped since I was practically falling asleep at this point. 

The next day after church, I proceeded to cook our lunches for the week. I have deep fried fish perhaps 3 times in my life. This was the 4th and I think last time. I have come to realize that I'm not very good at it. Perhaps if I find an awesome recipe or a good teacher in the future, I'll try it again but for now, I am going to stay clear of deep frying fish. The sad part is that I often love it when my mom does it. *hint*hint* mom :-).

I also made fried plantains. J loves these.

And what better to go with fried fish and plantains than jollof rice?

My lovely view while I cooked. There's one tired JAE.

I'm not a fan of fried food smells in the house so I decided to use one of the very ripe bananas we had at home to make some banana bread. The banana bread was yummy. BUT it didn't take away the smell of the fried food. Oh well...

J took JOE out for her second date on Sunday afternoon. She came back with a fireman hat. I love this picture of them. JOE smiling after being "saved" by fireman dad and JAE thinking "what in the world? Can you see this ish going on?"

Overall it was a busy but fun weekend! Now to tackle the rest of the week. We're hosting friends for JAE's "welcome" party in a few weeks so I'm going to spend the weekend planning that event. FUN FUN!!!

JOE's second date

If you are a regular reader, you'll know I took JOE out on her first date the Sunday before last. It was such an awesome way to spend some one on one time with JOE that J decided to take JOE out on her second date. 
Last Sunday,  JOE took her out and they had a great time!

I often cook our lunches for the week on Sundays after Churchto ensure that we're not spending money on unhealthy meals. After J & JOE left on their date, I decided to continue cooking. Often, I put JAE in her swing or in her carseat but she has recently started sitting up with the aide of her boppy pillow. So I decided to prop her up on there so I could see her while I cooked. 
Well, she was "talking" with me for a bit and all of a sudden, she got quiet. I turned around and this is what I saw. I guess she was pooped from all the talking.

After cooking, I decided to go up and take a nap. Well, my little ray of sunshine a.k.a JAE wouldn't stop fussing and just wanted to play. Check out her serious face telling me "and why do you think you deserve a nap momma?"

So I decided to pump instead of wasting time sitting there. Wouldn't you know...within minutes of turning on the pump, she was fast asleep. Oy!!!

J on the other hand was having a fabulous time with JOE. I sent them off with express instructions to "take LOTS of pictures!" I am so glad they had a great time. 

Initially, J was going to take JOE out to a car show but the show closed early so instead, he took her to a couple of stores and they also went for ice cream.

I'm surprised she didn't make him buy her half the store :-).

Hmmm...I wonder what that is?

I better touch it to find out! :-)

They even went to Firehouse Subs for lunch. YUM! Where she got her very own fireman hat!

Selfie time!

Time for yummy desserts.

My husband is a football fanatic so this picture should come as no surprise!

But wait, she also found the "Frozen" backpack! That's my girl! :-). Too bad daddy decided she already has a Doc McStuffins one and she didn't need another backpack. 

Overall, they had a great time and JOE came home all smiles and very happy to tell me about her adventures with dada. I count that a very successful second date. 

Oh and as a follow up to her first date, here are final pictures of the items we painted last week. I think they turned out great.

I know that J & I are definitely looking forward to many more one on one dates with our girls.

Have a fabulously blessed week!