With baby Bella, I knew for a fact that she was going to enter this world via C-Section. My placenta was just too close to my cervix, and from my previous birthing experience, my doctor and I decided this was the safest way. I wasn't looking to be traumatized again, I was just ready for Bella to be here already. This pregnancy had been so hard on not only my body but my mind, and I was ready to just enjoy newborn snuggles and that new baby smell. So we scheduled the C-Section for September 28, a week before my due date, but Isabella had her own plans!

On Saturday, September 22 Jeff convinced me to leave the comfort of our house, get dressed, put on makeup and go to a wedding reception. I wasn't totally feeling myself and I hadn't for a while, but since these were Jeff's childhood friends I told myself to suck it up. Throughout the party, though I sat in pain and endured a few contractions here and there. I told Jeff but he thought I was just trying to get us to go home so he kinda brushed them off. Up until this point, I was heading my Doctors orders to stay in bed and doing my best not to stress myself out. We got home late, I was exhausted & went straight to sleep happy that I had made it through the night and that Jeff had a good time. 

At 1:50 AM I woke up suddenly and felt a distinct pop and immediately woke Jeff up and told him I think my water just broke. He said "are you sure?" still half asleep, I said yes because I didn't pee on myself. I admit I was scared to stand up, but I got up out of bed and waddled to the restroom. As soon as I got to the restroom I felt the immediate gush of water splash the bathroom floor right in front of Jeff. He panicked and scrambled to get his things together, and I kind of stood there in shock. 

I called my mom, not sure she would answer, she didn't so I called my sister who I knew slept with her phone next to her and wasn't a hard sleeper. She ran downstairs and woke up my mom and we decided she would come to pick up Mila and then we would be on the way to the hospital. At this point, my contractions weren't too bad and I could still function without really noticing them. I changed and got Mila's bag ready for my mom. Then I realized the list of things I was going to get done later on before we were scheduled to go in for our C-Section. One of them was to finish packing my hospital bag and to do one more final cleaning of the apartment. I felt kind of like I was going in slow motion the whole time, I felt really calm about the whole thing. 

Once we were in the car my contractions were strong enough that I couldn't talk anymore, luckily we lived 10 minutes away from my delivery hospital and I thought that once we got there the process would be fast and I wouldn't be in pain for that much longer. I was wrong! I dealt with my contractions for a little over 5 hours before I was finally in the operating room getting prepped for my C-Section. 

Baby Isabella was finally here at 5:46 AM on September 23, and was born 7lbs 2 oz & 19 in!

I was so happy she was healthy and that it wasn't this crazy emergency situation like Mila's birth was. The called Jeff to go and take pictures of her once she was out but he only lasted a few minutes before he got lightheaded and the nurses had to help him back to the chair. He said he knelt down on the floor to try to fight off the dizziness but he couldn't. I laughed at him because I had to imagine it since I couldn't see it for myself. 

Mila is flourishing as a big sister and is so in love with her. She's been the best helper and very patient with her little sister. I was so surprised because I was scared she would be jealous but she's so happy to have Isabella here. 

We kept most of the experience more private this time I think because we didn't want too many people in the hospital with us, we just wanted our immediate family. When Mila was born she spent the majority of the time in the NICU and when people would come and visit they would just sit there awkwardly staring at me without a baby. I remember feeling so swollen and not wanting to see people, and this time I knew it would be even more different because I was going to breastfeed. 

Overall I am beyond happy that baby Bella is here, healthy, thriving & that my recovery process is going much better than it did with Mila. We are adjusting to our new normal with our newest addition that has filled our home with more love than we could have ever imagined! 

As the weeks dwindle into the single digits for us before baby Segura makes their grand appearance into the world, the realization that our family is growing is starting to finally sink in. Adding a new little person in the mix is a big deal, and not only is it an adjustment for Jeff & I as parents but for Mila too. To get on the same page so that we're both prepared for all the outcomes we decided to talk it over dinner, just us two. It might be the last time in a long while that we get to go out, dressed up & not sleep deprived so we took full advantage of it.

I had mentally prepared a list of things I really wanted to talk about with Jeff and was mindful if there were things he also wanted to talk about that way I wasn't completely hogging our date night. We had the privilege of driving in the 2019 Buick Envision which was a real treat. My perception of Buick was always that they were geared more towards the older crowd but every time I get in one I see first hand how far they've come and evolved as a car brand. 

1. Responsibilities

As someone who suffers from anxiety, I'm not a huge fan of the unknown, so I wanted to get a feel for what Jeff thought each of our responsibilities were going to be. I know that I'm having another C-Section, and he remembered how tough it was for me to be independent the first couple of weeks. After I gave birth to Mila I was fortunate to have my mom there, this time with a new baby, a fresh cut, and an energetic toddler I was a little scared but then I remembered Jeff wasn't there the first couple of weeks because of work, this time he's a full-time dad part time blogger so I won't be alone this time either. We decided that my biggest responsibility was to get breastfeeding down, and Jeff's biggest task was to make sure Mila didn't feel left out. 

2. Our First Born

Since we don't know how Mila is going to handle us adding another one into the mix we want to make sure we're paying as much attention to her as possible. We're doing our best to make sure she understands that there's a baby in mommy's tummy that will come out soon and she seems excited but I'm not sure how much a 3-year-old can grasp the concept. We don't want her to feel left out and are planning on getting her as involved as possible in caring for our new addition, but to be completely honest this is new territory for us. 

3. Patience with each other 

Since this is new territory for the both of is I just wanted to make sure we both remembered to be kind, and patient to each other. We both have short tempers, and Jeff gets frustrated if things don't go as planned but since we know each other and we know each other's limits it was important for me to verbally express it. 

I remember how hard it was adjusting to a new baby the first time around, especially when we didn't communicate our feelings, so this time around we aren't so blind going into it and we more or less know what to expect when it comes to sleep deprivation but we won't really know until the baby is actually here. We don't know their personality, or how Mila's going to handle it but having a chance to talk about all of these things on was so important for us.

What are things you think we should talk about before baby Segura arrives? What did you talk about with your partner when you were about to add another baby into the mix?

I want to give a huge thank you to Buick for giving us the wheels to get around and encouraging us to get out of the house and get all fancy! Check out the review Jeff did of the 2019 Buick Envision below: 

Check out more details for our date on Jeff's blog! 

Relive Mila's Birth here!

Since my pregnancy hunger can strike literally at any moment, and it doesn't take much for me to get hangry I usually keep a couple of my favorite snacks in my purse. I moved from a spacious diaper bag to a purse recently, even though I'm going to have to switch back, I pick snacks that all 3 of us like to eat. We have the craziest schedule sometimes & I hate getting fast food because the grease totally makes me sluggish which is the opposite of what I need right now. Keeping snacks stashed is the best way I've found to avoid having to stop for a burger. I've learned that the quickest way to calm Mila down is a snack, because of course she's my daughter haha! So here are a few of my go-to snacks to stash in my purse. This post is brought to you by StarKist and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.

1. Starkist Chicken Creations™

StarKist has seriously always been in my pantry with their amazon Tuna & Salmon Creations®, and I'm so excited that they created the Chicken Creations™! The Chicken Creations™ come in 4 amazing flavors BOLD Buffalo Style, Zesty Lemon Pepper, Ginger Soy and my absolute favortie Chicken Salad. The premium, white meat Chicken is sourced from American Farms, raised cage free and hormone free. They’re available in single serve, no drain pouches – just tear, eat and go!™ Which is why they are perfect to keep in your purse to enjoy literally anywhere! The StarKist® Chicken Creations™ Chicken Salad is a classic flavor mixed with modern convenience. With only 70 calories & 9g of protien per pouch it makes it easy to get an all-American favorite wherever you go!

 Follow @StarKistCharlie on Instagram and Twitter and like StarKist on Facebook. You can also visit http://starkist.com/ for more information.

2. Fruit Snacks

 Come on moms who do we really buy fruit snacks for, the kids or us? I admit that every time I give Mila a fruit snack I always grab one for myself! They're so yummy and literally the best alternative to candy. 

3. Crackers

When I was in the beggining stages of pregnancy crackers were the only thing I could keep down and since then they've become a constant in my purse, plus they are great with the StarKist Chicken Creations™! 

4. Mandarin Oranges

I keep these in a zip lock bag so that way when I peel them I can stash the peel in there. If I get too hot and don't have water handy I usually sit down and eat one of these! 

5. Trail Mix

You can never go wrong with a good trail mix! I love ones with dried tropical fruit and almonds. Nuts provide so much energy which I love because I'm doing my best to stay away from caffeine! 

What are your favorite snacks to keep in your bag?

This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of Sistema®; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.  

As back to school season is upon us we are celebrating Mila going to head start! It’s a little bit of an emotional season for me because my baby is growing up, and she’s never been away from and around so many kids. It’s so important for me to feed her little body the most nutritious food I can, even while she’s at school! This last month of summer is really the time when I get to test out some lunches on her where I sneak healthy food, because while she loves fruit greens are just not her jam. Here are 3 tips I’ve picked up while in my trial and error phase. 

1. Don’t send them to school with something they’ve never eaten before!

While you might want to fill their lunch bags with all sorts of healthy things make sure it’s things that they’ll eat. The last thing you want is for them to be hungry at school, it makes it harder for kiddos to focus.

2. The more color the better
I’ve learned that when Mila’s plate has more color in it she’s more inclined to eat it, so I do my best to use the color’s mother nature has already provided us with. Things like carrots, grapes, blueberries, apples and cucumbers. Sometimes, when I have time, I’ll cut her food into shapes and have her tell me what shape and color it is that way we make eating fun and educational.

3. Don’t over complicate things, just be prepared!

The truth is that there are going to be those mornings when you run late, and you didn’t get a chance to pack lunch for the kiddos the night before. I find that on mornings like those it helps to have the fridge stocked with healthy grab and go items that way you’re not throwing in a bag of chips when you could have just thrown in an apple. Have containers that you can easily pack lunches in that will separate the food & keep some things from getting soggy, like the Sistema® Salad bowl, bento box, or lunch kit. You can find Sistema® Containers on Amazon, right now they're running special promos through August!

While I’m preparing myself to get into the groove of a morning routine with my little one, I’m glad that I can count on my Sistema®  containers to help me organize our lunches in the fridge when I do prepare them the night before. They make buying items for our lunches a lot cheaper because I can always buy items in bulk instead of in small individually wrapped items that cost a lot more.

What are your favorite healthy items to put in your kiddos lunch boxes?

If you've followed us for any length of time on social media then you know that our little princess is obsessed with everything dinosaurs! We're not sure where it came from or what sparked it but she just can't get enough of them. She spends her youtube time watching videos of dinosaurs and sits in her room for hours just playing pretend with the millions of dinosaurs she has in there.

She always gets so excited when I find her a shirt or a dress adorned with dinos, and gets a little upset when some of the things we find say "only boys". The happened to us more than once when we were looking for things to put in her room. It's hard to explain to a 3-year old that we can't hang a 'boys only' dinosaur footprint in her room, so she had a mini-meltdown at Hobby Lobby.

I never realized how gendered dinosaurs were until Mila, and it made me wonder who decided that only little boys could ever like dinosaurs? Mila can name 7 dinosaurs, and often likes to pretend she is a dinosaur. Her favorite movies to watch right now are the Jurassic Park & World movies so when they came out with merchandise in the Target stores not only for boys but for girls too I knew that times were definitely changing.

If you look at the hashtag on Instagram #GirlsLikeDinosaursToo you can see everything from little girls that love dinosaurs just as much as Mila does, to small shops run by moms who started filling the gap for things that are made for little girls that have dinosaurs on it. It warmed my heart when I saw that there was a community built around it and that I wasn't the only one that noticed Dinosaurs were marketed for boys and not for girls.

I don't see how little girls could have fed into their Dinosaur obsessions a couple years ago without being called tomboys, or maybe if I was an older parent I would have tried to give Mila baby dolls and barbies. We do often get comments on how 'cool' it is that Mila doesn't like what other 'normal' little girls like. Which always rubs me the wrong way because everyone's definition of normal is completely different. 

On the flip side if my little brother loved barbies and baby dolls the reaction from my family probably wouldn't have been as supportive or as positive as the one Mila got with her dinosaurs.  If Mila was a boy and liked barbies and baby dolls I don't even think Jeff would be ok with it. Gender roles and stereotypes are so ingrained not only in our cultures but in our society that I feel like it's still going to be a couple of years until we see or even notice a big shift.

Do you think it's fair that toys are heavily gendered?