Red, Red Lips

I will admit that I am not/was not a fan of the red lips fad. I feel/felt like red lips are tacky and make your teeth look more yellow. But now, I'm somewhere in the middle. I can't say I've converted or anything because I still think less is more with make-up but I don't hate it as much as I thought I did. Maybe Dalin complimenting me when I tried it for the first time helped a little (more than likely, that's what happened). But I own a lot of lip gloss and lip stuff in general, I just rarely wear it because it seems to last so short a time that I wonder if it's worth it. So when I came across some bright red gloss (unused) in my little make-up stash, I thought, Why the heck not? So I tried it and this was the result:

I just had to kiss something. 

Not too shabby, I thought. I like the Rosie the Riveter look. I felt like Scarlett Johansson or Lucille Ball or some other classy lady. Anyway, we'll see if I ever wear this look regularly or not, but either way I thought it would be fun to try and it was!

Kisses,

What is your opinion on the red lips fad? Love it, hate it, or somewhere in the middle?
Do you wear red lipstick or gloss yourself? (And if so, what brand is good?)

DIY Plastic Bag Dispenser & Fridge Cups

Plastic Bag Dispenser
I'm always needing a trash bag while in the car--whether it's for wrappers, receipts, fast food, dirty diapers...etc.--and so I wondered how I could put all those billions of plastic grocery bags that we always have around to use. That is when I saw this awesome tutorial on Pinterest for folding plastic bags so that they come out like wipes from a dispenser.

So I saved a disinfecting wipes container, got out my scrapbook paper and mod-podge, and after cutting the scrapbook paper to the right size and removing the container's label, I painted the mod-podge all over the container and then on the paper to stick it down. It was a little bit messy (mainly for my fingers), but I liked the final result a lot!

 

Shortly after this project, I brought the re-purposed container down to our car and inserted the rolled up plastic shopping bags (which I rolled ages ago--before I even had a container ready) and it was perfect! I was so happy with how it turned out! My one complaint is perhaps that I wish I had chosen a smaller (thinner) container so that it would fit in one of our eight cup holders, but it still works wonderfully! Now I always have trash bags ready for whatever stinky or sticky thing might be in our car.

What do you think of this idea? How could it be better?

Fridge Cups
I was sick and tired of wasting plastic cups for one sip of juice. Especially since I'm at home now, I feel like I should be finding the time to do dishes. So I loved the idea of a convenient (labeled) cup for the fridge that can be easily accessed and easily rinsed. We had some very cheap plastic cups from Wal-Mart around so I bought some strong magnets in the craft section (it came with like 50) and hot glued them to the cups and then used a black Sharpie to write our names in fun fonts on them. Here's how they turned out!

I have loved them so far but the one thing I wish I could improve is that the marker is gradually rubbing off. Any suggestions on how to keep it looking nice? I've thought of a few things, but none would be washing friendly.

Tell me what you think of these crafts ideas and let me know if you think of ways that they could be improved! 

Nicknames (Apodos)

We have always had a lot of nicknames for Tenley--even before she was born. We just couldn't help it. They range from variations of her names to completely random things we've started calling her.

For fun, here are the ones I can think of (and the explanations) for Tenley:

Ten (for obvious reasons)
Tenners (longer version)
Ten-Ren (Tenley ReNae)
Ten-Wen (which for some reason reminds me of Star Wars...maybe it's Obi-wan or padawan that does it)
Ten-Wenners (this came from Ten-Wen)
Ten-Belen (which evolved into...)
Belen (which, by the way is Bethlehem in Spanish--fun fact)
Tiny Ten & Big Ten (some days she seems small, other days she's big)
Baby girl, baby bird, and little bug (just describing her cuteness and littleness)
Babester (which obviously came from baby)
Pipster and little pip (yes these are weird, but you'll see how easy it is to do this to their names when you have a kid)
Teeny Tiny (she's still our little baby ;)

There are probably others we use less often, but these are the main ones. Especially the ones in bold. Anyway, we try to call her Tenley so she'll know her name obviously, but sometimes nicknames are cute. Especially for a baby.

What nicknames did you have for your kids and where did they come from?

Thoughts on Co-Sleeping WIth Baby

Our daughter Tenley is a great sleeper. Dalin and I have gotten into the unfortunate habit of going to bed between 11pm and midnight regularly (at least we've done away with those one or two in the morning nights), but so far it has worked great with Tenley. She nurses somewhere between those hours, then I place her in the bassinet in her room, which you enter through our room, and then I don't have to get up until she wakes me between four and (more recently) six in the morning. At that point, I go in and get our little munchkin (who has the saddest cry ever by the way), and then she joins us on our bed, right between us, and we (she and I) fall asleep while I feed her. Dalin gets up, depending on the day, at about six or seven in the morning, and it is around then that I usually feed Tenley again. Then she and I sleep in until nine or so. At that point, she usually needs to be changed asap or she pees our bed (it's happened like five times) or, worse, has a blowout (like yesterday). It's not a perfect routine, but it allows me plenty of rest. A few times, Tenley has even slept through the night (well, by my definition she has) sleeping six or seven hours straight.

The thing that is hard to understand is how a person so small can take up so much of our bed. I'm not kidding when I say I think she has more space than either Dalin or I do. I've woken up very close to the edge of our Queen sized bed and nearly slipped off. Dalin and I know the risks of co-sleeping (not that they apply to everyone--my brothers and I all co-slept with our parents and we're still breathing) and we think about it a lot because the idea of something happening to Tenley is scary. I'm not worried about myself so much as I am about Dalin accidentally rolling on her (which he worries about, too, though he's never come close) or a pillow covering her face and her not moving or crying to alert us. We are very careful about those things of course, but the trouble is not that we can't get her to sleep only in her bed, but that we miss her when she is in her own bed. Just last night, Dalin and I put her down in her bassinet in her room, then we visited her a few times to look at her, check on her, and give her kisses. Dalin said, "We need to get one of those co-sleeper things." And I said, "I know, I agree. It would be nice if she slept in her bed all night (if I took the time to put her back in there after I fed her) but I miss her when she isn't with us." And Dalin kind of laughed and said, "I know, me too."

It is hard for us to be away from our sweet girl. She is so snuggly and there is something about watching your own baby asleep that makes you feel so good inside. There is also the worry about her being alone, cold, and any other number of things. Example: the other day when I brought Tenley in her room to be changed, I saw a BIG GRAY SPIDER on the wall right next to her bed. I never thought of myself as super afraid of spiders, but saying so would be inaccurate now. Somehow the fear has worsened with age (despite all I know about spiders, they're just gross and I've heard too many horror stories) and this has prevented me from being the one to kill them. (I don't like killing any bug really though...the crunching sound they make when squished is what bothers me most.) I usually scream for Dalin who sighs and gets a tissue. But at this particular time, Dalin wasn't around and I did not want to take my eye off the nasty thing because there was NO WAY IN HECK that spider was going to live and possibly get into my daughter's bed and bite her in the night. So I manned up and got a tissue and, after mentally preparing myself for far too long, smashed the darn thing.

Anyhow, what was I saying? Describing that moment was almost like re-living it...anyway, the point is, that unknown things could happen to her while she isn't under our constant watch and that scares us! We still feel like we have freedom in our current routine so we are debating whether or not to change it, but ideally I would like to foster her sense of independence by having her regularly sleep from at least midnight to seven a.m. in her own bed.

Our routine, ideally, would be: I feed Tenley around 11pm, burp her, change her, and dress her in pjs. Then I read to her, sing to her, and snuggle with her before putting her in bed. Then she wouldn't wake up 'til morning for her next feeding and changing. So far, we do all these things, just not always in the same order. (Reading time is usually during the day.)

So my question for you is what do you think? What worked for your children? What is your opinion about co-sleeping?

Fun Gifts For My Delivery Nurses

I cannot believe little Miss Tenley is one month old today! Time has gone by so fast! I thought the first month I would be feeling miserable and wishing for time to fly but right now I wish it would slow down so I can enjoy my newborn daughter! Still, I feel significantly better than I anticipated I would at this point and I like my postpartum body quite a bit more than I thought I would. I'll get into that more another time though.

Pinterest is frequently torturing me with exceptionally cute gift ideas. When I saw some creative nursing gifts, I was struck with inspiration! I needed to kill time while waiting for little Ten to arrive, and it would be a nice gesture to those who would be gladly helping me with bodily issues that I wouldn't even want to deal with myself. I wanted to do something different than the Pinterest crafts I saw, though, so I came up with my own. 

 I got the "U R Sweet" and "Thank You" stickers from Cocoa Bean. I made the envelopes with funky scrapbook paper and an envelope-making tool that my mom and I purchased. I love that thing. We used twine to tie a heart-shaped rock (all found by us on the beach!) around each envelope. That was probably the hardest part. The rocks did not want to stay on. Inside the envelopes are basically a thank-you-for-helping-me-when-I-was-at-my-worst-even-though-it's-your-job-I-still-appreciate-it note. For my doctor, Dr. Pace, and his assistant Kali who we have known and worked with the past 9 months, we also got them each a gift card to Kneaders. Just because we loved working with them both so much. We also included for each nurse a delicious fruit strip bar, a chocolate caramel sea salt bar, and a chapstick. 

For those who can't see, it reads:
"Thanks for sharing your <3 with our family. Here's a piece of ours from the East coast! Love, the Gunnells"
Included is a heart-shaped rock from the beach!

I tucked them all away in a box after so I could hand them out easily.

I think they came out pretty cute and I know the nurses loved them. They were so willing to help with anything anyway, but even more so after getting their little treat (though I handed these out to most of them at the end of their shift),

Probably the only thing I would have done differently is make more--I had almost dozen nurses during my three-day, two-night stay at the hospital. Some helped me a lot more than others, but I really had the greatest group and I was so grateful to all of them for taking care of me so well and not making me feel like a burden.

This craft was fun and all, but even more, it served really well as a distraction for me during the dreadfully longggg week 40 of my pregnancy. I think I forgot to mention in my pregnancy post that the doctors told me after Tenley was born that (because of her size) they wouldn't let me go past 39 or 40 weeks in the future. I'd have to be induced by my due date to prevent another eight-pounder. So in the future, I'll be getting this done around week 38 ;)

What ideas can you come up with for nurse's gifts?
Have you ever done any yourself? 

(I need ideas for deliveries of children 2 through 7--if I have my way ;)

Introducing Our Daughter

Our beautiful daughter, Tenley ReNae Gunnell was born on Monday, August 12, 2013 at 8:01pm weighing 8lbs, 3oz. and 20" long. 

*Her Name*
We chose not to reveal Tenley's name (unless asked in private) before she was born because, like it or not, it was going to be her name and we didn't want people trying to convince us otherwise. In all honesty, I guess we got her name from a girl on The Bachelor. We weren't planning on telling people that that was the case originally but we had to face the facts--that was where I heard it the first time and how it made it onto my extensive list of baby girl names. While at the ice skating rink in Sun Valley this past March, we saw a picture from the 1950s of an apparently famous Olympic skater named Tenley Albright and we were half pretending that's where we got the name but now you know the truth. 

*Her Personality* 
Tenley is an extremely calm baby. She is just like her dad in that aspect for which I am truly grateful. She does not cry very often--especially compared with most babies. She lets us know when she is hungry or cold or when her tummy hurts, but she is easy to assuage. Tenley is also quite alert for a baby her age. She makes eye contact well and will stare at you for several minutes, seemingly studying your face. She appears to listen when Dalin or I read to her. She is also surprisingly strong for a newborn. Almost since she was born, she has been able to hold her head up and does so on her own especially when placed over your shoulder. She also has come very close to rolling over by herself. Though she is only four weeks old today, she has already given us quite a few smiles--mainly in her sleep. It is evident that she has a sweet spirit. She is a patient baby, too. She puts up with her mom constantly grooming her hands, feet, face, and hair without flinching, even if she's asleep. She is a good sleeper! She has woken me up once or twice during the night since she was born, which is both surprising and amazing. She also takes long naps during the day which allow me to get things done around the house. She prefers to sleep on her side over her back (just as she did in the womb--she favored the right side of my uterus the entire pregnancy) so we stick a rolled up blanket behind her to support her and make her feel secure. Tenley loves her hands and does not like when they are restricted. Since she was just days old, we had to swaddle her below her armpits because she would fight until her arms were free if we didn't. The bili-lights crib had a velcro cover that was supposed to go all the way to her neck, but we had to seal it below her armpits or she would find a way to get them free. She loves her hands and almost always has them by her face. Sometimes, she sucks on her fingers. The little cutie did the same thing (kept her hands close to her face) in the womb as we saw on the ultrasound as early as 18 weeks! Tenley is both a mama's girl and a daddy's girl. She is always very relaxed when her daddy holds her or rocks with her in his rocking chair. She could just chill with her dad all day and be happy. Maybe she is only a mommy's girl because she still needs me but it makes my heart feel light when she turns toward my voice when around strangers or when she stops crying when I say her name, even from the other room. My absolute favorite thing so far is when I am feeding her and she just looks up at me with her big blue eyes and stares into my eyes like she is learning who I am. Those moments are precious to me because no one else can share them. I am thankful for her already darling personality. My prayers that she would be a happy baby were answered!

*Her Little Quirks*
Tenley has been wonderful since day one on this earth, but she has since grown on us even more. She yawns a lot, and when she does, she puts her whole face into it. 

She has the sweetest smile when she's sleeping.

She uses her hands a lot.

She is an awesome eater! (Which is good for her mom since breastfeeding has helped immensely with losing the pregnancy weight!)

She will take a pacifier but doesn't need one.

She doesn't cry when she is being bathed, changed, or dressed! She just calmly looks around like she's waiting for us to finish. (I thought all babies hated those things)

She prefers to sleep with mom and dad. She's a snuggler. 

She absolutely loves her dad. As soon as he begins to talk to her, she calms down and listens to him. 

She looks quite a bit like both her mom and her dad as babies. Seriously, we compared baby pictures and she looks like us both even though we did not look alike. It's weird!

She is not a big fan of being swaddled (we think mainly because she is very active and she doesn't like her arms or legs being restricted). 
She sleeps really well! Not only does she sleep through most of the night and take several naps during the day, but she is not bothered by our noise. We can talk in normal tones, watch TV, play music, etc. while she is sleeping. 
Humming primary hymns puts her to sleep. I have tried this enough times that I know it works. You have to hum for a long time, but she does fall asleep!

She loves both of her parents and is a wonderfully easy infant.

She listens quietly when we read to her and looks right at the pages. 

She makes the funniest sounds. We always laugh at her little coughs and yells.

She is our favorite little girl and we both are smitten by her. When she's asleep we want to wake her up so we can enjoy her. I am obsessed with her soft fragrant hair, her gorgeous eyes, her adorable feathery eyebrows, the little fuzz on the edge of her ears, her round little nose, her perfect lips, her kissable belly, her tiny hands, and her soft toes and feet. 

We love her more than we knew was possible.

Separation Anxiety: Missing My Husband

Call me weird, call me a baby, or call me whatever you want, but I hate being away from my husband. Especially at nighttime. Simply put, Dalin is my very best friend and I don't enjoy being away from him. At all. I hear lots of women say, "Someday you'll love having time away from your husband," or "It is nice to have some time to yourself," or "It brings us closer together because it makes me miss him more." Well, I'm sorry but that doesn't sound like me. I happen to like being in my husband's company. Sure, we argue about silly things, but we forgive quickly and forget.

When I married Dalin, I knew it was for eternity. There were no implied breaks in there and I don't want there to be any. I already hate being away from him while one or both of us is at work. For one thing, it's boring being away from him. And he makes me happier than anyone I know. We don't need to be apart to rekindle our love for each other. Pretty much every day after work is a reunion when we're finally together again. I just love him so much and feel in my heart that he truly makes life worth living. He's just too good to be away from... ;)

Since we've been married, (you can check out "Our Eternity" countdown at the bottom of the page if you'd like to know the exact timing) we have only been apart on two occasions--the first was at Thanksgiving when I had to fly back to Utah early from Mesa, Arizona because I worked at Dillard's and stupid Black Friday was the next day--the second is tonight because Dalin was asked to do the grave shift at the residential treatment center he works for. The first occasion we were apart did not go so well. I cried the entire stupid flight to Salt Lake and much of the next three days and nights. It was the worst being away from him for a lot of reasons, but particularly because we were fairly newly married and of course it was Thanksgiving. I wasn't so happy. I remember sleeping on the couch the night they were driving back to Utah from Mesa. Sometime very early in the morning, I heard the front door open and saw Dalin and his dad coming in. I jumped off the couch and gave Dalin a tremendous hug and several kisses. Then, because it was early in the morning still, we took a rest in our bed, holding each other, and I remember stroking Dalin's hair in his sleep and not wanting to be away from him ever again. 

It was hard for me to leave him again tonight. I struggled not crying as I drove home in the rain and darkness, worried I'd be unable to sleep without him by my side. I called and talked to him as I walked through our dark parking lot and entered the apartment, where we set up FaceTime and read scriptures together before saying goodnight shortly before midnight. Although I am still feeling lonely, I know he is thinking of me and that we will be together again in just a few short hours. 

He is my protector, my love, my sweetheart, my best friend, my eternal companion and I never wish to be away from him. 

Have you ever had a difficult time being separated from your husband for any period of time?

Do you like getting time to yourself? Why?

What helps keep the two of you close? 

THIRD TRIMESTER!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!

As far as ultrasounds go, yesterday's went pretty great! I had to leave work early (and get a ride to the Health Center) but I met Dalin in urgent care then we headed into the ultrasound room. Our technician squirted tons of gel onto my belly (at least it was warm) then proceeded to find the baby. She's kind of huge now, so it wasn't hard. 

Everything looked great, the female technician said. We saw the four chambers of her heart very clearly, her brain, her eye...sockets, and apparently she was able to see the lips and nose...I only caught a glimpse of her profile, but baby girl did not make it easy. She wiggled around and kicked the entire time, and she kept covering her sweet little face with her arms. It was really cute watching her try to hide from us. She is already so precious! The technician told us she weighs about 2 lbs. 7 oz. which is right where she should be! Hopefully that means we won't have to worry about the due date getting pushed back (which really shouldn't matter, but it's been a concern of mine because I want her to come already!!!).

So that was great and the pictures they gave us after were slightly better than last time. Dalin had to hurry back to work right away and I had to see another doctor so I waited to be called in again. I have been waking up with a sore throat the past several mornings and I was concerned it was probably the beginning of my allergies coming in. For some reason, I've only gotten allergies since I have been coming out west for school. There must be some dumb plant out here that I'm allergic to...but it makes me feel terrible--I get a wicked cough, sore throat, itchy eyes, among other things. I went to the doctor because I want to try and beat the symptoms. My doctor had me take a strep test just in case but it was negative, so she prescribed Claritin (but she said I could buy the generic kind) and some saline nose drops. Hopefully they help!!!

Then, having no ride back to work (and only having about an hour left anyway) I texted my manager to see if I could just go home. She was of course fine with it, so I walked from the Health Center to our apartment where I pretty much just watched Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. It was really frustrating because I solved like three of the puzzles way before the contestants did and I usually stink at them. Plus no one was around to be impressed. Then, starving like always, I decided to make my favorite strawberry-rhubarb pie. I had to borrow some strawberries from a nice neighbor in the ward (because the ones we had tasted TERRIBLE for some reason...) but the filling and crusts came out well and I was so happy to have been able to prepare the surprise for Dalin. 

Shaina and Layton came over for pie around 9pm and spent some time with us. It was a nice, relaxing Tuesday. Also, the weather was gorgeous. It was dang hot at work, but our apartment has been surprisingly cool, thank heavens. I am so happy it is finally Springtime!!!!!!!

How have you enjoyed the warm weather?
Any suggestions for a pregnant woman about keeping cool? ;)

Quick Tip (Save Money on E.L.F. Makeup!)

So I received a $10 giftcard for e.l.f. makeup which I was really excited about. 
The only problem is you can ONLY use these online (at least, to my knowledge and Google's apparently). So I did a little research because $10 doesn't go too far when the flat rate for shipping is $6.95. First I checked if e.l.f. ever does free shipping deals. It looks like not very often. But wanting to use the card fairly soon, I checked if there was any other location where I could use the giftcard. The answer was no. So then I started looking for deals. And finally I had some success!

Using a code at this link, http://www.dealigg.com/story-elf-Cosmetics-Coupon-Codes-Promotions I was able to get $5 off. I used the "bdayfive" code. Then, because they happened to be having a sale on the products, plus with the added bonus of my $10 giftcard, the total for me came to $0! I got two products I really wanted to try and they should be here by the end of the week. So I'm psyched! If I had been patient and waited for a shipping deal, I probably could have done even better.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone out. I thought it was pretty awesome. Also, I've never used e.l.f. products before so I'm really looking forward to trying them out! Best of luck!