Operation Bye Bye Binky

So, we did it.
It wasn't pretty.
But, it was a MUST because what we had was a hardcore binky addict. Ahhh-dic-ted. And, it was getting worse by the day minute.

For most of her 16 short months she has only used the binky at naptime, bedtime and an occasional long car or plane ride. But, in the last 30-45 days or so she learned how to ask and was asking more and more often. We knew that we needed to break her of the habit because it was only going to get harder. And, with her baby brother coming soon we figured it was as good a time as any.

We decided that the day after Thanksgiving would be a good day and it would teach her the true meaning of "Black Friday." Her morning began like any other breakfast, playing, and watching some toon-toons. She had her lunch and took her normal nap (with her binky).

That afternoon we decided it was time and snipped off the end of her favorite binky. It was risky but we were committed to the cause. When she came over and asked, by sticking out her hand and making sucking noises, we gave her the broken binky. She barely got it to her mouth when she realized that something wasn't right. She looked at us and gave us her best "WTH?" look and we simply said "Sorry, it's broken." She didn't want it and pushed it away.

She wasn't happy with us AT ALL. In fact, I'm pretty sure that she was didn't even like us. She asked a couple more times and we gave her the binky and all we said was "Sorry, it's broken" and she continued to push it away. That afternoon really wasn't too bad...until bedtime.

I have to say that we are very lucky to have a pretty low-key kiddo. She doesn't cry too much and her 'fits' usually consist of her lying on the floor in silence for a few seconds before she gets up and goes on about her business. BUT, that night she fought like it was her JOB. At first, she was angry and her crying was fierce. Then, she was sad and her crying was pitiful. And then, she fell asleep. It was the longest half hour of my life. Thank goodness I'm staying at my parents since the hubs is traveling or I'm not sure I would have been strong enough to make it through.

She cried until she passed out, and she slept for a good hour or so. Then she woke up and wanted it again and her poor little eyes were swollen and red and I was a mess. She cried a little more and fell back asleep.

It's been a full week and every nap and bedtime since has become easier and easier and she's actually falling asleep with little to no crying at all. I can say with confidence that we are over the hump and she has been binky free for a WHOLE week. We are so proud of her and thankful for my tough and experienced mother for making sure that we didn't cave stuck it out.

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Tea on Tuesday Social Hop #14

The Tea on Tuesday Social Hop is hosted by Jessica at Boys Oh Boys and Haley at Team Ibrahim, with this week's special co-host Shary from Shary Loves You. The Tea on Tuesday Social Hop, is a multiple social link-up for everyone to meet new people, make new friends,  and grow your audience! There are 4 social link-ups for you to join, including: Your Blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest! 

There are just a few simple rules:

1. Follow the hosts via GFC (if you can) or RSS, Facebook, and Twitter. Jessica: Blog - Facebook - Twitter Haley: Blog - Facebook - Twitter Shary: Blog - Facebook - Twitter

2. For every social link-up you enter, visit at least 3 others from that link-up and follow them.

3. HAVE FUN!!

(*Note: When liking on Facebook, you MUST do this from your personal page. It does not count as a "like" if you like from you blog Facebook page.)

Our New Reality and Why We Are So Thankful

We’ll be 21 weeks on Thanksgiving, and in the last week our world has been turned upside down. Let’s back up a bit.

We have a beautiful daughter Elia, who is as healthy as can be and will be 17 months old on December 6th. My pregnancy with her was textbook and we were very lucky considering she was a frozen embryo after many failed IVF cycles.

We did another frozen embryo transfer on July 17th and about 9 days later we found out we were pregnant again. Everything has been going so well but we were referred to a Perinatologist for unrelated issues that I had after delivering Elia.

Our first appointment with the specialist went well and we were told that everything looked great. We were confident that we were progressing just as we did when we were pregnant with Elia.

On November 16th, we had another follow up appointment with the specialist and honestly had high hopes that they would tell us that we were not high risk and that we could be released back to the care of our OB. We were asked if we wanted to do an optional test where they measured the cervix to determine if preterm labor could be a concern. My husband, the comedian, made some funny remark about having a tape measure in the car and we could take care of it ourselves. Ha, ha…silly husband.

We opted to proceed with the test on top of the scheduled growth scan. The doc started with the growth scan, and everything looked great. He worked his way through his checklist and we were so relieved that everything looked good and the baby appeared to be healthy. We also found out that we are having a BOY!

At that point he decided to measure the cervix and made a comment that it appeared short. After measuring he determined that we were under the range of ‘normal’ for this point in the pregnancy. The doctor sat down, put on his serious face and told me that I would be on bed rest going forward. He asked if I worked outside of the home, because if I did, I wouldn’t be anymore. Thank goodness, I work from home or we would have been even more stressed. He then told me that I was not to pick up our daughter or lift anything—basically, I was to get home and get to bed and only leave the house for doctor appointments or if the house was on fire. Shocked, I said “But, we’re heading to the airport. We’re going to Ohio for a wedding and Thanksgiving.” And, he gave me a look and said, “Not anymore.”

We were shocked and stunned and barely able to process this information. We went home, I kicked my feet up in the recliner and realized that my life as I knew it was going to be very different for the next few months. I then had a pity party (table for one)—and then I got over it. It was then that I realized that, this is our reality and I have so much to be thankful for.

We'll be monitored every week with a sonogram to measure my cervix to make sure that it’s not decreasing. If it does, then I’ll be admitted into the hospital for the rest of my pregnancy. We had our first follow up today and everything looked the same which means that I'll still be on bed rest but I get to spend Thanksgiving with my family and not in the hospital and that makes me very, very happy. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’d like to share what I’m thankful for and why I feel we are so dang lucky.

 I’m thankful...

• For my wonderful husband who has jumped right in and taken over so that I can rest. 
• For our amazing daughter who, even though she doesn’t understand, has been so resilient and has rolled with the punches. 
• For our healthy baby boy for hanging in there even though he’s anxious to be reunited with his sister.
• For our amazing family who have all offered to do whatever we need to make it through the rest of the pregnancy. 
• For my incredible boss and co-workers who have offered words of encouragement and have offered to help however they can. 
• For our doctors and their support staff for keeping us informed and erring on the side of over-cautious to make sure that we keep the little man in there for as long as possible. 
• For my body, because even though we have struggled with every aspect of conception, pregnancy, delivery, and recovery that it’s allowing us to have another child. 
• For each and every day that our baby boy is growing inside of me and that takes us one day closer to our due date.

Team Ibrahim Wishes You, and 

Yours, a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tea on Tuesday Social Hop #13

The Tea on Tuesday Social Hop is hosted by Jessica at Boys Oh Boys and Haley at Team Ibrahim. The Tea on Tuesday Social Hop, is a multiple social link-up for everyone to meet new people, make new friends,  and grow your audience! We are doing the Tea on Tuesday a little differently this week. There are 4 social link-ups for you to join, including: Your Blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest! Very few of you were linking up Google+, Bloglovin, Hello Cotton or Instagram, so we will no longer be including those linkies.  

There are just a few simple rules:

1. Follow the hosts via GFC (if you can) or RSS, Facebook, and Twitter. Jessica: Blog - Facebook - Twitter Haley: Blog - Facebook - Twitter

2. For every social link-up you enter, visit at least 3 others from that link-up and follow them.

3. HAVE FUN!!

(*Note: When liking on Facebook, you MUST do this from your personal page. It does not count as a "like" if you like from you blog Facebook page.)

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

We are so HAPPY to announce that we are having a BOY! 

After several sonograms and a botched blood test we were FINALLY able to see "the goods" last Friday and confirm that Elia will have a little brother! The little guy is measuring right on track and appears to be as healthy as can be. 

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Are you down in the dumps since hearing the Hostess news? Have you ran to the grocery store to stock up on their yumminess only to find that the shelves are clear? Well, worry no more. Thanks to Jessica from The Novice Chef we can carry on and our love for Hostess cupcakes can continue well into the next generation.

www.thenovicechefblog.com

Check out her recipe and give her some comment love while you're there. We owe her at LEAST that. Then, pass the milk.

Tea on Tuesday Social Hop #12

The Tea on Tuesday Social Hop is hosted by Jessica at Boys Oh Boys and Haley at Team Ibrahim. The Tea on Tuesday Social Hop, is a multiple social link-up for everyone to meet new people, make new friends,  and grow your audience! There are 8 social link-ups for you to join, including: Your Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Bloglovin', Hello Cotton, and Instagram! 

There are just a few simple rules:

1. Follow the hosts via GFC (if you can) or RSS, Facebook, and Twitter. Jessica: Blog - Facebook - Twitter Haley: Blog - Facebook - Twitter

2. For every social link-up you enter, visit at least 3 others from that link-up and follow them.

3. HAVE FUN!!

(*Note: When liking on Facebook, you MUST do this from your personal page. It does not count as a "like" if you like from you blog Facebook page.)

Halloween According to Team Ibrahim

The hubs and I have always wanted to go to a fun Halloween party. I know, it seems like a reasonable request, but for some reason it's never happened! Before you get all "awe, they don't have any friends"--it's not that we haven't been invited--we have, but for some reason our schedules never worked out and it never happened.

Except for this year. This year, we were invited for a week vacation to Cabo to celebrate the beach wedding of two of our friends (pictures to come) and Halloween just happened to fall during that week.  So, as you can imagine, we were so excited for the chance to celebrate the holiday with 20 friends (some we knew, but mostly new friends), the bride and groom, and in an AHHH-Mazing house (pictures to come). 

So without further ado...here's our get-up.

We secretly placed our 'family photos' around the house. Some got it right away, it took a couple of days for some, and some wanted to know when they missed out on arts and crafts.

This picture just cracks me up. Business as usual.

We had such a great time!

This was such an easy and inexpensive couple's costume. Here's what we used:

Long Sleeve White T-shirt

White Pants

White Gloves

White, Red, and Green Craft Foam

Mask Kit from Target

Black Duct Tape

White Duct Tape

Velcro Tabs

Super Glue

Sharpie

We used the white duct tape to cover any labels or branding on our pants and shirts. Then we tore the black tape in half (width-wise) and in lengths needed for the 'stick people details'. We drew the faces and cut them out. We used a little 'mask kit' from Target (think masquerade or mask that just covers the eyes). We used super glue to glue the plain mask to the back of our cut-out faces. The reason we did this was to avoid having the elastic tied to the front of the face. We made a few accessories like his Mexican beer and my purse and attached the 'stick baby' with velcro. And, that's it! 

Hope you had a FUN Halloween too!

I've linked up with 

Raising Imperfection

Wow, what an honor! We were featured at Violet Imperfection's Friday Feature!

Where the BLEEP have I been?

Hello, friends.

I've missed you...

I've missed my DIY projects...

I've missed trying new recipes...

I've missed crafting...

and, I've missed blogging.

First of all, I want to thank all of you for sticking around in my absence. And, because you have, I feel that I owe you an explanation. Shortly after I started this blog I had some major life changes. Wonderful and great life changes, but changes nonetheless.

As some of you know 'Team Ibrahim' struggled for many years with becoming more than just a two-person team. We finally found success with our 4th IVF procedure and had our beautiful daughter, Elia. We were told we had to wait a whole year to try again because of the strain that the treatments and pregnancy can put on the body. We listened and we waited a year...and a week. We did another IVF transfer on July 17th and found out 2 weeks later that we were expecting again.

Just days before receiving our exciting news I was offered an amazing opportunity to do contract work for a local company. The owner is someone that I have looked up to for years and is considered a trailblazer in the social media industry. I jumped at the opportunity for both personal growth and a chance to pay down the debt we had accrued starting our family.

So, to recap: a new blog, a new job, a one year old, and a new pregnancy...all in the span of a couple of weeks. Overwhelmed does not even begin to describe how I was feeling. Extremely grateful but extremely overwhelmed.

Since I'm now well into my 2nd trimester and feeling much better and finally getting some sort of routine down with my job and family I'm planning on working my way back to my blog. Because, again, I really, really, really miss it.

So, that's it. Thank you for sticking around and I hope to be posting some fun projects soon! In the meantime, if you have a blog--I'm probably already following it, but if not, I'd love to! Leave your url in the comments and I'll stalk you check it out!

Have a great weekend!

Tea on Tuesday Social Hop #11

The Tea on Tuesday Social Hop is hosted by Jessica at Boys Oh Boys and Haley at Team Ibrahim. The Tea on Tuesday Social Hop, is a multiple social link-up for everyone to meet new people, make new friends,  and grow your audience! There are 8 social link-ups for you to join, including: Your Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Bloglovin', Hello Cotton, and Instagram! 

There are just a few simple rules:

1. Follow the hosts via GFC (if you can) or RSS, Facebook, and Twitter. Jessica: Blog - Facebook - Twitter Haley: Blog - Facebook - Twitter

2. For every social link-up you enter, visit at least 3 others from that link-up and follow them.

3. HAVE FUN!!

(*Note: When liking on Facebook, you MUST do this from your personal page. It does not count as a "like" if you like from you blog Facebook page.)