7 Months

Here are my favorite photos from the past month:

he is so handsome

my little monster

we call this the, "Hello Ladies" pose, cracks me up

halloween was so fun!

playing in the leaves

Blog Challenge Day 5: Your Proudest Moment

This one is easy!

Giving birth to Sam all natural, with no medical intervention, is my proudest moment. Which is fitting because today is Sam is 7 months.

You can read about my birth story here. And you can read my posts about the Bradley Method here and here, which helped us prepare for a natural birth.

I always knew I wanted to have a natural birth. I guess part of me wanted the challenge since I already felt slightly defeated in not being able to conceive naturally. And I did it! No pain medication or anything. Just me, my wonderful nurses and Rob, the most awesome husband. Giving birth has given me so much confidence. I feel like now me and my body can do anything.

Blog Challenge Day 4: Your Dream Job

I always wanted to be an illustrator. That's all I ever talked about. But now in the past few years as my passion for drawing becomes less and less (hello adult world) I just find myself drifting away from it because the lack of time and truthfully inspiration. That actually makes me pretty sad typing this out!

I tell myself that this is just a phase and I'll regain my passion again. I know as Sam gets older I'll start doing art projects with him. I picture me and him drawing together, making all sorts of pictures from his wild and endless imagination! And then that'll full my passion again and I'll start drawing more and more and I will illustrate that children's book that I've always wanted to do!

Blog Challenge Day 3

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right. - Henry Ford

I'm not much of a quote person, because I never can memorize them! But this quote has popped up a couple times, forcing me to take notice. I love when the universe talks to you.

This quote is so me right now. I can't keep thinking that I cannot do things. I have to push myself and say that I can. Like I CAN train and run a half marathon!

Blog Challenge Day 2

Woooo! Here we go!

1. I was born in Southern California and lived there till I was 12.

2. I lived in Arizona, Vancouver Canada, California (again), Arizona (again), New York and North Carolina.

3. My parents are from Croatia and all my relatives still live there. I understand the language, I can speak some of it and I've been there quite a few times. That also makes me first generation American.

4. I am a HUGE geek. I love sci-fi movies and books, I read comics, I play video games, I watch anime, I can do some web coding and love computers...Apple.

5. I can draw really well! In fact up until recently, I always wanted to be an illustrator. Here's some old stuff.

4. I have a dinosaur tattoo. (oh one more thing to add to my geekiness)

5. I'm pretty crafty too. I can crochet, sew, embroider and other fun stuff.

6. I love beer! I love drinking craft and local beer. I've been to a few beer festivals and we've spent over $200 on a couple rare brews.

7. My favorite movies are The Fifth Element and Hook.

8. I love Japan and its culture. We went to Tokyo a few years ago.

9. I have an older brother (13 years older) and an older sister (10 years older)

(this is a lot tougher than i thought!)

10. I went to college for graphic illustration and digital imaging.

11. I love Photoshop and have been using it since I was around 12. (back around when the internet first came around)

12. I've kept up a website or blogs for the last 12 years.

13. I used to role play in an X-Men chat room. I even had my own character Shade, who I drew ALL the time. (am I nerdy enough yet??)

14. My sign is Cancer (cardinal even) and it fits me perfectly.

15. I was a loner most of my teen years and I'm pretty socially awkward. It's hard for me to make friends.

16. I write with my left hand.

17. Robbie Williams is one of my favorite musicians.

18. I love doing yoga.

19. Rob and I met through online dating. We've been together since our first date 10 years ago.

20. I used to weigh around 200 lbs and I lost around 90 lbs. Mostly through eating healthy and exercising.

Sam & Suzy This Week

spying on sam after his nap

How was everyone's Halloween?
Ours was great! We originally didn't want to take him trick or treating because any candy is for us and I've been trying not to eat too much processed stuff, but once he had his costume on I couldn't help it! We went to a few neighbor's houses who I thought would love to see Sam in his costume. It was so sweet and right there I realized how long we've been waiting to do these sorts of things with a kid. It was SUCH a great feeling.

Afterwards, we sat on the driveway a bit and gave out candy. Oh, and I totally ate any candy that Sam got. Soooo bad, but sooo good! No will power when it comes to sweets I tell ya!

Sam:
He's been so great! He's just talking up a storm this week. Always making us laugh. Oh and I can totally make him laugh just by giving him kisses on his belly. Love it!

He's been sleeping in his nursery with no problems. I'm so proud. He still wakes up around 5 - 5:30am, which makes the weekends hard. I bring him back to bed with me and we can sometimes get another hour of sleep. But with my breast milk supply dwindling, I hope I can still get him back to sleep on those mornings.

Naps on the other hand is something we struggle with. At day care he takes about three 20 - 40 minute naps. On the weekends, sometimes I can get a good hour long nap and sometimes a 20 minute one. A lot of times I hold him while he naps, for fear of waking him...and also because I just want to be close to him.


Suzy:
Look at me all training for a half marathon! My first run was so great! And then my body remembered it doesn't do this much and I've been so so sore! This weekend I have to run 4 miles, which I have bring Sam with me in the stroller. I have a pretty flat area to run it and I will take it easy, not forcing myself to run all of it. But I may surprise myself.

One thing that I struggle with, I'm actually pretty scared about running! I get nervous and anxious about it. I'm going to start running big miles here and that scares me. I know I can do it, I've had plenty of people tell me I'm a good runner...but I never ran more than 4 miles. I have to beat this fear! I was scared of child birth and I did it. I did it all natural because I trusted my body. Now I just have to trust my body again.

Blog Challenge! with Day 1's Challenge, Your Blog's Name!

Dena over at LiveLoveSimple.com has posted a blog challenge and I'm needing a little blogging boost!

Day 1: Your Blog's Name

Hello Sprout.

I had another blog for a while called Hello Suzy, it was another personal blog that I shared my life and my artwork. When I got pregnant I want to start a new blog that just focused on being pregnant and then our kid. So, since I was Hello Suzy before and I was pregnant with my little sprout, I called this blog Hello Sprout.

Maybe one day I'll migrate back over to Hello Suzy since I still have the domain, if I start to focus on art again, but for now I enjoy writing about my life with Sam: )