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Camila will be

2 months on the 7th of July. *she will be 3 months on the 7th of August.

I’ve been trying to finish this post for a minute. But mom life is happening so everything in my life takes 5-7 business days to complete. Lol

She was born on May 7th at 3:06 pm(I think) she’s a little stubborn taurus ā™‰ļø. I pushed her out in 5 minutes but labor was 30hours (I think) I had the best support system ever. Oscar was so attentive and kind. He constantly kept reassuring me that I was ok. The worry on his face made me love him more.

I thought I didn’t want anyone around for 2 weeks. I selfishly just wanted Camila to myself. I didn’t want anyone’s germs touching her. But as soon as I popped her out. I said “she’s perfect, maybe I will let everyone see her soon” and the next day we got visitors.

The amount of love I have received. WE have received was so beautiful. I’ve always been independent, I don’t like asking for help.. I don’t like taking help. But if I were to do this all over again(which I’m not!!! Idc what that psychic said when I was 18- little miss fortune šŸ”® teller said I’d have one boy, one girl and she couldn’t tell the last one. .. crazy lady. ) if I were to do this again, I’d accept the help with open arms. I’d allow family to stay with us. I had friends visit, I had friends from far away send gift cards, my cousin constantly sending us things to make our life’s easier.. it was just so beautiful.

The text messages were overwhelming but I got thru them.. everyone congratulating us was amazing! I’ll be forever grateful.even DM’s from people on IG, some I didn’t know. But everyone saying happy Mother’s Day. It was honestly such a blur. But I do remember getting endless amount of love.

Coming home with a newborn was the most humbling thing that has ever happened to me. My anxiety was at its all time high, Oscar and I took turns watching Camila sleep. I was scared that she’d stop breathing. At one point I was scared that I was going to be sleep deprived for the rest of my life. I cried a lot at first. I wasn’t Sad- i was just constantly worried.

Reasons I cried :

I felt like I wasn’t loving camila enough

I was scared that Oscar was going to drop her when he took her a bath without our parents

I cried because my feet were so swollen

I cried because my breast were so tender. They were hot, hard and just HUGE!

I cried anytime Camila cried & I didn’t know how to comfort her, I don’t know how many times I filled my self with doubt.

I think I cried more in the first two weeks home of having her home than what I cried my whole 9 months of pregnancy.

I think the hardest part of post partum was coming home. A baby sleeps up to 18 hours . Luckily mine did. All I had to worry about was changing her and feeding her, and not make her cry. But my body- that was a different story. I struggled the most with my boobs. My boobs were hard as a rock and sensitive to the touch, I got a fever and I had no idea what was happening. My feet were so swollen that it made me uncomfortable, i cried at how tight they felt. How socks suffocated my feet, and how none of my shoes fit. I really thought that was going to last forever. My vagina had a tear, but to me that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part of my downstairs situation was the smell. You are tender, you’re bleeding and you smell. It didn’t matter how many times I washed myself. The smell wouldn’t go away. I constantly was sweating, which was new to me. My armpits had BO that i also couldn’t get rid of. But apparently you stink so your baby can find you.. at that point I’m like why did we cut the umbilical cord! My showers didn’t leave me feeling clean

Now the breastfeeding was def not what I imagined. I was pumping, and boy did that make me question my situation. You have to pump every two hours or your boobs will get so engorged and possibly get mastitis now mastitis is an infection that is so painful that sometimes you have to get surgery to break down the milk duck that are blocked. Every time i would pump, i would get so hungry as if I haven’t Ate for days. I was hooked to a machine that was hooked to a wall. You would think you have this little me time, but in reality, you’re so stressed out, so sleep deprived and so hungry-on top of that you have to listen to your baby cry but you can’t mess up your routine with pumping because if you do you might cause engorgement pain. You constantly smell of rotten milk. and you’re pretty much on a time schedule that prevents you from doing anything or if you do do something you have to take pump time into consideration. I’m pretty much split with time and I get about 15 seconds for myself.

There was so many times I would tell Oscar that I didn’t want to do it anymore but then your mom guilt sets in. . Why would I give her formula if I can provide milk for her, there’s nothing wrong with formula but to me if I was able to provide her with milk that my body was making for her why would I take a different route to make it easier on me ? She deserves the best. Even if I hate every minute of it. (Not even a speckle of joy comes to when I have to pump)

Breast-feeding constantly made me feel like I was failing. I felt like I had to have this huge milk stash in the freezer and I couldn’t keep up! It did not matter how much and how many times I pumped- it was like a black hole. I’d pump and pump all day and night and I’d get three bags but then by the night time I had to use those bags to use for the bottles for the night fillings and I couldn’t get anywhere I felt so defeated .

I felt so guilty because everyone said that the breast-feeding part is one of the most beautiful parts of having your baby because you have a connection to them, but I didn’t have the patience to just breast-feed her onto my boob the whole time. Plus I didn’t like that I couldn’t gauge how much she was eating and I felt like she was always hungry and then she would end up crying because she wasn’t eating enough. I started to feel some sort of resentment towards breast-feeding and there is a point where Camila was really cranky and I thought maybe she knew that I just didn’t like this part, on top of that I was very vocal how much I hated pumping. I would tell myself I was a bad mom, because I didn’t feel that beautiful feeling everyone did while they were breast-feeding . I would look into my daughter’s eyes and I would just think that there has to be an easier way for her to eat, without both of us crying. I look back I think I was just sad and maybe some sort of resentment that my life was changing. That my body was in pain, and I couldn’t take the pain away. The uncomfortable pain. The hard and hot boobs, the milk coming out when you just showered and you come out clean but your milk ducts have other plans for you- and it’s not like you can go back in to rinse because then the baby is crying. The not feeling clean, smelling like rotten milk, feeling sticky, having to moisturize your nipples, having to take supplements to prevent clogged ducts. It was just so fucking draining.

But we’re in a different chapter now. I have enough supply stash in my freezer. So that speckle of joy 🤩 is there. I open my freezer with pride. Look babe, look how much milk I have ! I show off my milk. Hey Claudia, did you see how much milk I have??? Trying to get my mom to crack a smile I HAVE NO IDEA where to put all this milk I pumped. I have gone down to pumping 2-3 times a day vs 6-8. I get frustrated once in a while and not all the time. I mostly get frustrated when I see that Oscar can just be on his phone, and his useless nipples are just there cute, little and pink. While mine are engorged, cracked, not a cute pink color and on a 8-5 schedule.

My daughter latches on to me- no nipple guards for us šŸ˜‡and now I tear up when I see her eating and she looks at me with her beautiful eyes and says thank you with one look(or at least I take it as that) & when she pinches my thin boob skin by my armpit, I laugh at her teeny tiny fingernails that somehow cause pain. She’s at the point where she pulls my nipple so far out that I freak out, but also surprised by her strength. I love that I can pull out this bowling ball tit and i can bring her little comfort. When we both fall asleep and one titty is out and free to watch the sunrise is prob my favorite.

Newborn stage was rough. I questioned myself so many times. “Wtf am I doing?” But now I’m getting to enjoy every moment with her, being unconditional loved by such a tiny human. My little Kanye that only smiles at the fan and in the mornings. I can’t wait to experience everything with her.

Someone once said welcome to the only hood you can’t get out of- motherHOOD šŸ’–

This was the first time I breast fed without a nipple guard in a public place. Right before I saw another mom breastfeeding her baby and thinking AMAZED “how is she doing that!!!one day I’ll be able to do that! ” then I did it!
This was me breast feeding and WALKING !!! Peppa WAS STRUTTTTTTIN!
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Crazy life

I haven’t been writing like I said I would, but life caught up to me. One of the most stressful/ fun weekends happened and in a split second everything fell apart around me and witnessing pain and sadness- feeling like i couldn’t do anything about it. – to trying to be excited for something I’ve been waiting for… opening my own salon. Did I mention scary adventure???? Rewinddddd to the week that I went to Mexico to celebrate my god daughters first birthday, and few hours later I went to Lisa balayage bootcamp. We woke up at 3 am and froze at the border what seemed like eternity. I cried thinking I was about to miss a class that Ive been wanting to go to for ever! And finally after 7 years later when my bank account stopped acting up I was able to purchase the ticket. Soooo being stuck at the border with 2 hours to get to class you can only imagine how panicked I was. YOU guessed it! I had a panic attack! Right before going up to the border. But, having someone reassuring you that everything will be ok and they will get me there helped! šŸ‘»ā¤ļøAs I changed in the back seat and brushed my teeth, with 3 hours of sleep I was more than excited to attend a class! I learned a couple of new things, but I know I want to get more into the chemistry of hair. The more you understand the product and the structure of hair the more successful the end result will be. It was nice hearing victor and lisa talk about how many bleed spots they do and how they do mess up. I can be very hard on myself but I know if you own up to it and fix it ! Then you are doing your part. Also, victor showed us how to do a 30 ā€˜min foil with a assistant and so it pretty much means it’s NOT a 30min foil alone. So that was kinda eh. I was still very proud of Myself for attending. I pushed my self to attend a class because I still have a lot to learn!

On Tuesday when I went back to work, I got a call from my best friend. A call that no one from the outside really saw coming . A call that would cause a lot of pain and sadness to the people I love. I had a lot of emotions running thru me- but none that were close to what my best friend was going thru. I just knew I had to be there for her anyway I could. I don’t like involving anyone into my life when I’ve lost someone because I always felt like that was private and intimate to my personal life. But after a few days I made the choice to ask for support! her family and friends had to get it together to see what we could do to provide for her family! Without a doubt I thought of a raffle! I don’t care how much money I had to discount I just knew I wanted $20 for each square and i wanted at least 100 squares. I sold them all in two days! All profits went to her and the girls. That instant I knew how much I loved my career, The fact that my clients all came together to donate (some without even wanting to participate into the raffle) warmed my heart. Knowing that clients and friends knew how much my friendship with ā€œthe stubborn Scorpioā€ meant to me. I’d ask some clients what sign they were and if they said scorpios… I would just laugh and say ā€œy’all are stubborn AF.ā€ And then that would start the conversation of my best friend. No amount of money would fix the pain of the people surrounding me- but the support meant the world to them & me. I was shocked! And i want to thank anyone who shared, prayed, came to the carwash, donated and purchased from the raffle. I want y’all to know that: It wasn’t for me that you were doing it, it came from the goodness of your heart- for Henry. ā¤ļø

3 days went by and I felt like I was stuck on the same day. Nothing made me laugh, or felt interesting. I just knew that there was pain and loss around me, and nothing really felt right or good to do. Everyone contacting me about hair would just irritate me, because even tho i have a business I had to run.. I couldn’t wrap my mind on how people could just move on from things so quickly. Like, the last thing on my way mind was to answer any questions about hair or appointments while I’m seeing people around me breakdown. 1 week exactly after that phone call from Andrea and Emilia, I get a message saying that my salon location was approved and ready to start the opening 10/05/2021 was the day I got the message and they wanted me to open 11/01/2021 – as I just starred at the message i wanted to feel happy, but I just said ā€œoh shit.ā€ Who am I going to share this with? Like – ive been waiting for this moment for about a year now.. and i didn’t want to share it because I felt guilty. I felt guilty for wanting to be happy, excited and proud of myself, when noone wanted to be in the position they were in- no one wanted to smile, everyone was still confused about what was happening and why. The first person I would text lost her husband, her BFF, the father if her girls just a week ago, & I knew that right now wasn’t the moment. I just knew that if things were different- Andrea would be the first person to say how proud she is of me and Im ok with that thought. When I was thinking about going to beauty school I’ll always remember telling her how hard everything will be, her response that stuck with me and I use until this day is ā€œthe hardest part of doing anything is starting it.ā€ I forget a lot of things, but that stayed with me because it inspired me to just say -you’re right- and enrolled in cosmetology school.

It’s been two weeks- all I’ve done is post that I’m hiring! I have no plan on what! Lol because I am a person who learns from experiences not so much on planning. Stephanie is on my side with interior design šŸ˜Ž and apparently $2,000 is not enough lol because the mirrors I want is taking a quarter of my very very tiny budget lol i had to purchase styling chairs $249 each x3, shampoo bowls that took me 4 days to choose and actually message people who have purchased to see how comfortable they were (because that will keep a client from staying with you) oh the price for those was my first born child’s down payment to their first car. Anyways- long story short let’s just say Addy thought my purchase was a lot of money! 😩 oh and shipping alone was $1300. Between trying to hire and get Insurence quotes – I was trying to find the excitement from all this. It’ll probably be at the end of a overdraft fee jk Is there smarter ways to start a business ? Yes! But say it with me ā€œ i learn from experience not planning!ā€

There’s so much to do with what seems like 4 days until opening date. Meanwhile, I’m in the middle of holiday rush, trying my very best to be their for Drea and lightly doing my life. I just know that after that support I received from so many people .. I know opening my own salon was a good choice- thank you to everyone – words cannot describe how a vicious community got together for a person they have never met- just know he was worth it!

Boat to the rescue

I’m hoping this will help, I’ve tried my best to stay distracted so that I don’t cry. I’m scared. Every time I cry- I just think it’s it’s going to get worse after my second baby comes. I’m terrified to get post partum. What if I can’t crawl out of it, for the new baby, or for Camila.. for my self or for my relationship.

I see other stylist/ business owners on their second baby. We’re not far from each other and their first baby is around Camilas age too. They seem like they have it so together. It makes me feel guilty. It makes me feel angry and pity for myself. Do they feel like I feel? Like there will be no more Of me left.

Today as I watched Camila play, I cried and cried. I really don’t like crying in front of her but she just stared at me and said “hiiii” and then got really close to my face, confused as to why there was water coming down. She then proceeded to play with the tears running down.

Today, I was proud of myself tho. We woke up for a walk early in the morning. I made her lunch, and she fell asleep for her first and currently she’s on her second nap. I made us potato for a snack and right now she has ketchup all over her face. I also made a blueberry loaf. Part of me feels like I need a break- but if I stop. All these emotions hit me right in the damn face.

I have an ultra sound check at 6pm. Just to check on the baby. as if my sadness will affect her. But somehow I think it will. Just want to make sure her heart is still beating. I hope she can hear my internal thought about how this isn’t her fault, I’m not sad because of her. I’m scared. I don’t want to lose myself.