Come on down!!!!

Nope it's not The Price is Right, it's good old fashioned hard work. I earned my FREE car! Woohoo! So now you know why I was MIA all month. Just in time for Farrah to officially be 18 months on Friday. Wow... a post on that will come soon. I'm still in shock but soooo excited. We needed a new, reliable car very bad. And I'm forever grateful to everyone who supported in whatever way they could. Can't wait to pick up my Chevy Malibu in about 6 weeks. Plus they'll pay insurance for me and my husband. So grateful! Next stop... pink cadillac! :)

Well hello again e-friends

Yes, I realize it has been over a month since I last got on and posted an update on our lives. But to be fair I did warn you that things would be very busy these next few months, so ummm yeah, I wasn't kidding. My Mary Kay team rocked it out last month and we are ahead of schedule and should be finishing up car qualifications this month and directorship as well. Just in time for busy wedding season to start and my husband to be working every weekend. Sometimes I feel like those wrestlers who tag their partner in when they need a break. He gets home from work in the evening and I'm out the door... tag. It's a Saturday and both of us are working so my friend watches Farrah for a few hours.... tag. It's a Thursday (daycare day)... Abe drops her off at daycare... tag.... I pick her up... tag.
I'm sure from an outsiders perspective it sounds exhausting, and I won't lie, there are times when I'm really, really tired, but I think the thing that seperates myself and other people that have been successful in Mary Kay from the people that try it and quit, is that I have come to understand the concept of a short term sacrifice for a long term gain. I don't have to do this forever, but I do have to do it now so that I can provide for my family for the rest of my life.

I do a promotion at a restaurant here in town every Friday night for my business. I hand out roses to all the ladies as they walk in and I do a drawing. A few weeks back a lady came in, I handed her a rose told her about the drawing and she smiled... "I used to do Mary Kay!" she said enthusiastically. "You did!" I responded... and before I could ask her anymore questions she said "Yeah, but it was too hard, because my son was little." Hmmm I thought. How to respond? "Do you like it?" she asked? "I love it!" I said. "It allows me to be home with my 16 month old (at the time) daughter." "Oh" she said realizing that her and I were much more alike than different. We had just chosen different paths. "Isn't it hard with a toddler?" "Well it's not easy, but I wouldn't say it's hard. Yes I work, but to me hard would be getting a job that requires me to be gone all day and put her in daycare when I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom. So for me, giving up a couple nights a week and maybe a couple hours on the weekends is well worth it." I could tell something clicked in her head and she got it. Trust me, I 100% understand that what I do isn't for everyone (and I'm happy about that because then I would have no customers ;) but I do love to change people's perceptions of what they think is "hard." It's a mindset. Go to a country where they work 15 hour days 7 day weeks for practically nothing... that's hard.

As a parent, we all make sacrifices in one way or another. We sacrifice our careers to stay home, we sacrifice time with a spouse to "tag out" and go to work. It's hard to avoid sacrifice when it comes to your children. In my case, every ounce of effort has been worth it. After a fun morning out with Farrah and seeing her asleep in the rear-view mirror I was reminded of that again.... it's worth it.
Here are some pictures of my little reason why I do everything I do. I'll save the Easter pics for the next post. It's been super hot here these past couple days. Yesterday it got to 95 degrees so we busted out the bathing suit (not me... ::shivers::) and the hose and Farrah loved it!

Busy month ahead

Ok so this is another work related post so if you're only here for the cute baby, sorry! None of that in this post.

So an update. I have had such an awesome past few months in my business and it's a really exciting time for me because I'm in the qualification period to become a director with Mary Kay and earn my first car with Mary Kay. This has been my goal for a while now, but our need is so much greater now that it's like there was a switch that flipped in my brain that made me go from "flirting" with my goal to "marrying" it. haha. My car is 15 years old and my hubby's is 12. Not exactly spring chickens. Especially when you have a baby, you worry about a reliable car. So please pray for me (if you're the praying kind) during this qualification. I know we're going to get it done and I can't wait to be able to post pics of my new car on my blog :)

In conjunction with that, I have to say that Mary Kay is doing the most awesome promotion right now for the month of April called the Spring break promotion. You can start a Mary Kay business for just $50!!! Isn't that so cool! It's normally $100 so it's half price but you get all of the stuff in the full price kit which is over $400 worth of Mary Kay products! This is an absolute no brainer to me. $400 worth of the best skin care and color products on the market for $50?!? So if you have ever wanted to make a little extra money (or a lot), need a new car, more flexibility, or just a discount on your own products, now is the time! You can learn more on my website HERE

Feel free to email me if you want more information as well kristanaldjian@marykay.com

Pass this along to anyone you know that is looking for something and if they become an active consultant you will get $100 in free product for referring them to me!

The thing I most love about this promotion is there is absolutely nothing to lose. If you give it a try and you hate it, you still got $400 worth of products for $50 and you can just stop. But if you love it, who knows, maybe you'll be blogging about your new free car too :)

16 months

This is her signal for "all done." If she's done with a toy, or food or whatever she puts her hands up like this. Apparently she'd made a big enough mess and was "all done." :) She already knows when we have a camera in our hands to smile... what a ham! Her first time walking on the grass... what a pro!

Enjoying the beautiful weather this weekend at the park.

that bear security blanket is her new best friend.... I couldn't even take it from her before going on the swing... so the bear went along

eating some of mommy's sandwhich at Quiznos... well really just picking it apart, not eating it.

I guess 16 months was the magic number for Miss Farrah to start walking. I thought for sure a several weeks ago when she took her first steps she would take off from there... not so much. But about a week ago she just started walking all over the place. It's adorable because she takes off and gets this big ol' grin on her face because she's so proud of herself. I am so proud of her too. I was thinking it would be more difficult but it's actually easier (at least for now it is). She was already into everything before, she was just crawling. Now she's excited about walking so she's much more easily entertained and she can entertain herself much more easily.

16 months also marks another new phase. The "I am no longer a big eater" phase. She used to eat whatever we gave her. And now, if it's not a carb or a banana she won't eat it. I'm trying to cleverly sneak in some veggies and have tried veggie juice (which she actually will take), sweet potato fries which she refused (I was shocked, who doesn't love those?), butternut squash soup (she ate some, but not much.) I know they say just don't give her anything if she doesn't eat what you give her. The problem is she won't give in and eat it. She just won't eat and I can't starve the kid. I'm hoping it's just another one of her phases. We'll see! Here are some fun recent pics of her. She loves the swing at the park and this time she was able to walk around on the grass at the park. I just adore her. But really, who wouldn't? :)

The gym

Not for me for her. Yes there is such a thing as a baby gym. I'm part of the local MOM's club and once a month they go to The Little Gym for a group activity. I've probably taken Farrah 5 out of the last 8 months and when we first went she wasn't even crawling yet so all she really did was just sit there and look around. I didn't see what all the fuss was. The past couple of times she's seemed to really enjoy it. Especially last Friday. When we first got there she did her usual freak out-clingy-are you leaving me hear? scream. She wouldn't let me put her down. So I sat down and let her climb all over me until she finally seemed like she recognized some of the play structures and took off. I couldn't comprehend that my clingy, seperation anxiety ridden baby would be on the opposite side of the gym playing not even wondering where I was.
So that got me thinking I should look into enrolling her into a class. Seeing her as happy and carefree as she was is worth all the money in the world. And then I saw how much it costs.... dang! It's just as expensive for her "gym membership" as it would be for both Abe and I to get a gym membership. Yikes! But luckily for me the more I work the more $ I make. "Will work for Farrah" is my new motto.

I'm a find a way make a way kind of gal so I'll make it happen. I can't wait to post pics and videos from her first class that she's enjoying because of my hard work. For now I'll post some pics and videos from last Friday.

I apologize for the horrible quality of video and pics but I was using my phone. It just solidifies the fact that I need a new one. "Will work for a new phone" hehe.

And yes if you watched the last video until the end, I turned it off right when she gets trampled by a little boy. Tears ensued. I tried to give her some freedom and this is what happens ;)

Where does the time go?

Seriously. My sweet itty bitty is now a full on toddler. Yesterday she turned 15 months and while she's not walking all over the house like I thought she would be by now, she makes up for it by getting in to everythingn she's not supposed to get into. How does she know what she's not supposed to do and get pleasure from doing it? Why can't she play with "her" drawer instead of my underwear drawer? Why does she have to get in the pantry instead of "her" cabinet? Ahhh I'm in trouble aren't I? Here are a couple videos for you to enjoy. The first one is of Farrah at just 1 day old in the hospital. The next is of her dancing to one of her new favorite songs just a couple weeks ago. If we're facebook friends you've probably seen that one. She likes the most random songs... I really don't think I should let her listen to some of them but she's so happy. Maybe in a couple more months when she starts repeating things she hears I might have a different opinion on that.

Enjoy! Happy Friday!

Diaries of a working stay-at-home mom

The main benefit of my job is that I get to be home with Farrah. She is my reason "why." Every appointment I hold and phone call I make is to ensure that I get to be home with her. However recently, as I mentioned in a previous post, I started putting her in daycare one day a week. Every Thursday I drop her off at daycare in the morning and pick her up in the evening. I'll admit, it's very hard for me to do. I'm selfish like that I guess :) But I know she needs to get past this clingy, scream my head off when mommy leaves phase. It also allows me one solid, uninterrupted day of work and we need a financial boost so it's helping us a lot. I have to tell you, I've never accomplished so much in one day as I have the past few Thursdays. I know it's because in the back of my mind I'm thinking "If I'm going to be away from my baby, I better get as much out of this day as I possibly can." I line up back to back appointments, make phone calls, catch up on emails and usually find time to squeeze one chore in before I go pick her back up. She's been hit or miss with how it goes at daycare. There's been times she's been totally fine, there's been times when I get a report that she cried the majority of the day (insert mommy heartbreak here), there's been days when she's a combination of both.
This was one of the first difficult mommy decisions I've had to make and although it's tough, I know it's the right choice. Because I'm able to accomplish so much on those Thursdays, I feel like the rest of the days when I'm home with her, I can really enjoy her so much more because I'm present. I'm not thinking about what I have to get done, or checking my emails while watching her out of the corner of my eye.
Yesterday, Abe was working and I had a Mary Kay party scheduled at 1pm at my house which was perfect because she was napping while it was going on. When everyone left, I put my sweatpants on and spent the rest of the day crawling around with her, I let her pull every blanket out from under her crib, all of my underwear out of my underwear drawer and all her clothes out of the bottom couple of drawers. Then we read pretty much every book we have. Then we went to Rubio's for dinner and I shared my bean and cheese burrito with her. This is one of her favorite treats. She loves cheesey tortilla and beans and guac. (who doesn't really?)
When it was time to put her to bed, it was the first time I can ever remember that I was dreading putting her to bed because I wanted to keep playing with her. I'm usually so tired myself that I look forward to putting her down for the night and having a few hours peace. It reassured me that I've made the right choices for myself and my family. It was a good day.