Hello, Portland

Hi guys! I have been so busy (what's new, right?) lately. Danny and I have made our way to Portland, Oregon. It feels so nice to be back. Danny found a job his last week of Code Fellows. He is now working at FINE Design Group here in downtown Portland. Our new apartment is right down the street from his job. His first day of work was November 11th. He went to dev bootcamp for iOS, but he got a job for rails. Which is another language. But he is still doing iOS on the side and is going to find work doing that a little later on. 

He enjoys his job, and the people he works with. I have been there a couple of times and it is a really nice workplace. Everyone I've met there seems pretty nice. I would like working there too if I were him, it's so chill and relaxing, they get to listen to music while working. We are both happy with our lives right now, everything has fallen into place perfectly. 

For those of you who don't know, this is our first time living on our own without any roommates, in the whole three and a half years we've been together. It's crazy to think about how far we've come, and how long it took us to get to where we are now. But I am so happy with where we are, it has taken a lot of stress off of our relationship. Living with others can be so stressful, and most of the time, it is. Especially when it's with other family members. Because you're bound to get on each other's nerves, and with family, you definitely don't want any relationships to fall apart. And with a baby, it's 10 times harder to live with others. 

Everything is the way it should be now, and we couldn't be more happy. Rylee is getting so big, and learning so much every day. It's amazing watching her grow and develop. We love being in Portland so much. I'm not super stoked on the weather here, but if I'm gonna live somewhere with crappy weather, it's gonna be here! I just love the vibes Portland has, and the people are pretty cool, too. 

I plan on getting back on YouTube again here very soon. We are pretty much all settled in our apartment now, so it's only a matter of time that I start filming again soon. Sometimes I think about how much I missed out on (on YouTube), and how much farther I could have gone, and sometimes it disappoints me, because I feel like I've gone absolutely nowhere. But I know I have, not nearly as far as I'd like to go, but it's a start. When I look back at where I started, and where I am now, I am a little proud of myself, it's my job, and I've been on one long vacation, ha ha! But I have also been a mom, and there is nothing better than that. 

I'm going to try harder to make more time for YouTube, it's what I love doing, and it's what I'm doing for work right now. I am a certified makeup artist, but I am not really doing makeup right now on clients, I'm just not free with taking care of a 1 year old everyday while the husband is at work. Sometime in the middle of this next year, I will be going on my second tour at Aveda here in Portland, and possibly starting school there next year. Doing hair has always been a dream of mine, and I wish I would have done that a long time ago like I wanted to, instead of listening to other people when they told me I'd fail. I know that's my dream and I know I'd be great at it. Hair and makeup. 

I could go into more detail about everything, but this post is already a bit lengthy. So I will post more videos about everything soon, as well as some beauty ones. I'm getting back into blogging on my beauty blog, so check it out and please go follow! Thanks, you guys are awesome. 

Life Without Danny: Weeks 7&8

The last couple weeks flew by. Danny came to LA on the 2nd of November. We stayed a few days at my grandparents house and drove back up to Mammoth yesterday. 

It's nice having him back. We are all still adjusting though. We both got used to being away from each other. But we are very happy to be together again. It has just been so tiring with all the driving we've been doing. 

We drove to San Diego on Monday, we took Rylee to the zoo for her birthday, which is tomorrow (November 7th). The drive to San Diego was 2 hours. Ry did pretty good but got a little fussy towards the end. The zoo was enjoyable though and wasn't very busy. Rylee had a blast seeing all the animals. She loves animals. 

The drive from my grandparents house in Azusa to Mammoth is 6 hours. Rylee did pretty good but there were times she just cried for awhile. Especially towards the end. We are in Mammoth one more day then we start our drive up north tomorrow morning. Did I mention Danny got a web development job in Portland? He starts Monday! I'm so proud of him. He just got out of dev bootcamp and he already has a job. Although it isn't iOS, it's a start. And he will still be doing iOS on the side. A few iOS jobs have contacted him for interviews in LA, but be already took the job at FINE Design and doesn't wanna chance it. Hopefully in about a year or so he can work for an iOS company. 

Anyway, that's all for this journey. I was a single mom for two months and it definitely wasn't easy. But I have learned so much from it. And I think it has bettered me as a parent. 

Life Without Danny: Week 6

We are going into the sixth week of being away from each other. But the good news is Danny is coming home earlier! Instead of coming home on December 4th, he will be back on November 3rd! We are both so excited. It's only a couple weeks away. 

Turns out he won't be taking the rails class after all. Long story. But he is almost done with the iOS course. And he is loving it. He has already made an app called fridgeit for iOS 7.0. It's not a very exciting app, it was just a little something he threw together in three days to have something to put on his resume. But he is working on creating a game right now and is actually putting some time into that app. 

As for Rylee, she is doing great. She is teething right now and her back teeth are next, she already has her top four and bottom four teeth. She's had those for awhile now. Poor baby is going to have a bad time with these new ones coming in. I'm very excited to see how she reacts when Danny comes back home. She loves him so much. She will be so excite to see her daddy again! 

Life Without Danny: Week 5

Wow, it's already been 5 weeks. I can't believe how fast the weeks are going by. Almost halfway through. And only less than a month until I get to see Danny again! 

Taking care of Rylee without Danny here is really wearing on me. I don't have time for anything. I'm lucky if I get to do a 30 minute cardio session in the morning. But I know this is all for the better so I am trying to stay positive about everything. 

Also! Danny might come home early! He might be done with school in November instead of December. He's in the iOS class right now (8 weeks), and he was supposed to take Ruby on Rails(4 weeks) right after. Turns out, the class might be full and he may not get to go. 

Danny already knows a little RoR, from teaching himself. So that's good. It would obviously look better on his resume if he took the Rails course too, but if not, he can always put in more hours at home. Either way, whatever is meant to be, will be. We're just letting God take control. We will find out soon when he will be coming back home for good! 

Life Without Danny: Week 4

4 weeks down, 8 to go! Wow, time has just been flying by. I can't believe it has already been a month. It's getting easier day by day, although I don't really get to talk to Danny much on the phone. We usually only iMessage each other. And we don't even get to do that often because he's constantly working on iOS apps. But it's okay because I keep myself busy with Rylee, and it's nice hanging out with my grandparents. 

So like I said, I don't get to talk to Danny on the phone very often. I get to talk to him once a day, and it's usually at bedtime, if I'm lucky, I get to talk to him for a little while on his lunch break. Anyway, last night I finally got to talk to him, after not being able to talk to him all day. He was in line at a RedBox returning a movie as he was telling me about how he was at Vons the night before and a lady in line was being super rude to him. He finished his story, and I started talking to him about it, not knowing that I was on speaker phone, so everyone around him could hear me. Well, as I am talking to him, some girl behind him in line totally cuts me off and starts asking Danny about the situation in Vons he was telling me about, so he starts quickly explaining it to her. So I said "I guess I'll let you go and talk to you later." He asked "why?" And I said "because someone just RUDELY interrupted our conversation while I was talking to you and now you're talking to her." I said way more than that, I can't remember exactly what I said, but something along the lines of "holy shit, what is wrong with people?! I can't believe someone would try to stay a conversation with someone while they are clearly on the phone. Does she seriously not see that you're talking to someone?!" So he just started talking to me again. I asked what movie he was returning. And he said the new Star Trek. THEN the girl goes "oh that was a great movie huh?!" And I say "oh my god, she's doing it again? That's so f*cking rude and inconsiderate, she needs to shut up, I never get to talk to you and this is the only few minutes I have with you." Then Danny was walking back to his car and said "jeez babe, you're on speaker phone." Oops! I told him I was glad she hear me. Keep in mind I was a little sad in the first place that I don't have much talking time with my husband and I miss him like crazy. Also, I was so surprised that someone would completely interrupt someone on the phone. How disrespectful. AND, it's even worse because she tried talking to him a SECOND time after she heard me tell him it was rude the first time she did it. And after I expressed how much I miss him and never get to talk to him. So it was almost like she did it a second time to be a b*tch. Excuse the language. The whole situation just pissed me off! 

I do think I overreacted a little bit though! But, I have been exhausted for four weeks being a "single" mom, and I miss my damn husband! I don't regret saying anything I said while I was on speaker phone, like I said, I'm glad she heard me! Haha! 

All I know is, when I see someone talking on their cell phone, I definitely wouldn't randomly start a conversation with them. Have some decency people! 

Anyway, I cannot wait to see Danny in a month! He will be back in Mammoth to visit for the weekend for Rylee's birthday! :D 

Life Without Danny: Week 3

I can't believe it's been three weeks already. Almost four! The third week without my husband wasn't too bad. Obviously each week gets better, because I get more and more used to him being gone. He is doing really well in school and I am so proud of him. 

A few days ago, Rylee would NOT nap. I tried for three hours to get her to nap. I tried bouncing her, I tried laying down and nursing her, nothing was working. I was also in the middle of getting ready. So I would put her down to play with toys so I could finish getting ready. Every time I put her down, she would cry. So I would try to get her to nap again. And that was the cycle for three whole hours. It sucked. It was very hard on me. 

Eventually she took a nap, and I got to finish getting ready. I just need to keep reminding myself that everything will get better, eventually. 

We FaceTime Danny almost everyday. Rylee and I miss him so much and can't wait for him to be done with school! It's so hard with him gone, I'm a full time mom and I just miss having him around in general. He will be back on November 6th for Rylee's birthday weekend. We cannot wait! <2

10 Months Postpartum

The last time I updated about my postbaby body was at 7 months. Ever since then, I have been working out a lot, until recently. If you've read my posts about Danny being gone for school, then you know I've been so busy lately, and exhausted. 

However, I am satisfied with my body the way it is now. I am 115 lbs (20 lbs below pre pregnancy weight), and I feel great. I was jogging about 5-6 days a week for awhile, as well as weightlifting and eating a healthy diet. 

Since Danny left, I've been working out less. And since I've been at my grandparents house, I've been eating more junk. I know, I feel terrible about it! But I haven't gained any weight. I still walk a lot, and still chase a baby around everywhere so I think those things alone keep me fit. Ha ha!! 

Today I started doing workouts again. I don't plan to jog though, and if I do, it'll be like a 1 day a week thing. I don't want to actually lose anymore weight, I'd just like to tone up a bit. So I will be doing tons of little workouts and weights. I am also going to try and eat healthier again. I still eat healthy, I just indulge in desserts more often now. 

Anyway, here is a photo of my post pregnancy body now! 

I am so happy with my body. I love my body. I have never been able to say that before. Like I said, I will continue some workouts and tone my body more, but I'm not unhappy with the way I now look. And I actually do love my curves! :) 

Life Without Danny: Week 2

This (second) week was a little easier than last. I was still super lonely, but not nearly as much. My sister, Desiray, drove down from Oregon and visited a few days. That is another long story that I won't get into. But it was nice to see her, I haven't visited her in awhile. That alone kept me distracted for a little bit, and that's what I needed. I also went on frequent walks to run errands with my father in law. So that was also nice to have someone to talk to during the day while Danny was unavailable to FaceTime or call. 

My grandparents from Azusa got ahold of me this week and invited me to stay at their house for as long or as short a I wanted. This was such a nice offer because I always enjoy visiting them and their beautiful home. They offered to pick me up in Mammoth (a 6 hour drive), and bring me back whenever I want. I am so grateful for this opportunity. I was absolutely overjoyed. So my grandparents picked me up on the 20th, and here I am in Azusa! 

Being away from my husband has been a lot easier since being here at my grandma and grandpa's house. It still sucks and I still miss him a lot, but I'm a lot more distracted here. It's also a lot quieter here in the suburbs, so Rylee sleeps more peacefully. Where we live, there are always loud events nearby, with lots of music and drunk people. So Rylee had a hard time sleeping in that environment. It's a lot easier to deal with when I'm not taking care of her alone, so it's just nice to be away for a little bit. Rylee and I do miss Danny's family back home though! 

We still FaceTime Danny at night, and Rylee loves seeing him! She gets so excited when she sees his face, I know she misses him tons. She is doing very good, though, behavior wise. I am so proud of her. We are so excited for dad to come back home! 

On another note, there was a fire here in Azusa Canyon last night, and my grandparents house is right next to the canyon! So I got some pretty cool shots of it. The fire is completely out now, but there was still so much smoke this morning. It was all cleared out by this afternoon, though. The first photo is taken from the back balcony, and the second is taken this morning from the front, with my grandparents house on the left, that's how close we were! 

Life Without Danny: Week 1

So before I begin, I would like to point out that Danny and I are in the third week of being away from each other while he is in school. I meant to post this a couple weeks ago but ended up getting too busy.

Anyway, for those of you who don't know, Danny left for Seattle on September 7th for school. He is studying web development at Code Fellows until December 4th (right now he's taking an iOS class and is learning how to make apps for the iPhone! He's in the process of making one now!) So that means that I am in California taking care of Rylee as a "single mom". I am not single obviously, but I sure am getting a taste of what it'd be like! I've been much more exhausted and my back has been killing me! I've been chasing little Rylee (10 months) around all day every day! Kudos to all the single moms/dads out there. 

Danny will be flying back home in November for Rylee's birthday, she will be one year old on November 7th! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Anyway, I just want to share my experience being away from Danny with you guys. The longest we've been apart was a week, and we didn't have Rylee then. So it was very easy to deal with being away from each other. 

I know lots of families do this, and I know this isn't nearly as hard to deal with as it is for military families. So I am very thankful for that and I appreciate everything God has given me. But although it may not be as hard as other people's situations, it is still a little hard. I've never had to take care of an infant all on my own before, Danny is such a big help, and a great dad! I am so thankful to have such an amazing husband, I am glad he is the father of my baby. I couldn't ask for a better partner.

So the first week was hell. The morning Danny left was so hard. Tears and lots of emotions were involved, and it just sucked altogether to say the least. It wasn't something we were quite prepared for, he got accepted into this bootcamp a few days before leaving, so it all kind of happened last minute. 

Once Danny hit the road to Seattle, I felt so alone. I was sad, anxious, and all of a sudden depressed. I was so anxious because our phones had gotten shut off a couple days prior (that's a long story in itself). Basically, we had no way of getting ahold of each other on his long venture to Washington. Not being able to call him and check in every so often worried me. So I had to wait for him to find wifi every once in awhile to FaceTime. We FaceTimed a couple times that night, and again, the emotions poured out. Danny made it halfway that night and stopped. He drove the rest of the way the next morning. 

Danny made it to Seattle and our phones were turned back on a couple days after. So that was nice. The rest of the week was just terrible. I was still so lonely, and I had absolutely no time for myself. I had no time to really do anything. Rylee requires so much attention, and it's almost impossible to get ready for the day, or even eat. 

I've just been trying to find things to do to keep myself busy. I'm not used to having Danny gone, and I'm definitely not used to taking care of Rylee by myself for such long periods of time. The first week was a drag, and it went by super slowly, but we got through it, of course. 

7 Months Postpartum

Oh man! Where has the time gone? I have not written anything in about four months. I've been so busy! Rylee is now a little over 7 months old, she is getting so big! She started sitting up on her own at the end of 4 months! She's just so amazing. She got her two bottom teeth at 4 months old as well. And now her top right tooth is coming in. She hasn't started crawling quite yet, but she is pretty close! Any day now. 

My baby girl is quite the little character. She started saying her "da-da-da's" when she was 5 months old, and her "na-na-na's" when she was 6 months. She's been making lots of squeaky noises, as well as growls. She is the silliest baby I've ever met. She is ALWAYS happy, always smiling, and always laughing. We are so blessed with such a wonderful baby. She is perfect.

I am still nursing, and plan to until Rylee is a year old. We feed her baby food once a day, and she gets little baby cereal snacks occasionally. Other than that, she is breast fed. We are still co sleeping, and if anyone wants to know more about that, there are some pretty good articles on Google about it! I may write another post about it in the near future, and why we choose to co sleep. However, we are slowly trying to ween Rylee from co sleeping so she can learn to sleep alone, we don't want to just let her "cry it out" because we don't agree with that.

As for myself, I feel absolutely wonderful for being 7 months postpartum. I've been keeping myself busy with workouts and eating healthy. I've been trying to go on jogs (1 mile) every day, and doing other exercises at home. There are some days I'm not able to go on jogs, but most of the time I am able to. I go on lots of walks as well. It feels amazing to be so healthy, I've never felt this great! I am 5' 3.5" and am down to 119 lbs! I fluctuate from 119 to 122 though, but fluctuating is normal for most! My pre pregnancy weight was 135, so I feel so accomplished to be where I am at. The heaviest I've ever weighed was about 145 when I was 16-17 years old, besides being pregnant of course, but that doesn't really count! I believe I was 170lb when I was pregnant. Not too bad. The photo to the right is my 7 month postpartum body. I am not exactly where I want to be right now, but I am comfortable with the way my body looks, and I don't think I have ever felt that way, sadly. I have love handles, and I am okay with that, because I am still working my butt off to get rid of them, and I know I will. I am determined to be fit. I barely have any muscle in my arms, but a month or two ago, there was absolutely nothing there when I'd flex! I've come such a long way. 

After I had Rylee, I had a major sweet tooth. I ate sugar every single day! Red velvet cupcakes, candy, ice cream, you name it. Kicking that habit was the hardest. I was working out and seeing no results. Because the key to losing weight, is mostly eating healthy! I post my progress photos on Instagram @libertyyweaver if you're interested! 

Oh, another thing I should probably mention, we are now living in Mammoth Lakes, California. Such a beautiful place, I've missed it here! I am in school for makeup, and Danny is studying web development. He's doing great! We both are. I just got a job here and Trendy Tots, and I start at the end of June. We are currently saving up to move to L.A. We will both find great job opportunities there. That is all for now. Thanks for all the support. <3

Three Months Later (And Everything Else)

It has been so long since I've posted anything on here. And I am going to try to post on a regular basis, that way I have something to look back on in the future. Rylee is now 14 weeks old. I usually just say she's 3 months old, I've lost track of the weeks by now. She is getting so big so fast. So I am going to talk about what has been happening lately, and how Rylee has been developing. If you'd like to hear about the birth and my labor, I will attach a video to this post, and you can watch it!

Anyway, Rylee has been learning so much these last couple of weeks. She started holding up her head very early, I wanna say around 2 weeks! She is so smart and so advanced. She must take after her daddy because I'm a bit ditzy! ;) 

She is already learning to sit up pretty well, we help her of course, but I feel she will be able to be sitting up in about a month or so! They say that babies usually sit up on their own between 4 and 7 months. I think Rylee will be closer to the 4 month mark than the 7 month mark. 

It seems like all of a sudden, she has been learning all of these things! On February 8th, she found her feet! It was pretty cool, Danny was sitting her up and she was looking at her little feet, she leaned forward and grabbed one! I was so excited. On February 12th, I was taking photos with her on Photo Booth, and I was using the silly effects, of course! Rylee looked so funny, I started laughing at how hilarious we looked. She started laughing also! Not just the usual giggles she does, this was a REAL laugh!! It was awesome. I tried switching it to video so I could catch it on camera, but she had stopped by that time. It was the cutest thing ever. 

She does smile a lot! She giggles a lot as well. She is such a happy baby, I love it. She has really good head control, she always has. Which is really good because it makes it a lot more convenient for us to hold her. 

Her little chunky legs are so strong! When we hold her up, she stiffens her legs, as if she is trying to stand. And she won't bend them until awhile after! She keeps her legs stiff for such a long time. It really is amazing. 

Rylee is such a character! I can't believe how time has flown. She is definitely going to be a drama queen, just like her mama was! Ha ha ha! When she cries, she makes this face... 


Her little frown is just so cute!! It definitely makes me sad when she makes this face though, this is going to be one of my biggest weaknesses, she will probably get away with A LOT when she makes this face! 

She is already starting to develop a personality, it's quite amazing to watch. She is the most precious thing in my life, I wouldn't trade her for the world. She brightens my day, every single day! Her smile makes me so happy, she is always so cheerful and happy. I couldn't imagine my life without her in it. I am so happy that everything turned out the way it did. Danny is an amazing dad, and Rylee is the light of our lives. It makes me sad how fast she is growing!! But it is also very exciting to experience! She is such a smart baby, I am so proud of her. I am going to try 10 times harder to make something of my life, go to cosmetology school, have a great career, and influence my daughter to do the same when she is older. I know I am a good mom, and that's exactly what every child deserves!