These Shoes Rule

If you and I are friends in Real Life, then you know that I love shoes. Heck, this blog is named after a particular brand that I covet. I only have two feet, but I have a lot of shoes.

Let's get some shoes...

I've been on a bit of a shoe bender the past few weeks thanks to DSW. While I do love expensive name brand shoes, my budget can best be described as "champagne taste on a beer budget." Thanks to the good folks at DSW, I've been able to make some fabulous purchases without breaking the bank. Their Facebook page has a TON of giveaways and I rarely pay full price for anything there.

I bought these beautiful riding boots and get compliments on them every time I wear them. I wore them today and got 4 compliments! [Side note: Two of those compliments were from women who worked at a gun store. We chit chatted for a few minutes about boots. I think they were happy to talk about something that wasn't gun related] Since I've got riding boots taken care of, my next goal is to find a pair of black leather motorcycle boots. What is the difference, you ask? The motorcycle boots need to be bad ass and slightly tough. Unfortunately, I did not have any luck finding the motorcycle boots at DSW today. Everything was either too plain or too done up. Need some kind of a happy medium.

My stylish friend Hitha of Hitha On The Go had a giveaway for a coupon code worth $200 towards an online purchase from Pour La Victoire. I was lucky enough to win it! While PLV makes a stunning shoe, I need to stay within that pesky budget and will most likely end up getting the Muranos in black. With a 2.5 inch heel, these will be my go to work shoes and an easy way to dress up an outfit.

Nordstrom had its Annual Sale earlier this summer and I snagged a pair of of Cole Haan leather heeled boots. They use NIke Air Technology so they're quite comfortable. The only issue I have is their heel. At 3.5 inches, it's higher than what I normally wear. I've been trying to wear them around the house to get through that initial break in period where my feet get used to them, but I end up clomping around rather than gracefully walking. Yes, my sad admission is that I cannot walk in heels that are over 3 inches. I will learn. Heel toe, heel toe, heel toe...

A number of my girlfriends own at least one pair of Toms Shoes. I've been wanting a pair of their slip ons for a long time and will finally be getting a pair in the near future. I own a pair of their wrap boots (very comfortable, by the way) that I got a few years ago. Their slip ons will replace my go to Puma ballet flats.

Heeled leather boots - done. Casual shoes - done. Go to work shoes - done. Flat riding boots - done. Now if only I could find those motorcycle boots...

Time may change me

I was thinking about how pregnancy has changed me. Not the "I never thought I could love anything this much" or "my body will never be the same" kind of change, but smaller changes - the kind that have now become second nature, but I couldn't have imagined doing a few years ago.

• Big spender to thrifty mama. I am a shopper. I love to shop, whether for me or someone else. I pride myself on getting a good bargain. Just today, I scored two pairs of jeans at Old Navy for $15. Now that I've had E, I have a hard time spending any money on myself. I'll gladly spend on E and D, but not as much on myself.
• Cry baby. While pregnant, I cried at anything and everything. Those SPCA commercials with abused animals and Sarah MacLachlan songs are the worst. I still cry at the silliest things, the worst being Blue Cross/Blue Shield commercials that play Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros' "Home" and those Disney World ads where little kids are told that they're going to Disney. I ugly cried while watching Kim Kardashian's wedding. I'm a little embarrassed at admitting that one.
• Anything for a laugh. After E started smiling at things he found funny, I began to do anything and everything in my power to make him smile or laugh. Months later, that hasn't changed. Last night, I was putting robot pajamas on him after his bath and he was fussing. What did I do to calm him down? Sang Mr. Roboto (okay, just the chorus) and did the robot. Of course my husband busted me mid-robot, but I was getting giggles out of E. That's the important thing, right?
• Reality tv. Since having E, I get really mad when I'm watching a sitcom *cough*Up All Night*cough* and I see something like a car seat up sitting in the basket part of a shopping cart. That's incredibly dangerous. I also get irritated with most depictions of natural birth, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, or baby wearing on TV. Sadly they're mostly negative. I could easily go off on a tangent about how most TV shows seem to do more harm than good for such things, but that's another blog post ;-)

How has pregnancy changed you?

Breastfeeding Support

I unintentionally missed this week's Breastfeeding Blog Hop, but I am going to do it anyway. This week's topic is Support Groups. When E and I first started nursing, we had a really difficult time. I'm not going to go into details (I wrote an entire post about it), but I almost quit a few times. My support group during the tough time consisted of my husband D, my doula, and my mom. My husband was by far my biggest cheerleader. He knew when to call our doula J for backup. My mom was incredible, watching E as much as she could so D and I could get used to the sudden change in our life. I know I would not be breastfeeding now if it had not been for their help during those first few weeks.

Now that we are ten months into this breastfeeding thing, my support group has changed. D is still my core support, but I have been lucky enough to find a group of moms that I can call/text/talk to about anything and everything nursing or parenting related. Some of them have babies right around E's age, others haven't nursed for years but still have great advice. They offer suggestions when I ask about how to get E to sleep through the night, they provide support when I worry that he's almost done nursing, and they are fantastic women to boot. I've nursed alongside a number of them and even pumped with one because we were away from our babies.

I'm proud to say that I am taking my experience and translating it into support for friends who have had babies. I may not know all the answers, but so much of what I have learned has been through the personal experiences of others. It is important to pass along that anecdotal knowledge. It is tribal knowledge of sorts and definitely needs to be passed along.

Ten months

E is ten months old today. I can't believe that it's gone as quickly as it has. He's more toddler than baby and it's wonderful to see him learn. He has a personality on him and loves to explore. He's been more and more interested in our dog. Poor dog.

Today also marks 10 months of nursing! Despite our really rough start, we've almost made it to my goal of 12 months. I haven't been E's primary source of nutrition for about 2 and a half months, but he still drinks the milk I pump at work and loves to nurse as much as he can when he's home. How long we choose to nurse is up to him. As long as we make it to a year, I will be happy. Anything after that is icing on the cake.

Did you set nursing goals for yourself when you gave birth? Did you meet them?

[Edit 10/20/2011]: I submitted this entry to the Breastfeeding Blog Hop topic of Check ins. I wrote it 10 days ago and not much has changed in that time.

Multitasking While Nursing

When I first began nursing, I couldn't do anything else. All of my attention was focused on the act at hand: was E latching properly? Was he comfortable? Was I giving his head enough support? Were my engorged boobs suffocating him?? I also required the help of 9384 pillows when I was in nursing bed and needed them to make sure they were all in place.

Once we got the hang of it, I was able to start doing other things while nursing. I'd typically get on my iPhone and read KellyMom or some social network. This was especially useful during the overnight feedings. I even found different online support groups and forums. It was nice to know that other moms were up and feeing their babies while I was.

Unfortunately, I can't do that anymore. E is far too interested in my phone. He wants to play with it and press buttons. Now it's just he and I. We nurse, we play, I kiss his feet and hands, he giggles. He gets my undivided attention now, just like he did when he was a newborn. I wouldn't trade that for anything, even an iPhone 5.