Passing Down the Sparkle

January 16, 2018January 17, 2018Leave a comment

Nina and Her father moments before the blessing

I’ve been blessed to give birth to a beautiful baby girl, Nina Nefertari. Nina was sent to us early November. I was lucky enough to deliver at a free standing birthing center where I was able to labor and deliver in a comfortable setting. While everything hasn’t been perfect, it’s been amazing getting to learn and grow in this new frontier. Having Nina challenged me in many ways, one being the area of belief. It’s one thing to proclaim something for yourself, but when you decide the well-being of someone else, you have to be sure.

There are many traditions that are important to me. My hope in raising Nina Nefertari is that I give her as much information that I can, and let her decide her own path. In the beginning I will be much more hands on, guiding her to the best of my ability. But by the time she is an adult, my role will be much more as an advisor. A grounding force in my life has been my religion. Figuring out my beliefs, and pushing myself to live up to them, has shaped me through various life experiences. However, God has always been a safe place for me and has been my home. In the most distressing moments of my life, seeking God has helped me regroup and and continue on. So teaching Nina Nefertari about God and our beliefs is of number one importance. I believe it shall sustain her long after I am not here.

My current church has a beautiful baby dedication service that they do three times a year. Nina was born right before the December occurrence so we have to wait until May for the next one. However, I felt as if this was too long to wait without any ceremony at all. So my husband and I were able to ask our reverend to do a blessing of Nina at our home to which he agreed.

This was extremely special to us because this was the man that not only counseled us through our engagement, he married us and also still serves as a counselor to this day. He has seen us through many stages and moments, making this one even more special.

We felt blessed to share this moment as a family, and reaffirm our commitment to each other and God.

Nina being Blessed

Add sparkle to your everyday moments by being intentional. This day happened because we want to ground Nina in faith. Our faith has gotten us through a lot, and will continue to guide our family. My mother also played a huge role in holding us accountable. Her insistence helped us to stay focused and carry out this important task. It is so important to have a village that holds the mirror up for you, ensuring you follow through on the things that are important and support you in any way they can. Rev Shannon also had us write a prayer for Nina Nefertari. This prayer will serve as a reminder throughout her life of all the good things we’ve asked God to manifest in her life and our family. To me, this prayer added the most sparkle to this special moment, and is something we can preserve.

As parents we were blessed too!

Friends and Family, you may not find it necessary to have your baby blessed at home. However I do recommend taking a moment to write a prayer or set intentions for your child’s life. In the future, especially the trying times, you can look at this prayer and remember the special moment and that God has a vision for their life.

Until next time, sparkle on!

Baking the Blues Away

January 14, 2018January 17, 2018Leave a comment

As any new parent will share, if they’re honest, there are good nights and bad nights with your new baby. One phrase that has been repeated numerous times is “everything changes”. I am constantly reminded, that good or bad, whatever I am experiencing with baby will change. I especially keep this in mind when we are having a rough night. A night sort of like the one we had last week.

Nina is two months now. In some of our research and reading we’ve learned that this is an amazing time to start “sleep training” her. Sleep training in general is a controversial topic, I think people should follow their gut. In the end, you are the expert on your family’s and child’s needs. Nevertheless, we are playing with the idea of practicing sleep training with Nina, and tried it out early last week. Now one night went well, the following night we came in kind of late from my mother’s house so the schedule was a bit off. But this third night… was reminiscent of her second night home. Nina screamed at us, especially me, all night! I think it is worthy to mention that we had also started exclusively breastfeeding this week at the suggestion of our lactation consultant. So a few things could have been happening. But to sum it up, I have a lot of upclose memories of my baby girl screaming in my face as loud as she could. She was upset… very upset… and I was having a hard time figuring out why.

That morning I “woke up” feeling like I haven’t felt in a while. Like I had been out drinking all night, without hydrating or eating properly before, during, or after. I had a headache. I was groggy. I was extremely tired. But I also had responsibilities, namely, the lady who was responsible for me not getting any sleep in the first place.
Well, as soon as it was time for me to be up and about, nina decided to take a nap. As tired as I was, I wasn’t able to take a nap. Maybe I was still in shock by how hard the night before was. Whatever the case, I suddenly had an urge to bake. Now this may be shocking. For a lot of people the last thing they want to do is head into the kitchen when not feeling their best;but this was actually a habit I formed in college. Baking when feeling bored (very different from not having things to do just to clarify :), confused or sad, is something my closest friends and I did. That and work out, I know weird, but it worked.

Baking (and working out) allows me to engross myself in something that has a benefit to me. I get to focus, for an hour or two, on this one thing. I’m not contemplating if I’m parenting right. I am not figuring out if my career is on track. I not poring over my past decisions and grading myself. I am just baking. I am adding the ingredients and doing it with love. Therefore, I am sparkling without doubt. I am also spreading sparkle when sharing my treats with the ones I love.

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After baking I feel accomplished, even if I wasn’t able to get Nina to settle down the night before. Baking gives me a win in early motherhood when those can be hard to come by.

So friends, add sparkle to this amazing journey of parenthood by carving out a little time for your hobbies. They make you feel sparkley and therefore you can pass that on to your little ones.

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Until next time, Sparkle on!

The 3rd Annual Green Baby Sprinkle

August 9, 2016January 5, 2017Leave a comment

A running joke in my family is my sister’s, Aaliya, growing family! In 6 short years she has managed to get engaged and married and have three beautiful little girls! For a while it seemed as if our growing family was unstoppable as well as the excitement and chaos!

#TheGreenGirls

All of the planning and prepping can become rather demanding, however, it was a labor of love! One of the most intensive undertakings was this baby shower. Scheduled for Memorial Day weekend and only a few weeks after me starting my new job, it would definitely be a challenge. Lucky for me I had tons of help from family and friends willing to pitch in.

A baby shower is a great way to add a little more sparkle to the journey to motherhood. Like the gender reveal party, it is an opportunity to invite all the ones you love to celebrate this milestone with you. Unlike the gender reveal, it may not be as intimate or as simple– however, it can still be a really fun event!!

The Sweetness of Life Table!

How to make your shower sparkly?

Well, for me, it is super important not to loose the original thought behind a shower: to shower the expecting parents with love, blessings and gifts! With that being said, I really do not believe in spending tons of money on these events, as I believe that goes against the whole point.

#AlmostHomeMade

Almost homemade was a show on the Food Network which taught great shortcuts when cooking. Sometimes you would start with a box cake which would be doctored up, or perhaps canned food as the base to your Shepard’s pie. The idea of the show was still preparing things at home, but finding ways to make it easier. It was this approach we took to the sprinkle. Seeing as this wasn’t our first baby shower, we had a template already for how to execute the event. Here are the general responsibilities that were allocated:

Food: We tackled this with a mix of ordered catering and homemade meals. By ordering some staples in large quantities, it took the pressure of those of us cooking. I was personally able to bake various treats that I’ll post below.
Decorations: Now we didn’t want to spend too much here, but wanted to set an ambience. My sister wanted an African Print shower to honor our heritage. To compliment the different patterns we used gold for accessories to tie everything together.
African Print Table Runner and Mason Jar Candle Holders
Music/ DJ: Luckily for us we have a few DJs in the family which made this aspect super easy. We asked and they happily complied.

@IAMDJWHO

@DJMRSARJ

@IAMDJWHO
Games: now what is a shower without fun games? It was great to have a mistress of ceremonies focused only on how we would spend our time. Kyia found some really great games; the challenge to this was, since this was the 3rd baby… And technically just a “baby sprinkle” we wanted to make sure to keep people entertained with new and exciting games. Kyia had a great mix of games, some were super passive like guess the number of diapers in the basket; and some were super active like the one I’ll call “multitasking mama” which had the contestants doing a variety of tasks that mommies often do throughout the day.
Mistress of Games! Here she is with the homemade Diaper cake she made for the shower!

With this Sprinkle I choose to take on Décor/Decoration and Sweets. To decorate the backyard we did a few things:

Purchased Material: We kept it simple with white as the background color and gold as an accent color. The different patterned materials added all the lively fun we needed. To save money, instead of covering the whole tables with the material, which would mean more yards, and therefore more money, we did the material as runners. Another fun thing we did was create little flag banners to hang around the yard. These were super easy to create and looked great when completed. For your convenience, I’ve inserted a link on how to create flag banners

A close up of homemade mini- cupcakes and the table runners we made!

First we created a template of the flag that we used to cut out all of the material we need.d

Here is a closeup of a cutout

Attaching the flags to the twine

Finishing up

Closer look at the finished banner

Mason Jar Candle Holders: These are a go to! I love these things, so simple and fun. The best part about these specific ones are they are recycled! That’s right. We used them previously for my sister’s 25^th Birthday Dinner Party, however, they were blue instead of the required gold. So to reuse these simple yet glam jars we sanded the glitter off of the jars and then reapplied the desired color. These are such great little décor pieces to have. We live outside as a family in the summer, and anytime we were going to be outside into the night, we would put a couple of these on the table. The amber glow really adds to ambience.

Random Treasures Around The House: Another big help (and money saver) for the sweets table were the gems that my mother already had! We all know someone who has a bunch of treasures hidden in plain sight. My mother had a couple glass and crystal cake stands, a double layered gold stand and a bunch of gold servers and treys! This saved so much money and added to the perfect set up of the table. Before going out and purchasing new, check around with your friends and family to see what you can borrow!

Borrowed my mother’s layered stand!

Candy Jars: What I did invest in for this party were different shaped jars for candy. I thought this was a great investment because the jars are so cute and versatile. I could use them for events in the future (holding cookies, candy canes or whatever else I’d like); and I could also use them for décor (fill them with Christmas ornaments and you have a great centerpiece for your table). The various shapes and sizes added interesting lines to the table and depth.

#TheGreenGirls

Candy Jars

Finally, to fill up the jars I purchased bulk candy. I suggest visiting various sites to figure out what works best for you, but I ordered mine from . They shipped on time and the candy was yummy! I baked the cupcakes and cake from scratch using Martha Stewart recipes found on her site. The three kinds of cakes/ cupcakes I made were:

In the end, everyone had a great time but most importantly, Mommy and Daddy to be really felt special and taken care of. My new niece arrived the following month (three days after her eldest sister and two days after her older cousin) and our family spent the summer cooing over her! You can check out her “Welcome” pics here.

The Growing Family added their own Sparkle through coordinated outfits! 🙂

Just make sure you have fun during the process and on the day of!

Until next time,

Sparkle On!

Gender Revealed!

February 2, 2016August 9, 2016Leave a comment

The table was set up to represent the theme of the night: Girl or Boy.

When I found out my younger sister was pregnant [again] I was ecstatic. Family has always been the foundation of my life. My sisters, are like the other two pieces to my whole, and once I am with them and my parents, I have this feeling of peace that is sometimes hard to come by outside of those times. I am so excited for my nieces and nephews to experience the joys of having siblings and cousins.

Gender reveal parties have been gaining in popularity, and I get it. Similarly to weddings, which have become increasingly elaborate, it seems as if as a society we are working harder to celebrate the time we do get to spend together. As we grow busier by the second, the time we do get with family has become more precious as well as scarce. In some cases, the only way you get to see some of the people you love most on this earth, is through the planning of events. So where my mother would have probably shared the gender of her baby by word of mouth– as she saw her friends; these days our friends and family are more likely to find out through social media. And while there are pros to staying virtually connected with the ones you love, a lot of us long for that quality in person time.

Hence… Gender reveal parties! Its a great time to celebrate the ones you love, by bringing everyone together to celebrate life! These parties are the best because they are a relatively low lift and can be super inexpensive. I think its the best to pick a few things that you’d like to focus on, and really expend all of your energy on entertaining and enjoying your company!

Here is how to add a little sparkle to a gender reveal party:

Pick a Theme – This is super easy. For this baby we went with “Touchdowns or Tiaras”. A play on stereotypical gender roles, I know, but it was a fun way to get everyone excited.
Be thoughtful in your invite list – This is important! Before you even set out to figure out who to invite, think to yourself: “Is this an intimate gathering of family and friends or do I want this to be a bigger celebration”. Once you decide (I would lean toward intimate) curate your list to suit. The point of this particular celebration is to not only celebrate the new life that will be coming into the world, but reinforce your familial ties. Pick a number and try your best to stick to it, the bigger this becomes, the more complicated (and expensive ) it is too!
POTLUCK- What better way to take the pressure of prepping off of yourself than to delegate it! Have your family and friends take a few minutes to create their favorite dish. Not only does it help them feel even more involved in the event, you get to cut down your time in the kitchen away from everyone.
Simple Decor- This is where I usually get carried away *insert embarrassed emoji here*. I get carried away in making it look pretty. Yes, I love sparkle but I’ve found by focusing on one or two things, and really putting time and energy into those is way better than trying to recreate the Taj mahal. For this reveal I decorated the dining room table. I drew my line in the sand … one side pink, one side green. Just a few simple embellishments and the tone was set. This is also great because it means less cleanup after! (or you can do what I love to do, host it by Mom’s… even less clean up 😛 )
Decide on how you will reveal – We chose a treasure chest pinata filled with confetti depnding on the gender of the baby. This was fun, and made for a few great pictures as well. Will you have a cake? Float balloons? Turn a picture around? display either little girl clothes or little boy clothes? Whatever you decide, just make sure it represents you/ your family and you cant go wrong!

Okay guys… now go on, keep shining! and don’t forget the sparkle!