4 Years Ago Today...

...I gave birth to my first son.

I have very faint memories of what my life what like before he came along. How did I manage to be passionate about anything prior to starting a family...how was it possible that other things consumed me and that none involved taking care of a little one? What occupied my mind, and my heart, before he came along? School? Work? Partying? Sleeping? Was I fulfilled then? Was Life "complete"? I don't remember any voids, but my heart beats faster thinking there would be one now, since having started on this journey of motherhood 4 years ago.

As we celebrate my son's 4th birthday, I realize that I am a mom. It seems odd to state the obvious. But somewhere along the way, my focus gradually shifted from myself to this other person, graduating from out of necessity to one of desire, a deliberate want. From birth, the need to sustain this life takes force, sending you in to an automatic, zombie-like urge to protect and nurture your new baby. Cuddling, cooing, feeding, sleeping. Eventually, as they grow up, you realize your impact, your contribution. You become part of him, and him of you, a seamless continuum.

He groggily held me in his arms as I put him back to sleep tonight. You're my Best Friend, he told once more. You're MY Best Friend, as I kissed him back.

Happy Birthday, Hunny Bunny. :)

Earthen Glow Haul

Earthen Glow Minerals had a recent BOGO sale, and I can't resist a good deal (c'mon: don't tell me you've never spent $40 at the cosmetic counter to get the $15 "Bonus Gift"?). And since I had never bought anything from this company before, I really was throwing my money to the wind, just so I can grab a deal.

I heard a lot of good things about this company, mainly reading up on posts from Aileen's blog, Shades of U. So when there was a Buy One Get One sale, I scrambled like mad, visiting forums like the Mineral Makeup Thread on FemaleNetwork, getting recommendations on shades before the sale expired.

With approval of EGM's customer service, I ordered Helena from the Olive family and Soon from the Yellow family, both in the Cover Me formula. I was recommended to get a "tweaker" in Lollie, to replace/add to Soon to take me into the summer months.



The free "tweaker" I asked for came jam-packed with powder, way more than any sample I've ever received before. It's not as yellow, as it is overall darker than Soon.

The two foundations I got are quite different from each other, Soon being drastically different than Helena. Because I have heavy yellow undertones but also evidence of olive present, I felt that they could together provide the shade I needed.

Here, I compare Soon and Helena to my current foundation, AWG's Hope 4.2 :


As you can see, Hope 4.2 is not as yellow as Soon, as it has some olive in it. I'm hoping that the right combination will yield something similar.

My FOTD, with 2/3 Soon + 1/3 Helena...


It's not a bad match, huh? The foundation is quite photogenic, with no apparent "white mask" found with many other mineral foundations. I applied a couple of layers, as I like full coverage, and it still doesn't appear cakey or give that ghost-like reflection.

I'm actually liking my EGM foundation more than my AWG foundation, despite the mixing involved. Adding the yellow Soon foundation gives my face an obvious pick-me-up not seen with Hope 4.2. But seeing I've got two very good foundations to choose from now, I'll just toggle back and forth between the two.

Beauty Sleep - It's Back!

Last night was Night 5 that my 4 month old slept through the night (ie. 9ish through 6-7ish in the morning). A whopping 9-10 hrs of sleep he's getting. That means I've finally been able to get some much needed beauty rest.

But did you ever notice that sometimes when you get too much sleep, you just CRAVE more? I went to bed "early" at 11:45 and woke up at 6am. Ok, this isn't considered too much sleep - as I used to have to get up every couple of hours for the Little One, this IS a lot of sleep - but now I've been sleeping through anything these past couple of nights. I mean, my husband, of all people, actually has to wake ME up because my oldest son is crying for me from the other room. I'm supposed to be the light sleeper in the family!

And given that I'm still nursing the Little One, I'm totally engorged by morning, and I've been trying to wake up by 2 or 3 am so that I could pump a few ounces. He usually cries awake at that time, so you'd think I'd be able to jump out of bed and do so. Nope. I just turn over, muffle the sleepy cries he makes, and fall back asleep. Two days in a row, no success. I'll try again tomorrow.

I have considered the fact that getting up in the middle of the night seems to defeat the purpose of having the Little One sleep all night and me getting all my much-needed sleep. But now he can settle himself back to sleep on his own without me having to run to him at night, and risk falling out of my arms while we both fall asleep after he nurses (which has almost happened more than once!). But, overall, my Beauty Sleep appears to be here to stay, so far!