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Our Time-Out Rules

Time-out. That’s a common word around here. Frankly, with a toddler, it’s just the law of the land. I had no idea how to approach “Time-out” when I first started, so after reading up, asking friends and testing out several approaches we finally settled on something that works for us. These are our Time-Out Rues (And please know that it works most of the time…but man oh man, there are days when it all comes crashing down. But all in all, it works).

In preparation for time-outs, you should do two things:

  1. Set your ground rules and have everyone in the house agree and follow them. This includes parents, grandparents, nanny, etc. Once those are set, you have to absolutely stand by them, no exceptions. Example: No jumping on the couch, no hitting, no touching the tv, etc…

  2. Designate a time-out spot. Preferably one where there is no entertainment of any kind. You must be able to supervise too, so don’t make it too secluded. A wall or a corner works just fine. And remember, time-outs exist everywhere, you just have to use your imagination. (ie playground, someone else’s home, etc).

Continue reading “Our Time-Out Rules”

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It’s All Coming Back to Me Now Breastfeeding Parody

Hey!

Soooo, breastfeeding sucked for me the first time around. I mean, like, really really sucked. Three torturous months of no sleep, 2 cases of mastitis, over supply of milk, leak pads, cabbage leaves, carrying breast milk everywhere, shitty bras and SO much pain. So I wrote a parody on the subject since now, I have baby #2 on the way and it’s inevitably “all coming back to me now”.

Here’s the story behind the video, if you’re interested:

My first born, Alfie, was born with tongue tie, a small water bubble under the front of his tongue that didn’t allow for him to latch on to my breast. Because of that, I pumped. The tongue tie disappeared after a week or so, but he was already used to the bottle, so he never latched on after that. No worries, since I was still providing breastmilk.

I kept pumping and pumping and pumping at the suggested intervals and after a month, I was tired. I was ready for all of this to be over. I had already gotten mastitis and the pain and leaking was just intolerable. I hated it. However, because of the mastitis, I couldn’t just drop the whole thing, or take a magic pill and be done with it. I had to wait another two weeks with antibiotics for the mastitis to clear out and then wean out, which would elongate the process further, much to my dismay. So I went with it. Continue reading “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now Breastfeeding Parody”

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Oh sh*t! My Toddler Locked me Out of the House!

 

There are plenty of mom wins, and there are probably even more mom #fails. I, as a new mom and trying to navigate the world of toddlerhood, have had bumps and bruises here and there and I am happy to share this particular one riiight here. Enjoy.

On an incredibly hot and humid summer day, my 2 year-old and I were in the house hanging out. He was watching TV as I was prepping our dinner and taking care of some kitchen TLC. The trash can was full (and stinky), so I made my way to the backyard to empty its contents.

As per usual, I make sure my son is preoccupied with something (in this case the TV) and then I walk out the sliding door. I shut it behind me, walk a brisk 12 steps each way, and make it around the corner of the terrace in a nice, quick, painless manner.

Only this time, as I’m on step 3 after dumping the trash bag, I hear a familiar “click” sound. I immediately recognize it as the sound the sliding door makes when it is locked or unlocked. “Oh sh*t!” I said. As I take another 2 steps to round the corner, there he is. My little innocent Alfie, with his hand on the sliding door lock, simply smiling back at me. “No way” I said to myself. I quickly tried to open the sliding door and of course… It was locked. He had locked me out…making matters worse, I had just turned on the toaster oven. Continue reading “Oh sh*t! My Toddler Locked me Out of the House!”

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Let’s SPARK Together

“All that Glitters is Gold! Only shooting stars break the mold” – Smash Mouth  

That’s right! Our hearts, our energy and our hard work is GOLD! We’re all shooting stars but we must challenge the status quo and push ourselves in order to keep shining bright and break the mold. We can only SPARK when we allow ourselves to shine. So Let’s SPARK together!

As women, we juggle a lot. A LOT. Luly B gets it. She’s one of us. A mom, a wife, an entrepreneur, a woman and a natural juggler.

I’m all about empowering women so that’s why I’m partnering with her to invite you to SPARK with Luly B for this unique event geared towards successful women of South Florida. This is more than a conference. It’s a day dedicated to meeting like minded women who support and uplift each other while we learn, get inspired and… party! Yep! On a Thursday. Why? Because we can!

Give yourself a break and join me on this very special event on May 4th. Click on this link HERE to get your tickets NOW! Don’t forget to bring your amigas! Prices increase on April 28th. 

I’ll see you there! Let’s SPARK together! #SPARKwithLulyB #SPARKbecause

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email using ZaniaSala@gmail.com

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Zero Guilt

I’m back home after spending 12 days in France and Spain. Aaaahhh! No Alfie and no husband. Just me, my parents and brothers and friends. We had a blast.

I was freeeee! Free to do what I wanted, when I wanted, how I wanted. No flinging of chicken nuggets, no poop smell, and no nap time logistics. Ah! That’s the life I remember. Yep! It was awesome and I had ZERO guilt. None. Nada. Zip.

Alfie stayed with my mother-in-law back in Puerto Rico while my hubby worked. Of course I missed them both everyday and I probably bored the hell out of everyone on my trip by talking about Alfie’s shenanigans all day, but I didn’t care.

Not bringing Alfie with me was a no brainer, really. Could I have taken him along? Yes I could have and I would have handled it like a pro. But all I wanted to do was take a break and be my pre-baby self again for a while and #EatDrinkSleepRepeat and explore. I wanted to wake up at whatever time I wanted. Drink coffee at a café and watch people pass by. Relax at the beach. Walk through itty bitty streets rich in history. See fields of lavender. Have great conversations in whatever language necessary. Get lost. Eat delicious food (and some not so delicious, gulp!) and share priceless moments with my family and friends. Continue reading “Zero Guilt”

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Expect the Unexpected

Last month was a whirlwind. It was all work and no play. Here’s why…

I enjoy reading/hearing/talking about business, especially entrepreneurship, and believe that I will someday run a successful, profitable business myself.

For years, I’ve been debating whether or not to go to Business School. I’ve done research online, spoken to college reps, asked about online and full time programs, attended information sessions, bought the GMAT books and I’ve always ended up nixing the idea. I just don’t think it’s for me.

My dad, on the other hand, would love it if I went to Business School (read: slightly pressured to go). It wouldn’t be any business school though. It would have to be on the level of Columbia, Kellogg, etc. I have nothing against that. It’s just not my cup of tea.

So when he emails me one day and says, “What about this online program from Seth Godin called the altMBA?” My jaw dropped. My dad, the non-believer in online MBA education, caved a little. We both enjoy Seth Godin’s approach to business/freelancing and the power of making change happen. So, I clicked on it. It was different, short, and attractive. I applied and told no one. Continue reading “Expect the Unexpected”

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Mama’s Independence Day

You know that famous speech from President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) on the movie “Independence Day” right? It ends with a captivating and emotional, “Today we celebrate our Independence day!” Well, that’s how I feel and I bet it’s how all moms feel when we got some alone time. You with me? Today I declare this Mama’s Independence Day! Oh yeah!

After a partially disappointing first Mother’s Day, where a waiter was an @$$%^7, our food was a joke, my hubs spilled a glass of water on me while I was attempting to contain what felt like Phoebe’s puppy from “Friends” and the other patrons were looking at us as if we were evil minions, I stand by the movement to make Mother’s day a day OFF for moms all over. We ended up having a good time the rest of the day, but we need our me-time every once in a while and that’s why I’m off for three days this weekend. Woo Hoo!

It was so strange packing for this weekend! You amazing mamas know what I’m talking about… For the past year I’ve been packing diapers, bottles, onesies, noisy toys, monitors, bibs, itty bitty spoons, and occasionally forgetting some of them in which you then have to improvise (moms are improv masters, btw). This time around, there was none of that! Only bathing suits, pjs, and other beach clothes. That’s it! When I walked out of my house with only one bag in hand I felt like the chains were broken. Happy dance.

Continue reading “Mama’s Independence Day”

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Why I Made the Transition from Full Time Working Mom to Stay at Home Mom

After being a full-time working girl for over 11 years, I am now dedicating my life to being a wife and mom. Whaaat?! After giving birth and coming to terms with motherhood, it’s crazy how priorities change. Everyone tells you about it but you can’t feel the weight of it all until it happens to you.

At first, I was hesitant about making this change. Can we afford it? Am I sabotaging my career’s future? What will I do with my time (what time?) It was a real internal struggle. There were a lot of tears, self fabricated excuses and countless conversations with my incredibly supportive husband who kept saying “whatever you want to do is fine with me”. How I love that man! I wanted him to give me the answer since I was so indecisive, but of course he knows better. The decision was entirely up to me.

The more I thought about it, the more sense leaving my job made. I wanted to enjoy my baby boy and my situation at the moment wasn’t allowing me to embrace that wholeheartedly. Work was stressing me out a lot and I had already experienced several instances or “signs” telling me that a change in career/life was coming.

Alfie and I at my previous job
Alfie and I at my previous job

I started digging deep and and asked myself some juicy questions like; Do I want to continue down this career path? What is the right thing to do? Will I be able to survive emotionally/mentally, without a full-time job? And then ultimately taking a deep breath and asking myself; Is this how I want to live my life? The answer was simply NO. Continue reading “Why I Made the Transition from Full Time Working Mom to Stay at Home Mom”

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Don’t Leave Before You Leave

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg discusses women, leadership and success in her book Lean Inn released back in 2013. Among all of the important and valuable messages that she mentions there was one in particular that resonated with me simply because I thought it adequately described a particular situation I was going through. The message was the following; “Don’t leave before you leave.”

I heard this at the precise moment when I was dead set on resigning from my corporate job. She explains the phrase “Don’t leave before you leave” as the moment in a woman’s life when she thinks it’s time to give up her job because she sees not being able to attend to her future, unborn children if she remains working. In other words, it is “looking for the exit before it’s time” says Sheryl. Whoa. Light bulb moment!

The reason why it resonated with me so much was because I was going through both a future resignation and a plan to start a family. As I looked at my situation I thought, “Oh man! Am I doing exactly what Sheryl says NOT to do? Am I leaving because I want to start a family inthe future and I don’t see myself wanting to come back to this job?” It hit me hard and it started to take over my mind until I quickly decided to let it go. I realized that it was in my best interest not to fret and let time take care of it. Continue reading “Don’t Leave Before You Leave”

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10 Months of Alfie

It’ crazy how fast kids grow. Everyone tells you but you don’t really get to grasp it until you see it unfolding right before your very eyes. In the last month alone, my baby has really surprised us with how quickly he’s growing.

A few days before Alfie turned 9 months, he started fully crawling. He would drag himself “boot camp style” all over our floors prior to this. It wasn’t long before he started lifting himself up and walking while supported/assisted. Now at 10 months he’s not far from balancing his little body on his own. He follows us wherever we go and we love hearing those baby hands slapping on the floor making their way around the corner. We crawl under the tables and chairs, we scare each other around every corner of the house and we laugh and laugh. Continue reading “10 Months of Alfie”