{"id":3092,"date":"2017-05-11T05:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylemesenseless.com\/?p=3092"},"modified":"2021-09-04T02:10:50","modified_gmt":"2021-09-04T02:10:50","slug":"how-bianca-has-changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/?p=3092","title":{"rendered":"How Bianca Has Changed My Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3165\" src=\"https:\/\/stylesexandsou.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/dsc04537.jpg\" alt=\"dsc04537\" width=\"4279\" height=\"2842\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">I remember walking into Nordstrom once a few years back, only to see they had launched a baby section adjacent to the children&#8217;s clothing department. \u00a0It was full of bouncy chairs and teething toys, and I was horrified that a jaunt through Nordstrom suddenly meant I was assaulted with baby gear. \u00a0I was with my brother at the time and I&#8217;m sure I rolled my eyes and mumbled something to the effect of, &#8220;Ewwww it&#8217;s my worst nightmare.&#8221; \u00a0In my mind I was thinking, &#8220;Where are all the cute clothes?&#8221; \u00a0I was never one for baby stuff&#8230;I detested walking into peoples&#8217; homes only to see brightly colored plastic toys (i.e. junk) strewn allover the place. In this particular case I felt like Nordstrom did the unthinkable and squandered potential fashion real estate in favor of something infinitely less appealing &#8211; it was sacrilegious. \u00a0I never wanted kids and I never wanted to see baby gear in an otherwise stylish department store. \u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">This is exactly how I\u00a0felt when I found out I was pregnant last year. \u00a0Nothing had changed since that visit to Nordstrom, and as many of you know\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/stylemesenseless.com\/2016\/05\/31\/breezy-dresses-difficult-confessions\/\">I didn&#8217;t take the news very well<\/a>. \u00a0Overall I had a terrible pregnancy and didn&#8217;t bond well with the baby growing inside me. \u00a0I knew she was there, but I hated being pregnant and worried about how I would feel once she arrived. \u00a0I&#8217;m lucky I had such an amazing support system between my husband and my family, who were constantly reassuring me. \u00a0Despite all my fears, I couldn&#8217;t wait to go into labor, because I was simply dying for baby to be OUT. \u00a0And in that respect I consider myself fortunate, because I had the easiest labor ever. \u00a0Even so, the whole process was a blur, and I was not instantly gushy and in love. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t cry when I held my baby for the first time &#8211; if anything I was a bit dazed. \u00a0But I do remember feeling happy about the fact that labor went so well. \u00a0I can&#8217;t tell you the exact moment that I stopped thinking about myself and started thinking about her&#8230;but it was definitely sometime during our hospital stay. \u00a0It suddenly became much more real, as I looked at her little face and listened to her little cries, and realized that she was mine to protect. \u00a0From that point on I was completely in love and obsessed with my daughter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3164\" src=\"https:\/\/stylesexandsou.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/dsc04535.jpg\" alt=\"dsc04535\" width=\"3264\" height=\"4912\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3166\" src=\"https:\/\/stylesexandsou.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/dsc04550.jpg\" alt=\"dsc04550\" width=\"3264\" height=\"4912\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3167\" src=\"https:\/\/stylesexandsou.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/dsc04554.jpg\" alt=\"dsc04554\" width=\"3071\" height=\"4622\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">Bianca was born on a Sunday morning and we brought her home on a Tuesday afternoon. \u00a0The first thing I did when we carried her through the door was give her a tour of the house. \u00a0I can&#8217;t explain why but I felt it was necessary&#8230;a means of solidifying her place in our home. \u00a0Those first few weeks she was a typical (blob-like) sleepy newborn, though we could tell right away she was an easy baby. Now she&#8217;s seven months old and bubbling with personality. \u00a0She&#8217;s happy (but opinionated) and doesn&#8217;t cry very much. \u00a0She only fusses when she wants to be heard, and she&#8217;s a fairly good sleeper. \u00a0As a result, hubby and I haven&#8217;t had to make a ton of lifestyle changes. \u00a0We can still go out to eat or to the mall and we just cart her along&#8230;she loves going out. \u00a0She&#8217;s very observant and likes to take it all in. \u00a0We&#8217;ve even taken several vacations &#8211; one small trip to San Diego and a much bigger trip to Florida, both of which were successful experiences. Life is in fact more fun with her than without her, and that&#8217;s something I didn&#8217;t expect.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">I honestly can&#8217;t explain what switched in my brain. \u00a0Before I had kids, people would say, &#8220;You won&#8217;t know what it feels like until you have them. \u00a0The love can&#8217;t be explained&#8230;etc, etc.&#8221; \u00a0<strong><em>There are no words to express how much this annoyed me.<\/em> <\/strong>\u00a0I&#8217;d heard it so many times from so many people and I would always think shut up and get over yourself, I don&#8217;t care and I don&#8217;t want to know. \u00a0For some reason it sounded so pedantic and patronizing, and I really didn&#8217;t want kids so I truly didn&#8217;t care. \u00a0Perhaps it&#8217;s some powerful primal instinct to ensure survival of the species, but once my baby came I knew with certainty that I loved her more than anything and that I would do anything to protect her. \u00a0And that feeling has only become stronger with time. \u00a0I absolutely adore my daughter and cherish even the slightest moments &#8211; something as simple as a morning walk with her and hubby, or lying on the bed reading baby books as sunlight shines through the window. Her presence has summoned a sweetness and joy unlike anything I could&#8217;ve anticipated. \u00a0So on this Mother&#8217;s Day I&#8217;m celebrating my baby girl. \u00a0She&#8217;s made me proud to be a mom. And by the way, I adore shopping Nordstrom&#8217;s baby department these days.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3168\" src=\"https:\/\/stylesexandsou.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/dsc04565.jpg\" alt=\"dsc04565\" width=\"4769\" height=\"3167\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><em>NOTE: I started this post months ago but never got around to finishing it, hence the photos are a of a much smaller Bianca. \u00a0With Mother&#8217;s Day around the corner, I thought it appropriate to finally finish up! \u00a0Thanks to my dear friend <a href=\"http:\/\/www.purelyjessica.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jessica<\/a> (as always) for the photos.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I remember walking into Nordstrom once a few years back, only to see they had launched a baby section adjacent to the children&#8217;s clothing department. \u00a0It was full of bouncy chairs and teething toys, and I was horrified that a jaunt through Nordstrom suddenly meant I was assaulted with baby gear. \u00a0I was with my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[36,108,198,199,224],"class_list":{"0":"post-3092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-updates","8":"tag-babies","9":"tag-family","10":"tag-mom-blogger","11":"tag-mommy-and-me","12":"tag-personal-stories","13":"entry"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/dsc04554-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/dsc04554-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Luisa Lucia","author_link":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestarlightmystic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}