Penny's First Year

1 week old 

1 month old Penny

2 Months old 

3 months old 

7 months old

10 months old

1st birthday!

Penny Mae, 8/26/14

About 2.5 years later, here is my birth story for our PMA, Penny Mae. Better late than never, right?!

2 days before my 28^th birthday and about 3 weeks before Penny’s due date. I was uncomfortable all day and was having Braxton hicks contractions. Vic was getting ready to head out to a show to see Murder City Devils and I was pacing back and forth. Nervous. All I could think was, what if I go into labor tonight and he’s at a concert!? Remember, this was a valid fear since Lori was born on the sidewalk…

He kept getting ready while asking if I wanted him to stay. I felt like the contractions were getting stronger and my nerves kicked in. I told him that I needed to go to the hospital. At this point the pain was getting stronger and I was worried everything would move just as quick or quicker than it did the last time. We grabbed our bags, asked a friend (Penny's Godmother) to meet us at the hospital to stay with the girls and away we went.

We checked into triage and then waited. Belly hooked up to the machines and nothing. As my nerves calmed so did the contractions. Full of different emotions I didn’t know what to think. I remember looking at Vic, sitting in the chair, eyes closed wishing he was at the concert and feeling AWFUL (probably why it's taken me this long to write her story). I wanted to be excited about the baby on her way but felt SO bad that he was missing a concert he had waited for, for so long. We sat and waited some more. They said it was only Braxton hicks but to stay due to my labor history. So we paced the hospital halls to see if any progress would be made. The pain left but I still had contractions pretty evenly spaced. The girls were in the lobby with now most of our family. We sent everyone home and they put Vic and I in a room. This was it. I either went into natural labor or they induced since I was already there with small contractions.

Excited and disappointed at the same time we sat. I remember doing squats in the room while he slept through the night so things would happen naturally. I got to 3cm dilated…that was about it. The next morning, 8/26/2014 labor began to progress much quicker! By this time I was hooked up to the Pitocin to induce labor and it was doing its job. Contractions were MUCH stronger. Family now in and out of the room time began to fly. I remember sitting on the medicine ball trying to keep a conversation through contractions. One time Vayda and Lori were even in the room and I tried to hide the pain during a strong contraction lol. Moments later I got the epidural, things calmed down and the Dr. said it was time to break the water. I wish I had time stamps for each step because my body kicked into gear the moment she broke my water. There was a huge gush. She left the room, came back and said it's time. I looked at Vic, the Dr. said to push and we didn’t even have time to ask people to leave the room. In hind sight, I’m so glad we had who we did in the room. This being our last baby we got to share the amazing experience with my mom, Samantha (my niece) and Tia Mini. 

Penny Mae was born on August 26^th, 2014 at 11:03AM. 6 lbs 5oz and 19” long. Our family of five is complete. 

Next day, my 28th bday. Best gift ever!!

Brave Birthday Party, the Big FIVE

Nov. 2013

I feel like I wrote Vayda's birth story just days ago, I can't believe she's 5 now! To catch you all up, she turned five back on Nov. 2nd....yes, I've got a lot of blogging updates to do. But what better way to jump back in than with a birthday party post?!

We went through months of watching Brave on repeat. Vayda was obsessed! Naturally, my mind was running wild with a million ways to incorporate the movie into the party. I tend to have a million ideas and be disappointed with the little I am able to do, but I have to tell you, this one was a fun one. Even if I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do.

For the invite we had a mini photo shoot at a park nearby. Took her bow and arrow and outfit of course. I then used these great arrows from irocksowhat blog to complete the look of the invite.

adorable teddy graham snack bags made by Tia Mini

party bags with the DunBroch Clan colors

Originally I made these whisps for the front yard, they ended up in the centerpieces. If it did it again, I would make 3-4 smaller whisps for the centerpieces and keep the larger ones outside. 

Amazing cake, inspired by pinterest. Made my Sweet Sisters Bakery in Chula Vista, CA

dessert table 

I love my mom, she added those branches to complete the look :)

before the ping pong table was loaded down with food.
side note: throw a table skirt on that thing and it was perfect! 

And we cannot forget the ponies! That's right, my MIL said about 2 years prior that she was going to get ponies for Vayda's 5th birthday...she sure followed through. They were a hit! I told the girls to enjoy it because this will most likely never happen again ahaha. 

After a little while my birthday girl slowed down. She got a bit cranky and wasn't her normal party self...you know, the last one in the jumpy, running a muck with all the kids. I didn't realize till that night after all the madness she was coming down with a cold! She has such a high fever that night :(. All in all it was a good party despite that cold. She bounced back a few days later to play with her presents :).

Despicable Me (three) Party: Part 3

I'm still breathing! After a long blog break, I think I'm ready to get back on the wagon...what got me back? A blog feature!!! :)

My party bags were featured over at Moms &Munchkins. Cheryl posted a great round-up of Despicable Me party ideas, make sure you check that post out! Thank you for the shout out Cheryl!

Below I have a bit more details about those fun party bags...enjoy!

Materials Needed: 

Yellow paper bags

goggles printed on card stock click for printable file (You can edit this doc. through Word as well to adjust the size if needed)

glue stick

thick black sharpie

blue construction paper

blue marker

Optional: black construction paper

Because you can find party bags in so many different sizes, I don't have measurements for the overalls. I simply placed the blue construction paper under a bag, traced the width and cut out a template. I used that one and cut the "arm holes" out. Make sure you save that first overall as a template to use and trace the rest out before gluing them to the bags with your glue sticks. 

Once you have the overalls on, cut out the goggles you printed. Place them on your bag to measure where you want them and cut off the excess ends of the goggles to fit the bag. 

Use the glue stick and glue to the top of the bags, leaving enough paper on the top for kids to hold/fold over. 

Next, grab your sharpies and draw on those cute sideways smiles, circles for buttons on the overalls and the pocket on the front...if you have time (which you probably do because you're not doing this the night before...like myself) make a pocket shape out of blue/black paper and glue it to the front of the overalls. 

voila! 

Please comment if you have questions...I know I'm not the best at tutorials, but I will answer all of your questions!

it's a BOY!

Our family grew by 4 paws!

That’s right, as if we didn't have enough going on already, we adopted a puppy dog :)! Our neighbor volunteers at many different shelters and when she found out that we were interested in adopting in the future she began sending emails with potential bff’s galore.

She told us about a really special pup she had her eye on and for some reason she thought he’d be perfect for us. We saw a picture and fell in love. Well when the day came around that he was available to adopt, another family came in and swooped him up. I was bummed but was glad there was already a family who wanted to love him too. A week later she stopped by and told us that they took him back because they were unaware they couldn't have pets where they lived. We said we’d take him and two days later she was on our doorstep with him. He’s so precious I can’t stand it!

His stats:

Mastiff/pitbull mix…that we know of

About 2 months old

HUGE paws ;)

And weighed 25lbs when he got his first set of shots

He’s gonna be a big boy :D

So here he is, Gus (Augustus) Arreguin 

Looking for a new BFF? Adopt a pet! We're strong believers in saving lives...go check out what's available near you at adoptapet.com or visit your local humane society :)

Happy Friday!

can't stop, won't stop.

This morning I woke up telling myself I wanted to lose 10 more pounds. I mean, of course I want lose that and more, but I decided I'm going to do it. There's a difference. I've now added my fitness pal tracker to the blog to keep me in check...let's do this!

By lunch I was pumped and ready to go, yes lunch. I liked the idea but wasn't ready to wake up in the AM haha. I felt like going and not stopping. Today I wanted to run. I was ready to run with Banana at lunch but needy co-workers got in the way :P. I easily could have kept working but I decided to just do it. I took a screenshot of the pic below and took off.

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I LOVED it! I've never done cross fit  so I don't know if that's what its really like, but it was intense and changed up my gym routine forever. I'm going to try to do this at least 3 times a week. Anyone else up for the challenge?

Now on to Turbo Fire when I get home :).

Back & Feeling Better Than Ever!

I'm back, I haven't had any desire to blog and have felt too busy to sit down and write. Well maybe there was too much to write about and I didn't know where to start. I'm going to try and catch up with home updates and family updates but first thing is first. You can't have a happy healthy home and family with out being healthy and happy yourself, right? Right. 

“Arriving at one goal is the starting point of another.”

Every year I have the same resolution, I’m going to get fit and be healthy this year, this is my year. And of course, I always slipped back into my bad habits.

I finally woke up. I was tired of wondering how I would look and feel had I stuck to eating right and exercising. I decided enough was enough and I was going to do it. No more wondering where I’d be at now had I just stuck to the plan. It takes time to transform physically and mentally (man it’s been a HUGE mental battle for me personally).

down 11 lbs and bloat I'm sure

I've stuck to it. I made no more excuses, packed my gym bag every day, looked at it and knew I’d have to go since it was already there. I got used to changing at lunch (which was an excuse before, I wouldn’t want to change in the middle of the day haha) and enjoying that warm uninterrupted shower after a good sweat. After a while it became a habit.

I think about this everyday, and it's true!
I'm now getting comments from strangers on the weight loss they see!

I started C25K (Couch to 5K) and that kept me going. It was kind of a personal game for me just trying to get to the next level. I’ve NEVER been a runner. Ask one of my best friends Val, she had me tryout for cross country in high school and I think I only made it a week, if that. Hah! I’ve now completed c25k and I’m continuing the program for a 10k. My first 5k is in August for my birthday…unless I get a bug to sign up for another one sooner. But I’m hoping by then I will be able to do the 5k painlessly.

I also challenged myself to a 30 day squat challenge (pic below), I made it to day 27. I pulled my hamstring and decided to stop there so I wouldn't ruin my running...I do see a big difference though since day one, sorry, not posting pics of my butt lol. I would admit I am kind of addicted to squats now. 

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I have 6 days left to my 30 day liver detox….details on that to follow. And I'm restarting Turbo Fire. I’m on a roll and I don’t plan on stopping now. I’m not too tired to play with the girls and I feel the side effects after eating unhealthy. Let's kick it into high gear! 

Please join me on my journey, cause it’s a journey, nothing is overnight. Well unless you have the big bucks for lipo ;).