Blog | Wine Girl Mommy’s World | Just a wine loving girl, living a mommy’s world

- Girls trip 2019
  
  Posted at 1:39 pm by CS, on May 23, 2019
  
  Now that it’s been a couple weeks, and I’ve fully recovered from one of the best girls trips I’ve ever been on, I can finally write about all the fun things we ate, saw, drank, and did.
  
  A few months ago, one of my best friends (and SIL) asked a group of us if we wanted to take a trip to California with her. I, of course, was 100% in, one because I live in California, and two, who wouldn’t want a girls weekend with some great friends. So, we decided we would do a joint San Francisco/Napa and thus planning began. We decided on a long weekend in early May would be the perfect timing, weather would be warming up, the rain would be slowing down, and the tourist season would not be in high gear yet. There was a total of 6 of us after all was said and done, and let me tell you, the 6 of us had the best time ever. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a very long time.
  
  The girls arrived first thing Saturday morning and we headed straight to drop off the two cars at our hotel in SF. For the one night we were staying in San Francisco we stayed at the BEI SF https://www.beihotelsf.com. Now I will say, this hotel is undergoing construction, but we had everything we needed for the small time we spent there. We got upgraded rooms so they were pretty nice. And all the employees were super helpful and nice.
  
  Once we dropped off our bags and cars, we took an Uber to fisherman’s wharf to find some lunch. We found a nice little place called Castagnola’s seafood and chophouse http://www.castagnolassf.com/home.html. They had some great food, and a great happy hour so we all grabbed some drinks to kick off the weekend.
  
  Once we were done with lunch, we walked down to Pier 39 to see the sea lions, then up to Ghirardelli square to get some chocolate, and start a new tradition of finding a hill to roll down.
  
  Once we successfully acted liked little kids, it was time to see some painted ladies.
  
  We then headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner. We had dinner reservations at BASK SF. http://www.basksf.com. Sadly I wasn’t feeling great so I didn’t eat, but from what I heard around the table the food was great.
  
  Then it was time for our first and only night out in SF. We went to a few bars before calling it a night. You really feel like an old lady when all the kids in the bars look about 12 to you and you don’t recognize a lot of the music being played. Then it was back to the hotel for some shut eye to prepare for the rest of the weekend.
  
  Sunday we woke up bright and early(ish) and got ready for brunch. I haven’t had a lot of brunches in my life, but the one at mission rock resort was wonderful. https://www.missionrockresort.com. I’m pretty sure the other 5 girls would agree too, we couldn’t decide who had ordered the best meal. And the views here were amazing too, so we had to stop and take lots of photos before heading out of the city back to my house.
  
  One joy of living in California and wine country, we had the ability to make my house the halfway point on our way to Napa. So we chose to stay there to save some money on Sunday evening, and also so this momma could see her baby that she was completely missing. It was also cinco de Mayo so we of course had to get some Mexican food and margaritas for dinner. It was a nice and relaxing night at the house after that. Most of the girls were still dealing with the 3 hour time change, so we didn’t want to tire ourselves out to much.
  
  Monday morning we woke up and headed to Napa from my house. We were staying in an adorable Airbnb for the remainder of our trip, so we went and dropped our cars off there before heading for the first days wineries.
  
  Day 1 wineries included: Domaine Chandon, V. Sattui, and Black Stallion. Now I’m not a wine expert, but we really enjoyed everything we had. The wineries weren’t very crowded since we aren’t really in peak season and it was a Monday so that was really nice. It was great to be able to walk around, not feel rushed, and enjoy our tastings. We had lunch at the deli at V. Sattui and let me tell you, if you ever have a chance to eat there you should! Once we were fully tipsy from the wine we headed back to the Airbnb. It was hot tub time! If I can recommend finding a place with a hot tub, it was the best decision ever! Just relaxing, hanging out, enjoying life for a few hours was the perfect way to end the day.
  
  https://www.chandon.com
  
  https://www.vsattui.com
  
  http://www.blackstallionwinery.com
  
  Our last and final full day was another full day of wineries.
  
  Day 2 of wineries included Del Dotto wine caves, Silveroak, and The prisoner wine company. We had lunch at Gotts Roadside, which is another must do in the food range for anyone looking for a great spot in Napa valley. I would have to say our favorite winery from the whole trip was Del Dotto, for multiple reasons. Be sure to check out my favorite wineries for May 2019 blog post coming soon! Once we finished the three wineries, it was back to the Airbnb again for more hot tub time. Seriously, getting the hot tub with the Airbnb was such a great thing.
  
  https://www.deldottovineyards.com
  
  https://www.silveroak.com
  
  https://www.theprisonerwinecompany.com/the-prisoner
  
  Shockingly I didn’t buy any wine during our two days in Napa. Guess that’s another good thing about living out here, I can go back whenever and buy myself some.
  
  Sadly, the girls left the next day and we went back to our normal lives. But we have already started planning the next girls trip 2020. #ohthatwasfun #paypeeparty
  
  Posted in Thing I Love | 0 Comments | Tagged California, food, girls trip, girls weekend, hot tub, Napa, party, San Francisco, wine, wine country, wineries
- Favorite mommy instagram’s
  
  Posted at 2:24 pm by CS, on May 20, 2019
  
  Social media is the IT place to be now. I remember being a kid and having to walk down the street to see what my friends are up too. And now there are posts, and memes, and sometimes I feel like I’m to old for all this now. But I do still love my Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. And truth be told I probably spend more time than I should on these sites, but sometimes a momma has to unwind, with some wine.
  
  So, when I need to unwind and spend a moment or two scrolling through my Instagram stories, or profiles, these are the ones I can spend hours looking at and relating to on a mom level. They are in no particular order, just the way they showed up on my feed.
  
  Busytoddler
  
  Scarymommy
  
  Sarcastic_mommy
  
  Modernmomprobs
  
  Accidentalsupermom
  
  Mom.wine.repeat
  
  Mommywinetime
  
  Mimosaswithmoms
  
  Momsandbabesbox
  
  Motherswhoblog
  
  Sparklesandskidmarks
  
  I know this is just a very small portion of the amazing mom Instagram profiles out there, but these are the ones I find myself always gravitating towards, when I need a laugh, or idea, or advice, or to relate to something.
  
  The momsandbabesbox is a quarterly subscription box too for moms and littles. It is an amazing box for sure!
  
  Do you have any favorite mommy profiles you find yourself always loving?
  
  Posted in Mom-ing, Thing I Love | 0 Comments | Tagged favorites, Instagram, moms, profiles
- Why amazon prime is life
  
  Posted at 2:30 pm by CS, on May 16, 2019
  
  Let me tell you, this mom should own stock on Amazon, Target, and Carters for the amount of product I buy from them. The postal worker than is assigned to our house must wonder how much time I spend on these sites with how many boxes constantly come to my house.
  
  I can’t help it, these sites are amazing. And while Target and Carters are great and have amazing things, I’m here to talk about why I have such a love for Amazon.
  
  First off, Amazon Prime. I mean how can you not love two day shipping. And it’s free two day shipping. You place an order and almost in a blink of an eye it’s at your house! It’s wonderful.
  
  Secondly, connivence. For me, where we live, we have a 30-40 min ride to most big named stores. So being able to just sit online and shop is great, not to mention that if you account the price of gas and having to change out of yoga pants it is just much more worth it to shop online. And once again free two day shipping!
  
  Third, the amount of items you can find on Amazon is just great. You need diaper lotion, amazon prime, you need diapers, amazon prime, does mom need a new top for a random night out, amazon prime. You can get so many items on amazon it’s ridiculous!
  
  And while I’m in now way sponsored by amazon, I just felt that I needed to share my love for it and just say, if you don’t have prime, you really should look into it! A one time yearly fee and you get free shipping, prime video, prime music…it is just the best!
  
  Posted in Thing I Love | 0 Comments | Tagged amazon, prime, shopping
- Mother’s Day 2019
  
  Posted at 1:20 pm by CS, on May 13, 2019
  
  This year for Mother’s Day I wanted to relax and just have a do nothing sort of day. Well for the most part that’s exactly what happened, but we are in the middle of packing up the house to move back east (another blog for another day), so it wasn’t ALL relaxing.
  
  First, my husband is on some work travel so he wasn’t even around to help me celebrate, but I got the exact present I wanted this year which was tickets to see Thomas Rhett in concert later this year! So he did very good! Even if I sort of spelled out what I wanted. But don’t we always.
  
  Then my wonderful daughter made me 3 separate art pieces this year. She is getting to be super creative for someone who is only a year and a half. I know I will cherish these pieces for years to come because they are the first pieces she’s created for me.
  
  Now on to how we spent Mother’s Day. As I stated before my husband is out of town, but his loss is my gain because my mom is out here helping us with the move so that means I not only got to spend Mother’s Day with my daughter, but also my mom too. Now the day started boring because we had to go grocery shopping for the week. But we treated ourselves to some champagne for mimosas and donuts for breakfast. Then once we got back home, we popped the champagne and cheers to a relaxing day. Which it was until my wonderful daughter decided to have a full on meltdown when she got up from her nap. I’m talking, screaming, crying, snot filled nose, drooling, gasping for air, and making the noises of possibly throwing up. All because I needed to wash her blanket…so noted to never do that again. We, finally got her to calm down and she went on about her business like nothing happened. That called for another mimosa.
  
  We then spent the rest of the evening just playing together, having beef tips and potatoes for dinner, then bedtime routine and lights out. It was super simple and that’s what I LOVE about getting to celebrate this day. If I could stay in my pajamas all day, drink mimosas, and watch home videos, I would call that an A+ Mother’s Day in my book!
  
  I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating you! Tell me what was your favorite part of your day?
  
  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged concert, dinner, donuts, home video, mimosa, Mother’s Day, relaxing, tantrum, Thomas Rhett
- Sleep when they sleep
  
  Posted at 1:50 pm by CS, on May 9, 2019
  
  Easier said than done. When she was a newborn I was always trying to run around to get stuff done around the house while she napped. And now she’s down to one nap a day and then bedtime. So I really don’t get much done, nap times are now for writing blog posts, or doing the dishes, folding laundry, or getting dinner prepared.
  
  We did get lucky though. When we would transition her down from 3-2-1 naps, we sort of did it cold turkey. Just one day we did it and moved on. She’s a very big “if she doesn’t see it/use it/do it she won’t miss it” type of girl, so those transitional periods really never bothered her. Now that’s not to say we didn’t have some hiccups and early risings or middle of the night wake ups, but they were fairly few and far between.
  
  Now I know this probably means, if we have a second child we won’t get as lucky!
  
  I don’t want to jinx ourselves but we got fairly lucky with how she does sleep. She was sleeping pretty much through the night pretty early on. And although she’s had some sleep regressions we have gotten lucky with how we were able to “sleep train” her. Now I put that in quotes because I don’t feel that we really trained her in any way. At the moment if she arises in the middle of the night, I wait 10 minutes because most times she will put herself right back to sleep. In the chance she doesn’t, the 10 minutes sort of shows her that we won’t rush right in if she cries, but that we will come check on her. And if this situation repeats during the night, we just circle back and do it all again. In the morning the rule is, we do not go and get her until she is standing up in her crib waiting by the door end of her crib. For us this way, we get her breakfast started, tidy the house up, and other things, because some days, if she makes a noise at 6-6:30 she will put herself back to sleep for a little bit so we don’t want to rush in the first sign of noise and risk keeping her from more sleep. At 18 months, she now sleeps 7:30-7am on MOST days, with a nap from 12-1:30/2. Now I say most days because some days she will rise about 6:30, or will take a longer or shorter nap. Just depends on the activities and excitements of the day, but a good 80% is the same sleep schedule.
  
  Now for what she sleeps with, she has a musical giraffe, a few pacifiers, and her blanket. Her blanket is her absolute favorite, didn’t think she would cling to something so young, but here we are, so that will be a fun transition when we need to wean her off of that. She’s now only getting her pacifier for bedtime and nap-time and that wasn’t a very hard transition so hoping the blanket won’t be either.
  
  Sleep is one topic I had a lot of questions on, but it was also a topic that you really had to see what related most to you by doing and testing our different options.
  
  Posted in If I had known, Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged blanket, music, pacifier, sleep, sleep training, soothing, sound
- When your fur babies are no longer your only babies
  
  Posted at 12:42 pm by CS, on May 6, 2019
  
  When we got pregnant, one of my many thoughts along the way was “how will our cats react to the new baby and vice versa.” I wondered if they would get along, if the cats would try to attack her, or if she would be allergic. I googled how to introduce pets to babies and just how to make everyone more comfortable.
  
  As we were getting the nursery ready, the cats assumed it was all for them and the room shortly became a favorite of theirs. The gliding chair and changing table pads were among the big favorites. As I became bigger, the cats would start to snuggle my belly and boy did it freak them out when she would move.
  
  Once she arrived, I had heard that you should take something the baby has come in contact with and send it home for the pets to smell so they recognize the scent. So I did that with a hat she had worn in the hospital. When we got home though, the cats just really wanted nothing to do with her. They would stay out of our way and in other rooms where the baby wasn’t. I wouldn’t say they were scared of her, they just didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with her.
  
  Luckily, she wasn’t allergic to them as well so that really eased our mind too. As she has now gotten older, she is more curious about them and wanting to chase them and “pet” them, or her version of that. And she’s very interested in their food, so we’ve had to work on keeping that out of reach of her. The cats are now even more not wanting anything to do with her because they are grumpy old men that just want to sleep all day.
  
  It has been an adjustment for all involved to become a family of 4 to a family of 5, but I believe we are handling it well and trying to make sure the cats know we still love them and consider them our babies and don’t want them to feel ignored in any way. They were our first children after all.
  
  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged allergies, baby, cats, introducing, pets
- Night night, sleep tight
  
  Posted at 4:38 pm by CS, on May 2, 2019
  
  I would like to think the key to a good nights sleep is a good nighttime routine, not only for baby but for parents too.
  
  For the most part Cameron is a good sleeper and has been for most of her life. I would like to believe it’s because of the nighttime routine we try to implement. Now we aren’t perfect parents, so sometimes not everything happens that should, or we just run out of time, but for the most part this is what we try to accomplish each night before putting Cameron to bed. Also, they don’t get home from work/daycare pickup at the same time every day so sometimes that affects how the evening/night routine ends up.
  
  About an hour or so before bedtime, depending on when we finish dinner it’s bath time for Cameron. We try to use lavender scented bath products for her as they are normally calming scents. This helps us and her to learn that this is the beginning of settling down and getting ready for bed.
  
  Once she’s dried and dressed, this is when we pull out our books and flash cards. We try to spend about 15-20 on flash cards learning words and associating words and photos. After we are done with flash cards we then choose 1-3 books a night to read. Some nights she’s interested and others she wants nothing to do with books, but I will read to her regardless of it I’m stating at the back of her head, I want her to just hear the words being read.
  
  While all of this is happening, right around a half hour before bed we will then turn on the children’s lullaby pandora station. We just want the calming songs and sounds to help her relax.
  
  At bedtime she does still get milk, so we give her her milk and once she finishes it, it’s off to bed. In bed we turn on the fan in her room for noise and her musical giraffe, then it’s lights out and we leave the room.
  
  Most nights she is out within 5-10 minutes, other nights she tosses for maybe up to 20-30 minutes but she then puts herself to sleep. She’s been doing this for about 6 months, although before when we were feeding her she would fall asleep in our arms before even reaching her crib.
  
  Her bedtime is 7:15-7:30, so we try to start all of her routine by 6ish. So far it’s been working for us, but if something were to stop then we would try something new.
  
  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged bath, bath time, bedtime, books, flash cards, music, nighttime, Pandora, reading, routine
- Books we love
  
  Posted at 1:52 pm by CS, on April 29, 2019
  
  One thing I try so hard to do even if she doesn’t fully pay attention is to read books to Cameron. I want her to grow up with a love of reading and not only do it when she’s assigned it for schoolwork. Is started reading at a young age, and to this day I love to read when I can.
  
  Here are some books we tend to read on a more frequent basis. Most of these books were bought on amazon, but I’m sure you can find them anywhere else books are sold as they are fairly popular.
  
  Disclaimer: “Catherine is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to insert the applicable site name amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn commissions from qualifying purchases.” When you click on links and buy products through this site, I may receive a small affiliate commission. You will not pay more by clicking through my link. All reviews and recommendations of these products are my own.”
  
  A flap page book that talks about animals that can come from the zoo.
  
  Dear Zoo: https://amzn.to/2J7fznA
  
  A story about a giraffe who learns that sometimes you really just need to be yourself.
  
  Giraffe’s can’t dance: https://amzn.to/2IYECcA
  
  Learn your ABC’s with this classic!
  
  Chicka chicka boom boom: https://amzn.to/2J0Uc7t
  
  One of my favorites as a child, learning animals and colors!
  
  Brown bear brown bear what do you see: https://amzn.to/2XMWkDW
  
  Classic Dr. Seuss book full of fun and rhymes!
  
  Cat in the hat: https://amzn.to/2DCyJym
  
  These next two are series of books that don’t have a specific link as they are multiples of stories we like to read.
  
  5 minute stories (cuddle, disney junior, Daniel tiger)
  
  Any Llama llama book
  
  Posted in Mom-ing, Thing I Love | 0 Comments | Tagged books, favorites, reading, rhyming
- The stinky situation
  
  Posted at 11:36 am by CS, on April 25, 2019
  
  If you had asked me what one of the more popular topics I searched for once I became a mom, my child’s bowel movements would be no where near the top of this list. Never did I think I would have so many questions about the bowel movements of my child. And recently we’ve had a few bouts of constipation with Cameron so I’ve been searching and trying to find the best remedies for that.
  
  Here’s what I’ve learned about this stinky situation. These are no where near all the information out there, or all the tips/tricks that can be utilized. These are just some that did happen to us.
  
  1) Be prepared for that tar like poop of a newborn. You are warned in books and classes, but until you see it yourself you can’t really prepare. So just know it is coming and it’s sticky.
  
  2) Blow outs are inevitable, and sometimes you just have to take them straight to the bath tub fully dressed. It will make cleaning them off easier if they are just in the bathtub already.
  
  3) If you can remember, put the clean diaper under the dirty so baby won’t have an accident on the changing table or carpet if they aren’t fully done with their movement mid-change.
  
  4) Poop color change with different solids. So don’t be alarmed if you’ve been giving your child peas and their poop turns green, or orange poop comes after some sweet potatoes or carrots. I remember the first time that happened and I was so confused.
  
  5) Once you do start your baby on solids, keep in mind their poops will become more solid. I like to say: the more solid the food the more solid the poop.
  
  6) Don’t be to worried if your child doesn’t poop often all the time. Some days you may not have bowel movements so keep that in mind that your child may be the same. But that being said, if it goes longer than a few days or you can tell they are hurting or straining, then it may be time to take some measures for constipation.
  
  Constipation: as I stated above, we’ve had a few and some recent cases of constipation with Cameron. We are still trying to learn what works best and what to do to keep her staying regular but here’s what we’ve been doing so far.
  
  When we first noticed, the lack of “movements” we were getting from Cameron, I of course jumped on google to see what I could find about what causes constipation. Two big triggers I saw were bananas and cheese, which in our house are staples for Cameron as she absolutely loves them. So first thing I did was cut those out of her diet. Luckily she hasn’t seemed to miss them much.
  
  Once I did that, I looked to see what would help clear out her system and tried to start implementing some of those into her diet. So we tried avocados, blueberries, prunes and prune juice, apple juice, blueberries, and oats or other high fiber items. We also tried adding some Vaseline to the area of her bum to give her the sensation of needing to “go”.
  
  Unfortunately, although we started getting some movements, they were tiny, hard, and she was straining and in so much pain trying to pass everything. So then I reached out to the doctor to see if he could give me any more recommendations. He suggested some drops or suppositories to try and help move things along. So I went to my trusty amazon to see what I could find for kids her age.
  
  Disclaimer: “Catherine is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to insert the applicable site name amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn commissions from qualifying purchases.” When you click on links and buy products through this site, I may receive a small affiliate commission. You will not pay more by clicking through my link. All reviews and recommendations of these products are my own.”
  
  Mommy’s bliss constipation ease drops– these are drops or a liquid you give orally that taste like prunes.
  
  https://amzn.to/2UWeCpt Mommy’s Bliss Constipation Ease + Prebiotics for Baby’s Tummy Troubles Relief – No Harsh Laxatives Gentle Formula Herbal Supplement – 4 Fl Oz
  
  Pedia-lax suppositories- fast acting suppositories to help with the flow and go
  
  https://amzn.to/2UUI2EA Pedia-Lax Liquid Glycerin Suppositories, 6 Applicators (Pack of 1)
  
  Using both of these have started to help, so we will just keep an eye on her and see if we need to take anymore action.
  
  Do you have any remedies that work for your little one?
  
  Posted in If I had known, Mom-ing, Thing I Love | 0 Comments | Tagged amazon, baby, bowel movement, constipation, diaper, poop, solids, stinky
- A tisket, a tasket, what’s in her Easter basket?
  
  Posted at 2:43 pm by CS, on April 22, 2019
  
  This year for Easter, Cameron seemed a bit more excited. She was all about the Easter bunny, all about shaking her eggs, all about eating what was inside her eggs, and all about her Easter basket. This year we tried to go for a book and craft sort of theme because she is getting into sitting and reading with us and also we are trying to get her more into coloring, painting, and anything else crafty. Here’s what we put in her Easter basket this year.
  
  Disclaimer: “Catherine is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to insert the applicable site name amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn commissions from qualifying purchases.” When you click on links and buy products through this site, I may receive a small affiliate commission. You will not pay more by clicking through my link. All reviews and recommendations of these products are my own.”
  
  The first thing we put in her basket was an Easter book. I always like getting her books that correlate with the holiday we are celebrating and we have really been enjoying these llama llama series books. She’s on her way to collecting them all.
  
  https://amzn.to/2ZnE4CS Llama llama Easter egg
  
  This next book is a great book that teaches a story about being yourself and friendship. And who doesn’t love giraffes.
  
  https://amzn.to/2VXUsId Little Giraffe’s BIG Idea
  
  Cameron had gotten the alphabet blocks by this brand for her birthday and loved them. I knew I wanted to get her one toy for her basket and the blocks just seemed like the perfect choice. The are squishy and make a squeaky noise, each block has a number and corresponding animals on them. They are also all different colors. Probably her favorite thing in her basket.
  
  https://amzn.to/2GAhUG8 B. Toys – One Two Squeeze Baby Blocks – Building Blocks for Toddlers – Educational Baby Toys 6 Months and up with Numbers, Shapes, Animals & Textures – 10 Soft & Colorful Stacking Blocks – BPA Free
  
  We have just started allowing Cameron to color and had tried the egg shaped crayons and she wasn’t feeling them. So we decided to try these jumbo crayons instead and she seems to like them a lot more. They are non-toxic which is awesome because she is still in the stage of wanting to put everything in her mouth.
  
  https://amzn.to/2Izv9Jf crayons jumbo pack 16 pack multicolor crayola
  
  What’s crayons without something to color on. Decided to get her some coloring and activity books and because she’s such a big Disney fan, this three pack was an obvious choice!
  
  https://amzn.to/2XraQkA Disney Coloring and Activity Book Assortment – 3 Full-sized Coloring Books – 96 Pgs each
  
  Did your little one enjoy their Easter basket? Anything that was a big hit? Anything not go over so well?
  
  Posted in Mom-ing, Thing I Love | 0 Comments | Tagged activity, amazon, basket, blocks, books, coloring, crayons, Easter, Easter basket, Easter bunny, precuts
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