Baby Shower Mocktail Recipes

Reading this month's edition of American Baby I noticed a neat recipe for "Faux Sangria" and thought it would be fitting to create a post with various mocktail recipes for Mommyies-to-Be and Breast Feeding Mommies.

Fall Faux Sangria

16 to 20 Servings

1 each of the following: Orange, apple, pear, lemon

4 cups apple juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 cups orange juice, strained

1 cup white grape juice

1 3/4 cups sparkling pomegranate soda

 

Combine thinly sliced fruit with juices (fresh is best) in a pitcher. Chill for two hours. Add soda just before serving over ice. You can sub red wine for the soda. Add it with fruit and juices before chilling.

Mamajito

2 Tablespoon Fresh Mint Leaves Muddled
1 Teaspoon Fresh Grated Ginger Root
4 Oz Sprite or 7-Up (Caffeine Free)
1 Oz Fresh Lime Juice

Muddle mint in the bottom of the glass using the back of your spoon, add ice, ginger, lime and shake. Top with the soda and garnish with mint leaves.

Mamatini

2 Oz Orange Juice
2 Oz Pineapple Juice
1 Oz Cranberry Juice
1/2 Oz Lime Juice
2 Tablespoon Sugar mixed with a pinch of salt to rim the glass

 

Shake with Ice and Strain into a rimmed Martini glass. Garnish with a slice of orange or pineapple.

 

Mamarita

4 Oz Orange Juice
2 Oz Sour Mix
1 Oz Fresh Lime Juice

Shake with ice. Serve in a salt or sugar rimmed glass and garnish with slice of lime.

Watermelon Cooler

3 cups cubed, seeded watermelon

1 1/2 cups strawberries

3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 cup ice cubes

sugar to taste

Put watermelon, strawberries, lime juice, ice, and sugar if desired into the pitcher of a blender, and blend for 15 seconds on high speed. (Always put the top on the container before processing.) Stop machine, and stir ingredients with a long wooden spoon. Blend for 15 seconds more on high speed.

Citrus Mint Splash

1 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup fresh orange juice

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

10 sprigs mint

32 ounces ginger ale

water

Place first 5 ingredients in a saucepan and stir until sugar dissolves. Cover, remove from heat and steep until cool Cover and refrigerate. To serve, fill glasses or a pitcher with equal amounts fruit juice, ginger ale and water. Add ice and serve.

Strawberry Sparkler


3 oz Glow Mama kiwi drink
3/4 oz Torani strawberry flavored syrup
2 oz club soda (or alcohol-free sparkling wine)
3-4 drops blood orange bitters 


Pour Glow Mama, strawberry syrup, and orange bitters directly into a champagne or wine glass. Top with club soda. Garnish the edge of the glass with a slice of kiwi.

 

Sources:here, here and here

My Busy Weekend

My weekend began with D and I venturing to Baltimore Friday night to check out the Bratt Decor Warehouse Sale as I mentioned in the previous post. While at the sale my sister recorded a video of our escapade. Can't figure out how to rotate the video sorry.

After returning to Jersey we made the trip up to Branford, Connecticut to have dinner at the house of one D's volleyball players. We ate well, had wonderful conversation, and I had the "Needle Test" performed on me. So here is how this "test" works:

Another unscientific but fun gender prediction test is the needle or wedding ring test. In this test, a woman dangles a needle or wedding ring over her belly. If the needle or wedding ring swings in a strong circular motion, she is expecting a girl. If it moves in a to-and-fro motion like a pendulum, she is expecting a boy. An alternate version of this baby gender prediction method is to dangle the needle or wedding ring over the expectant mom's wrist instead of belly.

Bratt Decor's Outlet Warehouse Sale

Today Bratt Decor's Outlet Warehouse had an amazing sale on everything from cribs to chandeliers. My husband and I made the journey down from Jersey to see what would await us at this sale. As not to be disappointed I didn't get my hopes up that I would find anything worth purchasing. Well honey I was wrong! They had the Chelsea Sleigh Crib in antique silver and guess what else?!* It was marked down from $1452 to $350!!! Yes that's approximately 76% off the retail price! This is my kind of sale. There were other great buys, but once I saw the crib that's all I could focus on. This is one item off my wish list. 

 So here is the crib my Mommy gifted us! 

In the 18th century, England produced some of the finest hand carved furnishings ever crafted. The Chelsea Collection is designer, Stephen Bauer's interpretation of that impressive craft. This collection is jaw dropingly gorgeous, rich and impressive.

The collection includes a sleigh crib, toddler conversion kit, lifetime crib, armoire, double dresser with option changing tray, bookcase, and nightstand. All items are available in an espresso, antique silver or buttermilk finish.

Thanks Mommy!!

Refusal of Cesarean Leads to Loss of Custody in NJ

Saw this and almost shit myself. This is one of the hospitals that my OB has privileges. . .

The Superior Court of New Jersey upheld the decision that a woman who refused an unnecessary cesarean at St. Barnabas Hospital, which boasts a 49.3 percent cesarean rate, will not receive custody of her daughter. The judge claims the Superior Court of New Jersey’s decision is not based on the defendant’s refusal of a cesarean, but on “other substantial additional evidence of abuse and neglect that supported the ultimate findings.”

A Quick Summary

On April 16, 2006, V and B, a married couple, went to Saint Barnabas Hospital after V began experiencing contractions. V is described in court documents as a 42 year old, college educated woman who was thirty-five weeks pregnant and in labor upon arrival at St. Barnabas Hospital in New Jersey, which boasts a 49.3 percent cesarean rate. V signed the consent form for the administration of intravenous fluids, antibiotics, oxygen, fetal heart rate monitoring, an episiotomy and an epidural anesthetic. However, she refused to the blanket consent forms for c-section or fetal scalp stimulation. According to the court documents, hospital personnel explained the “potentially dire consequences of not allowing a c-section in the event of fetal distress.”

In the hospital records, V is described as “combative,” “uncooperative,” “erratic,” “noncompliant,” “irrational” and “inappropriate” while in labor. V requested that the obstetrician leave the room and called the Livingston Police to report that she was being abused and denied treatment. She exercised the right to refuse to wear an oxygen mask, would not consent to fetal heart rate monitoring and “thrashed about to the extent that it was unsafe for the anesthesiologist to administer an epidural,” but records do not indicate whether or not she had requested an epidural. While yelling loudly, she exercised the right to refuse a bedside ultrasound.

Dr. Mansuria, the obstetrician, explained the possible complications that could occur if the fetus went into distress and a c-section was not performed, such as brain damage, mental retardation and fetal death. Mansuria claimed that “an examination” revealed a nonreassuring fetal status. B said that he understood the risks and V would not consent to the procedure.

 

The legal findings show that the “hospital responded appropriately to confront V’s mental state and her refusal to consent to the c-section.” The staff requested an emergency psychiatric evaluation to determine V.’s competency. Dr. Devendra Kurani spoke to V for approximately one hour and while Kurani was there, the anesthesiologist was able to administer an epidural. V informed Kurani that she had a “psychiatric history” and had been on medication prior to getting pregnant. B confirmed that V had been treated by a psychiatrist for post-traumatic stress disorder and had been prescribed Zoloft, Prozac and Seroquel.

 

Dr. Kurani concluded that although V was anxious, she was not psychotic and had the capacity for informed consent with regard to the c-section. The staff called in a second psychiatric evaluation from a Dr. Jacoby.Before the second psychiatrist was able to complete the examination, V gave birth vaginally to J without incident in spite of Dr. Mansuria’s repeated claims that V’s baby was in distress and could suffer brain damage, mental retardation or fetal death without the recommended cesarean.

 

A social worker at Saint Barnabas Hospital contacted the Division of Youth and Family Services on April 18, 2006, two days after J’s birth to report concerns over releasing the baby to her parents’ care. Caseworker Heather Frommer went to the hospital, interviewed staff and spoke to V and B, who denied that V “had ever received psychiatric treatment, had ever refused to consent to a c-section or had ever been evaluated by a hospital psychiatrist.”

It gets deeper the court findings can be found here in full, and a summary found here.

 Source: the unnecesarean.com


The Fultz Quads

As I was catching up on my favorite blogs I arrived on this blog post from BLACKTATING: Breastfeeding News & Views from a Mom of Color about the Fultz Quads. Prior to reading the post I had never heard about the quads. I was fascinated by the brief depiction Elita provided of their life. Check out the post below:
 
"During the opening plenary at the Black Mother's Breastfeeding Association's third annual conference, I learned about the Fultz Quads, quadruplet girls born to a tenant farmer named Pete and his deaf, mute wife Annie Mae on May 23, 1946. I'm not sure how I'd never learned about this important piece of African-American history, but I'm happy to be able to share it with you, in case you've never heard of them either.

You can imagine the chances of a couple conceiving quadruplets in the 40s, decades before the availability of fertility treatments, and the fact that the family was poor and black made this a sensational story that garnered nation-wide media attention. The Fultz's already had six children at home when Annie Mae headed to the hospital to give birth to her babies.

The white doctor who delivered the quads, Fred Klenner, gained world renown for attending the birth of the first recorded set of black quadruplets. Dr. Klenner decided to name the girls himself, calling them Mary Ann, Mary Louise, Mary Alice and Mary Catherine. All of the names were for women in his family. The black delivery nurse was quoted in a newspaper article as saying, "At that time, you know, it was before integration. They did us how they wanted. And these were very poor people. He was a sharecropper, Pete was, and she couldn't read or write."

As much of a media circus as the girls' birth was, it seems no one wanted in on the action more than the infant formula companies, whose business was exploding due to the post-war baby boom. In addition to making the girls guinea pigs for his 'Vitamin C therapy,' Dr. Klenner also negotiated a deal with the PET milk company, which agreed to provide the girls with formula, food, medical care, a private nurse and a farm when they reached adulthood, in exchange for using their image in promotional materials.

This is the beginning of the aggressive marketing of infant formula to African-Americans in this country. Surely the wife of a poor sharecropper would have breastfed her children had PET not come into the picture. And of course black women were breastfeeding their children at this time because they really had no choice. Formula would not have been an affordable or viable option for most people. So although white women were turning to formula in droves, the formula companies were missing a huge portion of the market because black women were still breastfeeding. So how do you change their minds? The image of four beautiful black baby girls 'growing up strong' on formula was probably pretty convincing.
You probably won't be surprised to find out that things didn't work out so well for the Fultz Quads. They were eventually adopted by the baby nurse provided to the family by PET. The farm they were promised turned out to be in the middle of nowhere on land that couldn't grow weeds. They grew up embittered over the way PET profited from their image while they remained poor. The public eventually forgot about them and they lived quiet lives.
They got to meet Presidents Harry Truman, John Kennedy and Althea Gibson, appeared on television shows, and in hundreds of ads for PET milk.

But what were the consequences of being fed 'baby milk' in infancy? Well, the three eldest of the Fultz quads were all dead of breast cancer before they reached age 55. The youngest sister, Mary Catherine, also has breast cancer. I'll let you draw your own conclusions."
Never want to miss an update of the Blacktating Blog? Subscribe here. Follow on Twitter- I'm @Blacktating
For a more in depth story on the Fultz Quads click here.

My First Maternity Clothing Shopping Spree

Sunday morning my hubbie and I woke up, went to IHOP, and visited the Motherhood Maternity Outlet in Secaucus, NJ. My bump has gotten considerable larger and I can't fit into any of my pants. Of course, I have a load of dresses, so that won't be an issue. On Friday at work I had to walk around with my pant unzipped because I couldn't function with the button pressing into my belly. Anyway, here are my purchases.

 

3/4 Sleeve Side Ruched Maternity Sweater

By Motherhood Maternity

Mom To Be Essentials Kit

By A Pea In The Pod

The Tummy Sleeve By Motherhood

Secret Fit Belly™ Super Stretch Boot Cut Maternity Jeans

Secret Fit Belly™ Tech Twill Slim Fit Skinny Leg Maternity Pants

Loved By Heidi Klum Under Belly Super Stretch Slim Leg Maternity Jeans


Belle Jour Baby Planning

Last Tuesday while at the NJ Knot Networking event I had the pleasure of meeting Nicole Kaduson the owner of Belle Jour, a Baby and Event Planning company based out of Hoboken, New Jersey. She has created the ingenious concept of "Baby Planning".  "With a background as a nanny as well as in pre/post natal Pilates, Nicole’s passion for working with expectant parents and new babies led her to receive her baby planning certification through the International Academy of Baby Planning Professionals. After watching and working with pregnant women around her, Nicole realized that there was an overwhelming number of products and services on the market geared towards pregnancy and expectant parents." Hence Belle Jour Baby Planning was born.

 

Here is a list of the services she offers:

Belle Jour Events works with each client to customize a package that works for their needs. We offer a free initial consultation to determine what exactly your family needs to prepare or welcome your new addition. Some of our packages are:

  • Preparing for Baby: We determine what exactly you need to help make your pregnancy and birth as easy as possible from start to finish. Belle Jour will equip you with a timeline from our consultation until birth, set you up with a list of recommended practitioners for you to interview, a registry customized exactly for your family, set up a customized pre/post natal Pilates regimen, advice on planning a baby shower, and even assist you up through the first three months of your baby’s life.
  • Headache Free Registry: Based on our consultation we will do all the hard work and develop a registry that suits your family’s needs. We will give you multiple options in each category and even offer a product demonstration after we have thoroughly tested and reviewed the best products for you.
  • Baby’s Bungalow: We will setup a nursery designed exactly for your little one. Not only will we help you find the best furniture to fit your home and lifestyle, but we will also stock up the nursery with all the items needed on the day your baby arrives home. We will even arrange for professional painters and decorators if you so desire.

We also offer a la carte services with recommendations and guidance in areas such as: Doula/Midwife/Obstetrician Selection, Going Green, Baby Proofing, Lactation Consultation, Sleep Training, Pre/Post Natal Pilates, Childcare, Childbirth Classes, Pre/Post Natal Massage, Childproofing, Maternity/Infant Photography, Custom Birth Announcements. If there is anything you don’t see on our list please contact us and we may have the perfect solution for you.

 

Source here

Northern Virginia Baby Photographer

Love this shot from Bonnie Coulbourne Photography!!

For more pictures from this shoot check here.

"Northern Virginia Maryland DC Washington D.C. photographer Bonnie Horseman Coulbourne specializing in maternity and pregnancy portraits, newborn, baby, high school senior, family, child, birth, children's photography. Professional Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC photographer Bonnie Horseman Coulbourne has a photography studio located in loudoun county, northern Virginia. Specializing in maternity portraits, pregnancy, newborn, baby, child, family, high school senior, bridal, hospital birth and children's photography."- From here

Alicia Keys' Radiant Glow

Last night at the “Keep A Child Alive” Black Ball, Alicia Keys was granted the opportunity to sing with her idol. Might I add she looked radiant doing it.

 Alicia with Whitney + Jennifer

Alicia and her hubbie Swiss Beatz

I love her hair style (and the bindi was a lovely touch)!!!


Read more: Alicia Keys Performs “Love Is Stronger Than Pride” With Sade | Necole Bitchie.com 

Blue + Orange Baby Shower

On my visit to the Hostess Blog today an orange and navy themed baby shower was the daily post.  Check it out!

SOURCES:
• white arm chairs and navy throw pillows (IKEA)
• orange neck roll pillow (Pottery Barn)
• white square plastic plates (Party City)
• orange napkins (Super Walmart)
• white square frames (Family Dollar)

Photography by: Nicole Haley Photography

 

For more pictures from this shower visit here.

Baby Cruz @ 15 Weeks

Yesterday afternoon my husband and I had a doctor's appointment to get my first prenatal ultrasound. It was an amazing experience to see our baby moving around in my womb. I was awestruck and D was super excited. He must have asked the ultrasound technician no less than 25 questions resulting in her telling him she has been doing this for 18 years. SMH . . . She mentioned the measurements of the fetus confirms that the baby is 15 weeks instead of the 14 weeks we were going by. She said it is normal to be off by 7 or so days.

 

We decided not to know the sex of our baby prior to delivery; it was D's decision. Despite this ever since we left the doctor's office he's been asking me my preference for the baby's sex. The ultrasound tech said she knows the sex already. Maybe this is what has him over zealous. 

 

Next week I go back for the blood test to screen for Down Syndrome. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Top 10 Favorite Maternity Dresses + 1 Coat

The time is soon approaching when my bludgeoning belly will not fit any of my "regular" clothes. I've already given up wearing pants; unless they are entirely made of spandex or lycra. I began my search for fashionable maternity dresses- yes only dresses because this is the garment I wear the most. I plan to wear dresses for most of my pregnancy because its easy - one garment, tights, cute flats and a few accessories.  I've searched the web and compiled a list of my top ten favorite maternity dresses. Enjoy!

 

 Nom Maternity 'Sophie' Ruched Dress $96.00

Maternal America Maternity Faux Wrap Nursing Dress $128

Mayreau Audrey Maternity/Nursing Dress $116

Dote Maternity/Nursing Sienna Halter Maxi Dress $135Maternal America Print Front Tie Dress $129

Maternal America Black Scoopneck Front Tie Dress $129

 Olian Blue Empire Lycra Dress $109

 Maternal America Navy Front Tie Dress $129

Isabella Oliver Maternity Ruffle Wrap Dress $195.00

 

 Isabella Oliver Maternity Ruched One Shoulder Dress $195.00Lisa this coat is for you {LOL!}. I decided to purchase a coat instead of wearing a poncho with a bubble vest underneath with my Scully.

Veronique Convertible Car Coat $515

Comes in Camel, Black and Granite

Phelan Marc House of Photography

My sister sent me an email several weeks ago and told me that she found the perfect newborn photographer based out of D.C. She mentioned I should check out his Facebook page and from there I fell in love. Phelan Marc House of Photography has many albums on Facebook with amazing pictures. This post is dedicated the two of these albums "Born Fabulous: Newborns" and "Little Wonders: Children".

 

 

Garcelle Beauvais- Nilon Baby Shower

The Decor: Tiffany blue and chocolate brown were the featured hues at the baby bash, which was centered around a hanging mobile centerpiece. Daisies, roses, tulips, lilies and mums—all in white—were in abundance around the party space.

 

baby shower co-hosted by Angie Harmon at her LA. home.

Gifts at the bash were donated to Children’s Bureau, a Southern California non-profit committed to preventing child abuse.

 


Birds + Bees = Baby

 

The super cute invitations

The cake was a replica of the invitation

Pacifier necklaces

Tiny pacifiers embellished the drinking straws, along with blue sugar rimmed glasses

Signature Drink: Non-alcoholic Honey Lemon Spritzer 

Brownie Pops with a baby bottle topper

For more pictures visit Natasha over at Fete Fanatic here and here.

Tisha Campbell-Martin's Cirque du Bebe Baby Shower

Tisha "Gina" Campbell-Martin had her second child last fall with her husband, Duane Martin. The couple had their baby shower on July 18, 2009.  The theme for their recent baby shower was Cirque du Bebe, cute right! The design and decor was created by the one and only Jennifer Sbranti of Hostess with the Mostess. 

Enjoy the pictures. All photos taken by Gina Lee Photography.

 

Tisha + Jennifer

Photos seen on: Hostess Blog