Inspiralized Ali

18 Sep

month 10 of the BABY FAVORITES series. things that my baby (and me!) are loving at this stage. for this series, I'm going to list the things that made month TEN great! and of course, you can check out newborn favorites, month 4, month 5, month 6, month 7, month 8, and month 9. month 10: baby favorites 1. play kitchen - Luca LOVES this play kitchen. we are telling people to bring "accessories" for it to his first birthday party and now, he just has random toys in it - but loves playing here. it's adorable! 2. fridge magnet board - this has made organizing my freezer meals for Luca so much better! now I know what's in the freezer, making meal planning easier. 3. baby gate -...

13 Sep

Babyproofing Our Apartment: The Living Room

by Ali Maffucci

home, motherhood

I distinctly remember going over to friends' houses who had little children and thinking, "This looks like a daycare center!" The place was overflowing with multi-colored toys, big clunky soft furniture, playmats, plastic bins and stuffed animals. I also remember thinking, "Our place will never look like this! We're going to get all wooden toys and neutral colored baby gear." Welp, that lasted about 1 day. You soon realize that babies love colorful things, especially once their eyesight develops and they see more clearly. From books to mobiles to newborn activity centers, we were (and still are) in total color mode. However, we've still maintained our space so that all of Luca's toys are in a dedicated spot, there are some neutral...

11 Sep

monthly challenges: september

by Ali Maffucci

wellness

for each month of this year (I started in March), I'm going to be doing a monthly challenge, where I practice something NEW for the entire month (about 30 days). I didn't want to preselect all the challenges for the entire year, because I'm always changing and there are always areas of my life that change and some need more help than others at certain times. let's start with a recap of the last month and then get into this month's challenge! august's challenge: recap august's challenge was to use less paper towels. aside from taking a daily walk outside each day challenge, this was my favorite. I quickly realized how many paper towels I was using (I was ordering a pack of...

6 Sep

Wardrobe and Bedroom Closet: Before and After

by Ali Maffucci

home

If you missed it, the Horderly team came and organized my entryway pantry, my kitchen, and now, I'm sharing the before and afters from my wardrobe and closet. Let me back up and talk about my wardrobe and closet for a minute before I get to the before and afters. Just like everywhere else in my home, I'm a mess - just so disorganized. Literally, all of my clothes end up on my floor by the end of the week. I shove them back in my wardrobe drawers, I don't hang anything on hangers, and I can't even see my closet floor, because it's littered with shoes. I'm never inspired to look cute during the week, mostly, because I can't even see...

30 Aug

why I refuse to feel bad about co-sleeping

by Ali Maffucci

motherhood

first off, before I say anything, let me say this: DO YOU. whatever works for you, mama. please don't let any book, online article, other mother, parent, mother-in-law, or Instagrammer influence you. do what works best for YOU and your family, always. we're all mamas just trying to survive through this motherhood journey. I'm simply sharing my thoughts and my experiences with my baby. that's it. take it for what it's worth. hopefully, some can relate. when I became a mother, I became a mother at a time when I was ready to accept that my life would never be the same. in fact, I didn't want it to be this same. I wanted to start a family, I wanted a baby to...

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13 Aug

baby favorites: month 9

by Ali Maffucci

faves

month 9 of the BABY FAVORITES series. things that my baby (and me!) are loving at this stage. for this series, I'm going to list the things that made month NINE great! and of course, you can check out newborn favorites, month 4, month 5, month 6, month 7, and month 8. month 9: baby favorites 1. Bath mat: Luca started taking baths not in an infant tub around 8-9 months, but he was really slippery, so we bought this bath mat and he loves splashing on it. we point out all the fish/animals on it and he loves it. he's also standing up in the tub now, so we feel safer having it in there. 2. Extra freezer: now that Luca is eating proper...

6 Aug

monthly challenges: august

by Ali Maffucci

wellness

for each month of this year (I started in March), I'm going to be doing a monthly challenge, where I practice something NEW for the entire month (about 30 days). I didn't want to preselect all the challenges for the entire year, because I'm always changing and there are always areas of my life that change and some need more help than others at certain times. let's start with a recap of the last month and then get into this month's challenge! july's challenge: recap july's challenge was to floss everyday. I know, I know, I'm not a flosser. I actually used to not brush my teeth before I went to bed until a few years ago. was I successful? YES! flossing will now...

31 Jul

breastfeeding update and luca’s solids and breastmilk schedule

by Ali Maffucci

motherhood

you can read about my breastfeeding journey and my first breastfeeding update here. and of course, you should consult your doctor if you have any medically related questions about breastfeeding, as I am not a doctor and this is just my personal experience. world breastfeeding week is august 1-7, so in celebration of that, let's give a breastfeeding update! as we approach one year of nursing, I'm having all the feels. mostly, "I can't believe it!" when I first started nursing and it was tough, I remember thinking, "just stick it out for 6 months!" and then at 4 months, we finally hit our groove and nursing became, for the most part, easy. my confidence nursing in public grew, Luca's latch was strong,...

29 Jul

When your workspace is also your baby’s space

by Ali Maffucci

business, motherhood

If you follow me on Instagram, you may notice that when I take a photo of my food, there's a lot of baby "stuff" in the background. You can see our baby playmat and lots of toys scattered around. That's because the area I take my food photos for the blog in is also the area Luca plays in, in our living room. It's where all of his toys are stored and the area that we've designated "the baby's space." For us, we were always concerned that our apartment home would explode into one big baby's room. We're happy that we have a little nook in our living room that we could build into a safe space for Luca. Of course,...

20 Jul

tips for eating at restaurants with an infant

by Ali Maffucci

motherhood

since Luca is almost a toddler (just two more months to go!), and I get a lot of questions on how we eat out at restaurants with an infant and actually enjoy ourselves, I figured it was time to write the post. plus, everyone loves my #restaurantluca hashtag on the weekends when we're out and about with him! we take him out for about 3 meals a weekend. to preface this, we are choosing to introduce food to Luca with baby led weaning (BLW). you can read all about our decisions in this post. with this, there are a couple key points to keep in mind when I'm sharing my tips: the main idea behind BLW is that it starts table manners...