mark. Beauty Products

I have decided to do direct sales as I continue my job search. I figured it looked good on my resume so why not do it. I talked to a few people on different social network groups and met a lady named Andrea that lives in the same city as me. She is a representative of mark. which is a sister company to Avon. mark. not only sells makeup but they sell jewelry, clothing, hair products, bath and body, skincare, and more. I decided that since it was the cheapest direct sales I could find with a starter kit costing only $38, what would be the harm in giving it a try. I ordered my starter kit on Thanksgiving and received it on the 27th. I looked through the entire website and contacted Andrea and my mentor Sarah with any questions I couldn't find the answer the website. My launch party with Andrea is the 8th and we are doing a vendor event the day before. I am very excited. I already made one sell that was $40 I earn $9.95 from that sale. I will be closing another sale tomorrow or the day after for a little bit more than that. I already love this job, and i didn't think I would enjoy it at all since I don't wear makeup or keep up with any fashion advice. Check out my website at http://cgambrel.mymarkstore.com.



Vincent learned how to sit up on his own yesterday. He gets in crawling position and leans over so the side of his hip touches the floor then pushes him self up from there. I haven't caught it on video  yet. He's so camera shy I don't think I have or will ever get any milestones on camera. He always stops and stares at me if I grab the camera or my phone.  He is getting better at being around people. He just needs to get used to you for a few minutes before he is chattering up a storm.

He lunged at the camera as I snapped the picture :)

Border Battle Game

Today is the Ohio State Buckeyes vs the University of Michigan Wolverines football game. I will be watching the game during 'dinner' with Jake's family. We are just now celebrating Thanksgiving at our house. I am going to root on Michigan as I grew up with a family of Michigan fans. I really don't get in to college football but I do watch this game every year. Chances are Michigan will lose as they are having a bad year but I am rooting for them anyway.

I signed up as an independent rep for a company called mark. in order to bring in more money for my family. I am hoping that between mark., ChaCha, and donating plasma at Biolife that we will be bringing in enough money to move out and get a place of our own. Vinny will be walking soon and our room is  not safe for a baby on the go. If you are shopping for a woman in your life or looking for amazing makeup, fragrances, bath and body, hair products, and fashion you should go to http://cgambrel.mymarkstore.com/ you will find fabulous products in the store. For every $10 in sales I will donate $1 to the Allen County Humane Society Dec 27. So a little over a month, here is to hoping that we can donate a good amount of money to those deserving pets!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to start by saying I am thankful for all my friends and family that support my dreams of being a book author. I am also thankful for Jacob, without him I would probably still be living in my grandma's house, hardly eating, dating abusive cheaters, and worse of all I wouldn't have my amazing little man. I would definitely love to thank Vincent. I never knew there could be a love so strong. ote
I will be going to my grandma's house at 1pm. Jake worked 4am to 1pm yesterday and went back to work at Midnight and got home at 8am. He was not planning on going to dinner with me to my grandma's but has decided that he will wake up at noon and get ready. However, he wants to go to my grandma's for half an hour and his brother's for half an hour. I don't agree with that as I hardly get to see my family and we live with his family. Not only that, but his brother will be here on Saturday along with the rest of the family for their Thanksgiving dinner. They postponed it so that his other brother could be here. We are watching the parade on tv and Vincent is loving it. He gets upset every commercial break and squeals when it comes back on. Oh by the way we now have 6 teeth :)

On a sad note, my grandfather on my mom's side of the family passed away just two days ago, he lost his battle with cancer. My mom wanted nothing to do with me when I was born and until I was 15 years old I hadn't met any of that family. I only met them then because I had a cousin that was in the same school. My grandpa never got to see Vinny which really upsets me. I am sorry to share such harsh news on such a day.

Pictures!

I am happy to share that Vinny no longer sleeps in his swing. He has slept in the crib every night for the past week and three days. I have let him take a nap or two in the swing but the first couple of days we hadn't even allowed him to be in the swing. He was either in the playpen, walker or his crib. He also is getting better with other children. With the holidays coming up me and Jake started going to Biolife Plasma Services and donate plasma to make extra money. I have left him in their daycare three times and he has had no problems what so ever, even when the other kids come up and try to play with him. He usually just stares at them. He is starting to chat a lot. He started off saying hihi about a month and a half ago, then dada for a couple days then it was a constant mama, now its a constant dada. he still says hihi and mama just not as much. I love him more and more every day.

I finally got some pictures on my new computer so I am going to share a bunch of them and an adorable little video.

I'm Back

   Sorry I haven't been blogging. I lost my password and finally figured it out. The last time I blogged I said I was going to start working out. I did workout for a little bit but then it became hard to fit in. We were gone a lot of the time and Vincent was and still is teething so he wants constant attention and screams a lot. I still try to fit in a little workout every now and then. Once spring comes, I should be able to manage a better workout. I will be sure to set a time in the morning to do my workout and a time in the evening to go out for a walk. Until then, I will workout as often as I can.

   Vinny is turning eight months old in two days. He can sit up when someone put him in the sitting position. He is trying to sit up on his own now but can't quite do it yet. He still wont sleep in his crib, sometimes sleeps with me in my bed but usually sleeps in swing still. He now weighs over 20lbs and is roughly 30in tall. He loves to repeatedly say mom. His hair is now more blonde instead of strawberry blonde. His eyes are such a bright blue that nobody ever looks at him without saying something about his eyes.

   I took him Trick or Treating last Thursday. He went as a little devil. We bought two lion costumes but neither of the hoods would fit on him. My best friend, Tiffany, let me use the costume her son had used when he was younger. Tiffany, our friend Jasmyn, and I had met up and took our boys around the town. Vincent wasn't sure what to think of any of it. Whenever someone would come up to the stroller he would just stare at them like he was terrified. The last house we went to was Tiffany's future mother-in-law. As we walked up to that house Vinny was happy and cooing.

I am on a new computer so I don't have any pictures to post today but I will post some the next time around.

Gonna Take My Body Back

I've always been a skinny girl. I am 5'9" and weighed 142lbs before I got pregnant. The day I delivered I weighed 182lbs. I now weigh 136lbs but still have a pouch. I never had that perfect body, in fact I've alwaya had a roundish stomach. Besides the way my body looks I am also disappointed in how out of shape I am. I cannot manage to walk up the stairs to my room, without being out of breath. I have had enough of being out of shape. I want to become healthy. I watch a lot of makeover shows. I really love Extreme Makeover: Weightloss Edition with trainer Chris Powell. I discovered a dvd called Extreme Makeover: Weightloss Edition- The Workout. It is technically for the larger people but it works for smaller people also. It is a great workout and gives me loads of energy.  My legs get really sore after a workout but I still love it. After I finish level 2 I am going to switch to Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I just don't think that dvd is for beginners so I started off with a different one. I am excited for what may happen in the future due to getting my energy back and self confidence.

Vincent is getting so big. He's trying to set up on his own now. Hes starting to learn new things everyday. I enjoy watching him learn daily.

Green Eggs and Ham

I haven't read to Vincent since he was a month old. Mainly because I only have two books to read him. I have Green Eggs and Ham and Cat in the Hat. I stopped reading them because he would get fussy everytime I started to read. I decided that he would be able to look at the pictures while I read this time and probably wouldn't remember the book anyways. As soon as I started reading he started laughing, everytime I turned the page he would laugh. It made me very happy that he let me read the whole book to him. Tonight I will try Cat in the Hat again. Hope it goes well.

Anickah Marie

my niece Anickah Marie was born july 18 at 2:42 pm. She weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 inches long. I went to the hospital to see her when she was a day old. She looks exactly like my sister. I got the hold her but not for long, as I was afraid to because she's so small. I can't wait til this time next year. My nephew will be going on two years old and Vincent and Anickah will be  one. Plus my best friend's son will be three and another close friend's  son will be two. We could all go to the park and let them play.

Fireworks!

I know I am a bit late at posting this but I wanted to share anyway. Almost every little sound scares vincent so we figured that the fourth of july would be full of screaming. We stayed in for a majority of the day. We could hear neighbors' and even the city's fireworks inside. Around 11pm Vincent still wasn't asleep and Jake wanted to shoot off some roman candles that we bought a while ago. I put vincent in the car seat and we all sat on the porch. Shortly after we went outside a neighbor about 4 houses down started shooting off more fireworks. I figured if Vincent was gonna hear them he might as well see them, so I turned the carseat so he could see. We expected them to scare him but once they finished he laughed for two minutes. When we finished with the roman candles and came back in Vincent fell asleep in a matter of minutes. The picture with the rootbeer bottle was taken at my friends, we were on the porch and I asked for a drink and she went to get it but in the mean time a garbage truck was going down the street so I was trying to calm him down with a toy. She handed me the pop and I just held on to it while calming him down and didn't realise it was so close to him.

A Year Ago Today

July 1st 2011, I woke up went downstairs and took a pregnancy test. It came back positive and I immediately started crying. I had no idea what I was going to do. My boyfriend automatically wanted to put the baby up for adoption. I agreed because there was so many people living in our house, the other kids weren't being taken care of. I didn't want to risk the baby being taken by children services. Another reason I agreed was because I didn't want to lose Jake, I didn't think that I could love anyone as much as him. Mid-July, my boyfriend's dad was constantly complaining about our decision. So we went out to dinner and discussed it. We decided we would keep the baby.

Today, Vincent turned four months old. He recently started rolling over. I don't think I could love.anyone more than him! :)

Nobody Warned Me

I always knew that babies suck on their thumbs but little did I know that Vincent would stick his index finger all the way in his mouth. He does it constantly. He gags himself so much, and throws up sometimes from it. It is hard to not let it bother me.

Vincent is trying so hard to roll over now. He can get his top half rolled over, just can't figure out how to move his butt and legs over.
As you guys know, I hosted my sisters baby shower this past sunday.  This was probably the worse baby shower that I ever attended. I had to take Vincent because his daddy was still at work. Then the lady that let us use her house let her one and two year old get into everything, including an ash tray they dumped in my carseat. And my sister's son was there  throwing stuff around the baby repeatedly. I spent my whole time watching kids. It was not enjoyable!

Father's Day

I posted on here about Mother's Day so I am going to posted about Father's day also. So here I go. I know Jake got me a mother's day card. That is all he did for me that day. I forgot to tell him happy Father's Day when he left for work at 4am. He came home and told me that my grandma text him and said happy Father's Day. I was like "oh I'm sorry I forgot to this morning." He looks at me and says "yeah I know, I got you a card and you can't even say it." Uh first off he didn't do anything for me on Mother's day and second off he doesn't even help with the baby so why should he deserve a day to celebrate being a dad.
Here is a picture of Vincent and his dad a while back.

Planning a Baby Shower

My sister is having her third child but first daughter next month. I decided that since she never had a baby shower and this is her first daughter, I would throw her a baby shower. A lot of family is against it because my sister doesn't have custody of her boys. I believe that she it's straightening out her life and have faith that she will be able to keep her daughter and get the boys back. She decided last minute to have a baby shower and I made sure me and her friends got together as soon as possible to start planning. Unfortunately, that meeting didn't accomplish much. Them I find out that she hasn't sent it the invitations with only 13 days before the shower. I talked her into changing the date so that more people will be able to attend. The short if more scheduled for the 24th and I have bought decorations and prizes got the games. Her friend, who's house we will be using, is buying food and choosing games.  Planning this  baby shower has been pretty hard with a baby that demand a lot of attention and prefers to not be out of his swing much. We have everything planned out now. I am crocheting my niece a cute little blanket. The yarn is pink, white and tan, so when crocheted it looks like pink camoflauge. It will be absolutely adorable when finished. Vincent is doing great. He is learning more and more how to use his hands to grab stuff. He tends to pull a blanket up when he is cold, he also figured out how to grab a hold of me when nervous or scared. I continue to love him more and more each day. I am happy to wake up every morning to him smiling at me from his swing. 8 Things You Should Never Say To Your Husband

Playing House

My dad text me on Friday and told me he was going out of town. He wanted to know if me, Jake, and the baby would stay at his house while he was away. I agreed so that someone was there to take care of his dog, puppy and fish. My brother stayed to keep me company while Jake was at work. However, my brother was usually across the street or upstairs. I really enjoyed having the whole house to ourselves instead of just the attic. When the baby fell asleep I could actually sit in another room and relax. He makes a lot of sounds in his sleep so I just stare at him when we're home. I would go check on him every few minutes, though. I didn't get to cook, which shockingly I wanted to, because everything in that house was way post the expiration date :( House sitting made me want a job ten times more because Jake always says that when I get a job we will move out. I just can't seem to get one in this darn economy. Vincent is discovering both his hands and feet right now and it's so cute when he just stares at them. What's Your Parenting Style?

Formula Feeding

I went to the wonderful amusement park known as Cedar Point, on Saturday. I left Vincent with my grandma for the day. I pumped roughly every four hours. However the next day, he kept crying after he was done eating. I went to pump my left boob as it  has a cut so I can't feed him on it. I only got half an oz. I decided in a few hours to check hire much the other was making. It gave me the same. No wonder he kept crying, his stomach was still empty. I had to change him over to formula to be sure he is eating enough. I never liked breastfeeding, it ties you down and makes your boobs uncomfortable. Even if that wasn't the case, Vincent only lets me hold him when he eats. Now that we switched to formula, I'm afraid that since anyone can feed him that he won't want me any more. So I just keep crying on and off today. It's not bad enough that I keep thinking about how bad formula is compared to breastmilk. I am not dissing anyone that does formula feeding, its just breastmilk is healthier. At least when I gave him the first bottle of formula he seemed happy.

Feeling like a single mom

I just have to say single moms deserve a lot more credit than they get. I live with my boyfriend and we're always together. Yet, I am still taking care of the baby alone. I understand he goes to work super early in the morning, so that's why he don't help at night. However, he is usually home around noon. Thats 8-10 hours that he could help me and let me get a break but he rather play video games. He gets one day off a week, hasn't been home on that day since Vincent was born. He's always volunteering to help remodel his brothers house. The other day we were at the store and some how him not helping came up in conversation. He said he's always at work so it's not his fault. I simply replied 'You are home an entire day once a week' he turned to me and said 'what use my one day to myself?' Obviously I wanted to punch him in the face but since e were in the check out I just yelled 'where the hell is my day to myself?' He didn't reply until we got out to the car with 'if you want a day to yourself take him to your grandmas, they volunteered to watch him when ever'
I feel like he doesn't understand. He got me a mothers day card that made it sound like he understands but then the very next day did that! Everytime I tell him I need him to help more he laughs like I'm joking. Then tells me to just ask if I need help. When I ask for help he doesn't do it!

Btw he asked what I'm doing I told him I'm updating my blog. He asked how much bad stuff about him I put on here. I told him a lot and he laughed. So he knows how much he upsets me.

My First Mothers Day

This morning at 4:30am I woke up and realised I fell asleep feeding Vincent. I laid my hand on his stomach like I always do when he sleeps with me. I noticed he wasn't breathing. I started patting him and jiggling him trying to wake him up. This is when I start crying. I picked him up as I was going to wake Jake but as I picked him up he opened his eyes and started crying. What a start to my first mothers day.
Jake is working today so I don't get a break. My day has been good though. Vincent  has been quiet and behaving all day. Before Jake left for work he handed me an envelope that said Mommy. I opened it up and it was the sweetest mothers day card.

I Told Them So.

On Thursday evening, I decided to take Vincent for a walk around the neighborhood. When we was getting ready to go, he started screaming. Jake's mom asked me how often he screams like that and I told her it's about 80% of the time. We took our walk and when we came back Jake's mom and dad started lecturing us about how something is wrong with him. I kept saying I didn't think there was. He's my son and I'm always with him, I know him best. They kept going on to Jake as I went to another room to feed Vincent. I could hear them talking about how irresponsible we are being for not taking him to the hospital. I had an emotional break down because it was making me feel like a bad mother. After Vincent  finished eating, I tried to sit in living room with them but just couldn't. I told them I was going up to our room to put Vincent in the swing. I put Vincent in the swing and just broke down. When Jake came up, I buried my face in my knees so he wouldn't see me cry but he already knew. He told me that we were taking Vincent to hospital the next day so his parents can be sure that there was nothing wrong.

The next day, I called the pediatrician and explained that Vincent is screaming nonstop all the time. They had me bring him in so they could check him out. As I had told them nothing is wrong with him. They said he might be colic. However, he has a tooth trying to come through. When we told Jake's parents that the doctor said nothing is wrong with him they made up excuses like 'they didn't do every test, so they don't know if anything is wrong'. My goodness. I'm not a bad mom and I know nothing is wrong with my baby!

Sleep!

Ah I finally got a good night of sleep. Vincent went to bed at 11:30pm and didnt wake up until 5:45am. He ate for 10 minutes and went back to sleep. Didn't wake again until 8:52am. I was so happy, its my birthday and my almost 8 week old gave me such a great gift. However, he's been restless all day. He falls asleep but not good enough and wakes up bc he moved.
Yesterday, I had him in the bouncy seat and of course he was fussy because it wasn't the swing. He started kicking and hit the little toy fish on the you bar. His face lit up. He started smiling and almost giggled. He then continued trying to hit the toy. He managed a few times and you knew when he missed bc he'd grunt about it. I noticed that Jake would occasionally look over and watch. He quit playing his video game and turned to just watch Vincent kicked at the toy. I asked why he quit playing and he said he was tired. I don't think that was why. I believe he wanted to watch Vincent progress with learning about his feet.
Picture of Vincent smiling when I caled him fat man:

Please sleep in the crib!

My boufriend finally got time to set the crib up. I really didnt expect it to take 2 hours to do, but it did. Shortly after Vincent fell asleep so I figured I'd try laying him in the crib. The moment he touched the mattress he started screaming. So I put him back in the swing. Later on he fell asleep eating so I tried again. He slept from 8:20- 9pm, then woke up screaming. So I put him in swing and he went back to sleep. Then after his 11:30pm feeding he wouldn't sleep in the crib or swing only against me in my bed. He was like that up until 10am when he finally let me put him in the swing. Oh how I wish he would sleep in his bed. The swing takes up a lot of space.