Family and Parenting

How To Establish A Nighttime Routine With Your Baby

February 12, 2016

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FrozenRewards #CollectiveBias

There were times I thought my life was busy – during college, and then again when I was planning my wedding while being in 3 others during the same year. Then I had children, and I now have a whole new definition of the term “busy.” Between working, raising two children at home, trying to have a social and family life – things are just going to be busy for a while and I have accepted that. When my son was born, we quickly learned that he didn’t sleep like a normal newborn. After taking him to the doctor several times those first few months, we tracked that he was sleeping 6 to 7 hours in a 24-hour period. His pediatrician said that babies should be sleeping 18 of those 24 hours at that point. At 4 months of age, the pediatrician told me we needed to start sleep training him and that began with establishing a nighttime routine.

Nighttime Routine

My Grandparent’s 80th Birthday Party

February 11, 2016

Last weekend we had the pleasure of getting the whole family together for my grandparent’s 80th birthdays. They are 4 months apart and so we decided to throw them a party in between their big birthdays. They are the most incredible people I know. At 80 years old, my grandmother still sews quilts and dresses and pants for kids in Panama and my grandfather serves in the most unbelievable way. He is stronger and in way better shape than I will ever be in. My cousins were all sitting around joking about how strong he is and how he can run circles around all of us. He takes food to the sick. He sits with people who are struggling and he comes over to my parent’s house often asking if he can fix anything or do yard work or help us with anything. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? They are truly incredible people.

80th-birthday

Moms Can Handle Chaos

February 5, 2016

Moms can handle a lot, right? Blah. I don’t even know where to begin to tell you how crazy this week has been. We took a semi-spontaneous trip to Florida because we really needed to get away from everything for a few days. While it did us a world of good, we all got sick and have been feeling bad all week. It is not easy taking care of two sick babies while you yourself are feeling bad. On top of all that, I had a procedure done yesterday to take a spot off of my back and I have stitches and the works so I have been super sore. The icing on the cake? Last Saturday we got a call that the seller of our new house backed out. They have decided not to sell their home at all. While I am trying so hard to be okay with this, respect the sellers’ decision, and to know that God has a plan it has been hard. I have not had the best attitude about it. We had gone through the entire process minus the closing day. We had it inspected, the owners fixed the things that needed fixing, we had a contractor go over there with us and walked him through all of the changes we were making. We had plans drawn up, I had the entire place decorated in my head and Hampton has been asking to go to the new house every day for the last two weeks. Talk about a dagger in the heart. To say I am bummed would be an understatement because I loved that house. It was perfect for our family. Now, we are back at square one. So, who’s ready for the weekend? This girl! I am ready to blow a kiss at this week.

Moms Coffee Starbucks Mug

How to Prepare for a Road Trip with Babies

February 1, 2016

We love to travel as a family, but I’d be lying if I told you there wasn’t a little part of me that worries every time we get in the car to drive for an extended period of time. If you’re a mom, you probably have at least one horror story of something crazy happening on a vacation. We have had several crazy things happen to us over the last few years, but the good far outweighs the bad. Taking our babies on a road trip is something I will always look forward to because we always make many memories.

betty-crocker-coupon

Daring Adventure and Weekend Happenings

January 25, 2016

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. – Helen Keller

I am so so so excited to finally tell you all that we bought a house! It is pretty crazy how the whole thing came about and the timing of it was such a God thing. I don’t even know where to begin. Well, yes I do…

Daring Adventure

When You Aren’t Meeting Your Goals…

January 22, 2016

I was sitting down thinking the other day – I know, dangerous – the last couple of months I have had a harder time focusing and getting anything accomplished. It has been so discouraging and frustrating. Keeping up with our laundry alone has been a struggle. I guess that is to be expected given that we have been living out of boxes for the last 8 weeks and have a full house. Things have been hectic and crazy. Hampton has been really acting out. I’m assuming this is terrible twos? He has turned into a moody two-year-old teenager and it has been very frustrating and tiring. Also, now that Sophie is crawling, I have two children who are into everything! As I was sitting down to go over the simple goals I had made for myself a couple of weeks ago, I noticed I haven’t really been meeting many of them.

Goals

On The Go Snack Ideas + Box Tops for Education

January 21, 2016

This week has been really crazy. We have been going non-stop every day running from one direction to another. The older Hampton gets, the more I realize that our life will continue to get busier. He will become involved in sports and then Sophie will begin ballet lessons and so on. Toddler tantrums have also been at an all-time high these past couple of weeks. I’ve noticed that they are worse when he is hungry. I have started carrying lots of snacks with me when we go out to prevent fits when I sense one coming. It can be hard to come up with snack ideas, but here are a few of our favorites:

Snack Ideas

When Life Hands You Lemons…Drive to Birmingham

January 12, 2016

I have to say, if you would have told me 4 months ago that my life would look the way it does right now, I may not have believed you. If I told you everything that has happened over the last 3 months, you wouldn’t believe me. In fact, everyone who has asked me what’s going on, all I can say to them is… “maybe one day I’ll write a novel…”

Anyways… Our living situation (at my parent’s house) is not a secret to any of you. As nice as it has been to save a ton of money these last 6 weeks, we are more than ready to be in a home of our own again. So, when life hands you lemons…drive to Birmingham!

Birmingham

coat c/o She In // pants // top (similar) // scarf (on sale!)

Happy New Year + Resolutions

January 6, 2016

Happy New Year! It is definitely a happy new year over here. As I announced yesterday, I moved my blog to WordPress which has been in the works and on my mind for over a year! This has been a very exciting process and I am so excited to start the new year off with a new site!

new-years

Kid Friendly Minion Craft + Movie Night

December 10, 2015

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MinionsAtTarget #CollectiveBias

My son and nephew love the minions, so on Tuesday, I made sure to run to Target and buy the new Minions movie Blu-Ray/DVD pack and to my surprise, it came with a $5 Target gift card! Talk about a score. Happy son and happy mom. I call that a win-win!

I also picked up a few supplies so that we could make a minion craft to get the boys excited for their movie night! They loved helping me make these cute little popsicle minions and I must admit, I loved it too. It was the perfect kid-friendly craft to get them in the mood for the movie and we had so much fun making memories.

Here is all you need for this simple, fun Popsicle Minion Craft:

-popsicle sticks
-glue
-yellow and blue paint
-black permanent marker
-googly eyes (varied sizes)
-black cotton balls (for the hair)
-optional: Santa hats

I thought it would be fun to add little Santa hats to a couple of the minions since the boys are getting so excited for Christmas. They loved them!

Directions:

I prepped the popsicle sticks the night before so the paint would be good and dry by the time the boys got a hold of them. If you have older children who can handle paint, you can definitely let them do that part, but for my 2-year-old, I thought I’d better go ahead and paint them myself.

Once the paint is dry, glue the googly eyes on the popsicle stick and draw a smile and belt with your black marker. Then, you can glue hair or the Santa hat on, or leave it bald-headed. It is totally up to you! We made a mixture.

This craft is so simple and perfect to do with the kids, although I do recommend being present and helping younger kids. Target, once again delivered big time! I was able to pick up all of my craft supplies, Minions movie and even scored the gift card all in one stop! The metal Minions Blu-ray and DVD deluxe pack is a Target exclusive and includes 40 minutes of bonus content. While I was there, I also perused the toy section to get some Christmas ideas and noticed they had so many minion toys that were perfect for gifts for the kids! They also have all kinds of minion apparel, books, etc.

We ended the evening with popcorn and the movie which was adorable and hilarious! The boys loved it and I did too! It was such a fun day and I’m so thankful for the time we got to spend together as a family.

Have you purchased the new Minions movie at Target?