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

I have a love/hate relationship with Spring. I love it because the days are warmer which means getting back outside with my kids, porch swings, sweet tea, sunny days, etc. I hate it because I have the worst allergies. I never had an issue with them until about three years ago. They have been horrible ever since. I’ve always heard that you can’t live in the south forever without developing allergies at some point. I guess there is a lot of truth to that. I’ve been reading a lot about them and one of the tips I see repeated over and over (aside from staying indoors, which is not an option for me) is to change your clothes, wash them and wash your body as soon as you go inside to rid yourself of all the pollen.

Between playing in the dirt, getting messy in the kitchen, and all of the pollen, I do a lot of laundry. Since having my youngest daughter, I have had to do at least a load nearly every day. It’s just a reminder of how much fun we have! After all, they are only little once so why not let kids be kids? I recently received the brand new all® Fresh Clean Essentials™ laundry detergent from Amazon.com and it has been wonderful! It is sulfate free and preserves the color of clothes while giving them a deep and powerful clean without the harshness.

Spring means springtime activities with the kiddos and we have already been outside every day for the last few weeks now thanks to unseasonably warm weather this March. Here are a few of our favorite activities!

Springtime Activities:

Park Days

Playing on our Water Table

Zoo Days

Picnic

Sensory Bins

Blowing Bubbles

Playing Ball: Soccer, Basketball, golf, etc.

Wagon Rides

Feeding the Ducks

Visiting a Farm

Picking Wildflowers

Some of our favorite sensory bins are filled with dry beans and dry rice. I like to hide little toys throughout the bin for the kids to dig around in to find! If you’re in the mood to get really messy, try jello, play dough, dirt, sand, etc.

How to Create a Sensory Bin:

Grab a plastic box or bin

Fill it with dry beans or rice

Hide toys of different shapes, sizes and textures throughout so your toddler can feel around for them.

What springtime activities do you enjoy as a family? Have you tried the new sulfate-free all® Fresh Clean Essentials™ detergent?

This week, we have been so out of sorts. Sophie has had Hand, Foot and Mouth, so she hasn’t been sleeping and has basically been miserable. Hampton (finally) climbed out of his crib this week and fell pretty hard. It hurt him and scared him, so we decided it was time to take off the rail and flip his crib into a toddler bed. That seemed like a great idea and it was definitely time, but he has been waking up around 5 every morning and ready to play. I don’t do 5a.m. so well. I’m definitely more of a night owl, especially lately, so this has been a big adjustment.

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This year, it rained most of the day on Easter, so we scheduled our egg hunt for Saturday! It was so laid back and nice. We had a huge shrimp boil and ate outside after the kids finished hunting eggs and our hearts and bellies were very happy.

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

We’ve all been in sticky situations where we were out running errands and our baby has a blowout and we realize we have no extra outfit with us or worse – we are out of diapers. I’ve been there more than once. In fact, on our way home from Jacksonville a few weeks ago, Sophie had been crying and crying and I thought she was just fighting sleep because I had JUST changed her diaper. It couldn’t be that. Right? Wrong. She had a blowout and it was all over her outfit and her car seat. I had nothing with me to clean it up with so we had to make a stop at the next exit and stop at a gas station to clean it up the best we could. I felt so bad that I had ignored her screaming and played it off on something else.

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We had a fairly casual weekend this week which was so nice and great timing! Ryan is out of town this week, so it gave us a chance to really spend some quality time together as a family before he left. My in-laws kept the babies for us on Saturday while we went out to eat lunch which was a much needed break. We were so excited to get out for a minute on our own and be able to eat at a restaurant without the marathon of sippy cups, bottles, toys, snacks, etc.

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I remember when we first found out I was pregnant with Sophie. My heart immediately broke for Hampton. I looked at this little 9 month old and felt so guilty that he was only a baby and would soon be a big brother. It didn’t seem right. I felt like I was being robbed of time with my baby boy, in a weird way. He was barely a toddler when she was born and he had a very hard time with it. Over the months, that guilt faded as I began watching them play together and laugh at each other. Hampton can cheer Sophie up a lot quicker than I can most days. She adores him and he loves her so much. They are the best little buddies.

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Happy Monday, y’all! Oh, and happy leap day! Leap years are so cool to me but it definitely threw me off today. I definitely had March 1st written at the top of my to-do list. Whoops! Remember about a month ago when I announced that my cousin is pregnant with twins? I had the pleasure of driving to her hometown this weekend and celebrating these sweet little babies by throwing her a shower! A few of her friends and I got together to host a brunch for this beautiful mommy-to-be and let me tell you, she looked amazing! She is now officially less than 2 months from her goal birth date so we are getting so excited to meet these two little angels!

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Every Sunday morning seems to be extremely hectic. I’m not sure why, because we go out and about nearly every day and leave in the mornings for different errands, playdates and things. Why is it that Sundays are so crazy? Ryan and I are always rushing to get ourselves ready for church and our babies. We are normally not in the best of spirits and we (meaning me) often times forget so many things.

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I have been fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom (or, technically, a work at home mom) since having my son in October 2013. I have always worked part-time and full-time off and on, and because of that, I would be lying if I said I didn’t struggle with a lot of doubts. Am I doing the right thing sacrificing extra income to stay at home with them? I have struggled with a lot of self doubt and feelings of worthlessness because I have not contributed a lot financially. I’ve struggled with loneliness and a lot of stress that comes along with staying at home with two babies (18 months apart) and rarely getting a break. But now I can say I am 100% happy and confident in my decision to be a stay at home mom. How did I get there?

Photo: Allison Hilyer Photography

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We had such a fun weekend. We started off Valentine’s day weekend by going to Ryan’s uncle’s farm with the kiddos. They just had baby goats that were only 5 days old so, of course, we had to go love on them. They were adorable! After that we went out to my grandparent’s house to see my cousins who were in town and really enjoyed spending time with all of them. Sunday was a super chill and relaxed day. We were all so tired from a really busy day Saturday so we crashed and watched movies after church while the kids napped.

Headband and Bowtie c/o Mae and Jane

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