Cervical Cancer Awareness

Alright friends-this post is more of a personal one from my family to you all. I am helping my wonderful sister in law with this new project and we need some help. Let me fill you in:
3 months ago, my sister in law, Brittany, received some devastating news that she has been diagnosed with cervical cancer. I can't tell you how she felt, but I can tell you that the news hit us like a ton of bricks. She is only 27 years old and is one of the healthiest, and bravest people that I know. She took a huge leap of faith and dug deep for some courage and  wrote a little story to share with everyone, so I'm going to share it with you instead of me telling you the details.

"Those of you who know me well know I am a fairly private person. So, it takes a good bit of my courage to share with you what my family and I have been going through the last few months.

About 3 months ago, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is a very survivable disease and I was diagnosed at an early stage. However, I was told at my first oncology appointment that the current “gold standard” treatment for my condition is a radical hysterectomy. Maybe this isn’t so daunting for the majority of cervical cancer patients as most women are diagnosed in their late 30’s and early 40’s and have already had children. However, at 27 years old, I was devastated. I expressed my desire to have children to my oncologist who told me about an option at MD Anderson in Houston, Tx that could potentially preserve fertility. I recently found out I was a candidate for a brand new research study that would still afford me the chance of becoming pregnant.

Without research like that being performed at MD Anderson, I would most likely have undergone a radical hysterectomy and been unable to bear children at 27 years old. I share my story with you to raise awareness of the importance of research in cancer treatment. As a way to give back, my family and I are selling handmade ear warmers/headbands to raise funds for cancer research. The headbands will be of teal color to represent the cervical cancer ribbon. All proceeds will be donated to the Foundation for Women’s Cancer.

My family and I are incredibly grateful and blessed to have been provided this opportunity. Please help us in spreading the word in hopes of raising funds so we can pay it forward."

Without research, doctors would be jumping to solve these issues with such drastic measures. Please help us with our goal to spread the word of how important other options are for cases like Brittany's. We are truly grateful that she has amazing doctors to take care of her and that research like this has allowed her to keep her ability to have her own children someday. 

Our teal handmade, knit and crochet headbands are avaliable for purchase at my Etsy shop. You can also contact me directly if you would like. We can make them for both adults and little ones- 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Foundation for Women's Cancer. We hope to raise at least 1,000.00- so please help us reach our goal and spread the word! 

Although you may not know her, thank you for supporting my amazing sister in law in this journey, our family is incredibly grateful.
xo

 Etsy Shop

New Changes!

Hi everyone! I have some exciting news to share with you all! If you're friends with me on Facebook (on my personal page or the blog page) you may have seen that I have started to create amazing sparkly jewelry!

I am happy to announce that I have officially created an Etsy shop and I'll be adding more wonderful gifts as they are being made!  I love supporting small business, especially ones owned by moms creating things based off of what they love to do.

With this shop opening, things have changed around the blogging world. I thought it was important to create a united tie with both pages I have and so came the new name, Watkins and Co. The logo is close to my heart because of the elephants, especially the little one holding on. Kaden's baby shower theme had elephants and I carried that into his room, so they have a special little place in my heart-because of my baby.

 

Anywho, I'm taking a jump into the world of Etsy and I am very excited for this new adventure! I hope you'll come along with me on this one.  Currently the shop is little, but I have plans on expanding to different items and adding more wonderful beads in new colors as they come in! These rings are perfect for anyone who loves a little sparkle-including yourself! Keep your eyes peeled for new items and take a look at these amazing hand made rings and think about your holiday shopping list and lets get some presents ordered!

Etsy Shop

(click to be redirected to the shop)

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Bake

Every other Friday, Kaden and I head over to our local MOPS group that we joined this past late summer. If you're a mom with little ones, I highly recommend checking your local chapter out. There has been a lot of negative social media about 'mom' life and there has been a lot of moms tearing each other down. This group comes together to build each other up and provide words of encouragement to each other. Our table had to bring our breakfast/brunch items for this week's meeting and what I made turned out to be a hit (yay!) and I want to share it with all of you! I made this delicious Cinnamon Roll French Toast Bake. It's as good as it sounds, I promise. The last time I made this, I was fighting off contractions right before Kaden was born, which makes me chuckle now. Well shall we get started? 

To make this, you'll need:
9x13 pan (I used a foil pan since I was worried I would possibly drop this while chasing/carrying a toddler and didn't want to shatter my glass pan-but either works!)
1/4 cup margarine, melted (I used butter)
2 cans of cinnamon rolls with icing
4 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (I used milk instead)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Gather all of your ingredients and preheat the oven to 350.
2. Melt your butter and pour it in the pan.
3. Open and chop up the cinnamon rolls. The recipe I used said to cut them into 4 pieces, but I made them smaller.
4. Once both cans are chopped up and spread out evenly in the pan, combine the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla together in a bowl and pour them over the chopped rolls.

5. Pop the tray into the oven for 25-30 minutes.
6. Once they're done (resist the urge to take a bite) melt the icing that came with the rolls a little bit so it is easier to pour- and pour that sugary delicious treat over the rolls. 

 And there you go! It smells amazing, tastes amazing, looks amazing and is perfect with a hot cup of coffee. This doesn't take much to get together and would be perfect for the upcoming holiday with family! Happy weekend friends!

Kids bounce back...like rubber bands.

Now that it has been some time and I'm over the traumatizing injuries we have encountered, I wanted to share some thoughts with you all. I have always been told that babies (kids, rather) are incredibly resilient. I've had encounters to prove that saying to be true, but never really thought too much about it until recently.
During Kaden's 18 month wellness check, his pediatrician was concerned about his lack of weight gain. He didn't gain any weight from 15 months to 18 months and he didn't measure on any of the percentiles. So she wanted us to adjust his diet to cut out all processed foods, all sugars (unless natural) and he can only have whole wheat. Side note: we eat pretty healthy as it is now. Yes he would have juice occasionally, organic granola bars, kids yogurt, the occasional treat. So this didn't seem like a huge change for us. We were told to come back after 6 weeks to see if he gained any weight and if not we were going to have to get blood work done to possibly rule out any thyroid issues and or celiac disease issues.

So we went back, and he's still a little guy. He also started walking in between his two wellness visits, so he has been burning calories left and right, but he has a good appetite. She still wanted to do blood work and I agreed to make sure we don't have to worry about anything. Well, it took 5 people, 3 and different attempts to try to draw enough blood for 4 vials. Have you tried to wrangle a 1 1/2 year old to have a needle shoved in his hand? I don't recommend it. We had to try his hand because his veins are so small they couldn't find any in his arms and his hand had the only 'big enough' one. I say this with all seriousness- I was more traumatized than he was. I literally had tears in my eyes throughout this process and I finally said enough and hugged the bajeezes out of him. By the time we got home a few hours later (after a play date in between) he seemed to have forgotten all about that morning- but I didn't.

Fast forward to two days later. I brought Kaden with me to my kickball game since we have all moms on our team and we help each other with our kids while we all play. There was an accident where Kaden was leaning on the fence and fell forward and ended up biting down on his bottom lip, hard. Our first busted lip. After we sat and waited for it to stop bleeding (and praying it does so we didn't have to get a stitch) he got up and walked around, saw a slide, pointed at it and said "weeeeeee" (aka slide) so who was I to tell him no after that incident? He took a little longer for this boo boo to be forgotten, only because certain foods would burn when he ate them-which I totally understand. I've busted my lip quite a few times.

Earlier this week, our new friends Rachel and her son (from Stickers for Mommy) invited us over for dinner and for us to take a look at her consignment sale preparations. Kaden and Callum played, ran around and laughed together. Kaden ends up falling (my kid is still learning the world of balance) onto his lip (again) and we have a small busted lip. Tears and blood came, hugs were given, few minutes passed and all was right in the world.

This kid is entering a whole new world of injuries. As he should be. He is climbing on everything, and it will only be a matter of time until he starts jumping off things. I just can't believe how much this kid has been through already from being poked and prodded every day in the hospital, his shots, falling, swallowing a penny and who knows what else will be coming our way. But he wakes up the next morning with a smile on his face every day and is ready to take on the day, every day. I truly believe that kids are so resilient, I see this every day and I think that these little people are sometimes stronger than us as adults.

TOMS....TOMS for sale...

Have you ever read the book "Caps for Sale"? Anyone..? Well in my head as I typed the title...all I could think of was the book. We read this book a lot apparently.
Anywho- I have something to share with you all, since the end date is quickly approaching...like by tomorrow. I am sorry to share this on such late notice, but perhaps you already know of it! I just found out. We all know the wonderful world of Toms shoes right? The "one for one" campaign? Well, I am a fan of these shoes because they're cute, comfortable AND they provide shoes to someone in need! Win win all around. What the bargain shopper in me doesn't like is the total price when I pick out a few shoes I want. A friend of mine (hi Kelli!) went to a warehouse sale a few summers ago that Toms has on the West Coast  in a few cities- she went to the Arizona one- and told me about the AMAZING deals she got on her Toms! (like paying 15.00 for a pair...but I digress.) I was instantly jealous and literally checked daily for the dates for this years sale and had my mom on board to go for me! 
Well....days passed by with no date. We're now in the fall and the sale is a summer thing. So I commented on one of their IG pictures about the sale and whaddya know, they commented back! They told me that they're having a 'warehouse of sorts sale' on http://www.tomssurprisesale.com/ but only for a limited time! I checked out out (of course) and some of the items are up to 45% off, free shipping over 25.00 AND there's a coupon code (we all know I love my coupons) for an extra 5% off with SURPRISEGIFT!

They don't have ALL the fantastic shoes on there, but there are a good amount! If you're a college ball fan, they do have quite a selection of shoes to support your school! Unfortunately, they don't have any Arizona State shoes probably because we're amazing and sold out. But if you're a fan of the University of Arizona...well I'm sorry (just kidding) but they do have a shoe for you!






 OR if you can wear kids shoes...you can check out what they have to grab an even better deal! It's totally acceptable for an adult to wear red glitter shoes right?
I hope you find something you like, happy shopping friends!

Oh, by the way- you can sign up to be on the list to be notified of any warehouse sales! Go to http://www.tomswarehousesale.com/ and check it out!

DIY Non Slip Socks

I just wanted to share a little something I crafted last week with you all! Since the weather is cooling down (at least here) we are going to be wearing more socks and slippers. Since our main floor is either wood or ceramic tile, my feet freeze unless I'm wearing something. I can only imagine how cold Kaden's feet will get now that he is zooming around the house! We've been on the hunt for slippers, but he has pretty small feet. He's been wearing socks, but with that comes quite a lot of slips...so enter non-slip socks! This project is SUPER easy-let me tell you. Here's your list of what you need, ready? 

Socks.
Puffy Paint.

Yup. All you need to really do is flatten the bottom of socks and make all sorts of designs on the bottoms! Make sure you actually put a good amount of paint on them-hence the name puffy paint.
Once they dry you can wash them and dry them, and the paint will help your crazy monkey from falling. (Assuming you have one like mine)

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures for this post! If you have any questions, I'll be happy to help-but if not- happy crafting, friends! 

Hello Fall!

With the arrival of fall comes the love of everything pumpkin...right? I love fall. I grew up in Indiana where we had bonfires, football games, sweaters, hoodies and s'mores. I missed out on this glorious season for the past 7 years from living in the desert. I'm so excited to be able to do all the fall things with Kaden now that he's older! The other week we took a trip to a local farm, Clark's Farm. I've been wanting to go to all of the farms and apple orchards around the area but we can only do so much with what time we have, so I figured lets start small. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

 

This place was great!! It wasn't overwhelming which I was worried about. It had a bunch of activities to keep kids busy, especially little busy bodies. 

 

 A pallet maze

A few animals to pet

A small snack shop

  

  

A classic "mom, no more pictures" face

But he let me get one more.

If you're around the Stafford (or surrounding areas) go check them out! With the price of admission for an adult you get to take home a pumpkin! They have a station for pumpkin painting, face painting, riding a pony and even a little shop for hand made items. They also are open around the winter for Christmas trees...which we will have to visit when the time comes! Happy Fall, friends!