A do-over...again

Hello friends!
It has been a hot minute since I've posted anything...I know and to be honest I've missed writing. Life has gotten insane! So within the past 7 or so months...lets see what has been going on.
FIRST thing: we welcomed our newest addition to the Watkins family on July 11th, little Miss Amelia Mae. We found out that we were pregnant on (ironically) World Prematurity Awareness Day, which has a great significance to our family because of our sweet Kaden. Going into this pregnancy, I was slightly terrified at the thought of potentially having another baby so early and going through the NICU life again. But I have had a lot of practice regarding not worrying about things I can't control and do what I can to make sure I had a healthy pregnancy. I made a lot of things for her, re purposed old furniture, hunted for deals left and right, and purged like a mad woman. SO many things to share regarding what I did for her! Also threw in some other crafts, made some sales and started a side small business with a friend.  I'll share more on her story and everything else later. 

Kaden turned THREE and let me tell you, this kid can go from zero to 100 in .2 seconds flat...and back to himself within seconds. I've said it once and I'll say it again- this is my favorite stage I think because I get to see how his brain is working and constantly learning new things...even if that means asking a million of the same questions over and over. He's adjusting to being a big brother overall pretty well, he sure loves his sister and it melts my heart. The past (almost) three weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions for me and I'm trying to get a grip of them but sometimes a mama's gotta cry, am I right moms?

We found out that we're staying in Virginia for about another year, which makes me happy simply because that means we get to keep John home. I can't tell you the last time that we had a whole year together of him being home...probably because it hasn't ever happened. Not even this past year. We celebrated his home from deployment for a year but also realized he was sent away to different states and different countries for weeks at a time-but he still came home and it was only for a few weeks instead of 7 months-so we will take it. Speaking of celebrating, we also just celebrated 6 whole years of marriage. SIX. I can not believe it has been that long. We've been together for 8 years total and I was just looking at all of our pictures around the house (as I listened to Kaden running around the house and as I was nursing Amelia) and I realized how much we have been through in the past 6 years. Technically 4 deployments, 3 houses, 2 states and now 2 babies later- and I love this guy more and more each day.

I think that pretty sums up the past few months, I know it doesn't seem like much-but time flies when you're having fun :)
Stay tuned-
xox

Friday Faves..and a GIVEAWAY!

Happy FriYAY everyone! I thought I could jump on the 'Friday Favorite" bandwagon to share some things that I am loving with you all! I love reading other posts about what has been going on, what amazing things people have found and what everyone is sharing...after all-sharing is caring right?? So lets get to it...

1. Yoga. I did some yoga when I was pregnant and I've always loved Pilates. I've even loved PiYO, which is a mix of both! I've gone to the yoga studio down the road from us, Stafford House of Yoga a bit last fall and loved it. Unfortunately scheduling has not allowed me to go back to the classes I've liked. Good news though! They now offer childcare during your classes! That's one of the top reasons why we as moms can't make it to some of our workout classes right? Also, if you follow me on Instagram (@mrs_watkins723) you may have seen Kaden with his yoga mat...which is about the same size of him. We started our first 'Mom and Me' yoga class! We only had a couple other moms there since this was the first class and he was much more inquisitive about what was in the room and kept looking at me like 'what are you doing mom' but he did do some stretches and he smiled the whole class...I'd say that was a win for us. If you're interested in joining us, classes are on Thursday mornings at 10:00 am-oh and if you have a Military ID...you can get 10% off the class!

2. Consignment sales. If you know me, you know I LOVE a good deal. I don't even know if there's a stronger word above love...if there is-then apply it to this scenario. This weekend the traveling Weecycled Wardwrobe  is in town! Well, in Fredericksburg. So last night (they allowed Military members with their ID in for a pre-sale event) a friend and I packed up our toddlers and we made a trip. It wasn't as crazy as it was the last time I went to this one, but the line...my goodness the line. We were pushing dinner, bath and bedtime (to the max) so our little ones were having a blast exploring the toys. I went in looking for spring and summer gear for Kaden and walked out with some shorts, a whole arm full of Carters PJs, the cutest Elmo rainboots and a wonderful Melissa and Doug lock puzzle. This kid loves his locks-and this puzzle goes for about 20.00 on Amazon and Target.  I scored this baby for 6.00. OH and we found the most adorable little bookbag (or backpack...whichever) for our upcoming adventure of PRE-Preschool (as I like to call it..more on that later). Mom wins for sure.

3. Brickyard Buffalo. If you haven't checked them out, you need to. They feature little shops (like mine!) on their site for days at a time for other consumers (like all of you wonderful people) to purchase their items at a sale price! I was featured on their site earlier this month for my 'chosen family' bracelets and I have the pleasure of working with them again on two more designs! I thought that with Mother's Day around the corner each mom has their instincts of being "mama bear" right? (please say I'm not the only one..) SO what better way to affectionately display that than a bracelet? Also  sometimes we all need a little reminder (whether you are a mom or not) to "be brave".  This sale is going on RIGHT NOW and will end Sunday! So I would like to do a giveaway with you all...ready? Here's how you enter:

1. Go to the Facebook page: Watkins and Co. and make sure you LIKE the page.
2. Share this post (Friday Faves..and a Giveaway) with your friends from the Watkins and Co. Facebook page!
*Winner will be picked Monday morning!*

Keep your eyes peeled on Instagram (@mrs_watkins723) for a possible extra entry...

There you have it my friends! Our first Friday Favorites shared with you all! Now head on over to share away and get yourself (or someone special) a new bracelet!

Happy March!

Happy March everyone! February was a crazy month for us- Kaden turning two, our first snow storm,  battle with food poisoning..but onward to another month! I'm really excited for March, not only because the first day of SPRING is coming..I have some exciting news!

Have you ever checked out Brickyard Buffalo? It is an online pop up shop featuring different shops..and guess who gets to work with that wonderful site? Oh just little ol' me! I am incredibly excited about this opportunity and really hopeful that there is a great response. My 'chosen family' hand made cuff bracelets will be featured for 4 days starting on Monday! This bracelet means so much to me because of our lifestyle. We spend so much time away from our families, so we have to make our own 'framily'! We come across so many people with all of our moves but some people click more so than some others and we have lifetime friends, non-related sisters and non-biological aunts and uncles for our kids.
So do a girl a favor and go check it out, think about who you have in your life that is your own 'chosen family' and tell all your friends! :)

The Weecycled Wardworbe is coming up this month! I love going to this big sale to get all of Kaden's upcoming season things! You know this girl loves a deal. This month it is March 13-16, so don't forget to put it on your calendars! You'll see me there at the night before they open the doors to the public, let me know if you want to come along! :)

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for warmer weather. Yes I realize we are in Virginia and it is winter, but having a toddler- I long for warm weather so we can go outside and burn off that energy. Until then, we will be frequenting Kids in Motion which is an indoor inflatable bounce house filled with so many amazing things for little kids! We'll also be checking out a couple other places, we really want to get Kaden into soccer. I mean is there anything more adorable than a bunch of little kids learning how to play soccer? I think not.

Also, I'm going to do my best at something I 'created' called 'Money Saving March'. You may think I'm crazy- which is totally okay because I could be-but I literally do not need anything that could be considered 'fluff'. SO I'm going to be challenging myself to not buying anything that we absolutely do not need (besides heading to the consignment sale). That means no thrifting, no random Target runs..so I will be filling my time with getting rid of things! I don't know if its because of Spring coming up-but I want to try to get a jump on the Spring cleaning train! Wish me luck :)

So on that note...I'm going to go work on my mountain of laundry. Be sure to help this girl out and share the news of Brickyard Buffalo with your friends! Sale starts tomorrow bright and early!
xo

We have a toddler...

Alright friends. Here we go, I'm going to get my butt going with sharing whats going on! Now that we've had a week for the dust to settle-Kaden had his 2nd birthday party last weekend! I seriously can not believe how time has just flew by already! (You can read about his story here) We didn't have a big party for him last year since we just moved to our new home shortly before his birthday. So I was walking into unchartered territory with a toddler party. How much is TOO much? What do you cook? Do you have a list of activities for a bunch of 2 year olds? Most importantly: do you have mimosas for the moms?! (Spoiler alert: next time we have a toddler party...the answer is YES)
One of his favorite books ever is Little Blue Truck so I perused around looking at ideas for a toddler's party. I came across Kates blog, Nearly Crafty and she had such amazing ideas! Kate created the great invitations that I used for his party and even helped find the same font as what is in the story! And for a perfectionist, that is great news. The thought of having a house full of toddlers slightly terrified me, so one of my good friends suggested that we host the party at the clubhouse on base! Sounds like a fantastic idea to me, she reserved the room for me, the date was set and planning was under way. I used Kate's template for the invites, typed the information and took them to Staples to have them printed! Easy squeasy! Now if you're like me and want things to be 'cohesive' the font used in the book is called P.T. Barnum.

I also followed Kate's idea with some of the activities. I ordered little blue truck foam ornaments from Oriental Trading for the littles to make and to double as their own personalized favors! 

I later realized that we did NOT need glue, these bad boys are sticky after you peel the paper off the back! Pleasant surprise! We also had a bunch of blue truck printables for kids to color. 

I'm so sad I didn't get a whole picture of our foods! I tried to keep it simple (mainly because I was cooking it all) and thought about what kids would like to eat. We had mini corn-dogs, home made pasta salad (included veggies), homemade roasted red peppers hummus with crackers, rice crispy treats (which I have YET to make a perfect batch of...but I digress) lemonade, juices and most importantly...CUPCAKES. I made a classic white with a vanilla buttercream frosting.  I also made party popcorn for extra favors for everyone (because I'm crazy like that-this was a last minute decision) I'll share that recipe with you all another time!

I used the same font for his banner with my super amazing Silhouette machine. I also used the font and the machine with the print and cut feature to make thank you tags for the popcorn bags. 

Kids came to play, eat and run around. I think we had an overall good birthday party! We approached nap time...aka melt down time right before everyone left which we all thought would be coming our way. We truly have amazing friends that came to celebrate and help when we needed it. I may or may not have gotten a little teary eyed when we all sang to Kaden. I just can't believe that he is TWO! I can't believe he was once a little 3 pound baby living in an incubator and fighting for his life, I really do believe that you can't even tell. He has grown into such an amazing little person and his personality just surprises me every day. He is such a sweet, loving and compassionate little boy. I know all babies are sweet and loving, but I'm not sure when we will hit the 'rough and tough' stage but this little guy loves his mama and I'm not afraid to share that with the world- I'll take it as long as I can. 

Holiday Crafting

Happy December everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and if you participated in Black Friday, I hope you got some amazing deals! I stayed in my PJ's and scored some deals online-my favorite way to shop :)
Everyone seems to either have their decorations up, or are in the process of decorating. Last winter we were moving across country, so we didn't have a chance to decorate so we are working on ours now! I'm excited to be able to with Kaden getting older so he can see everything and enjoy all the wonderful lights.
You may have seen this on Instagram or Facebook, but one of my newest crafts was our holiday chalkboard with a pompom garland-I love it.

 

A few weeks ago I made (with some help of course ha) a giant chalkboard. I found the tutorial on a fellow blogger's site over at We Lived Happily Ever After. She has amazing tutorials, graphics, printables and so many wonderful ideas! She's also a fellow Marine wife so decorating our homes can be kind of difficult because we move every few years. Go take a look at what she has going on! Anywho, a few of you have wanted to know how to make it-so I would love to share this with you! Click HERE for Hannah's chalkboard.  

For this project, you can get everything at Lowe's or Home Depot in one swoop. 
You'll need:

Two 1x4" boards cut at 27" 

Two 1x4" boards cut at 45" 

The plywood backboard is 4x2'

- See more at: http://www.welivedhappilyeverafter.com/search?q=chalkboard#sthash.RrDBJHkO.dpufer

Two 1x4" boards cut at 27" 

Two 1x4" boards cut at 45" 

One plywood backboard at 4x2' (make sure it is SMOOTH)

Metal braces

Chalkboard Paint (you can make your own, but I already have a ready made can)

Wood screws

any paint or stain for your boarder

1. Paint your big plywood backboard with your chalkboard paint. I put about 4 coats on it to make sure it is super coated since the wood absorbed most of the first coat. Paint your boarder boards as well. I did this one afternoon to let all of them fully dry overnight before I put everything together. 

2. Take your metal braces with your wood screws and connect the boarders with them. Make sure you put the braces towards the top of the boards-you will be attaching the main board to the same boarder! (I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of this while we were putting them together!) The two smaller pieces will be top and bottom and the longers on the sides (which seems pretty simple, but just to make sure we're all on the same page) 

3. After the boarder is put together, place your backboard on the boarder- and you guessed it-take your wood screws and attach the board. 

4. Flip it over and 'condition' your board with chalk. Rub rub and rub some more chalk on it and lightly erase it.

5. Take a step back and admire your new chalkboard! 

I apologize for the not so great lighting...eek.

 Well there you have it my friends! Easy peasy cost effective chalkboard, just my style. I also made the pom-pom garland that went on top of the board-which I will be happily sharing with you all- so stay tuned! 

xox

Two 1x4" boards cut at 27" 

Two 1x4" boards cut at 45" 

The plywood backboard is 4x2'

- See more at: http://www.welivedhappilyeverafter.com/search?q=chalkboard#sthash.RrDBJHkO.dpuf

Two 1x4" boards cut at 27" 

Two 1x4" boards cut at 45" 

The plywood backboard is 4x2'

- See more at: http://www.welivedhappilyeverafter.com/search?q=chalkboard#sthash.RrDBJHkO.dpuf

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! 

Roseola + Essentail Oils = GIVEAWAY

When your baby gets a fever or gets sick, I think it is one of the worst feelings in the world-especially because they can't tell you what is wrong. Over the course of 18 months, Kaden has yet to get a high grade fever...until last weekend. After he woke up from a 3 1/2 hour nap on Saturday, he felt like he was on fire. Normally he is a little warm waking up because he still is a belly sleeper and his room can get warm with the afternoon sun. But on the safe side I took his temperature and it was 100.4 (pretty high for him) and he was really snugly (not his usual behavior) so we were able to have him swallow some Tylenol.

Side note: Kaden hates Tylenol. Refuses to swallow it. So I don't really give him any for teething or shots or any of that unless he really does need it-like for a high fever. However, I do have peppermint essential oil to help with fevers if I need to.

I coughed the fever up to molar teething and didn't think too much of it as long as he was eating and drinking...until 3:30 am on Sunday. He woke up crying which made both of us jump out of bed because he never wakes up unless something is wrong. Turns out he wanted a hug and some snuggles which I was happy to give.  Sunday morning, he wakes up with a rash. When we were in California, he had a slightly similar looking rash but it was due to the dryness of the desert. We thought it this was heat rash since he's been so warm sleeping even with no blanket and cotton pj's.

Sunday's rash

Throughout Sunday, we kept taking his temperature and it had gone up to around 101.4 and hovered around 100-101 throughout the day. But the no-medicine-ninja was on full force and spit out every attempt we gave. I tried disguising it in juice, a smoothie, a slushie, yogurt, no go to all of them and I wasn't about to wrestle him on something that he obviously didn't want nor did he absolutely need.  Now you can call me crazy but I know babies are strong and their bodies are working hard on fighting bugs off naturally so I try to let his body do it on his own. I know that if his fever spiked to 102 or higher we needed to take him in, so we watched him and checked every few hours. He seemed to be acting fairly normal, a little more tired than usual though.We kept making sure he was drinking fluids since his appetite has gone down (again I thought teething) and gave lots of snuggles and hugs when he wanted them.

I talked with a friend later that day and she mentioned that her daughter had the same thing happen to her when we all were in California and it turns out her daughter had Roseola. My first thought was.."Roseol-a-what-a?!" She said it was a viral thing, so we couldn't really give him anything and it had to run its course. So I hopped online to read up on this and the articles basically said: a fever can occur for about 2-3 days followed by a rash and since it is viral illnesses, it just needs to run its course. Kaden needed to drink a lot of fluids and rest basically.

 When the word 'viral' was thrown out, I thought about my good ol' essential oils.  I pulled out my On Guard oil (immune booster) and put a few drops on the soles of his feet and gave them a good rub. Since his fever was hovering, I pulled out my peppermint oil to help with his fever. A couple drops of that as well went on the soles of his feet with a good rub.

Monday's rash

We took his temperature before bed and his fever had gone down-happy day! Monday morning I repeated this after he woke up, before nap and before bed and the same thing Tuesday. And by Tuesday evening his rash was gone and he was back to himself.

Tuesday's lack of rash (a little pink from the bath)

I can't help but think that my all natural essential oils helped both his fever as well as his rash.  Peppermint oils has been used as a solution to fevers as well as a myriad of other health concerns. On Guard is a blend of wild orange essential oil, combined with clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary offer a fragrant, natural and effective alternative to synthetic options for immune support. We have used On Guard to battle colds for all of us as well as prevent any other bugs coming our way. 

John calls my oils 'hippy dippy' oils, which makes me laugh but he quickly follows up with "but they do work!" SO I want to share one of my favorite oil blends with you! I'm giving away a free 15 ml bottle of dōTERRA's Protective Blend: On Guard. It is a must in your medicine cabinet for everyone of all ages, especially with kids heading back to school and germs flying around! Use it topically on the soles of feet, put a few drops of it in your morning coffee or a few drops in a diffuser to inhale! This helps battle germs while fighting bugs (including viral) in an all natural way! All you need to do is enter using the Rafflecopter giveaway below :) If you have any questions about dōTERRA or essential oils, send me an email-I'll be happy to help! 
*when you share the blog on Facebook, please make sure you tag either the page or the link to this post so I can see it! Thanks! :)* 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Post Holiday

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend! I know we did. We were lucky enough to have John home for an extra day and a half (wahoo!) so we had some amazing family time. We unfortunately were not able to see fireworks because Kaden is in bed by 7:30 at the latest and trying to keep him awake would have been the hot mess express coming through. We did enjoy the amazing weather and spent a lot of time outside. Otterpops and all. 

I was able to relax a bit on the deck and get some reading in. I actually may or may not have started and finished 2 books in one day...which is kind of crazy. I cough it up to a good napper and a good book! 

My wonderful husband got me a Kindle Fire for my birthday a year ago and I absolutely love it. I came across the website www.bookbub.com which is FREE to sign up for and you get daily emails on deals on different books. Some of the authors I know, most I don't but they have books you can download to your EReader for as low as 0.00. Thats right, free books friends. Others are discounted around .99 or 1.99. 

Kindle version

I got this book for free and thought it would be a good read based off of the reviews on Amazon. I thought for free, no problem. I quickly finished it and realized it was part of a series of 5 so naturally I had to get the others. Amazon has the first 3 books for .99. Thats right-less than a dollar. Started the second book and quickly finished that one too.                  

                                       

They're girly books, yes. But it is a nice thing to read every so often and have a good laugh. I'm working on the third book currently. Laundry took over my life this weekend (story of being a mom, right?) I recently discovered a new all natural dryer sheet solution and I'm really excited to give it a try and share with you! Here's a hint: 

And if you've liked the Facebook Page you may have seen that I've started a new workout challenge! It is a mix between Pilates and Yoga, called PiYo and I can't wait to share it with you guys! Stay tuned-

xox