Amelia's Story ( Part 1 )

HI friends!
So it has been a little over 4 weeks since we welcomed Amelia into our family, tomorrow she will be officially one whole month already. How has it been a month?! I shared Kaden's whirlwind of a birth with you all (you can check it out here here)- so I'd like to share Amelia's as well. Leave it to my kids to not do anything simple! The whole story from beginning to end is pretty long, so I'm going to break it up for you all.

So we found out we were pregnant on November 17-immediately I started to get nervous and slightly terrified at the thought of potentially having another pre-term baby. Let me tell you, NICU life is not fun. When I first met my OB, we found out her official due date would be July 25 and I would start weekly progesterone shots in a few weeks. Normally I don't necessarily care about needles- they don't bother me but I don't necessarily love them-who does anyways? Luckily there was no morning sickness with this little girl but I had some serious food aversions. Meat? No thanks. Cooking certain things....nope. I didn't really have much of an appetite either. Overall it wasn't too bad. Enter week 16, where we went to have a gender ultrasound. I convinced myself that we would have another boy. For the record, I would have been totally okay with two boys- but a part of me had my fingers crossed for a girl. When the tech told us the news, I cried. Not going to lie. We went to our OB appointment a few days later and my wonderful husband came with me to learn how to properly give me my weekly shots. Let me tell you, those bad boys and I are not friends. To all the moms out there who have had to do multiple rounds of them? Amazing. Especially the moms who went through IVF? Heroes. But I would do what I had to do in order to make sure this little girl cooked as long as I could. Weeks went on and I itched for days, I had hives, my butt hurt so bad I couldn't sit down without it hurting for days and I bruised like a damn banana. But as weeks went on and I went in every 1-2 weeks for a check up and heard her little heartbeat, it was worth it every week.
I stopped my shots at 35 weeks and anyone else I knew who had the same shots told me that they went into labor maybe 1-2 weeks after they stopped so I was expecting the same. Our OB even told me to not be surprised if she came soon after and assured me that she would be just fine because we made it so far. I had double back up plans for Kaden, bags were packed for all of us. And we waited. 

Friends, nesting is REAL. I didn't do so much with Kaden, but hot damn I was a mad woman with this little girl. I even started a bow company with a good friend (check us out on Facebook!) Mollye and I went to our first craft show. I re-purposed her dresser, I sewed blankets, I purged all of our house...multiple times. I cleaned, I cooked, I meal prepped all up until the day before she was born. I did probably a hundred loads of laundry for all of us. I had all of our appointments done/scheduled so I wouldn't have to rush around last minute. I remember I sat down on Sunday night after one last vacuum of the whole house and finally had a sigh of relief, and thought to myself- "alright, she can come now. I'm ready" and whaddya know she was here the next day...

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. 

Crazytown- Population: 2

Hi friends! It has been quite a whirlwind around these parts. We are working on getting our Christmas decorations up, getting presents ready, the house ready all while we continue our daily activities. We started our new family tradition of getting our tree! Growing up, we had both fake and real trees-but we mostly had fake ones with my mom. They were easier for us I think so they just stuck. John grew up with real trees, so we decided to carry on that idea with our own family. This year we were able to go and cut down a tree instead of picking it up from Home Depot. Don't get me wrong-those trees were fine-but this was new. We got to hunt for the perfect tree, pick it out and even support local-all wins in my book! We went to Sneads Farm in Fredericksburg and it was wonderful!

They actually were hosting a USO event that we didn't know about but got to check it out. They were providing military families with a free tree, stand, decorations, wrapping paper, lunch all sorts of wonderful things all for free! You enter into a drawing and you get your voucher emailed to you if you were picked-but we were able to still participate. It was amazing! Not to mention the farm had fresh kettle corn...and if you know me-I love my popcorn.  Kaden had a blast, we have a perfect tree and all we need is for Santa to come down our chimney!

One of the great things about the Marine Corps is the friendships that we get to make. Granted we only get to stay (geographically) close for a few years at a time but with all the jobs stationed around the world (literally) you're bound to come across one another again-but if you're lucky enough to become friends with a few of these amazing people-then you get to plan a get together! One of my good friends from Twentynine Palms was here visiting family while her husband was training and we were so lucky that we got to have her and her wonderful daughter over! Kaden and Aleyna are 4 days apart and Laura and I were working together and pregnant together at the same time. It was amazing to see her and her little one. We joke that we already have our kids' marriage arranged so we'll see each other all the time. Kaden and Aleyna truly had the best time together- these pictures are about a year apart (exactly) look how big they are now!

I had some of our kickball ladies over with their little ones to decorate salt dough ornaments last week. We had lots of baked goods, coffee, kids running around playing and adult conversation-all amazing things in my book! We also had a holiday get together and bunco night the other night with the same ladies-a much needed 'mom's night out'! I'm so glad I joined this team of ladies-we all have different stories but we all have things in common and having our lifestyle- we usually have family far away so we get to 'make' our own family and that is an amazing feeling.

We have a crazy week ahead of us with Christmas fast approaching. Kaden has his LAST developmental NICU follow up!! (insert happy dance here) I can honestly say I'm not as worried about this appointment as I was the last rounds-this kid is a parrot and repeats (or tries to) every word out of your mouth. He is learning new things every day and he's growing and getting through every stage of toddler-hood we can have-all while I'm pulling my hair. But I wouldn't change it for anything-he's doing what he needs to do and I am truly grateful for it.
My mom is coming to visit! I haven't seen her since last Christmas! This is the longest gap that we've gone not seeing each other, which is weird-but I know she's excited to come and see Kaden (and me too maybe...) She's coming from the warm weather of Arizona-and we're expecting snow soon-she's in for a surprise.
So between a big appointment, my mom coming and a few play dates scattered throughout the week. We have our hands full. One thing I do want to share with you is I just received this amazing new cookbook from the Birchbox Book Club that I am a part of- Homemade Decadence by Joy the Baker. Let me tell you-it looks amazing. I can't wait to share the recipes with you! I hope to share them on a regular basis with you all because I want to make everything. SO if you're local, get in touch with me because I need to share all of these baked goods with you.

I'm going to make it my mission to be better with my posts with you all-probably starting with a delicious baked good. Until then, I'm going to go enjoy watching "The Holiday" on Lifetime and mentally prepare myself for the crazy week we have ahead of us! 

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

World Prematurity Awareness Day

My goodness, you guys- I haven't posted in almost a MONTH. I have been busy making and sending our crochet headbands to help raise awareness for cervical cancer. We are about half way to our goal, so thank you so much for all of your support-please keep the orders coming! 

I want to share another awareness with you all- today is World Prematurity Awareness Day. This day floods my mind and heart with memories and emotions. Each year, nearly 500,000 babies are premature, or preemies. That's 1 of every 8 infants born in the United States. These little miracles come for all sorts of reasons, medical or not. You can read about Kaden's story HERE.

I still remember basically living in the NICU for 6 weeks, doing everything in my power to help him get stronger every day, and waiting 4 days to hold him for only 15 minutes-because he was so fragile. 

I remember bringing him home and waking up every hour to make sure he really is breathing, because that is what kept us from coming home-he would forget to breathe, which would drastically drop his heart rate. I remember having to take him weekly for weight checks because he was born weighing in at 3 lbs 2 oz. and I would worry and stress about if I can produce enough milk since I exclusively pumped for him-because he wasn't strong enough to nurse naturally.  I remember driving over an hour one way bi-weekly to get his eyes checked because he had ROP  (Retinopathy of Prematurity), to a cardiologist to check his heart murmur, and weeks of physical therapy.  But I also remember emailing my husband videos and pictures daily of this little guy and telling him all of the amazing things he has been doing and how he has been growing. 

OH and his first birthday, when he first sat up, smiled at me, laughed, trying new foods, his first word (for the record- it was 'mama'), when he started walking and the smile that will melt the coldest of hearts. We have so many memories that both terrified us and made us laugh so hard we had tears running down our faces-all because he is a healthy, happy growing baby (or should I choke out the word 'toddler'?) 

Once upon a time, doctors told us that he may not be developmentally on track with kids 'his age' because of being born so early. But I beg to differ. We've been meeting with doctors and specialists and they sometimes have a hard time believing he is a preemie. This little guy is growing and thriving SO much every day, it blows my mind. He's been hitting milestones left and right and 'passed' his NICU follow ups with flying colors. 

SO today, I am wearing purple to represent World Prematurity Awareness Day for all of these little miracles everywhere. 

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.

Prepping for the Holidays

You guys, we have less than 100 days until Christmas is here.

Less than 100.

I'll let that sink in for a minute.

I really don't want to be rushing around this year trying to get gifts for everyone especially because I am a classic procrastinator. I also have found it to be increasingly difficult to get gifts that family members actually would use-something that they would enjoy having instead of a generic gift. Now that our family includes our crazy Kaden, I think a safe gift for the grandparents would be pictures or something personalized along that line.  But you can only have enough room on your shelves and walls for pictures before they're completely taking over your house right? But you can always use more magnets.

I was recently contacted by PicStick, a company that creates magnets out of your pictures to create personalized magnets.  It is super easy, all you need to do is upload 9 pictures from your computer, tablet, phone, Facebook account or even from Dropbox, make sure they look fantastic and click order! It took less than a week for them to be made and sent to us. The only issue I found was if you zoom in on your pictures when you add them, it does make them grainy. Other than that, I think these are fantastic. They're easy to slip into the envelope with your holiday cards for a just because gift, or you could make a whole sheet as a gift for someone. These are 14.99 for a sheet that includes 9 magnets but I have good news!

The people over at PicStick were generous enough to create a promotional code for me to share with you all- when you are done adding all of your pictures, be sure to enter OPS25 to receive 25 % off your order! 

So head on over to PicStick.com and get a little jump on your holiday gift giving! Enjoy friends-

xo