Holiday Cards

Ah the cards. Every year I dread these but I know they have to be done. 

There are so many people we have to send  cards to it’s almost ridiculous. 

Simply to Impress has given me good deals, they are super easy to make online and come in the mail rather quickly- like within 3 days and free shopping. 

Overall cards are expensive, especially when you need a lot of them! And then the stamp cost. Agh! A whole other expense for the holidays. 

Clearly my Facebook pictures are not good enough that I have to make cards and mail them! And there is no way with a child that I could get away with not sending a card. Everyone is expecting you to send one because you have a child. 

Is that a requirement you check off in the hospital. 

✔️will send holiday cards until child is 18. 
Well, 16 more years to go. 

Why don’t I have address stickers again?! 

Weekend Nights – Pre Baby vs Post Baby

 

I am not sure when it happened,but it happened. The weekends are not the same anymore. There was a completely different meaning to Friday, Saturday and Sunday before having a child.

And if anyone disagrees with me, well then they must not have kids!!!

Pre- Baby/Marriage

I remember getting off work on a Friday and thinking about a) where am i bartending? b) where am i drinking? c) who am i drinking with? d) what bar are we going to? e) what am i drinking? f) who is going to drive me?

I mean, every answer to what am I doing that night involved drinking. Whether it was what bar was I working at and who am I drinking with, or where am I going to drink.

And then the same thing for Saturday. Sunday was for sleeping.

Sometimes I didn’t even go home. Or I would go home when the sun came up and then sleep until the afternoon and do it again.

What a crazy life. How did I survive? How did I continue to go to work at the bar and then do it again every night!?

Sleeping was like a mythical creature never to be seen.

Post Baby/ Marriage

Friday night – what’s that? I haven’t seen it in forever. Not from working at a bar, but because as soon as my daughter goes to sleep, I am asleep. 9:30pm is my bed time.

Saturday morning 8am, is when she wakes up. If we are super lucky, 8:30. Then is time to go to the gym. This way she gets to play in the daycare there. Then is cleaning and food shopping or any specific event that we have to go to.

Sometimes Saturday night is date night. Rarely  can we get a babysitter, and honestly, date night plus babysitter money, is a lot and not always worth it just to go out to dinner, unless you have a plan of things to do.

I mean it is complete night and day.

I don’t miss the pre-baby weekends. I don’t. I love my gym time and I love not being hung over and feeling like crap and I love family time. But it is just an eye opener of how seriously different peoples lives with and without babies really are. I wish I had some friends that I could go out with on the weekends sometimes, but maybe it’ll happen one day. I am happy to have friends during the week right now!

Do you remember your weekends before kids?!

Ahhhhh memories.

#parenting

Kizingo: Toddler Spoons

I recently have been finding all of these seriously amazing products that I never knew about or even thought about when I first had Hailey and now I am wishing that someone had told me about these things!
Kizingo has made toddler spoons for right handed kids. Who even knew they made right-handed AND left-handed kids spoons?!?!

Is that not insane or what? But wow, that is something I really could have used TWO YEARS AGO!!

Read this amazing description:

 

“KIZINGO products are designed to promote successful self-feeding, giving confidence to parents and children. Little ones learning to feed themselves can get frustrated and most utensils are not well designed for how toddlers want to hold and use them. As a result, parents often take over feeding which can have unintended consequences. KIZINGO spoons are curved to work with the way children hold utensils, making it easier for kids to successfully do it themselves.”

I don’t know about you, but watching my daughter hold the spoon was painful! Especially even more painful when what she managed to put on the spoon now fell on the floor or the table as she tried to get it into her mouth but it slid off. That’s probably why she eats with her hands!

I know that for my next child, I will buy this spoon and make life easier for my poor child! And myself! Less mess — always the best choice and easy to do. Seriously, where is the downfall? Anyone can buy a cheap spoon from the grocery store, but has your kid learned to spoon their food or are you still doing it for them, or is it just falling back into their plates?

Also – a bonus – the first time you sign up your email, you get 10% off your purchase!

#parentingproblems – the struggle is real ladies! Kizingo is here for us!

 

 

SOL: What is the Right Way to Parent?

When I was pregnant, so many people HAD to give me advice on what to do and what not to do when the baby was born.

You have to breastfeed.

You can only use Avent bottles.

Do NOT use formula!

Always have a routine.

They have to be in your room for 6 months.

Do not put them in your bed!

Make sure they have five layers of clothes on before going outside.

Better yet, don’t go outside.

Make every single person use hand sanitizer.

ROUTINE ROUTINE ROUTINE! Don’t EVER BREAK THE ROUTINE!

 

I mean the list could go on. And honestly, some of the things I heard, yeah, they were very useful.

But the other stuff, it was almost like, please keep your opinions to yourself, because I do not have a kid yet and I am not taking notes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now – there are so many more important questions I would have liked to be answered instead of that other stuff that is way easier to find out.

Like – what’s the best way to get rid of binkies? How do you get them to not pee in their diapers at night when they don’t wear one all day? How much does a c-section really hurt? Am I going to be able to move after it? What in the fuck is hand foot mouth disease?

Those are questions that when given advice, I would have preferred answers to those. But those are things that no one wants to tell you.

I do know a few things from just being a parent, watching my friend be a parent and then seeing the product of good and bad parenting in my classrooms.

There are right and wrong ways to parent.

Unfortunately, the ones who choose to be a bad parent, aren’t people who would read articles like this or even have anyone to give them advice like I got during my pregnancy.

I am positive that I am parenting the right away – it may not be your way, but it is not the wrong way.

 

 

Confessions from a Fitbit-aholic

Hi my name is Jen and I have a problem. 
I am obsessed with my Fitbit. I can’t stop. Everything I do needs to be recorded by the Fitbit. 

My friend at work gave me her extra one and I am seriously obsessed. Like how did I live life prior to this ?!?!?

It gives everyday a whole new meaning. I feel like I accomplish more. It makes me want to move. 

I almost feel like I can’t be walking without it on because every step counts! 

And I literally got it last week. 

I guess it’s a healthy obsession…. because it forces me to want to work out and go run on the treadmill when I normally wouldn’t. 

Anyone else share this obsession ?!

The Baby Booster Prenatal Supplements

WHY DID I NOT HEAR ABOUT THIS WHEN I WAS PREGNANT!?!?!?

These are things that nobody tells you and that no one else suggests. The prenatal vitamins that my doctor gave me made me sick so I had to stop taking them and I was given no other options to replace them with. My doctor was very much traditional and never gave you options outside of the “norm”. Basically = useless.

Superfruit Punch Prenatal Supplement

We are planning to try again next October for another child and this is the exact product I will be buying to replace the prenatal.

Read the description:

How about a refreshing pick-me-up that is as healthy as it is delicious? Like Piña Colada, our Superfruit Punch has a great, non-filling lightness to it, and it is so tasty, you won’t believe it has 20g of protein and a spectrum of essential prenatal nutrients in every serving. (See our blog for creative, delicious ideas!). Enjoy!

 

 

 

Kona Mocha Prenatal Supplement

Another product these have is coffee replacement shakes that don’t have caffeine. Now for people like me who are obsessed and can’t live without coffee, instead of struggling through every day trying not to fall asleep like I did my entire pregnancy, here is a supplement for that.

Read the description:

“Miss your morning coffee? Many moms-to-be find it hard to give up their favorite coffee shop beverage. Now you can get the delicious flavor of a Kona Mocha coffee without any of the caffeine…instead you’ll get a spectrum of essential prenatal nutrients and 20 g of protein. Delicious and healthy hot, warm, or cold, Baby Booster’s Kona Mocha may become a part of your morning routine even after pregnancy. See our Baby Booster Barista Blog for fun and tasty recipes so you can keep your coffee!”

 

These look amazing and the reviews were even better!

Check out the rest of their site, Baby Booster – they have compression socks (which I TOTALLY needed), the bottle to make the shakes in, customized tank tops and much, much more. I am obsessed and I am not even pregnant yet!

 

Please share this site with your pregnant friends – just in case there are others like me and no one gave them another option!

Online Shopping vs. Going to the Store with Kids

This picture describes my life. 

Amazon Prime has taken over my life. 

I dont remember what online shopping was like before then.  

It’s difficult for me to get to a store that is just for me.   If it’s grocery shopping or quick stop at Walgreens that’s different. But for me to get to the mall or to a clothing store to buy clothes ? Forget it. 

Online shopping is my only chance to buy clothes and then hoping that they fit. 

Does anyone else have this problem?! I mean I love shopping online but sometimes I wish I could get my clothes from the store !!!!! 

Ugh. Parenting. 

Holiday Shopping: Mabelslabels.com and Stocking Stuffers

I don’t know about you, but the past couple of years I have found it to be more convenient for me to shop for holiday gifts online. The idea of searching through the stores when there’s so many other people, getting in and out of cars in the cold, and then dragging my 2-year-old store to store trying to find what I am looking for. It is really a nightmare, since I never have time after work to go without my daughter, so therefore, online shopping has been my savior.

Recently I have run across the website Mabelslabels.com and found some incredible stocking stuffers! My husband and I always try to one up each other in cute, little stocking stuffers and this site has so many cute options that I can add into his that I am ready to start buying NOW!

Now, some of the exciting things I found at MabelsLabels.com don’t just have to be for my husband! Which makes it even better because I can buy small gifts for my daughter, other family members, my daughter’s teacher, my coworkers, my students and the list goes on! The best part is that they are personalized.

This is a super inexpensive small little gift for students when you need to buy a big quantity.

I also found holiday return labels that you can make for $13 for 100 labels. You type your address and name into it and it will be mailed to you. I know for one thing, writing out Christmas cards and having to write my address on 100 plus envelopes is horrific. 

Another personalized item that you could make as a stocking stuffer is a personalized
 coloring book. These are really nice gifts and they even have their name on them! Click here to see more examples.

The last but not least great gift idea was the Stocking Stuffer Combo. This is $30 that comes with sets of 5 personalized name tags and 1 personalized bag tag and you get a set of 6, so this can be for 6 people at a time! If you are into trying to be a more professional gift decorator, then this is definitely the item for you! I know when I receive a gift that is well put together and extremely well wrapped, I always think it comes from a store. You can be right on that level with your well put together gifting with Mabels Labels.

There are so many more gift ideas, this was just a few. Take some time to search around their site, especially with the holidays coming up, everyone needs more websites to be able to search and order from to be creative with their gifting ideas. Mabels Labels is totally your website!

PS… they have name tags that are microwave and dishwasher safe for your kids items at daycare….. just throwing that out there! *Mommy favorite right here!* Time to go shopping!

Trick or Treating- with or without Costumes?

As parents we decided to dress up. When we walked around, there were very few parents dressed up. 

That made me wonder. Why were people not dressed up? Were we not cool to be dressing up since we’re parents ? When is the limit of dressing up appropriate ?

There were a few people dressed up at their houses but we were one of the few walking around that had costumes on. 

Maybe it was because it was cold. But then I wonder if it was because as adults we should only dress up in a situation where we are going to a party without our kids?! 

Who is to ask about this?! Who is the controller of this type of information?! 

Did anyone else dress up and walk around with their kids ?!

Potty Training

We have been potty training for a week now, like full blown. The only time that she has worn diapers this week has been during nap time and at night to sleep. The first day with underwear she peed herself 4x but at the same time we had people over and she didn’t want to stop playing to go to the potty. 

This past week, the first two days she didn’t poop. Finally she held it in and she told me she needed to go. After that , she was fine with the potty. 

At daycare, first they told me she needed to be dry in diapers for a week before she could be in underwear there. That is the worst plan I’ve ever heard. I would be potty training for 3 months. They finally agreed to train her in underwear and not pull ups so she’s been doing well. 

I noticed that we have to be consistent. If we put her in diapers in one day, and then not the next, it throws her off. 

We chose to skip over pull ups because it’s almost more confusing for her because it’s like a diaper. We are using the padded underwear and then regular underwear as well. 

It’s so crazy. I thought she wouldn’t be able to do it but in reality it was more me who was going to have a hard time doing it!  She’s done just fine !