Targs

Speaking of Target--Have you guys seen the cute Spring stuff out for girls? Last week during one of Isla's unbearable no-napping days I confined her to the stroller with her snack cup and we strolled Target..... Retail therapy (and a lot of ogling) for me and time in public for her. Seriously they have the cutest girly stuff right now. Floral cowgirl boots? STOP! (Size 2 please? :)

 Poppy Romper! :) 

 These are so cute for little stompers. 

 Loving the eyelets!

and last but not least, did you see they came out with a new nursing tank color? Most the Mamas I know lived in these for the first couple months. I always snatch up the new colors for the future :) 

xoxo. 

S

Total Steals

I love me a raging bargain---I rarely buy anything at regular price, ever. This is the 'blue light special' part of my brain that my Grandma had installed when I was young. (If you aren't familiar--Kmart had  a cart with a blue light (like on an ambulance) that would light up when there was a special and they announce in the store what aisle the deal was in... everyone would scatter. It's mayhem) I vividly remember running to the 'blue light special' with my Grandma---that lady loves a bargain!

Lately I am loving these two TOTAL steals that I got for Isla. Check them out!!!

1. Toddler Leggings at Target.

These are seriously the jam. They are perfect for new walkers who want to walk on hardwood floors. They are super cute- wash well and get this.....they are FIVE-freakin-dollars. Just please. 

Look how cute they are on! I die. 

2. Bloomz Etsy shop 

I was clued into this amazing find by my Bestie and Mama of two little ladies (thanks Ash :). It is seriously the mecca of the cutest felt bows and clips for dirt cheap--I ordered Isla both clips above plus another bow -- all said and done with shipping it was under $15. That's crazy! They have a ton of headbands, seasonal clips, barrettes and she does special orders. A serious treasure here!

Happy shopping!

xoxo. 

S

Today.

3 words: Longest.Day.Ever. 

2 words: No.Nap

.... And apparently since I can only put together short witty sentences tonight you get a post of our day in one liners....enjoy. 

Isla up 4 times last night
Isla up 45 mins early this morning.
Huge poop. (That explains it)
Playtime and devastating news reports on Oso and plane crash. My heart is so sad.
She's hungry. Wants bananas.
Toast & Bananas
She's still hungry.
Steals all my oatmeal and banana.
Tries to stick hand in coffee and says 'haaaaa' (ie: hot). she's a genius
Playtime. Read same book 13 times.
I consider having 'another one.' Siblings are the best.
She chatters about Daddy.
Loves new tunnel. Thanks 'West girls.'
She's hungry.
She's really freakin hungry.
Early lunch. Tyrant in a high-chair. (remind me of Game of Thrones)
Still hungry. Throws water.
Playtime. Must play with breast pump (why?!!!)
Helps with chores
Hides my keys.
Tired. Early nap.
Milk and rocking. Tired. Lay in crib.
Fights nap for 75 mins
#Islawins. No nap (OMG. Please no)
Rolls on floor crying (Isla not Mom)
I say, 'Duh, you won't sleep'
I strike having 'another one' from my future plans. #onlychild
Fight tech issues with photography ordering. Isla tries to type. (I'm surprised she didn't download a virus)
Abort all desire to get anything done.
Condo too cluttered.
Unleash Unload isla on B at office. She hates storage unit.
Kirkland Storage= my new solace
Jimmy Johns for B. I 'pay' myself with Ladro.
Nice Russian man behind me backs up so I can park (either that or he's scared of my parallel parking. Did I tell u Isla clapped for me when I did a 9-point turn to park in our garage yesterday? #winning)
Drop lunch and reluctantly pick up my high-maintenance toddler
Brief sun.
Find perfect little kid park.
Isla loves it.
I rock as 'Mom'
Isla smacks her face while climbing backwards on slide. First black eye.
I fail as 'Mom'
Isla stomps through the grass crying
Crocodile tears.
Rain.
Time to go home.
She's pissed& hungry
Play. Cry. Hungry. Read books.
Thank god for Ellen.
Dinner. Isla tries to sleep in high-chair.
Allan Jackson's "Chatahoochie" to wake her up (awesome parenting)
She demands '4th meal'
She rolls on ground crying.
Early Bath. Early Bed.
Drinks Milk. Demands nursing. Falls asleep. Wakes up in crib. Protest whine.
Finally---she sleeps.

I don't know if anyone watches Game of Thrones but we have been hooked lately (it's so dorky- I know) .... I told B I swear I'm the 'Mother Dragons' .... or one little high-maintenance, toddler Dragon to be exact. She has been making a high pitched 'bird of prey' noise lately. Coincidental?

Time to drink my dinner. Gluggghh. Glugghhh. Glughhh.

xo.
S

PS- Sending lots of good health karma to our Wednesday besties who both had the stomach flu and had to cancel our weekly play date. We missed you and by that I mean - I FREAKING MISSED YOU! Friday Raincheck!

You know you're a Mom when......

1. You add basic hygiene to your to-do list : clip nails, pluck eye brows

2. You try to avoid looking at your chipping toenail polish....add that to the list!

3. Its not uncommon to use the bathroom with a baby on your lap. Privacy is a thing of the past.

4. Hearing silence or 'uh-oh' from a toddler when you're out of the room is terrifying.

5. There is nothing sweeter than rocking your baby- that is time to recharge together.

6. You go to the mall to shop for yourself and leave with 2 items for yourself and 12 for baby (that is IF you even make it to the mall :)

7. You have never been so happy to get a visit from your parents (babysitters!!!)

8. Teaching your Toddler to blow their nose is an epic milestone.

9. You listen to kid music in the car inadvertently in your personal time. Oh Casper Babypants, you had me at Hello ;)

10. Mom Brain is a real thing (I forgot half of these before I remembered them again).

11. You explore the politics of the playground (why are those parents not watching their big bully kid? Why is that little kid climbing the stairs alone? etc. etc. )

12. Right about the time your Toddler starts sleeping through the night you consider 'having another one'--I'm convinced this is 'the greater powers' way of laughing in your face.

13. You make up songs about 'using utensils', 'brushing teeth' and 'nakey jaybirds' (and dance!)

14. Schedules are built around naptime/bedtime. Dinner with friends at 7pm--are you joking?! Dinner at 5-- we're in!

15. Meals are eaten standing up in front of your baby's high chair checking that they don't choke (I'm glad I do this considering Isla DID choke last week- Terrifying!) or taking toddler size bites of leftover Toddler food while unloading the dishwasher and making dinner.

16. Date nights (what's that?! :) are literally a special occasion.

and yes.....I wrote this while blow-drying my hair, coming up with plans for this afternoon and watching my 14 month old ransack my bathroom cabinet naked (the highlight? She peed and stood in it---a morning isn't a morning without a big clean up :)

xo.
S

PS- What would you add?

DIY: Bumgenius Diaper repair

Hi Friends! 

I FINALLY repaired the tabs that were curling up from failing Velcro on my Bumgenius AIO diapers. Here is a little tutorial to help you through it if you're doing the same :) 

1. Remove tabs (I trimmed the top part above the seam with scissors so it would come off easier) 

 2. Use a seam ripper to remove the entire tab. Be careful not to puncture the lining or yourself! (I did that- it hurts :( sad! )

 3. Once the tab is off you can pin new tabs on (you have to order the "refresher kit" from the website to get precut tabs and elastic).

FYI: The Velcro front piece does NOT come in the kits. The laundry tabs do but they're a BIG pain to remove and you would have to sew through the lining so I only recommend doing that if you really have to.

(This right here is two hours of ripping out tabs from 12 diapers in front of the TV--not bad for a nights work :)

 (Props to me! I remembered how to wind a bobbin! and special thanks to my Grandma who taught me how to use a sewing machine when I was 13. A skill I often am glad I have! )

4. Sew on the tabs! (See sewing tips below!)

Sewing Tips!

1. Make sure the sticky (i.e.: rough) Velcro piece is on the inside.

2. I pinned my tabs but the pins are hard to get in so I ended up taking them out. The tabs do shift during sewing so see what's easier for you on your machine.

3. Sew the tap on the liner first, then the edge, round end, last edge (I did three times on each side). It's easier to do them by side than to go around the whole thing 3 times. I ended up cutting threads part of the way through because sometimes they would all get sucked in the bottom (it really sucks fishing them out of the bobbin area)

4. Do one diaper and make sure the outside Velcro strip on the front isn't so bad that even the new Velcro doesn't stick--doing the entire stack and having none of them work would be terrible!

5. Buy heavy-duty needles for the sewing machine. I broke 3 needles in the process of sewing 12 diapers. It will save you A LOT of frustration.

Other than that- this is totally worth the work~ Good luck!

S

Daylight Savings

Anyone else still having 'schedule' issues with Daylight Savings?

I feel like Isla's finally doing better. For a couple days she just couldn't get on her 'normal schedule' but she adjusted yesterday. I tried to move her bedtime by 30 minutes until we were back to normal but she wasn't going for it so I let her do it on her own--funny how kids just find their way back into their schedule. I do need to buy a blackout shade for her room. She has a much harder time settling down in the rocker with me when it's so bright outside.

Unfortunately, I just can't seem to get on a new schedule. I've been going to bed after midnight every night this week and waking up dead tired. I stopped drinking my beloved 4pm soy-mocha hoping it would help and I still am battling late night insomnia. I ordered a new pillow and a new mattress is the first thing on our wish list when we move. What else can I do to go to bed earlier? Any advice?

xo.
S

Finding Beauty

Hello Friends!

I've been working on this post this week but I can't seem to get it quite right....rather than pick apart/rewrite my words anymore than I already have....I thought it was more important to get it up and hear from you.....

Yesterday a friend posted on Facebook that her 13 year old Daughter was being taunted in school by the other girls because she ate at lunch.

That's right ... because she ATE at lunch.

One of the girls told her she never ate in front of her boyfriend because boys should never see you eat. After I read this post my chest tightened and heart pounded. I longed to hug Isla tightly and smother all of the unfair pressures society puts on young girls. After I was able to compartmentalize this one scenario and put my plans aside to homeschool Isla (who am I kidding?!), I faced my own memories of the path I took to finding healthy self worth.

Growing up most of the women who surrounded me carried their own issues with weight. I remember being a young teenager and knowing the 'in-and-outs' of Jenny Craig, NutriSystem and Weight Watchers. I went to a TOPS meeting by the time I was 10. I understood the power of that number on the scale and how it made you view yourself. I never saw a man in my childhood life struggle with weight in this same way. For me, being a teenager was filled with reading Cosmo's version of what men want in women, chasing the ever illusive 'model-square', keeping weight loss journals (yes, plural), planning to order breast enhancing miracle pills, etc, etc (i.e.: the list goes on and on). I still believe I was one of the more healthy ones. I had my insecurities and I still do in some ways but I never really hated anything about myself.

I know some of you are saying, 'well you've never had a weight issue so you can't relate' ....but I really can. Isn't that apparent from the items above?... and so telling about our culture! I am a perfectly healthy woman--'thin' by society's standards and I STILL struggled with what I believed I 'should look like.' And that is the stuff that terrifies me about raising a Daughter in this perfect storm of image issues. I want Isla to grow knowing that she is beautiful and perfect, just as she is ...no matter what that number on the scale reads...no matter how much it goes up and down. As long as she is healthy and loves herself- she is beautiful. I want Isla to see beauty in others no matter what size they are. I want her to see compassion, kindness and love as the ingredients to beauty.

In the process of rationalizing all of this, deep down I know that as much as I want to hide Isla away I know that exposure is the best way to find empowerment.....and that wrenches at my heart.

She will explore beauty magazines, obsess about hair/makeup and if her butt looks too big. She will mull over Cosmo (and I'm sure it will scare the crap out of me) and she will even pick her image apart. I think no matter how comfortable you are there is a time in your life where this phase has its place. What I'm trying to focus on is the job I have as her Mom and as a 'Woman' role model in her life to guide her out of this phase with the COURAGE to find her own healthy self worth and to believe in her beauty--no matter how it looks to the world.

I'm encouraging everyone (including myself!) to teach our Littles (especially our girls) to love themselves no matter what they look like, love other people no matter what they look like and do that by loving YOURSELF no matter what you look like.

Educate them.

Educate yourself if you don't know how to do this---it's so powerful to admit that you have 'baggage'. I still catch myself doing things I hope that Isla doesn't pick up on. I caught myself putting my hand over my face the other day when I cried during a commercial (I know....a commercial! :) I don't know why I do this other than to hide emotion or vulnerability but it reminded me of how powerful my responses are when Isla's watching. I want to break the cycle.

I want to be BRAVE enough to break the cycle.

More than anything... I wish for Isla to find her worth in the brilliance of her smile, the sound of her laugh, the fire of her spirit, the tenderness of her heart. These are the things we so adore in her. In the words of Lupita Nyong'o, I wish for all young girls out there and women alike '....that you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of feeling beautiful inside.'

Be brave.

-You can view her words here. 

PS- My Friend received a comment to share this book with her teen : Queen Bees and Wannabees. Is anyone familiar with it?

Also! If you haven't read this letter from a Dad to his Daughter you really should. It's all over the internet--but VERY much worth the read: Find it Here.