Preparing for a Little One- Calming your Baby and Sleep Methods

My friend Kaitlyn and I came up with a great idea that I absolutely love.

As you know, Kaitlyn is expecting her first child. This can be so overwhelming and I know that other first time moms probably feel the same. She has so many questions and would love to hear the opinions of moms who have already been through this a time or two before.

Because of this, we are hosting a weekly series for a few weeks to try and get some answers to some of the most common questions.

We have finished the second series, but if you have missed them here are the topics below that you can go back and check out.

Friday, April 5: Registering (Everything you need to know, Must Haves, Don't Bothers, etc...)

Friday, April 12: Nursery Organization & Ideas

Friday, April 19: Packing For The Hospital: For you & the baby

Friday, April 26: Birth Stories (The good, bad, and ugly) / Birth Plans (yes? no?)

This week starts our second mini-series.

Friday, May 3: Bringing Baby Home / Surviving The First Few Weeks

Friday, May 10: Breast Feeding vs. Formula

Friday, May 17: Calming Your Baby & Sleep Methods

Friday, May 24: Losing The Baby Weight

The second series will focus on bringing the baby home, new mom obstacles and losing the dreaded baby weight.  Even if you are a first time mom, you may have posts or input on this first series especially!! I know some of you are due any day now, so I'd love to get your input as well.

If you decide to participate on any of the weeks, all you have to do is write a post answering and discussing the topic/question that week and link up to the main post on my blog. I think it will be a great resource for tons of moms to be!

Below you can grab a button to use on your posts and it will be helpful if you link back to Wifessionals or Five 27 Jones so that others can get the details to link up as well. I really hope some of you will share your secrets with us!!!

<br><div class="Wifessionals-button" style="width: 300px; margin: 0 auto;"> <br><a href="http://www.wifessionals.com"><br><img src="http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q501/Wifessionals/PFALO_Button_zps5e621c81.png" alt="Preparing For A Little One" height="300" /><br></a><br></div> <!--end button code box--><br>

Random Thursday

It's Thursday....
Obviously I missed what I'm loving Wednesday but I had some things to share so I'm doing it today instead!

1)  New App I just downloaded for my phone, have seen some bloggers blog about it and thought I would give it a try myself.  Checked it out last night and does seem like it will be fun to use to upgrade my pictures a little bit!  It's a photo editing app, called Beautiful Mess, you can check it out here.

2) My husband ordered me a new vaccum and it should be in tomorrow.  I'm OCD and weird and so that excites me.  Just a little background, our old house had 1 room of carpet we didn't need a nice vaccum so we never invested in one.   Then 2 years ago we moved into a new house that was bigger and full of carpet.  I have been using the same vacuum.  This vacuum, I may add was also  the one my husband used in college, which was about 10 years ago.  We are getting the Shark Navigator, Professional Lift Away and we also scored a great deal on it so win-win!

3)  I made it running 11.1 miles yesterday.  It was my last long, push run before the race.   I won't run any farther until June 2nd.  Last week was really rough and thankfully,  yesterday was easier.  I may contribute it to what my mom calls "gu" .  I have been trying Shot Blocks with my mom the last few runs but finally got myself some gu and brought it with me today.  I had two during my run and I really think it did make a difference!

4)  Along the same line, 2 weeks from today my two sisters, momma and I will be on a plane to sunny San Diego!  We don't get much quality time together, so I'm so excited and know we are going to have a blast.  Watch out for lots of pictures !  

5)  I'm having a garage sale this weekend, and am almost ready.  Boy is there way too much work that is involved in them!  It always sounds good in my head, but not so fun actually putting it together.  Although it did get my butt moving on the purging goal I have had for quite a while.  I did purge a lot but really could still do more.  You gotta start somewhere.  

6) I am loving my current nail and toe polish color.  I'm not a nail polish snob,  I don't generally have nails so there are usually without, but I've had some tips on for awhile now and am loving having some color.  Wet and Wild- Heatwave is my current.

7) It's pretty much popsicle season and that makes me happy.   I love popsicles so much and especially these!   We are almost finished with our first box of these already.  The boys and I took a water break yesterday, sat on the porch and had some.  Soo yummy!  Now to find some coupons, because they aren't very cheap!

8)  Bought some new black shoes.  They are wedges, they are strappy and I was able to walk really well in them.  They are perfect.  I  never did find any last year and am starting this year off right with these cuties.

9)  Carson is a pro this week at saying "thank you" and its down right adorable.  He adores me, and  I love it.
Noah has been in trouble a lot lately and has started doing this pouty walk to his room on his own.  I feel bad but he looks so cute moping.  Even though I have had to discipline to no end lately, I'm still " his best friend"  and he still "love you so much mommy"  so we are good.  And " mommy- daddy days are my favorite"  He loves days with us.  Insert smile!

What are you loving this week??

Living a little more this week

We are constantly in a rotation in this house.  We will have a few good days, days that I just love being my boy's mommy and can't stop smiling at how cute they are.  Then we will have a few days that just make me want to pull my hair out and run for the hills.  I'm thankful for the bad days in a way, because without those,  I wouldn't be as thankful and appreciative for the good days we have.  However, I wouldn't be opposed to the ratio changing toward the good direction. This week I have had some doozy's, have been stressed out for weeks and just haven't felt like I could get "caught up".  I was tired, worn out, and needing sleep.  The last week I have been going to bed right after the kids instead of blogging and catching up on social media stuff, therefore missing some days of posting.  Yesterday I was in tear mode again, and just couldn't pull myself together (no real reason for the emotion, just one of  those weeks) and then I picked up my boys early and decided instead of going home and staying there all night we were going to get out.  We went out to eat at Culvers, let them get some ice cream, went to Dollar Tree ( which I'm pretty sure the toy aisle is Noah's new favorite place), and spent the majority of the evening at the park.  We were there for a record amount of time and it was fun, and such an easy night with them.  

Then today was just GREAT!  The boys were in great moods, we played outside, we ate lunch and dinner outside.  The boys played in their new mini pool for the first time this year.  We got out a huge ball sprinkler they got last year but didn't get a chance to use.  We ended the day with ice cream again, always a hit!  

I didn't get cleaning done, my floor is a mess.  It wasn't a productive day so much but it was a great day with my kiddos and that was exactly what I needed.  

Here are some pictures of my cuties and are fun the last few days .

Pictures are better than a post full of words anyway, right?

Is he seriously this big already?

Merry go round with some new friends

Carson the daredevil, child with no fear!

Always cheesin

Filling it up

That blonde hair of is, always sticking up

Always sticking his tongue out

The water was really cold at first, I don't know how they did it!

Action

My boys love their daddy and tractors.  They each got a ride while daddy mowed for a bit.  

 Yea...We tried.  Getting them both to smile and look at the camera at the same time, nearly impossible.  

This is how they really feel, haha

Hope you all had a great Wednesday!

Mother's Day Weekend!

Anyone else ready for life to slow down?  I know I sure am.  Lately I feel like I'm always getting ready for something!  It has been a few busy months!  

Friday I stayed home with my two cuties as usual and also had my precious, amazingly well behaved nephew.  He will be 1 in June, and is such a doll and I was amazed at how well he entertains himself!  I seriously was in awe !

Here was my ornery little one, this boy will not stay off the counters!  Once I caught him he scooted back and tried to "hide"

The three boys playing with cars and trains!  Adorable they were!

Saturday morning the boys and I ran a ton of errands getting ready daddy and Uncle Nathan's birthday party!  They turned the big 30.  That evening we had a 24 adults and kids over so it was a full garage/ house.   I had never tried it before but we ate in the garage and it was perfect, plenty of table space and not to cold / hot in there.  After dinner we headed inside to hang out and let the kids play in there so we could keep tabs on them better.  It was a great night of fun with friends and family!

Matthew and his twin blowing out their candle

Birthday Boys

Then on Mother's Day we went to church, came home cleaned the house, played, watched a little TV to relax the boys before nap.  Then Sunday night my mom, and one of my sisters and her family came over for dinner and cake to celebrate my mom for Mother's Day and her birthday which is actually today!  

I just want to give a shout out to my wonderful mom and share with you all how beautiful she is inside and out!  My mom is sooo hard working, dedicated, driven, strong, giving, fun to be around, and loves with all her heart.  

She amazes me every day at how hard she works, and how she is just always giving of herself to others!   I love her soooo much!  

She is also a marathon runner and has ran over 10 marathons in the last 10 years!  She is the reason I'm running my first half in June.  While I'm struggling to finish 13.1 she will rocking the 26.2 mile race.  She is below in the orange!  I have always looked up to her for running and working so hard to get where she is and now I actually get to do some running with her.   I have loved it! 

Here are some of my sisters and I with my mom at a wedding last summer.  Mom is on the far left!

She has one more year until she hits 50,  I hope when I'm her age,  I look half as good as she does!  Love you momma!

We failed to get a fancy dressed  up Mother's Day photo but here is my boys and I chilling after church getting ready for our naps, which we all took awesome ones by the way! 

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Menu Planning Monday

Quick and Easy Menu this Week
Not the healthiest week we have had but my stress levels need to go DOWN this week and I'm trying to help it out!

Monday-  Using one of my meals from my freezer cooking day, Chicken Pot Pie.  Weird for our warm weather but want to use it before it really gets warm here!

Tuesday-  On your own, hubby has a meeting right after work and probably won't be coming home.

Wednesday-  Steak, Rice, Green Beans

Thursday-  Chicken Quesadillas and Salad

Friday-  BLT's and Sweet Potato Fries, I'm having a garage sale so gotta be quick!

Saturday-  Out to Eat, We have lots of good gift cards now since it was just Matthew's birthday!

What's on your menu this week, anything you love that you think we should try next week??

Linking up with Org Junkie!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my handsome husband!

I truly take Matthew for granted every day and it's days like today that make me stop and realize how blessed the boys and I are to have him.

Matthew is a wonderful dad.  The boys love their mom for sure but adore their dad too.  Outside is their thing and fixing things is theirs.  They always love being a part of what he is working on.  The other day Carson just watched him mow through the window.  They love to wave goodbye to him every morning from the garage door.  Matthew is great at trying to invest in them.  He not only just plays with them but works with them and tries to teach them all the things they should be learning at their ages.  He is always working on instilling discipline.  ( much better at it than me, I'm much quicker to loose my cool)

He is the spiritual leader of this house, he is always there for me.  Prays for me and the boys, and prays with our boys.

He is smart, hard working and provides for us, which allows me to stay at home most days.
His patients love him.  He really gives them his focus, time and knowledge and is great at what he does.
We are so proud of him for that!

He isn't selfish and is always giving of his time to someone or something!
He's quick to help when I ask.

He can work me up like nobody else in the world, but he can also calm me down like nobody else can!

We are extra thankful for him today on his special day!


Happy 30th Birthday!

It's Friday and this is Random

This week has been a weird one.
 I have slacked off from the blog big time.    Usually every night after boys go to bed, I work online but this week just pretty much went straight to bed each night.  Monday I had a great day with my boys and decided  I should probably quit blogging ( I have a lot of random thoughts each day)  but then by Wednesday I circled back to realizing how much I really do enjoy it and I shouldn't quit.  However, I still went to bed the last few nights and neglected writing.

Do you ladies ever get in a blogging funk?  One where you feel it's pointless, you are wasting time?  Then you quit writing and reading for a few days and feel like a lost puppy and miss your blog world?
Yeah, that's me, this week!

Anyways onto some randomness about my week!

Here is a picture from my awesome Monday with my boys.  We just had a great day, I love when that happens!  Little screaming, fighting, and lots of smiles, laughter and sweet moments!

Tuesday I planted the first flowers of the year, may be the last who knows.  Noah helped me pick them out. He wanted yellow, I didn't.  I wanted pink, he didn't,  so we got white instead.  Once I planted them he let me know "mom the flowers are beautiful!"

If you aren't friends with me on facebook, then you didn't see that I ran this on Wednesday.
I met my mom at 5:45.  I got plenty of sleep the night before.  Weather was great!  I had my Genesis Pure Energy.  The week before our 9 miler went really well.  I was ready.  Until we were a few miles in and I was already tired ( did I mention my mom took me on a new route for me and it was HILLY, yeah on my longest run to date, not a good idea! )  I remember hearing her phone tell us we hit 5 miles.  I was like that has to be wrong, I'm already done.  If I would of been alone I probably would have given up around 8 but I ran through it and finished and in good time too!  It was just one of those off running days, where it was HARD! Adding 3 more seemed impossible so hoping my 11 miler this next Wednesday goes better!  It will be my last long one before race day.  Did I mention that, this run also caused me to loose 3 pounds?  Yeah it was awesome until the next day when it had come back, haha!

Yesterday I was still thinking about my junky run and finally remembered to stop by our bike store that sell the sports fuel goodies and bought me some stuff for next weeks run, and Marathon Day.

I bought Gu Gel and some Shot blocks.  I have been using my moms the last two runs so I owe her some.  

I haven't tried the Gu yet but will try it next week so that way race day isn't my first try.  

I felt like buying this stuff made me a "real " runner.  It was weird, because I have always wanted to be one and I feel like I actually am now.  

I feel like I should start this paragraph...

You know you are a complete dork when??

You don't have music on your iphone, ( I actually still use my mp3 player)

You still buy CD's

Better yet, you buy a NOW CD

When I first started running I bought Now 44 to have some new music to run too because the music I had on there was all from like 2006-2007 it was sad.  

It also made me feel old because the last Now CD I bought I had on my mp3 player and it was Now 19. 

Today on my 5 miler, I jammed out to this baby, it was fun! 

My new Honest products finally arrived!  I had thought I ordered them weeks ago, went to check and realized I forgot to checkout my cart, whoops minor detail.  Anyways got them really ordered.  They arrived today and I can't wait to use them.  You bet I will have a review on them up once I do.  This cleaning freak gets excited about weird things like this!

I made these delicious cookies today!  Saw them on Pinterest and have been wanting to try them.  I got them a little more on the done side than I normally do but they are still good.  I will be making these again for sure and baking them for a little less time.  You can find the recipe here.

Will be busy tonight and tomorrow getting ready for my hubby and his twin brother's 30th birthday party cookout at our casa  on Saturday night!  We really are getting old! Then Sunday onto Mother's Day festivities!  It will be a busy but fun weekend!  

Have a good one!