Autumn Designs and Co. Digital Giveaway

New prints in Autumn Designs and Co. shop for the end of the school year! These are the perfect gifts when framed for your child's preschool teacher, elementary teacher, music teacher, dance teacher, Sunday School teacher etc.

Enter here to win a free DIGITAL print for the special teacher in your life!

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Riding the Mermaid Wave

Lately with all the summer clothes out I've been having a thing for mermaids (and pineapple, and flamingos). I rounded up some of my favorite mer finds below!

Top row: Old Navy, skirt: Jcrew, towel & backpack: pottery barn kids, stuffed mermaids: blabla dolls, basball tee for mom: moodcatz

     Blair has the mermaid shirt and jammies on the top row and I've been eyeing a few mermaid hooded towels for the beach. She already has a hooded towel so I'm not sure she needs it but man they are cute! Oh, and mermaid backpack please go on sale very soon so Blair can wear you to school in the fall! And what do you think? Am I too old for that mermaid baseball tee? (Please say no). ;)

Mountain High Yoghurt Toddler Squeezies

Lately one of my favorite snacks to make for Blair is yogurt squeezies with Mountain High Yoghurt. The recipe is simple and they are a great healthy snack (with lots of protein!). Be sure to download the coupon on their site HERE!

Here's how I made these Mountain High Lowfat Plain Yoghurt Squeezies:

Ingredients

2 cups Mountain High Yoghurt

1 cup organic apple sauce

cinnamon to taste

Directions

Put all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Stir until combined. Pour into squeezie pouches and voila! 

I purchased my squeezie maker by Infantino at Amazon. The pouches are disposable which I like. I previously had reusable ones and discovered mold easily grows inside since they are so difficult to clean. 

Check out Mountain High Yoghurt at:

Pinterest for recipes

Facebook for coupons

Instagram for inspiration

Thank you for checking out Mountain High Yoghurt. Doing so makes it possible for me to continue blogging. :) Be sure to download the coupon on their site HERE!

Nautical Baby Boy Shower

Last weekend I attended a baby shower for a dear friend and wow did the hostess pull out all the stops! I was seriously impressed. The shower was at one of our local country clubs and the food was bomb. Check out all the cute decor!

Advice for the parents to be.

Boats from World Market.

The cutest art station for a canvas mural in the nursery.

That's my honey comb one right there. :)

Pretty bath salts for favors.

Clearly I didn't get the "it's a boy" dress code memo. Whoops.

So happy for my sweet friend, Katie. She has been a HUGE help to me with our infertility and even helped me get diagnosed with PCOS. If it weren't for her I would still be clueless over here! Grateful for friends like her. Can't wait to meet your sweet boy this summer!

Washi Tape Cards

     As the mom of a toddler I really don't have time to pick up cards for every occasion. I'm usually super last minute the day of the party scrounging around for some blank card that doesn't at all match the occasion (you get a puppy in a Santa hat for your birthday?)...until now! I've finally got my act together and came up with the perfect way to always have cards on deck by using washi tape!

This really is a self explanatory tutorial but here we go.

1. Buy a pack of plain cards at your local craft supplies store.

2. If you don't already have a huge washi tape selection buy a few that you like too. Apply in straight lines. And you're done!

I like using tape that obviously goes with the occasion such as this birthday card for my friend I made yesterday. I have quite the selection for baby showers, birthdays, anniversary's, etc. It's seriously so easy and cheaper than buying a card every time. Plus it's semi-DIY so pat yourself on the back!

What about you guys? Do you have any easy ways to make cards for people?

Because Kids Outgrow Diapers, Not Messes*

     I can't say how happy I was to stop cleaning our cloth diapers and purchasing disposable diapers when Blair was potty trained. It was quite the accomplishment and I don't miss those days one bit! One thing hasn't changed though and that's our use of wipes. No matter the age of your children (or husband) wipes always seem to be useful. This is where Huggies Wipes come in! Huggies Wipes are now New and Improved with Triple Clean Layers. They are a great way to clean up any family’s mess, not just babys! Huggies Wipes come in a variety of fun, convenient packaging, so whether I keep them stashed in Blair's bathroom, backpack, my purse, or car, there is a design that will suit my needs. They come in stylish designs to compliment any trendy mom’s ensemble.

     I was thrilled when Huggies Wipes asked us to try out their New and Improved Triple Clean Layers at Walmart. They had SO many cute wipes to choose from. Blair and I picked out a few Huggies Simply Clean Disney Wipes (because hello, we are always at Disneyland) along with a Clutch 'n' Clean for my purse and a Huggies Natural Care Designer Tub for her bathroom and our car. Wipes for days!

     Since I'm a nosy girl I thought it would be fun to show you what I haul around in my purse on the reg. Kind of like they do in Us Weekly (minus the celebrity part). You better believe I have my Huggies Clutch 'n' Clean!

Water, sunnies, protein bar, chapstick, lipstick for days, lotion, perfume, Disney passes, business cards, wipes, encouraging scripture and my trusty Starbucks card.

     We honestly use Huggies Wipes for EVERYTHING. We keep a stash in our kitchen island for spaghetti all meal nights. I carry them in my gym bag to wipe Blair's and my hands post workout. I have them in my purse for on-the-go coffee spills in the car. Plus Blair has some in her backpack for Dirty Baby. ;)

And just for funsies let's take a look inside Blair's backpack...

Twistable crayons, sunnies, panties, abc flash cards, mini books, chapstick, mini wet brush, snacks, essential oil rub on, head band, coloring book, and Huggies Simply Clean Disney Wipes!

How cute are these wipes?!

     I also stumbled upon the Huggies Natural Care Designer Tub while at Walmart and had to add them to my cart. Sometimes when we head upstairs to bed I realize too late that she has food all over her face still. These wipes are SO chic and look so cute on her bathroom counter plus they are functional for non bath nights.

Isn't the pattern adorable?

     Make sure you check out all the creative and different ways to use Huggies Wipes here, here, and here.

     What do you guys think? Are you headed out the door to scoop some of these great Huggies Wipes up? We have sure been loving ours and I can't wait to take them to Disneyland this week!

Thank you to Huggies for sponsoring today’s post and inspiring me to try Huggies Wipes at Walmart! It's companies like them that keep my blog up and running.

Buffet Makeover Reveal

Over the last few weeks M and I have been hard at work (one of us more than the other) on building some shelves for above our buffet. When we moved in it had some wallpaper on it that I was less than fond of. I've been throwing lots of different ideas at M for what we could do with the space and we finally found one that we both loved (on Pinterest of course). And who was the designer behind it all? Joanna Gaines of course. ;) So here's the inspiration...

I'm a sucker for a good chalkboard and the floating shelves are just beautiful! I had visions of my own cake stands adorning our soon to be shelves. 
And if you can remember back to when we first moved in and our buffet looked like this...

I spy a chubby baby

 And then we painted and our buffet looked like this...

First M and I ripped all the wall paper off. This was actually really easy and didn't require any wallpaper remover. It must have been put up poorly. Then he sanded the wall down and floated it to make it smooth since our walls have texture to them. Later he painted it with chalk paint by Rustoleum and we let it sit for 3 days. After 3 days I seasoned the chalkboard by running chalk on it vertically and horizontally and wiping it off with a clean cloth. All new chalkboards need to have this done or else whatever you write on them will be "burned" into your board.

M measured, cut, and stained the shelves. We worked together to get them up and almost killed each other out of frustration while doing it. Gotta love holding a heavy shelf while standing precariously on our buffet and hunched over so our heads wouldn't hit the ceiling. Oh, and throw in a toddler tantrum right in the middle. Good times.

There is hardly any light in this particular spot in our house so please excuse the dark pictures. :/  My talented friend Danielle added some chalk art to our wall and I just love the finished product!

I really wish I could have you all over and show it to you in person because it looks so much better than the photos. I'm so happy with it and am ready to cross that off of our to-do list for our home. I just love making our house a home and I'm super grateful I've got a guy who is willing to help me do it!

(In)Fertility Friday

We had some rain down here yesterday which was great! We need it so desperately. It reminded me of the storm that I'm currently in with secondary infertility. But even these clouds have a silver lining and for that I'm grateful. Thank you Blair for filling my heart with joy daily.

Medical
I happened to have some extra Clomid in my medicine cabinet so I decided to take it for the fun of it. I have a doctor's appointment next Friday with PRC, the old fertility clinic I was seeing before I was diagnosed with PCOS. I'm curious to see what the doctor recommends now that I have this diagnosis. I may schedule a hysteroscopy to see what's really going on in my uterus. It's a test where the doctor pushes dye through your uterus/tubes to see if they are clear and if anything looks abnormal. I still feel like I'm missing a piece to the puzzle. We shall see!

Emotional
Good days and bad days of course. I find myself thinking more and more about IVF and what we would have to do to afford that. The longer we stay on this path the more of a reality that becomes. I would really like to avoid the $20,000 bill so I'm praying it doesn't come to that!

Blair has been super curious lately about when she was in my tummy. She asks me to tell her about when she was in my tummy and what she would do in there, how she would eat, and if we kissed her. All good questions. :) She's also been telling me, "Mommy, when you have a baby and God says it's time, it will be a girl. I will swing her around and put her in a gray dress. I will put bows in her hair and she can sleep in my bed." Bless her heart! Have you heard anything sweeter?! Her world be rocked if we have a boy! 

Spiritual
I have so been enjoying my devotional called "Streams in the Desert." Trying to stay positive and focus on my blessings. "Real moral fiber is developed through discipline of faith. You have made your request of God, but the answer does not come. What are you to do? Keep on believing God's Word; never be moved away from it by what you see or feel, and thus as you stand steady, enlarged power and experience is being developed. No amount of persecution tries like such experiences as these. When God has spoken of Hus purpose to do, and yet the days go on and He does not do it, that is truly hard; but it is a discipline of faith that will bring us into a knowledge of God which would otherwise be impossible."

This weekend I get to spend some time with some mama friends, get my hair done, and attend a friend's baby shower. This shower is extra special because she's a PCOS girl too! She gives me hope, hope, hope. Lots of hope!

Say Cheese (or not)

Is it just me or are there other anti-paparazzi kids out there too? My kid is impossible. She loathes having her picture taken and I think it's getting worse. No bribe will suffice. On rare occasions when other adults ask her to take a photo she will oblige. But really unless you are a Disney princess she ain't crackin' a smile. Such a stinker. And here is your proof...

A great candid moment. The girls held hands all on their own. Wait for it.

Blair spots the camera.

And quickly adverts her eyes down.

Then starts doing this. (What IS that?!)

Followed by this. Meanwhile look at her friend posing perfectly.

Come on, Blair, even baby is looking at the camera.

Annnnd Charlotte is still smiling.

Go ahead, Charlotte. Show her how it's done. Strike another pose why don't you.

And we're done. Time for me to put the phone away and try again another day. Sigh.

 The kicker is that not only does she not smile but she insists on having that stinking (literally) blankie and baby at all times. Apparently some days are just for chewing on your blankie. Take note...

Seriously?! Come on child! Blair, I hope you look back on these pictures someday and wish you had put down your filthy rag blanket and smiled. And because these are the only decent shots I got...

Notice you can't see Blair sitting next to me. Let's just assume she's chewing on her blankie.

Moms and their babes.

What did I tell you? Smiling for Ariel of course. Ariel, can you move in please? I have a few family vacations I'll be needing to take you on...

Does anyone else have kids who do this annoying habit? I'm sure one day I will look back and reminisce over her baby/blankie obsession. But for today I just want a dang picture.