Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Hog-Washery & Cuteness & Fun Adventure

I've been telling myself all day that it's Tuesday - which it's not. It's Wednesday...and it's dreary...and I'm tired/stressed/crabby/want to be snuggled up with my little Squishy pants at home right now.

I could play for hours with her on the floor, just rolling around.

Oh, and she's crawling now...YAY!!

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Tomorrow is August...YIKES!! How did it get to be August already?!?!? I'm behind, as usual! I'll be finishing up some last minute stuff for the photo shoot/mini sessions this Saturday (stay tuned this weekend for some sneaky peeks at the awesome set ups), then hopefully meeting up for some drinks or a play date with my high school 'mommy' friend Lindsay! Woot Woot!

This weekend is going to be a good one, this week however is another story. We are in the "negotiation" stage of figuring out my hours for work. They say they need someone full time (I call hog-washery), and I think it would be fine for me to work 3 days a week.

This morning upon dropping off Squish at her 2 day a week (non-familial) babysitter, I was informed that we'll need to go to full time status with her or lose her as a babysitter. BAH! I don't want to pay a babysitter for 5 days/week...it depletes my already dismal paycheck to ridiculously low wages, but I don't want to lose her either. I guess we'll have to see if they are going to let me work part time, or if I'll be with Squish everyday. I could honestly live with the latter.


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Coming soon...Subscription boxes!! This deserves another 'Woot Woot'! I have already received notice that a few are on their way to me. :)  I'm stoked!

 
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I have this idea...which is drawn from this site's fantastic idea. So I want to start doing this amongst my own blogging friends, make new blogging friends, and possibly get my non-blogging friends in on this. Who doesn't love getting fantastic items in the mail.
 
Basically it will follow the same style guidelines as the Cara Box Exchange rules.
 
Each person will sign up for a specific themed gift box each month. I'm on the fence on the value, although $15 seems do-able for most, plus you would have shipping costs on top of this.
 
Can be purchased or handmade items (which I love the idea).
 
You would get the chance to meet some great people.
 
Win - win, right?
 
So...anyone in for the adventure?? I'm thinking this would start in October or November.
 
Thoughts, comments, poo-poos? ha! 
 
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To cap off this dreary Wednesday post...let's infuse some cuteness!

 
 
 
 
 
 

You're Welcome! ;) 
 



Monday, July 29, 2013

Oh, Monday!

Monday...today, that word will be used as a swear word! ha!

I'm not a big fan of Mondays. I never really had a problem with them before, and then I had Squish. Now, Mondays mean that I have to get up early, pack all our bags, and drop her off at a babysitter. This isn't any different than the four other days a week that I have to do this, but it notes the beginning of this monotonous routine every week.

Me getting frustrated because I didn't get enough done over the weekend (because I wanted to spend quality time with my family), and having to rush to do it in the morning, and then getting even more frustrated because I feel guilty for not being with her. I've been back to work full-time now since she was about four weeks old...just thinking about getting called back into work early after delivery STILL makes me bitter.

...but nobody wants to hear me get my mama panties in a bunch! ha!

So instead, I'll share something that I stumbled upon (yes, this lovely Monday morning...when I should probably be doing something productive at work) on one of my favorite blogs The Paper Mama.

A Mother's Prayer for Her Daughter, by Tina Fey



I just keep telling myself that soon enough I will be with Squish more than just on the weekends. I'm going to be going part-time at work. I'm not exactly sure how many hours I will be working...but for now I'm holding on to that, this dreadful Monday morning.

How is everyone else's Monday? Anyone else out there have a 'case of the Mondays'??





Friday, July 26, 2013

Sharing the Love

The Coupon Code love that is! :) 

Just got a coupon code in my inbox from Taylor at Kona Kase. Use coupon code: GIFTSUMMER and receive $5 off your box!

That's a really great deal!

Never heard of Kona Kase before??  

Neither had we until I started on this little adventure of contacting subscription companies. Basically, you sign up for a monthly subscription (you can cancel at any time), and each month they send you 8 samples of healthy snack products right to your door. It's $15/month with free shipping.

Want to find out more about Kona Kase??

Find out more about Kona Kase here.


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*Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Kona Kase's team. Just sharing the coupon code love (like the title reads).

However, I will be reviewing one of their boxes in September for the beginning of our Subscription box reviews. September is the 'Food Subscription Box' month...so check back then for my take on yummy deliciousness that is sent to my doorstep! :)

Thursday, July 25, 2013

The boxes are comin'...

That's right folks!! We've received word that a couple of the subscription boxes are on their way to our doorstep!! YAY!!

I'm super excited about doing these reviews!

Can you tell?!!?!

So...here's the DL on what is going to be happening 'round here. We're going to be reviewing monthly subscription boxes, with a new "theme" each month.

Starting in September, you'll be able to access our reviews of the hottest trend...subscription boxes. Basically (if you live under a rock and don't know about these glorious things), each month a company will send you a box full of wonderful products to try out. Some of these companies give 'points' for reviews of the products onto their websites, or offer coupon codes, etc.

Most of these companies though have specific style boxes that they send out (i.e. food, eco-friendly products, baby/child items, makeup, etc.)

Here is the line up of boxes for each month:

September: Food

October: Baby - Child - Mama

November: DIY & Handmade items

December: Home goods, Party supplies, and Women's products

January: Fitness

February: Men's products

March: Beauty & Hair products

April: Pets

We'll have individual postings about each box, then at the end of the month we'll have a posting about which box won the award for best box that month...and then we'll also be doing reviews on the individual products within the boxes themselves. There will also be some video reviews for the boxes on our YouTube channel...bear with me peeps, I'm getting it up and running over there. :) 

Okay kids, that's all for now!


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Where We've Been-Where We Are-Where We're Going

It's been a year...

...a crazy, exciting, devastating, perplexing year. But, we're back with a vengeance! ha!

This will be a long one folks - so grab a cup of coffee, and relax.


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* Where We've Been *

The last year has had me on overdrive to say the least, and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon.

I spent most of my summer working, visiting my parents, and trying to wrap my noggin' around the fact that I was going to be a MOM...scary, I know.

I ended up waiting until the last minute to get most things ready for our wee one. I wouldn't go back and change my time spent for the world though. I was able to spend my extra time visiting with my Mama (and my Pops).

As some of you may know, my Mom was diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Small Cell Tumor (the big C) in March-ish of last year. Unfortunately she lost her battle with the disease at the end of October last year. She had just turned 65 years old.

It's been difficult to adjust for me. She was one of my best friends, she was the person I called whenever I needed to just talk, she was my partner at craft shows, she was my inspiration, my cheerleader...she was my Mom. She was going to have all the answers for me when I called her in the middle of the night because I had a colicky baby...or more accurately commiserate with me about having no idea what I'm doing...and remind me that I will do the best I can, and that's all I can do.

There are times when I allow myself to feel that pain...when I'm completely alone, in the shower (which if you're a Mom...you know this doesn't happen very often!), and it lasts a couple of minutes. I then shelf that feeling, and move on. I'll do what my Mom always did, and save that for when I'm less busy. ha!

Now onto happy moments....

Squish arrived on January 1st, 2013 (she was the first baby of the New Year!!) at 11:12 pm.  She was 8 lbs. 15 oz., 21 1/2 inches long, and was 2 weeks overdue! She was worth the wait...but if I had to do it all over again, I probably wouldn't have let her go that long. I had to be induced...which I can say was HORRIBLE! She decided that she was comfortable right where she was, and did not want to budge! This speaks to her personality outside of the womb as well...she will do what she wants...on her own schedule. :)

I'm not going to go into details at this time about my delivery, but after that whole thing...we will enjoy our Squish for quite a while before we think about having another bambino!


* Where We Are *

Squish is rapidly changing...I never knew they grew THIS FAST!! She's a very happy baby...always has been since the second she was born. Don't get me wrong the kid has a set of lungs on her, but she's typically a happy girl. She loves to smile, laugh, and babble (just like her Mama).

We are still on the Cloth Diaper Wagon...and going strong! I'm always up for talking Cloth, so you are always welcome to shoot me a message about it. :)  I'm glad my good friends Lindsay and Kristin were the brave pioneer women (at least in my life) that convinced me to cloth diaper.

I'm also breastfeeding Squish...which has been (thankfully) very easy from the beginning.

Squish is also eating tons of fruits and veggies, she's an eating machine! I've been trying to keep up with her demand for food by making my own. I just need to get a spare moment to restock the freezer....ahhh!!!

B-Real is recovering nicely from his dirt bike accident in April (happy friggin' birthday to me...it was on my b-day weekend! GAH! Men!). It was a scary phone call, but he survived...and by the time he was healed up enough...I was over the angry stage of it. It made things pretty complicated for me though. Work, baby, broken partner...2 hours of sleep each night because my child refused to sleep at night.

He would like to be hitting the trails again by the end of this summer...I'm a wee bit harder to convince on this timeline. ;)

I'm still working full-time...and hating it. I've gotta be honest on this one. Everyday I miss my Squish! We are incredibly lucky that close family watches her 3 days a week, and the other 2 days she goes to a great babysitter. I want to be with her though. She's growing and changing so quickly...I feel like she's being raised by someone else.

Every night I have to rush home after work, unpack the bags from the day, make dinner, feed Squish, bath time, jammies, book, then bed...then I have to fold laundry from the day before, clean up the house, etc....etc...etc...

Don't even get me started on the pumping...let's just cut out the middle man shall we?!?! I don't mind pumping for someone else to give her a bottle every once in a while. Heck, I'd even make sure to have one bottle on hand for B-Real to feed her every night before bed. Trying to work in pumping at work has been a nightmare, and now my supply is starting to suffer because of this. BLAH!!


* Where We're Going *

There are tons of great opportunities coming this fall!

* In the beginning of August I'm working on a mini session photo shoot with an amazing photographer (and great friend) Kylie K. Photography. You can also find her at The Dreaming Tree Photography on Facebook.

She does AMAZING work...and she'll be offering up a great new service for all you blokes out there that are thinking about popping the question to your lovely lady!

Check her out!!! :) 

* There will be some great posts about Cloth Diapering, new recipes, DIY tutorials, Giveaways...and the beat goes on....the beat goes on. Sorry...I had a little Squirrel moment there.

* There will be Pinterest Win or Lose posts...where I try to remake a famous Pin on Pinterest.

* A Ready - to - Ship sale is coming to the Facebook page the second week in August.

* We are going to have a Facebook/Blog Giveaway in August...details to come in the next week.

* We are also going to be having our very own YouTube channel...which will be up and running this week also!

* And...which I'm MOST excited for...I'll be doing subscription box reviews. The first review will be up this week, and there will be a theme every month! I'm pretty stoked for this one. Can you tell?

So many fantastic things are coming up over the next couple weeks alone! So stay tuned for more details. In the meantime, you can check us out on our other media sites:








Thanks everyone!!