The (Sometimes) Glam Mom

And twins makes 5....

2014-03-04T15:24:00.001-08:00

I haven't updated in months. Like months and months and months. I take a step back from every thing here and there and the blog was included in that. Needless to say, things get a little hectic around here with three kids who are all mobile and crazy!

When my 5 year old got settled into school and that whole routine and a new baby girl was introduced into our family (I'm an aunt now!), baby fever kicked in. This tends to happen when my "baby" becomes a toddler, hence the reason I have had babies so close together. Once they're getting potty trained and running around talking, I start missing having a teeny tiny baby that lets me hold it and I start nagging my man for a little one.

So, here we are. We "tried" for a bit over a month before I finally missed a period. TMI but I'm very regular as far as my cycle goes so when that week rolled around and I wasn't feeling like I was about to start, I pretty much knew it was coming. Sure enough I woke up the day I would usually start and took a pregnancy test, and it already read positive. I know now looking back that this was a very strong sign that I was carrying twins, but I didn't know that then. I start on the 15th every month and its always in the morning and I woke up on the 15th and took a test and it was positive so technically I hadn't even missed my period yet and it was already picking up on a very cheap, generic pregnancy test.

I didn't get to a doctor for my actual pregnancy confirmation until I was 9 weeks. By that 9th week, I had already experienced almost crippling exhaustion. I was having a hard time doing anything whatsoever. I had a hard time convincing myself to even get up and brush my teeth. Pretty much within seconds of my first ultrasound, twins showed. Evidently its not very common for twins to be evident at 9 weeks, but there was no denying these two.

I'm 16 weeks at the moment and not many of those early pregnancy symptoms have diminished. The fatigue has been the hardest thing to deal with. I had a lot of nausea but no vomiting and it was never to the point that I couldn't function. However, that fatigue... it got me. It got me bad. I felt like the worst mom in the world because I was having such a hard time even getting up and getting my son ready for school in the mornings because I was so sleepy. I have overslept, caused him to miss the bus, and once even flat out let him skip school that day because he said he was sleepy and, well, so was I. I've had some pretty severe headaches, extreme aches and pains, and might I add the most uncomfortable hunger ever.

I say its uncomfortable because...well... it is. I'm not hungry. I don't want to eat. I have no appetite. But my babies... they're aching for some food. The first 12 weeks I can honestly say absolutely the only thing that eased my nausea was eating. At least every hour, but preferably every half hour, I needed to eat. Even if I only took a bite or two out of whatever was there, I at least had to consume something. I also had the most severe dry mouth I think I've ever experienced in my lifetime. That's another thing that hasn't quite worked itself out yet. Despite eating all the time, I've actually lost weight rather than gaining it. My belly has gotten very prominent, so I'm assuming that every thing I am eating is going straight to the babies and I'm just getting left out. I can't complain. As long as they're healthy, I'm okay.

I look pretty horrible just to be honest. I know, I know- I'm not supposed to be vain. Vanity while pregnant is just... pointless... but I can't escape it. I look in the mirror and I look like a zombie. A bloated, starving zombie. It takes twice as much concealer as usual to cover my dark under eye circles, my body stays covered in bruises (I'm assuming this is just a low iron issue or something), my hair is dry and brittle and I never feel like fixing it. My skin goes back and forth between clear and glowing and looking like a 16 year old. I've lost weight as well as a pants size so all of my clothes kind of hang off of me, yet they don't cover my belly. Thanks to my pregnancy clumsiness, I've also got myself a sprained ankle and foot, so I get to hobble around as well. But hey--- all is well!

I've been really frustrated with the lack of twin pregnancy blogs. It seems all of the ones I find are a bit too... medical for me. No real experience, just what-to-expect-when-you're-expecting type of things. Also, I've noticed most of them are results of fertility treatments rather than just an OMG situation. When you're expecting one baby, especially in a planned pregnancy, and you see two, its definitely a lot to take it. There's almost this reaction to scream because its so overwhelming. On the way home from the doctor that morning I remember all I could think was "I'm going to be HUGE!" Again, vanity, but I can't stop myself. I work really hard to get my body back after my babies so knowing I'm carrying two is a lot to take in. There's also a lot of fear which I don't feel like any blogs have referenced very much.

I myself am preparing for my fourth cesarean section. This was scary to me when I thought about twins. My doctor told me after my last surgery that he would be comfortable doing one more but that was probably it. So of course when I heard there were two babies, it was scary.
I'll be totally honest and say that we even warned every one not to get too excited about the prospect of twins until I got the okay from my doctor to carry them. I'll get a lot of hate for this but I couldn't bring myself to get attached to them because my husband and I had already decided if we were told it was too high risk for me to carry them and deliver them, that I might have to terminate the pregnancy because I wouldn't leave my three children I already have without a mother just so I could move forward with this. Of course I know all pregnancies are risky but its really scary when you get high up there with the C-sections and get the news that you're having twins.

Anyway, here we are at 16 weeks and all has went smoothly. My next appointment is in exactly a week and I'm hoping we can get more detailed answers then. I really want to try to keep every one updated on every thing because I have just searched and searched for more twin pregnancy info and came up empty handed or at least disappointed. I still look every week for someone I can connect with, someone who is dealing with what I am, and I never find anything. I'm so tired and exhausted that it honestly depresses me, and every thing is so different this time around. My skin itches all over and its dry. These kids are literally draining the life out of me, but its okay. My emotions have been up and down; sometimes I've had such a hard time with the hunger that I've actually cried because I just want to eat. I wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pangs. A lot of mornings I can't even sit up until I have food BROUGHT to me and I then eat it laying down. Its been a huge change for me. Of course the lack of bladder control has been an issue too.... between that and the hunger I don't get much rest at all.

I'm adding a few progress pictures here because I don't find many of those either. Keep in mind this is my fourth pregnancy so don't be too hard on me :) There's a short little "stat" survey at the end as well.

First "belly shot" at 9 weeks

13 weeks

16 weeks

How Far Along? 16 weeks and 2 days
Symptoms: Sleepy all the time, no energy. "I'm-going-to-rip-someone's-head-off-if-I-don't-eat" hunger, very tight & crowded feeling in stomach.
Total Weight Gain/Loss: I lost a total of 15 lbs the first trimester. Thankfully I've gained 2 this week.
Sleep: I want to sleep all the time but have a really hard time getting there. I fall asleep out of no where but the slightest things wake me up and once I'm awake I have a hard time getting back to sleep. Very vivid dreams and having a super hard time breathing out of my nose so I'm "mouth breathing" and snoring so loud I wake myself up.
Food Cravings: PIZZA! PIZZA! PIZZA! This is a constant in my life and I'm loving it. I also want condiments... mayonnaise, sweet and sour sauce, and BBQ sauce. Jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. And gummy worms.
Best Moment This Week: Feeling super strong movement from both babies rather than just one.
Movement: Neither baby moves a lot, but when they move they are both so strong. It feels almost like they get stuck when I move because the times I feel them the most are when I move in an awkward position, like bending down to get something at an angle or leaning up from a flat position, and I always feel them right under my rib cage.
Labor Signs: None
Gender: Hopefully we'll find out next week! Everyone says boy and a girl, but I have a gut feeling its two girls. My daughter says B&G (boy on the left, girl on the right) and my oldest son says its two girls.
Belly Button In Or Out? All in!
What I Miss: Energy. Energy drinks. Smaller boobs (I hate these huge things)
What I Am Looking Forward To: Seeing them in the next ultrasound now that they'll really look like babies!
Milestones: Feeling baby #2 move (the one on the right)
Weekly Wisdom: When all else fails, eat some pizza.

FINALLY... a (relatively) easy at-home wax kit that WORKS!

2013-06-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

So... real mom life truth... most moms don't have the time, or extra funds... to go get a bikini wax. Even if they do, it isn't always worth the effort for something that maybe they don't feel comfortable having a stranger do.

Well for one thing, I am all for bikini waxing. In my opinion, the slight discomfort of bikini waxing is worth it because I don't like shaving. Its a pain in the ass. I can deal with my legs but man... as a mom, I just don't have time for worrying about such a sensitive area becoming irritated, never being smooth, etc. So for me, waxing is worth it.

I have tried lots of different products for this. I've used the strips, the foams, the creams, regular waxes... all of it. The regular was for me sucked because I had such a hard time actually removing it. It hardened up too quickly and didn't remove all the hair I wanted. So I was on a mission to find a product I could use that I wouldn't hate, and I finally stumbled upon Moom sugar based hair remover.

Before I continue with this post, I want to mention this is not a sponsored review. I personally found and purchased this product with no influence from anyone else (with the exception of a few reviews from Amazon.com when I was placing my order there.)

So this easy little nifty kit comes with the wax (which is sugar based), some popsicle sticks to apply it with (a couple of different sizes), REUSABLE cloth strips in various sizes, and of course your instruction booklet.

The stuff is really affordable (I think it was like $12 the day I ordered it) and it pays for itself even if you're just using it for your eyebrows or any small area.

I was brave and decided to use this all by myself, with no help from my hubby. He was at work, the kids were in bed, so it was mommy pampering time, if you can call it that. I warmed the wax up (about 30 seconds was enough- though I still had to let it cool off after so it wouldn't burn me) and I was set. I had absolutely no problems applying it. Its sticky so if it comes off of the stick it'll leave you sticky wherever it drips, but its super easy to remove with some water or even a baby wipe.

Of course I was terrified to do this but I was shocked at how easy it was. I can't really provide before and after pictures of course but I will say that I did as the instructions say and skipped shaving all together for 2 weeks so that there was actually enough hair to remove. I applied the wax, laid the strip on, rubbed it 3 or 4 times, and then pulled the skin VERY taut and pulled the strip in the opposite direction of the hair growth.

It was SO easy. I can't even say that enough. So easy and really not even much worse than waxing my eyebrows! It was honestly pretty painless. A quick pull and it was done. The best part was, I didn't have to go back over it. It missed no hair, every piece that had the sugar wax applied and the strip pressed over was removed. It was great. It only took me about 15 minutes to go completely "hair free", and there was no discomfort afterwards. There were tiny little dots of blood in some spots, which is very normal because you're literally removing the entire piece of hair so quickly. I had no negative reactions to it, even with my sensitive skin, and I am still SO smooth 2 weeks later! I am amazed!

My husband was so pleased with the results (TMI right?) and how well I reacted to it, he trusted me to do his eyebrows and they turned out great too! I've used it on my eyebrows as well, but as of now, bikini area and brows are all I've tried it on, and based on just that, I would recommend it to ANY one who asked, especially if you haven't had the best results with other at home methods!

Now, of course.... I'm curious about those Pinterest "DIY" sugar wax hair removal posts haha. Go figure!

Anyway... two big thumbs up for this one!

Maybelline The Colossal Volum Express Review

2013-06-10T16:22:00.001-07:00

Alright ladies, here's a touchy subject for you:

Drugstore mascaras.

I've heard so many different sides of this debate. A lot of people will say that drugstore mascaras are the same, sometimes even better, than higher end mascaras.

Some people will say they are so much cheaper because they aren't high quality and even downright dangerous.

Apparently I am one of the few people in the world who just cannot wear these cheap mascaras. They always make my eyes itch and I always get infections from them.

None have been as bad as this one though.

Maybelline The Colossal Volum Express

I had nothing going on with my eyes when I first used it. I received it brand new from Amazon, and when I applied it, I loved it. It made my lashes SO long. However, it clumps. A LOT. I get those dreaded tarantula lashes with this. My lashes are really long but they're so clumpy I have to take a brush and separate them.

Despite the clumps, I kept giving this brand a shot. I've heard so many other bloggers rave about it, I just thought there had to be something I was missing. Apparently all I was missing was the styes that were about to pop up.

By the end of the first weekend I wore this, my left eye had a huge painful sty on the top lash line and one in the corner just beside my tear duct. The right eye had another painful sty that was much larger on the inside top corner! My poor eyes are KILLING me. My actual eyeballs are red and itchy and my eyelids are so sore I can't even attempt to apply any makeup at all. I've tossed this tube and for the safety of my eyes, I will not be trying it again.

Am I the only one who has ever experienced this? Its happened with a few other "cheap" mascaras but never to this extent. I am miserable!

Via PINKY Cherry-04 Review

2013-05-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Via PINKY Cherry-04 Review

As a blogger, its a dreadful and sad day when you actually have to present your readers with a bad review. It honestly is. One of the coolest things about a blog is being able to tells hundreds of thousands of people about brands that you love and getting the personal satisfaction of knowing you influenced someone to support a brand you believe in. I took a chance a couple of months ago and ordered a pair of shoes from eBay. They weren't used, they were brand new and came straight from a boutique. They were not shipped from China or anything, so I had high hopes that they would be good shoes.

When I first opened the shoes, I admit, I was impressed. The material is great. They're really soft inside and out and super stretchy without being tight. The bow quality was just okay, I won't say I hated it, but I won't say it was the best I've seen either. They were really unevenly tied (one side bigger than the other) and they felt kind of loose.

I loved the shoes when I put them on. They felt so good on my feet and didn't leave any blisters, so I thought for sure I had found my new favorite flats. I even posted this picture on my IG to show everyone my new favorites!

So Whitney... what was so bad? They're cute, comfy, and great material... where are you going with this?

Well here's the deal. I paid $31.99 for the shoes. I don't think thats a bad price, especially not for the material. However, I got three wears out of these before they fell to pieces, literally.

When I say wear, please know that I mean light wear. As in I slipped them on before I walked out of the door, rode in our car for 30 minutes to our destination, got out, went in and sat down, and got up and walked back to our car and rode back to our house and took them off. THREE wears. I didn't wear this for an 8-hour shopping trip. No dancing. No running. Hell, I barely even walked. I literally wore them and that is it.

And here were the after results:

The thing that bothers me most about this is I really loved these shoes. Its not like I got them and was like, oh damn, they don't even look as good as they did in the pictures. No, not at all. I got them and was so excited! What a let down! The skull and bow came off of both of the shoes, and I didn't even notice the one came off until I got home and now its no where to be found so I can't even glue it on. The insoles are ripping right out and the shoes can't even be salvaged as plain flats because of that tacky hot glue mark on the top. If you look closely at the picture of the bow, you'll actually see that they are literally just glued on with a hot glue gun! Such poor quality for a $30 pair of shoes!v

Sorry Via, you did not gain a new fan here!

If by some chance any of my readers have ordered these and had a good experience, please let me know! Maybe I just got a bad pair? Who knows.

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Reversing hair damage

2013-05-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

I could have been the poster child for damaged hair.

Seriously.

After being a blonde all my life, I went dark and it dried my hair out. The ends were horrible, so I had to chop over an inch off.

Then came a Kardashian marathon that had me determined to get healthy, shiny black hair.

So, being the product junkie I am, I hoarded every hair repair product I could find. My bathroom looked like a hair salon.

I have oils, lotions, 3 day treatments, masks, shampoos, conditioners, styling products, all of it! All in hopes that I would repair the damage and get shine.

These are the products I've narrowed it down to, as well as a before and after picture in a time span of 3 months!

The Products:

Nexxus Pro-Mend Split End Binding Conditioner

Organix Renewing Moroccan Argan Oil shampoo

Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil

Nexxus Youth Renewal Rejuvenating Elixir

Natrol Biotin 10,000mcg Max Strength

(and Nestle Pure Life!)

and (optional) The "Wet" Brush

The Routine:

Alright...Here we go.

I actually prefer "no-poo", but because I wanted something extremely moisturizing, I wanted to add some actual shampoos.

I don't wash my hair much, nor do I blow dry it or straighten it.

Since I'm a stay at home, I don't worry too much about it looking dirty or whatever, but if I do have to go somewhere I just pull it into a messy bun and spray a bit if dry shampoo on it before hand so it has some volume.

I only wash my hair 3 times a week, sometimes only 2.

I take my Biotin every morning and I chug two bottles of water after I take it. I drink water all day and I'm convinced it truly helps with the growth, and I know the Biotin does. My nails look AMAZING!

I brush my hair with my Wet brush all the time, not just when wet. It is amazing. It doesn't break my hair and it gets tangles out so easily.

Keeping the hair smooth and tangle free will really help your hair out.

I rub a little of tropical traditions organic virgin coconut oil on my ends several times a day. It only takes a tiny bit to cover it all. My hair is dark so it doesn't look oily, but I'm sure it would require less on blonde since blonde will show more of the oil. After I apply it to my ends, I wipe my hands off a bit on a towel and then I use my finger tips and massage my scalp for approximately 1 minute.

Before I go to bed every night, I do a full coconut oil mask. I take a larger amount of the oil and saturate all of my hair, paying special attention to the ends and my layers. I use the Wet brush and brush it a lot to get the oil all over my hair and let it really absorb it. I usually just throw it in a loose bun or braid afterwards and put an elastic headband on to keep it off my face and sleep with it in my hair.

In the morning I just rinse it with cold water.

When I do wash it, I do it after washing the coconut oil out. I still use cold water and just easy gently and really only use the conditioner on my ends. I can't stress how great this coconut oil has been on my hair. Tropical Traditions was kind enough to send me a sample of the product to try out, and I really wanted to include the review in this post just to really make my readers understand that I had such great results with it that I actually made it a part of my daily routine.

I towel dry and apply the Nexxus Elixir to the ends, and sometimes a tiny but more of the coconut oil.

I NEVER dry my hair on hot on the rare occasion I do dry it.

And I never straighten it afterwards! If I absolutely have to straighten it, I dry my hair at night and let it rest and straighten it the next day.

And here are my results:

The left side is in March, the other is from today (May).

And this is from before I started using the coconut oil and after!

If you're interested in placing an order with Tropical Traditions and picking up the exact kind that I have used you can visit their website here:

http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/virgin_coconut_oil.htm

If by some chance you don't love the results you get with your hair, you can reuse the product for hundreds of other purposes! I apply it all over my body as a moisturizer, I use it as an eye makeup remover, and it works great (for me) at treating acne. You can cook with it as well (it doesn't even store in your body as fat!) and it has so many medicinal purposes I can't even begin to list them all. Its a really great investment that I don't feel like any of you will regret!

Reasons Why My Kids Don't Like Me...

2013-05-09T18:55:00.001-07:00

Its been a bad week for my kids.

I don't know why.

It doesn't apply to my youngest, but the two older monsters have been living up to their nicknames lately. They feed off of one another so if one is mad, so is the other.

I'll be referring to them as #1, #2, and #3 in this entry, with 1 being the oldest and 3 the youngest of course.

[[Disclaimer- This is a JOKE. My kids are just being brats. Don't get crazy on me as some of my readers like to do.]]

1. I moved #2's chair closer to the table so she could reach her cup.

2. I gave #3 a new crayon instead of the tiny broken one with no tip.

3. #2 wanted my bed sheets to be yellow instead of black and white.

4. After three bowls of cereal each, I said "That's enough."

5. Jesus and Juju aren't mean. I am. (Juju is my MIL)

6. I couldn't pick all of the leaves off the tree in the front yard.

7. I made the sun go away (it was nighttime)

8. There were no dirty dishes in the sink. (Apparently this really bothered #2. She had a major meltdown over it.)

9. I got a Mother's Day card and they didn't.

10. I wouldn't let #3 take his Huggies diaper off to look at Minnie.

11. Doritos turned their fingers orange. (all 3 cried over this)

12. I didn't have coffee in my new coffee cup.

13. My fingernails weren't "sprinkled" enough.

14. #1 put his shoes on the wrong feet.

15. Today isn't #2's birthday.

16. Bad guys are bad and its all my fault.

17. There isn't a pool under our coffee table.

18. I didn't let #3 jump on #1's head.

19. Daddy's shoes are big.

20. The flowers are crying.

21. The Mickey logo on the Disney Channel didn't make Mickey Mouse Clubhouse come on.

22. The lid on #2's pink sippy cup was pink.

23. Skinny stomachs mean your hungry.

24. The garbage truck didn't let #1 take it's picture.

25. The clouds looked like Spongebob but didn't look like Dora.

26. The couch didn't feel like popcorn.

27. Mud makes you dirty.

28. Bumblebees sting and hurt.

Yep.... thats been my week. And its not even Friday yet. The kids all contributed to this unknowingly. This is just a collection of the nice things they have yelled at ME for this week or thrown a tantrum on my feet about. They also added these things that they do like.

Things #1 Likes:

Food

Rabbits

Presents

Santa Claus

Playgrounds

Special things

Songs

Video games

Dogs

Things #2 Likes:

Mommy

Juju

Cards

Present bags

Maw Maw

Granny

Cupcakes

Candy

Target

Kittens

Dora

Paint

Things #3 Likes (according to #1):

Cups

Cats

Mickey

Poptarts

Blankets

Puzzles

Naps

Just for the heck of it, here's some cute pictures from today, when I let them play outside until they couldn't stay awake anymore hoping to make them happy hahaha. It worked momentarily.

Tips, tricks, and products that will make your (mommy) life a little easier.

2013-05-07T17:58:00.004-07:00

With three little ones, I could have it a lot worse than what I do. I have a lot of people who come to me for advice on how to still manage a household while staying on a schedule and taking care of their kids. I can't count how many times I've sat and wondered why people ask me that, especially since I have so many days that I'm in tears once every one is in bed because the day has just been so insane. I've already done a bit on scheduling and I don't feel like that is something that really needs to be gone into in depth again, but I will touch on it. The following list is just some tips and tricks, plus a few products, that make my life a little easier and I think most moms will benefit from.

Sort and organize: Cleaning with kids around isn't easy. However, I'm the obnoxious mom who gets a little irritated with the moms who compare cleaning with kids to brushing your teeth while eating Oreos. It shouldn't be that way. Kids react to the environment around them. Throw them into a room that has toys piled up where they can't even tell what they are, trash all over the floor, broken toys taking up space just because, and dirty clothes scattered about and kids will act NUTS. I mean they will tear more stuff up, they will climb on furniture, hit each other, and just act barbaric. This is because chaos is all around them so they act chaotic. The easiest way to prevent this and encourage independent PLAY and not just following mom around all day is to just organize things and help them learn to keep them that way. It doesn't take a big budget to do this, most of us have enough stuff around to do it spending nothing or very little. Don't just clean rooms when someone is coming over or when the mess is so much that you almost break your neck walking in. Instead, do a 15 minute clean every couple of hours. This prevents you from having to do a 1 hour clean later on. EVERY day, take a handful of Walmart or grocery store bags into your kids room and pick up trash. Involve them in this. Make it a fun thing to do and do it constantly, and they will eventually do it on their own. If a toy is broken, throw it away. Talk to them and let them know it serves no purpose now, it is broken. As parents we tend to hold onto our children's toys forever because of the attachment we have to them. What most people don't realize is you have an attachment to the memory, not to the toy. So let it go. Use clear organizers (I use Rubbermaid) and put them in an accessible spot. I line ours up. Each box has only certain toys in it. Using my boys' room as an example, we sort like this: Superheroes and action figures in one box. Cars and trucks in one box. Tools in a toolbox. Stuffed animals on the bed. Its simple and because the boxes are clear, they don't feel the need to dump a box out to get the toy they're looking for. They always know where they are and how to get to them. Buy a container with a lid attached and you can put these boxes up in the closet or somewhere they can't get into and if you don't want the toys out, they can't get to them. We also have one designated shelf for "big" toys that can't fit into boxes like our singing Mickeys, Spiderman and Batman town sets, and remote control cars. Another good idea for kids old enough to have things like this around without hurting themselves is to put figures in a sandwich bag and store them with the things they go with. My daughter has a Cinderella castle and it has lots of little add ons that don't have another place to go. So instead of putting them somewhere else and having them get lost, we take all of Cinderella's furniture and accessories and put them in a sandwich bag, and then we put the bag inside the castle. Same goes for Captain Hook's ship and all the pirates it came with, and Spiderman and the Bat Cave. This can be carried on into the family room or anywhere that toys are played with a lot, and here you can take it a step further. Get an organizer (or in my case, three) and put each child's picture on the front of the box. Because these don't have to be as durable, you can use a shoebox, a bucket, or even a large storage bag. I personally like to use the huge Ziploc bags and then stick them all into a clear organizer. Once the child has their picture on the container, place the toys that they play with the most in that area into it. When a guest announces an unexpected visit, all you have to do is have the child find all of their toys that are out and put them into the designated container. Easy! I could go on and on about this because it is truly a lifesaver. It can be done in every room of the house with various things (bath stuff, snacks, art stuff, etc). Just have a place that the child knows to use for their things, and it will be used. If you have a child that has an allergy or kids that always complain about wanting a different snack than the other child, you can make boxes or bags with the child's name or picture (just anything that lets them recognize that it belongs to them) and then place their favorite snacks in them. When they want a snack and have permission to get one, they can just go grab one and there is no worry on mom's end.
Stop being brand loyal: This is something I see people do too often and its just ridiculous. We associate being a good mom with using the most high end products on our children. That is just dumb. I'm sorry, but it is. An amazing mom can take the cheapest most useless products and make them something great that their children can benefit from. A few things I don't worry about "splurging on" include wipes (not for diaper changing but for clean up), disinfectant spray, shampoo, paper plates, and juice. I am brand loyal when it comes to wipes for changing my baby, but when it comes to wiping hands, faces, and bellies throughout the day, cheap wipes are the way to go. I can buy a refill pack of Huggies wipes to use for diaper changes and have it last me a month because I use cheaper wipes for clean up jobs. Parent's Choice, Dollar General, Up & Up... These wipes are all great. They don't always hold up as well on diaper changes (most people report having to use twice as many wipes to get the job done when they are using cheaper brands, which means you end up buying wipes MUCH quicker than usual which eventually defeats the purpose of buying the cheaper brand!), but when it comes to getting sticky hands clean again and getting spaghetti off faces, they work just fine. Because kids tend to get sick so often, most moms will keep disinfectant spray and wipes around at all times. Buying those cans of Lysol can get pretty expensive though, so I grab off brand disinfectant. I can get three cans of DG brand spray for the same price I can get one can of Lysol and it is just as effective and still has a great scent. Shampoo might have some readers going "WHHHHHAAAATTTT?" but let me explain. Kids get a lot of baths. And most of them don't do a hole heck of a lot. You just wash it to make it look pretty on most days and to make it smell nice. I mean, most of them don't even have much hair. So I don't always get Johnson & Johnson's or whatever else I might want to pick up because they go through it SO quickly. There are lots of less pricey versions of kid's shampoo that smell just as yummy and obviously clean their hair just as well. Paper plates and juice pretty much get the same explanation. They're both things we go through a ton of and buying the most expensive brand would just not be cost effective. My off brand juices contain less sugar than the more well known brands which is an added plus. Paper plates (if you use them) get really expensive especially considering you just trash them afterwards. Most of what my kids eat off of them are small light things like sandwiches or snacks, so even the less sturdy cheap plates can be used. Of course I wouldn't serve them pasta on them, but for most kid's meals, they're fine.
Meal plans: This is one of those things that if you don't do it, you're just going to slap yourself for not thinking of it. Make a meal plan every week and you'll never have to panic over what you're going to make for dinner and whether or not you have every thing you need to make it. Plan out every meal you'll make, not just dinner, and when you're done making the meal plan for the week, make a list beside each meal of the ingredients you need to make it. Then you can compile a grocery list and go to the store once a week and get EVERY thing you need. You can do this by the month, by the week, or bi-monthly; whatever works for you. Every night before you go to bed, check your meal plan and make sure you don't need to lay anything out to thaw for the next day. This will save you the midday panic tomorrow when you remember you were supposed to lay out those pork chops :)
Stay consistent with your timing: Obviously, schedules aren't necessary for every household, nor do all moms like to have them. Of course I love schedules but I know they're hard to stick to, especially if you work outside of the home. If there is any consistency that will help a household out though, it is having a set time that eating and sleeping are done. If you eat at the same time every day, it actually signals to your body when it is and isn't time to eat. Not only does this make it easier for you, but its HEALTHY. It is a great way to protect your kids against obesity. If you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same time every day, and have snacks at the same time, kids will eventually begin to eat only at those times and they will adjust to it and won't do so much nagging because they'll already know when it is going to be time to eat. If your child gets sleepy every day around the same time, use that as a way to gauge when nap time should be and stick to it. I know that my youngest will always go right to sleep so he can be laid down at 10:50 for his 11:00 nap. My 3 year old will fight sleep and has to play for a bit before she will actually fall asleep, so for her 2:00 nap, I send her to her room a little after 1:00 and tell her to go play and wind down. They all go to bed at the same time every night, so I can usually tell just by their behavior when its 9:00! And an added benefit to knowing when every one will be in bed is knowing when to make time for myself. Because there isn't a fight over what time to be in bed, I know I can workout, clean up, take a bath, or watch something on TV without being interrupted. It makes for a little less stress because I know I have ME time coming EVERY day, not just sometimes!
Invest in a plethora of do-it-all products: I'm not personally a fan of 2-n-1 shampoo and conditioners, but when it comes to other things, I'm completely onboard. Rather than having 10 cleaning products for every room in the house, I use vinegar and water, sometimes with added baking soda. It costs nearly nothing and cleans better than any of the chemical heavy crap they sell in stores. Beauty products that do it all are a mom's best friend. Almost all cosmetic companies have beauty sticks that function as shadow, cheek color, lip color, and highlighter. Great for on the go glam looks. Tinted moisturizers with SPF= MUST HAVE! I just discovered coconut oil and I am SO thankful I have. There are hundreds of uses for it and I intend to take advantage of them. Use it as lotion, eye makeup remover, diaper rash cream, conditioner, hair treatments, anti itch cream, and of course cooking. There is almost nothing you can't do with the stuff! Shampoos and body washes all in one for kids are awesome and a huge time saver.
If its in your budget, get a water table: This is something I don't even know how I have gone this long without having. We don't have a pool, but even if we did, that would be a huge supervising job. A water table provides the same outdoor fun without all that worry. We got one at Toys-R-Us that is by Little Tikes. It cost $45 and we got our money's worth out of it in one day, no kidding. All three of the kids love it and they will stay outside all day playing in it. My kids are NOT easily entertained, so finding something that occupied all of them that had enough for each of them to do was a miracle in itself.
Make some meals ahead of time: A lot of meals can be made ahead of time which will inevitably cause you less stress. You can brown some ground beef (or ground turkey in my case) all at once and pack it into freezer bags to be used through the week. This will turn what would have been 20 minute meal prep into 10 minutes and its super easy. You can use the ground meat for whatever meals you want: chili, spaghetti, Hamburger Helper, soups, tacos, etc. You can also grill chicken and freeze it in storage bags so it will just have to be heated back up and thrown into a salad or in some veggies. Vegetables can be sliced and frozen too, making it a no-excuse way to always work veggies into your meal.
Set up certain days of the week to do household tasks: There are some household chores that don't have to be done daily. To stay on top of these tasks so they don't all end up taking an entire weekend to finish up, just set designated days for each chore. If you change sheets every weekend, start doing that one day during the week. Same for scrubbing the baseboards, dusting the ceiling fans. Here's an example:

Monday- Change sheets
Tuesday- Dust fans & dust catching areas above doors and in corners
Wednesday- Clean tubs
Thursday- Clean outside area, driveway, etc.
Friday- Clean windows
Saturday- Clean out car
Sunday- Steam clean carpets

Take it one step further and do a monthly chore list

First Monday- Purge toys no longer played with
Second Monday- Donate or pack up clothes that kids outgrow or do not wear
Third Monday- Clean doors, spots accumulated on walls
Fourth Monday- Clean out the refrigerator
Fifth Monday- Clean out cabinets, clean inside of oven, dishwasher, washing machine.

None of these things will completely make your life chaos free, but these are at least a few of the ways that I make it through the day without completely losing my mind :)

My skincare routine

2013-05-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hi there glam moms! I have had a huge wave of skincare questions thrown at me recently so I thought I would just go ahead and go through my whole facial care routine. I suffered from super severe cystic acne all through my childhood and teen years and it didn't really ease up until I was around 19. I took all of the antibiotics, prescriptions, everything that the dermatologist recommended, and nothing ever worked. Accutane kind of helped but came with an entire set of scary health issues on its own so I ditched it. Now I have fairly good skin and few acne flare ups, and pretty minimal scarring considering how severe my acne was. Being asked about my skin is pretty crazy but you ask, I tell, so here goes:

Morning Routine

1. Noxzema Original Deep Cleansing Cream.

This is a really standard and budget friendly face wash everyone probably remembers from their teens. I use it now mostly because I like the smell and how cold the eucalyptus oil makes my skin feel. It makes my skin feel tight, soft, and really clean and I like that, especially in the morning.

2. Boots Organic Face Rosewater Toner

100% organic and totally awesome :)

It makes my skin so soft and really makes irritated skin feel a lot better. I like the light scent and love that it doesn't dry out my skin.

3. Mary Kay Timewise Age-Fighting Moisturizer

I'm not a huge Mary Kay fan but this moisturizer is easily one of my favorite face creams. Its extremely light and works really well as a primer for makeup, so its great to stock up on.

Night Routine

1. Petal Fresh Botanicals Aloe & Apricot Facial Scrub

I love love love this stuff! I have never been too big on exfoliating scrubs but I have been missing out! Let me tell you, if you have a stubborn pimple that is sore or doesn't want to fade, get this stuff and scrub it every night. It literally just scrubs the yucky stuff away and heals you're skin really gently. I really can't say enough great things about product. Its gentle, even on sensitive skin. I just adore it.

2. Alpha Hydrox Foaming Face Wash

This is a product I love more the older I get. AHA is great for your skin and this cleanser is where its at. It lathers well, rinses easy, and leaves your skin tight and dry and super clean. Never makes my skin oily or dry, just a perfect clean feeling.

3. Perfect Skin Tone

This is part of a cleansing system but I only use the toner. I have tons of it and I go through it quickly. Its made my skin a lot more radiant than its ever been, and helped soften the few dry areas I have.

4. Olay Regenerist

This product is a little pricey for a drugstore brand but I adore it. I just finished up my full size bottle so I'm using some samples I have until I come across some good coupons ;)

Its a nice deep moisturizer that dries surprisingly light and silky. I love it for night time because it just feels so soft!

I swear I can see a major difference when I use this stuff, especially in the dullness I get in my cheeks and t zone a lot.

5. Aquaphor

I go through this stuff so quickly! It is a miracle product. I use it all over, especially on my hands and feet at night, but I use it on my face nightly as well. I have really dry lips and dry skin around my nose, so I always put this on before I go to sleep. Wherever I put it is baby skin soft by the time I wake up!

Alright, so there we go. My day and night routines! None of these are sponsored products. I didn't receive any of them to review, I just purchase them myself. I did get the Olay sample from a Vocalpoint campaign, but I was a long time user before I ever got it ;)

Most of the products are pretty easy to find except maybe the PerfectSkin and the Mary Kay of course. Just look em up online! I ordered all of my stuff from drugstore.com except for those two!

The trick for a perfect "nude" nail

2013-04-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

Alright dolls, the trick to getting a pretty pink nude nail without all the uneven streaks you get when you must use a nude polish is...

BASE COAT!

So many of us skip this step nowadays but it really can make or break a nude manicure!

I went with Kiss Bio-Strength Enamel.

It dries almost a milky color, just a tiny tint of creamy white to even out your mails.

Then I just applied two coats of Essie in "Sugar Daddy" which is an extremely light, almost clear, shade of pink.

The two together make a gorgeous combination.

Apply a shiny top coat for chip protection and you're set!

Pretty nude nails, no acrylic needed!

Movin' on up... Big blog news!

2013-04-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Hi dolls! What a long week its been! I'm wrapping up the weekend with a relaxing night and some fairly big news (well, to me it is anyway!) My cute little blog here that I unfortunately don't get to put as much time into as I would like is nearing the one millionth view mark. BIG news to me! Thank you so much to all my readers. Comments are still really slow, but I don't hold that against anyone ;)

Anyway, in celebration of such a big event in a blog's life, I'm going to be taking this one step further and starting a YouTube channel. I've done a few videos in the past, but really had a bad experience with it. As I've explained before, at that point I wasn't trying to get "views", and I wasn't aware of how many hits the video would get, so I just made it for the few stay-at-home-moms who know me that requested the video, and I didn't put much work into it. It was the middle of the day and I was sitting down to cut my hair so it was either make the video then or wait a few months until it was time to trim my bangs again. I was home alone with my kids of course and my two year old daughter was throwing a full blown diva tantrum because I wouldn't give her my SCISSORS that I was cutting my hair with. I edited most of the tantrum out, but didn't take the time to put music over the video and do a voice over as I was just making a quick video, and in turn there were a few seconds where my daughter was yelling at me (right NEXT to me) and screaming "MOMMMMY" at me over and over again. She stopped, quickly of course, but needless to say it pissed some crazy internet moms off who thought I was neglected the child because they didn't take the time to read the description of the video where I specifically said, sorry I'm a stay at home mom and my kids are attached to me all day and my two year old is sitting just outside of the view of the camera by my feet yelling because I won't give her my scissors. Anyway... bad experience, lots of dumb comments, so I deleted the video.

Now, however, I have an area set up in my room just for video making, I've got some video editing software set up, and I'm good to go. I also have a lot of spare time since my hubby works night shift now so I'm always by myself when the kids go to bed at 9. I'm going to take advantage of my tendency to be a night owl and just make some quick videos. They will be everything you've found here- product reviews, hair how-to's, and some makeup tutorials and other things as well.

Speaking of product reviews, I want to give a quick (sorry to be obnoxious) review of a product I'm actually currently hanging out and getting some use of right now. Its an awesome little facial detox mud from the brand "7th Heaven". Its a pretty awesome little mask that I definitely needed tonight because its that hormonal point in the month when my face has went insane and gotten crazy oily and red and broken out. It smells like yummy spearmint, went on super easily and pretty mess free, and feel awesome when its on. If you want to try them out you can order them from www.7thheavennaturals.com

I've got the Detox Mud Deep Pore Face Mask on now but there's quite a variety to choose from and I promise you won't be disappointed! I had a cute picture to add to show you guys just what it is, but my computer doesn't seem to want to cooperate so I'll have to come back and add that for you in a bit!

Until next time... stay glam girls ;)

I finally found a miracle multi taking product!

2013-04-26T09:28:00.001-07:00

Can I take a quick second to paint an image for you of what bath time looks like with three toddlers? We have two bathrooms, and hundreds of products. I kid you not, I have hundreds of different soaps, lotions, shampoos, oils, etc. I'm a "tryer".... I like to buy products even if I don't have a lot of hope for them and see if I like them or if my kids or husband do. In my kids bathroom you will find every infant and toddler bath product there is. Johnson & Johnsons, Burts, Aveeno, Suave, I could go on and on.

When you have one on one time with the kids, its great to use one product for bubbles, one for hair, one for skin, one for "private" areas, and one for after bath. But something happens when there are three toddlers, all who want to take a bath together. All of a sudden here I am, hanging over the side of the bath, and I'm soaked. My hair is wet, my clothes are wet, the floor is wet. The kids are laughing and playing, but getting clean isn't really a priority of theirs. So in all the craziness, I have to attempt to wash three heads of hair, three faces, three bellys, 6 hands, 6 feet, and every where in between. And I have to do this quickly before they know what's going on. Here's where the Ivory comes in

Yes I said Ivory, who knew. They've got this great product called Ivory 2 in 1. I think 2 in 1 is an understatement. This is like at least 3 in 1 haha. I can use one handful of this and wash all three kids, hair included. I don't have to worry about dyes and gross chemicals because this stuff is clean clean clean. No dyes to irritate my babies and especially not my daughter who is subject to bladder infections. I get em all cleaned up with this thick lather and its done.

That in itself is awesome. But there's more.

Afterwards the bathroom smells so great, I swear it is better than a candle or air freshener. Its a wonderful clean smell and it will put some of the higher end brands to shame, no lie. Its great. The scent is long lasting on the skin as well.

The other wonderful thing about it is my husband and I can both use it. We've been so bogged down with his and her products, its become a little crazy. We have separate shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, shaving creams, etc. This Ivory can be used for both of us. Its not a one gender thing. It doesn't smell girly, but it doesn't smell masculine either. Its just a deliciously clean scent. It lathers so well, it works amazingly for shampoo and body wash, no complaints there at all. They've also added conditioner to the product so it even works for that if you don't especially dry hair. Since it has conditioners its also an awesome shaving cream. For real. I'm telling you this is the gift that keeps giving.

And don't worry about overusing it. Its from Ivory so its not expensive and the bottle is huge! There's so much product here.

Its not often I so enthusiastically recommend a product, but this is it. If you're a multitasker, this is where its at! I was able to try the product thanks to Influenster, and they definitely helped Ivory gain a new customer!

Why oh why do I neglect you?

2013-04-19T16:58:00.003-07:00

Because I can I guess. I stopped coming to update this blog because it became too much. I haven't had the time to sit down and get my mind cleared and write. I guess you can say life with a 4 year old, a 3 year old, and an 18 month old has overwhelmed me. And in saying that, it would probably be an understatement. Oh, shoot me. I feel like I'm asking too much by asking people to read this because I have proven to be a horrible host. So, my apologies.

I think I've already written this once. Actually, I know I have. The problem with the last one was life caught up to me right after I wrote it :( Not that any of this so much excuses my neglect of a blog I've worked pretty hard to get up and going, but I do want to give you all a run down of what has happened in the months since I've written.

My friends and my family know that the biggest issue in my life has been my relationship with my mother and that is something that evidently just is not going to be worked out at the moment. I tried and once again she let me down. So moving on from that, and onto the next thing...Death. Its been all around me lately. Actually the last 7 years of my life have been jam packed with more death than births which is a pretty big deal considering all the babies in my life and in my family. I don't want to pull this entry down too much and get into all of the sadness, but I recently lost my aunt, who was the closest thing to an angel that I've ever met in my life. She was a wonderfully amazing person who was way too young to die. She has three beautiful grandchildren who are devastated by her passing, and her parents have now lost both of their children which is just... unnatural. I also had a cousin pass away and his death was...extreme and completely unexpected. It happened just a few days before Christmas and it was just horrible. I hate to sit back and watch so much pain just wrap itself around my family. It is completely heartbreaking.

On a somewhat lighter note we've been sick. We are not a sick family, at all. You know how you have those families where someone is ALWAYS sick? Well... we are the opposite of that family. (Don't you hate us?!) I blame it on the fact that we never get out and do very much, therefore we aren't exposed to many other germs.

Anyway, we have had it all. That horrible stomach virus where everyone is miserable and sitting on the toilet and holding a trash can at the same time (aka mommy is holding the kids over the toilet while holding a trash can in front of them.) Yep... had it. Sinus infections, the flu, sore throat... its all been here. We moved to a new house (yay! no more apartment life!) and since day one pretty much, we've been cleaning and disinfected the place hoping to get a warm inviting vibe going on and get rid of the vomit stench. Like I honestly feel like if a stranger were to come in they might think we are just disgusting people and don't mind the smell. I don't smell anything but I have a huge fear that it might just be because I've grown used to the smell! You know how everyone's house has its own smell.... but you don't smell your house? Well, what if the "smell" my house has is... vomit and sickness??!?!? Horrifying huh?

My biggest little is all registered for kindergarten in the fall and of course I freak out momentarily every single day. With all of the sick bullshit that goes on the world today, I really don't look down on people who homeschool at all. Like at this point, it seems like a great idea. We don't even live 5 minutes from the school but that won't spare me any worry, I can assure you of that.

The other two kids are just hanging out, steadily growing. The littlest is a cute little tot now instead of just a wrinkly little infant :) Can I just be a horrible mom for a minute and say he is just the easiest, best "baby" of the three?! Shake your head all you want, but I'm pretty sure all moms with more than one child can remember exact which was the "easiest." My oldest was like a teenager as soon as he was born. He was just already so tall and grown and didn't sleep at night, but slept ALL day. He was tons of fun, but boy was it a lot crazier than I thought it would be! He also didn't want to talk until well after he turned two which was just a problem all in its own. Thankfully there were no issues there, he just didn't want to talk. Ha! His sister was a chronic titty baby. Can I say that? I think it probably describes her pretty well. She came out ready to immediately have a boob in her mouth. Graphic, but I'm serious. She moved her head all around my chest immediately and just opened her mouth and went to town. I was blessed, but by the time she had teeth and STILL didn't want to give it up, it was pretty rough. She wouldn't ever take a bottle of pumped milk either, and wouldn't take formula, of course.

So now I have my easy going man. He's so fun, he's hilarious, and he's gorgeous of course. He talks, a lot, especially for 19 months. I try not to "brag" too much about my kids because no one likes moms who turn their kid's accomplishments into a way to be a bitch, and thats how I feel like I come off when I brag. But yeah... he's really smart. He crawled super early, walked with no problem, talks now, does all the smart stuff like knowing his colors and counting, going to get things for me when I tell him to... all that cool stuff. I hope it carries on into potty training. I might even start bragging then because from what I can tell, a lot of people have major issues in that area.

I think that pretty much sums it all up. Aside from that I've just had the normal adult/parent issues. I started working some outside of the house, cleaning and organizing for a few people, nothing too big. I'm also operating a clothing shop on eBay and Instagram where I sell the kid's used clothes, plus some women's stuff and some vintage stuff. Shameless plug here: instagram.com/monstersclosetresell

I pretty much kept my distance from everyone and everything, not just this blog. I deleted one major entry on this blog, and that was the video of the bangs tutorial and that was because of the ridiculous comments about my daughter's bratty tantrum. I didn't make that video to be some massive viral hit. I made it for my ah... 10 followers at the time, 3 or 4 of those who had asked me to make it. I said in the video and in the description that my daughter was LAYING in front of me throwing a tantrum because I wouldn't let her cut her hair with the scissors. I lived in a small "mill village" house and was literally sitting there looking at her doing it but she didn't start it until I was mid snip and I couldn't very well start over on my hair since I had already cut it. So I stopped and got her to sit down in front of me and watch and started recording it and she started the tantrum again. Like I said, it was for my FEW followers, not the 5,000 views it got immediately after I put it up.

Anyway, I'm glad everyone has liked the Chelsea Houska hair tutorial, and maybe I'll do some more at another time. Sorry I neglected to answer some of the comments. I see them now but its literally the first time I've logged on in months!

Glade Expressions line- my review

2013-02-21T18:21:00.001-08:00

I got another awesome campaign to participate in thanks to bzzagent.com. this one is something I'm really excited about because I just moved to a new home and could use all the help I can getting it freshened up! I got the entire Glade Expressions starter kit and oil diffuser and the best thing about the line is the look of it, seriously. Its so slick! The oil diffuser is so easy to set up and looks great anywhere you put it almost like something from Pier 1! And the air freshener is great because it comes with a case for the can so you don't even have to hide the can under the bathroom sink! Great job Glade!

Bzzagent Campaign: Schick Hydro

2013-02-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited about this campaign! Can't beat a free razor and I actually had WONDERFUL results with it. I have extremely sensitive skin and have to be very careful what products I use, especially when shaving, and I was able to use this WITHOUT shaving cream! Awesome!

Stella Artois Bzzkit!

2012-12-11T09:06:00.002-08:00

Christmas time is here and that means lots of christmas dinners and parties. Whats more fun than a party to celebrate christmas?

celebrating with lots of food, friends, and stella artois of course!

I'm pretty excited about my bzzkit that i snagged for free at bzzagent.com. If you haven't signed up yet, definitely head over and do that! its going to be priceless seeing the looks on my beer expert husband's face when i pour him a perfect "chalice" of his favorite beer *stella artois, of course!*

Mastering the steps with the help of my buzzkit :)

Hey, Moms: Its okay!

2012-10-02T09:54:00.002-07:00

I was inspired by a few ecards on Pinterest to do this post. I'll probably have a lot of comments about how inappropriate some of these things are and how "not" okay they are, but oh well. Its meant to be taken lightly, obviously I don't mean this as a "how-to" for moms! Just some humor! I had every one all over my ass about my hair tutorial because my lovely 2 year old is throwing a tantrum in the background because I wouldn't let her touch my HOT flat iron so I sat her right in front of me and told her just to watch me do my hair instead of trying to do it for me. Apparently I had some people about ready to call CPS on me or something because I didn't stop what I was doing and make her stop crying, I instead talked to her through the video and apologized for the screaming that was going on. Evidently no one read that disclaimer though so there ya go. Life with a 2 year old. GTFover it. (: Anyway, back to the post.

As a mom I know there are things I swore I'd never do as a parent that I now do nearly on a daily basis. And my kids are just fine. And that my loves is the inspiration behind this. Enjoy!

Perfectly normal imperfect parenting techniques:

1. Bribing your children.

Look, you gotta do what you gotta do. And as moms we know that rewards are the best way to motivate your little one. So sometimes instead of rewarding them for something major like going to the potty, we might just have to give in and use an incentive to get what we want from them from the start.

Example: First one to lay down for naps gets a cookie!

2. Taking a break from wiping up every drop of spilled juice, picking up every crumb, and washing every dirty face.

This is especially true if you're a stay at home mom. Sometimes you just don't feel like literally walking behind them cleaning. And I don't just mean cleaning the house, I mean cleaning THEM. So yes, somedays its perfectly acceptable to ignore the red stains around their mouth from juice, and to pretend you just didn't notice that they might have a sprinkle or two of pee on their underwear or panties because they didn't get them down fast enough when they were going to the bathroom. After all, they're just going to do it again in a little while and who has to wash all those dirty clothes? You guessed it.

3. Eating food off the floor.

Spend 30 minutes preparing lunch, and what's the first thing that wild child does when they go to take a bite? Drop it right smack in the floor, of course. Before I was a parent I would have easily said, ohmygosh, throw that food away and make them something else! Now? Well... now that 5 second rule might get extended to 15 seconds. And if I just vacuumed or just swept and mopped before they got up, I'm not above eating the food myself. Disgusting? Kind of. Good time management? Definitely.

4. Letting the TV be a babysitter.

Well this one I'm really on the fence about. I'm not really as into it as a lot of parents I know, but only because of the way my children behave when it happens. I'm not above it though. You can bet if I have a headache or just didn't get enough sleep the night before, I don't mind one bit popping a movie in the DVD player and shutting the door to their room and letting them hang out ALL day, letting Mickey take care of most of the supervision. Their rooms are baby-proofed, they can open the door and come and goes as they please, and food is served, so, why not?

5. Letting the TV sing them to sleep.

This one goes hand in hand with #4 but its just as important for a mom's survival at times. Despite my children having the exact same bedtime every single night, there are nights they just aren't having it. Does it mean I want to put all of my effort into getting them to lay down and go sleep? Well no, of course not. So sometimes the easiest thing to do is get them bathed, put in pajamas, tucked in, and let them try their hardest to watch a movie instead of going to sleep. We all know how quickly you can fall asleep when your concentrating on something else.

6. Giving into whining.

I love the idea of ignoring tantrums. Its wonderful. However, it isn't always a possibility. Sometimes you have to just give in, and any mom who says she never does this is full of shit. I mean, I'm just being honest ;)

Example:

DS: "I want a cup nowwwwwwwww! Give me a cup! MOMMY! AGGGHHH! A cup!"

Me: Immediately drop everything I'm doing, give the boy a cup.

(again this isn't every time, but I mean if I'm on the phone with a doctor and can't hear due to the tantrum being thrown next to me, I'm going to do what I can to make it stop.)

7. Lie to them.

Oh this ones bad, but I guarantee you its the MOST common "bad" thing every single mom does.

Once your child can grasp things being "gone" this becomes super common and easy.

Example:

DD: "Mommy, I want to play with your phone! Please!"

Mom: "No baby, its broke, sorry." (phone is sitting right next to you, perfectly functional.)

8. You throw away their beautiful works of "art"

Oh the shame. Every mom should keep every thing their child ever draws right?

Well honestly if you did that, your entire house, ceiling and walls included, would be plastered with drawings of lines, scribbles, and less-than-appealing colors all piled on top of one another. My daughter can go through an entire pack of drawing paper within an hour and never draw anything other than a line or two in different colors. I do get that guilty feeling in my stomach when I toss the stuff, but I'm anti clutter! I just can't hold onto every single thing they ever make!

9. Skipping baths.

This is huge in my house. When my child's doctor actually told me to only bathe the kids once every 3 days (eczema) I thought it was horrific! Disgusting! Then I started doing it and thought, "Wow! What a time saver!" Ha! Really though, most days me and the kids just sit around the house coloring, playing with dolls, and watching movies. We don't even step outside. So why take baths every day? Baby wipes do just fine! ;)

10. Letting sleeping babies sleep. No matter what.
Ask any mom the craziest place her child has ever fallen asleep and you'll get some INSANE answers. Even more insane sometimes is that we just might let them get that nap out right there. When you've been trying all day to get your child to go to sleep before you go to the grocery store and they refuse, and then they even fight it all the way to the store and scream the entire time your inside, only to slip into a coma-like state just as you turn your blinker on to turn into your driveway, there's no way anyone in their right state of mind would pick that child up and wake them up. Hell no! You park that car in the shade, creep out of the car as quietly as possible, open the doors, roll the windows down, whatever you gotta do, and you peek out every few minutes to make sure they're okay, and you let that baby sleep!
Fell asleep in the high chair, hands still smashed in their sandwich? Let 'em sleep, and get out of that kitchen as fast as possible!

11. Ignoring that wet diaper.
Ideally we'd change diapers after every little sprinkle, right?
But when its 4 am and you go into the nursery to peek in on your sweet little one who is snoozing soundly, and you notice that diaper is swelling like no ones business, you have a choice. Wake the little guy and change him, and then listen to him scream for an hour afterwards, or pray that it doesn't leak and let him sleep for another couple of hours and change it first thing after waking up. Choices, choices.

12. Laughing when they do something bad.
When your kid drops something and says "Shit!" its probably not the best idea in the world to laugh at them. But sometimes its hilarious. Actually, most times. Who cares where they heard it. No ones judging here!

13. Not caring what they eat.
Sometimes it just doesn't matter. Hungry babies mean fussy babies. And some days, especially in that second year, kids refuse every food you put in front of them. Its exhausting. So every now and then if you make them eggs for breakfast and they scream and kick and ask for a Little Debbie cake, you just give it to them.

14. Kool-Aid.
An entire CUP of sugar required for every pack (you know the sugar free kind taste like crap).
They drink the entire jug before dad gets home from work.
Oh well.

15. Getting a babysitter just because.
Hate parents who let someone watch their kid every weekend to go out and drink?
Definitely.
Send your kids to the sitter (or grandparents) every weekend to stay up all night, have "private" time with your husband, and sleep all day?
DEFINITELY!

16. Letting them cry.
You know they're okay. You know they just want out of the crib. But you're right in the middle of something, whatever it may be, and every one says spoiling a kid is a bad idea. So you choose the cry it out method, even if they aren't going to sleep, and convince yourself you're teaching them to soothe themselves.

17. Hiding in the bathroom, the closet, the pantry, wherever.
Feed your kids a delicious and healthy snack when you're craving a king sized Snickers, sneak off, lock the door and eat it. Kids screaming at the door? Just adds to the fun of it.

18. Letting them watch a bad show/movie just so you don't miss it.
Its time for the new episode of Sons of Anarchy.
Do you miss it and catch it later so your kids can sit and watch another Disney movie or better yet send them to their room and listen to them scream so loud that your neighbors would think something VERY bad was going on?
Hell no. Sit 'em down and teach 'em a thing or two about what not to do in life. Duh. We all know in this day and age Facebook and Twitter will spoil EVERY episode of every show if you miss it!

19. Dress them for you.
There is a very small window when you can dress them the way you want to so take advantage of it.
Every time you put that HORRIBLE huge bow on your daughter's head and force her to wear itchy nylons, just remind yourself that in a few short years you'll be arguing over her slutty outfits of choice. Sad, but true.

20. Not giving them your techie toys just because every other mom does.
So what if there are 10,000 free toddler apps.
So what if every time you go to a restaurant you see kids playing with iPads and iPhones.
Those things aren't cheap!
I wouldn't pay $600 for a kid's toy, and I'm sure not going to give them MY $600 toy just to shut them up.
NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN.

My favorite "at-home" income opportunities :)

2012-07-25T12:17:00.003-07:00

I've debated on writing this post for a long, long time. My only issue with letting people in on this is the skeptics. I hate when I go out of my way to tell people about this stuff and then get flooded with messages about how "its a scam, its bullshit" before they ever even try it, just because they only go by what they have heard.

If you've read my post about "free" Christmas, you know I'm serious about my frugal lifestyle, especially my frugal VIRTUAL shopping sprees. I get literally hundreds of dollars worth of stuff free every year. I mean really free, I don't pay a dime for any of it. I don't pay for diapers, EVER, I absolutely refuse, I don't buy baby wipes, and I don't buy kid's clothes unless I just absolutely have to have them. And I don't get crappy stuff free either. Almost all the clothes I get the kids are either boutique style stuff or they're Gymboree. The baby wears Huggies diapers and we use Huggies or Pampers wipes. Of course you can get anything "free"... toys, anything from Amazon.com, or anywhere that accepts Paypal.

Here is where most of the eyerolling comes in. I do surveys and I resell clothes. That's it. That's all I do. No coupons (sometimes some promo codes for free shipping or a percentage off but thats it), no scams, nothing. I've been doing it for about 2 years now, going on 3.

There are thousands of survey sites out there but only a handful are worth your time. The only one I've had lots of success with is OpinionOutpost.com. There are lots of long profiles to fill out at the beginning that you don't get any money for but once you fill those out they start sending surveys. Each survey pays anywhere from 50 cent to $4.50. They take anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes. If you go to the site and click take survey every day you get a lot more opportunities than you do if you just wait for them to be emailed to you. Plus once you've done it for so long you get more and you are so familiar with them that it doesn't take you any time to do them. I like to do them on our Kindle so I can walk around the house and just do them a little at a time. I "cash out" a couple of times a week, usually for $20. You can either get a Paypal payment (its instant), a CITI card, or Amazon promo codes. I love the Amazon promo codes but the Paypal stuff works out better for me.

I also use InboxDollars (if you use them, make a separate email account for it. They send TONS of "offers". They are one of the few sites that legitimately pay you to read emails. You just open the email, click the "I've read this message" icon, and you get paid for it. They send out a check once you reach $30. They also have surveys and easy little tasks and videos to watch and stuff to help you get there. Really simple site, just takes a lot longer than OO. I also like Hotspex a lot (they pay via Paypal) and Vindale, Pinecone, and sometimes Toluna (really I don't cash out with them often but I like doing their surveys because you get to try a lot of products free. Same with Pinecone, and Pinecone pays you for every survey)

Now my new absolute favorite way to make some extra income is this awesome eBay like site called Yardsellr. It took me, oh about.... 5 SECONDS to fall in love with this site. Its so AWESOME. Here's how it works:

1. You join via Facebook
2. You get $5 IMMEDIATELY for joining (they are called "photons"). You can also earn more money for all types of stuff (commenting on items, referring friends, organizing the boards of stuff so they are in the right category, etc.)
3. You can pay via credit card, debit, or Paypal, or you can meet the person somewhere to pick up
4. You can sell your own stuff on the site and add shipping on to the price and every thing. I sell my kid's clothes when they outgrow them and even stuff I find really cheap on clearance racks, and you wouldn't believe how much you can make. I actually get close to what I buy the things for, which I NEVER get from the "yardsale" sites on Facebook. No one tries to haggle the prices (at least not usually) and you can sell just about anything. I've seen furniture on there, electronics, everything! The best thing is there aren't any fees. NOT EVEN IF YOU SELL IT! Its so much better than eBay and so much safer than Craigslist!
5. Watch the money roll in! I accept Paypal payments and whenever someone buys my stuff I get paid within a day after I ship it. I print my shipping labels with Paypal so that I never pay anything out of pocket for shipping and I can just send the hubby off with my package when he goes to work. Then I have more money on my Paypal account to do what I need to do!

I use my survey and Yardsell money for everything. I can order movies on Amazon Prime with my Amazon codes from Opinion Outpost (the cash out is just $5 for Amazon codes!) and I can order diapers from Walmart.com with Paypal and just stop by and pick them up when I'm out (store pick up is free! No shipping charges!) I do this with my wipes, toiletries, and anything else I see on the walmart site that I need. ToysRus also accepts Paypal and so does the Disney store so when Retailmenot.com has some good promo codes for shipping, I can get free toys! Paypal has a "in store" option now at some stores, Abercrombie and Hollister are a couple!, and you just enter your info on the credit card machine! So awesome! And also, you can use your money you got for selling your kid's clothes to buy NEW clothes on Yardsellr. And I mean literally new! I buy so many brand new Gymboree outfits every week and never pay anything out of pocket! Its awesome! and by the way Yardsellr also sells lots of brand new clothes (with tags, some still in the plastic wrapping!) from Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie, and Hollister. Plus lots of designer bags and cosmetics!)

I know this is brief and not so detailed but I wanted to get the word out about Yardsellr and Opinionoutpost both! I love these sites and I want to help all you mommies!

Oh and hey, while you're at it... check out my Yardsell :)

*hey nothing wrong with some self promotion lol*

http://yardsellr.com/yardsale/Whitney-Pritchard-1351662

Staying Sane...and Staying Home.

2012-06-28T11:57:00.001-07:00

If you're reading that title and laughing, you must be like most of us stay-at-homes: Losing your mind a lot quicker than you'd like to admit.

You hear all of the positives of staying home all the time: you never miss a minute in your child's blink-and-its-over childhood, a better bond between mom and child, no daycare germs coming home, etc., but very rarely are the negatives thrown out there.

Really though... does anyone ever mention the downside before you throw yourself into it? Hell no! Thanks to the lovely way society portrays stay-at-home moms, we think we're going to get to sit at home every day, sleep until lunchtime every day, catch up on reality tv, soap operas, and talk shows, and maybe run to the store a couple of times, a doctor's visit here and there, oh and 20 playdates a week.

I'm pretty sure most of us envisioned something like this:

Sadly, even when you Google "stay at home moms" all you find is pictures like this or...adult themed hahaha. Try "stressed out stay at home mom", or "overwhelmed SAHM", maybe even "sad SAHM"... not much comes up. So of course if we are looking for an image to represent our life and all we can find is images like the one above, we feel ashamed to say that's just not quite how it goes down. In my household, the only time we pile up and cuddle on the couch is when someone isn't feeling well. And then of course its just me and the one child who is sick, while the other two lay in the floor kicking and screaming or breaking something. Then of course the house work piles up because I can't walk behind every one cleaning and then I'm stressed and pissed off by the time hubby gets home because I know in his mind he's thinking, "I've been at work all day and she can't even clean the table off?"

Search long enough and you'll find a more appropriate image of what stay-at-home life is like. Here's a couple that are at least somewhat appropriate:

Now, if that's more like your life, keep on reading. If not, I advise you to move your cursor up to the "X" on the top right hand corner and kindly see yourself out because its about to get real and I'm not sure you can handle it!

I'll be the first to admit I go back and forth with my career choice. I keep getting jobs that I throw myself into when my husband's work schedule allows me to. There's never an option to pay for childcare for three kids just for me to have a part time job so it has to be during his off time so he can watch them and let me get out of the house. I start living in this fantasy world where I'm like "Yes! Yes! I can do this! I can totally be a career mom! I can get up, get dressed, do awesome at my job, AND stay on top of the housework too, and I'll be less stressed out and I'll be happy so it will be best for the kids in the long run!"

But then it happens. Reality comes into play. Because mommy isn't home all the time, the structure and schedule I've worked so hard to achieve in these four years just falls apart. They start refusing to take naps when they're supposed to, they stop eating foods that they enjoy, they start hitting and talking back. THEY do not react well to Mommy being out of the house. No, they don't beg me not to leave. Heck, they don't even tell me they missed me while I was gone. But their little minds start telling their little emotions that something is going on and all hell breaks loose.

So then I'm back. Full-time mom. Of course, I work from home so I don't "give up" on myself completely but that free time is gone. So is a major bit of my sanity. But rather than simply throwing my hands up and admitting defeat, I fight back. I've spoken before about my past as a hoarder, and when I say that I'm not exaggerating. Full blown piles-on-top-of-piles-all-stacked-to-the-celing-in-every-room hoarder. Because of those tendancies, I try my hardest to be sure I never "relapse" and have it happen again and I also try to control any chances of my children being exposed to anything like that. Now, its not easy, mind you, to keep a house even "tidy" with three kids 4 and under, muchless orderly. But, and I'm about to say something that's going to piss a lot of people off, I absolutely despise women who say its pointless to clean with a child in the home, because no, its not! All you're doing by saying that and by sticking to it is telling your children that they aren't responsible for cleaning up messes and that you'll handle every mess they make, once THEY have decided they want to give it up for the day and go to sleep. Why in the hell would any mother allow her children to think like that? Doing that is why there are so many men who end up not knowing how to wash a load of clothes or how to load a dishwasher. They've lived their whole life knowing that if they just leave that pile of dirty clothes there in the floor, mom will have it picked up, washed, folded, and put up by the time they get up in the morning, and that when they're done eating the food that mom prepared for them, if they just leave the plate on the table, a magical little fairy will come by and swoop it up, carefully place it in a miracle cleaning machine, and it will end up back in the cabinets where it belongs, waiting to be filled back up with a freshly prepared meal the next day! Now... see where this is a problem?

If you let your kids see you slaving over the housework every evening while they watch TV with dad, that is how they learn things will be cleaned. So, while their little brains are mushy sponges that absorb every single thing they see or hear, why not teach them some independence? Some responsibility? Some work ethic maybe?

Its not as hard as it sounds, trust me. If I can keep my house at least somewhat presentable at all times of the day, so can you. I live in a tiny little 1900's mill-village house with microscopic closets (and only 4 of them at that!), one bathroom, and NO laundry/utility room! Oh, and of course, no playroom! Imagine cleaning THAT with three kids, all who are mobile (Mac is now crawling and holding on to things and walking!)

So now to the "how-to" list. Its not complicated, its not mean spirited. Its what I do and its what I get asked about more than anything.

Staying Sane while Staying Home:

1. Make the kids wake up! Make them take naps!

I have stressed this time after time after time. It has been proven, by actual licensed doctors, that not taking naps can have negative effects on growing children. That alone should be enough to make you say okay, lets do this. But since I know some silly people out there who insist that it is impossible to make their child take a nap, I will say this again. Drag your kid out of the bed when you get up. A good time is 8:00 am, maybe 9:00 if you prefer. It doesn't matter if they went to bed at 4:00 am the night before, make them get up. Yes, they're going to be a pain in the ass all day but thats the point. Don't let them fall asleep until you say so. See them sitting on the couch rubbing their eyes at 10:30, head leaning to the side? Then scoop them up and take them outside to play. Get them up and tell 'em you want to dance. Do something to get them moving. Maybe throw in "see, you should have went to bed at bedtime last night and you wouldn't be sleepy!". Whatever works. Wait until a reasonable time and tell them that its time to lay down and take a nap. In their bed. Not on the couch watching tv, not in your arms, yada yada. Mine lay down around 1 or 1:30 and usually all fall asleep by 2. Yes, all three. Same time. Its amazing. You'll thank me later. Don't let them sleep too long. An hour, two hours at the most. They'll wake up sweet as can be and ready to go.

2. Ask for help!

Kids get on your nerves following you around? Do you swear you can't wash dishes or do laundry because the kids are right behind you, stepping on your ankles, knocking you down, tripping you or each other? Well, give them something to do. When I have something to do mid-day, I enlist the help of my little ones. What's better than 2 efficient hands to get a job down? More than 2, duh. So I put little guy in his room to play, or sometimes in his high chair to eat some snacks, and I ask the two oldest to help me. If I'm washing dishes (which I rarely am in the afternoons, I'll get to that later), then I ask them to walk around the house and see if they can find any dishes. If they come back empty handed, I ask them to go back and double check and make sure no one left any sippy cups under the bed. This just makes it take longer, of course, which is the point. When they come back I praise them for what they did (rewards are key with kids, even if its just a verbal reward) and we move on to the next thing. I might ask them to help me dry the dishes (yep, we're dishwasher free), or maybe to grab their stool and help me put the silverware up or the pots and pans up. If I'm doing laundry, I give them a pile of wash cloths and ask them to fold them, or I hand them a stack of their t-shirts and ask them to go put them away in their rooms (yes, they will unfold the stuff. That's why you do one thing at a time and you just let it go). I also give them a laundry basket and tell them to go find dirty clothes and then put them in the laundry sorter. Easy as that. Kids love feeling like you need their help instead of the other way around. Use this to your advantage!

3. Clean every 15 minutes!

You can reread that as many times as you like. Its not a typo. Yes, I said clean every 15 minutes. Sounds horrible right? Its not, trust me. It only takes kids 5 mins to make a mess. Well really it takes them about 30 seconds but they can do some pretty severe damage in 15, so thats a good number. Announce to them that its time to clean. Sing the Barney song if you need to. My kids think its more fun that way. Sometimes we turn it into a race. I keep an empty bucket, basket, or container of some sort around in every room just for our clean up time. I get the container and tell them its time to clean and then if we're racing we put it in the middle of the room and we see who can fill it up with toys the fastest. If there's only a few things out then I tell them specifically what to do (for example: "Gracie, please pick up your baby doll and your purse and take them and put them where they go in your room." Take it a step further by being specific: "Gracie, please put your baby's bottle in the kitchen in your room".)

You have a role here too though, not just them. Take a look around and see if any trash has piled up anywhere. If it has, throw it away now. Don't wait until the next time you get up to go in the kitchen: that's exactly what creates clutter. Same goes for dishes, shoes, dirty clothes. All your doing is a quick "tidy up" every 15 minutes to keep things from becoming too much to handle. This is also teaching your kids to clean up with things when they're done with them.

4. Have a routine & schedule for yourself

To me, this is more important than the other things that I do because its something that has become like therapy for me. I hate washing dishes with a passion, and like I mentioned before, we don't have a dishwasher in the house we're renting, so there's no way out of it. To make it something I could stand, I started doing this little trick: I put Pandora on my Kindle Fire, set up my favorite stations, and I use my dishwashing time as my private time. I like to do it twice a day: once right after I wake up, and before I get the kids up and start breakfast, and once before bed when they've been tucked in already. It gives me time to be by myself and it also gives me something to take my frustrations out on! I have a "routine" for days and nights, and they both help me stay on top of cleaning and also help me unwind and have time to collect my thoughts and get in my parenting zone! They go as follows:

1. Get up, brush teeth, get dressed (even if I'm not going anywhere I usually do this, just to make myself feel better. Often times I even put make up on.)

2. Make up the bed (hey, statistics have shown that people who make up their bed daily are happier in general! Plus it makes for a good night's rest later on)

3. Drink a big glass of water, take meds and vitamins, start a load of clothes.

4. Wash dishes, clean counter tops.

5. Make a small breakfast & check emails, do a few surveys, online shopping, whatever.

6. Wake kids up

For night time its a little more flexible but still mostly the same stuff:

1. Put kids in bed

2. Wash dishes, do a load of laundry, get clothes put in washer for next morning.

3. Clean counter tops, put away anything that was left out

4. Make an extra bottle for MacKinley to have in the morning as well as a sippy cup for each child to have in the morning (put all in the fridge)

5. Check email, read, do surveys, watch TV, workout

6. Bath, then husband time, bed time.

5. Make things easier for yourself!

This is something thats really important but its going to be different for everyone. Just try to simply things for yourself as much as possible. Don't worry about taking shortcuts in life-sometimes they're necessary! If your kids drive you insane first thing in the morning begging for a sippy cup before the sun even comes up, wait until they've been asleep a while and make them a cup and sneak it in their room. Leave it to where they'll see it when they get up to beg you for it. It saves so much aggravation. You might be teaching them that there will always be a cup there waiting for them magically haha, but hey, like I said, it says aggravation. You can handle the "where'd it come from" element at another point in time. Does the baby wake up at the same time every single night to have a bottle handed to him? Then buy a formula dispenser (I use Nuk's!), fill it up for the night, and have a bottle of room temperature water already waiting in his room so all you have to do is dump the formula in, shake, and hand it to him. So easy you can do it half asleep!

6. Make a chore list

We just did this a few days ago and its already been a hit in my house. I gave the kids super easy jobs that I knew they wouldn't mind doing. Then we made a colorful poster for each and drew a picture of them beside the list so that they would know it was their list. Then we put a sticker beside each chore that would remind them what their chore is since they can't read. The chores are really simple things like putting their clean clothes up every morning (they have a sticker of a shirt beside it so they say "oh yeah, I have to put my clothes up!"). We also have help mommy put up silverware, wipe off table (they have their own little Mickey Mouse table they eat at in the kitchen), and bring dirty clothes from the bathroom to the laundry sorter. Reward them for doing them if you want to, but for mine just having the very visual and exciting "to-do" list is enough. They love it. I hung them on the bottom of the refrigerator door so its the first thing they see in the morning.

7. Set a bed time and a strong bedtime routine

I thank God for this every day. No, really, I do. Its what I'm most proud of. 9:00 pm is bedtime in our house. No kids are up after 9 whatsoever. Not even the baby. Since the boys share a room, this is how our bedtime routine goes:

1. Eat dinner

2. "Free" play time (they all play together in the same room, not the living room). It gives them time to run off their last bit of energy and wear themselves out.

3. While they play I get bed stuff ready: Lay their pajamas out in the living room, all in their own stack so they know where they are. I lay out any ointment, cotton swabs, lotion, or medicine we need as well. I make a hot bottle for MacKinley so it will be warm when he gets tucked in. I lay out a diaper with his pajamas, and of course underwear with the older kid's pajamas. I go to Balin's room and if the kids are playing in there I tell them they have to help clean and I tell them where every thing goes and they put it away. If they aren't in his room I call them in and have them get started.

4. Bath time (all of my kids take a bath together, its just easier that way right now). When I get MacKinley clean I wrap him in a towel and call Daddy in to take him and then I get the other two out. While Daddy and Mac have their little bonding time (he just slips his diaper on and pajamas), Balin and Gracie brush their teeth and we dry their hair. I tuck MacKinley in his crib with his bottle and leave him to get to sleep (he still occassionally cries for a few but not often).

5. Tuck ins-While Mac is getting to sleep I get the other kids in their pajamas and then we head to Gracie's room and clean up. Even if they didn't both make the mess, they always help clean each other's room. At the moment this is just easier for us because it pushes the other one to do the same and clean better or just as well. We read a book and then we tuck Gracie in. I take Balin to his room, tuck him in, say prayers, and then I go back into Gracie's room and tell her good night without anyone else in there and I say prayers with her.

8. Insist rooms be cleaned before anything else is done, no matter what!

Your mom probably had a rule when you were younger that your room had to be cleaned before you went to stay with a friend, or that the house had to be cleaned before vacation. Well, good for her if so, because this is a great rule and its one to take one step further. Make it a "before you do anything" kind of rule. We clean rooms here every single night before bed. No matter how tired I am or how tired they are, we clean. I sit in the floor, or stand in front of the door, and I point and tell them where to put every thing. Its not as hard as it sounds because we've designated spots for every thing (dolls and stuffed animals all go in the corner of Gracie's room, dishes and play food all go in her kitchen, she has a bag for baby clothes, etc, and Balin has a bookshelf, a dresser where he puts all of his "big" toys, a toy box, and a box for MacKinley's toys, plus one of those three-drawer organizers for smaller things like his trucks and action figures and stuff). We put every thing in the right spot every time, and we keep it in the same place so no one gets confused. We sit Gracie's babydoll strollers and baby beds and stuff in the same spot every day, and Balin's toys get set in the same spot. This just makes it easier for them to remember where things go. They like routine! Cleaning before bed means they wake up to a clean room and a good start to the day. If they get up in the middle of the night and play with something and don't put it up, its all cleaned up before they come out of their rooms in the morning. If they're leavning for the weekend to stay with their grandmother, or if its the middle of the day and we have to leave, we clean. If you don't have time for that, MAKE time. Set aside 15 minutes before you start getting ready to go somewhere and have them clean. They'll get the hang of it, I promise!

To make a very long story short, if you have chaos in your life, get rid of it. You don't have to walk behind your kids and pick up every mess they make just to keep things clean, but you do have to be consistent with teaching them how to do that themselves. Yes, they're going to keep dragging the same toys out. Thats what kids do. But just like you get tired of picking up the same damn toy every few minutes, they're going to get tired of it. Eventually they'll start putting it up on their own. The quick 15 minutes it takes to straighten up the house will keep it from taking ALL DAY to clean your house. If you straighten up every few minutes, you can just set aside one day of the week that you do a thorough clean, and then one day a month to do a DEEP DEEP clean. Set up days for every thing. Make a calendar so you don't forget when to do it. Pick up all trash, toys, dirty clothes, and dishes every 15 minutes, or maybe 30, sweep the kitchen once or twice a day, keep your counters cleaned off as they get dirty, and there won't be anything much left to do at the end of the day and your house will always at least look presentable. Vacuum once a day in the spots you can see, a twice a week underneath everything (moving the coffee table, getting the cracks between the walls and in the corners). Dust lightly every day but do a good dusting once a week. Yes your little cleaning breaks are going to interrupt things in your day, but the quicker you get it done the quicker you can go back to what you were doing and the less likely it is that you'll be overwhelmed in a few days and have to devote HOURS to cleaning.

Keep in mind, you may not be able to "retrain" your husband and make him pick up his laundry or put his shoes in the closet, but you CAN teach your kids to do things on their own and to help lighten your load as well. Don't underestimate what kids are capable of doing and DON'T let them force you into being a slave! You are a caretaker, and part of that is taking care of their future which you are doing by teaching them how to be independent.

9 Months Post Pregnancy weight loss progress & inner thigh gap! :)

2012-06-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I did any good before and after shots and I put these together for my Tumblr, so I thought I'd add them here too. BTW you can follow me on Tumblr as well: http://project-skinny-mama.tumblr.com/

Anyway here are the newest ones including inner thigh gap transformation!

The newest one is actually for my before shot for the Brazil Butt Lift progress!

(the stomach shot is actually an old one i pulled from here, as well as the last in the side views below. I haven't taken any new ones that are decent quality so I'll use these instead even though they're a couple of months behind)

And of course here is the "before" shot for the Brazil Butt Lift

(WARNING: SAGGY BUTT AND GRANNY PANTIES AHEAD HAHAHA! I didnt want to bare my whole booty here so I picked something with good coverage!)

Brazil Butt Lift... Day 2- O...M...G.

2012-06-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking on exercise, but I am by no means out of shape.

I've had bronchitis since April. I'm still coughing until I choke daily, sitting around wheezing through out the day, losing my voice often, all that... so my lung capacity isn't quite what it usually is.

BUT this isn't an excuse (at least not in my book) to slack all together and give up on my fitness goals. So of course I've redirected myself and decided to start getting hardcore about this stuff again.

I'm one of those "go big or go home" types of people.

I can't half-ass anything. Its either got all of me, or none of me. No in between.

So if I seem obsessed at some point...well... I am.

Anyway, back on topic:

Brazil Butt Lift!

I don't even watch television and I've seen this infomercial so I know you guys have.

With three kids its often easier for me to do at-home-workouts.

It saves me the trouble of having to make the kids go to childcare while I workout and having to use the gas in the car to get there, etc.

I've had a lot of results with my at home stuff in the past few months so I had a lot of faith in this to begin with.

However I did NOT expect the first workout to leave me hurting!

No I mean seriously, later in the evening I absentmindedly thought, "what the hell did I do to pull a muscle in my butt?!". I didn't actually pull one (that I know of ) but I was so sore that my amazing sleep number mattress even hurt my butt to LAY DOWN!

So imagine my hesitation on day 2 when I knew I needed to get off my lazy "bum bum" as Leandro refers to it, and get started on my workout.

Baby Mac was asleep, hub was watching TV, time for mommy to work that butt.

And work it I did.

Tonight introduced the cardio portion and Holy Oxygen Batman, let me tell you I was dying and sweating. Really. I looked at the timer.... ha... 18 minutes to go.

And then another 30 for the lift routines!

But was it worth it?

Hmmmm....

I jumped in the shower and when I went to get out I almost cried because my hips and abs hurt so bad.

Oh yeah... 3 c-sections in 4 years and mama is KILLING the ab workouts!

I throw in 200 crunches a day for good measure but tonight's workout really did something to the stomach because it was cramping to the point that I thought it might be that time of the month (it is indeed not.)

So worth it? Hell yes!

Painful? F**K YES!

I'm so glad :]

And after all... they promise I'll have a cute little Alessandra Ambrosio butt worthy of all my Victoria's Secret goodies I've racked up since my weight loss.

I'm down! (and maybe even convinced).

Oh and hey, only half a soda today.

And a made myself down a protein shake (huge for me since I hate fruit!)

I'm taking my sore butt to bed!

Don't be upset by the results you didnt' get...

2012-06-15T14:01:00.004-07:00

Don't be upset by the results you didnt' get...

Know what I hate about weight loss blogs? When the weight is lost, the blog entries stop!

Guess who is very guilty of this?
::stand up, slowly raise hand while looking down::

Yep...me. This is bad on so many levels. Probably the major reason this is so bad is for the followers. Now number wise I don't have a shit ton of followers. Thats okay! Blogger isn't really the place to go for that... if I wanted a million followers I would have made my tumblr a fitspo blog and went from there. I do however have a lot of girls who depend on our heart-to-hearts via Facebook to get them through the tough stuff in weight loss. And God knows there are SO many ups and downs! Especially for moms! When I reached my weight loss goal, I also found myself in a crappy situation: we needed some extra income around the house so I took my stay-at-home-mom butt to work (at a gym albeit!). My schedule bounced around... a lot! So I went from being a mom with 3 kids who I stayed at home with all day, to being a mom of 3 who had to keep those kids on their schedule while maintaining a new work schedule that changed all the time from 9 am-12 pm and going back at 6 pm-9pm! So I wasn't able to do anything except focus on work and keeping everything up with my kids. Thankfully we stuck to our schedule and things are still going great, BUT my social "media" life disappeared completely. My poor blog was thrown under a huge pile of things I no longer had time to do. My weight stayed the same, thank God, but I actually STOPPED working out (and remember, I worked at a full service gym!) because I didn't have the time or energy and wasn't eating enough to give myself that energy. So that toned body I worked so hard to get just turned into a freaking mushy mess. All my messages just started piling up too, I couldn't even make time to reply to every one! I felt horrible!

Now here I am again, back to being a stay-at-home mom, though I am working from home now, and I want to get back to what I feel like I was meant to do. I get so many messages with questions about every thing... health and fitness stuff... Adipex/Phentermine advice... parenting questions.... schedules... couponing... you name it, I get asked it. I don't know why people come to me with stuff like that, but they do and I LOVE it. I've always loved the advice columns in newspapers and magazines and of course I have my big Carrie Bradshaw newspaper column dreams so I thrive off that!

So for all of the people who depended on me to help them with their weight loss, who I unintentionally let down... I'm back! I promise! And I won't let you down again! AND I haven't forgot about you! I've been checking your progress, creepily lurking through your blogs and facebook pages and checking you out! Even if I haven't commented, I've seen it, and I'm proud!

Now for a shameful confession:
I'm not in great shape at the moment!

Numerically my weight hasn't changed but I know my body fat percentage has went up! I slipped up and in my slump and lack of time I found quick fixes in soda and way more meat that I'm comfortable admitting I've eaten! My jeans are still the same size (3's, which I'm STILL proud of!) but they're fitting a lot tighter in my thighs now :( My water weight is more evident than anything to me because I've introduced soda back in my life and its gotta go!

((I need those chunky thighs back in shape!!!))

So for all my girls who read this and keep up with me on FB-Don't let me slip! REMIND ME TO BLOG IF YOU SEE THE ENTRIES FADING OUT! It motivates me- you guys push me! I don't lie on here: if I say I work out so many minutes and eat whatever, then thats what I'm doing!

I got the Brazil Butt Lift dvds today and the first work out kicked my ass. I can hardly move my legs. I'm watching that documentary Forks over Knives and its reminding me how much I need veggies in my life so I'm going here in a few hours to pick up a ton of healthy foods to get me back on track. I big good bye to soda again last night and thankfully that and bread should be my only major vices (I can always cut most of my meat out, I don't care for it too much). I'm not much on sugar anymore so thats no big deal at all. I need my energy back! I want to do this! And I need you guys, so don't let me down!

2012-03-29T18:45:00.002-07:00

Ever have those "why can't I catch a break" days?

I don't have them often to be honest. But Lord has it hit me lately!

I feel like I've been working towards the same goal since I was 18 and I still haven't made it even half way there. Its so frustrating when I look around a see people I know from school who literally haven't worked half as hard as me and my husband, haven't been through have as much, nor deserved half of what they have, and yet they have EVERY thing. A house that their parents helped them get by giving them a loan or cosigning on a mortgage with them, good jobs that they got because they "knew someone", and of course...big huge famillies who babysit free of charge so that they can both work and have the money to pay bills as well as enjoy a social life.

I on the otherhand started with nothing. Never had a car bought for me in high school, had to get one myself instead, never had a car payment made for me, never had bills paid for me, never got a loan from anyone, never had anyone co-sign on anything with me, never had help at all. I thought somehow things would just happen, that I would go to school and get a good job and buy a house and be on top of things. Instead I went to school, had a job, quit to have a baby, then went to get another one only to find that the economy had completely collapsed, and have since been lucky to find a decent waitressing job. Of course because I've never had a cosigner for anything that means I've never had a chance to build credit so I can't get that mortgage I've dreamed of, not even when I had a downpayment that was well over 10%. All I wanted was to find one of those amazing foreclosed homes that are valued so far above the asking price and fix it up and have my own dream come true. Instead I'm stuck paying twice as much as I would pay for a mortgage payment on rent every month, then still have to add the huge stack of bills we have on top of that.

While all of my friend's husbands have had the same steady jobs since BEFORE the economy went downhill, we've been hoping and praying for temp jobs to eventually go permanent for three years now! (Trust me, they never do.) Every time we're doing good, finally on top of things, finally doing well, the job ends. Then we're screwed until something else comes along. So here we are again, back to job searching, back to being so close to losing everything that its terrifying, and of course, no help from anyone (not that I would ask, but still...). Sometimes I just want to slap the girls in the face who complain about their bosses at work and their frustrations with not being able to go on VACATION and make them realize that there are people like ME who would honest to God take a job at McDonalds if it comes down to it just so I can get by with my family. Hell, if I could find a job for my husband and me both and actually figure out a way to afford day care so we could both work and live comfortably, I would NEVER complain about work! I would be SO HAPPY! And vacation? My God I haven't been on vacation since 2006! Sad huh?

I count my blessings daily, I honestly do. I'm so thankful for everything down to the troubles that I have (if nothing else, they make me more grateful and also give me great stories for grandkids one day!) but sometimes a less stressful life would just be nice. I feel like I've been through too much to just keep having more thrown at me every day. So many people just have it so easy it makes me sick. Its like everytime I feel comfortable breathing and loosen up a little and think, "Okay we're going to be alright now! Things are going great!" its like the world wants to prove me wrong.

Sad sad times.
Seriously.
I'm so stressed, its driving me nuts.

And sorry to just complain.
:( Its just one of those nights.

Nearing the 6 month mark...

2012-03-08T19:18:00.001-08:00

So next week will be six months since I had my 3rd c-section. I'm really proud of how far I've come, I was around 160 lbs when I was discharged from the hospital and now I stay in the low 120 range. I went from a 10/12 to a 4/5. I haven't had any slip ups at all, even without Phentermine, and there hasnt even been any pounds that I gained back. I'm finally back down to a 26 inch waist line and my thighs are almost down to 20 inches which is the most exciting thing for me.

I would like to tell all of the ladies who follow this blog and write me on FB with their own updates, that I'm so proud of you and for you! Even if you feel like you have a long way to go, dont go back. The road back is quick and eay but its a dead end once you get there. Get healthy and happy while youre still young. If I can give birth to three babies in three years, all by c section and can still improve my body, so can you. If you knew you would only have one car your entire life you would do everything in your power to maintain it and make it last. So treat your body like you would that car!

Even at my goal, im going to continue working on becoming healthier every day. If I can make the time so can you. So stop making excuses and get up and change it.

MIA for a bit

2012-02-27T17:04:00.001-08:00

Thanks to a whole lotta family drama, I'll be withdrawing from Facebook for a while if not for good. Its not really that big of a deal to me but there are a lot of faces I will miss seeing everyday! With that said, if I didn't get your number before I deactivated then you can email it to me at gracienbalsmommy@gmail.com. I also have a tumblr you can follow: http://lostinthelookingglass.tumblr.com/

Anyway, good weekend. Went to supercross in Atlanta, then Sunday had a fun family day at the zoo and then dinner.

I've lost two more lbs in the last week, so yay for me. My pregnancy jeans are loose on me now, but I've been living in Victoria's Secret sweats and leggings anyway.

Boring housewife week but maybe i'll post again :)

Skipping over "bleach" blonde and going straight for "platinum" aka WHITE--all at home, of course

2012-02-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

I've been rocking white hair for like, 5-ish years now, with only a few changes in between.

I am naturally white haired, meaning of course I was BORN with white hair, not necessarily that it would be white whether or not I colored it.

It started darkening up at the roots when I was in junior high and by the time high school came around everyone asked me why I only dyed my hair once and let my roots out.

EMBARRASSING! Its not cool to have roots showing during the in between salon visits and its even more uncool to have never dyed it to begin with and everyone just assume you need to get your hair done!

So once I turned 18 and could do whatever I wanted to my hair, I went straight for bleach thinking it would turn it white again.

WRONG.

I was yellow. Very quickly.

I looked like I belonged in a trailer to be completely honest.

It was horrible.

Oh well, you live and learn... and in my case that means lots of experimenting.

So now here we are, five years later, and I've got it down.

No more yellow hair, I go straight for white and still get it by using bleach ( hey at least I had one part right to begin with!)

I want to state first of all that

i am not a professional hair stylist!

I don't recommend you doing this unless you have naturally blonde hair or have bleached it before and know how your hair will react to bleach.

This is basically a tutorial for those who ALREADY color their own hair and are familiar with bleach and know the side effects of using it!

I am simply telling you what works for me so I don't have to go into detail every time someone messages me on Facebook and asks lol.

First of all, here's what I use:

from left to right...

Salon Care Extra Lift 30 vol. developer

Roux Fanci Full rinse in White Minx

Wella Color Charm permanent toner in T18 lightest ash blonde (formerly known as White Lady)

Wellite lightener (bleach)

Aussie smoothing serum (for styling after)

Herbal Essences heat protection spray (styling)

Avon Advance Techniques frizz control (styling)

You can find the developer, rinse, toner, and bleach at Sally's or whatever beauty supply store you have in your town, or do as I do and order from Amazon!

I use the styling stuff when I blow dry and straighten my hair because I want to keep it in the best shape after coloring it so my hair doesn't break.

Here's my before.... I haven't bleached since October and its February now so I'm definitely in need of some touching up.

I actually used a highlighting kit in between October and now which is why I have more yellow tint that usual... and also my flash added some more :)

Step one:

Mix 1 scoop of Wellite with 1 scoop of developer.

Apply directly to your roots.

If you already have bleached hair, only touch up the roots!

This prevents breakage! No sense in damaging the rest of your hair! Your roots are "fresh", the bleach won't damage them much!

I leave the bleach in about 45 minutes which works perfect for mine, but again, this is just my experience and I don't recommend you leaving it on that long unless you know your hair can handle it!

So then you're going to rinse out the bleach with cool water, shampoo it. I don't use conditioner here since I'm about to use toner.

Notice the roots are completely lightened now but there's lots of yellow left.

Now for the messy part.

With gloves on apply the Wella toner all over your hair.

Saturate it REALLY well.

YES your hair is supposed to turn purple!

And you may notice this part can hurt a little.

If you have any cuts or sores anywhere that this touches its going to sting but luckily it doesn't stay on the hair long!

I wait 10 minutes at the most before I rinse this.

The bottle says to leave it on up to 30 minutes but I'm telling you your hair will be BRIGHT purple if you do that!

I shampoo about 4 times and rinse with cold water each time.

Then I put TONS of conditioner on the ends and let it sit for a minute before SHAMPOOING the conditioner out (if that makes any sense) and then rinsing it all out again with cold water.

It can be pretty tricky getting the purple tint out. If you work I would recommend you do this when you won't be going in for a couple of days just to be on the safe side. Sometimes it takes upwards of 3 days to get the color out. I like to do it in the morning, and then follow the rinsing steps about 3 times that day, and then by the end of the night its usually all out. Or you can just rock the purple tint for a couple of days! I happen to like it!

This is where mine is after one wash... there is still a little purple there but not much.

Before I blow dry I put the White Minx all over my towel dried hair and then apply my heat protectors.

Here's my roots after blow drying. You can see my little frizzies sticking out but they really aren't that bad for someone who has been bleaching for 5 years lol. Smoothing serum helps this a lot!

Finished product!

And MINIMUM yellow!

For those of you who are wondering why the longer layers of my hair are more "blonde" than white

its not because they're extensions or anything,

I had the underneath part dyed black for about 8 months and this is only the second time I've bleached that part to get it back to white.

So really if you're doing this with black or dark brown, the underneath tint is about what you'll be until the 3rd or 4th time you bleach, then you'll be where my top layers are.

And obviously if you're already a blonde and doing this, my top layers should be where you are already!

Easy enough right?

Feel free to comment with any questions and if you try it out and have good results let me know! I'd love to hear from you!