Mommy Musings

Friday Brain Dump

2012-01-27T13:13:00.000-05:00

It may be decently warm today, but it is so rainy and crappy out that my brain can't see to put anything more than a random list of ramblings together.

1. I think we *may* have turned the corner with Baby C's sleeping. She has slept unswaddled from 7pm till 7 am the past three nights. Let me tell you, the sleep I've gotten because of it has been *amazing*

2. Also, Baby C is sooooo close to crawling. She can scoot backwards and rocks back and forth on her hands and knees. Two mobile children is going to make life a whole lot more ~~exhausting~~, ~~tiring~~, interesting very soon!

3. Not sure if I mentioned it on here before, but hubs and I have been working on refinancing our mortgage {wow, how old does that make me sound?!?!} We really needed our house to appraise for a certain amount though, and with the market being down so much, we were really nervous. But we finally heard back from the bank and the house appraised for more than we needed it to!!! It's still under what we paid for it, but more than we owe, which is the important thing. Can't wait for all of this to go through and start saving money every month!

4. Moms and women need to start supporting each other more, instead of being all high and mighty. Life is hard enough...can't we just work together?

5. There are a few things that people are obsessed with out in the Twitter world that I honestly don't understand. I'm not judging, I just don't get:
               a. Toms shoes. Aren't they really just fancy sneakers?
               b. How a day planner costs $50...I know a lot of people got these great coupon codes for them,
                    but I just don't get how it costs that much
               c. Chevron prints everywhere...just doesn't appeal to me I guess

6. Are you all getting your blue clothes and accessories ready for the Superbowl?? BIG BLUE needs to represent!!

7. I'm finally feeling like my body is back to pre-pregnancy normal again. Not 100%, but pretty close. Need to work on the abs some more...I'm determined to be able to wear a bikini when we go to Florida in March.

8. I'm super SUPER excited about said trip to Orlando, but we are driving {which I want to do} with TWO kids this time. Let's hope we all survive this in one piece!

9. Little M is talking more and more like a big kid and not a toddler anymore. She corrects me if I say 'Punzel instead of Rapunzel. It's great that her speak and vocabulary are constantly advancing, but it's still a little sad at how fast she is growing up!

10. I have a whole bunch of product reviews, and even a giveaway, coming up in the next few weeks. If that's not your thing, just ignore, but I'm really excited about these products. They are all super awesome!

11. Sometimes I get sad that we're not having anymore babies with all these pregnant Tweeters around. But then I drink like 3 cups of coffee, or put on my skinny jeans, or do a long workout at the gym, or just realize that I'm not nauseous 24/7 for 40 weeks and I feel much better!!

12. It's Skip's first day back at work so while everyone is excited it's Friday, it really feels like Monday to me. Oh life as a cop wife.

What random thoughts have been swirling around your head recently??

IParent - A Book Review

2012-01-26T10:19:00.001-05:00

I was recently given the opportunity to review a book entitled "iParent: Gender Trends, Online Friends, and the Soul of your Child", and I am so glad I did. It is written by a man named Don Pearson. His "28 years of youth ministry and legendary mistakes have led to increased prayer walks and growing insight. A graduate of MoodyBible Institute, Cornerstone University, and Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, Don splits his time between student ministry and working with parents of adolescents. He and his wife, Julie, have three grown children and a son-in-law, and have recently entered the magical world of grandchildren." {taken from the back of the book}

I seriously believe that every parent should be given this book when they leave the hospital with their newborn. It is a technology world we live in now...hello, I am writing this review on my blog:) But with that much technology comes a lot of opportunities for children to get into trouble. And it is our job as parents to help prevent that from happening.

This book is a quick, short read and covers the following topics in its chapters:
- Rate of Change
- Decline of Dating
- Rise of Social Networking
- Extended Adolescence
- Blurring of Gender
- Invasive Technology
- Hooking up
- Alpha Girl
- Beta Boy
- Girl Redeemed
- Guy Redeemed
- The Issue is Never the Issue
- Authentic Parenting

As you can see, this book not only discusses a lot of problems in today's society, it also gives us parents some suggestions on how to raise our children in a more well-rounded, moral way. I did not agree with every point in the book, but it sure did make me question and evaluate my parenting, as well as make a plan for when my girls are older.

I strongly urge you to go pick up a copy yourself. Here is a link to where you can buy it on Amazon.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book to read for this review. I was not monetarily compensated. All opinions are my own.

A Book Review - Confessions of a Catholic Cop

2012-01-26T10:19:00.000-05:00

I was recently given the opportunity to review the book entitled "Confessions of a Catholic Cop". As a cop wife myself I knew this would be a really interesting book. The book is written by a man named Thomas Fitzsimmons and I was actually surprised I had not heard of him before. As per the book, Fitzsimmons "worked ten years as a New York City police officer in the precinct dramatized in Fort Apache, the Bronx. He is a Vietnam era Navy veteran, film/soap opera/TV commercial actor and the former co-host of the NBC-TV magazine-format talk show, 'Now'. A private investigator and recognized security expert, he has appeared on shows such as 'Good Morning America,' 'Geraldo Rivera,' and 'Montel Williams'."

Based on his background, I knew this book would very realistic and accurate. And it did not disappoint at all! I normally don't read books like this, so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. Here is a little description from the back of the book:
"The rough streets of the South Bronx. Home to countless gangs, pimps, and hustlers. Where a gunshot is as common as a baby crying. Where a day without murder is an oddity. This is where ten-year police veteran Michael Beckett has spent most of his career. When he lands a walk-on role on a popular network cop show, Beckett hopes to trade chasing rapists, drug dealers, and murderers for a new life in front of the camera....and maybe even settle down with the young, hot writer on the show, Solana Ortiz. But when Solana's neighborhood in the south Bronx goes up in flames in a string of arsons, Beckett must out aside his caviar dreams and do what he does best - police work. With the help of his mercurial partner,Vinnie D'Amato, Michael Beckett unlocks a heinous scheme that reaches into the deepest pockets of power and greed in New York City."

This book is a really fast read. Mainly because the drama is so excited I kept trying to stay awake to read just one more page. The dialogue and character personalities are very believable and realistic. And there were definitely a few surprises and twists that I did not see coming! I have already passed the book onto Skip, and he has been enjoying it so far!

Overall I would recommend this book to anyone...but I think cops and cop wives will especially appreciate it. An you can easily head on over to Amazon to grab a copy!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from which to base y review. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated monetarily in anyway for this review.

Be Our Guest

2012-01-25T10:37:00.000-05:00

Last Friday night, this little girl got to go on a very special date with her mom and grandmom..

We took her to the movies to see Beauty and the Beast!! I knew it would be a win because we have the movie at home and she is straight up *obsessed* with it. I let her pick out whatever outfit she wanted to wear {though I did veto her Jessie Halloween costume} and she really could not have been more excited

This was the best she did at the theaters too. Once the movie started she didn't really want to sit by herself, but was happier snuggling up with my mom or I. And we were more than happy to oblige! She laughed, cried, sang, and recited the dialogue right along with the movie. And of course devoured most of a large popcorn all by herself {okay, maybe I helped on that one}

It was just such a wonderful night. I think my mom and I definitely had as much fun as Little M did. It was nice to get Little M out for a special night to herself without the baby. I can't believe she's old enough for girls nights out!!!

Fun in the Sun....errrr Snow!

2012-01-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend we got quite a few inches of snow here in Jersey. It's not unusual at all for our area this time of year, but this year has not be normal by any means weather wise. This is the first real snow fall we've had since that freak 9" of the powedery stuff we got back in OCTOBER. I have to admit, I did not miss it one bit. I am a summer girl through and through, and the less snow I have to deal with the better. We have had our fair share of really cold days, but we were lucky with the precipitation so far.

So while I may not have been too happy about the snow, one little girl I know was EXCSTATIC! Seriously. All I heard all day was, "Mommy can we go play in the snow?" Over and over and over. It was a bit too chilly for Baby C to go outside, so I told Little M she had to wait until Skip got home and could take her. And you can bet she was dressed and waiting for him as soon as he walked in the door!

Baby C and I got ourselves settled by the window {after shovelling our driveway and sidewalks I'd had enough of the outdoors} It was the perfect settup because Baby C and I could stay warm, and I could still take ~~200~~ a few pictures...without worrying about my camera getting wet!!

I wish I had a cute snow suit with adorable boots for her. Nope...last year's 18month snow suit and rain boots...we're really classy over here

Throwing snow

Mr. B obviously taking a little bite of snow

My first baby Shiba, cause she doesn't get enough facetime around here

Little M and Daddy were very busy outside...there was some snow eating..

.....and shovelling...

....a little dog chasing...

....and helping Skip build his very first snowman {I have no words for this fact}

While inside Baby C enjoyed a Mum-Mum

Watched the fun outside

And tried to persuade me to let her out...no luck baby!

Needless to say Little M had such a wonderful time playing outside. Her bright-red cheeks definitely proved that. And a bonus for me? It's 50* again today and all the snow is gone! I'm all ready for spring now!

Miracles Can Happen

2012-01-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

Image from google.com

It was a long hard battle....one I really didn't think we had it in us to win....but by some luck....and a few things going our way....

Image from google.com

image from google.com

THE GIANTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!

WE'RE COMING FOR YOU TOM BRADY!!!

Oh, and sorry 'bout the loss San Fransisco!!

Image found on Facebook.com

Follow Friday

2012-01-20T12:24:00.000-05:00

I love getting to share the love here in the blogging world, and so today I thought I'd share with you some of my new favorite blogs. I'm even luckier because they are all friends of mine in real life! I'd love if you could go check them out, become a follower, and show them some love!

The first blog I want to tell you about is my mom!! She blogs over at "Between the two...... Living life between two cultures, two homes, two basset hounds and two granddaughters." Here's a little description she wrote about herself..."We supposedly speak the same language, but with differing accents and phrases. Married life with an Englishman has been quite an adventure! I am the mother of three amazing, now grown up women, I live life between our home and "future retirement" home, caring for two basset hounds and loving every minute I spend with my two granddaughters." It's so great getting to see my mom perspective on so many different things...especially my girls!

The next blog I want to share with you is by one of my Marine's Girls! Meredith is seriously the most beautiful girl I know and if she wasn't just so darn nice I would hate her for it ;-) She has recently launched a make-up business called Meredith Lane Make-up Design and has already won several awards for her work! She has just started a blog called Meredith Lane Make-up Design and it is full of some great make-up tips and insider tricks. Here's a little description Meredith wrote, "Hey everyone! My name is Meredith and I am the owner of Meredith Lane Makeup Design. An on location freelance makeup business devoted to glamourizing Brides and Bridal parties...not to mention all types of special event makeup artistry. I began my career in makeup about 9 years ago after graduating from Rizzieri Aveda School of Beauty and Wellness in 2003 with a concentration on skin care. I am a licensed Esthetician with a die-hard passion for makeup. I love and adore all things beauty related and can not wait to share with you my how-to's, product reviews, youtube tutorials and all other things girly and fun! I'm also going to mention that I just recently got married to the love of my life, Jim! Yes, Im a newlywed and Im gloating : ) We live in a tiny town in Southern New Jersey (it should be it's own state) with our 6 year old Olde English Bulldog Murphy. Thank you so much for following my blog. I can not wait to share with you all my true passion in life! Enjoy!!! xox, Meredith" You definitely want to head over and check her out!!

And finally, my very best friend Linda has started a food blog!! It's not your typical recipe blog though...she is cooking her way through some really awesome retro recipes! Not only am I excited that she has entered the blog world, but I love that she often brings over her latest creations to share with us! And let me tell you, not one has disappointed yet! Her blog is called Lindy in the Kitchen and here's a little description she wrote "I'm Linda and I'm from New Jersey. I'm married to a wonderful husband, Mike, and we have a little Boston Terrier named Paulie Walnuts. I love cooking and love the 1950s - so what better way to connect them than having a Retro Food blog?? I cook from all decades but mostly the 1950s. I also love traveling - hoping to visit all 50 states someday. Almost there with 32, but I still have a ways to go. Finally, I absolutely adore my family and friends. Time with them is the best whether it's doing something huge or just sitting around watching football. I do hair and enjoy makeovers! That's me in 1200 characters or less. ;)" So head on over and ~~drool over~~ check out her latest recipes!

I Interrupt Your Regulary Scheduled Posts....

2012-01-18T14:45:00.000-05:00

....to bring you some rather exciting news.

A few years ago some of my friends and family started going on Twitter. I didn't see what the fuss was about. I had Facebook...wasn't that enough? But one night my friend Billy was over here and telling me how he had just signed up, it was great, blah blah blah. But then he told me that Michael Strahan was on Twitter, and he was following him {in case you don't watch football Michael Strahan was one of the greatest Giants players ever. I once waited in line for FOUR hours to meet him at a book signing...it was amazing}

He is super famous for the gap in his teeth

Hold the phone...he was following Michael Strahan? Like he could read what he was saying? I immediately signed up for Twitter and Michael was the first person I started following.

Fast forward to yesterday. Hoda Kotb {from the Today Show} asked her followers who the first person they started following on Twitter was. I immediately responded that it was of course Michael Strahan. And then a few hours later I got this....

O.M.G. Michael Strahan....THE Michael Strahan tweeted me back!!! Little 'ol me!! I pretty much felt like a celebrity the rest of the night. I'm also convinced it's a sign that the Giants will now win the Superbowl....am I right?

Little M is Going Where?!?!?

2012-01-17T09:24:00.000-05:00

This morning Skip and I got up way too early, {on only three hours of sleep...but that's another story} my mom came over to watch the girls, and Skip and I headed up to one of the local Catholic elementary schools. Promptly at 7:30 we walked in the doors to register for this little girl for preschool in the fall.

Let that sink in for a minute....PRESCHOOL. My baby! Sure, in theory it will be nice to have a few hours a day with just Baby C, but I don't think that's enough of a benefit. I'm going to miss my girl! I'm so nervous about her peanut allergy and trusting other people to watch her, and the thought of all of us having to be up, dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:30 every morning makes me tired. And that's the other thing...it's every day. Five days a week for preK 3?!?!?! Sure they're half days, but still...every day. Just seems like a lot to me, but that is the trend with most schools around here.

I know Little M will not only be fine, she is going to thrive! Girlfriend cannot WAIT to go....she even threw a tantrum last week when we had to leave the open house...she just wanted to stay and play with all the toys and kids. It's going to be a long few months around here as I continually try and tell her that she can't go to school yet.

So it's not Little M that I'm worried about at all. It's totally me. I mean didn't I *just* bring her home from the hospital??

When did she become this ~~baby~~, ~~toddler~~, kid?!?!?

I am so not old enough to have a kid in school. Now if you'll excuse me I'll be in the corner....crying and holding her newborn clothes.

Photo Dump Monday

2012-01-16T11:29:00.000-05:00

I've been sitting here racking my brain, trying to come up with some sort of thoughtful or enlightening post to share with you this Monday. I have the time...Skip took Little M to the store and Baby C is napping....I have plenty to write about, Baby C's sleeping, Little M getting registered for Pre-K, some amazing new blogs you need to be following. But honestly, I got nothing in me. And it's all thanks to this.....

MY GIANTS BEAT THE PACKERS!!!! First off, yes, they are MY Giants in case you didn't know:) And last night they beat Aaron Rodger and the Packers....the 15-1 Packers...the ones I picked to win the Superbowl this year. The game was amazing...seriously. I'm sure we're going to lose to the 49'ers next week, but it is nice to have just one more week to watch my boys!

Anyways, because I'm still on a high from last night, all I can seem to muster up today is an IPhone photo dump. No judgies okay...I promise I'll have something more to say tomorrow!!

I've been working on organizing, getting rid of, and donating lots of things around the house

My two sweet babies playing

It's true...us Jersey girls love our jumpsuits

7 months old and rolling her eyes at me...does not bode well for the future

I had a Groupon that was going to expire, so I had to get my hair trimmed...I hate it..truly. I feel like I don't recognize myself in the mirror anymore. Any tips to make hair grow?

This poor guy had a stomach bug....feel as bad for me as for him

Of COURSE we have been going all out for the games!

This sweet girl gets bigger every day I swear

I am obsessed with my matte topcoat

My girl wanting a mani with Mommy?? Love it!

Lots of snuggles with my blue-eyed babes

I'm a Feautured Blogger!

2012-01-12T10:06:00.000-05:00

Wow...what a week this is for my little blog! Today I'm a featued over on Blogger. It's a website that connects millions of bloggers together. Head on over and check me out!!!

Skip's 30th Birthday!

2012-01-11T09:05:00.001-05:00

While Skip's actual 30th birthday was on Thursday, we had his huge party on Friday. I had been stressing over it for a bit, but honestly? I think it was our best party ever! There were tons of drinks, a keg, and waaay more food than anyone was going to eat. It was a great mix of people, and everyone seemed to get along really well. And any party that doesn't wrap up until 3 am is a good time, right? But you want to know the best part? Little M didn't make a peep once and Baby C {who was up about 8 times the night before and up until 4:30 the night before that} woke up once...ONCE!! With almost 40 people in my house, girlfriend slept straight through...maybe I should have a party every night then?? But enough chatter...here are the pictures!

The theme of the party

Decorations every where

I taped up cloths pins everywhere with pictures of Skip

Giant cake

And yes, I made everyone at the party sing happy birthday to him

We got our trophy!

Even some Marine's came!

Marine's girls

My bestie!

The Marine's really missed each other, haha

New Year's Eve

2012-01-10T10:27:00.001-05:00

We really had a great New Year's this year. I normally don't like to build up New Year's too much, since it normally ends up falling flat. So even though Skip was actually off this year, we decided to just do something low-key with a few friends at home. We had three of our very best friends over to eat, relax, and ring in the year. It was pretty much like any other night, except we dressed up a little more than usual. We did make sure to wake up Little M just before midnight though! It was the first year we did it and she was really excited to partake in all the festivities!

My sweet girls

The spread

Stromboli

Mini hotdogs

Spinach dip

Buffalo chicken pastry

Humus and pita chips

Chocolate covered cookie-dough balls

Brownies

Cinnamon roll bake

Tablescape...and my friend Linda brought even MORE food when she came!

Sleepy baby just before midnight

Noisemakers with Daddy

My bestie Linda

Me and Bill {we beat him in the fantasy football superbowl!!}

Me and Mike

Kiss in the New Year!

Overall it was a really low-stress, relaxing way to ring in 2012!!!

My Five Seconds of Fame

2012-01-09T12:24:00.002-05:00

Quick! Head over to MommyPage and check out the interview they did with me!! I almost feel like a celebrity!!

Back to the Grind....and Loving it!

2012-01-09T07:49:00.002-05:00

Phew!!! I'm back. I'm finally starting to feel like I can get our family back to a normal routine now. Between Baby C's baptism, Thanksgiving, and Little M's birthday in November....Christmas and New Year's in December....and Skip's huge 30th birthday weekend in January, I feel like all I've been doing is planning and throwing parties! I love it, don't get me wrong, but it's nice to get back into regular life now. I've been itching to make some changes and improvements in myself, my life, and my house. It's like nesting without the huge baby belly to slow me down! So like pretty much everyone else in the world, I've made some resolutions this year {you may have already seen these when I guest posted for Pam last week!} I think they're all pretty attainable and hopefully I can keep up with them! I've been doing pretty well so far into the year {you know, all 9 days of it} as I've been kinda treated every morning like January 1st, with renewed vigor to start anew!

{don't worry, New Year's and Skip's party recaps coming soon!!}
2012 Resolutions
1. Get back into pre-baby shape.
     I know, I know, how terrible cliche of me to put in an eat right, exercise more resolution first. But now that I'm done being a baby-making machine it's time to reclaim my body! Armed with plenty of work-out DVD's and a gym membership, there is no excuse for me to not get my pre-baby abs back! I am determined to rock a bikini in this last summer of my 20's!

2. Organize and de-clutter the house.
     This is such a "first world problem" but we have sooo much stuff in our house it's ridiculous. The toys are just taking over everything! And I really need to start to go through the baby clothes:( I can't hold on to every single thing the girls have ever worn {or have, but never wore!} Time to figure out what to keep for sentimental reason, what to hang on to for when my sisters have babies, and what to donate.

3. Take more pictures and videos.
     Real life seems to get in the way of me documenting things via my camera recently, and I definitely want to change that. My girls will only be little for so long and I want to be able to look back and remember these times when they are teenagers and slamming their doors in my face.

4. Take more time with Skip.
     Life with two kids seems to be a little more overwhelming than I anticipated and alone time with Skip seems to have fallen by the wayside. Our marriage is stronger than ever, but I want us to spend more time going on dates and just relaxing at home with a movie!

5. Be more in the moment.
    This is such a special time in my life right now. I'm not working and able to stay home with my girls, neither of whom are in school yet. I want to make sure to soak up each and every moment we all have together and not let myself get too stressed.

6. Make sure those around me know how much I love them.
     As I have gotten older, my group of friends has gotten smaller, but tighter. I've gotten rid of all the 'dead weight' in the friends department and I want to make sure to show my friends {and family!} how much they mean to me!

I'm pretty confident I can accomplish all of these. What about you? What are your new year's resolutions??

Britt's Guest Post - Flying with an Infant...While Pregnant!

2012-01-07T11:48:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to close out my week of guest bloggers with Britt! She's in the "mom of two girls club" as well, so we have lots in common. Her blog is one of my favorites to read, and I guarantee you will laugh out loud and sympathize with her following story about flying with an infant...while pregnant. She has definitely scared me off from flying with my girls till they're in high school!!

Hi everyone! My name is Britt and I blog over at Gettin' Fritzy With It. So you want to know a little about me, right? I'll keep this short and sweet mkay? I'm 25, a wifey, momma to 2 little girls, Lidia and Carly, (1 year and 11 days apart.... omygawd right?) Part-time worker, Part-time SAHM, beginner DIY'er, and this year my goal is to get into photography and couponing... We shall see! Oh, and here's my family...

Anyway, I thought it'd be fun (or not so fun in my case) to tell you about my experiences with flying home out of the Omaha airport.... with children. Sounds fun already, right? Well first things first... I HATE FLYING. Add kids in to the mix and you have a full blown disaster, huh?
So let's talk about my first experience flying out of the Omaha airport. It was back in December of 2009. I was flying to visit my dad, with my 5-month old, while pregnant with my second baby. Oh, and I was alone. Anyway, the flight there went fine. Lidia slept and I tried to dream of rainbows and unicorns so I didn't freak out about flying, and all was well in the world. The flight back? Different story.
Here's the rundown:
1. We missed our flight. Never fly out of a small airport and be 5 MINUTES late. They will not let you check in. Awesome, right? So yeah, we missed the flight and were delayed about 3 hours.
2. I was pregnant and sick, hauling luggage and a baby around by myself, and going to the bathroom with all of the above on my lap... during our layover in Minnesota. Oh yes, and then our flight was delayed another 2 hours.
3. We finally landed in Omaha and had a 2 hour drive home on top of everything. Then we had to take a shuttle to get to my car. Well it was winter and it had snowed soooo... what do you know? My car was frozen shut and it took another hour to get the ice off the windows. But we made it home eventually!
Fun trip, right? Well the next one gets better.
We took a trip to visit my husband's dad at the end of November of this year... all four of us. We were flying out of Omaha and once again, the drive to Omaha and the flight were a piece of cake. The flight back? Awful. I'll break it down for you again...
1. I had a freakout during take-off and sat with my head between my sweaty hands. All the while, Lidia is screaming, "Yay! I'm flying! Look at the lights momma!" and Carly is crying and restless because she's so tired.
2. I get a glass of wine and think life is just grand, until the initial decent. I hate landing. I once again, started my "flying regimen" of freaking out and "knowing" my life is going to end until we land and, of course, are still alive.
3. Then we go to wait for our luggage, when I get the biggest bloody nose known to man. I was in the bathroom at the airport, with the kiddos, for a good 30-45 minutes trying to get it to stop. Annnnddd... I'm pretty sure whoever cleaned that bathroom might have thought it was a murder scene from all the blood. Not joking. It was gross.
4. Lastly, we get on that lovely shuttle back to our car and it had snowed... again. It took awhile to scrape off our car... again. It was also icy and the usual 2 hour trip home, took us over 4 hours! We had to drive 35 miles an hour on the interstate in the middle of the night. It was 2am when we finally got home. Yep. Sucked.
So the moral to my story? Although, flying out of Omaha may be cheaper, it is always a disaster! In my case at least! Thanks Mandy for having me! Hope everyone had a great New Years! Happy 2012!

Adrienne's Guest Post - Reading to Children

2012-01-06T09:45:00.000-05:00

I was so excited when Adrienne volunteered to be a guest blogger for me this week. She has a beautiful blog and shares so many different things with her readers. When she and I were brainstorming about what she would write about, Adrienne brought up the topic of the importance of reading to children. As a former teacher I thought it was the perfect idea!! So read on about Adrienne's tips and make sure to leave her some love at the end!

Hi! I’m Adrienne, author of La Vita e Bella filling in for Mandy today! I thought I would share a few insights about the importance of reading to children.

The Importance of Reading to Children

As a teacher I am faced daily of getting children excited about reading. Sometimes it’s not easy and most of that lack of motivation comes from not being encouraged by the other adults in their life to read. Sure, sometimes it’s the child and the true lack of interest on their part. However, as we all know, reading is fundamental and the building block of so much that is tied to learning.

There are many ways to engage your child in learning even from the time they are infants even when they are still growing in mommy’s tummy. I’ve done my best to provide a list of some tips that may help and offer some insight.

1. Read too or with your child every night; this includes while they are still in the womb. Studies have shown to have great cognitive effect on their development.

2. Try to learn what interests your child about the story. Ask questions to expand their thinking such as; What do you like about this story? Is the story trying to teach us something?

3. As they grow up, make time to explore your local library. Spend time attending events such as children’s story hour and check out new books every two weeks or so. This is completely free and also teaches children about the importance of taking care of something on loan.

4. Create an at home library which is easy by attending book sales or asking for books as gifts.

5. Read yourself! When children see their parents read, they may want to too!

6. Ask your child’s teacher about new childrens’ authors or new books. Teachers generally know about new books coming up.

Hope this helps!

Adrienne

Cheers to 30 Years!!

2012-01-05T10:37:00.000-05:00

Today....this guy...my man Skip...has a birthday!!! And it's not just any birthday...he's turning the big 3-0!!!!

So in honor of such a big milestone, I thought I'd make a list of 30 reasons why I love him so much{these are in no particular order by the way}

1. His baby blues...Kill me every time

2. His humor...he is seriously one of the funniest people I have ever met

3. Letting me sleep in every day when I was pregnant

4. The pride and honor he has in his job

5. The selfless way he never once complained about having to go to Iraq

6. He's not afraid to show affection

7. He'll run out to the store all hours of the night to get me anything I'm craving {whether I'm pregnant or not}

8. The amazing father he is

9. The way he can't wait to wake up in the morning just to hang out with our girls

10. He rubs my feet whenever I want

11. He is super generous with everyone he meets

12. He loves hosting people over at our house

13. He wants to make sure everyone else is taken care of before himself

14. He's never nervous or stressed out

15. He stays calm in every situation

16. He was "Top Gun" in his class at the police academy

17. He has never once complained about anything I have spent money on

18. He always wants to take the girls out on "adventures"

19. He is constantly thinking of fun things he'll do with the girls when they're older

20. He is fiercely loyal to his friends

21. He put up with me being pregnant...and nauseous...and miserable for 9 months....twice

22. He tells me I'm beautiful all the time

23. He willingly changes diapers and gets up with the babies in the middle of the night

24. He humors all my crazy plans

25. He has terrible taste in music {we have to have some differences right!}

26. He is quick to come up with solutions to problems

27. He gives the best hugs

28. He is always doing what's best for our little family

29. He likes the Giants!

30. He is so freakin' cute!!

Happy Birthday old man ;-) I hope the girls and I are able to give him a nice day and an awesome party tomorrow!!!!

I'm a Guest!

2012-01-05T07:31:00.002-05:00

Today you have to head over to Pam's blog Our Love Nest and check out my guest post! You can see all the new year's resolutions I have for this year! I'm so excited Pam let me post for her while she's sunning herself down in Florida!!

Also check back here later for a post on my most special birthday boy!!

Lena's Guest Post - A Blogging Journey

2012-01-04T07:03:00.001-05:00

I am so excited that Lena volunteered to be a guest poster this week!!! She has restarted blogging more regularly and hopefully we can all encourage her to keep up with it! She is going to talk to us about her blogging journey so far, and share some AMAZING pictures of her, her husband and their beautiful daughter! Make sure to leave her some blogging love!

A great big thank you to Mommy Musings for letting me guest post today…what an honor!
My name is Lena, and I’m a southern mama living in the great state of Tennessee! I’m married to Brad, the sweetest daddy you’ll ever meet, and we have a wild and crazy almost 16-month old, Annie Louise. And yes, because we live south of the Mason-Dixon line, we call her by both names! Don’t you just love a good, southern double name? We do!
I just recently started working full-time in August, and it has been quite the change for our family. Not necessarily a good or bad change, just a change in itself, and I’m trying to figure out how to be a working woman and a mama and wife at the same time!
I blog semi-regularly (still working on that) at our family blog, Life with LeeLee and B (www.leeleeandb.blogspot.com) – I hope you’ll stop by and join in on our joyful adventures!
Because no matter what we go through in life, we make it our goal to do it joyfully!
Anyways, today I’m going to give you a little bit of my blog-history – when and why I started blogging and what I have learned through blogging…so grab a cup of coffee or tea and let’s take a trip down memory lane….
I really stumbled into blogging in the summer of 2007 – I was a new wife, trying to find ideas on how to make our house a home. I kept finding all these cute blogs that were almost like a journal. Since I majored in journalism in college, I decided this would be a great way to document my thoughts – thoughts on being a newlywed, thoughts on our future, and thoughts on things that didn’t make sense to me – so I started my very own blog.
I blogged almost every day – I don’t even know if anyone saw my posts. Then, I got a seed of courage and began to comment on some of my favorite bloggers’ posts, and low-and-behold, they started commenting on mine!

It was such a surreal experience to me to “connect” with all of these amazing women all over the country. We were all going through different experiences – being a newlywed, buying a new house, trying to become mamas – yet, we all had one common thread…blogging.

I became such good friends with many of these women – some even lived in my same town, and they are now my very best friends.
But then, I went through some pretty tough times – I lost my job. Then, a few months later, my husband lost his job. Our first dog that we had gotten together passed away. It seemed like I was getting hit after hit, and I couldn’t come out on top.
My blog friends emailed me to check on me. They prayed for me – they sent me all their best wishes. But I just couldn’t get back into blogging. I actually made my blog private for quite some time so no one could see it. I was in a place of sadness, anger and humiliation, and I didn’t want to write about that.
I still kept up with my favorite blogs – I “watched” some of them give birth to their first babies, go through their own loss and sadness, experience the joy of adoption – yet I couldn’t really bring myself to go back to my own blog.
After several months, I finally created a NEW blog name and address and decided to give it a go-around again. But I still couldn’t get into it. I was having a tough time writing about anything and writing often – because I was still so sad. The truth of the matter was – I wanted a baby.
I was so jealous of these other women – women who seemingly had the perfect life, complete with their perfect babies. We had experienced a miscarriage in August of 2009, and I was barely keeping my head above water. I was surprised that I let myself actually write about it, but what surprised me even more was that some of my old blog friends from when I first started blogging sent me emails to let me know how sorry they were. They connected me with other women that had been through the same loss.
And that’s when I remembered why I loved blogging so much – because some of these women genuinely care about you like you were their best friend.

Long story short, we ended up getting pregnant a few months later (right before we were to start meeting with a fertility specialist), and again, some of those same women were there to give me their congratulations.

Pregnancy (and all-day sickness) pretty much kept me away from blogging as much as I would have liked, but I tried when I could. And after Annie Louise was born, it was the same story.
Then, I made the decision a month or so ago to make it a goal to blog regularly. I love going back through my archives and reading my thoughts from so long ago, and I want to be able to do that in a few years. I love documenting all the major milestones that our sweet girl goes through. I love that even though I may not get a ton of comments on my posts, my sister enjoys reading each and every one of them.

And I love the support network that my fellow bloggers have given me. With growing technology, we’re able to keep up with each other through facebook and twitter, too!
I know that not all blogging experiences are great – I know there are mean women, women who think it’s “their way or the highway” – but I try not to get wrapped up in all of that drama. I want to offer my advice (when asked) and try to lift other women up, not bring them down. Each and every woman has their own way of doing things, and instead of thinking you’re superior, try to be encouraging and compassionate and caring – you never know what that person is going through.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our trip down memory lane…please stop by Life with LeeLee and B sometime soon – I’ll hope you’ll find something to bring you a little JOY to your own life!

Erika's Guest Post - Travel Tips!

2012-01-03T07:03:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited for Erika to be posting today in my week of guest bloggers!! We are close friends on twitter as Baby C and her daughter are only a few weeks apart! She makes me realize that I'm not crazy and what my girl is doing is normal! She's here today with some great travelling tips!! Make sure to leave her some love at the end!!

Hi everybody! First off I wanted to thank Mandy for “hosting” my guest post! I have only guest posted a few times before, so I hope you all bear with me. My name is Erika and I write over on my blog The Frieze’s Little Bean that I started up when we found out we were pregnant with our first little one. I started following Mandy while we were both pregnant - her with Little C and I with Miss Savannah. Our girls are about a month apart and since then we have been keeping up with each other on Twitter over our trials and tribulations of lack of sleep and figuring out how to start deswaddling our little ones, to name a few…
A little background about me. I am married to my best friend of 10 years (married for 3).

We just had our first baby on July 24th of this year. She is a giggly, spunky, fairly laid back little one, named Savannah…

We live in Northern California and absolutely love going to concerts, traveling, and hanging out with friends.
When trying to come up with something to write about I tossed around several ideas – marriage, life as a Child Psychologist, life as a new mom…and I decided that maybe you would like to know about these? Or maybe you would like to know about some tips and tricks to traveling (on the semi cheap) to Europe!
The best thing that we have ever done for our relationship has been to travel. Before we got married we traveled every year within the U.S. Our honeymoon we spent in Italy and France. Then came the 2-year “itch.” I was begging for a baby – the husband wanted to go to Europe one.more.time. Needless to say, as soon as he told me that, the tickets were booked within the next week. The trip we took before we got pregnant with Savannah we went to 7 countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, and Poland) in 3 weeks and spent probably $4000 total (plane tickets included for both of us). Now…$4000 is quite a bit of money, but when you think about $1200/person plane tickets just to get over to Europe, that’s pretty good! So if you’re planning on traveling soon here are some things that have always helped us:

• Try to travel in the “off season” as much as possible

• Buy a Rick Steve’s travel guide (if you travel in Europe) – he’s a goober, but he is amazing and has saved us so much time and money

• Book your hotels/hostels on-line before hand so you can pay them off. This will also allow you to make sure you have a place to stay and saves you money for when you are over there

• If you fly within countries look for local airlines like RyanAir, they typically have fairly good deals

• If you plan on traveling within several countries look for a rail pass – saves you money and time! But, make sure you follow all directions when you get a pass – we were fined 75 Euros in Italy, boo

• Take city transportation as much as possible or walk. Getting “lost” in the city is always our favorite thing

• Save your money by eating light for breakfast and lunch and “splurge” on a nice dinner – oh, and alcohol of course!

• Many big cities have museum passes that include discounts for other big sights – these always helped us save money
Above all else enjoy yourselves. Traveling in a new country, for us, is always a new and exciting adventure. Sometimes we are timid by the language differences (Poland and Czech Republic) and other times we are pleasantly surprised by how much we understand. I hope this list helps you a little bit if you are in the market for a European vacation…we sure can’t wait to go back. But with the little one at home it will be a while before we venture to the other side of the world…or in our case…we are off to Buenos Aries! Happy Travels!

Lindsey's Guest Post - Two Kids Under Two?!?!?!

2012-01-02T07:03:00.002-05:00

I am so excited to kick off my week of guest bloggers with my newest blogging/twitter/possibly real life bestie Lindsey! Just read her intro and you'll know why we have become fast friends. She has a great post here about how she was a mom to two beautiful girls under the age of two...make sure to show her some love at the end of the post!

Hi there, I'm Lindsey from this little blog, and I am a former labor & delivery RN turned SAHM. I am sooo grateful to Mandy for the opportunity to guest post! She was a very special part of my 12 days of Christmas guest posts and I am so happy that we have "become" friends. She is such a sweetheart and we share more than just being a mother of two girls in common- Jersey Girls, Giants fans to the core and our personalities are quite similar! Anywho- I am here to enlighten you into the world of ~~sheer craziness~~, I mean the joy of being a mother of two and how we transitioned from a family of three to a family of four in just 19 short months.

On January 21,2009- we welcomed our sweet Julianna Lynn into our family seven weeks too early, but with open arms! Our little preemie weighed 5lbs 3oz and flourished quickly into an amazing toddler. Sure we had our bumps along the way and there were major challenges that came from her being a preemie (especially having to have tubes placed in her ears at 15 months since hers were underdeveloped) but we certainly made it through without too much difficulty thank god. Julianna has always been a very independent child and has made her presence known from the very start. I had always thought that we would wait until Julianna was at least 2 before trying to have another child (since Julianna was difficult to conceive), but God thought differently and just days before Julianna's first birthday, we found out we were pregnant with #2!

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't scared to death of being a mother of two under two! I mean come on- all those diapers to change, all the attention that needs to be given and I already felt my heart swell with love for Julianna so much that how was I supposed to love another child just as much?

Well that's when I adopted a new motto "I may very well have to divide my time, but I will multiply my love". That has been my motto since about a month into my pregnancy with #2. I knew things would change drastically in our house, but on that same note, I was also excited and eager to become a family of four.

Fast forward to August 22,2011 and after a challenging pregnancy and numerous false alarms with preterm labor, we welcomed our second precious miracle- Kelsey Rose, into our family. While Julianna didn't know what to make of her at first, they quickly became the best of friends, and Julianna fell in love with her baby sister.

It was a tough transition at first because Julianna was so accustomed to having all of my attention, and well with breast feeding being a full time job, it became difficult to figure out how to divide my time, but then Kelsey's nap times became Julianna/Mommy play time and Julianna's nap time became Mommy/Kelsey bonding time. Somehow, some way- we made it work. And for the entire year that Kelsey did not sleep through the night (lord help me), I walked around like a zombie and smiled because I realized that even if I didn't have sleep- I had love, and love is truly the greatest gift of all!

So if you are thinking of having a baby, or two, or three... Just remember that "you may have to divide your time, but you can always multiply your love"

Happy 2012 everyone!!

What a Year It's Been

2012-01-01T12:01:00.000-05:00

First off, I would like to apologize for my complete lack of commenting and emailing recently. With the holidays and the sickies invading our house this past week, I've barely had any time on the computer. And bear with me just another week, as this one is PACKED. We had a few close friends over for New Year's Eve last night...tonight we are having people over for the Giant's game {GO BIG BLUE!!} Thursday will be all about Skip as it is his 30th BIRTHDAY!!! I have lots of special things planned for him. And then Friday I am throwing him a *huge*{please don't let all 50 cops he knows come, haha} birthday party! We've been very casual about whether or not people RSVP, so as of right now, we could have anywhere from 20 people to almost 100. Someone hold me! But anyways, with all that going on, I will not have any free time for blogging. But fear not! I could not leave my readers without anything new to check out here. So I have some *amazing* guest bloggers lined up!! {and actually a guest post of my own on Thursday} These are some truly wonderful ladies and have all written about something different and I know you'll all really enjoy them!

Well anyways...Happy 2012 everyone! I hope this is a fabulous year for all of us! As always, here is my look-back recap on the year past. And what a year it has been!

January

I was still very nauseous from the baby, and Little M got her first real sickness

Little M decided to take up photography as a hobby

18 week belly started to get much bigger!

We found out that New Baby was a GIRL!!!

February

My baby belly got even bigger and I was still nauseous {hence the lack of pictures from this month}

March

We had a nice St. Patrick's day with my girl

And the belly got bigger

April

It finally got warmer outside

Little M on Easter!

My belly got bigger

I dragged that huge belly to the wedding of two of our friends

May

One of my very best friends got married

We moved Little M to her new big girl room

I celebrated Mother's Day

And the belly got bigger

June

I took one last belly picture

Baby C was born and made me a mommy again!

And Skip a daddy again

And Little M became a big sister

We settled into our new life with two sweet girls

July

Baby C's first holiday!

My patriotic girls

We spent some time with family

And just loved on our two girls

August

I refinished our kitchen counter tops

We went on our first vacation as a family of four

And spent some time at the beach

Before the hurricane ruined all our plans

September

We soaked up the last of the warmish weather

My girls got bigger

Skip and I went to the wedding of two of our friends

His Marine buddy and my Marine's girl!

October

I cut off all my hair and turned 29

Skip and I got a whole weekend away!

To attend my cousin's wedding

Little M's love of horses grew even more

We brought the girls pumpkin picking

It snowed on Halloween.....snowed

But that didn't stop my two Jessie's from looking so cute!

November

Baby C was baptized

And welcomed into our church

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving

Which Skip was actually home for!

My baby turned 3

And her sister looked on proudly

At her princess party!

December

We decorated and got ready for Christmas

We took our Christmas card pictures

We waited for Santa in the neighborhood

And went to go see him at the mall

We had a wonderful Christmas as a family of four

Eating your way through Christmas

2011-12-30T15:26:00.000-05:00

So I don't know about you, but a big part of Christmas for me is the food. I love it so much more than anything that is served on Thanksgiving. And this year we definitely went all out!

We obviously did the mandatory cookie baking. This year I had my very own helper! Even though it slows down the process, I *love* having my little girl help me in the kitchen!!

Showing me the cookie dough she ate

We also hosted two gatherings on Christmas, for which I was responsible for cooking. First, we had brunch with my parents and sister on Christmas morning. I made some chocolate chip muffins, and these two recipes I found on Pinterest.

Crockpot sausage casserole

Cinnamon French Toast Bake

OMG were they amazing! And so simple! Seriously, run out and buy the ingredients right now to make them. You will thank me later.

Christmas evening we had all of Skip's family over for a big dinner. My dad had given me a ham the night before, so I was just responsible for the appetizer, sides, and dessert. Again, all of my inspiration came from Pinterest!

Most amazing spinach dip ever

Green bean casserole

Baked ziti

Crockpot potatoes au gratin

Chocolate cake with white chocolate and peppermint icing

What did we do before Pinterest? What kinds of food did you serve on Christmas?

Christmas Day

2011-12-29T21:01:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas day as a family. We were so blessed that Skip was home with us that day, as that rarely happens!! We woke up early with the girls and headed downstairs to see what Santa had brought! Little M was so excited rip open all her gifts and start playing with them immediately! Baby C was not as into it, but she did seem to have some fun.

Santa came!

Once we were done with all the family/Santa gifts. My parents and sister came over for even MORE gifts! We were all spoiled by all the wonderful gifts. Little M received the PERFECT gift from my parents....a giant horse!!! That with the dollhouse we bought her have been her favorite things to play with! We then had a nice brunch with my family and then they left so we could get ready for our dinner party with Skip's family.

What do you think this present is Little M?

A horsie...the BIGGEST one!

She was right!

We had another nice meal with Skip's family and we managed to get some great pictures with the girls {even though Little M wanted nothing to do with it} After they left we had some of our guy friends over to watch football. What a perfect way to end the holiday!

Of course the horse has to get in on the action

First Christmas as a family of four!

Love my sweet girl!