Moby & I had a very brief and unfulfilling relationship two and a half years ago. I wanted him to be a certain way and he wasn’t. I didn’t try hard enough. I wasn’t willing to bend. It wasn’t his fault. But he was just wrong. So we broke up.

But…we have recently rekindled things and I am so thankful he is in my life once again. We make a really great team. But it wasn’t until after a lot of trying, shifting and do-overs that we made it work. I love him. Not like xoxo I love you. Like I LOOOOVE him. He is the peace to my chaos. & I am going to show you just how we make it work…since so many of you have asked. :)

Here’s us in action:

A couple random things:

• in the video I say “criss-crossed” instead of “twisted” a couple of times. The MOBY Wrap is supposed to criss-cross. It’s not supposed to be twisted. :)
• I have both a black & a turquoise Moby Wrap. I far prefer the turquoise–I find it’s stretchier and cooler than the black one. I can also see the “track” on it better to correct any twisting.
• It is super tight straight out of the wash & usually takes a day to stretch back out.
• I wash it about once a week, no fading on the turquoise yet.
• MOBY Wrap too hot? Wear less under it. :D
• Caroline’s is authentic; it’s a Moby Mini.
• Don’t know where to find one? I stumbled upon them in my TARGET the other day. Babywearing is totally going mainstream!

Did I miss anything?

Wishing you the loveliest of days with your beautiful families. How lucky we are to be called “mama.”:)

xoxo

(images above by the talented Kate L Photography…she gave me such a gift!!)

P.S. FuzziBunz is celebrating us mamas & offering 5% off and free shipping through the end of the day today, Sunday 5/13.

Just enter the code “MOTHER” at checkout over in The FuzziBunz Store!

Metadata: f/2.8, 1/160, ISO 2500

•••

It’s been a long week. I haven’t seen a lot of my husband. Lots of kids not sleeping. I don’t know about you, but I NEED quiet time in the middle of the day to be a good mommy. When I don’t get at least 20 minutes when they are both sleeping I go crazy. I can’t run from 8am-10pm (which is when the kiddies in this camp seem to turn in for the night) and stay sane without a few minutes to myself. My husband’s been working a 21 day stretch without a day off & I am tired. & seemingly getting nothing done but feeding, entertaining, cooking, cleaning & breathing. All important, but thankless. Mostly.

I’ve turned to technology to distract myself from my day a little too often. Last week I stumbled upon this article, How to Miss a Childhood, & it really hit me. So I, once again, took the reminder to heart and am trying to do better about putting my phone down & just enjoying my littles. It’s not always easy.

But I am trying. :)

•••

& Project 52 is off to a very collaborative start! If you’d like to join in–it’s not too late. Here’s everything you need to know about

my 2012 Project 52.

& those of you who are linking up (please let me know if you need to be edited/added!):

Adventures in Mommyhood • Aubrey My Love • Blossoms & Vintage • Bugs & Boo-Boos • Candice Craves • Caynay Photography • Christina’s Project 52 • Chronicles of KT • Claire Jane • The Crain’s Nest • Dana Moran Photography • The Daulton Dabbler • Englexas • Everything Eatherton • Fairy Wings & Dinosaurs • Finding Joy • Firecracker Mama • Freckled Pink • From Stanwood to Seoul • Gin & Juice Boxes • Heather Marie Portraits • Ici & La • It’s a Graham Life • It’s a Strange & Lovely Ride • Kate L Photography • Keeping up with the Carters • Kim Percival Photography • Living for Love • Lizzi Photography • Mahina & Lucas • Mama Bethany • McLain Padilla Photography • Mist Moments • Memories by Mere • Moments & Impressions • The Mommyhood Memos • Moo with Me • Moxie Made • My Tot Travels • Navigating the Mothership • Nicole Dina Photography • Oh the Places We’ll Go • Our Baby Behr • Our Splendid Little Life • Phreckle Face Photography • Quiet Footsteps •Rachel Gray Photography • The Robersons • Shades of Bliss • Shutter Mama Blog • Side of the Table • Simply Us • Snaps of Our Life • Squamish Baby • The Todd’s • We Aren’t Scared of Sugar • We’re Better Together • Wicked Kate • Wokabout • Z as in Zebra

Many of you know I am a product junkie. I love trying new stuff. & I especially love new stuff that makes my life easier. Well…baby #2 has come with a lot of new challenges, but also some really great new stuff. Baby things just keep getting better & better! I am using a few different things this time around & thought I’d share what those favorite things are! Here’s what I am lovin’ right now!

SheaMoisture’s Organic Olive & Marula Baby Head to Toe Lotion

This stuff smells like heaven in a bottle, minus all the junk that is in most of the baby soaps & lotions found at the store. The soap is nice & sudsy & the lotion is thick but not greasy, and keeps my kiddies skin soft as can be. I adore this stuff. I can’t currently find it online; I purchase locally at my Target for $10 each.

NUK Soft OrthoStar Pacifier & the Bella Tunno Loop Binker

When I left the hospital with a soothie/wubbanub I vowed NEVER to use those stupid pacifiers again! They wouldn’t stay in Caroline’s mouth & drove me absolutely nuts. This time, I brought these to the hospital with me (both a girl and boy set, of course) and he is so good at keeping them in! I love NUKs (just a personal preference) and LOVED the NUK Genius for Caroline. These appear to be a re-branding of the NUK Genius, as the shape is the same. I love the silicone version for 0-6 months because it is really easy to sterilize. I keep one attached to both Everett & the car seat at all times with the cute Bella Tunno Binkers (I got mine at Nordstrom). I like the loop style because they easily loop around the small openings on silicone pacifiers. These are definitely an upgrade from the slippery soothies!

Lil Joey Newborn Cloth Diapers

These will get a full write up on their own, but to tide you over, these were my favorite Newborn Diapers. I rented them from Liz of Go Baby Go and especially loved the trim fit & the button down front that made room for his little umbilical cord until it fell off. They are AIOs, or all-in-ones, meaning there is no stuffing. We began to leak through them at about four weeks, which is when we switched over to our FuzziBunz & returned these to Liz. They are quite possibly the cutest, tiny little things on the planet!

ZoLi Ohm Changing Pad

The week before I delivered Everett I received the loveliest package from Juli of ZoLi, which is one of my favorite baby companies. She sent me a bunch of goodies to try and I have become so fond of this that I consider it a MUST HAVE item for new mommies. I keep mine on my hard counter top and use it all day long. I love it because a) it’s sticky, so both the mat and the baby don’t slide around, b) it’s got a surface that is super easy to clean & sanitize and c) its spongy & soft for the baby to lay on, even when placed directly on a hard surface. We use this for diaper changes and for bath time. It’s by far the best changing pad I’ve ever used. I need another for my car! ;)

The Moby Wrap

I liked it last time. But I rarely used it. This go-around I LOVE it. I can’t wrap my head around what I would do without it. Logistically. How do you shop with two kids? How do you take the older one to gymnastics & run around with her? Especially when it’s over #2′s naptime?! Well. Moby solves that problem. It’s like a drug for my little man. He lives [sleeps] in it from 10am-2pm every day. It is the only way I can efficiently live this crazy life. It’s getting a bit hot with the Texas summer now in full force but we’re still in that strange in-between stage where the ergo is too big for him to sit the right way & all he does is kick to stand if I put him in the fetal position. So Moby wins. I don’t know how I’d live without it. & by request I will be doing a You Tube video to help you see how I get Everett in it. We’ve got it down. ;)

Piggies & Paws

I’ve now been able to do these for both of my babies. P&P is a home party business that does hand/foot print art. I’ve had friends who hosted parties where I could get them done when my babies were little & they are such treasures! This is Everett’s 2wk old handprint. <3 :)

The Snuggin Go

The very first thing the police officer did at our car seat safety class was rip the head support out of our brand new car seat. He told us it was much safer to roll up two blankets on either side of the baby’s head than to use the U shaped head support, as it could slide down behind the baby’s head and cause the head to fall & get stuck forward, blocking the airway. So then what?? Well. This answers that. My BFF introduced me to this product–and I am so grateful. It’s the perfect head support in the car seat and would be great in the stroller too. Little dude is nice & snug. I highly recommend!

Summer Infant Sleek & Secure

Four returned monitors later…we finally have a winner. This is a great multi-camera video monitor, accommodating up to four cameras at a time. It can scan from camera to camera (visual and audio) every seven seconds, or give you the quad camera view, you get to pick the camera the constant sound comes from. I usually have it set on the quad cam view, and have the sound set to Everett’s camera, because Caroline can be heard from anywhere in the house. Ha! It’s color during the day, b&w at night.  Battery life is poor, so I bought a second charger at Radio Shack which gives me a charging station both up and down stairs. Overall, I’m very happy!

Bamboobies

These soft, cute little hearts kept me from ever using a disposable nursing pad. They are super soft on one side, waterproof on the other and worked like a charm.  I used them for 7 weeks (I tend to leak!) and had 8 pair. They are AWESOME.

Petunia Pickle Bottom Haven Nursing Cover

Last pregnancy I wanted to be all chic and discreet & I bought the black eyelet Bebe Au Lait nursing cover. Well. Black = dark & I never used it because I couldn’t SEE! This time around I seem to be nursing all over town (what can you do with a toddler on the go!?) and I use this every single day. Perfect shape. Beautiful print. Can’t go wrong with the always gorgeous Petunia. :)

BOB Duallie Stroller

mmmm. LOVE. So love. I love the smoooooth ride. I love the little window so I can see my babies while I push it. I love the extra big canopy. I love the added cup holder attachment. I bought and NEVER used the car seat adapter. My little guy hates the car seat. So…if anyone is in the market…haha. ;) He’ll even stay asleep in it so I can crossfit when I get back from a walk. Rad. Until she wakes him up, of course. Today I ran with it for the first time and it was great! No kicking. Not too terribly heavy. Just smooth. This is the only stroller I have used with #2. But only on walks/runs. Everywhere else we go I wear E & C walks or gets pushed in a cart. It is an excellent stroller for getting movin’ again! :)

& I can’t leave out big sister. She is very particular about her stuff. Her #1 faves are her cry baby (her beloved baby doll) and these:

BOB Books

My SIL sent us the first set of Prereaders and they have been a hit ever since. I recently found them at Costco (eek! big! & CHEAP!) and bought them all. They are very simple stories but Caroline loves them. They are short and packed with things to talk about. There are even parent teaching guides in the back. They are our favorite books to read!

& she loves them so much she can often be found like this after bedtime:

I am proud to have a little bookworm!

This little post took me five days and a dozen broken snippets of time to complete. Argh! What a difference a second baby makes…!!! Someday I will return here full swing…but until then…I think I’ll be lucky to get one article up each week!! ;) How do you WAHMommies-of-two+ do it?!

 & don’t forget, I have a FULL detailed list of every single product I recommend for new mommies in my treasury. For more fun (and essential) products, be sure to check out:

The Baby List | Everything You Need to Have a Baby.

Metadata: f/2.8, 1/160, ISO 2500–f/2.8, 1/400, ISO 160

•••

We are making progress. That’s all I can say. Progress.

Thank GOD!

I finally feel half human. ;)

Happy Friday!

•••

& Project 52 is off to a very collaborative start! If you’d like to join in–it’s not too late. Here’s everything you need to know about

my 2012 Project 52.

& those of you who are linking up (please let me know if you need to be edited/added!):

Adventures in Mommyhood • Aubrey My Love • Blossoms & Vintage • Bugs & Boo-Boos • Candice Craves • Caynay Photography • Christina’s Project 52 • Chronicles of KT • Claire Jane •  The Crain’s Nest • Dana Moran Photography • The Daulton Dabbler • Englexas • Everything Eatherton • Fairy Wings & Dinosaurs • Finding Joy • Firecracker Mama • Freckled Pink • From Stanwood to Seoul • Gin & Juice Boxes • Heather Marie Portraits • Ici & La • It’s a Graham Life • It’s a Strange & Lovely Ride • Kate L Photography • Keeping up with the Carters • Kim Percival Photography • Living for Love • Lizzi Photography • Mahina & Lucas • Mama Bethany • McLain Padilla Photography • Mist Moments • Memories by Mere • Moments & Impressions • The Mommyhood Memos • Moo with Me • Moxie Made • My Tot Travels • Navigating the Mothership • Nicole Dina Photography • Oh the Places We’ll Go • Our Baby Behr • Our Splendid Little Life • Phreckle Face Photography • Quiet Footsteps •Rachel Gray Photography • The Robersons • Shades of Bliss • Shutter Mama Blog • Side of the Table • Simply Us • Snaps of Our Life • Squamish Baby • The Todd’s • We Aren’t Scared of Sugar • We’re Better Together • Wicked Kate • Wokabout • Z as in Zebra

Ahhhh. Nothing is quite as humbling as parenting.

I’ve made no secret about struggling with my little guy. He’s the polar opposite infant than my caroline was. He’s restless. He cries. He doesn’t go back to sleep. He’s up every hour. He wants to be held. He fights the swaddle. He hates the car seat. He hates the stroller. He wants to eat all the time. He is, in a word, exhausting.

By seven weeks, she was giving me regular six or seven hour stretches of sleep at this age. This guy? We’re celebrating two nights of four hours straight sleep. It’s the little things. Which brings me to every new mom’s struggle…is it me? What am I doing wrong? I am trying to let go of the guilt. Maybe it’s me. But maybe it’s just him. Maybe he’s just a tough baby. He’s brought me to tears more times than I’d like to count, mostly from sleep deprivation, but still. This job is tough & sometimes it takes a village. All my mommy friends have kept me sane the last few weeks. Meals. Support. Hugs. Thank you. Thank you all for the encouragement. Lord knows, we all need a little help sometimes. :)

& sometimes, we don’t know where to look for that help. Books? Other moms? The pediatrician? We’ll try anything. (I’ll try ANYTHING to get this kid to sleep.) So far I’ve cut out chocolate, onions, peppers & garlic from my diet with decent success–as the one thing he will do is EAT. But I was so at the end of my rope this week that I finally gave my friend Jessica, of Eat Sleep Love, a call. I’ve known her for years, but never reached out for her expertise. She is a certified sleep coach (among many other things) and a lactation support counselor. She is FULL of great ideas (and shares them on her facebook wall) & I now credit her with my longest stretch of sleep in over two months. In our 20 minute phone consultation she offered me a dozen ideas to try & just some general support. What I am doing that is good. What I could be doing better. Our secret so far? A later bedtime. Go figure.  I was forcing the little dude on Caroline’s schedule, but then he was sleeping when I wasn’t–not good for anyone. So later bedtime it was. That, combined with trying to keep him awake no longer than 90 minutes during the day has also helped. We’re not quite on the perfect babywise eat-wake-sleep routine like last time, but we’re making it work for him. Every baby is sooooo different. :)

But how about some pictures?! I have hundreds sitting on my computer from his newborn days. I can’t wait to share them. But he’s so awake and alert and has been pretty happy since he’s started sleeping a bit more. So happy Everett gets some blog love. I’ll get to the others later. But this is what he looks like right now. Finally a kiddo that looks like he belongs to me! We share the same eyes. I love him to pieces. Meet my sweet baby boy, through the lens on my fancy camera…finally!

Happy Monday!!

(I love this boy!!)

Metadata: iphone. instagram. walden filter. picstitch. ;)

•••

:::::::sigh:::::::

Will I ever be friends with my computer again? It’s remained OFF for five of the last seven days. The two I did get to turn it on…well…it wasn’t until about ten at night. So. Yeah. I have a zillion images I want to share. I bunch of stories to tell. Lots of lessons I have learned & want to talk about. But…they will have to wait.

This week we’ve added onions & peppers (with the #1 irritant: chocolate) to the growing DO NOT EAT list. It’s not been fun figuring this out. Poor, fussy, bloated, gassy dude. Add on the fact that it is a wonder week and well. It’s been sleepless. Again.

He usually joins me in bed for the last morning stretch, because crying at 4, 5 and 6am leave me begging for just a couple hours more sleep. This was one of our mornings. A typical scene around here. I’ll call it “big sister invasion: the guess how much I love you edition.” :) As exhausting as they are, I love them to pieces. They are quite adorable together.

•••

& Project 52 is off to a very collaborative start! If you’d like to join in–it’s not too late. Here’s everything you need to know about

my 2012 Project 52.

& those of you who are linking up (please let me know if you need to be edited/added!):

Adventures in Mommyhood • Aubrey My Love • Blossoms & Vintage • Bugs & Boo-Boos • Candice Craves • Caynay Photography • Christina’s Project 52 • Chronicles of KT • The Crain’s Nest • Dana Moran Photography • The Daulton Dabbler • Englexas • Everything Eatherton • Fairy Wings & Dinosaurs • Finding Joy • Firecracker Mama • Freckled Pink • From Stanwood to Seoul • Gin & Juice Boxes • Heather Marie Portraits • Ici & La • It’s a Graham Life • It’s a Strange & Lovely Ride • Kate L Photography • Keeping up with the Carters • Kim Percival Photography • Living for Love • Lizzi Photography • Mahina & Lucas • Mama Bethany • McLain Padilla Photography • Mist Moments • Memories by Mere • Moments & Impressions • The Mommyhood Memos • Moo with Me • Moxie Made • My Tot Travels • Navigating the Mothership • Nicole Dina Photography • Oh the Places We’ll Go • Our Baby Behr • Our Splendid Little Life • Phreckle Face Photography • Quiet Footsteps •Rachel Gray Photography • The Robersons • Shades of Bliss • Shutter Mama Blog • Side of the Table • Simply Us • Snaps of Our Life • Squamish Baby • The Todd’s • We Aren’t Scared of Sugar • We’re Better Together • Wicked Kate • Wokabout • Z as in Zebra

Metadata: f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 250

•••

I liked my instagram picture so much I decided to do one with my fancy camera. ‘Cause there’s been a lot of this going on around here lately. These are some of the few months we can actually enjoy outside here in HOT South Texas & we are living it up! We’re getting lots of fresh air right now & if feels so nice.

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year…as my first real gardening project (success!) is in bloom. Meet my porch. Inspired by all those issues of Cottage Living (RIP) that I can’t part with. If I could bottle this up & smell it forever I would. Oh, I love Confederate Jasmine. & It is bloomin’ like mad right now. Hope it’s as lovely outside in your neck of the woods!

•••

& Project 52 is off to a very collaborative start! If you’d like to join in–it’s not too late. Here’s everything you need to know about

my 2012 Project 52.

& those of you who are linking up (please let me know if you need to be edited/added!):

Adventures in Mommyhood • Aubrey My Love • Blossoms & Vintage • Bugs & Boo-Boos • Candice Craves • Caynay Photography • Christina’s Project 52 • Chronicles of KT • The Crain’s Nest • Dana Moran Photography • The Daulton Dabbler • Englexas • Everything Eatherton • Fairy Wings & Dinosaurs • Finding Joy • Firecracker Mama • Freckled Pink • From Stanwood to Seoul • Gin & Juice Boxes • Heather Marie Portraits • Ici & La • It’s a Graham Life • It’s a Strange & Lovely Ride • Kate L Photography • Keeping up with the Carters • Kim Percival Photography • Living for Love • Lizzi Photography • Mahina & Lucas • Mama Bethany • McLain Padilla Photography • Mist Moments • Memories by Mere • Moments & Impressions • The Mommyhood Memos • Moo with Me • Moxie Made • My Tot Travels • Navigating the Mothership • Nicole Dina Photography • Oh the Places We’ll Go • Our Baby Behr • Our Splendid Little Life • Phreckle Face Photography • Quiet Footsteps •Rachel Gray Photography • The Robersons • Shades of Bliss • Shutter Mama Blog • Side of the Table • Simply Us • Snaps of Our Life • Squamish Baby • The Todd’s • We Aren’t Scared of Sugar • We’re Better Together • Wicked Kate • Wokabout • Z as in Zebra

Today you can find me over on the beautiful re-designed Creative Mama. :)

Welcome to my happy little Monday. :) Here’s a taste…for the full article, head on over to The Creative Mama!

FINALLY. You don’t think I have *just* been caring for a newborn & toddler, do you? Well. Mostly I have, but I have been able to sneak in a few projects here & there. Finding the time to blog them is a whole different story… You’ll be seeing more instagram pictures on here than I’d like. Anything square is IG. :)

This project has been on my to-do list since I first saw it in Blueprint (RIP) in 2007. Yep. That’s my original copy, complete with red ink stain & all! This was going to be on the feature wall in my nursery if caroline was a boy…but…she wasn’t! & I decided to wait to use it should I get the chance to decorate another nursery. & hip, hip hooray. I DID! It’s now all over pinterest & my version was additionally inspired by Kelly’s ombre version. I cannot tell you how much I love it. I spend plenty of time staring at it in the middle of the night. & I could not be happier with how it turned out! Here’s how I did it:

SUPPLIES

• canvas (mine is 24×30″)
• white twinkle lights (found mine at target in the garden section, 100ct)
• acrylic paint in desired color/s. (You’ll need white & at least one colored shade if you want to do the ombre effect–ombre means “shaded or graduated in tone” just in case you aren’t familiar with the term)
• paintbrush
• water in a squirt bottle
• exacto knife

HOW-TO

• I wasnt sure what I was going to do with the colors, so I grabbed a few from my stash & started to play. I ended up squirting white on one end & orange on the other.
• I started on the orange side & worked the paint over towards the white, but not all the way. I washed the brush clean, then started on the white side working towards the orange. I did this over & over until I had the colors blend just the way I wanted to. I also squirted the canvas with water a bit to help the paint blend better.
• once the top was dry, I painted the edges of the canvas celedon green, just to cover up the runny orange.
• I then took it up to the nursery to decide which color I wanted on top. White it was!
• I marked the middle of my three “fireworks” and started poking holes with the exacto knife.
• After the holes were pierced, I punched the twinkle lights through & just kept going until I liked the pattern. I kept a rough count of the lites, knowing that I should split them into thirds for each firework, a little heavier on the top & bottom two.
• Once it was done, I used an extension cord to reach the lites on the back of the canvas & put them on a remote for an extra easy on/off during those never ending nighttime feedings.

I can’t tell you how much I love it! The best part of the whole thing is how affordable it is–the only new supplies I needed to buy were a canvas & lights. I got the canvas half off at JoAnns Fabrics ($25) and the twinkle lights were $5 at Target. The rest was stuff I had laying around the house.

& now on to decorating the last wall in the nursery! I’ve got three of four done…yea!!