S'mores Life

Clara turned nine months old on May 14th. It is hard to believe that she has now been "out" longer than she was "in". I learned a lot while pregnant with her but I think I have learned even more since having her... What I learned from being 9 months pregnant:            - You can't imagine worse sleep than nights involving sleeping on one side only, peeing 48 times, elevating           your ankles, being kicked from the inside and indigestion (ok, ok, I can't say that I got indigestion often but I bet it would suck.)                                                                       -The worse thing someone can say to you is "You look huge and miserable." And the biggest  compliment you can receive is "You look...

I was so proud of myself during Zumba this week. As I was gettin' down I was thinking, despite the fact that I know my dancing self looks a fool, I am sure I've lost a significant amount of weight...why else would my Old Navy ribbed tank top be SO loose on me?! Wow, I could even tie a little 1990s shirt knot on the side if I wanted to. I know these things stretch, but not this much! Heck yeah, I am awesome. After the class I strutted my hot, skinny self to the locker room and took it off. It was a maternity t-shirt. Damn. I don't know if it's just me, I'm Alaskan and chubby and always sweating, or if they make the rooms in our pediatrician's office warmer than normal to make up for the fact that the babies are in there in just their diapers for awhile...but I am ALWAYS sweating in there. I swear our pediatrician is going to diagnose me with some extreme sweating or anxiety problem. Today before she came in I used one of their tissues to wipe the sweat off my ...

Have you ever done something, whether it be as a mom, employee, spouse, etc. and thought "Wow, I'm glad there weren't any video cameras around me to catch that on film." but then went on to think "I'm 99% sure I am not the first and won't be the last person to do that." That pretty much sums up this post, which I've decided to do weekly...because I know I'll continue to do things that are confession-worthy. One of the days this past week consisted of no real food in the house, a baby who was fighting nap, and no play-dates or any outings to help keep mama sane...It was kind of a rough day so we went to Safeway, where I did some grocery shopping but mostly to pick out lunch for myself. Afterwards, I loaded up the car with baby and groceries, and sat in the driver's seat eating my lunch for 10 minutes with the AC and radio on and Clara content in her car seat. Just for some time for myself . And the only thing that made me leave when I ...

I recently discovered the Play-at-Home-Mom's blog , and I am in luuuurvvve. There are so many great ideas on that site and I'm excited to try some more as Clara gets older. Alaskan Water Bed This one is inspired by the Redneck Water Bed , since it uses so much duct tape but I am partial to the name Alaskan Water Bed...I believe Alaskans are rednecks at heart (and I say this with love!) and will use duct tape to fix anything. This is actually the smaller version that I was inspired to try. Maybe I can't call myself a true redneck or Alaskan (gasp! never), but I think I was a little too conservative with the duct tape. It broke in a matter of minutes. The fear of that happening is why I didn't add food coloring or a ton of water for this "test run". When it gets hotter out (you know, 95 instead of 80) I will try the larger version in our yard and see how Clara likes it. Sensory Board This project was a much bigger success. And I'm prou...

This post is not going to win me a lot of fans. At least not a lot of East Coast fans. But I assure you, all of my Maryland friends and family, you are dear to my heart. If I choose to spend my time with you whether you're from Alaska, Maryland, California or Zimbabwe, I love you. I do love a lot of things about Maryland, and the number one on the list are my family and friends. But it will never be home to me. What I do not love are the flippin' Maryland drivers.  I swear to Lucifer just the TRAFFIC alone on this side of the country will send me to a loony bin! Or jail, because it makes me JUST AS CRAZY AS EVERYONE ELSE ON THE ROAD. Yesterday as I was turning left, the person in the far lane stopped to let me in. That was nice. Yay, thanks pretty lady in the blue Audi. But there was a car coming up on my left, I had to wait approximately .05347 second for it to pass before I could turn. I waited and started to turn left...but now the Audi is coming at me. Apparently waiting...

My first review! I was so excited when Bee All Natural , an organic family skin care company, selected me to review their all natural baby powder . I became a facebook fan of Bee All Natural  when I was entering a giveaway for cloth diapers, but I stayed  a fan because I was very interested in their products. As most of you know, I've basically crossed over from somewhat of a granola to a full-blown hippie since having Clara, and have put more of an effort into trying to use all natural products on her skin. I am not incredibly strict about it, we still have Johnson & Johnson's baby lotion (gifts from baby showers) on our shelves, but if I have an affordable option to buy something else I certainly do. That's what I like about Bee All Natural's products; all of their products contain natural ingredients (that I can actually read and pronounce!) and are 100% USDA certified organic. They are handmade by a Michigan Mom, which is great because I love supporting ...