Friday, March 22, 2013

MASON JAR TUMBLER, Oh My!! GIVEAWAY!

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Do you have that FAVORITE cup that you love to drink out of?
In my house we have two cabinets with two different styles of cups in them. When we were moving from Cali to Texas we were packing stuff up for storage and new house... but we could not decide which cups to bring. So I brought both styles. Husband enjoys regular glass cups and I slowly started to enjoy my mason jars to use as my cup... we always had extra from canning and they ended up in the cabinet. I have had a few people mention it and how old school it is :) Well.. I have a NEW favorite cup... and it just so happens.... it is a Big Mason Jar Cup!!! I love it.
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Patrice from Bittersweet Lemonade sent me a new cup to review for you guys. From the moment I pulled it from the box, I was in love and using it non-stop. She was so great to put our very on Naturally Sisters decal on it- so you know I love it even more. This cup is amazing. I use it daily and I have actually gotten lots of compliments on it. The fact that it is glass and is still surviving after only a month tells you how much I really do love this sipper! Often times it is hard to keep the glass cups safe with my clumsy self AND my toddler running around wanting my cup. She has such a huge variety of 'sippers' to chose from and will even personalize them to your liking, as she did ours. You need to check them out at her ETSY SHOP. She has many different shapes, sizes, colors... they are all so fun. The cup I tried out and that someone will be receiving is a taller cup. I am SO glad she sent a tall one over because I am that customer in a restaurant that needs you to just go ahead and leave the water bottle so I can fill my own water up over.. and over... and over. The sipper is put together so well. It has a seal at the top that has the straw going through it. I have not had any issues with my drink coming out, even when it has fallen over!
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I would recommend washing your sippers by hand and not putting into the dishwasher. Maybe I am just precautions, but I would rather be safe than sorry. The sippers clean easily because of the wide mouth... but I would worry about the decal coming off running it through the dishwasher. At Naturally Sisters we tell our customers the same thing when they purchase water bottles from us with decals on it.
I am so excited that one of you get to win your own sipper. She customized it for you and it says "Workout Diva" ... I am sure even if you don't work out, you know some girl that would love this sipper. They are really fun cups and I have gotten SO many compliments from it- even from men. Men are very intrigued with the top and how the straw goes through!
What you win?
-Customized Sipper that says "Workout Diva"
-Healthy Supplements placed inside for you to try!
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I asked Patrice to send me over information about her business... so here you have it:
"Bittersweet Lemonade - "Summer Sippin' the way you Remember it"
I like all things vintage and I love lemonade... I also like to drink out of glass, especially mason jars.. I realized there was a market out there for mason jar drinks.. I knew I needed to make them special so I came up with the name bittersweet lemonade and make my mason jars for ALL ages and lifestyles .. kids (8oz sippers) parties (16oz sippers) and portable day drinks/sports drinks 24oz.
All of my sippers can be personalized and are dishwasher safe, (I recommend you hand wash the lids because the are tin).... They are STURDY because they are intended for canning and I think they keep your drinks colder because they are tempered canning jar glass. Wouldn't YOU rather drink from a glass jar vs. an acrylic bottle? Bittersweet Lemonade thinks so too!"
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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Easter is My Favorite Holiday!

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I have always LOVED Easter!!
Here's few things I love about it: 
-The wonderful, bright Easter colors
-Tulips
-Easter candy, specifically: Egg Whoppers, Starburst Jelly Beans, & Duck-Chick-Bunny Sweet tarts
-The excitement that you get when you are searching through freshly mowed grass looking for eggs and prizes
-Dying Easter Eggs
-Yummy boiled eggs
-Coloring Easter Egg photos, and making your own fun designs
-Getting a new Easter outfit for church
-Passover meals
-The true meaning behind Easter
-Cheesy Easter sayings, EX: "HOPPY EASTER!"
-Easter decorations
Needless to say, I LOVE Easter!! I always have, and always will!
So...since Easter is My Favorite Holiday!! I wanted to share with you a wonderful Easter Sale happening at my Naturally Nifty Boutique!
 etsy shop
These Bird Nest Necklaces, Rings, & Sets are such a great gift to put inside an Easter basket, or just as a sweet gift for your mother, daughter, sister or friend!!
So from now until Easter Sunday they are all on sale! Just use the Coupon Code EASTER13 to get the sale price!
Easter Sale
ENJOY, & 
cupcakes
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Homemade Play Dough

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*This is a repost from 2012... but we had so much fun doing it, I wanted to share*
Every kid loves play dough! We decided to make our own in daycare! What is better than play dough?
EATABLE, GOOD SMELLING, RED playdough! :)
Ingredients:
Cream of Tarter
Pack of Cool Aid
Flour
Oil
Salt
Water
Mix together all dry ingredients!
Mix the water and oil too!
Put on the stove and slowly pour the water/oil mixture in.
Heat and stir until it is all mixed together. This took about 2-3 minutes.
Then it says to put on a surface and knead it for a few minutes.
I, however, used my Bosch Mixer that I bought from Nutrition Lifestyles to knead it for me!
See how easy it was! Now all I have to do is let it cool until the kids can play with it. Took like 2 minutes!
Rooster Head's handprint!
He loved it!
I love him! He had so much fun.
He wanted to build a snowman!
Rolling it out with his own personal rolling pin!
Feeding Mr. Piggy the playdough!
We had so much fun. The kids loooooved it. They played for at least 30 minutes. The best part is that if you keep it in a sealed container, it stays good for up to six months! That is AWESOME! AND if the baby decides to eat it... like babies do... all he gets is some VERY, VERY salty flour!
Yes, I tasted it!
Have fun making playdough with your kids!
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Sunday, March 10, 2013

It has been 2 years

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japan
It has been 2 years now Since the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. My son and I, who was not even 1 yet, lived right there with it. This was by far one of the scariest times in my life. I am so thankful that my friend Kim was there too with her little girl. Our husbands' were deployed at the time and we were cut off from the outside world for a while with no electricity. Today I am just going to share some of the pictures that I have from the aftermath from the local town that is down the road a bit from where we lived.. this is actually where my best friend and I were headed that day to go to Toys R Us. That didn't happen...
On March 11, 2011.. I remember where I was and will never forget, much like 9/11. I was gearing up to leave work soon, my students had just left the school and my best friend, Kimmy was coming to get me. We were going to go pick up Noah to go to Hachinohae to Toys R' US. The earthquake hit! OMG! I thought I was dying.. I am not kidding. It kept going.. they kept coming. Kim shows up.. we decide to go ahead and go.. we had no clue what had just happened was so terrible. WE were used to earthquakes.. we had one pretty sucky a couple of days before. As we were in the parking lot... getting Noah's carseat switched to Kim's van.. we just watched as cars shook from side to side as the aftershocks/earthquakes WHATEVER you want to call them... kept coming and coming!!!!!!
They wouldn't stop. We still thought.. maybe we will go. Driving around base was somber..... all the lights were out. #1 priority.. get noah from off base. We did... everything was off otu there too.. We finally decided it was best to go home. (Keep i mind, our guys were deployed) I can tell you that we had no clue the extremity of the situation in Japan... I would dare to say most of us did not. We spent the evening with no electricity and running to the car, to the doorway, or perfectly still.. always grabbing a kid or two.. depending who was closest -- each time another one hit. It was constant. No lie. We finally decided to drive to Main base and see what was up.. we ended up going to the Commissary and they just let us in even though there was no electricity and they were closing, but we got batteries. That night we sat in her dark house with our candles just talking about 'what if this hit the news, our family would be so worried'... but not seriously, like we were laughing. We had NO CLUE!
All through the night we kept getting the quakes, it was so scary. I just knew it was the end of the world. The next morning we were able to get AFN (our base radio) going on my radio and we heard the guy say something about "President Obama's address to the nation about the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan." We just looked at each other. NO WAY!!! NOOO freaking way. So, indeed our family did know about it, as did the rest of the WORLD! As we listened throughout the day we would learn just how bad it was.... but we still had no clue. The base set up an Emergency Center were we could go call our families. Even when we talked to them- we told them we didn't know how bad it was... everyone in the United States (or rather WORLD) knew what was going on much more than we did!!! We were able to check our email quickly at the FD and I couldn't help but sneak a peak at some of the pictures online.. I was IN SHOCK!!! I couldn't believe it. My home.. and it was SO close SO close to us.
My heart craves for Japan because that place became home to me. I went through a lot there... Losing Shane, Having Noah, 2 deployments, Earthquake and Tsunami.. and all of this I walked side by side with my best friends. I love that place and half of my heart is still there.. Always will be. :(
I wish that I had blogged right after it happened that way I could share with you what we were going through sitting there with not heat or electricity. How we improvised and warmed water for our babies to bathe, how long we were without electricity, how we used sitting in the van for warmth, how long we had to go without talking to our families and husbands.. But because we were without for so long... I never wrote about it I guess. I thought I had.. I didn't! :(
 



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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Homemade Swiffer Sweeper!

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So....this is one of my favorite posts from over a year or two ago. It has been very popular and one of our most viewed posts even now days.  So now that we are at our new website I wanted to share it with you all again!


SIDENOTE: I love my Homemade Swiffer Covers, and I still use them to this very day! (the same ones) I use them, wash them, and reuse them!! See it really does save money!


One of the first things I have done is going to be very helpful around my home.  This past year I purchased my first Swiffer Sweeper...it isn't a fancy one, but just a plain ol' Swiffer Sweeper, and I love it! So the way I clean my floors is I use a regular broom, then my wet rags attached to my Swiffer Sweeper.  I love the idea of the dry towels that Swiffer sells, but I don't want to spend the money on both the wet and dry ones.  I have noticed though that after sweeping my floors there is always residue around that could easily be gotten up with a dry cloth.  So, I decided to make my own.


Here's what I used:

-Old Towel

-Scissors

-Tape Measure

-Sewing Machine

-Your Swiffer Sweeper (for measuring)


Sounds simple huh!

Well it was! You can definitely make one of these in just a few simple steps, it only took about 15minutes once I figured out all of the measurements.



This little guy wanted to join me! Isn't he so cute!



Here are the three pieces I cut:

Long piece: 5 1/2 inches x 11 inches

Small pieces: 5 1/2 inches x 3 inches


Sew the two small pieces to the ends of the long piece, leaving the openings facing each other, and you got it.  You have to make sure not to add width to your small pieces or it will not slide on.


Doesn't it look great! And even if it doesn't, it was made from an old towel and will be cleaning your floors! ha so it doesn't have to be beautiful or perfect!


I will be using mine very soon.




I went ahead and made two so that I could have another while one was being washed!


So definitely try this, it will help out when cleaning your floors, and save you money.

I believe you could even use this as a broom itself if you commonly clean your floors.


Let me know if you try it out!

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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Do you have a Birth Story? Link Up

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{This blog was written on April 2, 2010... any changes made are in these brackets}
I am wondering how many of you have a Birth Story? I LOVE reading Birth Stories.. and find them all over pages I am part of on Facebook. Would you consider linking your story up to this post so I can read them and others can? 
The Day I Became A Mommy...
On Saturday the 27th {of March}, I spent all day out and about with the husband and friends. Nate had a bowling function that evening so I was going with him. Before we left the house, around 515, I felt a small 'gush' of water. It was something I had never felt before.. I Was like, "oh, wow..." Nate and I headed on to the bowling alley and I felt once again that small 'gush' of water. At this time we decided to head to Labor and Delivery since I was 40 weeks, 4 days pregnant. So.. this began our long journey of bringing our sweet baby boy into this world. It was determined that the small gushes were nothing to be too concerned about, but my blood pressure was. During the last 4 weeks of pregnancy, my blood pressure was up a bit. The doctor chose to keep me and go ahead and induce the next morning since they were already going to induce on Wednesday anyways. :) {In my education now... I would not have made this choice.. or would wish I wouldn't have} Our friends, the Wade's headed to get our stuff from our house and to get Dezi {our dog}. They got to the hospital around 10pmish and hung out until about midnight. The hospital was so great at letting me have my friends there--- there was never an issue. Around 11pm, the doctor came in and checked me and found that I was 1 centimeter dialated and 50% effaced and Noah was still at station 3. We had a long ways to go. The doctor then put a bulb inside me that would help me dilate to a 4-5 and then fall out. At 1am, the bulb fell out. I was shocked and scared because we did not expect the bulb to fall out a mere 2 hours later. But then I was excited too. It did not take too long for the bulb to fall out, so this must mean that I was going to dialate pretty easily. We were sure that I was at least a 4 at this point. Nate had to sleep in a chair because we were actually in a Labor and Delivery Room. He did get some sleep, although I am sure quite uncomfy. I did not get much sleep. I was just thinking and thinking. A part of me was scared out of my mind, the other part was quite excited. I remember looking at the clock at 3am again and telling myself that I had to go to sleep. Shift change in the hospital was at 6am and I knew that the new nurse would be starting my induction. Once I was admitted I was not allowed to have any food or shower. I was really bummed about that. Also, let me add.. they had to draw blood from me.. and it took them 6, yes I said 6 pokes to get somewhere to draw blood. They also then had to put an IV in when they admitted me and it took another 4 sticks plus 2 gals from the ER to come and do it!! I was reallllly getting sick of that! :) At the shift change I had an awesome new nurse come in that encouraged me to shower and to eat something before they began the pitocin and induction. Nothing sounded good to eat so Nate got me some cheese its, and I ate some trail mix and beef jerky. Not a lot though- I guess I was too anxious. The shower felt wonderful .. yet I could not help but think in the shower how this was the LAST time I would shower not being a mommy. {I just laughed out loud, FOR REAL, I had no clue how much this would change} Once I got out of the shower and got comfy in bed, the nurse came in with the pitocin. I was scared out of my mind. I wanted to avoid that at all costs because I truly wanted a NATURAL laboring process. I was determined to do this with no meds. However, I didn't really have much of a choice at this point- 4 days overdue. {However, NOW I realize how that is NOT a big deal at all} They were going to turn the pitocin up two notches every 30 minutes to an hour. So, they started me at a 2. Around 10am Ryan and Abbey showed up instead of going to church. They brought breakfast for Nathan and hung out with us. Shortly after, around 11am, Kim showed up. Abbey and Kim were going to help me through the laboring process. Nate and Ryan sat in the corner of the room for the longest time playing cards. The three of us girls just hung out and had a good ol’ time. The nurse kept coming in and asking me what my pain was on a scale of 1-10. It was a very annoying question for me because how would I know what my pain level is if I have never been through this? Around noon I was at about an 8 on the Pitocin and Nate and Ryan decided to leave and go for a run. Kim had went to eat lunch with her husband, so they waited for her to get back because Abbey was going to head out and go get some lunch and freshen up at home. They all headed out about 1pm and the nurse put me up to a 10 on the Pitocin.. Kim was there laboring with me as the contractions began to get harder at times. {Thank God for her during this moment when they first started} We were watching them on the screen and she was helping me through each contraction. Again, the nurse wanted to know my pain level. By the time my level had gotten to about a 14 I then realized that they were going to keep pushing it up higher and higher as I kept telling them that it was only a 3 on a scale to 1-10.. lol. It took me that long to realize it. Eventually, not sure what time, everyone was back with me. At this point my contractions where terribly bad and I had all three of them laboring with me. Nate, Kim, and Abbey took turns rubbing my lower back as I labored. Ryan sat in a chair doing crosswords acting oblivous to the whole ordeal! :) My DR came in around 4pm, is my guess, and decided to break my water. This was not painful, but I was very glad to have my hubby holding my hand. It was the strangest feeling to me to continue to feel gushing water randomly.. lol... HOWEVER--within the next hour... I felt pain! I remember one of the girls telling me to just let go.. and go with it. I told them that I could not let myself go because once I did- there was no coming back. I tend to be pretty tough.... but at some point the tears started coming. I was in a lot of pain. I stayed pretty calm and cracked jokes most of the laboring process. But I remember that between 7-8pm I was in such pain that I told Nate that I didnt know if I could do this without the FEARED epidural that I did not want. He then encouraged me to talk with the nurse about my other pain relief options. So it was at that time we decided to go ahead and get a different pain medication called Stadol, or something.. It is a narcotic that was going to make me pass out... but the contractions would continue. The DR talked with me about it too. The nurse then realized that my contractions were going took crazy so she knocked my pitocin level in half. At this point they had taken me to a 22, so she knocked it back to an 11. By the way, once I got to an 18 on the pitocin, I began telling them that the pain level was MUCH higher.. but I am sure that they knew it by my crying! :) So.. the meds they put into my IV around 8pm.. my poor friends and husband. That is all I can say! :) For the first hour of it, apparantly, I went crazy. The nurse enjoyed me too. I said crazy things, laughed uncontrollably.. etc. I guess I even talked to my mom briefly on the phone during that first hour. The second hour, I slept. It only really lasted about 2 hours when I woke up. It was about 10pm that the DR came in to check me again.. only to find that I was still only a 4, 75% effaced, and Noah was still at Station 3. She then talked with us about C-Section. This was my biggest fear... that I did not think would happen to me. She gave us the option to labor for another six hours before she MADE me do the C-SEction, but in her honest opinion, she did not think that I was going to change. I asked Nate what he thought, becuase I did not want to keep laboring, but I did not want a C-Section. If I had not had my strong hubby there with me, I would have chosen to keep laboring. But Nate clearly said that if the DR truly believed that nothing was going to change that we may as well go ahead and get Noah out vs. contining like this only to end up in the same spot. Makes sense, right? So... it began. I slowly began signing my life away, listening to nurses and drs talk to me.... all while my hubby dressed up for the OR and my best friends began moving all of my stuff from my room to the postpartum room.. and all the while, i booo hoooed. I did not want this. Operating Room- I became someone I never knew was inside of me. I was okay as they put the spinal tap in. I just hung on to the sweet girl in front of me.. and asked a lot of questions. Mind you, I was still a bit drugged up. I do not think it had clearly hit me yet that I was about to meet him. I never researched C-Sections because I never thought I would have to go through it. Then I was layed back and that curtain that we all see on movies- yea, it was put up.. and I lost it. I was cryuing uncontrollably. I had the shakes... it was bad. The sweet nurses. One was at my ear just reassuring me.. over and over. Then Nate came in. My poor husband. I just could not stop crying. I was freezing cold, could barely talk, and just kept telling him over and over that I did not  want to do this- I did not want any part of this.. and I just wanted to go home. I promised him right then that I would not do this again! (I will).... Needless to say, it was very hard. Nate was so good listening to me, reassuring me, comforting me. I do not know what I put my poor husband through, but I honeslty could not help it. I am telling you- I bawled uncontrollably the WHOLE time and said things that I never would think would come out of my mouth! I kept hearing a nurse behind my head say .. it is almost time, they are almost bringing the baby out. then someone told us that it was time and asked Nathan if he wanted to watch them lift the baby! :) So.. as he continued to hold my hand, he stood up and looked.. and then I heard "It's a boy!" (THANK GOD!).. I remember them bringing him to the other side of the curtain and showing him to me.. to which I started crying even more.. He was.. beautiful. Nate went to help clean him off and then went to the nursery with him as they stitched me up. I am not sure how much longer I was in there.. I just remember that I still had the shakes, was freezing cold, and could not stop crying- OH I TRIED! I kept apologizing for acting this way and they would laugh and tell me I was perfectly normal.. LIARS!!! Way to make me feel good.. but I did keep asking over and over.. "am I going to die..." Needless to say, when I see a nurse from the OR out and about- I am a bit embarrassed.. Lol... Then they swtiched me over to another bed and began taking me out the hall. Oh.. my sweet baby boy was born on March 28, 2010 at 11:16pm weighing in at 8lb, 5oz and 19 inches long. PERFECT has his name by it in the dictionary. Can I just tell you what amazing friends I have? They were all by the nurses station when I rolled by.. I remember that I said something to them about him being soo pretty. Lol. I am not sure when they were allowed in my room.. but I did have nurses in there for a long time. I remember as I was coming back to reality I just kept thinking that they needed to get me my baby that I had not held yet. I was ready to hold him and feed him! :) Finally- my friends were there.. or maybe they were in there the whole time, I do not remember. But then I remember someone saying that here comes Daddy. It was over an hour after my baby had been born when he was rolled by his proud daddy into the room in his bassinet. My sweet husband then handed him over to me. I was amazed. I know I then let all of my friends hold him so they could go home after their long day-- and so I could feed him. After they left, everything else of that night is a blur. Nate says we did not sleep. I do not remember. I know I love breastfeeding my boy. My friends had made sure to call my mom and sister and keep them posted. They were able to catch my mom on her cell phone right as she was about to turn it off on the plane in Dallas to fly here. So, she knew on her flight over that he was here and we were both okay. She arrived less than 24 hours after Noah had arrived.. and my friends picked her up. She stayed 2 weeks.. and it went by way to fast. She was so helpful and I am so thankful that she was able to spend the first 2 weeks of Noahs life with him. He already loves his Gammy sooo much. The nurses and doctors at Misawa Hospital were A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Thank you to everyone. Words can not express. We delivered late Sunday night and we were released with our sweet boy by lunch on Wednesday. Nate's mom is here now and will be here until the 29th. The help has been great. Our son is getting bigger.. already 20.5 inches long and almost 10lbs. He will be 4 weeks old on Sunday. Time flies. I am out of work until June 1, when I will go back and finish the year with my kiddos at school. i have loved every single moment of Noahs life and I love being his mommy. I pray that the Lord will give me, Nate, and Noah a long life to live together. I will blog more often, I jsut wanted to get my birth story down first. Plkently of pictures of Noah boy are on facebook if you havent seen! :) I love both of my boys.
{I am so glad that I wrote this.. a lot of things I had forgotten that just made me smile!}
Now I would LOVE it if you would share your birth story with me by linking it up.. I promise to read each of them! Being pregnant with my 2nd, birth stories intrigue me as they did with my first! 
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Monday, March 4, 2013

Babies grow WAY too fast... {Giveaway}

Pin It It is so hard to believe that my little crazy child is turning THREE this month. Where on earth did the time go? It feels like he was just a baby, but in the same breath... it seems that he has been in my life- FOREVER! He has been the best thing that has happened to us and has brought my husband and I so much closer than I ever imagined. Take a walk down memory lane with me if you will? My little bundle of joy was brought into this world in the late hours of night in March... After much trying to get him to cooperate so I could have that natural birth that I longed for, we made the difficult decision, to go for a C-Section. Today, I think we should have tried more and gone another 12 hours and just try... but the DR didn't think it would make a difference.. and I was so exhausted: physically, mentally, and emotionally-- I let my husband make the call. I cried and cried and cried. Once they took me into the OR I was a lost cause. I could not quit crying... and I am pretty sure I never did until they rolled me out. I lost it that night... I became someone I never knew was inside of me. My dreams of a natural birth were shot! And I was beyond sad. Words can't express how scared I was. I remember saying "Please don't let me die!" "I don't want this baby!" "I am never doing this again!" {Funny because right now I feel this precious little girl kicking me from the inside.} But when it was all over and done with, all I wanted was to hold him... My husband had gone to the nursery with him- which is what I wanted-- but I had to wait patiently back in my room, with my crew, for him to return back to me. noah2 That screaming mouth-- still how he looks today when he cries![/caption]   The first time I held him... I never expected it to be this way, and I only pray it is that way when my little girl is placed in my arms. Immediately, I felt complete. I felt like what I was designed for.. was here. All the sadness and feeling of not being able to do what I always dreamed of doing: Natural Birth.... it was GONE! I struggled still as the months went on not understanding it, but it honestly did not matter. He was my boy... and who cares how he came to me. He had so much of his Daddy in him... I loved it. Every cry, move, sound.. I was there. I wanted nothing more than to be the best mom ever. I can't believe that was almost three years ago

.noah1 
The first time I held my baby boy.. That first year presented many "first times" for us... feeding him new food, rolling over, sitting up, going back to work, babysitter, smiles, kisses, words, first steps, daddy deploying, etc. That first year brought many struggles in my marriage as well. I know I can't be the only one that experienced that. It was, by far, the hardest time in our marriage. We had been married 7 years by the time he came into our little life... and it was such a change. I'll never forget.. and today I am so thankful that the Lord allowed us to go through these challenges .. because we are stronger now- and I try and relate to girls that are first having babies.. because I GET IT! Because of Daddy's service to our Armed Forces, he missed our little guys first Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Birthday. We waited for Daddy to come home so celebrate his 1st Birthday.. and we did.. with two great sets of friends! I will forever be grateful for the friends that became my family while we were in Japan... because they were there for all of those firsts with us! I am even more grateful for those friends that have continued to be my family... and still know my boy like he is their own, besides the fact that they don't see him!
1st Birthday "Party" 
1st Birthday "Party"
 Shortly after our boy turned one, we took a trip of a lifetime with our best friends to Thailand... I will forever cherish that trip. I only wish he would remember it as he gets bigger. Shortly after we made our move back to America--- to California. It was so exciting that our little boy was going to be a Cali Dude! :) {Though I had zero desire to go there..gotta make the best of it}... Our family were able to see him for the 2nd or 3rd time since he had been born! We enjoyed life over the next year- but it went SO fast. Thankful that daddy didn't deploy during our little one's 2nd year! We made great friends in Cali and joined a wonderful church. We bought our first, beautiful, home! We loved it. Life was hard adjusting for me back to America.. but by the time Noah was two, I felt connected with a few friends!He's 2!!! 
He's 2!!!
 I couldn't believe my boy was two years old. I know all moms feel this way, right? Time had flown. In his short two years he had been around the world and back. Born in Japan, traveling to Texas at 3 months old and again at 9 months old, going back to Japan, traveling to Thailand through Korea at 13 months old, then at 15 months old traveling to Texas then California.. and also making another trip to Texas during that time. When March of 2012 arrived and I realized my boy was almost 2 and I had still NOT gained control of my body or life since he had been born- I had had ENOUGH! It was time to do something about it. It was during this time that my boy and I started running together... and for the next six months we would run multiple races together. He loved it, I loved it, we totally bonded over our running adventures. He got entered into his first race, life was good. When he was 2.5 years old we found out we were expecting another baby... this changed a lot in my brain. I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about it... and honestly I still worry about my boy having to share me.. not because of him, but because of me! I am pretty attached to him.. ask anyone. But I also can't wait to meet his little sister and see him in action as a big brother. 
Just my main man... working hard on his woodwork!
Just my main man... working hard on his woodwork!
   There are so many memories in the last three years... and I am so thankful to have them! He has changed me more than anyone will ever know- I know you mommies have to feel the same!! I also know that during that 1st year of life how we document things by pictures so much!! I took pictures ALL the time.. actually I still do. I have been labeled by many as the Picture W*ore! Really?!?! I don't use that kind of language.. but I don't know how else to describe it! :) However, when I had him and throughout his first year- I really wanted to be one of those parents that took that one single picture each month and watched the growth. I have seen some pretty amazing things... from teddy bears, frames, shirts, to these stickers I am about to share with you. I want to do it for our little girl- but then I feel guilty I didn't do it for our little boy! :) But man, I am sure I have more pictures of him than I will EVER have for our little girl!  Courtesy of Lucy Darling Shop 
Courtesy of Lucy Darling Shop
 As we watch our babies grow and love every minute of it, why not have something cute to document it, right? I am so excited to share with you mommies {and daddies} out there about our giveaway today. Haily from Lucy Darling Shop has graciously offered to give one of you a very awesome GIFT! She describes it perfectly on her shop: "Cute colorful baby monthly onesie stickers. Photograph monthly milestones with month by month stickers. Great baby shower gifts and photo prop. Baby girl month onesie stickers and baby boy monthly onesie stickers. Baby Month stickers and more! Thanks for shopping with us! At Lucy Darling Shop, we love helping you make darling memories!" 
Courtesy of Lucy Darling Shop 
Courtesy of Lucy Darling Shop
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Courtesy of Lucy Darling Shop
 I can't lie.. I am a little jealous of those of you who can enter into this Giveaway! :) But what fun. She is going to give the winner the choice of a boy or girl set! So if you are expecting, enter.. if you know someone who is expecting, enter! I know like-- NO LIE-- 15 other girls that are pregnant right now! It is crazy. While you are at it, go check out her Etsy Shop too. Her prices are very reasonable in case you don't win the Giveaway! In order to enter this Giveaway you will have to follow her on Facebook and she would love for you to pin some of her products on Pinterest. So, let's get on with the Giveaway.

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