April Bluum Box

Yeah my first Bluum Box is here! I’m going to just post a quick video for now and I’ll have to do some research to find out prices and links for you all. I have to say so far I’m very impressed with the box and everything that was inside.

So here it is! This box is for a 9 month old boy, I’m not sure if Bluum boxes are gender specific or not though. ‘Bluum is an online, monthly subscription service that sends new moms a beautifully curated box containing sample and full size beauty, wellness and baby care products.’ They recently switched from offering sample size products to offering the big thing. You can get you own BluumBox here!

Item 1: Miracle Mud Mask by 7th Heaven

Buy it anyway? No

Retails for $2.99 at 7th Heaven

I’m pretty picky about the products I put on my skin, 7th Heaven does brag that they use as many organic products as possible and that the rest of its ingredients are natural. I’m not sure that I’ll use this, I may give it to my mom or sister to try.

Item 2: Happy Munchies Rice Cakes by Happy Family

Buy it anyway? Yes

Retails for $3.00 on Happy Family or $3.60 on Amazon

I’ve been buying these Rice Cakes in the Apple flavor for Pookie and he really likes them so I’m glad that I get to try them in a different flavor. These are nice because they’re light and dissolve easily, Pookie is still a bit of a spaz when it comes to eating so these are a nice change from what he’s been eating.

Item 3: Leg Warmers by Baby Legs

Buy anyway? Yes

Retails for $12.00 on Baby Legs of $10.00 on Amazon

I can’t tell you how excited I was about these! I’ve been meaning to buy some leg warmers for Pookie, and was actually going to buy these exact same pair, but haven’t done it yet so I was super excited when I saw these. The fabric is soft and stretchy, they’re marked as one size fits most and there’s definitely room for him to grow with these.

Item 4: Snuggle Bunny: Let’s Put Bunny to Bed! by Parragon Books

Buy it anyway? Maybe

Retails for $13.00 at Parragon Books

This book is short but cute, it has vivid pictures that baby will love and easy words for kids that are starting to read, it also comes with an adorable bunny for your little one to snuggle with!

Item 5: Mulburry Bush CD by Child’s Play

Buy it anyway? No

Retails for $6.00 at Child’s Play 

I’m kind of disappointed that it’s just one disk with three different versions of the same song, I wish that it was the book and the CD that they have listed on their website. . It will be nicer for when he gets older to just give him this to put in the CD player himself, I have to say I consider this to be of no value because of the fact that it’s just a CD with essentially one track on it.

Item 6: Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar by Luna Bar

Buy it anyway? No

Retails for $2.99 at Luna Bar

I try to eat Organic and Clean so this isn’t really up my ally, plus I don’t like chocolate I know, I know. So I gave this to my mom to try, after she eats it I’ll let you know what she thinks. They list that 36% of the ingredients are organic so I did like that and peanut butter and chocolate are a good combo.

So if I were to buy all the items it would cost $37.98.

Just the items I would buy is $19.50(I put the Bunny Book as half)

Happy with this months box? I was until I saw the value, if I liked all the items in this box then $37.98 would be great but considering what I did like is valued less than $20 I’m not so sure. But, I’ve said it before anytime there’s a book and an item for Pookie I’m happy, really those darn baby leggings are so cute that it makes it worth it to me. I would definitely like to try another month of Bluum, just not at $25 a month. I purchased this month through a Totsy deal for $13.5o and I would definitely pay $13.50 again for this box.

Want a box for yourself? Visit Bluum via this link and code BluumVIP for a discount off your first month! 

What do you think of Bluum box? Do you subscribe to Bluum or any other monthly boxes?

Life Change

Oh my, let me tell you my life has been flipped upside down over the past few weeks. I’m working on a very emotional and personal post right now that hopefully I’ll be ready to publish soon. In the mean time I have soooo much to post, I’m going to have a baby food post for you, some craft projects, of course pictures of Pookie. I colored some cute wooden eggs for Pookie for Easter that I wanted to share BEFORE Easter but it just didn’t happen but I’ll still share them. I also have reviews to do! Sorry I never did one for my March Citrus Lane Box but April’s should be shipping in 3 days! I also signed up for Bluum Box so that should be here in a week or two with an awesome 1/2 off deal from Totsy. I’ve been contacted by several awesome companies about reviewing their products so as soon as they confirm that they’ll be sending me products to review I’ll give you all a heads up. I also got an e-mail today from Influenster to fill out a pre-qualification survey for the Total-Cleanse Voxbox(fingers crossed). And because of the sudden change in my life I’ve had to put 6 in 60 on hold 😦 But I hope everyone is still inspired and still doing it!(I need you all to inspire me too!)

Here’s my little bunny enjoying Easter and his basket. He enjoyed eating twice baked potato casserole for dinner that day. So what’s the first post you want to see from me? Do you have any Spring or Earth Day inspired crafts in the works? I just started making hair clips to sell since I need some extra cash so maybe I’ll post those next…?

{Bonus Edit!!!}

So I went and found the recipe for Twice Baked Potato Casserole! Or as they’re known in my family ‘Special Potatoes’

Special Potatoes

5 lbs potatoes(peeled, cooked, & mashed)

1 8oz cream cheese with chives

1 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 cups heavy cream

6 tbs butter

Combine all ingredients but the butter and pour into large pyrex dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes then place tabs of butter on top and serve.

Starstruck

I finally had Pookie’s pictures done the other day(seriously had a HORRIBLE experience with Picture People and would not recommend them) we did get a few good pictures luckily but the photographer didn’t really do what I asked of him… Anyway, my baby is super cute. Everyone I meet tells me how cute Pookie is and that he should be a model. I dont know if he’s model material but I’m going to be sending his picture in to Fords Modeling Agency and see what they think, it’s worth a shot and only costs me the price of a stamp so why not? PSA: Never sign up for those agencies where you pay for them to have photos done and supply you with an ‘agent’, real agencies don’t charge you anything and just require a picture of your child, doesn’t have to be from anyone specific or even a professional photo. Too many people get pulled into those modeling agency scams thinking that their kids will make it into the industry by spending more, not true. Technically Pookie is already a model! My friend Kim over at Wedding Decals made a custom onesie for me and then used Pookie as a baby model on her Etsy Store website, she does great work and fills orders super quick so check it out!

Did you try to get your child into modeling? Doing anything fun this coming week? How about a Pinterest inspired project? Easter’s less than a week away and I have so much left to do!

Pinterest Inspired Sponge Balls

 

So I was carousing Pinterest the other day and came across the idea of making sponge balls, seriously it’s so easy and Pookie loves the texture and I’m sure he’ll like playing with it in the tub. (It’s also great for older kids to use as water bombs in the summer time!)

Step one- Obtain supplies. Buy sponges from the Dollar Store, my Dollar Store only had the ones that were sponge on one side and that rough stuff on the other side so I had to go to the Supermarket. I got a 4 pack for $1.19, you’ll need 3 sponges. I used dental floss, I just used the kind that my dentist gives us each visit so this part was free. You can also you twine, string, what ever you have on hand.

Step two- Cut your sponges length wise into three strips each

Step three- Arrange your sponge strips how you want them, I alternated them so it would look good when they’re a ball.

Step four- Wrap your floss around the sponges, try to get it in the middle, and then pull. It hurt my hands to tighten the string so I wrapped the ends around two pens and pulled the pens to tighten.

Step five- Once the ball is nice and ballish tie off your string and cut the excess.

Now your little one is ready to play with it! See, wasn’t that easy? I made one for Pookie’s discovery box(I have to post about that, it’s awesome), and one for in the bath tub.

Are you feeling inspired yet? What’s your latest Pinterest inspired craft project? Do you have any projects or recipes you’d like for me to try? I hope that you’re keeping up with the 6 in 60 Challenge! I enjoyed some yummy Kale Chips today, they were also super easy(todays trend)

Kale Chips-

One bag or bunch of Kale

Sea Salt

2 tbs Olive Oil

Your Favorite Seasoning(Parmesan, paprika, cumin, cinnamon)

~Preheat your oven to 350. Wash the kale and DRY it(really dry it well, if you don’t you’ll steam the kale instead of crisp it and you’ll have soggy chips)

~Drizzle kale with olive oil, as much or little as you’d like and then salt and/or seasoning to taste. If you’re doing sweet seasoning you can skip the salt.

~Pop it in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the edges brown a bit but don’t burn

And after all that I’ll leave you with a picture of Pookie because he’s so darn cute!

Beautiful Mama Blog Award

You like me, you really like me! Well at least Valerie over at Atlanta Mom of Three does because she was kind enough to bestow upon me a Beautiful Mama Blog Award Nomination! So here’s my acceptance speech.

First thank you so much Valerie for recognizing me! I’m still new to blogging and I just try to share my day to day things with the blog-o-sphere(hopefully I’ll find someone that cares!), so the fact that you’ve nominated me just makes me smitten. I enjoy sharing with others but I never would have imagined how much I could learn from the blogs I’ve been connected with by writing my own, I gain inspiration from each post I read and I hope other get the same from my publications.

Three Things I LOVE About Motherhood

I made this for Pookie’s room

• Baby snuggles, knowing that I’m the one person that always has and always will have a whole-hearted and loving connection with him, no matter what he’ll know he can look to me for love comfort and guidance.
• Truly knowing what a mother’s love is. Now that I’m a mother I don’t think it’s possible to really appreciate how much your own mother loves you until you have your own child. Having a baby has brought me closer to my mom than ever just because now I really understand what she feels towards me.
• Being able to laugh and play and teach him, watching my son grow and see his personality come out has been amazing. I’m so looking forward to the years(and babies!) to come.

Okay enough of that, I’m gonna make myself cry. I also have to nominate some deserving blogs, these ladies are what inspire my craft projects, cooking experiments, and push me to be the best and most fun mom I can be.

Make do & friend

Lella Boutique

The Open Door

Momma Totally In Love

Do you have any favorite blogs? Post them here so I can check them out, or post your blog. What do you think of my blog? What do you want to read more about? Do you have any projects or recipes you’d like for me to try out?

Sleep Training FTW!

So if you have kids chances are at some point they weren’t the best sleepers, if you’re kids always slept great I envy you. We’ve been working with Pookie for a few days now trying to get him to sttn but so far nothing’s worked. Today we picked up The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep by Dr. Harvey Karp, the same guy that wrote The Happiest Baby on the Block. I keep hearing about The Ferber Method and Cry It Out but those really don’t align with my parenting philosophy so we’re going to try out what Dr. Karp has to say. The Happiest Baby on the Block helped us so much in those first couple of months(although to be honest I only read the first few chapters, maybe that’s why we’re having so much trouble sleeping now), so I thought we’d check out what he has to say specifically about sleep.

One of the things that’s brought up is taking your baby outside before noon, since the weather’s been getting nicer I have been taking Pookie out more but it’s usually in the late afternoon. (I keep wanting to put him in the swings but by the time I get to the playground he falls asleep!) So it looks like tomorrows 6 in 60 work out will be in the morning! Speaking of which, I didn’t forget about 6 in 60. For the past week I’ve been taking walks in the park with Pookie, I’m going to have to bring him with me over to the High School Track so I can jog, I can’t do it on our sidewalks with the stroller because they’re so uneven. Is it weird to jog on the track if there are gym classes going on in the field? I don’t know if that’s creepy.

Pookie on our walk yesterday, that hat would not stay on.

I’ve also been working on some core exercises, I thought that my Diastasis Recti(when you’re abdominal muscles don’t come together after pregnancy) would have fixed its self by now since it’s been seven months and there’s still a 2.5 finger width gap which means I can’t do normal ab workouts until they start to pull together. It’s hard to finish a 6 in 60 challenge when I can’t work my core but good news I found a blog that has a workout to help me! Alysa over at inspiredRD is a Registered Dietician and Personal Trainer that helps you asses if you have DR and then gives some workouts to help you tone your core and fix your DR, you can visit the Diastasis Recti page here. I’ll be posting an ab(or lack thereof) shot tomorrow, right now my bath room is too dirty to take a picture in.

I have a lot of catching up to do, I’ve done so many projects over the past week, made a fun sponge ball, put together a Discovery Box for Pookie, started sewing a fabric sensory book for Pookie and was nominated by Valerie over at Atlanta Mom of Three for a Beautiful Momma Blog Award(which I still have to do my nomination acceptance post for! Sorry Valerie, I’m going to work on it right now!), and I have to review all that stuff from my Influenster Voxbox still. I’m going to be busy busy as long as Pookie decides to just give in and sleep.

What method did you use or theory did you have in regards to your child sleeping? Are you keeping up with your ab work out? Are you getting ready for spring, what do you have coming up in the next few weeks?

[4:30am update, of course because I stayed up late playing doing important things on the computer and cleaning the house Pookie decided he would wake up and not go back to bed as soon as i laid down to sleep. Hubby and I decided not to bring Pookie in our room anymore, the past two nights we tried to get him to sleep in his crib but he ended up either in the pack n play or our bed eventually. Tonight he’s staying in his room, well until I give up…]

6 in 60

All day I was thinking about what to write about and I think I’ve figured it out. I love Reese’s cups, I really love the bag of Valentine’s Day ones I got on clearance the other day. I think I ate a whole bag in two days… I also like looking good in my clothes. Unfortunately my two loves don’t go together, at least when you don’t exercise they don’t so starting tomorrow I’m going to be giving myself the 6 in 60 Day Challenge. I don’t know if this is already a real thing but I’m going to pretend I made it up.

The idea is simple, my goal is to get 6 pack abs and I only have 60 days to do it! Over the past few weeks Pookie has cut back on how many times a day he nurses which I can only assume means I’m burning less calories because I feel like I’ve gained weight, hubby disagrees but if nothing else I don’t feel good about how I am right now. Even if I don’t need to lose weight I definitely do need to tone my body(bikini season is right around the corner). Right before I got pregnant I was training myself to run a 5k a few months later and I had a two year goal of running a marathon, maybe when I’m done with 6 in 60 I’ll start training again for a 5k. I’d really like to accomplish that goal one day.

So over the next 60 days I’m going to be running, eating healthier(that mean more delicious recipes to post!), and doing generally healthy things. I’ll be sure to keep you updated along the way and also post some great diet and exercise ideas. And of course I’ll also be trying to get these flabby abs into sexy six packs or something somewhat toned.

Here’s a picture from today! I’ll be happy with any level of improvement but a 6 pack would be nice! I’ll be refining my plan over the next day or two and then I’ll be sure to post it on here for you all to see. 

The Stats-

5 foot 4 inches

118.6 pounds

Size 2 Jeans

So what do you think, will you join me in this 6 in 60 challenge? Have you ever ran a 5k before? What’s your favorite diet and/or exercise blog?

Homemade Gummies

As you know I write this blog after my son goes to bed, and with late night blogging comes late night cravings(especially when you’re trolling around on Pinterest!) well I really wanted some Gummy Bears after stumbling upon a post by Undressed Skeleton, so I made some. I’ve made these before from a recipe on another blog, I can only assume that they’re the same recipe or just about so because they taste just as yummy as last time I made them. Because it’s 1am I’m limited to what’s in my fridge, luckily Taralynn has a recipe that includes what I already have! I decided to make Blueberry and Grapefruit gummies(I don’t have a cute bear cutter so I’m just going to have little squares). I only had 1/2 of fresh blueberries but I had a whole bag of frozen ones so I used 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries too. She also calls for some Mangosteen but I didn’t have any so I used Coconut Water instead.

Blueberry Grapefruit Gummies

2 Cups Blueberries

1/2 Fresh Grapefruit Juice

1/4 Fresh Lemon Juice

1/4 Coconut Water(or what ever kind of juice you have)

5 Packets of Unflavored Gelatin

Squeeze half of one grapefruit and one whole lemon into a bowl, add 1/4 cup Coconut water. Add two cups of blueberries and mix together(you could probably just combine these in your pot). Pour juice/berry mixture into your pot and boil on medium until the blueberries are soft. Pour the mixture into your blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Allow the berry mix to cool for 7 minutes then add 5 packets of unflavored gelatin and blend again, make sure you don’t have any gelatin clumps. Then move your blueberry concoction to a dish or pan(I used a 9×12 pyrex dish), the size of your dish will determine how thick your gummies will be.

This should give you about 18 servings of gummies at 20 gummies a serving(I didn’t come up with that number, I’m using it from Undressed Skeleton but it sounds legit). The basic set up she uses is-

• 1 Cup Fresh Squeezed Fruit Juice
• 2 Cups Fresh Fruit,
• 5 Packets (5 tbsp) Unflavored Gelatin
• 1 Packet Stevia (or tbsp honey).

The Blueberry/grapefruit one didn’t exactly follow this formula but I’d use this setup for any other kind of fruit you might want to try. I’m wondering if this might also be a good way to sneak some veggies into your kids treats, maybe a spinach and strawberry or squash and banana? Well I only have one pack of Gelatin left so I guess it will have to wait until another night to try those ideas.

Well here they are in all their gummy glory. I think they taste pretty good, next time I’ll probably try doing strawberry and use  a cute shape cutter, or even just a circle would be better than boring irregular rectangles. Since I didn’t have any cutters to use I just used a knife and cut them up that way, they did stick to the pyrex dish so I used a spatula to lift the gummies out after cutting them.

Do you think you’ll be trying to make your own gummies at home? What kind of Pinterest inspired creations have you made? What are you plans for the coming week? I bought fabric today so I can try making some cute bow ties for Pookie like I mentioned yesterday!

Busy Life

 

Don’t worry, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. Seriously, I don’t know how moms could possibly have the time to clean their houses, work, take care of the kids, and blog. I can barely do on of those things a day. The hubby hurt his back in January and has been out of work since then and in case you didn’t know disability doesn’t pay much so I’ve had to work a few shifts at my old job, they’ve all been partial night shifts so it’s not that bad but I’m exhausted the next day and my husband can’t help with Pookie because of his back. The good news is my husband had some diagnostic tests done yesterday and the doctor thinks he knows what the issue is so my hubby is going in for a minor procedure on Thursday, hopefully that’ll be the end of that nonsense.

On Tuesday I’ll be having some ladies from my mom’s group come over for a baby play date.(Check out my past post on Dating Other Moms, and then go join a moms group so you can get your social life back!) I’m having 8 ladies over, 6 that I’ve met before and two new ones who happen to live in my town. I think I’ll make banana bread and I’m not sure what else, probably something more lunch-y since this shindig starts at 11am. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should make, maybe a Pinterest inspired dish?

Speaking of Pinterest I have four more toilet paper tubes for my wall decor project I wrote about a few days ago!(Check it out here!) 13 down, 27 to go until it’s big enough to hang up(I was really hoping to have it finished by Tuesday but I don’t think that’s going to happen :-/)

I’m also going to be getting Pookies 6 month photos done, yes I know he’s really 7 months ::mom fail:: but I want to do them and now he can sit up on his own! I think for this weekend I’m going to make him a super cute bow tie for the pictures, I was inspired by my friend Jessica that sells adorable bows and bow ties in her Etsy shop La Cintre Boutique. I think I’ll make a blue tie to go with this blue argyle sweater vest I just bought for Pookie today(I’ll definitely post on here that whole process, it LOOKS easy enough). This is one of the outfits I’m considering putting Pookie in for the pictures, what do you think? I’m loving the suspenders.

 

Here’s one of Jessica’s bows that’s available on her site, she can also make custom bows/bow ties if you want one for an older child. This one would be great for Easter!

In other news, I’ve created a Facebook page, go check it out and like it please. I also have a Pinterest page that I just set up, I’ve been very busy as you can see.

What are you going to be doing this weekend and in the coming week? Any craft projects, cleaning, cooking, maybe a night out with your hubby? Let me know and maybe you’ll inspire my next post.

Influenster

Today was kind of a crazy day but my Influenster box today so I figured  would atleast post the opening video. I went and watched other videos after I made mine, I definitely could have done better and it would have been nice to have my face in the video but it’s a bad hair day. If you’d like an Influenster invite let me know because I have one left.

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.influenster.com/js/infservice.js”></script&gt;
<script type=”text/javascript”>getUserBadgeScore(201577,1,1,1)</script><div id=”profile-score”></div>