Monday, December 8, 2014

Gift Ideas for the Man's Man


Every year I struggle what to get my husband for Christmas. I decided to share some ideas of what to get the manly man.



Big Pine Mountain Spruce Soap. This just screams lumberjack and smells so good. And if you can grab one for the side of your bathroom sink while your at it,  your potty will smell like Christmas trees.
Sorel Caribou Boot. If you live in New England like us, you know that it can be 55 degrees one day and then 29 degrees the next. I did a ton of homework on winter boots last year for myself and settled on the Joan Of Arctic Sorel Boot and I was not disappointed. The quality of their handmade boots is rough and tough and they are built to last.
Custom Made Corn Horn Boards. I don't care if these are out of season to purchase right now. Any guy would love waking up to these on Christmas morning! Cornhole is such a big part of our fall, spring and summer.
Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale. Ok, so a friend brought this over one night and Josh and fell in love. It only comes in a four pack but it tastes soooo good! Think sweet caramel, toffee but with a beer taste.
Campfire Cologne. This is actually pretty funny stuff. Josh found this on Pinterest on some gift list and told me that he wanted it. I googled it and found the site that it is sold on. OMG! This is seriously the best comedic gift to get the man's man. It's not a traditional spray cologne. The box is filled with 12 sticks and a pack of matches. The idea is to set one of these sticks on fire and then waft the smell at yourself. Or you could just fish bowl your car on  your way to work. Anyway I died watching the video but I'm still convinced this is a great stocking stuffer!

Mondays....meh.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Mom Guilt and a 5 Month update!





This kid is a fire cracker! We are having so much fun with her.

 We have started her on solids and oatmeal, summer squash and peas (ew) are a hit! She can roll all over the place and wants to grab everything. She loves playing in her exersaucer, which is great because we just move it to whatever room that we are in doing things!!
She definitely has teeth coming in and I am in her mouth everyday looking for these little suckers. She puts everything in her mouth with in arms reach and will grab the sides of your face to pull it to hers so that she can suck on your chin. 

When she is excited she flaps her arms like a bird. It is seriously the cutest thing ever.

Her nap schedule is a disaster but from the looks of my research this is normal. I swear that she reads this shit while I'm sleeping because she is text book! 
We have currently become diligent at putting her in her crib for nap time. Honestly, we have been quite lazy to do this. Most of the fact is that her nursery is on the second floor and our master (that has the pack n play) is on the first floor.
She loves being outside. We have had such a mild November that we have been able to take walks weekly. I just plop her in the sollybaby wrap and then put the kowalli over it. 
 The kowalli has a toggle that makes it nice and snug around the back of her neck, so there 
isn't a draft. This thing is so warm and soft. She looks like a little eskimo in it. Oddly enough, a few weeks ago we went to a parade, and a grown man stated that he wouldn't mind being in it.

Every morning when she wakes up (around 630-8) I bring her to the back glass slider and we look outside and talk to nature (my mother thinks I'm a hippie because of this). One really important thing to Josh and I in regards to parenthood is keeping our family connected to nature. I figure you can never start early enough. 

She giggles and snorts like a champ. She only cries when she's hungry or tired. 
She LOVES bath time but hates getting out. 
Her car seat is growing on her. I call it her adventure seat and I'm pretty sure my husband thinks that I'm batshit.


How am I at 5 months you ask? Oh well in all honesty, I had my first mommy breakdown (other than that time I  cooked a $15 dollar pork roast in the crock pot with the plastic on, in which I fully blame sleep deprivation). Charlee's hasn't been taking very long naps so she is a little fussy right now. Plus the fact that we made a bad routine happen by not making her nap in her crib isn't making the transition any easier. On Sunday she was fighting sleep so bad. I must have rocked her for over and hour and put her down two times that both resulted in instant wake up. 
At that moment I felt a whoosh over aggravation come over me. I quickly dismissed it
Later that night when I put Charlotte to bed. I sat at the kitchen table and told J that I had anxiety. I poured myself a glass of wine and tried to figure out what was going on in my head. With in seconds I called my mom bawling. 
I admitted to having no patience. I felt horrible that I was aggravated with a 5 month old baby. 
MOM GUILT.
I watch my mom with babies and she is professional. Think Baby Whisperer. She assured me that patience comes with practice and that she herself had these feelings with me and my siblings.
 I contacted a few new mom friends to confess my disgusting feelings and they all told me that it's normal. The best advice that I was given was not to worry about it because Charlotte doesn't even know. Which I thought was hysterical. 
I mean seriously, who can get aggravated at this.....

Happy HUMP day!


Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Tutorial. Adding the date to your instagram pictures.


Recently I have been getting a lot of questions about my instagram pictures. Particular about how I get the date to post on my photos. Here is just a quick step by step tutorial for the iphone.


1. Go into your settings and under Instagram, switch your location settings to "never"

2. Next upload your photo.
3. After you have edited your photo and added your comment click on "name this location"
4. You will get a message that is going to tell you to change your settings, ignore this prompt.

5. Next type the date in the box and the date will be copied below the box with the words " custom location " underneath it. Select that option.

 6. Then proceed posting as usual

I like this option because if you post more than one picture in a single day, instagram remembers your custom setting and you can add it to any and all photos for that day OR days in the past that you want to date. Instagram now has a great editing option, you longer have to delete your entire post due to auto-correct or in my case...sausage fingers! 

Class dismissed.


Don't forget to enter my giveaway!







Monday, December 1, 2014

Tis the Season for a HUGE Giveaway

First things first. Am I the only one that has eaten like complete shit since Thursday? Seriously, I woke up this morning and I just feel disgusting! I've been actually looking forward to today to get back on track.


I love the weekend after Thanksgiving. It gets me in the mood for all things Christmas. Friday morning, my sister and I went out in the wee hours of the morning to start our shopping. Needless to say, I bought a ton of stuff for everyone and scored two pairs of boots for myself. JCP had some amazing sales this year. I love their kitchen department and you can always find a warm and fuzzy throw in their bedding department. After 5 hours of shopping and about $1500 spent between the both of us, we grabbed lunch and well deserved bloody mary!

Josh and I have been contemplating on getting a fake tree for the first time. GASP!!! I know. What kind of country loving DIY family are we with a fake tree?! 
Since his back hasn't gotten much better from his surgery, we figured an artificial tree would be the way to go. We scored our tree at Sears AND it was on sale. I must say, it is a beauty.
I saw a great idea on a friend of mine's instagram for a "baby's first Christmas" ornament so I had a go at it.
 I had some glass balls lying around from a burlap ornament phase that I was going through two years ago, so I used one of them. I used the back of a paint brush to jam in Charlee's hospital hat and her bracelet and TADA! I've since painted that ugly silver cap a muted brown color and added brown bakers twine to hang it.
Charlotte is loving all things Christmas too (or at least we are telling ourselves that).

And last but not least I will leave you with this amazing giveaway that myself and a bunch of great gals from blogland have put together! 
Good LUCK!

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