When I was pregnant with Annie I got some advice that I shouldn’t read too many books for new parents because too much advice could cloud my thoughts and make parenting more stressful.  I can appreciate that the sentiment behind the advice was to trust my own judgment as a parent. But I often subscribe to the old saying that it takes a village.  Books serve as a voice from research and experience. If you can read parenting books with a grain of salt then apply (or not) the strategies and advice in a way that works for you then …

Happy New Year! (Can I still say that in March?). Winter is nearly over, but a lot has been going on for the blog and me personally so far this year, so this blog review will actually cover both January and February.  I feel like Covid is either creating a symptom stir or canceling school in our house constantly.  I know we’re all feeling a little burned out and overwhelmed by the ever changing recommendations and mandates.  It’s so much stress on everyone, especially parents.  I’m right there with you.  Send me a note if you want to talk about …

Forget gold coins, real leprechauns want gold bars, like these Pot of Gold Trail Mix Bars. Time to get away from the hearts and flowers from Valentine’s Day, up next is St. Patrick’s Day.   Annie loves rice crispy treats.  She got ahold of Ned’s one day when he wasn’t looking and it’s been her favorite treat ever since.  So that is the base for this treat.  Plus, throw in some of her other favorites (chocolate, pretzels and raisins) and you get a loaded, adorable, golden bar of deliciousness good enough for all the leprechauns in the land. Pot of Gold …

In my line of work, conference planning, traveling is inevitable.  As a breastfeeding mom I’ve opted to travel for work with the kids.  Due to the pandemic many of my events converted to virtual meetings, so I haven’t had to worry as much about traveling until recently.  Now that the world is opening up to this new normal, traveling for work is an expectation again. So I’m back to considering whether or not to bring the kids on trips with me. I’m blessed to work for a company now that is flexible and willing to let me bring the baby …

Happy Valentine’s Day!  In honor of this day we made a pink strawberry banana smoothie and cupcakes. So good! Becoming a mom is such a cool thing because it truly changes your perspective on love.  This used to be the holiday I looked forward to with romantic love for Ned, drawing his name in hearts on my notebook.  It is still that of course, but now there’s a whole new level and kind of love to celebrate.  I love crafting with the kids.  There are so many great seasonal crafts out there from super creative moms and I find myself …

Annie loves to do little art projects and it’s been so cold outside I decided it was time to pull out a fun round up of winter crafts for toddlers.  All of these crafts are Annie tested and Annie approved.  Seriously so much fun and none of them are hard or time consuming.  Just a great afternoon spent together crafting. 1. Smoosh paint mittens with free printable Any time I dream up a craft that will entertain both the baby and the toddler I get really excited.  Even better—it’s mess free!  Smoosh paint was the perfect go to for this …

When I hear “easy, no mess painting” my head turns.  I always want to know more.  Annie lights up when I say it’s painting time, but sometimes I just don’t want to deal with the mess. So no mess painting is my favorite kind of painting.  My kids love smoosh paint because it is a way they can be creative without mom nagging them to keep their shirt out of the paint.  That’s where smoosh paint comes in.   What is smoosh paint? Smoosh paint is a process art that involves applying paint inside a ziplock bag either on a template …

Pumping at work was never something that excited me.  Before maternity leave ended with our first baby I was very anxious at the prospect.  Honestly, I wasn’t even comfortable breastfeeding at that point, especially not in public, which made pumping at work even harder to imagine. When I was pregnant with our first baby I assumed breastfeeding would be easy. We took a class at the hospital and they laid out the benefits of breastfeeding, but I had already made up my mind that we definitely would. All the while not realizing that it doesn’t come as naturally as I …

I’m not sure how, but I almost forgot I’m responsible for potty training our two year old.  There really should be a manual of when parents need to teach their kids certain things.  It seems to me that there is a sequence of events that should occur, but it never crossed my mind.  Annie was born and I blinked and all of the sudden she’s two and I’m looking for potty training tips. Oh Crap! Potty Training A few months ago I was reading through posts on a local mom’s facebook group and someone was asking about potty training.  It’s …

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I’m still loving this blog and I’m so excited for more and more people to gather here for some parenting ideas and encouragement.  I’d really love to get some discussion going, so please feel free to leave a comment on any post to share your story too. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking of ways to improve.  I’ve read so many inspiring experiences of success and what blogs have done for other mom’s families.  Some are even using their blog to really make a difference in the world.  I can only …