Exciting New Opportunity

As many of you have most likely noticed, my blogging frequency has gone way down since sweet Jackson was born!!  Once I get past the craziness of these early infant months, I know I will have more consistent time to blog!  I really miss it!!  Blogging was a creative outlet for me to journal my thoughts and opinions!  Plus I had the wonderful opportunity to receive and review products, you my readers, might enjoy!!

In the mean time, I have been presented with a WONDERFUL opportunity!  I have been a long time follower of the blog "What Mama Wants" since she started with all her amazing cloth diaper reviews.  Her blog has grown tremendously over the past few years.  I am going to become a guest reviewer on her blog for some products!  I already have 4 products to review and write up!  Many of the products will also have giveaways, which you all can enter over at her blog.

I will make sure and post a link to the reviews I write, so you can head over, check them out, and enter!!

I am thrilled about this new opportunity .... well, it's time to get cracking!!

Stay tuned ....

Ahhh ... the taste of Michigan in February!

With the kids in bed last night at 7:30pm, Nate and I were able to sit down and enjoy peace, chocolate, talking, and wine!   We don't usually do anything really elaborate on Valentines Day, but try to come up with meaningful and economical plans to better strengthen our marriage!   We love sitting at the table in candlelight and enjoying a yummy dessert (a must make for everyone!) and some wonderfully refreshing wine.  I picked a book chapter to discuss while Nate picked a podcast to share.  It was wonderful to connect with each other while the normal hustle and bustle of life STOPPED for 2 hours!!

Thanks Mama Pea for the wonderful recipe!  So glad it made  enough for leftovers today!

Ahhhh .... so tasty!!  So refreshing and so Michigan!  

Our Valentines celebration makes me long for our Grand Haven, MI summer vacation in July!  Ahhh .... the warm weather, beautiful MI coast, friends, and family!!  What more can a girl ask for ...

Epic Success and Failure all in one day ...

We should begin with the epic failure ....

Looks like a VERY VERY dense doughnut ... not a loaf of bread!

My first attempt at Gluten-free baking in the bread machine without researching recipes!   I thought I can just sub the flour and add some Xanthum Gum ... well, I was WRONG!!  Back to square one ... GOOGLE!!  I need to find good recipes that work to make GF bread b/c buying a tiny loaf for $5.50 each time isn't sustainable!!  Anyone have any good recipes?

On to the epic success ....  THANK YOU PINTEREST and this blog!

I made a few changes .... turned the "I love you ..." into a "We love you ..."  I traced each one of our hands since Sophia, Jackson, and I all LOVE our favorite Valentine!!

I have a funny story about our little craft.   Sophia and I called Nate around noon to wish him a Happy Valentines Day.  She was telling him about our morning and that we just were working on a "craft" for him for a present.  She started telling him that we were tracing hands, but I quickly quieted her and said ... "Shhhh, don't tell so daddy will be surprised!"  She said, "Mommy, I want to tell him, no secrets!"  She told him that we were tracing our hands for him and that we had to trace Jackson's hands when he got done nursing.  Nate tells me later during the conversation, "Oh, all I ever wanted for Valentine's Day is a copy of hands!"  HA!!

Wonder if he will be impressed??

Do you have any fun Valentines crafts or projects you are working on for your VALENTINE??

Jackson LOVES his toes!

My sweet lil' guy LOVES his toes!  He is way more flexible than Sophia ever was!!  The kid loves having his toes in his mouth!!   However, he only can reach them on the changing table when the cloth diaper is off!!

A Valentines Card!

This year Sophia was asked to bring 10 Valentines for her Valentines Party at Preschool.  We looked at all the Valentines at Target and I was not at all impressed.  I couldn't justify spending $4-6 on a box of Valentines plus they were major lame-o!!  What is a girl to do when she needs valentines?  Of course, hop on Pinterest and find a super cute, easy idea!!  Pinterest very rarely disappoints!!  I found this pin and had to try it!  I made a few changes to make them a little cheaper!

What do you think?

They were super easy ... quick hole punch in the card, feed the pipe cleaner through the back (see below), cut out red hearts out of card stock, add the wiggly eyes, a nose, and smile, then glue the face onto the card!  Last, wrap the "hand" around the sucker!

Used a little peace of tape on the end of the sucker so it wouldn't be as "floppy"

The best smile I could get ... she was being extra silly this morning!

Sophia helped on the first few, but then it got a little boring she said!  Ha!!  She loved putting on the wiggly eyes!!  

I was able to snap a few more pictures over the past few days!

She loves practicing her letters.  "S" is her favorite letter!  I wonder why!

My sweet boy with Daddy's favorite shirt!  Already have him in baby camping gear! Ha!

Yes, she really has Christmas Mickey socks on.  The girl lives in those things!  Some things aren't worth the fight!

Have a wonderful weekend!!  

Warning: HEART BREAKER!

Wow, it just doesn't seem possible that Jackson is 5 months old already!!  Where is the time going? (I am happy to look back on months 1-4 as just a memory!) I love seeing his smiling face each morning (well, at a normal hour that is! Ha!) or after he gets done nursing!  Just such a happy baby!!  Don't get me wrong, he has his periods of time where he can wail with the best of them!

I know, with a face like this, I know it's hard to believe he cries!!

He has been doing some rolling around!  Mostly likes to roll from his back to his "near" tummy ... fully on one side!  He also has been enjoying playing with his feet!  Problem is that he can only get his toes in his mouth on the changing table without a diaper on!  I love my cloth, but it is a bit restrictive when trying to be uber-flexible!  

We enjoy Wednesday mornings to ourselves while sis is at Preschool!  Usually mommy enjoys watching the Glee and Parenthood episode from the previous night on the DVR while Jax sleeps!  Ha!!  

Tried to snap a pic with self-timer ...  didn't work so well as
he didn't have my funny face to laugh at!

He has been laughing more and more!  He loves playing "airplane" on my legs!  He enjoys being tossed in the air, well, a few inches at this stage in the game!!

Now if we could just get this night time sleep down a little better.  These short stretches are NOT fun!  Seems like month 1-2 were horrible, 3 was much better, then 4 has been YUCK!  Maybe the 5th month will be the best yet .... come on, a mom can dream right???

Oh, what I wouldn't give for 5 FULL nights in a row of uninterrupted sleep!!!  Back to dream world for me huh?