learning to slow down

leotard: Alice & Ames  

these past few days Zo has tried my patience like none other.  the main cause of it is most likely due to lack of sleep on both our parts.  for some reason she's been waking up around 1-2am and not going back to sleep till almost 5am. then she's up for the day usually by 7:30am and still refuses to take a nap during the day.  i literally do not know how she functions on so little sleep.  also, why do kids not understand how amazing naps are?!?  moving on-- her little 3 year old attitude has been out in full force lately and half the time i have no clue how to respond, cause it can be so stinkin' cute & funny but also super annoying when i have to repeat myself 1,000 times to get her to do one simple task.  one of her new favorite phrases is "no mom!  you DON'T say that word!"  what word is she talking about?  i have no clue, i think she just means i shouldn't be telling her what to do/reprimanding her.  the other phrase is, while referring to me telling her she can't do something:  "but mom!  it's not a big deal or anything!"  sigh...  it's a daily battle trying to decide how to react to these situations and i know they are only going to get worse as she gets older.

but on the other hand it's like she flips a switch and can suddenly be the sweetest little thing!  sharing with peter, comforting him when he gets hurt while saying "aww cute little guy, it's okay honey."  she'll run up to us at random times just to give a kiss and say "i love you, mommy kitty cat."  (also not sure why she calls me that haha) she's obsessed with her little sister and she's not even born yet!  she'll run up to my stomach, wrap her arms around it and say "i love you baby!  hope you're feeling good!"  i'm praying that her obsession is just as strong once baby girl is finally here.

long story short-- toddlers are confusing and make little to no sense but are also fascinating & adorable to watch and learn from.  as hard as it is i really need to take my own advice as it comes from her secondhand: "mom, just calm down and slow down."

i tell you what, i feel like i owe my parents spa gift cards for life after going through just this short amount of confusing parenthood.

happy almost weekend everyone!

-a

ramblings about patience

•my children are both obsessed with "helping" me make my morning coffee.  i love that they want to help but some mornings, on the outside i'm giving them an encouraging grin and dancing along to the sound of the coffee being poured into my mug, but on the inside i'm screaming that they do everything just a taaaad quicker so i can feel somewhat awake & alive after being up since 5:30am.  thank you motherhood for teaching me the need for endless amounts of patience ;) 

 

mug: Amazon

•if you didn't see my Instagram post-- surprise, baby #3 is a girl!!!
  i went and bought the first of many impulse buys for baby girl this past week from the cutest little children's boutique.  zo was obsessed with the sales ladies and warmed up to them faster than i've ever seen her warm up to strangers!  the whole time i was thinking "umm who's child is this?!" we got her a pair of adorable little Native shoes that she's been wearing ever since we got home!
p.s. how cute are those kerchief bibs ?!  

 

kerchief bibs: Amazon | Hedgehog romper: Amazon

•summer time in Texas means never going outside past 11:30am unless water and endless amounts of sunscreen are involved.  thankful for the creative engineer that came up with this adorable little splash area at a local park.
 

•gorgeous peonies, an ever growing bump & curious little hands begging to please buy the "very pretty flowers!"  

 

oh, and any tips for dealing with seriously bad varicose veins (notice my left leg) during pregnancy?? 

•taking a quick popsicle break before getting back in the pool & sprinkler on July 4th.  notice Zo's lid AND towel, she absolutely hates when her popsicle starts to melt & drip.   ahh the problems you face as a three year old...  

chairs: Target

Monday is over, yayyy!  The hardest day of the week is done!  Praying that your remaining days are filled with nothing but happiness, love & lottttsss of patience.

    

-A

*this post contains affiliate links which means i may receive a small commission on some items i have listed at no extra charge to you :) 

a Secret Garden Birthday party

on may 22nd our little Zo turned 3 years old. now to most people this wouldn't seem very old but to my husband and I it seems more like she turned 13.  and I'm not just referring to the attitude, heaven knows she's got one though, the term "threenager" is no joke...  anyways, her turning three was just one more reminder of how quickly time really does go by.  it seems like just a few months ago she was hardly talking and now she carries on full conversations every second of the day.  No really, the talking never. stops.  and even though it's sometimes tiring answering the same question over and over again (and again and again) it's also fascinating to listen to her learn to put correct words together and have conversations with just about anything and everything.  Her little imagination is expanding every day and I love seeing her use it so often and seeing the creativity that comes with it.  I don't think a meal goes by without one of her utensils turning into a friend that talks to her hand while the hand answers back about whatever kind of food it got on itself.   and even though I know I should be correcting her for playing with her food at the table, it's seriously hilarious to watch and I'd be lying if I said I don't usually answer the questions her fork asks me all the time...

she's three now so obviously she has to start practicing her makeup haha 

Okay, on to the birthday party!

As I mentioned in my last post, Zo is obsessed with all things garden related so the theme of her party was decided pretty quickly once I started looking at Pinterest with her and she got excited over every "Secret Garden" birthday Pin she saw. and since it was a toddler party we decided to make it a brunch theme and the timing worked out perfectly for everyone!  not to mention, how fun is brunch food especially when donuts are involved?! and so--with help from my awesome husband, my awesome mom & equally awesome siblings, the party turned out almost as perfect & beautiful as the birthday girl herself.
thank you so much to everyone that came and helped us celebrate this little lady!  She had the absolute best birthday and talks about her party all the time  :)

this floral garland made the perfect backdrop for the food table and to be honest, it's still hanging up... we just can't bring ourselves to take it down, every time the sun shines through the window it looks so pretty! eventually it'll come down, but for now--we're gonna keep it up, in the spirit of birthdays ;) 

Donuts & chick-fil-a are basically a guaranteed hit with all ages

it took my sisters and I the longest time to decide where to hang these paper fans & pom-poms but once we finally tried them in the entryway we fell in love with the way they turned out!  p.s. don't mind Greg hard at work back there ;)

favors!  sticking with the garden theme, I picked up some small tin buckets and filled them with vegetable/fruit seed packets, bubbles & lollipops

the necessities for the adults ;) 

one of my favorite family photos!  I love this little clan of mine. 

like I said, who can resist donuts? 

Peter was a big fan of the cupcakes as well 

this bouquet arrangement set (link below) turned out to be one of her favorites gifts!  she uses it every day and it's perfect for expanding both her imagination and fine motor skills.  

bouquet arrangement set

 

my sister is graduating with a nursing degree(!) so naturally she had to gift zo with a medical kit.  and not just any kind, a pediatric nurses kit!  zo absolutely loves it and uses it on all of her animals or whoever is willing to be her patient.

this girl partied hard and was so worn out she passed out on the floor in the corner of the couch shortly after bath time. i think it's safe to say she had the perfect birthday :) 

buy the rainboots

shopping for flowers.  as soon as she saw these she got so excited and yelled "tulips mommy!"

it's all clouds, rain & storms here these past couple of days.  but i honesty don't mind too much, it's been clearing up by late afternoon so we still manage to get out and enjoy the rest of the day.  Our rain boots are in constant rotation and zo couldn't be happier about that given all of the puddle splashing she's been able to do.  i think every toddler ( okay adults too) needs a pair of rain boots just for the sake of getting to splash in puddles.  Seriously- it's free (excluding the purchase of said rain boots), it tires them out and it's adorable to watch.  try to ignore how messy they get, just remember all of the mud and dirt will wash off, but the memories won't.  days like this make it so easy to give in to negativity, anger and impatience (raising my hand cause I am so guilty of this!).  that's when i watch the weather like a hawk, waiting for the clouds to part so we can throw on our boots and get to splashing all those feelings away.  so in the midst of any gloom or funk you might be in, i just want to encourage you to do the hard thing and try to find the brightness and light in your life that's being overcast or hidden by the clouds, metaphorically & physically.  and if you're in need of a stress reliever i highly recommend buying the rain boots and doing some hardcore puddle jumping, cause getting messy & dirty isn't just fun for kids ;)

and now-- some photos from this past week to add some sunshine to your day!

one of her fave puddles to date!

watercolor painting is one of our new go-to indoor activities that happens multiple times a day.  it 

keeps zo entertained for quite a while and i forgot how therapeutic it can be.  you'll never guess which side is mine ;)

look at those wrangler baby jeans!  this kid is growing up waaaay top fast, i can't believe he'll be a year old in a month!

like I said, adults need rain boots too.  These super cute lace up ones are from target!

I don't know where she gets her Starbucks addiction from... 

home goods was killing me with their beautiful pastel spring inspired displays all over the store, how gorgeous are those floral plates?! 

like I said, splashing in puddles is therapeutic....

I told you, the rain boots are on serious repeat over here.  also--is it okay that i'm ridiculously jealous of her natural highlights?... 

i mean, i had to get her the tulips after i saw how excited she was to see them! :) 

happy tuesday all!  hope you have a wonderful start to the new week, here's to making the best of it!

~Amy

DIY toddler apron

if you're on the hunt for a last minute gift for a child or toddler you may not need to look any further than your kitchen!  did you know that kitchen towels make perfect kid/toddler sized aprons?!  i didn't, but when i found tutorials for them on Pinterest i knew i had to make one for zo since she is obsessed with playing "make dinner". i actually have more in the works for my little nieces as well!  all you need to do is search "DIY kitchen towel apron" and you'll find countless tutorials available.  i used this one  from the adorable blog One Little Minute.  these are seriously so easy to make and if you have a sewing machine it'll probably take like 20min tops. I don't have one though so this took me a bit longer since I had to hand sew it all. 

i happened to have a pack of new towels i got on clearance from target like a year ago and they worked perfectly for this project! then i just used some extra ribbon I had laying around for the waist & neck ties.

and for the pocket i actually used the pocket from one of my husbands old shirts that had a stain on it.  i added a stitched heart into it as a way of saying he'll always be close to zo' heart.  he is her favorite after all... 

 It definitely isn't perfect but it was made with lots of love and i don't think zo will notice any of the many mistakes for years to come... 

i hope this helps if you've been looking for a creative gift for your little bakers! 

Merry (almost) Christmas!!

~amy 

friday favorites: lush edition

this post is in no way sponsored, i'm just obsessed with Lush and many of their products so i thought i'd put together a list of our favorites in case anyone out there is looking to jump on board the "lush addict" bandwagon but doesn't know where to begin. your first trip there can be slightly overwhelming considering the amount of products they have to offer, i know the first time i ventured inside i wanted to buy just about everything and didn't even know what most of it was. i just knew it looked awesome & smelled amazing.  i saw a funny photo the other day that said something about how being inside a lush store while it's flooding would be the most enjoyable flood of all time, and i'd have to agree.  so, without further ado, here are our lush family favorites!

we'll start with my favorites! first up--Ocean Salt: this came in a gift box my husband got for me and this was my favorite product in the set. i love the way it makes my face feel after using it and to be honest, it kinda tastes like a margarita.  not that I'm eating it or anything, I just notice the taste when the water is running down my face while I'm washing it off...*insert monkey with hands over eyes emoji*

-Dark Angels: after i ran out of the ocean salt scrub I decided to try this one to see how I liked it. I do like the ocean salt more but this is a good one for a nice deep cleanse.  and it's kinda fun to see yourself covered with charcoal...

-Grease Lightning : hands down, my favorite product i have tried so far is this tea tree cleanser.  i started using it when i was pregnant with peter due to my skin breaking out horribly and i was so surprised to see how effectively it worked at clearing it up!  i now use it nightly and if i put it on a blemish before i go to bed it's almost always guaranteed to help clear it up, sometimes even just over night!  seriously, this stuff is amazing. 

-Kalamazoo : I bought my husband this beard wash as a Christmas gift a few years ago and since then it has become a staple for him.  eventually i had to up the jar size I was buying cause he uses it so often!  highly recommend it for your bearded man. I also buy him some of the soap bars on occasion, this one has been his favorite but I really enjoy this one!

okay, their bathbombs are amazing. and this is coming from someone who still hasnt had a chance to use one yet due to not having the time to take a nice relaxing bath these days.  BUT- back when zo was around a year old she was going through a sleep regression. we just so happened to be christmas shopping at lush one day when an employee mentioned that we should get a bathbomb for her.  we laughed and were like "um she's a baby and not gonna get any use out of that." she then showed us this one made with chamomile & lavender and said it helps to really knock you out!  we were desperate so we figured what the hey, we'll try it. that night we broke it into a few pieces and let her throw one in the tub (she got a kick out of watching the bomb fizzle in the water) and if you haven't already guessed it, she slept like a rock that night! now every time I go it's almost impossible for me to leave without her requesting to smell every single bomb and pick one out for herself. and since she doesn't use as much water in the tub as a normal sized adult, we can typically get 2-3 uses from one bomb by braking it up. these also make the perfect gifts/stocking stuffers (holy cow, I'm already thinking about christmas!)!  i'm so looking forward to the night i get to use the one that i've got hidden away for myself... 

-the other three products are ones we don't use as often but are still really nice.   Whoosh: a super fun gelly like soap, zo cracks up when I let her touch it.  Dirty: this is a hair styling cream that I was hoping could replace the need for hairspray with zo but it makes her hair just a little too difficult to work with due to the matte consistency. i really like using it in my hair though and I'm pretty sure it'll really come in handy once peter's hair finally decides to show up! Lemony Flutter: this cuticle butter is soooo nice and I love the way it makes my fingers feel after using it. 

I hope this post has been helpful for anyone that's been curious about lush's products. i'd love to hear if you have a favorite one in the comment section & don't forget to subscribe by email for all future blog posts! 

xo, amy