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Although we aren't quite to the official start of the next season (SPRING WE ARE READY FOR YOU!!), I thought it would be fun to round up some of my favorite things from the past few months. I'm hoping to do this every few months to share a bunch of random things I'm loving. There could be some beauty items, food recommendations, new shows I'm loving, articles, really anything! So, here we go :)  First, I've been trying to eat better and that has helped me realize that I am not eating nearly enough veggies. I don't mind snacking on carrots, celery or some steamed broccoli, but I'm not a huge fan of jicama, salads or raw cauliflower. And then along comes riced cauliflower. It is delicious and can go with every meal! With eggs for breakfast, in a quesadilla for lunch or with chicken for dinner. I've been buying mine at Target but I'm sure most grocery stores carry it!
I used to sell Mary Kay and after I stopped I had a hard time finding other products that I liked but that could be purchased from an online or in-store retailer. The company Tarte had a sale so I decided to give a few of their products a try and I ended up LOVING the Tarte Shape Tape Concealer. A little goes a long way and it is great for covering up dark circles and my recently acne prone skin! (They have sales ALL the time on the Tarte website and QVC so I'd wait for one to come around if you want to try it out!) This is not necessarily a new thing to me, but something I've tried to take more advantage of recently. Did you know you can subscribe and save with items on Amazon? We have been subscribing to diapers, wipes and diaper genie refills for YEARS - since before my oldest turned one and she turns eight in April...and we're NOT going to talk about how that is possible already...but we hadn't been using it to its full potential. About 3 months ago we realized we could save even more if we added 5 monthly items we essentially got my youngest daughters diapers FOR FREE! With Amazon Prime's Amazon Mom, once you have 5 items in your subscriptions (or at least 5 items delivered each month so you can switch up items if you don't need a particular item monthly) you save 20% off of diapers and wipes. 20 PERCENT!!!! We added things like Downy Unstoppables, contact solution, lotion and dishwasher packets. As long as we keep 5 items on there, we have a huge savings! The last one is a podcast. I LOVE a good podcast and as a fan of The Office and random trivia, my newest favorite is the Office Ladies podcast. Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey (Pam and Angela from the show) are rewatching each episode of The Office and sharing behind the scenes info. They go through the evolution of Mindy Kaling's hair, read from journals they kept during shooting, dive deep into the history of Chili's involvement in the show and even have guests from writers to directors to fellow castmates. It is well done, entertaining and is my favorite thing to listen to while cruising the aisles of Target. So that's it for this season's The Things I'm Loving! What are you loving this season?
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 I’ve had five kids and it seems that each time a new one is born I had this one LIFE CHANGING item that I didn’t know about with the previous kid.
During L’s 1st year, it was the bottle brush. Such a simple item and honestly, I can’t even remember what we used before we got the brush…but at $4, it is probably the best low price item we have Then there was R’s 1st year. With L I always just used a regular pillow to nurse and I nursed her until she was 9 months old. With R I wanted to try a nursing pillow but didn’t love the ones I found in the store so I took to Pinterest to find a tutorial on how to make one. If you are the crafty type, I’d say definitely make one! It wasn’t too difficult and I was able to customize the fabric pattern and type to exactly what I wanted. If you aren’t crafty, the Boppy is a great investment. Not only can it be used while baby is nursing, but it is great for giving an older baby a place to lay while bottle feeding if/when you decide to bottle feed, and can be used for tummy time, too! Next is E’s 1st year. Before this time, drying bottles was done by putting a folded paper towel on the counter and switching it out each time we had more bottles to dry. Somehow my mind never went to, maybe there’s a better way to do this…enter bottle drying grass. No more daily paper towels on the counter! The second, and maybe the BEST item, is kitchen shears. Yep, the same ones that come in a standard knife block are seriously the best thing to use to cut up food when your baby is ready. Sandwiches, noodles, pizza, they work for it ALL! Get some. Get two pairs even. You will not regret it. Before M, I always used the thermometer that came with those little baby first aid kits. They. Are. The. Worst. It never seemed to give an accurate read and then you’re supposed to add a degree if you aren’t doing a rectal temperature and it just made everything confusing. M has had a lot of ear infections which usually means lots of high temperatures so I ended up getting a temporal thermometer. You slide it across your kiddo’s forehead and the temp is displayed in seconds. So much more accurate and easy to use! The second thing is the Rock n Play. I don’t think these were around when L was born – it’s incredible how many new products can come out within a few years – and it was awesome with M. It is perfect for mid-day naps, family time when the other kids were playing a little too rough to put her on the floor or while I was making dinner. And with the simpler models starting around $45, it is a great piece to register for or buy on your own! **In recent months the Rock n Play has been recalled. It is a product that was incredibly helpful with M & G but it may not be available any longer. Here is a link to a similar item that is flat like a bassinet but still rocks** Although I had this product with M, G has needed it so much more. It is the FridaBaby Nose Frida. Seriously, this thing is a GAME CHANGER. They give you that small little turkey baster like thing at the hospital and it is crap. It does nothing to help clear a congested baby. One end of the Nose Frida goes gently against the baby’s nostril and the other side goes in your mouth. You suck on your end (with a filter in between) and the snot goes into the tube in the middle. It is amazing and surprisingly satisfying. When I work I pay really close attention to how I look. I don’t spend hours in the bathroom getting ready, but I make sure to have makeup on and an outfit that looks like I am a teacher and will be comfortable for the 12 hours I am gone from home. When I don’t work, I wear leggings and t-shirts and while I still like to look good and feel good (click for my previous post about that), my hair is usually thrown into a bun or braid and my face will most likely be sporting day old makeup. There are, however, some products that I have found as lifesavers for both work and non-work days. 
Being a mom can be…emotional. And in my current 7 month pregnant state, it can be even more so. Kids fighting, refusing to eat a dinner I spent 45 minutes making, not getting enough sleep, stress from work, getting kids to school and back from school. The list seems endless. I think my worst result of not setting my concealer/not wearing waterproof mascara was after G's birth. We were getting ready to welcome the other four kids to the hospital to meet G and I found out that my oldest daughter had a slight fever. We waited a little longer to see if it was just a random occurrence, but a few hours later she still wasn't quite to normal. So there I was, just having given birth, a birth my husband missed, and now I can't see my other kids?! Oh there were SO many tears. And although I can appreciate people not commenting on my appearance post birth, I really wish someone would have told me that I had eye liner and mascara literally down to my mouth. The thing I’ve learned: When you end up crying multiple times a week, if you are going to put on makeup (which I do to feel more like a human being) make it worth it by setting your under-eye concealer.  Being a Mary Kay rep, I have really enjoyed MK’s under-eye corrector for covering the bags (funny story below!) under my eyes and the translucent powder (shown below) to make sure it stays in place. Start with putting some concealer under your eye and apply in a triangle shape from the side of your nose to halfway up your cheekbone and then take a small brush – since I don’t usually wear powder eye shadow, I use that brush – and put a layer of that on top of the concealer.  Other products I’ve heard good things about are: IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder Okay, so the story. I was talking to Andre about having tons of bags but apparently didn’t specify to him that I was referring to bags under my eyes so his response was, “yeah, you have a ton of bags.”  He thought I meant handbags…
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We have never been ones to shy away from taking trips and with five kids, flying is out of the question. We live 4 hours away from my parents, we like to take trips plus my drive to work with my four youngest kids is an hour one way so we spend a. lot. of time in the car. We have yet to find a fool proof formula for riding with kids, but we have found some things that have helped!
Books on CD: Yep, just like the books on tape you used to listen to with your parents but they have them in all of your favorite Disney movies on CD! Right now our favorites are Zootopia and Cars 3 but they have tons at Target or on Amazon - I've linked an awesome family pack below!
Buckle in lap trays: Coloring, snacks, toy play, all of this can be done in the car now! They don’t like keeping them on the entire drive but between bathroom breaks is a great time to buckle/unbuckle. Oh, and did I mention, it has pockets!
L's lap tray (linked below!) has a coloring book, colored pencils, a toy, an old iPhone, water cup and snacks!
Games: License plate game, squiggle, mad libs (family friendly option linked below!), brain quest. Give them games you can play together as well as ones they can initiate themselves. We also have kept our old iPhones strictly for use on trips. Just download a bunch of free games or, if you have kids like my son, all you really need is the camera app and lots of storage!
But really, the thing i've learned you really need is patience: Lots, and lots of patience. They just want to get to the destination, too :) |
Hi, I'm RebeccaI’m a wife, mom to 5 kids, former choir teacher, Christian and advice giver? I can honestly say I never expected to be the one giving advice when I so frequently ask for it, but the advice I’ve received is so valuable and must be shared! Here are some of the things I’ve learned so far! Archives
April 2020
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