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6 MUST Haves for New Moms [+ One Week Post Partum Update]

I can’t believe my little guy is a week old already!

I didn’t really think about the fact that having a baby over 5 years from my last would mean some different products and options would be out there. I wanted to share some of my FAVORITE things that I didn’t have during my last delivery that made so much difference this time!

Here’s My Top 6 Picks for New Mommies!

 

Here’s The Breakdown!

 

6 Must Have Items for New Mommies

 

 

After Ease Supplement: Helps naturally manage your afterbirth pains. I had a lot of afterbirth pain with my second baby, so I wanted to try something this time for it. This made SO MUCH difference! I had to use very little pain medication thanks to this. read more

The number one thing destroying your health, your energy, and your waistline…

The number one thing destroying your health, your energy, and your waistline…

This is the number one thing destroying your health, your energy, and your waistline…

Plus  FIVE TIPS to get yourself on track before it is too late!

 

Why is it so important to pay attention to how much sugar we eat?

Sugar has been identified as leading to cancer, obesity, heart disease, diabetes… and can even make you age quicker.

 

But one thing that most people don’t realize is how SNEAKY sugar really is!

 

Where is sugar hiding?

Sugar is found in almost ALL of our foods these days.

 

And it isn’t just sugar that we have to be aware of… it is everything that turns into sugar after we eat it… namely “Carbs.” read more

DIY Calming Lavender Pillow Spray

Moms, the day that’s all about you is almost here—Mother’s Day! With everything you do as a super mom, you’ve earned a day of “R & R.”

The trouble with a lot of the “Sleep Help” products and recipes out there is that they are full of fillers or chemicals you might not want on your pillow while you sleep at night!

 

Thankfully, you can make it a day to rest easy with this DIY Calming Lavender Pillow Spray. My husband actually made this with my girls as a surprise and I loved how it helped me relax at bed time!

 

Enjoy this yourself, or make this with your kiddos for other moms who could use a little more rest in their lives!

 

 

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8 oz. glass spray bottle
Lavender Essential Oil
• 1 tbs. Witch Hazel
• Distilled water

 

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1. Pour 1 tbs. witch hazel and drop 30 drops of Lavender Essential Oil into the glass spray bottle
2. Fill the remainder with distilled water
3. Screw on lid and shake to mix
4. Spray on your pillow and rest easy!

 

The great thing is that this simple recipe has what you need to relax but doesn’t have any additives or other things that you might have to worry about having around the house. It’s hard to be 3 ingredients for simplicity!

I’ve used this same formula for my daughters rooms as well, and it truly works!

 

Do you use any sort of pillow spray? If so, What’s your preferred essential oil?

 

P.S. Looking for other tips to improve your sleep? Check out this post, it’s one of our very most popular!

A Baby Journal You Will Actually Use!

So be honest with me…

 

How many of you were actually good about putting things in your children’s “Baby Books”?

 

My eldest daughter Aidalyn found her baby book when were going through some things in her room, and she guilted me pretty hard on not having much of anything in it! Total #MomWin right there 

 

I love the idea of using a Baby book to remember things that I KNOW I’ll end up forgetting, but a written book just wasn’t cutting it for me.

 

Enter Qeepsake!

 

 I learned about Qeepsake after seeing it on Shark Tank  and I thought “Wow! That’s an awesome idea for saving memories for my girls!”

Anyways, I decided to try it out!

 

Side note: if you are looking for a good physical baby book, I’ve had several people recommend “My Baby Book” from Amy Krouse Rosenthal to me. It’s super cute and has some fun features if you do still want a physical book to write in!

 

So what is Qeepsake?

Qeepsake is a service designed to send you routine text messages (or Facebook messages if you prefer) asking short questions about your children. You simply reply to the messages and your answers are stored in your account!

 

 Here is a sample of the questions it will ask you and save your answers. It’s all pretty seamless and simple!

 

 

Even better, you can make an actual printed book later of the answers and photos you share, or you can just enjoy looking at it online for fun!

 

I know I’m not the only mom who would love an easy way to keep track of all the funny sayings and memories of my kids… but let’s be real right? 

I can actually do this! 

 

 If you want to try it out with me, head here to try it for free!

 

Qeepsake Lite is free but doesn’t have all the available features. If you find you like it, there are plans from $1.99 a month to $7.99 a month that unlock photos, multiple users, and more.  I ended up going ahead and going the premium route because it works so nicely 🙂

If you want to sign-up, please use my referral link. It won’t cost you any extra but I would sure appreciate it! 🙂

 

Pro Tip!  Qeepsake has the ability to connect to your Instagram and Facebook accounts and directly add a post you share to your account to save for later. You just use #qeepsake and it all works perfectly!

 

Have you tried Qeepsake or another online baby book option? Share your experience with us so others can make an informed decision!

Make At Home Insect Repellent

I LOVE SUMMERTIME!

Extra time with out of town family, swimming, biking, and lighting bugs, what’s not to like?!?!

Mosquitoes, that’s what!

Adam (and Aidalyn to a degree) have really bad reactions to insect bites and stings. It really can be an issue during the summer when you want to be having picnics, playing outside and having fun! Because the quickest way to ruin a picnic or fireworks is BUGS!!

So I went hunting for a simple and naturally based insect repellent that I could feel GOOD about having around my kids.

While were celebrating Independence Day last month I did some experimentation, and here is a simple recipe you can make at home to repel the bugs from your outside gatherings!

  1. What you need:

     2. Then follow these simple steps!

  • Add the oils and water to your mason jar.
  • Gently add candle(s)
  • Place in area you want free of bugs
  • Light the candle(s)
  • read more

    Watching them grow…

    This is a post I wrote almost 4 years ago… and I think about what a “baby” mom I was, haha!

    I didn’t have a CLUE what it was going to be like to be a mom… but I was going to do everything I could to make the best decisions for her. Now, I’m a mom of two and I just have to laugh at how much life has changed.

    Aidalyn is 5 and is still independent… but she loves being a big sister and she always wants to do the right thing. I love her spirit and the joy she brings.

    I hope you enjoy my flashback on this #FlashbackThursday 🙂

     

    My daughter…

    is full of life, talkative, curious, stubborn… She is a mess.

    I love my little girl. My life is a complete 180 since her birth. Before her birth, I was working full time as a speech therapist in a nursing home, waking up at 4:30am to go workout 5 days a week. I only thought about myself… my life was very predictable.

    Now, I’m more of a stay at home mom than a working mom by any means, I am lucky if I make it to the gym at all. And I am thinking about her all the time.

    I have learned so much about trust and love from her. There is just so much that you can do as their parent, but they are going to have to make decisions for themselves one day. My goal as her mom is to teach her from an early age that God loves her, and cares for her.

    I have said this before that our children are on loan to us. We, as followers of Christ, have been given the responsibility to raise our children in the way that God would want, to follow him.

    I am supposed to raise children who are growing into functioning human beings. Parents are the first picture that our children have as to who God is. Children need to be able to love and trust their parents. They learn to follow their parents’ instructions. This prepares them for when God gives them directions, they are ready to follow him.

    My goal isn’t to have the most well behaved children, it ultimately is to have children who are ready to follow God.

     

     

    I read that your children are leaving you from the day they are born… You are having to let go a little each day. That is very true… as I see my 15 month old at the park not wanting to hold my hand and wanting to walk on a different path than me… (Miss Independent) I see a 15 year old in her not wanting to listen to my guidance in a few years. I would have never thought about a baby so young wanting to be her own person already and making decisions for herself – crazy!

    She honestly has been “Miss Independent” from day 1. I shouldn’t be surprised. She never wanted to be rocked, she wanted to be put in her crib be left alone. Which as a first time mom, I wasn’t expecting a child this independent…

    I knew that “Tabula Rasa” (being born with a blank slate) wasn’t something that I believed in, but I wasn’t thinking there was much will in that new born baby – boy was I wrong! I learned a lot of lessons about not forcing your baby to conform to your ideas of what you think a baby should be like…

    So, we are going to do the best that we can as parents in raising her, but in the end of the day – we are going to have to let go and let her make mistakes along the way. The way that she turns out is due to the decisions that she makes.

    Wow, parenthood is starting to get hard.

     

    What were some things you learned in your first years of parenting?

    Why you Should Travel with Young Kids

    Adam and I love to travel! In our first five years of marriage, we had traveled to New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Rome, San Antonio, Atlanta, New Orleans… we LOVED every minute of it!

     

    travel with kids

    (I was actually pregnant when we were in Paris)

    So when we became parents… we had to decide should we still travel??? (or could we???) 

    We didn’t have a lot of vacation days to work with, and we didn’t have a lot of disposable income either. But it really was something that we wanted to do more of and experience with our girls, it was a question of how we could do that.

    The “how” turned out to be starting our own home based business that we could run from anywhere. Our business gave us the financial and time freedom to be able to travel like we always desired. read more

    7 Ways to Help a New Mom

     

    It is a special time for a new mom following the birth of a child.

    So many emotions are going through a new mom’s head: I’m not pregnant any more! This is the cutest baby I’ve ever seen! Will I get my waist back? I’m already exhausted! Will I ever sleep through the night again? Are they breathing? Am I doing this right? They are so tiny! Oww I need a Tylenol… And this is just in the first 5 minutes!

    Everyone wants to help a new mom out, but sometimes we forget what they need the most. Moms need to relax and recover for at least 2 weeks following birth. Having a baby is no easy task for a mom’s body to go through. If they push themselves too soon, they could hemorrhage or develop mastitis.

    This is the perfect time to offer to help them out and let them do what only they can do: Take care of the baby. baby postpartum new mom dad birth help

    Here is my list of ways that my family and friends helped me the most following my births: 

    1) Keep the older kids entertained. 

    Aidalyn was 2.5 years old when Annaleigh was born. Luckily, Aidalyn did well with the extra TV time that she had while we were all recovering from Annaleigh’s birth. My mom was such a huge help to us before Annaleigh was born and right after. She stayed with us for about 5 weeks total, helping me with Aidalyn and the house. Not having to worry about Aidalyn helped me give my full attention to recovering and taking care of Annaleigh.

    2) Cook meals for the family

    Following both of my births, my church family really helped me out by cooking meals for 2 weeks. Having a hot meal coming each night was so amazing. I didn’t have to worry about what we were going to eat and it helped us all recover by being able to relax at dinner time. We used Sign up Genius to schedule meals and it made the process so easy.

    3) Do laundry

    Births and babies generate a lot of laundry. Adam’s mom and my mom both helped me with laundry following the births of my girls. It is not glamorous by any means, but it is such a HUGE deal to a new mom to not have to worry about.

    4) Clean the kitchen and put dishes away.

    Just like the laundry, this is not a fun job to do… but some things just have to get done and we don’t want our new mom to feel like it is her job. Ask her what would make the biggest help to her (maybe it is unloading the dishwasher or wiping down the counter tops). Everyone has that one thing that bugs them, see if you can scratch that off her “to-do” list.

    5) Let Mom get a shower

    Getting a shower and feeling normal again is so important to a new mom. She will be pouring all of herself into this new little baby and forget she needs to care for herself too. Newborns will want to be held all the time, so showers and baths become a luxury.

    6) Text her to see if she needs anything from diaper cream to coffee. 

    New moms don’t always know what they need until after the baby arrives (or they run out of something faster than expected!) Don’t call, just in case she is sleeping or dealing with the baby. A text allows her to get to your message at her convenience. She can reply and let you know if she needs anything from the store.

    7) Let her know you are there if she needs to talk or ask advice.  read more

    Cucumber Tomato Avocado Relish

     

    Salmon Cake Spinach Salad

    I’ve shared previously with you my Waffle Iron Salmon Cake recipe using coconut flour like  Bob’s Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour.

    Today I’m going to share an awesome relish that goes perfectly with the Salmon Cakes (or burgers or grilled chicken… the uses are endless!)

    Cucumber Tomato Avocado Relish

    This relish is a great compliment because of all the textures and flavors it adds to any dish.

    The cucumber adds a nice crunch with a clean fresh flavor.

    The tomato adds a mild sweetness.

    The avocado adds a smooth, creamy texture to hold it all together.

    I hope you enjoy this relish as much as we do!

     

    Salmon Cake Spinach Salad

     

    10 Top Online Shopping Apps

    phoneTechnology is amazing. You can check your mail, take a picture, call a friend and get all your Christmas shopping done in the palm of your hand. 

    I am totally an online shopping addict. 

    I don’t like lines, I also don’t enjoy crowds… and getting both girls to the store by myself is a real treat (read sarcasm). 

    I am a huge fan of shopping on my phone. I buy things for my pantry, clothes, gifts, shoes, diapers… all online! 

    Here are a few of my most used shopping apps:

    1) Amazon

    Hi, my name is Angela and I am addicted to shopping on Amazon. 

    I am a prime member so I get free 2 day shipping. Plus, I use subscribe and save any chance I get to save 20% on items I buy on a recurring basis. I buy toilet paper, diapers, wipes, flour, vitamins, coconut oil, batteries, dish soap, shampoo, tooth paste… If I can buy it on amazon… and save 20% – I will do it! Given that, we may have 5 tubes of toothpaste in our bathroom drawer at this moment… but I did save 20% on them!

    2) Retail me not

    This app allows you to search for discount codes and coupons. You can use these coupons online usually and save easy money. What I will do is search for a store in their database and see if there is a current coupon code. This works great for popular stores like shutterfly and oldnavy.

    3) Jo-Ann and Hobby Lobby

    Both of these apps will show you the deals of the week and store your coupons for you. You wouldn’t want to miss Hobby Lobby’s 40% coupon just because you didn’t have a paper coupon printed off. 

    4) Cartwheel

    Cartwheel is Target’s app for coupons and sales. You can search the app for what’s on sale and easily use the coupons directly from your phone at check out. Adam and I did this a few weeks ago and got 20% off shoes for Aidalyn and myself. 

    5) Ebay

    Ebay is an online garage sale. I use ebay’s app for searching for hard to find toys and used items like clothes. We all love ebay! I bought Aidalyn some cheap DVD’s and also some princess crowns. 

    6) Etsy

    Etsy is an artisan’s shopping mall. I use Etsy’s app for handmade items and personalized items. I also like searching on there for ideas that I can copy and make myself.

    7) Groupon

    We all love a good deal. Groupon is a way to get huge discounts on restaurants and spas. Using the app allows you to have the Groupon handy and keep track of what Groupons you have available when you are trying to figure out what you want for dinner. We currently have a pizza deal in our Groupon account we need to use. 

    8) Zulily and Totsy

    Both these online stores are discount flash sale type of shopping. They have items up for sale for a limited time and have a limited supply. When you purchase something you only have to pay shipping once then you get free shipping the rest of the day on the rest of your orders. Sometimes shipping seems kind of slow, but I have gotten some great deals on clothes and books from these stores. 

    9) ShopStyle 

    The ShopStyle App is the mobile version of ShopStyle.com. ShopStyle searches the web for you, compiling basically anything you could ever buy online. You can customize a search for a specific product by color, price, if it’s on sale… It’s Amazing! Looking for a red sweater for a Christmas Party? You can narrow it down to only looking at Red Sweaters from all over the internet in one place! This is a must for a mobile shopper! 

    And one extra! 

    10) Paypal

    With all this online shopping I do, I use Paypal to keep everything organized and safe. Having the app on your phone allows you to manage your transactions easily. 

    Online shopping is a great way to save time and money. What are your favorite online shopping apps? read more