Family Fun Weekend!

For the first time in a long time we had an entire weekend that wasn't focused on house-related chores and errands at all. Instead, we spent both days together, as a family, having fun.

On Saturday we headed over the bridges to beautiful Newport, Rhode Island. We go every year the weekend after Mother's Day so that Dan and the kids can take me out to lunch at The Red Parrot restaurant. I can't recommend this restaurant highly enough. For one thing, it's located right in downtown Newport.The staff is friendly, they are very accommodating to little ones and the strollers that come with them, and the food is fantastic.

We spent the rest of our time in Newport watching the boats, popping in and out of stores and discovering fun things like lobsters, anchors and cannons!

Today we headed to our local zoo, Roger Williams Park and Zoo. The kids had a blast seeing the animals, but watching the Elephants get their bath was definitely the highlight of our trip. (Stephanie gets upset when we go and the Elephants are actually outside where they belong and not inside being cleaned.) 

We walked through the zoo for about an hour, then stopped for lunch. (I planned ahead and brought our own, which was both healthier and cheaper!) Then we went to the zoo's Big Backyard, an outdoor play and exploration center, where Joseph got soaked in the sprinklers...and loved it! And of course, no trip to the zoo is complete without a stop for fresh popped popcorn at the end. 

As we left, Dan and I talked about what a great day it was, and how both kids are at the perfect age for the zoo now. They get excited to see the animals, we don't have to worry about keeping the stroller moving so Joseph doesn't get fussy, and we don't have to be as concerned with feeding and nap schedules. Instead we get to focus on having fun as a family. In fact, we had so much fun that I didn't even take any pictures! Bad blogger, I know.

I love relaxing, fun weekends like this, and I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend too!  

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Mother's Day 2013

I'm not going to bother making excuses for why it's been so long since I've blogged. I honestly feel like I've promised myself i'm going to get back to writing consistently about, oh, 100 times since the start of this year.

So instead I'll just jump back into it, and hope it's the start of a new trend!

Yesterday, of course, was Mother's Day. It was my 4th year celebrating being a Mom, and I think it was the best yet. The kids slept until 7:15, which meant I was able to drink 2 cups of hot coffee AND read my book in peace before they stirred. Seriously, that could have been all the celebration I needed. That's how much I had been craving that morning alone time.

Dan showed up an hour or so later and he came bearing bagels, donuts and more coffee, as well as flowers and gifts from the kids. We had a nice breakfast together, went for a family walk, had lunch and put the kids down for naps. Then he went outside, leaving me more quiet time to myself. I almost didn't know what to with such unusual amounts of me-time!

Later in the afternoon my parents and sisters came to celebrate. My amazing mom brought dinner, and we all had a nice time chatting and spending time together.

It was such a great day and i'm so thankful to have such a wonderful family. Being a mom is the best thing I've ever done with my life, as well as being the most challenging. It's made me understand my own mom so much more, and has brought me so much closer to my sister and all my other mom friends. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day! I hope all of you had a wonderful day too, and I really hope to write again sooner than a month from now!

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BabyGanics' Fine & Handy Hand & Face Wipes: Review

I know I've written before about how much I love Babyganics products. This line of safe, non-toxic, and most importantly effective baby products are a hit in our house. We use everything from their sunscreen to their toothpaste, and have been thrilled with it all.

One of the items I use frequently as a mom of two messy toddlers is baby wipes. I find myself using wipes for so much more than just diaper changing. I grab them to wipe down little hands that have been playing outside or with messy crafts, faces that clearly show how much my child loved his or her meal, and much more. I've always just used regular wipes, but when I learned that BabyGanics had created a wipe specifically for hands and faces, I couldn't wait to give them a try!

BabyGanics' Fine and Handy Hand and Face wipes are fantastic! I have been using them for so much, both around the house and when we're out and about. Joseph is very messy when he eats, so when we're out at a restaurant I will grab one of the BabyGanics wipes for his face and hands. I also wipe down his hands with one every time we leave a store. (I never remember to wipe down the shopping cart handle until he's already held onto it for most of our trip. I figure wiping his hands at the end is just as good!) I love the compact packaging of these wipes, because it's easy to toss them right into my purse as we're heading out. They are also useful around the house. Stephanie is very into crafting, particularly with messy things like glitter glue. She hates when it gets on her hands though, so I leave one of the BabyGanics wipes with her at her little table, and she'll use it to wipe her own hands whenever they get messy.

My favorite part about BabyGanics' Fine and Handy Hand and Face wipes is the fact that they don't contain any of the icky things that many other wipes do. They have no chlorine, parabens, bleach, sulfates, or phthalates. They're made with natural, plant-based ingredients and are non-toxic and gluten-free. Not only do they work great at cleaning up messy little hands and faces, but they also moisturize and hydrate with special skin conditioners. This is great for my kids because, like their mama, they suffer from awful dry skin almost all year long. And finally, I love the fact that they are biodegradable. I always feel guilty when I reach for a wipe to clean up my kids instead of a cloth, but this eliminates that guilt because they are environmentally friendly. 

You can find BabyGanics' Fine and Handy Hand and Face wipes at Babies R Us, Buy Buy Baby, Amazon.com, Diapers.com and Vine.com. They retail for $4.99 for a pack of 30 wipes. I highly recommend these wipes...and with a face that often looks like this...

...we use a lot of wipes!

*I was provided with products for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.

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A Little Peek Into Our New House

We have officially been in our new home for a full week now! We lucked out last weekend and had beautiful weather for moving. The sun was out, the temperature was warm, and we had many helpful friends and family to assist us.

The past week has been a whirlwind of unpacking, adjusting, setting things up and just generally settling into our new place and our new routines. 

The kids adjusted really well, although Joseph isn't sleeping great in his new room yet. The first few nights were the worst, with him refusing to go to sleep unless I rubbed his back, and then he woke 5-6 times throughout the night. Luckily he's stopped that, and will put himself to sleep again. His night wakings are down to 1 or 2, and they're quick little "I lost my paci!" wake ups. 

He also took a few days to get comfortable in his new surroundings. He was following me around and whining and refusing to let me out of his sight. Now he's thrilled to explore, discover and play with his sister. 

They especially love their new play area and our sun room. They both beg to play down here all day long. It's a great space for them to run and feel like they're outside while still being contained. (There are two windows that look into the room from the kitchen  You can see one on the left side of the picture. It's so helpful for me because they will play and entertain themselves in here while I cook!) 

Stephanie is lost in her own little world, playing in her favorite room

The playroom. The sliding glass door to the sunroom is on the left wall of this room , not visible in the picture. The kids love being able to go back and forth between the two play spaces!

Looking into the living room from the hallway. This room is my favorite! It gets sun all  day long and is so cozy. I can't wait to get the last of the boxes out of here and get things hung on the walls!

I'm thinking I should probably take some pictures of the house in the daylight to share! There is sunshine in every room all day long, except for the kitchen. I never have to turn lights on in the daytime. 

I'm excited to finally be settling in and will get back into my regular blogging routine this week! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. 

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Easter 2013

I had plans to do a big Easter recap post yesterday, but as with most of my plans these days it didn't happen. We did have a wonderful day though. The kids, Stephanie especially, had so much fun tearing into their baskets and hunting for eggs. We went to my sister's house for Easter dinner and I ate way too much good food which, combined with the overabundance of chocolate in this house, is not helping my get healthy goals. But anyway.

During the egg hunt at my sister's house, Joseph's wheezing seemed to get worse. He has been sick on and off since February, with this latest cold lingering longer than most. His sleep had been non-existent and we were having nights reminiscent of the first 7 months of his life. (Meaning we walked him around our tiny apartment for hours on end, trying to help get comfortable.) But he acted completely fine during the day. Maybe a little whinier and clingier than normal, but still his happy self. Even the wheeze didn't concern me much, as it's something we notice every time he gets a cold and the Dr usually says it's nothing. But it was really pronounced when he came in from running around outside in the cold air, which caused a little niggle of worry in my brain. Then he had another night of no sleep, so it was off the the Dr we went yesterday morning.

Sure enough, the Dr says he has a slight case of pneumonia. I had no idea he was so sick. This boy has the opposite of a man-cold every time he gets sick. The smile never leaves his face, so it's hard to know when he really doesn't feel good. But I feel so terrible that all those nights of frustration from him not sleeping were really him unable to breathe comfortably. But the good thing is that now he has medicine and is on the mend. He slept all night long last night and knock on wood is sleeping soundly tonight too. He should be well on the road to recovery by the time we move to the new house on Saturday.

If you celebrated, I hope your Easter was full of blessings and that you had a wonderful day!

Happy Easter from my loves

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Tasty Tuesday: Delicious Banana Bread!

Stephanie is very into baking lately, and asks me every day what we're going to make. I love the time that she and I get to spend together in the kitchen, and I have to say that she's a very good helper! She pours things into the bowl and mixes everything together for me. She is always proud of our final product and tells me that she is my star chef. 

One of our favorite baked goods is banana bread, and after trying many different recipes I finally found the perfect one. The original recipe came from SimplyRecipes.com and can be found here: Simply Recipes Banana Bread

I modified it very little because it was almost perfect the way it was. I've made it twice now, and the first time it came out a little overdone, so I shortened the baking time by 5 minutes. I added walnuts the first time, which was delicious as well. (My husband likes chocolate chips in his banana bread so I'll be adding those next time.)

Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed (I used 3 each time and let Stephanie mash them with a potato masher. It was her favorite part of the whole process.)

1/3 C melted butter

1 C sugar 

1 egg, beaten

1 teas vanilla

1 teas baking soda

pinch of salt

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 350 

2) With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas, in a large mixing bowl

3) Mix in sugar, egg and vanilla

4) Sprinkle in the baking soda and salt. Mix.

5) Pour mixture into a buttered 4/8 inch loaf pan. (I used cooking spray instead of butter)

6) Bake for 1 hour (As I stated above, I took it out 5 minutes sooner.)

7) Cool on a rack, then remove from pan. Slice to serve. (We ate this yesterday while it was still warm from the oven. SO delicious!)

*I'm linking up with my friend Candice over at The New Modern Momma today for Tasty Tuesday! Hop on over to get some other delicious recipe ideas from some amazing bloggers.

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Sibling Bonds Over At Moonfrye

My third post went live over at Moonfrye yesterday!

I'm sharing a little mom-confession regarding my initial wish for another girl the second time around. I'd love for you to hop over and check out my story of sibling bonds and the love between a sister and brother. It was one of my favorite posts to write, and I hope you enjoy it too!

Sibling Bonds on MoonFrye

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