How Do You Wear…. Palazzo Pants? Fab lip product!

Black and white tribal print palazzo pant

I went out on a limb and ordered some Palazzo pants from zulilly about a month ago. I just thought they looked so high fashion without trying so hard and the tribal prints are so fun! Plus I hear they are very comfortable, and lets face it- when you are at home with the kids all day you want something cute AND comfortable you can slip on and not have to change out of as soon as you go out in public. I'm not sure exactly how to wear them yet! But hey, here's my try!











I have been wanting to try a new lip color for some time, I love all of the new bright lips you see out there right now. I was looking around online to find out what would work best for my skin tone and it seems a coral/peach would be most complimentary according to some sites. I figured eh, its a place to start and set out to find a lip color I liked at a reasonable price. After spending about 40 min trying to decide I picked this:

Can I just say how much I LOVE this product? It gave me the perfect color while adding moisture and shine without being a lip gloss or a dry lip stick. Love! When I find mine I ll take a pic and tell you what shade! I hope I didn't lose it, its probably just playing musical bags between my purses and diaper bag. :-/

I found it! It's called juicy papaya! I just love the subtle color and brightness for spring :) 

Sharp Cheddar Chicken Noodle Soup

(Sorry I don't have any pics, my phone memory was full of videos of #thedestroyer. Hopefully I can take some next time I make it.)

2 Chicken Breasts- thawed
4 carrots- peeled and sliced
3 Stalks of celery- sliced
1/4 onion- diced
Salt
Pepper
Garlic

Boil ingredients in a large pot with 8 cups of water. When chicken is no longer pink remove, cool, clean and shred. Put back in pot. You may also need to add more water

Add noodles and 2 T. Chicken bullion flavoring (give or take depending on what kind you have.) Boil until noodles are done. Turn to low.

When it's NO LONGE BOILING;

Add:
1 can canned milk
1 Cup plain greek yogurt (or sour cream)
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Make sure to use quality cheese and to add slowly so you don't end up with this nasty rubber substance stuck to the bottom of your pot!

Stir in until cheese is melted. Serve.

Baby Sign and Baby Food Graduation

Rowan is SUCH a funny little boy. I cannot tell you how much personality this baby has. He's crazy!  It's so fun to take him places and watch him interact with people around him. I watch other babies kind of just sit there looking around and chilling and Rowan… is ALL OVER! Watching, exploring, DESTROYING, and seeking interactions with anyone that will make eye contact with him. He's so funny and so much fun.  He's very stubborn, curious and determined as well!  Until he learned how to crawl he was a very difficult baby.  He went from laying and being mad he couldn't sit up (and doing hundreds of baby crunches trying…) to sitting and mad he couldn't crawl.  Now he gets around and discovers things and is way more content! About a month ago he started "yelling" at us. Usually for attention.  Or if he wanted something… I decided I really needed to finally get on the ball and start trying to teach him a few signs. I wasn't sure he was getting anything.. and I was prepared for it to take a few months and then this week he started doing more! I was ecstatic! I have incorporated more signs and am doing my best to use them daily.  Tonight while he was getting ready for bed i'm pretty sure he was doing the eat sign. But it was strange because it looked just like he was pretending to eat something! He took his hand to his mouth and made little munching motions/sounds.  He's way too little to pretend yet though… so it must be the sign right? Right?

Rowan's new thing is rejecting pureed foods. Sigh. We have so much! Even his favorite strawberry gerber yogurt isn't going anywhere except all over me as he sprays it in my face
during feedings. I can't tell you how frustrating this had become. It used to just be when he was full. Or, if he didn't like something. I tried everything I could to make it stop, even some things i'm not proud of! (Popping his lip.) We tried saying a stern "NO! Know what he did? Looked down and "quietly" spit. I guess we are going to have to prepare for a defiant kid.  Then after doing some reading on the topic I started doing the "all done" sign and getting up and walking away and ignoring him.  None of these things have worked. Not even just going with it and ignoring the behavior hoping it will just be a phase he gets over soon. Things have actually gotten worse. So I've given up and finally realized it's less about the food and more about independence. He wants to feed HIMSELF.  After letting him slurp noodles, and blueberries tonight I think we've found our solution. 

Night Weaning….

Rowan started sleeping through the night at around 5 months old. He wouldn't do it every night but even when he didn't most nights, he'd go to bed around seven and have just one bottle- at 5am. Then go back to sleep until 9:30am. Well, my sweet sweet husband started getting up with Rowan after he finished his deployment. Reason being- I have a hard time sleeping and if I get up with Rowan that's it for me! So Danny was kind enough to take over nights. I KNOW right?! I've been so lazy since he got back…. I think I was just burned out, now i'm just lazy lol. But, anyway Danny started giving him a bottle EVERY TIME he fussed. Three oz here, four oz there…….. and slowly his night pattern became; get up every 3 hours and sip some bottle.  D: D: D: LIke a newborn.  He did this because he felt it was "easy." He was tired, just give him a little… he goes back to sleep, all good. But no, he created a little night monster that got in the habit of having a crazy amount of nighttime feedings.  We discussed it, I decided we needed to make a change.  Rowan is 9 months old and I know he CAN sleep longer because he has. At an even earlier age. Despite advice from some of you to just go with what the baby wants we set out to wean him from his night time bottles.  Danny wasn't quite on board.  That first night when Rowan got up at 3 for a bottle I caught Danny taking one out of the fridge before even heading to his room! He claims he wasn't going to give it to him right away but….. so I went in and sat up with Rowan for an entire hour. I shushed him while he was in his crib, patted him to sooth him when he fussed and eventually put him in his swing with a binky and went back to bed.

     The next day Rowan had more bottles he finished during the day than he ever had! And that night he slept the entire night!!!! Well- we put him down at 7, give him a bottle at around 11 before we go to bed and then he sleeps until 7am, has a bottle and sleeps again until 8:30ish! But still! That's not one time we have to get up in the middle of the night! Again, the next day he guzzled his bottles during the day. I was so happy! I realized he wasn't wanting bottles during the day before because he was getting them all night. So we just had to change the cycle.  The last few nights have been rough because of teething, but we've stayed strong!  He cries out and puts himself back to sleep, and we give him tylonol for his fevers. Anyway, I was excited we got things figured out so quickly. I had to share!  Now, just to  get him off of his swing… sigh. 

New, In, Out?

Something many of you may not know about me is that I love fashion.  I love watching project runway and Tim Gunn's new show- Under the Gunn.  I enjoy wearing fashionable pieces but often struggle to find things I like in my size that are ALSO in my budget! Seriously. There's almost nothing. And I have a shoe issue, such high arches none of those lovely flats or high heels are even wearable for me. So I spend my time browsing fashion blogs and drooling over the higher end clothing items I  cannot afford! But it is a passion of mine, and when I DO go shopping, sometimes I forget what's on trend and go back to my "old" "comfy" comfort zone. Here are some things I've noticed this season… if i'm wrong ….. eh.


What's in, what's new, what's out?

Kendi Everyday
She has the floral, pinks, Skinny jean,
 gaudy jewelry… yes. yes. yes.

Still in:
Color blocking
stripes
lace
black
florals
skinny pant
cropped pant
polka dots
chambray
shear
emphasis on natural waist
bright lips
clean, fresh, glowing, dewy makeup look
quirky pieces
wedge shoes
Leather
a-symetrical



New:
pink,pink,pink!
pairing stripes with florals

This is an example of one of my fav's! The hour
glass silhouette, a symmetric peplum and color blocking!
Oh, and blush skirt.

gaudy almost costume-y jewelry
short flared skirts
pencil skirts
white pants
white jackets
mixing prints


Maybe on its way out (as in i'm not seeing it on fashion blogs or for sale as much): 
neon's
chevron
maxi skirts