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XO

Taking the girls out to sea

A lot of people call us crazy but we LOVE to travel with our kids.  We don't go anywhere with out them.  They're my kids, I love them and I love spending time with them and frankly I get anxiety when they're not with me.  It may not always be easy or convenient but it's how we do things.  I figure when they're older they're probably not going to want to spend every second with me so I'm going to enjoy every second of it while I can.

I'm not sure if i've mentioned how amazing my parents are or not, but they are.  Last week my mom called me and asked if we wanted to go somewhere and I was thinking the mall or target maybe??  Well, they booked our family a 7 day cruise in May!  Don't get me wrong, I love a good trip to target but this for sure takes the cake!  We've had a pretty crappy year so far so this vacation is much needed.

This will be Emma's 4th cruise and Isabella's 3rd (yes, my kids are spoiled).  My parents take us on vacation every year (again, have i mentioned how awesome they are??)  I feel like I have cruising with kids down to a science.  So over the next 6 weeks I'll be giving tips on how to travel with kids.  What you need and don't need and about cruising safely with kids.  A lot of people get nervous thinking about taking a wild 2 year old on a boat but you would have to actually try pretty hard to have something horrible happen IMO.

Sapphire Princess....see you in 6 1/2 weeks!  CAN'T WAIT!!

Aden + Anais Easy Swaddle

Aden + Anais was amazing enough to send us one of their new easy swaddle blankets to review!  So far, I have loved everything I have ever had from them.  The material is so soft and they last a really long time.  I still have blankets that I use on a daily basis that I bought when I had my oldest daughter who is now almost 5!

I swaddled both of my girls as babies.  When they were teeny tiny newborns I used their classic muslin swaddle blankets and loved them.  As they got to be a little bigger and more wiggly they could bust out of the swaddle and I constantly thought it would be great if they made a swaddle blanket that they would STAY swaddled in once they were a bit bigger.  Well....they did it!!

They easy swaddle is amazing!  It's super soft like everything that Aden + Anais makes.  Unlike most swaddle blankets that have loud velcro, the easy swaddle has snaps which I think is a genius idea.  I hated having to undo the velcro in the middle of the night to do a quick diaper change, it always woke them up!  There are 2 different sets of snaps to adjust the tightness of the swaddle which is nice, that's another thing not all swaddling blankets offer.

Another thing I love that Aden + Anais is doing is that they have everything you need for your little ones nursery in matching patterns from crib sheets and blankets to changing pad covers!  They even have a blanket called the daydream blanket that is fit for an adult!  Nothing sounds better than cozying up with an Aden + Anais blanket!

My first segment on national TV!!

Man oh man....where do I begin?!?  What a week it's been!!  I had my FIRST appearance on national TV with my own segment on Home and Family on the Hallmark Channel!!  It was so much fun...I think I may be addicted!!  My best friend and writer of my favorite blog over at Lilyshop has been on the show many times with all of her amazing crafts.  She really out did herself on todays episode and threw the most amazing shower for 2 new mommies.

Jessie showing off her amazing setup

The whole show was baby themed (could it be a more perfect day for me to be there?!?)  Dean McDermott was there showing dads how to have one last hurrah before the new baby arrives.

Mark Steines and Dean McDermott 

I got to do one of my absolute favorite things on the show...be crafty!!  I showed everyone how to do super simple DIY baby bibs.  

My segment setup

I can't stand most of the cheesy games that people play at baby showers.  It's like once you've played them 37 times it just gets old.  This is a great alternative to those games!  You can set up a bib station (or a onesie or burp cloth station if you wanted) and all of the guests can make the mommy to be their own personalized gift!  You don't have to know how to sew and anyone and everyone can do it!!  I'm going to do a separate post with the detailed instructions on how to make the bibs but trust me when I say they're SO easy to do.

I had such an amazing day and i'm so thankful to be given the opportunity to be on the show.  Who knows...maybe one day i'll get to do it again!  Here are a few pictures from the day, enjoy!

XO

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Dead Fish....

One of Emma's favorite things to do after school used to be going to her grandmas work, which is right across the parking lot of her school, and feeding her fish!  Every time we would go over there that's the first thing she would ask to do.  Well, a couple months ago grandma had to "send the fish to one of her friends house" (the fish died, you can get away with the lame excuse with a 4 year old).  Emma hasn't stopped talking about the freaking fish so her grandma told her she would take her to the store to help her pick up a new one for her office and buy one for Emma as well.

So a couple weeks ago I thought we had made plans to go and pick out the lovely new fish that i'm going to end up feeding and changing the water.  We drive over to grandmas house and she's not there. We called her about 100 times and now answer...WTF??  Emma's freaking out.  We took her to go eat and continued to stock grandma frantically trying to get a hold of her so we could get the fish and the I...I mean the kids could nap.  We finish our healthy lunch at McDonalds and still can't seem to locate grandma so finally we ask Emma if it's ok if we just take her to get the fish.  After 10 minutes of screaming and crying she agrees.  

We walk into petco and her eyes were as big as i've ever seen them.  I thought for sure we'd be there for an hour trying to decide on which fish to take home.  After about 20 min of talking her into the cheapest fish she finally picked one out!  A lovely little green and redish betta that she decided to name Rainbow (such a 4 year old name)

Rainbow #1

We get Rainbow home and situated in his new digs.  We fed him and he didn't seem to eat but I figured he had a long day and wasn't hungry.  Over the next few days I realized this fish hasn't eaten or pooped since we got him.  Of coarse we picked out the bum fish!!  Fast forward to a few days ago Emma wanted to feed him and I look in the bowl and he's completely bloated and white.  After Emma went to bed I snuck in and took him out of her room.  I looked online and diagnosed him with dropsy, some betta disease.  It says to give him an epsom salt bath.  So Kris comes home and i'm standing in the kitchen giving the damn fish an epsom salt bath trying everything I can to make this little guys survive so I don't have to break it to my 4 year old he's gone to fishy heaven.

By Friday he was even worse.  Emma woke up early and I told her to grab the ipad.  I look at her in the monitor (yes, my 4 year old still has a video monitor in her room and she will till she moves out if I have anything to do with it) and she standing completely confused staring at her dresser where rainbow usually is.  I asked what was wrong over the intercom and she asked where her fish was.  I told her it was cold in her room so i put him in the kitchen.  When I went out to the kitchen of coarse....there was rainbow floating on his bloated belly.  

Now the fun part....do we discuss life and death and all that fun stuff or do i just get a new fish ASAP to save myself the conversation.  I texted grandma a picture of rainbow and told her to get a replacement and bring it at nap time.  Luckily Emma didn't ask about him all morning.  I put the girls to bed for naps and grandma shows up with a new fish...who's laying at the bottom of his little cup looking paralyzed not moving at all....of coarse....another bum fish!

Rainbow #2

She jumps back in the car and back off to petco she goes.  Well they had no more green fish so she gets a blue one....who looks NOTHING like rainbow.  I had my story set on what to tell Emma.  Did you know that when betta's get older they can change from green to blue??  I didn't either, but that's my story and i'm sticking to it!  I thought for sure she would call us out on it but so far she hasn't even noticed.  I even moved him back into her room since it's not as cold in there anymore ;) I now introduce to you the newest member of our family who will hopefully stick around longer than the last one....Rainbow (#3)

Rainbow #3