What I'm Loving Now

Do you ever come across something during your days that has you all, 'this is awesome!'?  I definitely do not lead a glamorous life and I get excited over things like new socks and contact lenses.  Watch out now.

So I'm sure I'm not the only mom out there that loathes the dreaded fall-asleep-five-minutes-from-home car nap.  You know the one that basically ensures that your kid will not be taking that glorious afternoon nap and instead you'll be listening to your toddler revolt in their crib with faux energy.  You know what I'm talking about.  Harrison is not the best napper so I try to offer up major distractions if we're close to home and I can tell he's getting sleepy: my wallet, my water bottle, etcetera.  And when those are no longer viable options, I whip out a lollipop.  Yes, I give my kid a sucker so he won't fall asleep.  Winner over here but I figured if I was going to be giving him sweets, the least I could do was try to make it as 'healthy' as possible.  I came across these YumEarth Organic Lollipops by reading a fellow bloggers (The Honeybee) post (can't remember the one now) about these and I had to give them a try.  

They don't contain any corn syrup, artificial colors, and are allergen free.  You can find them online here but being that I was a tad impatient to give these a bad boys a try, I ran into my local Sprouts and picked up a couple bags and keep them in my purse.  The flavors are really yummy and at just about 23 calories per sucker, they're a good fix for the sweet cravings I have in the afternoon.

I'm not sure if this is the case at all Old Navy locations but the one I usually frequent has the most amazing/ridiculous/overwhelming selection of last minute purchases in the register line.  Makeup and makeup brushes, face wash, snacks, coloring books...you get the picture.  Last fall I was there and saw these awesome little lunch boxes made by Sistema.

One side is divided in two and is perfect for fruit and snacks but the best part is the sandwich compartment has a lid to keep it from touching the other side and potentially ruining your sandwich.  Because there's nothing I hate worse than soggy sandwich bread.  I've used ours a ton for recent trips when I knew we wouldn't be home for lunch today.  These compartments are small in size but hold a lot.  In case your Old Navy doesn't carry these, they can be found here.

Being pregnant and going to the store right before a mealtime is a seriously bad combination.  Like, watch out I'm buying a hundred dollars worth of off the wall random snacks.  But a recent trip actually had me walking away with some decent finds that have become a staple in the kiddo snack department.  When you have human garbage disposals who have bottomless pits for stomachs, having an arsenal of snacks wherever you go is a must.  Try reasoning with a 4 year old that you don't have any snacks on you and they just had breakfast an hour ago.  Cue whining and 'i'mgoingtodieofstarvation' reactions.  So not only did I find these awesome nuggets of awesomeness for me and for me alone (sorry kids...not sharing these),

I found these mini Lara Bars in a variety pack.  They also have a peanut butter chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie variety but I decided 'no' on those because chocolate chip equals chocolate mess in my car.  Not happening. They're the perfect size and reasonably mess-free.  I say 'reasonably' because Harry can make a mess out of anything.

Another snack staple for us are the awesome GoGo Squeeze Yogurt Pouches.  They're great for those days when we have to be out the door early in the morning and I don't want to give the kids McNasty's.  (Judge away...we got breakfast sandwiches there earlier this week but it had been a couple months since going there).  And they don't take up a ton of room in a bag and don't have to be refrigerated so that's a plus.  Selah particularly likes the banana flavor but the strawberry and berry flavors are a hit too.  Harry doesn't care as long as it's food.  He's a guy...he's easy ;)

Yes, these are all things that are pretty much for the kids but when the kids are happy, mama's happy...am I right???

3 Brown KIDS and Counting!!!

Let's just ignore the fact that this poor blog has had radio silence for several months.  I have a semi decent excust

We always knew we wanted more than 2 kids when we started down that road and toward the end of the summer, started talking about adding numero tres to the mix.  Being the overthinking analytical Type A person that I am, I had planned out starting the 'let's pull the goalie' process for October/November-ish because it worked well with the timeline I had.  We've been renting our house until we figure out where we want to move and with our lease being up at the end of April, I didn't want to move A)with a newborn or B) hugely pregnant.  My October/November goal fit both those requirements but my sweet, loving husband seemed to have forgotten that little conversation we had and oops...wouldn't you know it?  I got all sorts of knocked up last August.  Which gave me a due date of early May.  What's that saying?  If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.  Yeah...pretty much.

Once I find out I'm pregnant (at least with both Selah and Harrison), I (usually) get a couple of weeks of not feeling any different.  You know, enough to make one think they're not going to feel bad.  Then it all kinda goes downhill.  And boy did it go downhill this time.  Wow.  I was soooo much sicker this time; and for far longer than with either of the kids.  Whereas I was pretty much done and feeling better by 10 weeks with both kids, this time I was still feeling like death up until about 15 weeks.  And 'morning' sickness is a total crock.  It's all day sickness folks.  With Selah and Harrison, I was just really tired for the first few weeks and had that constant carsick feeling.  Nothing too horrible.  This time, it was the world's worst hangover ALL DAY LONG.  For 3 months.  I cried a lot.  And looked downright awful 95% of the time.  And let's not forget flying with the kids to Florida to see the in-laws right at the start of all the craptastic feeling period.  Picture Harrison strapped to me in the Ergo, me pushing the stroller with his car seat in it and hoofing it through the terminal with Selah running behind as I'm dry heaving and gagging, trying to find the bathroom.  Luckily, I didn't barf all over the poor kid's head.

So here we are, mid February and I have a little under 3 months left to go.  Seriously no idea where the time went on this one.  I've been so insanely busy the last few months between homeschooling Selah, photography sessions, working for the hubby's business and trying to keep up with 2 small people who have an endless supply of energy.  Before we know it, this little lady (yes, it's a girl...the only time I accurately guessed our kids' gender) will be here and hopefully I'll still have some sanity left to go with it!

Our family photos for this year.  The kids were originally supposed to be holding a 1 and 2 balloon, respectively, but the 2 exploded in the car on the way up the mountain so just the 3 it was!  Which probably worked out for the best because by the time we took this pic, it was 45 degrees out, a few meltdowns had already happened and no one was going to cooperate and hold the other 2 balloons.

Who doesn't like dragging their kids to the middle of a corn field when it's 20 degrees out to take a gender reveal photo?  Totally worth it for just that 1 photo.  Every mom knows exactly what I'm talking about ;)

Welcome to the family Baby Girl Brown!

Summer Sandal Fun

I'm seriously schizophrenic when it comes to the weather I like.  August rolls around and I'm complaining about the heat like a toddler.  'I don't wanna be hot anymore!' Cue whining and potential rolling around on the floor. (Let's be honest...I'm probably complaining about it in July).  Then comes winter and a couple mild days and I'm all, 'I'm so tired of the cold...where is summer?!' Yeah, it happens every year without fail.  This year, I think I was over winter in late January.  A new personal best for me ;)

(This is a pretty accurate description.)

Our 'spring' had a string of really mild days; some even in the low 70's.  Heck, throw in 50 degrees and people in Colorado are walking around in their shorts and flip flops.  When we get even a hint of warm weather returning, I'm dreaming of shorts and flip flops.  So now that summer is (un)officially here (and I'm already cursing the 15 day forecast of upper 90's), I figured a little roundup of some of my favorite sandals would be appropriate.

Not Rated Keep the Peace Sandal

1) I saw these super sweet and unique sandals on a girl I Instagram stalk last summer.  (Don't judge...you know you do it too.)  I spent an unGodly amount of time trying to find these sandals online because I had no idea what brand they were; only that they had fringe.  So when I finally found them in my size, I realized that while this particular store carried them, you couldn't order them online and I'd have to go into the store to order them.  And that meant going to the mall.  I hate the mall.  Target, Old Navy...those are fine but the mall sucks.  I finally gathered up the cajones to drive to the mall and order these hadtohave sandals.  So after getting accosted by one of those smarmy makeup kiosk guys for my 'uneven skin and wrinkles' (yeah, definitely not buying your overpriced crap now dude), I got talked into buying some socks so I'd get the free shipping.  Big side eye there because I think I ended up paying $15 for 3 pairs of gym socks.  I was in a hurry to get out of there and avoid super flattering makeup guy.  Long side note but yes, I hate the mall but these sandals were worth it.  So lucky for you, Zappos now has these sandals in all kinds of sizes and now in 4 different colors!  They're really unique and different than a lot of sandals out there right now.  Your uneven skin and wrinkles thank me ;)

2) I have long been a lover and wearer of flip flops.  They're easy to put on in a hurry and usually help that fresh pedi to look cute.  I've been known to hold onto flip flops that are possibly 12 years old because they not only remind you of your raft guiding days but they've also been discontinued.  I even wore them today. That being said, it is possible to dress up your flip flop!  After seeing several bloggers rocking the insanely cute rubber Valentino bow flip flops, I went on a search to find something similar in a price point that wasn't heart attack inducing.  Call me crazy but I have an issue with spending $300 on a pair of flip flops.  $300 for glorified pool shoes.  They're super cute but just no. So, I bought this pair instead last summer and they're seriously freaking cute although I'd advise against wearing them around water because your feet will slip right out. But fashion can be dangerous at times ;)

Rubber Bow Flip Flop

3) Okay, so I may have gone on a rant above about paying $300 for a pair of flip flops but hear me out on these next shoes!  I'd had my eye on these little lovelies for awhile and finally pulled the trigger on the Tory Burch Miller sandals as a 'Happy Birthday to me' present.  I got the Dulce de Leche color and black and I have worn them both no less than a dozen times already.  They go with everything and while they may be 'basic', they definitely dress up an outfit. And they're on serious sale right now too!  There are tons of other colors too but I'm totally happy with these two and don't really see any need to get another color.

Tory Burch Miller Sandals

Now, off I go to slap a bandaid on my foot because I wore the 12 year old flip flops today and got jabbed with a stick because the soles are super thin now! ;)