Simon: Three Month Update

Simon turned three months old today! Things have been going pretty well, overall, and I'd say he has grown quite a bit over the last month, especially that head of his! ;)

Likes/Dislikes:

Simon LOVES - bathtime, sleeping with a blanky covering his eyes, his playmat, watching his sister, his binky, looking at the beams on our ceiling, going for car rides, being outside, and sucking on his fingers.

Simon DISLIKES - tummy time, getting buckled into his carseat

Brother/Sister: 

Addie is still doing well with Simon. He is interacting with her more, so she enjoys that. He loves watching her and smiling at her. Addie has been more interested in holding him lately, which lasts all of 10 seconds, but its cute. Not that Simon notices, but Adeline has been a little jealous lately, too.

Feeding:

Breastfeeding is still going really well, and I am so proud to have been at it for 3 whole months. It may not seem like a big deal to those who have done it like a boss for the whole first year +, but after it being such a struggle with Adeline, I am so happy! He is still nursing every three hours, with his last feeding between 9:30-10:30pm. This past week he has also been wanting to eat every three hours at night too..poo poo.

Naps/Sleeping:

I think he is getting more of a nap routine down throughout the day. I'd like to write down his sleeping patterns for a few days to see when he usually naps. Our nights have been a bit of a nightmare. ha. Not really, I mean, at least he is still sleeping, but he has been waking up every three hours wanting to feed. He doesn't seem to be doing any "longer" stretches at night, the way he used to do. I'm hoping he gets back into a longer stretch of sleep at night, this mama's TIRED!

Milestones:

-Simon has begun to roll over to his side, has hasn't completely rolled over yet though. 

-He has grown out of his rock and play sleeper so we've moved him to the pack and play (still in our room)

-He is doing great at holding up that big noggin' of his!

-When laying under his play mat he reaches for the hanging toys and grabs onto them!

-Tonight Simon laughed for the first time! It was super cute, but of course, when I tried to make him do it again for video, he wouldn't!

-He has outgrown all of his newborn clothes, a few 0-3 months clothes fit him, but he is starting to fit mostly into 3-6 month clothing.

-He can sit in the bumbo now, which is probably nice for him - a whole new view of the world! :)

I am so excited to watch him continue to grow and grow! 

P.S-->Be sure to enter our Breast Pump GIVEAWAY, which ends tomorrow night! :)

Crockpot Apples & Oats Dumpcake!

Happy Wednesday! I hope you all are doing well! Apple season is upon us, and I really mean upon us! The apples surrounding our house are being picked now. It's a little crazy around here! It was like a maze trying to get off the orchard today. In spirit of the beginning of apple harvest, I made an Apple & Oats Dumpcake in the crockpot! It turned out super tasty! This is an adaptation of a recipe from Crazy for Crust. I basically just made mine a bit less sweet & a bit less cinnamon-y.

Here are the ingredients I used:

-4 large granny smith apples

-1 yellow cake mix

-1/8 cup sugar

-1 Tbs cinnamon

-1/2 cup oats

-1 stick butter

And the directions:

1. Cut up your apples into semi-small pieces. I didn't peel my apples, but go on ahead if that ain't your thing. Place apples into the bottom of the crock pot.

2. Sprinkle the sugar on top of the apples, and then half of the cinnamon.

3. Now sprinkle the cake mix evenly on top of that.

4. Sprinkle on the oats & the rest of the cinnamon.

5. Cut your stick of butter into slices and arrange on the top of the oats.

6. Turn your crockpot on high and wait a few hours. You'll be able to tell when it's done by the edges.

I hope you give this recipe a try! It was super easy and delicious with a bit of vanilla ice-cream. I'm sure I will be making this all the time during fall since we will have an abundance of apples, and I always have these ingredients on hand.

Have a great rest of your evening!

Psst... Don't forget to go and enter our Breast Pump Giveaway! It's still going on until Friday night!

My Breastfeeding Essentials + Ameda Double Electric Breast Pump Giveaway!

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday! My little man has been in this world for 5 weeks now, and I've been solely breastfeeding. When I hit the one month mark, I was actually pretty proud of myself! All of those nighttime feedings seemed like a big accomplishment for me! I realize I have a lot more to go, but now we've established a semi-regular schedule, which makes things easier. I've also found some things that make the experience much better. I thought I'd share those with you today!

1. Nursing Bras. These make life a lot easier. I have a few of the snap down kind and also several "sleep" bras that look like sports bras, but easily pull down. All of my favorites have come from Target. Here is the link for the snap down bras, and the sleep bras.

2. Nursing Pads. It's a little frustrating to have to use these, but what can a girl do? The reason I have lots of nursing bras is because I go through at least 2 a day! During feedings or during the night, the bra gets soaked with milk. The nursing pads make that happen hardly at all! I like these ones for night time, and these ones for during the day.

3. DIY Burp Clothes. I made 2 different kinds of these. I made some just like the ones Kayla made, and also made some out of cloth diapers. I like them both a lot. The cloth diaper ones are much more absorbent, though. 

4. Boppy Pillow. This was especially helpful in the beginning when I was trying to get the positioning down. Now that baby is bigger and I've had more experience, I don't use it as often. But it was a life saver when I was still figuring things out. 

5. A good Breast Pump. Now, I don't pump all that often. I try to pump only when I will need a bottle either that day or the next. I hate the thought of milk going bad in the fridge, and I know I won't need enough of it to start freezing. With that said, I want a good pump when I need it, since I don't have tons of time to sit and wait. Currently, I'm using the Ameda Purely Yours Double Electric Breast Pump, which I graciously received from Ameda. You can read more about it on their site. I think this is an awesome pump. I've also used the Medela Backpack Double Electric Breast Pump, and I think the Ameda one is comparable, but quite a bit cheaper. I like that you can adjust the suction AND the speed. You don't have that option on the Medela one. I get the same amount of milk from each pump, as well.

Now for an exciting giveaway! Ameda has offered to give one of our readers a FREE PUMP! Can you believe it!? You will be receiving the same one that I have, the Purely Yours Carry All Double Electric Breast Pump. Enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks, guys! Hope you have an amazing weekend!
Kenzie

DIY Bandana Drool Bib Tutorial (TWO different styles!)

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend. We've been having a pretty relaxing weekend here. I've been having fun with some sewing projects, Daniel has been working hard on building our custom patio table and benches, and the kids have been hanging with us both. Today I am going to share with you my most recent sewing project, DIY Bandana Drool Bibs! Okay, so I've seen these around on pinterest/instagram and have wanted to try and make some. Now, keep in mind that I'm  more of a trial and error kinda gal. I didn't follow a pattern or tutorial for these (which is how I ended up with two different styles and many different sizes!) :) I think it's more fun that way anyway, gives each one a different look. 

Here are the two different styles that I ended up with - I think I prefer the second style best. It was easier to make and I like the look better, too. Below you will find a tutorial for each style, and pictures of how they look on.

STYLE #1

**This style looks more like the original bib shape

1. Pick your fabric (two pieces) I used the cuddle flannel fabric and a super soft ribbed fabric (not up to date on my fabric terms :) haha) But really anything will work.

2. One piece at a time fold your fabric and use THIS pattern to cut the basic shape out and repeat on your second piece of fabric, making sure they both match up. 

3.Once you cut our your shape, put the fabrics "good" sides together and sew around the entire shape leaving a 2 inch hole, to pull your fabric through.

4. Pull your fabric through and sew straight stitch around the entire shape closing the opening as well. 

5. Add your snaps - I used Pearl Snap Fasteners (dritz brand) These seriously, couldn't have been any easier and they work great! Follow instruction and attach to your bib. You might want to test it out on your baby first to make sure you place them in the best spot. Here is what it looks like...

and on...

STYLE #2

**This style is more of the modern "bandana" style

1. Pick your fabric (two pieces) 

2. Make a fold in your fabric and cut an isosceles triangle. with the long side being 16 inches total and the other two sides 12 inches each.  With your fabric folded though you will make a 12" cut and 8" cut.

3. Follow steps #3-5 above!

That's it! Here is how it looks completed...

and a few while on...

Addie and Simon hanging out it Simon's crib, nothing like a little brother sister bonding!

Thanks for stopping by! Are you going to try and make one of these DIY bandana bibs? We'd love to hear about how it goes. Let us know what you think, by commenting down below. Have a wonderful evening!

Visit our LINK PARTY DIRECTORY to see where we party!

If you'd like to follow along with us, check us out on FACEBOOK and "like" our page. We appreciate all your support :)

Our Super Cute Birth Announcements!

Today we are going to share the super cute birth announcements that we chose to send out! Thanks to TinyPrints, we were both able to choose some amazing announcements from their assortment of adorable birth announcements.

There are a lot of cute designs on Tiny Prints and we had fun picking out this announcement. We also love that you can use them for so many different things such as announcements, parties, moving, etc. Their customer service is great, and we received the announcements pretty quickly, which is always nice. 


Here are the announcements that Kayla chose (Cute Beginning):

And here are the ones that Kenzie chose (Painted Message):

Pretty adorable, right? Though the announcements themselves are cute, the babies pretty much steal the show!

Hope you guys like the ones we picked out! We also hope you have a great weekend.

Kayla & Kenzie

WWEW: Gouda & Mushroom Pasta

Happy Wednesday! Though we aren't doing our link party anymore, we still want to share recipes with you guys :) Also, I find myself referring back to recipe posts for ideas! I whipped up this recipe the other day on a whim and really liked the way it turned out. You could easily beef it up to make a complete meal, but I just used it as a side dish. 

Ingredients:

-4 Tbs butter

-2 Tbs flour

-1 1/2 to 2 cups milk

-1 cup shredded gouda cheese

-12 oz sliced mushrooms

-10 oz pasta

Directions:

1. Bring medium pot of water to a boil, add noodles and cook to al dente.

2. While noodles are boiling, melt 2 Tbs butter in large skillet. Once melted, add flour and stir until mixed well. Then add milk and stir well. Then add the cheese and mix again. Make sure everything is well incorporated. Add more milk if it's too thick.

3. While you're working on the sauce, sauté your mushrooms with the other 2 Tbs butter. Once they're done, add them to the cheese sauce.

4. Add your al dente noodles to the sauce and stir. Grate some fresh gouda on top before serving!

We ate this with simple chicken breast and asparagus. It was a super yummy meal! My husband sat down to dinner and said "did you just whip this up?!" I replied, "yep!" It definitely looks and tastes a lot more fancy than it is :)

I hope you guys are having great day! We will talk to you soon.

Baby and Toddler Fall Outfit Inspiration

 Today I just have a quick and fun post. I am sharing this years first Fall Outfit Inspiration Style Boards for baby (boy) and toddler (girl). These style boards are always fun to make, and I enjoy seeing other ones people make too. If you have any on your blog, be sure to comment below, so I can come check them out! :)

ONE - Elephant with Crown Onesie ($12.95)

TWO - You Rule Baby Bib ($12.95)

THREE - Yellow Baby Shoes ($6.50) 

FOUR - Gray Trackies ($12.95)

ONE - Pink Fox with Glasses Hoodie ($19.95)

TWO - Dark Skinny Jeans ($19.97)

THREE - Gray Converse ($29.99)

FOUR - Fox Animal Torch - Flashlight ($4.95)

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone! 

What's in My Diaper Bag?

Hello everyone :) I hope you guys are having a great weekend so far. I decided to do a post on what I've been keeping in my diaper bag. I received a perfect diaper bag for my birthday, and have been using it ever since. Hope you enjoy! Keep in mind that Ben is only 3 weeks old, so I don't need to keep very many things with me. I'm also using this bag like a purse.

First off, here's what I keep in the outside pockets for easy grabbing. From left to right:
1. Wristlet wallet from Walmart (they have them in a bunch of colors for $5!) I love this little thing. It unzips and keeps all of your cards and cash. There is a slot that fits my phone perfectly. I usually just grab this out of the diaper bag when I'm running into a store.
2. Sunglasses.
3. Keys.
4. Planner (from Target) and pen.

This is what I keep in the inside smaller pockets.
1. Headband.
2. Lotion.
3. Mirror with bobby pins and hair ties inside.
4. Bottle of medicine I like to keep handy. Has pain relievers and allergy meds.
5. Binkies.
6. Chapstick.
7. Nursing pads and regular pad.

Here's what's in the main compartment.
1. DIY Burpcloth.
2. A little diaper clutch I made (I show the contents below)
3. Nasal aspirator.
4. Receiving blanket.
5. Another diaper clutch.
6. Wet bag for soiled clothing.

This is what's in the little diaper clutches.
1. Diapers, wipes (I really like these Water Wipes!), changing pad.
2. Onesie, pants, hat, socks, mittens.

And that's it! So far I haven't found that I need anything else. He usually has another lighter swaddling blanket in his carseat, as well. I also tend to stick a water bottle in here when I'm out and about.

Is there anything you think I should add? I hope you all have an awesome Saturday. Enjoy some sunshine if you can! Talk to you soon.