Things My Toddler Says

| o n e | I touched a goat! 

His "love" for goats is hilarious. He tells everyone about touching a goat in the petting zoo at our local zoo. Let pause for a moment and address everyone, when I say everyone I truly mean it. Cashiers at the grocery stores, our families, random people in the store who say hi, his friends, his friends moms...the list can go on. The funny thing is he is actually terrified of the goats, he talks about going to see them until we enter that area then he wants to be held and when he is ok being down and gets the courage to pet a goat it's with one finger and it's a one second ordeal. In his mind it was a huge accomplishment to share with the world.

| t w o | I tell me no!

This one gets me, he is just repeating what I say in his own way. I tell him" I said no" and in turn he tells me "I tell me no!" I refuse to argue with my two year old to stop him from saying this so I just accept he will repeat after me and (mostly) follow my instructions...oh tantrums! I'll leave my thoughts on these regular occurrences for another day. 

| t h r e e | Hold you mommy

His way of saying hold me. It's pretty sweet! I can't resist those hazel eyes and floppy arms at my belly asking to be held. 

| f o u r | I want cereal (pronounced SI-re-ALL)

We have a cereal obsession going on here. The boy requests cereal all the time, he eats it for breakfast daily (by choice) and has to have a cup of dry cereal to munch on while I get ready if we're leaving he house. When he wakes up from his nap he needs more cereal. On Saturday he had a full on tantrum because we ran out of cereal and were on our way out to buy some at Costco. He was so angry/heartbroken that we couldn't fill his snack cup with more and let us know about it toddler style. 

| f i v e | I do it/hold it...

Mr. Independent would like to do things on his own 95% of the time. It so bittersweet watching him become more independent, my baby is truly growing into a little boy. 

What phrases does your toddler say?

To see where I'm linking up, click here.

Homemade Playdough

I have a love hate relationship with playdough, I know that I'm not the only mother of a toddler who feels this way. You see sometimes there is more consuming of said dough than playing going on, which leads to a temporary playdough ban. My mom made a variation of this recipe for my brother and I when we were young, it is seriously the best recipe and lasts FOREVER if stored properly.

Lately I'm on the loving end of play dough watching M create things with his tiny little hands. Today he is going on 3 hours napping so I made a fresh batch to surprise him to play with when he gets up.

Here's what you need:

1 cup of flour
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of salt
1 tablespoon of oil (I've used canola, vegetable and coconut and they all work great)
2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
Food coloring

How you make it:

• Combine all ingredients in a pot 
• Add a few drops of desired food coloring, mix well
• Stir over medium heat until a ball is formed
• Remove play dough from pot and allow it to cool before playing with it

*Store in an airtight container*

See where I'm linking up here.

Let me know if you try this :)

The Reality of Motherhood

A few months ago I shared my thoughts on mom's at war. It baffles me how some moms eat away at each other and stand in constant judgment for every parenting choice that is made. Before becoming a mother I was guilty of making uninformed judgements, making blanket "I will never statements" and walking around totally naive to the reality that every mother faces. Being a mother constantly evolves as your child grows up. I've read so many posts lately about things I wish I knew before becoming mother and the "realities" of motherhood. I definitely could relate to many things said in those posts (which I didn't save and don't remember the exact titles) but there were also things I didn't relate with. All this got me thinking about what motherhood looks like to me.

Most days you will find me in jeans and a t-shirt or yoga pants playing with my son. We spend a lot of time outside and go to weekly playdates. My house is not always tidy and we don't eat home cooked meals every night. I love browsing the aisles of Target when we need to get out of the house, can anyone relate? My days aren't perfect, and by no means do things always go as planned. My son is turning 2 next month. He is unpredictable at times, full of energy and makes my heart so full of joy.  I'm 20 weeks pregnant with my second child and definitely feel more prepared this time around but, I'm not an expert in motherhood. In fact far from it, but I am an expert at caring for my son. I take each day one at a time, if things are terrible before nap I pray that things improve after nap.

I have come to realize in my 2 years of being a mom that motherhood is your own reality, you have your own trials and triumphs. What one excels at, another is totally failing at. What you rocked at doing Monday you may be scrambling to get by doing the same thing on Tuesday. Such as life that we all have strength and weaknesses in things. It makes you no better or worse of a mother because you are not as strong in one area. Chances are you'll be tested in that area often by your little one and guess what, you get better at things as time goes on.

An area I really struggled with and lets be honest still struggle with some days is the mundane daily routine and loneliness as a stay at home mom. It's true I'm never alone, my son is always around but he's 22 months. Social media is a blessing and curse because scrolling through my feed I wish I could be doing that sometimes. Please don't misunderstand me, I love being a stay at home mom and I wouldn't trade where I'm at in life. Like with any "job" (I hate to call it a "job" but for lack of a better word) some days the grass looks greener on the other side. I was a really social person before I had my son, I did a lot of things with friends. Unintentionally friendships got put on hold for quite some time after giving birth. All Most of my energy and attention was put into caring for a newborn and taking it easy so I could heal. I felt like I was in a fog for months and when I came out things were different. Peoples lives go on whether you are a part of them or not. That was HARD! I love the online mom community, we may not know each other in real life but we get to know each other through blog posts and social media.

I share my best moments on Instagram as I'm sure most do. I take time editing my photos before posting. Sometimes I take longer than necessary and I hear my toddler getting into things he knows he is not supposed to because I'm not paying attention. Taking a picture of giant pile of laundry ready to be folded off the side of your picture is generally not photo-worthy, oh wait I take that back, I send those to my husband haha. I so appreciate those real life shots though because they remind me that we don't always have to have it together. Some days I actually do have it all together, high five for those days, but you know those days are not my reality. A while ago I cut myself some slack in the cleaning department and found the right time to get things tidy, at the end of the night when tiny hands can't trail you making new messes. I can't go to bed with my house a mess, it's built into my nature. It bugs me to see clutter in my home. It literally clouds my thinking until it's clean. I'm not standing in judgement of those who don't do the same nightly, I'll be honest in the early weeks of my second pregnancy I turned my cheek to the toy clutter because I was far too exhausted and nauseous for all that.

Again I say motherhood is your own reality. There is no right or wrong way to do it. It is not always easy and not everything comes natural. You learn as you go along, and having a support system is important. Social media shouldn't be used to measure your abilities. If you want to make tons of crafts with your kids and post the pictures, go for it! If you make yummy food for your child and want to share, do it! If you love toddler fashion, post away! You are blessing a mama out there somewhere who loves your idea and picture. I know I love a great craft idea and toddler fashion. Instead of reading blog "reality" posts and seeing where I fit in, I accept where I am at and own it!

What does motherhood look like for you?

Chambray with eShakti

I am stepping out of my comfort zone today and sharing my first ever fashion post. Ever wanted to customize a piece of your clothing? If so eShakti is perfect for you! I saw a few review posts in my daily blogroll and then I got an email. To say I was excited was an understatement! They have such a huge selection of clothes with sizes available from 0-36W. The best part is you can customize your piece. Don't like the sleeve length? It can be altered to your desired length. Dress too long or short? You can choose the perfect length for you. Do you love pockets? They can be added!

I chose this chambray dress for a couple of reasons. One being I love the chambray look but didn't own any, and the versatility of this dress sold me. I have wore it with boots & booties, flats, leggings and it looks great styled each way.

When I saw this dress I fell in love and knew that I would be wearing it with a belt.

Again, I'm not a fashion blogger. It just so happens that the best pictures were with my sons play structure in the background. I'm a stay at home mom, even though I don't get dressed up to go to work daily it doesn't mean I have to stay in jeans and t-shirts all the time.

I loved working with eShakiti and would definitely recommend you give them a try. eShakti is kindly offering 10% off to my readers until 2/6/15 by entering the code illywho. Code can be used any number of times until the validity period. It can be clubbed with any other promotional offer, gift coupon or gift card in the same order unless explicitly specified otherwise in the offer conditions.This discount code is not applicable on clearance / sale, gift cards & overstock categories. Not applicable on previous purchases.

What is your favorite way to wear chambray?

Sleeping Through The Night

Exactly a year ago in December I was at the lowest point in motherhood. My son was 8 months old and not sleeping. When I say not sleeping I actually mean NOT sleeping; no naps and only at night for about 45 minute increments longer if I held him. It was insane and I felt like a complete failure. You can read about it here.

Sleep deprivation makes you a temporary crazy person. You become envious of friends bragging about kids being good sleepers from the start or those who have been sleeping through the night since they were 4 months old. It's not like when someone gets a new phone and you have phone envy as they show off their shiny new toy and the amazing quality of their pictures. I'm talking when your up in the middle of the night and you only have one eye and it won't cooperate, so you run into things walking to your babes room you wonder how it feel to sleep like said person. Then you realize it's the lack of sleep talking not you.

I hesistated writing this post for a while because, when you share about a sleep victory, somehow your child who can't read, mysteriously finds out about your celebration. They decide to change things up on you and all of a sudden put you in your place reminding you that they kind of control your sleep for while. So with that being said I can officially say M has been sleeping through the night for 10 months. This post is long overdue, it has ben sitting in my drafts for a while. This post is for me to look back on as to when he started sleeping through the night. This victory has made me whole again. 13 months of broken sleep is rough!

We did nothing magical, totally let him reach this milestone on his own with the help of some sleep training. You can read about our sleep battle here. I was so against sleep training, said I would never do it. Little something I learned, never say never in motherhood. How you think you feel at one moment about something, can completely change and you will eat your words. So we did modified sleep training and it worked for us.

I don't have an answer as to when your child will meet this milestone. If you aren't here yet, hang in there mama it's only a matter of time :)