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Meet your hosts
www.thebestofbaby.com www.mommyzoid.ca www.glamgranolageek.com
Best of Baby – Iulia Gulia is a mother of a spunky toddler and a squishy infant. With a touch of sarcasm and a good dose of self-deprecating humor, Iulia writes about her obsession – pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding…basically all things baby.
Mommyzoid – Stephanie is a new mom and military wife with a penchant for DIY, home-made, and home-grown!
GlamGranolaGeek – Self proclaimed modern hippie and former office manager turned stay-at-home Mama of two little rascals, Sarah blogs about the crunchier side of parenting, beauty and life at home with kids.
This Week’s Features
1. DIY Painted Pineapple Shoes- Flamingo Toes
2. Finding Time With God– Blogger Loves The King
3. Caramel Apple Pull Apart Bread– Lemons For Lulu
The Ladies Collective Linkup is live! #bloghop #linkparty #LCLinkup
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Linkup Guidelines
1) Please follow your hosts in some way (check out the links above)
2) Stick around for a while and check out some other lovely ladies’ blogs. We all love a good comment!
3) Link backs are appreciated and if you were featured feel free to grab our button!
Note: Please make sure you abide by image copyright and third party content use laws. By linking up you are confirming that you own the rights to the photo you are using in your post or that the photo is in the creative commons/public domain. You are also giving us permission to use your images on our blogs and social media platforms. We will not feature images to which you do not have legal rights.
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Just like majority of infants, our little guy looooved to be swaddled up in a cozy swaddling blanket. But he always managed to get his arms out of the dang blankey. I mean, we would wrap him up so tight and he’d manage to get out of his little baby straight jacket every single time. We tried the swaddles that keep babies hands pinned to their sides but he screamed bloody murder. He wanted to move his hands and I get that! I like having the freedom to move around at night, too.
Finally, the PERFECT swaddle! #Contest #Giveaway
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Enter the Love To Swaddle UP. It’s genius design keeps baby covered, just like other swaddles, but allows baby to have the freedom to move their arms wherever they please and self soothe. The shape of the body also allows baby the freedom to spread their legs a bit, a natural sleeping position for a little baby.
I haven’t had the pleasure of giving the Love To Swaddle UP a test drive because my little one ain’t so little anymore BUT from my experience with other swaddles, this is EXACTLY what my son was begging us for. He didn’t want to be pinned down like a little burrito. He wanted the freedom but we wanted him to be wrapped up and cozy.
Let’s just say we can’t wait to use the Love To Swaddle UP on our next little bundle of joy. Nope, that’s not a pregnancy announcement !!
The fabric is so nice and cozy and the detail of the grey and white trim is perfect for a little baby boy or girl.
Check out this feature. There is space for the car seat buckle so baby can wear this during long road trips or even on those night time drives when you’re trying to get babe to fall to sleep and then easily slip them into the crib without waking them up. This would have saved us a time or two! Especially the time we drove halfway across the country with a 4 week old!
I love that there is a two way zipper so you can easily zip up from the bottom for a quick diaper change instead of taking the zipper down from the top and risking baby loosing all that magical sleepy dust!
Available in:
COLOR:
Gray, Blue, & Pink
SIZE:
X-Small: 4.5-7 lbs.
Small: 6.5-13 lbs.
Medium: 13-19 lbs.
Large: 19-24 lbs.
MATERIAL:
93% Cotton, 7% Elastane
Drum roll! Now it’s time for you to try to score your very own. Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below! You can even come back each day to give yourself more chances! This contest is open to Canadian entrants ONLY. Best of luck, pals!!
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]]>My son’s daycare is closed for a few weeks and re-opens when the school year kicks off so I do feel like I’m heading back to school, just a little bit. So that means I need a whole new wardrobe, right? A girl can dream…
Here are a few of my faves for the fall! I’m obsessed with gold right now, if you can’t tell. Fall also means my organization game is A-1! I got my Day Designer last week and it’s seriously the FIRST planner I’ve had that functions like my brain. I love lists and order and this planner gets that. Just amazing is that Ju-Ju-Be bag? Right now my work bag is by Ju-Ju-Be and I get soooo many compliments on it. I love that I can fit my workout gear and lunch all in the same bag. I used to always look like a bag lady coming into the office. Life Factory makes this amazing water bottle with a flexible straw and I don’t know about you but I tend to drink my water faster from a straw than if I had to gulp it down. How amazing is that turquoise!? Those kate Spade pens are soooo chic! I’d die to sign my name with one of those!
Check out these gold and turquoise #BackToSchool essentials!
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Kate Spade Gold Pens // Arrow Pencil Case //Gold Stripe Day Designer// Life Factory Water Bottle //“Oh So Lovely” Paperweight //Be Right Back by Ju-Ju-Be
Do you love back to school season as much as me? Are you long since graduated like me? Let me know in the comments!!
PS: I’ll be sharing this post on these blogs!
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Meet your hosts
www.thebestofbaby.com www.mommyzoid.ca www.glamgranolageek.com
Best of Baby – Iulia Gulia is a mother of a spunky toddler and a squishy infant. With a touch of sarcasm and a good dose of self-deprecating humor, Iulia writes about her obsession – pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding…basically all things baby.
Mommyzoid – Stephanie is a new mom and military wife with a penchant for DIY, home-made, and home-grown!
GlamGranolaGeek – Self proclaimed modern hippie and former office manager turned stay-at-home Mama of two little rascals, Sarah blogs about the crunchier side of parenting, beauty and life at home with kids.
This Week’s Features
1. Master Bedroom Thrift Store Accessories- Fynes Designs
2. Kid Lunch Ideas: Tortilla Pinwheel Lollipos– Home Cooking Memories
3. DIY Notebook Cover– Busy Being Jennifer
The Ladies Collective Linkup is live! #bloghop #linkparty #LCLinkup
Click To Tweet
Linkup Guidelines
1) Please follow your hosts in some way (check out the links above)
2) Stick around for a while and check out some other lovely ladies’ blogs. We all love a good comment!
3) Link backs are appreciated and if you were featured feel free to grab our button!
Note: Please make sure you abide by image copyright and third party content use laws. By linking up you are confirming that you own the rights to the photo you are using in your post or that the photo is in the creative commons/public domain. You are also giving us permission to use your images on our blogs and social media platforms. We will not feature images to which you do not have legal rights.
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]]>The post Letting Our Kid Be A Kid In Nature appeared first on .
]]>This viral video was posted on my mom’s Facebook group and when I watched it I was a bit sad but so relieved because my husband and I have always kept nature and the great outdoors high on the priority list for our little one.
How I let my kid be a kid in nature
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Every summer my husband and I head to his families cottage on Lake Ontario and we spend time walking barefoot, eating from the garden, exploring the shores and swimming for hours on end. Before we had kids I’d always say how amazing it would be to have all this at your fingertips as a kid. My husband grew up on the very same island and spent his summers building forts, playing with other islanders and being a real kid. He had he childhood you could only dream of. It was full of adventures and memories that have shaped him into the wonderful person he is today.
Now that we have our first child, spending time at the cottage is even more important. Giving our son idyllic summers in the sun is our goal. For three weeks this summer we spent time feeding the chickens, watching the lambs, eating vine ripened tomatoes and splashing in the waves. Our goal is to make the natural world a big part of our children’s lives from a very young age.
Here’s how we let our 14-month-old explore nature:
- Let Them Be – He takes his time and takes it all in. He is always reminding me to stop and smell the roses. As a busy mom I always have the urge to rush him to day care and home for dinner or off to swimming lessons but what he gains from stopping and touching, looking, and learning is invaluable.
- Ask Them Questions – Any chance for our 14 month old to hear new words is so important. When we see a bird he’s never seen before I will say, “Is that a hawk? Do you see the hawk in the sky? Wave hello to the hawk, Oliver.” Sometimes I feel a tad foolish but what’s really foolish is not taking that teachable moment by the horns.
- Give Them A Task – We taught our son to pick some grass and stick it into the coop to feed the chickens! He feels a huge sense of accomplishment when he successfully gets his blades of grass into the coop and is so satisfied by helping feed the chickens.
We are fortunate to have a place to take our kids in the summers but through-out the rest of the year we have to be very cognizant of getting our little one outside in nature because we live in a condo with a small porch. Going outside can be a big production if you let it be. A simple walk around the block or a trip to the park to enjoy nature is all it takes to keep building that love of the great outdoors. <3
How do you help instill a life long love of nature in your children?
PS: I’ll be sharing this post on these fabulous blogs!
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Meet your hosts
www.thebestofbaby.com www.mommyzoid.ca www.glamgranolageek.com
Best of Baby – Iulia Gulia is a mother of a spunky toddler and a squishy infant. With a touch of sarcasm and a good dose of self-deprecating humor, Iulia writes about her obsession – pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding…basically all things baby.
Mommyzoid – Stephanie is a new mom and military wife with a penchant for DIY, home-made, and home-grown!
GlamGranolaGeek – Self proclaimed modern hippie and former office manager turned stay-at-home Mama of two little rascals, Sarah blogs about the crunchier side of parenting, beauty and life at home with kids.
This Week’s Features
1. Kids Closet Organizer Tutorial- Inspiration for Moms
2. Jalapeno Garlic Basil Pickles – Dizzy Busy and Hungry
3. Koala Bear Baby Costume – Creating Really Awesome Free Things
The Ladies Collective Linkup is live! #bloghop #linkparty #LCLinkup
Click To Tweet
Linkup Guidelines
1) Please follow your hosts in some way (check out the links above)
2) Stick around for a while and check out some other lovely ladies’ blogs. We all love a good comment!
3) Link backs are appreciated and if you were featured feel free to grab our button!
Note: Please make sure you abide by image copyright and third party content use laws. By linking up you are confirming that you own the rights to the photo you are using in your post or that the photo is in the creative commons/public domain. You are also giving us permission to use your images on our blogs and social media platforms. We will not feature images to which you do not have legal rights.
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]]>The post That Time I Put My Health First appeared first on .
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Making the decision to start taking an antidepressant is usually not an easy one. For me, it took weeks of soul-searching before I actually got my prescription filled. I was met with resistance from family members about my need for medication and told I was taking the easy way out. It was a struggle to take the plunge and start taking Cipralex (escitalopram), a common SSRI, but I eventually found the strength to do so.
About two years after beginning treatment my husband and I began planning for a family. With my doctor’s guidance, I wanted to lower my dose. He advised me that the dose I was on wouldn’t harm the fetus and my ob/gyn assured me she’d delivered many healthy babies from mothers who’d taken much stronger medication and in higher doses.
But there was a maternal instinct inside me already that wanted to keep my baby safe and as far away from medication as possible. Over the course of several months, my doctors and I were able to lower my dose by half. I was very proud of myself and felt I was finally ready to start trying for a family.
Mothering MyselfWe conceived within three months and about five months into my pregnancy my anxiety attacks came back, with a vengeance. I’d managed to stave them off pretty well up until then, but my hormones were running wild and it was starting to have an effect on my day-to-day life. I could only push the negative self-talk down for so long until it came out of me like vomit. My anxiety was manifesting itself in the middle of the night; I’d lie in bed thinking about work for hours on end and how my expanding belly was starting to slow me down. I pride myself on my work ethic, so the thought of not giving 110% because of my pregnancy, especially in the cut-throat world of media, was starting to take a real toll on me.
One night, my thoughts began to turn suicidal. I started sobbing and hyperventilating; I was so nervous I would do something irrational and harmful to myself and my unborn child. I clung to the mattress, knowing that if I got out of bed I would go to the kitchen, grab a knife and hurt myself. I couldn’t stop visualizing what I would do to myself if I got out of my bed. I woke my husband and told him how I was feeling and laid there crying in his arms, unsure of what to do.
In the morning I called in sick to work and went straight to see my ob/gyn, with my husband beside me. She told me, “babies are born in wartime,” and that the stress I was feeling would have no effect on the baby, but she put me off work for the week. I left the office even more upset than when I’d come in; it felt like my doctor was telling me that the way I was feeling wasn’t legitimate. I could see where she was coming from, but surely a dead mom is going to have some effect on the growing baby, right?
I immediately made an appointment with my family doctor. He’d been following me from the start of my depression and anxiety. He assured me everything was going to be OK and that he’d get me help. We came up with a plan to start increasing my dose of Cipralex slowly, to better manage my symptoms. My doctor also told me that it was in my best interest to stop working and take a sick leave. That was a tough pill to swallow; I had to put my pride aside and put my health first. I knew I was letting down everyone at work. I worked for a local radio station and we were weeks away from a ratings period and had just had company-wide spree of lay-offs. The last thing anyone needed was my absence. But I knew that it was either that they’d need to endure that or, possibly, my funeral.
It was in that moment that I decided to put myself first, not just for my unborn child but for my sake. I knew that I needed to stop worrying about whether or not I was letting anyone down and start treating myself with grace and make my health a priority. That’s hard enough for many of us to do when we’re just taking care of ourselves, but it’s even more important when you’re carrying another little life inside of you.
Eventually, medication lifted that heavy blanket of depression so I could get out of bed in the morning and take positive steps toward a happier, healthier pregnancy. For the rest of my pregnancy I spent my days practicing self-love, for the sake of myself and my son. I gave myself permission to start enjoying my pregnancy. The shift in my physical and mental attitude — made possible by my medication — quickly transformed my pregnancy from the lowest point in my life to the highest. Now I look back at the last half of my pregnancy and think of all the great memories I made with my unborn son while I was focusing only on taking care of both of us.
This post was originally published on Addiction.com, a website dedicated to recovery from addictions. I’m so proud to share my story on such a wonderful platform.
PS: I’ll be sharing this post on these phenomenal blogs!
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Meet your hosts
www.thebestofbaby.com www.mommyzoid.ca www.glamgranolageek.com
Best of Baby – Iulia Gulia is a mother of a spunky toddler and a squishy infant. With a touch of sarcasm and a good dose of self-deprecating humor, Iulia writes about her obsession – pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding…basically all things baby.
Mommyzoid – Stephanie is a new mom and military wife with a penchant for DIY, home-made, and home-grown!
GlamGranolaGeek – Self proclaimed modern hippie and former office manager turned stay-at-home Mama of two little rascals, Sarah blogs about the crunchier side of parenting, beauty and life at home with kids.
This Week’s Features
1. Kids Reading Nook- Clean and Scentsible
2. Coconut Cream Pie with Caremilized Pineapple and Whipped Topping – The Gold Lining Girl
3. 10 Minute Fool-Proof Manicure – Lemon Thistle
The Ladies Collective Linkup is live! #bloghop #linkparty #LCLinkup
Click To Tweet
Linkup Guidelines
1) Please follow your hosts in some way (check out the links above)
2) Stick around for a while and check out some other lovely ladies’ blogs. We all love a good comment!
3) Link backs are appreciated and if you were featured feel free to grab our button!
Note: Please make sure you abide by image copyright and third party content use laws. By linking up you are confirming that you own the rights to the photo you are using in your post or that the photo is in the creative commons/public domain. You are also giving us permission to use your images on our blogs and social media platforms. We will not feature images to which you do not have legal rights.
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One year ago this month I decided it was time to take blogging seriously. Until then I had kept a blog that was more or less a secret. My husband knew about it and that was about it. When I decided to take things seriously, I started sharing what I was doing with a wider audience. And the craziest thing happened — people listened!
A year of #blogging in review! & what a year it’s been!!
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While I was on maternity leave I was learning some valuable lessons that I wanted to share with other soon to be moms. Some of my experiences were hilarious, some were painful and some embaressing. But I had this yearning to share it all. Because becoming a mother is a crazy time when you have all these crazy emotions and feel so alone. and I wanted other women like me to read my words and know they weren’t alone. I wanted my blog to be a place we could laugh and cry together.
Blogging has introduced me to things I never thought I would get to do. I’ve been published on Huffington Post, been invited to write as an Expert Blogger on Addiction.com, and even invited onto CTV, a Canadian news network, to chat about baby shower gift ideas. I have had the pleasure of working with some incredible brands like SollyBaby and Charlie Banana. I knew it would be a long time before I started making an income but slowly I started making some spending money.
My first step in my journey was when I got my copy of Building a Framework. I poured over every page of this ebook and put Abby’s words into practice. There were so many tips and ideas that really put a polished look on my blog. I learned so much for Abby and ever since she’s been such a valuable resource. She introduced me to a world of blogging I never knew existed.
Building a Framework is a surefire way to get a new blogger going on the right path. It’s amazing the opportunities that are out there for us bloggers! This ebook was a small investment that has payed off in ways I never could have imagined.
My first year has been phenomenal. If I can have half as much success next year as I did in my first I’d be tickled! Thank you to everyone who has played a part in the success of this little ole blog! My readers and their beautiful comments have kept me trucking alone and kept my chin up on my down days.
Many Thanks!
PS: If you buy a copy of Building a Framework, I do get a percentage of the sale. But you know what? I owe a great deal of my success to this ebook and I certainly wouldn’t bother promoting it if I didn’t believe in the product. See my full disclaimer here! Any blogging related questions or if you just wanna chat, email me at [email protected]
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Meet your hosts
www.thebestofbaby.com www.mommyzoid.ca www.glamgranolageek.com
Best of Baby – Iulia Gulia is a mother of a spunky toddler and a squishy infant. With a touch of sarcasm and a good dose of self-deprecating humor, Iulia writes about her obsession – pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding…basically all things baby.
Mommyzoid – Stephanie is a new mom and military wife with a penchant for DIY, home-made, and home-grown!
GlamGranolaGeek – Self proclaimed modern hippie and former office manager turned stay-at-home Mama of two little rascals, Sarah blogs about the crunchier side of parenting, beauty and life at home with kids.
This Week’s Features
1. Home Sweet Home Pillow– Flamingo Toes
2. School Year Recipe (Printable)– The Scrappe Shop Blog
3. Minimalist Mama Diaper Bag– Syncopated Mama
The Ladies Collective Linkup is live! #bloghop #linkparty #LCLinkup
Click To Tweet
Linkup Guidelines
1) Please follow your hosts in some way (check out the links above)
2) Stick around for a while and check out some other lovely ladies’ blogs. We all love a good comment!
3) Link backs are appreciated and if you were featured feel free to grab our button!
Note: Please make sure you abide by image copyright and third party content use laws. By linking up you are confirming that you own the rights to the photo you are using in your post or that the photo is in the creative commons/public domain. You are also giving us permission to use your images on our blogs and social media platforms. We will not feature images to which you do not have legal rights.
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