Doctor Gabe!

Gabriel LOVES to play with Gracie's Doc McStuffins toys. I can usually find him in the "check up" center. He is such a funny boy. He loves to play with the oddest things. Right now he is playing with a piece of plastic from an art set.

This little boy makes me laugh daily. He is such a joy and his personality is coming out more and more each day. He loves to give me kisses. It is the sweetest thing. EVER. I put my face close to him and he puts his chunky little hands on my face and opens his mouth on my forehead or cheek. AH. So precious.

Happy Thursday Friends!

Little Man

I was looking back at my post and noticed I had quite a few of Gracie recently so I wanted to write about my little guy. Gabriel is very shy. He doesn't like pictures and he is super laid back, he is pretty chill as long as he isn't restrained in a high chair at restaurant. Even though he is over 1 he isn't walking yet. I am not bummed about it either...at first I was worried about it but I know that every child develops at their own pace. When Gracie was his age she was walking, talking, and off the bottle, BUT I am enjoying this time with Gabriel and taking things slow. We are slowly taking him off the bottle....I can already see that is going to be a HUGE ordeal. He is such a sweet boy. He loves to cuddle and play with electronics. He loves to say "WEEEEEE" and whenever he does it my heart melts.He is the perfect fit for our family and I could not ask for a better son! I can tell you he is for sure a Mama's Boy!

Gabriel's New Crib Skirt: Sarah's Slings and Things Review

One of my favorite things to do is work on my house. I love making each space in my home more inviting and more me. Last year while we were working on Gabriel's room I decided I wanted the color theme of yellow and grey. I had pinned at no less than thirty pins of children's rooms that color. I LOVED the color combo. One Sunday I got the itch to paint every piece of furniture in his room grey and yellow (minus the crib) and when I was finished I thought it was beautiful!

Ever since I have finished his room I love finding accents to really bring out the yellow and grey, his handmade blanket and grey chevron rocking chair are just two things that we have done recently. I have been speaking with Sarah over at Sarahs Slings and Things for a little bit about making Gabriel a three tier crib skirt. She makes such beautiful items that I literally could not wait to see what she had made for my little man.

Sarah has her own website, check it out here where she is known for her very unique and wonderfully crafted handmade slings. Her prices are great too because I know how hard it is to find a sling that we enjoy to carry our babies in that is comfortable and affordable.

When I received the crib skirt in the mail this week I was seriously blown away. The colors, the fabric, the way it was put together...every piece was just perfect. To me, it pulls Gabriel's whole room together!!  I could not be more pleased and thankful for Sarah's hard work. It takes ALOT to have a a handmade shop succeed and Sarah is doing that simply because her work is so amazing!

If you, or someone you know is having a little one soon, you should check out Sarah's Etsy Shop. She can make just about anything your little heart desires for that new bundle of joy, or if you even want to spruce up one of your children's bedrooms with a bed skirt give her a shout you will not be disappointed!

Crazy Monday!

Remember yesterday when I said "Today was a day from you know where but that is a post for a different day?"

Well today is a new day and I wanna share what happen.

*DISCLAIMER* If being a parent and sometimes poop makes you sick maybe you don't need to read this, because that is what this whole post is about....

Ok. Well first let me tell you Gabriel is not constipated much...but...sometimes when he goes they are super hard and you can tell it gives him a hard time, well Sunday he went about four times and each time his BM's were all small and hard. There is a reason I am telling you this by the way...not just to share my son's poop.

Yesterday morning when he woke up I changed his diaper like always and when I opened it up it was FULL of blood. I am talking ALOT. I seriously aged about thirty years right there on the spot BUT the first thing I did was grab my phone and take a picture because I knew I wanted to have proof to show the doctor. I cleaned him up and checked his butt to make sure he had no rash or cut that would have caused this, of course he didn't so I called the parents of the 2 babies I keep and told them they needed to be picked up then I called the doctor and made the earliest appointment I could. We went in and like I knew they kind of brushed it off UNTIL they saw the picture, then they were worried. They checked his temp, his heart rate, and looked at his bottom. They thought that maybe since he had hard BM's maybe one had cut the inside of his bottom but they wanted him to go to the hospital and have an ultrasound just to make sure since everything was okay....and it was...THANK GOD!

Mini Style Wednesday

This week my house is FULL of sickies. So I will go ahead and warn you on the pictures this week. The best I could do was get Gabriel laying down while drinking his bottle. We all have some sort of sickness. Gabriel was diagnosed with RSV last week and Gracie and I have an awful cold....BOO!

We have also had TONS of issues with our taxes this year thanks to our lovely government system...but that is a topic for another day..

How is your week going?!

Share some happiness with me.

Pants : Gymboree 12.99
Shirt: Gifted (Kohls)

Baby Boy's First Sickness

This weekend was not the greatest...Thursday one of the babies I keep got sick and even though I cleaned and cleaned to try and kill the germs Gabriel caught the nasty bug. He just turned one this month and although people have told me that it's pretty awesome he hasn't been sick before, this mommy is sad. I hate for my kids to be sick. Gabriel started running a fever Saturday and continued throughout Sunday...Now today he has a small cough. Please pray for this to clear up on it's own because I really do NOT want to take him to the doctor with all of the other viruses going around and especially the flu.

I will be scrubbing and cleaning even more tonight so that Gracie doesn't catch it...or anyone else. Fingers crossed.

How is your Monday?

Gabriel's New Fox

Recently I was given the wonderful opportunity to work with Janel over at at Mobile Mommy Designs. She is such a sweetie and was kind enough to offer me not one but two of her plush toys. This week I am going to tell you about Gabriel's Fox. When we received our package last week from Janel it couldn't have came at a better time because he had just gotten his shots that day and was feeling a little grouchy. When we gave him his new plush toy he immediately started laughing and playing with it. He has had it snuggled up with him whenever we go out. I personally love how Janel does her designs because they are a perfect size for children to carry around, not to big or to small.

Mobile Mommy Designs makes all kinds of goodies for children and adults including, plush toys, pillows, and jewelry. She can even make custom items, such as pillows. One of my favorites is this pillow inspired by a child's artwork. I will absolutely be going back to Janel in the future to get a few of these for my kids. Please feel free to click on any of the links above and visit Janel's Etsy shop or Facebook page. She has tons to choose from and is a pleasure to work with. Next week I will be sharing Gracie's plush toy. :-)

Hooty Birthday Invite

First of all, let me say I am freezing. I don't know what the weather is like in your parts but here in North Carolina it is SO cold. Today was a record breaking temp of 8 degrees. Granted, I know New York and other places are much colder but we are not used to this weather down here. I want my mid fifties back at least....

Anywho, I realized after reading my post yesterday I forgot to post something I have been wanting to share for a while now, Gabriel's Birthday Invite. I have been SUPER excited about these simply because I have never seen any like them. My good friend Crys over at Sunkissed Smiles designed them for me. This girl is amazingly talented and if you check out her site you will see what I mean. She is a graphic designer, Mom of 5, Crafter, Blogger, Photographer, Law Student, Respiratory Therapist, and she has even battled Cancer. She IS the definition of Superwoman in my book.

I am honored she made these beautiful and unique invites for Gabe. I couldn't have loved them any more. I was thrilled to pass them out. I of course will be getting Crys to make Gracie's for her party in March too because honestly who could pass up this talent?!

If you are looking for someone to make things pop for you, Crys is the girl to see. I also have her button on the right side of my blog for easy access. Please check her out and see for yourself all of her wonderful talents.

Gabriel Turns 1!

My little precious man turned one Saturday...it was such a wonderful day. I know Gabriel is my last baby so although it was a wonderful day, a part of me was sad because I have realized how quick children go and I no longer have a "baby". Sooner than later, he will go around and do those boy things that are oh so charming and will no longer want mommy cuddles and that will break my heart.

Back to happy thoughts, the party was a huge hit and Gabriel had SO much fun. I will go ahead and tell you I will be doing another post about his party hopefully one day this week and uploading pics from my actual camera but i feel so bad still I am just uploading the ones I have on my IPhone. For those that don't follow me on other social networks I have an incredible ear infection that has caused me more pain than giving birth. I am on several meds for it and I pray it helps soon..

We had Gabriel's Owl themed party at a Lake House you can rent out, the price is kind of steep but honestly worth it because there is so much space and beautiful scenery to look at.

This is Gabriel's Gift from us. Of course we had to use this wrapping paper :-)

Here's the Birthday boy. Seriously, how handsome is he? AH! Cutest pic ever.

These wonderful party favor bags were made by Crista over at Dazzling Expressions. We received so many compliments on these cute little owl sacks. We filled them with candy and small toys.

Here is another look at our Owl Party Bags. They had multiple colored Owls on them and read "Gabriel Turns 1". I will def. be going back to Crista for Gracie's Frozen themed party.

This Fox is so adorable to me. It was from his Great Grandparents and he has been snuggling him ever since the party.

Here is the birthday man playing with some of his gifts. He loved EVERYTHING.

This chair was a Craigslist find. It was stained and loved on but I saw great potential so I snatched it up and covered it for Gabriel in Owls and Foxes.

MeMe and Poppy gave this adorable shelf. I LOVE IT. He needed something in his room to hold his toys and this looks perfect.

This cake was amazing! A lady around town made it and she did a wonderful job!

This is his smash cake! HE ATE SOOO MUCH of this. 

Here he is enjoying previous cake...I told you he tore it up. Yummm...

I hope you all enjoyed reading this and looking at the pics. I am sorry it is so scattered. I assure you when I feel better I will be a little more organized. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Friday Means Giveaway Time!

Congrats to Melanie for winning the Ink & Astor Pouch Giveaway!

Happy Friday Everyone! Christmas is right around the corner, can you believe it? 11 DAYS!! I still have a few gifts to buy for a couple family members and RICK. AH. I am at a dead end on what to get him....If you are still looking for the perfect gift I recommend you check out The Gift Garden. Michelle who runs the shop and makes all of her products is amazingly kind and I am certain you can find a great gift for any age.

She recently sent me an adorable crocheted snake for Gabriel and the most adorable personalized keychain which I am in utter love with.

Gabriel plays with his snake ALOT. He squeezes it, chews on it, cuddles it...whatever he is in the mood for...

How precious right??

And check out my keychain

Michelle is so kind she is offering one of you guys the chance to win a 10.00 credit to her shop! She has SO many wonderful items. Go check out her goodies now so you can get a heads up on what you want to order. :-)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was not  financially compensated for this post, however I was given the snake and keychain to write an honest review on. All thought and opinions are strictly my own and not influenced in any way. See Disclosure.

Cooking with Mommy

The other night me and Gracie decided to make Oreo Balls. I have seen them ALL over Pinterest and honestly I knew it was a done deal when I saw them and I had to make them. Although this is a super easy snack to make it is a very messy task let me tell ya... The only ingredients you need are 1 package of Oreos, One 8 oz. tub of soft cream cheese, and Semi Sweet Hershey's Chocolate chips.

The first thing we did was crush up our Oreos in a ziploc bag. We had SO much fun doing this. You crush them until they are the consistency of dirt. After you do that you put the Oreos in a bowl and mix in the Cream Cheese with your hands....this is the start of the messiness.

But hey?! That's the fun in cooking and making memories right? After we mixed up the Oreos and Cream cheese good, we put our Hershey's chips in a bowl and melted them in the microwave. The next step was to dip our balls of oreos and cream cheese into the melted chocolate and place them in the fridge to sit over night and harden. 

Of course before we did that we had to have some fun and eat some yummy melted chocolate!

Isn't it funny how different my kids are!? Gracie is HIGH on chocolate and Gabriel is thinking....why in the world did I eat that...

The next morning our Oreo Balls were not beautiful BUT they were made with love and we had a blast!! Also they were SOOOOO good. I do know that next time we make some of these tasty treats I will let the balls sit in the fridge and harden some on their own before I dip them in chocolate, I think this will help with the 5 hour clean up afterwards :-)

Today is the last day to enter the Ink & Astor Giveaway! Go HERE if you haven't entered yet! :-)

My Kiddos Christmas List

This year for Christmas I really put a lot of thought in to what to get my little ones for Christmas. I didn't want to just buy a whole bunch of random toys to be played with for a short time and then put into the toy bucket never played with again. I listened and listened to what Gracie said she wanted and if she said it longer than three months I figured she really did want the item so I added it to her list. 

1. This handmade doll with the little owl baby is SO precious to me. I am thrilled to see the finished product Jennifer at Southern Pride Sewing is making for us.

2. The Cra-Z-Loom. I have heard about this since......perhaps the whole year? SO of course we had to get it.

3. Nabi 2 is the cute little addictive commercial that comes on with the catchy "Red Bird" song. I was worried we would not be able to afford this but a Christmas miracle happened and for that, I am thankful.

4. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you saw how tough it was to find this Doc McStuffins Check up Center, but again...A Christmas miracle allowed us to get this.

Gabriel obviously isn't old enough to tell me what he wants so I tried to find things that I knew would last, and he would enjoy.

1. These superhero dolls have been on MY list to get for my little guy for a long time now and I am so happy to finally be able to give it to Gabriel for Christmas, along with perhaps this adorable fox that I can not get my eyes off of. How adorable is he?

2. The wooden hammer with the pegs are a timeless toy, I had one when I was a child and I was happy to be able to get Gabriel his very own as well.

3. The cute Fisher Price ride on Dog is super neat. He talks and and even moves his head. Gabriel is going to have a blast with him!

4 Jake and the Neverland Pirates is a big hit in my house. We watch it ALOT. Gabriel loves it as well and he is going to be so excited to have this pirate ship on Christmas morning.

What are you getting your children for Christmas?