This & That Friday

This weeks happenings

Not much going on this week besides work, work, and more work. We are wrapping up summer around here with some last minute activities and family things that we want to get done before it starts to get chilly out. I know, I'm talking about cold weather already.

Which reminds me... Christmas is right around the corner. Seriously though, the past couple of years I had started wrapping presents in August. Well guys... it's officially August. Which means all those presents? Need to get to wrapping. This winter season is going to be a busy one for us, seeing as how we have added another birthday to the list.

Oh you know, just Graham turning one. No big deal. Yes, very big deal.

Speaking of that little Graham man... he decided he wanted to actually learn how to crawl up the stairs. He had been hinting at it for a couple weeks... kept crawling toward the stairs and would stand up {see picture below}, and then yesterday officially {while I was monitoring him} he took about 4 crawls up. I think Elliana was maybe 9 months when we had to go through this new milestone.

Everything is just happening so fast.

Except teeth. Those are taking their sweet time. And I'm pretty sure we have been teething for 3+ months.

Blog wise? Working on some fun stuff around here... and I know I have been talking about this amazing giveaway that I am planning with other bloggers... but I promise it will be coming soon.

Speaking of giveaway, check out this--> ONE YEAR AD SPACE giveaway

 Easy way to enter to possibly win 1 year of advertising on my little old blog!

Instagrammed This

Loving That

Ebates. I just got notice that there is yet another $225 check coming in the mail and that makes me all giddy inside. Seriously, free money... I just can't. I'm not going to keep pitching the same deal to you, read here if you haven't already. Then go tell all your friends so you can make money too!

Read This

I love when I come across an article with just a breakdown for me. These are all things that I nodded my head when reading and said, yes yes and yes. If you are not familiar with common GMO products, read this article.

Bought That

New hairbows for E. About every 6 months I have to replace colors that we have lost or ones that we have pitched. I loved these ones that came and will definitely be buying them again.

Photographed This

These two. THESE TWO. I just want to squeeze them right through the computer screen. Better yet, they're sleeping right next to me and I can just love on them that way. But the personalities of these two. Right in those pictures. Explains it all.

Thank You For This

I want to personally thank Personal Creations for sending me these two beautiful gifts for my babies.

I have loved this company {no this is not a compensated type shout out, just my personal positive experiences} for a while now and have turned to them whenever I needed a meaningful personal gift. Clever name, right? Elliana has also been gifted a couple items from there, both an engraved bracelet and a big sister personalized book, and I could not say more positive things about the quality of all the gifts that we have received. There are always so many great ideas and its a great place to start if you are looking for some ideas for someone special in your life!

One Year Advertising Space Giveaway

I noticed last night that my little GFC number hit 3,000 and I am humbled to say the least. I thought about giving away money here, money there, and this and that. Instead, I decided to give away something that another blogger  or business would benefit from. Advertising space. I know you are probably wishing it were a gift card... but I thought I'd change things up around here.

One Year Advertising space.

Large size ad that will hang out on my sidebar for 1 year. This will include monthly twitter/facebook shout outs, and one guest post feature.

12 months of advertising valued at $480
*All entries will be checked! *Winner will be announced next Saturday on Facebook and contacted via email!

Thank you again all for reading, following along this journey of life with me, and always being supportive. I may not say this enough, I may not reply to comments enough, but trust me when I say this... I appreciate the blogging community. It has been one of the most positive things to happen in my life.

Again, thank you.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Mama's dream to Read Her Child's Mind. Mine too.

Chelsea has been a sponsor of mine for the past 5 months or so, and to be honest with you, probably one of my favorite to date. And by that I mean, the easiest to promote. She always has great posts for me to read through and share with other readers {like yourself}, takes beautiful pictures, a mom like myself, and is just an overall sweet caring person. I have had so much fun getting to know Chelsea and her sweet family, and it is my pleasure to share with you all her beauty, inside and out. 

I decided to ask her a few questions, and this is how she answered them:

image belongs to Chelsea and shall not be copied or reproduced in any way without her permission

1. How do you juggle it all? Being a mom, a student, and blogging at the same time? What is the key to your success?

It's not easy, that's for sure, but I seem to get this question a lot. The truth is, I really struggle with finding a balance and juggling all of those tasks. To keep it all together (the best I can anyways) I write lists galore, write everything down in my Erin Condren planner, and drink too much coffee!

2. What is your favorite thing to do with your daughter?

image belongs to Chelsea and shall not be copied or reproduced in any way without her permission

My favorite thing to do with my daughter is anything creative. She loves crafts and creating, so I really try and do crafts and activities with her as much as possible. She especially loved this coffee filter umbrella craft we did together and we'll definitely be making chalk paint again before the summer's end!

3. Tell us something many people don't know about you.

I never shower everyday. Ever! Some people probably thing this is disgusting, but I've been blessed with not-so-oily hair, so it works out. I live off of my can of dry shampoo in the mean time and rock the messy bun whenever possible. The whole process of showering (and being interrupted 53 times by a 3-year-old) and doing my hair everyday just does not sound appealing. And just so you don't think I'm extremely uncleanly, I do shower every other day at the very least!

4. If you had one magical power, what would it be?

image belongs to Chelsea and shall not be copied or reproduced in any way without her permission

To read my child's mind. Wouldn't that be a blessing for any mother out there? For example, when she's throwing a fit at Target and I honestly have no idea what ticked her off, I'd love the ability to read her mind, quickly fix the problem and suffer as little embarrassment as possible from onlookers. At this age it seems like anything can upset her and sometimes it's just a mystery! 

5. Any advice for first time moms? What's the one thing you wish someone would have told you... or really expressed how important this or that is?

image belongs to Chelsea and shall not be copied or reproduced in any way without her permission

I wish someone would've told me that no new mother is perfect. You literally have no idea what you're doing those first couple weeks (or even those first couple of years) and I really struggled with this early on. I wanted to do everything right and never asked for help. ASK FOR HELP, there's no shame in that. No mother is perfect and every new mother is just learning and just starting out. We all have to start this crazy parenting journey somewhere! It's okay if you let your little one sleep on your chest one night so everyone can get some shut eye and it's okay if you pump and let daddy take over for a bit! It's okay, no new mother is perfect.

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About losing a best friend.

I don't talk about friends often here on the blog. In fact, I probably can count on my hand how many times I have mentioned the word "friendship." I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because my main focus here is my family? And always will be. Maybe because that's just not a big part of my life in this chapter of our book. I know that friendships are important. I know that I have had some great friendships in my life, and many of those friendships have impacted who I am today. But I would be lying to you if I said that I was a good friend. In fact, I'm probably pretty crappy in that category. Very.

Since getting married, getting pregnant 8 months later, having our daughter, getting pregnant again 18 months after that, and then welcoming our son into our lives.... friends kind of get put on the back burner. Life goes by fast, time is not on our hands, and friendships come and go. For me, lots of going.

I wish that statement wasn't true. I wish I didn't have to say that. Perhaps it's my fault, perhaps it's the other person's fault, perhaps it's life that gets in the way. But the truth of the matter is that marriage and children change friendships. Friendships get lost. Friendships fail. Friendships have heartaches and pain just like any other relationship out there. Friendships are hard.

I don't have many of them. Anymore. Perhaps it's by choice. Perhaps it's just not what fits in my life right now. Perhaps it's because I'm just not good at keeping up with them. I'll admit that fault and flaw of mine. But I just don't.

It wasn't that way when I was in school. When I started college I knew every fraternity and the people in it, the parties that were going on every day of the week, and my phone had hundreds of numbers in it in which I would spend the majority of my day texting and "aiming" with the countless amount of "friends." Who remembers aim by the way?

Everyone was my friend. I was everyone's friend. And during that time of my life? That was important to me. I wanted to be liked by everyone and I wanted to know everyone. But at some point in my life, that slowly became less and less important to me. Perhaps around the time that I had met Andrew.

My phone address now? Consists of maybe 20 people. Majority of those being family members.

I often ask myself why this happened, and why I am the way that I am. I wonder if it's something that I need to work on, be better, and put that extra effort in. The answer? Is always yes. I then ask myself what I am doing wrong and why this happens? The falling out. I realize that it's because I put my family first. That sometimes I get texts while I'm out with my kids and I don't respond until later that evening {if I even remember then}. Sometimes I have a missed call because I'm changing a diaper and I just forget to pick up that phone and call back. Sometimes they ask me to do something and although initially it sounds nice, and I may even say yes at first, but when it comes down to it, I always end up cancelling so I can have extra time with my husband and kids. Sometimes months will go by and I'm asking myself..where did the time go and why have I not talked to this person? The thing is, that is who I am now. Now, I choose family. Now, my time is precious.

Now? I have a new perspective on friendships. After losing a best friend through life's changes, I learned a very important lesson in life.

You get out of friendship what you put into it.

You choose who you want to be friends with.
You choose the interests that you may have in common.
You choose who to turn to when you just need to talk.
You have that choice.

And sometimes you choose the option of walking away from a friendship that no longer works.

As sad and hrad as it may have been for me to come to that realization, it was the truth.
And the truth is that friendships... come and go. But family? Is forever.

And some friends? Turn into family. Those. Those are the ones that truly understand.