in kids

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Top Valentine's Gift Ideas for Kids & Family

Valentine's Day isn't just for lovers, it's for EVERYONE! Spouses, friends, kids, our four legged friends, teachers or whoever you wish to send a little extra love to this year! I know it's a Hallmark holiday but I grew up with my mom making a big deal about every holiday and I enjoy continuing the tradition in our house. It's a special day to show the special people in your life how much I love them!

Sunday, August 9, 2020

NORDSTROM ANNIVERSARY SALE CONTINUED

Continuing with my NSale picks, I'm sharing all the kids, baby and beauty finds today. Reminder that if the sale hasn't yet opened up for you, you can create wishlists so that you are ready to go when it does. Items sell out very quickly, so it's best to be prepared.

If you're expecting, now is a great time to purchase your stroller, car seat, etc. we have the Nuna car seat and absolutely love it! Another favorite is the Stokke high chair. We still have our old one from the older kids that is used by everyone, including myself. Also the cutest Joe's Jeans for the babes for only $15!

Click on pictures to shop:

https://www.liketoknow.it/ltk/5mJuOhr6zb3sMu1LX8a3Zw

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

MASON'S BIRTH STORY

It is crazy that our little Mason was born over 3 weeks ago. The days have been foggy and blended together, but it seems like he has been with us forever. He brought new life to our home and fits right in with his big brothers and fur siblings!

Onto Masons birth story. My due date was August 18th but I technically thought it was the 11th based on my short cycle the month I got pregnant. In my head I was mentally preparing myself for an early August birth considering my first two were a week and 10 days early but of course, we all know due dates don’t really mean anything. Well, August 11th passed us by and I was still very pregnant with no signs of labor except a couple Braxton Hicks contractions which I had been having for weeks. Up until this point I was fine with going a little late. Once you have a kid or two you know how much your life is flipped upside down once the baby comes. That thought changed quickly when I got to a point where I was starting to feel claustrophobic. I can’t really explain it but it wasn’t fun and I was ready for this baby to evacuate. Rob had grounded himself from travel and was working from home some days, the kids were home from school but I was too tired to take them anywhere and we just felt like we were in limbo waiting to meet this little guy. The days were crawling and I was just waiting to go to bed hoping that I’d go into labor each night. After meeting with the Dr. on the 16th, she asked if I was ready to have this baby and I think Rob and I answered her before she was done with the question. We scheduled our induction for the next morning even though I thought 8.18.18 would have been a cool birthday, I was done. I had never been induced with my other kids so I didn’t know what to expect but I felt relieved that I knew when everything was going to happen. I didn’t have to worry about whether or not it would take us an hour to get to the hospital with traffic, whether or not my water would break in front of my 12 year old and traumatize him for life, I didn’t have to worry because we now had a plan. Although that’s when reality and fear set in that this was really happening.

I didn’t get much sleep on Thursday night because I was having contractions so we woke up bright and early and headed into the hospital. Knowing we were going to meet our baby that day was such a great feeling...scary but great! We got checked in and to labor and delivery, had one of my favorite almond croissants from Au Bon Pain (sorta bad and good that this was downstairs at the hospital) and got everything rolling. I broke down a couple times because I hate needles. They can never find my veins and the digging around is enough to keep me on the verge of passing out. I’m so fortunate to have Rob who is a rock in these situations. He’s so familiar with hospitals because of his line of work and his dad being a Doctor that he puts me at ease and I know I’ll be ok if he’s there. They started the pitocin around 10am and they said hopefully we’ll have a baby within 3 hrs. Well, that wasn’t as successful as we hoped because the baby wasn’t liking it. His heart rate would drop after each contraction so they had to stop it. Although it was helping to make my contractions more consistent and stronger we had to let everything progress naturally. When the Dr came in and checked me I was only 4cm dilated so we waited and I received my epidural. This had to be done twice and I’m lucky I didn’t pass out again. I really wish they didn’t have to describe what they’re doing as they’re doing it. I tried to rest a little bit because I thought I had a long night ahead of me. I’m still traumatized from my first ones birth (24 hrs of labor in the hospital and 3.5 hrs of pushing). After a couple of tricks from the nurse to try and get the baby to move into position my contractions started coming on strong. I asked the nurse if I should be feeling them and she had the anesthesiologist came back in to check to see if it was in the correct position. He told me it’s normal to feel them. With my last son I felt nothing so this was new to me. I thought I wasn’t supposed to feel anything, isn’t that what the epidural was for?? Let’s just say they weren’t fun. They started to get stronger and so the Dr. checked again 3 hrs later and I’m still only 4cm. Fear is now setting in at this point. Is his head as big as his brothers, is he not going to drop down, am I going to need a c-section, is the baby ok, am I going to be pushing for 3.5 hrs?? Then all of a sudden the pain and pressure that I felt was unreal. The nurse called for the Dr and I had gone from 4cm to 8cm rapidly. I wasn’t breathing through the contractions because I hadn’t had a birthing class in 13 years and I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing so instead I held my breath and prayed for them to stop. The opposite of what your supposed to do, right?! Then all of a sudden I said to the nurse I think he’s ready. The Dr came in and it was go time. Our little man arrived at 5:18PM on August 17th waving with his hands next to his head as he made his way into this world at 7lbs 2oz and 20 inches long. The smallest of his brothers and capturing our hearts from the moment we met him.

Since we delivered later in the evening we didn’t get to postpartum until after visiting hours so Mason’s brothers had to wait until the next day to meet him but it was the sweetest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life. We knew our 12 year old wasn’t really thrilled about a new baby coming and our 9 year old was acting like his older brother even though we knew he was so excited to have a baby. He’s begged for another sibling for years. Has always been obsessed with babies and his friends little siblings. He’s a natural nurturer. He scooped up his baby brother and is so in love with him. There is a BIG age gap between our kids so it’s really neat to see the interaction with the older ones and hope they'll remember these days with their baby brother.

We’re so excited to welcome him to our family and couldn’t be more in love with him. Rob and I have both said to each other this makes us want more babies (about an hour after he was born). I’ve always wanted 4 kids but our first 2 stopped us in our tracks. So you never know what will happen but for now we’re going to enjoy this little bundle of love!

Friday, February 17, 2017

Happy Friday! My Week and a Project Sneak Peek

After 3 snow days, a sick kid and a traveling hubby who got stuck out of town I'm glad to be rolling into this weekend.

The week wasn't all bad though. First we started off with a great ski weekend with lots of powder. I don't get to say that much and it was amazing! It makes it better when it snows the whole time. Second, our photo shoot that was snowed out last week also got moved to this week. I can't wait to see how it turned out. A special thanks to Jourieh from Jourieh Alicia Photography for capturing this project. This was a project in the Boston area that I've been dying to share with you. This client has similar tastes to my own, so decorating this space was a lot of fun. She also happens to be one of the first friends I met when we moved here. I still remember meeting her at the park with our babies who are now 10 years old! Time goes WAY too fast.

I can't wait to share the professional images but in the meantime here's a couple iPhone pics.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Conner ready to take on the slopes after a mid mountain break

http://www.thestylenestblog.com/2017/02/happy-friday.html

Jake just didn't want to stop skiing! This trail was absolutely stunning. The pictures don't do it justice.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

NORDSTROM ANNIVERSARY SALE KIDS PICKS

Are you overwhelmed yet with what to order at the Anniversary Sale? Well, I hope my picks made it a little easier deciding what to choose. I'm moving on to the kids selections today. I have to say I wasn't super impressed with the boys selection and can't really speak for the girls but of course I managed to find a lot of cute girls options. For the boys I think you can find better deals on Under Armour and Nike elsewhere so I decided to skip that this year. Plus, there weren't a lot of color options I was loving. I felt the same with shoes for the boys which I was bummed about because I usually grab their back to school sneakers at this sale. But there are still some cute options to shop.

Here are items that I think are great to grab at this sale for kids. North Face (since it never goes on sale), back to school shoes and designer jeans. They have the cutest Joe's and Hudson jeans for both girls and boys. You can shop my picks at the bottom of this post.

The one item I loved were the Jem sweatshirts for the boys. They have Star Wars, Capt America, Mario and Ghostbusters online. They are the softest sweatshirts I've ever felt and know the boys will love them. I saw a little boy running around with this North Face Quilted jacket as his mom was trying to figure out his size and it's a great transition jacket for fall. These little Munki Munki sailboat pj's are the cutest! See Kai Run shoes were some of my favorites for the boys when they were younger. I love these little hightops, paired with a henley and these cute little hudson jeans.

As you can see I found more favorites for the girls.

These little panda pajamas are seriously the cutest.

The one button fleece comes in a couple color options and I actually have this in the adult version and love it. UGGS are on sale too! Time to stock up on those for the little ones.

This little pink sheep sweater also has a bunny option that is so cute. I couldn't decide which was my favorite. It would be so cute paired with the off white fur vest which is to die for and these little gold booties. These gold booties would also be so cute with the Truly Me shirt/dress combo.

This long light pink Tucker & Tate hooded sweater also comes in cream, it's so cute. Tucker & Tate striped pocket sweater would be cute paired with these Hudson jeans and the pink North Face vest which would also look cute over the Navy sweater dress which I'm in love with. Pair it with cute tights and these little gold Stuart Weitzman flats. Lots of cute athletic options for girls too.

Shop all my picks here:

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Holiday Gift Guide Kids

Wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! May we all enjoy good company, food and great online sales!

Today I'm sharing my Kids Gift Guide. I've gathered some of these items from my own kids wish lists, toys that have been favorites of ours, asking girls what they'd like and maybe adding a couple things that I would have liked as a kid. Ahem....Fashion Plates. Don't forget to share with friends for a chance to win one of my favorite things from the Gift Guide Week!