Monthly Archives: January 2016

Little Bird Creations

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April from Little Bird Creations sent me this adorable bundle of hand sewn bandana bibs, feeding bibs and a changing pad.

The first thing that surprised me about these bibs was the quality. Because the bibs are pretty affordable, I was expecting a cheapie bib that wouldn’t wash well, couldn’t handle much wear, and was mainly a fashion accessory. Not the case here! The bibs are incredibly soft and that softness held through the wash. They are also thick and handled James’s out of control drooling (teething) all day. No more cold, wet ring around the neck of all of his shirts! And they looked pretty cute too.

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The bibs are customizable so you can choose the fabric, the pattern, and the type of closure that you want. Yay for snap closures that James can’t rip off himself and throw on the grocery store floor! The pattern choices are my favorite part. All the patterns  at Little Bird are adorable, but I love that there are a lot of gender neutral options. Take it from someone who didn’t find out the sex of either of her babies, gender neutral stuff is hard to find.

The changing pad was another great surprise, because it was better than the thin, crappy one that came with my diaper bag. I had actually ruined that one when I tried to wash it (yes, they gave me a changing pad that was not washable.) It has enough padding so baby is comfortable when you lay him down on those public restroom changing tables, its washable (!) and it is pretty friggin’ cute. Also, it can be rolled up so it doesn’t take up my whole bag.

I can’t say enough about how much I liked my Little Bird creations. Anything from the shop would make a great gift, and you wouldn’t have to feel ridiculous about how much you were spending on a baby’s bib.

Also there is this, which I just saw and now feel that I need for Reese. Girlfriend would lose her mind for a mermaid tail.

Here is Jamesie killin’ it in some of our samples

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*I was not compensated for this review but did receive free products from Little Bird Creations.

 

On Sisterhood

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As one of four girls, my sisters have been some of my greatest gifts in life, and today, they are my three best friends.

This is not to say that at some point in my life, I wouldn’t have gladly traded one of them for a brother; but now as an adult, I know how lucky I am. Yes they steal your clothes, hog the bathroom and the phone (back in the day of landlines), can piss you off more than anyone else in the world, and in my case, even physically assault you (no, really, we came to blows on many occasions.) But there is comfort in having people in life who know all of you, who are bound to support you no matter what and who aren’t afraid to tell you (loudly and perhaps in public) when you’re being an asshole.

One hope I have for Reese is that she will have a sister.

I used to think about this often and lately, as she gets older, I see that regardless of what happens in the future, Reese won’t miss out on a lot of the things sisters share. And that is because she has her cousin Mira.

Mira is 4 months older than Reese and she is the cool older cousin everyone has growing up. She was Reese’s first friend, and today Reese says she is her best friend. Mira lives close enough that we can see her fairly often, but each time we do it’s like Christmas. They tell secrets at the dinner table, giggling behind cupped hands. They disappear from family parties together and jump on beds. They plot new ways to torture little brothers. They imitate each other. They fight. They chase each other around the back yard and someone usually ends up crying.

I’m not sure that there are many other relationships in life like the one sisters have. But if there are, I would imagine they are a lot like those of close cousins (but without the physical assaults.)

We love you Mira-belle!

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Fitness Blender

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Since the holiday face stuffing has now concluded, here is a post about fitness.

Fitness Blender is now my favorite way to work out. I have always been a fan of working out at home. With two kids, and winter upon us, it is really the only way I can get it done these days.

I read about Fitness Blender in Self magazine earlier this year, and before I went to Mexico I purchased a 5 day workout plan. Since then, I have been hooked.

The site has hundreds of free videos with all different types of workouts, for all different levels. The best part about the site is that you can buy workout plans (relatively cheap, the one I got was $5.99) which will give you a workout to do every day for a specific period of time (1 week, 4 weeks, 8 weeks etc.) This was attractive to me because I always found myself getting stuck in a rut; I would get into a certain type of exercise and do it all the time. Not only would it get boring, but my body never seemed to changed because I was just working the same muscles over and over again.  You can access the videos that make up a workout program without purchasing the plan, but the plan shows you how to put them together, in order, so that you work out your entire body while avoiding injury and repetition.

The videos can be searched by length of time, calorie burn, type of exercise, difficulty level, equipment needed etc. It’s convenient and even if I only have 10 minutes to work out, I can find something to do. Also, the videos are seriously challenging. I have used other sites where the workouts labeled “most difficult” didn’t always feel hard enough to warrant my only workout for the day. Not so, with this site. The most difficult videos left me feeling as tired as  I would have after running 5 or 6 miles, and I felt like that was all I needed to do all day.

These are the best free workout videos I have found online so far and that’s why I am sharing, I wasn’t asked to write about this site and I wasn’t given any free stuff, promise!