Summer Living

Oh why hello there blog world. It's been a while.

Summer has been busy and not so busy, all at the same time. We've spent equal amounts of time at home being lazy and trying to get out of our blistering hot house. Since we didn't get air conditioners until mid-July we did a lot of mall trips to escape the heat. Once we did get air conditioners we spent time home, relishing the fact that we could be in our brand new house without melting completely.

We've had a lot of play-dates with friends that we're excited to finally live close to. We've had barbecues and beach nights, birthday parties and zoo trips. We've gone camping, swimming, and playgrounding. But most of all, we've soaked up every last minute of normalcy with Dan coming home each night.

Sadly, that part of summer ended this weekend when he moved back to our old apartment for a two-week session of training his new school-year staff. He'll have to live there now until December when he'll get a month off, and then again until May. We're sad, but looking on the bright side. The end of summer means the upcoming fall season is almost here, and we love fall!

So while it'll be hard to once again solo parent 6 out of 7 days and nights during the week, I'll be eagerly looking forward to crisp, cool weather, cardigans and boots, colorful leaves, pumpkins and apples.

The season feels over for us, but if you're still in summer mode, soak up every last bit of the season. I *promise* to update more frequently now that we're back to our own version of normal!

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BabyGanics Pure Mineral Sunscreen Review!

By now most of you know how much I LOVE Babyganics. They are a fantastic company, and I look to them for so many of my baby, toddler and household needs. I love knowing that I can feel good about using their products on my children because they are all completely non-toxic and free of any "yucky" stuff. (PABAs, Parabens, Sulfates, Phthalates, Nano-Particles and fragrances.)

I was thrilled when I was sent a bottle of their Cover Up Baby Pure Mineral Moisturizing lotion, SPF 30. This mineral lotion is awesome because, not only does it provide broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection, but it moisturizes at the same time! This is a huge selling point for me because we all have dry, sensitive skin that typically gets worse with sunscreen use. This one left our skin smooth and hydrated. I love that it's water resistant, maintains it's SPF for up to 80 minutes, and the active ingredients are Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. (I always prefer our sunscreens to have those as the main ingredients, as opposed to the various chemical combinations out there.)

I loved the feel of this sunscreen (I used it on myself as well as my kids) and loved that once it was blended in you didn't feel like you were wearing a thick layer of goop. It took a little extra time to blend in, but I feel like that is a small sacrifice for all the other great qualities that this sunscreen has.

It's also worth mentioning that it boasts a "Tear Free!" claim on the bottle. I can attest to the fact that this is true because my daughter loves to help apply her sunscreen and she got in on her eyelids and never once whined or complained that it stung. That's a major win in my book!

If you're looking for a safe, natural, and most of all effective sunscreen for your kids this summer, than I highly recommend BabyGanics Cover-Up Baby Pure Mineral Sunscreen. You can find it at Babies R Us, Buy Buy Baby, babiesrus.com and Diapers.com. It retails for 10.99 and is available in a 4oz tube. Definitely check it out!

*Disclaimer: I was provided product for this review. All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. 

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Summertime (Almost)

I've spent the past few months on a merry-go-round. At least, that's what it feels like. Life has just been go, go, go, go, go. And I don't like it. I want things to slow down. I want to enjoy my life, my kids, my husband. I want to live in the present instead of always thinking about what I need to do next. This is a constant battle for me, and one I've written about before. But right now I think it's achievable and I'm determined to slow life down just a little.

Stephanie's school ended last week, and our library story-time ended the week before. Dan's summer work is much more scheduled and routine than during the school year, so his comings and goings are more predictable. We have a lot of occasions and get-togethers and events planned, but our general day-to-day life is wide open. And I plan to take full advantage of it.

We are going to have slow mornings, with breakfast in our pjs. We'll have playdates, but not every day. We'll have times where we don't leave the house at all. We'll relax. We'll play outside. We'll eat dinner from the grill. If the house isn't spotless and the laundry is piled high, well it's summer. Who cares? I can't wait to play, to laugh, to read and splash and create with my kids. They are at such a fun age, and i'm determined to take advantage of our freedom from obligations! In fact, i'd be quite content if all of our summer days were spent like this:

Here's to a great summer!

*I know that not every day will be entirely fun, relaxing, and free from obligations. But if we can have even one day a week like that, i'll be happy. And I figure that if I state that it will happen, then i'm more apt to ensure that it does!

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4th of July Re-cap

She refused to smile nicely for me. "I makin funny faces mom!"

I've been meaning to write this post since Thursday. It's now Sunday. Better late than never, right??

In the days leading up to the 4th, I talked to Stephanie, in child terms, about what the 4th of July means. I told her that we live in America and that the 4th of July is America's birthday. She was thrilled by this news, and sang "Happy Birthday America" over and over again.


When the day arrived, it was the first time in a long time that Dan didn't have to work. It's been a long few weeks of him being out of the house for 15-20 hours at a time, coming home to sleep for 2-3 hours and then going right back to it. Very frustrating and tiring for all of us!

We started the holiday with a family walk to Dunkin Donuts (of course) and then put the kids down for an early nap.

When they woke, we headed to the farm to pick blueberries. (I never got around to making a bucket list like I did for last summer, but if I had, blueberry picking would have been on it. We love picking food fresh from the vine, and there's nothing quite like a sun-ripened blueberry!)

Originally we had planned to go into town and see fireworks, but Joseph was cranky, we were all tired, and so we decided to just stay home. We put the little guy to bed, and had a barbecue outside, just the three of us. After we cleaned up, Stephanie stood at our sliding glass door, peeking at the fireworks that were visible through the trees. She was enjoying them so much that Dan took her out to the end of the street so she could see them clearer.

When she came back, her eyes were shining with wonder and she tripped all over her words in her eagerness to describe all that she had seen. She headed off to bed with her head full of the delights of the day.

 It was a relaxing, low-key holiday spent with my little family of four. I'm always so thankful and proud to be an American, and I love that we get this day in the middle of summer to celebrate and be grateful for the land we live in. I hope all of you had as wonderful a day as we did!

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I Finally Feel Like a Functioning Human Again!

Now that Joseph is finally sleeping at night, I feel like a new person. It's as if I came out of a 7-month-long fog, and can finally start living life again. (There were days, sometimes weeks during the past few months when I felt as if I were merely existing. Going through the motions of the day, but so exhausted that I wasn't really experiencing it fully.)

Now that i'm caught up on sleep and no longer feel like a zombie, I'm excited to focus on being a good wife, mother, and homemaker again. I'm looking forward to planning fun activities for us as a family to do on the weekends like berry picking (we already picked strawberries!), farmers market visits, local festivals and concerts, and trips to the beach.

During the week I'm making it my goal to plan fun, stimulating activities for the kids on most days, but also leaving some days for lazy summer fun. (Scheduled things will include the Children's museum, the playground, the zoo, playdates, etc.) Storytime at our local library started up again this week, so we will be there every Wednesday morning.

I also want to get back to my cleaning routine. When you live in a small apartment, it doesn't take much for the entire place to look like it was hit by a toy tornado. I'm eager to reorganize everything, create a weekly cleaning schedule for myself, and stay on top of daily chores. (Dishes, laundry, toy pick-up, etc.)

While it's great to be excited about finally taking control of my life again, I also know that I need to, you know, do it. So to start, i'm going to get up at 6am during the week. Instead of lying in bed waiting for the kids to wake up, i'm going to get up and get my day started. Even if I only manage a cup of coffee before the rest of the house wakes, i'll be more alert and ready to dive in to our plans. And if it happens to be a day when everyone sleeps late, I can get things done around the house.

Once waking up early becomes habit, I will work on creating my cleaning, activity, and meal plan schedules using google calendar. I also want to make a loose daily routine that I can post on our wall. It won't be something that I have to stick to, but it will be a guideline. It will serve to prevent that awful "it's 10am and the kids are still in their jammies so now we'll never get the day started" feeling I frequently got when I was running on 2 hours of sleep a night.

I know myself, and doing all these things will make me a happier, more organized and more productive wife and mommy. And who doesn't want that? (I know my dear husband prefers that to zombie woman...)

I can't wait to get back on a routine, and spend the summer fully attuned to my life.

YAY for sleep! :)

Strawberry picking was a success!

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BabyGanics Sunscreen Review & Giveaway!

It seems that the warm, sunny days of summer are finally upon us. For those of us with young children, this time of year means a lot of fun in the sun, with trips to the beach, the playground, the pool, and plenty of other outside activites. All of this fun also means it's the season of something else: sunscreen. Any parent or caregiver who has had to apply sunscreen to a wiggly, crying, hyper, eager-to-get-outside child knows what an ordeal it can be.

Many children's sunscreens are thick, goopy, and difficult to blend. There are aerosol sprays which can make application easier, but they're bad for both children's lungs and the environment. It's also extremely challenging these days to find sunscreen that isn't loaded with chemicals.

Ever since Stephanie was an infant in summer 2010 I've been on the search for a paraben-free sunscreen that didn't leave her skin completely white. I finally discovered BabyGanics CoverUp Baby sunscreen lotion. I loved it, and used it almost every day for her first two summers. The only problem with the lotion was that it was a tad thick, and although it was easy to blend, it took a few extra minutes to squeeze it out and spread it on her skin.

Then I was lucky enough to discover that BabyGanics came out with a new product this year. The BabyGanices Cover-Up Baby Face and Body Sunscreen Spray is amazing. It's a moisturizing sunscreen with an SPF 50 that's fragrance-free and comes in a convenient, non-aerosol spray bottle which makes application so much easier. It's mineral based, and water resistant up to 80 minutes. I especially love that it's free of parabens, phthlates, sulfates, nono-particles, and retinyl plamitate. (All that icky stuff that's found in many other sunscreens for children.)

This stuff just glides onto my little ones skin and has no awful scent or sticky residue that gets left behind. It has cut the time it takes me to get the kids ready to play outside in half. The best part? My kids have never had a sunburn, so not only is this product safe and natural, but it works! I love it, and recommend it for all moms. After all, little ones have super delicate skin, and it's important to keep it safe and protected during the hot summer months!

You can find BabyGanices Cover-Up Baby Face and Body Sunscreen Spray at BabiesRUs, Bed Bath and Beyond, Buy-Buy Baby, www.babyganics.com and www.diapers.com. If you're looking for an easy to apply, safe and natural sunscreen then BabyGanics Cover-Up Baby Face and Body Sunscreen Spray is the perfect choice.

I'm also delighted to say that one of my lucky readers can win a bottle of this amazing sunscreen! Enter the rafflecopter below, and in one week I will choose a winner. It's great for parents, caregivers, and grandparents too. (Keep it on hand for those summer visits from the grandkids!)

*I was provided product for this review. All opinions are my own.

*Some of you are new to rafflecopter. You can enter up to 10 times, just sign in with your email or facebook and click the enter buttons to do each of the tasks (you can do as little as 1 entry, which will give you one chance to win. But the more entries you do, the greater your chance to win!)

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

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It's Beach Season!

The truth is, the beach scares me. A huge body of water plus little kids spells unspeakable disaster in my book. I also hate sand. I think its dirty and irritating and I can't stand when it's all over my house.

But we live 10 minutes from some of the most gorgeous beaches around, and many of my fondest childhood memories took place at those very beaches. Plus my little water girl ADORES the ocean. So I've accepted the fact that I can't deprive my little ones of beach experiences.

However. The thought of all the prep that goes into a beach trip gives me a headache. The food, the towels, the blanket, the toys, the sunscreen, the sun-hats & cover-ups. It just seems endless. So we haven't even attempted to go yet, and had no plans to go in the foreseeable future.

But as it turns out, the best beach trips are of the totally unplanned, unprepared for, impromptu variety. 

Yesterday we had a play-date scheduled, and while I was on my way, my friend texted to say that we should go to the beach. She lives less than 2 minutes from a quiet, wave-less beach. Since she has two little ones like me, I figured that if she was up to it, so was I.

Of course we had no bathing suits or towels or food. But my amazing friend C. packed lunches for us all, and had a bag full of sand toys in her trunk. She brought a blanket for the babies to lie on while the toddlers frolicked in ankle deep water and dug in the sand. Joseph was mesmerized by the sand, and scrunched his tiny baby toes in as deep as he could. He sifted it between his fingers, but never really tried to eat it. Stephanie was thrilled that she was able to play in the water, and even convinced me to wade a little too. 

We only stayed an hour, but I left feeling like "Hey, this wasn't so bad. I can do this." I need to stop over-thinking everything, and go with the flow more. Summer is all about sand, fun, sun and the beach. And thanks to the suggestion from C, I was able to soak up our first beach trip of the season (Joseph's first time ever!) and leave knowing that there will be many more trips like it in our future. 

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Memorial Day Photo Re-Cap

For our family, as for many others, Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. Every year we kick off the season by hosting a barbeque for our family and friends. It's one of our favorite days of the year, and we look forward to it for months.

This year we also decided to take the kids to our local parade in the morning. Stephanie was thrilled to see Fire Trucks and balloons.

When she woke up from her nap in the afternoon, our guests were already here. There was a lot of good food, some delicious sangria, red white & blue cupcakes, and tons of laughter and talking. We had a volleyball game, a frisbee game, and a sprinkler for the little ones. It was a great day all around, and I always feel so blessed surrounded by so many of our loved ones. I hope all of you had as wonderful a holiday as we did.

And as always, we made sure to take some time during the day to remember the real reason for our long weekend. We will always remember the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Words cannot express our graditude.

Joseph being Patriotic

Stephanie & I. She loves to take pics with me :)

My boys

We spent a long time trying to get a good family shot. This was the best we could get!

Stephanie & Daddy at the parade

Joseph & I waiting for the parade to start

3 adorable girls waiting for the sprinkler to turn on

They had a blast!

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