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Jul 08

It’s a big ol’ Baby Sale!!

Have you ever really shopped online at Target? I don’t normally buy a lot of stuff online at Target because duh! I am there basically everyday. Anyway, they’re having this crazy awesome baby sale right now and for the heck of it I went online (sale is in stores as well!) and looked around at the baby items and holy cow! they have even more awesome stuff online then in the store. I found so many of my most favorite brands and filled up my cart real fast of things we needed to get for the baby. Now until July 11th spend $200 on baby gear get a $40 gift card (or spend $125 get a $20 gift card). Also all Graco stuff is 10% off and then there are handfuls of select items that just straight up give you gift cards when you buy them! Hello money for diapers! Target you have my heart for sure.

Here are a few items that ended up (or would have if we didn’t already have them!) in my cart…

1. Ergo 4 Position 360 Carrier: We LOVE Ergo! One of our favorite ways to carry our babies and with this purchase you get an extra $30 gift card! How awesome is that?

2. Toys!: I love the online selection of wooden toys for kids. How cute are these blocks?

3. 4Moms Breeze Playard: You know we love 4Moms in our household. We have this playard already and it’s about the easiest, most awesome packn’play there is out there. I think it’s funny hearing stories from Moms about their horror stories of trying to set up the packn’play late at night in the midst of their travels and the sides wont stay up (why is there some weird law about which sides need to go up first for most packn’plays to even work?). With 4Moms you just press the middle down and you are done! PLUS!!! Free gift card with purchase!!

4. LifeFactory Bottles: Our bottles of choice! We’ve used them for both Rowan and Finley and they are by far my favorite. I didn’t know Target sold them until I looked online. Added a few more to our collection! They aren’t necessarily on sale but totally contributed to my $40 gift card for spending $200.

5. 4Moms Rockaroo: We have the Mamaroo but I love this smaller verison. It was such a life saver with Finley. She pretty much took all her naps and slept nights in that thing for the first few weeks of life. With other kids to take care of what a life saver that was!! We can’t wait for the newest to get all cozy in it! And GIFT CARD!!!

6. Honest Diaper Bag: I always try to get a nice, new diaper bag for myself whenever we have a new kid. This is the lucky winner for baby number 3! Love everything from Honest!

7. Orla Kiely by aden + anais Swaddles: Umm? How amazing are these patterns? We have a ton of these swaddles already and they are seriously in my top 3 must have items but I coulnd’t resist adding these new patterns to the mix. The boy patterns are just as awesome!

8. Graco Umbrella Stroller: We have a garage full of strollers we love but I was on the hunt for a simple single umbrella stroller and with 10% off all Graco products- this works out prefect!

9. Honest Diapers: When you buy certain packs of Honest diapers you get a free $10 gift card. How awesome is that! It’s like free money on products I already buy!!

10. 4Moms Infant Tub: Let me gush on 4Moms again! We have the 4Moms faucet spout but for new baby we are definitely adding this tub to the mix. Love the design and function of this tub!

*This is a sponsored post by Target. However, all opinions and products were hand picked out by myself. These are products I actually use and stand behind. Thanks friends!

Jun 26

Weekly Parenting Ups & Downs

Jun 26 | Weekly Ups & Downs

Popping in for another installment of my weekly parenting ups & downs. We all have them! Why not share them!

OUR UPS:

1. Strawberry picking. It’s always one of my most favorite outings every year (sort of like apple picking). The girls totally got into it this year too, Rowan really loved finding all the perfectly red and juicy ones and Finley just eat any strawberry she saw for the whole 2 hours we were there. We drive about 40 mins to a farm out in the country that is a low spray, surrounded by mountains and so sweet and cute I can’t stand it. I will admit that strawberry picking while pregnant is not the most comfortable activity in the whole world, especially when it’s super hot out. We made the most of it though.

2. Potty Training: This will also be on the down list. We woke up the other morning and it was as if all the diapers in our house magically got sucked into a diaper vortex over the night. We realized there were absolutely NO diapers left in the house. We’ve been here before but there is always one more in the car, or my purse, or in the pool bag or somewhere. This time there were NONE ANYWHERE. We have been super casual with potty training Finley but this was the nudge (or well shove) into potty training that we needed. Anyway, we just went full force into it. We’ve been diaper free (other than at nap and bedtime- she’s not there yet) for 2 days. She is stubborn!! But she has peed on the potty 2 times. I feel like is a big giant win for a girl who will hold it all darn day because she isn’t wearing a diaper. Onward and upward!

3. The amount of excitement that Rowan has for doing things is about the sweetest, most heart-warming thing ever. She just finds so much joy in even the smallest things. It’s no joke that she yells “this is the best day ever” like everyday. So when we are actually going to do something exciting she gets all crazy silly and it makes me laugh so hard. She cracks me up! We are headed to the Poconos this weekend to go to a waterpark and other things and she has had her suitcase packed for about a week.

4. Finley has been talking up a storm lately and her little smoker voice is so sweet I can’t stand it. It’s deep and wraspy yet so baby like at the same time. She always copies what Rowan says so half her sentences are much larger than any little girl her age would normally be trying to say. They get all jumbled, with words mispronounced and ohh I could listen to them all day long.

5. Rowan last night said “Hey Mom! You know what? It works out good with the baby in you belly because when we read stories it’s like they get to listen too.” awwwwwwwww

OUR DOWNS:

1. Potty Training: Ugh! Oooh there isn’t much I dislike more than potty training. The constant asking if they have to go, the potty books, the bribes, the constantly looking for every bathroom in every store you go to, the germs in public restrooms, the planning your day around how long you can be in the car, out, doing errands, the extra clothes you always have to carry around, convincing them that pooping in the potty isn’t scary, the puddle of pee on the floor of old navy you are trying to clean up before someone sees. The list could go on and on. It’s a stage I know and in the scheme of things passes very quickly but yuck! it’s a gross stage. Remember our potty adventure with Rowan when we tried to get the Christmas tree? Oh man! That makes me laugh now. We had a similar one out strawberry picking the other day- except I totally had the little potty in the car for Finley this time.

2. Rowan’s hair is a little wild. It always has been. I cut her bangs because her hair could never decide on a part and it was always in her face. The bangs are cute, like super cute. BUT her hair is so curly and wavy that they take some care in the morning (especially after sleeping). Care she has no interest in waiting for. Most days her hair is this wild, curly, 80’s sort of do that of course looks adorable on her because she is 4 and what doesn’t look cute. I do try to get her to let me straighten them every once in a while. When we went for a walk the other day, we noticed her look at her reflection in the car and say “ooh I should have brushed my hair before we left.” Ahhh it sort of broke my heart. Did I create come kind of complex in her over her hair? I mean we NEVER say anything negative or degrading about her hair. And of course I do feel like there is something to be learned about taking care of yourself and learning we need to brush our teeth, brush our hair and not wear pjs out of the house sort of thing BUT… it sort of made me want to cry that she looked at herself and thought that. I just want them to have such high self esteem and not be concerned about outward things like hair, especially at 4. I don’t really have a conclusion to this, just wanted to share my sort of #momfail and to remind myself how much of a sponge they are. They’re aware of so much more than we realize sometimes.

3. Oh the Drama! We have a household of girls with LOTS of feelings. Always knowing how to best parent those feelings is tough. I want to allow them to feel those things but there is also a balance to becoming a little over dramatic and whiny. It’s tough being a parent- you want to do your best for them at all times but sometimes you just don’t know what that is. It takes time to figure each other out, what works and what doesn’t.

Feel free to share your own in the comments!

May 08

Healthy “Ice Cream” And Making Life Work

May 08 | Motherhood

Life is crazy for everyone. There’s no doubt about it. Add kids to the mix and the crazy doubles, or triples or maybe even quadruples. Some nights all I have left is enough to sigh real big and fall into bed happy I even made it through the day. Those nights I end up lying there wondering how tomorrow will go. It very well could be another “just make it through” day but it could also be one of those days where everything falls into place and you have time to take a shower, bathe both kids, make a nice breakfast for yourself and actually get to Mom’s group on time at 9:30am. The mystery actually makes it worth getting up to see what happens. Even in the midst of chaos, crazy and “making it through”… life is good. Like really, really good. I’ve realized over the last year or so that the more I actually let go, say no, clear our schedule the happier, fuller and more successful I feel. Making room for what counts, that’s where it’s at! Mothering isn’t a burden or something that takes away from fulfilling your passions or goals- it’s a joy and a compliment to those things. One way I have found to see that on a day to day, moment to moment basis is to try to include the girls in as much as I can in my life. I don’t ever want to think they’re too small to help, or do this or that or experience something new. We bring them with us everywhere, I let them help on projects for this blog, they take an active roll in cooking and learning about our health, etc… Letting them be involved has made me love them and my passions even more. Sure it causes bigger messes and slowing down but when you don’t have millions of other things piled on your plate it doesn’t matter. You can actually enjoy it. Sometimes I step back with unwashed hair and the kids lunch stained on my shirt and think, this looks totally different than what I thought my success story would be but I couldn’t be happier with how it’s changed. Success looks like a lot of different things and just because you aren’t being a crazy awesome Girl Boss doesn’t mean you aren’t successful. A healthy, happy, flourishing Mama of a busy family is a success in my book.

Happy Mother’s Day Ladies!!
Xoxo

Here is one of the recipes the girls helped me make today as we were looking for a healthy alternative to ice cream.

Ingredients:
Frozen Bananas
Frozen berries
Raw honey
Coconut milk
Vanilla

Directions:
Add frozen fruit to a food processor, add a teaspoon of honey, a dash of vanilla and a 1/4 cup of coconut milk. Blend until smooth. You may need to add a tad bit more milk to get a smoother consistency. Don’t add too much because it will just turn into a smoothie instead of thick “ice cream”. The girls loved it and just ended up eating it right out of the food processor.

This post was sponsored by T.J.Maxx who helps me one-stop shop for clothes (my vest!) and items (food processor) that let me and my family try new and exciting things together (like making healthy ice cream!). Thank you to T.J.Maxx for appreciating Moms and all that they do #MaxxMoms

May 07

Put Your Heart To Paper With Hallmark

May 07 | Motherhood

I used to be obsessed with mailing cards and random objects to my friends when I was growing up. Did you know you used to be able to ship pretty much anything with out packaging? I sent my friend Laura a soft ball, a shoe and countless other silly shaped cards all telling her how much I missed her. In this digital age I feel like the art of letters and cards has been lost. I made it a goal this year to send more cards to distant friends and relatives. There is something so special about opening the mailbox and seeing an envelope addressed to you. I don’t think that will ever get old no matter how digital our world gets. This year when Hallmark approached me to help spread the word about their Put Your Heart To Paper campaign for Mother’s Day, I couldn’t say no! It was something I felt so passionate about and just loved the sentiment behind.

Hallmark was sweet enough to send over a handful of beautiful and thoughtful cards to look through and choose ones for special Mothers in my life. The Mom on top of the list is of course my own super hero Mama. Goodness I love her. I chose the “Queen of our Hearts” card for her because she is such a leader of our family. Gentle and kind but always giving the best guidance. It was a no brainer to pick the Grandma card for her from the girls. Seeing her become a Grandma (or Meme) has made me love and appreciate her even more. This beautiful card was the perfect fit!

Living so far away from family and especially our Mom’s has made friends such an important part of this whole motherhood journey for me. My friends are right there beside me, living out the day to day with small children, messes, stress and just pure crazy. They’re always there when I need them. Giving support, love and a shoulder to cry on. I ended up using the rest of the cards that Hallmark sent to write special notes for all my dear friends. 2 cards in particular that I mailed out were for my dear friends Heather and Laura. I picked the coffee mug card for Laura because she is my far away friend. Our whole relationship (since 5th grade) has been away from each other (sad face). So I loved that this card came with a little gift. I loved the idea of her drinking something warm and comforting and thinking about how much I love and appreciate her. She was my first close friend to have a baby and I have learned so much from her. My friend Heather seriously was an answer to prayer for me. After I had Rowan I went through a really hard time adjusting to staying home with a new baby. Heather came into my life when I needed her the most. I love her honest, loving and selfless character. She has the best sense of humor and easy going attitude, love spending our days together. She is so important to me!

If you’re looking for something to get you in the perfect mindset for Mother’s Day, hop on over to the Put Your Heart To Paper Youtube channel and watch all these super touching (yes! They totally made me cry) videos Hallmark made about Mothers. So stinkin’ sweet!

Follow along with Hallmark on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram and Twitter #PutYourHeartToPaper

This was a sponsored post by Hallmark but all opinions and words about my family and friends were my own. Thank you for allowing me to continue to work with brands that I feel strongly about and are a good fit for Jenloveskev.

May 06

Baby, Baby, Baby…

May 06 | Pregnancy

Well, we’ve been keeping a secret for a little while… for about 19 weeks to be exact. I am pregnant again with baby number three!! We are over the moon and all very excited. Baby boy or girl will be arriving (or should be arriving — we all know how that goes) very early in October. Yippie!! I love fall babies. I just have to make it through the hot summer waddling around with swollen ankles. I think this time around we may not find out the gender. Am I strong enough? hahahah I don’t think I have it in me to wait that long. However that’s the goal as of May 6th 4:32pm. Just warning you, it may change in the next 10 mins and then change back again and then change again. Who knows! All you ladies who have waited please tell me how exciting it is to wait so I can stay strong. The girls are very excited and being so sweet about all of it. Rowan thinks we should have a girl because we already have lots of girl clothes. Although she had our baby friend Max smiling up a storm the other day, so now she thinks it should be a boy because they seem to have a strong liking to her. She’s cute! 3rd babies really make an appearance awful fast though. Good golly! I feel like I look at least 25 weeks already and by Rowan’s friend’s comment about my “fat belly” at the park today, I would say she agrees. Omgosh I love the things kids say! So there you have it… The Richardson gang is growing to be a family of 5! Whoooohooooo!

For those who’ve been following our family for a while now and are curious, we’re still an active certified foster care family and we hold our breath in anticipation for the phone call that will bring a beautiful child into our home. God works in wonderful and mysterious ways and we’re just trusting in Him, His plan, and His timing for all of this. Thank you for always being so loving and supportive of our family everyone! xoxox

Apr 08

Sisters, Motherhood And All The Things In Between.

Apr 08 | Motherhood

I took these photos on a little outing with the girls when we were in Florida. They’re random and silly but for some reason I just love them. The two of them couldn’t stop dancing their way down the streets that day. Rowan would make a move and then Finley would copy. That’s how it usually goes. Finley loves her Roro and is always just a few steps away, copying her every move. She always has to do what Rowan does. Finley’s most used sentence is probably “i coming too!!” She never wants to left out. It’s been one of my greatest joys seeing their relationship blossom. They love each other fiercely, of course not without sister squawks but that’s to be expected. Rowan builds, Finley knocks down. Needless to say there are always some tears but their love always shines through. Last night as I was putting Rowan to bed, Finley was in the other room having a time out with Kev for normal Finley shenanigans. Finley was of course upset and next thing I know Rowan is balling because she feels so bad for Finley because she can hear her crying. Rowan is a nurturer through and through. She is the number one look out for Finley. Always patting her face and saying “it’s ok baby” or “good job honey, you did it”. Oh man… the two of them are just the sweetest thing to witness.

Life with a 4.5 and 2 year old is chaotic but worlds of fun. We have a good time together! Motherhood is a weird journey sometimes, huh? One that’s always evolving and changing. Who I am as a mother now is so completely different than who I was when Rowan was born. It’s a good thing though (I hope). We should always be growing right? The Lord has really worked in my heart the last year on my thoughts toward it all. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the mind set that being “just” a mother isn’t enough. I felt this pressure to be striving for something greater all the time, as if I wasn’t being successful or doing something worthy. I didn’t even know what it was that I was striving for? All I know is that it left me feeling quite inadequate in my role of Mom. Have you read Own Your Life by Sally Clarkson? or even Make It Happen by Lara Casey? I really, really enjoyed those books. I talked a great deal about all of this at Hope Spoken actually. My talk was titled “The Story of Rising Up”. It was all about rising up in Christ right where you are. It doesn’t matter if you are changing diapers or creating a nonprofit it’s all worthy and great for the kingdom of heaven. For me, that’s motherhood. I am knee deep in it and it’s something I feel so fulfilled by when I remove all the outside worldly pressures. Don’t get me wrong, we all need our “me” time and I totally still have dreams and goals but I have learned where to let go and where to make the time for what matters. I hope I can write out my talk into a blog post one of these days because I would love to expand on all of this. I feel like as mothers we struggle with always feeling less than for some reason. Why? Why do we do this to ourselves? (cough, cough social media-just kidding)

Well I’m not really sure why I titled this post “Sisters, Motherhood and Everything In Between” because we’ve definitely covered sisters and motherhood, but I am kinda done with the post and I’m not quite sure what the in between should be. The title flows though so maybe I’m just going to leave it. Should we talk about spicy chocolate ice cream again? No? Ok. Ok. How about 5 things I am totally loving right now? 1. Grapefruits. I can’t get enough. I used to hate them now I love them. 2. Starburst. Don’t ask. 3. Freshly dyed and cut hair. Holla. 4. Hot Yoga (post to come) 5. The fact that the forecast is at 60 or above for the next week!!

Rowan: Dress from Old Navy, Moccasins from Freshly Picked | Finley: Jumper from Old Navy, Sandals from Target

Oct 30

Weekly Parenting Ups & Downs

Oct 30 | Weekly Ups & Downs

It’s halloween!! Yippie. It’s one of my most favorite holidays. I just love dressing up. I am all for a little fun spookiness with cheesy ghost and skeletons but I am so over the gore and terror that has taken over. I tried to find a festive hayride for us all to go on but it was impossible to find anything other than things like “Field of Screams” and other stupid named horror shows. Why?? Why??

How was your week? Have any cool plans for Halloween? We had an overall pretty good week around here. Just thought we’d share a few of our ups & downs…

UPS:

1. SLEEPING!! Can I get a woot-woot? WOOT! WOOT! Remember our “down” from a few weeks ago? Hallelujah we are in a really good place right now. It took a few months of persistence and this lovely clock (and maybe a little of letting Finley whine in the morning before going and getting her) but everyone is sleeping till 8:00am. Seriously, I am over the moon… like jumping up and down high fiving myself!! You better believe I’m not taking this for granted. I know this too is a stage and I am sure something will change (daylight savings UGH!) but for now I am so freakin’ happy.

As of right now our sleep schedule goes like this… Girls wake up at 7:55am. That’s what time I have the clock set to change to let Rowan now it’s ok to come out of her room. She knows she can play or read books if she wakes up before that but I am pretty sure she wakes up to the minute that clock turns. Kids are crazy weird with internal clocks. Finley usually wakes a few minutes before but we won’t go and get her till 7:55am when we get Rowan. She has actually been sleeping till about 8:30!! Rowan hasn’t taken a nap since she was like 2 years old but Finley definitely still needs and takes a nap. We finally hit the sweet spot for the one nap a day. She had a rough go there for a little while with the transition from 2 to 1. But ideally her nap time is 12:30 or 1ish. This doesn’t always happen because of daily plans and things but if we are home this is when she naps. She will sleep for around 2 hours. Then both girls go to bed any where from 7:00-8:30pm. Finley going down first and then Rowan soon after.

2. The age of four. So far four has been pretty good to us. I know we are only a few weeks in, but Oh man! Rowan is just the best. I love that little girl so much. I love four. I love the questions that four brings. Soooo deep and profound. You can just see the wheels working up there as she really begins to process the world around her. Like today she asked me how people know how to read words that go up and down (vertical). Or she asked me the other day if the tooth fairy was real. This afternoon she said to me “I don’t feel so well. I really need some tea because I have the shivers and they are driving me crazy”. Hahaha

3. Finley learning how to tell secrets. It’s just gibberish with a “Roro” thrown in there but it’s about the cutest thing ever. She climbs up on you. Pulls your hair aside, gets real close and then leans in to whisper sweet nothings (literally sweet nothings) in your ear. She then throws her head back and laughs. HEART MELTED THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Downs:

1. Potty training. How are we entering into this stage again? I don’t think Finley is quite there yet but we created a potty monster over the weekend by having her sit on the potty like Rowan. Every second of every day since then Finley has been pulling her diaper off to sit on the big potty. She sits for 5 seconds, doesn’t go potty and then wants her diaper put back on. I know it’s process. I know she is just starting but I am venting because ugh! potty training it just not super fun and we are too busy to spend our entire day taking diapers on and off every second as a big ol’ game.

2. Snacks. Oh snacks are my arch nemesis. I swear the girls are looking for food every minute of the day. Why? Are they really hungry? I don’t know. Do your kids do this? I only give them healthy options (apples, carrots, celery and peanut butter, etc…) and they will eat it all but every.mintue.of.the.day. HALP!

I leave you with the sweetest pictures of little miss Fin to date. She was loving this day with her sister…