One Lucky Mama

The perfect Mother’s Day weekend…

On Saturday we went to Bode’s swim lessons and then for a family 3.5 mile run around a nearby lake. The weather was so beautiful which made for a very enjoyable run. I am very excited to get back into running shape. I want to add a half mile on to each week and build up my endurance slowly but surely!

After our run we went and got our BOGO Caribou coffee. They offered BOGO on both May 9th and 10th so of course I had to take them up on that offer both days!

Hubby made us some BLT’s for lunch!

blt

Bode and I watched Dana mow the yard. Bode really liked watching him walk back and forth!

For dinner we grilled up some steaks from our local co-op, red potatoes with onions, and broccoli. Seriously so good. BTW right now I have a little man grabbing at the computer so I need to hurry this post up!

steak

On Mother’s Day (Sunday), Dana got me Caribou and doughnuts in the morning while I was feeding the baby! Have I mentioned how much I now love doughnuts? It all started during pregnancy and it’s a love that hasn’t left. That and burgers!

caribou coffee and doughnut

I was royally spoiled by my family. It’s fun being a mama on Mother’s Day!! Have you all tried the strawberry shortcake Larabars? I am super excited to try them!

Mothers day treats

Sunday night we celebrated my dad’s birthday along with Mother’s Day and I made one of my “famous” ice cream cakes! Caramel chocolate ice cream, Oreos and hot fudge in the center, topped with more ice cream, Oreos and sprinkles of course! So pretty and very tasty! All for under $10!

ice cream cake

The festivities continued into Monday…just how I like it! We celebrated with Dana’s parents and had pizza and pie!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I am one lucky mama.

I am linking up with Becky today!

Continue Reading One Lucky Mama

My To-Do List

Oh well hello!

I can’t believe how fast time goes by without me saying ‘hey’ to you all on here! When people say life gets busy once kids are involved, they aren’t kidding. I LOVE it, I just haven’t been very motivated to write on the ol’ blog.

As far as recipe sharing goes, I don’t have much to offer. I’ve been pretty lame with our meals. Besides that, if I do make something completely delicious, I never write down the ingredients! I’m hoping as time marches on, I will be able to get back into that again.

from scratch

My little sweet man is now six months old. WHAT?! How did that happen! He is very interested in food and I am offering a mix of the “baby led weaning” route and offering solid foods as well as offering soft foods like ground oatmeal with breastmilk and applesauce. His #1 is still breastmilk and this mama is very proud of it. I worked darn hard to make that happen.

He is now sitting up on his own. He loves going for runs and walks in his stroller, blowing bubbles, swimming, standing (with our help of course), giggling, sticking his tongue out, jumping, putting his toes in his mouth. He is a joy!

******************

The purpose of this post is for me to put together a list of to-do items I want to tackle at one point or another! These are not my typical daily items to-do items like fold the laundry, get the diaper bag ready for daycare, etc. These are fun ones; some that need to happen very soon, others that can wait.

I want to make:

1. Homemade sunscreen with carrot seed oil! I’m planning on using this recipe I think…http://www.mommypotamus.com/how-to-make-non-toxic-homemade-sunscreen/

2. More bibs! I have really been into making baby bibs. They are super easy and I have been up-cycling old t-shirts!

3. Lavender lemon sugar hand scrub! Yum!

4. These chicken bombs! http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-bombs-499604

chicken bombs

5. A hair appointment. K this list is kind of random but my hair is getting very long! Most days I end up putting it back in a bun or a braid because someone’s little paws like to pull all my hairs out! I want to keep it long but I do need a little trim.

Image-1

6. Sign up for a race! I’m thinking a 10k.

Lastly, I Need To…

7. Start packing! We are MOVING! We bought a new house and will be building just about 15 minutes from where we are now! Our new home will be built by the fall so we will be living with family for the summer! We are VERY excited!

That’s it for now. That’s a hefty list given that I’m lucky to get a shower in on most days. 😉

I’ll leave you with this…

motherhood

#truth

I hope you are all well!

What are some of your FUN To-Do DIY projects??!

Continue Reading My To-Do List

Favs: Family, Baby Shower, & Fall

It’s Friday, oh yeaa oh yeaa. Yea. Woo! It’s Friday favorites time, so let’s get to it.

1. This was a week ago now, but packing up the car and heading up north for my brother’s wedding. I loved being able to pack as much stuff as I wanted, listen to music, chat with Dana, and take as many stops as needed on the way up. I was SO excited to get up north and relax.

packed car

 

2. The cool weather of northern MN, hot bonfires, sweatshirts, pontoon rides, and the view of Lake Vermillion.

 

blankets up north

 

3. Being with my family all weekend and welcoming my new sister-in-law to the family.

 

 

siblings scott and nicole wedding

 

4. Dancing…

 

dancing scott and nicoles wedding

 

5. My first baby shower thrown by my work ladies. This little guy is going to be so spoiled and so well-dressed!

 

mom and melanie baby shower

 

vest  baby shower

6. Fall decorations. They are all up and I am ready for the cool weather again. Fall is my FAVORITE! It officially starts next week! BTW Fall is one of those words that if you look at for too long it starts to look like it’s spelled wrong and just looks goofy.

 

fall decorations

 

Happy Friday to you all! I’m linking up with Katie and Clare today for Friday Favs! Thanks ladies!

Continue Reading Favs: Family, Baby Shower, & Fall

Bridal Shower and Baby Room Crafts

Hey! Did this weekend even happen? It flew by so fast holy cow!

I thought I’d catch you up from some of my weekend events because it was seriously a GREAT weekend.

I had burgers two nights in a row, so that’s always good (says the baby). Plus, I manned the grill one of the nights! The other night Dana and I went out to Lucky’s 13 and I had an amazing burger with caramelized onions, peppadews, cheese, and bacon. So good!

burger

In case you are wondering I spread a laughing cow cheese wedge on the bottom bun. I WILL be doing that again.

I finished the paintings for one wall of the nursery. Those will be hung on the wall of course and not sitting on the crib ledge. 😉 I think these are going to look adorable in there! Plus I painted them myself, so the little one will hopefully appreciate that some day. Maybe.

baby room decorations

 

On Saturday, Dana and I went for a walk around the lake and I melted from the heat. This internal furnace has me real hot these days, and it didn’t help that it was 85 degrees and humid I suppose. 🙂 I was still happy to have gotten out for a walk but I was spent afterwards.

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to my future sister-in-law’s bridal shower. My oldest brother, Scott is getting married next month, and mom and I wanted to host one of her showers for her.

Here are some pics from the party!

scott and nicole bridal shower flowers bridal shower bridal shower banner menu bridal shower bridal shower food bridal shower food

 

The company, the food, the games….everything was so much fun. But speaking of spent, I could hardly keep my eyes open the rest of afternoon! It was worth it though.

Is anyone else dealing with seasonal allergies right now? I know the weed count is high, and I am wondering if that is what I’m allergic too. I thought it was a cold at first but now I am almost 95% sure it is allergies again. We haven’t gotten rain in a while and I think that is part of the reason they are acting up again.

Anyway! I hope everyone had a FABULOUS weekend! I have lots of fun on the agenda this coming week again. It’s high school reunion time which means friends are flying in from around the country! Can I get a whoop whoop for that?!

Have you ever hosted a bridal or baby shower? Did you enjoy it?

Any allergy sufferers?

Do you go to your high school reunions?

Continue Reading Bridal Shower and Baby Room Crafts

Mission: Freezer Clean-Out

For a while now, I have been on a mission to clean out the freezer. I seriously dislike throwing good food away so I am trying to find creative ways to use up items in the freezer instead of having to do that. Some of the foods in the freezer are ready-to-eat meals like soup, other items are random like enchilada sauce and half of a corned beef package.

I want to make more room for two reasons:

1. My goal is to make a bunch of fresh and delicious freezer meals in the next 2-3 months to have around once our little bundle joins us and for times when I don’t feel like/am too tired to cook.

2. I 100% plan to breastfeed and plan to store extra milk in the freezer.

This weekend I used up the rest of our shrimp that I had used for Valentine’s Day, in kabob form on the grill. I also used up some tomatoes as a sauce for black beans and quinoa that I had frozen from 2/2014.

shrimp kabob

Last night I used up the rest of the corned beef in the form of corned beef hash. I had used the other half in corned beef and cabbage soup for St. Patty’s Day. I decided I definitely am not a fan of corned beef. But hey, I tried.

corned beef hash

What is still left in the freezer?

A lot of this is for my own good so that I can take inventory and so that I am fully aware of what is left in my freezer, but if you have any fun ideas on how to use any of my random items, feel free to comment! I do have some intentions on how I’d like to use some of these foods, it’s just a matter of actually doing it.

  • Enchilada Sauce
  • Cauliflower Sauce
  • Butternut squash cubes
  • A whole bunch of Olive Garden breadsticks
  • Quinoa chili
  • Veggie soup
  • Butternut squash soup
  • Corned beef and cabbage soup
  • Taco meat 
  • Hot dogs (which I won’t eat but hubby and guests might)
  • Hot dog buns (how long do these last in the freezer? It might be time to throw those out)
  • Shredded zucchini—zucchini bread needs to happen before I get my next bunch from the garden!
  • Garden tomatoes—again, I should really do something about these considering my next batch is starting to come in!

I clearly have a problem with making WAY too large of batches of soup. I enjoy leftovers but seriously it’s gotten out of hand. I can continue to chalk away at the soups, but they are enjoyed so much more in cooler weather am I right?

Now, I know that some of these items will still be in the freezer when babes arrives and that is totally okay as long as I eat them this fall or winter, but I would like to make room for NEW stuff too. Ya know?

I have some work to do. And yes, this could definitely be part of my “nesting” tendencies I have going on lately. I’m okay with this.

In the meantime, I will continue to pin meal ideas to my Pinterest “Freezer Meals” board. Today I only have five things pinned so I have some work to do there too!

Btw are you following me on Pinterest yet?! Find me here:  http://www.pinterest.com/NuttyMelanie/

 

Alright, off to take on the week. I can’t believe we are more than halfway through July. Where is the time going?! Ahhh!

Is your freezer as packed as mine is? Have you ever needed to take on a mission freezer clean-out?

Continue Reading Mission: Freezer Clean-Out

Nesting.

Oh, baby.

Baby is what’s on my mind 24/7 these days. I am now nearly 24 weeks and am realizing quickly how much I would like to do before baby is here. I also continue to remind myself that not everything needs to be done before baby arrives, but considering my personality, I would sure like it to be.

I have fallen knee-deep into nesting mode. Everything I touch in my home I must organize. I spend hours browsing google for the perfect organizers and nursery furniture, making sure to read reviews on everything as I go. I continue to build on my baby registry as I think of more and more things the baby might “need.” I want to clean and get upset when the house doesn’t stay clean. I make endless to-do lists. I’m not complaining though; I kind of like it. 🙂

I’m maybe a little crazy not to mention completely hormonal lately. I read a line from a book called The Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy that my cousin lent to me (one of the hundreds of books I’m reading currently) that was just too perfect not to share:

“It’s as if your emotional engine is stuck at fourth gear and running full throttle all the time. You don’t build up to a feeling so much as arrive at it going ninety miles an hour. Worse yet, your brakes are no good and you’re not sure if the power steering works.”

At the beginning of pregnancy I didn’t feel the whole pregnancy mood swing thing; I even commented just a little over a week ago how I haven’t hardly cried at all. Clearly, I spoke to soon. It just comes out of nowhere. I’ll get super upset about something and then within ten minutes I will be laughing. I feel like I have no control over it but I am trying to be aware of it at least. These things are legit–they’re not just an excuse for us to be crazy I promise!

My family and friends are very patient with me.

To say I’m excited to be a mom would be the understatement of the year. I was born to be a mom. I grew up loving my baby dolls: feeding them, changing them, tucking them into bed, cuddling with them. I even remember holding them underneath my shirt pretending I was pregnant!

I am a nurturer and a lover and I am ecstatic to be able to smother this baby boy with love. I am already so in love.

Dana and I continue to dream of what are baby boy will be like. Ahhh the greatness that occupies my thoughts. 🙂

That’s all for today my friends. Have a fabulous day!

Continue Reading Nesting.

What I’ve Been Up To

Lately, I’ve been a little distanced from the ol’ blog.

This is partly due to summer being so fun and busy…

melanie and stephanie wedding nyc family grandma's marathon 2014 melanie and dana camping

Partly due to working hard to finish the basement so we can start on the baby room.

And partly because I have been devoting some of my time to is a business that I have started up with six other gals.

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve fallen and I’ve fallen hard for Young Living essential oils. My passion for these oils has led me to become part of an incredible team of young women who have come together to start a business in order to help spread the word on the goodness of oils. We call ourselves crazy for coconuts.

coconut logo

We started a website and a blog where we talk all about oils:

  • Why we chose Young Living
  • What are essential oils
  • How do you use them
  • Our favorite oils
  • Recipes using oils
  • How to buy oils
  • And more

The website is: www.crazyforcoconuts.com

We are constantly chatting with each other about new ways to use oils and we have a blast!

If you have any interest in essential oils, I highly recommend you head over to our website and check out our blog too! I feel like not sharing information about oils is like cheating someone out of a really, really good thing. I have so much knowledge to share about these oils and my passion is growing by the day.

everyday essential oils

In the next few months in preparation for baby, I plan on making a whole bunch of baby products:

  • Baby wipes
  • Diaper rash cream
  • Baby shampoo
  • Moisturizer

I am so excited to share these recipes with you as I go!

If you ever want to chat oils with me, do not hesitate to reach out. I am thrilled when people ask me about oils. I want to share the love!

keep calm

Have a great Tuesday!

xoxo

Continue Reading What I’ve Been Up To

Odds and Ends

Hola my friends! How was your weekend?

Mine was really truly great however as always went by way too fast.

Our basement is almost finished and it is so exciting to see how it has all come together. We (okay, mostly Dana) spent a good chunk of the weekend continuing to work on the basement and move furniture downstairs. Our guest bedroom is officially moved downstairs which means that we can start working on the nursery upstairs now!

We also teamed up and tackled the weeds in the garden. That was a much-needed job and I am happy to report that all of our plants are doing well! We even had two sugar snap peas; one for each of us. They were crunchy and perfect.

Some other odds and ends…

I caved and bought some more maternity clothes. I tried to go with the basics this time around: dark jeans, shorts, black tee, white tee, long-sleeved grey tee, and I got a few other tops as well! Old Navy and Gap have great maternity wear!

melanie

Healing my gut is an ongoing journey, so I made myself another batch of bone broth soup to help soothe and heal. Making bone broth is quite the process in case you didn’t know! I made chicken bone broth but someday I want to make beef bone broth because i think I would enjoy it more (more flavor).

bone broth

I’ve been trying to be creative with foods again now that I am really into all foods again (no real aversions any more that I can think of). I threw together an old salad staple of mine with some minor adjustments based on what I had in the kitchen: spinach, strawberries, chicken, red onion, parmesan cheese, sliced almonds, and poppy seed dressing. I would have preferred feta cheese but we didn’t have any. And I should have added black beans and avocado. But it was still good.

strawberry salad

Dana and I made Saturday night date night and went to Punch pizza for my first time. They serve Neapolitan style pizza and eating their pizza seriously brought me back to our honeymoon in Italy. We got the margherita pizza with olives and mushrooms. We also split a really delicious salad.

pizza date night

The last odd and end:

About the same time I found out I was pregnant, I received a wonderful package from a company called Puro Fairtrade Coffee. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I stopped drinking caffeine. Not to mention, the thought of coffee made me queasy in the first trimester.

So there I was with three delicious bags of coffee beans along with a sweet little mug sitting in my home to review. I felt so bad I wouldn’t be able to review it myself but asked if it were okay that my husband review it instead, and they agreed that would be absolutely a-okay!

puro fairtrade coffee puro fairtrade coffee puro fairtrade coffee

Puro coffee

About Puro Fairtrade Coffee 

Puro Fairtrade Coffee comes from a company Miko, they are based in Belgium and are one of the oldest coffee roasters in the world (since 1801!). All coffee from Puro is Fairtrade, but uniquely, Puro works in partnership with a rainforest charity called World Land Trust and money from each bag of their coffee is used to buy and protect areas of rainforest in coffee producing countries.

Puro coffee sales to date, have funded the protection of more than 10,000 acres of rainforest across 6 countries.

Although I personally wasn’t able to taste-test the coffee as I gave up caffeine when I became pregnant, Dana, my husband was able to taste and review it for me. He just finished up the last of it a week ago. He really enjoyed the earthiness (but not TOO earthy), bold and rich flavor of the coffee. We both love that the company is fairtrade and feel great about supporting a company with so much compassion and heart.

Sustainability

Their roasting plant in Belgium was placed near to Antwerp, the world’s second largest coffee port and its roof is covered with solar panels providing for all electricity needs. Residual heat from the roasting process is re-directed to power underfloor heating throughout the factory and offices. Coffee chaff generated through roasting is given to local organic farmers for fertilizing their fields.

I love this!

Another partnership in the UK combines used coffee grounds from filter and espresso generated at key client sites with food waste, creating compost. Also….Puro’s coffee foils are even upcycled into bags, flower pots and dresses!

Video

Now you can see why this company is so great! To learn more about their story watch their video: http://vimeo.com/fairtradecoffee/our-story 

Online Shop

They have an online shop if you are interested in purchasing:  https://www.puroathome.com/

Okay, that’s enough randomness for one day. Have a good one! xoxo

Continue Reading Odds and Ends

House and Fashion Updates

It’s Monday. Choose happy. I know it’s not always easy but do it. 🙂

happiness

This weekend was very productive around our house. We finished painting the basement! The next step will be putting in the baseboards and the door frames and then the cleaning the carpet by hiring Carpet Cleaning New Albany! Eeee we are getting closer and closer to having a finished basement and it is so exciting!

We also bought flowers for our window flower boxes, a couple of plants, and vegetables for our garden. This year we are going with zucchini, three different tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and red bell pepper. Everything is planted so now we just wait a 2-3 months and hope for a bountiful year! Last year the weather wasn’t in our favor and our veggies didn’t do well at all. I have a feeling it will be a good year this year.

I wanted to let you all know that the dress and shirt I bought from Filly Flair fit perfectly and I will be keeping them. I’m wearing the dress to a wedding this summer and the shirt for kicking around. Yay for cute clothes!

filly flair top 2 filly flair dress

 

Now I just need to find a necklace to go with the dress. I really like how the mint one looks with the dress so I might be on the search for something similar. What do you think?

I still haven’t decided if I’m going to use Rent the Runway for a dress I need for a New York wedding that I’m going to in June. I’m actually learning towards not using it only because I have a girlfriend with a couple of really cute dresses that I could borrow plus I want to go to a couple more stores before deciding. The biggest issues I have with RTR is that 1. I don’t get to keep the dress afterwards (I LOVE dresses) and 2. I’m afraid I won’t like it or I won’t like how it fits and then I’ll be stuck with RTR store credit. IDK. I’m still up in the air about it but my guess is I will more than likely not use it right now. But thanks for helping me “shop” and giving me your opinions on the dresses. They really are adorable! I probably would have gone with this one:

rtr dress

 

 

Moose turned 6 years old on Saturday! We celebrated by giving him a little bite of steak and throwing the ball to him in the yard.

moose

 

Plus mother nature gave him beautiful weather all weekend. It was such a nice treat!

Alright, that’s all the updates I have for now.

I want to know… How was YOUR weekend? What were some highlights?

Continue Reading House and Fashion Updates
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