Happy Easter!

I wanted to post this yesterday but I just didn't have the energy, Easter was a lot of fun! When Olivia woke up in the morning, she got her basket from the Easter bunny. She took everything out and wanted to open it all immediately. She ate an entire (almost) chocolate bunny but she wouldn't try the Peeps, I'm sure she would love them but she was being stubborn. I wanted her to take a nap before we went to my aunt's house but she refused (too much chocolate). She played in her crib for over an hour and I finally gave up and got her out (otherwise we would have been late). I was slightly irritated because I knew that if she didn't nap, she would be cranky and it was going to be a long day. She fell asleep in the car (about ten minutes before we got there) and she was annoyed when we woke her up. As soon as she saw her cousins though, her mood changed back to happy! She gave them hugs and kept following them around, it's really cute how much she loves them. She also loved getting all of her baskets from everyone but she liked my nephews toy cars the best. She ate more food than I thought she would and I ate more food than I should have. It was raining out so we had to do the egg hunt in the basement, kind of a bummer because the pictures would have been much nicer outside. Olivia wasn't into it this year, she found one egg and then she just wanted to sit down and open it. She liked playing with the jelly beans inside and she was content with just one egg. All of the kids were running around and one of them accidently knocked Liv over and she fell backwards and hit her head on the floor. She was crying so loud and hugging me for a while but afterwards she seemed fine. She went right back to playing but after a while, she started to get fussy again. I knew it would happen but it took a little longer than I thought so by that time we were getting ready to leave anyway. I'm glad she didn't fall asleep on the way home, it's a long drive so I expected her to but she stayed awake. Once we got home, I gave her a quick snack and put her to bed. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, that rarely happens. She went to bed earlier than normal so this morning she woke up bright and early. I think I am going to stick to this new bedtime though because she didn't even fight her nap today. She fell asleep within minutes and it was awesome. I took so many pictures but if I put them all up, this post would be way too long so I'll just share a few of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

Happy Easter everyone!

What's in Liv's Easter basket

Since Easter is next week, I decided to share what I am putting in Olivia's basket. I kept it pretty simple at first but then I found a few extras from our Citrus Lane stash. Easter baskets wouldn't be complete without a chocolate bunny and Peeps, it's just necessary. I don't like filling the basket up with candy so a few books and small toys are also great additions.

 

Peeps and plush bunny: I found this at the grocery store and I think it's adorable! It's a Peeps bunny plush and it comes with bunny Peeps. I'm glad it only comes with eight because Olivia will probably only eat one and I don't need all those extra Peeps around to tempt me.

JJ Rabbit's Cuppie: We got this in our Cirtus Lane box so I saved it for her basket. I am excited for Olivia to try it out, she normally drinks out of straw cups so this will be great for transitioning her to open cups. It has a little bunny at the bottom so as you drink, you uncover it.

Color me Cottontail: This is pretty cute, it's a chocolate bunny but it also comes with three crayons. There is a black and white picture on the back of the box that Liv can color. I think this will be fun for her, she loves to color.

Melissa & Doug slide and seek egg: This is the perfect toy for Easter, it's an egg that slides up and down and there's a little chick inside. Even though it's for younger kids (12 months+), Olivia still loves her peek-a-boo panda so I know she will love this too!

Where Are Baby's Easter Eggs book: We have a lot of books by Karen Katz, they are Olivia's favorite so when I saw this one, I had to get it for her. I love the colorful illustrations and the stories are short so it keeps her attention.

Dora the Explorer Loves Easter book: I wasn't planning on getting another book but Paul picked this one up. Liv is obsessed with Dora, I'm sure everyone knows that by now. She will love this book and I'll be happy to read something new, I'm getting pretty bored of all her current books.

Petit Collage pets puzzle: We got this puzzle in our Citrus Lane box a few months ago and I saved it because I thought it would be great for Easter. I think it's really adorable and Olivia will love all the animals. There are four different puzzles and each one has a different amount of pieces so once she masters one, she can move on to the next.

 

I'm also going to add the bunny bag that we got from our Citrus Lane box this month (see my last post). Next year, there will probably be a few less items in her basket since we may not be getting Citrus Lane by then. I'm pretty excited for Easter and I think she will love everything, I will be sure to take lots of pictures and post them!

Valetine's Day

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and of course it snowed. We were supposed to go out for dinner but we decided to go out for lunch instead. I ate way too much, I wasn't even hungry for the rest of the night. When we were leaving, the snow was really starting to come down so we were happy that we went early. After Olivia took her nap, I gave her a few little presents and she was super excited. Her favorite was the chocolate, she had M&M's for the first time and loved them. She would have ate the whole tube if I let her, she got mad at me when I took them away. She is getting really good at throwing tantrums lately, ugh. My mom gave her two balloons, she was running around with them and hugging them. It was cute, one of them was a monkey and she kept saying "oh oh ah ah ah". It was a really fun day but I was pretty exhausted by the end of it all. Happy Valentine's Day!

No more bottle feeding

Yesterday I took Olivia outside to play in the snow for a while, it was surprisingly warm. She always has a blast in the snow, she definitely doesn't take after me in that aspect. When Paul got home from work, we went to a few stores and Olivia's favorite place (the pet store). She is always so excited to see all the animals, she was cracking up at the guinea pigs whenever they would run around really fast. She thought it was hilarious, it doesn't take much to entertain her. This morning it was snowing again, just flurries though so we were able to make it to playgroup. She was in a really good mood which I was not expecting, she didn't get much sleep last night. For some reason she woke up three times in the middle of the night and during one of those times, she stayed up for almost two hours. She is taking a much needed nap right now and I hope it's going to be a long one. Hopefully she wakes up in a good mood again! Yesterday I decided it was time to get her off the bottle, I've tried a few times over the last few months but it didn't work out. I got some suggestions from her therapist this time. Since Olivia still likes her milk warm, I made it the same way as I usually do but I also added a little bit of chocolate to it. She loved it, she drank the entire cup! Her therapist also suggested adding a little less chocolate each time and this morning I just gave her regular whole milk without any chocolate and it worked. She drank almost all of it, we are officially done with the bottle! I know, she's almost two and I should have done this a long time ago but weight gain has been the main priority. Now I just have to get her to drink it cold, although that's not really a big deal. I don't mind warming it up if that's what she likes and the important thing is that she is drinking it and from a cup. The things I get excited about now that I'm a mom are so different than the things I used to get excited about. No more bottle feeding, YESSSS!

Treatsie review - June 2014

Treatsie is a subscription box for artisan sweets.. which is right up my alley! I signed up for the free box, I only paid for shipping. I think this is the most excited I've ever been about a subscription box (fatty!) They use an ice pack when mailing the box to prevent any melting but I was worried because today was so hot and I think it was sitting in the sun for a while. Luckily nothing melted and I got to enjoy my treats right away!

All the yummy sweets in the June box.

Olive & Sinclair buttermilk white chocolate bar & sea salt dark chocolate bar:
These are so yummy! The white chocolate is my favorite, I already ate almost half of it. I am usually not a fan of dark chocolate, I like milk chocolate way better but this is really delicious. I absolutely love the salty and sweet combination. Retails for: $7 each

The Salty Road salt water taffy - bergamot 3.5oz:
I've never had salt water taffy before (I know, deprived) so I was a little bit nervous about this. I love it! I got the bergamot, it taste citrusy.. it has a slight orange flavor. There are little bits of salt in it which makes it even better. For some reason I thought it would be really hard to chew and stick to my teeth but it doesn't, it's pretty soft. I really want to try the sea salt caramel and sour cherry flavors now! Retails for: $7

Brittle Brothers cashew brittle 3oz:
This is what I was really excited about, I am obsessed with brittle. I already ate the whole thing (don't judge!) I couldn't help it, it was just so good! I really want more now, I'm thinking I might have to buy this. Retails for: $5

The total value of this box is $26. If you are interested in subscribing, it's $15 plus shipping so it comes out to about $20 per month. There is also a chocolate bar subscription for $39 per month plus shipping. It's a little pricey but the free box is totally worth it, it's an awesome deal! You can use my promo code: FRBUCOEM01 to get your first box for free. I really loved everything in the box, it was absolutely delicious. However, I don't think I will be subscribing right now. I'm on a tight budget and I can't justify $20 for sweets, if I had some extra cash then I wouldn't even think twice about it.

They have the cutest little boxes by the way.

Easter bunny & chocolate cravings

Today I woke up exhausted but I took a short nap with Liv and then I felt much better. My mom stopped by to hang out for a little while and I lost my phone (as always) but we kept calling it over and over, we could hear it vibrate but couldn't find it, at one point I just said "okay, it's gone forever". Somehow it got stuck in between the couch (not the cushions, the actual couch) no idea how that happened but very glad I found it. When Paul got home from work, we took Olivia to the mall to get a picture of her with the Easter bunny. I was really nervous when I took her to see Santa but she was happy and even smiled for the picture so this time I was pretty confident that she would do well and she did! Here's your cuteness for the day.

 

I was clapping and Paul was doing a little dance behind the camera but hey it worked. People were probably laughing at us but I wasn't paying attention. There were a few where she was looking at the camera but her smile wasn't as big as this one so that's why we picked it. After that we went to a few stores and I got some cheap pink sunglasses for Color Me Rad (5K color run) because it's coming up in a few weeks. I decided I'm going to run the race blind. If I wear my contacts, the color powder might get behind one and then it's going to be pretty painful. I can't really wear my glasses under my sunglasses because it looks ridiculous, plus I don't want my glasses to get ruined by the color. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the race, I also really need to get back on the treadmill because I've been seriously lacking. I also haven't been eating great, I made a barbecue chicken pizza for dinner tonight and oh my god, it was amazing! I usually hate cooking but today I was actually in the mood. So glad I made it and I will definitely be making it again very soon. I've been craving sweets a lot lately, today I couldn't stop talking about chocolate covered strawberries (thanks to whoever posted that on FB by the way) I looked around the mall to see if anyone sold them but they didn't, I wouldn't shut up about them so Paul suggested going to the grocery store and I gladly agreed. I couldn't decide on white chocolate or milk chocolate so I got both. Let me just say that the picture I'm about the post is amazing, they came out perfect and I'm pretty proud of myself.

 If you don't think these look absolutely delicious, you're lying to yourself.

I'm glad I finally got to have my strawberries, there is nothing better than fulfilling a craving (okay I'm sure there is but they were so good!) Moving on.. I feel like there is so much stuff I need to do in the upcoming months, we have tons of  play dates, birthday parties, a few weddings, a 5K & 3K, Easter.. yikes! Usually our summers are pretty relaxed but this one is packed with stuff to do. I also want to baby proof the house at some point. I wasn't planning on doing it yet because I watch Olivia pretty closely but shes had a few bumps already and I think it's time. She's really into opening cabinets and drawers now, she throws all my measuring cups onto the floor and sometimes hides toys in the drawers. She also has a weird obsessed with the whisk, she likes to just carry it around everywhere and occasionally chew on it. Baby proofing might also benefit me, I bump into everything and I'm always all bruised up. The only things we have right now are gates and rubber bumpers for the corners of our tables, we have a lot more to get, I feel like it will be an all day event. This is going to sound so lazy but I really love when we have nothing to do. Yesterday was one of those days and it was so great just hanging around the house with Liv, it was nice spending time with her knowing that we didn't have to be anywhere, it made me feel relaxed. I feel like we are always running places so having a break sometimes is awesome. Everyone else is sleeping and of course I'm still awake but those strawberries are calling my name.. hope they can last until tomorrow at least!