Product(s) of the week

Not trying to cheat, but I have 2 products this week since they are semi-related..

Now that it's hot as balls summer is here, we spend A LOT of time outside, mainly in a kiddie pool. I have already subjected you all to photos of my scary white skin, so being outside isn't that bad since I will have a little color.

However, being blonde haired, blue eyed, and super freckly - I burn in about 10 minutes.

My delimma is that I HATE the smell of sunscreen. Blarg.

I found this and it's like heaven:

It's sunscreen but it smells like sweet, coconutty tanning lotion. I slather this on fresh out of the shower and re-apply before we go outside and it's fabulous. I don't know about you, but Hawaiian Tropic always reminds me of my mom tanning on our back patio and slathering on the oil. I love that coconut smell!
Hawaiian Tropic has also re-designed their after sun line, which I plan on checking out before we go on vacation in July.

When I am not in the sun but need a little pick-me-up, I have been using this:

Jergens Natural Glow - FOAM.

Now, I have used the lotion off and on for years and eventually, you smell like sunless tanning lotion.
BUT - with this you don't. Honestly. I have used it for a week straight and never smelled that weird smell.

There you go ladies - my summer tool kit for pretty, tan skin.

Link up!

*I was not endorsed by either company to talk about these products, but if they would like me to I sure would!*

18 Months

It's been 18 months since Logan was born...

And no, I have not forgotten the labor as of yet, thanks for asking.

Logan has totally transformed in just the last few months alone. He isn't only walking, he is running. He points, claps, waves (sometimes), dances, and climbs.

He says the following words:
Bye-Bye
Hi
Hey!
Doggie
Ball
More (but pronounced "MA!")
Mommy
Dada
Uht-oh
Thank You
Wow
Weeeeeeee
Me! (instead of "mine")
and he says "NNNNNNOO!"

He eats like a log hauler, sleeps on average 12 hours a night (7-7) and runs us ragged.

He also stops dead in his tracks for Curious George.

Thank you, Netflix for 70+ episodes of that on streaming. Life. Saver.

So much fun. So much cuteness.

So much LOVE.

Father's Day Gift Idea

Father's day is hard, y'all. I mean, your dad can only use so many ties, golf balls, or pens.

That's why, for Father's Day this year, I am giving Lee this:

A canvas print of one of our favorite Logan photos to put in his desk. How many other dad's do you think have an actual canvas print rather than a frame??!

Ordering was super easy - I just went to the website - EasyCanvasPrints.com - uploaded my photo, selected a few options, and whala! Within 2 weeks I had my print in the mail.

I think this is a wonderful gift idea, and very affordable. Hurry up and go get yours now!

*EasyCanvasPrints.com did supply me with this wonderful, high quality canvas in exchange for me letting y'all know about them.*

Product of the Week

Even though I am leaving for Hawaii in about 5 weeks and should be eating nothing but celery - I can't get enough of this:

Pillsbury Simply French Bread

Oh man. I feel I am a bit of an expert on crusty french bread since I eat so much of it... We were at the store one day and I was buying crescent rolls for Logan (he likes pizza roll ups A LOT) and I saw this bread. I thought I would give it a whirl...

It was fabulous. It looks just like the picture on the can when it's done.

Lee and I are happy to have found an easy bread. It's inexpensive, you can keep it on hand, it bakes with no fuss in 30 minutes.

Um, YEAH!

Try this out, you don't even have to tell your guests it came from a tube...

Link up!

Summer Lovin

Havin a BLAST:

What else you gonna do when it's 90+ degrees already?

Shooo do bop bop, yeah!

Being a Mother

I have blogged a few times recently about how Being a Mother has changed me, how the momma bear in me comes out to play more often than not, and how much I simply adore my little bug.

Mother's day this year was like night and day from last year. I now have this walking, talking (gibberish and like 10 words) little dude man who wants nothing more than to play with the water hose.

Some days it's hard - like when I pick him up, we sit in traffic for 30 minutes, get home and have only about 20 minutes of play time before we start the dinner/bath/bed routine. I basically get one hour an evening with him and he's in bed. Sucks.

Crazy Sleepin Dude

I miss him most evenings, especially when I look at the monitor and see this:

With buddy bear as his pillow...

 What I live for is the weekends, no matter how exhausting they are. Aunt Kelly came over recently and did a little arts and crafts with Logan on a day I had strep throat (yes, AGAIN) and Lee wasn't feeling so hot either.

What's this stuff?

Squishy!

Paci for keeping paint out of the mouth...

Logan used himself as a canvas

Whala!

He is super into Curious George, too - and was a sweet boy and sat still for a long time while I was sick and watched some of the movie:

On weekends that Dada and I are feeling good, the Zoo is a constant stop for us and he just LOVES it. We stopped at the dinosaur exhibit (twice) and he was just staring and staring.

I can't get this photo to turn, no matter how hard I try!

Life is great. We are busy, tired, happy, and joyful.

And Thankful.

Product of the Week

Growing up as the daughter of a hairdresser (in the 80's and 90's!!) I am no stranger to salon products and whacky hair-do's.

At the end of the day, I was stricken blessed with fine hair that will not do anything but sit flat on my head and straight as a board. What to do?

I have tried expensive mousse and lifting serums and nothing really seemed to work.

Until now..

Of all the things I could buy that would give me the best result - I can't believe it was this:

Pantene ProV Volumizing Mousse for Fine Hair

No residue
No stiffness
But tons of lift and shine

LOVE IT.

Combined with the shampoo and conditioner in this line, I am very happy with my hair these days.

Now - what to do about the Houston humidity?

Link up!

Assumptions

Lately I have this nagging feeling like people assume things about me. It's something that nags at me now and again and usually I just say "oh well, can't help what people think" and I move on.

Lately, however, it's a little more close to home - and it's mostly because of Logan. It's family assuming things about who we prefer watches him when we need some time as a couple.

I knew having a child would start a small competition since Logan has 3 sets of grandparents AND his great-grandparents.  So far, it hasn't been so bad. I have plenty of guilt about how often we can make it up to my home town, but that is something we work out on our own. Everyone is busy. Everyone has their own lives and responsibilities.

what's not to love about this dude?!

 The latest assumption really got me thinking. Things work both ways. Phones especially. I don't like people assuming that something happened a certain way or that I prefer one thing/person over another. Just because I didn't call doesn't mean you can't call me. I can't really be expected to do everything - which I finally figured out after 18 months of being a parent. I tried my damnedest, almost lost my mind, and finally started delegating.

Also - don't assume we drop him off all the time. Quite untrue. It took until a month ago to let him have an overnight. And it was from 4pm - 9am.

Lee and I work from 8am - 5pm. We see Logan an hour in the morning and an hour at night. So weekends are actually time for us to play with him and take him places - not drop him on someone and go out partying.

The hardest part about this latest issue is that it is with someone I have a rocky past with anyway. So, no matter what, the conversation is on the edge of the wrong foot anyway.

However, there wasn't a conversation. There was an assumption plus an accusation. Double whammy! Plus, it wasn't even in the form of a pesky phone call, it was through social media. I was caught off guard and immediately completely pissed off.

So now on top of battling Strep (again) I have a huge stress thrown at me.

I am a generally quiet person. I don't like to offend others. I like to please everyone.

BUT

I have found that with Logan, the momma bear in me has started to not give a shit about what people want to assume and accuse. Go for it. Stew in your thoughts since you don't want to call me and talk it out instead. You will now see him when I deem fit.

My child.

My rules.

Non negotiable.

my two main men!

(sorry, venting is over - how do you handle family conflicts?)

Product of the Week

(and a bit of a shameless plug)

About 6 months ago, I joined Scentsy to make a little fun money on the side.

I quickly fell in love with the product. I love that it's safe around Logan (no flames) and I love the affordability of the product.

This year, in March, Scentsy made a lot of changes. First they added Layers, which is a line of Lotions and Body Wash's in your favorite smells.

My favorite change was the addition of Velata - which is basically Scentsy system for CHOCOLATE.

There are many different styles and colors of warmers.

In 6 Colors

In 6 Colors

Also in Black

That's right - no more huge chocolate fountain taking up the entire counter at your holiday party. You can now whip this puppy out and have a chocolate dipping station in minutes. Now this can be something fun for dinner parties, birthday parties, or that late night PMS chocolate binge...

The chocolate is super tasty (I have sampled it!) and I love the ease of use. You plug in the warmer, pour in the melted chocolate, and you are ready to dip!

If you want to learn more about it or purchase one before your first Summer shindig, click here:

https://breannnash.velata.us/Velata/Buy

As always, you can click the email icon at the top left of the screen here and email me any questions!

Link up to see other POTW!

Dear Ear Tubes...

I sat down this morning and paid the Dr bill that had racked up since end of December. All these visits for Logan with ear infections:

12/27
12/29 (this is because the previous Dr didn't think he had one YET. So we were back in 2 days when he DID have one. Awesome you schmuck. Not to mention I had just gotten over strep and the pukes)
1/12
2/07
2/17
3/19

= $466.44

And that doesn't include the emergency trip while in Palestine at the end of January ($90+)

The tubes were put in on 2/29 (leap day!) and as you can see - we have only been back once. This means to me we have gone the ENTIRE MONTH OF APRIL without going to the DR! Does this mean we can potentially only go on his check ups unless he is super sick? This excites me to no end.

I also think finding the right allergy med helped a lot. We tried Singulair but it didn't do anything for him and it was a pain in the ass to give him - it was a powder I had to mix in applesauce.
Now he is on Claritin and I am trying Zyrtec since he has started to have goopy eyes this last week. (no, it's not pink eye)

Thank you Ear Tubes for keeping us out of the Dr office and putting money back into momma's purse fund!