Tuesday 21 January 2014

Fashion Trend Tuesday: Momma Spring Trends for 2014

I am so glad that soon [i hope!] winter will be over and spring will be here. It's one of my favorite seasons. It's always so pretty outside with flowers blooming, animals waking up from their hibernation, trees growing back their foliage, and the nice sunny warm weather that slowly creeps in. I find every year I'm in the same predicament, I'm still stuck in the winter rut of big poofy jackets, sweaters, zillions of layers, scarfs, and big clunky boots, and when the weather gets warmer I'm still dressed like it's -40 outside haha.

Apparently the trendy colors for 2014 are bright pastels. I LOVE pastels. Not only do they subtly compliment anything you wear, but they add a pop of color and aren't overbearing. A lot of the looks this year are crop tops, fringe, bomber jackets, button down shirts, sheer, and exaggerated silhouettes like big boxy jackets, and huge flared pants. There's also florals, tea length skirts, and knit sweater cardigans [thin ones of course.]

Personally, a lot of the "trends" they post on the internet, or TV are WAY too out of this world for regular everyday life, or even the on-the-go mom. Like think about it, wearing big flare pants and a boxy jacket that makes you look like you should be on a runway instead of running around and yelling at your 4 kids to behave when your out in public isn't realistic.

Below are some outfits that are reasonable for spring, and for moms on the go! :)



- Trendy, yet not over the top. Also I would probably switch out the heels for some comfortable black flats





- this one is my favorite. i LOVE green, and it's just so simple, comfortable & classy, yet very casual :)


Monday 20 January 2014

Momma Monday: Top 20 things NOT to say to the Parents of Toddlers



I came across multiple versions of this on babble.com and it just made me laugh because 100% of it's so true. How many of us are asked ridiculous questions about our growing toddlers, or people have given there opinion about where our children should be on the milestone track when according to others, there "falling behind". This is one of my biggest pet peeves indefinitely. I didn't used to mind, until we were in a grocery store one day and my daughter was about 15 months old, and a lady was stating that A child that age should already be potty trained, and talking in mid-full sentences. I'm like, what planet did you come from, one with super kids or what? I will not stand for others comparing my child to somebody else as they all grow up differently, and at there own pace, and we can't force that.


What NOT to say to Parents with Toddlers

Strangers Are Weird
"Oh is she shy?"
No she doesn't know you and it takes her a few minutes to be comfortable in a new environment.

On Things That Are None of Your Business
"Isn't she potty trained yet?"
Exactly how old were you when you stopped pooping in a diaper?

On Little Boys With Long Hair
"When are you going to cut that hair?"
My son has his own (pretty darned cute) ideas about hair style and length, thank you very much.

No Naps = Zombie Toddler. LEARN THIS.
"Oh, he can miss his nap - it won't hurt!"
Oh sure, you won't mind babysitting them say from 5:00 PM onwards; getting them dinner and tucked into bed would you? However, Zombie Toddler will appear to eat your brains during these hours wherein their exhausted little brains and bodies cry foul.
** this is what happens to my kids. They become Crankzilla, queens of the underworld. 

SO TIRED
"I KNOW, me too."
The response I got when stating I was tired to a twenty-something Barista with no kids. I just laughed and laughed.
Babies & Toddlers Cry. KNOW THIS.
"Why won't she stop crying? What's wrong with her?"  Must be your face. Also? BABIES/TODDLERS CRY.

 ** this is my favorite. I'd love to see a baby&toddler not cry so much. Even if it were for a day, it'd be really nice :)

So Funny! So Smart!
"Oops, I guess the littlest one was a surprise, eh?"
Actually I had 7 miscarriages in 4 years. Would you like to know anything else about my child bearing history?
** this one is on ball. My mother tried for 12 years to conceive a child and adopted my brother & sister, had more miscarriages in between, and didn't know she was pregnant with me till she was 5 months along. So i was known as the surprise or even worse, the accident.. but they don't know how hard and long it took her to actually bear her own child.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
"You know, MY kids never acted like that…"
LIES. All LIES. Your memory sucks.

And It’s Your Business How?
"You're still nursing? But she's so old now!"
Natural weaning is between the ages of 2 and 7. Yes 7. I nursed my first baby until age 5 and I plan to do the same with my second. Not sure why it bothers you?


Ask a Silly Question…
"Does he/she always behave like this?"
Only when you're around.
Organically Grown
"Oh twins!?! Are they natural?"
Why yes they are 100% human, or are you asking if I used fertility treatments?

What’s Wrong With YOU?
"What's wrong with him?"
HE'S TWO.

Such a Zealot
"You must have a lot of time on your hands to be making such healthy meals from scratch all the time!"
I've got to give my kids some sort of material for therapy when they're grown, don't I?

** I have two kids under 3, and even I can still find time to make a healthy meal, weather it be quick and simple, a freezer meal I made days ago, or a simple fruit, veggie, cheese, and kabasa platter. Your children can't live off of hotdogs, grilled cheese, and kraft dinner forever.

For The Single Parents
"You don't need to date, you need to focus on your kids until they're out of the house."
You need to focus on your words before they come out of your mouth.

Just NO
"I used to spank my kids and they turned out just fine!"
Says YOU.

Don’t Talk To Me About Magic!
"Ok -- I know there's a ton of them... ok - here's one; I am always kind of amazed when my kids are in meltdown mode, throwing full on tantrums, I am completely dishevelled and / or crying, and we are in public - usually eating at a cafe or something and some older woman (who has forgotten everything or never had kids) says, 'remember this time forever. It's magical. You are so lucky.' GAAAAHHHHH! In fact, ANYBODY who says this to parents of young children should stop doing so. First of all, we do NOT need MORE guilt for thinking of our children as tiny dictators at times, and second - we KNOW it goes fast, we KNOW it's a magical time, but it feels and looks like the army when you're in it. A look of sympathy and maybe helping put my kids' boot back on would be more helpful." 
On Co-Sleeping
"It irritates me when people tell me not to let my son sleep in my bed. It's our special time to cuddle, he feels safe and secure, it builds our relationship. That is what is important to me!"





Wednesday 8 January 2014

The Grocery App EVERYONE Needs!

As we all know, a healthy lifestyle and weight loss doesn't just consist of exercise. It begins in the kitchen. If you ate like a pig but went to the gym for an hour a day, kudos, but you wouldn't see much of an improvement in your overall health or well being. Unless your one of those people, who like my husband, have an incredibly high metabolism and food disintegrates before it even makes it past your esophagus and you can eat all the crap you want, enjoy it while it lasts. Because i'll be one of those who laughs when you turn 30/40 and get really fat. Ugh, so fat :) haha

I'm a stay at home mom. Trying to find time to make a proper healthy meal that my kids will eat and enjoy at the same time can be very limiting. I do a lot of make a head meals, and they are a godsend. Seriously, they have saved my life, and am forever in-debt to pinterest&blogger for finding these amazing people who posted such incredible ideas. Spend 5 hours a day cooking to make 1 - 2 months work of freezer meals so I only have to cook 30 - 60 minutes a night instead of 2 hours. WINNING!

I am also really bad for going to the grocery store and overspending. I do write a list, but its more of a rough guideline haha. I'm also very anal about how I shop. I have my list planned out with categories like produce, meat, dairy etc, and when someone gets me off track and I recheck my list and I've missed a bunch of things, I get angry and frustrated because not only did I miss items that are ESSENTIAL, I now have to spend another half hour back tracking to pick those items up. Not impressed. BUT, one day, I stumbled across the most amazing grocery app in the world. I will use this every time I shop, and nothing else. It's changed my life, and has saved me and my family SO much money on groceries that I feel like that woman off that IKEA commercial yelling to start the car! running with a shopping cart in red vibrant heels feeling like wonder woman :)

The app is called myShopi. you can download it for FREE for your android, tablet, iphone, ipad, anything that supports apps, it's free :) YIPPIE!
Now here's the functionality of the app:

Organize By Category
like beverages, produce, bakery, dairy, meat/butcher, incidentals etc. you can even organize by aisles!

Database of 1000 Predefined Items
 stuff like bread, milk, chicken, broccoli, and bananas. My favorite part about the database is you can add in any product you like to buy into the database and add a picture of that product either from google, your storage device, or take a picture of it. SO FREAKING COOL!

Track Your History
the app keeps track of frequently purchased items from previous grocery shops so you can backtrack to add them to your new list for next month, week, whatever. Also, you can add items to favorites, which is even quicker to add to new lists.

Multiple Lists
you can create a wide range of lists by the store and what they offer to person, etc. so you could get a grocery list for wal-mart or nofrills, or you can shop by person like your husband, or kids, or sister and add items that they want to their own specific lists. super duper awesome!

Send by E-mail & SMS
Seriously. It's just too good to be true. I do my BIG list on my Ipad, but i'm not going to lug around my ipad with my husband and two kids AND a cart to do grocery shopping, it's not just logical. So I send it to my email and when I click on the link, it gets sent directly to the myShopi app on my phone. Not to mention, you can send it to ANYONE who has the app downloaded. If you need someone to pick up something for you, send the list, BAM they go get your stuff.

Price Description
My other fav on this app. You can enter in the price of each item you want to purchase and you can buy by box, can, package, lb, g, kg, ml, l, etc, and it'll tell you how much your grocery list will cost (before taxes obviously)




This is a screenshot of what it looks like on an Iphone. You can see what categories are already in the database, along with the items in that category. Like look how much variety you have in just the fruits category, and you can add more! If you suck at grocery shopping and aren't a coupon fanatic this app could just change your life.