Thomas (2.5) & Caroline (3.5)

It's been awhile since I updated the kids' online baby books so today I wanted to share some fun things about Thomas at 2.5 and Caroline at 3.5 before I let this post sit in my drafts folder for another 6 months.

Caroline: These days she is so self-sufficient it actually makes me kind of sad...but it's awesome all at the same time. In the mornings she gets up, goes potty, gets herself dressed, brushes her teeth and opens the baby gate (it was only a matter of time before she figured this out) and comes downstairs (usually too early), pushes a chair into the pantry and grabs something for breakfast, then goes back upstairs to wake up her brother and help him out of his crib. I mean WHAT IS HAPPENING?! She is also really in to helping me with everything. From cooking to cleaning to unloading the dishwasher, she wants to do it ALL. And she's pretty good at it too. I am so obsessed with this age.

Other fun things about Caroline:

• Loves to say the pledge of allegiance and the blessings at dinner
• She is obsessed with caring for her baby dolls. I love listening to her read to them, rock them, feed them, sing to them, say prayers to them and then tuck them in to bed. It's so dang adorable.
• Really in to racing her brother. We are always one competition away from losing a lamp in the family room.
• Always wants to have her nails painted
• Her teachers always tell me that she is the first to volunteer to be the teacher's helper. She loves to be the flag holder, door holder and helps her friends clean up their messes after she cleans hers. 
• Most surprisingly food she likes is broccoli.
• Rarely naps at home but has "quiet time" in her room where she usually just makes a huge mess.
•  Favorite toys right now are magnatiles, puzzles and the trace & learn and random jewels (she finds these in the sandbox at school). She also loves to use scissors and glue.
• Favorite books: Have You Seen My Dinosaur?, Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, Pete the Cat, Duncan the Story Dragon, Secret Pizza Party and Princesses Wear Pants
• Favorite TV shows: Paw Patrol, Doc McStuffins, Sophia the First, Sid the Science Kid and Team Umizoomi

Thomas: He is seriously the sweetest and strongest little man ever. He loves to give "big BIG hugs" and kisses and prefers to be held all the time. When he isn't being held he is rambunctious and runs into walls, trips over everything and bumps his head at least 3 times a day...but rarely cries, he just gets back up and keeps going. It blows my mind how tough he is. He is also really obsessed with his daddy. And I may or may not still rock him to sleep most nights.

• Drinks out of a big boy cup
• LOVES music, singing, dancing and laying on his side on the floor rolling his toy cars and trucks back and forth.
• Still the very best napper and sleeper. He loves sleep. He also loves when his sissy wakes him up in the mornings and helps him break out of his crib.
• Potty training is going....um, well it's not really going. We are following his teachers' lead (like we did for Caroline) but he really just likes to unroll the toilet paper and flush the toilet after sitting there for 3 seconds. So it doesn't look like I'm going to be canceling my subscribe & save for diapers on amazon anytime soon.
• Leans on his sister for everything. She helps him put on and take off his shoes, jacket, etc. We are trying to intervene and push him to start doing things for himself. He does like to get his own snack and fill his cup with water from the fridge, but that's about it. 
• He is doing terrific with his contacts so we are pushing off the next surgery. When a contact falls out he will usually bring it to me, his teacher, etc.
• Favorite toys: Elmo, Cars, Ride-On Firetruck, Rollercoaster, Remote control cars, Race Track
• Favorite books: Trashy Town, The Day the Crayons Quit, Have You Seen My Dinosaur?
• Favorite TV shows: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Sesame Street

Caroline's 1st Nutcracker

Last week Caroline and I went to see the Nutcracker! All day long she told every person who would listen that she was going to see the Coconut.

I'm pretty sure I'm still on a mama high from the experience. Before I even met Matt I dreamed of the precious mama moments I would have with my future children. This was one of them. Hands down, this was my absolute favorite thing I've ever done with Caroline and I will never ever forget the magic of the night -- and I don't think she will either.

We were invited to attend Charlotte Ballet's Media Night performance, the night before the grand opening, so the theater was completely empty with the exception of a few photographers and guests. Preceding the performance we attended a cocktail reception where mommy grabbed some bubbly and we filled our plates with mini sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres before settling in to our seats.

When the ushers opened the doors they directed us to the main floor. Level one. Front row. I still cannot believe this happened. I've never attended a Nutcracker performance where the dancers looked larger than the size of an ant from my balcony seat. And here we were front row -- an experience I had never imagined I would have with my little girl because let's be honest, I would never pay for a front row ticket for a 3 year old. Not only could we see the facial expressions of the dancers and every detail of the set, our seats looked right into the orchestra. We could even hear every word of the conductor. It. was. unreal. 

I was confident that after a full day of school and a 7 pm performance (her bedtime), that Caroline would make it about 20 minutes before she either passed out or got bored. Nope. At intermission I asked her if she was ready to go home and she looked offended. She was so infatuated with the performance that we decided to stay through Act 2 -- but not before loading up on the special intermission treats!

Peanutcracker ice cream for Caroline & boozy hot chocolate for mama.

At the end of the performance the theater passed out cookies as favors while Caroline passed out in my arms. It was the perfect night with my baby girl.

Caroline's Big Girl Room Plans

Every time I post an insta-story from Caroline's room I receive these top two questions: 1. WHERE is that bedding from?!!?! And 2. Room reveal soon?!

 

To answer question #1, Caroline's bedding is from Target (find it here). This pretty comforter set was SO inexpensive (less than $30) and has held up so well. We have these adorable heart sheets as well as these cute ice cream sheets for backup -- both are super soft. 

 

As for question #2, we have sloooooowly been piecing Caroline's room together since we moved in. Most of her room consists of items we repurposed from our old home but we still have a few things left to do. I promise to do a room reveal post within the next 10 years, but in the meantime, here is the inspiration behind Caroline's big girl room...

Floral Bedding // Gold Round Mirror (under $50) // Heart Sheet Set // Ice Cream Sheet Set // Similar Headboard // Pom Pom Curtains (under $25) // DIY Dresser Makeover // Sunburst Mirror Set (under $25) // Lamp (under $20) + Shade // Side Table 1 + Side Table 2 // Paint Color: White Dogwood

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday! I have soooooooo been looking forward to this weekend because...IT'S MY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND (my birthday is technically Monday)! Hooray! We've got some pretty incredible plans that require me to go pack my bags so I'll get down to it...(apologies in advance for the rambling...I'm a little overexcited today).

one. If you follow me on Instagram you are aware of Caroline's latest sleep regression (Probably not the appropriate term. That's what I'm calling it anyway). You know, the one with the fear of the purple cat hiding under her bed at night?

Side note: I figured out where she got that from...it's from Brown Bear Brown Bear! So I burned all 3 of our copies. Damn you, purple cat looking at me!

Anywaaaay, I posted on my insta-stories about our Zarbees Melatonin gummies and received SO many messages I had to take it down! haha. I got overwhelmed, sorry! And sorry if I didn't respond. But I'm responding now! To answer everyone's question -- YES! THESE WORK! We are on week 3 and Caroline is falling asleep faster now instead of singing and destroying her room for a few hours AND she's sleeping through the night. Although, now that I just wrote that she's guaranteed to be up all night tonight. Amazon prime these immediately.

two. After running out of my favorite Clinique Moisture Surge my friend Laura told me I needed to try Neutrogena Hydro Boost! Her dermatology nurse friend recommended this drug-store hydrating gel to her, claiming it's just as good as some of the super expensive products out there. Anyway, I started using it a few weeks ago and am seriously impressed. If you suffer from dry skin like me, you must must must try this gel cream out. I've also read that Neutrogena Hydro Boost ($14) is a major dupe for the Dr Dennis Gross Hyaluronic Moisture Cushion Moisturizer ($58). 

three. Every Friday Caroline has ballet and show & tell at preschool. She lives for Fridays. Anyway, there is seriously nothing cuter than watching her pick out her item on Friday mornings to bring to school. Two weeks ago she brought her record player to show off, and last week she was suuuuuper excited to share her makeup kit with her classmates. This age y'all...killing me.

four. On Monday we celebrated McKinsey's 30th birthday (as well as the arrival of her baby boy McCoy)! She's in the black shirt, and yes, it is super unfair that she had a baby two weeks ago but looks like she was never even pregnant! Her mom hosted a martinis & munchies get-together and it was the most fun way to kick off the week! 

five. Something life changing happened to me this week!!! I was offered the amazing opportunity to review 2ULaundry. So, for the first Sunday ever Matt and I did ZERO laundry. Instead we stuffed our dry cleaning, laundry and hang dry items in a few bags and set them on our porch Monday morning for pick-up. On Tuesday evening our clean clothes were delivered back to our porch! I was blown away by the one day turnaround, the cleanliness, the perfect folding of our clothes (including the fitted sheet I tossed in there), the very reasonable pricing ($20-30), the customization options (detergents, etc.) the ease of scheduling, reminders and status updates (done through texts) and the friendliness of my driver who took so much pride in his job. Will I use this service again? YES, especially for our dry-cleaning and all my pesky wash & hang items I rarely wash! The dry cleaning prices are super competitive and run cheaper than our dry cleaner down the street (and now our clothes wont sit there for weeks before I remember to pick them up). Anyway, if you're in Charlotte (includes Waxhaw, Matthews, Huntersville, Balantyne, and more.), Fort Mill or Atlanta, you can read about how the services work here and find the pricing here. Of course I have an amazing referral link for ya too (win-win for us both). Click here to save $15 off your first laundry or dry cleaning order.

 

 

First Day of Fall || Pumpkin Dip

Tomorrow is the first official day of fall and as always I love to re-post my favorite fall recipe -- pumpkin dip! It blows my mind how my original recipe post from 2012 is still the #1 result for pumpkin dip recipes! You can find the printable version of my recipe here.

Caroline made our first batch of pumpkin dip last weekend for a Sunday Funday at Lisa's house. I always forget how unbelievably delicious this dip is. As Caroline and I were pulling out the ingredients for the dip I decided I'd let her pour it all in the mixer together...

 

 

 

And to practice for her future cooking show I took a ton of snaps in SnapChat and loved them so much that I saved them all and uploaded them to iMovie. It was super easy to throw together and is a video I'm so glad we'll have forever!