Monday Musings {because I forgot to publish this on Friday}

I totally meant to post this as a 5 on Friday post, but guess who forgot? Yup. Pregnancy Brain at it's finest. So I'm throwing this at you as a "Monday Musings" and we'll just go with it because there is alliteration involved ;)

1) Star Spangled Kids link up is baaaack! And I am so excited to cohost again. Link up with us July 1st- 7th and show off all that glorious Americana goodness! And use #starspangledkids on Instagram!

hosted by:

Liz from Ellie And Addie // Jen from And Hattie Makes Three  // Kristy from Seven Graces Blog // Sarah from Seeing All Sides // Brettni from Honeysuckle Avenue // Whitney from Work It Mommy // Stephanie from Wife Mommy Me // Jessica from Secrets of a Stay at Home Mom

2) Visit me over on The Vintage Honey Shop blog! I'll be gust posting there for the next couple of months! Seriously, thee cutest handmade teething necklaces ever and the sweetest Sister-in-Law girl bosses to boot. My first post is all about my minimalist hospital packing list!

3) Summer clothes have me like whoa. I'm loving Gymborees shorts and knee highs!

Figure8 Maternity has some amazing maxis right now (just what this pregnant mama needs) and have you seen the new Freshly Picked x Care Bears collab?! Throwing it back and I am loving it!

source

4) Rae Dunn. Do I need to say more? With the opening of a HomeGoods right down the street from our Marshall's my hunting grounds just doubled.

5) Potty Training. SUCCESS. We've been at it all week with nary an accident in sight! To say I'm proud/elated/thankful is an understatement. Waiting til Brielana was older (versus when we trained Kinsey at 2.5) really made that big of a difference; she is more body aware and can even go without a diaper during naps/night time. We did the trial walks around the neighborhood and then ventured out to the beach and did some shopping (with travel potty in tow just in case) and she rocked it all! The only spill was the one she took in the ocean. This picture makes me laugh wayyyy too much (is that mean?)

I hope you have a great week!

Linking up here.

   

   

Month 7 Bumpdate {Baby Boy}

How far along: THIRD Trimester :: Weeks 26-30

Size of baby: Kabocha Squash {whatever that is}

Weight gain: 164 pounds // 25 pounds gained. I naively thought I'd like to try gaining only 25 pounds this pregnancy since I had shaved off 5-7 pounds when pregnant with Brielana (for a gain of 30 pounds) but I'm on track for 30 and am at peace with that number.

Maternity clothes: I'm done. I can't even look at maternity clothes anymore with any passion. I'm already thinking about my 4th trimester transition wardrobe and know I may want to leave some "fun money" for some flowy, forgiving tops.

Gender: boy!

Movement: So. Much. Activity. And little guy has impeccable aim because I get such strong shots right to my lady bits I feel like I could pee myself. Its cray.

Sleep: I've had bouts of weird middle of the night insomnia. I guess it doesn't help that I'm trying to keep Brielana in her bed all night and play musical beds a couple times every night.

What I miss: Nothing at the moment I'm at a really peaceful place right now and it feels marvelous.

Cravings: Muffins. I've made three different kinds of muffins in two weeks. Easy to grab as a snack or have for breakfast and the girls eat them too.

Symptoms: Same old, same old. Though now I have some feet swelling to look forward to at the end of the day. 

Highlight of the Month: Everyone has now had their turn feeling brother kick and it never gets old seeing the surprised/awed look on the recipients face! 
I survived (and passed!) the Glucose test after my faux paux of chewing sugarless gum (I seriously didn't even think it would be a big deal (TMI) but I had just forgotten to brush my teeth lol.) 
Stephanie sent me the sweetest monthly milestone stickers that I just can not wait to use! Thank you, friend!
A receptionist at my Doctor's office gave me the sweetest compliment of, "you don't even look pregnant. I mean everyone gains weight differently but you just look fabulous." I will take it!

Week 26

Week 27

Week 28

Linking up here.

   

   

Summer Lovin' 2017

This summer is going to be spent soaking up all the time with just my two favorite girls. We sat down and came up with these fun activities to do and we've even crossed a few things off already because I'm late posting this ;)

Are you in the thick of summer adventures?

Linking up here.

   

   

Chalk Painting // Purple {A Year of Color #6}

This Year of Color is all about purple. And I'll be honest, I had no idea how to interpret this royal color. But seeing as it's summer that means time spent out of doors for us and coupled with with the fact that I'm all about "easy" (summer pregnancies have me like whoa) mixing up some chalk paint it was (thanks Desiree for the idea!) 

All you need is equal parts cornstarch and water and food coloring. We used 1/2 cups of each and the following ratio of red to blue food coloring:

Drops red/blue

1. 10/18

2. 31/24

3. 21/5

4. 19/8

5. 25/10

6. 7/7

Kinsey hypothesized that the more red the lighter the shade of purple. What can I say, she's a genius. Obviously we just focused on shades of purple but feel free to use any color combination you like when mixing this up. It takes less than 5 minutes and gives your littles plenty of open-ended playtime. 

Brielana and Kinsey lasted for about 30 minutes (so the time it took me to take pictures and edit them) until disaster struck:

Big sister vs. little sister. I'll leave it up to you to decide who won.

Now it's your turn! Add your link below. Thank you for joining Desiree, Justine, Stefanie and me for A Year of Color!

An InLinkz Link-up

Linking up here.