I'll Take a Margarita...Hold the Tequila...

Surprise...

Happy 4 Months, Sweet Brynlie!

 4 months today! What to do, what to do...

What's up....

And the Weeks Keep Flying By...{Wordless Wednesday}

10 1/2 weeks old...

Because? I Love Her...

I often wonder what she thinks about.

What goes through her baby brain.

I wonder if she truly knows how much I adore and love her...

Because she melts my heart more and more every day.

Love.

The One Where I Started Seeing Double...

Ummm...there are no words right now...

Totally speechless.

 

 

Although, in reality, I shouldn't be.

But I am...

SnuggRugg Review & Giveaway

Isabella has always had a certain lovey {or "mimi" as she calls it}. Her mimi goes everywhere with her--and I love that she has it to comfort her and make her calm down when she may be having a rough day.

With Madelyn I've tried so many different loveys with her. Some are too big, some are just too hot for her--after all we do live on the Gulf Coast where you will find the temps well into the 100's during the summertime.

Enter the SnuggRugg. The SnuggRugg is a lovey that is super soft and breathable. Made of 100% cotton muslin--which is a loosely woven cotton fabric--it has ribbon bordering the outside which makes it a great lovey for your little one and for their little fingers to have fun exploring and discovering. I can tell you that Madelyn--as well as myself--loves her SnuggRugg. We now have a lovey that we can take anywhere and I love that!

About SnuggRugg:

"The SNUGGRUGG breathable baby blanket (baby lovey) is handmade with natural cotton muslin and surrounded with ribbons of different textures and colours for baby to suck, twirl and soothe on.
It is perfect for babies to take to bed as the cotton muslin we use is a natural breathable fabric that is loosely woven, which allows air to flow. The SNUGGRUGG breathable baby blanket is machine washable, quick drying and gets softer with every wash.
Measures 12" x 12".
In baby girl, boy and neutral designs."

Win It:

  

One lucky winner will be picked to win a SnuggRugg, SnuggMugg or SnuggBugg of their choice! To be eligible tell me what product you would pick and what pattern choice you would like to have. This must be done before any bonus entries will count. Please leave a separate comment for every bonus entry.

Bonus Entries:

1 entry each: "Like" SnuggStuff on Facebook and/or follow SnuggStuff on Twitter

1 entry each: Follow "The Winey Mommy", subscribe to RSS feed, and/or subscribe via email

 

1 entry each:  "Like" Winey Mommy on Facebook and/or follow Winey Mommy on Twitter

1 entry: Place my button on your blog

1 entry: Tweet the following: "WIN a SnuggStuff item of choice from @bsnuggstuff & @winey_mommy! Ends 7/16 http://bit.ly/bKSPwX #giveaway #win #DDDivas" This can be done daily!

Rules

This giveaway will end on July 16th @ NOON CST. Open to all US residents 18+. To be eligible to win you must do mandatory entry. If you do not follow that rule all entries will be void. Leave a valid email address in comment or available on profile. Winner will be drawn via Random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to notification email. If winner does not contact back w/full name/address a new winner will be picked. All winners will be posted on blog when picked. This blog is not responsible for prizes not being delivered, getting lost, etc. I will try my hardest to work with company if something should go wrong. This blog is not responsible for anything regarding to your use of product.

This product review was made possible by the Double Duty Divas.  I was not compensated for this review other than a product sample provided by COMPANY NAME. All opinions are 100% mine.

My Sister Had Her Baby Girl!!

Ohmygoodness. What an insane 24 hours. This time last nite I had NO idea my niece would be making her debut, ha!

My sister had her little baby girl, Avery, this evening at 6:59 pm and she weighed 5 lbs 12 oz--a tiny, precious little baby girl! She is beautiful and I'm a crying, happy mess. It's the first cousin that Madelyn & Isabella have on my side of the family so this is such a great time for us. I really wish I was there with them, but we'll be making a trip next week so I can meet my new little niece!

I am SO happy for my sister! Love you, sis--and Avery is perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Sweet, sweet Avery ♥

Cranky Cat Studio: $30 GC {A Winey Mommy Review & Giveaway} *GIVEAWAY CLOSED*

I love it when I get introduced to a mompreneur that I absolutely adore and love. When I got introduced to Cranky Cat Studios I immediately loved her store. She has so many different items available--whether you want an adorable item to give at a baby shower or are in the market to buy something for your own little one--you are likely to find something that you know that you must have. She has products ranging from hooded towels to squeaky shoes to handmade bibs and burp cloths to much, much more.

Deborah, owner and creator at Cranky Cat Studios, is a Midwestern girl who resides in Texas along with her 2 year old son Bayden {I love that name!} and his Dad Matt.  She is a full time employee for an airline company and works as a luggage handler. She's been sewing for 36 years--her grandmother had her sewing as she grew up and at the time she hated it. She now tries to sew and craft when she gets a spare minute for her shop and for her craft shows.

I have no idea how she manages to do so much in such little time! One look at her eBay store and you'll be impressed with everything that she has made with such amazing quality and how cute it all is.

When my box arrived in the mail I was in love. Everything was wrapped in tissue and placed perfectly in the box. You can tell a lot about a shop when the package arrives and how the items arrive to you--Deborah totally impressed me.

Madelyn wearing the adorable bib in the new Pink Cheetah print {small bib--perfect for my little drooler!}

OnTray shopping cart snack/coupon tray--snaps directly to cart handle--awesome! Behind the tray is one of her beautiful boutique receiving blankets in the "100% Trouble" print. Loves. It's large enough to swaddle your baby and they are double hemmed all around the edge to prevent fraying.

Here's Isabella modeling one of her Pink Girly Skull large bibs. Isabella loved it! Perfect for her when she eats so her clothes won't get stained.

The adorable Flexi-Feet pink leather squeaky shoes in "Watch Me Grow" The shoes are sitting on top of a Pink Cheetah burp cloth on its reversible side. Both sides of burp cloth are  made out of a thick quilter's flannel--very absorbent which is fantastic.

I loved reviewing everything from Cranky Cat Studios. She is talented, her products are made incredibly well and I would definitely purchase something from her store. I recommend Cranky Cat Studios to anyone wanting a great gift for a new mom, newborn, infant or toddler.

***The Giveaway***

Deborah has generously offered a $30 gift certificate to ONE lucky reader! You'll be able to get plenty of adorableness with the gift certificate. So fun!

***How to Win***

Make sure that you leave one comment per entry. If there are two possible entries for completing something leave two separate comments.

{mandatory entry} Visit the Cranky Cat Studios eBay store or the Cranky Cat Studios Etsy shop and tell me what you would use the $30 gift certificate on if you are the lucky winner. Must be something other than pictured above. This must be done for any bonus entries to count.

{3 entries} Become a fan of Cranky Cat Studios on Facebook 

{3 entries} Become a fan of The Winey Mommy on Facebook

{2 entries} Follow Cranky Cat Studios on Twitter. Leave your Twitter name in comment.

{1 entry per each} Follow via Google Friend Connect, subscribe via email and/or in a Reader

{1 entry} Follow Winey Mommy on Twitter & tweet about this giveaway. You can tweet up to 5 times per day. Feel free to copy and paste the following:  "Win a $30 gc to @CrankyCatStudio! Visit http://bit.ly/9vhc3i to enter--Ends 3/11 #giveaway @winey_mommy" Leave the link to your tweet in each comment.

{1 entry} Grab my button and post on your blog.

{5 entries} Blog about this giveaway. Link to Cranky Cat Studios and The Winey Mommy--please leave a link to your post with your entries. 

{10 entries} Purchase something from Cranky Cat Studios. Leave your order number with your entries. 

***Rules***

This giveaway will end on March 11th @ NOON CST. Open to all US residents 18+. To to be eligible to win you must do mandatory entry. If you do not follow that rule all entries will be void. Leave a valid email address in comment or available on profile. Winner will be drawn via Random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to notification email. If winner does not contact back w/full name/address a new winner will be picked. All winners will be posted on blog when picked. I am not responsible for prizes not received. If for some reason your prize does not get to you, please let me know and I will try my hardest to work it out with the sponsor.

In order to provide an honest review I was provided with the products above. No other compensation was given.

Now This is Love....

Isabella swimming with Ashley

Madelyn hanging out with her Momma

She loves to sleep

Madelyn approves of her Daddy--maybe next time he'll get 2 thumbs up?

This was after her first bath at home

Our first few days have been wonderful.

Madelyn is such a great baby!

She's very calm and quiet.

She loves to snuggle with anyone who will hold her--which lucky her there a lot of volunteers for

that!

She's a great eater--she had gained an ounce at her check up on Saturday!

The nurses were very impressed with her weight gain.

Isabella is trying very hard to love her little sister, although there have been a few rough patches along the way--which was to be expected.

I'm so in love with both of my girls and my husband.

Life is wonderful and I have been very blessed by the gifts that God has blessed me with.

The Big Sister

This past weekend some wonderful friends came to visit us in Mississippi. We had met them in Turkey and they were recently relocated to Florida--only a couple of hours away! How lucky are we?

I had invited them to do some shopping, bbq'ing and most of all?

I wanted to meet their brand new baby girl, Emma, who is only 2 1/2 months old. (who by the way? is simply adorable! she is seriously a beautiful baby--and i never heard her cry. ever. she may be the happiest baby i've ever met!).

When they arrived Isabella was in love with Emma.

She fed her pretend food.

She gave her hugs.

She gave her kisses.

She would cry when Emma was asleep.

She truly loved baby Emma and called her babeee all weekend long.

As they were leaving Sunday we went outside to see them off.

They loaded up into their car and we were waving bye to our friends.

All of a sudden? Isabella's lip started to tremble.

I knew what was about to go down--the meltdown.

She started crying--and crying hard--she was pretty much sobbing and saying, "No! No! No!"

She tried to get out of Leo's arms to chase after baby. She had no idea why baby was leaving her.

After her nap that day she was walking around saying, "Babeee...babeee...babeee". I asked her where her baby was and she looked at me with total seriousness.

She walked over to the front door, pointed and said, "No. Babee go."

And it broke my heart.

She has been looking for Emma ever since and she has been extra attentive to my baby belly these past days--kissing Madelyn, hugging her, feeding her pretend food, patting her.

But we have a surprise for her...we are going to visit them in Florida this weekend! We are leaving on Friday and we are so excited!

I can't wait to see her face light up when she realizes we will be with babeee.

This weekend really helped me realize that she will love baby Madelyn. And I can't wait to see that first moment when big sister meets little sister.

Whoa, Baby!

Last nite I felt Baby G moving around!

It was an amazing feeling and I couldn't believe how much Baby G was moving around in there.

*Ah*

There are just some things in life that really make you remember how truly blessed you are.

Appointment Update 16 weeks 5 days

I had my appointment today with my AMAZING midwife today. Have I mentioned how much I adore this woman?! She is such a kind woman and I feel so blessed to have such a great provider for this pregnancy!

I hope I get to see her at every appointment...(the military healthcare system is quite a bit different than civilian healthcare....)

Anyways, I've gained 2-3 lbs total...not bad for 4 months pregnant. I've been eating lots of fruit, water, cereal, and really trying not to eat a lot of junk. I do not want to blow up into an enormous whale like I did with Isabella! Yikes.

The tech couldn't find the heartbeat for what seemed like forever. For any woman out there that has had this happen, the few minutes that they can't find the heartbeat on the doppler can feel like a lifetime.

She finally found it (was in the 160's and yay that Baby G was okay!!!) and the baby was just floating low today--probably dodging his/her big sister's feet, legs, etc up higher *smile*

I call in a little over a week to schedule the *big* ultrasound and for my next appointment. Oh--and I promise to have Leo take a pic tonite!

My morning sickness is pretty much gone now! I get sick in the morning after waking up but other than that I feel pretty good now. Except when I'm really hungry...then watch out....

That's pretty much it for this appointment. Now I'll be counting the days/weeks until we find out if it's a boy or a girl!

We Have a Heartbeat!

We had an amazing ultrasound today!

They spotted our little one right away and he/she was waving at us!

You could see their umbilical cord and boy, this baby was active--just like their big sister.

The heartbeat was a strong 168 and my doctor (who is the same one who delivered Isabella 15 months ago) said that the baby is perfect.

Thank you for your kind words, thoughts and prayers. You all really helped me through today.

Are We Ready?

Leo blows my mind sometimes. Out of the park. Out of this world.

Out of the blue he will say something that is so not up his alley.

Sometimes he'll say things that would more likely come out of my alley.

Sometimes he'll say something that goes like this:

Him: "Babe, you know...when (insert step daughter's name here) leaves, Isabella is going to be lonely. She's going to miss having someone to play with."

Me: "Yes, honey. You are right. Poor Isabella. Guess I need to get out there and meet some other moms."

What I'm actually thinking: You mean I actually have to TALK to some of these women that I see at the park?! Nope. No way. Not happening. I tried to join a "Mom's Playgroup" when we first moved to this small town. Before I could even go to a meetup they e-mailed that they were too full for new members. WTF?! How do you overflow a freaking playgroup that has 90+ members?!?! Do you NOT remember any of that, Leo? And now you want me to get to know them?? Thanks, but no. No way. Not now. Not EVER.

Him: "No honey. I think she needs a little brother or sister."

Me: "Are you serious?!?!"

Him: "Yeah, I am."

Me: "Okay. Well, okay."

What's even crazier was this was during this week.

You know, teething hell?

But you know what my friends?

I think we may be ready.

Because honestly, are any of us ever really, actually, truly ready?