September 18, 2017 by Drafts & Crafts

With baby number two on the way, getting into a healthier family lifestyle has been weighing heavy on my mind. I decided I would journal about my journey of getting my family to a healthier place by creating this blog series, Steps to a Healthier Lifestyle. 

I am excited to document my journey about getting my family to a healthier lifestyle. I want to begin by acknowledging the fact that I am not a health expert, but I do know that there are healthier choices that my family could be making and using in our daily routine.

First up, I wanted to talk about choosing more health conscious products for my family, especially our kids. For the most part, I know how to live a healthy lifestyle: choose the right/clean foods to eat, work out several times each week, don’t drink too much alcohol, smoke, or do drugs. One place where I fall short is knowing what products I use on myself, my child, and are in my home. Since Tanner was born, I have become MUCH more aware of harmful products in our home. It shocked me to recently learn that the US has not created new federal laws to regulate personal care products since 1938.

One of my new favorite lines for baby products and make up is Beautycounter. A friend who is a rep introduced me to the healthy beauty line. The belief behind Beautycounter is that products can be beautiful, effective, and safer. Not only am I extra careful of what products that I use on Tanner because I want him to grow strong and keep him safe, but Tanner also has sensitive skin and eczema. Before I started using Beautycounter products on Tanner, I used The Honest Company and Burt’s Bees products. Little did I know that the lavender scented Honest products were actually making his eczema worse. My pediatrician let me know products that contain lavender tend to dry out a baby’s skin.

Tanner’s eczema has rarely flared up since using Beautycounter’s baby products. My favorite one is definitely the Baby Soothing Oil. I replaced Tanner’s after-the-bath lotion with the oil. It is not too greasy and moisturizes his skin way better than any other lotions that we have tried. I have been using their matte bronzer for myself and love it! It lasts all day without leaving my face feeling greasy. One thing that I admire about beautycounter, when I look at the ingredients there is not a list of 100 and most ingredients I recognize the name. If you do not know what something is in one of the products that you use daily, I encourage you to google it and check it out. The truth is, I am not a huge beauty junkie, but I do really appreciate high-end, healthy products.

I like to splurge when I find a product that I truly believe in. I am grateful that Jamie showed me these products and if you have any questions about Beautycounter, please don’t hesitate to contact her. Beautycounter’s Welcome Baby Gift Set would make an awesome gift for any mama-to-be! If you were anything like me, I highly encourage you to start looking at the products you use in your home. I have even switched to safer cleaning products for my family. I can’t wait to continue this series and tell you about the other changes we are making around here! Be sure to follow along with me on Instagram to stay up to date @dccold. What are some of your favorite healthy beauty and home products?

Keep in touch,
Dani

August 26, 2017 by Drafts & Crafts

I am thrilled to finally let the cat out of the bag and share with everyone what I have been working on the past few months.

For about the past 6 months I have been dreaming of starting a small children’s boutique in my community of Jax. After working with several small businesses through blogging, I really starting to think how I only get Tanner clothes online and there is no where to shop on our side of town. Since I am passionate about supporting small businesses, I thought it would be so cool to work with small businesses to stock all my inventory of baby and young children’s clothing.

After researching and learning exactly what it would take, I decided to move forward with the shop! The boutique will start small, just doing local pop-up shops to see how the community takes to baby and kids clothes. So what can you expect to find at Kit & Cub?? We will carry 8 small shop brands to begin, 5 of them being clothing, and the other 3 accessories. All but one brand is unique to Jacksonville, so you can not find these items at other retailers in town. Each clothing item is handmade in the US so I am proud to say we are support other families and fair wages. I kept the upcoming seasons in mind and I tried to focus on a good amount of gender neutral items so that both boys and girls could look rad!

I am excited to get out in the community, meet other mamas who are passionate about their kids!! Please follow along with Kit & Cub on Instagram, @kitandcubcollective. This will be the best spot to find the pop-up schedules, inventory updates, new items, and GIVEAWAYS! Thank you for all of the kind words thus far about our new adventure. Please let me know if you have any questions or requests or items you would like to see. The Mini + Meep onesie that Tanner is wearing is an item that you will be able to find in the shop.

Keep in touch,
Dani

July 31, 2017 by Drafts & Crafts

Boon Inc. makes some of our favorite modern baby products, if you like to travel, this one however steals the show.

 

Feast your eyes on the Boon Trip! The week before Tanner was born we pulled out the Boon Lawn drying rack (the larger stationary drying rack that Boon makes) to prepare for our first child and it has been on our counter for the past 15 months. My husband and I were discussing the product, we agreed that it just may be our favorite baby product that we registered for while pregnant with Tanner. It is the most practical baby drying rack and we use it everyday! Now that we are cutting back on washing bottles, we use it for Tanner’s sippy cups. I love that it can transition from infancy to toddlerhood.

The issue was that when we travel to my parents or hotels, we were sitting clean bottles on paper towels, dishtowels, or whatever we can find. I am THRILLED that Boon introduced me to one of their newest products, the Boon Trip. If you know you will be doing any traveling, it is definitely a product to consider registering for. It is simple, compact and can easily be thrown into your children’s bag. The coolest part is it has a bottle brush right inside of the lid. I don’t have to pack all these darn items separately anymore!! Sorry for the rant, but this is a product that I truly believe it, especially since it is only $15. Simplifying traveling with young children is crucial to me because as if traveling with kids isn’t hard enough??? What are some your favorite products for traveling with your kids?

Thank you to Boon for sponsoring this post. All opinions are authentic and my own.*

Keep in touch,
Dani

July 27, 2017 by Drafts & Crafts

Now that I am feeling like my normal self again, I thought I would share an update on my second pregnancy. 

Update: As of tomorrow, I am 19 weeks. We are getting closer and closer to meeting our baby girl! This pregnancy is going by much faster than my pregnancy with Tanner. I’m sure I could chalk that up to chasing after a toddler all day, and two toddlers 3 days each week since I watch a friend’s child.  All of our our testing has gone pretty smooth and baby girl seems to be healthy and cooking well in mama’s belly. I am considered a high-risk pregnancy due to having preeclampsia with Tanner. The doctor does not seem concerned at this time about anything, but I will have several additional appointments for blood work, liver functioning tests, and EKG’s on my heart.

It seems like Jason and I are non-stop busy these days and I can’t complain about it. I like to stay moving forward with projects and meetings. We have had 4 different people stay in our guest house in the last 6 weeks. I have also been working on some wedding lettering for friends who are getting married. Jason and I started to work on the nursery and can’t wait to do another nursery reveal! Our third bedroom is currently in shambles, but we did get rid of so much junk, donate, and move things around so that we could work on what will eventually be our girl’s room.

Cravings: The only thing that I can really say that I have been craving out of my ordinary is PB & J’s!

Feelings: It feels surreal that I am almost 20 weeks. As I have talked about before, this pregnancy has been totally different than my first. I was convinced that we had to be having a girl because I felt SO SICK from week 5 to about week 11, when I was totally fine with Tanner the entire first trimester. As soon as the second trimester hit, I felt a thousand times better and now am back to normal routine. Thank you to everyone who checked in on me! I truly appreciate it and have a whole new understanding of a rough pregnancy.

Everyone is asking, we do not have a name for the baby girl yet. I have given my husband a list of about 10 names that I really like, he doesn’t like any of them. I am out of ideas and stressed. I just want to choose something at this point. I am starting to feel our girl move and I just want to be able to connect with her and call her by a sweet little name.

Hopes: I hope that Tanner is ready to share his toys and be a big brother. I know that he will do great, I’m just not sure how it will be at first since he will only be 19 months when baby girl is born. I hope that I can adjust back to getting no sleep without being too cranky… wishful thinking, I know!!

Worries: I am worried that we are not giving Tanner enough time to be our baby. Even though he is now a “toddler” it is hard to imagine him as independent since he is still so young. I know our hearts will grow to love two babies the exact same, but I do feel bad that Tanner will have to share our attention and I am sure it will rock his little world in the beginning. I am putting it in God’s hands and I know it will all be OK.

Products: I use some Nine Naturals products that I had left over from my pregnancy with Tanner. I love the shampoo and conditioner. I use Burt Bee’s Belly Butter on my tummy each night before bed. I would love to hear about your favorite products to use while pregnant!!

Keep in touch,
Dani

June 6, 2017 by Drafts & Crafts

I believe after each child, most mama’s think about the items that she could have lived without AND the items that she wished she would have tried. 

There are so many cutting edge baby items on the market right now. As a first time mom, (when I was pregnant with Tanner) it was hard to know exactly what items to buy/register for! I previously made a post about the items that I did not use and now I am creating this post to talk about the item that I want for baby #2. These are some of the products that I wish I would have gotten for Tanner or items that I did not know about until after I already had Tanner. I am excited to try these baby goods with #2! Finally, I included a few things that I am dreaming about for our newest nursery. I am hoping for my husband and I to begin working on the nursery this summer.

1. The DockATot Deluxe and Grand
2. Binxy Baby Shopping Cart Hammock
3. The Ollie World Swaddle
4. My Wild Bird Ring Sling
5. Lorena Canals Rug for Nursery
6. Babyletto Hudson Crib for Nursery
7. Bumbo Changing Pad

I would love to hear from you about what your favorite baby items have been!

Keep in touch,
Dani

 

May 30, 2017 by Drafts & Crafts

It was hard to wait until 10 weeks to announce our big news! We are expecting Baby #2 this December! Here are a few more details…

SURPRISE, Tanner is going to be a big brother in December!! We are THRILLED to grow our family to 4! I found out that I was pregnant around Easter. Before I even peed on that stick, I was feeling queasy and had headaches so when the test was positive I can’t say I was surprised! Well, I was surprised, but you know what I mean. I think the realization of being pregnant is always shocking, even when you are trying! It is just THAT exciting! I know many are probably wondering if this was planned so I will just go ahead and answer that question: It was planned! After having Tanner, we thought long and hard about how long we wanted to wait or not wait. While we were still in baby mode, we decided let’s have a second, everything is fresh in our minds. Plus, it will be beyond fun for Tanner to have a playmate close in age. Tanner and his brother or sister will be 19 months apart.

This pregnancy has been the complete opposite than Tanner’s so far. Like I said, I have felt nauseous since day 1. At first it was in the morning and totally manageable. Around week 7, the morning sickness changed to afternoon/evening sickness and became much stronger. I have not thrown up, but I feels like I am going to everyday. It almost feels like throwing up would make me feel better than just feeling like I have to throw up. The doctor gave me some samples of nausea medicine and that is how I have been surviving. Running after a toddler and feeling crappy is no joke!

Thank God my husband has been extremely helpful with taking care of Tanner from the moment he gets home from work until Tanner goes to bed. We are praying life will be much simpler during the second trimester which is only about 10 days away. I have been to the doctor twice and have been fortunate to have to have ultrasounds both times. Our little peanut has a good strong heart beat and is growing fast already! We are looking forward to this new adventure and we will continue to keep you updated along the way. Thank you to everyone who congratulated us and to everyone who has messaged me wonderful advice about the nausea.

Keep in touch,
Dani