Hobby Lobby & Toys'R'Us Haul

Hey dears. Well as you can see I went a little crazy this past weekend. When have a near by Hobby Lobby, which is a place I do not go to often because I know I will spent some money. Especially this time of year when all the Christmas, yes I said Christmas, things are out. I also picked up a few things for bub too. So lets get straight into this.

So these above items are all from Hobby Lobby. I wasn't lying when I said I went a little crazy. Out of all the Christmas items I do already own, I was lacking in Christmas Kitchen items. What I love about Hobby Lobby is at least 95% of their store items are usually on sale. All Christmas items were 40% off, so below are the on sale prices.

Measuring spoon set: $2.99

Ho Ho Ho sponge: $5.99

Christmas Tree Melting Wax: $7.18

Christmas Dog Towel: $7.19

Christmas Towel Set: $6.99

Santa Milk Glass: $ 9.58

Santa's Cookie Plate: $11.99

Santa Mixing set: $2.99

Snowman Mixing Set: $5.99

Santa Cooking Timer: $7.19

2 L gallon bubbles: $5.99

Paw Patrol 360 sippy: $8.99

Chalk: $4.99

Crayons: $3.99

Bath Crayons: 6.99

Christmas Cow Plush:

Belly Button Book: $4.99

Toes, Ears, Nose: $5.99

Re-Play Utensil set: $3.99

Also not pictured are the egg carton of bath fizzers I got (which I did a post on you can see here), also a mini chalk board & chalk marker. Well that's the end of the haul. Until next time!

Farm Fest & Sugar Cane Festival | 2017

Hey dears. Just wanted to post a few bits from last weekend for bubs first Farm Fest & Sugar Cane Festival. He loved the parades, well at least the first 20 minutes of both parades because he fell asleep. Especially as the motorcycle cops go by to clear people walking in the road at the start of the parade. He also really loved the old car show that went by before the parade. 

We also went to the Farm Fest last Thursday. It took place at a historic house down town. They had cookie decorating, petting zoo, games, food, etc... There wasn't much he could do at his age but he enjoyed himself. Only issue it was HOT. 

So all in all I would consider it a success! 

Bain Amour Bath & Body Co.

Hey dears. A few months back a friend, bub, & myself had a trip to a mall in a near by town & down one of the wings of the mall a smell hit us, like an amazing smell that usual comes from a spa. However it was no spa but a new little place that popped up called Bain Amour Bath & Body Co. They had all kinds of goodies ranging from bath fizzes, bath bombs, bath salts, soaps, lotions, etc... Now every time I go to the mall I stop in grab a 6 shelled egg carton & get some bath fizzes for a $1 each.

Above scents I have are:

- Rosemary Mint

- Bayou Belle

- Deadly Weapon

- Stress Relief

- Sea Salt Agave

- Anchors Away

End of the story is they smell amazing!

Activity To Do List With Baby | Fall-Winter Edition

Hey dears. There are so many things I want to do in the up coming months (holiday related events). I had decided early on to bring bub to as many activities as we could during the rest of the year. So I figured I'd compile a list of places & events I really want to bring him to this year. 

Farm Fest
This takes place a day or so before the Sugar Cane Festival starts at one of our historic homes in town. It last from 4-8:30 & they had a whole family admission. They have petting zoo, games, contest, music, & a farmers market.

Sugar Cane Festival

This is something that has been around since before I was born, but every year at the end of September they have a Children's Parade & a Queens Parade along with a fair. Also we get to see my little niece march in the parade.

Pumpkin Patch 

A church in a near by town puts on a Harvest Pumpkin Patch every year filled with games, hayrides, pumpkins, food, & activities. 

Fall Fest 2017 

This is something I recently stumbled on. This is held on a local island that has pumpkins, costume contest, games, activities, hay rides.

Boo at the Zoo

This is held at our local zoo for two weekends in October. Basically they have stations & activities set up around the zoo, the kids can dress in their costumes & have a blast & see the animals.

Trick r Treating RV Style

For this we have to travel about 45 minutes away but some our of family camp out there quite often & we plan on going meet them for their trick or treating day, spend some time with them & let him explore. 

Christmas Parade

Every year we go watch my niece (Hayden's nanny) dance in the Christmas parade so this year is no different.

Noel Acadien au Village

This take place in a village that was built in the 1800s & has been kept up till this day. They decorate in half a million lights every December & you get to walk around, listen to live music, visit Santa, carnival rides, & holiday shopping.

Safari of Lights

This is another thing our local zoo puts on in December. You go in the evening once it's dark they have everything lit up with Christmas lights & little light displays set up. You basically walk around, get hot chocolate, take the train ride, see Santa.

One thing they used to have but no longer have is the Civil War Encampment every November. They used to have people dressed in Civil War attire along with their tents set up. They used to fire cannons, shot their weapons, discuss artillery, & reenact battle scenes.  On the Sunday morning too they would have a 1860s style church mass go on, which was amazing. This will be the second year without it & I terribly miss it.

One event we decided not to do this year & wait until next year was the Polar Express. I'd rather bub be able to really enjoy it when we go, so that will definitely be on the list for next year!

Crayola Color Bath Dropz

Hey dears. I stumbled upon something these recently & when I bought it I was like I'm sure Hayden would love it, let's be honest hes's 8 months old.... He doesn't care what color his water is. But I saw these Crayola Color Bath Dropz  & as I am a bath bomb lover I figured Hayden would eventually love these once he's able to sit up. And of course the big child I am was like let me give these a go. I used a red & blue one and this was the pretty result I was left with. 

They are unscented, small like tablets basically that come in the primary colors & you can use one or use two and mix the colors to make new colors. I got ours from our local Wal-Mart for $3 & some change.

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Ear Infections | Surgery | Teething | Random Rashes

Hey dears. I figured with everything that has been going on with bub lately I'd do one big post to do a full update. This is going to be a long rambling one so grab a drink, sit back, grab a blanket, & let's carry on. 

Bub had had an ear infection starting mid July, he came down with a really bad sinus infection to where I brought him to see his pediatrician because he sounded horrible & he was started on an antibiotic due to an ear infection & sinus infection. He completed this and it kind of helped he didn't sound as bad as he had. Right after this he had a 6 month follow up with an audiologist (they make all their NICU babies have a repeat hearing test at 6 months), which he failed because he still had fluid in his ears from being sick & they recommended he follow up again with his pediatrician to recheck his ears. Sadly when this happened he still has a nasty ear infection and was put on a 2nd antibiotic & referred to an ENT doctor. So we show up for this appointment, the doctor is friendly, great with bub, they cleaned the wax out of his ears, & of course he still had an ear infection. Now at this time we are nearing a month of this ear infection journey, he's puts him on a 3rd antibiotic and says we'll see you back in a week. A week later quickly approaches & we check his ears again and the ear infection is still there. Now was the time we started to discuss doing tubes in his ears & he put him on his 4th and final antibiotic. Again we followed up in a week with no change & a final decision to go ahead & put tubes in his ears & remove his adenoids because his nose is always really stuffy. Surgery was set for the Tuesday after labor day at a surgery center in Lafayette & we were told they will call us between Thursday - Friday to go over the questions they needed to ask us along with everything we would need to do prior to surgery. They had called Thursday while I was work & apparently they got a hold of my husband and went through everything they needed to with him... everything was set to go. Now for whatever reason not even 15 minutes later when I go to lunch, they left me a voicemail saying they will not be able to do his surgery there & for me to call his ENT doctors office. That's it no explanation, nothing!

So now it's about 11:57, I called the surgery center back, they really wouldn't tell me anything except they cannot do it due to his past medical history & to call his ENT, so I hang up & call his ENT, they say the girl I needed to talk to left at 12:00, it has literally just turned 12:00. I was angry, I was stressed, I was to many things to even explain. I was aggravated because I had no clue why my child's past medical history stopped him from having surgery there (besides him being a preemie, he had a heart murmur from birth that was almost closed in March, but more on that in a bit.) I tried calling the surgery center back to get more answers and of course as you would know she was gone for the day too. So after a much needed glass of wine & a bath bomb that night, I called the ENT the next morning & was finally able to speak to the surgery scheduler. She basically told me she really didn't know why they cancelled, she said they don't really like doing surgery on infants and with him being a preemie, well they basically used that as their way out. She said the doctor himself even called to see what their problem was but in the end we decided to go with a place more local for the surgery & now it was moved to Wednesday morning.

So lets fast forward until the the day before surgery. The surgery places calls me, we go through all their questions, & they basically give us the run down of we have to be there at 5:45 the next morning, nothing to eat or drink after midnight, etc... So 11:30 that night we wake the kid up, he's not a happy camper (he hates being woken up) to give him bottle to hold him over until after surgery. We get up at the forsaken time of 4:10 that morning get ourselves & the animals tended too, & basically do anything around the house that needs to be done so we don't have to worry about it later. Right before it was time for us to leave is when we woke bub up, did a diaper change, & pack up the car to leave. He did quit well prior to surgery. He rolled, played, talked/screamed, tried to throw himself off the bed, smiled & waved at everyone. Surgery went well, his left ear was worse than the right, they inserted the tubes & cleaned the fluid out of his ears. His adenoidectomy also went well, the doctor said it was severely inflamed & he would definitely be able to breathe better. The monster that they brought back to us after surgery, well let's just say in was quite the roller coaster. He was screaming when they brought him back to us, he was wrapped in warm blankets, he pulled his IV out, & he wasn't having any of it. In the end I had to hold him in just a diaper & he wanted me to talk to him, just talk nothing else. He drank about half a bottle once he calmed down & after a brief nap he was starting to give some smiles again. We got home easily, hubby left to go work on the farm, bub was given some Tylenol & another bottle to which he crashed after. That's how he spent most of his day; eating, sleeping, fussing, & repeat. The next day he did great & was back to his normal self! The only thing that he has left over from the surgery now is horrible breath from the scabs of where his adenoids where, hopefully this will pass soon because it's ewww. Like I love you but you stink.

The next Friday he had his 6 month follow up with his cardiologist to check to see if he murmur was closed & guess what?! IT WAS!!! So we only need to go back as needed! On this day too I noted a rash in the diaper area that didn't look like a regular diaper rash. So my thoughts went to "I wonder if he could have a yeast infection from all the antibiotics he was on" (yes boys can have that too) "or is this something from the anesthesia" so I was going to monitor it and see what the doctor thinks at his 1 week follow up for his surgery. That changed Sunday afternoon when I noticed the rash had now spread up his chest & behind his ears & forehead. So his Omi & I took him to our local Urgent Care & they basically reassured us it was nothing major, no fever, no problems eating, sleeping, or using the restroom = not life threatening. Which is a relief but also an aggravation at the same time. I happy it's nothing bad what so ever & should clear up on it's own but I want answer too you know. Why does he have this rash? What caused it? Can this kid & his mom catch a break? There is a lot of unanswered questions. Then on Monday we noticed he not only cut his 4th tooth (which we knew about) but also a 5th tooth at the same time. So then it's like "well that explains the crankiness" but does it explain the rash. I know most teething babies may get is a mouth & chest rash from their drool along with a diaper rash but to the whole front of his body? His rash hasn't gotten any worse, I'm keeping him lotioned in Aveeno to keep his skin moisturized & using A&D ointment & Aquaphor in his diaper area. His 1 week follow up appointment is tomorrow so I'm hoping they can kind of look at it & let me know what they think of it or if he needs an appointment with his pediatrician. 

Wow that was long. Kudos to you if you've actually read all of that, you rock! It's been a crazy, long journey which I hope will fully come to an end soon! Thanks to all our friends & family who have checked up on him during this time span, ya'll are awesome! Much love.

White Chocolate Chip Strawberry Cookies | Recipe

I've been wanting to try a recipe to make cookies from a cake mix, so I found this great recipe from Easy Peasy Pleasy.  Only thing I changed up is I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil & they were still delish! I found my edges were a little browned so guys really watch them, the ones I did were ready to be taken out of the oven after 12 minutes. Even with slightly browned edges they tasted amazing (pic of mine below don't judge!). 

Prep Time:10 mins              Cook Time: 12-14 mins

1 box Strawberry Cake Mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside or use non stick baking sheets.
3. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, vegetable oil, & eggs & mix well. Once well combined add in your white chocolate chips.
5. Using a small ice cream scoop, drop rounded balls of the dough onto your baking sheet. These cookies flatten out quite a bit, so make sure the balls are taller than they are wide, and give them quite a bit of space between each cookie.
6. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Do not let them brown in the oven. They will appear slightly undercooked, but that is a good thing. They will firm up and flatten as they cool. 
7. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Very easy, very quick, very tasty!

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Early Christmas Planning

Hey dears. So every year I'm one of those crazy people who make their Christmas list & start shopping early. I like to be done with Christmas shopping when November rolls around & have everything wrapped. That way once my tree goes up, all presents go under the tree. I LOVE a tree full of gifts. I know here if you wait until December to do shopping everything is literally packed. I personally try to avoid out bigger towns around her around that time, unless it's Black Friday shopping. 

This year I've planned to do more DIY things & home made stuff but still with a worth it vibe. Wrapping this year is simple but cute with craft wrapping paper, ribbon, & a paint marker. As I always say simple yet effective.

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