3 day woes

As you can see, my blogging has been lagging... I've had a horrible migraine for the past 3 days. I used to suffer from migraines frequently, for about 4-5 years, they would come and last for days/weeks... When I got pregnant, they started getting a bit better, then after my daughter was born, they stopped. Now they have been coming back, sporadically. This week, it started on Sunday, and has stayed for the past 3 days. I haven't been able to do much at all... I am hoping that this is a fluke, and that I can get this migraine to go away and finally be free. Over the counter meds are not helping at all. But to get what I need, I'd have to return to the neurologist, and I am trying to avoid that. lol So we'll see what happens. Did I mention how hard it is to take care of a 2 year old when my head feels like it'll explode!?

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Hope you all have a great, relaxing day!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

-Psalm 107:1

Wordless Wednesday

Loving that it's almost time for Christmas!

My girl!

I LOVE how girly my girl is. I ordered a pair of shoes from her and they came in the mail yesterday. As soon as I opened them, she insisted I put them on her feet. :) They are red w/ white polka dots, perfect for Christmas season. She spent all day in them! She also grabbed another pair from her closet that looks similar (black w/ white dots) and wanted to wear both pairs at the same time. lol The best part of the shoes is that they are squeaker shoes, she loves making them squeak. Daddy took out the squeaker from the black pair, and I took it out of her new pair before putting them on her. I know, I'm bad, but I had a headache and did not want to hear squeaking all day long. lol

The big thing in this house lately is her obsession w/ her step stool. She drags it everywhere so she can do whatever she wants.. Her 2 favorite things to do on the stool, turn on/off the light in her room (she calls is sun) and take it to the bathroom sink to wash her hands. :)


Another cute thing she's been doing is if she wants us to go somewhere w/ her, she will grab our hands and say "hand".. And then take us somewhere. Last night, she grabbed my hand to take me to her room to go play. How sweet is that!? :) It melts my heart. :) By the time we got to her room to play, she wanted to go back to the couch to watch Barney. Sigh, I can handle a lot of kid shows, but not that. lol So I convinced her to sit with me and watch Princess and the frog, one of her favorites.

I love my girl and it's so fun to watch her grow and learn something everyday :)

Monday Etsy Finds...

My sister got this shirt for my daughter to wear for the Thanksgiving season. I LOVE it!! And I made a special bow to match her shirt :) She has her name monogrammed under the turkey and it's just too cute!


The shirt came from Molli & Me. Have you seen her shop? It is absolutely adorable!!!!
My favorite item that she has listed now is the personalized pillowcase! I have been wanting to get one for my daughter, and now I know just where to get it from!


Molli & Me has great quality stuff, beautiful monogrammed items and great prices! Check out her shop and tell her BOWquet sent you!

Thanksgiving is coming

WINNER

The Winner of the turkey giveaway was chosen at random!
The winner is Heidi Jane Blankets :)

Please write to me at bowquet@hotmail.com with your mailing info

Life with 2

This week we've been watching a friend's 18 month old daughter, so I've had my 2 year old and then the 18 month old. I was nervous about how my daughter would react. She does not share mommy well, so I thoughtshe was going to be angry the whole time b/c there was another kid in the house. It is the total opposite! She has been like a little "mama" to our guest and it's so sweet to watch! My daughter wakes up first in the mornings, so the first thing she asks for is her friend. :) It's been great! Being that I only have 1 kid, I've learned some new things about being a "Mom" to 2 this week:

- Meal times are hectic. I don't eat until after they have eaten and been cleaned up. It's a constant race back and forth to the kitchen to get more... Am I alone in this?

- They always want the same toy

- They always want to be held at the same time

- If one wakes up crying, so will the other

- There is NO time for mommy to be selfish. I already had very little time to myself w/ 1, with 2, that's almost impossible. :)

- As much as I hate to say this, TV can be a wonderful aid when I need some sanity. lol

- Dressing up the girls to match is a LOT of fun! :)

- Cuddle times on the couch times 2 is even sweeter :)

- Laundry and dishes pile up quick if I'm not careful

- My daughter "Tries" to help, which is sweet, but not so much helpful

- Bedtime is awesome! lol Especially when they go to sleep right away.

There's a lot that doesn't change from 1 to 2 kids. But all the craziness and business is SO worth it! Our little guest leaves sometime tomorrow, so I'll go back to being a mom of 1. :) Someday I'll have 2 of my own...

I thought this picture was funny! lol

Wordless Wednesday

Someone found my shoes!

Christmas Cards

Do you ever send out Christmas cards? My husband and I have done it a few years.. We didn't do it last year though b/c it costs so much money. And I hate buying stamps! lol I also have a hard time finding photocards that I like. But with so many family members far away, we'd like to send them all a Christmas card this year w/ a picture of our family. Some of our family members have never met or seen a picture of our daughter, so I know they'll be excited. Plus, we have out of town grandparents, and they LOVE getting cards and pictures anyways. lol
So this year I plan on using shutterfly for our photo cards. I've used their products before and I am always happy with the result. Plus they are really affordable! First I need to get our family portraits done. The hard part will be picking out which Christmas outfit to put on my child. lol She has 5-6 outfits for Christmas and they are all so cute!


Once I pick out her outfit, then I can coordinate mine and my husband's, then pick out which shutterfly Christmas card to use. It's hard to pick just 1 though. lol They are all so cute!

The best part about Shutterfly is that there are SO many things to choose from! They have a great selection of cards, you can choose from holiday cards to birthday cards, baby shower invitations and even personalized mugs, and there are tons for under $1 a piece.

So far these are my favorites for our Christmas cards:
It's going to be hard to pick just one...






NOTE: I will be receiving 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly for letting you know about their cards. I was not compensated in any other way for this post. And I really do think Shutterfly's quality is really good and the prices are fair. If you're a blogger and want 50 free cards all you have to do is apply.

Monday Etsy Finds...

Do you love jewelry?! I LOVE jewelry and anything girly! When I told my sister that my daughter's birthday party was minnie mouse and that we were going to Disney, she surprised us w/ a sweet treat! A necklace and bracelet jewelry set w/ Minnie Mouse. Now, my picture doesn't do it justice, especially b/c Minnie's head is upside down. lol But check out Minnie's Creations for that and so much more cute and girly things! I liked it so much, I bought a Tinker bell set to give as a gift for a friend. The owner of the shop is really nice and will happily work with you! And she's really fast too! :) Tell her BOWquet sent you.
Have fun shopping!!!

Turkey Giveaway!!!

Win this turkey hair bow!!!! Winning is easy!
Please make separate comments for each entry that you do. Make sure you add your email address so I can contact you if you win!
You do not have to do all of them to win, but the more you do, the higher your chances are of winning!

1. Follow this blog- Make sure you leave a comment
2. Follow me on facebook and leave a comment here telling me that you did.
3. Follow me on twitter and leave a comment here w/ a link to your profile!
4. Visit my shop and tell me what your favorite item is. :)
5. Tweet about this giveaway. Make sure you add @bowquet to the post. :)

Contest ends on Thursday November 18th! Spread the word! :) Winner will be chosen randomly.

My special treat

You guys have heard me talk about my keurig before. My husband gave it to me as a birthday present. I absolutely love it. I get up in the mornings and the first thing I do is brew a cup... At nights, after a long day, I like to sit on the couch, watch my favorite tv show and sip some decaf. Now you may ask, what is the big deal about this machine?
The best part of the keurig is all the variety of coffee, tea and hot chocolate that you can buy. I absolutely love all the options and can't wait to try them all!!! :) I have 4-5 different coffees in my cabinet, 4 different creamers in my fridge. So when I am in the mood for a special treat, I just have to choose which flavor :) It's the best and I don't have to go anywhere to get fancy coffee. I think this is a total must have for any coffee lover. Anyone out there have a keurig?

Now, I found this on youtube, it's the best idea ever! I wonder if my 2 year old can do this :)


Sorry, this post isn't a recipe or a giveaway...Just sharing my favorite treat with other coffee lovers :)

schedule

I love having a schedule for my day. I don't like change, I like doing the same routine daily... When I became a housewife, I was 8 months pregnant... I decided to divide my household chores into different days, each day I'd do certain things and make sure they get done. It made things less stressful after the baby was born. Now, 2 years later, my routines have changed, I've had to make sure spending time with my daughter comes first. I've tried several different schedules w/ her and we always stick to it. It always works. During her Individual Playtime (usually lasts 1 hour) and her TV time (about another 1 hour or so) I clean... Then I set time aside to play with her, teach her, color with her and so forth... This week I started a new routine. We were on vacation last week, so everything was different. And before then, we were just in survival mode. I felt like nothing was getting done. SO after talking to a friend this week, I started a new "home management" routine in my house. I LOVE it and feel very accomplished by naptime.
My schedule:
8:00-8:30 Wake up, I read her a chapter from the Bible, breakfast
8:30-9:30 TV time, mommy cleans up
9:30-10 Color time, puzzles and books with mommy
10-10:30 Outside play time
10:30-11:30 Individual playtime in her room, Mommy cleans and makes lunch
11:30-12:00 clean up room
12:00-1:00 lunch and tv time
1:00-3:30 nap time
3:30-4 wake up/ snack
4:00-5:00 Free play or outside playtime (depending on weather)
5:00-6:00 Individual playtime in her room, Mommy cooks dinner
6:00-6:30 Eat dinner
6:30-7 playtime with mommy
7:00-8 Playtime with daddy (this is usually the time that he comes home)
8 bathtime
8-8:30 play in room with mommy and daddy/ get ready for bed
8:30 bedtime!

Now, as much as a stickler as I am to keeping things running smoothly, we don't ALWAYS follow this... For example, yesterday we spent all morning in the park. This morning I have got to catch up on chores I missed yesterday so she's watching UP... I'll make sure she gets plenty of mommy time as well :) But since starting this schedule, she is a much happier baby and it makes bedtime SO much easier. We had been struggling to get her to sleep since converting her bed, but now it's been much easier!
Anyways, just my anal side coming up with this schedule... It works for me and forces me to get my chores done b/c I have specific times set aside for that. Most importantly I want to make sure I spend most of my time with my daughter, b/c she is more important!

Wordless Wednesday

Her way of wearing a hat!

Birthday week

Last week was my daughter's 2nd birthday. We celebrated all week with a trip to Disney :) But first we had a small family party, Minnie Mouse style! lol I made all the decorations myself and my mother in law made the beautiful cake. I loved everything about it and can't wait till next year's party. :) My daughter has 3 cousins, 1 is older than her, and the other 2 are younger. They all wore a Mickey (the 2 boys) and Minnie shirt to match the theme of the party. It was adorable!


I made the party favor bags.. I had a friend cut out the letters and bow w/ her cricut...

I bought red tissue paper and stamped white polka dots on all of them. Then I made them into bows :) I printed out the head and photoshopped a red #2 on them... I put them together on dowel rods. I made 2 of these centerpieces.. The rest of the big red bows, I put on the walls...

The beautiful, and very delicious cake. :) I cut out the minnie heads out of foam and made the bows out of ribbon. The top bow is also ribbon.

Blowing out the candle. :) The banner is from etsy!


I really enjoyed planning this party! Etsy was a BIG help in getting everything together :) I love shopping there!!!

Monday Etsy finds...

Have you seen Giftsewfine?
I love that shop! I recently got my daughter an outfit from there. My daughter's 2nd birthday was last week, she had a Minnie Mouse party. Then we also took her to Disney, and she wore the same outfit for Magic Kingdom and got TONS of compliments. I mean, everyone that saw her just complimented her nonstop. As her mommy, I LOVED all the attention she got :) She is of course the prettiest little girl ever (I'm not biased at all)... lol Anyways, want to see what she wore?

While we were sitting here, this older lady sat next to us and said that she was the prettiest little girl in the park that day ;)

Happiest place on earth! :)

Click here to see this outfit and more! You will fall in love with this shop!

BTW her jewelry is also Minnie Mouse, stay tuned on where you can get it! It'll be next week's etsy finds :)