Diaper Deals!

I just had to share this! It's too awesome.

I found this super sweet deal on diapers at Amazon. A huge, $50 box of Huggies (222 count) for $10. Yes, you heard right.

(here's where I jump up and down and scream like a preteen girl at a Bieber concert)

I sort of cheated the system and subscribed both my husband and myself to Amazon Moms. For $40 a year, you get 20% off all kinds of baby gear, shipped right to your door.

(No more random trips to Target to pick up wipes and...that dress on the clearance rack that I just had to have...)


You get $25 off your first purchase, which combined with the 20% off and another $2 coupon which I clipped from the site (you can find it if you go to the "deals and specials" page.

So I got 2 ginormous boxes of diapers for $20...which should last us for a while. Oh, yes.

Cute fall dress options for nursing mamas

So we finally have ourselves moved in...and now that the unpacking is done...I'm on the hunt for a cute fall dress. A comfy dress that I can wear around the house or bop around town with baby. It seems with the exception of a few maternity/nursing combos, there aren't a ton of options. And I'm not a huge fan of wrap dresses either--they seem too work-ish and complicated. I'm imagining traumatic wardrobe malfunctions out in public with baby tugging on the ties...yikes. Plus they can't be belted.

I love wearing dresses, but it's hard to find something practical for my current breastfeeding/mommy life. This dress has to be hard-working--I need to be able to not flip out if poop or drool or spitup happens (it does!). Here are a few options I've found, but I'm still on the hunt.





The above black dress would be flattering--especially to larger chests. And I like the fact that it is seasonless with a jacket or cardigan and tights for fall. It has an elastic waistband, so it pulls on over the head. I just can't tell if the neckline would pull down for nursing. The denim shirtdress on the left is almost everything I'm looking for, plus it would work as a transitional piece for the warmer Virginia weather. The circle skirt would hide potential pooch issues...and I'm loving the lapel details.

This adorable rust dress from Anthropologie is on my love list. There was also a gorgeous grayish blue color, but the red is so fun. It looks comfy and low-maintenance, and everywhere-able. All 3 of these dresses are fairly reasonably priced, so the cost-per-wear would be fairly low.

Fall Staples

Fall Staples by kirsten-mcclendon featuring blue jeans

Turquoise and Navy

Went on a surprise Wendy's lunch date with my honey. I'm currently loving pairing navy with just about any color... the right shade even works with black! But I think turquoise and white is my favorite summer combo.

Red, white...and khaki

White tee, khaki skirt and a swipe of red gloss is the outfit today. If I had some fun red TOMs or wedges I would wear them. Or neon flats would be cute too...yeah, the ones I don't own. Sadly, I'm not going anywhere except to the grocery store...but why not dream?

the horrible "s" word

I have to say, whenever I hear the word 'submit' in a marriage context, my hair stands on end and I start seeing red. I HATE that word. (enter matador, waving red flag!) In the conservative church culture I grew up in, women were supposed to defer to their husbands in everything, be 'meek and quiet' (yuck!), stay home and keep house. Women were basically voiceless.

Thankfully, my parents left that particular church and rejected many of those harmful teachings when I was a teenager. But by then many things I heard stuck in my head and I came away deeply scarred and bitter, having believed lies about myself, others, and God. I didn't know I could have preferences and opinions, and didn't know how to resolve conflict in a healthy way. (Still working on that one!)

10 years and 3+ years of marriage after leaving that church environment, I'm still struggling about what it means to be a wife and mother...I want to be great at both without neglecting my talents and developing my interests at the same time.

Last week my sister in law and I had a 2 hour baby-free coffee shop chat about this very topic, and she emailed me earlier this week with the link to this thought-provoking video from mommylovestech.com.  I was skeptical at first, but ended impressed. I thought these ladies had some good insights on submission in marriage outside Christian religious culture. Definitely worth watching.

Air Adventures!

Baby and I flew home to visit family today. I wore my jersey pencil skirt and moby wrap over a tank...I didn't want to have to schlepp a stroller alone through an airport. Also, TSA let me wear it through security, and I left it on for the plane ride so I didn't have to keep re-wrapping it. I wore Baby rather than worrying about my travel system getting ruined by the baggage handlers. 

Nursing on a plane is super-awkward turtle. I sat between a very unfriendly lady and a guy in his 20's who was rather horrified/traumatized when I whipped out the boobs to comfort Baby in the middle of the flight. Sorry dude. Hope you're not scarred for life.