The Wedding Planner

Planning a wedding can be a lot of work. There are so many steps along the way that it can be easy to get overwhelmed and forget things. The last thing you want is to forget something and remember when it’s too late. When I was planning our wedding one of the mistakes I made was waiting too long to book our vendors. We had to search harder for vendors that were still available for our day.

I have seen so many newly engaged couples lately that I wanted to help and make your lives a bit easier. I created a tool to give you an idea of when you should have the big steps completed by; I call it The Wedding Planner ! Now, when going through this timeline checklist, remember that not everything has to be exact. You may feel that some things need to be done before the time listed and that’s perfectly okay! This is just a guideline of the latest you want to get these things done. Don’t be like me and procrastinate! Happy planning!

1st Week Down!

So my work has been doing a weight loss challenge for a little over a week now. I wrote a post prior to this about how I was going to be starting the 21 day fix. Well, 1st week on the program and I’m down 5lbs! Now, this may not seem like a lot to some people but I’m pretty damn proud of myself. As someone who has been telling myself for quite some time that I need to get healthy, I finally made the decision to commit.

The first week was definitely a bit challenging. I did my grocery shopping on Saturday and my meal prep on Sunday. I ate basically the same thing throughout the week, alternating days and having different dinners each night. During the day, it was easy for me to stick to my meal plan because at work I could only eat the food that I brought. When I got home however, it was a whole different ball game. There are always a lot of temptations at my house with there always being chips and goodies filling my pantry. I did have a piece of Lindt chocolate here and there (hey I’m only human) but compared to my normal snacking I cut down tremendously.

Getting the workouts in were pretty hard for me. I wake up around 4am, get ready for work, take care of my LO,  drive an hour to work, work all day, get home around 5pm, spend time with my LO, after putting him to bed I do my cleaning and cook dinner. By the time I’m done this it’s usually about 9pm and I’m exhausted and would like nothing more than to slump on the couch and watch a good movie until my husband returns home from work at 10:30. Last week was the first week in, I don’t even remember how long, that I actually got a workout in every day. Some days the workouts were not as hardcore as I would like because Mr. Jackson decided to wake up around 8:30 and be a party animal but that’s okay. A small workout is better than none at all.

As of this past Monday, I only have 2-3 more lbs to lose until I’m at my pre-pregnancy weight. That’s something that I’m damn proud of. Not that the numbers are all that matter but still.

I’m excited to continue on my 21 day fix journey and see where it takes me. Eating a lot more clean has definitely given me a new perspective on all the junk that I use to consume on a day to day basis. I’ll check back in to let you know my progress and hopefully help you on your journey too!

I included my MEAL PLANNER for last week if you want to check it out and get an idea of how to start portioning and planning meals. I didn’t include lunch or dinner on the weekends because the weekends are crazy.

Theme Of The Day

Alright so you’re getting married, you’ve decided on that. Now you need to decide on a theme. Having a theme for your wedding is really important because it really personalizes everything. It gives you the opportunity to really express who you are individually and as a couple.

Okay so what exactly do I mean by theme? Well, when you picture the big day, do you imagine a rustic wedding? How about an elegant formal wedding? Maybe even a Disney wedding or movie themed wedding? That’s really up to you, the soon-to-be Mr. & Mrs. It all depends on your style and taste. There is no right or wrong and there really is no one or the other.

For my husband and I, we chose to go with a combination of rustic and elegant. We (okay so maybe more me than my husband since he’s not super into planning) really love the elegant look but a fully formal wedding would be just too much. We wanted the atmosphere to be really relaxed but not so relaxed that it was like a back yard party.

Here’s a couple tips and in helping you design your beautiful wedding. Grab a pen and piece of paper and jot down your answers

Questions to ask yourself when picking a wedding theme:

1. Do you have a wedding date set?If you have the date picked out, you kind of have to plan around the weather. You can’t exactly have a beach themed wedding in the middle of winter.
2. Do you have your colors picked out?Colors can play a big roll in your theme. Or maybe your color is your theme? Many couples choose blues for a winter wedding or orange/yellow for fall.
3. Have you picked out your dress?If you have, congratulations that’s a huge step! If not, no worries! Do you have a vision of a dress style that you like? Some dresses and accessories may clash with certain themes while other dresses can set the stage for your style.
4. Do you have any decorations picked out for your wedding yet?Flowers, signs, table settings, the cake?
5. Now take a minute to write down some things that are important to you. Write down things like favorite hobbies, favorite movies, or (what I did) favorite house designs and decorations.Why are these things important to you? What do you like about them?

Once you do this, you can sort of get a feel for your taste. On my list I wrote down mainly things about house designs and decorations. Some things on my list were “Modern structure, country decorations, rustic decorations” etc. It’s pretty hard to describe the image in my head when I see these things, but it basically helped me figure out that while I like formal and elegant, we needed that rustic country feel as well. I thought a lot about the show”Fixer Upper” on HGTV (if you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out).

When we decided to go with a rustic but elegant theme, that’s sort of where we drew blanks. Where do we go from there? It’s different for every couple but our detailed theme really came about on its own. My mom and I were at a bridal expo when I saw the cake of my dreams- a birch tree cake. It was absolutely beautiful and I knew it had to be our wedding cake! From there, things kind of just lined up. We found a love bird cake topper that fit perfect with the cake. After that we started buying more love bird items. Before we knew it, we had our theme: love birds. We made signs that our wedding party carried down the isle that said, “Two little love birds, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First came love, then came marriage, here comes Jackson in the baby carriage.” We also bought love bird salt and pepper shakers as half of our wedding thank you gifts. Our centerpieces had slabs of birch wood underneath them and our flower girl basket was birch. Everything tied in perfectly!

Once you have an idea of your style it’s a lot easier to narrow it down and eventually everything will fall into place!

Wedding Theme Ideas:

• Winter wonderland
• Beach  themed
• Sunflowers
• Travel themed
• Disney themed
• “Falling” in love (for the fall season)
• Carnival themed
• Superhero themed

Now some of these are pretty out there, but I’ve seen it done! Happy planning!

Holiday Toes

With this holiday season having been Jackson’s first of course I had to do some kind of crafts with him. Later on down the road I want to have something to look back on that reminds me of this precious time. Because he is too young to do crafts on his own, there’s nothing better than some cute feet paintings! They are super simple (but extremely messy) to do, and so much fun! I got small canvas pads from Job Lots. A pack of 6 was only a couple dollars and I used paint that I had on hand. Here’s a couple of the ones that I did.

I’m really excited about these! I’m going to put magnets on the back of them and hang them on our fridge! If you have some holiday crafts you did with your LO I would love to see them, feel free to share!!

21 Day Fix

So this may not quite be what I normally blog about.. but I’m really excited to be starting the 21 Day Fix eating plan! I don’t have the workouts portion of this program so I’ll be following another program for that. 21 Day Fix is a Beach Body program created to help you portion control the right food. This is definitely something I’ve always struggled with. My department at work is doing a weight loss challenge starting Monday which is really pushing me to follow this program. They had one a few months ago but they refused to let me participate since I was right at my due date and they knew I would lose most of my baby weight once Jackson was born (Boo). But that’s okay, because now it’s my turn!

I’ve known about 21 Day Fix for a long time and have heard SO many success stories that I knew I needed to try it. Basically what you do is figure out your caloric needs (based on a formula they give you) and that tells you how many of each food container, per day, that you are suppose to eat. Each food group is broken down to containers of different sizes so that you get the right amount of food each day. Of course that means that you have to plan out every meal for every day to make sure you get all your containers and don’t go over. This has been the biggest struggle for me so far but I finally came up with a plan. My dinner will change each week so I will have to adjust my daily plan accordingly.

I can’t wait to get started. Time to lose the extra couple baby weight pounds!

Car Seat Safety

I’m back! Sorry to all those that have been waiting for another post. With the holidays upon us as well as my brother being on leave from the Army, I haven’t exactly had a chance to catch my breath. I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!

With the winter weather approaching I thought a good topic to touch base on is the importance of car seat safety. I have heard so many horror stories of children being severely injured or not surviving from a car crash. There are so many important safety tips when it comes to the proper use of car seats that many overlook (especially with cold weather). So without further ado… lets dive in.

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1.  Make sure your child is in the proper car seat and facing the correct direction. Be sure that the car seat is installed correctly. This is pretty basic so I won’t go into much detail. If you have any questions about this, check the manual for your car seat or check out the following link:

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/pages/Car-Safety-Seats-Information-for-Families.aspx?gclid=CjwKEAiA2IO0BRDXmLndksSB0WgSJADNKqqo2vbsxNgmlXqT63GQZ7dCLU5ca3VZoTO4-uNYpHg81hoCgOvw_wcB

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2. Make sure the chest clip is at the child’s chest. This seams like a pretty obvious one to me because the name of the clip actually says where it should be placed. However, I can’t tell you how many times I have seen children in car seats with this clip at their stomach. This can be fatal. During a crash if the clip is placed too low it can cause damage and/or internal bleeding to organs that are not protected by the chest bones. This clip should be on their chest and at armpit level. It should be snug enough that you are not able to pinch the strap.

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3. Do NOT buckle your child into the car seat with winter clothes on. Bulky winter jackets cause a gap between the child and the safety straps. You always want the straps to be as close to your child as possible. There are many other options in keeping your child warm in the car. Instead of making you read on and on about this, I included a video (not one of my own) for you to watch. Please take a few minutes and really watch it.

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If you’re not already panicking about making sure your child is in the proper car seat with the appropriate safety measures, here’s a scary statistic for you. According to the National Highway Safety Administration: During 2012, children 14 and under accounted for 1,168 traffic fatalities and 169,000 injuries. With children 14 and under, an average of 3 children per day were killed and 462 children were injured per day. PER DAY!

Please make sure your children are buckled correctly. Accidents happen but making sure your child is correctly in their seat could be the determining factor in their survival. Take a look at the following link to Cameron’s story: http://www.today.com/parents/car-seat-cop-mom-wants-save-your-childs-life-1D80345801

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There are a few more links listed below with more information on car seat safety.

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/child_passenger_safety/cps-factsheet.html

http://www.safekids.org/safetytips/field_risks/car-seat?gclid=CjwKEAiA2IO0BRDXmLndksSB0WgSJADNKqqoCbmxNToPz5-Gr2gZddNmWg-YmbpfZ_tjhDjFWJTcGxoCKlbw_wcB

http://www.safercar.gov/parents/CarSeats/Car-Seat-Safety.htm

 

 

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?!

Yay you’re engaged!! Now comes all the fun stuff! There are so many ways to ask your favorite ladies (or gents) to be in your wedding party! Once you’ve figured out who you would like to have standing up there with you on your special day it makes a nice gesture if you come up with a creative way to ask them. If you don’t know already, I’m a huge Pinterest fan. I get a lot of my ideas from there and tweak them to fit my style.

It’s important to remember that you want to personalize the way you ask. I know, for me, I wouldn’t really want to get the same card as a few other girls that say the exact same boring thing (but even if I did, I would still be honored). Coming up with an idea to make each girl feel special is so important!

When I asked my lovely bridesmaids and maid of honor to be a part of our big day, I made a gift box. I wanted to get stuff that they could actually use. I decided to get a photo box and put a few items inside. Because we decided to go with lavender and grey for our wedding colors, that’s the theme I made the boxes. I lined the boxes with purple tissue paper. Things that I put inside were: purple nail polish (which we all used for the big day), a Smirnoff nip that had a purple label, a purple bag of chocolate (Hershey’s Bliss chocolate to be exact, YUM!), and an iron-on that said “Bridesmaid” or “Maid of Honor”. Once the boxes were filled I made a little sign for each girl and glued it to the inside of the lid. Each sign was different. I tied the boxes closed with a grey ribbon and wrote their name on a little tag in the front of the box.

There are so many different ways to ask! Some other ideas are:

• “Proposing” to them with a ring pop and saying, “he popped the question, now it’s my turn.”
• Creating a custom label and putting it on a wine bottle
• Buy a custom picture frame that has their name and “bridesmaid” or “maid of honor” on it- they can use it to put a picture from the wedding day
• Buy the movie “Bridesmaids” and make a creative label to put on it
• Buy an item, such as a robe or tanktop that says “Bridesmaid” or “Maid of Honor”
• Make a box or basket of all kinds of goodies

 

I always love to see new ideas so feel free to send me pictures of other ways you’ve asked!

Letting Baby “Cry It Out”

When it comes to parenting and sleep training, one of the biggest discussions nowadays is the Crying It Out method. Okay, so what exactly is the crying it out method anyways? Well, it is difficult to state exactly what the CIO (cry it out) method is as there are many different opinions on the definition. In general, the CIO method means not going to your baby every time they cry to be soothed. It, generally, means letting your baby cry through their stress and put them self to sleep.This method is intended to teach babies and young children to self-soothe. Well, I’m calling bullshit. Many parents may not agree with me on my point of view but that’s okay. Every parent is different, as is every child and every situation.

There are endless studies that have been done on the CIO method and whether or not it actually works. What I’ve found is that it causes much more damage than it does good. With the CIO method, babies do not really learn to “self-soothe”. When your child is crying, especially as an infant, they are crying because they are in need of something. They may be hungry, need a diaper change, may not feel good, or they simply just need to be loved. Now, many of you may say, “Well, if you give your child attention every time they fuss, you’re going to raise them to be spoiled and always need attention.” Not true. You need to remember that this precious bundle of joy is completely new to this world. They have never experienced this before. Think of them like a clean slate. They have no understanding of relationships, trust, love or compassion. They are coming into this world not knowing a single thing. It is our responsibility as parents and care givers to teach them those crucial understandings.

If your baby is crying out for you and you go to him, it teaches him that when he needs you, you will be there. It teaches him that he can count on you to protect him, care for him, and make him feel better. It is such a crucial step in building a relationship with him and teaching him that he can trust you. If your baby cries out for you and you never come, it causes excessive levels of stress and their level of cortisol to spike tremendously. Could you imagine being in this completely new place and not understanding anything; crying out for the one (or two) people that they know they should be able to trust, and having that person never come? Could you imagine how stressful and upsetting that would be? I sure wouldn’t want to be forced into that situation.

As stated by Denene Millner, “In her recent piece for Psychology Today, Darcia Narvaez, an associate professor of psychology at Notre Dame, writes that when babies are stressed, their bodies release cortisol into their systems — a toxic hormone that kills brain cells. Considering their brains are only 25 percent developed when they’re born full-term and grow rapidly in their first year, killing off baby brain cells is a huge no bueno. Narvaez notes that studies out of Harvard, Yale, Baylor and other prestigious institutions show that said killing off of baby brain cells can lead to the higher probability of ADHD, poor academic performance and anti-social tendencies, and that human babies are hardwired for hands-on comfort and care.” I’ve included links to both Millner’s and Narvaez’s articles below.

You may find with the CIO method that after a few days, your baby does not cry so much when they are being put down to sleep. However, this does not necessarily mean that they are learning to “self-soothe”. Studies show that even when these children aren’t physically crying, their cortisol levels are still spiked just as high as they were the first day when they were screaming for you. Basically what you’re doing is teaching them to cry and panic silently. This can cause children to be stressed, anxious and alienated. It can alter their long term development of relationships, trust, and connection.

Now, I’m not saying that every time your child makes the smallest peep that you need to go barreling to their side and overwhelm them with affection. However, if that’s what you’re comfortable with then by all means go for it. What I’m saying is that your child needs to know you will be there for them when they need you. If baby is hungry, feed them. If baby needs a diaper change, change them. If baby needs love and affection, GIVE IT TO THEM. Does this mean you have to pick up your baby and smother them? No. Sometimes simply talking to baby and putting your hand on their chest is enough to calm them down and let them know, “Hey, I’m here. I hear you and know you’re upset; but I’m here and I love you.”

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post: every parent is different, as is every child and situation. My views may not be right for everyone but I encourage all parents and care givers to check out the articles below to get some more incite.

 

Narvaez, Darcia, Ph.D. “Dangers of.” Psychology Today. N.p., 11 Dec. 2011. Web. 16 Dec. 2015. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/moral-landscapes/201112/dangers-crying-it-out 

Millner, Denene. “Cry It Out: The Method That Kills Baby Brain Cells.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Dec. 2011. Web. 16 Dec. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/denene-millner/cry-it-out_b_1163864.html>.

Cassels, Tracy, Ph.D. “What You Need To Know About Crying-It-Out.” Evolutionary Parenting Where History And Science Meet Parenting. N.p., 19 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Dec. 2015. http://evolutionaryparenting.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-crying-it-out/

Glenn, Amy Wright. “Screaming to Sleep, Part One: The Moral Imperative to End ‘cry It Out'” PhillyVoice. N.p., 26 Jan. 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015. <http://www.phillyvoice.com/screaming-sleep/>.

Guest List Tracker

When planning a wedding, it is crucial you keep your guest list organized. There is so much that goes into your guest list that it is near impossible to do it without a spreadsheet (and if you can, kudos to you). After all, how do you keep track of invitations, addresses, RSVP’s, song requests, dinner choices, and all the other information that you can possibly think of?! Well, don’t panic, that’s what I’m here for! I’ve created an all-purpose spreadsheet to help you keep track of everything that you could possibly need. This spreadsheet was my go-to for everything. Click here to view the Guest List Tracker. Here, you can plug in all of your information and keep yourself just a little bit more sane.

Planning The Perfect Party

There’s a lot that goes into planning a party. Depending on what occasion you’re celebrating and how big the party is going to be, it can be a lot of work. I’ve created a timeline checklist of the basics that go into planning. Of course, each event will be different, but I hope this checklist will provide the beginning steps and help you on your way! Click here to view the checklist!