Blog Love: Austin Kimmey

I'm doing something a bit different today.  I wanted to spotlight a blog that's near and dear to my heart.  Meet Austin Kimmey.  Austin Kimmey is written by Andrea, mom to 7 year old Drew and nearly 5 month old Austin.  Andrea created  the blog when her son Austin was born at 26 weeks gestation weighing only 1lb 14oz, as a way to connect and provide updates on Austin's battle to family members.  After 20 scary weeks in the NICU, Austin is finally being released and will be going home today.  Please check out Andrea's blog and wish her and Austin a Happy Coming Home Day!



Yay Austin, keep thriving and stay healthy!

-stephanie

Adalyn Month Thirteen

Let me start your 13 month post by saying I'm sorry.  In the midst of preparing for a new job I forgot all about posting about your 13 month update.  You're becoming more and more of a person and we're definitely seeing a stubborn personality coming out of you.  I'm sure you get that from your mama!

Stats:  It's hard to say where you are height wise but you're hovering around 21-22 lbs at this point.  You have thinned out a little bit since you've started moving around but your chub is still hanging on.  You're still wearing 9-12 month clothes and size 3 shoes.

Sleep Schedule:  As was last month, your sleep schedule is still erratic some nights you do really well and sleep a solid 8 hours and others you wake up and want some cuddling.  I can see a positive change in direction though and imagine I'll soon be wondering what happened to my crazy sleeper.

Foods:  Well you're officially on whole milk and you were a bit hesitant at first but you seem to be on board.  You're reacting well to it, no adverse reactions which is great.  So far you're not allergic to anything which is lucky for us and you.  We're down to only morning and night nursing sessions and throughout the day you're doing whole milk.  You still don't really have the sippy cup down at all but I'm positive that you'll get there someday.

Firsts:  Well you had your first trip to IKEA as well as your first taste of Swedish meatballs.  The trip to IKEA you liked, the Swedish meatballs, not so much.  It could be that aversion to meat though.  You had your first Dairy Queen ice cream cake for your grandpa's birthday!  Of course you loved it, who doesn't love ice cream cake?!

Favorite Toys:  Your really digging anything you can push around the house. That could be a toy or it could be furniture.  You still love your books and are starting to carry around animals or dolls so I think you may be a future doll lover.

This month passed by surprisingly quick and your growing into a little person.  You have 5 teeth and one guy wants to poke through so I'm sure we'll see that tooth in the next update.

-stephanie

Wordless Wednesday: Brushing My Teeth

On a recent shopping trip to Target I made my way down the tooth care aisle specifically to find Addie her first "real" toothbrush as well as some flouride free toothpaste.  Prior to the new purchase we were using a toothbrush which came from one of those new baby kits.  Addie really wasn't too interested in that old toothbrush any more than to chew on it, but add a little toothpaste and the kid is suddenly interested (shocking right?).

Honestly, I think she likes it mostly because she's teething and it's something to chew on.  That and that toothpaste.

-stephanie

Adalyn's Favorite Activity

One of Addie's favorite things to do is read, or at least flip through the pages because she can't actually be reading if she can't talk right?  We several times will "catch" her in her room sitting on the floor with all the books pulled off the bookshelf scattered around her while she sits in the middle of the room reading.  Her favorite book is the Sesame Street series that she has.  We can now ask her, "Where is Elmo?" and she'll find him on the page and point at him.  Very cute.  While we're watching television at night or sitting in her room watching her she'll walk up to us at any point with a book because she wants to sit on your lap and have you read to her.

What's your little one's favorite activity?  Tell us about it.

-stephanie

The High School Yearbook Photo

The other day I ran across my high school yearbook which has been sitting untouched on a bookshelf in our office for 6 years.  Of course I flipped it open and looked at old friends and remembered what it was like in high school.  Luckily I graduated in a time when the craziest fad was overalls which, thankfully, I was not wearing in my senior photo.  So I can't share that story without sharing a photo of me right?  Here I am at 17, hard to believe that was nearly 13 years ago!

For the most part I think I look the same except my face has thinned out a bit which is a very good thing. I was pretty round in the face in high school.

I was checking out the Shutterfly website recently and saw a feature I'd never noticed before.  Shutterfly now has Yearbooks!  Shutterfly Yearbooks are the easiest and most affordable way to preserve school memories for your child and your school, helping parents of a single student, class or an entire school, easily create specially designed page templates for school activities, subjects, and student classroom and faculty photos.

Easy-to-make Use the specially designed page templates to capture school activities along with favorite student, classroom and faculty pictures. Make it just the way you want with the All New Custom Path.

Easy on your pocketbook  Get up to 75% off when you order for your class or school. Shutterfly has prices as low as $5 per Yearbook, which are only available by contacting Shutterfly for a quote.

Made to love, made to last  The award-winning photo books are printed in color and professionally bound. Your Yearbook is saved forever and you can re-order it at any time.

Obviously I don't run a school or classroom but I could see ordering these custom yearbooks for the family each year.  As a sort of look back on the previous year.  You can take the best pictures or moments you captured throughout the year and organize them in these yearbooks and leave them out on the coffee table or keep each years book lined up on a bookshelf.

Check out the Shutterfly Yearbooks directly at their site or at any one of their social media channels; Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. 

 Note:  This is a sponspored post.

- stephanie