Growing Like A Weed

Every day 'itty bitty' is growing and changing. It is pretty amazing and I love to watch his progress!

We still have our hard days (yesterday I got to experience explosive poop) but for the most part things are getting much easier. His eating schedule is becoming pretty routine. He usually eats every three hours and his accuracy is pretty remarkable. He is sleeping for much longer periods throughout the night. Now I get a full five hours straight for the most part. My body is slowly getting used to the lack of sleep. I guess I should have known it would take awhile to get used to considering I never had a class before 11AM in college and  my last job allowed me to make my own schedule (which consisted of sleeping in and staying up late.) 

Pumping is getting easier and more efficient. I have the Medela Pump in Style Advanced and I really like it! It works great. Word of advice for expecting moms, if you get this pump make sure you get extra collars and nipples. The set comes with several bottles but not enough collars and nipples for them all. Also, if you do get this pump, register for Medela bottles. They fit perfectly on the pump and it is a pain to have to transfer pumped milk into other bottles. I registered for and received a ton of Tommee Tippee bottles. I really like them but I can't connect them to the pump. So I would probably prefer to have all Medela bottles because it just makes life easier.

Harper ended up getting a little bit of my sickness. Poor thing had a pretty stuffy nose and a sad little cough. I felt so bad. He had a hard time breast-feeding because he could not breathe through his nose and he would get very frustrated when he tried to eat. I found a wonderful aspirator that really helped him feel better. It was called "Little Noses" and I loved it because it was made specifically for infants. I got the aspirator and saline combo which was great. The aspirator is nice and small and the tip is soft and angled so it made it easier to use on Harper. Then a few days ago I discovered the Little Noses sterile saline nasal mist and that worked even better than the drops. It fit perfectly into his nose so you could spray it without getting it on his face. I recommend expecting moms to have these products on hand before the baby even gets here. They were lifesavers and I felt so bad when he was so upset because he couldn't breathe. Poor thing sounded like our pug!!  

Being a mother is truly rewarding. I am so thankful for this sweet baby boy!! I can't wait to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with him. Do any of you mothers have suggestions for good gift ideas for the little guy? He will be a little over 3 months by Christmas time. I want to get him things that he can use. I was thinking a bouncy seat. Do you know of any good ones? And I would love you all to share any good Etsy stores that sell cute baby boy stuff!! 

And for you Upstate, SC folks, DEAL OF THE DAY!!! You can get $30 to spend at Stossner's Bakery for only $15!! 50% off, you really can't beat it! Check out the deal HERE!! Strossner's Bakery & Florist has been a tradition in Greenville, SC and the upstate area for over 60 years. While we were in China for Survivor, you start getting all sorts of crazy cravings when you are literally starving. And all Erik could talk about was Strossner's Pumpkin pound cake. Strossner's famous - moist pumpkin spice pound cake has a crunchy baked on praline topping (butter,brown sugar, pecans,coconut). It is only available September through December. You need to try this stuff, it will change your life! haha And Strossner's serves Afternoon Tea in the Patio Room from Monday through Thursday from 3 - 5 pm. You will enjoy pastries, cookies, petits fours & your choice of tea for only $10 per person!! Erik and I went for afternoon tea when we were in London and it was so much fun! What a wonderful tradition! 

FREE Christmas Cards!!

As most of you know, I am a HUGE fan of Shutterfly. I use them every year for our Christmas cards, and this year I used them for Harper's birth announcements and thank you cards. And I love their return address labels because you can add your own photos for a personal touch. 

Well good news!! Shutterfly is currently hosting a holiday card promotion for bloggers! And this is one promotion you will not want to miss! Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly if they blog about their experience with the company and the new holiday card collection! Check out all of the details here! 

When I send out Christmas cards I want them to have a personal touch and Shutterfly Christmas cards allow you to include tons of photos on every card. It makes it way more convenient than trying to print out photos and include them inside the card when you send them out. The cards are very high quality and the photos look clear, crisp, and vibrant. I went ahead and made a Christmas card to show you how absolutely adorable they are. (This isn't going to be the one I send out but it turned out pretty darn cute!) 

This photo shows the front of the card but the best part is Shutterfly allows you to put even more photos inside the card at no additional cost. So I usually put another 4 photos on the left-hand side of the card and have a nice Christmas verse on the right. This is the Retro Plaid Christmas card. Some of my other favorite designs are Seasonal Chic Noir, Bright Blooming Tree , and Monogram Snowman. Shutterfly came out with a ton of new Christmas card designs!! Check out their 2010 holiday card collection HERE! 

Retro Plaid Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

They have matching address labels for almost all of their holiday cards but I usually go with a label that allows you to add a photo on it. Aren't these ADORABLE!!

Some of my favorite products are:

·         Christmas cards,  photo calendars, and Christmas gift tags. I think the photo calendars would be a GREAT gift for family and friends. 

Need help with your Christmas card message? Here are several ideas:

Non-denominational Christmas Card Messages

Wishing you a joyous Holiday Season

and a most prosperous and healthy New Year.

Warmest wishes

for a happy holiday season

and a wonderful new year.

May the Holiday Season

bring only happiness and joy

to you and your loved ones.

Wishing you and your loved ones 

all the wonder and magic of Christmas.

Joyous songs and Christmas cheer...

laughter and friendship to you all year!

A heartfelt Christmas Wish for you May all 

your Christmas lights come on the first time 

you plug them in! Have a Bright Christmas!

'Tis the season to be jolly – 

May your Christmas be filled with all the things 

that make you smile!

Religious Christmas Card Messages:

Wishing you the gift of faith, the blessing 

of hope and the peace of His love at 

Christmas and always.

May the splendor of this season remind you

of Him who is worthy of all our praise.

Biblical Christmas Card Messages:

Today in the town of David

a Savior has been born to you:

he is Christ the Lord.

-Luke 2:11

We have seen His star in the East,

and have come to worship Him.

-Matthew 2:2

And suddenly there was the angel,

a multitude of the heavenly host,

praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest."

-Luke 2:13

"She shall bring forth a son,

and thou shall call His name Jesus;

for He shall save His people from their sins."

-Matthew 1:21

"Behold...

I bring you good tidings of great joy."

-Luke 2:10

And what kind of post would this be without a few great coupon codes?! Here they are! I hope they work for you. 

Free shipping on orders over $30- SHIP30

One free card- CARD4U

25% off cards- FATWALLET5

5% off Cards- CSHARE5

10% off your order- SAVE10

5 free cards- TRYFIVE

Stylin'

Pinkim over at Truly Simply Pink, was so sweet and gave me the stylish blogger award. THANKS PINKIM! Make sure to check out her lovely blog. She is a I am a 15 year breast cancer survivor/advocate and mother of one college freshman and a wife.

Now, apparently, there are a few rules to follow here and they are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave it to you.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pay it forward to 15 other recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award.

So 7 things about myself:

1) I was born in Ft. Lauderdale Florida and actually lived in the city of Sunrise for 15 years. I lived in an amazing neighborhood with a wonderful group of friends that I still keep in touch with.

2) I love to play softball. I played pretty much my entire life which comes as a surprise to most because apparently I don't "look like a softball player." Although I am still not really sure what that means... I love the sport and miss playing. My favorite positions were shortstop, 2nd, and catcher.

3) I am a Buffalo Bills fan. Even though I grew up near Miami, I actually despise the Dolphins. My father and his whole side of the family are from Buffalo, NY and they are huge Bills fans. It has been a hard 10 years but we keep holding on to the hope that one day we will have another Superbowl worthy team. Man I miss Bruce, Thurman, Jim, and Andre. Those were the days!

4) I am a huge USC GAMECOCK fan. I went to the University of South Carolina and love everything garnet and black. I especially love Carolina football. Praying we pull out a win tonight against Florida!

5) I had a wonderful group of friends in college and by pure coincidence we were all blonde. Although I did have one best friend, Natalie, and she was my token brunette! We referred to ourselves as "Team Blonde," hysterical... I know. I love all of these girls very much!

6) I have an amazing and incredibly good looking husband. I call him "curl" because he has gorgeous brown curly hair. Every day I remind myself how lucky I am to have him in my life. He is the best spouse a girl could ask for and he is such an amazing father. We met in China in June of 2007. We were both contestants on CBS Survivor China. The craziest part, we actually grew up about 25 miles apart. He grew up in a small town, Greenville, SC and I grew up in the town right next to him, Spartanburg. But we met in freaking CHINA! Crazy right!?

7) Erik and I were blessed with our first child in September. I love being a momma and little Harper has my heart. He is such a sweet and beautiful baby. I am a lucky girl!

Ok, I am just going to give this to 5 bloggers... 

Connecticut Yankees in South Carolina

Sweet Bef's Blog

Shrimp and Glitz

La Dolce Vita

Sweet Tea and Pearls

Sick Sick Sick

Well if you didn't already guess from the title, I am sick! It has been a miserable few days. I went to the doctors yesterday (for literally the first time in years!) and it looks like I have a severe sinus infection and a nice cold to top it off. So, I have been spending the day sniffling, coughing, and sneezing. Now I just hope Harper doesn't catch it from me! So I am going to make this post short, just wanted to share a few photos of my little guy now that he is 7 weeks old! He is almost 2 months!!! CRAZY. Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Are You Living Social?

If you love a great bargain, then this post is for you. Yesterday I came across a new website. It is called LivingSocial. LivingSocial offers one fantastic deal every day with discounts of up to 90% at local restaurants, bars, spas, theaters, and more.

But the best part about this website is that it is free. No signup fees, not extra charges. You just look at the daily deal in your city and if you want to purchase it, you click on the purchase button and your DONE. It is fantastic. I also love that is is specific to the city that you live in. They have daily deals for a ton of cities! And there are deals in Canada and Europe too!! These are the cities that they include:

US and Canadian Cities

• Akron-Canton
• Albuquerque
• Atlanta
• Austin
• Baltimore
• Baton Rouge
• Bellevue/Eastside
• Birmingham
• Boise
• Boston
• Brooklyn
• Buffalo
• Calgary
• Cedar Rapids/Iowa City
• Charleston
• Charlotte
• Chattanooga
• Chicago
• Chicago-Western Suburbs
• Cincinnati
• Cleveland
• Colorado Springs
• Columbia
• Columbus
• Dallas
• Dayton
• Denver
• Detroit
• Edmonton
• El Paso
• Eugene
• Fort Worth
• Fresno
• Ft. Lauderdale
• Grand Rapids
• Green Bay
• Greenville
• Hampton Roads Peninsula
• Honolulu
• Houston
• Hudson County
• Indianapolis
• Jacksonville
• Kansas City
• Knoxville
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• Louisville
• Lubbock
• Memphis
• Mesa
• Miami
• Milwaukee
• Minneapolis
• Mississauga
• Montgomery County
• Montreal
• NYC Downtown
• NYC Midtown
• NYC Uptown
• Nashville
• New Orleans
• North Jersey
• Northeast Atlanta
• Northern Virginia
• Oakland/East Bay
• Oklahoma City
• Omaha
• Orange County
• Orlando
• Ottawa
• Palm Beaches
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• Piedmont Triad
• Pittsburgh
• Portland
• Raleigh-Durham
• Richmond
• Sacramento
• Salt Lake City
• San Antonio
• San Diego
• San Fernando Valley
• San Francisco
• Savannah
• Seattle
• South Hampton Roads
• Southern CT
• St Louis
• St. Paul
• St. Pete/Clearwater
• Tampa
• Toledo
• Toronto
• Tucson
• Tulsa
• Vancouver
• Washington, D.C.
• Westside/SouthBay
• Wilmington-Newark

Europe

• Birmingham
• Brighton
• Bristol
• Dublin
• Glasgow
• Leeds
• Liverpool
• London

Yesterday I bought an hour-long facial for Sois Belle Spa in Greenville for $32! This was 50% off the regular price. A few other examples of deals they have had in the past week in Greenville are- 20 hot yoga classes at Southern Om for $20. That was a 91% discount! An hour massage at Simply massage for $30 (54% off!) and $30 gift cards for Chicora Alley for only $15!! 

I decided to sign up for the daily deal e-mails for Greenville, Charlotte, and Charleston since I go to all three cities pretty frequently. The other day they had The Schooner Pride Sunset Sail tickets in Charleston for $25 (55% off!!) And in Charlotte they featured Eden Therapy & Massage

1-Hour Massages for $35. 

If your city is on the list you are definitely going to want to sign up.

You get 5 Deal Bucks when you sign up and I'll get 5 Deal Bucks when you buy your first deal. Just click HERE! 

Hope you love this website as much as I do.

Today's Greenville deal is for Skydive Carolina.

It's a bird, it's a plane, no... it's a skydiver who grabbed today's deal from Skydive Carolina. For just $124 (regularly $209) score one tandem skydive and be the Superman you always wanted to be (sans the loud blue, yellow, and red "S" emblazoned on your chest). After 30 minutes of classroom coaching, you'll get to experience the rush of a lifetime as you, with your instructor strapped behind you, go flying through the air faster than a speeding bullet -- at least until your parachute deploys. Then, let 'er rip (the cord that is) and enjoy five minutes of flight time under your parachute.

Today's Columbia deal is for a Slimming Herbal Body Wrap at Tranquil Moments Day Spa for $40.

Today's Charleston deal is for Granville's Cafe. It is offering a fine-dining experience, valued at $76, for just $30. This means you'll be treating someone special to one of Charleston's top restaurants and two complimentary glasses of champagne.

In Your Face!

If you live in the Upstate, I just found a great deal (50% off) at Sois Belle Spa in Greenville. For the next 8 hours you can get an hour long facial for $32 or a Kinetic Dermabrasion for $45!! I am getting a few to give for Christmas gifts. Check it out!

Kinetic Dermabrasion is a technique that is successful in removal of fine lines & wrinkles; reduction of blocked & enlarged pores, blemishes, pigmentation changes & age spots; blending of scars; removal of black & white heads; improvement of post-acne scars; smoothes skin appearance; clears & cleans pores; allows for absorption of vitamins into epidermis layer of skin; and more—creates a wow factor overall!  Plus, this procedure requires no downtime. A single treatment is normally $90.00!

To take advantage of this deal check it out HERE!!

Where in the world!?

Wow, I just looked at my statistics of the visitors that come to my blog. The last 500 visitors were from:

 United States

South Africa

Australia

Argentina

Brazil

India

Canada

Hong Kong

Bulgaria

Sweden

Germany

Czech Republic

Italy

That is so amazing. I would love to hear what parts of these countries you all live in and how you came across my blog. Please feel free to leave a post with your location.

And if you are from the United States,  what state do you live in?

Sale!

Thanks to all of the sweet ladies that complimented this outfit. I actually threw it together very last minute and got every single item (even the boots) from TARGET!! Most of the items are on sale this week too. 

You can find the leggings here. They are on sale this week for $20! I think I want to go back and get them in grey too! 

The tunic is HERE!  It is on sale for $25.

And the boots are HERE! They are only $20!!

So the whole outfit including shoes was $65. You can't beat it!!

Happy shopping!

Home Improvements

For the past few weeks, the only thing on my mind has been BABY!! But now things are slowly getting back to normal. I go grocery shopping, I am starting to cook again, some kind of order is coming together in the house. Now it is time to start decorating the house. We moved in in June but never got the chance to complete all of the rooms. We went from a 2 bedroom home to a 4 bedroom home, so as you can imagine we need a lot of furniture and new decor. Now that we are on a budget I have starting looking for bargains on furniture. I found a gorgeous dining room table on Craigslist! And now I am searching for console tables.  I need two. One for a hall upstairs and one for a space in my living room. I want to get an antique looking one for the living room but the one upstairs can be a little more modern. 

I found this one at www.allcoffetables.com and it is only $189.00 plus free shipping! I think it would be great for extra storage. 

I also like these two: (As you can see my taste is all over the place!) 

Which one do you like the best??

What places do you all go to when you are shopping for home decor? Where do you find the best deals? I also need several rugs for the house. One in particular needs to have a beachy feel. I don't want anything with an aquatic scene... more of a plain rug but in beach colors. Light creams, blues, greens, or corals. Any ideas? I appreciate any help I can get.

We Are Blessed

Motherhood is pretty amazing. Every single day is an adventure. I am constantly learning new things about my baby and about myself.

Harper is a sweet, sweet baby. He loves to cuddle and he is only fussy when he is hungry. We are blessed. We catch him smirking, smiling, and once an awhile he lets out a small chuckle. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen and every time he smiles, my heart melts.

I always thought I was a career woman. My profession and my career dreams were on the top of my priority list. Now I just want to figure out a way to stay with Harper as long as possible. I would give anything to be a stay-at-home mom. I just can't imagine missing a second of this little guy's life. I want to see every smirk, every step, every cry, every thing! I am already aware that being a stay-at-home mom is  the hardest job in the world but I think it is totally worth it. And if we can't work that out, I would love to figure out a way to take Harp to work with me or to work from home. He is already growing up so fast and I realize I need to cherish every moment we have with him. On that note, he is 6 weeks old!!! CRAZY. When people say, "they grow up fast," that is a complete understatement. As of today, Harper moved up to size one diapers. I think he is will fit his size 0-3 month clothing any day now... they are still a little big on him and he still wears newborn clothing.

We had a WONDERFUL Halloween week. My best friend, Bri, came in town from Charlotte and met me and Harper for lunch. I was so glad they finally met each other. And my parent's best friends came in town from Florida. It was great to visit with them. On Friday night a huge group of friends went to Joe's Crab Shack to watch Erik's new act, "Palmetto" play! It was so much fun. We played pass the baby and Harper was able to meet a ton of our friends and the guys sounded fantastic! If you live in the Upstate, make sure to come to Joe's Crab Shack on Pelham Road in Greenville, SC this Friday night from 8:00pm- 11:00pm. The band is playing a again and there is always a fun group of people at the show. They play a variety of music, everything from Kenny Chesney, Pearl Jam, John Mayor, to Jimmy Buffett. Plus, it is FREE!!! Can't beat that right!?

To top it off, the Gamecocks WON on Saturday. Harper wore his good luck gamecock outfit and it worked. Thanks Auntie Jenna for the adorable t-shirt, Auntie Corbin for the Carolina booties, and Colin for the awesome USC toboggan. Now we just have to pull out a few more wins so we can win the SEC East.

We had an amazing Halloween. Harper made it to church for the first time (more like we woke up in time to make it to church for the first time since the baby was born.) We just started going to a new church when we moved back to the Upstate and we absolutely love it. They have been an amazing church family. Several members of our Sunday school class brought up homemade meals when Harper was born. It was a huge blessing! We are really excited to raise Harper with such a great church community.

Then we headed to Denver Downs Farm in Anderson, SC. It was FANTASTIC. Harper went on his first hayride. We picked pumpkins, sunflowers, and zinnias. We enjoyed lemonade and funnel cakes. And we took lots of photos. The weather was perfect and we decided to make the trip a yearly tradition. After the farm, we headed to my parent's house and enjoyed a steak dinner.

Hope you had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!