Universal Baby Bottle and Sippy Cup Organizer Review

I was recently given the opportunity to review PRK Products Inc Universal Baby Bottle and Sippy Cup Organizer thanks to Tried and Truth. Interested in joining Tried and Truth? They are seeking moms and dads who like to give their feedback on products so just go HERE to see if you qualify.

Check out my review I posted at Tried and True:

Universal Baby Bottle and Sippy Cup Organizer 

My review includes a short video which goes into more detail about the product and how it works for our family!

Hurricanes and Homemade Food

(Little girls watching the storm)

It's raining outside. And really windy. Yup, I am writing this in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy reaching us sometime tonight. We are as prepared as we can be in an apartment and are very thankful we still have power as a lot of people in MA are going without right now. 

Yesterday, I decided to try and make some food for the week (totally praying and hoping that our power wouldn't go out so all the food I prepared and froze would keep). 

I made ketchup, mayo, chicken nuggets, an asparagus quinoa dish, an organic chicken slow cooked in my crock pot, and finally chicken stock from the organic chicken "parts". 

~Lacto-Fermented Ketchup from the Healthy Home Economist

~REAL Mayo from the Healthy Home Economist (although next time I make it I will not be using olive oil as the flavor was too strong)

~Grain-Free Chicken Nuggets from HolisticKid (these turned out amazing and I was able to use my homemade almond flour!)

~Asparagus Quinoa Dish (I just made up from a recipe I saw and now don't remember where I saw it): Asparagus, quinoa, sesame seeds, chicken, and soy sauce

Also, today I decided to bake in case our power went out I wanted to ensure my expensive free-range eggs were put to good use so I made:

~ Grain Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (minus the poppy seeds since I didn't have any and they still came out really good) from the Healthy Home Economist

About ready to go to bed in the same room as my little girls (for my peace-of-mind not for them haha) and see what tomorrow brings!

Favorite Quote Friday

My little girl has the most amazing imagination and personality and I have started trying to keep track of all the things that come out of her mouth.

I am teaching her the sounds of the letters and today we had a conversation that went like this:

"D sounds like 'duh' 'duh' 'duh'...?" I waited to see what she would say.

"Daddy!" -Lillian

"You are right! Good Job! How about A? Ah ah  ...?"-Me

"Apple!"- Lillian

"Woohoo! Right again little girl! What about C?   Cuh cuh"...?"-Me

"Kangaroo!"-Lillian

"....hmmm well, you are right the 'cuh' sound is made by the K as well as the C, but kangaroo starts with a K not a C."-Me


I am one proud Momma and looking forward to many more exciting and challenging converstaions I will have with my little one.

Thankful Thursday

I have decided to try and do a weekly post where I proclaim what I am thankful for.

Why make a weekly list? For starters I love making lists. Yup, I do, but I don't always follow through with said lists so this is a great way for me to start becoming accountable to myself and the internet(s?).

Found a great article that further explains why I will be doing this:

"Doctors say giving thanks, taking the time to notice positive things in your life is not only good for your psyche but it's good for your body. University of California at Davis researchers found that practicing gratitude can lower your blood pressure and make you feel less hostile. Grateful people are less angry, less negative and usually look for the cup half full. Studies by Cornell University researchers have shown that those who are thankful appear to have lower risks of developing phobias, alcoholism, even depression. They even have stronger immune systems."
- from The Importance of Being Thankful


AND NOW.... MY list this week:

(Lillian just hanging out in a Trader Joe's reusable grocery bag.)

I am soooo thankful for Lillian! She is such an amazing little girl with a huge heart!

(Mikayla loving life!)

Speaking of little girls that I am thankful for: Miss Mikayla! I really really really wanted a boy after having Lillian. Well, God knew what I needed more than I did :) She is such a great addition to our family.

(Water flavored with lemon and blueberries.)

The decision to cut out almost all processed foods and sugar. It hasn't been the easiest decision and I may make a post on all the reasons I am doing this for our family, but for now I am just plain thankful I have the time and money to feed my family the way I feel is best. 

(Inside the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site Museum in Brookline, MA.)

I am thankful for the opportunity to live in a historic city and be able to learn about history almost everywhere we look. After having brunch with some awesome friends we took a walk and one of our friends asked if we wanted to see the birthplace of JFK... hmmm OK! 

(Lillian finding a patch of dirt at the playground to play with her shovel and bucket.)

I am so thankful for Fall. Those of you who know me might be wondering if I am telling the truth since I have actually said I don't like Fall since it means it is going to be cold soon. That is true, I don't like it, BUT I am thankful for it. Why? Well, because Fall is a reminder that time is continuing and seasons are changing. I am thankful to be alive!

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones” Proverbs 17:22 (KJV)

Nap Time Creation

I LOVE my little girls... but I also love my alone time that I get when they nap. Should I be napping with them? Possibly, since my almost 3 month old still gets up 2-3 times a night, but I cherish the moments I get to myself in a quiet apartment. 

Love reading to both girls before nap time:

Today, I made this:

It is simply a bunch of colors that sorta match the colors on my older little girl's curtains and bedspread. I am not into pink and purple everywhere so the room is decorated in a color theme which I am growing to love and excited to keep expanding. I had an extra canvas and used the BIC Mark-It markers to make a pattern. Not sure if I will add some white or black initials over the top of it or just leave it as is... 

Banana Almond Cacao Muffins

I have recently started making my own almond milk (way easier than I had ever imagined) and love the fact that I know exactly what is going in my family's body as well as the fact that when I make fresh almond milk I get milk AND almond flour... good stuff huh?

With a few bananas browning on my counter and some freshly made almond flour I was ready to try out some recipes. I adapted a recipe from the one I saw Mamma and Baby Love's site.

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

2 eggs

4 ripe bananas (if bigger bananas only 3)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups almond flour

1 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup cacao nibs

Next time I will add coconut!

Mix everything together well and make into cupcakes or loafs. Oven at 325 for about 30 min for cupcakes and about an hour for loafs.

A perfect snack for little girl when she woke up from her nap! 

BIC Mark-It Permanent Markers Review

Thanks to Smiley360 I was able to try out this 36 count pack of BIC Mark-It™ Permanent Markers:

I was generously given this big pack of markers along with some fun crafty things to decorate a witch hat (we ended up making it a regular hat by pulling the pointy part down). 

My little one playing with the spiders that were sent along with the cool hat. She ended up trying to glue them to her paper with no success, but enjoyed singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" over and over. 

I tried for fun writing with the markers on the hat and you can barely make out some letters... it was worth a shot.

This is the sushi costume we made a few years ago for our oldest daughter and now our younger little girl will be wearing it this year. I added some new "fish lines" to the salmon with the markers and it came out nicely. 

I really wanted to use the markers to make some baby food jars into cute little pumpkins, but out of the whole 36 pack there was no orange color :(    UPDATE: I am a silly lady and found a color that is orange, but had to actually write with it to see that it was indeed orange... shouldn't it be easy to see that it is orange?

So, just for fun I tried making them red for Christmas and this is after the first coat:

Overall, I really enjoyed using the markers because the smell wasn't very strong (which is a big issue for me) and they were able to be used on multiple surfaces. Too bad some basic colors like ORANGE were left out.

I received a 36-Pack of BIC Mark-It Permanent Markers for FREE from Smiley360.