february favorites

What have I been loving all month? I used to vlog about my favorite products. Since I'm currently wrapped up in the blog world, I figured I'd skip the video this time and write a post for you.

Animal stickers

I'm not a teacher. I never know how to explain things to Carter. I start by telling him what things are, but he only listens half the time. In the past four months he's only memorized four animal sounds and maybe a few words that will get him what he wants.

We went to buy him some shoes, and after we checked out, the salesgirl gave Carter a sticker. The Carter I know and love would normally have eaten something like this. But I suppose he's gotten older (hmm, who knew?) and he loved that silly little sticker. Then I got an idea.

The next time I was at Target, I picked up a pack of barnyard animal stickers. Since he's all of a sudden fascinated by stickers, I let him pick out one animal sticker every day. I tell him the name of the animal and talk him into making that animal's sound with me. It's sort of worked - a pig got ripped and thrown on the floor, but he knows how to moo like a cow now.

Pink Sands Yankee Candle

I know, how annoying am I? I've always got some new Yankee candle I'm begging you to smell.

My friend Dani and I are like candle connoisseurs, stick us in a Yankee store together, and we'll spend a good half hour calling to each other to come smell every single friggin' new candle in there. Then we'll spend an additional half hour trying to decide which one we should buy. If there's a sale, forget about us for the rest of the day.

Needless to say, a good, realistic-smelling candle completely relaxes me, especially since I'm a stay at home mom. I need candles burning around my house like office people need plants in their cubicles. The scent of a person's home as soon as you walk in completely dictates your overall impression of where and how they live. That's why I aim for clean, beautiful scents.

After the holiday collection ends, my go-to spring scent is usually Clean Cotton if I don't find anything else worth 20-something bucks. This time a saleslady pointed me toward her new spring fav - Pink Sands. At first glance it looks like it came straight off 1980's cassette cover. When I smelled it, I knew immediately I'd found my new go-to scent. (Ask Dani, she'll tell you it's a pretty major event to deter me from Clean Cotton) It's described as bright citrus, sweet florals and spicy vanilla, but my personal description would be soft, sweet and clean.

Urban Decay's Naked Palette

After I delivered Carter, I looked like a sweaty, just puked-my-guts-up hot mess. People started clearing out of the delivery room, and my doctor paused to confess to me, Matt and our newborn baby, The nurses and I were just talking about how we can't believe you've still got your makeup on.

I'm a believer that, while sometimes it's better to be cheap, with makeup you definitely get what you pay for. If you wear high quality makeup, you'll look high quality.

I've wanted this eyeshadow palette ever since my friend Jessica told me about it in December, but every time I went to look for it, it was sold out! I finally found it in stock at Ulta this month. It's got every neutral color I need to make the perfect natural, smokey eye. It has a combo of shimmery and matte shades. I try to stick with the matte ones because, let's face it, I just turned 30, shimmers enhance fine lines. Boo.

It also comes with brown and black liner and a small tube of Urban Decay's famous primer potion to help your shadow stay put. The price for a single Urban Decay shadow color is $17. This palette gives you 12 colors for $48, that's a steal.

Gerber Graduates Scoopin' Spoons

Carter has the concept of forks and spoons down pat in his head, but he's not quite there with his coordination. I'd been getting frustrated right along with him when everything seemed to fall right off those flat spoons on the way to his hungry, waiting mouth. I seriously don't even think I could have eaten off them without making a mess.

I noticed my sister-in-law got these for my nephew to scoop his strawberries. They're really deep-cut baby spoons, and they save the day! Carter's eating Cheerios with milk right out of a bowl, no problem.

Baby Einstein Around the World Collection Soother (ages 0-36 months)

Carter goes through so many phases with the bedtime/naptime ordeal. Some days he'll cry, some days he'll wave bye bye to me and laugh, some days he'll blow kisses, some days he'll beg to go see Dada or get some crackers. But the one thing that always tugs at my heart is - happy or not - he's sitting in that crib alone. I remind myself it's normal, turn around and close the door.

I've hoped he'd adopt a favorite blanket or stuffed bear to snuggle up with or talk to so he won't feel lonely, but he hasn't been interested in any of it. Then I found a little something to make myself feel better.

It adds light to the room, plays nature sounds or different worldly songs and has small moving animals on it. I like that the songs fill the empty space in the room and the light makes it less scary. It stays on for 18 minutes and then slowly fades out, and if he's still awake after 18 minutes, it has a giant button for him to push to turn it back on. It even comes with a remote control for me if I want to turn it back on from outside the door without having him see me. It's helped us immensely with bedtime.

House of Night series

Like so many girls, I stayed awake until the sun came up reading the Twilight books. Since I finished that series, I've been hesitant to start another book because I get bored reading anything that's easy to put down ... I want to be addicted.

I'm not big on recommending books because reading is such a personal preference. People develop an affinity for a certain book after deciding if they find the main character relatable and the subject is appealing.

The concept of vampires is so fun to me. I got into the first few chapters of the House of Night series and was feeling skeptical, it seemed to be reading like such a teenage book: dirty language combined with dorky slang. But I'd heard how much my friends on YouTube loved this series, so I refused to give up on it. And then the story started getting good - the addicting, i'd-rather-read-than-eat-sleep-or-drink kind of good.

I reach for these books instead of the TV remote after Carter goes to bed at night. They've almost become essential to who I am lately. Being home with my child is wonderful, but the routine makes me feel like every day is the same ... err, hence the word routine. A good book transports you to another world; it makes you feel like you're getting out of the house and leading a second, exciting, YoGabbaGabba-free life.

There are eight in this series, I'm on the fourth book.

Pickle dip

Matt heard someone on the radio talking about this recipe the day before Super Bowl Sunday and told me we had to try it. Just one problem - we knew the ingredients, but not the measurements. So, I made up my own amounts, and it turned out perfectly. I've eaten batch after batch after batch. Five Eight pounds heavier on my scale, and I still ate another batch.

No more pickle dip for me, so I'm passing the recipe on to you. Mix them all together & eat with a classic ruffled potato chip.

1 cup sour cream

4 oz cream cheese

1 cup dill pickle relish

Oranges

I get in so many food ruts with Carter. I buy the same things (cheese, yogurt, bread, apples, cheerios) over and over because I'm scared to spend money on something he's tried once and didn't like or something I'm pretty sure he wouldn't even give a chance to get into his mouth. I get really tired of dumping entire meals into the trash.

Then I remembered how much he loves the novelty of apples. He likes carrying them around, chomping and gnawing on them. So a couple weeks ago I handed him an orange wedge. It took a little convincing (ok, so I held his hands still and pushed it in his mouth as fast as I could), but once the flavor hit, he was hooked. The cool shape of the wedge was just a bonus for him.

He calls it a rish. I'm not really writing this one so much to tell you that oranges are new to this world, but to help you with an idea that might change things up a little for your picky baby.

Disclaimer: I'm not advertising for anyone in this post. I actually just love this stuff! :)

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