Trey's Current Favorites (30 months)

I often share what I'm currently loving so I thought it would be fun to do a blog post of the things that Trey is really enjoying right now! 

Melissa & Doug - Band in a Box 

Since Trey has been so into music and instruments lately when he asked for this on a recent Barnes & Noble trip I had no problem saying "ok" because I knew he would get a ton of use out of it. It's fun to sit down with him and have him "assign" instruments to J.D. and I and play songs together. 

Choo Choo soul - the CD 

If your little one watches Disney Jr. there is a good chance you've heard of Choo Choo soul. Trey FREAKS when it comes on! And I'll be real - I am pretty much over the Mickey & Jake & the Neverland Pirates cds in the car so I used part of my Big Fat Ebates check (woo hoo for free money!) to buy this tonight - it'll be here on Monday and that can't come fast enough! 

Plum Organics - Jammy Sammy's 

I used to buy these when Trey was really small and then for some reason stopped (maybe because they are small - but really - they are a great size for a quick snack or in addition to some other things). Well, I ordered them again the other day and Trey has been eating them up! I literally bought every flavor that Ecomom has and he has enjoyed them all. The ones without peanut butter have been a great addition for his lunch at school!

Melissa & Doug - Trunki

I ordered this cute Trunki for our upcoming Disney trip but it's oddly turned into one of his favorite "toys" in the meanwhile. He loves filling it up, pulling it through the house and of course, riding on it!

  

Thermos Food Jar - Foogo in Tripoli

(Ok, this one may be more of one of my favorite things for him.. but he loves what's inside!)

When it's super cold outside I like sending Trey to school with a warm lunch - this thermos has been awesome for sending chicken nuggets to school in (we like these by Applegate Farms - whole foods sells a big bag), but I'll also do meatballs, hot dogs or sausage! 

What is your little one loving right now?

Valentine's Day Lust List

What's on your "lust list" this Valentine's Day?

Say Hello {Link-Up}

Today I'm linking up with Laura from The Everyday Joys! She is hosting an awesome, one day, Say Hello link up! I've "known" Laura since our pre-boy-mama days! She is awesome - head over, check her out and join the fun! 

me & my little beach bum 

1. What blogs do you visit daily? Please list 1-3 of your favorites.

3 of my favorites are:

The Polluck Potluck 

Stuttering Shell 

Workaholic Momma 

{But you can see lots more of my favorites on my sidebar too!}

2. Are you on Instagram? If so, what is your user name?

Yep! BeachBumandBaby

3. Can we find you on Pinterest? What's your Pinterest address, and what can we expect to see you pinning most? (recipes, DIY projects, home decor, etc.)

Duh! Of course I am. I love Pinterest like a fat kid loves cake. You can find my boards here. 

4. What are your favorite blog link-ups to participate in? (weekly link-ups other bloggers have...any number will do...please link us to them!)

Right. So I'm not so great at the link ups but I LOVE reading:

Shannon's So What Wednesday

Rachel's Menu Monday 

Emily's Friday Confessional 

5. Why do you blog?

I blog to document, to journal, to share, to learn and to interact. 

I may not be the best or most consistent blogger but I love it and the blogging community just as much!

6. Tell us one random fact about yourself.

I can fall asleep just about anywhere. The car, the sofa, the floor. You name it. And STAY asleep. A plane could land in my house and I'd still be all nice and snuggled up. Drives my husband batty!! 

{I didn't have a huge problem waking up to nurse when Trey was a baby but I did have the monitor turned up HIGH at all times! You know... just in case...}

Weekend Wrap-Up

Let's start this off with the most exciting thing to happen around here - it SNOWED on Friday. Like actual stick-to-the-ground and make snow balls, snow!



I ran and woke Trey up from his nap as soon as it started to stick and we ran outside to play in it.

Why, you might ask?

Because I WAS SCARED IT WAS GOING TO STOP.

It doesn't snow often 'round these parts so I wanted to make sure Trey got to see it.

But it didn't stop. We went inside to warm up and J.D. called and told me he was on his way home! Trey and I were SO excited!! Once he got here we went back out for round 2 and by this time we were able to make snow angels and throw snowballs with a bunch of our favorite neighbors. It was such a fun time for everyone but especially all of the kids around Trey's age who hadn't really seen snow before!! They didn't even know what to do with themselves!

Once we got back inside I showed J.D. Trey's new furniture that had been delivered and placed that morning. Our plan was to leave Trey's crib (which we hadn't converted to a toddler bed) in his room and just have the delivery people place the other items wherever so that we could paint this weekend and then maybe switch him to his new bed next weekend.

Well.... Trey had other plans.

Pretending to sleep on Friday afternoon

When I went to put him down for his nap Friday afternoon he cried "Noooooo crib, sweepy in my biiiiiig boy bed."

So. Friday night we took the crib apart.

And guess what?

He did great. Really great! Slept just as long as normal which is 8-8ish! Naps have been slightly shorter at about 2 hours instead of 2 1/2.

He told J.D. the next day that his new room was "a wittle scareee". I can't blame him for that. The only things that haven't changed yet are the wall color and the drapes. He also spent WAY more time playing in there this weekend than he ever has before - every time I turned around he was off to "go play in my big boy room". I'm very, very glad he likes it so much!



Saturday we hung around the house, played in the snow a little bit more and then when the cabin fever had gotten the best of us we headed out to our favorite Mexican restaurant!

Trey's had a pretty bad runny nose this weekend - so I picked up a fresh pack of boogie wipes and a new vicks plug in to help him breathe a little better in his sleep.

Once we put Trey down for bed JD and I decided to order a movie. 

I picked this. We had watched the preview for it Friday night and it looked funny. 

Right. Because oh, about 3 seconds into the movie....

J.D.: "We've seen this"
Me: "Huh? no we haven't!"

Hmmm yea maybe we have....

Me:  "Gosh we should have watched the preview first!!"
J.D.: "We did!..... LAST NIGHT"

So... about that.... 

Tell me I'm not the only one that this has happened to. Puh-lease.

Jams in jammies while Mama was at the store!

Today was spent working on random things around the house, a grocery trip for me while the guys played at home and just getting ready for the week. Nothing exciting at all! 

Now I'm off to snuggle up by the fireplace in J.D.'s office and catch up on some DVR! Perfect Sunday night! 

Sometimes We All Just Need a Laugh

Source: platinumdotcom.tumblr.com via Beach on Pinterest

I mean, RIGHT?!

Source: themetapicture.com via Beach on Pinterest

I've never even seen Twilight and I can't stand that chick... 

Source: someecards.com via Beach on Pinterest

Isn't this why they invented Pinterest? 

Source: imgfave.com via Beach on Pinterest

ALWAYS

Source: via Beach on Pinterest

Dog shaming. I love it. I need this for when Zoe runs away!!! 

And for all of my fellow PLL fans... RIGHT?!?!

Hope this got a laugh out of some of y'all!!! 

Currently Loving

Ok, tell me I'm not the only one sucked into The Carrie Diaries. I was a HUGE SATC fan back in the day and I am so obsessed with this show! 

Big shout out to my friend, J for telling me about this beast of a handheld vacuum! Loving it. Works great on stairs, small spaces and it has an attachment that spins - awesome for pet hair. You can find it here (don't forget your 20% off coupon)! 

I picked up one of these Burt's Bees Lip shimmers on a whim one day while at Target and let's just say I think I have almost every color now - they are really moisturizing and kind of pepperminty with a perfect smidge of color. Love them! 

We are so obsessed with our Citrus Lane boxes - this is the one from January! The plates are my favorite and I know that Trey likes the book (with cd!) the best. Getting these little surprises in the mail each month is so awesome. Right now you can save $10 off your by using this link or clicking that citrus lane button on my sidebar! 

What are you currently loving?

Planning T's "Big Boy" Room

We did it. We finally agreed on and ordered all Trey's furniture, bedding and most of the accessories for his "big kid" room.

We had originially planned on a "vintage-y robot" theme but it just never came together the way I was envisioning it. Then I stumbled upon these sheets.

I love it because I've been able to find a happy mix between some sort of "theme" that Trey will find fun and some neutrals that I feel have some longevity. These sheets just called to me, I think they are still playful and child-like without being "too much". Trey has always loved choo-choo's and J.D. has a soft spot for them as well, so they are both excited!

The furniture we picked is an espresso color and has a very classic feel to it, definitely something that can grow with him. I picked touches of navy to tone down the train items as well as lots of navy gingham to give it some dimension.

We still have some art work that we need to order. I've been looking on Etsy, Land of Nod, Pinterest and haven't found anything that I am over the moon about so if anyone sees anything amazing please send it my way!

And last but not least we still haven't picked a paint color. I want something like a pretty tan or a light gray. Again, any specific paint colors that you love are more than welcomed!

I am excited for this change but I love his nursery. It's always been such a happy and cozy space. I think him turning 2 and a half next month is just really getting to me. All of these "big kid" changes are too much for this mama.... Whhhhhy do they grow so quickly?

Quite a few of the things I have purchased are on back-order but as soon as a paint color is picked and everything is here we will be working hard to switch everything over and make his new space cozy! I can't wait to share the "after" with y'all! 

It's Raining! It's Pouring!

On the days that Trey has school I pick him up at 1pm and we head straight home. And by straight home I mean after playing in the courtyard with his friends while I chit-chat with their mamas.

Since it was gross and raining today we all headed to our cars. Trey was in a super silly mood, as was I and we were both getting DOWN to some "mouskersize" in the car.

When we pulled up to our house I wasn't quite ready for the fun to end. I asked myself "What would J.D. do?"

(Why? Becuase he's the "fun" parent. I strive but I will just never be as naturally fun as he is. It's just not in my DNA.....but I'm working on it.) 

Then it hit me. I said "Trey! I have an IDEA! Do you want me to go grab your big coat and boots so we can splash in the puddles?!?!?" You would have thought he won the lottery. "YEA!!! SPLAAASH PUUUDDLES!!!" "LET'S DO IT! TIME TO ROLL!!"

So we did. Both of us. Until our faces were red from the rain and cold.

It was perfect. 

I love sharing my life with this little boy. 

Wednesday Randoms

Just thought I'd share some randoms of what has been happening in the BB&B household as of late.

• I got to meet up with this twinsie and have dinner with some awesome new friends, Ashley & Sarah this past weekend. We had Mexican (yum) and shopped at TJ Maxx Perfect night, no? I picked up some chalkboard mason jars to use as Valentine's Day teacher gifts and a huge chalkboard that I'm in love with!

• The weather here has been insane. Hot-cold-rain-repeat BUT we did get to go to the zoo with Trey's besties (Hiiiii E&J!) last week and it was SO much fun, the boys all had a great time it and the most perfect temperature. Our highlight of the trip? The train. It's always the train.

• Trey started his new computer class at school yesterday and has talked about it non-stop since he got in the car at pick up. I love how silly he is and all of the funny things that he says these days. 

• Speaking of, after I left the other day for dinner Trey apparently sat on the floor, put his head in his hands and said "mama? maaamaaa? This is tewwibul....." JD and I still couldn't stop laughing about it. Where do they come up with this stuff? 

• I'm completely obsessed with Mrs. Meyers products right now and cannot get enough of the "Basil" scent (which, honestly, I had never smelled before because it sounded gross. It's so not.)  I even "yelled" at J.D. for using a different spray in the kitchen the other night.

• I'm in such a post-Chrsitmas funk. I always feel like January to March go by so SLOW and boring. I will say I have enjoyed all of the new tv shows on in the evenings, Revenge and Nashville especially! 

That's about it for us right now, nothing too terribly exciting! I just read on our local weather blog that we may get some snow at the end of the week - trying not to get my hopes up but we rarely see any here and it would be so fun!!

Trey's first! And only! Snow at 4.5 months - December 2010

The Toddler (Boy) Bookshelf

On my first ever outing with Trey I went to two of my favorite places. Starbucks. And Target. 

He was only about two weeks old and I was scared to death to be out and alone with him. 

Over two years later, this all seems so silly now as I'm writing it... 

We wandered the store. I sipped my coffee and he slept as shopped. I decided I needed to get him a little something for being such a good shopping buddy. But what? 

And then we found ourselves in the book section.

Oh how I love kids books, the colors, the stories, everything about them. Yes, I realize I sound like Kathleen from You've Got Mail... 

I have always loved to read and I credit my mom with 100% of that. She always said "It doesn't matter what you're reading as long as you're reading something". She was always more than happy to help contribute to my Golden Books/Berenstain Beers/Judy Blume/Babysitters Club/Goosebumps/Sweet Valley High collections. 

I came across a section of Sandra Boynton books (at the time I had NO clue who she was, which seems crazy as I can recite most of her books by memory now!) and Trey and I decided that "The Belly Button Book" needed to come home with us.

It is definitely one of Trey's favorites but we've accumulated QUITE a few more books ever since. 

A while ago Erin posted on her blog about her favorite kid's books and ever since I have wanted to share the favorites from our home!

I keep these brown baskets (from Target) throughout the house with books in them, I rotate the books between them and keep what we aren't reading at the moment on a shelf in Trey's closet. I have found that having easy access to them around the house equals lots more reading! We do a handful of books everyday before his nap and a handful before bedtime (which usually turns into.. "hooooow 'bout.... one moooore?") but we also love to just sit on the floor during the day and read.

 I've "caught" Trey "reading" to mickey quite a bit lately and think it's just the sweetest thing.

You can see lots of the ones that we love in the pictures but I'll link to what I'm pretty sure are our "favorite fifteen" right now!

(In no particular order...)

Trey's "Favorite Fifteen" books - at 29 months 

1. Llama Llama Red Pajama - We first stumbled upon the sweet, little Llama last year in Christmas book form and we have been obsessed with him since. We also have "Llama Llama Time to Share" and "Llama Llama Misses Mama". These books are so fun and I feel like I could have wrote them myself, I often joke that Trey is my little Llama!

2. The ABC Book - This was actually one of J.D.'s old books, we have quite a collection of Seuss books from when he was a child and I was so thankful that his mom saved them all. We had to read this book 2738 times a day for a few months straight. It really helped him with identifying letters, as well as distinguishing between upper case and lower case. And it's just a fun and super silly book too!

3. Only In Dreams - This one came from Trey's Auntie Mel Mel (my SIL) on a Spring trip she took to San Fran and hit up the Paul Frank flagship store. It's all about the fun you can have in dreams and features our favorite little monkey.

4. Goodnight Moon - Truth? I think this book is CREEP STATUS. That old lady whispering hush? Homegirl needs to hit the road. But KIDS LOVE THIS BOOK. I don't know why and I don't try to understand... even if it gives ME nightmares.

5. Little Blue Truck - I'm pretty sure it was a blog friend that first introduced us to Blue, and I am forever grateful. Everyone in our house loves this little beep, beep, beep.

6. Little Blue Truck Leads the Way - Blue part two! Trey likes to read this one first!

7. Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site - This is #1 in rotation for this week and Trey cannot get enough. I think his poor babysitter had to read it like 5 times in a row last weekend before bed. If you don't have this ORDER it!!

8. The Birthday Box - I love this author - the artwork is awesome and the books are so silly! We have a lot of fun with this one!

9. I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean - One of my friends (Hi MJ!) picked this up for Trey's birthday and we have been reading it religiously ever since. It's all about the different animals in the ocean, it's a really fun read.

10. Dinosaur vs. Bedtime - I have to give props to J.D. for picking this up for Trey all by himself. My Dinosaur voice has much to be desired but Trey gets HYPE for this one! (The dinosaur also goes up against the potty, the library & santa! They're all great!)

11. The Going to Bed Book - A long term, before bed favorite. I think we actually have a few copies of this..

12. Dear Zoo - It is always fun to read this lift-the-flap book on the night/morning before we head to the zoo!

13. Sheep in a Jeep - This is a GREAT rhyming book and it has a fun craft that goes a long with it too!

14. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? - Classic. We love to make all of the sounds with dear Mr. Brown

15. Goodnight Beach - we picked this up on the way back from The Outer Banks last year and I'll be honest, I didn't think Trey would like it as much as he does. It's a bit unnecessarily wordy but he still asks for it quite regularly. Maybe it's just beach memories for him too!

What are your favorite children's books? Please share them in the comments I am always looking to pick up new ones and I know other readers will enjoy discovering new favorites too!

DIY: 1 Hour Instagram Pics-Turned Magnets!

I've been meaning to print my instagram pictures for... well, lets be honest here....

FOREVER.

Everyplace I would see to print them would be like "4-5 weeks for delivery..." or I'd see DIY things on Pinterest that would require you to trim them from 4x6 to 4x4... ehhh.. no thanks.

So a couple weeks ago I stumbled upon the new "Printicular" app. I was INSTANTLY hooked.

Printicular a picture printing app that links to your instgram, facebook and camera roll. You simply click on which pictures you'd like and then send them off to WALGREENS (yes!) and in UNDER an hour (first batch was like 20 minutes, second was 45) your nice, square, 4x4 prints are ready to pick up!

(They are $0.39 per print and I used "partner25" to take 25% off of my total order. Also, you pay when  you pick up.) 

I did a test run with only 10 pictures at first just to make sure the quality was ok and that my Walgreens could really do this. I was pleasantly surprised. So I few days later I printed 100 more.

So after I got home with all of these squares I sat staring at them. What should I do with them now? I could put them in an album but I really wanted to SEE some of them. I had seen a company a while back that you can order your instagram pics turned magnets from and a light bulb went off!

I grabbed some scissors, scrapbook tape and some old (large) magnets that I had laying around. I cut the magnets up into strips and taped them on the back of the pictures with the scrap booking (double sided) tape. And ta-da!

SO EASY!! 

The magnets are easy to pop off the back as well - which will be great when I switch these out and put them into an album! 

How do you display your instagram pictures? I'm looking for fun ideas for other parts of the house! 

Christmas Eve & Cookie Party Recap

A few years ago I purchased a "cookie decorating kit" from Trader Joe's and thought it would be fun to have a "cookie station" for our Christmas Eve with our family. 

The idea was a hit and since then a new tradition was born.

 Every year on Christmas eve we all get together in our jammies, have dinner, decorate (and EAT!) cookies, invite the reindeer to visit and after the little one goes to bed we all snuggle up and watch Elf. 

This is one of those things that I hope to continue for the rest of my life and that Trey will always have fond memories of. 

I now make the cookies and icing from scratch, to make sure that we have enough! And thank you pinterest for the idea of putting the icing in bottles, that was always a HUGE mess on the dining room table! I also included a hot cocoa (in the crock pot - genius!) & coffee bar this year and it was a huge hit, so I'm sure we will continue to include that in years to come! 

This year's reindeer mix is from Trey's teachers - a friend of mine usually gives us a little bag of it as well but I forgot to bring it home from her Christmas brunch a few weeks prior. Trey loves going outside to sprinkle it on the ground. And of course we couldn't forget to leave them some carrots!

And looking back on Christmas Eve from the past few years:

Christmas recap to come tomorrow - I'm sure my fellow 2010 mamas will agree - this is a FUN age!!!

I love reading about everyone's Christmas eve traditions - what do you do with your family & friends?

Awesome Ecomom Deal - $15 off $50 and Free Shipping!

How fun are these Green Toys? I ordered them off of Ecomom.com - they have been my go to for so many things over the past year - Melissa & Doug Toys, Plum Organics Pouches, Ella's kitchen foods, etc. 

Well, exciting news for those of you who have never ordered from them before - they have a new referral program! Use code: REF043603CPKGH

To save $15 off a purchase of $50 or more and snag free shipping! 

I wasn't paid for this post, but I do get a credit for referring new customers now! As will you if you shop with them and then refer friends! It's an awesome program and the company carries wonderful Eco-friendly products as well as an outstanding customer service department! 

Head over to Ecomom and let me know what you find!! 

Goals for 2013

I decided to go ahead and put some goals together for the new year. I know that some huge percentage of resolutions fail but I'm hoping that I can keep some of these going for a long time! 

1. Work on "eating clean": I do a good job of making sure that everything I buy for Trey (and the household mostly) is organic and free of things like red dye 40 but I also want to make sure that we are getting all of our veggies in and trying to eliminate lots of unnecessary chemicals. Does this mean I'm giving up Starbucks or a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant? Absolutely not. It just means I am going to try and be more conscious.

2. Get my home organized: Where do I begin? I want to start keeping a cleaning schedule and sticking to it. I hate that overwhelmed feeling of tackling things that haven't been kept up properly. I'd also like to step up HOW I organize things. I should probably just apologize to the hubs now for the order I'm about to make at The Container Store....

3. Switch over to natural bath/cosmetic products: Yep, another place I have always been great at researching for Trey (with the help of my bestie - she always gives me great advice/info on living a "greener" life) but I haven't switched over my bath or cosmetic products - same with the hub's bath products. I am going to start looking them up on the EWG Skin Deep database before I buy anything new! I know once I switched all of our cleaning products and detergents over to natural ones I felt a lot better!

6. Do SOMETHING with pictures: I touched on this in my last post but photo books, prints, canvases, WHATEVER. Just do something with them!!

7. Send more snail mail: I am TERRIBLE at this. And I need to give up the excuses and start hitting the post office when Trey is at school! I love getting mail and I know that my friends and family do too!

8. Decide on a "theme" for Trey's big boy room & execute: The hubs and I have gone round and round and round on a "theme" (if you can call it that - we aren't big on room themes) as well as exactly which furniture to order. I'll be sharing some ideas in a future blog post!

8. Eat out less/try more new recipes: All week we do great dining at home. And as soon as the weekend hits... BAM. It's like the stove doesn't work anymore. We don't plan on giving up our Saturday nights out with friends & kids but no more random Sunday afternoon lunches out. At least not every week. I also want to start trying to make more of all of the yummy recipes that I have "pinned" rather than always turning to our old standbys.

9. Worry less. Enjoy life more.  No explanation needed. 

Say Cheese & Happy New Year!

Happy New Year y'all! Gosh I can't believe another year has flown by so quickly. 

I have always taken a lot of pictures of Trey (like the rest of my blog/IG buddies!) but I have always been awful about DOING something with them. 

Don't believe me? I JUST printed pictures for our 2009, 2010 & 2011 picture frame ornaments. Trust me, I hung my head in shame as I picked up the prints. 

So I decided that at the beginning of 2012 I'd make a monthly collage (small steps people.... small steps). 

And besides losing one of them I kept up with it really well. In addition I sat down with my EC planner and just wrote, wrote, wrote what was going on with Trey and our family. It's definitely not a true journal but I still consider it an accomplishment. 

I'm planning on taking these collages and making them into a 2012 book and pulling from the planner for what we were doing during that time! 

I couldn't pick a favorite moment of 2012 if I tried! I loved watching Trey grow and learn, I was thrilled when J.D. switched to a company that allows us to spend A LOT more time together as a family. And most important, a TRUE MIRACLE was among us when my mom woke up from being on life support. God is good. And I am truly thankful. 

I'm not sure what 2013 will bring for the Beach Bum family but I'm excited! 

I've also been inspired by the oh-so-sweet, Ashley to come up with some good, meaningful (and ATTAINABLE) resolutions for the new year! 

I'll be posting those soon! What about you? What's on your 2013 list?C