Decembers Blog Fog.

I'm not entirely sure what has caused me to "slack off" in my blog posting as the year quickly comes to an end, but I finally decided this morning to come out of my BLOG FOG.

I'm not sure if it's the changing weather, the fact that I turned TWENTY FIVE, the holiday season, work, deciding if we should buy or build a home in the spring, or the ONE MILLION other things going on in my life that has distracted me from doing this one thing that I love. 

So here I am. 

Baby is sound asleep, he's been a little sick these last few days and I am watching him like a HAWK to make sure it doesn't turn into something worse.

I should be cleaning, shopping or most importantly PACKING but I NEED to just take these twenty minutes and blog... or I might actually go crazy.

Did you see the ADORABLE SURPRISE POST my cute husband wrote for my birthday? 

He really knows the way to my heart.

December has come and gone so quickly.

I made lots of fun Christmas Crafts.

We put up our Christmas tree, and took it down.

(Reason for the Craft Paper Tree)

We looked at Christmas lights.

It SNOWED.

Hunter started to sit on his own AND roll over from back to front.

We celebrated my TWENTY FIFTH birthday.

I can hardly believe that a quarter of my life has gone by.

Luckily, I have been blessed with so much in that incredible 25 years.

We had a little gathering with some friends the night before to celebrate my aging.

A delicious hot cocoa bar and some of the most delicious cookies ever.

It was so nice to be surrounded with some of the incredible people I have been blessed with to call friends.

Sorry I didn't get photos of any PEOPLE. So sad about it.

Hunter survived, (depends if he gets really sick or not) his first 

WHOLE THREE HOURS of church.

He kind of loved the kids.

Kevin made a delicious breakfast before church on my birthday and I got to open my presents. 

I was so spoiled.

Thanks to my awesome husband, parents, family and friends I got TONS of great gifts this year! 

Monday night we had the traditional Tucanos dinner. 

It was delicious.

Kevin has been working his butt of this whole month preparing to be gone for 9 days in Sacramento next week.

He works so hard for our family and I truly feel blessed every day for the time he spends making sure we have a good life.

Love you babe.

OK, this should hold me over for a day or two.

I am preparing you now though, I tend to take RECORD BREAKING NUMBER amounts of photos when I visit Sacramento, plus it will be Hunter's first Christmas and my sister said my parents have changed a bunch of things in their home to "update" it and I just know it will be an amazing trip home.

So, you have been warned. 

Prepare for Sacramento Photo Overload over the holiday week.

4 Day's until Christmas! 

KylasBirthdayPost. By Kevin

Hunter and I are home alone for 6 hours today. I decide to hijack her blog and hope this posts right when I am done. 

I took hunter out in the snow to experience it.. He wasn't a big fan of making snow angels and that lasted about 2 seconds. Trying to figure out what to eat without Kyla around.. I realize we have NO frozen dinners and no quick and easy-to-make food... Kyla makes literally everything from scratch. That's one thing I love about her - Her incredible culinary skills. These past two weeks she's cooked every single dinner! She's turning 25 tomorrow everyone. She's feeling like she's getting old so everyone please send their love to her:) 

Thank you sweetie for all the meals you make, all the time you spend making hunter happy, all of the things you do to make our house amazing, the hard work you do to help us reach our dreams, and the love we share. I appreciated everything you do.

Kev

Sponsor Spotlight: Meet Sarah of Sittin Pretty.

It's been over two months since I have done a Sponsor Spotlight and I could not be more excited to get it going again then by introducing you to the LOVELY 

Sarah from Sittin Pretty. 

I met Sarah at Gentri Lee's blogger beauty night out last month. 

I fell in love with Sarah right away. She is absolutely beautiful, so talented and made me laugh with some funny stories.

_____________________

Meet Sarah.

HELLLOOOOOO Lovely Readers:)

I'm Sarah Gardner. Lover of anything vintage, DIY, sparkly, and handmade. I grew up yardsale-ing and thrifting with my mom on Saturdays, instead of doing chores, and having tea parties with vintage dresses and tea sets with my little sister. Needless to say, I love anything retro.

I'm also a singer, party planner, assistant photographer/model, hairstylist/teacher, and anything and everything in between. I am terrible at relaxing, HATE cooking, and always overloaded with projects, work and obligations. And that's the way I like it. 

I originally started blogging as a way to keep in contact with my friends and family after I got married and moved away. Now I blog to stay connected with old friends as well as new friends I have met through blogland. I love blogging because its a great creative outlet for me and a way to share my talents with the world. 

I recently started a weekly link up called "Be Fabulous Friday". (Holiday edition for the month of December!) I created this link up because I felt like as women, we are constantly comparing ourselves to each other (admit it you guys), focusing on our own flaws, and downplaying all of the incredible things we do each day! However trivial they may seem. We all need to recognize greatness in ourselves and others. Whether its being featured on TV, getting hired at your dream job, or just making it through the day with your  toddler! Because lets face it, we are all a little fabulous in one way or another and could definitely use a little praise and appreciation. So if you deserve some recognition, join my weekly link up on Fridays and show and share some love! 

 Although I am fairly new to blogland, and definitely no professional, I am proud of my little spot on the net. Ultimately, I hope that with my blog I inspire people, help them with their creativity, and assist them in beautifying their lives and the lives of others. Because that's what makes blogging worth while for me. 

Some of my favorite blogs to read are threadesque, vintagerevivals, gentrilee, centsational girl, and tipjunkie.

_____________________

I just adore this lady.

I absolutely love her blog and her style is the greatest! 

So head on over and Sit Pretty with Sarah.

You can follow Sarah on:

Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram

You can also shop her handmade jewelry and baby clothes at

Etsy.

Happy Tuesday Readers.

Traveling with a little one: Flying.

By popular demand I have decided to share some of the best secrets I have found for flying with a little one.

Our last visit to California marked little Hunter's 2nd trip and brought his flight count to 8 flights (that includes layovers for both trips). 

So, now that I am an expert mommy flyer, here are some of the best flying with an infant tips I would recommend to anyone:  

• children under the age of TWO fly for FREE. it's awesome! call the airline after you book your flight to verify your lap child is on your ticket. be sure to take a birth certificate or some type of documentation regarding your relationship to the child. the airline told us we needed it, however we were NEVER asked for it, at any point. (This is one of those better safe than sorry scenarios.) 
• if you are traveling with a car seat, bring a big plastic bag to put it in at the airport. we had heard this tip and assumed that all airlines had bags, but they don't, so bring one.
• bring a stroller. it gets checked at the gate and is right there waiting for you when you land.
• bottles of breast milk/formula over the 3oz airport limit ARE allowed. make sure to tell security you have it. they will take it to be checked and it will not go through the x-ray machine. 
• nurse, bottle feed or offer a binky during take-off and landing. sucking and swallowing while the plane changes in pressure helps keep their little ears comfortable. this also put Hunter to sleep during some take-offs and landings. we found that even though hunter was getting more food and at different times then he usually did, we had no problems the next day getting back on schedule.
• bring a portable changing pad. airport changing tables (or any other place for that matter) are hard and cold. its a small thing but babies can be especially irritable out of their environment and this can be one less thing to annoy them.
• travel during the day. i have read so many mixed reviews on this topic but we found that traveling during the day was best. hunter was able to nap throughout the day around the travel schedule or during flights. this was much easier then letting him fall asleep on a flight at night, waking him up to put him in the car seat once we landed and then waking him up again once we arrived to the hotel to put him in the crib (per our 1st trip experience). I have also heard lots of people using medications to help their kids on flights. Our doctor recommended we not do this with Hunter. I would suggest you talk to your doctor before giving your child any medication just for flying. I guess if your flying for many hours/overseas a red eye would probably be the better choice but if its a short few hours flight, I vote DAY TRAVEL. PLUS: if your kid ends up screaming the whole time, you wont feel AS BAD for the noise during a day flight.
• give yourself PLENTY of time. show up at least two hours before you flight is scheduled to leave. not feeling rushed will make it less stressful for you, which in turn makes it less stressful for baby. checking bags and going through security can take longer especially around the holidays. once you are through security, walk the baby around in the stroller stimulating their minds with all the new sights, let them play with some toys for a bit (always pack their favorites) and change their diaper before boarding the plane. 

I hope this is helpful to all the mommies flying with little ones this holiday.

Please feel free to leave comments with any other tips or tricks you might have for flying with small children.

I am sure my mommy readers would appreciate it.

Fun Fact:

Did you know that when flying with a lap child you must sit on the right side of the plane?

There are extra oxygen masks that fall on the right side of the plane in case of an emergency! 

Safe Travels Readers!