Tag: toddler life

Slow Cooker Apple Cider Chex Mix

A couple things to note about this recipe!

  • You can really make it your own by adding whatever dry ingredients and/or candy you want. Some suggestions: bagel chips, almonds or other nuts, raisins, Reese’s Pieces, butterscotch chips, cheez-its, etc.
  • The seasoning measurements below provide a pretty light flavor. If you like extreme flavor, be sure to ramp it up!

Watch me make this recipe in my vlog, here! 🙂

Ingredients:

10 cups of dry ingredients, I used:

  • 3 cups rice cereal squares
  • 3 cups corn cereal squares
  • 1 cup dry roasted peanuts
  • 3 cups pretzels

½ cup apple cider

½ cup butter

½ cup coconut oil

⅓ cup worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp garlic powder

½ Tbsp onion powder

2 tsp salt

Directions:

Turn your slow cooker on high.

Add all your dry ingredients, butter, and coconut oil.

Stir to cover all the pieces.

Add seasonings and all other ingredients.

Stir again to ensure all pieces have been covered.

Cook in slow cooker for 3 hours, stirring at least once or twice during that time.

Spread the mixture out on parchment paper or baking sheet.

Heat oven to 350° F. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool.

Pour all of the chex mix in a gallon size ziploc and add your candy.

Shake and enjoy! 🙂

Resort Traveling Tips with a 1 Year Old

The most common reaction I was getting from people when I told them about our trip to Mexico: “wait, you’re taking Josie?” Lil Bit goes wherever we take her. Have babe, will travel. Keep on Reading!

Ode to the Mommy Meltdown

So let’s take it all in stride. You are the best mama you can be, and I’m the best mama I can be. We run the world and nobody can take that away from us.

I’m not any busier that any other mom. I sometimes get to shower and sometimes I don’t. I sometimes get to work out and sometimes I don’t. My hair is done, maybe, two days out of the week. Do I want to do these things? Sure, every single day, I want to. But I’m not having an emotional breakdown about it. Guess what? You shouldn’t either. Keep on Reading!

The Non-Baby Registry – What NOT to Buy

When building our baby registry, we started off with the little checklist from the baby store. Guess what, they provide this list so they sell more stuff. Many of these items are just stuff and your baby may or may not use it. Keep on Reading!

Read This First: We’ll Get Through This Together

Take a deep breath, cry if you need to, and consider connecting with someone online that is going through the same thing you are.

Frustration, defeat, and self-blame. This is how it goes for a lot of new moms. Although I wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, at 3 weeks postpartum, I was losing it. My baby would. not. latch. despite my plan to breastfeed. I watched a mama in a restaurant stick her baby under her shirt and, like it was nothing, latch on and enjoy his supper. This was at my birthday dinner. All I could do was sit there, trying to hold it together. My feelings were hurt by my newborn and postpartum hormones were raging. Why couldn’t we have that natural connection? I was having to pump to keep up my supply on top of bottle feeding her formula (which is great if that is your personal plan, but it wasn’t mine). Then at 3 weeks old, my little baby that called all the shots decided to latch. In that time, I had seen three lactation consultants, including one that told me it just wasn’t in the cards for us, read all the articles and books, talked to family members about their experiences, etc. The online searches provided me with two rationales: “you should give up because it’s just not happening for some babies,” or “you’re not doing good enough for your baby if you use formula.” I spent countless hours online reading horror stories about some moms and their negative experiences with breastfeeding.

Josie continues to be a healthy, happy kid and no Google search was telling me that. The postpartum brain doesn’t need that extra stress and worry. Instead, we need support and positivity. Our generation has the opportunity to create and hone a strong community of support. We should take advantage! Even those of us who are lucky enough to have the support of a partner, family, and friends would benefit from this type of community. I encourage conversation and recommendations about all topics found in this blog!

I have always been a helper. The best parts of my day include soothing Josie when she’s crying. I occasionally miss the days of working in customer service for that sheer feeling of helping someone achieve a goal, find the perfect home, etc. My life is, and will continue to be, dedicated to helping other people in as many ways as I can. Mix that with a need to create, craft, bake, organize, eat, workout every few days so I can continue to complete the prior task, and you get me.

So. If one new mama, mom to-be, wife, daddy, brother, or what have you, finds this blog to be helpful, then my job is done. Take a deep breath, cry if you need to, and consider connecting with someone online that is going through the same thing you are. And then put on your big girl pants, cuz damnit, you are strong and we will get through this.