The Wear Your Joy Project

Since becoming a stay at home momma, I spend most if not all of my day in my pjs or tights and a tee. Somewhere along the way I'd lost the motivation to get dressed. I used to love fashion and creating wacky outfits, and it was a big part of who I was. 

Right now I am kinda in this weird transition of learning to love this new body that feels super foreign to me, and discovering who I am as a person again (not just Amelia's mom). I'm finding it difficult to take the time I need for myself everyday.

Kelly Rae Roberts(who is a huge inspiration to me) started posting her daily outfits online and asking for others to play along with her #thewearyourjoyproject. It's not about making the perfect outfit, it's about wearing things that make you feel good about yourself and that you enJOY wearing. 

I love how Kelly put it, 

"...the practice of getting dressed in the morning with intention."

" Moving from what do I want to look like to how do I want to feel?"  and 

"...moving from I'll never loose the weight to I have big gratitude for this healthy body and how can I celebrate it's creative spirit/expression today."

She wrote this amazing blog post on the why's and how's of this idea.

For me this is a chance to feel motivated and hold me accountable to get dressed everyday, even if I am not going anywhere. I find that getting dressed helps me get more accomplished during the day too!

I began to enJOY the practice of getting dressed in the morning with intention. Do I love it? Great, then it goes on my skin. Do I not love it? Then it doesn't go on my body. The self talk is moving from what do I want to look like to how do I want to feel? And it's also moving from I'll never lose the weight to I have big gratitude for this healthy body and how can I celebrate it's creative spirit/expression today? - See more at: http://kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-cowgirl-boots-have-led-my-heart.html#sthash.10TruWKe.dpuf

I began to enJOY the practice of getting dressed in the morning with intention. Do I love it? Great, then it goes on my skin. Do I not love it? Then it doesn't go on my body. The self talk is moving from what do I want to look like to how do I want to feel? And it's also moving from I'll never lose the weight to I have big gratitude for this healthy body and how can I celebrate it's creative spirit/expression today? - See more at: http://kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-cowgirl-boots-have-led-my-heart.html#sthash.10TruWKe.dpuf

I began to enJOY the practice of getting dressed in the morning with intention. Do I love it? Great, then it goes on my skin. Do I not love it? Then it doesn't go on my body. The self talk is moving from what do I want to look like to how do I want to feel? And it's also moving from I'll never lose the weight to I have big gratitude for this healthy body and how can I celebrate it's creative spirit/expression today? - See more at: http://kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-cowgirl-boots-have-led-my-heart.html#sthash.10TruWKe.dpuf

I began to enJOY the practice of getting dressed in the morning with intention. Do I love it? Great, then it goes on my skin. Do I not love it? Then it doesn't go on my body. The self talk is moving from what do I want to look like to how do I want to feel? And it's also moving from I'll never lose the weight to I have big gratitude for this healthy body and how can I celebrate it's creative spirit/expression today? - See more at: http://kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-cowgirl-boots-have-led-my-heart.html#sthash.10TruWKe.dpuf

I began to enJOY the practice of getting dressed in the morning with intention. Do I love it? Great, then it goes on my skin. Do I not love it? Then it doesn't go on my body. The self talk is moving from what do I want to look like to how do I want to feel? And it's also moving from I'll never lose the weight to I have big gratitude for this healthy body and how can I celebrate it's creative spirit/expression today? - See more at: http://kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-cowgirl-boots-have-led-my-heart.html#sthash.10TruWKe.dpuf

Here are my first weeks outfits:

If you'd like to play along just use the #thewearyourjoyproject on Instagram. I check it everyday to see what others are posting. You can also follow me on Instagram to see what I'm up to!

That's What She Said Sunday

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No one ever tells you about the real life happenings of a stay at home mom. You read all the mommy blogs trying to prepare yourself, but most of those blogs are staged. You learn this after you have a baby and you never sleep or have a free moment to yourself. Makes me wonder if those staged moms are robots, or wizards that just have house elves (I'm going with wizard).

Free time becomes a hot commodity. Those days of shopping, showering, going out to eat, hanging with friends, watching something besides educational kiddie shows/My Little Pony, or talking to your spouse about something besides poop are over. Some parents may have got a system down, and are able to function as active members of society...me I'm lucky if I'm able to brush my teeth and put on pants (apparently leggings aren't pants).

So what keeps me sane besides talking to real people via twitter and the occasional face time with my sister? Making dolls, scrapbooking, sketching, painting, writing in my journal, baking, dreaming. As a creative I need some alone time or I go insane and Hulk out. I need that time to hear my thoughts, let out some ideas, get my hands dirty, or just vent to my journal about how I haven't slept in days and would love a shower. I spend 24/7 with Amelia and I love her more than anything, but getting that hour by myself keeps me sane enough to keep going when there's laundry, dishes, diapers, puppies, teething, toys, baby food in my hair, and a crying baby to cheer up. I will never have one of those picture perfect houses or be dressed to the nines, and seriously who has time for that?! I would rather spend my time with family, and my limited alone time doing something I love and that keeps me sane. I don't need to prove to anyone that I'm a wizard....

What keeps you sane?

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My friend T took this photo of us at the farmer's market last weekend. Amelia slept through most of it, and then woke up all sassy right before we left. Can you believe she will be 8 months old on Sunday? Pretty soon I will be planning her 1st birthday party!

She is super curious and standing up by herself for over a minute. I'm teaching her patty cakes, and trying to get her to say DaDa. Sometimes she will rawr at me like a baby dinosaur. She learned that from watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, which is a PBS cartoon based on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. She's the funniest baby, and has the cutest giggle.

What were your favorite tv shows growing up?

Amelia mostly watches My Little Pony Friendship is magic. I'm pretty sure she will be the friendliest kid around, that will be able to dance you into the ground (she gets that from her dad).

I enjoyed watching Sailor Moon, Jem and the Holograms, and Kids Incorporated when I was a kiddo.

Jubitron the Girl Robot, A Review

The first thing I did when I got my iPad mini, was look for some cute apps for Amelia. Jubitron the Girl Robot is the first one I found, and Amelia loves it! For .99 it has been a huge help at bedtime calming down my cranky little one.





The graphics are cute and interactive. The music is great! Amelia has been digging this app since she was 3 months old, and I can't wait for her to learn how to read so she can read the story to me. There is a 'read to me' option that has the cutest British narrator.









This is Amelia's favorite page, because she can touch the head and make the lightbulb pop out! Again, the music really makes it!













I've been recommending this app to all my friends with children. I hope they make more stories of Jubitron and the gang soon!

You can get your very own copy at the Apple App Store.

The opinions here are my own, and I was not paid to do this review. I just thought this app/story was cute and rad and wanted to share.

Do you have any children's apps you would recommend? Leave a comment, I'd like to check them out!

My Mom Life: Top Used Baby Shower Gifts

When your baby shower finally rolls around, you expect to get items off your registry. In the real world you get a handful of things off the registry and a ton of clothes, diapers, and other random things. Here are my top baby shower gifts that I've used the most. Hopefully it will give you an idea for an upcoming shower you are attending, or something you could use as a new mom.
I told myself I wasn't going to do a pacifier, and here I am with a kid addicted to this Wubba Nub. This has come in handy to soothe Amelia, and help her soothe herself. It stays in her mouth better and is way easier to find without my glasses on in the middle of the night. Now that she is getting older, I've noticed her using the pacifier less and mostly playing with the animal. We are hunting down an elephant one now, in the event we loose this one.

The sleep sheep is one item we did register for. My daughter loves the ocean sound, and goes right to sleep in her car seat. We have the travel and the regular sized one, and use both.

We did not register for this projecting night light/ sound machine, but we use this every night. We actually have 2 because I broke the 1st one trying to travel with it. Amelia loved the projections, especially the moon and stars. This machine also makes the ocean sound (along with many others), and has a timer.

This has been her favorite toy. Someone told me that babies can see black and white better when they are new. Not sure if that's true, but she interacts with this toy and not many of the others. My husband named it Tree Trunks (like from Adventure Time).

If you don't get anything else, you need a Boppy pillow. This is a life saver, especially if you're breastfeeding, but works great for bottle feeding too. Amelia liked to sleep on this in our laps when she was little bitty, now she likes to sit in it. I would recommend buying extra covers.

I am using this baby monitor right now. We had no idea what to go with and I just picked one at random, but this one works well for us. I know there are all sorts of high tech ones out these days, but I'm tired and busy and who has time for figuring out crazy stuff when you may only have an hour or two to get things done?!

What are your top baby shower gifts?

My Mom Life: Makeup Favs

Most days I'm lucky to wash my face and brush my teeth as a new mom. So when I do need to go out in public and not look like a zombie, I need a quick and easy routine. Here are a few of my favorite go to items.

I recently purchased Covergirl's BB Cream even though it got terrible reviews. I was looking more for a tinted moisturizer and this fit the bill on the cheap. I also like Covergirl's nature luxe for a bit more coverage. I am a huge fan of Benefit products (but not of the price). The few products I have continued using tend to last me a long time and work great! I love benetint! It is a lip and cheek stain (and it smells like roses). Another one of my favorite Benefit products is this boi~ing concealer. It's great for covering up zombie eyes. On occasion, when I feel fancy I like to use Benefit's Play Stick which is a nice coverage foundation that has chamomile.I recently purchased this Maybelline Rocket Volume mascara. I like the fullness it gives my lashes and it was a pretty good price.

What are some of your favorite make up products?