My Molar Pregnancy Experience

Hi everyone. I promised this post as soon as I got my pathology results back, so here we go.

On January 2nd 2017, after testing for a few days and showing symptoms, I got a positive pregnancy test. My first symptoms of pregnancy were actually really vivid dreams. I remember having the craziest dreams when I was pregnant with Mason, and that made me wonder if I was pregnant again this time.

I felt a bit "off" about this pregnancy from the beginning. I was excited, but cautiously so. I pushed those feelings aside as normal miscarriage worries that every woman has. We excitedly started talking about names, making gender guesses, planning nursery themes etc. I even bought a few baby items (that I now have tucked away for next time).

Parenting in Joyful Chaos- Raising Two Under Two- Book Review and Giveaway!

Last night I had the pleasure of reading the e-book Parenting in Joyful Chaos- Raising Two Under Two by Stacy Taylor.

Stacy describes her journey of pregnancy and parenting in a raw and honest way that will resonate with all parents regardless of how many children you have. Even as a mother of one, I felt her struggles and triumphs, and walked away with some great tips. 

I found this a nice light read, and was able to finish it in one evening, which was great since most books usually take me longer to get through- aka every time I sit down to read Mason yells "MOMMM" every 5 minutes. Most of you can relate, I'm sure. 

Stacy was gracious enough to send me a copy of her e-book, and one for one of you!! 

Please go to my Facebook page Adventures at Home to find out how to enter to win your own copy! 

Dedreanna 

Why Having a Small Birthday Party for your Toddler is the Best!

I'm a self diagnosed Pinterest addict, like many of you are, and I often stumble upon children's birthday party ideas that Martha Stewart herself would repin.

It seems that planning a child's birthday party is almost as stressful as planning a wedding these days, and I'm saying no- at least until he's old enough to request his own birthday party ideas.

How to Teach Toddlers About Gun Safety

A couple of months ago when my almost 3 year old took a sweet potato out of the cupboard and pretended to shoot me with it, I was appalled. "What does this mean!?" I wondered. Where did he learn this? We don't allow toy guns in the house, and we monitor what he's allowed to watch on TV, so I assume he picked up up from the kids at daycare.

I immediately turned to our local mom Facebook group to ask if this was "normal" behavior and all of the mom's who commented assured me that it was. They told me that all kids play pretend, and that I had nothing to be worried about.

DIY Yarn Wall Hanging

Hi everyone! I've got another DIY for you today, and I'm really excited about it!

I've been trying to figure out something to  hang in our upstairs stairwell, and nothing has been catching my eye. I decided to try this project last night, and I'm really happy with the results. 

Only 3 things are required to make this wall hanging- a stick, some yarn, and a pair of scissors to cut the yarn. Pretty simple right? 

DIY Farmers Market Sign

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to make a quick post about this really simple DIY I just did. I've been wanting a sign like this to hang in our dining room, and ended up making it using things I already had around the house, plus $1.35 in paper printed at staples. 

I used an old sign that didn't fit our current decor and repainted it using paints from my last DIY. I also printed the paper for the chalk stencil at Staples :)

 I found this awesome DIY for it here: http://www.mysomedayinmay.com/2016/08/diy-farmers-market-sign.html?m=1

Enjoy! 

Favourite Dollar Store Finds- March 2017

As you may be able to tell from previous  posts, I love a good deal. Lately I've really been into minimalist/Scandinavian design, which includes a lot of neutral colours, and clean lines. I love our local Dollarama for a lot of things, but home decor usually isn't one of them. I've been pleasantly surprised to find some great home decor items in the past couple of months that I wanted to share with you.

This striped clothes hamper. I saw it and immediately thought of Mason's room. It sits in the corner of his open closet, and I use it to hold his folded up blankets. He's still a blankie baby, so I love that he can grab one whenever he wants, and it's low enough for him to do that without asking me for help. 

This would also be really cute to hold toys, or for it's intended use as a clothes hamper. It was $4. 

I loved this wire basket the moment I saw it. It reminded me of a much more expensive one I've seen online, and I've seen a lot of similar items on my favourite home decor blogs. I actually bought 2 of them. This one to use for fruit on our table, and another that sits on our kitchen counter holding my most used cleaning products. They were $4 each. 

The next 2 items are really cute storage baskets I found for $3-$4 each. I love the grey fabric, and the size of them. I bought 2 of the rectangle ones for our bookshelf. They're perfect for books or to hide Mason's toys that might be laying around. 

I'm using the round one for Mitch's hats! He always throws his hats on top of our dresser, and I hate seeing them laying around. It just adds to the visual clutter in our room, which is why I didn't want a hat rack. This is the perfect size to hold several hats. 

This one is actually a DIY, but all of the supplies were purchased at the dollarstore. The total cost was around $6 for the wooden letters, paint and cord. 

I think my favourite find of all was this flower pot. We used it to plant rosemary yesterday, which you'll see in my previous post. They don't usually have white ones like this, so I was really excited. I may go back and get a couple more. It was $4. 

My last favourite buy lately is these adorable fake succulents. I love real plants and have a lot of them, but I couldn't resist the look of these. They look cute on our entry way board, and on our book shelf. 

 What are you favorite things to buy at the dollarstore?


 Dedreanna 

The Start of Our Indoor Herb Garden

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone had a very relaxing but productive weekend. I know we did, and I'm feeling really good about everything we accomplished.

This morning I decided to recruit Mason to help me plant some rosemary for the start of our indoor herb garden. Last year I grew Basil from seed and loved it so much that I want to do even more this year. Instead of growing everything from seed, I decided to get some small plants to pot indoors, starting with this rosemary. Let me tell you, it smells amazing. 

Mason loved scooping the soil into the pot. I got this really cute little flower pot bucket at our local dollar store for $4. He had fun, but in true Mason fashion he hated getting his hands dirty and asked me to wipe them off after every scoop lol. 

Here are the photos we took. I'll be posting more about what herbs we decide to grow later this Spring. 

Dedreanna 

Toddler Spring Clothing Haul- Buying Good Quality Clothes On A Budget

As everyone knows, I LOVE finding a good deal, so I was super excited to start shopping for Mason's spring wardrobe this year.

The original plan was to spend some of my tax return on his Spring/Summer wardrobe and just buy whatever I wanted, but unfortunately we ended up paying in on taxes this year (hello adulthood)- so I'm putting my shopping skills to good use and finding some amazing deals instead. 

Mason has a birthday coming up in about a month, so my mom generously sent some money our way to get his Spring outerwear. I was able to stretch what she sent us to buy the following: 

This Gap Windbreaker. I was really excited to find some great deals at our local Gap Factory store. It's located right beside Carters, and it's about a 3 minute drive from our house (super convenient for us). This jacket was originally over $40, but they had 40% off of all outerwear. I also had an additional 15% off coupon from signing up online. I was able to buy this jacket, a shirt for next winter, and a pair of shorts for less than $30 TOTAL, including tax. It was a steal. 

Since Carters is literally a step away from Gap, I went there next. I had signed up online and received a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. I was able to buy him a pair of splash pants, 2 pairs of shorts, and a t-shirt for $46 total including tax using my coupon. Last night I found out that Carters was having a weekend sale for 25% off the entire store. I was able to take my receipt back, get refunded the difference, and used that money to buy him a $14 hat - essentially getting the hat for FREE. I also picked up another t-shirt because of the 25% off sale.

I was also able to order him a Tuffo Muddy Buddy rain suit with some of the birthday money my mom sent for his outerwear. I'm super excited about this because it will be perfect for him to use during outdoor adventures this Spring. I ordered a 4T and I heard that they fit big, so it should fit him for a few seasons. I can picture him riding his balance bike through the puddles this Spring and staying nice and dry in this. I ordered it in blue :) 

After all of that was purchased, I decided to buy him some more t-shirts and shorts for Mitch and I to give him for his birthday, to complete his spring and summer wardrobe. He has a lot of t-shirts now that will still fit him then, so I didn't have to buy much to complete it.  The Children's Place had some amazing deals on- 50% off t-shirts, discounted shorts, and I also had a coupon for spend $40 get $10 off. I  bought these shirts in store: 

I then went home and ordered his shorts online. I was able to use my $10 off coupon along with the deals online, plus received free shipping. I also recieved $15 "Place Cash" with my order, which means in April I can get $15 off of a $30 purchase. I ended up buying 5 pairs of shorts for just over $30.

So that's Mason's new Spring/Summer wardrobe. I focused on buying items he needed, as he already has tons of pants, hoodies, etc. I'm so glad to have everything bought early so I'm not scrambling to find things once they start selling out. 

I love hearing about great deals and toddler styles. Comment if you want letting me know what clothing items you're excited to buy your kids for the upcoming seasons! 

Dedreanna