one year and beyond

 dress c/o Sally Sarah Design | bracelet c/o Our Little Pretties

Mia is such a friendly, out going little girl and she LOVES to be around people! We've been very blessed to not really have to deal with separation anxiety (from her, that is. My anxiety over the idea of leaving her for more than a few hours is a different story, ha ha! I'm not sure if I'll ever get over that?) I believe that we can mostly thank Mia's personality for avoiding the difficult stage of separation anxiety!
Ever since Mia was 3 weeks old, I have worked one day a week at the salon. My parents watch her while I work, and it's been so great to get us both out of the house, and for Mia to learn that she can survive with someone else taking care of her besides me. Shortly after Mia turned one, I started taking her to the gym daycare. I stressed over this because I was so worried about the germs she would come in contact with, but the reality was that it was too cold to run outside and Mia would be around those germs at some point in life, why not now? She did great the first few weeks but we did hit a stage where she would start screaming before we even entered the daycare! It shattered my heart into a million pieces, but I kissed my screaming, thrashing baby goodbye and got my workout on. I knew that I was just a few feet away if she didn't calm down (luckily it only took her a couple minutes to forget about me and start having fun each time) and could be there the second she needed me! Luckily this phase lasted maybe two weeks? (I only take her to the daycare two times a week, so the torture was short lived!)
So obviously I don't have much experience with my own child and separation anxiety, but I have experienced it taking care of others children. The best piece of advice I can give is to just be repetitive. It's important for our kids to say goodbye to us, knowing they will see us again! They will learn what coping mechanisms they need to stay happy until mom and dad can rescue them from the big, bad care taker ;) Seriously though, kids really do learn how to cope through these situations! Even though it's killer to let them learn, it's something we have to do! But of course I totally believe that each parent knows their child better than anyone, and you know how far to push your kid and for how long :) Trust your intuition, mommas!! You're all doing an amazing job :)

Like a Morning Cup of Coffee// From Here to Eternity// The Not Quite Military Wife//

A Cowboy's Life// My Delicious Adventure// Sadie Sky Boutique// Meet the Sullivan's//

Love and Life//  Foxy's Domestic Side// Everyday Love// Life of Faith

July 31:  Dealing with Separation Anxiety

Aug 7:    Car Trip Necessities

Aug 14:  Deciding when the time is right for baby #2 (and/or how to handle these questions)

Aug 21:  Tricks for eating out with your toddler

Aug 28:  Feeling confident as a mom (How to feel this way, Your struggle with, etc.)

An InLinkz Link-up

just some randoms {19}

I noticed that Mia had gone quiet so I went looking for her... and found her hiding with my phone, ha ha! She was so engrossed in playing on my phone that she didn't even hear me until I snapped the photo. This is her "Oh! I got caught!" face :)

First time pulling out the chalk! She loves it :) Also, Mia is wearing my jellies that I wore when I was her size!

Mia fell asleep on the drive to the grocery store... and stayed asleep for half of my shopping trip!! This hasn't happened since the days of her sleeping through everything in her car seat. And wouldn't you know it, this happened twice in one week! Teething wipes her out!

Mia's very first baby cone! We were all so wrapped up in it that we didn't even notice she kicked a shoe off, ha ha!

Mia's first time playing in the rain was a total hit! We looooove when rainstorms roll through now! It's so fun to watch her get excited about it... she is a constant reminder that the little things matter and are SO fun! Also, this Despicable Me tee is her favorite item of clothing, EVER!

bloopers

A few weeks ago I shared the details of what it was like trying to get Mia's 18 month photos... and if you can recall correctly, it wasn't the smoothest of photo shoots, ha ha! I had so much fun looking through the outtakes, some of the pictures just kill me! I hope you get a kick out of them as well :)

Just lecturing my "picture-loving" hubs on what a real smile looks like... and this isn't it ;)

Just trying to talk Mia into cooperating for pictures... and Eric is trying to pretend like he isn't there at all, ha!

Gave her what she wanted and she still wouldn't crack a smile for the camera. In fact, she gave us the opposite #scowlcentral

Just a fun blooper :)

I mean seriously... these two!! Ha ha ha!

Probably my very favorite of them all :) I can't help but laugh each time I see this!

our extra holiday

dress c/o Olive The Things

July is an extra fun month if you live in Utah because we celebrate an extra holiday... Pioneer Day on the 24th of July! Eric actually had to work (bummer!) but my parents came up to play and we are so happy they did!
Our town celebrates by starting the morning with a mile long race (very family friendly) and I had so much fun running it last year! Unfortunately for me, I've been battling a cold all week so I had to skip the run, but we still went to the parade! Parades are like a million times better with a kid, ha! Mia has got the waving thing down... she definitely needs to be in a parade someday! (Of course she'd be the kid in the corner of the float shoving as much candy in her face as possible, instead of waving and throwing it out to the crowds, ha ha!) Next, we went to lunch and enjoyed some amazing BBQ! My parents went home when Mia went down for her nap, but we are so glad they came to play! When Eric got home from work he grilled our dinner, we played outside with Mia, and we enjoyed an at-home-date night when Mia went to bed! It was a goooood day :)
I love having this month to celebrate our country and our freedoms! Without the freedom of religion, we would not be celebrating Pioneer day! I especially love any excuse to change up our daily routine with a fun plans for Mia :)

"nnnnnnnooo!"

Oh how I need to read every one's advice from today's link up! This whole "learning to communicate" is definitely a learning curve that Mia and I will hopefully overcome... eventually? Just to give you a little feel for our daily interactions, here's a sneak peek :)

"Mia, let's change your diaper!"
"Nnnnnnno!" as she runs away screaming.
(But really, her favorite word is "no". It's just the cutest thing.)

When Mia gets frustrated with or at something she doesn't hesitate to give an ear splitting, high pitched scream that seriously tempts us to throw her out the window...
But we love her so much that we would never throw her out the window, duh :) Instead we tell her in our calmest, nicest voices that "we don't scream when we're frustrated, Mia! Be nice!"
She usually stops screaming... until she gets frustrated again :)

Mia is really into pushing kids her size these days... once again? So. Much. Fun.
The moment I catch her pushing, I gently grab her hands in mine and tell her, "we don't push! Be nice/soft. Say sorry and give him/her a hug!"
Mia smiles and eagerly gives the child a hug... which means I've just created the funnest game. Push, hug, repeat!

"I love you, Mia!" Since she doesn't know how to say it back, she gives us a kiss! So at least we are doin' something right!

Mia communicates so well without using words that I sometimes wonder if she'll ever find the desire to really pick up a vocabulary :) Actually, she loves to jabber so much and she's really picked up words and loves to mimic us! This stage is sooooo fun but I often worry that I'm not teaching her correctly. We can see more than ever what a sponge her little brain is and that she's soaking up every move we make! I just want to be the best example for her... so I am looking forward to all the advice I can get on the positive ways to teach her to communicate!     

Like a Morning Cup of Coffee// From Here to Eternity// The Not Quite Military Wife//

A Cowboy's Life// My Delicious Adventure// Sadie Sky Boutique// Meet the Sullivan's//

Love and Life//  Foxy's Domestic Side// Everyday Love// Life of Faith

July 24:  Helping Your Toddler to Communicate (Words, emotions, etc.)

July 31:  Dealing with Separation Anxiety

Aug 7:    Car Trip Necessities

Aug 14:  Deciding when the time is right for baby #2 (and/or how to handle these questions)

Aug 21:  Tricks for eating out with your toddler

Aug 28:  Feeling confident as a mom (How to feel this way, Your struggle with, etc.)

An InLinkz Link-up

we be roadtrippin' {the Grand Canyon}

The Grand Canyon... wow! Just WOW!! I can't even explain how this place took my breath away with it's beauty! 

It's no secret that I love to be outdoors and exploring, and of course Mia is even more obsessed with the outdoors than I am! I hadn't been to the Grand Canyon since I was little and really have no memories from that trip, so when I realized we could take a detour on the way home from Flagstaff to visit, I knew we had to! It was the perfect pit stop to let Mia have a break from the car! My one regret is that we didn't spend more time enjoying this beautiful corner of the Earth!

The drive to the north rim is gorrrrgeous! You are in the mountains with trees for days and beautiful meadows! We saw buffalo on the drive (my first time seeing them in the wild!) and enjoyed the greenery. I don't know what I was expecting when we arrived at the Grand Canyon, but my jaw dropped with the colors and beauty we witnessed. I could go on and on about how much I loved this place, but instead I'll share the two newest goals added to my never ending bucket list :) I want to escape life for a weekend and stay in one of the cabin's with a view to the Canyon! The second will probably kill me, but I want to hike from the south rim to the north rim... someday! 

If you ever have the chance to visit the Grand Canyon, it's a must see!! I'm so glad Eric puts up with my wanderlust and visits these amazing places with me!

we be roadtrippin' {Flagstaff. AZ}

headband c/o Sweet Angel Kreations

I forgot to get a picture of the 3 of us (Mia's first time bowling milestone, ha ha!) but a picture of us taking turns bowling with her counts, right?

Having so much fun with cousins!

This is my uncle's backyard... AH-mazing! But that baby? She's all mine and even more AH-mazing ;)

The only picture I managed to get at the wedding, and on my phone :( Such a shame because it was a beautiful night!

Man, I look back on the weekend and can't help but smile so big! Don't get me wrong, there were so many not-so-good moments mixed with the good moments... but I am happy to say that the good outweighs the bad :) The ups and downs were so worth it and this past weekend was one for the books!
Friday night we drove down to Flagstaff, AZ. The drive started out pretty good until... Mia threw up in the car for the first time ever. She's experience car sickness before, but she never got sick until we were home and I tried feeding her food. Let me tell you, vomit in the car is definitely the worst experience! We didn't make it to our hotel until 11pm (midnight our time) only to find that the inside was... not up to our standards. Call us hotel snobs, but we like a good, clean place! We were so exhausted and pretty frazzled after dealing with cleaning up puke and driving in the smell of it (so awesome, I'm tellin' ya!) that it was pretty devastating to find a crappy room. I didn't even read reviews because that's where the whole wedding party was staying... Eric tried to convince me to stay somewhere else but I decided we just had to make the best of it! Eric unloaded our stuff and while I worked on getting Mia showered and ready for bed, he found a car wash and sprayed out the car seat. He didn't even make it back to our room until 1am (2 our time) and at that point we were so delirious that we just laughed hysterically at how awful our night was!
Saturday was a MUCH better day! We discovered that the outside of our cabin-like rooms was gorgeous! We stayed more towards the mountain so it was beautiful out! And perfect for Mia to roam and visit with our family! The best part was that my parents were staying as well so they took Mia while Eric and I tried to catch up on some sleep (because Mia was up at 6am... such a sweet little wake up call, ha!) Anyway, we went bowling (Mia's first time!) with family, explored the mountain with Mia (the trees are endless and it's gorgeous) and attended my cousin's wedding that evening up the mountain. It really was a perfect day with family!
Sunday was another adventurous day and I can't wait to blog about it! But the bummer is that Mia got sick again :( We took a detour on our drive home which had as traveling all day and around dinner time Mia started crying, was miserable and uncomfortable, and wouldn't eat a thing. We finally got home around 9pm (ugh!) and Mia was in a much better mood! I woke up to her coughing sometime after midnight so I went in and checked on her... and there was not the most pleasant surprise waiting for me. Poor baby!! Short road trips don't seem to bother her but if we have to deal with this on any road trips longer than 4 hours, I'm going to be soooo sad! I'm hoping we can find ways to avoid her getting sick, even if it's driving through the night so that she can sleep through it all? Ugh! But like I said, we still enjoyed an amazing weekend even with our not so pleasant experiences ;) Flagstaff is gorgeous and I'm so happy we got to visit!

happy 19 months to my love bug

Yesterday our sweet daughter turned 19 months... which is blowing my mind! How is she on the downhill to turning 2 years old?! Time is flying! This post is going up late because I'm a slacker and didn't type this up ahead of time, and I've been busy being a momma (the not so glamorous side of having kids) who's cleaning up puke and snuggling her poor baby! We are pretty sure that Mia has inherited my poor stomach and gets car sick (insert the ugly cry) which I'm heart broken about! We love to road trip so I'm hoping for some tips on how to travel with littles that get car sick (read more below)!

I shared this on Instagram but had to share here as well! Mia is all dressed up for a wedding... and wearing the exact jellies that I wore when I was her size!!

- Mia went to nursery for the first time a couple weeks ago and she did great! Kids don't go to nursery at our church until 18 months, so I'd been counting down the months for this one so that I could enjoy a couple hours of actually getting something out of the lessons ;)
- I forgot to mention a couple months ago that she can put on her own shoes! It's so fun to tell her to get her shoes and watch which ones she grabs and if they end up on the right feet!
- Her vocabulary is increasing so much these days! She's totally into mimicking us and it's so fun! She's like a little sponge, totally interested in soaking up all the sounds her little mouth can make.
- Mia now says "wee!", "um" (which is so funny, she will say "Um, lkajs kwlje osis, um!" It's been kind of horrifying to realize how often I say "um" :)), "nana" (banana), "bir" (bird) "mama" or "baba" depending on her mood (for the longest time I thought she wouldn't say mama until I finally made the connection that she called me "baba", ha!). She also counts "two, eeeeee!" (three) She skips one but will often walk around the house saying "twooooo" to get me to start counting and she will count with me!
- She has pretty much mastered drinking water from a cup! I still won't give her milk in anything but her sippy because I don't want to deal with the mess if she does spill it all over :) But she's getting so good with the cup and she's so proud of herself each time she drinks from one!
- Mia now points to her teeth (and says "eeeee") and "shows" us her muscles! 
- Little girlfriend is turning into quite the dancer! Her little body sure can bust a move and it's the CUTEST thing :)
- Mia is still a pretty dang good eater, and I'm counting my blessings! Her all time favorites are: eggs, cutie oranges, yogurt, string cheese, and grapes. I'm sure there are more but that's all I remembered to write down.
- She is obsessed with books, coloring and puzzles! 
- We have been having so much fun this summer just being outdoors! This girl loves to be outside, it's definitely her favorite ever!
- I'm so, so, so sad to say that we experienced too much vomit on our road trip this past weekend. The drive down she threw up in the car, the drive back she waited until we were home but I could tell she wasn't feeling well towards the end of our drive. We are on the go all the time and I really don't want to stop, but I don't want to make Mia feel sick (or deal with cleaning up puke while traveling, totally selfish, I know!) Are there ways to ease the motion sickness? Would it be better to travel early morning or maybe at night when she can sleep through it all? Ugh, this is seriously such a bummer for us! All tips would be appreciated!
- Mia is wearing all sizes of clothing. 6-9 month, 12 month and 18 month, with some random other sizes in between :) At least we are getting our money's worth out of each size! She's moved up to size 4 shoes.
- She still wears size 3 diapers.

it's a good mail day when...

...there is a package from RedEnvelope waiting at the door!

I was so excited when RedEnvelope reached out and offered to send this precious keepsake box! I had seriously been stressing over coming up with an idea on how to store all of Mia's little firsts, or precious objects from her first days of life, etc because until this point, it's all been in a ziploc bag. Yeah... creativity is not one of my strong suites :) This box is about to become one of our greatest treasures full of sweet, happy memories! It really isn't fair how quickly Mia has grown, but at least we will have little tokens stored to remind us of each stage of her life!

sweet, sweet summertime

Bahaha. I love this picture :)

Last summer was probably the happiest summer of my life! I got to spend my days with little Mia and watch her grow. I was convinced that no summer would ever be able to beat that one.... but of course I was wrong! This summer has been just as fun and amazing! The amazing thing about baby's, toddlers, kids is that it doesn't take much to make them happy (I love that fact about Mia, she is constantly bringing me back to what truly matters and simple happiness)!
So how are we having fun this summer? We are spending as much time outside as possible! Some of Mia's favorite things that keep us busy are:

• Hiking (I've changed my hiking routes from ones where I have to pack her, to ones that she can do herself! She loves to explore so I do my best to accommodate!)
• Pool time. We bought a baby pool that has been the best investment ($10) ever!
• Park time. I must admit that the park isn't my very favorite because Mia still can't do it all, but she sure does try! So it sometimes turns into a fight as she tries to follow the bigger kids to the very tallest of climbing and slides. It will be nice when I don't have to worry about her running and climbing all over everything. But when she is content playing on the baby sections and going down the slide a hundred times, it is so fun to watch the joy on her face :)
• Play dates. Although Mia is still very much in the independent playing stage, she still loves to be surrounded by our friends! So play dates are good for our souls :)
• Simply going outside. Some days we walk out the front door, I sit on the steps and watch Mia run around and pick up rocks, say hi to the neighbors, etc. I can't even explain Mia's excitement when I tell her we are going outside (versus out back)! Even though she doesn't do much... it truly is the little things that make her world go 'round :)
• Blowing bubbles. Playing with balls. Eating homemade popsicles or smoothies. 

We don't own a home yet so I daydream about the days that I can watch or run through the sprinklers with Mia (some of my favorite childhood memories involve the sprinklers)! We also hope to have a garden and it will be fun to pick fruit or peas and eat them as we play outside! I can't believe I haven't added this to our list of out door fun.... Mia loves to color so I need to pull out the chalk! Maybe we will do that today :)
Our summer activities are simple and that is okay with me and my daughter. Our life is so happy and I'm so grateful I have my little bestie to enjoy the little things with!        

Like a Morning Cup of Coffee// From Here to Eternity// The Not Quite Military Wife//

A Cowboy's Life// My Delicious Adventure// Sadie Sky Boutique// Meet the Sullivan's//

Love and Life//  Foxy's Domestic Side// Everyday Love// Life of Faith

July 17:  Favorite summer toddler activities

July 24:  Helping Your Toddler to Communicate (Words, emotions, etc.)

July 31:  Dealing with Separation Anxiety

Aug 7:    Car Trip Necessities

Aug 14:  Deciding when the time is right for baby #2 (and/or how to handle these questions)

Aug 21:  Tricks for eating out with your toddler

Aug 28:  Feeling confident as a mom (How to feel this way, Your struggle with, etc.)

An InLinkz Link-up

currently

Loving: our family video! I don't think I can express how much I love it if I tried... I'm just plain obsessed. I'm not positive, but I doubt the obsession will be waring off anytime soon, ha! If you have been wondering if it's worth the money... it totally is! We had such a positive experience filming, we just played with Mia and didn't have to stop and pose once. We all had the best time! Ah! I just can't say enough good things about it!

Reading/watching: I've got nothin' new in this department this month. I finished City of Heavenly Fire (loved it!) and I'm debating whether to start the other series by the same author. Has anyone else read them?
I'm not watching anything new, including the Bachelorette, which is just a shame (ha ha!) I need to hurry up and catch up on Hulu! Has it been a good season?

Trying to: get into a summer routine that includes blogging! I have been slacking on my blog stalking and I miss knowing what's going on in every one's lives (nosy creeper alert)! I'm having the hardest time balancing a clean home, healthy home-cooked meals, blogging, playing with Mia and offering her everything she needs, being a good wife, traveling and spending as much time possible outside! Unfortunately I haven't been able to get around to commenting on blogs as much as I used to and I miss the interaction! Has summer been as crazy, busy for everyone else?

Wishing: that these summer storms never had to leave! Monsoon season is my favorite! I'm also wishing we had a few more thunder and lightening shows! It's been such a dry year that I'm sure it's a good thing we haven't had very much lightning to light our state on fire, but I love me a good thunder storm!

Excited for: our vacation! Now that I've spent a night away from Mia I'm confident that I'll love my time away with Eric (instead of crying hysterically over missing my baby... Yes, I was totally worried about this, ha)! Any last minute tips, must see/must do's in Boston?!

weekending

Guess what I finally did?! I left Mia overnight for the first time! I have been wanting to rip that band aid off for awhile now but I didn't have a good enough excuse... until my friends talked me into a quick girls trip! Eric was so amazing and took work off so that I could enjoy a day to myself. The night before I was leaving I became so anxious and didn't sleep very well, but once I was gone? I did great! I missed Mia, of course, but it wasn't anything unbearable. In fact, I didn't even shed on tear, go me!! Ha ha! I can't even tell you how excited I was to get home to my baby though :) I was so giddy and happy to be back home with Eric and Mia! I totally felt refreshed and re-energized, oh the magic of a quick getaway :) There will definitely be more of these in my future! I can't wait to share the details of our girls trip soon! But I just had to share, it felt so good to cross some things off my 27 before 27 list! Good thing I did, I still have so much to do and not very much time left to do it!

Mia did NOT want to pick a duck! This picture will forever crack me up!

Bow c/o The Prettiest Bow Dress c/o Dainty and Lion

The more sass this girl develops, the more we see those duck lips, ha ha!

I had been looking forward to this weekend for months because my friend, Courtney, and her little boy were planning to come stay with us! She lives in AZ so we only see each other once a year, which is ridiculous (we are meant to be next door neighbors, ha ha)! We had so much fun planned for them but unfortunately she came down with the flu and they weren't able to come (cue the ugly crying... okay, not really. but close) Luckily I was still on a high from the excitement of coming home to Eric and Mia so we still had a good weekend :)
Our little town puts on a Renaissance fair each year and it never fails to bring a variety of people out of hiding to enjoy the festivities, ha ha. It really is fun for family's, but it's even more fun for the people watching ;) Eric planned our day around the car show and he and Mia were in heaven! It felt more like h e double hockey sticks to me with the dang heat! It wasn't long before Eric and I were both dying of heat, and hungry. The combination made for very lovely "hangry" attitudes, ha! We still managed to make it through the park to see the festivities, let Mia play a game (which she obviously wanted no part in!) and walked past the deep fried food. I blame our heat strokes for not buying one deep fried anything, it's a shame really! Once we finally fed ourselves, all was right in the world again! The rest of our weekend was super low key and just perfect! Obviously I'm sad our friends weren't able to make it, but I was so happy to be home with my favorite people!!

we're better together (a must see!)

Our family video (which is a must see, in case you were wondering!):

 

The Brinkerhoffs from Kavin Lindgren on Vimeo.

You guys, I am so in love with this video!! The only person who loves it more than me is Mia... she is obsessed with watching it, ha ha. It's the sweetest experience watching her watch it, she will smile and excitedly point out the "birdie" (ducks) or the "doggie"! And during random moments of watching her play with Eric, or having a dance party with us, she will smirk and laugh. My heart could burst while watching her recognize the love and happiness she feels when seeing our little family!

Can I just mention real quick what an amazing experience it was filming with Kavin Lindgren? He is amazing (and Mia totally had a crush, she wanted to hold his hand and walk everywhere with him)! He was so cool to work with and so patient with us! But the best part? Not one of us needed much patience... filming this video was SO stinking easy compared to trying to get Mia to pose for pictures! I mean, my picture-hating (anything to do with having to smile-hating) husband doesn't have anything to complain about, so you know that's sayin' something :) ha ha! Kavin is incredibly talented and while he's based in southern California, he travels all over to film, which is awesome since we are in Utah! I just can't say enough good things about him... and I hope he doesn't get sick of us since I obviously need a new video each time we add a kid to the mix!

So tell me, what do you think of our video?!

l o v e

Hooray! Our "One Year and Beyond" link up is back! I shared the news last week that we just couldn't stay away, but being that it was the holiday I hope you were still able to get the word and write up a post for this week! This topic is definitely one I'm dying to get your ideas on!

Just pretend Eric is holding me like he loves me, bahaha! This one would have been perfect if he wasn't being a picture-hating stinker!

Before we had Mia, I always wondered how people stopped dating their spouse after kids? Eric and I had so much fun together... heck! Every night was like date night (bahaha!) Then we had Mia and I wondered why anyone would want to leave their baby behind on date nights?! Mia just slept the whole time anyway... and I missed her so much when we did leave her! Now that Mia is a year and a half and officially in toddler mode (you won't hear me call her a toddler out loud though, she's still my baby!) I totally get it! Ha ha!

When Mia was born Eric was so giving of his time! When he was home from work he was totally devoted to helping me and the baby any way he could. At some point between sleep deprivation, stresses from nursing, and just plain orneriness, I took his service for granted and started expecting the world from him (my bad!!) We took a step back and reevaluated our relationship and what we needed from each other. We realized that a baby really does change things up as much as everyone said it would, so we had to adapt and figure out a new way to keep growing our love for each other (instead of resenting one another, which we were starting to head down that road) We came to the agreement that we (I) needed to serve one another. Once I stopped expecting everything from Eric and started trying to help him as much as he helped me, we were back on track with each other! Of course it all became easy and natural again once I was out of the newborn/brand new mom/survival mode, but I'm still glad we caught on in the very beginning instead of letting it become a habit.

There is a quote I love by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "As we lose ourselves in the service of others, we discover our own lives and our own happiness.” I truly believe that by serving my husband and my daughter, I am a happier "me" and fall more in love with them each day! So the simple solution to keep our spark alive, is to serve each other. Whether it be packing Eric's lunch for work, Eric playing with my hair, and of course it goes into deeper things :) But when we put each other first we find that our marriage thrives more than ever! Oh yeah, and we make it a point to get out and go on dates minus our sweet toddler baby who absolutely doesn't sleep through, or even sit still during those dates ;) 

Like a Morning Cup of Coffee// From Here to Eternity// The Not Quite Military Wife//

A Cowboy's Life// My Delicious Adventure// Sadie Sky Boutique// Meet the Sullivan's//

Love and Life//  Foxy's Domestic Side// Everyday Love// Life of Faith

July 10:  Keeping your marriage alive with a toddler

July 17:  Favorite summer toddler activities

July 24:  Helping Your Toddler to Communicate (Words, emotions, etc.)

July 31:  Dealing with Separation Anxiety

Aug 7:    Car Trip Necessities

Aug 14:  Deciding when the time is right for baby #2 (and/or how to handle these questions)

Aug 21:  Tricks for eating out with your toddler

Aug 28:  Feeling confident as a mom (How to feel this way, Your struggle with, etc.)

An InLinkz Link-up