Day to Night Series- dark skinny jeans

Mama Bear Sweatshirt // LOFT jeans // white converse // Kendra Scott earrings

Thanks for stopping by for the Day to Night Series! 

I am teaming up with Laura from Walking in Memphis in High Heels for her Day to Night Series!  Every two weeks she picks a different item to style with a different blogger. One person will style it more casually for day, and the other will dress it up for night.  This week the item is a pair of dark skinny jeans.  I dressed them down with a pair of white converse and my all time favorite sweatshirt from Loved By Hannah and Eli. Laura dressed them up with a beautiful neon shirt topped off with an adorable brown leather jacket. And the brown heeled sandals makes this outfit just perfect for spring date night!

What's your favorite way to dress down or dress up a pair of dark skinny jeans?

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Happy Birthday Petri

As I spent my day with Raegan and Kyle yesterday, I just had this uneasy feeling that I couldn't shake all day. It wasn't until I was laying in bed that I realized why I was feeling that way.

It would have been our first child's 1st birthday.

I remember this time last year remembering our sweet boy on his due date.

We don't know for sure if he was a boy, but we always felt like he was. Kyle nicknamed him Petri and it stuck from the first time he said it. Our sweet Petri.

I can't really describe how it makes me feel because we have our sweet Raegan now to ease the sting of the fact our first pregnancy ended in a loss, but even with having her, it still hurts.

Petri, we miss you every day and can't wait to meet you and hold you again.

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Sponsorships

I am excited to announce that I am offering Sponsorships on my blog. This is a great way to get your name out there to all of my readers! Whether you are a fellow blogger or shop owner. Click here to be taken to the collaboration page and check out all the ways I'd love to feature you on my blog!

And to jump start it all, I'm offering 40% off ALL ad spots with the code themrsandco. Make sure you enter the code before checking out! Looking forward to working with you all! Have an amazing Sunday!

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Eight Months

I have missed the past month of posting Raegan's monthly posts. The 26th comes and goes so quickly. I have to be better about it. Especially since she is literally growing up before my eyes!

Sleep: You sleep through the night and are doing great on your naps too! You take 2 naps throughout the day that range from 30 minutes- 2 hours. Depends on how hard you've been playing!

Eat: You are still on 5 bottles a day, but we've started slowly introducing solids. It's hard with your cleft so we go slow. You love cereal puffs and yogurt melts because they melt in your mouth. We will work on it more after your surgery at the end of April.

Diapers: You are in size 3 diapers, but we've moved up to size 4 over night diapers because you are sleeping through the night completely and by morning time your little diaper was crazy full!

Clothes: You are mostly in 9 and 12 month clothes. You are a long one baby!

Talk: You still are just staying "mama". You're favorite time to do it is when you get up for the day or after a nap. You stand up and say "mama mama mama" over and over again! Cracks me up!

Teeth: You have 4 teeth! 2 on top and 2 on bottom. And you love to bite!

Movement: You are crawling everywhere and standing up! If I take my eyes off you for 1 second, you are pulling yourself up on anything you can find.

Other: You're cleft palate repair will be at the end of April. We are nervous, but ready. I know you are going to do great and am looking forward to having this surgery behind us.

Your daddy and I love you so much sweet Raegan Phair. You made us parents when we weren't sure it was going to happen. You are so precious to us.

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IVF #2 Update

I know there's been some radio silence on the blog about our upcoming IVF cycle. Honestly I've been struggling on whether to blog about it or not. Our first cycle and pregnancy were very public. I even blogged our results before telling some of our family.

The last thing I shared about this cycle was that my doctor said I needed to stop exclusively pumping for Raegan for 3 months before we could do a transfer. I struggled with the decision to stop pumping because my supply was so good, but she received 7 months pure breastmilk and I am proud of that. I may not have been able to give her the full year like I wanted, but I also didn't get to breastfeed her like I wanted. Our story is not normal. Our journey to becoming parents is not normal. Our 1st year of being parents is not normal with Raegan's cleft palate. I just have to continue reminding myself about that.

So since my last update post, I have stopped pumping and and we are in our 3 month wait. I went to the doctor and had a pelvic sonogram and and HSC (all procedure before doing another IVF). Everything has checked out normal and we are good to go. This will be my last IVF update as we continue forward. Do not worry. I will let you know when we are pregnant again, but have decided to keep this next part of our journey close to the chest. One thing I've always wanted to do was surprise everyone with a pregnancy announcement. That's hard to do with IVF, especially if you are sharing every tiny detail of it.

I will continue blogging about family, fashion, and food, but won't be doing any IVF posting when/if we receive a positive. I know that everyone will respect our decision and continue praying for us as we move forward.

I love you all.

And just for kicks, I just bought these 2 adorable shirts from Loved By Hannah and Eli. For all my TTC mamas and recent new mamas, you need these shirts! They are soft and adorable!

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Friday Happenings

And look at that, it's Friday again and time to take a look at our week!

Monday started off with some beautiful weather! So we pulled out our Easter bow ears and totally rocked them!

Easter bunny bow ears

Also on Monday I started the Advocare 24 day challenge. It is time to get this last 10 pounds of baby weight off! I will be doing a before and after post once I'm done. Below is my breakfast I eat each morning. I made a giant batch of Steel Cut Oats and eat 1/2 cup each morning with a few strawberries and a hardboiled egg.

Steel Cut Oat crock pot recipe

Tuesday I hung out with this adorable munchkin who was sure to wear her green so she didn't get pinched!

green felt bow

Raegan also came down with her first diaper rash on Tuesday. I think the poor thing has a tummy bug. Trying my best to keep her diaper dry, but she's giving me a run for my money.

She's also crawling like a maniac and I had to get her a play yard to keep her in 1 place for a couple seconds. 

She loves when I get inside with her and she loves crawling and pulling up on me. I swear she's going to be walking soon!

Can't wait for the weekend to spend with our baby daddy! Have a great weekend!

Linking up with:

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Featured on September FARM

Head over to September FARM to see the feature that Karli wrote about this little ole blog. Read a little bit about my short stint as a nudist. Thank you Karli!

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1 is the lonliest number

A blogging friend of mine, Sarah, from Our Journey, just blogged about how she is always the organizer for get togethers and if she didn't organize them, would anybody invite her to do things?

I completely feel the same way as her! If I don't put forth the effort, would anyone be calling/texting me to set something up? I try my best to text or call my friends just to check in with them, but rarely do I have someone initiating a call or text with me. Have we gotten so lazy in the new technological world that we've stopped putting effort into relationships?

Or is it me?

I can't help but have my feelings hurt at times when I'm the one doing all the work. I'm the one constantly calling and asking someone to do something. And here's where my little heart hurts just a little more. If they aren't calling me, are they really my "true friends"? Should I be investing in my time and efforts into someone else? Or are we just friends because of our children? 

I want to be invested in. I want my soul to be fed by amazing friends who know "me" and not just my children. I want the conversations to be good for the heart and if I wasn't putting forth the effort, would anyone want to invest in me?

I know being a mama is exhausting and our days are wrapped up in our kids, but mamas, we can't forget to continue investing in the relationships that keep going.

1 is an awfully lonely number and on days where I don't leave the house and it's just Raegan and I, it would be nice to receive a text from a friend who just wanted to check up on me.

So I challenge you, who will you invest in today?

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Trend Spin Link Up- Sandals

sandals- DSW // top- JCREW factory // skirt- JCREW factory // earrings- Kendra Scott

It is FINALLY warm enough today to wear sandals and I am so excited to be linking up with my friend, Laura, over at Walking In Memphis in High Heels. When I first started reading her blog I loved reading it for the fashion tips, but then I found out that she was pregnant by IVF with her daughter. We quickly connected over our miracle daughters. 

Every week she has a link up for her Trend Spin Link Up. And wouldn't you know, this week's link up is sandals!

When I first saw these sandals, I immediately fell in love! Then when I saw the price I feel in love even more. They are adorable and have so many colors in them that they can pretty much match anything. This JCREW skirt is only one of many things I have in my closet that match them.

I hope you swing by Laura's blog to check out all the other ways that bloggers have been wearing sandals lately!

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Friday Happenings

Another week down and it has been a doozy. All 3 of us have been sick.

But before we all got sick, the hubs and I finally got to celebrate my birthday by going to The Melting Pot.

He spoils me by taking me for every birthday, anniversary, or Christmas.

On Sunday we went to my parents house to celebrate my birthday. Raegan had had a cold since Friday and Kyle was coming down with it.

By the time we got home both Kyle and I felt terrible.

Monday (my birthday) my wonderful momma came over and watched Raegan while I went to the chiropractor, got a massage, and a mani/pedi. It was a wonderful day of relaxation!

But by Tuesday, the sickness was in full force! All 3 of us were down for the count, but Raegan did decide she was finally going to crawl!! That made up for feeling so lousy.

And after she showed off her new moves she was just so tickled with herself she just couldn't stop laughing!

 When you're sick, the best meal is homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. I made this for us on Tuesday night. We ate it again on Wednesday night too. I will have the recipe up on the blog next week. You will love it I promise!

And I also tried a Cauliflower Pizza that was suprisingly delicious and HEALTHY! Don't worry, the recipe will be on the blog soon!

I'm hoping that this weekend will allow us to rest up and get better because this cold needs to go! Along with the cold weather!

Linking up with:

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What We Eat {Macaroni & Cheese}

Here is another yummy recipe that my family loves and I know that when Raegan eats solids she is going to be asking for this dish by name!

Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients

1/3 cup of flour

2 2/3 cup of milk

3/4 cup of swiss cheese

3/4 cup of velveeta cheese (shredded or cubed)

1/2 cup of parmesean cheese

1/2 cup of sharp cheese

1 1/2 cup of stuffing (Peppridge Farm stuffing in blue bag)

3 cups of elbow noodles

1 stick of butter

1/2 tsp of garlic salt (or regular salt)

Instructions

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.

Start cooking the 3 cups of elbow noodles so that it's ready once the cheese sauce is made.

Combine 2 2/3 cups of milk and 1/3 cup of flour.

Pour into a sauce pan.

Continue stirring for 6 minutes on medium heat. The sauce will start to thicken up.

While you are stirring the milk and flour, measure out cheese into a bowl.

Once the milk and flour is thick, pour in the cheese and stir until melted.

 Drain noodles.

Add garlic salt (or regular salt) and noodles to the sauce.

Transfer macaroni and cheese to a 9x13 pyrex.

Melt 1 stick of butter (or 1/2 stick if you want less) and pour over 1 1/2 cup of stuffing.

Sprinkle stuffing over macaroni and cheese.

Bake in oven at 375 for 20-25 minutes. Take out once it begins to bubble.

Enjoy!

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It's My Birthday Giveaway {Freshly Picked}

I don't know about you, but I pretty much claim an entire month for my birthday.

Since my birthday is at the beginning of March, I pretty much claim after Valentine's Day till mid March and celebrate for an entire month. It really makes it a lot more fun. Don't knock it till ya try it!

As I thought about what I wanted for my birthday, I honestly could only think of things I wanted for Raegan. 

Is this normal when you have kids? 

Well I have been eyeing a pair of Freshly Picked Moccasins for Raegan and I am so stinking excited that I can say we finally own a pair and will be owning many more!

It took me a long time to pick out the color I wanted.

There are so many! I ended up going with Birch.

It's a good neutral color that will go with a lot! I plan on adding Platinum to our collection soon too. And of course hot pink, because every baby girl needs hot pick shoes!

The leather is thick and durable and I know when Raegan is walking these will be our go to shoes. Raegan is also teething and these babies are great for that too! :)

The elastic around the ankle helps keep the moccasins on, which is great because Raegan loves kicking her feet and I'd be so sad if one fell off while she was in her stroller.

So for my birthday, I wanted to give away a pair to a lucky reader! I know I'm not the only momma/momma to be that wants multiple pairs in their child's closet.

The best part is, none of the entries are mandatory. So follow what you want and get your entries in! The giveaway will run for 1 week. It is only opened to U.S. citizens, 18 years or older. You CANNOT win if you have won a pair of Freshly Picked moccasins in the past 60 days. Double, fake, or giveaway account entries will be deleted. Please email me for other giveaway terms and conditions.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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