Secret Mom Behaviors- Kinda Like Secret Single Behaviors But Worse- Children are Involved!

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The New York Times recently made waves with an article on the quirky habits people develop after living alone for a while. Years earlier, Sex and the City had an episode dedicated to these quirky, often embarrassing habits-  otherwise known as secret single behavior.  My lifestyle is now a far cry from the singlehood described in The New York Times and Sex and the City but alas, secret quirky behavior has not left.  I now have “Secret Mom Behaviors”.  No, I do not mean the kind in which you fill a sippy cup with wine and hide it in your diaper bag.  I mean the embarrassing actions you do with (or to) your kids that you may or may not even let your husband see.  I have a few I am willing to share today.

I sing.  I sing a lot.

             I read all the research on developing vocabulary in babies- talk out loud while doing everyday activities, talk while you are in another room and let them know you are still there, etc.  Apparently, I have decided to SING instead. Why do I sing and not talk?  I have no idea, I picked up the habit after giving birth.  Sadly, I am not at ALL creative- "Momma’s taking a shower, da da de dah,  Momma’s taking a shower, Cuz she smells so bad..."

I am fairly certain the researchers did not intend for me to let my baby girl think I smell, or encourage that kind of language in her sponge like mind, whoops.

Dance Party All The Time!

This actually was a secret single behavior, then secret husband-is-out-of-town behavior and now as a Mom I have a partner- whew hoo- dance party 24-7!!  We jam to Rhianna, Pink, GLEE and other ridiculous pop music- she giggles, laughs and points (hmm... is she laughing AT me or with me?) Add another Mom fail to the list- bad vocabulary and cheezy pop music. Sorry baby girl, Mozart just is not that fun to dance to.

Photo Shoots (Not the Good Kind)

I hesitate to write this one and perhaps should keep it a secret from world, but c'est la vie... (How is THAT for vocabulary, researchers??) Everyone loves taking pictures of their kids, especially their first.  But... I may take it a little too far...

●      Bunny ears from the 99cent store?  Yes, please.

●      Funny mustache sticker above her lip?  Hell yeah!

●      Stick hair straight up like she was shocked- (Um... YES! sorry baby girl...)

I do not share these kind of photos on Facebook or with family- ahem *Secret Mom Behavior*. Perhaps, one day when my baby girl is older and wondering why she sings outloud during her mundane activities, shakes her booty at any pop song on the radio- I will show her these photos and apologize- “Sorry honey, you had a nut bag of a Momma, but she sure does love you oodles”.

Well, those are the only three behaviors I am willing to share! I will leave you with one of my favorite songs before I go- The New York Times quotes a woman in the article: “I never, ever close the bathroom door.”  Well singletons, neither do I - but while I am in there you can hear me singing loudly- “Momma's gotta pee, la de dah da,  Momma’s gotta pee”. 

Do you have a secret Mom behavior**?  Maybe you like your baby's food and eat it? Chew their food & stick it in their mouth a la Alicia Silverstone? Or dress them in Daddy's clothes for fun? Or....?

**I say Mom because that is what I am- I am sure lots of Dads have these too, so please share them! BUT, I don't really want to know that my husband's secret behavior is how high he can throw Kalia in the air and catch her. I suspect this is one of his, but, I rather live in ignorance.

Linked to Finding the Funny! Check out other funny Mom posts!
Hanging out at Yeah Write! 
Mommy Brain Mixer

A Bubbly Caprese Salad!

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All the delicious players in the salad.

I love this salad and I have been making it for years now! It is my most requested side dish to bring to a party and since every party ended with people wanting to know the recipe, I finally decided to put it on paper (or rather the internet)

With only 6 ingredients, it is very easy to make and except for the mozzarella, I always have the other 5 ingredients at home!  

The quality of your ingredients matter for the overall taste of any dish,  particularly one with such few ingredients.  Both Trader Joe's and World's Market have quality olive oil for a budget price.  All my ingredients are from Trader Joe's (love that store!)

I started using grape tomatoes for the salad as I could eat it year round, I am not a fan of larger tomatoes unless they are in season.  Replace the grape tomatoes once summer hits with delicious in season ones.  Not many things beat the flavor of an in season tomato- mmmm....

A Bubbly Caprese Salad 
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1b. of grape tomatoes
1 cup Buffalo mozzarella
3 large cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of basil
1/4 cup of olive oil
Kosher salt

Directions:

Chop the tomatoes and add them to a strainer over a bowl.  

Sprinkle with salt, stir, and repeat salt sprinkle.  (Don't be afraid, most of the salt ends up in the bowl!)

Salting removes excess water and will draw out the flavor of the tomato.  (This is a great step to do before roasting tomatoes as well!)

Let tomatoes sit for at least 15 minutes.

Discard the water or save for a tomato consomme! 

Meanwhile mince the garlic, roughly chop the basil, and cut mozzarella into a small dice.

I love garlic & chopping it is on my list of odd activities I really enjoy doing.

Combine ingredients, pour olive oil, sprinkle with salt.  Stir.  Salt to taste.

Eat Away!

My mozzarella is not diced here and is roughly chopped as a certain little one was tired of playing by herself and I had EVERYTHING else done except mozzarella.

Therefore, I had only minutes to add the mozzarella and take the final picture (taken while holding a squirming Kalia, as if I did not struggle with taking photos as it is ;)

 C'est la vie, I am a Mom first- food, photography and everything else comes second!

Linked up to Thirty Handmade Days, check them out for more inspiration!

A Bubbly Link Love Spotlight- A Beach Cottage

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I have decided to spotlight each of my favorite blogs in A Bubbly Blogroll, because I kinda hate it when I go to a blog and see a list of names, but really have no idea if the blog will appeal to me.  I hope you enjoy my spotlighted picks!

A Beach Cottage is one of, if not the first, blog I have consistently read over the years.  I LOVE this woman!  If you like Shabby chic, coastal, vintage, beach decor, her blog is an invaluable resource of information and inspiration.

She does amazing transformations with her furniture and provides instructions on how to do it yourself at home.

A Beach Cottage was the inspiration for painting a vintage trunk to use as storage in Kalia's nursery.  You automatically rise to the top of my list of favorites if you provide me with inspiration for my baby girl's room!  I hope you enjoy and find inspiration there too!

* I am in no way affiliated with A Beach Cottage Blog, just a fan!
All Images Via A Beach Cottage

If You're Happy And You Know It...

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Clap your hands!

Kalia just picked up this skill, and she happens to think it is the coolest thing since Moosey.

Everything she does, sees, hears, initiates clapping.

Knocks over a toy- Yeay, claps hands!!
Eats a bite of cereal- Yeay, clap hands!!
Rolls to get closer to the speaker she isn't supposed to touch- Yeay, clap hands!! (then proceed to chew said speaker)
My personal favorite- Mom walks in a room- Yeay, claps hands!!

She does it with such unabashed excitement, and pure joy- I love it and I smile every single time.

And, as my daughter has taught me a million little life lessons in a short 9 months, I thought- what if Moms took that excitement in all the little accomplishments?

Mom picks up toys- Yeay, clap hands!!
Mom moves speaker out of baby's mouth- Yeay, clap hands!!
Mom woke up in middle of night because blasted thunderstorm woke little- Yeay, clap hands!! (quietly, please, don't wake the baby)
Mom nurses 4 times, feeds solids 3 times, changes 6-8 diapers, works 4 hours, makes dinner, cleans dishes, wipes countertops, folds laundry, stuffs diapers-  Yeay, clap hands!! (if, of course, there is energy left to do so, but husbands come in handy here :)

I am happy and I DO know it and I clap my hands and I think all you Moms should too!

Also, seriously, go buy Moosey- he is awesome!

*contains an affiliate link to Amazon

My Cloth Diapers & What I Do With Poo!

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When I researched cloth diapering on the web, I was overwhelmed with all the choices, decisions, diapers, and on and on and on... I just wanted to give up.

So I have decided to add to the wealth of information available, as I am a lazy cloth diaper- meaning if it was hard I probably would not do it.  There are MANY kinds of diapers and many methods- the following is what works for me.

Diapers

BumGenius Hook & Loop Pocket Diapers - I prefer pocket diapers for the flexibility-  I can add more inserts at night, use an alternate fabric insert and they do not take as long as All in Ones to dry.

BumGenius has adorable prints, colors, a great warranty and a great reputation.  No leak problems whatsoever! I love them and they truly have made cloth diapering easy and convenient for me.

Downside-  
1) Velcro (hook& loop) will most likely need to be replaced with another child, but the hook & loop were so much easier for me to put on than the snaps. I since have purchased a couple snaps because they were a cute print, and I still prefer the velcro over them.  As I said, I want diapering to be EASY.  If it bugged me multiple times everyday, I would not do it.

2) Pocket diapers do need to be "stuffed"-  an extra task amongst the million other baby things we do.  I stuff mine all at once when they are clean. On average it takes me 4 minutes to stuff diapers and I wash them 2-3 times a week.  8-12 minutes a week is doable for me.

GroVia - I purchased these because they were on sale and I wanted a travel system. Thank goodness for sales- because I LOVE these diapers!  They are slim fitting and make on the go much easier.  I love fluffy bums like the bumGenius, but I am just not a diaper bag type girl, everything needs to fit in my Marc Jacobs purse- therefore, GroVia is my go-to for outings.

GroVia is a hybrid system- meaning you can use both cotton and their BioSoaker disposable inserts in the shells (great for travel). Their inserts snap into a shell, therefore, when you need to change, you are only changing the insert, not the shell (needing less room in your bag, as you do not need to carry whole diapers around- again, great for travel)

The velcro is more secure on these than a safe at Gringotts' Wizarding bank!  (Me= huge Harry Potter fan) If you have a baby who loves to strip naked or paint the walls with poo GroVia is a great choice.

Downside-
1) The inserts are pricey, but you can use alternative cheaper options.

2) Unlike my bumGenius, GroVia does not wick away the wetness and therefore not my nighttime diaper.  It is also not my poop diaper as for some reason poop usually gets on the shells and I do not want to clean poop off.  (More on poop later)

Tips & Secrets to my Success-

- A large stash- If it is in your budget get more than the recommended amount of 24 diapers.  I have about 30 bumGenuis and 8 GroVia.  Add them to your registry!! My original stash of 24 was a gift!!
Due to my large stash, I think I will have longer use of the velcro and mostly it is piece of mind- I literally have never run out of diapers.

- Buy neutral colors- If you plan on having more than one child and reusing the diapers, get colors that can be used for a boy or girl.  My colors are white, orange, yellow, blue and green (I think blue & green is fine for a girl, looks so cute with matching color dress)  I have bought a couple pink and the purple since then because they are cute and fluff is addicting.

- Designate a color for nighttime-  Buy mostly neutral colors, and set aside 5-7 "gender specific" colors.  If your next child is the opposite sex, use the gender specific ones at nighttime.  Your husband may have a problem with your little boy in pink, but no one else will see it except you two!  Of course when the child is older, this may lead to problems, but if you have a large enough stash, you can retire them.  Our nighttime colors are white, just because I find them kind of boring for daytime clothes, so when I got the stash, I decided to set them aside for night.

The ultimate key to my success is - What do I do with Poo? 

Kushies, I am pretty sure these are heaven sent

Kushies Flushable Biodegradable Diaper Liners- These liners are what keep me cloth diapering.  When I started cloth, I knew I would have personal limitations- POO being one of them.  Since I was nursing, I did not have to worry about it for 6 months, as breast feeding poo is water soluble.  Then came solid foods- and ewwwwww, a solution needed to be found.

I did not want to spray poop down a toilet, pick it off with a scraping tool or any of the things that many (more faithful) cloth diapering padres do.  I HATE dealing with poo.  All I do is take the liner off and flush it down the toilet.

Downside- If you have older plumbing or septic tanks you cannot use the liners as they will clog

Tip- I am paranoid they will clog my plumbing even though it is not old, so I leave it in toilet and flush it later in day so it degrades a bit.  Since this is in the guest bathroom, I sometimes forget about it, so if you are a guest at my house,  you may see a floating poo at times.

There you have it- the two diapers I use & how I handle poo!  Sooooo much info, I know, I know...

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments!

P.S.-- I am not affiliated with these brands, I am simply sharing my experience with them. 

*contains affiliate links to Amazon

Cobalt Crush

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Still missing the ocean and Hawaii blue skies, so another blue board it is... Cobalt was "in" this Fall, but I am still crushing on anything cobalt!

Bubbly Link Love:

1) Cobalt Skinny Jeans ASOS

2) Keep Calm & Sparkle On- I am purchasing this one soon for my office! HEART it!

3) Nails Inc Baker Street Cobalt Blue
5) Cobalt Envelope Clutch 

4) Dolce Vita Cobalt Heels - I actually own this item! Picked up on GILT for much cheaper!

6) Joe's Jeans Sandals- I know... 2 shoes, one design board, but I don't know a woman who'd complain

7) Alexander McQueen Belt- *swoon* Oh, what I would do with you, oh, pretty one...

Spring Forward!

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Follow My Flower Obsession Board on Pinterest for some Spring inspiration!

Anniversary Roses 

Carnations are SO underrated, I get to have colorful flowers at home all the time because they are so inexpensive

Saving glass jars from olives, pickles, mustards, etc are some of my favorite vases.

How To Remove Candle Wax Stuck to Glass- A Lightbulb Moment!

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I hate it when I melt candles in pretty glass containers, only to spend way too long chipping the melted wax out, and still leaving tons of wax behind, ruining the candle holder.

Candle wax GLUED to glass :(

I keep my candles in the freezer, someone told me they burn longer that way (not sure if it is true or not, but I do it anyway) However, I did notice my tea light candles were always loose from being in freezer and lightbulb moment- What if I place the glass with melted candle in freezer? 

So I did- and wa la- the melted candle comes right out, wax drippings and all!  It is MAGIC! Well, really it is like physics or chemistry, but my school days were a long time ago, so I prefer the term MAGIC.

Entire wax dripping comes right out!

There is not a certain amount of time I do it in, I usually stick it in the freezer, forget about it, then open freezer to get dinner out and see that I left it in there (blame Mom Brain).  If I had to guess, I would say at least an hour.


Maybe this is something everyone knew except me???  I have lived in ignorance for a LONG time!


Meanwhile my fingernails, flathead screwdrivers (sorry hubby) and butter knives will be put away and not be used to chip away wax! 


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How I Became A Cloth Diaper Addict!

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I unexpectedly enjoy and love using cloth diapers for Kalia.  Cloth diapering was something I just wanted to try, I was not particularly gung ho about it and now I have developed a full blown obsession.  

Pre- Birth- 

Why I wanted to Cloth Diaper-

1) Chemicals, chemicals, chemicals! Disposable diapers are loaded with them- including known cancer linked chemicals.  I did not want Kalia's precious bum in these 24-7 for years of her life.

2) Environment-  Throwing out piles of disposable diapers that will take hundreds of years to decompose was not something I was thrilled about doing.  Even if I cannot prevent the mounds of waste the world creates, I can do my part to leave the next generation some piece of the beautiful Earth.

Um, ew

For actual facts & statistics, check out The Real Diaper Association  
Image via EarthCrunchyMama

That was all, two reasons and I wanted to try it out.  I told myself 2 months and if it was a hassle, I would give it up.  It was not like breastfeeding, where I promised myself I would keep going and going even when it got hard, cloth diapers was something I was just willing to try.

8 Months Later-

Why I STILL Cloth Diaper-

1) It is easy!- Sure, I do a couple more loads of laundry a week but I also never run out of diapers and never have to make a quick run to store (runs to the store are never "quick" with a baby...)

2) It saves us oodles of money!- This is my husband's favorite reason we cloth diaper. Our original upfront cost was about $300, (and they were gifted to us- add them to your registry!) therefore, our initial cost for the actual diapers was in fact zero. I have since spent money (see Number 4) on accessories we needed. Diapers are never factored into a monthly budget! $300 until Kalia is potty trained AND I can use them on our next baby is a crazy amount of savings.

3) No POOP blowouts! Kalia has been in disposables twice in her life- the first 2 weeks as a newborn and once again when she was 6 months old and we were staying at a friend's for 3 weeks.  It was a terrible experience.  Oftentimes when she pooped, it would go straight up her back!  I had way too many ruined outfits (see #2 again) and the hassle of cleaning all that up!  The 3 week period at our friend's made both my husband and I never, ever want to use disposables again.

4) They are flipping A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E! I love matching Kalia's outfits with a pink, blue, owl print  and so forth diaper.  This is where a little more money spent came in, I have bought a couple cutesy prints I could just not resist...  Check out my cutie!

If you have any questions about cloth- let me know!! And be forewarned, there will be more cloth diaper posts coming, including What Do I Do With Poo? (the most common question I get!)

Roasted Fennel & Artichoke Hearts- Current Veggie Obsession

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I must have made this recipe ten times since seeing it in Martha Stewart!   I knew instantly I wanted to try it because I had not cooked with fennel before and wanted to try something new (plus I LOVE artichokes!)

Yummm, Crisp out of oven

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living February

Ingredients

1 fennel bulb (12 ounce), cut into 3/4-inch wedges. 1 tablespoon fronds reserved for garnish.
1 can whole artichoke hearts in water (13.75 ounces), drained, patted dry, and cut in half lengthwise
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425-degrees. 
2. Place fennel & artichokes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil, season with salt and pepper. 
3. Roast vegetables for 35 minutes, tossing after 20 minutes.
4. Drizzle with olive oil & lemon juice. Add parsley, and toss!

I use recipes as "guidelines" some things I have tried:
Zest of a lemon- I love more lemon, if you do too, add the zest of a lemon
Thyme- I was out of parsley & thyme was a tasty replacement

Enjoy!