A day in the life…

I didn’t include my husband in this day-in-the-life. I respect the fact he likes to remain internet anonymous ;) 

6:45a| The sun is starting to rise, and I hear bebs stir in his crib, hoping he’ll stay quiet and play in his crib til about 7:15 or so.

7:15a – 7:35a| He lets me know he’s had enough quiet time and starts getting loud. I nurse him, change his diaper, and put him into his clothes I set out the night before. This is SO helpful for me. The less decisions I have to make when I first get up, the better.

7:35a| I either let Alfie out of his crate then, or bring bebs into the bathroom with me so I can get changed and ready for the day. I also set my clothes out the night before, just one less thing to think about to get our morning started. I like to put on a bit of makeup in the morning, so I get myself dressed and ready too.

I bought a new foundation that I’m liking. I saw it on one of Allana’s latest YT videos. I don’t think it’s available in the USA yet. I ended up ordering it from Feel Unique. Anyway, long-winded story to say that it’s pretty great (so far I’ve only applied it using my fingers, then blending out a bit with a dampened sponge). Little one is usually in the bathroom with me too while I get ready for the day, but for the sake of blog-takin’-pics I decided to take these pictures while he was napping. 

7:45a| Carry bebs outside, let Alfie do his business, feed Alfie his medicine and start cooking his egg (he’s still on his cancer specific diet and he loves his food lol)

8:00a| Sit bebs down in his highchair and FaceTime my Mom while I start getting beb’s breakfast (could be anything from a baby oatmeal which is quick and one of his favourites, or a scrambled egg with toast and fruit on side)

8:30a| Playtime! Then diaper change before we head out. But first, a new car arrived for us! We had the Mazda 6 Signature for the week. hooray!

9:30-ish| I need to get out of the house at least once a day. So around this time I usually head out in the car with bebs and go to a library, a play-date, grocery store etc. We’re usually gone anywhere between 1-2hrs. This day we took the car out to Walmart, then I decided to take some pics of it for my Instagram (see here, and here).

11:45a| Feed Alfie his first sausage of the day. Feed bebs lunch (we usually reheat leftovers from the night before, for lunch, or something that I took out of the freezer the night before), and I start making supper for us for the evening. I feel if I leave it until it’s actually supper time to prep supper, I won’t be in the mood to cook. It’s all about being organized in the days for them to go smoothly for us.

I’m making something for supper and sprucing it up with a bit of rosemary. The planter it’s in, you can get a similar one here from Wayfair.

I definitely don’t have a green thumb, so hence the no-live-plants around but some fresh cut flowers. But love having fresh herbs for cooking in the kitchen and I enjoy putting them in a few nice looking planters rather than having them in the plastic containers they usually come in at the grocery store. Makes it feel like it’s supposed to be there, rather than it not.

12:15p| Diaper change, put bebs in his sleep sack, turn on noise machine, and nurse him for his nap. I’m surprised he went down for one. He hasn’t been napping much the last month (a change where he used to nap anywhere from 1-3hrs). Those days no nap days are always a bit more difficult.

12:35p| This is when I get some housework/blogwork etc. done. Or if I don’t feel up to doing any of those things, I literally veg on the couch with Alfie and scroll instagram for a bit. I’ll eat my lunch around this time too.

2:00p| Bebs is up, I change his diaper and we hang out in the living room for some more play time. I’ll give him a snack around this time too. He loves Bambas (they’re like peanut butter cheesies), Gerber star puffs, or mum-mum crackers.

3:00p| Alfie gets his second sausage of the day. Once he finishes that up, I get everyone suited up for a walk around the neighbourhood to get some mid-afternoon fresh air. Alfie’s pretty good walking next to the stroller, and knows the daily routine at this point.

4:30p|Alfie gets fed his “bonus” sausage and I take his sardines out of the freezer for his last meal of the day (lol he gets a lot of small meals a day).

5:00p| Supper time for bebs. After that we  sometimes hang out on the front porch and blow bubbles, or chat to the neighbours. Shortly after, then into the bath.

5:45p| prep bebs for bed after his bath. Start calming things down, cleaning up the play area, putting on relaxing music, read books with him and get him into a bedtime routine. I’ll put his pjs on at around 5:45, then put his sleep sack on, nurse him to sleep and he’ll be down at around 6:00.

6:10p| Feed Alfie his last meal of the day: sardines + pumpkin mash. Start muckin’ up a bit of supper for myself.

6:30p-9:00p| is pretty much up in the air. I’m a morning-sh0wer type of person but this evening I ended up getting one after I put baby to bed. Seriously every day is different, the day could end with me starting chores, or doing nothing at all (lol!)…depending on those energy levels I have goin’ on. But one thing I try to do each night is keep the kitchen in tip-top-tidy shape. Always always put the dirty dishes in the washer and so-on. I don’t like waking up in the a.m. with a huge chore list to tackle before I make breakfast. Making sure Alfie’s food dishes are clean and ready to go in the morning.

9:30ish| I head straight to bed. I go to bed semi-earlyish because I LOVE sleep (lol).

And that’s it! A little glimpse into what any day can look for us right now with a 12mth old. Also, huge thanks to Mazda for loaning us the Mazda 6 for the week!

 

 

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Panasonic long-range baby monitor

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Panasonic. The opinions and text are all mine.


My baby (I guess I’m supposed to call him my little toddler now?) turned one this month, but it doesn’t stop me from keeping an eye on him at all times when he’s down for a nap, or for the night.

Our boy has been sleeping in his own nursery room since he was about 4 months old. We wanted something that would have long-range, to use inside or outside the house (if we’re in the backyard, the porch having coffee, or even in the basement), something easy to carry around the house and use with ease.

Let me tell you about the Panasonic Long-Range Baby Monitor [model number KX-HN3001] that we’ve been using.

The Panasonic Long-Range Baby Monitor comes equipped with a 3.5 in Color monitor with a built-in long-life rechargeable battery, AC adapter for the camera unit, camera wall mount and AC Adapter for the monitor unit.

Baby nap-time is when I can finally drink a warm coffee, or heat up a hot lunch, depending on the time of day he decides to nap. Put on some tunes and we’re golden for a little over an hour. Ah, a bit of “me-time”. I love it. Let’s talk about the features that I love about the Panasonic Long-Range Baby Monitor.

LONG-RANGE NO JOKE: 1500FT OF RANGE!
The signal for the baby monitor is excellent, up to twice the range of comparable video baby monitors. This one has a range up to 1500ft. That’s more than 4 football fields – just visualize that.

PAN, TILT, ZOOM
You have the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom to keep an eye on your baby if they move around in the crib a lot as my little guy does. I like that the pan range of movement is 309°, the tilt range of movement is 72°.

LONG BATTERY LIFE
The Panasonic Long-Range Baby Monitor has a built-in rechargeable battery in the monitor, and it stores power for up to 13 hours of standby time, and up to 5 hours of power for continuous use. I love that this baby monitor doesn’t have to be plugged in at all times and the battery doesn’t die instantaneously!

NIGHT VISION
Since I like to check on baby when I wake up countless times in the middle of the night (it’s a habit I can’t break, but do I want to break that habit?), I enjoy that the night vision is clear, even in a pitch black environment in the baby’s nursery. No need to tip-toe into his room and squint for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of his room.

LULLABIES AND WHITE NOISE
This is one of my favourite features. Save your money! You no longer do we need any extra bulky white noise machines that take up space in the baby’s room! The Panasonic Long Range Baby Monitor does it for you, and you can set it remotely or auto-play based on the sound sensor. The lullabies and white noise can be played anywhere from 5-120 minutes, and there are different types of white noise sounds and lullabies! Bonus.

SOOTHE BABY BY TALKING TO HIM/HER
The monitor has microphones and speakers for a 2-way talk communication with your little one. I don’t use this feature since it makes him get more upset, even if I was trying to calm him. But this will be useful when he’s older.

CUSTOMIZE YOUR ALERTS + SENSORS
You can easily customize these settings to detect motion, sound, and temperature.

Since my baby is a light sleeper and wakes up with any different-than-normal sounds going on, I’m happy that the Panasonic Long-Range Baby Monitor is quiet when I want to check on the baby and need to tilt the camera, zoom, or pan around his room. The baby monitor cords are extra-long, giving you more flexibility with where you place the monitor and camera in the room(s).

When I receive a product, especially something for my baby, I read the instruction manual, cover-to-cover to ensure I’m doing everything correctly. But the Panasonic Long-Range Baby Monitor was so user-friendly, it was incredibly easy to set up and, for example, go through to find the lullabies to soothe him. As soon as you add the battery to the monitor, turn it on and select your language preference, the baby monitor is ready to use then and there. As I said, it’s quite easy to use the product without any issue.

Here’s a few shots of the baby monitor in action.

You can see the alerts pop up on the screen, which I set up to notify me when there’s motion detected.

The Panasonic Long-Range Baby Monitor is a really good video baby monitor. I mean, it’s really good. The video and photo quality is excellent, the video doesn’t lag. It helps me relax as a parent and allows me to enjoy his nap times more since I can check on him anywhere inside or outside the house. When he gets to be older, we’ll still be using it to check on him during his day-time naps or quiet time in his room. If you need a baby video monitor, get the Video Baby Monitor System by Panasonic – HN3001W. It won’t disappoint.

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BECCA Cosmetics | Ultimate Lipstick Love

BECCA Cosmetics launched 30 new shades of silky satin lipsticks in a lipstick collection called Ultimate Lipstick Love, just in time for Valentine’s Day. These 30 shades range from neutral nudes, cool nudes, warm nudes, to cool reds and warm reds.

Do you know what undertone of lipstick suits you best? BECCA Cosmetics sent a card along with the press package (#GiftedByBECCA) that came with these 6 lipsticks I received, see below.

BECCA says the lipsticks give an immediate appearance of plumping and moisture to the lips. I wouldn’t say they plump your lips per say (I didn’t notice anything), but they’re heavenly buttery and smooth, and glide effortlessly onto your smoochers. They’re formulated with avocado and olive oils. Think about that when you’re applying the lipsticks. I feel like that’s a great way to describe how they glide onto your lips. Easily. Like a piece of avocado. Mmm.

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love has been in stores since mid-January and retail for $18USD | $24CDN.

Now onto the swatches and colours that I received. Top to bottom: Sugar, Petal, Bare.

Top to bottom: Scarlet, Cherry, Garnet

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Nude) in Sugar, a cool light pinky beige

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Nude) in Sugar, a cool light pinky beige

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Nudes) in Sugar, a cool light pinky beige

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Nudes) in Petal, a cool rosebud

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Nudes) in Petal, a cool rosebud

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Nudes) in Petal, a cool rosebud

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Warm Nude) in Bare, a warm light pinky beige

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Warm Nude) in Bare, a warm light pinky beige

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Warm Nude) in Bare, a warm light pinky beige.

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Warm Red) in Scarlet, a warm true red

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Warm Red) in Scarlet, a warm true red

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Warm Red) in Scarlet, a warm true red

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Red) in Cherry, a cool vibrant red

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Red) in Cherry, a cool vibrant red

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Red) in Cherry, a cool vibrant red

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Red) in Garnet, a cool rich red

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Red) in Garnet, a cool rich red

BECCA Cosmetics Ultimate Lipstick Love (Cool Red) in Garnet, a cool rich red

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