Mommy & Me

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

May 2, 2019

It’s May and that means Mother’s Day is just around the corner! I have rounded up some of my favorite gift ideas for those mamas in your life at a variety of price points. From your own mama, to your grandma, to your besties, or -to all you guys reading this because your girl sent it to you…- your wifey. 😉

Whatever you do, be sure to celebrate those mamas in your life. You don’t have to spend a bunch of money at the end of the day to show a woman you’re grateful for them. A “thank you” to the mamas in your life go far. The blood mamas, the foster mamas, the adoptive mamas. Celebrate the women in your life who pour their heart and soul into helping raise up the next generation. The women who are helping shape the future, one tiny set of hands at a time.

So, alas, here are my unique gift ideas for those special women!

Fawn Design Circle Bag:
Y’all know I love my Fawn Design Diaper Bags! But, they just released a beautiful new leather purse for only $79!
A Front Porch Getaway (this is def on my list…):
Perfume:
HelloFresh Subscription… For real. Because mama needs a break in the kitchen sometimes!
A good book and mug:
Ninja Coffee Maker:
We have had this a couple months now, and we STILL wake up excited for our coffee! It’s the best coffee maker we’ve ever had, frother included. I promise you, every mom you know needs this.
iLife Robo Vac:
It’s necessary for every mother. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. NEEDS. THIS.
Wine Glasses + Favorite Bottle of Wine:
Something Nice for Her Face:
A GOOD Candle:

Mommy Monday: Best toys for a 1 year old!

April 1, 2019

Happy Mommy Monday, y’all! I have absolutely loved the community of mamas and mommies-to-be this series has brought together. In fact, this series has been taking off on Pinterest which says a lot about all of you. All different kinds of moms and convictions, and we can come together at the end of the day to say “Hey, I am glad that works for you!” I value cultivating positivity, encouragement, and just cheering one another on through The Cake by Hannah, and this has been just one example of how that happens. So, thank you. All of you! I am so grateful you are part of this.

Today, I wanted to share the TOP toys we have for Knox that he loves and I believe are perfectly tailored to his age and interests. I am all about “noise” minimum… meaning, a lot of the toys we buy him are ones that initiate creativity sans batteries. 😉 However, we have a few that he LOVES and encourage his obvious love for music. I hope this helps you find great toys for your own little loves or for those friends in your life with active little ones!

Knox absolutely loves his Keurig and big stuffed animals that he can ride on. At our gym’s child care, the first thing he runs to every single day is the play kitchen! It’s on the top of my must-buy list now. I love that he loves that! Anything musical in our home is a BIG WIN for K. From the classic Xylophone to the drums and piano… we love it all! Lastly, Knox really loves his books. We walk into his room and often find him curled up with a book in his rocking chair. We have multiple spots around the house with Knoxy books, and he almost always has one in hand!

Photos by Cottonwood Road Photography

My entire outfit is from Landry Kate

Mommy Monday: Your Q’s Answered!

February 25, 2019

Happy Mommy Monday, y’all! Today I wanted to answer YOUR most asked questions that came through a couple weeks ago for Mommy Monday topics. These are the quick and easy ones I can knock out in a blog post together. Others will be topics for post to come. These are random, all over the board kinds of questions. But, that makes it fun. 😉

When will there be a baby #2? Yes, but no clue when. If I didn’t have to actually be pregnant again or could afford surrogacy… I would tomorrow. I am only semi-kidding about the surrogacy thing… 😉 This past week I was sick with a stomach bug and altitude sickness, though, (separate things, lasted a week between the two O_o) and I remembered what morning sickness was like… I wouldn’t mind waiting a little longer after that… ha.
Did we register for a lot of baby clothes? YES. I registered for equal amounts in every size through 12 months. Then, regardless of how fast or slow my baby grew, I would know I have plenty of things waiting for K. I never was caught off guard that nothing fit him anymore. It was just one less thing to think about.
Did we do baby led weaning? YES. Read all about it here!
How did you transition from the swaddle? We sleep trained with the Dock a Tot from day 1! So initially, we slept Knox in a swaddle in the Dock a Tot in his bassinet. Then, when we moved him to his room a few weeks later, he slept exactly the same way in his room. Then we transitioned the Dock a Tot (swaddled still) to the crib! Once he could start to roll, we removed the Dock a Tot, and it was like we never changed a thing. We used the Love to Dream Swaddles and I swear by them. He slept swaddled until about 6 months. Because of the transitions we did, Knox really never struggled with changes. You can read more here.
Teething Tips? Knox has had SUCH a slow roll with teeth. We only have 4 right now, so I don’t feel like we’ve had the treacherous teething experience others have… yet. It’s coming, I know it is because we have a whole bunch of teeth to come. But, thus far it’s not been too terrible. However, we use Copaiba Young Living directly on his gums and it seems to help a lot.
What’s Knox’s current nap schedule? He always takes a nap almost exactly 2 hours after he wakes up every morning. It’s usually 2 hours. But, it can vary for sure. His afternoon naps are usually 1-3, but he is also fully capable of staying awake and being his happy self if we miss an afternoon nap.
Favorite bottle? MAM and Doctor Brown’s!

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! I hope this is helpful for you, but remember at the end of the day you’re a rockstar. Keep doing what your gut tells you is best for your kid!

xoxo,

Han

Mommy Monday: Playroom

February 4, 2019

Happy Monday, y’all! AND welcome to Mommy Mondays.

Here’s what I have discovered over the last year of blogging and being a new mommy… A whole lot of you are moms or mommies-to-be… and a whole lot of you aren’t. As you can imagine, trying to create content that is relevant to everybody while also remaining an open book about my day in and day out (that is often obviously going to be centered around motherhood) has presented a weird combination of emotions trying to create content and write posts that make all of you happy.

So, here’s my solution: Mommy Mondays. This is where you will find all my mommy hacks, Knox updates, and -in short- all things baby. Of course, you’ll see Knox in my regular posts on Thursdays, too, from time to time, but Mondays are when mommy-focused posts will go up (if I have one that week!)

I hope this helps you guys! I know it will help me categorize my posts for you and make sure I am hitting all bases of my life on here. I like the “lifestyle” blog title and not “fashion blogger” or “mommy blogger,” per se. I don’t like being put into a category, so I hope this will help me remain an overall balanced blog for all things and all people in every stage of life.

Anyways, today’s post is all things PLAYROOM! We bought our first home two summers ago, and it’s been a slow crawl making things happen around here that I want done because a. time b. budget liiiife. Also we’ve discovered we both loathe entirely (use your best Jim Carrey Grinch voice) painting. So I have a list of about 20 things I want done in the house, from painting to new furniture to restoring old pieces, that I just cross off little by little. One of those things is turning the guest room into a more functional playroom/guest room for us. The guest room is necessary, because my parents come about once a month to spend time with Knoxy. But, other than that, the room is literally not even looked at right now other than when they’re in town. It feels like unused space that we could really use.

Currently we have my office functioning as a playroom/office/Presley’s room when we are out. So… a PlOfficeRoom? It’s working for now, but is definitely not long term. Believe it or not… I have big plans for my office space that don’t include a teepee. 😉 The reason I want a playroom, separate from his nursery, is to have a well-organized space for his toys and imagination to run wild. His nursery is a sweet space perfect for simple play, reading, and sleep. We have a rocker in there, and the room really is so small that there just isn’t much space more for anything else. I want the playroom to be a space he can throw things around and have his teepee out at all times (he freaking loves that thing… and so does Presley), and eventually a play house, etc. His bedroom just doesn’t have that space. I have began purchasing some items for our guest room to functional playroom makeover, and I wanted to share the entire end goal for any of you who may find yourself in a similar situation!

My goal with this room is colorful and fun, but also keeping in mind that if we grow our family while in this home this room will become Knoxy’s and the nursery will stay the nursery. I have picked out a CHEAP daybed that we can buy a trundle attachment for. This would be like having two twin beds in our guest room, but it shows as a sofa basically. It’s far more functional for us than a room which is 90% filled with a queen size iron bed.

The walls are currently a greigey-tan like the rest of the house (bleh, barf- I can’t wait until we paint the whole house, fingers crossed.) But, they will be painted Alabaster by Sherwin Williams with an accent wall of wallpaper.

Wallpaper Options from Shop B Darling:

Amos | Shepherd | Porter

Fun Rug Options:

Here | Here | Here | Here |

Cool Indoor Playset: Here

Finding “Me Time”

January 31, 2019

Alright, so a couple weeks ago I decided it was TIME. Time to make every appointment I have said I would make for the last two months and actually go to them. DUN-DUN-DUN (insert dramatic music here.) I called it “Self-Care Week,” and it. was. so. good. I cannot tell y’all enough, just like it’s so important to find time with your spouse (sans kids!!!!), how vital it is to find some “you time.”

I don’t care if you’re a mom, a wife, single, no kids, a roommate, living at home… whatever! You need YOU TIME. This is a daily need and then also, on a bigger scale, at least a monthly thing. Have a large chunk of time set aside to be alone, y’all.

I keep referencing this in things I write lately, because it’s just such an important realization: Jesus got away from crowds to be alone. And, I guarantee you it was to re-coop and become a better-equipped self for all the CRAZIES out there. 😉 Okay, Jesus definitely wouldn’t say it that way… But, human Hannah definitely does. I need to get away and re-coop, without Knox or Paul, to be a better mom and wife. Then, of course, as a couple we have to get away without Knox on a regular basis.

When I don’t, I lose it. I am short-tempered, angry, feisty, and don’t want to be touched. That’s not fun for anybody to be around, and I hate when I get to that point.

Most weeks, “me time” looks like a stroll at the grocery store with a coffee in hand alone. Or, it can look like getting my hair or nails done. Or, it could simply be getting to go back to my room with a glass of wine to read while Paul plays with Knox.

Alright, so I say all that to set up my extravagant “self-care” week. My “me time” doesn’t look this fantastic, but I wish it did. 😉

I got my eyebrows shaped and tinted with my girl Carrie after MONTHS of saying, “I gotta make an appointment.” No joke, I think I went from May to January without seeing her. Big news: Carrie is branching off from Southern Chic Wax to start her own company and I am so excited for her!! Start following her new journey, here. You can start booking appointments TOMORROW, Feb. 1st!
I scheduled my next hair appointment and dentist appointment (praises!). Sounds silly, but it’s really important to me haha. As far as hair goes, my bestie Bethany is the most incredible colorist, and if you’re local she is coming back from maternity leave in the early spring!
I went to TruDerm, which I documented on my Instagram, for my first experience with microdermabrasion. I loved it! It was painless, like a deep cleaning for my pores basically. The spa itself was gorgeous, everybody was so nice, and -honestly- here’s what I was most impressed with. Having never been to a clinical spa before, I was expecting a bunch of women with noticeable fillers. Just being really honest. But much to my surprise, from the person behind the desk who greeted me to the woman who did my facial (and everybody in between that I passed)… nobody had “too much” botox. I know that could sound a little judge-y… and I don’t mean it to. But as somebody who values natural beauty but also believes botox is a-okay and you should do whatever floats your boat… I just was really pleased to see an entire clinical spa with beautiful women everywhere with amazing skin and, for those who had it, well-done botox! It was the first thing I told Paul when I came home. I would 3000000% trust TruDerm with fillers on myself or people I know after having seen every single person in their spa and not thinking once “Aw man, they did too much.” I know that seriously could be taken wrong, so please don’t turn it into something. But, TruDerm has my absolute, hands down utmost respect for their work!
After 3 years of saying I want to… I finally went to see my first counselor. I KNOW! When I told some people this they asked, “Oh no! Why?” Which it totally understandable! A lot of people go to a counselor in crisis, and I am team ‘See A Counselor’ ALL THE WAY. For me, though, I just know there’s things I need to work through emotionally and spiritually from experiences in my life that I haven’t really dealt with before, and I am excited to finally do so. Some of the best, most admirable leaders I know see a counselor once a month just for the heck of it, and I honor that. I figure if they do, I should too. Already, I feel freedom from getting to talk about things with all walls down and no fear of saying something “I shouldn’t.” Anyways, go see a counselor! I dare you- it just might be the best thing you’ve ever done!
I spent a ton of time cleaning out my closet- tossing things I love but didn’t wear this past year in its rightful season (that’s my rule for purging!). I sold a bunch over on @shopthecakescloset, and donated the rest. It felt good to make some money on the side to put into my business and to buy some new jeans I desperately needed.
I did no alcohol for 3 weeks and no cake or ice cream. SAY WHAT? It’s true. My church does a fast twice a year, and our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting is always how we begin the year. I decided no glass of red wine like I so love at the end of every day, and no cake or ice cream. I don’t know how we made it with no cake or ice cream… but we made it y’all! Paul and I chose to fill our evenings with intentional reading instead of TV most nights during this time as well, which was so refreshing. I am currently reading It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way, Lysa Terk’s new book… and well, let’s just say I was weeping 10 pages in. Every evening felt like space set aside for “me time” when I got in bed to read.
I painted my nails- yeah. I painted them. I have had paint-less nails for at least 9+ months…
Another huge deal for me is our gym! We chose our gym because with our membership comes up to 3 hours of childcare a day when we come to workout. So our gym membership is a little pricey… but I also credit it to half of my sanity, haha. Working out makes me a better self, and getting alone time does. And, my kid is getting to play with other boys and girls his age we wouldn’t otherwise know. It’s just all such a win! Worth every extra penny. For the new year, I decided to commit to myself going to at least three CLASSES a week in order to challenge myself physically and to meet people. It’s been so. much. better. for. me. I am just not the type of person who can push themselves in a solo workout. I will just scroll my phone while I lackadaisically use the elliptical for 45 minutes. But now, I feel sweaty and accomplished after a workout again, and I love it!

So, what do you do for “you time?” I am telling you, it’s a vital part of your schedule. And if you don’t set aside time for you… do it and you’ll see why it is. Love you guys!

xoxo,

Han

“Me Investments”