Before Baby!

I'm a planner- always have been and more than likely always will be. As much as I wanted to {plan} and have everything ready, it didn't take long for me to realize that you can never be completely prepared for everything you are about to experience as a new mommy! All the crazy emotions, sleepless nights, worrying, panicking, and most of all {love} that you experience after a baby joins your family is unimaginable and indescribable. Being a mom is the most amazing thing I've ever done, but it's also been the hardest.

I remember thinking before Camden was born that I wanted to sleep as much as I could in order to prepare for the lack of sleep that I was about to undergo. Little did I know, that absolutely NO amount of sleep before he was born would ever amount to the sleep that I lost after he was born. Camden didn't sleep through the night until he was 9 months old. I know now that I'm actually one of the lucky ones, and some kids go a lot longer before they ever consistently sleep through the night. I'll be the first to tell you that there were some many nights full of tears and frustration. I tried everything I could think of, and nothing seemed to work! At least I can look back and laugh about it now. Well, maybe! He sure was a cute baby!

Because of the all the crazy thoughts and emotions, lack of sleep, and long days with messy hair and dirty clothes that new moms go through, when I got pregnant with Cora I just knew I had to prepare a little bit more for when she was born. This time around I knew I couldn't prepare myself for the lack of sleep, but I knew there were things I could do to make things a little bit easier for myself and everyone around me (hormones are CRAZY people!).

One of the things I really wanted to do was make freezer meals. Best. Idea. Ever. If you are pregnant right now, do this for yourself and your family! Especially if you are pregnant with your second, third, or fourth child. It seemed like we got a lot of meals after Camden was born, but with Cora it all changed and we were on our own! I didn't want to have to rely on something fast and easy or fast food. I spent some time on Pinterest, found some great recipes, made a list and headed to the store. My husband and I took a Saturday afternoon (about 3-4 hours) and made 15 meals! Here are some of my favorites! Click on the picture to go to the recipe!

           

For these meals, I just used large ziplock bags and wrote the directions on the bags!

This is probably my favorite website with freezer meals! We made a BUNCH of her recipes and they were all really good. Good enough to want to do it all again!

Happy Money Saver 

These were some of my favorites from Karrie's blog:

 

 

In order to freeze these ones I used aluminum foil pans, covered them with aluminum foil and wrote the directions on the top! 

If you are like me and get anxious when your house is a complete mess- get your house professionaly cleaned before the baby is born! I had a scheduled c-section (more about that in a later post), so I got our house cleaned just a couple days before that. It was {amazing} to come home from the hospital to a clean house! I remember with Camden that since people were always coming by to visit, I was always worried about trying to keep up with cleaning our house! I wanted to clean  everytime he fell asleep, and with Cora I didn't have to have that on my mind at all! AMAZING!

If you are adding another child to your family, I would really reccomend making a Big Brother or Big Sister bag for your oldest child. Camden is a Momma's boy, and I wasn't sure how he would react when Cora was born. I had two bags made, one for Camden and one for Cora and filled it with goodies to have them exchange at the hospital! In Cora's bag, I put a lamb that he built her at Build a Bear, a cute little book, and a Lil Sister gown I got off Etsy. In Camden's bag I put a bunch of different toys, activities, and snacks that he could have for the hospital. I included puzzles, a coloring book and crayons, monster trucks, toy cars, goldfish, etc. We just left the bag at the hopsital the whole time we were there and everytime he came to visit he had something to do. He was SO excited that Cora got him a gift, and I really think it started their relationship off on a positive note! 

I hope these little suggestions help with your big adjustment!  

Lots of Love,

Chandra 

Simple Yet Elegant...Cora's Nursery!

As soon as I found out we were having a girl,  I couldn't wait to get my hands on the nursery. There is just something about decorating a baby girl's room that makes me smile! I literally spent hours on Pinterest searching for ideas- color choices, furniture, decorative touches, everything! I seemed to be pinning a lot of neutral nurseries, so that is where I began. 

Cora's room was previously one of our guest rooms, so it took us awhile to get everything moved out. 

Once we got everything out, our first task was to paint the room. Well, I guess not "our" first task but my husband's first task...Thanks Craig! I absolutely {LOVE} the color I chose! I wanted a greyish brown nursery and Perfect Greige by Sherwin Williams was exactly what I was looking for!

We ended up leaving the furniture (dresser and two nightstands) in there, and I thought it was a great idea to paint them- I will probably never paint furniture again! That was quite a task! Those of you that are good at painting furniture- you are my heroes! They were actually part of my bedroom in college and were painted black, which was not easy to cover with white paint! I ended up having to prime everything first, then used white paint to cover it all! I went with "Cloud" by Rethunk Junk! I was going to use their dark glaze, but ended up LOVING the look of the bright white furniture! 

Not only did we save money on the dresser and nightstands, I was able to reuse the rocker out of Camden's nursery. The cushion was a khaki color that just didn't go with Cora's room, so I had to get it recovered. Okay, I didn't HAVE to, but I definitely wanted to! I didn't realize that it was going to be hard finding a place to recover the cushions- I guess that isn't an easy job! I ended up using The Classy Crib on Etsy, and Andrea did an {AMAZING} job! The white cushions just complete the room! 

For the bedding and curtains I went with the Ruffle Collection from Pottery Barn. The bright white matched the furniture perfectly! I think the color added with the ruffles are just so girly and classic! They also have a comforter in this collection, so it will be such an easy transition when we change her crib into a big girl bed! 

I knew the perfect piece over her crib would be a monogram. However, I didn't want to spend a million dollars on one piece. I was SO fortunate when I found League of Letters on Etsy. I went with a 30 inch monogram and painted it the same color as her furniture. PERFECT! I also loved that I could order smaller letters to spell out her name. The best part is that you can even pick the font! Even more PERFECT! I would defintely order from them again! 

This might just be my favorite room in the house! I don't want to put anything in it- I just love how simple and elegant it is!

Curtains and Bedding   |  Pottery Barn

Monogram and Letters   |  League of Letters

Lamp  |  Target

Lamp Shade   |   Garden Ridge 

White Shelves   |   Garden Ridge

Picture Frames   |   Michaels

Prints   |    Homemade on PowerPoint 

Rug   |    Garden Ridge

Chandelier   |    Home Depot

Lots of Love,

Chandra 

             

       

Groceries Galore

I remember a time when I hated going anywhere by myself. Like, completely hated it. I didn't like going to the mall by myself, to eat by myself, I didn't even like going to the grocery store by myself. Fast forward a few years, and I yearn to go grocery shopping alone. I mean seriously, going to the grocery store alone is like a mini-vacation these days. However, I'm not always that lucky!

Having two little kids makes things a lot more interesting. I've got one that either needs to be in a car seat or attached to me, and one that falls on the floor in tears if they ran out of "car" carts {yes, that has happened and I'm sure I'm not the only one out there!}. So needless to say, when we head to the grocery store I want to get in and out as quickly as possible!

So, to make things a little easier easier, I created this simple grocery list that separates all the sections of the grocery store. Hopefully it will let you get in and out a little faster! Click here or on either picture to download your new grocery list!

Lots of Love, 

Chandra 

A New Adventure

I love reading blogs- like completely addicted to reading blogs. Teaching blogs, fashion blogs, cooking blogs- All. Of. Them. A few months ago I decided to start my own blog. I figured that a teaching blog would be perfect since I love creating and sharing things that I am doing in my own classroom. I'm still loving my blog {Teaching with Crayons and Curls}, but I quickly realized something. There is so much more to my life than teaching, and I wanted to share that on my blog. However, writing about being a mom and sharing my favorite fashion finds don't always necessarily relate to teaching. So, I'd like to introduce my newest adventure {Life with Crayons and Curls}.

Lots of Love,

Chandra