Everyone! Meet Emma!

Happy Monday!  I figured I would start the week by introducing you to my friend Emma and her AWESOME blog- Your Doctor's Wife.  She put together a wonderful little compilation of her life as...you guessed it, a doctor's wife!  Make sure to check out her blog when you have a chance :)  Thanks Emma!

Hi Everyone!

You can call me Emma.

Everyday my husband goes to working dressed like this

But then he changes into his superman outfit 

and looks like this to go out and save someone's day

When we were dating, 

I used to think scrubs and white coats were sexy

But years have passed and I've learned of such things as MRSA and Norovirus, 

so if he comes home in scrubs, I feel I must break out my

One day he came home and screamed for a plastic bag from the garage.

He had been doing this

Keep Reading for the Rest of the Images!

Friday Flashback! Packing Your Hospital Bag!

A few weeks ago I had a few of my closest girlfriends over for wine night.  Wine night is always fun with the girls because we share stories, talk about the kids, reveal Pinterest success stories (and failures!)  Just the girls enjoying each other's company....and wine.

This wine night was one for the record books as it took shape in a different way.  I don't remember who, but one of my girlfriends mentioned that her husband wanted to bring his X-Box to the hospital during their child's delivery.  Another woman mentioned that her husband brought a football to toss around while he was bored.  The more we talked about it, the harder we laughed at these ridiculous ideas!

I decided to take it a step further and make a collage of what we (the wives) thought to bring vs. what they (the husbands) thought to bring.  The list we came up with is pretty funny, and the descriptions are listed below.  I figure this is perfect timing for May, which is Pregnancy Awareness Month.   I'd love to hear feedback about what YOUR husband thought to bring!

To Make Sense of it All:

MY Must-Haves:

1.  Diaper Bag: I love this color! Source: www.potterybarnkids.com
2.  ID and Insurance Cards: These are a MUST have for the hospital- to ensure they process your paperwork correctly.
3.  Cord Blood Collection Kit: This is of your partner's responsibilities and is important to give to your doctor.  Source: www.viacord.com
4.  Flip-Flops: Many of my friends brought slippers, which got dirty quickly at the hospital.  I chose flip-flops and they were great!
5.  Bathrobe:  It's important to be comfortable and a cozy robe is a perfect choice.
6.  Big Sibling Gift: Making your first child feel involved is very important.  Bring his/her gift to the hospital for their arrival!
7.  iPad: Comes in handy to Skype and e-mail!
8.  Camera:  My husband was able to capture some beautiful pictures with our camera.  These memories are priceless.

HIS Must-Haves:

9.  Some Type of Ball: "To toss around while waiting for labor", was his explanation.  Really?
10.  PowerBars: My husband assured me that he needed to have the proper fuel for delivery.  Source: www.powerbar.com
11.  Our pup, Skip: Okay, this is a stretch and I understand where he was coming from but- no dogs allowed!
12.  A Stop Watch: While my husband thought timing the labor was a good idea, I assured him it would get tossed across the room (by me.)
13.  Pickles and Ice Cream: Doesn't he realize the cravings are gone?  I mean...really...
14.  "Neuralyzer": The "memory eraser from Men In Black"...just in case some of the more anatomical memories needed to be erased.
15.  Comics:  I mean...how many children do I have here?
16.  Give It Your Spin!:  My husband always kept me on my toes and although he tried to help pack for our delivery, my suggestions were a little more practical.  Feel free to share what your husband brought in the comments section below!

Baby Names

When Lily was just a little developing baby in my stomach, I loved playing around with different baby names. I would ramble off names liked to my husband and he would usually nod "no" or give me a "thumbs up."  Lily was just so natural to me, and beautiful.

I was recently looking at the most popular names of 2013 and it's hard for me to believe that people actually name their children after character they see in television, movies or pop culture.  Thor actually made the list.

Thor.

No matter how many times I try to justify, or make it sound nice, I can't.

Take a peek at a few other names that made the list of 2013 Top Baby Names

St. Patrick's Day Festivities

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe St. Patricks Day! We saw lots of people out and about with their green on and it always makes me happy.  My mother is 100% Irish so since we were young we were wearing green on March 17th.  Of course I dressed Lily up in green too!

Our holiday wouldn't have been complete without a little corn beef and cabbage- so naturally I whipped some up!  It turned out to be amazing and even Lily enjoyed it :)  My husband made a delicious horseradish cream sauce (recipe can be found here!)

The best part about corn beef is that we have leftovers for days.  The more I cook, the more I realize I'd love to explore my heritage more through cooking.  I know my mother is Irish and my father is Polish (give me a pierogie any day of the week.)  I'd love to dig up a great borscht recipe or maybe some Irish colcannon.  Any tips would be appreciated and welcomed!

A DIY Scrub for You

I feel bad.  I haven't put up a new post in a long time and for whatever reason I feel like I should give my readers (if there are any out there) a gift in order to make up for my absence.  I could list the reasons why I haven't been able to post, but they're boring and I won't bore you with that!

SO- what I have done is documented my latest beauty regimen that seems to work like a charm!  This winter has been terrible on my skin and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a product that may or may not work.  This led me to get creative in my kitchen and make my own facial scrub!

not mine..but you get the idea.

Take a look at my DIY Body Scrub:

What You'll Need

• a small mason jar or glass container for storing your scrub
• white sugar
• almond oil
• lavender essential oil (for scent- you can use mint, lemon, lavender or a scent of your preference!)

Instructions

• Combine (1) cup of white sugar with (1/2) cup of almond oil.  Make sure they are both combined well. 
• Add two to three drops of your essential oil and mix well. 
• Refrigerate overnight for best results.  It feels good to have the cold exfoliation clean your pores.

I wasn't able to take pictures as I really was just winging it.  I compare this scrub to others and found that I spent $5 while other facial scrubs can run upwards of $40!  

If you do end up making a scrub- send me a picture!  I'd be happy to post it here!

Photo Credit: Symbolic Imports via Compfight cc

So Cute!

Here's a mid-week pick me up! How adorable!

To Grain or Not to Grain?

Over the course of the holiday season and the combination of the colder weather, my eating habits have strayed a little off course.  It was easier for me to just order a pizza instead of making dinner.  I think we've all found ourselves guilty of this at one point or another (so I'll try not to feel TOO guilty about it.)

I need to get myself, and our family, back on track.  Lily has always been a vegetable lover and it's easy to incorporate them into meals.  Sometimes I'll blend spinach, a banana, an apple with a little almond milk as her "smoothie" and she loves it!

Of course I've been doing a lot of research online about making our diets even healthier and I came across the "paleo" diet.  Well, it's not necessarily a diet, but a way of eating. There's a wealth of information about it online and sometimes it gets to be too hard to process.

The main premise of paleo is to avoid processed grains, sugars, legumes and dairy. When I first stumbled upon it, I was a bit taken aback.  How could people eat this way?? WHAT do these people eat?

There is a method to the madness, and I'm certainly not able to explain why or how, but it did make me question our family's eating habits.  Here is a REALLY good explanation here.  A typical weekday dinner usually looks a lot like this:

yum?

I've started to question if all of the pasta and bread we consume on a regular basis is doing us any favors.  I try to stay away from foods high in fat and sugar, but could bread be as bad as people are saying?

I have started by adding more vegetables back into our diet.  I've always loved kale and made this awesome kale salad for a dinner side yesterday with chicken and a sweet potato.

Do you eat within the paleo guidelines?  I'd love feedback...or advice!

Photo Credit: the_babyladies via Compfight cc