Kinetic Sand

So I picked up this stuff called Kinetic Sand (Youtube demo here). 

We had seen it at Micheal's a few times during check it and thought it was cool but didn't buy it. But the other day I decided to get a box and just see how interested in it the Little Jedi would be. 

I emptied the 2 pound box into a bake dish I had on hand and let him sit in the kitchen to play.

He loved it! 

We sat and played with it for over a hour, and when dada got home we played with it a lot more! 

Dada and I half jokingly said we should get a whole sandbox full of it, too bad that would be super expensive because in reality it would be amazingly awesome!

Kinetic sand is pretty crazy, it's smooth with only a small fine graininess to it, it doesn't dry out, if it gets wet it will just air dry and be back to normal. Great for kids of all ages! You can mold it and it will hold that shape till you either smash it down or with even just a finger sweep downward and it will "mush" up, plus it cleans up easy!

You really have to check it out for yourself, it's better than play dough if you ask me! 

The Little Jedi has loved playing with it!

Bump Photo

No update, just the most recent belly bump photo that I finally got around to taking.

And not on my phone either, so yay for good quality pictures!

31 weeks.

Pregnancy Update

So far so good!

31 weeks, in the third trimester, and creeping closer and closer to the end of June when the Rebel Princess is expected to arrive.

This pregnancy has really flown by and I can't believe that we're almost halfway through the calendar year and in single digit weeks of our baby countdown.

Thus far I have not gained anywhere near as much weight as I gained during pregnancy with the Little Jedi but I feel a heck of a lot fatter, as it all seems to be showing in my face. And seriously I gained a TON of weight when pregnant with him.

Oh well I can't really complain too much, least it's only temporary and for a good cause! 

As of right now she is head down and enjoying kicking my ribs, just as her older brother did, but occasionally she will shift sideways and press her head into my hip which ends up making walking difficult and uncomfortable.

Things are still on track for having a planned home birth, we have our midwife team, a doula (who will likely be helping most by entertaining the Little Jedi for us), and a birth photographer all lined up and I'm so excited; which I am sure sounds very odd as birth/labor itself it's entirely enjoyable, but if you have had a positive natural birth experience you would get my meaning. 

Lately I have been feeling quite overwhelmed about a mom to two. Having a toddler (who already doesn't like naps and is a HUGE mamma's boy) running around is tiring as is, adding a newborn into the mix is just a crazy thought that I am not sure I am ready for, but I am not the first mom to do it so I am sure I will survive just fine. And you know it could be worse we could be having twins and jumping from 1 to 3! Haha! But really over all pregnancy is the easy part, once the baby is out in the world it's a whole different game! 

The Little Jedi loves to give his baby sister kisses and blow raspberry (aka fart noises) on my belly. We're not sharing her name till she is born but have been teaching it to him and it's truly adorable when he says it! Hopefully he will have it mastered by her arrival so we can post up a video of him giving the announcement, and even if he doesn't have it down perfectly his little babble of saying it will be just as cute!

This one was more than a couple weeks ago around like 24 or 25 weeks (since it was before I cut my bangs) but the Little Jedi  was too cute and had to jump in the photo with me! 

Two weeks ago at 29 weeks. 

Small Business Spotlight: Feather Feet Inc

Instagram has introduced me to many new (and totally awesome) shops recently, one I would like to take a moment to spotlight is Feather Feet Inc. 

Feather Feet is a very small work at home mom team, they specialize in hand crafting high quality leather moccasins (in case you did not know "moccs" are all the rage right now!) for babies and bigger kids. I was lucky enough to find this awesome small shop on Instagram and enter a giveaway they were hosting for TWO free pairs of moccs, obviously winning a contest is thrilling on it's own but I was really super excited to give these moccs a try. 

Why? Well because judging just from photos they were as I said very high quality with high attention to detail paid BUT unlike the current large baby moccasin dominator company (who also has a fabulous product!), these stylish Feather Feet moccs are under HALF the competitors price! 

That's huge! So many parents want to get their kids these stylish trendy moccasins but just can't afford or justify such a large expense for soft soled leather moccasins that children will likely outgrow quickly and wear down from constantly playing in them. 

Feather Feet is striving to provide those parents with a just as awesome, less expensive choice! You can even customize your order to include bows on the shoe or have two tones (different colored bottom).

Now down to the product itself. 

I chose my two pairs of moccasins- the first for the Little Jedi in Gunmetal coloring and the second for the Rebel Princess when she arrives (dada helped chose the color and went with Jade). 

The leather is super soft inside and out the stitching is even and shows no sign of just easily splitting at the seem during play. Which is important as again this is a product designed for kids and kids play hard! There is enclosed elastic around the ankle to keep the moccasin on securely while kids run and play in them (or crawl around). The colors options available are bright and fun but there are also simple neutrals, so you can gather a rainbow and style them to most any outfit you want to. 

Here is the Little Jedi wearing his Gunmetal moccasins while out playing. 

Oregon Zoo

Family Adventure Weekend (Finally!)

The last few weekends dada has been working extra hours so we haven't really had opportunity to get out and go on an adventure around the city and just hang out. 

This weekend he had his normal time off and the weather was great today so we decided to go to the zoo like we had been wanting to for the last few weekends. 

It was the Little Jedi's first trip to the zoo, and therefore our first zoo trip as a family!

He seemed to really enjoy himself and I know that dada and I sure did! 

We took our time walking around to the different animal enclosures, looking at the animal(s) living in them, and talking to the Little Jedi about them (what they were, the noise they made, etc). 

He loved to imitate the animal noises and would giggle when he and dada just spent time growling at each other back and forth. 

We saw bears, all times of primates, reptiles, big cats, giraffes and lots more.

As we were walking the Little Jedi saw his favorite animal, the elephant! 

He started squealing with excitement, making elephants noises and pointing for us to go over and see them, but as we got closer we discovered most of the area was closed off due to construction so you could only see the majority of them through a fence from a distance. 

The Little Jedi was NOT happy about that! He wanted to go see "baby fent" and tried to climb the fence and walked around inspecting it for an opening to accomplish that goal, but not dice.

So, other than that one "flop" everything went smooth and we all were exhausted by the time we left to head home. 

My unhappy elephant lover stuck behind a fence.

Wild African Dog

Face to face with a Chetah.

My sunshine checking out the giraffes.

Hands down THE BEST expression of the day! 

After watching the giant crocodile swim by he gave this look, he wasn't too sure about it.

He wanted all the animals to come to him that day, but if one of the birds had landed on him I am pretty sure he would have freaked out.

Happy Belated Birthday Post.

Another post that I thought published but didn't, sheesh this dang pregnancy brain of mine…


Happy birthday my sweet boy! 

It's hard to believe that I'm the mom of a two year old, and that he'll be a big brother soon too!

I know I say it all the time, every mom does, but oh my gosh time just goes by so fast! 

It seems like just the other day he was a tiny infant, then somewhere in the blink of an eye we celebrated his first birthday and here we are again celebrating his second birthday! 

We had a family pizza party, I decorated the pizza by making the toppings into the number "2", made cake and decorated it while Little Jedi and dada watched the new movie he got as a present. After the movie was over we sang happy birthday, ate cake, and opened presents!  He was so excited about his birthday cake that he dove into it face first! It only made me wish that he had the same reaction to cake at his first birthday party haha! 

It was nothing big or fancy but he enjoyed himself and that's all that matters! 

Mt Scott Creek Trail

Family Adventure Weekend! 

This is a late post that I thought I published but never did. Oops.

Mt. Scott Creek is just a small little nature trail a few miles from our house. Late March when Spring started to show in the form of beautiful blossoms on trees I decided that we needed to stop by. 

It's a beautiful wooded area with a paved trail and creek running through it. 

You can follow the trail to the end and then just walk through the wooded area enjoying the peace and quiet being submersed in nature in the middle of suburbia.