It’s rough.

As you can see, Piper is a tough baby.  Pretty much always unhappy

If only we could get this kid to smile.

Let me know if you have any advice.

Thanks for your help!

I’ve said it before, that I love using Google Reader as it pulls the RSS Feeds from all my favorite blogs to one nice neat place.  This made is easy for me to read in the middle of the night from bed while I was giving Piper her bottle, and now read when I wake up and can’t for some unknown horrid reason, go back to sleep.  But when I look down the list of feeds that have been pulled for each blog, I’m always a little overwhelmed by

As I’m working on getting the family packed up for the next big adventure, thought I would point out a couple travel ESSENTIAL favorites!! I don’t think I could ever travel without either of these.

Aquaphor is a booty saver! The first time we traveled with Addie in a car, we drove to and from Tahoe, that’s 9 hours each way.  She was 9 months old and she got the worst…

So fun to get all our your emails and questions!!  Please know that I will try my very best to answer you.  I am VERY slow at replying!!  I don’t mean to be, but well, there are these 3 kids that seem to take up A LOT of time….

Anywhoooo, one of the questions I often get is what does my daily schedule look like…and I’ve been meaning to post that one for quite some time.  But it’s somewhat of a moving target, no day is ever perfect! I will get to that post…

My Genius Sister-in-Law, my Brilliant Sister-in-Law and I threw a baby shower for my ever so pregnant Fabulous Sister-in-Law this past weekend (Yep.  That’s a lot of Sister-in-Laws!!).  Now to say that I was really involved…kind of a stretch.  I helped with the games.  Genius Sister-in-Law was the amazing brain and orchestrator and Brilliant Sister-in-Law came up with a BRILLIANT gift addition to the shower.  It was such a sweet and special afternoon!

This is my Fabulous Sister-in-Law.  Her sweet baby girl will be grand baby #10!

And would you…

When you are trying to shed baby lbs…Picky Palate’s blog is not one you should visit daily. But then DARN HER, if she doesn’t tweet out these super tantalizing tweets that just DARE me to open the links to check out her latest creation.  Oh I might hate her if she wasn’t so cute and nice!

A little while back she posted a recipe for Ice Cream Cookies, wait, what!?!?  Ice Cream?  In COOKIES??? I tried to ignore it,…

That is the title of the email I received.

I receive a lot of emails.

A lot

I’m not complaining. I truly do read each and every one.  I love to hear from you.  I’m just not always able to answer them all, but I try to help as much as I can.

This email came last week and it tugged at my heart strings.  With the permission of its sender, I’m posting for you all to read:

“Hey Shanna!  I wrote to you a while back about having 2 kids…

Get your kids their passport.

I think the current (normal) quoted time is 6-8 weeks.

Piper’s came in 3 weeks.

I have gotten each Little their passport within a few months of birth.

It’s EASY!

Make an appointment (or walk in) at your local post office.

Or check here for local places for your area.

You will need your husband, your babes birth certificate & Social Security #, both parents IDs (drivers licenses) and a…

Where to begin with this particular goodness…hmmmm.

Simply put, PHYTO hair products have saved my life.

Yes, I know that sounds dramatic, but in all honesty, with 3 pregnancies in 3 years, this is the FIRST TIME I have not lost half a head of hair!!!  You would think just HAVING 3 kids, 2 years old and younger, would make me lose ALL of my hair.  Somehow, these 3 miracle bottles have given me a whole new outlook on product…

Still cleaning out iPhoto.  Came across some goodies of Miss Addie…

There’s our little ballerina…

Little Miss on the Move…

Not to be outdone, “King of the Woooorld!”

Mom, I’m moving to Paris to become a model, eat lettuce, and buy shoes.  Don’t try to stop me.

But if that doesn’t fly,  I’m going to be a rocker.

Or  a monkey.

But…

Sometimes I just can’t help myself.

While trying to clean up my iPhoto, I came across this photo of Hayden last October.  She has always been known as our little Giggle Monster since she giggles at everything like nobody’s business.

But on Halloween, she became “Haymonster”.

I’m sure you can understand why.

You may know these as Edamame, but to my Littles they are” MAGIC BEANS!” as coined by my Right Hand.

They are one of my staples from Trader Joes. And definitely in the Favorites Gallery. I probably have 4-6 bags ready and waiting in our freezer at all times.

Great healthy snack for you.

Great healthy snack for your Littles.

Win, win.

AND they are yummy warm or cold.…

I’ve been asked by many about my travel tips for upcoming summer vacations.  This is definitely an area I can help with.  Well, I guess what I mean is, it’s something I’ve done A LOT of with our Littles!  Last year in total we were on 17 planes in 3 time zones.  Not yet with all 3 children, but we started last year when Hayden was 5 weeks old and Addie was a year.  Stay tuned for a full post next week, but until then, here’s a few tips to chew on……

Holy Moly! Did I get a lot of emails and comments about the owl bag!!  Who knew???

I’m always amazed at what things draw the most comments and emails, and it’s almost always opposite of what I would think…crazy!  Which makes me think I really need to ask what other things you all would love to know or hear about???  Please, please leave me comments and let me know!  I am not always able to reply to every comment, but I promise, I…

This tip has to do with helping to get yourself organized.  It comes from BabyCenter and although a REALLY, REALLY long list…there is LOTS of great info and very helpful tips.

Their first 5 are some of my favorites:

1. Commit to change
2. Take it slow
3. Keep it simple
4. Sort & purge
5. Store things sensibly

Some others from the list that I really like and our family does as well:

Find a key spot for your keys.
We have a bowl in the kitchen for ALL keys (and sunglasses),…

Sooooo, how is everyone doing??  I gotta say, week 1 really wasn’t that bad!  I actually lost 5 pounds and we ate REALLY GOOD food.

What were some of your favorite things you made?

We LOVED the Avocado Orange Salad (p 100 FBFD).

The Berry Good Peanut Butter Scones (p 73 FBFD) were a GREAT breakfast staple.

Hay even made a try for it.

The Penne Pasta Salad (p 95 FBFD) was PERFECT for…

I love you kiddos, but last night?

What happened to you??

Sweet Addie, where has our champion sleeper gone?

We would love her back if you can find her please!

Pretty please??

I promise, a shout out for “Mama” at 1:15AM, totally NOT NEEDED.

I will love you, possibly more than I already do, if THAT doesn’t happen again.

And I will give you an even…

Quite a few people emailed me after seeing Piper’s photo in Saturday’s post, for the bouncer chair and blanket info in the photo.  I LOVE both if these!!

The chair is the BABYBJÖRN BabySitter Balance. I’ve had a number of bouncy chairs and this is BY FAR my favorite! A good friend passed it down to us and I couldn’t be more thankful!

The blanket is a Aden & Anais Muslin Swaddling Blanket I really, really love these!  They are HUGE and…

When you’re knee deep in trying to pull your life and house together, sometimes it helps to see a little smile.  It makes the whole task seem much brighter!

Last week was a meet your maker week for me.  I had hit a wall and needed to regroup. I love my family, my husband, my Littles.  But I was struggling to make it all work for us and for me.  My sweet husband and suggested I take some time off, maybe get a massage.  The problem with this is that I would still come back to the problem.  My closets would still be a mess, my extra baby weight would still be there, and…