Breastfeeding? You'll Need a Nursing Pillow - Sponsored by Mombo

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Comfort and Harmony for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was pregnant with Little Man 1 I knew that I wanted to breastfeed him. I knew that this was best for him and had some good benefits for me. What I didn't know was how hard it would be. Since I already told you how hard it was I won't go into that again, but I will tell you that the proper tools can help (not to make it easy, but to make it easier). One of those tools is a nursing pillow.

Nursing Pillows are great because they help support your baby while you are breastfeeding. Trust me, you will want one for feeding. It will save your back a ton of strain. I know because there were times when I had to nurse without a pillow and it was really hard on my back. Even if you are bottle feeding it is nice to have a pillow to support your baby so you don't always have to use your own strength to hold up the baby.

One such pillow that you can use is the mombo nursing pillow. Mombo pillows are a good shape, you can wrap the arms around your sides leaving plenty of pillow in front of you to help hold the baby. It also has an interesting feature in that the two sides are different firmness levels. One side is firm and the other side is soft. The firm side is for when you are feeding. It is great to have a fairly firm pillow for nursing because with a soft pillow the baby just sinks into it and it doesn't provide the support you need. The soft side is for when the baby is lounging on the floor (and it is probably pretty comfy on your legs when nursing too). Another unique feature is that the pillow can vibrate. I would not use the vibrating feature while you are feeding your baby (unless you want them to go to sleep) because it is super hard to keep a baby awake while you are feeding them (especially a newborn) and you don't want to make it any harder on yourself. But it may help keep your baby happy on the floor. I know that a lot of babies hate tummy time, maybe a comfy vibrating pillow would help them to enjoy it more?

You can find Mombo nursing pillows at Toys R Us and Babies R Us. They have several really cute options. Here are my two favorites. Don't those taggies look like fun?

You can also follow Mombo on facebook (Comfort & Harmony on Facebook) and twitter (Comfort & Harmony on Twitter).

So what do you think? What is your favorite pillow design?

Blast from the Past 33 - [Mr. Random] and I!!

This series consists of notes that I wrote on facebook in the past. Enjoy reading my thoughts during my college years. Please comment but please be nice! Also please feel free to check out my other Blast from the Past Posts.


From May 2007

[Mr. Random] and I!!

Ok, so I have had some demand for a note about how [Mr. Random] and I got together so here it is :) And I know that some of you do not even know how we met, so I will start form there.

We first met when I was in 8th grade. I was home schooled for 1 year in 8th grade and I joined a home school group. And [Mr. Random] was in the home school group, and we both happened to take a courtship class that was offered, and that is how we first met in a courtship class :) And I found out this year that we both had crushes on each other then :) Well after that year I went back to public school and we lost connection. But a few months ago [Mr. Random] found me on facebook, through a friend, which is amazing because at the time we only had 1 common friend (thanks [random friend]!). And anyways we started talking, which lead to hanging out, and we were thinking about dating (or at least I was). But God told us that we were going to fast, so we slowed down and became completely just friends. Then about a week and a half ago our feelings started changing, and this week we realized that we both wanted a relationship. So he called me last night and asked me out (our first official date is Friday!). I have to admit that he surprised me, I mean I knew it was coming, but for some reason I didn’t expect it last night :) So anyways, then this morning he called my dad and asked his permission to date me, and my dad said yes. So now we are officially dating, and I am so happy I am practically bouncing off walls :) Oh and if you want to see pics of us I added a new album with them.
So that is our story :)

April GIveaway - Printable Party Kit from Labarradulce

 

Our April Giveaway is sponsored by Labarradulce. The prize is $20 worth DIY Party kit printable with custom banner text. The winner can choose between an Owl design, a Soccer party in any color or a Mexican fiesta (You can see the 3 options in the pictures above). This giveaway is open worldwide.


Here is a little info about Labarradulce:

I sell on Etsy DIY party printables kit, Custom printables and graphic design. If you are looking for a custom special design I can design it and offer you very affordable prices.
I work on my own online bussines as a baker, graphic and industrial designer, I also sell party supplies and event planning. since 2004.
As a designer I`m always looking for new design inspirations online and in my sorroundings, looking for ways to fix things or improve them.
I love the mayan traditional textiles and get a lot of color pallettes from them and in Guatemala just by looking out the window you see a lot of diferent colors, the entire Pantone pallete :P
You can have many seasons in one day in the morning there is a clear blue sky, a little Rain at noon and in the afternoon some orange and purple colored clouds!
 
I run some FB pages, a giveaway blog, my websites, etc.

www.pinterest.com/labarradulce
www.sieteinvitaciones.com
www.facebook.com/deTODOparatusfiestas
www.sieteinvitaciones.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/labarradulce
www.justwwgiveaways.blogspot.com


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Linked Up To:
Shopper Strategy, Sweep Tight Blog Giveaways, Sweep Tight Rafflecopter Giveaways, The Steady Hand, Family Focus Blog, Home Jobs by Mom, Deal Seeking Mom, Enter Online Sweeps, Mommy Jenna, Gracious Giveaways and Reviews, Look What Mom Found & Dad too,

 

A Coffee Themed Bridal Shower (and free supplies list printable!)

Wow, I can't believe that it has taken me so long to post this. But here it is, detailed info about the bridal shower I threw for my sister. We did a coffee bridal shower because my sister loves all things coffee related. This is kinda an overview of the bridal shower, you can find out details of a lot of things by clicking on the links. The shower turned out great! My sister and her husband loved it. All the guests seemed to have a good time too. You can see more of my inspiration in my bridal shower pinterest board.

We held my sister's shower on a June Sunday afternoon at 2:00. We held the shower at my mom's church which had a great room with couches and an attached kitchen that was perfect for this.

For the food we had: 

Fruit Tray - Store bought by co-host

Veggie Tray - Store bought by co-host

Wrap Sandwiches - Store bought by co-host

Cheesecake Bites

Nutella Brownie Bites

Biscotti Bites - store bought

Chocolate Chip Cookies - used store bought dough

Mini Fruit Pizza

Coffee w/ sugar, creamer - store bought (I got several little packets of coffee from Target for less than $1 each, so we could try a couple different kinds)

Ice Tea - Store bought by co-host

Lemonade - Store bought by co-host

Flavored Water

Coffee Punch

Hot Chocolate w/ marshmallows - store bought

Tea w/ sugar, creamer - store bought

We had way too much food. I didn't realize until afterward just how much food we had and how I spent a little too much. I think if I were to do it again I would make less items. Very little of the actual coffee was drunk because the coffee punch was such a big hit. So I probably would have served just one, maybe two types of coffee instead of the five types we had available. I probably would have made fewer desserts as well. But the food was very good and well enjoyed by all. And the coffee punch was a super big hit!


The Games I planned:

Wedding Things/Apples to Apples

The Story of the Bride and Groom - prizes for bride’s favorite, most true, least true, funniest

How Well Do You Know the Bride and Groom

What is in Your Purse

Wedding Bingo

You can find details about the games and free printables here.

Decorations/Extras

Favors: Merci Chocolates (found at Target on clearance)

Prizes: Mini Ground Coffee Packets, Chocolate, Candles, etc.

Balloon Chandelier (we didn't have time to actually do this, but it is so cute, we did get the balloons blown up but they ended up just sitting on the floor)

Towel Cake

Tablecloths (dollar store)

I used purple and brown because purple was the main wedding color.

Schedule

2:00-2:10 Arrival - Purse Game

2:10 Introduce Ourselves, Name, How you know the bride or groom, What you like best about the bride

2:10-2:30 Food

2:30-2:45 Know Bride and Groom Game

2:45-3:00 The Story of the Bride and Groom

3:00-3:30 Open Gifts/Wedding Bingo

3:30-4:00 Wedding Things

I also made a Coffee Themed Present.

I also made a supplies list for the party, I thought that I would give it to all of you so you wouldn't have to recreate what I have worked on :) Print the Supplies List

Linked Up To:
The Frugal Girls, The Thriftiness Miss, The Foley Fam, Fun-a-Day!, Blissful and Domestic, While He Was Napping,

Blast from the Past 32 - online quizes :)

This series consists of notes that I wrote on facebook in the past. Enjoy reading my thoughts during my college years. Please comment but please be nice! Also please feel free to check out my other Blast from the Past Posts.


From April 2007

online quizes :)

Your Element Is Air

You dislike conflict, and you've been able to rise above the angst of the world.
And when things don't go your way, you know they'll blow over quickly.

Easygoing, you tend to find joy from the simple things in life.
You roll with the punches, and as a result, your life is light and cheerful.

You find it easy to adapt to most situations, and you're an open person.
With you, what you see is what you get... and people love that!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Your Career Personality: Original, Devoted, and Service Oriented

Your Ideal Careers:

Art director
Book editor
College professor
Composer
Film director
Graphic designer
Novelist
Stage actor
Psychiatrist
Writer


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


You've Experienced 32% of Life

You have the life experience of someone in their early 20s.
You've seen some of what life has to offer - but you have a long ways to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


WHAT MOVIE ARE YOU ?? (4 GIRLS)

Kate and Leopold
Your romantic, and funny. Your a little bit of every time period, making yourself interesting, who said you were limited just to the 21st century??
Take The Quiz Now! Quizzes by myYearbook.com

How to write a wedding toast

Writing a toast for a wedding is hard.

Originally I wasn't going to be giving a toast for my sister's wedding. She had my other sister and I as co-maids of honor and she had wanted our other sister to give the toast. I wasn't offended (I was a little relieved not to have to write one :). But her husband (who had two best men) wanted both his best men to give a toast (or maybe they both wanted to give one, I don't remember) so she asked me to give one as well. Since there were going to be 4 toasts I knew I should keep it short. But other than that I didn't really have any idea of how to write a toast.

So I did what I normally do. I researched. I found some tips here, here, here, and here. (You can find those and a few other Maid of Honor tips Matron/Maid of Honor pinterest board). All of those have great advice for how to write a toast. I won't repeat everything that they said, I will simply share how I wrote my toast.

At least one of the posts said that I could use a quote, so I set about finding a quote that I liked. Though there were many many quotes about love, weddings, marriage and such, there were very few that I liked or that fit with anything that I might say about my sister, her husband, or their relationship.

But when I found this quote an inspiration struck! The quote was by Mignon McLaughlin who said "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, and always with the same person." (I think I found it here).

The inspiration that I had was to share the reasons that I loved my sister. And then after thinking about that for a while I realized that it would be even more meaningful if I included reasons why several people loved her. So I questioned several of our family and her friends and asked what they loved about her.


Here is the toast that I came up with (edited to take out names of course :)

Hi, my name is [me], I am [bride]’s sister. I am so honored to be here today standing up to support [bride] and [groom] as they start their new life as a married couple!

Mignon McLaughlin said "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, and always with the same person."

[groom], I know that you have found many reasons to love [bride] and I know that you will find many more to fall in love with over the years. I just wanted to share some of the reasons that we love [bride]

There is just so much to love about [bride]. She is so much fun, it is rarely boring with her. She is loyal, she is a friend for life. She is up for anything. She is great to talk to.

These are just a few reasons that I love [bride], but I am not the only one who loves her. I took a small poll of some of [bride]’s close friends and family and these were the reasons that they gave.

[Aunt] said her adventurous spirit and beautiful smile

[Mom] said her diligence and sensitivity in her work.

[Her friend] said when someone in her life is interested in something she doesn’t care for; she makes an effort to like it, or at least to understand what makes it likeable

[Aunt] said she couldn’t give just one reason ... [bride] is beautiful in so many ways!

[Her friend] said No matter the miles between you, you still know your friendship is rock solid. And on top of that it's effortless

[Cousin] said our mutual obsession of coffee makes me smile

[Aunt] said her optimistic love for life and people!

[Her friend] said [bride] is one of those people who is always up for just about anything, and you know you will have a lot of fun!

[Sister] said I love that I can talk to her about anything and she will listen

These are just a few reasons that we who have known [bride] love her, there are many many more. I hope you spend the rest of your lives finding reasons to love each other, and that you fall in love with each other as many times as you can!

Let’s drink to [groom] and [bride]!

I personally loved my toast, my sister loved it too, and it was well received by all. I took it printed out to read because I knew that there was no way I could remember all of that without having it written in front of me.

What about you? Have you ever written a wedding toast? How did you plan yours out?



Linked Up To:
The Frugal Girls, The Thriftiness Miss, The Foley Fam, Fun-a-Day!, Blissful and Domestic, While He Was Napping,