Sunday, April 10, 2016

Mother's Day Gift Guide


Mother's Day, a day to celebrate moms and all that they (we) do. Are you hoping for a spa day or a beautiful bouquet? Chocolates or perfumes? This guide will give you some ideas to make mom feel special.



A beautiful bouquet... I love these! Elegant blooms in a gorgeous Victorian Teacup. From Teleflora you can order them HERE.



Gift baskets are another great idea. You can purchase them already made or for a more personal gift make it yourself. Fill the basket with goodies specific to your mom, wife. These are great for getting the kids involved. 


Chocolates are always a great gift idea. An even better idea is personalized chocolates. Totallychocolate.com has incredible chocolate that you can personalize for mom.


I am a sucker for perfumes. If I could, I would have an entire room full of nothing but perfumes. It is such a simple way to lift your spirits. I have worked with Scentbird and absolutely love their service. They have recently rolled out their AL A Carte option. You can give the gift of an amazing scent or why not do a years worth of awesome scents? It's the gift that keeps on giving. 


Something as simple as breakfast in bed or a picnic in the park would be wonderful. It is not about the money that you spend it is about celebrating all moms do. So, wether you are shopping for your mom or wife (or both!) Or making a wish list for yourself I hope I gave you some good ideas. Let me know in the comments what you are wishing for.

Thanks for stopping by,  Michelle

Adventures in Mommyhood

Michelle Owner of MostAwesomeMom

I hope that you are enjoying my blog series "Adventures in Mommyhood". It was my hope to introduce my readers to some exceptional moms and bloggers. Mom is universal and we all want the same things. For our kids to be happy and healthy. No matter your mom style wether it be crunchy, silky or a combination of both, being a mom is the most rewarding,  demanding, wonderful job on the planet. I look forward to bringing you more great moms and their stories in the coming weeks. Thank you for stopping by...


~Michelle

Monday, April 4, 2016

Anxiety, Depression, and Motherhood

*Featured guest blogger: Amanda from The Mom Next Door*


A lot of mom's suffer through anxiety and depression, but very few will willingly admit to it. For whatever reason, we seem to think that our disorders make us bad parents or that we somehow have failed our children. I feel that way often enough as it is (don't we all?) without the "help" of my anxiety and depression. 

I've suffered from both since I was a young teenager, but you never really realize how much it effects your life until you are an adult and especially when you have children. My anxiety keeps me from doing a lot of things, like driving, getting a job outside of the home, making appointments, and even going places. The thought of doctors appointments and IEP meetings give me panic attacks and calling to order a pizza is a chore. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who helps me through it all. 

Some days things are great, and I feel like taking my kiddos for a walk and are on top of the world. Other days, I can barely get out of bed. I can't finish housework. Dinner either gets on the table late, or I'm ordering a pizza because I just can't roll myself out of my blanket burrito and off the couch to make dinner. I have complete breakdowns on occasion and cry. Sometimes it's for seemingly no reason at all, other times it's because things have just piled up so much that I eventually break. I've locked myself in the bedroom or the bathroom and just cried. The ups and downs are worse than a roller coaster ride and being a mom of two, one with Autism, there hardly ever seems to be a straight stretch of track in sight. You know what really gives me hope though? It's when my kiddos come crawl in bed with me and accept that sometimes, mommy has bad days. They know it's not their fault. We talk about it often. I want them to know mommy isn't down because of them and I want them to know that later in life, if they have to suffer through anxiety and depression themselves, that it's nothing to be ashamed of. However, it's also not healthy to just let it come and wreck you and leave you to pick up the pieces. 

It's important to take time for YOU!

It's not going to hurt to turn on Netflix and let your child binge watch a show or two so you can have 15 minutes to yourself. Take a relaxing bubble bath, read a good book, sit outside while it's nice out and just enjoy the beauty of life. 

I can't let anxiety and depression take over my life, and neither should you. I do a lot of breathing exercises, I use a lot of calming essential oils, and I take full advantage of relatives offering to help out either with the kids or with the house. There's nothing wrong with that as long as you realize that you still have to be a mom and not rely on others to raise your children for you. You just need time to breathe. I realize this is much, much harder for single mom's. But you single mom's need time for yourself just as much, if not more, than the rest of us. Even mom's without anxiety and depression need time for themselves. Trust me, it's worth the fight in the end. Your children need you to be as healthy as you can be and you will feel proud that you didn't miss out on things because you took the time to take care of you! 

I want to encourage you to reach out for help if your anxiety and depression get beyond your control. There's absolutely no shame in getting help so you can be there for your kiddos. If you feel like you are too overwhelmed, please contact your primary care physician and make an appointment. If you are having thoughts of suicide or harming yourself in any way, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. They have trained professionals available to help you 24/7. Being a mom is hard, and sometimes the best thing we can do for our kids is to take care of ourselves and ask for help when we need it.  


Amanda is the writer and creator of The Mom Next Door, where she does product reviews, giveaways, and writes about the everyday life of a nerdy mom. She loves Disney, reading, cosplay costuming, going to conventions, and meeting new people. 

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Monday, March 28, 2016

Why I Homeschool

Guest post from The Girl With The Spider Tattoo



I made the decision to homeschool my son when he was really young. It was one of the best decisions that I have ever made, but it's not always the easiest, especially now that I have a baby in the house as well.
My son is almost 8 years old and my baby is going on 11 months. 
Let me back up a bit.

When my son was still a baby, I wanted to teach him every single thing that I possibly could. I read a ton of baby books and visited every educational website I could think of.  I made my own flash cards, and started teaching him to sign. I would read to him and show him the flash cards every single day, along with showing him the signs. (It wasn't very difficult to do, especially since I took an ASL class in college a couple years before he was born.)  I even made power point slides with words, pictures, and colors, and taught him that way as well. I was patient and continued to do it daily until he started to pick up the words and would actually sign them back. He wasn't even a year old yet. It was incredibly fascinating to me!
I couldn't believe that a baby could do that. I mean, I'd heard about it before, but had never seen a baby do it in front of me. I then decided to start signing pretty much everything around us, until he could pick that up too. He might not have been saying words with his mouth, but he was definitely showing me signs with his hands. 
When we would go out to the store or out to eat, he would sign so many different things and people would actually stop to watch. Other people loved it and would ask about it all the time. 
I was so proud of my baby boy.
Shortly after the age of one, he started having seizures. He developed a slowing on one side of his brain, which affected his speech development a bit. Luckily. he could still sign! It helped when his actual words were difficult. 
You know what else was great? I kept up the flash cards and signs, and eventually with my persistence and determination, he learned how to read. (I think this is a great tip, if you want to try and teach your kiddo how to read at an early age as well. It might not work for everyone, but maybe for your kid too). He was a bit older than 3 years old and he started reading a book that I would read to him often. He read it to me. I got it on video. I was blown away. His words were becoming more clear, the more reading that he did. 
Long story short, I was amazed with how much my child loved to learn. And I loved being the one to teach him. He still reads several books EVERY single day. No joke.
He has read so many books. Not just little kid books either. He will try and read any book he comes across. In fact, he sometimes picks books from my book shelf. (His dad and I are avid readers ourselves, and authors too.
He even has one of my old Psychology books on his shelf. It made me laugh the day he walked up to me and started asking about the frontal lobe and parietal lobe in the brain. Too funny right?
He can read so well, that he puts some adults to shame...

I think that teaching your child to read is essential in making homeschool work smoothly. That, and math. My son is currently learning a bit of multiplication and division. He is slowly getting the hang of it... Also, his spelling skills are pretty impressive. Again, I believe he can spell the way he does because of how much he reads. I can pretty much ask him to spell any random word and he will get most of them right. If he misses a letter, he is usually quick to correct himself. 

Do I think that homeschool can work for all children? 
No, but for some children, like my son, it's what I think works best. Some children learn better when surrounded by their peers, and in a group setting, while some children learn better when they can be taught in a smaller group or one on one, like when being homeschooled by a parent or someone else.

Also, a lot of people have asked me if I worry about socialization for my son. You know, at first I did. He didn't really have many friends. He was mostly around adults. Sometimes he still talks more like an adult than a child. 
My husband and I try to get him out a lot more these days, now that he's older. He plays with the neighborhood kids often. We also take him on "field trips" at least once a week. We take him to the Children's Museum, the zoo, an art museum, to parks, etc. We try and take little road trips and travel every few months. We also make sure to let him have fun time. He does little science experiments, sings, dances, plays video games, and gets on the computer. He is very active and gets a lot of exercise in as well. He is a really happy kid and is learning so much. He wants to try so many things and has so many big dreams about what he wants to do when he gets older.
I honestly don't think I could have it any other way.

I do have the baby in the house now, so at times it can get difficult to be teaching him as strictly as I was before, but he does a lot of his work without needing me to watch. He will bring me his workbooks and show me what he has finished, after I've put the baby down for a nap. 
Every day is a busy day for this mama. I not only homeschool, but I also cook, clean, play with the baby and my son, blog, and do product reviews. 
Did I mention that I'm always busy?
Busy or not, I made the decision to homeschool and I'm happy that I did. It's totally worth it for my family.
I plan on doing all of the same things with the baby when she gets a bit older too. I've started the signing, and she's starting to pick them up slowly.

Before I know it, he'll be helping me teach his little sister.


#thegirlwiththespidertattoo

You can visit my blog by clicking here. It's full of product reviews, my journey through pregnancy with baby number two, and more.

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Sunday, March 20, 2016

PayPal cash giveaway


http://www.ratsandmore.com/2016/03/150-paypal-giveaway-open-worldwide-ends.html

Welcome to the $150 Paypal giveaway event!



Welcome to this awesome giveaway event! This is our biggest prize yet, and we can't wait to giveaway this awesome prize, to one lucky winner! 

Good Luck.

The Giveaway! 
One lucky winner will receive a $150 via Paypal. Entering to win is very easy, with the GiveawayTools form, below:

 Disclosure: The bloggers involved in this giveaway were not compensated, and are not responsible for prize fulfillment. Lil' Blog and More will be sending the prize out. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter this giveaway. This giveaway starts March 20th, 2016, and will end on April 7th, 2016 at 11:59 pm. The winner will be emailed, and have 48 hours to respond, or a new winner will be chosen. Once a winner is drawn and confirmed, the name will be announced on the GiveawayTools form. Open to worldwide entries. 

Saturday, March 19, 2016

L'oreal Paris Extraordinary Oil Advanced Haircare

Some women have their "holy grail" a makeup product that has changed their life. They use this product religiously, ergo the term "holy grail". L'oreal Extraordinary Oil has become my hair care grail. It has changed my life and my hair. After one wash my hair was noticeably softer and shinier. Has a pleasant scent, not at all overpowering. It rinses clean and does not weigh my hair down. The true test, my daughter's hair. Noemi has extremely curly and coarse hair. I have tried so many hair products and treatments, nothing helped.
I made a hair mask, mixing the conditioner and hair oil together and left it on her hair overnight. The difference was astounding.


Easily brushed soft and shiny. I can not recommend these products enough. They works wonders and will not break the bank. Bonus Jonas the oil treatment serves double duty as a cuticle oil. 



Try it for yourself, I know you will love it! 

****Sponsored Post****
I received these products for testing
Purposes. All opinions are my own.