Now that I’ve been a mother to two humans, you think I would be a bit wiser about raising children…right?

Nope. Not at all! There are two things I know I have learned from being a mum to two girls, that I still know nothing about raising kids and to always just pack the extra snacks.

When we first had Evelyn, we really wanted to remain minimalist with the baby gear. I was incredibly thoughtful and did our due diligence in research for what we thought we needed, what would be worth having for convenience, and what things we could get by without.

Looking back, I think we did a great job. I didn’t really have any products that I didn’t feel like we got our full use out of except for one product (just buy the cheap Ikea high chair!).

When I was pregnant with Hazel, and we found out it was another girl, I was so hopeful that we wouldn’t need to buy any more baby gear and we would still love our old baby products as much as we did the first time around.

We did well with our goal and I’m here to share with you my top 5 favorite products I used for BOTH my girls.

1. Mom’s on Call - All moms will tell you the “sleep guru” or “sleep method” they use and swear by. Sometimes that’s not even a method at all. Hey, whatever works for you and yours! For us, the answer was Mom’s on Call. I can’t recommend it enough. Both my girls are the best sleepers, but more importantly, I’m so confident in knowing what their needs are because of this book series.

2. Hatch Baby Rest Sound Machine - We got Hazel her own as soon as we knew she was coming because this has been such an amazing product for our family. Not only is the functionality amazing, but their customer service is out of this world. Between Evelyn’s Hatch and the new one Hazel’s got, there have been some awesome upgrades.

3. Swaddleme Swaddles and Sleep pods - Since we were very hopeful to give Evelyn a sibling, I kept all of her clothes including her swaddles, sleep sacks, etc. Thank goodness because they all came in use and Hazel slept amazing with them. I was so worried that what worked for Evelyn, wouldn’t work for Hazel and I would be out shopping for all new sleeping solutions with a toddler and a newborn during a pandemic but these worked great for both our girls! (I could easily write a whole blog post about how much I hate buying sleepsacks.)

4. Dr. Brown’s Formula Pitcher - We didn’t buy this for Evelyn until we were about 3 months in with making bottles every 3 hours, spilling formula all over the counters around the clock and wasting so much formula. This revolutionized the way we conducted our days and we started it on day one with Hazel. If you are a formula family, this is a game changer!

5. Halo Bassinet - I was actually given a Halo bassinet from my bestie who didn’t love it. We were so lucky because we (Evelyn and myself) loved it! But I was very worried that maybe Hazel wasn’t gonna sleep as well in it. However, it worked great! Maybe too great because I ended up having to wake Hazel up for her feedings those first couple months!

I definitely don’t have the answers to how to be the perfect mum to two kids, I don’t really have a clue if what I am doing is right, and most days I’m overwhelmed with guilt about the possibility of one of my children not getting all their needs or wants completely fulfilled. However, I do find these small wins helpful. I made a few good choices and they have continued to pay off. Woot!

This post contains some affiliated links, however I wouldn’t recommend anything I don’t already love!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. We aren’t generally big “Valentine’s Day” people, but this is the first time Evelyn will get to pass out Valentines to her friends. Obviously things are a bit different due to the pandemic, we had to drop her valentines off two weeks early so they could sit in the class before she can pass them out. I am not complaining, we are just so grateful she even has this opportunity.

However, that two week early period really crept up on me! I’m not a “store bought” kind of gal, so I had to think quick to pull something together.

Evelyn had received sunglasses from a friend last year for Valentine’s Day and so it was her wish to give out sunglasses this year to her friends. I ordered these off Oriental Trading Co. and then designed a post card that we could print at home. I also found these cute sunglasses from Amazon that ship out quickly and they are about $1 each. You can’t go wrong! Then we attached the sunglasses with some washi tape and Evelyn “wrote” her friend’s name and her name on the bottom.

This is Evelyn’s first year in school so this is the first time she’ll do an exchange like this. She was so excited to take these to class, but wasn’t really understanding that she would have to wait to pass them out for two weeks. She’s just anxious to share with her friends.

This week in her class, they are learning about kindness and friendship. So it just seems fitting that I make this printable available to any one who wants it! Just sign up below (full disclosure, you’ll also be added to my newsletter list but who doesn’t want to get updates on new products and sales?!) and I’ll email you this downloadable printable for your own use! I recommend on printing on thick cardstock, there are two per page. Let me know what you think!

Make sure you tag us in your pictures if you use our printable so we can share them!

I don’t even know where to start with this year end review. I think the easiest way to do this would be to divide this review into two sections. My family life and my business life have both been quite the rollercoaster this year…

Personally, this year has been one of the best years for my family. We will definitely cherish 2020 in the way that it brought us our Hazel(nut). She has been such an amazing blessing to our family, completely rounding us out. She’s the perfect addition. It was pretty intense right before her arrival. I was very uncomfortable, nervous about giving birth during a global pandemic, worried about my family’s health, mentally wrapping my head around all the civil injustices and civil unrest our country was going through. Just when my heart was starting to really sink at our situation, Hazel made her grand debut. She’s been everything we need to handle this pandemic with a huge smile and full heart. I don’t know how we could have done it without her.

I was, and I continue to be, so worried about how to manage being a parent during this crazy year to an active curious toddler, during a year full of huge changes for her. As far as the pandemic, I know everyone says children are resilient, and they are to some degree. But I wanted her to feel safe to be sad, frustrated, and even mad about any of these crazy situations. She is very aware that her life has changed big time and she expresses that to us. I know we are doing our very best under the circumstances to give her a normal childhood, help her continue to grow and learn, and nurture the beautiful person she is. She has somehow, under these crazy conditions, thrived! I am so proud of her. Becoming a big sister was actually an easy transition with her because she ended up having two parents at home with her instead of feeling the huge change in decreased attention from me most of the day. Drew was working from home since the start of this and so Evelyn was able to have a parent available to her while the other one tended to the baby. Silver lining I guess. I know there will be a transition for her when Drew goes back to work in the office but I think she will be flexible and understanding. We are lucky enough that our school district was able to reopen and she’s been able to attend preschool in person. That has been a huge positive in her life and I feel so blessed that she’s been able to have that during this time.

Drew and I have always been a great team. We really enjoy spending time together and with two (even one kid), it’s been hard to find that time together. When Drew started working from home, we were both genuinely curious if we would burn out of each other. Look, I want to be authentic, there were a few times we were grateful I had a studio one of us could escape too. However, it really was only a few times. The majority of the time, we really loved having the time to be together as a family. Adding a new family member is a huge change to dynamics, roles, and how a family will function. We were able to focus on finding how to make this work for us without the pressure of him going back to the office. I am a huge advocate for long maternity times and also paternity time off as well. Our entire life needed a “pivot” (word of the year) and I’m grateful I had my awesome teammate by my side. We have always been able to come together during some of our darkest moments (family death, house fires…just to name a few) and we felt this year was actually one of the easier years for our marriage.

While family life seemed for the most part, blissful…the business has had a crazy year. We started off with a bang and things were looking great for us. I had been planning and setting things up so that I could take a real maternity leave finally. When everything shut down and weddings cancelled, I had to refund so many orders. It was scary not knowing how things were going to work out. Drew works in the biomedical field and I had been following the news about COVID since January in China, we both didn’t see this ending anytime soon. So we immediately jumped into our pivot. Started working with new planners, creating new products, and rebranded to keep us motivated. It hasn't been pretty and there have been more than a couple of times where I wondered if this should just be the end. I don’t think either of us have ever worked this hard in both of our careers. Long and hard discussions have been had, we’ve been realistic with ourselves. But we made it this far. I see a light at the end of the tunnel and I am going to keep pushing.

Since owning my business, every single order has been a “do a boogie” moment for me. I can’t tell you how excited I get for EVERY SINGLE ORDER I get. This year though, each order meant SO much more. It wasn’t just a dance, it was a huge sigh of relief. A little light during a really dark storm. Each order gave me hope that next year, I would still be doing what I love.

Like everyone else, this year was a rollercoaster for us. But Hazel, hands down, makes it a complete win. I could get very philological about all the lessons I think we were meant to take away from this year, but ultimately…it is gratitude. And I am more than thankful for this very blessed year.

2021…bring it.

Extremely grateful for all these gorgeous photos captured by Hanh Nguyen Photography.

Evelyn and my gorgeous outfits are from Morning Lavender.