Hard-to-Kill Houseplants

As soon as you walk in my front door, the secret is out: I am trying to turn my house into an indoor jungle. Personally, I don't think it's crazy to have thirty-one plants in your downstairs. That's super logical and my living room air must be super fresh, right? Right.

I love keeping indoor plants alive (not outdoor plants, that's different and hard and no thanks)......but I am also a self-proclaimed cheapskate who doesn't want to spend lots of money. While the exotic, tropical plants are fun (like my living room palm tree in this Instagram post), they are also hard to keep alive and if it dies, then the money I spent on it was a bit of a waste.

Related: 5 money-saving planter ideas | DIY herb garden | How to create a succulent garden

So if you're looking for plants that won't be a huge money-waster, or if you claim to have a black thumb: these plants are for you!

The other incredible thing about these plants is that you can TURN THEM INTO MORE PLANTS. That's right. You buy one, and a few months later you can have lots more. But more about that here!! Let's start with what the super easy plants are.

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Winter Maternity Favorites

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Thanks for supporting my blog!

Back in August, I shared 8 of my maternity wardrobe staples and shared some snapshots of my 20-ish week bump that was already VERYY visible. Well, I'm back again with more maternity favorites, but I'm at a whopping 34 weeks and looking like I'm actually 43 weeks pregnant. Why do you this these photos were taken from so dang far away? It's because I'm mostly chins at this point and for some reason, triple chins don't do super well with getting repins on Pinterest?

While I can no longer sit up from the couch without letting out a strange grunt sound that just makes EVERYONE feel more comfortable, I am hoping to savor these last few weeks with just Aiden & Emma. I'm planning last visits to all our favorite spots (which I rounded up for you here in this post on what to do in the Philly area with kids!), and I'm finally done decorating the nursery. JK. It's still the room that holds all the unfolded laundry and now Christmas presents that I haven't wrapped yet.

Related: Baby registry checklist | 5 things no one told me about labor | An accurate description of the 3rd trimester

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Neutral Nursery Inspiration

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Hello, 28 weeks A.K.A. THIRD TRIMESTER!! I am sharing a few "Friday favorites" here just to keep myself focused on getting the baby's room all ready. I know the final few weeks are going to sneak up on me, so I made this little checklist for myself.

I've come a longggg way since putting Aiden's nursery together 4 years ago...and instead of hang a DIY-packed gallery wall of random stuff (my plan for his nursery!), I'll hang a few simple, larger items like a circle mirror and something with baby girl's name on it or a verse. Baby girl's nursery will have a closet to hide away our storage of diapers, extra wipes, and bins of extra clothes... unlike the old house's nursery which had custom shelves Devin made me when the room was my "office."

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8 Maternity Staples for Every Season

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I have been pregnant in every single season. I was pregnant with Aiden from March to January, then I was pregnant February to October with Emma. And here I am again, due in January!

That means that I've acquired lots of maternity clothing...And, thanks to my beautiful, stylish and similarly-sized sister-in law, we have a huge bin of maternity clothes that we just pass back and forth which has helped me see all the favorite and best maternity wardrobe staples we need for every season!

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Summer 2019 Staples

This post is sponsored by Yaffi Fashion. 

How was your 4th of July yesterday?!

I'm writing this on the 4th while the kids nap, and it's already been the best, laid-back day. We normally get together with family, but my parents were out of town and Devin's sister just had a baby (literally days ago!) and his brother and wife are traveling, too...which meant we got to have a really relaxing day of whatever we wanted to do.  It was a perfect summer day!

With the 4th of July being this week, I thought I'd share some of our current summer staples:

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Nashville Eats

I took almost zero photos of my food because there was no way I was wasting even one second before digging in. Shamelessly.

I know, I know, I'm a self-proclaimed cheapskate. And yes, eating out is more expensive than making all your food at your Airbnb. But this was our only vacation for all of 2019! And we wanted to try all the local places!

I share lots of fun things in this post on visiting Nashville with kids, and most of the places we went to eat in Nashville were kid-friendly because Aiden & Emma came with us. At the end, I share tons more recommendations from my sister who went to school there for four years and spent her time finding all the best places to eat.

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What's In My Amazon Cart | Friday Faves

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Byyyyye, January. What a month! We've hibernated in the freezing temperatures, we've had play dates and date nights and museum trips and Aiden got his cast off (sorry, can't stop talking about it!) and now Aiden can even walk without holding someone's hand. (Limping, but it counts!).

What are your plans and fun things in February?! I'm putting on a brave face for the month of winter that seems to go on forever (and ever and ever), and I'm planning a Galentine's Day brunch and more outings for me and the kids! 

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Things to Make Cleaning Up Easier

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I'm not done my PURGE-EVERYTHING-IT'S-A-NEW-YEAR kick, in case you were wondering. I already talked about how to strategically purge things in your house, but I'm also trying to get things actually clean around here, too. Most of the time, that feels impossible because I have a perpetually muddy German Shepherd who sheds and two toddlers who smear peanut butter and crumbs EVERYWHERE. It's an uphill battle, you guys. (I caught Aiden rubbing some spilled milk around on the table, like the next logical step was to make the mess bigger. WHY LORD, WHYYYY.)

Whether you have kids making small messes bigger messes or you have pets or you generally want cleaning to take the absolute minimum effort, this is a list for you. From me. Your under-qualified yet aspiring-to-be-clean mom.

5 things to make cleaning up easier: 

iLife Robot Vacuum 
I mentioned this in my January Currently post, but this vacuum has been a game changer for us and I will keep singing it's praises all. day. long. I run it twice a day, and it sucks up all the fur from our German Shepherd (which would otherwise stick to Aiden and Emma when they play on the floor! No thanks). I empty it every day or every other day, and it works amazingly to vacuum our weirdly-laid-out first floor and still make it back to the charger.

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Toddler Stocking Stuffers (Under $10)

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Let's talk about kids presents at Christmas. The temptation for us parents is to buy our kids everythingggg, when, in reality, they don't need much! If money is tight this year, just skip the big expensive gifts fill a stocking with actually useful and genuinely fun things. None of these are crappy dollar-store toys that'll be in the trash by New Year's. All of these ideas are things I am getting or am considering getting for Aiden & Emma's stockings this year, since they're almost-3 and 1. If you don't have kids, then use these suggestions for what to get your friend's kid this Christmas. She'll love that you thought of her little one (and didn't buy them some obnoxious noise-making toy that needs batteries) and a $5 gift for a toddler won't break the bank, either. :)

I also have a list of kids books that don't suck, if you'd rather gift a book to a little one!

Useful & fun toddler stocking stuffer ideas: 

1. Crayola Bath Dropz 


2. Play Doh (can you believe this 10-pack is only $8 and ships FREE?)


3. A water bottle that's ACTUALLY NONSPILL like this Contigo autospout kids one with a button that pops out a straw, or a Camelbak Eddy kids bottle. 


4. Draw with water coloring pad...a.k.a. mess-free coloring!


5. Paw Patrol pocket tissue packs (useful and adorable and maybe the toddlers will let me blow their noses now that I've got special packs of tissues?)


6. Healthy snacks that toddlers actually love. My kids go NUTS for the Happy Baby organic blueberry-beet flavored rice cakes. It's crazy. They fight over them. Who'd have thunk?! (And Happy Baby isn't even paying me to talk about them. My kids just love it so dang much I had to include it!)


7. Fun Christmas socks (and these come in multiples, so will I be ordering one pack and dividing them up between Aiden and Emma? YASSS.)


8. This $7 flash light--perfect for lighting up the forts we build every.single.day. 

What are some of your favorites to get in your Christmas stocking? What little gifts have you loved in the past? 

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Baby Girl Birthday Inspiration

My little Emmy girl is turning one next month, so we're going to have family over for her birthday! Aiden's lowkey first birthday was such fun (and only cost about $40!) , and we had 2 separate parties for each side of the family since our house is TINY and it had to be inside (January Bday Probs). Since Emma turns one in October, I am looking forward to having the whole fam over and hosting in our yard! Howeverrrr. 

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Children's Books You Won't Mind Reading 50x A Day

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Happy Friday! I've published a few Friday Favorites lists, and recently I shared 5 random things I'm enjoying that you might like, too. This list is a little more concentrated.........around books. GOOD books. For your kids. 

These are not your "A is for Apple" boring, plain books for babies. No, no. These are books for your baby + toddler that you won't mind reading 50+ times per day, because they are ACTUALLY well-written. At first, the one-year-old you're buying them for might not be super interested. For Aiden (who's 2.5 now), he started actually listening to sorta-long books around a year and a half. The books on this list either have humor, a fun plot, good illustrations, and/or a great writing style. I genuinely don't mind reading these over and over, and from now on I want to get books for all our turning-one friends' babies!

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5 Things I'm Loving That You Might Love, Too

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I've been bad at posting regularly this summer (orrrr, ever since I had baby numero dos a.k.a. Emmy girl) but that's because real life > blog life, though I still love blogging and reading people's posts. Are you allowed to love something even if you don't do it very often? I'm going with yes.

Instead of blogging........I've been busy reading books to my kids, making snacks they'll eat half of, doing pool days and play dates, visiting the Philly children's museum (it's called the Please Touch Museum which is actually a way cooler name than "the children's museum" which is what other cities call theirs, I think...?), reading (I KNOW! I AM READING!), hanging out with my wonderful friends, watching The Office with my husband, etc.

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Welcome Mat Wishlist | Friday Favorites

I promise that my Friday Favorites posts won't always be a list of links (and if you're looking for a more "real life update," feel free to check out my latest coffee date post!). Buttttttt, I would love some input from you guys about which welcome mats you love! I am tempted to make my own (and when I do, I promise to document it with MAXIMUM FEISTINESS because my DIYs never quite go as easy as I expect them to...when will I ever learn...), but there are so many cute ones that I might just splurge and get one of these.

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Baby Swim Gear Checklist | Friday Favorites

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Yayyyy, Memorial Day Weekend! It's like the unofficial kick-off to summer, because who really listens to that summer solstice mid-June start of summer nonsense? Not me.

Today's Friday Favorites is allllll about the pool, for you mamas or friends of mamas who will be spending days at the pool/lake with little ones.

Every summer, we buy pool tags to our local pool, and since getting married, I live within walking distance of the pool! People ask "oh, what are your plans for the summer?" and while others are describing elaborate vacations, my summer plan has always been this: spend as many days at the pool as possible.

Last summer, I was SUPER PREGNANT (proof here and here), and I spent every pool day pulling Aiden up when he slipped under the water. He always was run-walking, and because the baby pool water came up to his chin, he ALWAYS slipped under and I had to be right next to him to pull him back up. While I'm not sure how I'm gonna hack it with TWO kids at the pool this summer, I am SO THANKFUL that Aiden will be taller/less likely to slip under the water........and I'm thankful I'm not pregnant anymore. Also, thankful that Emma isn't walking yet so she can't run away from me, so theoretically I'll only have to chase Aiden. ;)

Here are my favorite items for pool days with a baby:

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Spring home decor | Friday Favorites

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This week, we've enjoyed the glorious sunshine and being outside! We've had play dates at the park where Aiden walked up and down the creek (hopefully his shoes dry out!), we've sat out on our porch after dinner while Aiden plays outside with neighborhood friends (it's the sweetest), and I even walked to our local Bible study with my double stroller! Hopefully it's warming up where you are!!

This week, I've been noticing what CUTE ways you can decorate your space for spring (and summer, because, hello, spring only lasts 0.3 seconds apparently...IT'S 91 DEGREES TODAY AND I'M SO SWEATY but like, it's cool. It's fine.) so I decided to share some of those favorites with you!

Here are my 5 favorite spring-y additions for any space: 

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Friday Favorites

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I've been working on getting two blog posts up per week. That's always the goal, though most weeks it's just been one post...and here we are with two posts two days in a row (here's yesterday's tribute to all you crazy plant ladies out there). What can I say, I'm living that wild life haha. When I wrote this coffee date post, I talked about wanting to share "Friday favorites" each week, so here's my first one!

Things I'm loving lately: 

1. Baby bathtime: 
Aiden had "helped" me give Emma a bath a few times, and now he requests "Emma get a bath, too?" when he's in the tub. He is so careful while she's in her little bathtub, and they crack each other up making little splashes. My heart can't even handle it!

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