A Day in the King's Castle

I've been without a smart phone for about 5 months now and life is very different these days. My girls play games less. My friends and family hear from me less. Texting is such a hassle now, too. But some good things are no more texting and driving. More real face time with the people I'm with and best of all, my phone bill is a mere $30 a month! That also means more dough for other things, like food! ( side note: am I the only one who's paycheck  is depleted at the supermarket?) I actually feel a little more free now that I'm not tied down to my phone. Leaving the house without it isn't such a big deal anymore! I wrote that almost a year ago. Today, I've got a Samsung Galaxy that I don't hate. How was my life affected by un-teching it back then? My kids only have 1 app on my phone which, honestly, I play with more. I still don't text and drive...go me! I mostly use it as a clock and to text. I text quite a bit but to only 2 or 3 people, my husband, m...

Hello friends! Do you spring clean?... is my REAL question. I have never been a spring cleaner... at home. At work (My Gym) I had a bi-yearly cleaning schedule that my staff and I did religiously. But at home, it's a different ball game. Running around after my three, wonderfully loud kidlets makes thorough cleaning very difficult. In past years I often said my husband and I were a great cleaning pair. I'm the day-to-day tidy-upper and he's the down and dirty Sunday scrubber! For us, it was a great system. The socks and crayons and food bits were taken care of daily by me and the real disinfecting was taken care of by my awesome man! Flash forward to today, My husband's new career keeps him very busy on his feet for at least 12 hours a day and he's exhausted by the time he's home. To add insult to injury, he gets two days off a week but they aren't usually consecutive. What does that mean for me? Mostly, I miss my husband but secondly, I miss having a gr...

Almost 5 years ago I moved to New York City with a dog and a car. This week I left with a family! I never could have imagined what my life would become at that time. I hadn't really dated much and hadn't even had a serious boyfriend.  My first apartment was across from where the new Yankee stadium was being built, I worked in my brother's office and knew no-one. My husband is the love of my life and my best friend rolled up in one!  We met while working together and I dragged him all around Manhattan trying new foods, seeing new places and trying new things! We had a blast and fell in love during the process.  Together we have build an amazing family! So, here's the story of our trip: We started packing up our house on Thursday.  How crazy were we to think we could pack it up and get on the road on the same day! Insert sit-com laughter now... By Friday night, 6:00, we were finally ready to do the walk through with our landlord and retu...

Update: I am a SAH mother of 3 little girls. MAK will be 4 next month, MEK is 2.5 and the baby MLK is 15 months old! I have been in survival mode for the last year. Just trying to see past the next few hours. Having a third baby and staying home with a toddler and preschooler was not easy. People always say they don't know how I do it and quite frankly, I don't know either. Crying, yelling, tantrums, silent treatments and vexing was involved...and let's not even start listing the behaviors from the girls! lol!  To make matters worse, our lives were completely uprooted by the two little girls' excema problems. We've been seeing a dermatologist and went on an elimination diet as well as an allergist for the baby. Results: MLK is allergic to dairy, eggs and all nuts except almonds (pretty much). Wheat is a major trigger for MLK's excema so, I let her indulge every once in a while but I've really gotta keep tabs on her intake. So, now that I'm on the ...

Cane Stripe Christmas Turn your favorite photos into personalized Christmas cards . View the entire collection of cards.

Is it a rule of the universe that when you travel with your kids they must always get sick? We just returned from visiting my mom in Florida for just over a week and this trip was actually different! Instead of one kid getting a little cold, two kids got a virus that landed one in the ER and one at an urgent care clinic! To make matters even worse, my tooth chipped and I had to go to a dentist the morning of our return flight! Talk about a whirlwind! Now were are back home and I have the pleasure of schedulling all of our follow up care. Love it!

My middle daughter Malia developed eczema when she was about 4 months old. It started on her face and progressed to her entire body by the time she was 18 months old. She's about to have her second birthday and her skin is so dry, it's the worst it has ever been. She has an uncontrollabe urge to scratch her skin and recently she's even made herself bleed. I give her oatmeal baths and use aveeno bath products. I also lather her in aquaphor to keep her skin hydrated and she still wakes up most nights ( early mornings) scratching and crying in pain and frustration. I am not only sleep deprived but I'm at my whits end! I do all I can to keep her comfortable but she still has issues. I wish I could take it on for her, as most mom's would want. So, my baby, Madison, is now 7 months old and she also developed eczema! Just my luck. Now I have 2 itchy kids. The worst part is seeing her little face look at me as she's scratching her skin with a pleading look ' mommy...