Make a difference Day

This Saturday is Make a Difference Day. This holiday is celebrated the fourth Saturday in October every year, although it is something we should celebrate every day of the year. Initiated in 1990, this is a national day devoted to helping others by doing volunteer work in the community. The activity can be almost anything. On this day, millions of Americans participate in community improvement projects. It takes the form of cleanup, fixup, painting, and repair in poorer neighborhoods, parks and municipal facilities. It doesn't matter what project you take on. It doesn't matter whether you help a non-profit organization, the community, your town, nursing home, a church, a food kitchen, or any other group in need. What matters is that you participate. If you want to join in on a project head over to http://www.makeadifferenceday.com/. Here you can find projects scheduled in your area, or you can submit one of your own to share with others. This year, businesses, nonprofit organizations, families, neighbors and individuals will come together to improve their communities on Saturday, October 28. Volunteers are encouraged to register their service project with Make A Difference Day. By doing so, project organizers are eligible to win a $10,000 grant to donate to a charity of their choice. This can be done at the website. 

Do you have plans to participate? What ideas do you have to help your community? Do you do other volunteer work?

Shopping for baby

When it comes to shopping for your baby there are so many options out there. It can make your head spin with all the websites and companies out there. One well known company, and one of my personal favorites is My 1st Years. My 1st Years is the number one personalized baby gift brand, selling unique collections for occasions from births and christenings to school trips and Christmas. They always offer Free Express shipping on orders over $75 and refresh their new in category every 2 weeks, with the latest from their clothing, playtime and homeware range. Free Luxury gift box with every order and Free Personalization made with Love. Check out the Bestsellers here.
Check out some awesome items available for the upcoming holidays.








Another great company is Project Nursery. Project Nursery is best known for being the largest children's design resource on the web driven by a passionate community of parents and designers. Their shop is a curated online boutique, targeting new and expecting parents, seeking beautifully designed nursery, maternity, baby and registry essentials. Shop Baby Clothing & Accessories, Shop Wallpaper & Wall Decals,  so much to shop for and design an amazing nursery just as you want it to be. The possibilities are endless.





Strollerdepot.com is another great company. StrollerDepot.com has been providing high-quality strollers, stroller accessories, car seats and other baby gear since 1998. That is almost 20 years in the business. With how fast companies come and go I think that is pretty good.  They are having a LOT of sales on strollers lately, so shop now. Would make great gifts, or great for an upcoming baby. Save $160 on Baby Jogger City Select Double stroller in Quartz. 25% OFF. Baby Jogger City Mini Compact Stroller 27% OFF Sand & Crimson Only; Now only $189. Need a carseat? There are deals on those too. Up to 42% Off Maxi Cosi Pria 85 Convertible Car Seats, Special Edition.

• Primo Viaggio Convertible Car Seat - Aquamarine
• 
• Price: $349.99

• Primo Viaggio 4/35 Infant Car Seat - Mentha-Apple
• 
• Price: $299.99

• City Mini Single Stroller 2015 - Teal / Gray
• 
• Price: $259.99

• Book Pop Up - Aquamarine
• 
• Price: $799.99

• UPPAbaby G-LUXE 2015 Stroller - Denny
• 
• Price: $259.99

• Oobr Booster Car Seat - Flamingo
• 
• Price: $299.99

• mamaRoo - Designer Plush
• 
• Price: $269.99

• G-LINK Stroller - Jake
• 
• Price: $429.99

• Coaster XT Stroller - Aqua
• 
• Price: $399.95

• Tripp Trapp High Chair - White Chair / Aqua Blue Baby Set / Beige Stripe Cushion
• 
• Price: $362.00

Another favorite Get the best in natural baby products at The Natural Baby Company   and GroVia. Choose from AIO, Hybrid, Trainer, O.N.E., or eco-friendly accessories. They are a go to company when it comes to cloth diapering and green products for your baby.They have very cute options available and are great for your wallet too.

I am also a huge fan of Gerber, Graco, Summers Infant, Infantino, and many others.

 

DressLily

DressLily.com is a leading online fashion shop which offers the latest clothing & accessories at unbeatable prices with Global Free Shipping!  Products mainly cover Dresses, Women's Tops, Women's Sweaters & Cardigans, Women's Outwear, Swimwear, Shoes, Bags, Jewelries, Watches, Men's Clothing, etc. Now thru November 1, happy Halloween sale, sitewide sale+free shipping. Also check out their Clearance Sales ! The holidays are a perfect time to shop. Christmas gifts, outfits for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Haunakah, or any other holiday you may celebrate, Dresslily has an outfit for you.




They even have really cute decor for the house!!



They even have plus sizes!!




This post contains affiliate links and I may be paid for clicking links or shopping.

My crazy week

Well one week ago tonight my life was thrown through a tailspin. I myself have been pretty healthy, I have never been hospitalized besides to have a baby or pregnancy related matters. For about to be 28 years old I figure that is pretty good. I have never even broken a bone, although I have had my head cracked open when I was younger. That all changed the night of the 14. We were spending some time with family. We ate dinner around 7, and shortly after I got a bad pain in the middle of my sternum.  I had thought maybe I had bad heartburn or something. After about an hour or so the pain had lessened a little, but was still there. We went home a short while later and I was trying everything to get the pain to go away. No drinks, bath relaxing, tums or anything seemed to help. I tried to lay down and hope to sleep it off. Around 1130 or so the pain got so bad I started to feel sick and I started throwing up. I still thought maybe I could try to sleep it off, that maybe something I ate didn't agree with me or something. I just couldn't get comfortable and eventually my husband called the neighbor to drive me to the emergency room. I definitely couldn't drive and he had to stay home with the kids. We got to the emergency room a little after midnight and they ran blood work and everything. It came back that I had pancreatitis and was septic. My lipates should have been at 13-60, they were over 600!! They did a CT scan to look at things and found out my gallbladder was FULL of gallstones and one had came out and hit my pancreas. I was admitted to the hospital and told I was probably going to have to have my gallbladder removed. I had to be taken by ambulance to the main hospital and got there around 5:30 Sunday morning. All day Sunday and Monday I wasn't allowed to eat and was put on fluids and antibiotics. By Tuesday my levels were low enough to be able to do my surgery and at 1:30 Tuesday afternoon I had my gallbladder removed. Tuesday night I was able to start on a liquid diet. I hadn't ever been so happy to eat something. Wednesday afternoon I was ready to eat solid foods again, and I was released from the hospital.

Today has been 1 week since everything started. I am definitely not back to 100% yet, but that is to be expected. I have to go to the dr Monday to make sure all my levels are back to normal and that everything is healing correctly. I have 5 little incisions where they went in. Although I am not 100% I am definitely feeling better than I was last Saturday night.

One thing I have learned about all of this is expect the unexpected. As previously stated I have been very healthy to this point. This isn't something I would have ever expected to happen. It was never on my mind when I went to the hospital that I would be leaving a few days later with one of my organs gone. This is how things usually happen, when we least expect it. Make sure you have a plan for your family if something were to happen. If it wasn't for my neighbor we probably would have had to call an ambulance to come get me that night. We didn't have a backup plan or a babysitter, so my husband wasn't able to come be with me. Try to have a plan for if an emergency were to happen.

Janie and Jack Mommy and Me Holiday Collection

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.


Janie and Jack have come out with a new collection just in time for the holidays. From classic red hues and luxe velvet to elegant necklines and plush accents, the J&J Holiday collection captures the glamour and excitement of the most wonderful time of the year. Highlights from the collection include full, printed skirts and polished shift dresses for women along with embroidered sweaters, tartan dresses, pants and blazers for children. Styles for girls and boys are available in sizes 0–12 years, with prices ranging from $7–$129. Women’s styles are available in sizes 0–16 with prices ranging from $26–$169. For more information on the J&J Holiday collection, please visit janieandjack.com, and join the conversation on social media @janieandjack and #JandJHoliday. 
Check out this video about the new collection.





Shop Janie and Jack today and check out the collection and everything else they have to offer.
Free Shipping Over $100 at Janie and Jack!

Halloween Crafts

My kids love making crafts, especially for different holidays. Halloween is one of their favorite holidays to make crafts for. Here are some crafts we decided to do this year.

The first one we did was the Frankenstein hands. This is a pretty easy one. We painted the palm of the hand green (you can do a black strip at the top for hair) and then pain the fingers black. Once dried we added brown bolts at the neck and black mouth. We also painted on the eyes, but if you choose you can do googly eyes. Let it dry and you are done. Pretty simple. Kids love doing hand print crafts.

The next craft we did was the J for Jack-O-lantern craft. This is pretty self explanatory. Cut out an orange letter J. This is of course your jack-o lantern. Glue it to the background of your choice. Cut out, in black, the face for your jack-o-lantern. Make a brown stem for the top. For the leaf trace the child's hand in green, cut out, and attach. you are now done. This is another pretty simple yet fun craft the kids really enjoyed.

This one is actually 2 crafts that I thought would look cute together. The first one is a black cat. It is very very simple. Trace the hand on black paper. Glue the hand down to where the fingers are legs and the thumb is a tail. Make a head also out of black paper. Put a face on the cat and draw the little paw markings with white. Next is the witch. Trace a hand in green. Make a little broom stick and the broom part out of brown paper. I cut a rectangle and then cut little strips in it for the broom. I then cut orange strips for the hair and let the kids make the hair how they wanted. The hat is made out of black with a yellow strip. Put a face on your witch.


What are some crafts you do for Halloween? If you do these or others we would love to see pictures. You can email me at crazymommyblog89@gmail.com and I will make a post featuring artwork of my followers.