Tag Archives: The Crowe’s Nest

Potty Training My 22 Month Old // Day 1 {A Potty Princess}

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Kelley| 1 Comment

So today marked Day 1 of potty training and I went ALL IN. I was scared, stressed, and highly anticipating something far different than we have come across. We had a little big of pee, a little bit of poop, and a little bit of fun! Little Miss pranced around in her big girl undies, crown, purse & all! We have a potty princess on our hands!

If you follow me on Facebook, you saw the picture I posted after taking Little Miss shopping for her new big girl undies! She loved picking out the princesses and we were bot eager to get started!

First, I’ll start by saying. I suck at potty training. Like, literally… LC wasn’t potty trained until after he was 3. We tried at a younger age like Lavery is at now, but it just wasn’t happening an we waited. Once we did go into it after 3, it only took two days and I was good with that! I totally thought, even though Lavery is so young I would seriously put her in big girl undies and she would magically be potty trained. Boy was I wrong….

We started out the day in her big girl undies and within 10 seconds of putting those on, I was mopping up the floor (Thank goodness for hardwood floors throughout my ENTIRE downstairs!) A little while later after saying  ”Tell mommy if you have to go potty” about 1,000 times… still on the floor. Poop in her pants, pee on the floor. It just wasn’t happening. But, I am so determined to be done with diapers I didn’t get discouraged and I kept with it. After sitting her on the potty with nothing before her nap, I put her down to sleep. When she woke, she was dry! This is a good sign!

I put her right on the potty and guess what!? I stepped out of the bathroom for a second to hear her saying “Yucky! Yucky!” to go in and SHE’S PEEING! Yes, yes, yes!! I cheered so loud, I jumped up and down, we fived! She was proud, I was proud, it was a peeing party.. IN THE POTTY!!! YES!!

This is her proud little face right after.. I was proud, she was proud, we were all proud! Mommy, daddy, and big brother all praised her and praised her over and over, everyone was excited!

This has GOT to be a sign that I’m not wasting my time right? Potty training at 22 months has to have the opportunity to be successful and we are on that path, right!? Give me your words of encouragement, because I’m SO EXCITED and seriously hope this is the beginning of lots of pee pee and poo poo on the potty in our house!!!!

Stay tuned for more updates and see how the rest of our process goes! Maybe I’ll be able to call myself a potty training pro and give you all tips!? I can hope, right?

Posted in For Mom's

Tagged , , , ,

Spring Fashion with Stride Rite & Zoe Girl Designs

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Kelley| 28 Comments

Having a daughter means many things. One of my favorites? Fashion. I love dressing up Lavery probably just as much (if not more) than she loves to get all dolled up too. I love to pick out adorable outfits with accessories to the nines and watching her prance around so proud.

Among one of her favorite accessories? Shoes. Ever since she was a baby, she has loved shoes and she stands at the shoe closet banging on the door until you open for her to take her pick. Lately, her first choice are these adorable pink pom pom shoes from Stride Rite. Aren’t they adorable?

I love the girliness of these shoes and Lavery does too. We’re having so much fun pairing these with the endless selection of dresses, shorts, leggings, and skirts in her closet! The part mom loves? Stride Rite is a trusted brand making their shoes with good quality, so no worrying about them getting ruined after a few spills outside.

Even though I have one serious girly girl with a love for fashion on my hands, she’s one tough cookie and she likes to keep up with her big brother. The durability of these shoes gives her both the fashion and the strength an active toddler needs. I can’t tell you how many pairs of shoes we have gone through between both kids and anytime we make the investment on Stride Rite, it’s worth every penny.

Now that we’ve got THE shoes, what about the clothing and accessories?

I had the opportunity to work with the fabulous Zoe Girl Designs at an event last weekend and she graciously gave us the adorable chevron skirt seen in the photos. I first recognized Zoe Girl Designs, because her adorable boutique clothing is on sale at The Boulevard at South End and as soon as I spotted the chevron toddler fashion, I was hooked! I was so thrilled when she contacted me to participate in The Great Cloth Diaper Change last weekend and even more excited when she offered up one of her especially cute creations for my princess to sport at the event!

Lavery’s Zoe Girl Designs skirt plus Stride Rite shoes are polished off with an adorable headband purchased from The Boulevard at South End! I think I have a little fashionista on my hands, don’t you? Move over Gisele, there’s a new girl in town! ;) I think she’s got what it takes to start a fashion blog, Toddler Fashionista.. whatcha think!?

Thank you so much to my lovely partner Dana of Baby Elan {Daily} for introducing us to these adorable Stride Rite shoes and Zoe Girl Designs for our fabulous skirt. Good news – they’re both Lavery approved! ;)

 

 

Forever’s Like a Dream Sample Disclosure: The opinions expressed above are honest, accurate, and not encouraged anyway by monetary donations. A skirt and pair of shoes free of charge were received from said company, as stated within the editorial.

 

 

Posted in Baby & Kid Stuff, Reviews

Tagged , , , , ,

Oh, No Big Deal… I’m just on People Magazine Online!

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Kelley| Leave a comment

Ever since I was little, all I ever wanted was to be this huge star! Seriously… like I used to dress up for the big awards shows to the nines while I sat in my bed watching the show pretending to walk the red carpet and I was there winning all the awards in the glamorous clothing.

Well, you’ll need to sit down for this one folks, because I’m officially labeling myself as famous – - – Lavery and I are on People.com!

Yes, that’s us with THE Josh Duhamel on People.com’s homepage. No biggie, right!? When you click on the link, you can see more. Wait for it…..

The captain reads

“Dad-to-be Josh Duhamel got in a little parenting practice when he met Kelley Crowe and her little one on the Safe Haven set in North Carolina in 2012.”

Like.. REALLY!? THAT IS US ON PEOPLE.COM!!! Like I am DYING OVER HERE! For real! They posted on Instagram asking their followers to tag pictures of themselves with movie stars using #YTmoviestar. Naturally, I posted this photo, because I already have like 100 times.,.. why not 101!? First, I never thought they would choose my photo out of the crazy amounts of what had already been posted and 2. I never though it would be on their actual website! Instagram? Maybe, but People.com.. and a little snippet on the homepage – NO WAY!

I never would have seen it if it wasn’t for a friend posting it on my Facebook wall when she realized it was little old me on People.com.

I guess you could say my childhood fantasies of becoming a celebrity have been fulfilled… whether I actually live the glamorous life of not ;) I met Josh Duhamel and we are on People.com…. that counts for something, right!?

You can “like” our photo (although admittedly, I have no clue if the “likes” get me anything), but it would be pretty darn awesome to have a lot of FB “likes” on People.com, so would love it if you would check it out!

Check out our picture in the gallery here. And “like” our picture here.

And if you want to be nosy and learn a little more about our visit to the Safe Haven movie set last summer, you can read the old post PLUS my Safe Haven movie review too! ;) I’m in Josh Duhamel HEAVEN!

Posted in For Mom's, The Crowe's Nest

Tagged , ,

It’s a Bird…. It’s a Plane.. It’s……

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Kelley| Leave a comment

… SUPER LANDYN! Superheroes commence! We celebrated Landyn’s 4th birthday in style a few weeks ago. Spiderman was there, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superwoman, & Captain America, the birthday boy himself! Captain America’s baby sister even made an appearance! ;)

So before we get into anything else, let’s talk the details of how I pulled this “Super Landyn” party off! Luckily, it was gorgeous out. And I mean.. gorgeous! Like t shirt weather and the kids just had a blast running around in the backyard. The invites I made myself, you might remember the post here about those.

I wanted to create a DIY Photobooth. I’ve seen them done before with the big frames for kids to hold up, but since this was a Superhero thing I switched it up. First, I hung a white sheet and just had a bunch of balloons hanging out on the floor. I made some DIY photobooth props with POW signs, POP, and an “L” for the birthday boy. Most of them I printed big on black and white color and then mounted them onto colored poster board. Even though the booth didn’t really turn out like a imagined with a bunch of four year olds participating, it was still cute and they had fun holding up the cool signs!

Clearly too many kids wanted to fit in this one – HA!

The second photobooth, I wanted to make it look like the superheroes were flying over buildings. I had my husband print a large sheet of buildings at his office and we laid that down on the floor for the kids to lay on top of. Even though they didn’t really get the “flying over buildings” concept, it was still pretty funny! The superhero cape Landyn is wearing here are the capes I made for each child to take home with them. Super easy & no sew! I got that from this post on Pinterest.

For food, we did “Create Your Own Heroes!”, popcorn, & veggies. For as many people in my house, the whole making your sandwiches thing worked out great! And for the popcorn, I made cones out of superhero coloring pages and dumped the popcorn into those and the outside of my kitchen island was covered in superhero coloring pages for the kids to color – it ended up turning into people leaving fun Happy Birthday messages for LC too!

One last little detail I’m so proud of, is the balloon wreath that was hanging on our front door. I used this tutorial from Pinterest, except I didn’t use as many balloons as she did and I made my own superhero symbols to attach throughout the wreath. I love how this turned out and I think I might save it to switch out for different themes for future parties!

Overall the party was SO.MUCH.FUN! All of the work I put into making everything on my own was well worth it – both for the overall look and for my bank account! ;) This was the first year I didn’t buy everything from Etsy or different places and printables. I both designed, printed, and put together everything on my own!

I really can’t believe our little man is 4!!

Posted in The Crowe's Nest

Tagged , , , ,

Happy 4th Birthday Landyn Carter!

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Kelley| Leave a comment

Today, our sweet little man turns 4! Just 4 years ago at 8:05 in the morning, our 7 lb 10 oz little man was born into this world and has given us the last 4 years of such amazing joy! I remember how excited I was in anticipation of his birth and I continue to be excited every day as I see him experience new things. We had such a fun party with lots of great friends over the weekend to celebrate! I just can’t even believe how fast these last 4 years have gone by. I still remember every detail of my water breaking the night before (3 weeks before he was expected) and he has been surprising us with new things everyday since!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY LANDYN CARTER! WE ARE SO BLESSED TO HAVE YOU IN OUR LIVES!!

 

Watch for a fun post coming later this week on details of his Superhero Party!

Posted in The Crowe's Nest

Tagged , ,

Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey ® {Review}

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Kelley| Leave a comment

Last night was a night full of firsts for our family. It was out first time taking Lavery to any sort of performance and our first night at the circus! Kyle and I both realized we didn’t think we’d ever been to the circus before (and if we did, it was when we were really young so we didn’t remember it.) We weren’t really sure how it would go bringing a one year old to the circus, but to our surprise… she LOVED it!

Before the show, we got to check out a cool animal clinic where we met Kelly… Yes, Kelly (the elephant!) Landyn got a kick out of the elephant sharing the same name as his mommy and he made sure everyone knew it – HA!

Lavery had a blast at the preshow watching all the dancing.. she even got down with the crew herself!

Once the show started it proved its title to be true.. “The Greatest Show on Earth.” I have never in my life seen anything like it and both kids watched with big eyes as they performed tricks on motorcycle in the air, ran through fire, flipped around on horses, and so much more!

The stories you’ve heard cannot do the circus justice – you HAVE to see it for yourself!

If you live in Charlotte, you can still get a discount on tickets until February 3rd! Experience “The Greatest Show on Earth” and watch the light in your little one’s eyes as they experience the impossible with Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey ®Presents Dragons!

For tickets & more info, check out Time Warner Cable Arena’s website here.

I am a Feld Family Ambassador, and in exchange for my time and efforts in attending shows and reporting my opinion within this blog, as well as keeping you advised of the latest discount offers, Feld Entertainment has provided me with complimentary tickets to Feld shows and opportunities to attend private Feld pre-Show events. Even though I receive these benefits, I always give an opinion that is 100% mine.

Posted in Baby & Kid Stuff, Reviews, The Crowe's Nest

Tagged , , , , ,

“The Big Girl Badge”

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Kelley| Leave a comment

On September 25, 2010, I posted almost the same title, except it was titled “The Big Boy Badge.” Yes, my big boy at age 1 1/2 got his first big boy badge. Yesterday, at the same age as her big brother was so did my little lady.

LC got his got his in the driveway and so did little miss. We were outside yesterday enjoying the 70 degree weather we have been graced with in the Carolina’s and Lav took a spill in the driveway. One leg was scraped up the whole side and the other just her knee. She was a trooper though! Cried for about 10 second then sat on the counter quietly while I cleaned it up!

Kids are so resilient! I would say Lav has officially become a big girl with her two “big girl badges” to prove it! ;)

 

 

Posted in The Crowe's Nest

Tagged , , , , ,

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Kelley| Leave a comment

From our family to yours, we hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas and everyone is spending lots of time with the ones you love! I know I will be counting my blessings and fully enjoying this Christmas with my beautiful family!

Posted in The Crowe's Nest

Tagged ,

Meet Barnaby

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Kelley| Leave a comment

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter at all, you might have seen photos of our little elf popping up here and there, so I thought it was time to give him the “official” introduction.

Last year on Thanksgiving, Barnaby became a part of our family. Although he’s talked about all year long by my excited little man, he only shows up during the holiday’s. I’m sure you all know of the “Elf on a Shelf” tradition and it started for us last year.

Since we normally get our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving night, it was only appropriate for Barnaby to make his first appearance on the same night too. How he got his name is kind of a funny story….

Who has seen The Santa Claus movies? Everyone, right? Well… you know Bernard? For some weird reason, I always called him Barnaby. We decided to name our elf Barnaby so there really is an elf named Barnaby around our house!

Last year, I was a new “elf mom” so for the most part he just got moved every night and left a few surprises here and there. This year, we’re getting creative. On his first night, Barnaby brought the kids Christmas pj’s to wear for the holiday season!

So far, he’s toilet papered our tree, left a little hot chocolate and cookies surprise after the kids went on a walk around the neighborhood to see the lights, and stole mom’s magazine to catch up on celeb gossip with a midnight snack. We’ll have to wait and see what fun Barnaby continues to get into as we approach Christmas! He even made it onto WCNC Charlotte’s Pinterest page! They have a whole board dedicated to “Elf on a Shelf!”

Stay tuned for more elf fun – hopefully I’m a better “elf mom” this year! ;)

Do you have an “Elf on a Shelf?” What’s his (or her) name?

Posted in Baby & Kid Stuff, Parenting

Tagged , , ,

Feeling Nostalgic {Breastfeeding}

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Kelley| Leave a comment

I don’t think I ever posted an official “End to Breastfeeding” post. We made it 13 months and at that point, Lavery was using sippy cups more and even though she still wanted to nurse, my milk supply was dwindling and I didn’t want her to get too attached to the idea of NEEDING to nurse. I was sad, but it was the right thing to do. As she was getting older, she wanted to be more of a big girl and like her big brother anyway.

This morning… at almost 15 months, Lavery sat in my lap drinking her milk in her sippy cup and I felt so nostalgic wishing I was still breastfeeding. I miss those quiet moments with her. Now that she’s walking, she’s constantly on the go and I loved those few times a day where we got some quiet mama and baby time while she nursed.

I would say it gave me baby fever, but two nights ago both kids tag teamed us and were up every 15 minutes each… so baby fever? Not so much? Nostalgic.. maybe a little.

Luckily, I can look back on these sweet moments and remember those sweet moments when it was actually quiet… HA!

Posted in Breastfeeding, The Crowe's Nest

Tagged , , ,