I you follow me on Instagram and I hope you do, you would have experienced the epic fail, that was my first serious attempt at potty training that I documented for you my friends, to follow along with....

I mean it helped me keep my sanity for one, sharing it, and there was so much solidarity when I called it quits after 8 hours. I couldn’t clean up one more per puddle and my then two year old and I were both nearly in tears.

This time I was more prepared and she was showing the classic signs of being “ready.” She can pull her own pants up and down, she told us when she was wet or dirty (sometimes) I mean she just generally didn’t love being in a nasty diaper even taking it off sometimes on her own (facepalm). She was interested in other people going potty. So, for a week leading up to us starting I told her I was going to be throwing her diapers away and brought out all her character underwear and encouraged her to look and them and choose which ones she might want to wear. Then it began...

The Monday, admittedly, two weeks after I told her I was going to toss her diapers (I wasn’t mentally prepared the first week) I put underwear on her after I took off her nighttime diaper and was armed with “potty candy” and stickers. LET’S DO THIS THINGGGGG.

The mornkng started off very shaky, she asked for one of her friends to come over that day and so agreed only because this friend is potty trained, AND I knew her momma would keep me sane and encourage me to continue going through the trenches of my pee and pop cover house (Love you Kam!). When her little friend went on the potty for the first time at our house I rewarded her with a potty candy. Listen, pissed isn’t even a strong enough word for the emotion that came out of my toddler. Where was HER potty candy????
Me: “You did not go on the potty so you don’t get potty candy, when I see pee in the toilet you can pick any color you want.”

Who was I? Some hardcore potty candy wielding drill Sargent? I don’t know but something came over me and I was determined, I KNEW she could do it and there was no going back. We struggled through the morning but stuck too it and by lunch time I could see the light, the underwear were piling up in the tub but alas there was pee in the potty. Three potty candies were earned that day and her best friend said she was proud of her for going pee on the potty!!!

You have to up the ante a bit as you go, for every three stickers she gets a prize or varying sizes. Her Gigi got her a charm bracelet which is honestly genius, so every three that hit the pot and her characters on her underwear stay dry and “happy” as she says, which is too cute, she can pick a charm or something else. The rest of th prizes are random small things from the bins at Target! Once a whole sheet is filled she gets a big prize, like a new Barbie! My kid is most definely reward and attention motivated. EVERYONE in the house has to know every time she goes and they have to be proud, she even made me call my mom to tell her a few times. I’ll call the president if it lands a turd in the toilet ok kid?

So what else was different this time? She was older, by like fourish months I think. Up until we were ready to really give it a go this time we didn’t talk about, just leave it alone, we even put the potty seats away for a while. The praise is really really high, and the rewards are even better. Why would you want to just play all day and have someone change you? Never having to stop your fun for a trip to the bathroom right? Whatever gets her to do it has to be better than waiting and getting a diaper changed. So whatever that is for your kid figure that out. We only let her hang out with friends that were potty trained for the first week. Later that week another little girlfriend came over too and they got the potty candy and again that worked like a charm, no accidents during that visit.

Maybe most importantly my husband and I were on the same page, no diapers and NO PULL UPS! Stick it out until after dinner time when she gets into PJs diaper for sleeping only. Which honestly is such a relief when you aren’t on edge that you are going to walk through a pee pile. Best part of the night.

The thing is you have to let them lead though, no matter how you do it, read their cues. Are they proud? Do they want to do it? Are they ready? The most unexpected rewarding part is the changes in her. She is still a stinker, she’s three give me a break. But, she is definitely soak up something that’s just for her, Mom and Dad are more focused on her that we have been able to be since little sister came along. Of course she is still a three-nager, but there is a spark in her and more of a connection to me I think anyways. It was such an experience to kind of watch her grow through, and myself to be honest. It is so true whoever said you have not truly experienced parenting until you have potty trained. Godspeed!

Oh, and the letterboard is just a line from Big Daddy that won’t stop playing my head. I am still most definitely the wiper of asses.

I had the opportunity to try out Milwaukee's First and ONLY Custom IV Therapy Clinic. I was a part of a very special event they hosted called "Debutantes and Drips" and they rolled out the read carpet for a select group of local ladies to try a drip and share about our experience. H2O is located just outside of the city in the town of Brookfield, I didn't know what to expect to be honest because my previous experience with IV placement was less than stellar. I had IVs placed for both of my labor and deliveries and I got poked several times in multiple places before and IV was able to be ran so that I was THEN able to get my sweet, sweet epidural. ​Now let's take a look at my experience at H2O. Keeping in mind I did not come to get an IV because I was about to have a human exit my body but I had ailments. The two aforementioned children that I have pushed out of my body exhaust me to my core, momma needed a drip and keep it coming.

Granted, the hospital, while someone is in labor is definitely more of a stressful environment than the swanky hydration oasis that is H2O, but nevertheless I am very impressed by the team there who, by the way are all trained nurses and is owned by an anesthesiologist read: fierce lady boss. One poke after  a cold spray and done. I chatted with my friends while I waited for my custom fluids to be blended up. 

I chose a recliner, settled in and selected my infusion aroma for my oxygen. Yes, you read that right. Let me tell you, after about an hour of breathing sweet minty air breathing this regular old stale air like like toture. Ha! 

So, you want to know how it felt right? Well first let me tell you how it tasted, yes tasted! I was on the side of the 50% that can actually taste the fluids. What's it taste like? The after taste of a multi-vitamin on the back of your tongue, not bad, just enough you notice. Thankfully there were yummy snacks and beverages to enjoy so I barely noticed. What I did notice, I felt super alert and "sharp" about half way through my bag. Like an extreme clarity that you would need to cram for an exam and ace it is the only way I could describe it. Subsequently, I stayed up way past my bedtime doing nothing in particular, but very focused. Dr. Fox joked, "Most people don't get a 9pm IV unless they plan on staying up to party all night," this momma is far past her partying prime so, noted!

Since we were all enjoying our IVs as a part of an event they ran them a bit slower so it took about an hour for me to completely drain my bag of fluid. Typically the process takes about 30 minutes give or take. How worth it would it be to spend 30 minutes of your day to rid a migrane? Push back morning sickness? Refuel after an intense physical workout? Or of course cure a hangover! I would say its a no brainer. The blends range in pricing but start at $79, they price CAN be covered by your insurance and/or paid for with a health saving or similar account, make sure you check with your insurance ahead of time though. 

Like I said, I did not know what to expect. That said, the whole experience pretty much blew my socks off. The ease of getting the IV in, the warmth and expertise of the team, the space is a dream truly "the care of a physician with the comfort of home" on this particular night that included 90's and early 2000's tunes which had me feeling right at home! It would seem as though that blend they whipped up had just what an exhausted working momma needed, look how bright eyed and bushy tailed I look here even though its past my bedtime!

Thank you so much to H2O Health Hydration Oasis and to all these lovely ladies to joining me for my first IV Therapy experience! Head over to their pages to see what they thought of their experience.

All post photos by Christopher Hyler Photography

Think this sounds like something you want to try? Hit that button below! 

I am just going to say it so we are all being honest here, I am the literal worst at self care. Worst. I don’t do it so I don’t preach it so that’s NOT what’s about to happen here. Showering and brushing my teeth before noon somedays are my biggest caring for thy self moments some days.

Now back when self care experiences were not only all around me but offered up often at discounted rate and on the fly, I did endulge quite often. The time I can remember being the most indulgent was when I was pregnant with my first baby, my (then) amazing coworkers would offer up pedis for my poor swollen feet and the salon I worked in was hiring on new massage therapists that needed “testing,” I got a massage nearly every 6 weeks of that pregnancy, ahhhhh. But not that baby is a toddler and another baby arrived and I haven’t even felt a hot towel on my body for over a year.

Mommas, we know shower time is precious, if we are lucky it’s the one time of day where there is no one asking us for anything of atttached to our bodies. Typically, but generally there is a tiny voice asking for something through the crack of the door, or occasionally pulling back the curtain wanting to join or just so desperately needing something at that very moment (eyeroll).

I have been elevating my Shower game to make that five minutes feel like a mini get away and I am loving products from Asili Naturals. Not only are they from a local, lady owned (CEO-Trenise Watson) biz, but they are all natural and amazing! Everything can be used right in the shower or right after no big spa day needed, unless you are doing a bath and can toss a bomb in before a he water gets cold in which case I say #treatyoself! My two favorites have to be the Spirulina Healing Clay Mask, because most days a baby wipe in the car whisk away yesterday’s flakes mascara is my “skin care rountine” and this mask helps forgive a multitude of sins, and the Lychee Fruit Body Scrub is what my thirsty summer skin didn’t know it needed. This scrub smells like a dessert and leaves a hydrating layer on the skin where I didn’t even feel the need to immediately moisturize I just pat my body dry and slipped into jammies.

The line also features super hydrating body butters, and natural bar soaps, everything is so thoughtfully and earth consciously made. I am really just getting to this point where buying high quality, small business made, earth friendly products is really important to me and Asili fits the bill.

If you are local to Milwaukee definitely check them out at many of the makers markets around the city, if not they can be found online here.

Check out my full review of the Side Zip Nursing Bra linked below! Then head to my Instagram for an exclusive code with big savings for my followers!