CRACKle Nail Polish and some other things I'm l♥ving

 I think I've only done one What I'm Loving Wednesday...but I've been obsessed with Crackle Nail Polish the last few weeks and so many people notice it and ask about it that I thought I'd share! So today I'm linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love for:

I'm l♥ving Crackle Nail Polish. This first picture is my favorite combo. Its gold polish with black crackle on top. It looks leopard printish. Which I Love!!!

There's a couple of different brands of crackle polish. One of my friends uses the Sally Hansen brand, which I've yet to find. I got both my crackles off Amazon. I do know you can also get them at Ulta. You paint your nails with a base coat. You have to have a base coat for it to work. When the base is totally dry you can paint the crackle on. It goes on just like regular polish but with 5-10 seconds it starts to dry and crack. The black looks a little dusty and the pink looks a little dull, but once you put a clear coat over it you're good to go. If you notice in my leopard printish polish my 2 middle nails have big cracks and the 2 outside nails have thinner cracks...this is due to how much polish you use. The thicker the coat the bigger the cracks. I love the middle nails. The big cracks look really good and I feel like you can see the color under much better. So to do that you have to use a good amount of polish. It took me a couple manicures to get it down. You can only use one coat of it, and you cant go over the crackle. If you notice on the outside nails towards the base of my nail is looks like I missed spots. That because the brush touched polish I had already put down. So it works best to go from one side of the nail to the other in about 3 good strokes. And practice makes perfect :) 

I didn't notice a difference in the brands. The reviews on Amazon talk about Mia being cheap and not working well...I didn't have any problems with it. It worked great for me. As did the China Glaze in pink. And they're both the same price. Maybe a few pennys difference. 

I've being using my neon yellow/green a lot this summer so this is it with the black crackle over it. I hate feet pictures, sorry! But I didn't do this combo on my hands...

At first I really didn't like the pink. It was kinda a dull pink. Nothing really exciting about it. But over white is looks awesome! So far thats the only color combo I've really liked with the pink. I did the neon yellow under it and that looked pretty good too. I'll probably try black under it come fall.

I used this glitter polish because I was going to do the pink crackle over it, but after I finished with just the glitter I liked it too much to put the pink on top. This is some of my favorite glitter polish!!! Its by SinfulPolish. Its a super cheap brand I found at Target. I put in on Raya's toes and wasn't really impressed because it left like 5 pieces of glitter on each toe. But then I played around with it and figured out if I PILED it on my nails it would look like it does in the jar. Gahhh, I love glitter :)

Finally, I've been using the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polish and really liking it. I HATE when my polish chips so I've tried a million different top coats that claim they last forever. Well, forever, not so much. But this one has worked the best. And its Sally Hansens cheap line. I'm pretty sure it was 99cents at Target. The Xtreme Wear is a whole line, so they make it in all kinds of colors too. I used the concrete grey with the top coat and got a good week out of it with no chipping. That's amazing!!! 

This is the neon yellow Raya and I have had on our toes almost all summer :)

I'm l♥ving Instagram. This is such a great app! It's not new. I've had if for awhile, but it never gets old. If you're on, leave your Instagram name in the comments. I love following people!!! Here's some of my favorite Instagram pictures lately. Oh and my Instagram name is Kelseylatelyyy

I'm l♥ving planning my Wedding. WAIT, WHAT?! Haha. No, there's no date set. But Pinterest is helping me plan it so when we DO set a date I'll have a plethora of ideas :) You know me, I'm always prepared. 

Instead of Kallen being a ring bearer he's going to carry this

I'm pretty sure all my bridesmaids will wear something different but that coordinates. I think this looks fun for a more casual wedding. 

Haha! We HAVE to have this. But hopefully they can personalize it cause I'm not redheaded and Gentry's not white ;) 

We always change our "color scheme," but I'm liking this colors alot right now!!! I think I'd need a pop of bright color to go with it though. Maybe a brighter teal...

Happy Hump Day!!!

Kallen's Surgery :(

So he has a hernia. I noticed it about 2 weeks ago. I took him in the afternoon that I first notice it- his groin looked SUPER swollen and I could tell he was uncomfortable. I googled his symptoms :) and determined it was a Hernia (who needs to go to school when you have google) and called his pediatrician who saw him that afternoon and confirmed it. This morning was our appointment with the surgeon and she also confirmed it was a hernia and he'd need surgery to fix it. From all that I've read and after talking to the doctor today it seems to be a very simple, almost routine procedure. Its an outpatient procedure, so we'll take him in in the early morning and as long as everything goes smoothly we should be out before lunch time.

The afternoon I took him in seems like the only day its really bugged him. Some days its much more swollen than others. A hernia is when intestine slips through holes in the muscle wall and with his hernia the intestines slip in and out making it swollen some days and fine other days. What makes it herniate is straining or working hard- which Kallen does alot. Hes perfecting crawling and pulling himself up, so he's exerting himself daily. With that said, he's not in pain. He doesn't seem uncomfortable and, except for maybe an hour here and there, it doesn't bug him.

This type of hernia is pretty common in preemie babies. Especially in boys. He definitely wasn't a preemie, but he was a week early...so that could've added to his chances of getting a hernia. The Dr said he's probably had the hernia since birth but we didn't begin to notice it until he became active- which is the straining that causes the intestines to herniate. I always knew something was up. I'd ask Gentry every so often if it looked swollen to him, but it wasn't super swollen so it was easy to pass it off as part of my chubby boy's rolls :)

So I've done a ton of reading on it: What it is, What happens in surgery, Whats recovery like. Everything I've read has been very helpful and put me at ease. If I think about it I get anxious, but if I read about it I calm down. I'm sure as it gets closer my nerves will be a little crazy. I think the hardest 2 parts are having to have him under anesthesia (not gonna lie, FREAKS me out) and knowing my perfect little boy's skin is going to be cut :( But it has to be done, and the recovery seems pretty easy. They say babies are especially fast healers and the other moms I talked to who've had babies go through the same surgery say its a relatively easy recovery.

Soooo, they will call me with the surgery date after all the paper work gets filed. I will definitely let you all know the date. Any and all good vibes, happy thoughts and prayers will be gladly accepted :) I really liked the doctor, she's very nice and knows her shit. Its being done at the Children's Hospital in Orange, which is a great hospital, about 20 minutes from us. All in all, its not what I'd pick for my baby boy, but if I HAD to pick a surgery this would probably be at the top of "Best Choices of Surgery for a 7month Old If You HAD to Pick One."

I will keep you posted! The pictures are simply for your viewing enjoyment :) He just gets cuter by the hour. Its ridiculous.


(Hernia in baby, Inguinal hernia in 7 month old, Hernia in 8 month old)

Best Friends Wedding

One of my best friends got married in March. I wrote a post about it then: Wedding Bells for a Bestie
She sent us the link to the story board and all the pictures. The photographers are Blue Window Creative and heres the link to the AMAZING story board: Cathleen and Tyler's Wedding.

Then this week Grey Loves Weddings featured their wedding on her blog: Donut Soup Weds Indie Style. Its another great story board. I am blown away by the pictures. They are absolutely gorgeous. Only thing I'm bummed about is theres not a single picture of Raya! Dang it. Her dress was so amazing, so I was excited to see how it photographed. Good thing I took some :) There is one that I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Its the back of Raya and in black and white....she's walking to Cathleen and Tyler and I'm in the background. I think its just perfect. Very symbolic of the day and how Cathleen and I both thought all weekend how crazy it was that MY daughter was in HER wedding. Ahhh, life.

And one of Us

Cathleen: "I really am pretty, huh?"
Me: "You are, and I did a really good job on your makeup."

HAHA. Not sure what we're really saying, but this could easily be it. LOL!!!
Also, the story about Cathleen's dress is one of the best ever wedding dress stories. She talks about it on the Grey Loves Wedding post.

And here's a couple of me doing her makeup. They're not good quality because I took a picture of the picture while it was up on my computer screen :)

Cathleen was seriously a stunning bride. And everything was just perfect! I was honored to be a part of such a special day for such a special friend.

Weekend of "Firsts"

Soooo, this weekend Kallen had quite the list of "Firsts."
He started crawling. He started pulling himself up on the furniture-which gave him his first shiner. His first 2 teeth broke through. AND he started giving Kisses!!!! So I have a bunch of videos to upload to Youtube :) I don't have any pictures of him pulling himself up because I haven't been quick enough with the camera. But I have some cute ones from the pool today :) He LOVES the water. He does all kinds of splashing and kicking. Another water baby!

He's been getting up on his hands and feet too. He's been doing this for a week or so. Made me think he might skip crawling because he was getting really good at this and wasn't even attempting to crawl. I think he will crawl, but maybe he'll walk sooner than I think. Raya walked at 9 months, and from what I've been seeing with Kallen I don't think he'll walk until he's much closer to 1. We shall see...

He's not "off and crawling," but he can definitely do the motions and did some full on crawling to different places in the living room. He also started pulling himself up on the furniture. He first did it at my Mom's and promptly fell over. And hit his little head. On the hardwood floor :( Poor baby! He burst into tears, and so did Raya. He also attempted to pull himself up in the bathtub and before I could grab his little slippery body he fell forward and hit his eye. He cried again. And got a little baby shiner. I joked about him entering the "It looks like my parents beat me but its really that I learned to pull myself up but don't quite know how to get back down without falling" Phase. Raya was in this phase for a good year. Lol. With her, there was this one spot on her forehead that she ALWAYS hit. So she either had a big bump, big bruise or big scab on that one spot. I was sure she'd forever have a scar or some kind of bump there because she somehow managed to hit that same spot all the time. Luckily, she doesn't :) But I remember going out in public thinking people were going to think I beat my kid. Well, we're back at that phase!

Raya also had her first experience with water wings, or floaties, whatever you call them. My Mom got them earlier in the week, so she spent all week playing with them in the backyard and blowing them up and putting them on her arms. When we got to the pool today she wanted nothing to do with them. Refused to put them on. Finally towards the end of our pool time she put them on. She literally swam with them for maybe a minute, got out of the pool and jumped in, by herself, without anyone around to catch her. Just got out and did a big jump back in! And kept doing it :) She was super comfortable with them on.

Sibling Love- August 2011

The older Kallen gets, the cuter the sibling pictures get :) Because they start looking at each other, or hugging...or maybe its just that he's a little bit stronger so when Raya hugs him it looks more like an actual hug instead of a headlock. And hugs are always cuter than headlocks. 

"Mama, I'm ready for my close up!"

 Buddies

 Yah! They're both looking! Only a matter of time before they're both looking AND both smiling. But if you have 2 small ones you know thats all really about how talented (and quick) Mama is at taking the picture. 

Facetime with Daddy while he's at work

Still napping together <3 The other day I heard Kallen wake up so I went up to get him before he woke Raya up, but by the time I got there he had snuggled up to her face and put his hand on her cheek and fell back asleep. Sooooooo cute. 

 Still gotta get Raya her own chair. LOL!

 Just holdin on to my sister...

 Raya is always checking on him during our walks. The other day I got about a half a mile from the car and realized I only had 1 pacifier. So some how I talked Raya into giving hers to him because he was super tired and really wanted one. Well, he feel asleep and it fell out of his mouth, so Raya took the cue that he was done with it and she took it back. About 30 minutes later he woke up and was starting to cry and she took it out of her mouth and put it in his. He went right back to sleep and she kept an eye on him waiting for it to fall out of his mouth. 

He loves taking her pacifier. And as of now she thinks its hilarious. I love watching them play together.

LOOOOOVE this one

 My Beach Babies

Raya is such a good big sister. When I was pregnant I was never worried about how she was going to react when I had the baby. It actually really didn't cross my mind until people started asking me about how I thought she was going to handle having a baby around. I was pretty sure she wasn't going to be jealous because she was so independent, but I also had no idea she'd be as amazing as she is. Who knew a 2 year old could be so sweet and so loving and so protective. Kallen's a lucky little boy :)