Palmolive SoftTouch Review

Hi Friends!

Like I mentioned in my last post, I will be doing some product reviews here and there.  I have been introduced to this fabulous site www.influenster.com .  Quick run-down of how it works.  "Basically, Influenster is a place for culture junkies to come together and share their unique opinions of products and experiences. Active members of Influenster get exclusive access to deals, promotions, and swag from brands that thrive off the input (the good, the bad, and the ugly -- they just want to know what's up)."

So you sign up, you take surveys, you write reviews.  And if you qualify, they send you products to try and review.  They do not pay you.  You just get to try cool new products for free.  :)  How cool is that?!

So I recently recieved my first VoxBox!  Eeeek!  So excited!  It was for Palmolive SoftTouch Dish Soap.

I recieved the Aloe and Vitamin E scents.  I gave the Aloe one to my sis, Emily.  And kept the Vitamin E one to try.  And let me tell you.  This. Stuff. Is. AWESOME.  I have never been a dish soap connoisseur.  I just buy the cheap stuff at the store.  I didn't' think it really mattered that much.  I mean, as long as there are suds and the water is hot, I'm good.  I do wash my fair share of dishes though.  We still use sippy cups for our kids and they just don't get washed well in the dishwasher, in my opinion.  So I wash at least one sinkfull of dishes every day.  And I HATE it.  Hate how long it takes.  Hate how my hands feel afterwards.  Hate.  It.  Then I tried the Palmolive SoftTouch.  First of all.  It smells SO good.  I can't even describe it.  Pink heaven.  I would buy this stuff just for the way it smells.  But it gets better.  It works SO well.  I only have to use a fraction of the amount of soap I used to use.  It's just that much better and getting my dishes clean without having to use gobs of it.  And my hands felt awesome afterwards.  They usually are so wrinkled and pruny looking and DRY.  They would hurt, especially if I had washed more than one load throughout the day.  This stuff is like magic!  My hands were so soft and smooth.  I think my hands looked and felt better than before I  even washed them, lol!  Anyway, this product is a win in my book.  I WILL be purchasing it again in the future.  :)

"I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes."  

I'm Baaaaack!

Okay, so obviously, I'm not so great at the keeping track of the blog thing.  Here's the run-down on what's happened in the last *ahem* 3 years:

*Had Baby Girl!  Her name is Juliet Marie and she's about to turn 3 (gasp!).

*Got pregnant again (surprise!) and had our sweet boy, Lincoln Michael on Leap Day 2012.  He is 15 months old now!  Our sweeties are 20 months apart.  Didn't really plan on it, but wouldn't have it any other way.  :)

*Moved.  To the northern part of town.

*I am happily staying home with my kiddos.  Not watching anyone else's kids anymore.  My two keep me plenty busy.  ;)

*I have a niece!  Charlie Kay.  She turns 2 today!  She is the coolest.

Those are the important things.  I know there's a lot that has happened over the past few years, but those are the ones that come to mind first.  My kids keep me busy and I can't promise I'll be on here often, but I'll try to keep you updated.  You know, all three of you that are probably reading this.  ;)  I'll also be posting reviews on some cool products from Influenster, so watch out for those posts too.  :)

Much love ya'll!

~Dani

Less Than a Month!

Oh wow, do I suck at updating or what? Okay, you're right, I suck. ;)

So to keep this post from being super depressing, I'm gonna keep it VERY short. Sorry, but I have been unable to take my "happy pills" for almost 9 months now and it's starting to get rough. I am having some serious Debbie Downer issues today. Hopefully this does not rub off on all of you. :)

The past few weeks have actually been really nice. I haven't been working, so I've been able to clean house, run errands, catch up on sleep, and spend hours daydreaming in the nursery. :) The only downside to this is I get super lonely during the day and have anxiety issues whenever Adam doesn't spend his every free moment with me. (No happy pills, remember?) Poor guy has been really great though. I couldn't have gotten through things without him. :)

My church/small group/family threw me a baby shower a few Sundays ago, and I had an absolute BLAST! The girls did such a good job making everything perfect and beautiful! Awesome food, fun games, and generous friends make for a very happy (if slightly emotional) Dani. :D

Let's see, what else have we done?... Baby Girl's nursery is almost complete! Adam made her a shelf (it's awesome!), her closet and changing table are stocked, and we are just waiting for last minute details (which really don't have to be done before she gets here) like her glider, the letters for her name, and some wall art.

Adam and I went to a childbirth class at OMC. It was nice. We both learned some things that we didn't know before. We would not suggest doing an entire DAY class though. Really not necessary.

Got the carseat and base installed. This is a HUGE burden lifted off of my shoulders. I don't know why I was having such anxiety about it. I knew that if she came before we had it (and had it installed) that we could just send someone to go get it and put it in the car. It's not rocket science. But I feel SOOOOO much better about having the Police Department help Adam put it in and tell us that it was good to go. :)

I think other than that, we just need a baby to go with all of our cool new stuff! ;)

How far along? 36 weeks 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: I hate this question... I don't know, okay?!?!
Maternity clothes? Yes, if I'm not wearing Adam's clothes. ;)
Stretch marks? As of last week, I'm getting new ones on my legs... Is this weird? I think so.
Sleep: Sleep is becoming elusive... I'm either waking up to pee or I can't breathe and I have to sit up for a while, OR my legs get restless and I have to walk around the house some before I can get back in bed. :(
Best moment this week: Eh, this week was not a great one. The best part is that it's almost over and our little girl will be here soon!
Movement: Not as much now. She is CRAMPED and likes to let me know about it. ;)
Food cravings: Slushy/icey type things... and pie. Always pie. ;)
Gender: GIRL!
Labor Signs: We thought I was having contractions in the grocery store last night, but we think it may have been just her head rubbing my cervix. I know, you really wanted to know that. ;)
Belly Button in or out? Half and half? It looks ridiculous...
What I miss: Feeling normal...
What I am looking forward to: Seeing her!
Weekly Wisdom: If your doc tells you to use Tylenol as a last resort and to call and double check before you take it (which is normally a good idea, don't get me wrong), BUT your doctor's office is really sucky at getting back to you quickly and you've had a migraine for HOURS... JUST TAKE THE FLIPPING TYLENOL!!! Sorry, I almost have a fight with a nurse yesterday about this. ;)
Milestones: Next Tuesday is FULL TERM! YEAH!

Lots of Updates!

Okay, wow! I have not updated in SOOOO long! It's been so long that I can't remember what my last post was, and I can't remember what's on it, so hopefully, this one is not full of repeats. If it is... sorry! ;)

Let's see... last time I updated was April, so let me think of what's new.

*I am officially done working for the summer! I know I probably shouldn't be that excited about it, and I DO miss my kiddos, but I have been able to get a bunch of stuff done, which is nice.

*My sister-in-law, Shannon, graduated from MNU, so we got to hang out with a TON of family. That was a blast. :)

*My sister, Hannah, graduated from High School and Adam and I took our final road trip back down to Southeast MO (at least while I'm pregnant) to celebrate with her. She was third in her class and we are SO proud of her! :D

*We have Baby Girl's first name picked out... but Adam wants to keep it a secret, so I can't tell you. Yes, it's killing me. We totally love it though. :) And when she's here and you hear it, and you don't like it... keep it to yourself! Haha! ;)

*I continue to fight the silent battle of orthodontia... I have had my braces on for more than a YEAR longer than they predicted... And let's just say I've had enough. The last 6 months worth of conversations have literally gone like this:

Orthodontist: "Things are looking good."

Me: "Great! So are we almost done?"

Ortho: "Oh yes! We just have to move this tooth a hair more, and then we'll be good!"

Me: "Wait... isn't that what you said last time?"

Ortho: "Well, yes, but it's getting close... we're a mere millimeter away."

Me: "A millimeter? Seriously? We've been waiting 6 months for A MILLIMETER!?!"

Ortho: "Well, yes, but you don't want to have come all this way and things not be perfect do you?"

This is where I just grit my teeth and smile at him... and think that he's lucky they took all of the sharp, pointy instruments away from my reach...

The last two times I have left the orthodontist's office, I have made it all the way to my car before I burst into tears. He guarantees me that they will be off before this baby gets here. That man has less than 7 weeks... 'Nuff said.

*Other than that, we've just been working on her room, and trying to make sure we have all of our ducks in a row before our little "duckling" gets here. :) I can't WAIT!

How far along? 33 weeks 3 days
Total weight gain/loss: As of yesterday, about 10 lbs. :)
Maternity clothes? Yes, although, I'm getting tired of rotating the same 5 shirts around, haha!
Stretch marks? No new ones.
Sleep: Sleeping well! But I think my body is practicing not sleeping in... every morning at 7am my eyes POP open!
Best moment this week: Getting our maternity pictures taken! :D And swimming with some girlfriends... SO fun!
Movement: She moves all the time! She is quickly running out of room though, so the movements are the cramped/shifting kind. Poor kid. ;)
Food cravings: Slushy/icey type things. I bought a BUNCH of Freezie-Pops the other day and I am in Heaven!
Gender: GIRL!
Labor Signs: None, thank goodness!
Belly Button in or out? Slowly but surely, it's working it's way out! Haha! It's so goofy looking...
What I miss: I miss NOT feeling like a beached whale when I try to get off of the bed or couch! ;)
What I am looking forward to: Seeing her!
Weekly Wisdom: Do not be afraid to ask someone (spouse, friend, random stranger in the parking lot) to help you out of the car... otherwise, you just look really stupid trying to heave/roll yourself out. ;)
Milestones: Can't think of one...

We had our awesome friend, Megan Keith, take out maternity pictures this past Sunday. She did an EXCELLENT job! We are totally in love with all of them! Here are just a few of our favorites! Thanks again Meg! We LOVE them! :D

The Weekend of Weekends!

Time flies when you're having fun! And lemme tell ya, we've been having some fun. ;) The past week has been so busy crazy, but in a good way. Adam was a groomsman for one of his best friends, and I helped with the guestbook and the reception. It was a LOT of work, but the wedding turned out beautiful and everything went perfectly. Congratulations to Scott & Shannon Brooks! :D That's how we spent the majority of Thursday and Friday of this past week (running around doing wedding things).

Saturday was spent hanging out with my Mom, sister, and Gramma! They came up for Emily's art show (which went magnificently, yay Em!) and we literally shopped ALL DAY Saturday. :) I have to give a little shout out for my sister, Emily and her amazing Public Relations class. This group of 4 girls had less than a semester to put together a public event to benefit others. They chose to work with Artists Helping the Homeless. They decided on an art show and planned the whole thing themselves! This included contacting a famous artist to contribute art, as well as contacting numerous schools for art donations. These girls did such an excellent job! They also made a goal of $400 for the art show to give to the Artists Helping the Homeless. They made.... over $1000! I am SO proud of these girls! :D

Sunday we had church and a very special lunch with an old friend. I grew up in Maryland with a girl who I've kept in touch with over the years. She joined the Navy after high school and has been station in Guam for the past 3 years or so. She's on leave for a few weeks and just so happens to be in Kansas City! She called me up and asked if I'd like to have lunch Sunday and of course, I said yes! It was great to see her and meet her boyfriend and a girlfriend of hers. Yay for childhood friends! :)

It was a most excellent weekend that I don't think I've fully recovered from yet, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. :) Here's a new belly pic for you guys. Enjoy!

28 Week Belly

How far along? 28 weeks 2 days
Total weight gain/loss: I'll find out on Thursday at the doctor's.
Maternity clothes? Yep, and I've started to raid Adam's closet for t-shirt and basketball shorts, poor guy ;)
Stretch marks? Nope, but I have started getting weird red bumps around my belly-button from my shirts rubbing. :(
Sleep: Pretty good! I only get up once a night now! :)
Best moment this week: I felt her on both sides of my stomach at the same time! SO cool!
Movement: She moves all the time! She likes to bunch up in one spot and it makes my belly look lopsided, it's pretty funny.
Food cravings: I want a sno-cone so bad, but that's Shelley Cotton's fault! ;)
Gender: GIRL!
Labor Signs: None, thank goodness!
Belly Button in or out? Still in...
What I miss: Being able to bend.
What I am looking forward to: Meeting her!
Weekly Wisdom: Do not be afraid to ask someone (spouse, friend, random stranger in the parking lot) to help you out of the car... otherwise, you just look really stupid trying to heave/roll yourself out. ;)
Milestones: Can't think of one...

3rd Trimester!

Yay! We made it! I am officially in my 3rd trimester of my pregnancy! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. :) I'm actually enjoying being pregnant this week. I know that sounds terrible, but I have felt awful this past month or two. It finally doesn't hurt to be alive. ;) Other than some mild back pain occasionally, I'm feeling so much better. :)

I'm trying to think if anything interesting has happened these past few weeks since I've last updated... I can't really think of much. I've been drinking a lot more water, and I'm convinced that my mother has been right my whole life... It fixes everything! I think between drinking water, the incredible sunshine, and the fact that I've been trying to take a walk everyday, these things have largely contributed to my improving health. :)

We painted Baby Girl's nursery! That's exciting news! We went with a really soft pale green. I think the name of it was Pale Green Moss. And we arranged her room! Yay! I finally convinced Adam to help me take out the twin bed that was in there and now there's just enough room for all of her stuff. The only thing we're missing is her glider. :) Here are a couple of pics:

Changing table, closet, and crib!

View when you walk into the room:

Other than that, I can't really think of anything else that's happened. I'll update if I remember something. Have a marvelous day and here are some updated belly pictures for ya:

26 Weeks

27 Weeks! 3rd Trimester

How far along? 27 WEEKS! 3rd Trimester, yay!
Total weight gain/loss: I have no idea...
Maternity clothes? Yep, and I've started to raid Adam's closet for t-shirt and basketball shorts, poor guy ;)
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: Better. I still get up at least twice a night. It's almost like clock-work. I get up at 1:30am and 5:30am... apparently 4 hours is my max. ;)
Best moment this week: I feel GOOD!
Movement: She moves all the time! More rolling than kicking now though.
Food cravings: Taco Bell! My poor husband, haha!
Gender: GIRL!
Labor Signs: None, thank goodness!
Belly Button in or out? Still in... but getting shallow-er (is that a word?).
What I miss: Sleeping through the night and being able to paint my own toenails. :(
What I am looking forward to: Meeting her!
Weekly Wisdom: Water has miraculous healing powers... My mother has been trying to tell me this my whole life. "Mom, I think my arm is broken!" "Drink some water!" "Whaaat?..." Seriously, water has fixed just about every ailment I've had over the past two weeks. Back hurt? Drink some water. Headache? Drink some water. Tired? Drink some water. Heartburn/indegestion? Water! Twitchy legs? Water! Itchy skin? Drink some water!!!
Milestones: We have reached the 3rd trimester! Yay! :D

Our Spring Break "Adventure"

Okay, so I guess you may be wondering if I've dropped off the face of the planet. No I have not, but I thought I was there for a bit. Had quite the adventure a few weeks ago. Let me tell you about it:

So right around the time of my last post, I started having some pretty bad pain in my back, about midway up on my right side. I chalked it up to pregnancy and tried to just suck it up. Well, I didn't sleep because of the pain Thursday night, or Friday night, and it got even worse on Saturday night. I tried Tylenol, I tried hot packs, I tried cold packs, I had Adam rub my back, I tried showers and baths... NOTHING worked. Two extra strength Tylenol didn't even take the edge off, and by Saturday night I started having trouble breathing due to the amount of pain I was experiencing. By the time Sunday morning rolled around I couldn't breathe, walk, or speak and I just cried constantly. And as luck would have it, my doctor was out of town for Spring Break. Also, with it being Sunday, nothing was open as far as doctor's went anyway. So Adam called the on-call physician and he sent us to the Emergency Room thinking that I was having problems with a kidney stone. He also totally freaked me out about Baby Girl, asking if I had felt her move and thinking that since I hadn't, there might be something wrong with her too. After spending all day in the ER getting poked, prodded, stuck with needles, and having all sorts of tests done, the doctors and nurses decided that there was no blood in my urine (which ruled out kidney stones and infection), they couldn't see my appendix due to Baby Girl (although I wasn't running a fever, which would have signaled an impending rupture, and I have sludge and stones in my gall bladder (which isn't good). They talked about the possibility of gall bladder surgery, but they wanted to wait until tomorrow to talk to the surgeon. So they gave me some drugs and sent me home Sunday night telling me to follow up with the on-call physician the next day. After another rough night (the drugs didn't help much) Adam took me to the doctor where I had an absolute pain/panic attack during the visit. I'm pretty sure I pulled some Exorcist moves, and my head may or may not have spun around on my neck. ;) So the doctor decided to send me straight to the hospital. Smart man. :) Adam and I spent all of Monday and the better part of Tuesday in the hospital where they took more blood and urine from me than I thought humanly possible (at all hours of the day and night), blew three veins in my wrists trying to put an IV in, and kept me moderately doped up (just enough to take the edge off the pain without causing harm to Baby Girl). To make and even longer and more confusing story shorter and less confusing... the doctors never did figure out what exactly was wrong with me. I was displaying all the right symptoms for various illnesses, but not at the right times or with other corresponding symptoms (mainly, I never had a fever). Unfortunately, all they could do was write me a prescription for pain meds, put me on a low-fat diet for my gall bladder, and hope that the pain went away. They decided not to take my gall bladder out now due to the baby and the risks involved with that. I spend the rest of that week and most of the next in bed, and surprisingly enough, the pain eventually did go away! I'm still on meds for acid reflux, but they took me off the low-fat diet (which absolutely sucks by the way... it's like eating sawdust for every meal) and I'm feeling much better! I actually went back to work this week and I haven't had to take a pain pill since last Friday, hooray! Also, I missed taking pictures of my growing belly for week 23 and 24 (sorry!) because that was the absolute last thing on my mind, but I do have one for this week!

25 Week Belly

How far along? 25 weeks even
Total weight gain/loss: I have no idea b/c I was heavily medicated the last time we went to the doctor, haha.
Maternity clothes? Yep, there's no going back now! ;)
Stretch marks? No new ones.
Sleep: Sleep? What's sleep? I have had the most terrible time sleeping these past few days! I chalk it up to restless leg syndrome... which has spread to my whole body. You can ask Adam, my whole body twitches all night long. It's made for some long nights for both of us. :(
Best moment this week: Not taking any pain pills, yay!
Movement: Lots! Adam and I have been calling her a ninja, 'cause this girl has some serious moves! ;)
Food cravings: Anything with apples and cinnamon!
Gender: GIRL!
Labor Signs: None, thank goodness! We had a freak-out last week that almost sent us back to the ER b/c I thought I was having contractions. My belly was hurting and the top of it kept getting really hard and crampy, so we called the doc and he said that if it was contractions, they'd be in the bottom of my belly (made sense after he said that) and decided that it was acid reflux. Whew!
Belly Button in or out? Still in... but getting shallow-er (is that a word?).
What I miss: Sleeping through the night. :(
What I am looking forward to: Picking her name!
Weekly Wisdom: Try to stay out of the hospital until you actually go in to have your baby. ;)
Milestones: My belly totally "popped" and I feel huge. I guess this is a milestone? And now Baby Girl is officially viable. Meaning if she is born now, she has a much higher survival rate than previous weeks. Not that I want her to be born quite yet. Still cookin'. ;)