[Friday Favorites] But First...Let Me Take a Selfie

Today's Friday Favorites is inspired by my little love.

I'm currently loving this age (minus the tantrums) and 

want to document some things I don't want to forget.

I want to remember...

...the way he leans in for a kiss on the lips when I say "can you say 'love you mama'?"

...the way he shares - by shoving a piece of whatever he is eating in my mouth even when I tell him no.

...the way when you ask for a kiss, he will either lean in for a kiss on the lips or will turn his cheek like "yes you may kiss me".

...the way he wants to give himself a bath and picks up the bucket of water and dumps it on his head...and all over the bathroom floor.

...the way he sits at the dinner table patiently waiting for mom or dad to come and sit with him and as we get closer, he pushes the chair out next to him for us to sit down - like sit here next to me mom and dad!

...the way he knows the morning routine and could probably do it without any help - I grab my purse, I grab Mason, I give him his milk, I pick up his lunch and my lunch, we head out the door, I put my coffee and our lunches in the car, he motions to get down, I put my purse in the car, he walks to the back door, I open it, he gets in, I put him in the car seat, he knows to put his arms in the straps, he buckles the top buckle, I buckle the bottom one, he hands me his milk, and he starts eating his waffles.

...the way we arrived at daycare the other morning, I took him out of the car, told him to stay right next to me as I got his stuff from the front seat and he ran off a little (not far and there were no cars). I ran to him, grabbed his arm, and went to tell him that he can't run off, that he will get a big owie and we will have to go to the doctor when... he starts spinning in circles. I try to grab his hand and be serious and he just twirls. And I can't help but smile.

...the way he copies me. I taught him how to take a selfie the other night. He made faces for the camera and actually took some himself (see bottom right).

...the way he is just so sweet and melts my heart on a daily basis.

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Linking up with Momfessionals

[It's the Little Things] First Fudgesicle

The other night we gave Mason his first popsicle - I know, I know, what horrible parents to JUST give our kid his FIRST popsicle but I was kinda paranoid that when he was younger that he would lick it once and leave it somewhere that I could never find and we would have a massive puddle of sticky mess. I figured he was old enough to actually eat the popsicle and not leave it somewhere and let's just say I was partly right haha.

He wasn't quite sure what to think at first.

It was COLD!

Then he thought it was pretty good!

And then he decided to wave it around and run around as he was eating it.

He kept running back and forth between the kitchen and the family room and we kept trying to get him to stay off the carpet. It kinda worked... until the popsicle was almost finished and he was waving it around and it got all over the cabinets and wall and my pants. 

Am I in trouble??

So we decided to help him finish it.

I love fudgesicles!

(there's also a cute little video of the crazy boy eating his fudgesicle and spinning in circles that I can't figure out how to get off my phone and upload here (iPhoto is not showing the videos to be able to pull from there) so if you want to see it - just head over to my Instagram to check it out! @lizbir)

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Linking up with Jess from Sadie Sky Boutique and Ashley from Words About Waverly.

Weekends are for Picnics, Concerts, and Swim Suits

We started off the weekend with an impromptu picnic of free Jersey Mike's subs (thank you Angels game giveaways!) and a peach green tea lemonade (for me - I'm OBSESSED!). We went to our secret location by the airport and just hung out, ate dinner, and watched the planes come in for a landing. I told Seth that I wished this was our backyard so we could just watch the planes whenever we wanted. And while that would be awesome, I think I might get annoyed by all the noise, so we will have to stick with visiting every once in a while.

We ended the night with some ice cream.

Baskin Robbins "gold medal ribbon" to be exact. Mason's first.

He LOVED it.

#likemotherlikeson

Saturday we went to a make up swim lesson from last weekend, ran a couple errands, and then came home for Mason to nap and for Seth and I to get ready to go to the Rascal Flatts concert. Seth's mom was not only nice enough to gift us her tickets, but she ALSO babysat Mason for us.

Thank you, Nanny!

On our way to the concert venue, we might have seen this on the freeway...

Yes, the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.

Yes, I am five and took a picture.

AND was excited about seeing it. (My first time!)

(And was kind of annoyed this car photo bombed my photo).

For those of you who have never seen it before, it looks kinda like a weiner shaped motorhome.

We stopped at the outlet mall, I got a couple things for Mason, and then we went to the Lazy Dog Cafe for dinner.

I finally tried the sangria sampler.

And it was delicious!

black currant // white peach // pomegranate red

We got a delicious hummus appetizer.

pesto // roasted red pepper // regular

And an even more delicious mediterranean flat bread pizza.

Then we were off.

We arrived slightly late and missed the opener, Gloriana, but made it in time for Sheryl Crow and of course Rascal Flatts! (Sorry for the grainy, blurry iPhone photos. It was dark!)

Our seats were amazing and the show was awesome!

 I must admit though... we might have left slightly early. Only slightly! Rascal Flatts went on at 9:30pm... it was 10:45-10:50pm when we left. I knew it would be over soon (the main artist usually only plays about 1.5-2 hours) and there were TOOOOOONNNNNS of people there. The parking situation was terrible and... we have a 2 year old who likes to wake up early and we were at least an hour from our house (without traffic), so... we left right before 11pm and got home right at midnight (call me old, but I'd rather get (hopefully) 6 hours of sleep rather than see one last song!).
We said thank you and goodnight to Nanny and we were out.

....and then Mason woke up at 5:30am because he got his arm stuck in his pj shirt. Seth fixed it, turned on his sleep sheep, and we all got one more hour of sleep.

Sunday was time for swim again...

(also see the video I posted on Instagram! @lizbir)

...Gymboree, grocery shopping, naked (aka only in a diaper) Mickey watching/snack eating...

...and Sunday night family dinner at Nanny's.

Seth tried to teach Mason how to blow bubbles...

...and Mason just wanted to go down the slide.

The weekend went by way to fast and I'm already counting down until the next one!

[BOY MOMS] Amy from The Story of Us

 Hi! I'm Amy and I blog over at The Story of Us. Thank you so much Elizabeth, for asking me to join in on the Boy Mom series! Being a boy mom is better than I ever thought possible and I love talking about my sweet, sensitive and very rambunctious little boy who is full of energy and who truly is "all boy".

First, I'll share a little bit about myself. I've been blogging for around seven years now and I enjoy it very much. When I started blogging I basically just posted about scrapbooking and crafts that I had made, but as we started trying to have our first baby, it morphed into more of a lifestyle blog, which is what it is today. I usually post about my kids, our day to day life, photography and crafting. I work full time for the Federal Courts in St. Louis, MO and I also have a small side photography business called Storybook Photography. Photography is something I enjoy very much and I have loved learning so much from other bloggers.

My most important job though, is that I am a mom. A mom to 2 beautiful children that are my world. In 2011 we had our first child, a boy, named Jackson. He has been such a blessing and I have enjoyed these almost 3 years with him more than I ever thought possible. Then, in April of this year, we welcomed our sweet baby Avery into the world and she has completed our family so perfectly. 

My husband and I always talked about how we wanted two kids... a boy first and then a girl. I knew I wanted a boy, but I really felt like I was more suited to be a girl mom. I grew up with just one sister, so I didn't have the boy interaction I would have had, had I had a brother. I was just used to girls and knew what girls liked. I thought maybe girls just might be easier for me. So when we found out we were having a boy back in May of 2011, I was very happy, but a little part of me thought I'd be better with girls.

I definitely did not expect to love being a boy mom this much. Boys are just so much fun!

I expected the rough and tumble but I didn't expect for boys to be so sweet and sensitive.

I expected the boy toys like cars, boats, trains and trucks, but what I didn't expect is that I would enjoy the things that he enjoys just because they make him so happy.

I expected the bumps, bruises and scrapes but what I didn't expect is how much each tear he shed would effect me and that I would feel his hurt so strongly.

I expected the high energy of a boy and how I would probably love naptime, (and don't get me wrong, I do love naptime) but what I didn't expect is that sometimes when I'm laying in bed at night, I miss him even though he's just in the next room sleeping.

I never expected to love finding cars in my purse, spending a Saturday at the train museum, searching every Walmart, Target and Walgreens in the area to find the whole set of Disney Cars Die-Cast cars, playing catch in the back yard or catching lightening bugs as the sun goes down. I can't tell you how blessed I feel that I get to experience all of this and so much more. Having a boy is so much better than I ever thought possible and I love each and every minute of it.

(Quote found on Pinterest)

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If you would like to share a post about you and your son, email me at chasinmasonblog@gmail.com .

I would love to feature you! You don't have to have a blog to participate!

[Review] thredUP

A couple days ago I mentioned that I made my first thredUP purchase. (For those of you who have never heard of it before, thredUP is a an online consignment store where you can buy and sell gently used clothes and more).

I've sold 2 bags worth of clothes before (and have gotten back over $150!), but had never made my own purchase. Sure I window shopped a lot, even added things to a cart, but I never actually bought anything. The prices are GREAT. The clothes are cute and in season. But... I just couldn't bring myself to buy anything. Why? To be honest. The idea of used clothes kinda weirded me out and I truly wondered just how "like new" the clothes really were. Why? I don't know! I mean I knew the quality of clothes that I was sending and the quality of clothes that they kept to sell on my behalf (they don't always accept everything - see their quality standards), but for some reason I just didn't think the clothes I would get in return would be as good. Weird logic. I know. And the inner OCD/germaphobe in me was weirded out by the clothes being worn by others (hello! didn't I remember that you needed to send freshly laundered clothes AND I could always wash the clothes once I received them?? duh.)

So when I got a $15 off my first purchase coupon a couple weeks ago in an email, I figured now would be as good a time as any to try it! I've been wanting to get Mason some new jeans for fall/winter and so I hopped online to see if thredUP had the Old Navy jeans that I liked. And they did! I clicked on the first pair that I saw and I noticed that it had a little disclaimer that they had a tiny flaw. And in this case, the tiny flaw was that they were slightly faded (side note : when I got them, I noticed no fading. That's how detail oriented they are and how well they check their clothes). The cords I bought also said they were slightly faded, but I could barely tell as well. The cords didn't have much detail on the website but I recognized them from last year and knew I wanted to get another pair. I also bought a shirt, which they had great pictures of. The shirt has patches on the elbows and they made sure to include pictures from all angels of the shirt.

I placed my order, applied my promo code and was surprised to find that I had a credit so my discounted order...was totally free! I couldn't be happier (and neither could Seth haha!)

Shortly after I hit "purchase", I got an email with a tracking number stating that my box would be here in 3-8 business days (since I hadn't chosen any form of super speedy shipping), along with a summary of my order. I also got an email that told me what to do with my polka dot bag.

My order arrived a few days later and I couldn't have been more excited to open it!

The clothes were all in great quality and exactly what I was looking for!

I opened the envelope with my clean out bag and started to pack it up to send it in to receive more money back!

I filled it with mostly Mason's stuff (since he outgrows his clothes a lot faster than I do!) as well as a couple tops of my own that I don't wear anymore. All I need to do is fill out the envelope with my information (so they know the bag belongs to me!), seal it up, and drop it off at a UPS store (postage is already paid for!). thredUP will email me when they receive my bag and let me know that it will take a couple days for them to process my bag (it's a popular place!). The communication from thredUP is great and they will let you know exactly where they are every step of the way. They will let you know what they will take back (they will donate the stuff that they won't unless you paid to have the stuff sent back to you) and will let you know as your items sell and your credit grows. You can cash out your payment (I believe through PayPal and for a small fee) or you can use your credits to shop. In my case, I had the discount code and then I had some credits I had forgotten about so I was surprised to see I owed nothing.

Some things to keep in mind when shopping on thredUP (from my experience):

Comparison shop : Let me start off by saying, their prices are GREAT. GREAT! But since most clothes come back after being worn, they do not have price tags on them. I don't know how they come up with their original prices that they tell you to then tell you that you are getting a great deal, but I've found that with a great sale on certain websites, you could get a brand new shirt for the same or less price. For example, I was looking at some short sleeve shirts and they were Old Navy and $5-6 on thredUP but Old Navy was having a sale and I got the same shirt for new for $4 that way. Had they not been on sale, it would have been a great price, but since they were on sale, I got them that way. Shop around.

Have an idea of what you're looking for (or not if you're not picky!) : since most clothes are pre-worn, thredUP doesn't have exact information on what the item is. For example, the jeans that I just bought were Old Navy straight leg, but the thredUP description was just Old Navy jeans. They looked like the ones I wanted, but I wasn't sure. I tried them anyway because I figured 1. They were $5. And 2. If I didn't like them, I knew they bought them and could always send them back (or return them). From pervious purchases, I knew what the pants should look like and I just went off the picture and was able to get the correct thing.

Be prepared : thredUP won't accept all the stuff you send. That's just a fact. They do explain on their website what they will and won't take, but sometimes I think I am within the parameters so I send it and then they don't like it. I would have donated the clothes anyways, so I figure I am not at a loss if they don't accept my item and end up donating it.

Filter : You can filter your results by size, price, condition, etc. In my case, I filtered by boys, size 2T, and then Old Navy. You can set favorites for clothing brands that you like (ex : Old Navy, Baby Gap, Naartjie, etc) so you can just click the button and it will filter and you don't have to search each time. I suggest playing around and seeing what works best for you.

Helpful links :

how does thredUP work?

clothing calculator

shipping

returns

FAQs

I am certainly no pro on this topic, but a lot of you emailed me asking about when I would post about this, so please let me know if I didn't answer all your questions and I would be happy to help more :)

My first purchase experience was WONDERFUL and I will definitely be shopping again!

Interested in trying thredUP? Click here and you will get $10 off your first purchase and I'll get a $10 shop credit!

Update! I just got this email and I think if you go here you can save $20 (!!) off your first order and I will get a $10 shop credit!

Disclaimer : I was not compensated for this review. All opinions are my own. All clothing sold to thredUP was my own and the credit used to purchase these clothes was mine.