Monday, April 18, 2016

MommyCon Chicago 2016 Recap!

I'm a little behind in letting  you all know how MommyCon Chicago went.  Life has be swamped for the last month and I've barely had a chance to breathe between service projects, presentations, spring cleaning and selling and dealing with kid and my own illnesses.

Selfie!
I went up to MommyCon with my friend Sarah, we left our kids with their dads and headed out early Saturday morning.  We made record time getting there to the point of having about an hour to kill, really Chicago traffic isn't horrible at 6am on a Saturday morning!  We even had time to stop in at the hotel I stayed at last year and ask about buying the most comfortable pillow ever, which they said was fairly normal because it is amazing, they ended up giving it to me for free!  I've been sleeping amazingly for the last month! After that side adventure we found a great parking spot in the garage and headed in to get registered with our media passes and go to the media breakfast, had a great time talking to others and hearing from the MommyCon staff.
Cloth Diapering 101

Look at all those people learning about cloth diapers!
I didn't end up sticking to my schedule much at all, but I also discovered that Sarah was interested in getting started with cloth diapering and babywearing!  I had no clue before then and thought she was mostly excited to get away and have a day for herself.  We went to the Cloth Diapering 101, Picky Eaters class,   In the afternoon we went to Awaken your Pelvic Floor, Ring Slings 101 and Treating Common Illnesses in Children.  In between sessions and classes we perused the vendors, ate snacks, and generally just had a fun time hanging out and being friends.

Picky Eater class
It was super fun to bring a friend that was new to MommyCon and natural parenting.  Now we've got her set up with her own stash of cloth diapers that she's been using since MommyCon, she started out using part of my stash and has gone one to buy her own!  I love it! She's also been trying out my carriers...because I don't need to use all 7 at once with only one baby toddler that can be worn.  Though technically Pete can fit in the Toddler Tula if we wanted or needed it to happen!

Apparently Selfie spots are the new thing...
Sarah tried out the adult sized bjorn bouncer and was impressed
I picked up lots of goodies at MommyCon that I'll be posting about over the next couple months.  I already posted the review of my awesome new babywearing shirt I picked up from Free Soul Designs that I found from MommyCon.


Picture of the display in Vagina Village

During the Pelvic Floor Class


Some of the goodies I picked up during the day, this is after dropping off one load in the car!
We stayed for the whole event including the epic giveaway, alas I didn't win, but lots of others around me did...apparently I'm too good at sharing the luck!  The stuff they giveaway is AMAZING and totally worth sticking around just for the chance that you might win.
MommyCon Pro Tip: take a picture of your badge number for the giveaway at the end of the day.  That way if you were to lose your badge before then you can still participate and maybe win.

During the giveaway.  I always stay and never win, if I did leave then I know my number would pop up on that screen!

Our drive home

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Spring Break 2016

This year we headed down to Batesville to see Skypopo and Skypopo Grandma along with Heather and Quinn our sister in law and their son.  We had fun, I ran away with Heather one day up to Indy to check out Costco for the first time and check out a couple baby stores.  It was a nice getaway and I don't think Phil and his parents minded the kids too much.  Phil and his parents (Heather and I took care of the littles) cleaned up the cabin with high hopes of being able to use it this summer, which Pete is super excited about! A fun time was had by all with lots of snuggles, reading and playing.
Phil with Nora and Quinn-who ended up being completely smitten with Phil

Pete reading some Calvin and Hobbes 

Nora just played too hard one day and fell asleep while I was making lunch

Reading Garfield with Skypopo

How we took care of the littles while everyone else cleaned up the cabin

Some light reading with Skypopo

Skypopo and Pete on the tractor while working.