The relief I feel when a big baking order is out the door is the best! Three dozen brownies, three dozen chocolate chip cookies, two dozen peanut butter cookies (with a chocolate drizzle!), and three dozen happy birthday Oreos left our house and I slumped with relief!

That was probably the biggest order I’ve had since Dakota was born and I did it. Woo hoo!

I worked on the order a little bit each day this week and we enjoyed all the imperfect cookies. I always forget how much a simple peanut butter cookie hits the spot! My next big baking order will be close to 200 cupcakes for a wedding next month. I will be relieved after that, too. Weddings always feel so big and important!

This week we rejoiced because my parents came back to Pittsburgh from their second home in the Outer Banks. They had been there since we were there and we missed them a ton. My mom and I took the kids on quick jaunt on their scooters/bikes and Mordecai had so much fun on his little beginner bike!!

The day my mom hung out with us, I went to the chiropractor for the headache I was struggling with. It helped a little but didn’t bring full relief. I ended up booking a massage for that night to try and fully get rid of the pain.

I was taking a shower before I left that evening and our house was chaotic. Mid-shower, Mordecai woke up from a nap, Dakota was crying, and Sadie was asking for something. I quickly got out of the shower and my mom and I tended to the kids.

An hour later, I was on the massage table and realized I only shaved one of my legs!! The masseuse probably thought I was a werido. Anyways, I had a deep tissue massage and it downright hurt in the best way. I slept so hard that night and my headache slowly abated over the next day or two!

Dakota did another nap laying on her side and she was just too cute not to capture in a photo 📷

We were at our church on Friday night for a memorial service and ended up in the nursery with our family and snapped a picture of my brother with his youngest niece (Dak!) and nephew (Gideon!).

The kids and I whipped out their magnatiles this week and worked on building a race track. Even Dakota got in on the action.

She actually ended up kicking over a bridge Sadie built and Sader Tot was shocked that Dakota did something “bad” haha. I told her that soon she will be grabbing all her toys and annoying her the way Mordecai sometimes does and she just couldn’t fathom it!

I’m currently reading a book on apraxia as a little book club with my mom and sis! Hannah’s son, Titus, has some speech delays and we decided we want to learn more about speech and communication together. Reading about speech in children has brought me back to Sadie’s days with speech therapy (she had an articulation disorder!).

When a child has to overcome speech issues, it takes so much hard work on their part. I can remember Sadie coming home from therapy and being totally drained. I was so proud of her when she was able to overcome her struggles and now if you met her, you would never know she had any issues!

I just loved this quote from the beginning of the book:

My daughter has taught me that the only disability in life is a bad attitude, and that regardless of any challenge, we should wake up each day with a smile and be happy to be alive.

Reflecting on speech and struggles with kids, even if Sadie never overcame her articulation problem… it would be okay. We wouldn’t love her less, you know? It’s a good reminder for me as I think about Dakota’s hemangioma. Even if it’s there for the rest of her life… it’s going to be okay. She won’t be any less loved. Ever! Man, parenting. It’s wild!

This weekend we went to an outdoor RV show at the Tanger Outlets (it’s an outdoor mall!). Jimmy wants to get a camper so badly but I’m still slightly scarred from when we took Sadie camping as a toddler LOL.

While we were at the outlets, we popped into a few stores and Sadie found some new church clothes. It’s so fun to pick out new clothes for the kids but I know better than to pick out clothes for Sadie. She’s definitely now the type of kiddo that has to choose for herself and try things on to see how they feel. I was totally the same as a child. I can respect that!

The outlets were so pretty! It was a nice evening.

While walking into a store, a woman stopped me and asked what was wrong with Dakota’s eye, lol. Okay Allie, read above paragraph. Dakota is fine. It’s okay.

I just feel so sensitive knowing that people always look at the one spot on her face and make comments about it. I guess I just wonder, if she always has the hemangioma, will people make comments to her when she’s older? How will she feel about it? I guess time will tell! I’ve thought about getting her a special doll that has a birthmark or maybe finding some board books about hemangiomas. It’s hard because I can educate my own kids… but I can’t control what other people say to them. Such is life, though!

I was recently asked about my skincare routine, so here it is. To preface it: my skin isn’t sensitive at all but it does tend towards dryness so moisturizing is always my priority!

In the shower, I use Clinique Foaming Face Soap and St. Ives Face Scrub (smells so nice!). Once I get out of the shower, I like to use Lush Water Toner. I follow that up with Bliss Niacinamide Serum and finish it all off either Peach and Lily Matcha Pudding Antioxidant Cream or Clinique Moisture Surge Moisturizer.

Other notes and thoughts:

• I always blog while we’re driving (aka Jimmy drives and I’m in the passenger seat lol). We were on the way to church and stopped at Starbucks (as usual!) and the barista was like “You’re always using your laptop in the car!” and she thought it was so weird. Is it weird? It works for me 🤷🏼‍♀️
• We’re going to a Pittsburgh Pirates (baseball) game this week with Niva for a Pups in the Park night with our friends. I’m so curious how this will go haha.

What’s your skincare routine?

Do you do anything weird in the car?