Freshly Picked Black Tuesday SALE

Last week, Cade received some happy mail in the form of his first pair of shoes, Freshly Picked soft sole moccasins! These moccs are absolutely adorable, I fell in love as soon as I took them out of the box, and based on reviews that I have read (stay tuned for our own review coming once we try these babies out!), will hold up to the every day wear and tear that is baby life.

Weathered Brown

Looking to purchase your first pair or expand your collection? Run, don't walk to the Black Tuesday sale over at Freshly Picked--the biggest SALE of the year!

The entire site will be 25% off! This. Is. Huge!! The 24 hour sale starts at 10 AM mst, 12 PM est.

Want to speed up the process? Have an idea of which prints you really want and make sure you know what size you are shopping for to make adding to your cart simple and quick. Be sure to create an account ahead of time or log in early to be ready to shop when that clock strikes sale time.

Some of their most sought after styles will be returning such as Pin the Petal, Cactus Day & Cactus Night, Anchors Aweigh, Just a Slice, Are You Kitten Me, Timber, Lemonade, and soo much more.

Be sure to subscribe to my blog and follow me on instagram- @thelittlestadventures, for more Freshly Picked excitement coming soon. 😉

Let me know what you hope to score today! Happy shopping!

Teething Favorites

Chew, chew, chew

I know I don't have to tell you all that teething sucks. It is draining, it is exhausting, it is awful. Though of course, I do have those few friends who swear they never knew when their babe was getting teeth because it didn't bother them. You're joking right? Is pain free teething a real thing? Send me all of your teethers now pretty please!

Dax had 4 teeth by the time he was 9 months old, with each one popping through on its own time. One little baby tooth at a time. I could always tell when he was teething because he would chew on everything, and we would have maybe a week or two of crappy sleep, followed by 2 nights of no sleep--but in the morning there would be a tooth. He never had fevers due to teething.

Cade is completely opposite. At almost 9 months, he is still rocking that huge gummy smile that melts the hearts of all who he scrunches his nose at (no really, it is seriously the most adorable thing, ever). Starting around the time of our vacation at the beginning of October, his 8-9 hour stretches at night turned to waking up 8-9 times per night. At first I thought maybe it was because he was in a new place and not in his own bed, then after arriving home and it continued I just assumed it was teeth. During this time, he was always running an above normal temperature somewhere around the 99.5 range, which is why I wasn't too concerned.

Fast forward to this weekend--- he started running low grade fevers, yanking on his ear, and waking up crying like he was in pain. I still suspected teeth, but I was also worried that it could be an ear infection starting up so we took a trip to the pediatrician. Luckily his ears looked great, and my suspicion was confirmed as the pediatrician showed me Caden's  gums. He is getting about 6 teeth at one time. HOLY CRAP. No wonder this poor baby hasn't slept in over a month, his mouth feels like it is being ripped apart!

Because he is teething so terribly, I thought this post would be appropriate. Let's go over some of Caden's teething favorites.

1. Infantino Squeeze & Teethe Cow - Cade LOVES this Sophie alternative. I keep this one in the car for him to enjoy while driving and he almost never lets go of it. It does squeak, which thank goodness he hasn't learned how to do yet, but it is easy to hold and has plenty of good areas for chewing!

2. Orajel (Munchkin)- This particular teether is great for getting molars, but he still enjoys chewing on it. I stick it in the freezer to get it cold, though it does not freeze. Each little area has a different texture. I foresee a ton of use for this one in the future.

3. Munchkin Foot/Hand Teether- I like to put these 2 teethers in the fridge rather than the freezer. I find that they get a little too hard when frozen and are too cold for Cade to handle. When I do put them in the freezer though, it is for a short time just to get them cold enough to feel good on the gums. They are easy to hold as well.

4. Munchkin Heart Teether- This one is probably Cade's second favorite to the cow. I think maybe because it is so easy for his little hands to hold. Just like the hand and foot, it can be frozen or put in the fridge depending on your child.

5. Boon Silicone Feeder- Although mostly used for feeding, I love putting frozen fruit or even just crushed ice in the silicone feeder to help with teething. It can be messy, but so worth it to see some relief in my babe.

6. Sassy Teething Butterfly- We like this teether because it has different textures. The top wings can be frozen or cold, while the bottom orange wings are bumpy and massage the gums. It is also very easy for little hands to handle!

When we go out, I wear a silicone teething necklace and he chews on it the entire time I am wearing him. It gets gross and drool covered, but it helps him feel better so I'll take it!

Chewing on a teething necklace (not around my neck for picture purposes 😜)

Cade is sleeping terrible at night, but seems to be ok during the day. He does chew on something almost constantly and I have even given him a cold washcloth to chew on. At times I will also use Orajel Naturals, the kind without any numbing ingredients or a dose of Motrin if his pain seems to be that unbearable, though I think his pain is a little too much for either one to make much of a difference right now. 6 teeth is a lot to get at one time, and for the sake of all of our sanity around here--I hope they come in quick!!

Thanksgiving & Family

Thanksgiving is the beginning to a very busy holiday season. My entire family lives nearby and Devin's immediate family as well so planning where to go and when is always a challenge. For Thanksgiving, we usually do an every other year thing to avoid going from house to house, one year we'll do Thanksgiving with his family, the next year with mine. Since we usually see our families throughout the year, it works out fine.

The differences in how both of our families do Thanksgiving can be seen as soon as you walk through the door. Most of Devin's extended family live in other states, so at Thanksgiving there are maybe only about 8-10 of us in the house, not including children. But walk into my families house and there is probably 20 of us.

Buffet style with a looong list of choices is how my family does any event. Set food out on the tables, and we will come. There is just too many of us to do an actual sit down, pass the bowl around meal like we do with Devin's family. They also have a lot less food as there aren't as many people to please.

We really don't have any Thanksgiving traditions aside from beginning to decorate for Christmas and visiting family, but some of my Thanksgiving favorites are ham, green beans, dressing, and my grandmom's homemade pound cake with strawberries and homemade whipped cream. 😋

Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions or favorites that you can't do without??

Hiking with Littles

Our 3rd day in the mountains was our first hike of the trip. We had planned to head out early in the morning to Cades Cove to hike Gregory Bald, but the gravel road we wanted to take back from the trail to cut down travel time was closed, so we picked a different trail. We decided to head up to Clingman's Dome and hike part of the Appalachian Trail out to Silers Bald, not be confused with Siler Bald.

This trail is considered a ridge hike as it travels across the ridges of the mountains, so there are a lot of "up downs"--the trail isn't just up, it's constantly gaining and losing elevation, with most of it being lost going out to the bald. Within one section of the trail we lost 1,100 feet in elevation in only 1.5 miles. This part of the trail was constructed out of giant man made stone steps, and going down was one thing, but coming back up was extremely tiring and painful. I won't bore non hikers with too much more information about the trail because that kind of stuff can be googled, but I will tell you about our experience hiking with an almost 3 year old and a 7 month old. Funny fact, we later we found out that it's one of the 2 toughest trails in the Smoky Mountains section of the AT.

Visual to show how steep, you start at the AT junction and end at Silers Bald.

My husband just upgraded our Kelty Kids carrier to an Osprey, and he definitely thought the trade up was worth it. The pack has zip up storage underneath the child seat which we didn't have on our Kelty and since we were both carrying kids, we needed that space to pack things such as lunch and snacks. A few of the conveniences that it has are built in rain gear, tons of pockets, a spot for a water bladder, and a removable sunshade and stirrups for kids. I was sold on the pack when I saw that it had stirrups. When going on a long hike, you don't want your toddlers legs dangling uncomfortably for 9 miles, it's not good for circulation and starts to hurt after awhile. The stirrups allowed him to sit in a more natural position, distributing his weight a little better and he had no complaints during either one of our 9+ mile hikes on this trip.

Daddy and Dax hiking with Osprey Pack.

I  wore our 7 month old in an Ergo Performance in the front carry position and my Camelbak on my back. When I first started up the paved Clingmans Dome Trail up to the trail head, I thought I was going to fall over. I was in such pain. My shoulders were burning like I've never felt and my back wasn't far behind, I was almost in tears. When we reached the trail head, I took off the baby and my pack and put them on again, this time with my Camelbak on first, and then the Ergo. What a difference it made! Note to self: put baby on LAST to avoid excruciating, unnecessary pain. After making this change, I was confident about the hike and fairly comfortable. To add to my comfort level, I also wore Lululemon leggings, and they were awesome! They kept me warm and cool at the same time, and allowed me to lift my legs easily over fallen trees and terrible, horrible, man made steps. I usually hike in jeans because I don't like plants rubbing on my legs on the trails, so these leggings made for a nice change.

In my Camelbak, I had my water bladder, flashlight, chap stick, knife, bandaids, tissues, and all of my baby essentials--diapers, wipes, burp cloth, changing pad (because rocks!), and a light muslin blanket. As mentioned before, my husbands pack had our lunches and snacks. I also have a paci clipped onto the strap to avoid losing it and to keep baby calm if needed and I wore a teething necklace which kept him pretty entertained when we were all feeling a little delirious on our last few miles back to the parking lot.

Hiking with my babe.

On trips where we go hiking, I am always so glad that I breastfeed. No extra weight of bottles or a pump. Both of my babies are seasoned "mountain nursers". I totally made that up by the way. It is so easy to stop for a quick break to feed the babe and then continue on our way.

Snack break. It was so cold!

One thing about hiking in the mountains is that there are no bathrooms, so going in the woods is a must unless you want to go home with a bladder infection. My husband and I are used to this, but weren't sure how Dax would do, as he is very particular about EVERYTHING. Well, the time came when the boy needed to pee, so we pulled over onto a fairly flat area and told him that he had to go outside. I am pretty sure he thought we were insane and all of sudden didn't have to pee anymore. We knew he really needed to go so my husband took him behind the tress and made it into a game of aiming to hit a little tree, and luckily that worked. He was pretty proud of his accomplishment and earned himself an ice cream later. (He was really reluctant about the whole thing, almost in tears so he really did earn that ice cream.)

My husband and I both use trekking poles and find that they are incredibly helpful on most trails. I just upgraded his to Black Diamond poles and he really enjoyed them. We could not have finished this trail without them, we both used them to hold our weight, pulling our tired bodies up the last few trail miles.

LOVE the vistas that offer such beautiful mountain views.

You never know how many people you are going to run into, so we always bring a mini tripod to capture a family picture. Believe it or not, the below picture is at Silers Bald. The park does not maintain the bald anymore so it is overgrown, but you can walk through the trees to see the remnants of the bald and it is a fairly big, flat space. We didn't break for too long as the sun was beginning to set and we knew "freezing" temperatures awaited us if we ended up hiking in the dark as it was already about 50 degrees at this point.

Most of our hikes are peak hikes where the whole way up, we are going up and then we pretty much run down the mountain to get back. Unfortunately, this hike was opposite and we had to mainly go uphill to get back, which was exhausting. Hiking back up those steps I mentioned earlier was awful. I felt like someone had ripped out my lungs and started stomping on them. My legs were jello and wanted to collapse. My husband, who had on a 40+lb pack was in pretty bad shape--and he runs 5 miles every morning. It. Was. Rough. We were cold, we were hungry, we were tired. We were grateful when we finally heard cars, and then voices, letting us know that we were ALMOST THERE.

We made it back to the car just as the sun was going behind the mountains and had someone snap this photo for us. Don't we just look wonderful after a 9.3 mile strenuous hike? ;-)