August Favorites & YouTube Channel

It's that time again! Today's post is going to be all about the products I've been loving this month. I don't have a whole lot of products to talk about, but the things I do have to talk about have seen a ton of love this month and are absolute forever favorites.

I have some very exciting news to share with ya'll! I started a YouTube channel!! I'm really excited about it and can't wait to start making more videos. I want my channel to coincide with my blog. Sometimes I will have duel posts with a video and corresponding blog post, and sometimes I may just do a blog post with no video and vice versa. I uploaded my first video today and it's my August Favorites! Every products mentioned in the video is mentioned in this post as well. Please watch my latest video, and subscribe for future ones!

First up are my Makeup Geek eyeshadows. I have not wanted to use any other eyeshadows this month. These have quickly become my favorite shadows EVER. If I had to choose one eyeshadow palette out of my collection to keep, it would be this one, hands down. They are super pigmented, buttery, and blend really nicely. I can't wait to get some more colors for Fall!

Maybelline's The Falsies mascara has been around for a while. I've had it once before, but it's been a really long time. This mascara lengthens my lashes and gives them tons of volume. Maybelline has some really great mascaras, and this one doesn't disappoint.

The Becca highlighter in Opal is a gorgeous champagne/gold highlighter. I have been using it a ton and am in love with it. Becca is a really great line and has definitely become one of my favorite brands. Be sure to check out all of their products the next time you're at a Sephora.

An oldie but a goodie, the Benefit Hoola bronzer is a makeup must have. It's the perfect contour shade. It's completely matte and has no orange tones in it. It's definitely on the cooler side, which makes it perfect for bronzing and contouring, and creating natural looking shadows on the face.

Make Up For Ever HD Foundation is one of my all time favorites and works beautifully with my dry skin, giving me a really pretty and natural finish. If you have oily skin this would also work great for you, giving you a bit of a glow. It doesn't feel heavy on the skin and looks amazing in pictures.

My favorite eye liner lately has been the Maybelline Eye Studio gel liner in Blackest Black. It's smudge proof, lasts all day, and is really easy to work with. This liner is completely matte, and is very black. Sometimes black eye liners aren't super dark, and can look kind of grey. This one doesn't disappoint when it comes to getting a nice, clean, dark line.

Like I've said before, the YSL Rouge Volupte Shine lipsticks are my favorite lipstick formula. This shade in #9 has been getting a ton of love from me this month, and that love will definitely continue through the Fall and Winter months. It's a glossy, rosey-nude shade that's perfect for everyday, or a night out.

I hope you enjoyed my August favorites. Be sure to head over to my channel and subscribe to see all future videos!


xoxo,
Casey

Mommy Minute: Kason's 8 Month Update

Kason is 8 MONTHS OLD today!! I can't believe how big he's getting and how much he has changed in these 8 short months. Pretty soon I'm going to be planning his first birthday party, it makes me a little sad just thinking about it because time is flying by. I'm going to update ya'll on what he's been loving this month, changes and milestones, and giving an update on the issues we were having earlier this month regarding bottle feeding.

Kason has been playing a lot more this past month. Instead of spending a lot of time in his bouncer, he's really enjoyed sitting on the floor surrounded by toys. He can sit there for long periods of time, go from toy to toy, and be perfectly content. His favorite toys this month have been a set of Infantino Stackable Rings, the Go GaGa Squeeze & Teethe Elephant from Target, and the Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Love to Play Puppy. I will set him in the floor and he will rotate each toy, play with them, lick them, and throw them. Throwing things has been really fun for him lately, especially with the rings. The rings are the first thing he goes for. He grabs the base of the stacker and dumps it upside down so that all the rings fall off. He then proceeds to play with just the stacker by turning it over and beating it like a drum. As for the rings themselves, he likes to pick them up and wave them around before he launches them all over the place. The teething elephant has been so wonderful for him. It doesn't have a good squeaker like Sophie the Giraffe, but it's so much better for teething and chewing. The ears of the elephant are what he likes to chew on. He likes to bite down on the ears and tugs on them to rub him gums. It's also super lightweight so it's easy for him to hold. I got him the Laugh and Play puppy at the beginning of the month because I noticed he was starting to play a lot more. He loves it! There's a ton of different buttons and places to press to make the puppy sing, talk, and light up. The buttons are extremely sensitive, so all he has to do is touch it and it starts making noise.

I got Kason a new carseat this month because he had outgrown his carrier. I went with the Graco MyRide 65 Convertible Carseat, purchased from Target. It's rear facing and forward facing, with a minimum weight of 5 lbs and a max of 65. That's one of my favorite things about this seat, you can use it from the time your baby is born all the way through their toddler years. It's also all in one piece, so when it's time to turn it forward all I have to do is unbuckle it and turn it around.  The first time I put Kason in it, he got so excited. I would look in my rear view mirror into his mirror, and he was waving his arms around, kicking, and smiling the entire car ride. It was like he was saying "Oh my gosh! Look at all this room I have now! This is so awesome!". It was so cute and made me really happy to see him so happy. It was kind of bittersweet for me when I was picking his carseat out. It's been so fun lately now that he's getting a little older and is able to do more and play more, but at the same time I'm sad that he's no longer a little tiny baby.

Kason finally got his first tooth!! And it's the cutest little tooth I have ever seen. It came in really fast too. I saw that his gums had a tiny little slit in them, and the next day there was the tiniest little white tooth poking through. As soon as the tooth broke the skin, it's been sprouting more and more every day. It's really visible now, and can be seen when he smiles or laughs. Tooth number two is coming in as we speak. I figured since he hadn't cut them yet that they most likely would come back to back. I saw the white cap right under the skin last Sunday, and his gums now have the little slit in them so that tooth is going to pop up in the next few days I'm sure. He's been handling it really well. He's had his fussy moments and his tantrums, but they are sporadic and don't happen all the time. What I've noticed is that he was mostly irritable for about two weeks before that tooth came in. We went to dinner for my sister's birthday, and normally Kason handles being in restaurants really well. However, this time was an exception. He had a complete and total mental breakdown as soon as we got there, and it was off and on during the whole dinner. I was so embarrassed and irritated, especially when he completely changed his tune as soon as we got back in the car to leave.

After that meltdown, I started having problems with him drinking his bottles. I wrote an entire post about it, if you haven't checked it out you can click here to read about it. Well, I finally figured out why he was doing that. It was because of his tooth! Every baby handles teething differently, and apparently when mine is about to cut a tooth, his bottles go out the window. The day his tooth cut he started taking his bottles again no problem. We went about two weeks with him not taking his bottle, and about two weeks of him taking them before he started refusing them again. When this started back up, I looked in his mouth and noticed the second tooth coming in. The only thing I can figure about why he does this, is that his bottom jaw must be really sore from the new teeth that it makes it really uncomfortable for him to suck. I'm already on the highest level nipple, and if I cut the holes to make them bigger the milk will just pour out, so I can't do that. The only thing I can do is give him smaller, more frequent bottles when he's cutting his teeth, and keep the Orajel and Infant Tylenol on hand. I've found that the smaller bottles work really well when he's sore, because he gets enough to satisfy him for a couple hours, plus he's not sucking for as long of a time which makes him less sore. The Orajel offers him instant relief, and I give him the Tylenol when all else fails. After the Tylenol, he's much more comfortable within 20 minutes. Another thing that's been helping him through the teething process has been more naps. He's been taking a lot more lately, and has been falling asleep within a couple minutes of laying down. Still not a whole lot of luck in the sippy cup department. I bought a couple different types of cups and he's still kind of confused. Surprisingly he's done the best with the Nuby cup. After his tooth cut he figured out how to get the liquid out of the mouthpiece. I've been putting a little bit of apple juice mixed with equal parts water and letting him practice with that.

Something new that I've started doing with him this month is reading to him. I love to read myself, and it's something that I want to raise him to do as well. He has been enjoying our reading time and so have I. We sit on the floor of his bedroom and I sit him in my lap so that he can see the pages as I'm reading. He tries to hold the books, and likes to touch the pages. He will scratch on the pages to hear the sound it makes, and to see what the texture is. He really enjoys all the bright colors and pictures in the books, and likes to reach out and bang his hands on them. Reading is a big part of me, and is one of my favorite things to do. I remember learning to read at a young age, and how much I loved it and still do. I wanted to start something that he and I could enjoy doing together, and to give him a memory that he will always remember.

That's all for this months update! Let me know in the comments below what toys your baby loves, and what activities you like to do together.


xoxo,
Casey

Beauty And The Books: Born At Midnight by C.C. Hunter

I just finished Born At Midnight by C.C. Hunter and I loved it! It's the first book in the Shadow Falls series. I don't know what it is about series' that I love so much, but I just can't get enough. I'm notorious for reading multiple series' at a time too. I always have this big TBR list so there's always other books I'm excited to read, which distracts me from finishing one series at a time. I will read one book in a series, and even if I loved it I usually will go to a different series before picking up the next book in the series that I just finished reading. In my eyes it's like watching TV. You don't want to sit there and watch the same show, episode after episode, over and over again because you'd get bored. That's how I am with books. I don't want to ruin a good thing so I like to "change the channel" after each "episode". Catch my drift? :)

In Born At Midnight, the main character Kylie is having a tough time. Her parents are going through a divorce, her Nana just passed away, her boyfriend broke up with her, and for some reason this guy dressed as a soldier is following her around. Anyone would be weirded out to have some random guy following them around, and popping up at random times and places. What makes this situation even creepier is that only Kylie can see him. Her parents naturally are worried about her, so they have her visit with a psychiatrist to try and figure out what's really going on. Kylie is a good kid, but with everything going on at home she decides to go to a party with a friend of hers to try and unwind. While at the party, the cops show up and take everyone to the police station because of underage drinking, and for drugs that were found at the party. Kylie was not drinking or doing any drugs, but because she lied to her mom about the party she gets in a heck of a lot of trouble.

Naturally her mother is worried about her, but Kylie's mom is not the motherly type. She's cold natured, and doesn't show a lot of affection. When her mom picks her up from the police station, she tells Kylie that her psychiatrist had recommended she attend a summer camp, and after the party fiasco, her mom decides that summer camp is the best way to get to the bottom of Kylie's issues. The camp her psychiatrist recommends is called Shadow Falls. Kylie does not want to go to camp, and she wishes her mom wouldn't make her go. When they arrive to the bus station, Kylie starts to take in the other kids that are also attending Shadow Falls. They all appear to be gothic, and look like the kind of kids that are up to no good. She begs her mom one more time to please let her stay home, but her mom doesn't budge, and sends her off to camp.

Shadow Falls is not a camp for troubled youth like she had thought. When she arrives and the camp leaders are giving their introductions, everyone won't stop staring at Kylie. She's really confused and doesn't understand what's going on. Things get even more uncomfortable when a fellow camper raises her hand, and asks in front of the entire camp "What's she doing here?", pointing right at Kylie. Soon after that, Kylie finds out what kind of camp Shadow Falls really is, and needless to say she's pretty freaked out. Shadow Falls is a camp for supernaturals. Everyone attending the camp is either a vampire, a werewolf, a shape shifter, a witch, or a fairy. Kylie is totally creeped out and doesn't understand why in the world she's. All she knows is that she's just a regular teenage girl. She wonders why her psychiatrist would recommend this camp for her in the first place, and she can't wrap her head around the fact that supernaturals even exist.

After everyone arrives at camp and the initial introductions have been made, Kylie goes in for a meeting with Holiday, one of the camp directors. Holiday explains to Kylie that her psychiatrist recommended Shadow Falls because she believes that Kylie is a supernatural, or at least half of one. What led her to believe this is Kylie's brain pattern, and her ability to see ghosts. Every supernatural has a different brain pattern than regular humans, and they all have the ability to read said patterns. Kylie is beyond confused, she's scared, and she really wishes that this wasn't happening to her. She's not even the slightest bit convinced that she's a supernatural. She is looking for every excuse in the book, and every possible explanation, for why her brain pattern is different and why she could be seeing this ghost.

Throughout the rest of the book, we follow Kylie through her first few weeks at camp as she tries to discover who she is, what she is, and how she came to be that way. We get to watch her come into her own, form new friendship's, and witness a love triangle that is starting to unfold. I really recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Supernatural YA Fiction. There are five books in this series, along with a few side stories. Born At Midnight received 4.15 stars out of a possible five on GoodReads, and the rest of the books in the series also have above a four star rating. 

I hope ya'll enjoyed today's Beauty And The Books post! Let me know in the comments below if you've read this series and what your thoughts and opinions are on it.

xoxo,

Casey