Category: Layla

Stitch Fix Kids Review

The easiest way to shop for kid's clothes

This post is sponsored by Stitch Fix Kids. All opinions are my own.

I’m already a huge fan of Stitch Fix and I’ve ordered the women’s boxes several times, but now I’m so excited to partner with them to announce the launch of Stitch Fix kids!

WHAT CAME IN OUR STITCH FIX KIDS BOX

I filled out a quick online questionaire about my daughters preferences (and my preferences for her too!) which was a super easy process. I liked that they asked questions about what colors she wouldn’t wear and asked about other items that she may not like. My daughter is a very opinionated little fashionista so she certainly knows what she likes and doesn’t like and refuses to wear anything that doesn’t go with her taste.

Casual Looks

Some easy to wear pieces for school. And how fun are the sparkle shoes? They are also super easy to put on and take off which is a huge plus for mom!

Easy to wear dresses

My daughter lives in dresses and we are both loving these styles. We are already huge fans of Hanna Andersson (the striped/unicorn dress) as I love the quality and she loves the prints and how comfortable they are. The red Kate Spade dress is such a cute piece for when we’re needing something a little fancier but the dress itself is still very comfortable to wear.

Perfect Summer Staples

It doesn’t get too hot in Seattle, so I don’t like to spend a lot of money on things that she can only wear for those 1-2 months. These are really great and affordable summer pieces that she will be wearing all summer but I also love that we can layer that dress and top once the weather cools down.

Trendy and affordable kid’s clothes

What I love about Stitch fix is that you are not committed to buying every single piece. You can certainly send back any items that you don’t love. You will typically get around 8-12 items personalized to your kid’s style and interests. However if you decide to keep the whole box, they give you an automatic discount of 25% off.

Kid’s Sizing

My daughter is currently between a size 4 and size 5/6 so I asked for everything to be in the 5/6 range as I’d rather her grow into the items. Everything fit great and love that we didn’t have to worry about returning things for sizes. The size range that they have is from 2T to 14 so your child can really grow with this service!

PRICING (EVERYTHING IS LESS THAN $35!)

Pricing wise almost everything is between $10-$35 (a few things over $35) but you can indicate in your survey how much you prefer to spend on certain items. I tend to spend more on shoes for her so I marked that I was OK with those being on the higher end but things like shorts and pants I don’t tend to spend a lot since she outgrows them so fast so I asked for more affordable pricing on them.

NO SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED

Something that I love about Stitch Fix is that they never make you sign up for a subscription or charge you automatically. You choose how frequently you want to get your boxes and if you don’t like anything, just send it back or just keep the few items that you do like. As much as I love shopping, some months I just don’t have a lot of time to head to the mall so this is a great way to make sure that my daughter has clothes for the changing seasons as well as when she outgrows her current sizing.

This post is photo overload – I know, but I can’t help it! I love all the pics of Layla in her new clothes and she obviously loves them too! Being pregnant right now, I’m so tired all the time. And even though shopping is something I love to do it’s an activity that makes me exhausted. So, Stitch Fix Kids came at the right time for me and to be able to shop for new clothes for my daughter without leaving my house is a definite win in my book!

Kids Layla momlife Mommy and Me mommy style sponsor Uncategorized

Tips to finding the best childcare for your child

Post author By tiffany
Post date February 5, 2018

This is a sponsored post with Kindercare. All opinions are my own.

When I was in high school, I was convinced that I would grow up and work with kids as my career. I took a child development class and loved it. One of the parts of the class was to spend time at a childcare and interact with the kids once a week. The school we went to was Kindercare and I will always have great memories of the time I spent there and the kids I got to know. Even in high school, long before I became a parent, I could tell that it was a great environment for little ones as the teachers truly cared about the kids and the kids all seemed to love it here.

As I got older I realized that working with kids was not what I wanted to do and not until I had my daughter 4 years ago, did I even think about childcare or preschool again. When I started looking for childcares it was a little bit hard to figure out what we wanted to look for. All the ones we visited seemed to have a great caring staff and space for littles ones and in the end for one of the first ones we chose was proximity to our home and that I felt comfortable with the owner and the teachers. Since then we’ve been through 2 childcares and her current pre-school (we switched for varying reasons, nothing negative) and I’ve learned what I wanted to look for in childcares for my daughter.

If you are in the position of looking for a childcare for your little ones, here are a few tips that have helped me in our search:

TIPS TO FINDING THE BEST CHILDCARE FOR YOUR CHILD

Mom groups:

What I’ve found most valuable in our search for childcares is a asking around in the community. In the area that I live in we actually have a facebook group just for the moms in the area and it is an invaluable resource for asking advice and getting honest feedback. Since it’s a closed private group (the admins are very strict about who they allow in the group) no one holds back and sugarcoats if they have an issue, but at the same time if they love it, they will glow about it and so I trust this group immensely.

Visiting the school:

I visit without my daughter for the first time and then I bring her in at least twice after my initial visit. I stay with her through the visit but I watch how she interacts with the environment and also watch how the kids currently enrolled behave to see if they like it and look like they are enjoying themselves. Every school that we visited allowed me to do this without hesitation when I asked.

Communication with the owner/director:

Whoever is in charge of the childcare center, it’s essential to have a good relationship with him/her. Personally, beyond just how they are in person I also like to see how responsive they are on email and by phone before we start. If I find that my emails and voicemails go unanswered for days, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable knowing that if my child was there, I would have a hard time getting a hold of the school for an emergency. I also make sure that we have open communication on anything my daughter is going through whether it is at home or at school.

Age ranges of the children:

Almost all the schools we visited, segmented the kids by age groups however in one of the childcares, my daughter ended up being the oldest child in the group and she simply seemed bored. She thrives in an environment with kids slightly older in age and prefers it. Even though it’s only a difference in a year or so, kids play so differently at each stage so she just wasn’t able to connect with anyone that could play as she was used to playing.. Once we switched schools I made sure that the other kids in her group were children who were her age or older and she’s been so much happier.

There’s obviously more reasons like making sure that the way they teach and care for your child aligns to what you are looking for but these things have helped me narrow down the best school for us. It’s not just about the “red flags” but also what you as a parent are looking for in an school environment and how the teachers interact with the kids.

Because I had been familiar with Kindercare already it was one of the first options that we explored. They really hit on many of the things that I was looking for in a childcare and I really love how much they integrate both the children and parents in everything that they do.

KinderCare currently has 1,400 centers in 38 states, with an unmatchable conviction to provide outstanding services, confidence and comfort in families across the nation. They have great experience and dedication to creating environments for families. I love that their teachers truly enjoy working for them because a good working environment makes for a better teacher and caregiver for our children. Every teacher that I’ve met there has been enthusiastic about not only taking care of your children but giving them a fun and safe place to be while I’m at work.

Another thing that I love is that for every 3 families they serve, they support a family of modest means so that they can build a confident future for their children. They take on a very collaborative approach with parents and the needs of the child so it makes us as parents feel so much more comfortable with leaving our children with them!

It’s always a bit tough when I drop my daughter off at school. Most of the time she’s fine but she’s always been very attached to me and it’s always hard on me when she clings to me and asks for more hugs and kisses before I leave. It does however, make me happy to know that when she’s at school she’s in good hands and has so many friends to play with. When I pick her up from school, I’m inundated with stories about how many times she went down the slide, what her and her friends did today and what she learned. It makes it all worth it when I can see her growing and thriving in the school environment.

I’m already tearing up thinking about sending her off to kindergarten but what makes me feel better is that her current school is really helpful in getting the children ready for the next step. She comes home with new things that she’s learned and is eager to learn more which makes me so happy.

Kid's Style Kids Layla Mommy and Me mommy style sponsor

What to wear during the holidays: Kid’s fashion!

Post author By tiffany
Post date December 14, 2017

This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of OshKosh B’gosh; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

My daughter is such a girly girl and refuses to leave the house without wearing a tutu. I’m always trying to find her cute, stylish outfits that can accommodate her tutu request. I was so excited to see all the cute outfits at OshKosh B’Gosh and knew she would love everything. When I got my order she couldn’t wait to put on the pink tutu and polka dot tights!

We always have so much going on during the holidays and most of them involve seeing friends and family and taking lots of photos. I want her to look nice for the photos but I also want her to be comfortable and be able to play, which is why I love this outfit. The sweatshirt is so cozy and the tights are nice and thick to make sure that she stays warm. And how cute are those little high tops with the star detail? She loves them and the best part? They are so easy to put on and the laces stay tied!

Tips for dressing your kids during the holiday

Weather appropriate pieces: I always take into account the weather and where we will be. From our outdoor adventures to dinner parties with friends, I always build her wardrobe with the weather in mind and what accessories (scarves, hats, etc…) will be needed
Comfort: I’ll always remember being a kid and having to wear an itchy dress to a party that my mom put on me and being uncomfortable the whole time. I look for pieces that are cute and stylish but if it’s got buttons or zippers that are may touch the skin or itchy material, it goes back to the rack immediately.
Layering: My daughter gets hot very quickly so I always make sure that she’s appropriately layered so that it’s easy to take things on and off for when she gets hot or cold.
Mix and Match (keep everything in the same color scheme): Most of my daughter’s wardrobe consist of black, white, pink, gray, gold and blue. I do this on purpose to make things easy to put her in and if she’s on a day where she wants to pick out her outfit, for the most part, she comes out looking pretty darn fabulous because there’s never any weird mixing of colors or patterns. I truly just try to make it easy for us to get her dressed without it taking too long. It is great to buy from the same collection which ensure that it will be easy to mix and match. I bought her a few other sweaters from Osh Kosh that look great with this outfit.
Keep it fun (and within your style): Even though I dress her (for the most part) and buy all her clothes, I still want her personality to shine through so I pick a lot of items with details that she loves. Kid’s fashion can be hard as a lot of it can be too cutesy or character based and that just personally isn’t my style or the style I want for her. So I do try to make sure that the things I buy are modern and stylish yet has elements of things that she loves. The glitter heart and the polka dots were the perfect little details that make her happy and allow her to share her sparkle but is also something that mommy is happy to put her in!

SWEATSHIRT \\ TUTU \\ TIGHTS \\ SHOES

I love OshKosh for not only the quality but the prices are perfect for knowing that you aren’t spending too much money for clothes that your little one will grow out of! And even better, I have a great coupon code for you guys to use to save an extra 20% off your order of $40+. Coupon code: In store: 037264 | Online: OKBG3418 . Make sure to head here to find the nearest store by you!

Honestly, my husband and I laugh all the time about how opinionated our daughter is about her outfits. If she doesn’t like what she’s wearing, she will let you know. Both my husband and I definitely have lots of opinions about what we wear so it’s just funny how it’s just been passed down even at this young of an age.

It really does make me happy to find clothes that look great on her, are comfortable and also make her happy. I’m grateful for brands like OshKosh that really do keep pricing, quality and style in mind for kid’s fashion.

DIY halloween Kids Layla momlife Mommy and Me mommy style Uncategorized

DIY Mommy & Me Strawberry and Banana Halloween Costume

Post author By tiffany
Post date October 19, 2017

The easiest halloween costume for mommy and daughter!

I’m excited to share another fun DIY Mommy and Me Halloween Costume! We are going to a few costume parties as well as trick or treating so my daughter will get to dress up as something different for each occasion. I don’t usually do so many costumes, but I just happened to have the right things to create all the costumes so it worked out well and this one only took about 30 minutes to make!

DIY Strawberry and Banana Mommy and Daughter Costume

For a very easy (and last minute if needed!) costume is our strawberry and banana mommy and daughter costume! I just thought this was very appropriate for us as my daughter and I are the biggest fruit lovers around.

SIMPLE DIY STRAWBERRY DRESS AND HEADBAND

I ordered the dresses and used white felt to cut out the strawberry seeds and then used stiff netting and wrapped them around headbands to create some cute fruit toppers!

DIY Strawberry and Banana Costume Materials:

DIY MOMMY BANANA COSTUME

The final touch to my costume of course was the Chiquita Banana sticker! I just found an image on the internet, enlarged it and printed it out!

SIMPLE AND COMFORTABLE DIY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

One of the big reasons why I love this costume is just how darn comfy it is! These knit jersey dresses are so comfy and add in the crocs and I’m like – oh man I could wear this all day! 🙂 Probably not the costume we’ll go trick or treating in (I can’t wait to show you that costume!) but this will be great for some of the indoor parties we will be going to.

Hope you have a fun halloween! Let me know if you make any of the costumes, I would love to see!

For more Halloween Costume ideas check out:

Disclosure: Crocs gifted the shoes. This post was not sponsored

Kids Layla lookbook momlife mommy style Outfit Roundup Uncategorized

10 Chic Outfit ideas for Moms on the go

Post author By tiffany
Post date October 11, 2017

I wanted to share some stylish and chic outfit ideas for moms as I often get questions about how to stay stylish after having kids. My style has definitely changed after becoming a mom and I do have way more lazy days than before where I just throw on my favorite top and jeans, but keeping my style was something that was important to me. Fashion is always something that I loved and I also really enjoy getting dressed, doing my hair and makeup and I never wanted to lose that after becoming a mom.

My “mommy outfits” are based on what activities that we have planned that day so if you need some style inspo I’ve found some great pieces for each activity for both mommy and daughter!

Daily walks & Playground outfits

Obviously you’ll want the most casual outfits for these activities. For my daughter, I always make sure she’s is able to run and climb in and lots of layers. For the past year or so, she will only wear dresses and skirts. If I pull out a pair of jeans, she’ll pull out a skirt to wear over it. It’s kind of funny how she just refuses to just wear pants. These photos below are mostly from the summer but lately it’s still been the same outfits, I just add leggings and a jacket over the dress. Also, I linked to all our outfits below but if the items weren’t available, I linked to items that were similar that I think would work well into the fall and winter.

My outfit: TEE || SHORTS || SHOES
Her outfit: DRESS || SHOES

For my outfits, I don’t want to think too hard about what I’m wearing but I do still want to look cute as we often end up stopping by the coffee shop or grabbing lunch on the way back from the park. Tees with cute details like ruffles or embroidery have been my faves lately. And cold shoulder tops are definitely a staple in my closet!

My Outfit: TOP ||SHORTS || SHOES || BAG
Her Outfit: DRESS || SHOES

My Outfit: TOP || JEANS || SHOES || BAG
Her outfit: DRESS || SHOES

Shopping and dinner outfits

I think we are one of those rare families that actually like to go shopping together! When we have those constant rainy days, sometimes the mall is just the best place to keep us busy! We also go out to eat a lot so these outfits are what you’ll always find me in. Most of the time you’ll still find me in heels so I tend to wear heels that I know I can stand/walk in for awhile like block heels or my favorite wedges. When I do wear heels, I keep a pair of flats in an extra bag so I can always change into them later.

My Outfit: TOP || JEANS || SHOES
Her outfit: JACKET || DRESS || LEGGINGS || SHOES

This is the view at Salty’s on Alki. Isn’t it so pretty!

My Outfit: TOP ||SHORTS ||SHOES || BAG
Her outfit: DRESS || SHOES

My Outfit: DRESS || SHOES || BAG || BAG STRAP
Her outfit: JACKET || DRESS || SHOES || HAT

My Outfit: DRESS || SHOES
Her outfit: DRESS || SHOES

Matching Mommy and Me Outfit Ideas

I admit I’m all about twinning with my daughter, we love to wear matchy shoes all the time. I don’t try to fully twin but I like to match elements of our outfits so that we coordinate. Like these tropical print dresses…

My Outfit: DRESS || SHOES || BAG
Her outfit: DRESS || SHOES

This one is of course way more matchy with our chambray dresses but I couldn’t resist as she had just gotten the bunnies from Cuddle and Kind and we all had to match!

My Outfit: DRESS || SHOES
Her outfit: DRESS || SHOES

This was on my birthday when my husband got me the prettiest bouquet of roses! I always request photos for my birthday so we went out to take some and I put her in a blush pink top like mine and dark jeans but as usual she requested to wear her tutu over her jeans!

My Outfit: TOP || JEANS || SHOES
Her outfit: TOP || JEANS || TUTU ||SHOES

More Mommy Style outfit ideas:

DIY halloween Kids Layla momlife mommy style tutorial Uncategorized

DIY Unicorn Costume Tutu – Halloween Costumes for mom and daughter

Post author By tiffany
Post date October 6, 2017

Mommy and Daughter DIY Unicorn Halloween Costume

Can you believe it’s almost halloween? I’m proud that I’m actually ahead of the game this year which is why I’m sharing this DIY unicorn costume tutu! The past few years my daughter has been happy with being Minnie Mouse or a Disney Princess so we just headed to the Disney store for her costumes, but this year, she had several ideas that required me to be a bit more creative.

EASY DIY UNICORN COSTUME FOR MOMMY AND DAUGHTER

She’s been obsessed with unicorns, as well as all her friends (every birthday party we’ve been to lately is unicorn themed, including hers!) and I knew I wanted to make the unicorn costume. I’m also realistic and know that I don’t have that much time nor did I want to spend a ton of money so I wanted something easy to make and comfy for her to wear. This costume fit all that criteria!

DIY UNICORN TUTU COSTUME

I got the idea to make a DIY unicorn tutu and it turned out so cute! You really don’t need many supplies and the part that takes the longest is dyeing the tulle but everything else comes together so fast! I didn’t want to buy the tulle skirt as I wanted to glitter it and didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a skirt that she probably would just wear for the costume.

I partnered with Rit Dye on my instagram and they had sent over a few bottles of dye that I could use. I’ve never dyed tulle before so I was a bit nervous but the project was a lot easier than I had anticipated!

Materials for the DIY Unicorn Costume:

Rit Dye in various pinks and purples
White Tulle – the one on the spool is preferred
Measuring Tape
Scissors
Glitter
Mod Podge
Foam Brush
White Ribbon (not pictured): 1 or wider inch preferred
White long sleeve tee
White Leggings
Unicorn Horn (this one with flowers is so cute!)

DIY Glitter Unicorn Tutu Tutorial

Measure your child’s waist and how far down from the waist you want your tutu to fall.

For the ribbon –

Take the measurement of the waist and then triple it and then add 6 inches. My daughter’s waist is 21 inches and I cut my ribbon 69 inches (21 x 3 = 63 + 6 = 69). Adjust as you need but this gave me the right amount of ribbon to be able to tie it on her waist easily.

Find the center of the ribbon by folding it in half and then measure out from there to get the waist measurement. So half of 21 is 10.5 so I measured that out from the center and then marked it with a pen. I knotted both spots that I marked so that the area in between should be the measurement of the waist.

For the tulle –

Take the measurement of how long you want the skirt to be and then double it. I measured 12 inches from her waist down so I cut my strips of tulle at 24 inches. If you buy the tulle on the spool like I did (rather than the the full yard of tulle like you get at the fabric store) it makes it go by faster. But if you do buy the tulle by the yard, just cut out 6 inch strips first before you cut the length of the tulle for the skirt.

I ended up cutting about 120 strips. Since I was dying my tulle different colors, I wanted to make sure that I had enough. Obviously this is going to be different for you depending on the waist measurement. I think I ended up using around 100 strips total and the skirt was quite full and fluffy.

Dying the tulle –

Follow the directions on the bottle depending on how much fabric you are dying. I filled up a big pot of water and put in half the bottle of dye and let it come up to a boil. Pull the pot off the heat and then put in the strips of tulle, I made sure that I pulled them apart and put them in one by one to avoid them sticking together and creating uneven spots in the dye. Continue stirring so that every piece would be covered and evenly dyed. With tulle it’s a bit hard to tell how much dye is getting on there as you pull a piece up and it basically is see through! I kept on checking and trying to figure out if it was pink enough. I ended up letting it soak for over 30 minutes with continual stirring. When I pulled it out it, it was a really pretty shade of light pink which obviously as you can see in the photo below, the dye makes it look like it will come out a lot darker! Do the same steps for the remaining colors that you want to dye.

Let the strips of tulle dry. I used our clothes drying rack (the one we have is huge so it fit all the strips perfectly) making sure to add plastic or newspapers underneath in case the dye drips. Luckily the tulle dries very fast so I could move on to glittering!

How to glitter tulle –

I used a mixture of glitter and modpodge – similar to my glitter everything tutorial – to add the glitter to the tulle. Lay the strips down on the floor (we had plastic covering on the floor to make it easier to clean up) and used a foam brush to paint the mod podge/glitter mixture on the tulle strips. I got my daughter involved in the process and she loved it!

Let the strips dry – I just placed them on the clothes drying rack so that they wouldn’t stick to each other. The next morning they were ready to go!

HER OUTFIT: TEE \\ LEGGINGS \\ SHOES \\ PUMPKIN \\ UNICORN HORN
MY OUTFIT: DRESS \\ SHOES

Making the DIY Tulle Tutu Skirt –

Fold the tulle strip in half and slide it underneath the ribbon. Make sure to start at the end that you knotted so you know where to begin/end. Loop the long ends of the tulle into the little loop that you had created and pull tight. This part is a bit hard to explain but if you watch this tutorial, it’s a lot more helpful! I alternated colors of tulle so that it would be a pretty mix. This process goes by fast once you get the hang of it. I think I made her skirt in less than 20 minutes.

Pop on the skirt to make sure that it’s the fullness that you like and add or take away strips of tulle as needed. The rest of the outfit comes together easily!

I wish you could see the colors and the glitter more as they don’t show in the photos but in person, it’s so pretty! I love the more intricate unicorn horns but my daughter always just takes off those kinds of headbands so these ones with the elastic are a lot better for younger kids. I added a bit of glitter to her face which was cuter in person than in photos 🙂

I didn’t end up making a tutu for myself, because, well, #momlife. You end up getting so busy but as long as your child has a cute costume that’s all that matters right? So I put on a white dress that I already own, my sparkly shoes and a horn to match with her! My daughter loves twinning with me so she was so happy to see me dressed as a unicorn too.

These unicorn shoes are one of her favorite shoes ever, she wears them so much. They are available here and come in pink too!

I did want to share with you how easy it was to just pop the tutu over my white dress and create a costume for myself!

I hope this tutorial helped! It really only took me one night and the results were so much better than I expected! I also spent less then $20 on everything so that was a definite win! I’ve got another mommy and me costume coming up soon so if you haven’t yet, subscribe to my newsletter to keep up to date on my posts!

For more fun Halloween ideas check out my DIY Minnie Mouse and Snow White costumes!

Kids Layla lookbook mommy style new balance Uncategorized

Lookbook: Mommy + Mini

My daughter is such a big part of my life yet she hardly makes an appearance on the blog! It’s funny how long I’ve had a blog and how I share a lot of my life on the internet but for the most part, I’m still a pretty private person which includes my family life. I just like to keep that part of my life offline but she’s just so much fun and we take 100 photos a day so when I picked up these matching shoes for us, I knew we had to do a lookbook to share for the blog!

What I’m Wearing:

TEE JEANS SHOES – KicksUSA

What Layla’s wearing

TEE (gift from grandpa) JEANS SHOES – KicksUSA

I got these from KicksUSA which is the only place that I could find these in this color! I really wanted pink sneakers for us and these totally fit the bill. Mine are actually the “big kid” size as they don’t actually make them in women’s sizing. If you are ordering kid’s sizing, make sure to check the size chart. I got the 4Y but I really needed a 3Y but they didn’t have it. They fit fine with an insert though! They are totally adorable and even though it’s silly to be matching with my daughter I kind of love it and will do it while she will still let me be twinsies with her!