Author: Tessa Smith

Membership Appreciation Night at the ZooRosamond Gifford Zoo is our local zoo in Syracuse, New York. We planned to become members but recently they launched an amazing military program. Veterans, of which my husband is one, and their families can get in FREE when they visit the zoo. Since this means we would not need to be members, we decided to use the money to “adopt an animal.” This means you get your name on the wall, a fact sheet, and a stuffed animal of your adopted animal. My daughters chose the Red Panda. Because we adopted an animal, we…

First let me start with the obvious here – why I chose to home water birth. I hospital birthed my first child and it was not a “bad” experience. It was, however, not totally what I wanted.

LeapPad Ultra ReviewI was lucky enough to win a LeapPad Ultra through another blog last September. We held on to it and gave it to our (then) 2.5 year old for Christmas. This is such a great product. There are lots of games available that star her favorite characters. The free game that came with it, Scaredy Cat, is one of my daughter’s favorite apps! She also loves to take photos of all of us and blend them together. She even made one where her sister’s face was on her puppy, Violet’s, head! I know a lot of people seem…

We used Amy Elizabeth Studios for our first born’s 1 month photo shoot. Everything about the experience was amazing. She was very professional and creative. She kept coming up with ideas that topped her previous idea and so we ended up with some really awesome shots! She had the photos edited and back to us within just a few days! Every photo was perfect which made it really hard to choose which ones to print. She came in to our home and photographed us in our environment. Our daughter took to her right away and slept through most of the photo shoot. Below are just a few.

Last summer I knew I was getting heavy. But when I went to the doctor at the end of August and was told that I weighed 187 pounds (AFTER a month of dieting!) I was shocked. It hit me like a bullet. I could not believe that I let myself get that heavy. Yes, I had two kids in two years. Yes, I had moved across the country earlier that year and was adjusting to my new job as a stay at home mom. But that was no excuse for me. I had never been that heavy (non-pregnant) before. This…