The One Item That Will Completely Change Your Tooth Care Routine + Giveaway

This post is sponsored by Smile Brilliant. I received product in exchange for my honest review.

After nine very long months of morning sickness, my teeth needed some maintenance. I'm breastfeeding, so it isn't safe for me to whiten my teeth just yet, and it's going to be a while before I'm able to use my whitening kit. I needed to do something to brighten my smile, so I turned to Smile Brilliant for some help!

The cariPRO Ultrasonic Electric Toothbrush by Smile Brilliant quickly became one of my new favorite things! It's SO good, that I immediately tossed out my manual toothbrush, and never looked back. I had never used a real electric toothbrush before, and wasn't sure they were worth the price. I had only used disposable, battery-operated toothbrushes in the past, and I really didn't see a difference. I soon discovered that I had been missing out on an amazing product. The cariPRO Ultrasonic completely changed my tooth care routine!

After a few weeks of use, I find myself asking one question: Where has this been all my life?!? Here are the reasons why I love my electric toothbrush, and how you could win one of your own...

8 Easy Ways To Deal With Pet Messes

This post is sponsored by The Libman Company but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

Like many pet owners, we believe our pets are valuable family members. Our already large family of 7 also includes a gentle giant - an English Mastiff named Ella - and 3 indoor rabbits. Our home is loud, chaotic, and crowded, but full of so much love! And even though our beloved pets bring so much joy to our lives, they also make messes!

With five young children, a 150+ pound dog, and three 12 pound rabbits, there is pretty much ALWAYS a mess to clean up! (Remember that time our rabbits had babies? See the picture above!) If I don't stay on top of it, cleaning can quickly become very overwhelming. I'm not one of those people who can spot a mess and ignore it - instead, it will bother me until it's cleaned up.

Now that it's Spring AND shedding season, the mess has doubled! If I'm not sweeping up chihuahua-sized hairballs from my giant dog, I'm sweeping up freshly mowed grass and mopping muddy footprints/pawprints that are tracked through my house. What does a (fur) mama gotta do to keep things clean around here?!?

I'm teaching my children to clean up their own messes (or at least help), but that doesn't quite work with our pets! Here's how I tackle those pet messes...

Bloom - An Event for New or Expectant Moms in Pittsburgh

As many of you know, my family lives in the Greater Pittsburgh area. Yes, I would love to live near the beach, because it's my happy place, but we stay in Pittsburgh because of how family-friendly it is! It truly is a wonderful place to raise a family. This weekend, Bloom is returning to Pittsburgh. If you are trying to conceive (or planning on trying soon), expecting, adopting, or have a new baby, this wonderful event is for you!

My fellow Pittsburgh Moms Blog contributors have been working tirelessly to bring Bloom to life for the third year in a row. I was involved during the first year, but missed it last year due to family weddings. I missed my PMB family during my looooong pregnancy, and I'm happy to be back!

Now that I have a new baby, I'm excited to both volunteer at the event and check out what's going on!

I'm BACK!!! / Easter 2019 / Baby's First Easter

Hello, friends! I'm (hopefully) back for good! I had no idea adjusting to life with five kids was going to be so difficult and time-consuming. Adjusting to life with 1, 2, 3, and 4 kids (even with a surprise Down syndrome diagnosis) was a breeze, but 5 is the number that did us in! Liam is approximately 10 kids in 1, and Coen has acid reflux and is such a mama's boy that my husband lovingly refers to him as my little parasite. My hands are never free, but I think I'm getting the hang of things, and I'm kicking off my return to blogging with a quick recap of Easter 2019!

This year, we kept Easter simple. We had no idea that Coen had acid reflux yet, so he was really fussy. We decided to spend most of Easter at home, focusing on family activities. Although it didn't feel quite the same, we had a nice holiday!

This year, we took the focus off of the Easter Bunny. We haven't visited the Easter Bunny in years, and this year we didn't do any egg hunts, either. We briefly mentioned the Easter Bunny bringing baskets, but that was it. Instead, we dyed Easter Eggs together. We had a small family dinner. We talked about the reason we were celebrating. We baked and decorated cookies. We sat down to watch The Ten Commandments together. Perhaps next year we'll actually make it to church, but this year, I decided to let go of the guilt, realize that we can't possibly do it all, and focus on WHY we were celebrating in the first place! And you know what? Once the pressure was off, it was GOOD!