This post was sponsored by Noggin as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
School is officially out for the summer in our area, and I’ve got two little girls on my hands who are very excited about kicking off their summer vacation! My oldest daughter just completed Kindergarten and is absolutely thrilled to be promoted to first grade. While the 2020-2021 school year looked very different for kids across the globe, I’m super proud of how my girl faced those challenges and excelled in learning. Our biggest goal from this school year was learning to blend letter sounds and put them together to read words, and my girl has been crushing her goals and become a truly stellar early reader!
My girls were born into a world of incredible technology. They’re no strangers to having screen time on tablets, phones and occasionally computers. However, I’ve always made a very earnest effort to be very selective about what kind of material they view on said screens, as well as limiting the amount of time they’re spending on those devices. I know that interacting with technology and using devices with screens is always going to be a part of their lives, so I feel it’s important to show them how to develop and maintain a healthy relationship with screen time and how they can use technology to feed and fuel their growing noggins in some pretty powerful ways!
Going into this summer, I knew it was going to be crucial for my newly promoted first grader to keep her brain working and interacting with material that would not only help her maintain the new reading skills she’s learned this past year, but to also encourage growth with her reading so she can enter the new school year in the fall as a more confident and polished reader. While we have a ton of tangible books we plan to dig into over the summer, my daughter loves to read and interact with learning games on her tablet and on my phone.
My husband and I are pretty choosy when it comes to apps we let our children use. While we’ve purchased and utilized several learning apps over the years, my girls far and wide have preferred Noggin over all others. Noggin gives them the unique opportunity to interact with characters they know and love from their favorite shows on Nick Jr. The Noggin app is very user friendly and intuitive for not only a 6 year old to be able to navigate, but our 3 year old can also freely use the app with very little assistance needed. Not only does the Noggin app have interactive games to promote learning and literacy, it also has a built in feature to be able to watch full episodes of their favorite Nick Jr. tv shows, short clips, music videos to dance and sing along to, and an entire section dedicated to reading eBooks and story time. I have so much peace of mind letting my girls spend their allotted screen time exploring the Noggin app because I know they’re exercising their brain and learning new skills along the way.
Free Trial:
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Noggin thus far has been an incredible tool that is allowing us to have the ultimate smart-kid summer, and I especially love watching them learn and have fun alongside their favorite Nick Jr. characters! If you’re curious about Noggin and think it would be a great match for your child or a child that you know, make sure you take advantage of the extended 60-day free trial, available until June 30th, 2021!
Earlier this week my family and I spent time down at the gulf celebrating my milestone birthday. It was a bit of a strange feeling leaving my 20’s behind. So many big and incredible things happened in my 20’s. It was also a little strange getting to leave our house for the first time since mid March (other than to run to the grocery store.) We picked a location close to Panama City Beach that we felt we’d be able to maintain social distancing the easiest, and overall we had a beautiful getaway with our girls!
Here’s a few snapshots of our trip. My girls always love watching the waves stretch over their toes in the sand, and I love watching them marvel at the vastness of the ocean. It was truly a spectacular birthday. Here’s to the 30’s!
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There’s been lots of buzz going on around the Tucker hive this past week! This sweet little honey bee toddled her way right into ONE year old, and we’ve had the best time celebrating her and all of the amazing milestones she’s met in her first year!
Mother’s Day took on a whole new meaning for me 4 years ago. On Mother’s Day 2015, we packed our bags and buckled our newborn baby girl into her car seat and brought her home from the hospital after a long delivery 2 days prior. Since stepping into motherhood, I’ve gained a strength that I could’ve only gained by wearing the title of mother. I see other moms going through their daily struggles of raising children and am encouraged by their strength, and then I open my eyes a bit wider on a more global scope, and I see a new realm of strength that I have never seen before.
I received product and compensation from Mead Johnson Nutrition to create this post written by me. All experiences and opinions expressed in this post are my own and not those of Mead Johnson Nutrition. You can contact Mead Johnson Nutrition with product related questions or comments toll free at 1-800-BABY-123 (1-800-222-9123).
Motherhood is the most beautiful and rewarding experience I’ve ever been a part of. To say it’s all rainbows and sunshine, though, would certainly be a dose of fiction that I don’t ever want to serve to my readers. Of course there is an ample amount of those glorious sunshine moments, but so often I find myself in the trenches of motherhood doing all of the really hard things that are never really acknowledged or shown on social media.
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Before I decided to stay at home when my first child was born 3 years ago, I couldn’t yet see the emotional effect becoming a stay-at-home parent would have on me. Sure, I am absolutely thrilled to be able to experience every milestone with my girls, and I wouldn’t change my decision to be right here with them at all, but when each day comes to a close and I realize that I’ve been wearing spit-up covered pants and that my hair can’t possibly hold one more ounce of dry shampoo because I had no time for myself to take a proper shower, I start to feel a little heavy-laden.
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GetJohnsonsBaby #ChooseGentle #CollectiveBias
At 11 weeks postpartum, I’m finally starting to get really comfortable with adjusting to life with a toddler and a newborn under my wing. Balancing life with two little ones has come with it’s share of challenges, but one thing that has kept my husband and I mostly sane is maintaining solid routines with our two girls.
While establishing these new routines with our girls (and particularly our newborn,) we quickly discovered that some things that once worked wonders when our oldest was a newborn don’t necessarily work so well with our newest bundle of joy. Products and parental techniques we swore by 3 years ago don’t mesh as well with our little one in the here and now, and quite frankly it’s thrown us for a bit of a loop when trying to figure out what’s going to work for us.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Duck Brand for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
It’s been 2 weeks since we welcomed the newest little Tucker tot into the world, and finally being able to bring her home into her new nursery brought us so much joy on so many levels! While her first encounter with her room was seeing a perfectly polished nursery with everything in it’s place, it was definitely a different story just a few weeks prior when I was bringing all of big sister’s newborn and baby clothes down from the attic!…
This post was sponsored by Window Covering Safety Council as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
This is a big week for my daughter and I as I officially step into my third trimester of pregnancy. Though the days have certainly been long with this pregnancy, the months have absolutely flown by. With my first pregnancy, I felt great most of the time, I was an overachiever who had everything planned out to a T, the nursery was pretty much completed by this point, and it was smooth sailing waiting for the arrival of our little girl. This time around, I’m moving at a much slower pace, my joints ache something fierce, and my “planning” for baby #2 has been nearly nonexistent. However, one thing has not changed at all from my 1st pregnancy, and that’s my sudden and natural urge to begin nesting with the coming of my third trimester.
You may have noticed that things have been a little more quiet around here than usual, but it’s with good reason!
With the completion of our new home and the holidays behind us, we decided to add on!
Our home is growing by two little feet this year, and this mama is due with baby #2 August 2018!
Throughout this first trimester I’ve been moving a lot slower and taking advantage of every opportunity I can to rest. Hopefully soon my energy will come back and Southern Made Simple will be bumpin’ (in a whole new way) once again!
In the mean time, I’ve been getting in extra snuggles and play time with this little one who is so proud to be a big sister! I covet your thoughts and prayers this year as our family is experiencing a lot of fun and exciting changes. What advice do you have for making the transition from one to two kiddos? I’d love to hear!
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