A few weeks ago my mom and aunt hosted my baby shower and it was such a perfect day that I wanted to share it with all of you! We had a great mix of family and friends there and all the food was so yummy! My aunt and a friend of hers who is a party planner did the most amazing job on all the decorations, too!

See this post for my outfit details!

All the little touches of blue and it's a boy truly made me smile. I especially loved the punch with all the little rubber ducks and how about my little cupcake cake! I loved this idea because everyone was able to take cupcakes home with them if they weren't hungry for dessert instead of just declining a piece of cake. My family all helped make the appetizers and desserts and the food was all catered from Claim Jumper.

It is so amazing to me how much love and support all of our friends and family have shown us during this special time. Our little one is so lucky already and he's not even born yet! We played a few fun games as well as we were wrapping up lunch like a little lotto and a baby scratch off.

Everyone really nailed it with the gifts, too and I couldn't be more grateful. My grandma really outdid herself and got us so many special things like the bear that you see me holding as well as the little booties in the photo above. The bear is actually a prayer bear and he says prayers and plays a lullaby to help the baby learn to say his prayers before bed and lull him to sleep. I just find things like that are so meaningful. The booties have the most beautiful story as well, but I'm going to save that one for a future blog post ;)

My amazing hubby showed up to the party at the end and graciously helped me with all the gifts and the packing up of our awesome diaper cake! There were 120 diapers in that cake and it was decorated with so many other cute little things the baby needs. My aunt also made me a "bouquet" and it was filled a bunch of onesies and bath towels. SO PERFECT! As I'm sure you can tell from the pictures I had the best day and want to thank everyone again for all their love that they've showed me, Caleb, and Nugget! We can't wait for him to be here and show him how loved he already is!

What is a fun tradition you do at baby showers you've been to? Comment below, I'd love to hear!

Thank you to Julie Vujnovich for all the photos that include me!

Product Details:
Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Facial Toner | Osea Blemish Balm | Osea Ocean Cleansing Mudd | Korres Wild Rose Brightening Eye Treatment

Hey there friends! I hope you all had the best Thanksgiving and holiday weekend! I took a break from the blog and social media for the most part this weekend to really enjoy the holiday and our family. Our Thanksgiving dinner was so yummy and filled with love and it was so nice visiting with my father in law and some of our close friends. We also put up all of our Christmas decorations this past weekend, too! I love the Christmas season so much and can't wait to bake all the cookies and see all the beautiful lights around our neighborhood start to go up. Today on here though I want to talk to you all about some amazing beauty products I've come across during my pregnancy that have quite literally changed my life!

I've struggled with acne for a long time now. I've always gotten really bad breakouts since I was a teenager. I feel like I've tried everything under the sun to fix the issue and I'll find products that work for a little bit then when I go to get a fresh bottle of it, it won't work anymore. I've been to a dermatologist, have had a 10 step regime, everything...nothing seems to really work. When I started taking my prenatal vitamins I had high hopes that they would start to help, too. Or maybe pregnancy would alter my skin itself and tone down the oiliness. Nope, if anything it only got worse. I stopped using my intense acne products that had retinol and salicylic acid based on advice I'd received from my doctor and personal preference. (FYI: have no fear if you are still using products with 2% or less salicylic acid in them, in my doctors opinion those were ok, but being a first time mom I was nervous and still stopped - however always check with your own doctor as all pregnancies are different). So as you can imagine I was really frustrated and just not feeling "pretty." I also don't like to wear too much makeup and some days I really just want to go natural, which those days we're basically "hand me a pair of sunglasses and baseball cap so I can hide my face as much as possible days."

About half way through my pregnancy I discovered the skincare brand Osea Malibu, and they really sparked my interest. I've never really bought in to the whole all-natural/vegan thing before but since I am pregnant now I want to be using the safest products out that for myself and my baby. I researched their products and the ingredients that they used thoroughly and actually discovered that the founder created the first products due to being pregnant and her whole family is now involved in the company! I've also run the list past my doctor, and she fully approves me using them. So that step was done...now I moved on to the question, will these products without the "good acne stuff" actually work on my skin? The answer is honestly YES! I began using the Ocean Cleansing Mudd to wash my face in the evening and followed it up with the Blemish Balm for my moisturizer. I also use the Blemish Balm in the morning after I rinse my face off with just water. I noticed a difference in two days. Within a week my big pimples were gone. I'm not going to lie to you guys, I still get little ones here and there but they are mostly around my chin and upper lip, which has always been a common issue for me. But in the past they use to be huge pimples on my chin and it would take weeks to get rid of them. I've simplified my skincare routine so much thanks to Osea and my skin has never looked or more importantly felt better in my whole life. I feel confident to go sans makeup on non-office days and on the weekends and when I do put makeup on I'm blown away how flawless my skin looks. I've actually started to notice my acne scars slowly fading, too! So here is my super refined skincare routine that I now do every single night using my amazing Osea products as well as some of my previous favorites that are still safe to use during pregnancy.

I love to take a hot shower at night to help me relax and ease my sore muscles before bed. So before my shower I will remove all my eye makeup with some eye makeup remover and makeup remover wipes and then I will take the Osea Ocean Cleansing Mudd in to the shower with me and wash my face. I just massage it in to my wet skin with my finger tips for about 30 seconds and rinse it off. Oh and I'd like to add it also smells like mint which helps clear any sinus congestion I might have because I have really bad allergies. If I don't take an evening shower then I still use this cleanser at the sink with a wash cloth. After I'm done rinsing, I dry my face.

This product was a favorite of mine even before I was pregnant. I apply a small amount of this to a cotton pad and wipe my face and neck with it. This toner really helps to get any excess dirt and makeup off my face and neck as well as tones down my redness. I wait about a minute for this to dry and soak in to my skin.

Once the toner has dried on my face, I take two pumps of the Osea Blemish Balm and apply it all over my face and neck. That's it...just two pumps! My skin feels so refreshed but at the same time doesn't feel greasy or oily. This product also smells like mint, which only adds to the refreshness!

I started using this under eye cream before I was pregnant and was so relieved to find out that Korres is a wonderful pregnancy-safe company, as well. This under eye cream is actually reasonably priced, lasts for a long time, and really works at keeping my dark circles at bay. I also never get puffiness under my eyes when I use it. I apply a small amount with my ring finger under each eye.

That's it! That is my whole evening skincare routine. And like I said earlier, in the morning all I do is throw some warm water on my face, dry my face, and apply two pumps of the Osea Blemish Balm. Not only has this routine saved me a lot of money because I'm not buying a ton of products to use in between all these steps but most importantly it has saved me so much time every day. The time factor is huge to me as a soon to be mom. Plus what pregnant woman wants to stand at her bathroom sink for 20 minutes doing her skincare routine? I struggled to do that when I wasn't pregnant and had way more energy! I definitely feel though that the stars of the show are the Osea products and they are the reason why I've been able to simplify my routine so much. I plan to stick to the same exact routine post-pregnancy, too. I really hope this little run down helps some of you especially if you're pregnant and struggle with acne, too. It's scary and so overwhelming to try to find the right products that are going to help your skin but also not harm your baby. I truly think Osea is the answer though!

For more random thoughts and musings, follow me on Twitter! I always post about new blog posts on there as well as all my rather funny #pregnancytales as I like to call them. Hope you all have a super happy week ahead!

*This post was NOT sponsored in any way and is my genuine skincare routine and opinion :)

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have an easy week ahead filled with good food, family, and friends! We kicked off our Thanksgiving celebrations this past Saturday by hosting our annual Friendsgiving get together. This was our first ever dinner party we hosted for our friends at our little apartment 4 years ago! We've done it every year since and pretty much have a great system down now for making the day run as smooth as possible. We use the same plan to execute Thanksgiving for our family now, too. Today, I'm going to give you a run down on the ins and outs of how we make these two parties as stress-free as possible! It all starts with the timeline, and I am going to base it off of this upcoming Thursday for all of you that will be hosting Thanksgiving at your place!

It all starts with who you are inviting to your get together. For Friendsgiving, we make a list of our friends that live close or will be visiting over the weekend that would want to join us for the occasion. From there I put together invitations and mail them out about a month in advance. Remember, the holidays are a crazy time for everyone, so we need to give our guests enough time to figure out where they will be around this time. As the RSVPs start rolling in we either mark down on a list what they have offered to bring or start asking them to bring specific items to fill in the gaps. For deciding where the gaps are, start your list based off of what you want to make. I always make an appetizer and dessert. Caleb always makes the main dish, and we decide on a drink of the night together. So when our friends or family start asking what they want us to bring we reference that list and can see where we're lightest. We do the same thing for actual Thanksgiving with our family. We make a list of everyone so we know how many people we're starting out with and take their names off if they are unable to make it. Our Friendsgiving usually runs around 10-15 people and Thanksgiving usually runs around 20-25 people. I personally like to use Notes on my phone to keep track of the guest list and menu so it's all in one place and on something that I always have with me.

If you haven't done your Thanksgiving shopping yet don't worry, you can still do it tonight! Based off that menu list you have created with your guest list you should make a grocery list of everything you need that you have committed to making as well as any gaps left of things you'd like to have throughout the evening. For example, maybe you weren't planning on making a salad but no one else offered to bring one or got assigned to bringing one and you feel that you should have one. You should look up a yummy fall salad on Pinterest and add those items to your grocery list. You should also make a list of other things you might need like more chairs, napkins, plates, candles, decorations, etc. It can be anything under the sun. Whatever you have in that vision of yours as your perfect Thanksgiving. REMEMBER: Do not put your turkey in the freezer if you go shopping on this day though. This is the last day your bird should stay in the freezer. You should start defrosting it on this day so that it is thawed out by day of.

This is the day you should make time to deep clean your house. By not trying to do this the day of or the night before you will have way more time and less stress with getting into all those pesky nooks and crannies. By doing this early, as well, you might spot things over the next couple of days that you missed and then those are only a couple of things you need to clean instead of everything all at once. On Wednesday and especially Thursday, I will spot clean and keep tidying up the house since we still will be doing our normal day to day stuff at home.

We prep a lot of our food the night before the get together. Everyone likes to make different things for their Thanksgiving dinners but to give you an idea of the dishes we like to start the night before here is a little list: roast the yams for yam balls, bake the pecan pie, clean the turkey, prepare poultry seasoning and put that between the skin and breast of the turkey, rub the outside of the turkey with olive oil and pink salt, and make the cranberry sauce. One extra tidbit I want to add for you all is how Caleb makes his gravy so good. He actually uses the bones, gizzards, and drippings from the Friendsgiving turkey to boil a turkey stock. He boils it every day leading up to Thanksgiving for a couple hours and then the day of he uses that to make the gravy that is used for the turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.

The day of the get together tends to always be the most stressful but that is why your prep work and game plan is so important. The first thing I do the morning of is I bake the pumpkin pie and make the yam balls. That way I'm done with the oven early on so Caleb has room for the turkey and stuffing. After I'm done in the kitchen, Caleb takes over with putting the turkey in the oven. I will then do one last tidying up and spot clean of the house (including dishes) and we will do our special set up to accomodate all of our guests. We set up extra tables and clear off our table setting from our dining room table. I will also clear off our coffee table, so our guests have places to put their plates and cups down throughout the night. I then get ready for the day so that I'm not rushing upstairs in case any of our guests arrive early. About an hour before everyone is suppose to arrive I start making my appetizers, light some candles, make sure the temperature is set to a good number so our guests aren't too hot or too cold, and set up appetizer plates/napkins/silverware. I turn all the lights on and make it feel as welcoming as possible.

When our guests start to arrive I take care of the welcoming them inside and getting them drinks, since Caleb is in full force in the kitchen preparing more food like sides and checking on the turkey. I'll do my best to make the rounds and make sure everyone is as comfortable as possible and catch up with everyone. In between convos, I'll keep an eye on empty plates and cups and either refresh them for our guests or throw them away/wash them. I grab things for Caleb that he may need during these little breaks, as well. Once we're getting close to serving dinner I'll excuse myself and start swapping out the appetizers for the main meal in the kitchen. Since we have so many people at both get togethers it does not make sense to do a seated dinner with all the food on the table. It would be too crowded and hard to serve the food at two separate tables. Instead, we do buffet style. I put the appetizer plates away and bring out the dinner plates and refresh the stock of silverware and napkins. I'll help prep the salad, dinner rolls, and get all the serving utensils ready for all the sides Caleb and our guests have prepared. Once everything is all set in the kitchen we'll announce dinner is ready and all of our guests then make their way around the buffet and pick a seat to enjoy their meal. We always eat last to ensure our guests are comfortable and get as much food as they want. After dinner, I will go around and collect everyone's plates and do a few dishes. I don't like to be gone from our guests for too long so I do a little bit at a time all evening long when I get up to refresh drinks or run to the restroom. I would say I do about 5-10 minutes worth every 30-60 minutes. That way there isn't a pile of gross dishes sitting in the kitchen and it's less that I have to do when everyone goes home. About an hour after dinner I will start to set out desserts. I like to put these on the tables so that I can leave the main meal dishes out in case our guests want to take some home with them. It is also one less time our guests need to get up, too and they can just keep picking at all the treats that we have. When our guests begin to leave I always walk them to the door, give them a big hug, and thank them for coming!

Once everyone has left, Caleb will help me finish cleaning up. Since I try to do dishes all night long this usually doesn't take too long. We'll load the dishwasher up and run it, wash and dry the rest by hand together, and wipe down the tables. The next day we will put the house back together by putting our center pieces back, breaking down the extra table and chairs, moving any furniture that we had to move out of the way back to its original spot.

And that's it! There is the whole run down for how we make Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving run so smooth! It works so well every year and this year's Friendsgiving went off without a hitch by following this plan. If you have any questions for us please leave a comment below or shoot us an email at tinydapperfox@gmail.com! I also love to know what everyone loves to eat on this very special day so please leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite Thanksgiving dish is!

Happy Thanksgiving week! We're less than a week away from one of my favorite days of the whole year. Not only do we love hosting Thanksgiving dinner for our family and friends, we've started doing the tradition of making a special Thanksgiving breakfast for them, too. A couple of years ago my hubby, Caleb, whipped up the most delicious pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon butter the morning of Thanksgiving. They were so good we wanted to share them with our family and friends! So last year we invited my parents and a good friend of ours over early for some pancakes, coffee, and watching the Thanksgiving parade. It has become one of those things we really look forward to doing every year now! We wanted to share this tradition with you a little early so in case you want to whip up your own, you can buy all the ingredients this weekend when you do your Thanksgiving shopping! Here is Caleb's recipe:

Pancakes

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup milk
• pinch of ground cloves
• 2 tablespoons melted butter + more for skillet
• 6 tablespoons pumpkin puree (we use Libby's)
• 1 egg
• Syrup (for serving)

*You can also use 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning instead of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves OR 1 teaspoon for apple pie seasoning instead of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves.

Cinnamon Butter

• Butter
• Powder sugar
• Dash of cinnamon

1. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, stir together milk, pumpkin puree, melted butter, and egg.
3. Fold mixture into dry ingredients.
4. Melt some butter on a skillet over medium heat.
5. Pour 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side.
   
6. For the butter: whip equal parts butter and powder sugar. Add a dash of cinnamon.
7. Serve pancakes with cinnamon butter and syrup!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! We're hosting our annual Friendsgiving tomorrow night so be sure to follow us on Snapchat (dianakaravida) for a glimpse of the get together!

Every Wednesday we're one week closer to meeting our little one and it honestly makes my entire week. All throughout my pregnancy I've taken bump photos to document our little ones growth! Every 5th week I take a little mirror selfie in the same tank to see the gradual progression of my belly! I get so excited to take them and today is my 5th one! I thought I'd share all of them with you so you can see the difference, too, as well as some of the fun and challenging things I've been going through these last couple weeks of my pregnancy. 

Week 30 (today!)

Tank: Hello Apparel (c/0, old - t-shirt version)

​Cravings
​I haven't had any strange cravings lately and thankfully I haven't turned on anything that I use to really love. Early on though I was really into hot dogs, french fries, salads, watermelon, lemonade, and grapes. When I could start tolerating meat again I was back on my normal Chick-fil-a train. The strangest craving I had my whole pregnancy though was before I even knew I was pregnant...I wanted butterscotch pudding. What is your craziest craving so far?

Not So Fun Symptoms
We all have those "lovely" pregnancy symptoms but I've been warned about some that I have not gotten but have been "lucky" in getting some that people have never even heard of! That's just a part of pregnancy though. Every woman is different and even every pregnancy for the same woman is different. I'm currently battling some nerve/ligament pain. I get an almost all day burning sensation up in my ribs just on my left side. My skin hurts as well as the bones. I thankfully don't have an infection or any serious internal injuries but I'm not going to lie to you guys, it hurts! My doctor suggested I put hydrocortisone on the irritated spots and it has been working...you know until it wears off and it's back in full force. I also have experienced that wonderful thing known as "lightening crotch." It's where you get a shooting pain down low followed by a dull pain until you're able to lay down and rest. I only get it in the middle of the night every once in awhile if I stretch and move in a weird way or when I go for walks with Wrigley, which as you can imagine can sometimes be problematic if I'm not really close to my house! It goes away quickly though after I lay down and drink some water. I've had some nausea creep back in, too, but that is expected since Nugget is crowding my stomach and making it difficult to have full meals now. I'm also way more emotional then I've been my entire pregnancy! I cry at the stupidest stuff now! What's been bothering you lately? I'm always here if you need to vent!

The FUN Stuff
​My favorite thing in the world is feeling Nugget move! He seems to have a schedule, too. He typically has "belly play time" as I like to call it at 10am, 2pm, 5pm, and 9pm. He's so strong, too! I'm not going to lie...those little feet and elbows hurt sometimes, but it warms my heart so much to feel him flipping around inside my tummy. It also makes me laugh when he has hiccups and I get quick little stomach twitches. It's also been so fun preparing his nursery and buying him everything he's going to need when he's finally here. We got so many wonderful things for my shower, too, and I can't wait to show him all the great stuff everyone got him. I'm still nervous for labor and to become a mother but I'm way more excited than nervous for it now. I'm truly looking forward to him being here soon! What are you most excited for before the end of the year?

I can't believe I only have 1 or 2 more bump pictures! I'll keep sharing them with you and any new things that arise, too. I hope you all have a super happy rest of your day!