STEF TURNER
HELLO i'm stef. i'm a busy mumma to four energetic beauties: violet + june + rosie + dottie • wife to a smokin' hot farmer • follower of jesus • farmhouse fixer upper • t shirt junkie • postpartum depression/anxiety survivor • follow me through life's greatest adventures and outfits.
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
The apples of my eye
Thursday, October 8, 2020
An apple a day...
With all the girls home right now for virtual learning,
keeping them full (and full of healthy snacks) is an ongoing struggle. They are
ALWAYS snacking! We fly through fruit, which is great, but most types don’t
have a long shelf life and I’m constantly running to the store for more!
Apples are a HUGE staple in our home for lots of reasons,
one of them being their longer shelf life. They pair well with so many other nutritious
snacks (peanut butter, cheese, oatmeal, etc., and in Michigan, because we are
the nation’s third largest producer, we are spoiled with apples so fresh they
taste like they were grown in our backyard. In fact, I could not believe when I
found out that this crazy Michigan weather, is actually the perfect climate for
growing some of the sweetest, crisp, best tasting apples! (yay for us!)
The girls and I have had some fun the past few weeks making snacks, treats, and desserts, and even learning how to preserve our yummy apples after they were sliced:
Simply mix 1/2 tsp. kosher salt into 1 cup of cool water until dissolved. (I usually double it).
Add your sliced apples and store in an airtight container for up to a week.
You can also rinse the apple slices to removed any lingering hint of salt.
For a look at a fun way to snack, we made a charcuterie board picnic and assembled it with a variety of goodies to pair with our Michigan apples.
Charcuterie boards make for a fun way to snack, and there are SO many options on what you can add! Take advantage of these beautiful Michigan apples, and tag me on IG if you make your own. I can't wait to see what you create!
Friday, September 27, 2019
Pink Blush Maternity
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Summertime Essentials
For the girls and my body (not my face), I use the Honest spray sunscreen. This stuff is THE BEST. Because Violet has sensitive skin and breaks out in hives so easily, I have to be really careful of what I use on her. I don’t love the Honest “rub on” sunscreen, but the spray is awesome. It goes on evenly, has no fragrance, and feels light on their skin. I also use this one for my Casper body too!
The sunscreen stick by Honest is PERFECT for their little faces. A good friend of mine introduced it to me last summer, and I’m hooked. My kids aren’t very good about closing their mouth or their eyes for the spray because welllll… they’re kids, but this stuff is easy to apply and is a little thicker so I can make sure their face is covered well. Because it is a little thicker, it does leave a slight white film, but it’s worth it to make sure they are protected and all the nooks and crannies are covered.
You can find both of these products at: honest.com
For my face, I really like the derma-epowder spf. I hate the cakey feeling of sunscreen under my makeup. This goes right over top of my existing powder and works great without the nasty residue.
WATERPROOF MASCARA:
I generally don’t wear much eye makeup, but mascara is always a must. I’ve tried at least 30 different mascaras over the years from expensive department store brands to all sorts of drug store brands, COVERGIRL LashBlast mascara is by far my favorite in both waterproof and non- waterproof. It doesn’t clump, doesn’t flake, stays on well, and both lengthens and offers volume. People- it’s the best J
SPRAY TAN:
If you are in the Lansing area and looking for an awesome spray tan, contact my girl Natalie. She runs a spray tanning business called “Golden Glow” and spray tans by hand. She also makes you feel super comfortable letting it all hang out. Her tans are always even and I never feel like I look “fake” or overdone. Her IG handle is: goldenglowabtan and her contact info is right on her page.
If you don’t have time to make an appointment and want to achieve a quick glow from home, my favorite self-tanner is SO bronze. You can get it off of amazon, it doesn’t break me out and it’s relatively inexpensive. The can also lasts FOREVER. If I want a little color, I just spray this on my washed and dried skin before bed, wake up, rinse with cold water, apply moisturizer, powder and I’m good to go. I love how this stuff evens out my skin gives me color without looking orangey. I also like to use this on my legs. I had horrrriibbblleee varicose veins when I was pregnant with June and Rosie, so this helps.
RAZOR:
I use and lovvveee the Schnick Hydro silk trimstyle Razor with trimmer. For real- this thing is awesome. This doesn’t need much explanation. Just buy it. It’s great.
BRONZER:
Hoola bronzer by Benefit. I am a bronze whore. I need and love my bronzer. I’ve also tried lots of these, but this one is great for all skin types, colors, etc. This one has no shimmer, and has more brown tones vs. orange, which I love. You can find this at Ulta Beauty, Sephora or amazon.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Nursing Strike!
With all three of my girls, I had my fair share of obstacles while breastfeeding. Violet was such a big baby and I had a breast reduction the year prior so I fought to produce for her. I ended up supplementing with formula from the beginning and she just wouldn't latch. I pumped for seven LONG months and called it quits after that.
With June I was bound and determined to nurse. We also had our challenges that arose ie: reflux, RSV at four months, mastitis, etc. but I made it about ten months with her on the boob. My goal was a year, but since she's been a foodie from the beginning, she lost interest in nursing and never looked back.
When I found out I was pregnant with Rosie, I was adamant again that I would nurse her until she was one. Nursing started out great with her-- she latched right on and all of the nurses at the hospital were so impressed with the amount of colostrum I was producing, I basically left the hospital with “walking on sunshine” playing in my head. The first week at home went well and I thought I had conquered all of my nursing fears until week two hit. Rosie had to take a bottle for one reason or another (probably lack of sleep for me), she had developed horrible colic just like the other two had and with the combined issues, her nursing skills started to suffer. Like V and J, she had also gotten into a pattern of wanting to nurse every ½ hour and would never fully empty me. I ended up bottle feeding her more than I had planned just to be able to count the ounces she was getting in a day. Plus, it was easier to walk around with a bottle in her mouth vs. my boob. I felt defeated and overwhelmed, but I wasn’t willing to give up. I had talked to a friend when I was struggling to nurse June and I remembered she had the name of someone local who was a lactation consultant. Enter: Abbie Mullins :) I never contacted her with June, but wasn’t sure where to turn this time around so I gave her a call. She was patient, caring, super knowledgeable, and everything I needed. She helped me immensely, showed me different nursing positions for babies with colic, made me feel better about giving her the occasional bottle of expressed milk, and gave me loads of encouraging advice. Ro was nursing better and better as she grew out of the reflux and all was well until a couple of months ago when she randomly started refusing to nurse. It started out sporadic-- maaayyyybeee once a day, but after about a week she would just scream anytime I started to pull up my shirt. Like, scream to the point where Violet included our breastfeeding journey in her prayers at night. After a few days of this, I called Abbie back for reinforcement.
She came over two days later and helped me almost as much emotionally as she did physically. Just her presence was calming, and with a little manipulation and adjusting, Rosie latched on. She left me with these documents: leleche league (helping a mother with a baby who is reluctant to nurse) and Kellymom (HELP my baby won't nurse) .I referenced them on the regular, but below are the tips she offered that REALLY worked for me. There is obviously more info in the LLL and Kellymom articles, but these were the points that were key for us:
1. Go in a dark quiet room. Because she was about 5 months when this strike hit, she was becoming more aware of her surroundings and her sisters. Going in a room where it was quiet and dark helped both of us relax. Nowwwwww-- because my other girls are very busy, this wasn’t always the answer when my husband wasn’t home so this really only worked when I had someone to watch the other girls.
2. Bottle feed her and switch to nursing OR pump until your milk is flowing. Because Rosie got used to the fast flow of the bottle, she would get super frustrated when it would take a minute for my milk to let down. Going from the bottle and switching to me when she had calmed down helped to ease some of her frustration.
3. Stop fighting it. Probably one of my biggest problems was trying to force her to nurse when she didn’t want to. She would cry, I would cry, and it just turned into an overall stressful situation. I was told by Abbie not to wait until she was super hungry to feed her, but there were times, she just didn’t want to nurse.
4. Get up and bounce while she was latching. I know this sounds crazy, but it must have been distracting enough to her that it actually worked. Getting her mind off the fact that she was nursing (which apparently had a bad stigma in her mind), helped her to latch. After I would bounce her a bit and she was latched, I would sit down and she would continue to nurse.
5. Because she would nurse in middle night no problem (of course), I would often take her to the spot on my bed where she would nurse during the night. The feeling of that familiar spot must have brought her a sense of comfort and routine because this worked like a charm. Probably the most of all of the "tricks".
I still don't 100% know what would have caused Ro to go on her nursing strike in the first place. According to Abbie and the articles, there can be a number of reasons: stress (which was probably our biggest culprit since it was harvest and Scott was super busy), teething, colds or other illness, ear infections, the list goes on...).
It took between one to two weeks to get Ro back to the point where she would consistently nurse, but it has been well worth the effort. I totally get that breastfeeding isn't for everybody and every baby, but it was a goal I had for us before she was born, and something I had the desire to pursue. Going through a nursing strike can be stressful for all parties involved, but to me, the reward was worth the fight through it. I can't say enough about how positive my experience was with my local lactation consultant, and though I would say that Abbie is certainly THE best, I'm sure there are other wonderful gals out there like her. For some, nursing comes very natural-- for me, it didn't always and that's ok. Rosie will be eight months in two days and we are finally at the point where nursing is easy. I am so happy that Abbie helped me see the other side of the coin with Rosie; the part where breastfeeding is comforting, relaxing, and the way I always thought it would be.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions! And if you are in the Lansing area and a nursing or pregnant mama in need, Abbie is worth a phone call! Check out her instagram @abbimullins_childbirth_ed She teaches childbirth classes too! Oh, and she has not paid me to say ANY of this. She's just that great.
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Rosie Gold Hair
I used the Krisitin Ess Rose Gold Temporary Tint and was able to find it at Target for only $12 (not including tax) All I did was follow the instructions on the bottle and voila - pink hair!
Here are the steps I went through:
1. Shampoo your hair (don't condition yet). The wetter your hair, the less the color will absorb and the less the intensity. In other words, if your hair is dryer when you apply the color, it will be more drastic. I towel dried mine a bit before applying.
2. I let the color set for 1-2 minutes just as the bottle suggests.
3. Got back in the shower and washed the color out and conditioned it after.
4. There were a couple of spots that looked a bit blotchy so I went back over those while my hair was damp and rinsed it in the sink.
5. Here is the final look. As I mentioned, I expect it will lose it's vibrancy over time, and be completely gone after a couple of washes.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Maintaining the ashy and avoiding the brassy.
1. Wash your hair with cold water. Because most of the minerals and hardness come from the hot water you use, washing your hair with cold water can help prevent some of those gold tones. Ever notice that the orange-y shade is most prevalent in the back of you head? Welp- that's because that is where the hot water from the shower head hits.
2. Invest in a purple shampoo. This stuff is key. You won't want to use this every day because it will end up actually turning your hair purple with prolonged use, but I do like to use this 2-3 times a week depending on how my hair looks. The longer you leave this on in the shower, the stronger the effect. These are great at leaving my hair shiny, smelling good and counter-acting the yellow tones. I have tried a few different brands, but here are two of my favs:
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Before kids- just me.
Saturday, December 23, 2017
BEST moisturizer EVER!
When I was pregnant with Rosie, I ran into a stubborn bout of perioral dermatitis (which I will discuss on a later post), and was convinced I couldn't use anything to moisturize my skin- leaving it dry and itchy. After putting up with it for a few months, I decided to visit my dermatologist (she’s awesome, btw). She asked if I had ever tried a "gel cream". Strangely, I actually hadn’t, so she gave me a tiny sample tube of this little miracle.
Like any other product I had used, I was skeptical, but within a week (no joke) I noticed my skin change DRASTICALLY. AND the beautiful part was that it didn't get worse before it got better. It just got better!
Here it is. Neutrogena hydro boost gel cream (LINK TO AMAZON)
Sunday, November 19, 2017
why start a blog?
The apples of my eye
FALL HAS ARRIVED, and the apples of my eye are enjoying ALL the Michigan apples. Fall is one of our favorite times of year! We are pretty lu...
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I planned on starting to share my journey with PPD in my next post, but I couldn't resist showing you this product. It has been an ABSOL...
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With all three of my girls, I had my fair share of obstacles while breastfeeding. Violet was such a big baby and I had a breast reduction t...