Please join me over at wordpress!

H is for Hillman is now on wordpress! If you haven't noticed that I swtiched over to the wordpress blog, nows the time to come on over! I will have some fun stuff in store pretty soon over there and would love for you to join us! H is for Hillman is now on wordpress!

Winners of the Vyssan Lull giveaway have been posted over on the new blog, please be sure to continue to follow me over there, in the top corner of the blog there is follow button, hit that and you will be notified via email when a new post/giveaway is posted. I will not be updating this blog from here on out! Thanks everyone. Here is the new H is For Hillman blog.

Moving to Wordpress!

Hi everyone, I don't know about you but I'm kind of sick of blogger and google changing everything up all the time. So I will be moving over to wordpress. HERE is the new blog address, I will leave this oLd one up for a coupLe weeks so everyone can se the switch over ! Hope to see you over on wordpress, up on the lefthand corner of the new blog is a follow button, please hit that once you get over there! Thanks so much to all my loyal followers new and old!
Jenn

Vyssan Lull Review and Giveaway

I always love working with Vyssan Lull, the prints, the quality, the customer service. All of it is outstanding!

Johanna of Vyssan Lull sent this adorable Sture & lisa heart onesie for Josie. These are 100% organic and fair trade certified. Josie looks adorable in it and stays nice and cozy as well. I love the colors and this print, I love that it's not overly girly!

Johanna also sent Plastisock lounge wear for Ezra. Which he practically lives in. These are so nice for daytime lounge wear or as PJ's. Any chance Ezra gets to wear this comfy set or the comfy pants he does! I love the print and color, it's so fun and bright. Ezra and I love to search for the little critters all over his legs and back. He gets a hoot out of what is hiding on there!

100% oekotex certified cotton, Free from harmful substances

Designed in Denmark. Ethically Produced In Turkey

Machine Washable

Oeko-Tex certified cotton, Free from harmful substances

Designed in Sweden, Ethically made in Turkey

Machine Washable

Vyssan Lull is also having a 40% off sale at this time, so be sure to check that out as well!

Giveaway Time: There will be two winners chosen for this Giveaway, One winner will receive a sture lisa onesie and one winner will receive a $40 GC towards Plastistock Wear. For your entry head on over to Vyssan Lull and then come back here and tell me what Plastistock Item or Sture & Lisa Onesie you would choose if you won. For an Extra entry "Like" Vyssan Lull on Fb, please leave a comment saying you did so. Giveaway ends Feb 14th, Winner announced the 15th.

Pink Pumpkin Crochet Studio Review and Giveaway

GIVEAWAY CLOSED: WINNER CHOSEN #7 HOMEBODY.

I love Etsy, we all know this. I love looking for adorable headbands, hats and other cute girly items for photos for Josie. I came across Pink Pumpkin Crochet Studio and fell in love with her hats. They are beautiful, handmade and of course the perfect prop for newborn photos.

Pink Pumpkin Crochet is Nikki and Samantha, two sisters that love to crochet. Crocheting is a hobby that has turned in to a business for these two lovely sisters. They love to create adorable baby props that consist of  beanies, hats, cocoons, diaper covers, stork sacksso. These one of a kind items make baby's first photos fun and adorable, giving parents many options from style to color and texture.

They sent Josie this adorable multi-colored bear hat for her newborn photos and I just love the way they turned out. Not only is she cute in general, but this hat makes her extra cute!

GIVEAWAY TIME:

One lucky reader will win this same hat. They will be able to choose from this same one Josie is wearing or Blue. Head on over to Pink Pumpkin Crochet Studio then come back here and tell me in a comment your favorite item in their shop. Giveaway ends Feb 7th, winner announced the morning of the 8th. Be sure to share this blog post with your friends and family for an extra entry. (leave a comment saying you did so)

Goodluck!

Pearly Girl's Newborn Photos

Here are a few of Josephine's Aka Pearly Girl's Newborn photos. At Ten days old. More to come soon! Photos Courtesy of Tangled Roots Photography.

Leap Frog Review

We love learning toys in our house. It makes my life a little easier when I don't always have the time to sit down and read a book or help Finley with her letters at the exact moment she wants me to. Leap Frog is an awesome brand that carries all sorts of educational toys.
We were sent a Tag reader and a Tag Jr. for Finley and Ezra. Both of them have really enjoyed playing with their new gadgets and discovering all the fun things they can do.


I really love how quick and easy it is for me to download and purchase the books and learning games off the computer and hand them right to them to go learn and discover more.
Ezra loves the Car books and Finley is a big fan of anything princess.

I plan to purchase some of the maps Leap Frog offers as Finley gets older. I really love that these are toys that they can grow with as they learn new things and develop more in school.

Josephine - 3 weeks

I can't believe Josie is now 3 weeks and some days old! It is just crazy to me how fast this has flown by. I mean I knew it would go by quickly, but 3 weeks already and in just a few days a whole month old? I'm not so sure I like this getting older business. I would like my little girl to stay a baby forever...is that really too much to ask?
Josie is a super sweet baby, very snuggly and so calm. I can read her ques as if she is talking to me. Her grunts and little noises let me know whether she needs fed, a diaper change or if she is just plain tuckered out. It is funny how easily this newborn stuff has come back to me. I feel like an old pro, and I will admit I was definitely a little nervous this time around. With two older children I was afraid I wouldn't have time for each child like I did with the first two.

Finley and Ezra are doing well, challenging me and my patience some (which is nothing new), but they have adjusted to Josephine nicely and she to them. Now If I can learn some Love and Logic and apply that to my older two I think we will be just fine and continue on with a smooth routine. Of course there are always bumps in the road and each child will prove to be difficult at times. I'm up for it. I love being a mommy to three and will miss having a newborn has the years go on. But I'm ready for this new adventure with my three beautiful babes!

What do you want to see? And we have a WINNER

The Tea Collection giveaway had super low entries this time and I'm just wondering what my readers would like to see? As far as posts, giveaways and reviews? I love to blog, share my family with all you and share my ideas and favorite products but I also want to make sure that my readers are interested and actually enjoy what they see on my blog. So any feedback would be greatly appreciated. This next month I have a few reviews and giveaways to get up but I'm also trying to take it easy with the new baby and spend as much time with her as possible. So just bare with me on that end of things.

And for the good stuff:

Renea P is our lucky Tea Collection winner, Renea please email me to claim your prize. Jhil2626{at}yahoo {dot} com

Bluum Review

So there is this really awesome company called Bluum. It offers moms a sampling of mother and baby products each month. A Bluum box is sent out and arrives at your doorstep each month filled with all sorts of great little goodies to try out. This would make a great baby shower gift, birth gift or mother's day gift. Each box has a theme each month.The cost of each box is $9 for 12 months. $11 each for 3 months or $12 for just one box. Plus you can receive something called Bluum Bux. If you review the items online you can get free Bluum boxes of your very own. I love this idea. It's so much fun and a surprise each month. Plus the products really are things that I may not try normally and fall in love with or products that I really want to try and never got the chance. Check out my Youtube video of me opening my first box! I'm soo excited to see what my next boxes have in them.

Tea Collection Giveaway

It's no secret how much we love Tea Collection in our family. We love the colors, the patterns, the styles and the comfort. Tea Collection offered a beautiful selection for their Highland Holiday wear and we were lucky to receive an outfit for each of the kiddos. Ezra got a pair of adorable Carrot Fit Cords in and paired with the Fiesta Plaid Shirt. I couldn't believe how cute he looked in this outfit. He was such a little man and I just could not get over it!
Finley wore the Wildflower Mini dress with a pair of matching leggings. She had to wear this for her birthday, which was 2 days after Christmas. She loved that it was purple and we were also sent the matching jumper for Josephine. Finley is really into getting to match her baby sister!

Giveaway Time: To enter to win a $50.00 GC from Tea Collection, go visit their website and come back here and leave a comment in this blog post telling me what you would purchase if you won the GC.  Good luck, Giveaway ends 1/11/12, and will be announced on the 12th. For an extra entry share this blog post on FB, Twitter or your blog, and leave a comment on this post saying you did so.

Birth Story: Josephine Pearl

The morning of December 30th I woke up ready to go have this baby, after being sent home from the hospital to be told I was in false labor twice, I was pretty discouraged, uncomfortable and so ready to meet my baby girl.
I showered up and as we were getting ready the hospital called to tell me they had cancelled my induction time and call back in two hours to see if they had a bed. So I did and they said they did have a bed for me and to come now, so we headed into town and when we arrived they said the room was being cleaned and to wait 15 minutes. 10 minutes later I got a call out in the waiting room saying that I had to wait until noon now because someone was coming in to be monitored and may be in labor. I was so bummed and couldn't believe this was happening. How unlucky could I be? Aaron and I then headed to breakfast and walked around the mall for a while waiting to hear back from the hospital. We didn't want to go home and wait since we live 30 minutes away so we tried to patiently pass the time. Around noon the charge nurse called me back and said she had a room ready and to come now. So we headed over to the hospital, waited for them to clean my room and I was finally admitted! Around 1:30 they hooked up the pitocin and the waiting game began.

 My contractions weren't very strong for the first few hours, they were noticeable but not painful. As the nurse turned up the pitocin dose every half hour they began to get stronger and closer. Aaron and I walked around labor and delivery for a while and I bounced on the birthing ball, hoping to progress quicker. My Dr. came in and broke my water around 5:00pm and I was 2cm dilated at the time. Breaking my water really got the ball rolling. I was able to breath through my contractions and manage the pain by focusing on each breath. Around 8:00 they were getting very strong and painful so I was given Phetynol (an IV pain med) to help me relax and get some rest. I used the pain med every hour until around 10:30 when I asked for the Epidural. The Anesthesiologist started the epi around 11:19. The epi made me feel super fuzzy, itchy and warm. It was the weirdest feeling but I was able to relax a bit. I asked for the smallest dosage because I didn't like to be completely numb. Which was a good thing, because I didn't know things would progress so quickly from then on out. Dr. came in right after and checked my cervix which was at a 4. So I was happy to have got the epi thinking I would be there all night, and I wanted to try to get some good rest before I had to push this babe out. The nurse kept looking at the monitor saying "are you feeling a lot of pressure?" I said that I was, but there was no way I was fully dilated already. She checked me again and I was at a 5, then 3 minutes later she said "This baby is acting like she is coming out let me check again." And she was right, this baby was coming out I was fully dilated and ready to push. She told me not to push and to close my legs while she ran to get my Dr. and the other nurses. At this time I could feel everything and was more than ready to get her out. They wheeled everything in and with 3 pushes out came Little Josephine Pearl at 12:19am on December 31st. Weighing 6lbs 11oz and 19 1/2 inches. I didn't tear at all and everything went really smooth, so my recovery has been pretty easy so far. Josie is a super calm baby and only gets fussy while getting her diaper changed.