Erin Akin Carroll

In fact, we all need a sick day. Every one in our house is under the weather, but I thought I’d do a really quick update with iPhone photos.

1. Hudson got tubes in his ears back in April and he got sick for the first time since then. At first we thought it was just congestion and then I noticed that his ears were draining. The tubes are doing their job, but we still needed to see a doctor. In the mean time, TC got sick, Hayes had a little cold (thank goodness it’s not worse for little Hayes) and now I have it. And if Hudson feels anything like I feel, he has extreme sinus pain and pressure and breathing during the night is pretty difficult. Hudson’s doctor gave him an inhaler with a mask to help clear up his lungs and we also got some antibiotic drops for his ears. Here’s a picture of him using the nebulizer in the doctor’s office. He kept trying to suck his thumb while wearing the mask. So sad!

2. I bit the bullet and dyed my hair back to my natural color. I haven’t ever really seen this color since I’ve been highlighting my hair since the 8th grade. Right now I’m really loving it! But I also don’t feel well enough to really care! But I think I’ll definitely keep it like this for a long time.

3. We got Hudson’s school picture proofs back and I just died laughing when I saw them. Apparently he wanted to go first in his class, so he marched up there and then froze. I’m not at all surprised that he didn’t smile, but I can’t stop laughing at the way he is posed and at his little hands in his lap.

4. I ran to Hobby Lobby on Saturday because all the Christmas and Halloween stuff was on sale. I needed things for Holiday Market decorations and I was going to try to find a couple things for our Halloween party. I found the most adorable plates and lots of Christmas stuff!

5. Erin Condren is on One Kings Lane today starting at 11:00 a.m. If you need an invite, just click here! I don’t know what’s going to be on the One Kings Lane sale, but I’m thinking there will be gift labels, gift cards, lucite trays. Oh my! And I know that Erin Condren is coming out with an iPhone cover. Merry Christmas to me!

Also, visit Jenna, AP, Jennifer, and NCF for Erin Condren giveaways this week!

6. So, yeah. We’re just hanging out at home. Watching Aladdin and Shrek on repeat. Hudson and Hayes are just lying around and doing a little bit of playing. Hopefully we’ll all start feeling a lot better really soon!

Yes, y’all! It’s a giveaway! An air purifier giveaway. From Oreck!

One of you will receive this amazing, brand new air purifier!

*{photo and air purifier provided by Oreck. review and giveaway sponsored by Blue-Eyed Bride. air purifier value is $399.99. the winner’s air purifier is provided by Oreck.}

I am just a huge Oreck fan. I have used an Oreck vacuum cleaner for years and I absolutely love it. It has never ever let me down and when I buy a new vacuum someday, I plan to buy an Oreck.

So when the very nice people at Oreck contacted me about doing a review and giveaway for their new Oreck DualMax Air Purifier, I knew that I would love it because it’s an Oreck.

I was one of those people who never knew I needed or wanted an air purifier. And then my gorgeous, sleek, compact air purifier arrived on my doorstep, I tore open the box, read the directions and plugged the thing in. And I’ve never looked back. I am totally an air purifier person. We needed this! I love this!

We are a family of four and we have two dogs. There is constant traffic in our house coming from inside and outside. Dirty little toddler hands and dusty dog hair are moving from room to room constantly. And now, those things aren’t as much of an issue. This air purifier arrived just in time. Colder weather is coming and we’ll be spending more time indoors. The air inside our house is more polluted than the air outside. So we need to keep that air clean and we need to keep it moving!

After the first day, I could tell a difference. I noticed that there was far less dust in the room. We have the air purifier in our living room right now because I thought it would be the best location to put it for the review. We spend the most amount of time in that room and everyone is always in there. The air purifier sits perfectly disguised between our sofa and an end table.

The air purifier is so easy to turn on via a little button on top and it’s easy enough for even this gadget-challenged girl to clean and take apart when needed. The parts and filters are very conspicuously labeled. There’s a very handy little brush to clean the grills on either end. You don’t have to replace the filters or buy new parts. You just rinse them out under running water and then let them air dry. See? Easy enough for even me, then it’s easy enough for you!

The air purifier has a pre-filter to filter all the larger particles and pieces of dust, mold, etc. Then the air goes to the “Truman Cell filter” to get the smaller pieces before filtering the air back out into the room. I’m telling you. With all that goes on in our house, I feel so much better knowing that this thing is running constantly during the day.

It’s just so easy. It plugs into the wall, you turn it on and it starts doing its magic to make the air in your home cleaner. In addition to just having cleaner air, there is an odor eliminator that helps get rid of the smells that come with dogs and babies. You know those smells.

I filmed a little vlog and video demonstration for you all to see!

Want to win your own Oreck DualMax Air Purifier worth $399.99? Are you ready for the giveaway? Wanna know how to enter? Here’s how:

Mandatory Entry:

Visit Oreck.com and tell us one thing you learned about the DualMax Air Purifier.

For additional entries:

(Make sure you leave me separate comments for each of your additional entries. There should be one separate comment for each of your additional entry options.)

• Follow @oreck on Twitter

• Like Oreck on Facebook

• Sign up for Oreck’s email list by clicking on “Sign up for Email” in the top navigation bar and entering your email address.

• Tweet about this giveaway and mention @oreck and @blueeyedbride.

Important Details and Rules: This giveaway is open to US RESIDENTS ONLY. You must be 18 years and older to enter.
No duplicate comments. There will be one winner of the Oreck DualMax Air Purifier. This giveaway will run from October 10, 2011 until October 16, 2011. Winner will have 72 hours to get back to me other wise a new winner will be selected. Please leave a way for me to notify you. Winner will be determined via drawing on random.org.  Odds of winning will be dependent upon total number of entries.

Disclosure – I was given the Oreck DualMax Air Purifier to review and keep. All opinions stated in this post are entirely my own opinion. Oreck is providing the air purifier for the winning entrant.

I’m calling on all of my readers (especially South Carolinians) to help me vote! I don’t normally ask for help with things like this, but this means a lot to mean and to a friend of ours.

There is a great competition called the Pink Glove Dance Competition. Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, South Carolina was the only hospital in South Carolina to submit an entry to this competition. This hospital is in my community and I’m very proud!

I’ve watched the video twice now and I think it’s so fun and I love that they got so many of the hospital employees, volunteers, chaplains, administrators, doctors and nurses to participate to help the hospital win. And the top three winners will receive donations in their name to the breast cancer charity of their choice.  Lexington Medical Center’s breast cancer charity of choice is the Vera Bradley Foundation.

Watch their video! And then vote! To vote, visit http://pinkglove.co/39 and just “like” the video via the Facebook “like” button in the top right of the page. (Here’s what the page looks like.)

So watch the video and then don’t forget to go here to vote!

*This is the post I wrote for Kat’s blog over at Living Like The Kings, but I thought I’d post it here to round out the week.

Stay-at-home-mom.

I stay at home during the day with my children. I am their daily childcare provider. But I am also their mom.

I spend my days with a 5-month-old and a 2 year old and they are my children. I don’t get paid, but it is my “job.” It is solely my responsibility. There isn’t a point during the day when I can take a break to do other things away from the house- unless I arrange for someone else to come take care of my kids.

One of the most common questions I get asked is “what do you do all day?” This one just makes me laugh. But the other most common question is, “how do you find the work/life balance when your work is your life?”

Women who work outside the home work all day and then come home and still have to work. I mean, work at home is also enjoyable and fun because we’re surrounded by precious people that we love.

Women who work at home work all day and then do the same job all night until it’s time to tuck the munchkins into bed.

So how do I find the balance? How do I set time aside that’s just for me? How do I find moments throughout the day to give my attention to something else? And what do I do with that time?

I am, by no means, an expert. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for just two years now, so I still have a lot to learn about the way I like things and there is always room for improvement.

In the beginning, I was a very Type A mom. I’m still a Type A mom, but I have relaxed so much and now I think I’m a pretty laid-back mom. I love a good schedule, but I’m also willing to take my schedule on the road. I learned that in order to stay sane and happy, our days needed to be similar, but they didn’t have to be exactly the same.

I put together a little list of my tips to achieve a good work/life balance as a SAHM:

1. Stay organized- I know, I know. I harp on this all the time on my blog. But, just like my kids like a good schedule, so do I. I am able to get so much more accomplished during the day when I’m organized. So I created my home organization notebook and my weekly chore chart. I know which chores need to happen on which specific day. I never do chores at night or on the weekend. And that’s okay, but that’s my time to relax with my family.

2. Have a good calendar- By staying organized and then managing my schedule, I’m able to get out and do the “extra” things that I need to get done outside the house for me and for my kids.

3. Get involved- I need interaction with other adults. So I got more involved with placements in the Junior League and work on those projects during nap time. This has me communicating with other women and attending meetings a few times a month.  I’m also really involved in our church and that work and those friendships mean a lot to me.

4. Don’t stretch yourself too thin- The last thing I wanted to be doing was volunteering all day and night as a SAHM while I paid a babysitter to watch my kids. I’m a SAHM because I want to be at home with my kids. So don’t max out your schedule to the point where you resent the volunteer work you’re doing. The most important thing is to have energy and a great attitude for your children.

5. Find a hobby- Mine is blogging. It’s a great outlet for me to get my thoughts out there– and it allows me to communicate with lots of people. Maybe yours is running or cycling or scrapbooking. But find something that is yours!

6. Consider enrolling your child in Mother’s Day Out- Hudson goes four mornings a week now that he’s two. When he was one year old, he went two mornings per week. This allowed him so time with other children and he was able to learn from other adults, too. It also gave me time to run some errands without having to drag him along with me, which neither of us like very much.

7. Lean on your husband – When my husband gets home, he takes care of bath time for both kids. I am usually cleaning up the kitchen during this time, but he loves spending that time with his boys giving them their baths. Then when they’re both in bed, we can relax together to unwind before bed.

8. Make the most of nap time- Nap time is when I do my chores, blog and work on volunteer responsibilities. I don’t do these things while my kids are awake because I need to be playing with them. So when nap time comes around, I get moving! I’m usually able to get everything finished during this time, but sometimes I don’t and it just gets pushed to the next day.

9. Have realistic expectations- Being a SAHM is not a walk in the park, although we do take walks through parks every so often. It’s work. It’s challenging. You have the full responsibility of teaching, disciplining and nurturing your children all day every day. There are meltdowns and tantrums. There are plenty of days when we never leave the house. I rarely shower and I’m rarely dressed in anything I’m proud of. But if you know that going into it and you’re okay with it, then you’re all set!

I love having other responsibilities outside the home, but I never want any of those things to take away from my time with my kids. I don’t want to be pulled in a million different directions in the middle of the day when I need to be focusing on my kids. I also know that as a wife and mommy, I still need a little time to be myself.

What are your tips to achieving that balance?