Trust Me, I'm the Mom

In my two postpartum experiences, I have been absolutely blown away by the number of MLM coaches/representatives (I'm looking at YOU, Beach Body and Shakeology) who have come out of the woodwork, out from under bridges, and sometimes out of the blue to accost me via the social media or text message with all kinds of offers.  I'll give you some actual verbiage, here: "Hey, I've got some awesome meal replacement supplements that will really help you with breastfeeding and get rid of the baby weight. It would mean a lot if you would come to a sample night and support me."  I got that gem when I was not even two weeks postpartum. (This was from a neighbor). "Hey! I've been using a really great program and I'd love to share it with you. When you're ready to get back into shape and lose the baby weight, let me know! I'd love to help you." Um, postpartum is a certain kind of shape. (This from another neighbor). I'm not...

As I'm sure every person reading this has as well, I have been absolutely floored by the evil crap that has gone viral on YouTube. I refuse to post the picture of the person doing that and won't even say the name, but it scared the hell out of me as a grown woman, and has cost me sleep the last two nights. I felt like I needed to share it with my husband, so I texted him a screenshot of an article with the image and then immediately deleted the picture out of the message thread as well as my phone. He was pretty disturbed and didn't even want to have a conversation about it. I've felt the burden of protecting and teaching and sheltering my kids become heavier than it ever has been. These little people are the most tender, most impressionable, most vulnerable, most precious resource on earth. The amount of utterly vile crap they are assaulted with these days sometimes feels beyond comprehension. When I was growing up, we had videos. Like, a video cassette. There ...

Today was one of those days where I just didn't feel like I was doing right by anyone I hold any responsibility towards. My baby had an 8:30 doctor's appointment, and the doctor was running 45 minutes late. My toddler was bored about 5 minutes in to our wait in the tiny exam room and both of us had exhausted each other's patience by the time we left at 9:30. The baby had a massive blowout, in his carseat , at the doctor's office, and I only had a spare onsie to put him into for the way back. I realized at the doctor's office that I would need to drive an hour round trip to pick up some business cards from my husband's car for a work appointment I had later that afternoon - so after the doctor, we hurried and drove down and then back to the house to eat a quick lunch and read a book before putting the boys down in hopes they would take a super brief nap before I had to wake them and drop them off at their Grandma's while I went to work. By the time we...

I pretty much live on a soapbox, so I should probably just set up a nice, sturdy shelter directly overhead and set up camp on it. Anyways, there's been something I've been thinking on and feel compelled to share. It's not earth-shattering, I'm not the first one with this idea, and I'm certainly not the first to say it out loud, but I'll say it anyways. And it is this: you need to OWN your choices. Who you are as a person, the habits you have, the way you spend your time, and the product of those habits and those hours spent are on you. You  have control of your choices. Only you  have the power to change your habits. And only  you can take a look at what comes of the way you spend your time and determine if it's the best way you could be using it. This seems to be a lesson I need to learn over and over in my adult life, but I feel like I learn it quicker each time. The first was when we were first married. I was still 18, I had a lot of growing up...

I am an actual savant when it comes to dealing with solicitors. Truly. First of all, I worked in car sales for a few years so I am suuuper familiar with every single pitch tactic you can think of. Second, I get really creative with No Soliciting signs. Pretty much everyone either prints one off of their computer to tape to their screen door during soliciting season (which lasts from March to October here in the great state of Utah) or buys one of those classy ones at the store. NOT AT MY HOUSE. I make my own. They're uber professional looking, usually written in crayola marker. One said something along the lines of: If you're selling pest control, I have a guy. Solar? My father in law works for the power company.  Steak? I'm tempted. Kind of, but not really, because food poisoning. Security systems? I've got two dogs and a husband who's bigger than you. No Soliciting. When that one didn't work, I made another. This one was actually in...

I was late to jump on the glorious bandwagon that is full of Rachel Hollis fangirls. And I can call it that, because I think she is absolutely incredible. The girl radiates energy and go-getter morale and as a chick, I dig that. Last fall I started listening to her podcast. For Christmas, my husband surprised me with my very own copy of Girl Wash Your Face. And I began reading - slowly, because with a newborn a couple pages at a time is sometimes all I could get and then it would be a few days before I could get back at it. I. Was. Hooked. Ms. Hollis is the queen of relatable story telling and she has an absolute GIFT of climbing straight into the hidden depths of any woman's soul and filling it with courage and enthusiasm and a deep desire to overhaul her entire life starting with.... everything. She shares her struggles, her embarrassing moments, and her triumphs - and the little bits and pieces along the way that made her the successful woman she is today  - mom of fou...

I have the biggest soft spot for pictures of new mamas with their babies. There's always something so tangible about them... you can feel the love and the pride and the relief and the "holy cow, look what we have here!". What a blessing to be having babies in an age where those first moments can be immortalized forever. It's amazing to me how you can actually witness a woman's face change the moment she becomes a mother. I asked you guys to share your favorite picture from the birth of your child and aw, they make me want to have another baby RIGHT NOW.  Thank you for sharing such precious memories with all of us! This picture happens to be my gorgeous sister-in-law! The caption did not save in my messages, but this is her with her firstborn daughter. There's nothing like holding your brand new baby for the first time and knowing that they know exactly who you are! And seriously, if I could have looked half that gorgeous after having a baby, right?! ...

My second baby is now 3 months old and I've finally started coming out of the just-barely-functioning newborn fog. Boy, was it different this time around. Like you, I saw all the blissfully relaxing "honoring my body", super serene instagram posts by women who literally laid in bed for weeks to bask in the newborn sweetness and recover slowly. Pictures of them soaking in the tub, an herbal bath probably with flowers floating on the surface, their newborn nestled on their legs. Sleepy baby-selfies in color-coordinated jammies. That sounds lovely, right? I'm here to tell you that if that is your postpartum reality, you are highly - HIGHLY - privileged and this post is not for you. If you're like me, and you have a husband who works, and an older child/children who require not only your attention but your energy, and maybe you even need to work your way back into the professional sphere as well - this post, my friends, is for you. As with all advice you'l...

Welcome to the first of the new Community Post series! I wanted to kick this off with a list of things that women across Instagram and Facebook simply can't live without. Not sponsored, no advertising, just some everyday items that we LOVE and use every day. From beauty to water bottles, here are all the things YOU GUYS can't live without! Okay, this one's mine - my planner and home calendar! I HATE using my phone or electronics for anything more than I need to (and Instagram. I love Instagram.) and it also doesn't do me much good because I like to leave it where I can't see it. ENTER the planner. I've tried several, and right now am using the  Recollections planner . It can be found at Michaels. This past week, they were 70% off! I put a lot of things in it-  work items, play dates, bills due, health items.... anything. We also have a calendar up in the kitchen that serves as the household command center. Long story short... I'd be super lost w...

Grocery shopping in the winter is probably one of my top 5 least favorite things. It's disgustingly cold and/or snowy, windy, rainy, wet, and awful outside, everyone around you is sick, and something about the early nightfall and constant chilled-to-your-bones makes allll the unhealthy food even more appealing despite having made all those awesome resolutions to eat better. It's just a recipe for disaster. BUT - it doesn't have to be a huge undertaking. I have found a way to meal plan AND prep a grocery list in 5 minutes or less, and when I've got my list in hand, grocery shopping can be done in a half hour and I'm much less likely to throw a bunch of unnecessary and unneeded things in my cart (I'm looking at YOU , Dunford Donuts). Here's how it works. Start with the fridge - take a quick look and mentally take stock of the basics. Eggs, milk, produce. Then look in the freezer and do the same - meats, frozen veggies. Move to the pantry - kid...

Today, I was that mom. It was me. We were having a rough morning. We've hardly left the house in three months (something to do with a newborn in sick season, I'm sure) and boy had it started to wear. Meltdowns for him, patience lacking for me, so I decided we needed out of the house to beat the winter blues. We went out to the local curiosity museum where there's all kinds of activities for kids of all ages. It was going really well - he was having fun. He was dancing. He was playing with textured sand. He splashed at the water table. Yes - this was exactly  what we needed. And then it happened. He wandered back to the textured sand activity and decided he wanted to play. "Wait your turn," I said, seeing that all three stools were taken. I looked down at my baby in the carrier, making sure he was awake and as I looked back up it was too late. He had run over to one of the stools that a little girl was standing on and shoved her off so he could have a ...

Last year, my husband had an idea that I thought was kind of "out there". 2017 was a year of introspection and a long, hard look at the way we were living and the trajectory of our family. What we determined was that we wanted to make a few course corrections to put us on the path to financial freedom, happiness, and a lifestyle that would allow both  of us more time with our children. To accomplish these goals, my husband decided to employ a tactic taught by pretty much every life coach ever: in order to achieve something, you've gotta see it. You have to read it and think about it and live every day reminding yourself of where you see yourself. The best way to do that? A vision board, placed prominently somewhere for you to see. There's a jillion ways to do that - but the easiest and most readily available option was a white board we had laying around (much to my chagrin - I *hate* whiteboards). He wrote those goals and put them in our bedroom. Anothe...