Trust Me, I'm the Mom

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...