Week In Pictures – A Family Visit and Shopping!

Hello everyone! Gosh, it is already 5-6 days into March! This past week has been a whirlwind as my husband went out of town for most of it for work and my mother came into town for a visit. We did quite a bit of shopping and just got to spend some time together. This was also my first full week in a new planner set up as well as adding some more to my journal. The week ended with some more shopping for the new baby as well as our little man.

I had a few things that I needed to pick up, some more spring/summer maternity clothes, some books and I had a few appointments throughout the week as well. This kept us plenty busy for the week and it seemed every day we had to do something!

I was able to get quite a bit of some new tops to gear up for the warmer weather (of course now that I have, it’s getting cold again) and I’m very much looking forward to spring and summer outfits that I can put together! Sweet Little Man and #2 also got some new clothes for summer as well. We’ve got everything saved from when Little Man was a baby, but with them being born at opposite ends of the year, there are some clothing items that we need to have. I also want to do a different theme for his nursery than we did for Little Man as they are different.

Little Man had a “woodland” animal/fox theme with Oranges and Browns in his nursery and I think #2 is going to have a mountain animal/bear theme with Blues for his nursery. I love what we have picked out so far and I think it is going to come together really well! We’ve still got to move quite a bit of furniture around and switch rooms around before I can decorate the new room, but I’m definitely in a nesting mode and think I will be for a long time still.

One other big thing that I did this week was to get my eyes re checked out. I’ve had glasses for a long time for when I’m reading/working at the computer/watching TV and when I was in school, but I’m one of those people that doesn’t typically wear them. I just strain through the situations and work through it. It has been steadily getting worse and I think it has some to do with the amount of migraines I deal with. I got a new prescription and some new glasses to go along with it. So far, it’s been such a difference! To be able to clearly see things has been so nice! No more straining to see for me.

How was your week?

MiaLeave a comment

Week In Pictures: Spring Weather Already?!

Good afternoon everyone! After all the craziness that I feel like February has been, this past week has been all about getting back to our routines.

I’m a planner and organized person by nature and love to have my routine. That’s not to say that I can’t be spontaneous at times, but I definitely like to have a general outline of things in order to feel sane. This past week was getting back into that bit of myself. I put my full cleaning routine back into effect (rather than the spot cleaning we were doing), decided to overhaul my planner and planning system, and started getting back into waking up early and having my “me” time in the mornings. These were all things that fell through the cracks when our month started getting busy and we were doing so much.

With that going on inside the house, some spring weather made a showing this week outside! We got a taste of 60-70 degree temperatures, which meant plenty of time spent outside for all of us. For a while little man didn’t like walking on the grass because it felt so uneven compared to cement or the flooring in the house, but after playing outside at the Cathedral, he has a whole new outlook when it comes to grass. He is now relatively unstoppable outside and both him and Copper had a good time running around! They wore each other out as well which was always nice for me as it led to a good nap and a little sleep in the next morning for little man.

We didn’t explore over the weekend as we had some errands to run and the weather wasn’t going to cooperate for long, but we still managed to get a little walk/hike in before the late afternoon storms started to hit! I absolutely love being in an area where we have nature all around us and so many different options to go walking and hiking. We like to be outdoors and get active so this area has been perfect for us so far!

It’s been relatively low key over here, which has been nice after what has felt like a constant movement/busyness of a month! February was full of so much and quite a few new, exciting adventures. I’m excited to see what March is going to bring to our humble home!

MiaLeave a comment

Let’s Talk Pregnancy #1 vs Pregnancy #2

Good afternoon everyone! I hope that your week has treated you well and if not, well it is weekend time! This week has been a rough one for me and has really been trying. With that being said, since it is Friday and I am celebrating being over halfway done with Pregnancy #2 I want to do something a little fun!

A week ago we found out that we are expecting another little boy! This is very exciting for us and we are looking forward not only to meeting the little guy, but that our sweet little man will have a little brother to be best friends and grow up with! They will be very close in age and will be able to do a lot together! Since both my pregnancies have had their differences, I wanted to do a little Pregnancy 1 vs Pregnancy 2. I will start with the major differences and then have some similarities.

To start with, in Pregnancy #1 I had very little “morning sickness”. The only time I was sick was for maybe 2 weeks in the beginning and then it all went away. With Pregnancy #2, I was sick from about 3.5 weeks on. I won’t go into all the details, but it was bad. I had a really tough time and was very very ill. Once my doctors prescribed me some medicine it helped, but it didn’t truly let up until around 15-17 weeks. Even now I still deal with loss of appetite.

Another difference is in Pregnancy #2 would be my body changes. Pregnancy #1 I carried really low. Sweet little man just loved to be right in my hips until the very end. He didn’t deviate too much from his location, although he would kick and get mad as heck if I was sitting upright and he was getting “smushed”. With #2, he is definitely all over the place- up high and down low. I’ve felt him getting closed to my ribs a couple of times already!

Another little difference is how I have approached the pregnancy. Obviously Pregnancy #2 I have a toddler running around, so I’ve been more focused on him and making sure that he is doing well and less focused on myself than Pregnancy #1. I have been much more relaxed this time around with some of the restrictions of pregnancy. With #1 I was very hyper aware of everything that was going on and everything that I was eating and drinking. This time around I haven’t been able to do that. I stick with the major things to avoid in any pregnancy and try not to consume too much caffeine. Beyond that I’ve just been a lot more relaxed about

So, those are the major differences at this time. My cravings have been mostly the same, although I’ve tried to be a little healthier this time around. I’ve been loving the carbs, fruit and spicy! I’ve been hating Peanut Butter and Green Beans. I know I said that my sickness was different as well as my body changes, but where I’ve gained my weight so far has been the same. I have gone all belly once again (look for a picture to come soon!) and everywhere else has stayed the same.

So those are just a few things that I’ve noticed that has been different and the same with both pregnancies! I feel really good now though at this point in my pregnancy and I feel like I’m really starting to be “settled” in pregnancy #2.

Mia3 Comments

Week In Review: Exploring a New Place!

Good afternoon everyone! This past week has flown by! I actually think this whole month has really flown by, but especially the week. I couldn’t really tell you much of what happened on individual days, but it was pretty standard! My husband had a 4 day weekend this weekend, which is when the real fun begins.

I had to work still on Friday, so little man and big man got to spend some time together while I worked. Then they both came downstairs to the office area as my husband had to do some computer work as well. Once we were both done, the weekend begun! We grilled out for dinner and had some lovely steaks and potato packets. It was nice to relax and even little man got in on some of the steak!

img_2880We had decided earlier in the week that we wanted to head into the Big City this weekend and see/do something new. Our original plan wasn’t able to come to fruition so we decided to head over to The National Cathedral! It is absolutely incredible! I can’t even begin to describe how amazing and beautiful it is! I’ve included several pictures below for your viewing pleasure. When George Washington originally thought of a national cathedral he had Westminster Abbey in mind as a model (my anglophile heart sung when I heard that little tidbit!) and I think in both design and architecture that dream was met!

national-cathedral-view
What an incredible view!

It is truly a calming and inspiring place and I think that no matter what your beliefs are, you can find peace and solace here. I highly recommend that everyone visit at least once if they have the chance!

For the rest of the weekend, Sunday we spent mostly at home doing some administrative work. Another nice and warm day we do spend a little bit of time outside and had to run over to the store to pick up some essentials, but otherwise we had to get caught up on some home things! It’s always nice to have a recovery day to get everything squared away before the work week starts again!

MiaLeave a comment

Week in Review: Ball Week!

Hello everyone! Before I begin, I want to just say that this week is going to be a three post week to help make up for the posts that I have missed lately. I had a couple of things that I wanted to share, but the time just got a way from me. So to start off, I am going to share a little bit of the week and formal event that we went to earlier in the month!

Leading up to the main event was a pretty typical week, although little man sure did learn some new ways to be extra adorable and extra destructive! While I found some time (and a day of cool temperatures) to pull out my fuzzy fox socks and enjoy a nice cuppa!

We had the opportunity to go to a formal ball and we took the chance to have a night out and relax. Sweet little man got the chance to have a playdate with some friends and a little sleepover. I was a little anxious about leaving him for a whole night, but overall I was relatively calm. I knew that he would be well taken care of and would have a blast playing with the other kids. I figured if he was going to have an issue it would simply be right before bed (as that is when he really puts the pieces together that one of us is missing) and while he did have a little bit of an issue, it wasn’t bad and they said he calmed down quite quickly and easily. I knew that he would be in good hands, so I knew deep down overall I wouldn’t have to worry. It made the whole process a little easier!

For me, going to a formal event means the chance to really get dolled up and even a little pampered that day. I really wanted to be able to look good and feel good all night long so that played a big part of my “prep” day. I went and got my nails done first thing in the morning, then in the afternoon I got my hair professionally done. Hair is the thing that I struggle with the most and it ended up being easier to not have to mess with it! I did my own makeup in between the two appointments as well as enjoyed some time with little man. It was nice to have some time to just relax and be pampered, something that doesn’t typically happen.

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22 Weeks Pregnant and I loved this dress!

With the actual ball, we had a good time! We got to enjoy our time with friends and listen to some exceptional speakers. I also got to meet some new people (which as an introvert says a lot!) and enjoy speaking to some that I already new. It gave us a chance to have an evening where we didn’t have to worry about getting up especially early the next morning or get home to little man. We definitely did take some advantage of that as we stayed out till midnight (what?!) and decided to go out for breakfast the next morning. It was nice to have a more leisurely start to the morning, however morning is when my anxiousness really started to kick in. After breakfast I was more than ready to see our little man!

*I am not posting any photos of myself and my husband for personal reasons, but I have included my “full look” for the evening.

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A Date Night With Yourself

Good afternoon everyone! It is Friday, which means…weekend!! I hope that your week has gone well and if it hasn’t, well time to celebrate because you can enjoy a little time without those work week stresses. Today I want to talk about a way that you can do that and take care of yourself.

No matter what you do, it is extremely important to make sure that you are taking care of yourself. By take care of yourself I don’t simply mean eat healthier food, drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep. Those are all very important things that need to be done, but I mean take care of your soul. Take your time for you, the time that you need to recharge your person, soul, and make sure that you are prepared for what you need to do in your day to day. If you don’t take this time it wears on yourself and you cannot better do everything else that you do.

This past year I have realized just how essential this time is, not just for me but for my husband as well. I also have had the chance to figure what works best for me that lets me recharge my batteries. This allows me to be a better mom, wife, friend, employee, store owner, and just overall person. There are a couple of things that I’ve learned in finding what works for me.

The first thing I learned is when you want to have your time. Some people like to have their time late at night, others prefer the middle of the afternoon, while some get up extra early in the morning. For me, most of my evenings I try to set aside for family time and my mornings are for getting my day off on the right foot. For me, my perfect time is the middle of the afternoon on Sunday Afternoons. This is when it works for me.

The second thing I learned is what I want to do for “me time” and that it isn’t the same thing from time to time. Sometimes it is watching a movie with a cup of tea in a quiet house. Sometimes I want to get out of the house and go get pampered or go somewhere to read. What I do will change based on what my needs are at the time. That’s ok, the whole point is to take time for myself and what my needs are.

The last thing that I learned is that this needs to be a semi regular time that happens. It may not be every week, but it needs to be at least once a month. Some months I will need it twice a month, but I need that time at least once a month. I do bits and pieces of my time throughout the month (my morning routine being a good example of this) and that helps quite a bit as well.

I find that when I have the time that I don’t have to worry about anything, I don’t have to be a mom or a wife or really a being if I don’t want to be allows me to be a better mom and a better wife. This is something that is true for anyone. You can’t take care of anyone (or anything) else without taking care of yourself. If you incorporate this time on a regular basis, you will find yourself in a much better place.

What do you do to take care of yourself and recharge?

MiaLeave a comment

A Chatty Week!

Good afternoon everyone! It is a Monday and I feel ready to get down to business this week!

This past week and weekend has sure gone by fast! The week has been filled with the normal busyness of work and well life. We took a little “adventure” halfway through the week to just get out of the house and pick up some needed grocery items.

When we first started re switching (yes, re introducing and switching, that is a story I will tell) to milk, I didn’t realize how quick he would actually take to it due to previous situations. I also didn’t realize that his switch would literally be an overnight switch. Also, that switch would include the sippy cup that he just decided which one he loved and that he only wanted that. He literally woke up one morning and when we put him in his high chair, he refused to take his bottle first (which still had milk with a smidge of formula) and simply wanted table food. Once he had that he only wanted plain milk and took the sippy cup right away! Who woulda thunk 😉 Now our sweet little baby is turning more into our little man every day.

So, with all of that we ran over to get some lunch at Panera Bread and then a stop at Target for odds and ends and of course, some milk (we had only been getting 1/2 gallons until he made the full switch). Aside from that trip though, it was a pretty standard week of work and play (more play for Colton and work for me). Our little man is getting more and more curious at what we are doing at times.

We re arranged our lower level to give him more space to play. With that change, we also opened our desks and computers up and he is able to see what is going on on the screens at any time he would like. This is both good and bad as just about every day this week there has a come a time where he wants to be up in my lap banging away at the keys and playing “big and important” on the computer. My calculator seems to placate him (at least for now) and it is something that he can also carry around with him and I’m not worried about him damaging it!

Over the weekend, I had a singular goal of finding a dress for a special occasion that we have coming up in February. It requires a floor length “ball” gown type of dress and the search was not one that I was overly looking forward to. Being 19 weeks pregnant with Baby #2 can mean any number of things for your body and I honestly didn’t know what type of style or dress I was really going for. I am in that time where the baby bump is “cute” before starting to get big, so I wanted to lean towards something a little more form fitting than an A-Line or Empire waist style dress, but I wasn’t totally sold on that. Above all, I wanted to feel comfortable in whatever I chose and look good/appropriate.

I am not going to show pics just yet, as I want to show the entire look, but suffice to say, I found a dress that I absolutely love! I have never felt so good in a dress and I am so glad that I decided to go out on a whim and try it. It is form fitting, but gives me room to breathe (and grow if need be!).

My second goal of the weekend was to get my life and home back in order. I didn’t know when or how I was really going to approach this goal, but I knew that I needed to put in some time to do some writing, a little tidying of accumulated messes, and get my meals figured out again. I think I’ve also conquered this goal as well! I have cleared the last bit of mess from our moving furniture and tidying last weekend as well as cleared out quite a few of the accumulated messes. I’ve still got to sit down and sort some meals out and write a couple more posts, but on the whole, I feel quite accomplished!

How was your week and weekend?

MiaLeave a comment

What is Date Night?

Good afternoon everyone! We are at the start of yet another weekend even if this week may be shorter for some of you due to the holiday, it’s still another week and that can mean long hours or stressful work to be done. I want to touch on a little bit of a self care for your relationship amid the chaos that can be the week. I am going to do a self care post as well for taking care of yourself as an individual, but wanted to start with more of the “Date Night” first.

*Quick side note, because I can’t resist…I am currently in the office/den/guest quarters of our house to get some work done. My husband (who is off today) is upstairs playing with our son and I am just down here marveling at the excited, happy squeals and screeches coming out of my our sweet boy as he just runs around the house with daddy. It warms my heart in a way that I cannot explain. Now that I’ve gotten that little note of emotion out of the way…

When Rob and I were expecting we heard (and I knew) that continuing to take care of our marriage, separate of our son and future children, was going to be key. While I know that we have a strong, solid, loving, caring marriage, kids are hard work and it is so easy (so so so easy as I’ve learned this past year) to forgo that while in the throws of parenthood. I didn’t want us to lose any bit of our marriage and really wanted to develop some time in our week to devote to each other, as most nights we spend as a family.

Here’s a little tidbit about Rob and I, we are one of the biggest pair of homebodies ever. We don’t really like “going out” unless we are making a special trip out (like a day trip or a weekend away) and we just tend to feel more comfortable in our own home. We also aren’t really into crowds or a lot of social events. The social events that we do attend are work events and, while nice to have, are not really what I would consider “Date Night”.

The fact that we are homebodies is not a bad thing, but it can make what is considered a traditional “Date Night” (dinner and a movie or some variation of that), difficult. Combine that with having a young child and not a lot of family in our immediate vicinity, I knew that we needed to improvise.

For us, “Date Night”, looks like the following:

  • We order in food or get takeout from somewhere. Occasionally we might cook, but if we do it is super easy meals that don’t take a lot of prep work or cook time.
  • We put away cell phones, books, computers, tablets, whatever that might distract us. During our normal family times, we typically will multi task to an extent and so for our “Date Night” we make a point to put everything away after dinner and focus on what is happening. I also want to make a note that at a certain time during the week we stop multi tasking and focus on our family time.
  • We get a movie. We will either use RedBox or pull up a movie/tv show on Netflix and watch it. Each person gets a chance to pick every other week (one week it’s my pick, the next it is Rob’s). This allows both of us to be able to watch what we want and not always feel like we are having to watch what the other wants to.
  • Typically (not always, but most of the time), we end up sleeping in our living room. This means we don’t have to worry about getting up at the end of the night or having to do anything further other than enjoy the evening. We get to just relax and not worry, which is so nice.

This is our Date Night tradition and it fits perfectly for us! We also don’t have to worry about the expense of having to get a babysitter as we are at home still and our transition into “Date Night” flows really seamlessly. Our son is old enough to where he can play independently (although still supervised) in the same room as us and goes to bed at a reasonable time so that we are not falling asleep right as we get into the movie.

I would love to hear if you have a specific tradition for Date Night or how you handle getting in time with your spouse that is somewhat or all kid free!

MiaLeave a comment

Let’s Talk About 2017 Resolutions!

Good afternoon everyone and Happy Monday! I hope that this week has started off well and wasn’t too bad of a day. For me, it’s been a day. In between my son being extra picky about food and drink (thank you first molars), trying to get all of the work that I wanted to get done today, oversleeping this morning, and my husband being off (which sounds like it would make things easier, but not always LOL), it’s been a busy day. I make sure that I carve out some “quiet” time throughout the day for myself to regroup, but today just hasn’t allowed that. That is ok though, things will even out as they always do.

I wanted to take a little bit to talk about my “plans/resolutions” for 2017. I don’t typically set actual resolutions each year as I find they are easily broken and that it is similar to what I already do when I sit down at the beginning of January and evaluate everything. I do a little bit of self reflection- looking at what went well the previous year and what I want to improve on in the new year. From that point on depending on what the items are will determine what I change for the new year.

I also try to assign a word to each year. This is a common thing that I have seen and after trying it last year, it is something that I want to incorporate into each year. This is something I do after I do my self reflection and have determined what changes I want to incorporate.

This past year has had a few rough patches, some things I could change, others that were out of my control. The first chunk of the year was navigating several changes to include our son, new home, new working hours, and just overall new balance of life. While I personally think that I navigated all of the changes well, I know that there were times that I could have done better or could have reacted to certain situations differently.

In looking at the upcoming year, I think that the biggest thing that I want to change is bits of my attitude and reactions. I want to learn to trust my gut again (that may be a separate post at a later time) and know that there are times that I may know best and to go with that. I lost my trust in my gut and myself at times this year and I want to keep in mind that my gut is usually pretty good. Basically, trust in myself and in my instincts.

Another thing that I want to focus on, especially in the first half of the year, is really focusing on our little family. With our new addition coming halfway through the year I want to make sure that we are able to have some good times as “just the three of us” before we become the four of us. Our sweet son is going through quite a few changes changes this year, the biggest obviously being a sibling, but a couple before #2 comes along. I want to make sure that he feels the love from Mommy and Daddy and that we have some good times together. Going along with that, I want to make sure that we also get some good memories as “the four of us” when that time comes in the second half of the year. It’s going to be a busy year I feel!

Lastly, I think that my word for this year is Peace. There were so many times last year, especially the beginning, that I just didn’t feel at peace with myself, my family or where I was at. This year I want that to change and I feel like the second half of this past year I have really managed to find peace at most times. I want to carry that through this year and keep it going.

What are your resolutions or changes that you want to make for 2017? Do you have a word set aside that you would like to focus on for the year?

MiaLeave a comment

Mum Musings: Gifts and The Holiday Season

Good afternoon everyone! How has it been? I know, long time no chat, but I am back and hope to make it up to you!

Today I wanted to quickly touch on a subject that seems to come up more and more during the Holidays…gifts for the kids. This may be a touchy post, but these are my thoughts and feelings. I want to preface by saying in our extended family we have quite the differences in gifts and I have nothing agains people who handle the holidays differently than we do. I will not bash or look down on anyone who goes all out. To each their own 🙂

My little boy is 11 months old (where has the time gone?!) and this will be his first Christmas! It is such an exciting time for him and for our family and I have been loving it! Long before our sweet boy was born, my husband and I had a conversation about how we were going to handle gifts and what we each thought was appropriate for our child (and any future children we have). We settled on something that we think will work for us.

Our son will be getting 2-3 gifts this Christmas, one being a “large” gift and the others being smaller gifts that either go with the large gift or are something small that he likes (relating to a TV show or a separate toy he already likes). He doesn’t need much at all. He already has several toys that he enjoys (although realistically only plays with a couple regularly) and we are stocked up well on clothes for now. I never felt like my child wanted for anything and I don’t feel the need to shower a whole bunch of presents (and money) on a almost 1 year old who a) probably wouldn’t play with most of the toys and b) doesn’t need much in his day to day beyond what he already has. Besides, in all honesty, he is probably going to enjoy ripping the wrapping paper a lot more than any of the toys inside (at least for this year).

I don’t want to end up having a whole bunch of toys and things that will collect dust and remain untouched as the years go by. He grows and changes so much in his week to week, what intrigues and occupies him at this moment, may not be the same thing in a couple weeks. I know this is the nature of the beast of having a child, but I don’t think that Colton is in need of a lot at this time.

I will say, the one thing that I am doing and have wanted to do, is a Christmas Eve box. I have watched Sister-In-Laws do these boxes, and even though Colton might be too young, I love the tradition. He will get a movie and some special Christmas PJ’s in a box that he can open the night before Christmas. He can get in the pajamas and we can watch the movie together as a family. This is the “splurge” that I will do every year, because I love the “home-iness” feeling it gives.

This continues on for his birthday as well, which is shortly after Christmas. He will get a few things that work with where he is at and will grow into with his development (I am actually very excited to see what he makes of the Mega Blocks :)), but we will not be going all out or getting a whole lot more than that. Of course there will be cake, but we aren’t holding a party (a lot of logistics of it just not working out other than the desire to not have one). Colton likely won’t remember his first or second birthdays as it is, so we don’t feel the need to do much more outside of our little family.

All that aside, I have no problem with people who do splurge and go all out for Christmas and Birthdays. I love watching the kids get excited and open all of their presents! It is such an exciting time for both the kids and the parents. I think that in this case, each family must make their own decisions on how they want to handle the situations where gifts are involved.

How do you do gifts and is there a reason behind it? Do you get kids a whole bunch of gifts or stick with something simple? I’d love to hear from you!

Mia1 Comment