Being Grown Up

It's rough being grown up. I'm a working mother with two small children. My DH and I own 2 house which means 2 mortgages every month. Our current rental tenants will be moving out at the end of April and the house is up for sale. I hope we sell it. I don't want to move someone in, have a lease signed and then sell the house and have to kick them out. So right now we are trying to figure out what to do. Should we just work overtime every week to pay for the 2nd mortgage? Should we try to find another renter? Should we rent out the garage to my father in law so we don't have to pay the whole mortgage? Decisions, decisions. Grown up decisions are no fun.

Decisions were easy as a kid ... Do I want to play with Amy or Alli at recess? Do I want chocolate or white milk for lunch? Should I ask Mom to make chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies for snack? Should I wear the pink or purple shirt to school? I want an easy decision! I would like to play with Alli while we eat peanut butter cookies and drink chocolate milk, but I hope I don't spill anything on my pink shirt. See that's easy! Why can't grown up decisions be so easy?! 

I guess I did it to myself, I grew up before any of my friends. I got married, bought a house, had a kid, got a real job, had another kid and bought another house. I have responsibilities now. I have hard decisions now and I've got to figure out what to do about it.

Museum Fun!

This past weekend we made a trip to Indianapolis to check out the Children's Museum. It was amazing!

Photo from Children's Museum website

We went with some of my DH's family, five little girls in total! It was exhausting, but so worth it. Right now they have a Dora and Diego exhibit which A fell in LOVE with. J enjoyed looking at herself in all the mirrors and got to crawl around like crazy in the baby only section of Playscapes. Aside from me getting sick (again!), it was an amazing trip and we hope to go again. I highly recommend it for anyone with kids (or grownups who like kid things).

Cute Kid's Clothes

via apericots

via apericots

via J.Crew

These clothes are so cute! I'm seriously considering the onesie for J and the t-shirt for A. They would love them! The dress I saw on one of my favorite blogs so I had to repost.

Just Breathe...

Patience. This is something I don't seem to have lately. I find myself flying off the handle at a whim. It doesn't matter what it is, I find myself getting frustrated VERY easily. Maybe I need a day away from it all. A day away from work, from motherhood, from everything. I just need to chill out by myself and relax ... with a massage and a bottle of wine of course! I need to figure out a way to channel my frustrations, a way to let things roll of my back. Until I figure out something that works well, I'll just keep telling myself to breathe ... just breathe.

 

I did it!

Well it's official ... I did it! I finally got crafty this weekend! A has been obsessed with headbands lately. She broke a couple over the past few weeks, so I decided it was time for mama to get crafty and make her some custom headbands. Check out my handiwork. 

My 1st attempt

A little cheating, since I only made the bow portion

Testing out my "photography" skills

Pink and green stripes - so summery

It was a crazy-busy weekend, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Have a great Monday!

Sunshine!

Photo from eyeful

It is gorgeous outside today! The sun is shining, the snow has melted. It is a good day to be outside. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in the basement at work. I did however take a walk at lunch which was wonderful (and helped me get in some exercise today!). I've started thinking about everything I want to do outside ...

• Grill out (my favorite!)
• Take the kids to the park
• Plant my vegetable garden
• Get some exercise (I want to start running, but more on this later)
• Enjoy the sunshine and warm weather
• Fires at night -- with s'mores of course!
• Hanging out on the deck with friends at night -- glass of wine in my hand is a must!
• Being able to wear flip-flops daily

What are you looking forward to this summer?

Monday's Favorite Finds

via Anthropologie

via TheSteelFork

via Ruche

via Anthropolgie

This is what I found today while hanging around the internet. I'm sure I don't actually need any of these, but I'd love to have them. Enjoy the day!

TGIF

Thank goodness it's Friday! In honor of this wonderful day I've decided to list some things I would say "Thank goodness for __________."

• movie night with the family
• bedtime stories with A
• good health
• dinner together as a family
• spring weather
• a big glass of wine after a stressful week of work
• my loving husband
• watching J try to figure out how to walk

It doesn't matter what you are thankful for, just remember to take time and appreciate your life. Have a good weekend!

Junk Food!

I have a confession to make ... I'm a junk food-aholic, mainly of chocolate. I can't help myself. The dark chocolate peanut M&M's begged me to buy them at the store and then they call out from my desk drawer to be eaten. How can I say no? Now this wouldn't be a problem if I worked out regularly. However, as I've discussed before there is very little "me" time which equals very little workout time. (Side note: I did get my hair cut this weekend. 30 minutes of "me" time! Now back to reality) I've worked a desk job for the past 2 years and had a child during this time so I've begun to feel the pounds creeping up (and my scale feels it too). How do I get motivation to stop being a junk food-aholic and get fit? It's not that I don't want to, it just feels impossible to fit it in to my already crazy schedule. I need a better game plan and FAST! I'm open for suggestions!

YUM!

Blogging

I like to spend time looking through blogs. I have a few bookmarks set up that I regularly check. They are crafty (I'm crafty too!), they have time to craft (this I don't have), they take amazing photos (somehow mine always fall short or blurry) and they have amazing stories to share (my stories are average). All of this leaves me feeling jealous. Jealous that they are craftier than me, that they have "me" time, that they are able to take incredible photos of just about anything and of their amazing stories. Maybe the real reason I started a blog was so that I could be one of those bloggers. Maybe I can be super crafty, take awesome pictures and have cool stories to tell that people will actually want to listen to. Unfortunately, just because you have a blog mean you will become something else. So until I become one of those totally awesome bloggers I'll be here ... writing about my life.

Happy Birthday, J!

WOW! How time flies ... my baby girl is a year old today! I can hardly believe it. It seems like just a few weeks ago my DH and I were loading up the truck at 4:30 a.m. to head to the hospital for my induction. My labor went quickly and before lunch I had another beautiful daughter. I remember being amazed at how wonderful I felt after I gave birth. I had energy, I was excited, I felt empowered. Natural childbirth is by far the best choice (IMHO) and I wouldn't change my decision for the world. I was sore, but I felt a sense of calm over my body and I knew that now I was a mother. For some reason I never really realized it until the day J was born. When A was born I was so young and didn't really understand what it meant to be parent, but by the time J came along I got it. (It was my Oprah "ah-ha" moment) Today we celebrate J and the happiness that she has brought to our family. We wouldn't be complete without her. She makes me proud to say I'm a mother.

J at her first birthday party