I've been published!

This morning, I woke up to a tweet that told me an article of mine had been published over at What to Expect. It was a pretty great way to kick off this ho-hum Tuesday! In my article, I talk about meal planning ideas for working moms. You can check it out by clicking here!

Reid is 15 months old!

Well, he has been since March 18, but since I waited too long to schedule his well visit, we didn't see the pediatrician until yesterday. So here, my loves, is a long overdue update on my beautiful baby boy.

More to come soon, I promise! Work has kept me busy lately, and with two crazy boys at home (well, three including the hubs - ha), I don't have much time to write there, either. I miss blogging though, and have promised myself I'll make time to write more soon.

Newsflash: I can't do it all.

At the start of 2014, I committed to snap a photo every day, and to participate in the #CatchTheMoment365 challenge along with Nurse Loves Farmer. Well guys, I failed. For a while there I was posting one big weekly photo dump, and after a while I came to the realization that I was causing myself unnecessary stress over making sure I had taken my picture for the day. The truth is, our lives are so busy right now that I just don't have the time. While I'm not taking a photo a day, though, the challenge did inspire me to capture the little moments that I might not otherwise have thought to document. I'm going to continue to take photos and videos of the sweet (and sometimes not so sweet) things about our daily lives that I don't want to forget years from now. Like this clip of my boys playing together. I hope they always love each other as much as they do now.

If you'd like to keep track of the photos I do take, feel free to follow me on Instagram, where most of them end up. 

More to come. ♥

Another Milestone

I didn't want to lump this in with my recent "another milestone every day" post, because I felt it deserved a post all its own. I'm finally ready to say it: Reid is done nursing.

I don't know why this makes me a little bit sad, but it does. In the moment, parenting a little one can feel like it's taking forever, but somehow that first year always manages to slip by. And then suddenly one day you realize you can't remember how your newborn smelled, or what it felt like to nurse him when he weighed just seven pounds. Suddenly you have a toddler. An independent, silly, clumsy, I-can-do-it-myself toddler. I'm not sure I'm ready for this!

Big brother busting in on a nursing sesh

Despite having to fight feelings of sadness, I am so proud of myself for making it almost fourteen months. Believe me when I say that breastfeeding for that long is not easy, especially when you're working full time outside the home.

There were so many days that I had to drag myself to the little conference room that HR let me use to pump. I felt a bit like a dairy cow. There were many times that I squeezed in an extra pumping session before bed, just to be sure my baby would have enough for the next day at daycare.

There was a NICU stay in the very beginning where I couldn't nurse my baby.

A lactation consultant who said within earshot that I may not be able to do this.

A hospitalization at 5 weeks for RSV, when I stayed by my baby's side day and night so that he could nurse on demand.

I had so many opportunities to throw in the towel and quit. And it would have been fine if I had just given in.

But I didn't.

I pressed on, wanting so badly to be able to provide my baby with breastmilk, wanting to prove to myself I really could do it.

And we did it.

At the end, I thought every time might be the last time. Reid was clearly not getting much milk anymore, and he wouldn't nurse for long. Still, knowing that our breastfeeding journey was nearing its end, I savored those moments with my baby. I snuggled him close and rocked him. At one point, I looked down at him when he unlatched himself and asked "are we done?" he smiled and said "all done." Oh, sweet baby. Please don't grow up too fast.

Guest Post: Do You Want to Go Play in the Thomas Bed?

“Do you want to go play in the Thomas (the train) bed?” is a question I am asked by my 3 year old son, Colin, a few times daily. And my response is almost always a resounding “Yea! Let’s go!”. Normally, it involves a game of pretend where we hide under the covers and talk about which animals may be wandering near us. For example, I’ll say, “oh my goodness…I think I hear a big bear!” and he’ll smile from ear to ear pretending that he heard the same. And I’ll say to him, do you wanna check and see if it’s close? He peeps out the covers and will make that judgment…”oh, it’s a BIG one!”. Then we’ll decide: should we hide and let him pass or “bam” him and make him go away? It’s a silly game, but he loves it so much that he’d rather do that than just about anything. 

Do I love it? Not necessarily. But I tell ya what I do love is the fact that I’m bonding with my son. I love that he loves it. And I take joy in knowing that we’re building a foundation, a relationship that starts at the most simple level. Playing pretend in his room.  As an adult, playing with your kids isn’t going to be the most stimulating thing for you and sometimes you’re going to be tired and you won't want to get out of your chair and stop watching Sports Center…especially when you KNOW they're about to show the highlights from the MNF game where Cam Newton broke 4 tackles in a sick 38 yard run for a TD....*ahem*…But as a man, and as a father you have the responsibility not to just discipline your children or be an authority figure (not singularly but one of two) but to show them love in the most sincere way possible. Let them see that you truly love them and you enjoy spending time with them. And to them, for now at least, that may be spending time playing in the “Thomas bed” hiding from pretend lions.

Many thanks to my darling husband, Justin, for this post. Love you, babe.

A Milestone Every Minute

When you have two young children, it seems there is a milestone every minute. Just within the last couple weeks, Colin has become potty trained and Reid has started walking all over the place. Both changes seemed to happen almost overnight. As we learned the hard way last night, Colin does still need a pull-up at night, but he seems to be completely potty trained during the day. Yesterday he went into Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby, and stayed dry in his underwear the entire time. It was amazing! I can hear my wallet breathing a sigh of relief, and selfishly, I am thrilled to pieces to only have to change one kid's stinky diapers instead of two.

And as for my sweet Reid.. he is really getting good at walking, but he is still a bit clumsy. Just yesterday he tripped over his own feet in the kitchen, fell flat on his face and got a bloody nose. I panicked, and was probably more stunned than he was, but it stopped after a couple minutes and then he took his bath and started playing like nothing had ever happened. Whew. These kids are going to turn my hair gray before I'm 30.

There have been some family milestones recently, too. We've joined a community group at church, for one. Colin skipped his nap and went a little nuts last week, which was the first meeting, but thankfully the group is led by a couple with four young daughters, so toddler tantrums and potty training aren't new to them. They really are super sweet and I think it will be good for us.

We also had several snow days this week, which is kind of crazy considering we live in South Carolina, where the weather is usually pretty comfortable this time of year. It reminded me of my hometown in Michigan, which was unexpectedly heartwarming.

I'm sure I'm leaving some things out, but I'm tired since Reid woke me up at 5 (and Colin woke up soaked in pee in the middle of the night) so I'll just show you the past week in pictures. Have a great week, friends!

1 - Commuting to work in the rain, the day before snowpocalypse.

2 - Babies in the tub. They almost always take baths together.

3 - We got about 3 inches of snow and ice this week!

4 - Thumbs up for Colin's first day in underwear with no accidents!!

5 - Snowy sunrise in our backyard. The snow and ice sparkled in the light.

6 - A rare moment of quiet play time.

#CatchTheMoment365 Week 5

I know I've been slacking on the "real" posts lately, but things have been so crazy that I feel like telling stories through pictures is about the best I can do at the moment. :) One day this week, something so awesome happened that I had to take a quick video instead of a still photo. Enjoy!

1 - When the kids are finally both in bed, all I want to do is sit and not move.

2 - Reid was my grocery buddy this week. He got a sugar cookie!

3 - Traffic on the way to work. I'm a commuter and spend a lot of time in the car.

4 - This is the face of a boy who was not kind at daycare one day, so he had to wait for his Little Caesars breadstick until we got home instead of eating it in the car. Bless his heart.

5 - Waiting for banana bread to finish baking!

6 - Reid climbs on top of everything. This is new territory and I don't think I like it.

And, without further ado... Reid's new trick! Ahh!!

More to come. ♥