Week by iPhone – week 18/52

by Kat on May 5, 2012

in Weekly Recap

As you read this, I’m packing up/driving/partying it up (I have no idea what time you’re reading this over there…) for my bff Laura’s Bridal shower and Bachelorette party.  I absolutely cannot wait to give you all the details but since Laura reads my blog and everything is a surprise, I don’t want to give any of it away just yet.  Check back next week for tons of posts and party details!  If you want to see the events as they unfold, follow me on Instagram or Twitter, where I have no doubt I’ll be posting pictures.

In the meantime, here’s a quick recap of our week by iPhone.

1.  Let’s talk about the sense of humor that my kid already has at the ripe age of 15 months.  Her new favorite thing is to point out all her body parts, like her nose.  Here she is with a card of a nose…does it look a little big for her face?  2.  Breakfast on the weekends is a blast – since Peanut eats breakfast at daycare most days, it’s a treat.  3.  Especially since she gets to eat it in her pajamas.  I love this kid.  4.  Sunday Jon and I did some yard work (and need to do a ridiculous amount more).  Peanut actually helped – I’m not even kidding.  She watched for a couple of minutes while I pulled weeds out and put them in the wheel barrel.  Minutes later she was right by my side, pulling little pieces of grass out and then throwing them in the barrel.  It was so stinking cute and surprisingly helpful, I had to stand around for a couple of minutes and stare.  Then get back to work.  After a few minutes, Peanut and I got hungry and had a snack out on the porch while daddy mowed the lawn.  5.  Lunch that day – Peanut is using a toddler fork!  6.  Since she didn’t have a lot of yogurt at breakfast, we gave her some at lunch.  She gobbled it up.  Then smeared it all over her face.  7.  Sunday mornings are laid back in our household – all the “kids” climb into bed.  Travis loves snuggling in bed.  8.  Peanut does too, especially when we get to read her favorite book – Wheels on the bus.  9.  I misplaced this photo – this is Peanut after the yogurt incident.  Guess what I looked like after I picker her up and let her nuzzle me?

10.  Weekday morning – a little Peanut in our bed.  Doesn’t she look so tiny in there?  Seriously, she is too cute.  She snuggles in our bed, has her bottle, reads some books while we get ready for the day.  11.  Wheels on the bus. 25 times.  I think I lost my voice that morning.  12.  My ruffle shirt (check out the Life Well Lived post I did earlier this week about dressing for your size and shape).  13.  This has been my breakfast lately – fruit, Greek yogurt, and some granola.  It’s delicious, nutritious, and keeps me full until lunch.  14.  After work one day, P playing in the basement while mommy gets some stuff together.  15.  It didn’t last long, she wanted to go outside – but it was cold and raining.  16.  Part of our morning routine (after we get dressed while P has a bottle, get P dressed, and play or read a book) Peanut gives Travis a treat and lets him go in his crate.  Then we play catch-the-baby-and-get-a-coat-on-her (seriously, why is it still so cold here?) and head out the door.  The end.  17.  I wasn’t kidding when I said I need new shoes.  This is one of my last pairs and they’re super scuffed.  I have no idea why.  18.  Thursday morning – our little Peanut drinking her bottle in our bed.

19.  Daddy feeding his little baby before bed.  A couple of comments here (a) this is actually a sippy cup top on a sippy that looks like a bottle.  It’s our mini victory and (b) until this week Peanut was only all about mommy.  It seems the tide has changed.  I’m very happy because I love watching these two cuddle up together or the way she runs up and gives him a kiss, but a part of me is selfishly wondering why I’m not the favorite.  20.  Peanut trying on mom’s shoes – daddy is nervous already.  21.  Friday morning, photobombed while trying to get a cute photo of the kid and I.  22.  We let Jon take a picture with us – I love these two.

I’m linking up with Amy at A Good Life Blog.

{ 5 comments }

Some deep thoughts on working full time, daycare, and toddlers

by Kat on May 4, 2012

in Parenthood, Toddler, Working parent

Peanut is pretty much a full blown toddler these days and I have a few things that I want to talk to you guys about.

A few weeks back Jon and I spent almost a day trying to teach Peanut where her nose is.  We were so proud of ourselves when she touched her nose.  The next day, after picking Peanut up from daycare, we asked her to touch her nose, which she did.  We then asked her to touch her ear, which she did.  And her hair, which she did.  And her eye, which she did.  And her belly, which she did.  Le sigh.  What are the chances that we actually thought her the nose trick?  I’m going with slim to none since there is almost no way that she picked up the rest in one day.

On the one hand I am so proud and so excited to know that our daycare is teaching Peanut all sorts of awesome tricks.  It really solidifies our choice in daycare and I’m excited to watch her grow.

On the other hand, I’m so sad to know that there are going to be many things that we will not teach her.  These aren’t a big deal and I know that there are way wore things for me to consider, like her not learning things at daycare.  But let me just sob in the corner for a minute here as I deal with the fact that someone else taught my kid almost all of her body parts.

(and also how to give a high five…that one I may actually be bitter about)

This actually goes to a few other points that I want to make that all lead to one and the same conclusion – I really need to learn how to let things go.

We decided to stop bringing lunch to day care and let them feed Peanut the same thing that the other kids eat.  I must preface this by saying that I actually reviewed every single meal they have planned within the rotation and spent a lot of time talking to the director at the daycare about making sure that Peanut doesn’t have too much sugar or sodium.  The decision was mostly driven by the fact that Peanut was really dipping in her growth weight scale and the fact that we noticed that she eats better when she has what everyone around her is eating (never underestimate the power of peer pressure).  Let me tell you the teeth grinding that I am doing when I pick up P and she is having a vanilla wafer with the other kids around a table.  It’s a struggle between knowing that this isn’t going to kill her but will indeed help her put on a couple of pounds and my control freak nature.

Hence, I need to learn how to let go.

On the same note, I’m also having a hard time keeping up with the level of home cleanliness within my comfort level.  I’ve gone from vacuuming the house once  a day to once or twice a week.  I know that a dirty house isn’t going to be the thing that I remember looking back, but seeing the dust pile up in the corner of the baby gate gives me anxiety.

Another thing I have to just let go.

Don’t even get me started on the bottle to sippy transition.  I’ve let that one go.

I guess I’m just finally facing the fact that working 40+ hours a week, having a toddler, and still keeping up with all my hobbies that I refuse to let go of will mean letting some things fall off the list.

Our toddler is starting to sprout little teeth – that’s new around here.  I can’t tell you how excited we are to see them (and relieved that we don’t have to wonder if something is wrong) and how much we are looking forward to not cutting all her food into pea-sized squares.  What I am not a huge fan of is all the whining the accompanies growing teeth.

This is where the positives of daycare come in.  It’s actually rather awesome that the daycare has to deal with all the whining during the day and we get to pick up our toddler at the end of the day.  She is usually so excited to see us that there is limited to no whining going on back home.

Another positive that I’ve recently learned about is the fact that daycare will actually teach your kid how to use the potty.  As in, we don’t have to (although it’s encouraged to keep up with it at home as well, which we intend to).  Anyone else think that this is pretty cool?

And that completes my rant deep thoughts for this Friday.

Submitting this one for Favorite photo in April.

{ 19 comments }

Dressing for your size and shape

by Kat on May 3, 2012

in Life Well Lived, My Style


One of the things that I found both amazing and frustrating is the many changes the my body went through from pre-pregnancy to being 41 weeks pregnant to having a baby to breastfeeding to today.  I went from a boy-shape to pregnancy-shape (I’m not even sure what shape that would be – seal?) to post-baby hourglass shape back to a slightly adjusted boy-shape.

I won’t lie to you that I mourned my clothes, stashed away in clear bins under our bed, during the pregnancy.  I had fears that we would never be reunited again, but I secretly hoped that I was wrong.

Aside from worrying about the future, I enjoyed my new pregnancy body – I loved the round belly (and the kicks that went along with it!) and I loved the way I felt – completely secure and confident.  It was amazing that this belly, something that was relatively foreign to me, was making me feel more confident than I’ve ever felt before.

I even had a blast dressing for my new size and finding ways to accent the belly and show off my bump.  During my pregnancy I was a big fan of empire waists, dresses, and boots.

After Peanut was born and I began to breastfeed, my body went through a whole other phase of a shape.  Although I didn’t have the belly after the first few weeks, I was still struggling through a lot of differences in my body – my hips were wider, my chest was bigger, and overall I just felt and looked different.

After a short mourning over my pre-pregnancy jeans, I put them back in the clean bin and pushed them out of sight and under the bed.  That day I went shopping for a new wardrobe and some new work clothes.  Dressing for my new shape was a bit unfamiliar to me – not only was I a couple of sizes above my pre-pregnancy size, but everything just fit different!

To be completely honest with you, I actually liked the way I looked then as well.  There was something very womanly about my new mom shape.

But that didn’t last either.

When I stopped breastfeeding, my body readjusted once again and now I’m back to pretty much my pre-baby shape.  I think there is still a little bit of difference because things don’t exactly fit the exact same way, but it’s pretty darn close.

So how do I dress for my boy-shape?

Ruffles (top from Banana Republic),

cropped jackets (top and jacket from Banana),

skinny jeans (top and jeans from Express),

v-neck dresses (dress from H&M, jacket from  Tahari, well, Marshalls) and lots of scarfs.

How do you dress for your size?

Head on over to Blogher Life Well Lived post and join in on the conversation (and don’t forget to enter in the sweepstakes!)

 

{ 12 comments }

Guest post: Talk of Trains

by Kat on May 2, 2012

in Guest posts

Hi yall!! I am Lauren from Talk of the Trains. I am southern born and southern bred and I live in Georgia with my husband {CT3}, my 19-month-old {Anne Margaret} and my yellow lab {Champ}. I love photography, food, Starbucks, running, wedding planning and coordinating, DIY/craft projects, Jesus, traveling, watching the Bachelor and Little Debbie Zebra Cakes. I work part time and am at home with my little one the rest of the week.

 

 

I have been blogging for almost four years now and I started because my husband and I had just gotten married and I needed a creative outlet. Over the years my blog has gone from crazy stories about when I showed up for an old lady’s water aerobics class and the time I took a clogging lesson, to reminiscing about wedding planning and décor, to fantasizing over another honeymoon, to the birth and documentation of our first born child {my dog} and my first born girl {Anne Margaret}.

 

Currently, my family is going through a bit of a transition as my husband just took a new job {he manages a team making potato chips and works a gazillion hours a week}, I will be taking on a new job this fall, my Dad has just gone through a fight with cancer {currently blogging about this} and our family will be expanding this November…shhhh! I haven’t even announced it on my own blog yet!!!

All of that to say, though we have had lots of ups and downs – more ups than downs – blogging has been really therapeutic for me. It allows me to put my thoughts on paper, explore my creative side, post pictures and give our families and friends a way to keep up with our lives. On top of all of that, I have met some fabulous imaginary friends through it, like Kat!

I am not sure how I initially stumbled upon Kat’s blog. I think I may have seen a comment that she posted on someone else’s blog and then clicked the link {so commenting is a good thing for finding friends and us bloggers do love hearing from folks!}. I remember that one of the first ever posts that I read was their engagement story.  I remember how Jon was getting ready to propose while Kat thought it was time for some fun and showed up blindfolded and in her birthday suit. I laughed hysterically at the post and from then on out, I was hooked.

I was intrigued by Kat because of her boldness and fun loving spirit and as I got to know her via blog land I fell in love with her Russian food and accent and her little family! As I followed her, I watched her pregnancy announcement, her belly grow and then anxiously awaited from afar to read that Peanut had made her grand entrance into the world! Our kids are a few months apart so it’s nice and fun to hear/know what other mommy’s in similar stages of life are doing!

Many of you other bloggers out there are that same connection or friend for someone else out there so I encourage you, even if you are just doing it for yourself, to keep on doing it! There are people out there who love sharing your story and you never know when the words you post will really speak to or help someone!

As I was writing this post, I tried to think of something fun or a tip that I could leave you with….I feel like that’s what all guest bloggers do, right?! Well, I stink at cooking and I am not in shape so it seemed as if a recipe post or a fitness tip were out of the question.  The only thing that I could literally think of was to tell you was about photography and when taking pictures “get in tight, be way close to and focus on your subject.” …then I realized that I am not a good photographer and that no one should be taking tips from a girl who shoots mostly with her cell phone – though I do have a fancy mom camera – so that seemed lame too!!

Then it dawned on me. My absolute favorite thing to do and something fun that I could share with yall is how I have combined my love of scrap booking and blogging! So, in the spirit of creativity, blog land, reminiscing, enjoying our kids and family, one thing I wanted to mention you is how at the end of each year, I turn my blog into a scrap book. Obviously, if you are blogging, you are already documenting your life and turning it into print makes a fun coffee table and a great way to go back and share fun family stories. I just make mine an annual thing and I have great books telling pictures and stories of the things my little family has done and experienced!

There are many programs online that you can actually just download and sync your blog to, adjust a few pictures and text and voila! Its one of my favorite things to do and I cant tell you how much my husband and I have loved to flip back through the pages of the few that I have done and just relive our lives and remember our story. I use a program called Blurb {google it} and the quality is fabulous and its pretty inexpensive and has lots of creative liberties. You just download it to your computer and turn your blog into a book!

Anyway, special shout out to Kat today for letting me be a guest blogger and for her being an awesome person. Come leave me a comment at Talk of the Trains so that I can follow you and add you to my reader!

{ 4 comments }

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