Lucky Baby

May love and laughter
Fill your heart and home.

May good friends be yours,

Wherever you may roam.

May peace bless your world

With joy that endures.
May all life's seasons

Bring the best to you and yours!

May your pockets be heavy- 

Your heart be light 

And may good luck pursue you
Each morning and night.

May your home be filled with laughter 

Your pockets with gold
And may you have all the happiness
Your Irish heart can hold.

May good luck be your friend 

In whatever you do
And may trouble be always
A stranger to you.

Like the warmth of the sun

And the light of the day, 

May the luck of the Irish 

Shine bright on your way. 

May your blessings outnumber 

The shamrocks that grow
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

May all the love and protection 

Saint Patrick can give 

Be yours in abundance 

As long as you live.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

5 on Friday - Volume 12

 ONE.  A few weeks ago I took a huge leap of faith and asked my boss if I could go down to part-time at work.  It was a momentous decision for me and one that I spent a lot of time thinking about and praying over.  If you'll recall, going back to work after I had Mac was hard, but within a few weeks, we fell into a nice routine and we all adjusted very well.  Of course I missed him terribly during the day, but I felt like I got a lot of great quality time with him in the evenings and on weekends.  I'd take vacation days during the week and we'd spend time together.  As he got older (and started sleeping better), it even became easier.  We'd meet up for lunch and music class during the workweek.  I enjoyed my job and my time away and felt like I was doing pretty well with work/life balance.  

And then came Mim and turned our world upside down. Going back to work after maternity leave this last time was completely different.  I was no longer worried about whether she'd be safe during the day, I was worried about missing out on everything while I was away.  I think after the first child I realized how true those cliches are about how fast it all flies by.  I blinked and I had a 2 year old - I didn't want that to happen again.  She was my last baby...I wanted to soak up every moment I could. Suddenly what little free time I had was now split between two children and I didn't feel like either one of them was getting enough quality time.  The more time I spent with them, the more time I wanted with them.  I no longer felt like I could handle it all. Whatever work/life balance I had before was completely gone.  I felt like I was drowning at work, couldn't concentrate, didn't want to be there. My mind and heart were somewhere else. I started making stupid mistakes at work that I never would have made before and I knew it was only a matter of time before something had to give.  

So I sucked up my pride and asked for a modified schedule.  Honestly, it felt like admitting defeat.  I've been stuck in that "I can do/have it all" mentality for such a long time, that it felt like a slap in the face to realize that maybe I can't really do it all.  Or maybe I can, but it's not going to all get done well and I'm going to be miserable trying to keep my head above water.  Luckily, I have a great boss and work for a company that is willing to let me give this a shot.  I'm now 80%, which means I have one day a week (Wednesdays) off to spend with the kids. I'm slightly terrified that this might be career suicide or a slippery slope, but I will admit that it's fantastic!  

One day a week might not sound like a huge difference, but it's a HUGE difference.  It's only been two weeks, but I've already noticed a major improvement in my attitude, patience and stress level at work and home.  During my days in the office I can concentrate on my work now and not feel so overwhelmed about missing the kids because I know I have a full day with them all to myself soon.  And I've also noticed an improvement in Mac's attitude and feelings towards me.  I spent my first day off with him and gave him my full attention all day and that made such a difference in his behavior.  Suddenly he was asking for me to give him a bath, not daddy.  That hasn't happened in months!  I know this was the right move for me and my family.  It took me a long time to get here, but I know that no matter what happens with my career, I'll never regret spending this time with my family.

TWO.  If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the announcement that I'm going to be a Product Scout for Savvy Sassy Moms.  I'm thrilled to be working with such a great company and an awesome group of moms.  I'll be periodically reviewing new baby, kid and family products that I think you'll love, both on the SSM website and this blog.  I'll also be participating in some really great giveaways and contests (we just gave away an awesome Joovy stroller), so make sure you're following me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for announcements.  

THREE. In the last week, Mim has turned into an eating machine! She can't shovel the food into her mouth fast enough!  She loves everything.  Yesterday I gave her a chunk of steak and she chewed/sucked on it for 45 minutes and I had to pry it out of her cold clammy claws to get her out of her high chair.  She can take down a strawberry in under a minute.  Whole bananas!  It's insane!  Baby Led Weaning for the win!

FOUR. I might be addicted to baby moccasins.  Maybe.  Is there a support group or something?

FIVE.  I finally bit the bullet and signed up for Stitch Fix.  I know, I know...I'm way late to the party. I blame this on being old and totally not hip any more.  So my first box showed up a week ago and it was amazing!  I don't know why I waited so long to try this.  Polka dots and stripes and pants that actually fit.  Consider me impressed.

Brag on Dad Guest Post

I'm out of town today, but just wanted to let you know that I'm guest posting over at Always Painted, Usually Chipped as part of Kary's awesome Brag on Dad series.  I love gushing about my amazing husband, so head on over and try not to puke.  I laid it on pretty thick...I'm hoping to get a spa day out of this.  Or maybe just a nap.  Anyway, go check it out...preview below.

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We started trying for a family pretty soon after we got married.  A year into the process with no luck, things started getting intense.  Anyone that's battled infertility knows just how hard it can be on your marriage.  I wanted a baby so badly that it ruled my life, thoughts and actions.  My biological clock felt more like a ticking time bomb that had me in a constant state of panic and hysteria.  Not to mention that I was being pumped full of hormones and was poked, pricked and prodded by doctors like a lab rat.  Needless to say, I was a mess. But through it all, my husband was my rock.  

I can't speak for all men, but I don't think that guys feel the intense pressure of wanting a family like women do and oftentimes can't relate to the intense and overwhelming feelings we have on the subject.  My husband had a hard time understanding why the sight of a pregnant woman would send me into a panic attack or a why someone's Facebook post complaining about bratty children would make me cry hysterically.  I'm not going to lie you guys, he put up with a lot!  And yet he was sensitive and comforting and accepting through it all.  He never pressured me or made me feel like it was my fault.  He held my hand at doctor's appointments and laid next to me while I cried myself to sleep at night after another negative pregnancy test.  He always let me know that even if we couldn't have a baby, we would be fine and happy and become parents in some other way.  

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Thanks for having me, Kary!  

Full text of guest post here.

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt for Kids

This past weekend we had our first taste of warm weather after weeks of freezing temperatures and snow.  It was glorious!  Hello Spring...where have you been all my life?  Ironically, Ryan and I were dying to get the kids out of the house and play, while all Mac wanted to do was stay in the basement and play basketball and sticker book.  Poor child has been brainwashed by us over the last couple months to want to be inside.  But after much coaxing and bribing, I finally convinced Mac that it would be fun to go outside and have a neighborhood scavenger hunt.  

Last summer before Mim was born, I made a little printable scavenger hunt to help entertain Mac and get him out of the house while the baby and I were stuck inside.  I found cute pictures of all kinds of things I knew he could find in our neighborhood (just on our street) and laid them out in an easy to identify format for a toddler.  I gave him a bucket (to collect anything he wanted to keep) and a marker to cross off all the things he finds, to give him a sense of accomplishment (because we all love crossing items off our list, right?).  He played this a few times with my mom and our nanny over the summer and fall and loved it, but I never had a chance to play with him or take any photos.  So while Mim was napping on Saturday, out we went!  

The items on our scavenger hunt are all things a toddler or preschooler should be able to find in any suburban midwest neighborhood or park (with a little help from an adult, of course).  If you're in a big city, the country, the desert or the beach, these might not all be as easy to find.  Although I'm sure you could come up with other items to substitute out and modify this concept for your particular location.  

There are 48 items on the list, but Mac's never really had the time (or attention span) to find them all. Sometimes he'll just try to find the things on one page. Sometimes he only finds a few items on each page.  Sometimes he gets completely distracted and ends up doing something else entirely.  And that's fine too!  This is just a starting point to get him outside and exploring.  

Obviously, some of the items on our list are harder to find during cold weather than they will be this summer. We didn't find any dandelions or pink flowers. We didn't see any butterflies or grasshoppers. But that really didn't seem to bother Mac at all.  It's more about the exploring and the adventure of the hunt that makes it fun.  What surprised me most was that some of the items on the scavenger hunt that were easy to find were less fun for him.  He had no problem finding rocks or sticks or leaves, so that wasn't as exciting as it was to find something that we had to really look/hunt for.  He spent a lot of time digging in the flower bed looking for a roly poly (we never found one).  We sat at the end of our street for a good 10 minutes watching cars drive by and waiting for a red truck (we never saw one).  This showed incredible patience and determination from him that completely impressed me.  Had we done this last summer, I think the results would have been much different (more interested in the instant gratification of finding the easy things), which makes this a great activity for kids of all ages and one that can played for years.  

Of course, his attention span is still pretty short so we had to throw in some other fun activities like follow the leader and red light/green light as we played.  We also did lots of jumping and chasing and snowball throwing, which makes for a pretty great day in our book.  I definitely didn't want this to be all work.  But I think he had fun - he asked me that night when we could do it again.  Anytime, kiddo!

Have you ever done a Scavenger Hunt with your kids?

Click HERE for the printable.

Baby Mim - 6 & 7 Months

*Thank you all so much for your wonderful and kind comments, prayers, thoughts and sentiments on my last post about Mally.  Our hearts are broken, but the love and support we've received from family and friends has made it a bit easier on us.  Thank you.

Dear Mim,

You are now seven months old.  SEVEN MONTHS.  Where is the time going?!  I'm completely baffled by how it's even possible that over half a year has gone by since you were born.  Wasn't I just pregnant?  I feel like weeks fly by quicker than I can register, as evidenced by the fact that I didn't even get your SIX month post finished and here it is nearly two weeks into your seventh month.  So, I'm just going to throw this post together in the hopes that I can adequately cover what's been going on with you before eight months sneaks up on me.  Oh, where do I even begin?

I think it's pretty safe to say that over the last two months, you've really matured.  All of a sudden you have opinions and love to express them!  Particularly about who is holding you.  If you want someone other than the person who's arms you're currently in, you make it known to the entire neighborhood.  My quiet easy-going baby demands to be heard!  You also express yourself very loudly when it comes to getting other things you want, like your bottle, food and toys.  I thought Mac was going to be the loud one in the house, but you're giving him a run for his money (or maybe you are just learning from the best). 

Your physical appearance is also quickly changing.  At your 6 month well-visit you were 18 pounds (75th percentile) and nearly 28 inches long (95th percentile). You are packing on the thigh rolls and getting cuter by the day.  You are bigger and longer than your brother was at this age. You're in 9 month clothing and size 3 diapers.  You are finally getting some hair, but mostly fuzzy stuff on the sides.  It looks light brown or reddish blonde, depending on the light.  You still feel like a peanut compared to Mac now, but I'm amazed at how long you look in the mirror when I'm holding you and how strong you are these days. About a week before you turned 6 months you got your first tooth - your bottom front right tooth. You hadn't slept well for weeks before it happened, so we were thrilled once it finally broke through.  Less than a week later, you had the other bottom front tooth and since then you've been happy as a clam and sleeping MUCH better.  

And speaking of sleep, you're doing really great (knock on wood).  You usually go to bed around 6:30 p.m. and sleep until about 6:00 a.m. with one wake-up/feed at 11:00 p.m.  That's not too shabby kiddo.  We'd love it if you would stay up an hour later and sleep an hour later, but we're not complaining too much, since we know it could be much worse.  I'm hoping to keep you on the exact same schedule with no adjustment for daylight savings next weekend, in the hopes that it will work out for us.  Fingers crossed.  Occasionally you'll wake up in the middle of the night and want to play (or cry), but you can usually put yourself right back to sleep without our help.  We've been trying to not go in your room to give you some time to work on your self-soothing, something that we never did with your brother (to our own detriment).  And sometimes in the morning you get up WAY earlier than we're ready and we'll give you a paci and turn on the little fish tank toy in your crib and you will chill out for a while just watching that.  It's great.  Napping is another story.  You seem to nap fine for the nanny during the week (2 naps, 1-2 hours each), but you refuse to nap much longer than 20 minutes on weekends or when your dad and I are home. I think it's because you miss us and don't want to miss out on anything.  By Monday you are always ready for us to go back to work so you can catch up on your daytime snoozing.  

You also started eating solids at 6 months.  We are doing Baby Led Weaning again and it's going much slower this time around.  You do not have the voracious appetite for any/every thing like your brother did.  You try things here and there, but until very recently, you haven't really been very interested.  I'm struggling with remember what to feed you and extra paranoid this time around about gagging/choking (thanks infant CPR class), so we've been going slow.  So far you've tried pears, apples, plums, nectarines, bananas, bagels, carrots, celery, cucumbers, mango and bread.  And by "tried" I mean, you've gummed them and then threw them on the floor.  We're getting there.  We are just now finishing up our frozen breastmilk supply and have started you on formula.  You don't seem to really mind it much, which is good.  You usually take 4-5 bottles at day (6-8 oz each), with one middle of the night bottle (8 oz).  

At seven months, you are just now sitting up (tripod) by yourself for any length of time.  You sometimes get distracted and fall over, but for the most part, you seem to get it.  You can push up completely when you're on your belly, but you've shown no signs of trying to crawl.  You really don't want to sit or lie down at all, you insist on standing and bouncing.  I sometimes wonder if you're going to skip crawling completely and just go straight to walking.  I wouldn't be surprised. Your brother was crawling and pulling up by 7 months (over-achieving first child), which you're not ready for at all.  I'm not sure if that's just because you have no interest in that or because you'd much rather be held (or you're held by default as we're chasing Mac around the house all the time). Who knows.  But I'm certainly not in any hurry for you to be mobile.  I love carrying you around and I'm not ready to have 2 of you on the loose in the house.  If you want to wait until you're 2 years old to crawl or walk, that'd be fine with me!

As I mentioned earlier, you have certainly found your voice these days and love to express yourself. You scream at the top of your lungs when you're not getting what you want or if we're not paying adequate attention to you (not a scream/cry, more like you just yell at us...very loudly).  No sign of words yet, but you do babble a lot, mostly "nanananana."  You also love to growl, which is hilarious. You have this deep weird growling noise that you make all the time.  We call you our little lion.  You and I go back and forth growling at each other and then laughing about it.  You love to laugh, too!  You might just have the greatest laugh ever.  I tickle you all the time and play peek-a-boo with you to get laughs, but no one can make you laugh like your brother.  He doesn't even have to do anything funny and you crack up.  You absolutely worship him and love any attention that he gives you, even if it's negative.  But you also crack up and think it's hilarious when he cries, which I find adorable.  The louder he is, the funnier you think it is, and the madder he gets about it.  Oh, siblings are the best. 

Your personality continues to shine and I love getting to know you more as the months go by. You are so happy!  You wake up happy, you go to bed happy, you're almost always happy! You're also so sweet and snuggly - you love to be held and cuddle.  You are much better at independent play than Mac ever was (or still is), but you also love being part of the action and let it be known when you're being left out.  You love watching TV, which is foreign to me, since Mac has never really been into watching for more than a minute or two.  Of course we don't really let you watch TV, but if it's on in the room, you're paying attention.  You are also very into music.  Your daddy loves to play music for you, sing to you and play the guitar for you -- you eat it up. Music is one of the only things that will calm you down when you get really upset (overtired).  Bath time is your absolute favorite time of day.  No matter how tired or cranky you are, when I turn the water on and get you ready for bath, you nearly lose your mind.  You kick and splash and have the best time.   

Oh Mim (or "Mimmy," as Mac calls you)...you're just about the greatest thing ever. We are so happy to have you in our family.  You complete us!  Thank you for being such a lovely wonderful baby.  And thank you for being mine.   

Love, 

Your mama

Likes:

- pacifier

- baths

- music

- getting your picture taken

- peek-a-boo

- pulling hair

- screaming

- bouncing

- looking at yourself in the mirror

Dislikes:

- your carseat

- being left out

- being bored

- getting out of the bath

- dirty diapers

- napping on weekends

Mac & Mim @ 6 months

Mac & Mim @ 7 months

Mac - 6 Months

Mac - 7 Months 

My Mally Love

It was with a very heavy heart that I said goodbye to my Mally dog this morning.  Mally's been by my side every day for the last 14 years. She was more than just a dog to me, she was my best friend and first baby. She taught me how to love and how to be a mom.  She was goofy, happy, loving, loyal, proud, obnoxious and opinionated.  She hated the water, but loved to go fishing, camping and to the beach. She loved butt scratches and snow and sneezing.  She loved cheese, chocolate and french fries.  But most of all, she loved me.

I will forever have a Mally-shaped hole in my heart.