ME Time!

So last week was a bit of a struggle fest around here. Kenley got sick - there was a fever, lots of coughing, so much mucus she barfed and very little sleep. We've been incredibly blessed that Kenley has never really been sick, in fact, this is probably the most sick she's ever been. I thought so often last week about the mamas who have terminally ill children or babies with sicknesses far worse than a bad cold and I honestly don't know how they do it. Of course, when your kiddo is sick, you rally. You do what needs to be done to get them better as fast as possible in the most loving way as possible. I'm sure that's the case for any mom whether it's a head cold or cancer. But having a sick kiddo is tough and exhausting and believe me when I say that I said a lot of prayers for those mamas with truly sick kids because it's hard to imagine how tough that would really be. 

While I was trying to remain grateful and count my blessings, I was also on the verge of checking into a hotel {not kidding}. I too started to feel under the weather and being that I am growing a human while caring for a sick human, I kind of lost my marbles. Kenley and I didn't leave the house for 4 days except for a 20 minute sidewalk chalk episode on the patio which resulted in a coughing fit because of chilly weather. I was exhausted and stir crazy and not feeling so hot and I needed OUT. Thankfully, my husband can see the implosion happening from a mile away and got through his work day super quickly to spend the whole afternoon with Kenley so I could do whatever it was that I wanted! I very seriously considered just sleeping the whole afternoon but knew that if I was at home it would likely not result in rest. And so...I got myself a coffee, got a new hairdo {6 inches gone and that postpartum regrowth is now FINALLY mixed in!!!}, got a little pedicure along with a manicure and did a little shopping. 

As if all that wasn't awesome enough, I also had plans to meet up with my high school girlfriends for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Rosa Mexicano, and a comedy show. We all grew up in a city called Edina {for those of you non-local readers, for those of you locals go ahead and call me a cake eater, it doesn't bug me} and there is a comedy show currently running that makes fun of our hometown. Edina is known for being a relatively wealthy part of town {though not everyone is filthy rich - believe me!} and gets a lot of flack and stereotypes as a result. The show was pretty funny - a little dumb, very silly, but we were definitely cracking up.  It really was making fun of wealthy housewives as a whole BUT there were some Edina specific one-liners in there that made the show for us. It was a perfectly refreshing girls night and a great way to spend some time out of the house.

As a busy mama it's so easy to let "you time" fall to the wayside, but it's so important! If mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy, right?????

31 things for my 31st year.

I ended my 30th year on the planet with a BANG and want to keep that excitement and momentum going throughout my 31st year. I've decided to put together a little bucket list of 31 goals and ideas I'd like to see through during my 31st year - some big and some small. Basically, consider this a jump start on my 2015 resolutions!

1. Go on a tropical vacation.
2. Bring Kenley to the zoo.
3. Stand with my best friend on her wedding day. 
4. Walk {or run?} the 3 lake loop {Calhoun, Isles & Harriet for you locals}.
5. Donate hair to Locks of Love.
6. Clock 350 running miles.
7. Read 15 books.
8. Grow blog to 1,000 followers. 
9. Meet Erin. 
10. Read Dave Ramsey's book and follow his get out of debt plan.
11. Anonymously pay for a stranger's coffee. 
12. Design & print our Family Yearbooks.
13. Spend a day in Stillwater. 
14. Visit my family in Colorado. 
15. Call my grandparents once a week. 
16. Host a dinner party. 
17. Attend a yoga workshop.
18. Go on a super fun date with my hubby.
19. Try a new Minneapolis restaurant.
20. Do something spontaneous.
21. Treat our parents to dinner.
22. Start saving for a house.
23. Go to a Gopher away game.
24. Do something extra fun with my girlfriends. 
25. Go on a Mother/Daughter date with Kenley.
26. Give up something really hard for lent.
27. Go for a run in Central Park.
28. Make a Big Fat Greek dinner on my own.
29. Climb a mountain. 
30. Run a half marathon.
31. Maybe, just maybe, starting thinking about Baby #2.

I'll keep you posted throughout the year on how I'm doing, but for now, I'd better get to work! 

breaking point

This is one of those sit at the keyboard and let it all out kind of posts, so I apologize if it does not flow or isn't grammatically correct. I assure you I haven't been drinking, just need a way and a place to clear my head. 

I've recently had one of those days moms joke about, ya know the ones where all you want to do is lock yourself in the bathroom with a pint of gelato and cry/ignore everyone and everything.

It was a perfect storm of chaos and frustration that has been building up for a while. 

For one, I have a two-year-old. Kenley is a great kid and I am so proud of how well-behaved and self-sufficient she is. However, she is two. She needs to be entertained, she knows what she wants, and she doesn't yet understand that she doesn't always get everything she wants right when she wants it. She is also very much testing the waters to see what she can and cannot get away with. I love her SO MUCH! And love spending time with her SO MUCH! But sometimes being the mama of a toddler is taxing and tiring!

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Additionally, this two year old has a lot of stuff. And I have a lot of stuff. And Jason has a lot of stuff. Our townhouse is not all that big and it seems that our stuff just keeps multiplying and expanding and taking over. I find myself getting easily overwhelmed by the mess and the clutter. 

On top of that I am working multiple "mini-jobs" as I like to call them. I love what I am doing and love the mix of out-of-house-work and working-from-home but I don't have a schedule. Every week is different, in fact every day is different. Combine that with the fact that Jason is in sales and has a very varying schedule along with relying on my busy family for her care when Jason and I are both working away from home makes me go a little nutty. I feel like I am doing all of these things and not doing any of them well. 

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I have also lost all motivation to eat healthy & work out. I have not only been fluctuating between the same dang 5 pounds since June which is uber discouraging but I am totally an emotional eater so I've been making poor choices to cope with my inability to get my shit together. On top of that I have broken BOTH of the FitBit bands that came with my FitBit and my stupid Tory Burch one doesn't clasp right so it always falls off and therefore I am too afraid to wear it. I'm not making time to work out because I am just not motivated to do it. Meal planning has pretty much been out the window and therefore scrounging and eating random crap has become the norm around here.

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All my goals, plans, ideas, etc. seem to just be slipping because I am too overwhelmed by the big picture and just shut down as a result. 

As I read this back, I realize I sound like I am both complaining and making a ton of excuses, but that certainly is not my intent. I LOVE my life. This is me just finally hitting that breaking point and realizing that I need to do something to make this lifestyle work for me and my family so that I don't get so easily stressed and overwhelmed. Like I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I am bad at baby steps, but figuring out how to implement some baby steps and every day habits to work towards an overall goal of not being a basket case just needs to happen.

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side note: I added the ecards after writing the post and found all of them in one of my Pinterest boards. If you have a "Funnies" board where you keep all the funny stuff you come across, go look at it after a rough day! It totally helps! 

I will leave you with this because it has absolutely NOTHING to do with this post or my life but made me laugh out loud for like 5 straight minutes. 

"Chicken Strip"

The Best Big Sister

Nope, this isn't announcement. Sorry to disappoint. 

Recently, Kenley and I have had the pleasure of spending time with Sebastian, the six-month-old adorable son of my buddy Sara. This time with two kiddos has given me much hope that eventually life with another little one will be fantastic. 

Kenley is so sweet with Bas. She watches his every move, gets concerned when he cries and makes sure he always has a toy. The thing that really surprised me is how patient she is. She lets me give Bas his bottle, put him down for a nap or change his diaper without needing attention. She watches and even helps but never asks me for a thing.

Of course, we are only with Bas for a few hours at a time and things will probably be quite a but different when there is a babe around 24 hours a day, but watching her with him has really made me realize that Kenley will be the best big sister!

I'm not quite ready to give up Kenley being my only baby, but when the time is right, I think Kenley is ready.

what is wrong with this picture???

Postpartum Hair Loss

Hooray! What a fun topic...NOT!

Approximately 6 months after Kenley was born {also when I stopped breastfeeding} my luscious pregnancy hair started to come out in massive clumps. I have always had a ton of hair and have always been a big time shedder, so while it was gross and annoying I wasn't overly alarmed. Plus, I'd heard of this sort of thing happening, so I just went with it.

And then my sweet little nugget got to the hair grabbing stage and unintentionally ripped out what felt like large amount of hair from the front of my head.

Then at about 11 months postpartum, all these lost hairs started to regrow giving me these fun little fly-aways that just could.not.be.tamed.

I loved getting feedback that I wasn't alone and reading your ideas for how to expedite the regrowth process but I'm going to honest, I didn't do a dang thing. And now I really, really regret that.

Here I am today, 22 months postpartum and my cute little regrowth looks like this:

And that goes ALL THE WAY AROUND MY HEAD!
{also, black bra + white tank = super classy}

I have pretty much been self conscious and insecure about my hair for the past year and a half. I have to very masterfully style it to cover up the crazy regrowth and prevent myself from looking like a mushroom head since the top half of my hair is now twice as thick as the bottom. I also have to wear a thick headband every time I pull my hair in to a pony tail because this regrowth doesn't yet fit all the way back but is long enough that it sticks out weird from my headband.

I feel really shallow even talking about this as I know so many people deal with serious diseases that cause hair loss and this is such a minor problem in the scheme of the world. But, I also know there are a lot of mamas out there who are feeling insecure about A LOT of different things postpartum and hair loss is definitely one of them.

You are not alone mama!

So what do we do? Well, I talked to my Auntie Tina who has been a hair stylist for 36 years and has owned her own premier salon in Arkansas for 15 years. She told me that on average, adults lose 100 hairs a day. Boys included! So next time your man gives you grief for hair in the drain let him know he sheds just as much but his hair is so much shorter it's way less noticeable. Anyways, when we are pregnant, as all us mamas know, the babe sucks every single ounce of everything from us to grow big and strong. Once those hormones level out and you are no longer pregnant {or breastfeeding} all those 100 hairs a day you didn't lose feel the need to make up for lost time and therefore we shed BIG TIME. Unfortunately, there isn't a TON you can do to prevent or help it. You can try supplements, vitamins and products to help speed up hair growth and some may work and help but for the most part you can count on your hair growing 1/2 inch each month.

After consulting with my go-to hair professional, I booked myself an appointment to get a fresh trim to keep my hair healthy and growing and also a new style to help cover up some of this nonsense.

A Look Back at August

I learned something about myself while attempting to accomplish my long list of August goals....I have NO problem accomplishing the "Fun" category.

Here's a look at how I did {pink means big fat fail, btw}...

 

• Take advantage of my super cute blog planner from Breezy Organization to plan/brainstorm posts 
• Post EVERY week day in August {woah!}
• Clean out mama and mou inbox {currently 506 emails - yikes!} I was able to get my inbox from 506 to 55! I consider this a big win! 
• Catch up on blog reading! 

 

• Attend/plan an Essential Oils event I'll be sharing more about this next week, but I hosted and Intro to Oils event and am officially hooked! 
• Meal Plan & Grocery Shop EVERY week
• Run a 5k
• Train for the 5k {3 runs a week?}
• Find time for at least 4 yoga classes
• Do a 2-day Zula Juice Cleanse 

 

• Update Budget & Create a financial plan This needed to be done SO bad! Hopefully this will get us back on track with saving & paying off debt!
• Organize photos!!!
• Create a cleaning schedule {and stick to it!}
• Create a work schedule {and stick to it!}
• Set up new laptop for optimum organization {whatever that means} My laptop is up and running. It seemed to take FOREVER to get everything transfered and organized but I did it and it's been a HUGE help. I stole this idea from Pinterest and have loved how effective it's been for keeping my desktop organized.

• Celebrate Scott & Kelly's Shower in Okaboji Done! So fun! It was my THIRD roadtrip to Iowa of the summer {so random} but it was SO.MUCH.FUN. Cannot wait for this wedding in November!

• Celebrate Sarah's Bridal Shower Done! I had such a fun day hanging by the pool with some of my best college girlfriends and celebrating our beautiful bride-to-be {who isn't even in this picture - whoops!}.

• Celebrate Aaron's 30th Birthday Done! It was a beautiful night on the lake celebrating Aaron turning the BIG THREE-OH!

• Celebrate Jason's Birthday Done! There were family dinners, presents, a giant pot pie and mint chocolate chip cupcakes - not to mention he was gone his entire birthday weekend on a wine/golf trip he qualified for through work. Lucky ducky!

• Start a Book Club! Done! I am SO excited about this! My high school girlfriends and I have officially started a book club! We got together to plan/decide all the details of our club and picked our first book - The Woman Who Wasn't There! I am so pumped about this!

• State FairDone! So fun!

• Tim McGraw Concert Done! So fun!

• Kick off Gopher Football!  Done! So fun!

• Start brainstorming ideas/Planning Kenley's 2nd Birthday!!! Not only did I start brainstorming ideas, I got the entire thing planned! I can't wait it's going to be so much fun! 

As for my September goals - I think I am going to just focus on accomplishing all the things I didn't accomplish in August - then get excited for some fresh October goals.

What your September goals?

Baby Bump Bundle {+ a giveaway!}

There must be something in the water because literally every day someone is announcing they are pregnant! I am so excited to have so many friends expecting because as you all know talking about pregnancy and babies is my all time favorite thing ever! One of the more recent initiates in to the mama club is my friend Katie from Keep Calm and Carry On. Katie and I have been blog friends since what feels like forever and when I got a text message with this photo:

I about died!

I knew right away I wanted to send Katie a little something to congratulate her{and big brother Rocky} on this super exciting news and knew a package from Baby Bump Bundle was just the thing!

BumpBundles are care packages featuring handpicked products specifically for expecting mamas {they have nursing, fitness and new baby bundles as well!} at each stage of pregnancy.


Adorable, right?

I opted for the Second Trimester Bundle for Katie and was so impressed when the bundle showed up at my door! The point is to have these bundles delivered right to the mama-to-be, but I wanted to check out the products and add a couple of little things of my own to the bundle first.

The bundle was filled with some amazing products and I have to admit it was a little hard for me not to just keep them for myself {even though I am NOT pregnant}!

Anna Naturals Glowing Mama Face & Body Scrub || Baby Words Green Sonogram Magnet
Sweaty Bands Headband || Mama-to-Be Tea Sampler

I threw in a couple little treats for Big Bro Rockstar, and a onesie & some diapers for baby Camden.

Then sent the package on it's way!

This is FOR SURE my new go-to gift idea for mamas-to-be! Those 9 months are really all about the baby and mama deserves to get some treats and be taken care of too!

My friends over at Baby Bump Bundle have very generously offered to give one of my readers $30 off any bundle {or product!} of their choice! I know that every one of you can think of someone {maybe it's yourself!} who could use a bundle - so enter to win below! Winner announced next Monday!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Perfectly Long Labor Day Weekend

If the purpose of Labor Day is to have a break from work...have a break we did! Our "Labor Day Weekend" kicked off on Tuesday when we headed up to the ranch to visit Jason's mom and step-dad.We went out to dinner, Kenley played in her very own mini-water park and we all had a great time.

Wednesday, Jason and I spent the day at the Minnesota State Fair stuffing our faces with our favorite greasy fair food, drinking beer and walking around wearing a fit bit band with no fit bit in it...yup, awesome.

And then spent our evening with our friends Seth & Alisha and none other than Mr. Tim McGraw.

This was our third time seeing him and I think was my favorite of the three shows. Seriously in love with that man.


We had approximately no time to recover from the concert and the fair because Thursday was the Gopher home opener! We were off for campus promptly at 12:00pm. Our festivities began at our favorite campus restaurant, Tony's Diner, and then moved to Lot 37 just as soon as the lots opened.

My Gophs started off the season with a 42-20 win over Eastern Illinois!!!


Friday, the only plans we had were Jason's fantasy football draft which thankfully didn't involve me, so I got a night at home with my best girl.

Saturday morning, Kenley and I met up with my family for a wonderful day on the boat. It was a beautiful day on the water and Kenley was right at home on the boat - just like her mama.

Sunday we spent the morning at the pool and then had a family lunch with Jason's family to spend time with his sister who was in town from Florida and also to celebrate Jason's younger brother's birthday {sadly, I failed to take a single photo}.

Then Sunday night, because we hadn't packed enough in, we had a fantasy football draft and party in our party room for Jason and his friends. It was just me and the boys and while it was kind of fun to finally see what a fantasy draft is all about, I kind of wanted to poke my eyes out - but overall it was a really fun night hanging out with my favorite boys.

Yesterday was spent doing absolutely nothing. We literally just took turns napping and trying to recover from a wonderful week off!