mama & mou

Monday, November 11, 2013

mama and mou

Hello everybody! Welcome to mama and mou!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?!

I am so excited about this new blogging adventure and can't believe that after months of planning and organizing this little baby is finally LIVE! Wahoo!

Here's a little bit about me & the concept of this blog to get the ball rolling...

After 5 years of writing my personal blog, I decided it was time to focus on writing about what I loved most and am most passionate about; mucus plugs, spit up and potty training...what I mean is...the beautiful journey to and through motherhood. Though, I really do have an odd fascination with mucus plugs {just ask Carolyn}.

My journey to motherhood started a little differently than I had ever expected. After being diagnosed with endometriosis in high school, I wasn't sure whether or not I would be able to conceive. My doctor was always reassuring but was honest when she told me I'd never know until I tried. Imagine my surprise when on March 2, 2012 I got a positive pregnancy test after not trying at all - as in - complete and total surprise! That positive test, my pregnancy and the birth of my baby girl have forever changed me and have inspired this blog.

From the second I saw those two pink lines, I have been fascinated by all things baby and have found myself craving all the information I can get my hands on. My favorite place to turn has been to other mom bloggers who have been in my shoes and are willing to share their stories and tell the truth - the good, the bad and the ugly {ahem...mucus plugs}. And, so, this lil blog was born. I wanted to create a fun place where moms could come and share their stories and advice and also read the experiences of other mamas.

Behind the name: I am of Greek heritage and growing up I always thought the Greek word for baby was "kouklamou" because that is what I heard my mom, grandma and miscellaneous Greek women {and there were a lot of them} call babies. Turns out "koukla mou" translates to "my doll". "Mou" in Greek means "MY". When my daughter was born my family would use phrases like "koukla mou", "moro mou" {my baby}, "kori mou" {my daughter}, and "Kenley mou" {my Kenley}. Eventually my Kenley was just referred to as "Mou" and it's stuck. We realize how silly it is that her nickname is "MY" but on her it totally works. And so, I have named this blog for me and my baby as well as all the mama's and their "my's" out there.

Thanks to some really fun, smart, creative and sweet mama friends, I have a whole load of great posts ready to share as well as some already archived. So sit back, relax, and start navigating through the site. A big thank you goes out to Whitney from Heart & Arrow for her hard work on the design of this blog!

If you are interested in submitting a post, please check out the
"Submit a Post" page or contact me at mamaandmou@gmail.com

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

An Announcement & Some Changes

I know what you are all thinking....and NO I am not pregnant! I am still perfectly content with and challenged by this one little lovebug.

I've been at a crossroads for a while now when it comes to this blog.

speaking of Crossroads...to whichever sorority sister stole my copy of Crossroads sophomore year - I WANT IT BACK! I love that movie.

Anyways, maybe you have noticed that my posting has been pretty sporadic lately. Usually when a blogger goes MIA it means she's pregnant, which once again, I AM NOT.

When I started this little blog I wasn't even really sure what a blog was. I started by posting updates and pictures of the construction of the coffee shop we were opening so that family and friends both near and far could keep up to date with this exciting time in our life. I didn't care about followers because all I wanted was for people I knew to follow along with the opening of our business.

As time went on I started writing about more personal things. Personal as in what was going on with me and Jason. We were still boyfriend and girlfriend, we had recently moved in together and had a new puggle puppy. I started sprinkling in stories of our social life along with our business life and my family and friends loved being able to keep up with us in this way.

And then the strangest thing happened, strangers started following my blog. And leaving me comments. I started exchanging e-mails with these people and started to read their blogs too. It wasn't long before I learned that blogging wasn't just a hobby it was an entire community full of talented and creative people. My blog went from a journal to a passion in a hurry.

Then I got engaged and got to share wedding planning and my wedding day with my new blog friends. Then I got pregnant and got to share that experience as well. And now we're here. I'm a mom. I blog about being a mom and I read blogs about being a mom.

If you've been following for a while you know that I did a stint as a private blog {twice}. I also changed my URL and shared the new one with only the people I thought I wanted to read my blog. Turns out, blogging without the followers & comments isn't as fun. I've always said this blog was for me and the purpose was to document my life - for me. But any blogger who says they don't care about followers & comments is lying. Please don't take this as a plea for comments or a request for followers - that's not the point. The point is that whether I like to admit it or not, getting comments and readers is what fuels my creativity and my motivation.

But lately the fact that I have no idea who is reading my blog kind of freaks me out. I don't know what is creepier, not knowing what strangers are reading about my life or what people I know in real life that are reading {shout out to any ex-boyfriends or ex-friends that are reading this right now! stalkers.}

Anyways, I had a lot of internal debates on whether to stop blogging, go private, change the purpose of my blog, etc. At the end of the day - I really love blogging. I love all aspects of it. It's my creative outlet. It's a great way to document and remember this fun time in my life. AND, it's been a great way to connect with some really incredible people both like myself and different. It's just not something I am willing to give up. BUT, I do worry about weirdos reading about my life and my daughter. No I don't share my address or phone number but I do share pictures and stories and personal details about our life.

Sorry, I'm starting to ramble.

My announcement is that as of Monday, I will be re-launching this blog as a NEW BLOG! I have been working hard on this and am so excited to share it all with you. It's called "mama & mou" and will be focused on pregnancy, childbirth, babies & motherhood. You may have even noticed the fancy new URL! I'll be continuing to share my personal stories as well as collecting the stories of other blog mamas (and non-blog mamas too). I'm hoping it will be a really fun way for mamas to share and gain information as well as still allow me to share some aspects of my life. For those of you Baby Talk linkers - the link up will be continuing on mama & mou, so make sure to link up every Tuesday!

Starting today through Sunday I will be updating and editing the content and design of my blog - so I apologize in advance for any craziness that occurs.

I'm really excited to see where this new blog goes and I'm even more excited to have some help from my pals. Blogging often takes a backseat in this busy little life, so I'm thrilled that so many wonderful mamas have already volunteered to contribute posts which will help me post more often.

I'm really excited about this and hope you will all continue to follow along!

See ya MONDAY!!!!

So excited!

xo,

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Baby Talk :: Marriage After Baby {+ 2 Years!}

MAMAS! Make sure to link up with me every Tuesday to talk about all things BABY!

It's pretty easy, here's the rules:

{1} Write a post on ANYTHING baby related...pregnancy, parenting, products, stories, advice, you name it!

{2} Grab this button and put it somewhere, anywhere in your post!

{3} Publish your post on Tuesday!
{4} Come back and enter your post in the super neat link-up tool found at the bottom of every Baby Talk post.
{5} Check back and read the other blogs who have linked up!

------

Today marks TWO YEARS since the day I married the love of my life.

Part of me feels like we have been married forever and the other part feels like our wedding was just yesterday - I know that really doesn't make any sense, but it's how I feel.

I thought since today is our anniversary it made sense to share what our marriage has been like since having our baby almost a year ago.

My greatest fear when I was pregnant was what would happen to me and Jason after the baby was born {that along with all the other irrational fears you have when you're with child}. Having a baby is a MAJOR life change and I knew it was inevitable that both me and Jason would change, our relationship would change, our priorities would change and pretty much our whole world would change.

Fast forward to the first few weeks of Kenley's life and I was thinking that I was crazy for ever thinking this would be hard, of course having a brand new baby came with it's challenges, but our relationship was better than ever. Jason was incredible. As you all know, I had a bit of a rough recovery and Jason totally picked up the slack. He took such good care of me and such good care of the house so I could spend 100% of the little energy that I had on taking care of our new roommate.

Fast forward a few more months and I was back to normal {read: I could sit without a doughnut and both sides of my face were fully functioning}, I was back at work and our daily routine was in full swing. This was how our life was going to be for the foreseeable future and I felt completely disconnected from my husband. Between working full-time, taking care of the baby, trying to keep the house clean and having a little bit of fun once and a while there was NO Kristin & Jason time. Sure, we'd be home together and maybe watch TV together. But more often than not, I was watching a show and Jason was on the computer. We were in the same room, exchanging small talk but not really connecting. Most nights I would go to bed before Jason because I had to be up early to get myself and the baby ready for our days. To top it off I was so irritable Everything Jason was doing was driving me crazy. Just little dumb things like mixing his Chipotle for what seemed like 10 minutes before taking a bite. I tried SO hard not to nit-pick or nag but sometimes I just couldn't hold it in. I was so irritated most of the time that I didn't even want to be around him and I'm sure Jason was less than thrilled to hang out with me when he couldn't do anything right in my eyes.

Since those earlier days, we've found our rhythm. I think we make a fantastic team. We both have our responsibilities we take care of and the rest we split up. Our day-to-day life is wonderful and thanks to our incredible parents we are able to spend time away from the baby and have some grown up fun. With so many fun plans we have found a lot of our baby-free time is spent with friends, which is wonderful, but it means we have to work that much harder to spend time just the two of us. And in truth, we definitely don't spend enough time with only each other.

We have made some changes, however, to try and maximize our Kristin & Jason time. For example, we try really hard to eat dinner at the table so we can spend that quality time as a family. For the most part, we go to bed at the same time so we can spend some pre-slumber snuggle minutes together. We've also made an effort to spend quality time together after Kenley goes to bed - that usually means snuggling up on the couch and watching a show or a movie but it's a major improvement from being in the same room but not together.

It's not, however, always easy. A marriage takes work and a marriage with a baby takes extra work. Jason and I both have to put in effort to make sure the other is taken care of and feels loved. With so much of our love and attention going towards Kenley it's easy to sort of forget to give each other "hello" kisses or compliment one another or thank each other for the great job we're doing. It's so easy to fall in to your routine and let days or weeks or months go by and not even realize you haven't spent quality time together.

When it's all said and done, the key is effort.

We aren't perfect by any means, not even close. We have our good days and our bad days. But like I said, we're a team. We're both committed to our relationship and hold it as a top priority with our daughter and I think as long as that doesn't change, we'll be good.

and before I go....

To my husband,

Thank you for two amazing years. Thank you for all of the laughs, the support, the inside jokes and fun memories. Thank you for Kenley. Thank you for being the rock of our family and for taking such good care of your girls.

Our wedding day was the best day of my life and I can't imagine another day will ever compare. Not only was it the most fun I've ever had but I got to leave the party with you by my side FOREVER.

Dan Schulze Films on Vimeo.

I love you the most the most the most and can't wait to see what the next 80 million years bring to our lives.

Love,

Your Toot

Baby Talk :: Marriage After Baby {+ 2 Years!}

MAMAS! Make sure to link up with me every Tuesday to talk about all things BABY!

It's pretty easy, here's the rules:

{1} Write a post on ANYTHING baby related...pregnancy, parenting, products, stories, advice, you name it!

{2} Grab this button and put it somewhere, anywhere in your post!

Today marks TWO YEARS since the day I married the love of my life.

www.sara-jayne.com
I thought since today is our anniversary it made sense to share what our marriage has been like since having our baby almost a year ago.

My greatest fear when I was pregnant was what would happen to me and Jason after the baby was born {that along with all the other irrational fears you experience when you're with child}. Having a baby is a MAJOR life change and I knew it was inevitable that both me and Jason would change, our relationship would change, our priorities would change and pretty much our whole world would change.

www.sara-jayne.com

Fast forward a few more months and I was back to normal {read: I could sit without a doughnut and both sides of my face were fully functioning}, I was back at work and our daily routine was in full swing. This was how our life was going to be for the foreseeable future and I felt completely disconnected from my husband. Between working full-time, taking care of the baby, trying to keep the house clean and having a little bit of fun once and a while there was NO Kristin & Jason time. Sure, we'd be home together and maybe watch TV together. But more often than not, I was watching a show and Jason was on the computer. We were in the same room, exchanging small talk but not really connecting. Most nights I would go to bed before Jason because I had to be up early to get myself and the baby ready for our days. To top it off I was so irritable Everything Jason was doing was driving me crazy. Little dumb things like mixing his Chipotle for what seemed like 10 minutes before taking a bite drove me absolutely batty. I tried SO hard not to nit-pick or nag but sometimes I just couldn't hold it in. I was so irritated most of the time that I didn't even want to be around him and I'm sure Jason was less than thrilled to hang out with me when he couldn't do anything right in my eyes.

Since those earlier days, we've found more of a rhythm and I think overall we make a good team. We both have our responsibilities we take care of and the rest we split up. Our day-to-day life is wonderful and thanks to our incredible parents we are able to spend time away from the baby and have some grown up fun. With so many fun plans we have found a lot of our baby-free time is spent with friends, which is wonderful, but it means we have to work that much harder to spend time just the two of us. And in truth, we definitely don't spend enough time with only each other.

We have made some changes, however, to try and maximize our Kristin & Jason time. For example, we try really hard to eat dinner at the table so we can spend that quality time as a family. For the most part, we go to bed at the same time so we can spend some pre-slumber snuggle minutes together. We've also made an effort to spend quality time together after Kenley goes to bed - that usually means snuggling up on the couch and watching a show or a movie but it's a major improvement from being in the same room but not together.

It's not, however, always easy. A marriage takes work and a marriage with a baby takes extra work. Jason and I both have to put in effort to make sure the other is taken care of and feels loved. With so much of our love and attention going towards Kenley it's easy to sort of forget to give each other "hello" kisses or compliment one another or thank each other for the great job we're doing. It's so easy to fall in to your routine and let days or weeks or months go by and not even realize you haven't spent quality time together.

When it's all said and done, the key is effort.

We aren't perfect by any means, not even close. We have our good days and our bad days. But like I said, we're a team. We're both committed to our relationship and hold it as a top priority with our daughter and I think as long as that doesn't change, we'll be good.

and before I go....

To my husband,

Thank you for two amazing years. Thank you for all of the laughs, the support, the inside jokes and fun memories. Thank you for Kenley. Thank you for being the rock of our family and for taking such good care of your girls.

Our wedding day was the best day of my life and I can't imagine another day will ever compare. Not only was it the most fun I've ever had but I got to leave the party with you by my side FOREVER.

Dan Schulze Films on Vimeo.

I love you the most the most the most and can't wait to see what the next 80 million years bring to our lives.

Love,

Your Toot

Monday, November 4, 2013

The First Halloween

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday but once you've grown out of the trick or treating stage and then the dress skanky and go crazy at the bar stage it's not quite as fun....until you have kids! I cannot wait to have a house someday and decorate crazy and have annual halloween parties! Even though Kenley is still teeny, we had so much fun dressing her up and trick or treating this year.

Of course she had to be festive all day long, so she started out with a super cute "My First Halloween" outfit.