babe lately

babe has been one of 2 things lately...


1. a huge pain in the butt that doesn't listen to a single word coming out of our mouths, who thinks HE runs the household by spouting demands, and screaming and crying to no end if he doesn't get his way.

2. the cutest, sweetest kid who says the funniest most random things, who just wants to snuggle and kiss.

I asked my husband if he thought babe had a split personality because one night my husband made him a little snowman out of rice balls but it only lasted about 1 minute before collapsing. Babe said "well, it was a nice try" and ate his rice. I immediately thought how sweet of him to acknowledge my husband's effort and then immediately thought of a scenario where he was NOT in a good mood and would INSIST my husband rebuild the snowman and end up crying and falling asleep without taking a single bite of rice.

That's my babe for you. Of course we love him either way, yes... even when he is screaming in my face.

I don't know if it's because of the baby, I like to think he's old enough that he wouldn't be jealous, but I hope it's just a small phase and in a few months we won't even remember what a brat he was right before he turned 5.

Speaking of the baby:

he wants a sister! he is so cute. I asked "but what if it's a boy?", he said "well, then can we have a boy and a girl too?"... um, no... absolutely not.

a few weeks ago my SIL was over with her 2 kids and her baby was crying very close to our bedtime. I told babe "I hope the baby doesn't cry long, I'm tired", he said (pointing to my tummy) "maybe we shouldn't have this baby".

one day I was cleaning my room and he kept asking if I could play with him in his room. I told him I would go after I was done cleaning and said he should play by himself. he said "maybe I will play in my room all day when the baby pops off". yes, he said pops off... I love my babe.

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enjoy

I decided that I would only set one goal for 2014, and that would be to "ENJOY every moment as much as possible". The first few months hold a handful events that I have been looking forward to with so much eagerness in my heart. Sometimes life throws a curve ball and you might need to take a step back and rethink how these exciting events will be fully enjoyed under unexpected circumstances.

Let's first countdown to said events and then discuss further:

34 days until Britney in Vegas. It seems like a lifetime ago that I wrote about this and I can't believe it's a month away.

67 days until our Maui trip. FINALLY!! a REAL vacation. One of my goals for 2013 was to take a "real vacation", but this trip took FOREVER to finally come through (saving that for another post).

95 days until Babe's 5th Birthday. Yes, this is a HUGE event. I have literally had this birthday theme picked out since his 3rd birthday and started buying stuff last summer. I might be more excited than him, just a little.

AND....

176 days until Baby #2 is due. Yup, we're having a baby.

So, this is the reason my main goal this year will be to "enjoy". Last year when I wrote out my goals, my hope was that I would accomplish them all BEFORE having baby #2. I must admit that I did pretty well besides not taking a vacation and half assing on the minimalist thing (something I still really want to work on). But once it started getting closer to the end of the year, I faced the fact that 1. my husband was NOT ready for another baby and 2. neither was I because I still wanted that damn vacation AND I had a Britney trip now planned in Feb.
And then less than 1 week after we bought our Maui tickets... I found out I was pregnant.
The first few weeks all I could think about was the plans I already had, that did not include me being with child, but as 2014 rolled around I realized there is nothing I can do but try to make the most of it. So what if I can't have a delicious fruity cocktail before seeing Britney perform and so what if I can't zip line in Maui... as long as I'm well enough to be present, I might as well enjoy it... right?!

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i've missed my blog

It's been 2 long months since I have been "slightly" disconnected from the social media world. I haven't posted at all, I haven't been reading other people's post's, I check Instagram maybe every 3-4 days and my personal e-mail account has over 500 e-mails. I don't know what happened, but after I wrote about me as a working mom, I felt guilty about even opening my laptop. 

I really miss blogging though. I miss sharing the little things that happen in life, the things babe says or does... and I miss reading about those little (or big) things in your lives. I look forward to getting back into it though. I've had a nice break and I have so much to share. 

Happy New year to you!

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me as a stay at home mom - part 2

Is the grass greener on the other side?

In case you missed part 1, I wrote about "me as a working mom".

Me as a stay at home mom:

It may seem weird, but during the course of my son's life I don't think I have ever spent 5 whole days in row, at home, with nothing else on my mind, except for "what will I do next". Even though I was at home sick, I got up every morning once my son left for school to clean the house. I ate breakfast in silence and took my time getting ready for the day. One day I walked to pick up babe from school and another day I drove and we decided to go to the park. Except I'm not familiar with his "favorite" park, so when I went to one, he INSISTED I go to another by "making a left at the corner". It was a little frustrating but I decided I had no other plans so I would try to find the park he was referring to.
During that week we did the following:
went to the park. went to the library. ate lunches and dinners together, at decent times, without any hassle. read everyday. worked on homework. I made a skirt. watched some DVR and didn't think about work.... not once. Babe seemed to listen more the first time and I didn't get as frustrated with him for taking SO long to decide when he was ready to take a bath.

So before I say what might be obvious, I want to make it very clear that I am super thankful for my job. I am thankful that I have a career that I am good at, and able to support my family with. My conclusion has nothing to do with my actual job itself (no matter how stressful) but more with my feelings about being a "working" mom and a "stay at home" mom.

So do I think the grass is greener on the other side?... In my personal opinion, I'm going to say Yes. No matter how great my job is, it absolutely does not compare to the thousands of moments I have already missed with my son. I can't get back those baby years, the most important learning and growing years before school. I would trade in the past 4 years as a working mom to be a stay at home mom in a heartbeat.

I know stay at home moms who would love to get away from their kids for a bit or are so stressed out from all the responsibilities that come with being a mom, trust me, I'm a mom, I know. So imagine that... PLUS all the extra added stress of a demanding 40 hour a week job. If my only worries during the day were those revolving around babe, I would be living a much happier life.

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rusty orange lace

How pretty is this lace dress?!

I love the blue and rusty orange together AND the fact that I only paid $8 for it.

 

I don't usually get very lucky while thrift shopping but when I get a chance to go with my mom I usually find at least one really great deal. I can take as much time as I want looking at everything and even trying stuff on. Unlike when I go with babe and he wants to leave after 5 minutes. On this trip I found a brand new Banana Republic blazer for $3!! ...and this dress, which you might notice is a tad big on me. But with my sewing skills lately, I think I can take it in a bit.... or not, if I get too lazy (it's not THAT big).

Any good thrift buys lately for anyone else?

linking up with the pleated poppy and style elixir

 

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i ran a 10k...

...and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. How the heck do people run marathon's?! It seems so impossible.
I had trained for about 8 weeks, never really running more than 2 or 3 miles, that might have been a mistake. Another mistake... running after NOT running at all for almost a week and a half because I was sick. And the 3rd mistake... running after not really getting over being sick.

My SIL drove me and my husband to a park over 6 miles away from our house. We stretched a little and then headed towards the sun setting (yeah, didn't do the sunrise run that I had planned). The first few miles seemed like a never ending path between the LA River and a Golf course. And once we made it to the streets, where street names were looking familiar, my husband pointed out that it would probably go a lot quicker. But then I "all of a sudden" kept getting this weird bubbly feeling in my throat, that felt kind of burning when it "popped" but not really popped... I can't explain it. But my husband knew what I was saying and he said "heartburn, silly". WTF, at of ALL the moments in my life to experience heartburn?! I seriously have never felt that before and it sucked.

Once we got close to mile 5 I was pretty sure I couldn't make it home. But my husband kept running and it was getting dark and I did NOT want to be so far behind him that someone would kidnap me... you never know. And 1 hour and 18 min after we started, we made it to our stopping point. When we got home I noticed a sign on the door that said Congratulations and I love? you! And when we opened the door to go inside my SIL and babe were standing and clapping. It was seriously the cutest, sweetest moment and so worth the 6.3 mile run. Of course the cause was also very worth the run as well. They must have known that I kept my commitment to run on/or before Oct. 27th and the next day they sent me my tote, with a few extra goodies.

I have to say that running is one of favorite exercises (which hasn't always been the case) but I will definitely be sticking to shorter distances in the future.

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me as a working mom - part 1

Is the grass greener on the other side?

For the past few days this "saying" has been #1 in my thoughts. It stems from the fact that I am a full time working mom, (have been since my son was born, besides the first 3 months) and last week (even though I was sick) I was basically a stay at home mom for 5 whole days.

Me as a working mom:

Growing up I couldn't wait to have kids. I always thought I would have kids at a fairly young age, but life doesn't happen the way you think it will... and instead my younger brother started having kids before me. Becoming an aunt was the best thing in the world, I loved those kids so much and spoiled them to death. But after a day or a weekend with them, I was happy to be alone and continue on with my week at work.

Work was priority to me compared to everything and at some point I just decided that kids would happen when the time was right, heck, I never even thought I would get married, so kids were far away in my mind. I eventually did get married in 2007 and in 2009 we had our babe. Work was still super important, so important that there was no doubt, ever, that I would continue as soon as my paid leave was up.  We were very lucky that my husband would be able to stay home to raise our son.

Over the past 13 years I have worked my butt off, at the same company, to get to where I am today. But the thing is, I'm not exactly where I want to be. I have had SO many ups and downs throughout the years that I'm amazed I'm even still there. There have literally been moments that I want to scream... no words at all... just a scream, or walk out the door and never look back, or cry. Of course crying is the less dramatic of the 3 and so I have shed many tears. Work has given me so much more stress than any job should give a person (in my personal opinion). And then there are other times when everyone is so appreciative, or there are new people for me to find and mentor, or new big, exciting projects to work on. Work constantly has me thinking about every second of every day... I hope I get up on time. how bad will traffic be. deadlines. meetings to set up. work to pass on. emails to address. stuff to print/pdf/send out. will I get home before dark? what will be for dinner? will I have time to exercise? play with babe? read babe a story? watch a show on my DVR? take a shower? (yes, I question that. the answer always ends up being yes though, duh!) relax? and then it starts all over again, exactly In that same order.

That is my life in a nutshell. Every day is the same. Every day I am away from home for almost 12 hours. Every day, every second, I am constantly over thinking every action.

In part 2 I will write about "Me as a stay at home mom", it was brief, but eye opening.

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