Sarah

Six Months with Our Girl

Yesterday, our sweet Vi turned six months old.

20200224_083445

It feels both longer and shorter than that somehow. I cannot believe it has already been half of a year since this moment when I heard the words “it’s a girl!”

. . . and yet, I can’t even imagine our family without her. It feels like she’s always been with us.

20200222_111659

It’s all going a little too fast for this mama’s heart to handle, so today’s post is all about this girl and what life is like with her these days.

Relationships

Vi is honestly one of the happiest, sweetest babies. She is so smiley – I can’t help but smile too when I see her face light up! She especially loves her core family members. As her mama, I know we share one of the closest bonds. Whenever she’s upset, just the act of me picking her up and holding her usually calms her down right away. I love spending my days with her!

20200218_152213

She is totally a daddy’s girl already. When Justin comes home from work, she gets a huge grin, makes happy noises, and starts kicking her arms and legs in excitement. She adores him!

img_20200216_163837_721

And speaking of people she adores, her big brother LJ also tops the list. Oh my word. These two make my heart all melt-y. LJ loves to smother her in hugs and kisses and she follows his every move. She smiles when she sees him, tracks his movements across the room, and seems to genuinely like being near him (which is a good thing because he doesn’t exactly respect personal boundaries ha!) LJ is one of the few people who elicits genuine giggles out of her – she will laugh at the silly things he does or funny noises he makes and he loves it! One of their favorite little ‘games’ right now is he’ll blow zerberts on her belly and they both laugh. So sweet!

20200224_084734

When it comes to other people, it can be hit or miss. Vi is starting to recognize “stranger danger” – she will sometimes get a huge frown and cry if she’s staring into a face she doesn’t know. It will occasionally happen with a babysitter too but we’ve learned that I just need to hold her facing out so she can observe the new face from the comfort of familiar arms until she warms up to the new person and then it’s fine. She is beloved by the ladies in the church nursery though – she’s always sweet as can be there and they love having her!

Sleep

Vi didn’t really have a 4 month sleep regression and has pretty consistently slept 8-12 hours every night since we moved her into her room. She either sleeps 8 hours, wakes up around 4 am, feeds, and goes back to sleep, or she’ll just sleep the whole way through the night until 7 or 8 am. Obviously, I prefer those nights 😉 but waking up once at four isn’t bad either. Maybe once every other week or so we’ll have a night where she’s waking up more frequently than that, but for the most part, she’s consistent!

While she’s great at night, she’s less consistent with naps. She sometimes takes a morning nap, she usually takes an afternoon nap, sometimes both, rarely neither. I think her inconsistency comes because of our schedule: mornings are generally the only time we can get out of the house during the day so we’re not always home. She’s pretty go with the flow and will at least fall asleep in her car seat if we leave the house, so that’s nice!

Food

We’ve just recently started introducing solids to her. Her very first food was avocado and she was … less than impressed.

20200212_182939

She’s also had some tastes of banana. So far she’s not really interested in food other than just playing with it or watching us eat.

She still does really well with breastfeeding and has always fed on demand. She started out wanting to feed every 60-90 minutes, which was exhausting for me. Nowadays, she will occasionally still want to feed that frequently, but she’s also able to go up to four hours in between feeds during the day. Similarly to LJ, she took a bottle well really early on, but once she got a little older and recognized she was drinking from a bottle, she wanted nothing to do with it. Now that she’s finally able to go longer in between feeds, I’m able to leave her with Justin or a babysitter to run errands or have time by myself which is good for both of us.

Activity

Vi is so interested in her surroundings and is always in motion, interacting with whatever is near her. If we put her on the ground, she’ll roll all over to reach and play with toys. She also loves playing in her activity center and is generally content to play there if I need a safe place to put her while I get some other work done.

20200130_092200

She also loves to look at herself in the mirror. I love watching her watch herself – she’s so proud of herself when she stands! (And those scrumptious leg rolls!!)

20200205_145542

She experienced her first snow but she was more interested in watching us than she was at discovering snow.

20200206_174003

While Vi is generally sweet, happy, and easygoing, she does have her moments. In particular, if I’m not home and she gets fussy for Justin or a babysitter, it’s generally because she wants to breastfeed and refuses a bottle. She will also sometimes get cranky when she’s overtired and we have to be conscious of putting her down in her crib when she shows signs of fatigue.

These last six months have been an adventure and I’m looking forward to making many more memories with this sweet girl.

20200224_085442 20200202_133943

We love her so much!

Trim Mistakes and Making them Right

After last week’s guest bathroom reveal, I had hoped to be able to reveal the adjacent guest bedroom today. On Thursday, Justin finished the final element of the bedroom (the wooden plank to sit on top of the half wall) and that should have been that.

Key words are “should have been.” Only once the board was in place, I realized that I needed to repaint all the trim work in the room.

Let me back up. I am not normally a white wall kind of person; I tend to prefer color on the walls. That being said, I knew pretty early on that I wanted the basement bedroom walls to be white. Even with the addition of a window, the room never gets direct light and even at the brightest point in the day, it’s still rather dim. I wanted the walls to be light and loved the warm white look of Sherwin Williams Alabaster, which I had previously used as a trim color throughout our last home.

Since this is a guest room and not a main space in our home, I also wanted to use it as an opportunity try out a new trend I’ve been loving: contrast trim! I wanted a subtle contrasting look and initially chose a color that was just a few shades darker than Alabaster. I tested out the two colors next to each other throughout the room and I was satisfied with the contrast.

The problem was, I tested out both colors on the wall, since we didn’t have our trim in yet. And the contrast color (Sherwin Williams Dot to Dot) didn’t look the same on trim as it did on the wall. Rookie mistake!

I was really disappointed in the way the trim looked throughout the room. In some places, like next to the built-in linen cabinet, it looked closer to the way I envisioned, although still not quite as much contrast as I had hoped for.

20200130_203554

In other places, like the trim shown below, it looked too similar to the color of the wall.

20200220_164726

It just depended on how the light hit it, but it didn’t really matter if the light was on or off or what time of day it was. Bottom line: the majority of the room didn’t look like I wanted. I really reaaaaallllyy didn’t want to have to repaint all the trim, so I hoped I would get used to it and live with it. I also hoped that maybe once the stained shelf board went in on the top wall, it would help bring in a little definition and not make the room look so plain.

Unfortunately, putting in the shelf board only confirmed how much I hated the color of the trim. I decided not to try to live with it, but to go ahead and repaint it a color I actually liked. We’ve already worked so hard and spend so much time, money, and energy getting this far – why have a disappointing end result?

I didn’t waste any time. I chose Sherwin Williams Repose Gray (tinted at 75% to make it a little lighter) and got to work yesterday. I already love it so much more. I’ve only done some of the trim so far, but I’m so so happy with how it’s looking. Definitely worth spending a little more time and energy making it right.

Here’s where we were before:

20200108_064918

And here’s a sneak peek of how the trim looks now:

20200221_092352

I still didn’t want a super bold color, but I needed something with more contrast than before and this was the perfect choice. Instead of feeling “meh” about the trim, now I’m SO excited to finish and reveal the room, which tells me that this was the right decision.

Have a great weekend! I know what I’ll be doing . . . painting. And I’m actually excited about it now. 🙂

Permission Granted

I don’t read parenting books. I have no idea what the Wonder Weeks are or what leap my child is going through. I read exactly one book about sleep when LJ was a baby. It’s a lot of reading and research and what works for one baby might not work for another (and honestly, by the time you find the “solution” your baby may just naturally be growing out of that phase anyway) and I just find that my time is better spent in other ways.

That being said, I did read this book about motherhood, and it has been a game-changer for me. So much so that after finishing my library copy, I actually bought my own copy so I could re-read and underline to my heart’s content.

20200219_133534

In her book To Have and To Hold: Motherhood, Marriage, and the Modern Dilemma, psychologist Molly Millwood puts so many of my thoughts into words. But even more than that, she puts my hidden, sometimes suppressed thoughts into words.

In her introduction, she presents the question “what if we could . . . occupy a mental space in which there is room for all our loving, nurturing feelings towards our children and our partners and room for all our other, less socially acceptable feelings, too?” (p. xi) She spends the rest of the book basically encouraging women to do just that. Reading it feels like being granted permission to, for lack of a better phrase, feel all the feels that motherhood brings. And even more importantly, remove the judgement from feeling all the feels.

Motherhood has been many things for me. It has been one of the greatest of sources of joy in my life. It has been rewarding and fulfilling and wonderful.

It has also been one of the absolute hardest things I have ever done. It is difficult, draining, and frustrating. And it has brought about some very complicated thoughts and feelings that I didn’t expect at all.

“Why didn’t anybody tell me about this part of the journey?”

Why didn’t I know that, as Millwood puts it, “the dark and vexing moments of mothering [exist] side by side with the moments of joy and fulfillment”? (p.3) Why didn’t I know that for all the external, superficial complaints and frustrations that other mothers felt comfortable warning me about (sleep deprivation! messy homes! tantrums!), I would also have much darker internal frustrations (resentment. loss of identity. disappointment that I’m not the mother I thought I would be.) that cause deeply rooted feelings of guilt?

Why isn’t this talked about?

It’s complicated, right? I feel like I can’t ever go deeper than the surface complaint for fear of seeming like an ungrateful, bad mother. I prayed so many prayers and cried so many tears to become a mother, to be right where I am today. I wanted this, I waited for this, and I finally have it. And I love my children; how can I be anything other than deeply grateful? So I squash down the harder feelings when they start to surface. I don’t look too closely at the feelings that look like boredom or resentment or the moments where I wish I was just on my own. They feel shameful, even blasphemous, to even think, let alone talk to someone else about. I’ll issue my feelings with a generic “motherhood is tough” and hope people think I’m just talking about the more socially acceptable frustration with piles of laundry or sleep regressions.

And so the vicious cycle continues. We fear being the only ones who feel this way, so we don’t talk about our hardest, deepest feelings, so others don’t know we’re feeling that way, so they think they’re the only ones feeling that way and don’t share their hardest, deepest struggles . . . on and on and on.

But Millwood talks candidly about the often-hidden struggles of so many women, including herself, in their motherhood journeys and made me feel less alone. It felt like the biggest breath of fresh air, like lifting off the weight of guilt I didn’t even know I was carrying. Reading the stories and experiences of others led to acknowledging my own complicated feelings and allowing myself to feel that way without judgement. Permission to just accept and work with those feelings – what a gift.

Motherhood is complex. And that’s okay.

If you’re a mother, or hoping to be a mother someday, I cannot recommend this book enough. Here’s to removing some of the invisible burden of guilt and living in the freedom of knowing you are not alone. ❤

Storing Kid’s Clothes

I consider myself to be a pretty organized, minimal-ish person, but there is one big area that has always presented a challenge: kid’s clothes!

The first year of life is especially full of clothes since there are so many sizes (newborn, 0-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12 months) and you need a new wardrobe for each size. It slows down a little after that but you’re still changing sizes and seasons and needing clothing in each stage. I don’t try to achieve capsule wardrobes or limit a closet to a certain number of items, but even for someone trying to keep wardrobes small – it’s a lot of clothing!

To give you an idea of how much clothing we use at each stage, here was Vi’s wardrobe for 3-6 months:

20200217_090153

And here is LJ’s 2T wardrobe:

20200216_170451

Obviously, LJ has a lot more clothing because 2T lasts a year, so he needs a variety of options for seasons, whereas Vi’s only covers a couple months. They each have a few items also hanging in their closets like coats, dresses and nice button downs, but for the most part, this is all they have! I only keep their current sizes out; every other size is in storage.

With a son and a daughter and an unknown future (possibly having more kids and obviously not knowing their genders), we are currently keeping a lot of unused children’s clothing in our house. I quickly learned that I needed to be intentional not only with what I kept, but also how I store their clothing or things could quickly spiral into unorganized chaos. Vi turns 6 months in less than one week and she’s all but busting out of her 3-6 month clothes. Over the weekend, I was sorting through her clothes to put into storage, and I was struck by how far I’ve come in this area – storing her clothing was super manageable and didn’t take long at all.

Today I thought I’d share some of the strategies I use for what I save and how I store it in case anyone else is feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of their child’s wardrobe and wanting some tips. This isn’t a perfect system by any means, but it has helped me keep their wardrobes manageable and kept me from feeling overwhelmed by holding on to clothing.

Before Storing, SORT!

The biggest tip I have is to keep LESS. I save the outfits I really love, and I pass on the ones that have served their purpose for me. Sometimes I take clothes back to the consignment store and recoup some of the money I spent the first time. Other times I’ll donate it to a friend with a younger baby. I’ve also donated clothes to a local rescue mission that helps women and children working to overcome homelessness.

I don’t hang onto everything for two reasons. One, it’s a lot of clothes! I focus on keeping the type of clothing we use the most. We received a lot of baby outfits as gifts, only to find I mostly keep my kids in sleepers when they’re that little (it’s just easier!) My kids both sleep in pajamas every night (and sometimes we stay in them all day) so we need several pairs of pjs. I also need lots of play clothes – I make sure to have options like soft shirts and joggers that make it easy to move in. But we don’t need a lot of dressy clothes like button downs and dresses, so I only keep a few in each size.

The second reason I don’t hang on to lots of clothes is, trends change! Once I use clothing, I like to pass it on so that it can continue to be used while it’s still trendy. I have received both boy and girl hand-me-down clothing from others, and honestly, some of it seems outdated even though it was only 3-4 years old. A big place I noticed this was in pants, particularly jeans. The trend for kid jeans has shifted in the last few years and baggy, flared baby jeans from 2012 kind of look silly on Vi right now.

I also only keep quality clothing. If something has a stain that won’t come out or is torn or otherwise damaged, I donate it to a textile recycling program (I love H&M’s because they make it very easy to donate!)

Store in a user-friendly, inexpensive way

Once I set aside the clothing I love, that we use a lot, and that is good quality, I make sure it is washed and put it in storage.

My storage system for clothing is super easy, inexpensive, and not at all fancy. I have big plastic tubs that I keep in my kids’ closets. I fold up the clothes, divide sizes with cardboard pieces from broken-down diaper boxes, and use index cards to label each section. Then I just stack the tubs in each closet so they’re out of the way and nicely organized for the future.

I wasn’t kidding about it not being fancy ha! Since we don’t find out the gender of our babies ahead of time, most of our newborn clothing is gender-neutral so we only have one box in that size; otherwise, all the not-in-use boy clothes are stored in LJ’s closet and the girl clothes are in Vi’s.

Whenever Vi bumps up a size, I do go through LJ’s clothes in that size too. LJ has a lot more than Vi, only because I end up using a lot of his clothes for her (like plain colored onesies and joggers). Also, I keep future sizes stored in the shelves so they’re easy to add to as people give us gifts or hand-me-downs and are ready when we need them. In Violet’s case, I also keep sizes over 12 months in the bottom stacked tub since it’ll be so long until we use those.

20200216_172414

I tried to be mindful of not keeping a lot with LJ, but I’m finding that I’m keeping even less with Vi. (The middle tub above is her 0-3 and 3-6 month stash and it’s about half of the amount LJ has in those sizes!) I’m buying less, using less, and keeping even less. I just realize that babies don’t need a whole lot of outfits and we tend to wear the same things over and over. I’m favoring the functional things over the cute-but-impractical and it’s amazing how much that lessens the burden of storing tons of clothing.

Bonus Tip: Don’t overspend on clothing to begin with

As a first time mama, I was so excited to buy cute baby clothes. My mom and I went shopping the week after LJ was born and in our excitement we bought so many cute boy outfits. I didn’t realize I’d mostly keep him in sleepers. I didn’t realize he’d be a little peanut and wouldn’t even get to wear some of the sweaters because by the time they fit him, it wouldn’t be sweater weather. I have lots of cute, barely used items that are harder to part with because I don’t feel like I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of them. I learned my lesson and these days, I mostly shop consignment. It’s better for the environment to get more use out of clothing and it’s WAY more economical. Plus, once we’ve used a $2 shirt several times, it’s very easy for me to pass it along to someone else because I feel like I’ve more than gotten my money’s worth. Just some extra food for thought!

What tips do you have for storing clothes that aren’t currently being used?

Guest Bathroom Reveal!

After starting this project the last week of October, our guest bathroom is finally finished! If you missed my previous posts for this project, you can check out our renovation progress and finishing touches.

When we first moved in, this windowless bathroom was dark (so much brown!), outdated, and didn’t function ideally. The shower was tiny and difficult for an adult to maneuver in, and the vanity left just enough space on either side for little things to fall down and get stuck. We didn’t really have many options for alternative layouts, but we decided to gut the space and start fresh. And fresh it is! In the words of Buddy the Elf, “I’m in love, I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows it!”

20191028_125741-1 20200211_152743-1

Ahhhh! I have all the heart eyes for this transformation. ❤

One of the biggest differences with the bathroom is the shower. I knew a tile shower would at least provide for a little more space inside than the previous fiberglass one and I fell in love with the handcrafted look of these subway tiles. Once our contractor ripped out the old shower, we realized that there was a ton of unused space behind the wall thanks to the built in cabinet in the bedroom, so we changed our initial plans to expand the shower and add a bench. While this pretty much destroyed our timeline and initial budget, it was so worth it! (I have no idea how I don’t have a better ‘before’ picture of the shower – all I have is a screen grab from my Instagram stories. Oops.)

screenshot_20200214-062120_instagram-1 20191030_202714-1 20200214_070630 20200214_070536

The shower is not only gorgeous but so much more functional. I wanted matte black fixtures and particularly wanted a shower head with a hose because this shower is the one that people will come in and use to hose off from playing outside or swimming in our pond. The hose makes it much easier to quick rinse off without fully showering, particularly for children. The shower niche provides storage for toiletries, the bench is so useful, there is much more room overall, the varying tile and stone meshes perfectly, the glass door (I agonized over choices!) is gorgeous, I could go on and on. I love, love, love the new shower!

Another big change was with our vanity. I discussed the saga in this post, but basically, it took us a long time to figure out what type of vanity to do (plumbing limited my initial ideas) and then mid-renovation we started the process of getting a vanity top made. Unfortunately, we trusted the wrong company and they basically ghosted us and delayed the entire process. We started over with a new company and were able to find the perfect quartz remnant to use. I’m thrilled with the final product!

20191028_125806 20200211_153008

We decided to save some money and keep the original vanity, but we updated it with a fresh coast of paint and new hardware. I love the mixed metal look so I used both matte black and brushed nickel finishes. We added a new board on the bottom front so we could elevate the vanity about 2 inches (it was lower than standard vanities today) and added a small piece of trim to each side to make it flush with the wall. With a new counter top and faucet, it looks like a completely different vanity!

20200211_153336

The little elevated bronze tray was a $2 gem I found in a thrift store and snapped up right away. I wasn’t sure what I would use it for at the time but I knew I would find a home for it. I love it in this space – it perfectly corrals the soap dispenser, a candle, and small (fake) succulent and I think the colors warm up what is otherwise a fairly cool-toned bathroom.

Because this is a basement bathroom, there is concrete foundation creating a half wall. I decided to use this to our advantage and make it into an intentional feature with board and batten trim and I LOVE how it turned out. It makes a statement right away when you first enter the bathroom!

20200211_152720

Justin cut a thick slab of white oak to fit the top of the wall and it makes the perfect shelf to display some decor and provide space for our guests to keep toiletries. We decided to leave it unstained – I love how the lighter color provides warmth to the space! – and just cover it with a few coats of water-based, polyurethane in a matte finish.

20200214_064518

The artwork is a custom piece by JBeck Studio and perfectly ties the bathroom and adjacent bedroom (reveal next week!) together. I had to go with fake plants since there is no window but I love the little touch of greenery.

Finishing touches like new baseboards and trim, a freshly painted door and new door handle, a wall heater (can you believe there was no heat source previously? Brr!), and updated lights and a mirror finished out the space. We’ve already had overnight guests and they gave the bathroom 5 stars . . . and I’m pretty sure they would’ve done that even if they weren’t my parents. 😉

Even though it’s the guest bathroom, it’s also the only bathroom on the basement level so it gets used frequently. I’m so happy we chose to do this as our first major renovation project!

20200211_154105 20200211_153048 20200211_152756 20200214_074021 20200214_061506 20200211_153731 20200206_153806 20200214_080747 And one final before and after because I just cannot get over the transformation. We may have gone over budget and timeline (we originally hoped to be done before Christmas) but we’re so happy with the finished space.

20191028_125815-1 20200214_080715

Sources

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Smoky Mountain (color matched with Sherwin Williams)

Trim Color: Sherwin Williams Alabaster

Floor Mosaic Tile

Shower Floor & Niche Tile

Vanity Color: Sherwin Williams Repose Gray

Vanity Door Handles

Vanity Drawer Knobs

Vanity Counter Top: Viareggio Quartz Remnant

Behind Door Towel Hook

Artwork: Custom from JBeck Studio

Let’s Look: Winter Wardrobe

Good morning!

Today I’m linking up with Erika and Shay once again for their monthly “Let’s Look” and today’s topic is sharing a peek into our winter wardrobes.

, Let’s Look: Our Winter Wardrobe! Years ago, I loved sharing my teacher wardrobe (you can still find it in the “closet” section of my archives, although it’s from so long ago I doubt any of the links work anymore) and it involved lots of skirts, dresses, and heels. As much as I love a good reason to dress up, my style is much more casual since I now primarily spend my days at home with my babies.

These days, I have a pretty standard “uniform” of a casual top, skinny jeans, and low booties or sneakers. I love simple patterns like stripes and plaid or a single-color shirt with an interesting detail like a roll or tie. Today I just thought I’d show you a snippet of some of the outfits I’ve been wearing lately. And you’ll also see a lot of what my kids wear these days because apparently I only take mirror selfies while holding a child ha!

20200202_120227-1 20200105_143409-1

20191126_124302-1-1 — LJ insisted on playing dress up and made me put on all my necklaces – good thing we weren’t leaving the house. 😉

I still love a good pair of heels but they’re almost never practical now so I’m almost always in my booties or my trusty Converse.

20191124_163533

I’m also partial to leopard print flats that I’ve had for years – they just give a little something extra to an outfit.

20191117_123152-1

Here’s an example of the same outfit worn twice with a few changes to elevate it a bit from everyday wear to a church outfit. I ran errands in jeans and a messy bun (with a cute little polka dot scrunchie that is really hard to see in the picture).

20200205_123125

For church, I swapped out the jeans for dress pants and curled my hair – not a huge change but just enough to take the outfit a step above. (Side note: it’s probably time I invested in a better pair of true winter boots because I literally wore these cut out booties on Sunday when it was snowing and sleeting ha! This Midwest girl is used to it but still…) 20200209_094619

I even kept the same casual top-skinny jeans-booties uniform for our recent axe-throwing date night!

20200129_191650

On the rare occasion that I want to really dress up, I love choosing something from Rent the Runway! This dress was a fun choice for Justin’s holiday work party.

20191207_205539

And of course, if I’m being honest, I’m a stay-at-home mama so there are many winter days where my outfits look like this:

20200124_093233 20191231_114358 20200206_145418

There is something so cozy about a winter day inside – I love staying in warm sweats and will always always always be wearing either fuzzy socks or my trusty slippers. Every winter wardrobe needs a good pair of warm and cozy loungewear!

Be sure to come back to the blog on Friday because I’m finally sharing our bathroom reveal!! It’s so good. I’m seriously in love and cannot wait to share the transformation with you!

Book Hangovers

This weekend was cold with a wintry mix of snow, rain, sleet, which means it was the perfect weather for staying inside curled up with a blanket and book. So that’s just what I did!

20200210_081904

I read A Woman is No Man over the course of the weekend. Last night, I finished the book while drinking a glass of wine and this morning, I have a hangover.

A book hangover.

Does this ever happen to you? I feel like it happens to me a lot. Sometimes, I have a book hangover because I was so invested in the world the author created that I felt like I was living in it and I have a hard time accepting that it isn’t real (I’m talking to you, Harry Potter). Sometimes, I have a book hangover because I love the characters so much and I’m deeply affected by how their story turned out, whether because I’m so happy for them or so deeply heartbroken that their story could’ve been different. I often have book hangovers when there is one thing that could’ve been changed in a story that would have made the ending totally different (if only she had known the truth! If only he had delivered the package! If only the stranger would have shown up one day later! etc, etc, etc). Other times, the story was so thought-provoking that I’m analyzing/processing/digesting for days afterwards. Books like It Ends with Us, One True Loves, Before We Were Yours, and basically anything by Kate Morton – these books have given me some of the longest book hangovers. Some of them still haunt me.

I’m not sure this book is in that same league, but it is one that I’m going to have to process for a while. I’m not even sure where to begin. It made me grateful. It made me frustrated. It made me both hopeful and deeply sad. It made me think about many things. I’m going to wait until my February book review blog post to give my full thoughts on it, but I had to share these initial impressions in today’s blog post. For one thing, the fact that I spent my time reading this weekend meant I didn’t have time to write my planned blog post for today (ha!). For another, this book is on my mind and I’m not sure I could’ve focused on writing anything else right now. I went to bed thinking about it, I woke up thinking about it. I looked at my large TBR stack of books on my nightstand and thought “nope, not ready to look at any of you right now!”

Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to pick up another book, but for today, I’m going to stay hungover.

Have you read any books that made you feel this way? What were they?

Reducing Waste: Snack Time

One thing I am passionate about is reducing waste. Whether it’s finding plastic alternatives, avoiding single-use items, using products made of recycled materials, choosing bulk items with reduced packaging, or just consuming/buying/using LESS, I like to try to make choices that are a little better for our environment. I thought I would start sharing some ways that I do this here on the blog in case anyone else is looking for some ideas about how to reduce waste in their life too. Today I’m focusing on a specific area of reducing waste that’s big in my life right now and that is: toddler snack time.

Before getting into this, I need to share a disclaimer. Part of me hesitated to write a post about reducing waste because I know there are other things I could be doing in this area. While I would love to use the best, most environmentally-friendly option for everything, it’s just not always realistic. There are barriers like expense and time that are prohibitive and I’ve had to make some decisions with what to prioritize. In some cases, I know I’m not making the most environmentally-friendly choice. But have you heard the parable of the starfish? I think it applies here – just because a change is small, doesn’t mean it doesn’t make a difference. I’m just trying to do the best I can with what works for our family, and I know that is all anybody can do. If these small changes I’ve made inspire anyone else to make a swap and reduce their waste in even one small way, I’m happy!

Now I love snacks and so does my toddler, but there can be a ton of waste when it comes to food. Obviously, some of it is unavoidable and I’m certainly not perfect here, but there are a few little changes I’ve implemented that make a difference.

Reusable Snack Containers

20200206_151316 When it comes to dry snacks, I buy the bulk package instead of individual serving size packages. Then at home I’ll just pour some into a reusable container like this or baggie like this and LJ has an appropriate portion to carry around and eat. This is a quick (literally takes a few seconds) super easy option both for home and travel, as both the container and baggie can easily be thrown in my diaper bag.

20200206_152939 I also like to use these stainless steel containers when I have something like fruit to take along as a snack – it keeps the food fresh and protected from getting squashed.

Reusable Food Pouches

20200206_152116 When it comes to applesauce, LJ is borderline obsessed. When it’s served over lunchtime, he’ll eat it from a bowl with a spoon but when it’s served as a snack, he loves the pouches. Honestly, food pouches are a parents dream – so convenient, so easy to use, and a mess-free way of delivering different nutrients. The problem is, with the plastic top and individual packaging (compounded by the fact that we go through so. many.) pouches feel really wasteful to me. I found these reusable pouches online and they are a great alternative! I can buy applesauce in bulk or use my mom’s canned version and pour it into the pouches; it’s great because I can choose the type of applesauce (I choose unsweetened, but you could get different flavors or use homemade purees) and the amount that goes into the pouch. Plus they’re dishwasher safe!

In the interest of full transparency: I do not solely use the reusable options. I do still buy the individually packaged ones (included in the picture above) because the reusable ones need to be refrigerated since I opened the bulk container. Refrigerated options are not always feasible for taking along outside the house. When it comes to reducing waste, I think the important thing to focus on is reducing. I’m not perfect, but I think any effort still makes a difference. Hypothetical situation: even if LJ eats 500 pouches in his life and 400 of them are single-use packages, that still means I saved a landfill from 100 extra pouches by using the reusable option and I focus on the positive of that 20% waste reduction.

Misc. Items for Restaurants

20200206_152525 When it comes to eating outside the house, I have these items stored in my diaper bag: a food-grade silicone mat, reusable utensil, and silicone straw. We don’t eat out very often, but when we do it’s nice to have these options instead of using disposable plastic items from the restaurant.

20200206_152638 When Vi is a little older and eating food as well, I’ll throw a silicone bib and reusable spoon + case (I love the ones pictured from the brand RePlay because they are made from recycled milk jugs, helping with the waste problem again!)

20200207_080329 While we’re on the subject of meals, at home we use RePlay’s plates and utensils. These are also made out of recycled milk jugs, which means my purchase kept a few more milk jugs out of a landfill. I believe there is power in the purchasing dollar and I will gladly support companies trying to find ways to create quality products out of recycled materials and reduce our society’s overall waste.

Paper Towel Alternatives

20200206_152742 I was gifted these Swedish dishcloths (similar ones here) from my mother-in-law and they are awesome paper towel alternatives! Perfect for cleaning up toddler spills or wiping LJ’s hands or mouth. He doesn’t like when his food gets really sticky on his hands, so I usually wet one of these dishcloths and put it next to his plate for him to wipe his hands as needed. These are easy to clean and reuse, which is great! When we do use napkins at home, I have actual cloth napkins that can be washed and reused or I buy these napkins made out of recycled paper.

Also, when it comes to reducing waste around food, I try to reduce the waste of the actual FOOD. Making sure not to buy more than we’ll go through, trying to use produce before it goes bad, keeping track of expiration dates – all these things are important too. Again, I’m not perfect but I do think the effort matters.

What ways have you found to reduce waste around snack and mealtimes? I’d love to hear other simple changes to implement!

A Dropped Plastic Ball

I recently learned of a quote by the author Nora Roberts. She was asked how she balances writing and children and her response was that “the key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass.”

I found this to be so profound, and I think it applies to both stay-at-home-moms and those who work outside the home. Absolutely no one can do it all, and occasionally a ball will get dropped. Sometimes the drop is inadvertent and other times it is intentional. A plastic ball can easily be picked up later without much (if any) lasting damage done. A glass ball could get damaged or even shatter irreparably so it’s much more important to keep from dropping.

Today’s blog post was an intentionally dropped ball. I had plans for what I wanted to write about and hoped to use nap time yesterday to get a good bit of work done on it.

Of course, to use nap time to work, there has to actually BE a nap time.

Even though Vi did nap, LJ never did. I tried all my tricks and after an unsuccessful hour of trying (usually he’ll go down in 5 minutes or less) I finally gave up. This happens every once in a while that he skips a nap and it’s normally not a huge deal; however, yesterday also happened to be Tuesday. Tuesdays are Justin’s long day at work and he is usually gone before the kids wake up and comes home after they’re in bed. So it’s a long day for us normally, and now without a nap time break, the rest of the day seemed endless.

So I had a choice. I could put on the TV and let LJ binge watch quietly so I could work on my blog as planned, or I could forget the blog and do something with him.

It was a pretty obvious choice. This blog is a plastic ball. It’s a passion project and a hobby I greatly enjoy, but I can drop it and pick it back up later without lasting damage. LJ’s childhood is a glass ball though, and if I drop it too many times, I know I’ll regret the damage.

The post was scrapped and we ended up going to Target to get out of the house and break up the afternoon. It felt a little like the stay-at-home-mom version of a field trip: we had a color scavenger hunt, identified numbers on the display clocks, looked at toys, and got a special treat (Paw Patrol graham crackers). The seemingly endless afternoon actually turned into a fun memory with my kids.

20200204_173856

Eventually, I’ll write the post I intended for today. I’ll get another chance to post on the blog. But I won’t always have the chance to meander through Target without rushing, letting my two-year-old explore to his heart’s content and watching the world through his eyes.

My kids are young and I’m going to be juggling for a long time, but I hope I can always recognize which balls are plastic and which are glass.

January 2020 Book Reviews

My 2020 reading list is off to a great start!

20200203_092139

This month I read five books (four physical and one on my Kindle). Genres are all across the board – from romcom to courtroom drama to self-help – but I enjoyed them all!

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Olive’s sister and her new husband both get too sick to go on their non-refundable honeymoon so they offer the trip to Olive instead. There’s only one problem: the best man and Olive’s enemy, Ethan, is also going.

This fun romantic comedy reads a lot like The Hating Game so it felt a little cliche at first with the will-the-enemies-turn-to-lovers story line but this one had some extra swerves in the plot that made it less predictable. The themes of trust and honesty came up at several points throughout the story and I feel like it had a good amount of depth for a romcom. I really enjoyed it and feel like it’s a perfect vacation beach read (although I read it in the Midwest in January so…I guess it’s enjoyable anytime ha!)

Fair Play by Eve Rodsky

I wasn’t entirely sure what this book was going to be about, but I knew it was going to address the unequal labor division between men and women regarding all the tasks that go into home and family life and I was very intrigued. The author goes into details of how she came to realize that she (and many other women that she talked to) were becoming the default parent in charge of almost all of the household tasks. She came up with a card system to divy up household responsibilities more fairly.

Many aspects of this book resonated with me, and made me realize how much of the “invisible” work falls to me. I like that her emphasis was not on divying up things equally into a true 50/50 split, because I feel like that is rarely realistic, but instead on finding a good balance where both partners contribute in ways that maintain their shared home. I also really loved the focus on finding “unicorn space” – things that give each partner passion and purpose beyond their career and role as a spouse and parent. Justin and I did talk through her “cards” and realized a few tasks are split between us and it does lead to things slipping through the cracks. For example, we both do things with our pets (he’ll pick up food, I’ll schedule vet appointments) but then vacation comes and neither of us remember to schedule a dog sitter. This game helped us to realize we need to have one point person to be in charge with this task. I think even if you don’t play the “game” (we aren’t really), it is a helpful way to look at the division of labor and find a balance that feels good to both partners.

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

“Good things and bad – every friendship and romance formed, every accident, every illness – resulted from the conspiracy of hundreds of little things, in and of themselves inconsequential.”

A hyperbaric oxygen chamber explodes while administering treatment, leaving multiple people injured and two people dead. A murder trial ensues. Secrets and lies are exposed. (Can you hear the “Law and Order” gavel bang?)

I cannot believe this is a debut novel. The author did an absolutely incredible job writing this highly addictive courtroom drama. Throughout the trial the story unfolds through the varying perspectives of each person involved with the explosion of the “miracle submarine.” There are so many layers to the characters and their stories: the struggles of an immigrant family, the toll of infertility on a marriage, the complex emotions involved with parenting a child with special needs. It took me a little while to get into the story and figure out the characters, but once I did, I was hooked. It made me think so much about perspective – how two people can view the exact same scenario in completely different lights – and how our perceptions of people influence how we react to them. It also made me think about how many little decisions we make throughout our life and how we may never know the full ripple effect that our actions cause. I think this would be a great choice for a book club! I found myself wanting to immediately discuss it once I finished. Highly recommend!

To Have and to Hold: Motherhood, Marriage, & the Modern Dilemma by Molly Millwood

This book is an intimate look at many of the challenges women face as they become mothers. This book is often recommended by one of my favorite bloggers and I’ve had it checked out since AUGUST 2. I finally reached my maximum amount of renewals so this month I made time to sit down and read it. I think I put it off because I thought it would be dense, but honestly, it’s not at all. It could read quickly, but personally I had to stop frequently to process or reread something that struck me as profound. I have so many thoughts on this book that I’m likely going to devote an entire blog post to it (I also plan on buying the book so I have my own copy to highlight and underline) so I’ll just say this: I think this book applies to women in all stages of motherhood. I felt like it was written specifically for me, but I have a feeling many women would feel the exact same way. One line that especially struck me: “Other mothers, despite the smiles on their faces, are not free of the occasional thought that a life without children sounds much more appealing.” (p. 57) I can relate so much to that and I’m not sure I’ve ever said it out loud before. This book felt like a giant permission slip to talk about many topics that often seem taboo – that motherhood is beautiful and amazing but can also include some really complicated feelings like boredom, loss of identity, struggling with how this time is so short but also so dang long. It’s such an important read and I highly recommend it!

Season of Wonder by RaeAnne Thayne

I checked this book out from the library using my Kindle – it’s book 9 of the Haven Point Series (that I started in December and loved) and I have to say, it was probably my least favorite of the books so far. The characters were fine, the plot line was fine, it was all just fine. I think one issue for me was that the main characters had only each gotten one quick mention in previous stories so going into the book I wasn’t very invested in them. Then there were hardly any cameos from other Haven Point residents I’ve grown to love through the series. It just felt a little disconnected from the rest of the series and wasn’t my favorite. It was fine, and I’m glad I read it, but it’s not going to be one I go back and reread.

And lastly, it’s worth a mention that I started reading American Royals this month too. I got about 40 pages in and was really enjoying it, but then I discovered that this book is going to be part of a series. Book two is currently in the works and will be released in the fall, and just by reading 40 pages I could tell that the book was going to be binge-worthy and would likely leave me hanging at the end. I took a poll on Instagram and got some feedback from others who have read it, and ultimately decided to put off reading the rest until closer to book two’s release so I can read them back to back.

When it comes to books in a series, do you prefer to read them back-to-back or do you read other books in between?