Pride and the Holidays

The first thing you should know about me is that I LOVE CHRISTMASTIME. I don't even mind when the local radio station starts playing Christmas music more than a month before Christmas. I mean, I don't listen to it 24/7 until after Thanksgiving, but when I need a little Bing Crosby or Nat King Cole fix - it's there.

That being said - one thing that I battle during the holidays is pride. I want to be able to do it all. I want to be the mom with fresh baked Christmas cookies, the advent calendar, the decorations, the presents, the parties, the cards! But guess what? If I am struggling in the day-to-day responsibilities, I should probably take a step back and NOT pre-plan my Christmas morning menu. Maybe I ought to take care of the laundry pile first.

This year, I am purposing to be more laid back. I am a perfectionist by nature and I need to focus on making sure that the basics are taken care of before I jump onto the next Polar Express to decorating my whole house for Christmas. 

Laundry done, bathrooms cleaned, dishes done, dinner on the table. Those are my every day goals. Those have to come before designing the perfect Christmas banner or scouring the Internet for the perfect gift(s) for my husband.

Please don't misunderstand me - those things are important, too - but if I choose to neglect my basic responsibilities, I will become overwhelmed, and eventually will find myself curled up in my bed eating peppermint chocolate M&M's, wrapping Christmas gifts, while my house is in shambles! (This might happen anyway)

Two things I am letting go of this year are:

1. Christmas cards. It just didn't happen, and honestly, I will be glad to have the money I would have spent on cards for gifts!

2. Advent calendar. I had high hopes of making the cutest little calendar with fun little gifts for each day. Thanks, Pinterest, for tempting me. But seriously...Molly won't know the difference this year, so I'm skipping it.

So there you go. I can't do it all during the every day routine, so I need to own the fact that I can't do it all around Christmas either - and I'm not going to make it look like I can, because I think other mothers out there need to know that it's okay if your stockings don't all match and you don't do the most creative Elf on the Shelf ever. Oh, and don't even get me started on Elf on the Shelf.... :-p

a [small] transformation

As I sit here with a soft brace on my ankle, foot propped on top of ice for the umpteenth time this week, it dawned on me that I had not yet blogged about my newest venture: RUNNING! Okay, well...jogging. I don't know if it counts as running yet.

While I currently have a sprained ankle (due to over-pronation and bad shoes), I am proud to say that my sister-in-law Katelyn (<--- click her name to view her SUPER awesome blog about the 101 in 1001 project) and I have ALMOST completed 'Couch to 5k'! We both toyed with the idea of running all summer, but neither of us have ever been runners, even in our chosen sports through high school, we avoided running at all costs!

It's taking us a little longer than 9 weeks to complete the program, mostly because we've hit a few "roadblocks" along the way - sickness, and my injury. BUT, my new shoes should be here any day, and my ankle feels exponentially better today than it did even yesterday!! 

Pre-race photo ops:)

About a month ago, we ran in our first 5k, held at Vernon Powell (shoe store). We didn't run the whole thing, but ran a good portion of it. I can't wait til we sign up for our first real run-all-the-way 5k!!

Yes, I know the left picture is me being goofy, but that was my highest weight after Molly was born. I'm about 40 pounds lighter now! (And that's after I had already lost 25 pounds post-pregnancy!)

Lyme Disease and Productivity

I have Chronic Lyme Disease. I have not had a terrible flare up since I was pregnant with Molly - and man, that one was a doozy! I can say that with some humor now that I am so far removed from this, but the truth is, autoimmune diseases are way more common than you think, and it's not a laughing matter. While the jury is still out on the causes of Lyme Disease and other similar co-infections, I'm sure that a lot of you know that my whole family has been affected in some way or another by Lyme Disease.

My main symptoms are debilitating migraine headaches, arthritis-like symptoms in my joints, low energy, and insomnia. While I am not in a flare up, I still have days where I experience any number of these symptoms for no apparent reason, or sometimes due to humidity/drastic weather change. I should be used to that, I live on the Eastern Shore!!

Lest you be bored by my ramble about medical conditions, there really is a point to all of this! 

One thing that I have learned through all of this is perseverance in productivity. There are days (like today) when my head is pounding, and not even excedrin migraine can 'fix' me back to full power, but if I let myself sink onto the couch for the whole day and not even attempt to be productive, I will start a habit that is not easily broken. The mentality of - "If I waste what little energy I have now, I won't have any if I need it later" is a common one among people who suffer from chronic pain of one kind or another. You conserve energy, just in case. But guess what? That's not productive, and it certainly won't make you feel better.

I used to have a lot of guilt, because sometimes I really can't pull myself out of it, and things would literally be a mess when Patrick got home from work. But as long as those days are few and far between, a little PB&J for dinner never hurt anyone!

The important thing to remember is that if you have the energy: USE IT. You won't regret it. Don't push yourself too far, but by using that energy to be productive, you won't struggle with the guilt of being 'down' later in the day. 

P.s. I'm preaching this to myself. There are days that this whole mentality goes out the window and I lay on the couch and throw myself a giant pity party. :)

Seven Questions I Ask My 18 Month Old (On A Daily Basis)

This is a drive-by post that will hopefully make you giggle. I just made note of the things I've asked Molly so far today. This is what I've come up with, and I'm guessing this is pretty standard:

1. What are you eating?

2. Why are you so quiet?

3. Where are your ponytail holders?

4. Why are you licking that?

5. What's wrong???????

6. Why are you yelling at me?

7. Did you poop?

Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches - A Book Review

This past June, I had the privilege of photographing a wedding with my sister-in-law, Amanda, up in Maine. Or New Hampshire. I can never remember which state we were in...but I digress.

This trip meant that I would be childless for 4 whole days! Including the 8 hour car ride up north! I grabbed a couple of books that I had been planning on reading for months, and guess what? I read every single page of all three books.

This was my favorite. I don't recall who gave the book to me, or why, but WOW - couldn't have read it at a better time in my life. I keep alternating between thinking that I ought to pass the book along to another mama and then thinking that maybe I should keep it around to re-read when I am needing encouragement.

The way that Rachel Jankovic writes makes it so easy to relate to her whether you have one little one, or four, the reality of cheerios being dumped all over the living room (true story, happened last week) is something that I think any mom can identify with.

She really encourages a 'go with the flow' attitude. You can't control every single element in your home because - hello, they are KIDS! BUT, at the same time, it doesn't have to be total chaos. They are human beings and you can teach them!

In the book (early on, actually - page 12!) she says, "I didn't write this book because mothering little ones is easy for me. I wrote it because it isn't. I know that this is a hard job, because I am right here in the middle of it. I know that you need encouragement every day, because I do too."

I seriously want to send her some fuzzy socks and a chocolate bar for writing this book. 

The Top Ten Things You Will Cry About Post-Partum

1. Everything

Okay, okay... I'm just kidding. But I bet if you asked my husband what I cried about in the weeks following Molly's birth, that would be his answer - and to his credit, he dealt with the extreme emotions beautifully.

The REAL List:

1. The sudden quadruple of your stretch marks (in various places!) that you so carefully 'avoided' with a dutiful application of cocoa butter throughout your pregnancy.

2. When you finally lay the baby down. She's sleeping peacefully. You only have about 15 minutes, maximum. You start to cry because...you can't decide if you should shower, use the bathroom, eat, or sleep!

3. The first time you step on the scale post-partum. 

4. Your baby's umbilical cord falls off on Day 4. The doctor said 8-14 days, and it fell off on DAY FOUR so obviously you did something horribly wrong!!!!!!! <--- I may be saying this from experience.

5. Post-Partum = Payback for 9+ months of no Aunt Flo. Sorry. It had to be said.

6. Milk. It doesn't matter what the circumstance - spilled, too much, too little, too hot, too cold - it'll be cried over.

7. Summer is clearly approaching more quickly than it does other years, simply because you can't imagine wearing a bathing suit right now.

8. You're pretty sure that you'll be bald in a matter of weeks. Maybe days.

9. Your husband looked at you funny/the wrong way/normal.

10. She's already not a newborn anymoooooooooore!

This is by no means a complete list of what I, personally, cried over in those first weeks (ahem, months...) but I hope that others can identify with, and maybe even laugh a little over, the above list. It's normal. I think.

Tea for Twenty-Five

Dear friends of ours are getting married in September and since they are not having a traditional wedding party (bridesmaids or groomsmen) and that is typically who is expected to throw the bridal shower...and because I believe that every woman deserves a good shower in her honor, I took it upon myself to throw a Regency Era Bridal Shower!

I only have a few pictures to share, and none of them are particularly fabulous quality, but that's what you get when you try to be hostess and photographer at the same time. ;-)

This party enabled me to try several Pinterest projects/recipes that I had been eyeing. ALL of them were fantastic. 

Decor: Fresh flowers in mason jars, teacups & saucers, lace tablecloths, and pastel bunting. Just about all of this came from either my own home, my mother's home, or my mother-in-law's home. The sunflowers were given to Katelyn at work on Monday and were (clearly) still GORGEOUS on Saturday!

Cake: Made by Katelyn. Lemon cake with homemade buttercream frosting. Cake topper by yours truly. ;-)

Cake & Tea

Other Food: The main attraction, if I may say so myself, was the scones, jam, and clotted cream. I have made scones before, and they were crumbly - so that's what I was expecting when I made these. They were HANDS DOWN, the best scones I've ever had. The perfect texture, easy to make, and they make a fantastic breakfast leftover!

Scones, Jams, and Clotted Cream

The clotted cream came from the same recipe, and it, too, was delicious. I wasn't quite sure what to expect since I'd never made clotted cream before. [side note: can we find a prettier name for this dish? clotted? ew.] It took a whopping 9 hours in the oven (180 degrees), and another 8 hours cooling in the refrigerator. When I opened up the dish on Saturday morning, I won't lie, I had a moment of panic. No way could I serve my guests the lumpy, gross looking yellow and brown cream that was in front of me. Thankfully, the blog I got the recipe from suggested that I whip it a little bit with a mixer. Once I did that, it looked a little better, but still wasn't the fluffy texture that I wanted it to be, so I dumped the remaining liquid cream from the bottom of the dish into the bowl and whipped it until it was airy, fluffy goodness! 

The last food item that I made to go along with everything were these yummy homemade cream cheese mints. These were EASY as can be, and delicious to boot! I couldn't believe how simple it is to make these! I refrigerated mine before serving them which (in my opinion) made them EVEN more delicious and refreshing. In fact, the recipe made so many that I still have some in my fridge. They are going to be my treat for later. (Yeah, I reward myself for completing tasks like laundry and cleaning...what of it?)

Party Favors: I thought for a long time about what I would send home with our guests as party favors. Typically it would be candy or something like that, but I wanted it to go along with the homemade shabby chic vibe I was channeling, so I was thrilled when I found this recipe for hand lotion! I made it exactly like they said, and I put mine into the tiniest mason jars that I could find, then wrapped them in sheer ribbon...voila! 

Party Favors

The Tea Station

Filled to the Brim!