My New Job

Hi there,

I recently turned 30, and it was celebrated in a big way thanks to my husband throwing me a surprise party with all of my closest family and friends (post with pictures coming soon)!  I truly had an amazing time with all the people I love.  Entering this new decade of life is bringing about a big change for me, I'm getting a new job!  I am going to be a full time, stay-at-home mom to our daughter.  I have worked full time ever since she was born, and over the past two and half years the Lord has worked in my heart about what I am meant to be doing at this point in my life.  I have spent countless hours praying, crying, and talking about this issue.  My greatest struggle was that I had a career, not just a job, that I would be stepping away from for an extended period of time.  Sean and I took some to listen to what God wanted for our family, and the answer was clear, it was time to stop working.  I think that all mothers, working or not, are amazing at what they do on a daily basis.  I've only experienced the working mom side so far, but I'm looking forward to see what being a stay at home is all about.  I recently read a blog post that is exactly on point with why I felt called to take this leap of faith:

From:  http://thebudgetmama.com/2014/01/the-ugly-side-of-being-a-stay-at-home-mom.html

I gave up my career as a project manager at an engineering firm in Atlanta to stay home and raise our son. I didn’t just quit a job, I gave up a career that I loved and was passionate about. I had a very hard time adjusting to motherhood and to life of a stay-at-home mom. 

Those first few months were really just feedings, changing diapers, naps, and cleaning my house. I really did not feel like I was doing anything worth doing. I felt like the world saw me as someone who lived in yoga pants, never wore makeup, hardly showered, watched soap operas all day long, and ate Ben & Jerry’s for a living. 

I was always so ashamed to tell anyone that I ‘stayed home’ instead of having an incredible worth-while career. Thankfully, I ran into a man at Walmart shortly after I had my second child who was admiring my cute new baby. He was a motorcycle riding, bread wearing, leather cut, kind of guy whose response to me telling him that I was a stay-at-home mom blew me away. He said “You have the hardest job in the world. I’d never want your job. Hell, I’d be terrible at it. My wife, she was amazing at it and you are too. Don’t let this Godless world we live in tell you otherwise. You’re doing your best and that’s better than the rest.”

What an awesome moment! Seriously, I hugged that big ol’burly man! 

I’ve always felt that as a woman in our modern world that I was supposed to do-it-all, then the laundry, then clean the dishes, and then get the kids to bed. I thought I was supposed to be superwoman. I’m ever thankful that I read Crystal’s book Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. She reminded that I’m not superwoman and that superwoman doesn’t exist. It’s okay to not be able to do-it-all and then some. 

Life is not fun if we are just barely surviving. 

“I think Americans are suffering from a busyness epidemic. We’re addicted to busy.” – Crystal Paine, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode

Crystal has helped me navigate my way back from being way too busy and forgetting what life is all about. I really believed that in order for me to matter, I had to do everything. It’s not about going through the motions to make our society happy. It’s about living a life with purpose and intention. Through her guidance, I’ve been able to start saying ‘No’ to commitments I would have otherwise said yes to in order to fill that need to please others. I’ve let go of worrying what others think when I tell them that I’m a stay-at-home mom. I’m raising men, who need their mama to guide them. Not for their mama to be distracted by everything else that she thinks she has to accomplish. 

I hope that my very open post has resonated with you in some way. I truly believe that women in our modern world are consistently battling ourselves over who and how we are supposed to be. 

Turning 30

Hi there,

I haven't updated the blog in quite awhile, but here's to starting anew again.  Last night, Sean began reminiscing and made the comment that we have led an amazing life together.  We talked about how we used to go on dates in high school, how he would come visit me in college on the weekends, and now we have this sweet daughter to call our own.  It was fun to remember the past and it made me reflect on this past decade before I turn the big 3-0 in a few weeks.  Here's what I've accomplished/experienced in the past 10 years in relative order:

-graduated college
-married to my best friend
-I was diagnosed with RA
-survived and graduated law school
-passed the Bar exam
-was subsequently hired for my first "big girl" job and started a legal career that has lasted 5 years
-bought our first house (a really cute house at that and I was sad to sell it)
-Sean and I got Sandy, our puppy, and she was like our first "child" before she passed away
-We had a baby and I became a mother!!!
-I learned how you can love someone more than yourself and be truly selfless
-Sean got his dream job, but that meant moving away from our friends and family
-We set out on an adventure as a new family of three in a new town, new jobs, and all on our own
-Isabelle has grown from a tiny infant to a spunky toddler
-We bought our second house and we're now making it a home

Looking back at this list that is a lot of big life events that happened in one decade.  I can't wait for what the next 10 years of my life holds for me.  God has blessed me immensely and I'm truly grateful!

Shelby-Arkansas-25 years old

I am linking up today to Kelly's Korner because I wanted to tell all of you about my amazing cousin by marriage, Shelby.  He is truly a great guy!  Shelby is currently in his last year of dental school in Tennessee.  We are all hoping that he moves back to Arkansas after he graduates because we miss him so much.  He is a Christian and I think he needs to find a Christian girl to share his life with as well.  Some of his interests include exotic cars and snowboarding.  He loves his family a great deal and is very close with his mom and brother.  If you would like to get in touch with him leave your email and a little bit about you or someone you think would be a good match below in the comments.  Or you could email me and I'll pass it along to him:  lydia.whetstone@gmail.com

Day in the Life

It feels good to be blogging regularly again! I read alot of mommy blogs to get advice/tips about raising kids and most seem to be geared for stay at home mothers. One of the blogs that I read is doing a new series called, "Day in the Life of a Working Mommy" and I thought I would join in! I wrote a post a long time ago when Isabelle was still a baby about what our day looks like, but I haven't updated it since we moved away from family and now that she's a toddler. I think it will be fun to see how our daily life changes as she gets older. Here it goes:

 6:00 a.m.: Our alarm goes off, but usually one of us turns it off so we can get a few more minutes of sleep! We usually try to get out of bed by 6:15 and 6:30 every morning. If I'm smart, I take a shower the night before so don't have to in the morning, but some evenings that just doesn't happen. Sean usually drops Isabelle off at daycare in the morning, so I let him shower first and I do other morning duties such as starting the coffee, packing my lunch, etc. The time that Isabelle wakes up in the morning varies from day to day. On most days she wakes up between 6:45 and 7:00. It helps us a great deal if she sleeps in because we can get ready much more quickly. If she happens to wake up a little early, one of us will go get her while the other one finishes getting ready. For example, this morning she woke up at 6:30 so I let Sean finish getting ready while I fed her breakfast. We had a waffle and watched a some Bubble Guppies. If we are a little pressed for time we'll bring her in our bedroom and let her drink some milk while she watches television on our bed. It has gotten easier getting ready while she's awake now that she's a toddler. She is usually happy as long as she's in the same room with one of us. Getting her ready in the morning consists of changing her diaper, changing her clothes, eating breakfast, brushing her teeth, and fixing her hair. The last two tasks are an absolute fight every morning. For some reason she hates to have her teeth brushed and her hair fixed. She usually refuses to open her mouth and tries to run away. We're working on it for sure!


7:45 to 8:00 a.m.: Fortunately for both of us, we don't have to be at work at a certain time. My job is very flexible and I can come into work anytime between 6:30-9:30. It has been very helpful because some mornings are more hectic than others with a toddler in the mix. Sean owns his own business, so he can go in whenever he wants. We both try to be at work by 8:30 because that's when his office opens and I can be off work by 5:00 p.m. if I get in by 8:30. Sean drops her off at daycare because in the afternoons he sometimes gets busy at work and cannot leave by 5:00. That means I get to pick her up!


 8:15-8:30 a.m.: This is when I usually get into work and I get off work by 4:45-5:00 p.m. I used to work at home two days a week, but I found it was not as great as it sounded. I like getting dressed everyday and seeing other people. Also, my commute to work is only 15 minutes so it wasn't a burden for me to come into the office. Also, it was taking alot of time loading my work onto my laptop and unloading it when I returned to work. It has been pretty liberating for me to turn in my laptop and know that I can only work 40 hours a week in the office and that's it!


5:00-6:00 p.m.: Pick up the kiddo. Since her new daycare is a little further away, we usually don't get home until almost 5:30. Sean usually makes it home at about 5:45 unless he has a late meeting with a customer. If Sean isn't home I feed Isabelle her dinner separately and make ours after she goes to bed. Some days she is hungry when she gets home and some days she isn't. I've tried cooking dinner when I'm by myself with her, but it never works out. She usually wants me to play with her or will cry for me to pick her up if I'm at the stove. Last night was great because Sean was home by 5:40 and he played with her while I made dinner. I'm no chef so dinner consisted of grilled chicken, Rice a Roni rice, sauteed mushrooms, broccoli and cheese, and rolls. Now that Isabelle is eating regular food, our goal as a family is to eat dinner together at the table. Last night was fun because she was being silly and I enjoy this time.


6:30-7:30 p.m.: Clean up after dinner, give Isabelle a bath, play with her by reading books, coloring, and playing chase and tickle.


7:30-8:15 p.m.: This is when we begin to get her ready for bed. When we ask if she's ready to go to sleep, she usually says "no" so then we tell her five more minutes. Once the five minutes is up then she is pretty good about walking to her room for bedtime. One of us will rock her to sleep while the other one puts away her toys and finishes cleaning up from dinner.


 8:30-10:30 p.m.: This is our time to do light household chores like checking the mail, paying bills, loading/unloading the dishwasher, and doing laundry. We also watch television shows together and just catch up with each other. I wish that we could go to bed sooner so we could get more sleep, but then we would never get to spend time together!


*Things we do well: Sean and I are pretty good at the teamwork when it comes to Isabelle's needs. If one is busy then the other picks up the slack. He knows how to take care of her without any help so that is a big burden off of me. I try to do the laundry throughout the week so that it is one less chore I have to do on the weekend. We go out of town quite a bit to visit family, so the weekdays are crucial to making the household run. We are also pretty good at making time for each other. We go to lunch together quite often or meet each other at home for lunch so we can have an adult conversation. We also found a babysitter in town so it has been nice to occassionally go out on a real date once a month or so!


*Things we need to work on: Our days are busy, but I really want to start working out regularly again. Isabelle's morning wake-up time is so unpredictable that I'm pretty sure we're going to have to take turns going in the evening after she goes to sleep. That's one of my biggest goals right now! We also don't have a good routine when it comes to deep cleaning the house. What usually happens is that every couple of weeks one of us will realize that the house needs to be cleaned. Then we spend an entire weekend cleaning it from top to bottom. The problem is that we travel alot so on the weekends we are out of town, the next week I feel behind on household duties. Sean said we need to stay home more, but it is so hard to do when we want to see our family and friends!

20 Months and Growing Up

Today Isabelle turns 20 months old. She is definitely growing up because she's old enough to do alot more things now. This past Saturday I took her to our first Mom and Tot gymnastics class. It was a moment that I've dreamt about ever since I wanted to become a mom. I've always wanted to watch my child play a sport and cheer her on from the sidelines. Obviously, this is the very beginning, but it was a very special day for us! I still remember my own mom coming to my soccer games for years and years, even when we didn't score a goal the entire season, how is that possible? She never understood how our games could end in ties, but she always took me to practices and let me play year after year. I have such fond memories of that time in my life, and I hope Isabelle will too. Our daughter did great during her first class, and I was impressed at how well she did. I think I underestimated her abilities. First, we sat in a circle and stretched with the instructor. Then, we did a bit of an obstacle course that was set up in the gym. Her instructor helped her practice tumbling forward, then she hung on a bar with her hands, and even climbed a ladder with no help! She walked across the balance beam while holding my hand, and then we did the entire course again. They also had a foam pit set up and the older toddlers that have been in the class before knew to jump in right away. It took a little convincing, but Isabelle jumped in with her instructor and then did it by herself. The only thing she did not want to do was jump on the trampoline, but I think next time I will get on it with her so she won't be scared. By the end of the class she was telling me, "no, mom" because she wanted to do all the stations by herself! They end each class by giving each kiddo a sucker, so of course, Isabelle thought it was the best thing in world.

A little unsure at the beginning...

Loving class now!

A mommy-daughter duo

The original mommy-daughter duo (me and my mom when I was 4 or 5 years old)

Before I Forget

I know it has been four months since I last blogged and Isabelle is nearly 20 months old now!  This summer has been busy and full of fun.  We took her camping for the first time at Devil's Den and we slept in a tent both nights!  She did great and loved playing outside with rocks and dirt.  Swimming has not been as successful, she's pretty wary of the water, and it takes her awhile to relax.  Her first time at the zoo was fun and she loved all the animals even though it was HOT outside!  Isabelle is a seasoned traveler now, and does fairly well in the car as long as she has something to eat and she can watch Bubble Guppies on the DVD player.  We drive to Florida over Labor Day so I'll let you know how it goes!  I think she'll love the beach, but I'm not so sure about the water.  Her walking has improved a great deal and she even runs with a wide stance now.  Her physical therapy should be ending pretty soon.  At daycare they have taught her to eat at a table (no highchair) and all the kiddo slept on mats at naptime.  It is so cute to see them sleeping in a row!  We are going to start Mom and Tot gymnastics class this week and I'm super excited.  It is really difficult to find a class that is not during a weekday, so I was thrilled to find something fun for us to do together on Saturday mornings.  We are going to start potty training soon if I can work up the courage.  She has been indicating that she's ready, but I don't think I'm quite there yet!  Our baby has turned into a sweet toddler with personality for sure.  Here are a few things that I don't want to forget:

* I went to visit our family in Boston with my mom this week and when I returned Isabelle was so excited to see me.  I didn't expect much, but she kept on saying, "mommy, mommy" over and over again, formed her mouth in an "O" like she was surprised I was there, and proceeded to kiss me alot! 

*She has a newfound love for stuffed animals since we took the pacifier away a month or so ago.  She has named her favorites:  Baby (a pink bear), Jaff (a giraffe), Hop Hop (a rabbit), and Pooh (Winnie the Pooh).  Isabelle sleeps with one or more of them every night and even carries them during the day.  When I told her the name of the Winnie the Pooh bear for the first time, she laughed every time I said the word Pooh.  Obviously, she has her father's sense of humor.  Sean called me this morning and told me that he explained to Isabelle that she could only take one of the animals with her to daycare.  She understood exactly what he was saying because she proceeded to hug her Jaff and Baby very tightly and then whispered, "no Daddy" in a sweet voice.  Needless to say, Sean let her take both of them with her!

*Isabelle is learning to help around the house and I probably have daycare to thank for that!  She will say, "dirty" and pick up a wrapper/piece of paper and throw it in the trash can.  She also knows to put her dirty clothes in the hamper before she takes a bath!  I think we'll work on putting away toys next :-)

*She definitely is ready to start potty training.  She will squat when she goes now and will grab her diaper and say, "poop" when she's ready to be changed.  She even will pretend to wipe when she gets a piece of toilet paper.  She's only a few months away from turning two so I guess it is time!

*After we read to her at night before bed, she will sometimes take the book from us.  She turns the pages and talks in gibberish like she's trying to read to us too.  It is the sweetest thing.

*Her vocabulary is growing everyday and she is pretty good at repeating most of her ABC's one letter at a time.  She has also started forming phrases such as, "bye-bye daddy", "thank you mommy", etc.

*Sometimes when she gets restless on long car rides one of us will turn around and rub her foot and ankle to calm her down.  The other day we were watching television and we caught her rubbing one of her stuffed animal's feet the same way!

*For a little while she got in the habit of wanting to hold my hand while she ate.  I didn't mind a bit!

There are too many memories to list here because everyday she does something funny or sweet!  It keeps on getting better and better.

First Family Getaway

Hello,

I know that I have lots of blogging to catch up on, but I thought it might be good to just start with what we've been doing lately.  Although we travel quite a bit, it is always back home to visit family.  This past weekend, we decided to go to Bentonville/Rogers for quick getaway weekend with just the three of us!  We stayed in a suite which worked out the best for us since we could put Isabelle's pack n play in living room area so she could sleep undisturbed.  She loved her first stay in a hotel!  We stayed on the fourth floor and her favorite thing to do was to look out the window at all the traffic.  We also went swimming in the pool, and she was wary at first, but she warmed up to it once we played for awhile.  We also took some family photos with a photographer while we were there. We ate at some yummy restaurants such as Mellow Mushroom and Tusk and Trotter.  I remember a co-worker of mine telling me that there will be a point when taking kids to restaurants would be terrible for awhile.  I thought she was crazy because our daughter has always done well when we take her.  I'm eating my words because now that she's a headstrong toddler it is pretty tough.  She wants to feed herself, but she makes a mess while doing it.  Also, since she can't speak yet so I can tell she gets frustrated when she is trying to communicate what she wants.  We'll keep working on it because we love to try new places to eat.  My sweet friend, Rosa, came to babysit after Isabelle fell asleep last minute so Sean and I could go on a fun date night.  We went to Fastlane and it was the best time I've had on a date in a long time.  How can you go wrong with bowling and air hockey?  On Sunday we stopped by Crystal Bridges to check out the Norman Rockwell exhibit.  It was quite impressive and a must see for anyone that is in the area.  On the drive home Sean and I talked about how much fun we had and that we think our daughter is ready for more trips this summer!  Until next time...

So happy to be in the hotel!

Love them

She was a little scared at first

Happy now

I forgot to take photos in the museum except for one of her playing in the kids area at Crystal Bridges.

Here are some previews from our Spring photo shoot