Tag Archives: stay at home mom

My First Fashion Blog

I follow a lot of blogs about all different topics.  One of which happens to be a fashion blog called Eccentric Owl.  Mrs. Owl has been writing for years, but now fits in the fact that she is a fairly new mom with her joys and struggles of parenthood into her stylishly superb posts.  So today I decided to try my hand at my very first fashion blog.

For a long time I struggled with the fact that I wasn’t contributing financially into our household.  I know this is a common feeling amongst stay at home moms.  Many of us feel guilty for not working, thus we feel even more guilty for spending any extra money on ourselves.  I emphasize the fact that I used the word, “struggled,” noticed it is past tense.

Why did I feel like that?  I suppose it was my insecurities that kept me from realizing that even though I don’t bring in an income to our home, I do so much more for our family by being here with our children each and every day at such a vital time of their growth and development.  I had feelings of anger and jealously whenever my husband made purchases for himself.  I often felt like, “Well, if he’s buying something, then I’m going to buy something too.”  There were times when I felt sad and depressed for not having financial freedom.  Which was a complete crock, because I could have anything in the world I wanted without any questions asked.

How did I overcome this?  I honestly don’t know.  I don’t know when I stopped feeling that way.  There was no, “Ah ha,” moment of clarification.  There is now just the mutual feeling of love, respect, adoration, and most importantly appreciation for my husband who gives me the best gift I could ever ask for, the gift of the opportunity to be a stay at home mom, the gift to be there for my kids.

A second thing I struggled with in the beginning of motherhood was the fear that I would loose touch with the rest of the world.  We don’t have cable in our home, and sometimes I don’t even leave the house for days at a time.  I was mostly afraid of turning into a frumpy stay at home mom.  Notice again that I used the word, “struggled.”

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Ain’t no frumpy stay at home mom here anymore.

This weekend I am going to be attending the National Federation of the Blind of Nevada annual state convention.  For over a month now I have been passionately and actively trying to bring together parents of blind children in our state.  This weekend is the weekend I have been working for where we are coming together to reorganize the Nevada Parents Organization of Parents of Blind Children.

This not so frumpy stay at home mom has lost a ton of weight, and all of her business attire is about two sizes too big for her, it was time to do some shopping!

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Since I’m not on the convention agenda or addressing the floor, I luck out in not having to wear a suit.  This means business casual will be fine.  This means, NEW DRESSES!!!

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Dresses and leggings were from Express, and boots are from Aldo’s.  IMG_2992

This weekend, I will stroll into the hotel looking and feeling strong and confident.  I will stomp down any and all obstacles that might try to stand in my way with my sexy new boots.  I will accomplish my goals, all while looking good.

Before I say farewell, I have one question for you.  Leggings, or no leggings?

 

 

Finding Time to Blog

I apologize that it has been over a month since my last blog.  I started Blind Mom in the Burbs last April.  At the time, my son was only six months old and my daughter was two and a half.  Our computer was in the back corner of the family room.  Now, My son is sixteen months, daughter is almost three and a half, and the computer is in the music/workout/computer/den in the very front of the house.  You can only imagine the difference a year makes.

Finding time to blog when you are home alone with two toddlers, is like finding time to breathe when you are under water.  It’s practically impossible.

Let me tell you about my morning.

My husband and I are on our second week of a 45 day cleanse.  This means, for 45 days this mama cannot eat pork, eggs, dairy, gluten, drink alcohol, on a strick eating schedule, and to top it all off, NO COFFEE.  I am going to be honest.  Last week was tough.  I started off my first day of NO COFFEE with a horrible hangover from going out the night before for a friend’s birthday.  Now that the coffee withdrawals are gone, I have found that burst of energy I was told about, and I feel great!

So with my newly discovered energy this morning, I decided to put away the laundry, tidy up the kids rooms, clean the play room, and scrub the bathrooms before a play date this afternoon.  I just assumed both my children were in the family room watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I should have  known better than to assume.  After a little while I went in there to check on them, not finding my son I immediately knew where to look.  As I turned the corner down the hall towards my bedroom I could hear the water running.  When I got into my bathroom, I found he had climbed up the tub, onto the counter, and across the sink (the sink we’d turned the wather off to since he had been found sitting in there before with the water on full blast).  He had made his way across the counter to the other sink and turned on the water letting it run over my lotion bottle, soap dispenser, and a glass candle (which he must have broken when dropping it in the sink.  When I went to pick him up, he had a piece of glass in his hand a scraped it across my cheek.  I usually keep all of the bedroom doors closed when he’s awake, but like I mentioned above, I was in the middle of cleaning.  Thankfully all of the broken glass was mostly contained in the sink, and he had no cuts on him.  My cheek is fine.  That is just an example of how that little booger keeps me on my toes.

Please don’t think that I am complaining.  This is merely an explanation of why I have not been blogging.

Any and every time I sit down, whether it be on the couch, ground, or computer chair, my kids think it means it’s time for them to climb all over me.  They are at such an adorable age.  I just can’t justify shewing them away so that I can sit at the computer.  They are only this little for so long.  Before I know it they won’t want anything to do with me.  Oh geese, I’m getting all teary eyed just thinking about that.  So for now, I am spending all of my energy keeping up with my two active toddlers and making sure to fully absorb all of the love they have to throw at me.  This doesn’t mean I’m not going to blog anymore, just not as frequently, because by the time those little ones are ready for bed, so is their exhausted mama.

Thankful November in a Nutshell

I started out this month intending on publishing a blog post each day on something I am thankful for.  As you can see by looking at my recent posts, I only made it to day 9.

Here it is in a nutshell.

I am thankful for my parents who raised me to know the difference between right and wrong.  They gave me a brother, who gave me two beautiful nieces, and a sister who is the most loyal friend I could ask for.  They instilled in us the importance of family. showed us how to work hard, and taught us how to love and have compassion for others.

I am thankful for my husband’s family.  Without them, he wouldn’t be the man that he is today.

I am thankful for modern forms of telecommunication like cell phones, texting, emails, Facebook, and skype to help me stay in touch with my family and friends all over the world.

I am thankful for all the friends that I made throughout the years, both near and far.  You all know exactly who you are.

I am thankful for the opportunity to be a stay at home mom and raise two beautiful children who are so eager to learn, and never fail to bring a smile to my face.

I am thankful for a warm cozy bed, food in my fridge, and clothes on my back.

I am thankful for coffee, wine, and chocolate.  These are my drugs of choice.

I am thankful for fuzzy socks.

I am thankful for friendly neighbors who watch out for me and my children when my hubby is gone.

I am thankful the stucco guys finally started painting today and we are closer to having our backyard done.

I am thankful for the opportunity to blog and share my life with you.

And oh yes, one more thing.  I am thankful for my blindness.  Without it, I wouldn’t be the person that I am today.  Every experience, every challenge, every of struggle to try to fit in and look normal, every missed step or curb, every triumph, every mile I’ve traveled, every person I’ve met, every child I’ve taught, every person I’ve influenced, every accomplishment I’ve made or will make in the future are all because of my blindness.  I used to imagine what my life would be like if I had 20/20 vision, but then I wouldn’t be where I am today.  If somebody told me there was an opportunity for me to get all of my vision back, I honestly don’t know what I would do.  So until there is a 100%, 0 side effects, consequence free way, I’m going to have to pass for now.

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 9


November 9, 2012

I am thankful for a long hot shower and hot tea.

This morning, while I was cooking pancakes for the kids, my husband told me I looked like shit.  He didn’t mean that in a mean way.  He was letting me know he could tell I was feeling pretty sick.  This cough that I’ve had for a few days is now a head cold.  My ears hurt.  My head has so much pressure built up, it feels like my eyes will pop the next time I sneeze.  And if I cough or try to talk, it felt and sounded like a frog crawled in my throat and died.  All I wanted was a nice long hot shower by myself.

If you don’t have children, then you don’t understand how rare those are.  They are truly a luxury for us stay at home moms.  Unless I get my butt out of bed before the kids wake up for a quick in and out rinse, it is rare that I get any time to myself in the bathroom.  If I choose staying in bed rather than showering, I either have to sneak away during Jack’s morning nap or have a little party in the shower with both toddlers at my feet.  So, after I finished making those pancakes, I decided to take advantage of having hubby home in the morning, and take myself a nice LONG HOT shower, alone.

Sadly, it didn’t last long enough.  Those showersnever do.  But the nice trade off for getting out before I was ready was the smell of breakfast sausages and potatoes calling to me.  The smell would usually be accompanied by my favorite smell in the morning, a fresh pot of coffee, but this morning I passed on the coffee.  This morning, and all day, I had what Marley likes to call, “Honey Tea.”  Honey Tea is Chamomile Tea with lots of honey.  The honey is supposed to help get rid of the cough.  Yes, I’m one of those weirdos that doesn’t take medicine unless I’m so sick I can’t get out of bed.

And now as I’m sitting here writing, I have with me a hot cup of Honey Tea accompanied my my favorite drink at night, a glass of red wine.  But I think I’ll save being thankful for wine for another night. 😉

Staying Cool and Keeping Your Cool Through the Terrible Twos

As the temperature in Las Vegas sore to triple digits, so do the intensity levels of the tantrums in our house. It seems like every day is a battle to avoiding the tantrum of the year. Here are a few things I do to stay cool through these hot times of the terrible twos.

1. Pool Play Dates:

My mommy friends and I have started taking the kids to the pool at the M Hotel. There is a large shallow area where the kids can safely splash and us mommies can lounge and catch up. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about taking the kids to a pool without my husband to help keep an eye on the kids, but I really had nothing to worry about with the awesome group of moms that are there who help watch each others’ kids. We bought Marley one of those life jackets that fully surrounds her torso and buckles between the legs so that she can’t slip out, but she refused to where it the first time at the pool. I told her that if she didn’t want to wear her life jacket, she needed to stay right next to me. And that’s exactly what she did. She just happily splashed next to me and her little brother while the other kids ran around in their floaties. The next time at the pool, she agreed to wear her life jacket when she wanted to join me in the deeper area

When it came time for us to leave, everyone there got to witness one of those famous tantrums. Marley made it loud and clear that she didn’t want to get out of the pool. I calmly held her tight between my legs so that she couldn’t throw herself down on the hot cement and forced on a fresh diaper and dry clothes.

I learned my lesson for the next time. About half an hour before it was time to leave, I ordered a bunch of french fries as a distraction. It worked! Marley didn’t even notice that I was changing her out of her bathing suit and into dry clothes. All she cared about was shoveling fries into her mouth. And when the other kids went back into the water, she was still shoveling down fries.

2. Get a Water Table:

When getting to the pool isn’t an option, due to not having a ride or the kids being sick, we go out back and splash in the water table. What’s a water table you ask? It’s a toddler sized table that holds water for the kids to play at. This is a nice clean way to stay cool while our backyard is in mid-remodel and currently looks like a war zone.

3. Extra Long Baths:

The water table is only good for so long. When it’s over 107 degrees out, even splashing in the shade doesn’t help. This is when I let my kids have extra long baths. This also means extra water to clean up on the floor since Jackson has just recently learned to splash and he and his big sister get into splash wars.

4. B Proactive instead of Reactive:

I’ve learned that one of the reasons for the tantrums at this age is because their little brains are growing so fast that they easily get bored. This is why it is especially important to take a proactive rather than a reactive approach to the day. It’s not always easy. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a lot of work, and exhausting, but it’s worth it if it means getting through the day without a tantrum. Every 20 minutes or so, I bring out a new activity (whether it’s coloring, building blocks, drawing on her chalk board, playing pretend with toys, reading, building forts out of couch pillows and blankets, etc.) She cooks when I cook with her plato. She follows me with her toy vacuum when I vacuum. I have made a preschool-like curriculum where she works on a new letter each day. The key to success is to keep things simple.

5. Mommy Time Outs:

When toddler time out no longer work, it’s time to take a mommy time out. If you’ve never been a stay at home mom, than you truly have no idea how exhausting of a job it is. We don’t get 10 minute breaks. We don’t get lunch breaks. Sometimes, we don’t even get bathroom breaks. That is why taking time for yourself is so important. Your mommy time out can be as simple as putting on a movie for your little one and taking a nice long shower, or making daddy watch the kids for a few hours and getting out of the house.

Two weekends ago was one of those weekends where I needed an extra long mommy time out. Both kids had been sick and throwing up on me all night. The tantrums were on overdrive. We had unexpected house guests. And I had probably slept a total of 4 hours in 3 days. I told my husband, “If I don’t get a few Marley free hours, she might not make it through the weekend in one piece.” I had him drop me off for a mini facial at my own little piece of Heaven, also know as Spa Mio at the M Hotel. I had two lovely hours with just me, myself, and I in a steam room along with a 25 minute cleansing facial. It was the perfect way to recharge my batteries.

So there you have it, just a few ways to staying cool and keeping your cool through those terrible twos.