Well, I wish that my blog and Instagram account would just write themselves. Man, life would be so much easier as a full-time working mother if it did. But because it doesn't, I spent one week tracking how much time I spend on my social media business to give you guys an idea of what it takes to keep things going on a weekly basis.
Read MoreA few weeks ago, I shared on this post how Perry and I started making "To Be" lists, which are primarily a tiny list of adjectives that you want to embody that day. These lists have helped me wrap set intentions and take the pauses that I need when I find myself become reactive.
One day while I was taking a three-minute pause to reflect on how I was speaking to my husband, It dawned on me that the lists that I was creating also mirrored images of how I now see myself as a mother.
Read Morehese past few weeks, I have noticed myself become so intensely in tune with how I spend my time with my daughter. I already get emotional when I think how one day she won't be the only child that has stolen my heart (and I am not even pregnant yet). I want to breathe in as many moments with her before our family size does grow. One of my most favorite times of the day with Winter is before bed---it's my time to practice mindfulness with her, wind down from the day by stretching and to spend uninterrupted time with my girl.
Read MoreAt our baby shower, my sweet friend suggested that we ask the guests to bring a book with a handwritten message to our baby in it. I am so grateful that she suggested it because Winter and I spend a lot of time reading together and when I read those sweet messages from my friends and family, I get a lovely rush of joy.
Since her shower, we have slowly been building up her book library (buying books in both English and Spanish because we are rasing her bi-lingual). I may have overdone it this Halloween, but below is a collage of all the books we are currently reading.
Read MoreWhen I envisioned this post, I thought the words that would accompany the video of us from Hawaii were going to be light-hearted, blithesome and effortlessly joyful. I, however, experienced something much deeper after watching this video.
How can three seconds completely transform your entire way of being? I must have watched this video a thousand times, and I can’t stop crying when it hits the 50-53 seconds mark. The way her hands touch both of our faces at the same time, it’s like she knows.
Read MoreI have really been struggling with being a working mama this year. I am not exactly sure why it seems to be getting worse, but I feel myself clinging onto the moments that I have at home with Winter, counting down the days until summer, and racking my brain with ways that I can become a stay-at-home mother.
Read MoreWe decided in June to go for it. We were finally ready for baby number two! Winter was getting much easier, we were about to embark on a two-week vacation in Hawaii, and my postpartum depression really seemed to be going easy on me. Life was good.
Read MoreHere is how a typical day goes in my household....and this happens all before 7:30 AM when I have to leave for work.
Read MoreIt's all going entirely too quickly. I can't believe that in two months, my sweet Winter will be two-years-old. There are so many moments during the day that I find myself begging for time to pause so that my memory has time to etch every single detail of her into my soul. I want to savor every bit of time that I have with her while she is this little. Gosh, where is that darn pause button??! Slow down, time!!
Read MoreI have had this lingering feeling that unsettling thoughts and emotions about returning to work are in my near future. I know that I am beyond blessed to get the opportunity to stay home with Winter during the summer, but once I begin to get so used to it, it seems like I am already staring at the end of summer on a calendar. Before I can even blink, I am back to work; 10 weeks is not long enough.
I have written a few blogs on the topic of being a working mother (which I will link below), but this blog feels so much heavier, less optimistic, if you will.
Read MoreWhen I wrote this post, my view consisted of the beach, waves, and people enjoying the sunshine and beautiful palm trees. There was absolutely no reason to complain. Except, I keep sitting here thinking what could have been and romanticizing the video clip I had imagined in my mind. You see, about a month ago, I looked over at Winter and something came over me. This emotion that I had never felt before, the longing of another baby. Before, when people would ask, I would cringe at the thought of another child. The idea of it all made me feel sick to my stomach and full of fear. Postpartum depression hit my family like a banshee out of hell and I could not, would not, risk putting myself or my husband through that again. Fear would win in my mind, and for the longest time, I thought our family size of three could be complete.
Read MoreWe are just a few days from our Hawaii trip and couldn't be more excited. Perry has always wanted to go to Hawaii and for his birthday, we decided to take the plunge and book a trip. The timing is perfect because Winter still flies for free. Despite her free flight, it's crazy to think that we are essentially paying the same amount for a two week vacation as we did for a six week one when we went to Cambodia and Thailand back in 2014. It's a tough pill to swallow how much our trip is going to cost, but we know that it will probably be a once in a lifetime trip and we couldn't think of a better time to do it.
Read MoreIn December 2016, I decided to take Love & LaRock on with full steam. I post to Instagram at least six days per week, put a blog post up twice per week, and shoot content every Friday. I have noticed that while Insta-Blogging brings so much joy and has connected me to many wonderful people and brands from all over the world, it’s also had some negative ramifications on my mental state.
Read MoreI have always been quite the worrywart. It’s probably my least favorite personality trait of mine. I have always heard that worrying can become even more in the forefront of your life once you have kids and that has undoubtedly been proved to be my experience thus far. I have been working very hard to squash the worry bug because I while I think some fear serves purpose, letting it dictate your daily thoughts is not a way that I want to live.
Read MoreI got my first tattoo when I was 18. I have always loved them and kinda thought I would end up with a sleeve or married to someone with a lot of tattoos. Turns out, I didn’t get as many tattoos as I thought I would and Perry doesn’t have a single one! There was a moment when I thought he might get one. It was right after we got married and were traveling in southeast Asia. He got a rash underneath his wedding ring. It bothered him so much and he teased me that he was allergic to marriage, saying that he may end up getting a ring tattoo. Within a few weeks, the rash cleared up and I haven’t heard a peep about a tattoo since.
Read MoreI am almost through my entire first bottle of antidepressants. This is a big deal for me. It’s like getting down to the final pills in the first bottle is some type of symbolism that the depression I felt beforehand is just a speckle of dust lying at the bottom the floor, almost entirely obsolete.
Read MoreFather’s Day is right around the corner and I wanted to do something homemade and super special for Perry. For Mother’s Day, he surprised me with this amazing plant stand out of his grandfather’s old barn wood (view the stand, here). So to keep with the theme, I knew I wanted to do something plant-related.
Read MorePerry and I have had our fair share of stressors when it comes to raising Winter. She has breath-holding spells (read more about our experience, here), she has already entered into the tantruming phase of her life, and recently, we ended up completely stuck and lost on a bus in the middle of the redwood forest with a very car sick,puking child without cell reception. I know when difficult parenting situations arise, the panic, pressure and chaos can easily take over, and it’s hard to keep your cool whether you are alone or with your partner.
Read MoreEvery day that I leave for work, I wonder what Winter is doing, what it must be like for Perry to get to work from home and if I am doing the right thing for my family. I’ve opened up before (here), that while I would love to stay home, it’s not a reality for me right now (dang those student loans). Being a working mother means that I have limited time with Winter and the last thing I want to do on the weekends is run errands with a toddler in tow.
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