Winter's nursery was the first and still the only room in the house that is completely decorated. It usually takes me months to put together my vision (and let's be real, months to save the money to do it) but somehow it came together quite effortlessly until I got to the bookshelves.
I don't know what it is about shelves but they always intimidate me and take me hours to figure out what the heck to put on them that's both functional and fun to look at it.
Read MoreWhen I was 14 I dreamt about owning a Ford F-150 truck. I’ not entirely sure why I wanted to own one but I know it had something to do with the good ol’ American nostalgia I experienced as a kid riding in my grandfather’s truck. I loved being seated up high with the windows down and the music blasting on the open Oklahoma country roads. To make this dream a reality, I got a job as a lifeguard and saved every nickel and dime I had. By the time I was 17 (with the help of my generous parents) I was living my teenage dream and driving my F-150 around town with so much pride. It wasn’t red like Winter’s little Ford push cart, but it was mine, and I can recall feeling a sense of girl empowerment, a feeling that I don’t think I had ever been attuned to before getting my truck. It wasn’t because I had a truck per se, but because I had a dream, worked hard and achieved it. Plus, it helped that I burned the stereotype down in my town that trucks were only for boys, because, hello, NO they are not!
Read MoreWhen I am having a bad day, I feel consumed by negativity. Unfortunately, this makes a lot of sense from a psychological perspective. Our brains respond to negative information three to five times more than they do to positive input. In the old days, this was crucial to survival. It wouldn’t have been wise for our brains to notice the beautiful scenery when we had to be attuned to natural threats such as predators. Even though we aren’t faced with the same threats today, our brain is still wired the same, which is a major bummer if you ask me.
Read MoreI am trying to find the balance between paying attention to my thoughts and the source of these thoughts. I have been consistently practicing mindfulness, taking time to pause, breathe and truly slow down.
But out of nowhere, I have been feeling a lot of pressure located around my heart and feeling faint of breath, almost as if I am drowning. It's puzzling to me that I can't quite pinpoint the root of it all. I know it will pass but for now, I am getting by simply by visualization my happy place which happens to be in greenhouse, surrounded by beautiful plants with Winter.
Read MoreWe've had a few questions about Winter and her breath holding spells, so I decided to write a little bit about what we've been experiencing.
The first time it happened, Perry, Winter and I were in the bathroom while she was taking a bath. She had just turned one a few weeks before. She was overtired and we could tell she was a bit agitated. Winter kept tossing out her toy boat and after the tenth time of retrieving it, I simply put it behind my back because it was clearly becoming a source of frustration. This sent her over the edge. She let out a yell but then looked like she was silently crying, held her breath, arched her back and her face and lips began to turn blue.
Read MoreAt 16 months, Winter is beginning to add new words to her vocabulary on a daily basis. We are trying to raise her bilingual in Spanish and English and just the other day she said her first Spanish word, "Auga" which means water. My heart melted into one giant puddle. I love that she is learning two languages. Winter has also learned how to voice when she disagrees with you by saying, "No, No" (sometimes even with a sassy head nod and finger shake). I may be in big trouble over here guys. :)
Read MoreSince posting about my postpartum hell on the blog (here), I found out that the number one leading cause of death in the first year of mothers is suicide (source). This statistic shatters me. We have to change this! We have to speak out.
I never in a million years could have imagined the amount of women who not only read my postpartum experience but also personally reached out to me through direct messages, emails, texts and comments.
I really want to respond to each of you. You deserve to hear that I see you. I hear you. In the meantime, here are some common questions that I have been asked since that post.
Read MoreOur last home was quickly becoming lush with greenery, flowers and a large garden. But since we moved into a new house in August, we are working with a blank slate which can be exciting but overwhelming too. As we continue to establish our landscaping plans, we have been consulting with the following resources to guide us to make our backyard dreams come true.
Read MoreIt’s taken me one year, three months, twenty-nine days and 7 hours to finally write about my postpartum experience. I know that every type of funk that comes with postpartum depression is equally as awful due to the anxiety, extreme sadness, fear and rage that accompanies it. The type that showed up for me ultimately shook me to my core and it’s gut-wrenchingly hard and embarrassing to talk about. Hence the reason it’s taken me so long to even be able to type it on paper.
Read MoreNegative self-talk surrounds me. I am not immune to it but I am fighting to oppose it viciously. I look into the mirror and see flaws, things I want to chance, things that make me feel less than. But do I dare verbalize them, no? I have a duty you see. My duty is to expose the tiny ears around me that love will always win. Love for yourself, your body, your beauty and even more, all your perceived short comings. My daughter grew inside of me and now I have this beautiful baby, this tiny beacon of hope that is relying on me to help her to fill it up with light, positivity and self-worth.
Read MoreWe tried to take Winter to a local restaurant this past Friday. When we showed up, I thought it would be a blessing that it wasn't too crowed when we arrived. Nope, I was wrong. By the time the appetizer had come, Winter had played with everything in my purse, climbed on top of every empty seat, grabbed the squirt bottle from the server's station and screamed in protest a few times. Needless to say, we chugged our beers, pounded the app and bailed as quickly as we could with a huge sigh of relief when we made it back home. Some moments, I feel like I am raising a wild animal.
Read MorePerry and I have never been big on celebrating Valentine's Day. No candy, no flowers and definitely no gifts. We both struggle with the concept of commercializing our love so for the last five years we have been together, we've opted out. It's been no lie that Perry and I have struggled with our relationship since becoming parents. There was a definite shift in our marriage when all of a sudden we went from being each others' world to having a small baby orbit in between us.
Read MoreIf I could get paid to pay with flowers, I would. Actually, at one point I did. While I was pregnant with Winter and off for the summer, the woman who did our flowers for our wedding, Sarah from Ladybird Poppy, took me on as her employee to learn a few things. She taught me so much about floral design and I am excited to show you some of the tips I've learned along the way.
For this feature, I've teamed up with ProFlowers to show you three ways to design flowers.
Read MoreToday is my one year anniversary from returning to work after my maternity leave ended. I was able to stay home for 14 weeks in total, one week leading up to the birth (she was nine days overdue) and 13 weeks after Winter was born. Of those weeks, I got paid for a whopping two weeks (which is a different story to share). But now, my toddler is sitting in her new Skip Hop high chair (that fabulously converts into a toddler chair by the way---more on the high chair at the bottom of the post), and I can't help but think back to that first day that I left her at home to go back to work.
Read MoreThere have been far too many blog posts featuring Winter and I playing on my bed. I can't complain, the cuddles while looking outside to our very own snow globe have been amazing this season. Yet, Perry and I can't seem to stop talking about our plans for this summer.
Read MoreHer personality is blooming each day. There are so many things I want to remember about this time so I decided to post a series of snaps that Brittany got while we were just hanging out by the stairwell in our house. She kept playing peak-a-boo with Brittany and would hide behind the plant and jump out while saying, BOO! These photos really sum up my baby girl right now. She is playful, confident, sweet as can be and oh so feisty!
Read MoreAs far as my design style, it's definitely eclectic with a boho artistic flair. I would say that I'm not a minimalist and not a maximalist either. I'm more of a "rotationalist" (I just made that up). I have a lot of collected things, but I don't like to have them all on display at once. As far as plants go, just a short time ago I had only one or two plants in our house. All that changed last year after a visit to the Palmenhaus restaurant in Vienna, Austria, a former prominent greenhouse for botanical exhibits. (It's okay to Google it now. I'll wait).
Read MoreFor my New Year's resolution, I told myself that I would do better at managing difficult emotions, that I wouldn't be so hot-headed and that I would give into my emotions for a short time, instead of letting them fester. I also vowed that I would give myself more slack and stop trying to be so damn perfect all the time. To hold myself accountable, I want to write about how it's going and share something that I use all the time that seems to be helping.
Read MoreIt seems like everyone I know is having a baby this spring and the baby showers this month are in full swing. I practically cried through my entire baby shower (I blame the hormones!) because I received some pretty meaningful gifts. I thought I would share some of my favorite shower gifts or "just because" gifts for your mama friends. Happy Saturday everyone!
Read MoreFrom painting, to learning piano, and now with writing, I am always trying to push myself creatively. When I became pregnant with Winter, I began posting to Instagram frequently and it opened up a whole new world. Being one of the first out of my friends in Colorado to get pregnant, it was refreshing to connect and talk to other mamas, while honing my newfound joy and creative endeavor, photography.
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