My little guy is obsessed with figuring out how things work. He’s way more interested in messing with “real life” stuff than playing with toys. So I knew he’d love a busy board! I decided to make one myself, and wanted to share the process!
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Playroom Makeover
So excited to finally share our playroom makeover!
It’s been in the works for a while because I’ve had to do it piece by piece when I have a free hour here or there (#workingmomproblems), but it’s finally done! And we are really loving it and using it a lot!
Read on to hear why we decided to makeover our formal living room into a playroom and how I did it (including all of the product links).
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The Childcare Conundrum
If you’re a working mama, you know that childcare is one of the most critical decisions you make. There is nothing more important than feeling comfortable that your child is well-cared-for and loved while you are away at work. Second to that is having an arrangement that is reliable so that you don’t have major stress on a regular basis about how to care for your child and also take care of your responsibilities at work. The childcare conundrum can easily be the most stressful things about being a working mom. The good news is – if your initial decision and arrangement isn’t working for you, then you can make a change!
Many of you have probably heard me mention on Instagram that we made a change in our childcare arrangement about 6 weeks ago. I’ve basically been professing my love for our new nanny and arrangement ever since. I’ve been wanting to share the details of our experience, why we made a change and what we’re loving about our new arrangement, but I wanted to give it a decent bit of tie first to really give a complete assessment of what I see as the pros and cons to each.
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How Becoming a Working Mom Made Me a Better Professional – Part II
A few months ago I wrote a post about how becoming a working mom made me a better professional (read it here), where I opened up about some of the fears I had while expecting about how my work life would change, and the ways that I realized it actually made me a better professional.
Of course, this doesn’t just easily or naturally happen all the time.
So this post is all about what I feel has been key in achieving this:
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Nordstrom Anniversary Sale – Workwear Top Picks
So I’m sure you’re already sick of hearing about the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale from all of your favorite bloggers, even though we’re only a few hours into the first day of early access. I’m no fashion blogger, so I’m not planning to post a lot of content about it, but I have found that there seems to be a gap in coverage for workwear so I wanted to do a quick round-up of my top workwear picks from the sale! It is a great time to stock up on basics, which is generally what I try to focus on with workwear, so if you’re in the market it’s worth taking a look!
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How Becoming a Working Mom Made Me a Better Professional
I’m sure every working woman that has/is about to have/plans to have children has anxiety at some point about some aspect of being a working mom. Whether it’s concern about not being able to be the best mother or not being able to be the best professional (or both), there is plenty to worry about.
While I was pregnant I often wondered how having a baby would impact my work life. I’ve always known that I wanted to continue to work; I’m very driven and really enjoy my career. It’s part of who I am. I was so excited about adding to who I am by adding the job of mother, but I never felt like that meant I had to abandon the other important parts of who I am, including my career.
I would be lying, however, if I said I wasn’t at all worried about how adding this most important role as mother would impact my professional life.
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Summer Beach Essentials
As we get into the heat of summer (pun intended), I wanted to share some of my favorite summer beach essentials, along with some great tips that I heard (and tested!) for hitting the beach with littles.
We recently got to spend 2.5 weeks in the US Virgin Islands, where Luke and I used to live and where we met and fell in love. It was an amazing time for our family to unplug and reconnect, filled with lots of time at the beach with our little guy! It was the first time we were really going to be spending real time at the beach since having him, so I looked to my mom tribe for tips and tricks on how to have the most seamless and enjoyable time for all.
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On Becoming a Mother Without a Mother
As my first Mother’s Day as a mother approaches, shortly followed by my little guy’s 1st birthday, I’ve found myself reflecting quite a bit on the past year and having quite the array of emotions to go along with it. One of the most frequent has been the conundrum of missing my own mother so much, while also feeling a comforting closeness with her as we now share this bond of motherhood.
I lost my mom when I was 18. She had undiagnosed pancreatitis, which we only found out about after her very unexpected passing. Having this significant experience at a young age played a large part in shaping who I am throughout my life. It taught me resilience and strength way earlier than anyone should have to learn those traits to that extent. One thing I knew right away was that I always wanted to create a family of my own and apply all of the wonderful lessons I learned from her, and so that I could experience that mother/child bond again….
Starting Solids With Baby
Anyone else completely overwhelmed when it came time to start solids with your baby? It’s like right when you figure out the whole nursing/pumping/bottles thing, now you’re supposed to switch it all up! And we were in such a good routine with his schedule too – how does this fit in? And I’m back at work now and have very limited free time and now I have to research how we’re going to do this, what “equipment” we need, what to actually feed him, how to adjust his schedule….ahhhhhh!!!
I’m sure I overreacted, but this just ended up seeming like a big chore that I didn’t want to add to my list. But we overcame, and it really wasn’t as bad as I feared. So I wanted to share what I learned along the way in hopes that it might make it just a little easier for you!
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Entryway Gallery Wall
When we moved into our home about 2.5 years ago, the entry hallway had a very…interesting decor. I knew this was one area we’d need to paint. I assumed we’d be stripping wallpaper and then painting. Upon closer inspection, I found that this pattern was actually PAINTED on the wall! Can you believe it?! I’m still not sure how it was painted in such a perfect pattern – maybe a stencil or something? Anyway, it still had to go. It was just too much in this small hallway….
