Monthly Archives: May 2013

World’s Okayest Mom…it’s my new thing.

I’ve got all sorts of post ideas swirling around my foggy brain. And two sitting in my drafts even. But, well, life is busy. I missed work yesterday because Rylee was sick so my already crazy-busy week at work has just become exponentially crazy-busy.

Deadlines are getting overlooked. Balls are getting dropped. I’m over on Liberating Working Moms sharing my newest motto…WorldsOkayestMom

So I realize that my last post here in LWM was a little eeyore, emo, womp-wompish. I don’t get like that very often but when work is busy, home life is busier than normal and our “routine” changes yet again, I get kind of overwhelmed. But nobody likes an overwhelmed employee-wife-mom-etc. so in the words of Barney Stinson…

“When I get sad, I stop being sad, and be awesome instead.”

Look, I may not always have my -ish together, but I don’t do half bad.

So yea…this post is ironically so spot on today. Read More!

Sickko

I was awoken at 4 am by my sweet girl whispering to her dad that she threw up and got a little on her shirt on accident. I knew immediately that meant I’d be home from work with her today so I sprung out of bed to assess the damage.

On the way back to the bathroom she told me that she couldn’t make it to the toilet but she did get it mostly in the sink and “that’s better than on the carpet, right mom?”

I got her a new shirt, cleaned her up, cleaned up the sink and got her back to bed.

We’ve spent most of the day on the couch.
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I asked her earlier if she’d like to try and eat something. She just replied in a soft whisper, “maybe I’ll try and eat something tomorrow.”

I got her to eat a Popsicle and drink some water. Every so often she’ll sit up and grab her bucket.

The poor girl is clearly miserable and I’ve lost count how many times she’s whispered, “I just don’t feel that well…”
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Despite the fact that she is so good at being sick, it breaks my mama heart when my girl doesn’t feel well.

Camping as a family of four

 

Andy and I both grew up camping. We loved it and it’s something we carried our love for into our adulthood. We even got engaged while camping. Camping is something we knew from very early on we wanted to do with our girls. Rylee went on her first camping trip when she was just over two. Then again the summer she was three. We didn’t get out overnight last summer being grossly pregnant then having a newborn and all, but we did make it out for a day trip here and there.

Up until last month, I hadn’t really thought about whether or not we’d make it out this summer. Then Andy’s best friend called wanting to know if we’d be interested in a group camping trip. Always up for an adventure, I said sure, sounds like fun!

As the trip got closer I started second guessing my decision. Camping in Oregon anytime before the 4th of July is questionable at best. Throw in 6 families/nearly 20 people, a camping location that had snow on the ground just days before our arrival and a 10 month old that is rather…spirited and yea…it was going to be an interesting trip for sure. An adventure no matter what!

I’ll be honest…I went into it hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. {if you’re one of our friends that went with us, my apologies}

Day to day life was particularly busy the week preceding so I really didn’t get to do any of my traditional type-a Katherine prep, so that was like the icing on my anxious cake.

Despite my less than stellar attitude going into it and the rain scattered throughout, I am happy to report that the trip went pretty well! Rylee had a blast playing with all the other kids. Andy and I had fun catching up with our friends. Reese did pretty well despite not being allowed to eat the rocks.

Group Camping with little ones is nothing like group camping pre-kids. It’s still fun…just a different kind of fun. I’ll tell you what…the trip would have been nowhere near as successful if it wasn’t for our group. It seriously takes a village, you guys.

Will it happen again this summer? Who knows…the way our summer is shaping up, we may not have time for another trip out but I wouldn’t rule it out completely just yet.

I was going to share my “tips for camping with a 10 month old” in another post, but it’s taken me 3 weeks just to get this post up. Here’s my tips: take food you know they’ll eat. Co-sleep if your worried about them being cold. Take a baby carrier. Create a “safe-zone” where baby can crawl about. If you have any other questions about camping with a baby, just ask!

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Squat-Crunch-Plank

You guys? Hawaii is coming up…quick. According to my countdown app, at the time of publishing this post, we leave in 30 days, 2 hours, 2 minutes and 37 seconds…

Up until this point my “get ready for Hawaii” has looked like this:

Get it? the was nothing. Impressive huh?

Well I guess that’s kind of a lie…my sister, cousin, best friend & I did all decide to do a 30 day squat challenge. That lasted about 9 days for me. Ok less. Whatever.

I’m kind of a procrastinator at heart. When we started the last squat challenge there was more than 2 months until our trip. Pfffft….plenty of time. Well, now here we are 30 days out. It’s time to get cracking!

I’m not looking to lose any weight. I don’t have the time to go to a gym or a trainer to do any “real workouts”. Scratch that, I’m sure I could find the time but I’m not willing to give up the already limited time I have with my kids. And I’m still nursing/pumping which means I want to be careful not to inadvertently hurt my milk supply…and lunchtime workouts are out because a) I’d have to join a gym in order to have access to a shower and b) I don’t like taking too many lunch breaks because of the amount of time I spend pumping.

Long story short? I want some sort of routine that’s quick and “easy”.

Enter my squat-plank-crunch plan.

For the next 30 days I’m going to follow the squat challenge and the AB challenge and throw in a plank-a-day just for fun. You know the ones. You’ve seen them floating around Pinterest, right?

Part of the problem I had with my last squat challenge was that I was constantly forgetting how many I needed to to that day, what was the rest day, etc. This time, since I’m combining 3 challenges in one, I decided to do something that would help me keep track speak to my “must mark things off a list whenever possible” soul. So I wrote out each days’ exercise on a sticky note. Once I’m done with that day’s set, I get the satisfaction of crumpling up a piece of paper and tossing it in the trash. A sense of accomplishment.

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As the month goes on, and the exercises get higher in number (for example 220 squats on day ) I’m going to try and keep it interesting by not only doing traditional squats, but throwing in some sumo squats, side squats, squats on a step, etc. I’ll do the same with the crunches. And for my planks, I’ll use my stop watch, hold it for as long as I can, then 30 seconds longer after I want to stop.

I am obviously no exercise expert but I figure, even if I don’t end up even a little bit toned from this it’s done 2 things for me: it’s got me moving, which is more than I can say for my current routine, and it’ll get me back into the habit of working out, which is something I’ll definitely need once I’m done nursing.

Day 1? Check!

Wish me luck!

Ry’s Angry Birds Birthday Party

I had some major grand plans in my head about how this whole Angry Birds birthday party would play out but when it came down to it? I was too tired to stay up late at night to get stuff done. I bought a lot more than I had originally planned instead of hand making it. I texted a photo of the invitations instead of mailing them. I didn’t have enough boxes for my big giant life-size angry birds game. It rained on the day of the party so our game was played in the house and the piñata was setup in our woodshed. And the camera battery on my DSLR was dead.

It all ended up kind of ghetto-fabulous but guess what, the kiddos didn’t love it any less.

And so…here is Ry’s angry birds themed birthday party by way of crappy iPhone photos.

Angry Book Marks are Angry…{and ridiculously cute}
IMG_4831 “life-Size” Angry Birds Game AKA empty boxes they took turns trying to knock over by throwing balls at.IMG_4849

“Homemade” cupcakes, crappily decorated by yours truly.
{You’d never have guessed I used to decorate cakes as part of my job, huh?}
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Angry Birds Kabobs…three blueberries because when you tap the blue bird, he bursts into three!IMG_4858

Can’t believe my girl is FIVE!IMG_4854
The pinata…that little bastard was pretty tough to break.
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But that just meant all the kiddos got plenty of turns to try!
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We had our friends, good food, lots of treats and temporary tattoos…what more was needed?!


The nuts and bolts:

Decorations: I made the banner myself for Ry’s birthday last year. The swirly jobbers I got here. The piñata I got here. The cupcake topper rings I found here. The invite and bird printables I downloaded from here. The toddler life-size angry birds game I made out of wrapping various sized boxes in solid color wrapping paper. The table cloth and balloons I picked up at the dollar store. I also had Angry Birds color sheets out on the table.

The goodie bags: I bought Angry Birds corner book marks from my cousin’s hand made shop. I threw in angry bird Popsicles I found at the dollar store. I also included Angry birds tattoos from here as well as an angry bird disc shooter and sticker sheet I found at Target. I tossed them all into a brown paper lunch bag and topped it off with another printable from here.

The food: the angry bird kabobs were the only “themed food” we had…and I didn’t even call attention to it, so I’m 99% sure no one picked up on that. A pre-made veggie tray, cheese quesadillas and chips & guac rounded out the selection.

What am I missing? Eh, I don’t even know at this point. Feel free to let me know if you’d like any specific details.

PEACE!

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