Author Archives: katherine

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5 is Magic

Miss Rylee Vivian…five is your jam.

Maybe it was buckling you in to your booster seat for the first time yesterday. Or maybe it was your kindergarten round up. I was just thinking the other day how in just a couple of weeks since your birthday you’ve seemed to grow up and mature so much.

You are witty and funny and at times you say things that are years beyond you and it cracks me up to hear such a little body say something like, “well ya know…like the old saying goes…”

You are silly and have a wonderful imagination.

You are thoughtful and caring and selfless. You made my mama heart so proud when you told me in your five year interview that your favorite thing about yourself was how you liked everyone.

Hear me right now, I love the person you are becoming. You are perfect. You are smart. You are beautiful. And I hope you never change.

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That one time I won a new bed

Over the course of the last 6 months to a year, Andy and I have been noticing the deteriorating quality of our bed. Like, valley in the middle, lumpy all over, just generally uncomfortable bed. And with Andy’s bad back, it was just compounded by sleepless nights or nights spent on the couch instead of in bed {him, not me}.

A friend mentioned it could be the box spring, so we tested that theory out by putting the mattress on the floor in the living room for a weekend camp out. No dice, the mattress still sucked.

It was decided at that time that while yes, we needed a new mattress, we’d wait until the end of summer, after we’d taken care of all of our household projects, and assess our financiers to see if it was still in the cards.

The Monday after that decision was made, Jill shared info about a giveaway from another blog I follow called How to Be A Dad. They were giving away a new mattress and box spring set in honor of the launch of their new book “The Guide to Baby Sleep Positions“. Apparently the giveaway had been open for close to a month but it would be ending that evening at midnight. I figured, why the hell not, and I entered…simply by liking their Facebook page.

On May 1st I received an email telling me I’d won the mattress! No kidding! Holy crap! I was stoked!!

I worked with the mattress company, gave them our info and four weeks later? Boom,a brand new mattress was delivered to my house!

You guys? It’s gorgeous. I’m not even kidding….I’ve never seen such a pretty mattress.

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It’s a Sealy Posturepedic Hybrid Series Mattress. It’s got fancy features like OptiCool Gel Memory Foam, SolidEdge HD System, a CoreSupport Center, ForeverFlex Fabric and it’s made in the USA!

Looks fancy. Sounds Fancy.

And comfortable? Oh my…it’s like heaven. I have slept better in the last 4 nights than I have in a while. The true testament though is Andy. He’s slept in bed all night every night since we’ve had it. Saturday morning, after the very first night, he woke up and said that was the best he’s slept in months. MONTHS! And it’s the first time in months he hasn’t woken up with his back flared up.

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He was less than thrilled having me take our picture, but don’t let his face fool you, he loves the bed! Pretty sure he’s never allowed to say that my “blogging junk” never benefits him again, am I right or am I right!?

Disclosery-type stuff: I was not compensated for this post by anyone. I won the mattress set by complete chance and I just thought it was way too awesome not to share it.

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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