Category Archives: working mom

So turns out I’m not old, I’m sick.

So, remember how the other day I was all “oh I’m so old and pathetic because I ended the weekend sore and exhausted just from doing my mom thing”? Of course you do…it was just yesterday.

Anyway, turns out maybe I’m not so old and pathetic after all. Sunday evening I had a twinge of a sore throat. Didn’t think much of it since Andy had been fighting a sore throat for the last week or two. Woke up yesterday and it was worse. Way worse. Still, powered through my day.

Well as the day went on, the “I worked out to hard” soreness morphed into over all weak body aches. Horrible headache. Then my throat got even worse. Last night I slept like crap. And today I’m taking my first ever “send the kids to school and come home sick” day. I’ve already taken two naps and about to make it three.

Look, you know it’s bad when I give up my coffee and drink tea instead. I haven’t even had the tv on.

Seriously…this constant string of sickness happening in this house just needs to moves the hell on. I’m over it.

Ironically enough, I just wrote a post for Liberating Working Moms about how for the first time ever I’m taking vacation days for actual vacationy-type things this year!

So…yay for vacations. Yay for not being as old & lame as originally thought. Yay for naps. Boo for being sick.

I hope my throat feels good enough to eat dinner because Taco Tuesday!!

Just solidifying my old lady status

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Holy crap I’m exhausted today.

As Brandy would say, “I mommed the shit out of this weekend.”

See? Even wore a total mom outfit…cardi, skinnies & ballet flats.

Andy was busy working outside all weekend {springtime in the country, it’s a beautiful thing.} hauling firewood, working on the tractor and just generally doing some spring cleaning on the property. That meant I was on solo kid duty.

Saturday I was showered and ready before 8 AM…that? never happens. The girls & I were out of the house by 10:30, hitting Target, of course. We did a bit of shopping then headed out to the airport to have lunch at my best friend’s restaurant…she’s working Saturday’s now/again {WOMP}, so I thought maybe she’d like a visit from a couple of cute little girls. {I got multiple compliments on how cute, darling & well behaved my girls are.}

After lunch we headed home and after Reese napped we headed outside.

Sunday the girls and I hit two grocery stores, grabbed doughnuts on the way home then spent a bunch more time outside. While Reese knocked out a 2-ish hour nap I weeded the front flower beds.

There was a mid afternoon bath for Rylee courtesy of the unfortunate placement of her head being directly in line with Reese spitting up.

Then of course there was the general household duties that I attempted to work in there too.

We topped off the weekend with ham, homemade mac-n-cheese, biscuits and veggies.

From sun up to sun down I didn’t stop. Chasing after kids. Holding a needy, teething Reese. Bending. Running. Cooking. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I had my phone tucked away nearly the entire weekend and it was glorious.

But now? I feel old. Like…I didn’t do anything seemingly out of the ordinary, yet here I am on Monday morning completely worn out and physically sore.

And as if it weren’t already completely obvious that I’m the oldest not-even-thirty-year-old on the planet {remember?}, I’ve gone and done it again…Today I’m over on Brandy’s blog ranting about how kids these days are kind of assholes. <–GO READ IT!

Apparently the sun got to me this weekend, because today? COLORED TIGHTS!

Happy Monday Friends!!

It’s happening again…

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first thing this morning I had been sitting in the rocking chair in the living room enjoying some alone time before anyone woke up when Ry came out and crawled up in my lap. Instead of the usual cartoons and breakfast, she just rested her head in the crook of my neck and we rocked. Not long after, I heard Reese from her bedroom. I snuck out from under Ry, leaving her curled up in the chair. After getting Reese, I brought her back out to the living room to feed her only to find Rylee passed out in the chair. I headed back to Reese’s room to feed her in there. While I was nursing her, Ry came in and proceeded to pass out on the floor.

The entire time I was getting ready for work she was acting whiney and sleepy. Then even cried a little when I left. That never happens.

Even Reese was acting tired as I was leaving…about 45 minutes to an hour earlier than her normal napping time.

I got off the phone with Andy earlier today and he said none of them were feeling particularly chipper. Rylee has hardly been hungry all day. Reese sleepier than normal. And his throat is soar. Once he was done feeding Reese, he was going to take Rylee’s temperature.

Then I started thinking…maybe this runny nose & sneezing I’ve been dealing with these last few days isn’t allergies like I’ve been thinking.

I came home from work to a puking kid and a fevered husband.

Uggggghhhh…I don’t want us to start this nasty sick cycle all over again!

But at least it’s the weekend and we won’t be missing any work/school, right? {spoken like a true working mom}

Ugh.

Meal Planning Calendar {Free Printable}

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So, step two in my meal planning is monthly meal tracking. After the month is over, I transfer all our my weekly meal plans onto a month calendar.

I started doing this about 4 months ago and I’m already questioning why I hadn’t started this earlier. There have been multiple times that I’ll flip back to previous months to see what we’ve had for dinner if I need to fill a slot on my weekly plan. It’s also a tool I use for keeping track of, and rating, any new recipes I may try.

It’s also kind of a fun way to look back and notice any patterns in our eating habits. For example, based on previous months, we eat turkey burgers, spaghetti or lasagna and roast chicken at least once a month.

Anyway, since making my weekly To Do/To Make/To Buy printable, I wanted something a little bit nicer (and more coordinated) than my current system of drawing crazy non-straight lines on a piece of notebook paper. Seriously…I can’t handle the crooked lines. It also wasted a lot of space…I don’t need an entire page for one month because I only keep track of dinners. So I created my sheet with 2 months on one page. {and people say I’m not green. Ha!}

Since my first printable seemed to be a hit, I wanted to share this one with you as well…

Download it: Monthly Meal Tracking Calendar

Download it – print it – use it – share it – do your thing

And I think it’s generic enough that you could use it for things other than meal planning as well.

Proud to call them my friends

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I’ve talked about them before…these ladies that live in my phone. We’re each a little crazy. I happen to think we’re all freaking hilarious. Brandy summed our friendship up pretty much perfectly in this post.

Over the last week, they all put themselves out there in different ways and I couldn’t be more proud of each of them.

Brandy wrote a post over on Liberating Working Moms about some of the trials that come with being a pumping working mom and that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you need to supplement with formula and that’s OK because you’ve given your baby all you could. It’s not an easy thing to put out there because some people get so worked up in the breastmilk vs. formula “debate”, but other working moms struggling with producing enough milk need to know that it’s OK and that they aren’t alone. Anyway, go read it. It’s worth it.

Brandee has been going through some…well…shit. And by shit I mean infertility. It seems like just about everyone has an opinion and/or advice when it comes to baby making…or lack thereof. And while everyone has good intentions at heart, it still sucks. So BdblE (as she’s called in my phone) went ahead and put together some advice for the advice givers. She gives fair warning that her post may offend some, even make people mad, but she had to get those things off her chest and I applaud her for doing so in regard to such a personal, tough topic.

Alicia ended the week on a high. She was recently offered her dream job at her Alma Mater and of course she accepted it! With the happiness of a new job, comes the sadness of leaving the old one. And what I really mean by that is no more #OfficeFashionShow #UrinalEdition photos on my instagram feed. But, that’s ok because we have yet to see what her new bathroom set-up will be AND she put together this awesome video that I can always look back on. Her post quotes Amy Poehler saying “There’s power in looking silly and not caring that you do.” I couldn’t agree more, Higgy. We’re two peas in a weird-ass pod.

These girls mean a lot to me. I’m proud to call them my friends.

Somewhere In The Middle

Mostly Average Accounts of the World's Okayest Mom.