Working Moms Working Out

Friends, I need to confess something. 

  

I love work. 

I am challenged every day and learn something new. The field I'm in is interesting and the company I work for is on the cutting edge of technology. The people I work with are smart, friendly and hardworking.

It is hard to leave Junie and to not spend every day with her but I think working is truly what is best for our entire family. I'm so satisfied coming home each night to her and Thomas knowing that I made a difference in our financial state and I'm showing June that being a smart woman and mom aren't mutually exclusive. 

My body, however, isn't so keen on this whole being awake and mentally active for 10+ hours plus sitting for 8+ hours. I'm trying to eat well while making this transition and attempting to drink more water. I feel like I need to try to exercise, though. My body is tense and my nerve pain is acting up. But guys, how do I fit in exercise when I'm already out of the house from 730am to 630pm? 

I get an hour for lunch but with how red and hot I get after working out, I hardly feel like that's enough time. 

What do you suggest? When do you fit in exercise? What are your favorite snacks to keep your energy up throughout the day? Any tips or hints?

Proof that my child is a genius. Reading "The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck" by Beatrix Potter, while standing. Also, not ripping said book.

 

10 Months!

Oh my word, my baby is TEN MONTHS OLD! June is so incredible. I'm just astounded every day at how much she is growing and learning and mastering her little world. She's doing really well with our new schedule because of my job and loves being with her friends all day. 

This month we dealt with hand, foot and mouth disease which was one of the worst things ever. Now the scabs and blisters she had all over are starting to peel. Her little feet look like her toes are going to fall off. It's sad but she doesn't seem to mind too much.

Let's take a look at our Baby Center milestones chart.

             Most kids can       Some kids can          Few kids can

10 months

Waves goodbye Picks things up with pincer grasp Crawls well, with belly off the ground

Says "mama" or "dada" to the correct parent Indicates wants with gestures

Stands alone for a couple of seconds Puts objects into a container

    

June has been waving for about 3 months, totally has her pincer grasp down and crawls with her belly up (finally).

She calls Thomas "Dada" but doesn't quite call me...well, anything yet. She indicates wants with gestures a lot.

She has been standing up alone for a while and can pull herself up to standing too. (It's so amazing!) She can also put objects in containers. 

So, let's review. My baby is rad. 

Just kidding but seriously, she's so smart and I love seeing the way she explores the world. Her favorite thing is for Thomas to lay down and then she uses his legs to pull herself up and stand. She can even stand with toys in her hands and pick them up while standing. 

She's just as impressed as you are!

I have said since she was born that she'll be walking by the time she's ten months and we are SO close. (I probably say that every month but this time is real!) Next Friday is my dear baby sister's wedding. June is the flower girl and I can't wait to get her in her whole outfit and watch Thomas carry her down the aisle. Sweet baby girl. 

How are your babies doing? What new fun things are they doing? 

Hashtag: Where's Mark to Clean My House?

Oh, friends, I've had a crazy week! I started my new job (amazing) and went to my baby sister's bachelorette party (double amazing). What I didn't do was clean...or cook...or even pick my house up in the least. 

I've never been a great cleaner. Actually, let me rephrase. I'm a good cleaner but I've never been a very tidy person. I'm a little cluttered and create piles throughout the house of things to "put away" that tend to just sit there. I'm good at vacuuming. I'm good at deep cleaning. I just can't deal with the clutter. 

Now that I'm working a full time job, I'm out of the house from 730am to 630pm. Not only do I come home later than I'm used to but I'm also just exhausted. ((To be honest, I'm less tired than I was staying home but it's a different type of tired.)) So here's where you come in - HELP! What do you do to keep your house clean? Do you save all of the cleaning until Saturday? Do you do a little every night? 

I have to say though, I have the best husband. Seriously. I came home Sunday afternoon to a clean house and a terribly happy baby. He is so good to us.

Here's a fun picture from the weekend:

My sister, Emily (in the hat) and her bridesmaid, Marie (with the cute foot pop) riding in our sweet Cadillac golf cart!

Nerves

Today was my last Saturday as a stay at home mom. I tried to soak it in and enjoy it but my nerves got the best of me. I'm excited, don't get me wrong but there's also a feeling of anxiety and nervousness. I can't exactly put my finger on it. It's not because of June going to daycare - she'll be with my mom all day long and she's going to love it and it will be like being home. I think the sense of anxiety is coming from a place of insecurity and self doubt. 

Am I good enough? 

Will I be able to handle a full time job and a baby and a husband and maintain my house? 

Will June think I'm abandoning her? 

What if it turns out that I'm actually really stupid and can't do anything right? 

What if I get lost on my first day and arrive really late? 

(just kidding, that one would never happen.)

Moms, how did you handle going back to work? Or in my case, going to work for the first time? Any tips, ideas, hints, positive vibes you can dole out? I'd love to hear about how you get out the door in the morning and manage to look presentable! 

And now, the highlight of my life:

Playing Dress Up

Being a stay at home means I get to wear sweats as long as I want on any given day. It also means that even if I put on real pants there are no guarantees that anyone will see my efforts. I love shopping but I often leave feeling silly for spending money on clothes that have no place in my real life. 

However, times are changing. I was just hired full time at an amazing company. I still can't believe that after nearly 10 months of being with my Junebug every single day that I will be away from her the majority of the week. It will be good for our entire family and I know she's going to love being with her friends all week. 

The office that I'll be working in is very casual and while I do have a few good staples in my wardrobe, I kind of panicked thinking what the heck do I wear? I have two pair of maternity jeans that fit okay and a pair of non-maternity jeans that give me severe muffin top. I have a few tops that will work but I'm quite lacking in the non-sweats department, to put it lightly. 

I somehow managed to drag Thomas to the Block to go shopping. I ended up with two colorful sweaters, two nice tops, a pair of white jeans and a pair of dark wash jeans. So now guys, what do I wear on Monday? Here are a few options: 

So friends, what do I wear? Brown top? Black and white stripes? Pink sweater? Orange sweater? Any of these can be paired with white jeans also. Comment and let me know what you think!

Independence Day or How I Learned to Stay at Home for Three Days Straight.

My dearest Junie has been terribly sick since Sunday. Hand, foot and mouth is the worst. THE WORST. The urgent care doctor couldn't tell if it was HFM or chicken pox and the only way to know 100% was a blood test. June shrieks at the sight of a stethoscope so there's no way I was going to go through a blood test. Either way the treatment is the same - lots of Tylenol, Advil and love. I've never had the chicken pox so I guess we'll know in a few days if I get sick or not which it is. 

Since both viruses are very contagious we've been relegated to house arrest. June seems to feel okay about 80% of the time during the day so it's been rough trying to find things to do without venturing into public. We've done lots of walks, bubbles, reading and picnics on our lawn. The hardest part was surviving Fourth of July. Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays and we had big plans. We love the Lake Forest parade and the Laguna Hills fireworks plus our family friend's pool in between. Sadly, we had to cancel everything on our itinerary and come up with a new way to have fun. 

June slept for about 2 hours in the morning so Thomas and I stayed in our jammies until 1130 watching Friday Night Lights. (Best. Show. Ever.) After Junie woke up we went to Thomas' parent's for lunch. It was so incredibly nice to get out of the house after being quarantined for 3 days. Our little outing only lasted about an hour and a half before June got very fussy and subsequently fell asleep in the car. After another nearly 3 hour nap we decided to take a walk to our favorite place - the Orange Circle. Our little town is so amazing and pedestrian friendly so we got June in outfit #2, Henry on his leash and headed out. 

Here are some crappy iPhone pictures from our walk!

This was our first outfit. That little dress ended up covered in papaya so we had to do a wardrobe change later.

Old Towne Orange - est 1873

We have the cutest neighborhood!

 

Getting into the spirit.

She looks like she has the plague. The nose and right eyebrow are from a minor fall but everything else is whatever virus is taking over her poor little body. She's not her smiley self these days but every once in a while she still gives this gummy grin.

Thomas, June and our beautiful house. I truly love where we live.

How was your Fourth? I want to hear all about it! We heard fireworks but didn't get to see any. So sad but Junie's health is more important than fireworks. I guess.

It's A Good Year For Crossbows

Thomas and I had a rare morning date on Sunday. I had an uproariously fun show on Saturday night so my parents kept June overnight. Before June, Sunday mornings were our sleep in day. We would lounge in bed, maybe get breakfast and stay in our jammies. Now they're like any other morning. Wake up early and focus on baby. 

We wanted to spend the exceptional Sunday doing something fun. Thomas had been wanting to see The Avengers and I'm a big enough fan of comic book movies that I obliged him.

That's his, "I know you're taking a picture" face.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the movie and Thomas wasn't as enthusiastic. I used to be the kind of movie-goer that liked real stories. Real life dilemmas. Life movies. But since I've become a mom, I've started to enjoy the novelty and impossibility of movies like The Avengers. Maybe I've come to crave that bit of escapism a bit more now that my own real life has taken over. The fantastic, unreal world created in movies like this take me away more than they once did. 

For those of you interested, here's a little overview/review:

• Captain America wears really cute old timey clothes. His superpower is being strong and telling people what to do.
• Ironman is a narcissist and has commitment problems. He wears a suit, made of iron.
• Thor is a demi-god. My favorite line about him was from Captain America, "There's only one god and he sure doesn't dress like that." 
• Loki (aka Four Loki) needs a shampoo and cut. Maybe a color too. And therapy.
• Hawkeye is super good with his hands, I think. And Jeremy Renner has great arms.
• Black Widow is (was?) Russian and gets really sweaty really easily.
• The Hulk is all demure and coy and then strong and angry (and funny).
• Nick Fury should narrate more movies.
• The movie had a really nice balance of charm versus action. I love witty, captivating dialog but also explosive action and they did a great job marrying the two. 
• The premise of teamwork and creating a united front was kind of inspiring. Sounds silly, but it's true.
• The product placement was hilarious. In the middle of a huge battle all of a sudden there were bus stops advertising Jansport and directly next to it two giant plaques for Farmers and Southwest Airlines. Subtle.
• I like watching 3D movies that aren't in 3D because you can tell where they create action specifically for the 3D aspect. It looks funny. Also, I hate 3D and think it's dumb.  

On a semi-related note: I'm a very liberal person (spoiler alert). But I think that movies have a rating for a reason. It upsets me to see children in movies very clearly inappropriate for their age group. If a movie is rated PG-13 don't bring your 6 year old. If you really want them to see it, wait for it to come out on DVD so you can preview it and watch it with them in your own home. This seems to be the theme of the weekend. I have two friends who complained via Facebook that there were children in both Ted and Magic Mike. Kind of put the idea of kids seeing The Avengers in perspective. //end rant//

Did you see The Avengers? What did you think?

SOS Beach Edition

June had never been to beach. I KNOW, I'm a bad mother. We live 20 minutes from the beach and have taken her once when she was 4 months old and she was asleep and it was at night. So that doesn't count. She's now old enough to fully appreciate the sights and sounds. And also, she's awake.

Thomas and I packed up the ware - 4 chairs, 4 towels, an umbrella, a large quilt, hats, sunscreen, snacks, water, buckets,shovels, cameras, pacifiers, and the baby. My mom and dad joined us for the momentous occasion. 

Parking was a beast, to put it lightly. We circled two parking lots for about 20 minutes while June wailed in her car seat because if she's not sleeping in the car, she's yelling in the car. My favorite thing about her throwing a fit though is that in the midst of yelling and crying, she blows raspberries. Like she's just so frustrated that it's the only thing she can muster. Adorable.

We finally found a spot and hauled our things to the sand. We were anxious for her to actually feel the water and so we set up shop and ran down the to the shore. Thomas held her and put her feet in, she was stoic. Didn't disapprove but didn't seem to enjoy it either. He sat down with her and let waves crash on her lap. Nothing. No smiles. No cries. Nada. I believe she was humbled by the awesomeness that is the ocean and just couldn't even respond. Or she was bored. Whatevs.

On me>> bathing suit top: Target // bottoms: Lands End // sunglasses: H&M. On June>> bathing suit: Target // hat: Target. On Thomas>> bathing suit: Rip Curl. // hair: the heavens.

So this day could technically could be sponsored by Target. Seriously, so many Target items all over us, all of the time.

Here are some more Junie v. Ocean pictures. 

Enjoy! 

Thomas carved June's name into the sand. This was her reaction.

That was her face most of the day. So aloof.

I just love that you can see her tooth. And she looks like Gilligan.

This was the closest we got to a smile.

Ignore my large breasts (and body) and focus on my adorably nonchalant baby and her fountain ponytail.

Beach day was a success. Do you guys have any tips for beach days or days out? What are your essentials and must haves?

We're linking up again with Mz. Mandy over at The Haps!