A week in the life

I know, a entire month of a postless blog, and here I am posting multiple times in one week. Don't get too comfy, I am sure there will be another gap coming, it is the holidays in a few short weeks and life gets especially crazy for us then - kids of divorce? Makes holidays oh so fun. But I will try. Maybe I will even tell some stories of my younger years, really funny ones that I don't want to forget.

So what was I trying to write about?

Oh, right, a week in our exceptionally exciting lives. Or we can call it our daily/weekly schedule for the ease of any cyber/real life stalkers to find me.

The purpose of me writing this boring post is  for my Making Time for Yourself post for E's Working Mom series, I wanted to elaborate more on our schedule and how we fit in gym time with our already busy lives but I was very self conscience of my longwindedness and tried to keep it to the point. (On my own blog? Not so much as we have all been tortured with from time to time)

Meghan! STOP! get on with your point! You have already wasted 2+ paragraphs of nonsense.

Ok. Here it is:

Monday & Wednesday:
--I am up at 5am, dressed, dogs fed, lunch packed, crock pot dinner started (if you missed it otherwise, we recently implemented Crock Pot Mondays and Wednesday which is a HUGE help in freeing up time in our afternoons and evenings and guarantees Ryan will not be eating cereal 4 days out of 7).

--I am out of the door by 5:30am and arrive at work between 6 and 6:30am, depending on the amount of morons I encounter on my 25 mile commute. (Which is ending this week since my office is moving...and my commute will be half of what it is now. I am beyond excited about this)

--Ryan is up around 7, Avery is up around 7:30, and my sister gets there at 8. Ryan leaves for work.

--I get home around 3pm, Avery is usually getting up from her nap and Amanda leaves.
The first thing I do when I get home is change into my exercise clothes and make our bed. Sometimes if Avery sleeps later, I attempt to get laundry started/folder/put away.

--Avery and I play/run errands/do stuff around the house (with a 2 year old in tow, that is laughable).

--Around 5:15, I start getting her dinner ready, feed the pugs, straighten up a little.

--Ryan is home by 5:30, his dinner is ready in the crock put, he and Avery sit down to eat together.

--I rush out the door by 5:45 to get to spin class at the Y, which is 5 minutes away.

--Spin is over at 7, I am home by 7:10.

--I eat dinner while Ryan and Avery play in the living room, and we all usually head upstairs around 7:30 so Avery can take a bath/get ready for bed and Ryan gets ready for the gym.

--8 o'clock, Avery is in bed, Ryan is at the gym, I get to shower and get the house straightened up and everything ready for the next crazy day.

--I try to be in bed by 10.

Tuesdays:
--I am up at 5:30am today.

--I start my laptop up and sign on by 6am.

--I get 2 hours of work in and log off at 8am.

--Avery is up at 7:30 and Ryan gets her breakfast and rushes out the door.

--At 8, Avery and I both go upstairs to get ready, I make our beds and we both get dressed.

--We are downstairs and out the door by 8:55, her school is half a mile from our house, we usually walk.

--I drop her at school and get to work by 9:15/9:20 and work straight through until 2:45.

--Amanda picks Avery up from school at 11 and they go home, eat lunch, play, and nap time is at 1.

--I am home at 3, Avery is getting up from her nap, usually, and Amanda is off to her other job.

--Recently we have been going to my standing appointment at the chiropractor every Tuesday at 4:30, but that may change come 2014 since my insurance provider is changing and I do not know how much of those visits they will cover.

--After a quick adjustment of snap, crackle, and popping, Avery and I head over to the Y so I can get my weekly run in while she hangs out in the babysitting room for about 40 minutes.

--We usually get home right as Ryan does, at 5:30.

--I throw something easy together for dinner and we have a little more time to hang out together, go for a walk, or play outside if the weather is nice.

--Our bedtime routine tends to stay the same: head upstairs around 7:30, bath Avery, get her ready for bed,

--Ryan gets ready for the gym, puts her to bed, leaves, I take a shower and so on.

Thursdays:
--Typically the same as Mondays and Wednesday but I take Body Pump at 6pm. We usually wing it that night for dinner having a sandwich, salad or cereal.

Fridays:
--Also similar to our Tuesday schedule since Avery has preschool Tuesdays and Fridays. The only exception is no chiropractor appointment or the gym after work since babysitting is over at 2pm. (Super Lame, YMCA)

--Sometimes I make it to the 5:30am spin class, usually if I missed one of my workouts that week. And sometimes I can get to the 5pm spin class if my mom is around and can come watch Avery until Ryan gets home at 5:30.

--I don't know about your house, but Fridays are usually a lot more relaxed in our schedule and meals. This is the night we usually order in. I love order in nights.

Saturdays:
--We are usually up by 7 and I am dressed and on my way to 7:45am spin class for the next hour.

--Ryan brings Avery up to the Y at 8:45am and he heads into work for a couple hours and Avery and I head to swim class for her.

--After swim, we usually play the rest of the day by ear unless we have plans or a party. I have been known to completely cancel out my morning of spinning and swimming with a tall Salted Caramel Mocha at our local Starbucks - or even better a stroll around Target with drink in hand.

Sundays:
--We make our very best effort to get up and to church by 9:45. We used to go to the earliest service at 8am, but since Avery is 2 now, she is no longer in the nursery and can attend Sunday school which starts at 9:45/10am.
--After church we try to do some kind of activity like a bike ride, a playground, or a walk as a family. As the weather gets colder, I am foreseeing more afternoons inside, getting things done that I have let go since the spring, while Ryan starts a fire and watches football and Avery watches those weird egg videos on YouTube.



There you go. If you had some delusional fantasy that I lived a gloriously exciting life, I am truly sorry to have burst that bubble. This schedule works great for us and Ryan and I have both learned that flexibility is key to being happy and content. You can see that we don't leave ourselves much room for down time, like watching TV or reading a book/magazine. We have a DVR and we squeeze our favorites in when we can. I really don't feel like I am missing out on much though since we have cut way back on our TV time. I do miss reading and I try to find time now and then to devour a good book. It is OK, I have read PLENTY of books in my almost 3 decades of reading and I am sure I will have time after my family grows to pick up a few now and then.

And if you have made it this far in the post, CONGRATULATIONS! and WAKE UP!

The Most Boring Blog Post is now over!

xoxo

Making Time for Yourself

This is the thing: You make time for what is important and what is important to you.

We all know, and have experienced life shifts – or flipping completely upside down – during big moments – getting married; having kids…things that were so important to us when we were dating/engaged soon become trivial to what is important when we are married and living life as an “other”. And then we have kids – or for me, my first child.

For the first two years of Avery’s life, I got up, went to work (I am up, out of the house and at work before most people are even awake), came home and it was all things Avery until she went to sleep for the night.  This was OK and what we needed to do for that time as we adjusted to a new baby and a new schedule – a term I use lightly. While I was trying to figure out the balance of working and being a wife and a new mom, I was putting on the pounds. We ate what was convenient, and did not do any more exercise than running up and down the stairs of our home. By the time Avery’s second birthday came around, I was 50+ pounds overweight, unhealthy and succumbing to my laziness. Worst of all, I was miserable.

Read the rest of my post over at E, Myself and I...

I am a working mom.

This post is a preface to the post I wrote for Elizabeth at E, Myself and I and her "Making it work as a working mom" series. I wrote about Making Time for Yourself as a working mom and it should go up sometime this week, I will definitely link to it from here. 

It is funny to me to label myself that way because I do not know any moms who do not work. My mom did not work outside our home, but she worked her butt off every day to take care of us. I give a lot of credit to moms who stay home with their kids. It took me some time, but I have slowly come to the realization that it is not something I would be good at doing.

Before I was pregnant with Avery, I was positive I had to work. When I was pregnant with her, I had every intention of going back to work. (and I was told when I returned from maternity leave there was a bet that I would not come back- hahaha! I do love to prove people wrong) I took 4 months off after she was born and by the third month, I was itching to get back to my office, my job, my responsibilities outside of feeding, changing, clothing a baby and trying to keep our house from being condemned (thank you baby jesus for my husband). I don't know what kind of person that makes me and honestly, does it really matter? People will judge you regardless of who you are or what you do.

It was about a month into being back to work full time and I started to get this overwhelming need to stay home. And for a good year or so, it was a desire that consumed me. It made me resent my husband because I thought "if only he made more money" and it made me resent my friends that stayed home. I prayed about it daily, sometimes hourly. I asked the Lord to make this happen. I gave it to Him and worked very hard in keeping my faith that He would do what was best for me and for my family.

As you may have realized, this prayer was not answered. At least in the way I thought I wanted. What He did was reveal to me what I may think is best, isn't always. A real epiphany, I know. I think I need to work. I need something outside of our house and our family to keep me fulfilled. I love my child but could I spend 24 hours/ 7 days a week with her? No. Well, I could but I don't think it would be good for either of us. Avery loves spending the day with my sister. She asks for her every night. They are really close. My sister loves kids and has the patience of a saint.

I never want this to come across that my child is not enough, or being a mom is not enough, or those that do find complete fulfillment in being a homemaker and staying home with their kids are weird or wrong. Because none of that is true. Avery is more than I could have dreamed of or asked for and being a mom is the best thing I have ever done, hands down. I have a suspicion that most people would not find my job, working with cars and car paint, particularly fulfilling. And that is OK. Different strokes for different folks, or something like that.

The thing is, this "thing" we are doing, being moms, is every contradiction possible. But we are doing it, and doing it our own way, finding our way.

So a fist bump to you mamas that stay home and to you mamas that have a job outside your home. We all have one big thing in common, we are mothers.

xoxo

Some thoughts on driving.

I want to write this out while I am still annoyed as shit. Because writing with emotion can be way better than writing just because. At least for me. And hopefully for you reading this.

As you may have heard me say/complain about before, I have a lengthy commute to/from work. It is 25 miles each way. Half is on major roads and the other half is back roads. In the morning it takes me about 35 minutes, door to door. And that is at 5:30am. In the afternoon it takes about 45 minutes, around 2:30pm.

In that time, and for the past 5 years of this commute, I have been able to compile a list of drivers/driving habits that make me go bat shit crazy on the reg.

1. Prius drivers. Read this article. Or this one.

2. Minivan drivers

3. People who talk/text on cell phones while driving

4. People who talk/text on cell phones while sitting at a stop sign/red light and then do not realize the light has changed and it is their turn to go.

5. Delaware drivers

6. People who drive the speed limit or below.

7. People who ride in the left hand lane on a 4 lane highway, doing the speed limit. Get out of the fast lane, moron. 

8. People who drive with both feet causing their brake lights to always be engaged.

9. People who do not use turn signals.

10.  When two lanes merge into one and the someone drives right in the middle so no one can get around them.

First edition to the Race Car Diaries:

Today, on my way to work, it was a pretty smooth ride for the first leg of my commute - down the major highways. People either did the same speed as me or got over in the right hand lane. I did not encounter any Prius drivers and it is too early for most minivan drivers. The "fun" part of my commute started when I turned on to the back road and got behind a Subaru. This driver did The speed limit (40) or five BELOW. While there are some stretches of the back road that I could have safely passed this moron, the deer at this time of the morning are as erratic as Charlie Sheen. Needless to say, I suffered the rest of the way to work and I would have been 10 minutes earlier if it wasn't for Law Abiding citizen Steve in his Subaru. Let's hope my drive home isn't as awesome.

xoxo

Fight Club/Potty Training

via

pretty much the same thing in my book.

Just in case you are not familiar with the rules of Fight Club:

1st RULE: You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB. 
2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB. 

I took this approach to our latest potty training adventure. (We attempted it once before back in May and it ended with double tub shits, both on the husband's bath nights, so we called it off before I was cleaning up tub poo and puke) I decided to break the rule as I believe we are past the worst of it (please don't jinx me)

Sure, I am guilty of shamelessly posting a picture of Avery on the potty (If you scroll back through my instagram, I believe there may be One) and maybe a handful of facebook status updates, of which I cannot find so maybe not. But do I think that everyone needs or wants to know the status of my kid's bladder and bowels for a week straight?

Nope.

I have found the less I talk about it, the better it goes. Word to the wise.

Two weeks ago, Avery decided she did not want to wear diapers. She kicked and screamed when we tried to put a new one on. So after my sister called me that first Monday morning, saying she could not get Avery to stop fighting her, I told her just to put her undies on. And that was that.

I went home and collected all the diapers around the house and told both the husband and my sister that this was it. No turning back.

When you won't go in a diaper, you are not left with very many options.

Yup, there were accidents. But they got cleaned up and we moved on. There has not been any shit in the tub so I am taking that as she was just ready now. We did it on HER terms and that is how it had to go to be successful.

We do not do diapers at night, it was undies or bust in the Gibson house. She peed the bed for the first 3-4 nights but has been dry since. Although, the past 4 mornings we woke to a Brownie surprise in her undies. That is fun. No need for coffee those mornings. Hope you were not thinking of eating a brownie today. Sorry.

The funny thing is, she won't go if we ask her. She won't go if we tell her. But if we set the timer on our phones and play the Marimba, she will get up from whatever she is doing and go to the bathroom. Strange. But hey, whatever works kid. 2 years old and already a slave to technology.

We have conquered the public bathroom (she does not like loud noises so the flushing really freaked her out and having her hands cover her ears made for an already difficult toilet balancing act even worse). And I have had to let a lot of my OCDs go because I am certain there is just no possible way to bring a toddler into a restroom and expect them not to touch/lick/roll in/sit in something gross.

While potty training is no joke, I still don't understand why some parents choose to broadcast every whiz, every dump, every NOT dump, every accident. Hopefully your kid will not embarrass easily when one of his friends finds all the social media posts about his or her potty training past. And in case you forgot, potty training is just one of those parenting tasks. I just had to suck it up and do it.

*And Avery, if/when you find this post, I hope it is not too embarrassing for you. I am quite sure I will be embarrassing you far greater than this in life then an analogy to brownies. You better thank your Aunt for bearing the brunt of your potty training days, even though I doubt she will ever let you forget it.*

I have no advice to offer or words of wisdom to bestow. Just a quick update other than me losing weight.

So cheers to you potty pee-ers and poopers and your mamas and daddies that wipe your bum!

xoxo