Do it Yourself!

I just got back from the Sears Portrait studio today. Yeah, don't go to a studio. I received a coupon in the mail for $25 portrait cash--no purchase necessary. Didn't sound too bad so I decided to give it a try.

The lady at the studio was nice enough, but she talked so fast I could hardly understand her. She took tons of pictures in different poses, backgrounds, and props. Before I knew it, she was roping me into some package that was WAY over my price range. I felt cheated and stuck as she told me the cheapest I could get anything was for $176. What's even worse, instead of saying no and just going home, I bought the stupid package. I can't afford the stupid package, but I was pressured into buying it because she didn't tell me the price until after she had taken and edited all the photos. Ugh! Awful, awful experience.

So, if you're ever wondering if you should go to one of those portrait studios, don't. Take it yourself and use photo shop. You'll get better pictures of your little one and you'll still be able to buy food for the month!

Moment of "Yeah, we'll wait."

This morning I helped babysit my two nieces. The oldest, Eden, is 6 years old and Brooklyn, otherwise known as "Goosey," is 2. With my 6 month old in tow, I had my hands full, but we had fun. So, you may be asking what's the point of this post?

Well, lately I've been having dreams about another little baby. I've teased my husband about adding another sweetie to our family, but I never thought about it seriously. Knowing Goosey's age, I thought, If I had another baby, Sadie would be Goosey and I would be bouncing someone new on my knee... Could I do it? Well, through most of the morning I thought it wouldn 't be too tough.
Then Goosey pooped. Yeah, this was definitely not brand-new-baby-that's-not-too-bad stuff. This was toddler gunk that you could have smelled three rooms away. Eden even commented on the nastiness of the smell and wouldn't come near Goosey. While changing the diaper, I had to hold back my urge to gag. This brought flooding back memories of pregnancy and how often I "worshipped at the porcelen throne." Changing diapers while pregnant? Ooh, there's no way I'd survive! So, I'm sure I won't be getting pregnant again (at least not on purpose, knock on wood) until Sadie is potty trained.

I'll admit it, I'm not brave enough to have kids close together, but there are plenty of mom's that are. Are you one? How do you handle it? If you're not one, why? Do you want to be? Let me hear your thoughts.

Guten Tag auf Deutchland!

So I guess I'll start by introducing myself. My name's Carrie, I have a 5 month old little boy, a full grown great dane, and an Active Duty Air Force husband. We are currently stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Let me tell you, being a military wife is hard. But being a military wife and mom is harder than I could ever have imagined. We have no family around. Our closest friends live about 15 minutes away. The majority of our village doesn't speak English (we don't speak German), and hate us because we're Americans in the military and they don't want us here. I would love to be able to call up my mom and ask her the million questions I have during the day, but I have to wait till it's not 2:00 am in Utah. I can't just take my lil man to Grandma and Grandpa's when I need a break. With Taft in the Air Force, 80% of the time I'm basically a single mom. And I have no idea what I'm doing! I love my little family more than anything and am absolutely loving being a mom. My house is messy more often than it's clean, laundry piles up to overflowing, and dinner is rarely gourmet, because I'd rather spend time with my family discovering the latest trick Parker's mastered.

Parker is starting solid foods and is starting to struggle with breast feeding, and I have no idea what to do. I was working for a little while so he got used to bottles and now doesn't want to work to eat from me. How do you go from breast milk to formula? I'm so grateful Erika invited me to be a part of this blog! Hopefully I can get some help and figure out what I'm supposed to be doing (hint hint :) ).

AAHH!! She's Mobile!

My baby officially army crawls! As much as I love to see her developing, I'm in a panic. My home is NOT baby proof. I can't even seem to keep it tidy let alone keep it safe! Any suggestions or tips? What should I be looking for? HELP!

Jars, Jam, and... Image?

I have a peach tree in my backyard that produced so much fruit that I've been covered in peach guts for the last 4 days. This tree taught me a lot though. When I first saw the fruit was ripening, I panicked. I thought, how on earth am I going to use all that fruit? There is no way we can eat it all before it goes bad! I tried to think of people I could give it to. I thought of maybe putting a "FREE PEACHES" sign in my front yard. I even thought about opening a stand at my local farmer's market. Then, while having a casual conversation with my sister, she mentioned she was going to can peaches with her mother in-law. I thought to myself, Duh, Erika! PRESERVE the peaches!

So far, I have 28 jars of peach halves, 20 jars of jam and new memories with my sister and my grandmother in-law. Each jar is sealed and has an incredibly long shelf life. So, why didn't I think of preserving my peaches? Why was it is so cut and dry to me that all I could do was eat my fill and then let the rest go bad? Did this have to do with a skill set I did or didn't have?

Speaking of skill sets I'm developing, I've been researching cleaning techniques. While watching a recording of a cleaning seminar, the speaker began talking about image. Having studied sociology, the thought of image dictating skill sets really struck home and I immediately began thinking of my peaches. As much as I may not want to admit it, I've spent most of my life developing my talents for my education and my job. I was successful in school and I was successful at work and yet, when I'm just in my home I find myself stumbling over the same problems time and time again. Did I somehow think homemaking would come naturally and therefore I wouldn't need to take the time to figure it out? I've also learned, the best way to develop homemaking skills is at the side of someone who knows. Book knowledge will only go so far.

So, what has this peach tree taught me? One: Our elders know a lot more than I ever gave them credit for. So what if they can't perfectly discuss the latest economic trends? They know how to get stains out of carpets, marker off walls, keep the tiny ugly germs away from little ones and live providently. Two: whether it is my harvest or my bank account, I need to "preserve" my bounty while the times are good. I need to make sure to not just splurge and waste my excess, but to put some away. If we're smart, we can be enjoying the sweet things all year long.

Confessions of a Mom

Hi.  My name is Natalie, I'm a mom of two, and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Hi Natalie.

Ok, I guess that's not really true.  I've learned a lot over 19 months of mom-hood, but the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know.  Yesterday was a great example of this.  We had a major victory moment in church in which we remained strong and wouldn't let 19-month-old Nora whine her way out of the chapel.  We made sure she wasn't disturbing anyone, but we made it clear that crying wouldn't get her a free ticket to run the halls.  And it worked!  By the end of the meeting, my husband and I were exhausted but triumphant (and only too happy to drop her off at nursery), and I couldn't help thinking, "See?  I can do this!  I can raise a well-behaved child!"


Pride goeth before a fall.

Cut to Sunday Night Family Dinner at Grandma's House- a much anticipated event with lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins to play with.  Suddenly my sweet little girl was playing bully to all her cousins- even those older than her!  I'd pull her onto my lap and say some combination of, "We don't hit.  Tell him/her you're sorry.  Go give him/her a hug.  Are you ready to be nice?"  She'd say sorry.  She'd give a sweet hug.  And then she'd hit/push/scratch all over again.  We spent the majority of the evening trying to enforce some manner of Time Out, but nothing even phased her. And I felt like I knew absolutely nothing.

That's the trick with being a mom!  As Erika mentioned, nearly every aspect of life is constantly changing.  Throw on top of that the fact that kids are constantly learning and changing, and the fact that every kid is totally different, and it's easy to see why motherhood is the most challenging occupation in existence.

Luckily, it's also the most rewarding. And luckily, it often only takes a little reward to counterbalance all of the challenge.  Like when I see Nora taking a baby wipe to the mattress where she had- moments before- smeared the last of a tube of my mascara.  And when she notices me, she looks up and says, "Clean up."  And- just for a minute- it's ok that I have no idea how to get mascara out of a mattress.  All that matters is that I know where the camera is.

Maybe I know a little more than I think I do.

The Concept

At one point in my life, I thought being a mom was going to be mundane. I thought that it was going to be all work and no play and that everyday was going to be exactly the same boring routine. Boy, was I wrong! Being a mom has thrown more curve balls at me than my bachelor's degree and corporate chaos combined--and it's only been 5 and 1/2 months! My baby is consistenly changing, my bank account is consistenly changing, my homemaking skills are consistenly changing, and my emotional stability? You guessed it--consistently changing.

So, with some help from friends, I've started this blog. I'm sure the concept of the blog will continue to morph as we all talk about the "celebrations and frustrations" of mom-hood. I want to know what tips, tricks, and oops my mom-friends have made. I want to know, as my friend Natalie put it, how do you do it? I want to know what you've done to love the home you've created. I want to look at the comments and recognize that I have friends that know how I feel whether it is a happy moment, or a "I want to strangle somebody!" moment. I also noticed, when I was in school, I would do a project and get a grade. When I was at work, I would do a project and get feedback and/or results. At home, I can do a project that may never get noticed. So, this blog will be an opportunity for me and my friends to tout their "Look at me! I did it!" moments. I love telling people they did a great job and I'm not even going to lie, I like to hear it too.

So, I need authors. Want to join? Email me at missprovo06@hotmail.com and I'll be more than happy to add you to the list. We'll try to have guest bloggers from time to time because we really want to know how you are doing and how we can help. We want you to ask questions, give answers, start discussions, give ideas, share talents, and tell stories that make us laugh, cry, and pause to think.