Muddling Momma

28
Jun
2014

Working 9 to 5, What a Way to Make a Living

Well friends, I just finished my first week back to work after 3 months of catching up on bad TV. I have to say – it felt good. And exhausting. But good.

I am now an Executive Assistant, Personal Assistant, Office Manager and Administrative Assistant to the Executive Vice President of an insurance marketing company. This is obviously a pretty new position, so I am still figuring things out and cleaning out my desk from the last person who was part time. This is my first job where I am in the office five days a week and it is a big change. Thankfully the office is casual dress and I am hourly, so I work 40 hours a week and anything more is overtime. The staff is small since we are a remote office, about 10 people and then 150 or so at headquarters in Nebraska.

I know it’s only been a week, but I think S. and I are juggling pretty well. Nothing is really different for Mike, he is going to daycare about the same time and being picked up at the same time, the only change for him is more time with Dad, but that’s never ever a bad thing. Dad gets him from daycare, gives him dinner and starts a bath, which is usually when I get home. I get a good hour or so with the guys before Mike hits the sack. He’s sleeping so much better these days which is helpful.

I was so worried about this transition. I knew MIke would be fine, but me – I wasn’t so confident. But it’s been pretty nice, at least for a week, to have lunch alone reading my book, interact with my coworkers, commute for 45 minutes listening to my podcasts … I know some days will be hard, but frankly the only time I miss Mike is when I see other kids about his age on the street. I just make up stories in my head that they are with their nannies or on vacation because their momma works 10 hours a day.

I also realized pretty quick that our time together is much more valuable now. When I get home, no cleaning or anything other than Mike until he goes to bed. Everything else can wait. And with his morning schedule I get a lot of snuggle and play time before going to work.

Side note – I thought it would be nice to stick a funny SomeEcard about being a working mom, but wow. There is so much crap about who has it harder – stay at home moms or work outside the home moms. I’m not going to play into the mommy wars, so I am going to leave you with something else 🙂

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21
Jun
2014

Looking So Long at These Pictures of You

categories: Being Mom

I got the pictures of Mike’s local birthday gathering last night that my friend Miranda took and she caught so many fun moments. I have a really photogenic kid. For the first time in a long, long time I looked at the shots of me and my internal conversation went like this:

Well that shirt does nothing for your arms and it’s a bad angle for a double chin, but damn I looked happy and Mike was clearly having a blast.

I’ve always been a bigger girl and struggled to keep my weight under control – I still do. I used to look at pictures and immediately hone in on the flaws, but no more. I am not going to be one of the mothers who hang behind the camera until they have lost the baby weight, covered their roots or changed out of the yoga pants.

I see pictures of my own Momma now and while she sees certain things, I see someone who is amazingly beautiful and perfect to me. She’s my mom. I see a moment captured that I will share with Mike and my future grand kids (God willing!). Those moments are important.

Everyone wants to take a good picture, but it’s not about me anymore and I get that. I won’t hide behind the camera – I don’t want to miss precious moments captured forever with Mike.

Small Blessings

categories: Diaper Drive

Something really cool happened yesterday. I had two visitors from DC’s News Channel 8!

Let me back up.

When I did my diaper drive back in March, S. reached out to the media to get some traction there. Flash forward to Monday. He got a call from the intern at News Channel 8 and they were interested in featuring me and my diapers in a segment called Paying it Forward. By 11AM on Tuesday I was sitting in front of a camera in Mike’s nursery with Kathy Park, an on air anchor.

I was really nervous hoping I got my fact straight, I explained myself well enough to convey the importance of this issue. I was really surprised when I felt very passionate and knowledgeable and excited. I never imagined I would be passionate about diapers, but here I am on a soapbox (or recliner) on the news!

I was also able to talk about my blog – how I started and why I started. I hope to get a few more readers to hold myself accountable to blogging more often. Sister Patricia from St. Martin’s Ministries also got involved and I hope they are going to get some more, must needed, community awareness.

It is probably going to air on Thursday, June 26th, but I will keep you posted.

Want to hear the best part? Everyone featured gets $500 to support their cause. $500. I am still surprised and SO excited. That’s a lot of diapers!

So this is my question to you. Do you know anyone who needs some help with diapers? We all need help, but someone who might be reusing disposable diapers or not changing their baby as often as they should. Help me use this money to serve wisely. Email me at jackie@muddlingmomma.com with their name/address/size diapers. I will, of course, keep this anonymous.

Pinterest Gives Me a Tummyache

categories: Being Mom, DIY

I’ve read a lot of about mommas (and daddies of course) who find social media stressful because of seeing other people’s perfect lives, even though we know life is far from perfect. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I can’t relate to that. I love social media for everything – business, personal and snooping.

Since I accepted a job offer that puts me in an office starting next Monday, my OCD is on overdrive. Much like the last week of pregnancy I have to clean the house, organize closets, have lunch with friends and do everything I said I would do during my three month unemployment and, frankly, didn’t. So I started by reorganizing my Pinterest boards. You know. Since that takes precedent over folding clothes.

I quickly found out, not that I am lacking in the motherhood department, but I missed the boat on so many opportunities for pictures, fun crafts that only a baby can ‘do’ and traditions to start. I had so many good intentions before Mike was born and I totally missed the boat. Do I think this makes me a bad mom? No, but I am a little disappointed. I can’t go back in time and redo all Mike’s monthly pictures to be super cute with blocks announcing his age. Or capturing his little hands in the shape of a heart on a frame for the perfect Valentine’s Day frame.

What did parents do before Pinterest? They walked blissfully through parenthood without a reminder of all the creative things they missed doing. I guess there is always hope for baby number two. But probably not.

Mike: June

categories: Dear Mike

Mikey –

I say this every month, but this month I mean it – you’ve grown up almost overnight! Someone asked me if it was harder now that you are more mobile or if it was more fun. I think it’s a little bit of both. It’s harder because you LOVE exploring and discovering new things, which means more opportunities to get into trouble. It’s fun for Daddy and me because we love when you discover new things. You look up at us with this stunned look on your face like, ‘did you know if you press this button down the toilet FLUSHES?!‘. It’s such a moment of pride when you try over and over to do something then finally get it, like getting in and out of your car that Pop-Pop got for you. Now you are a pro. Here’s your month:

{High Five, Waves and the Like} One reason I love you in daycare is you come home and randomly show us things you’ve learned. Daddy and I just look at each other to figure out who taught you what and we quickly realized your friends did! Recently you’ve been giving high fives and clapping your hands. You are starting to get really good at clapping at the right times – not like waving. We say bye bye and you wave about ten minutes later. We’ll work on that.

{Walking} OH BOY! You are now a walker! Over the course of the month you’ve become more steady on your feet. We started the month out with you taking a few cautious steps between stationary things, but the more you practiced, the more confident you have become. We giggle sometimes because you look like an extra on a zombie movie – stiff legs and wobbly hips. It’s funny how quickly walking is the norm for you.

{Food and Drink} You are totally off formula and have developed a love of milk like your Daddy! You are still using a bottle a few times a day, but you also like your sippy cups for water and juice. We aren’t in a hurry to get rid of those bottles, you will give it up in no time I am sure. You are also feeding yourself mostly and picking off Momma and Daddy’s plates trying new things. You still love avocados, but now add spiral pasta, peas, strawberries, blueberries and Goldfish. You also really like the pouches of applesauce.

{Birthday Celebrations} How can we forget your first birthday parties! There are so many people who love you we had to have THREE parties! One was at daycare, one was at Grandma and Grandpa’s and one was at our local playground. You were curious about the each one, but loved the attention. You were certainly a trooper around all those people.

{Pool} Now that the weather is consistently warm, we’ve been hanging out at the pool a little more often. You have no problem getting right into your float and sloshing around the water – no matter how cold it is!

{Hand, Foot and Mouth} Oh goodness. The dreaded HF&M made its way around our house. You had a pretty mild case of it, but your Dad and me – we are still picking at scabs. I hope this is the one and only time you have to deal with that nonsense.

{Routines} Now that Momma is working again, you are adapting to a sort of new routine like a pro – not much has changed for you. Once you get up in the morning you get in bed with Momma to have a bottle, watch the news and snuggle. Then Daddy gets you from daycare, you guys hang out, have dinner and get a bath. When Momma gets home it is some more hanging out and our bedtime routine. If I said I didn’t come into your room and get you up to rock and snuggle some more, I would be lying.

I can’t wait to see what the next month brings for you my sweet boy. There is nothing I love more than seeing you discover new things.

I’ll eat you up I love you so,

Momma xoxo

Mike’s First Birthday Pool Partay

categories: DIY, Toddler

As a March baby I was always a little jealous of my friends with summer birthdays. They got to have cake by the pool while on my special day it was either the tail end of a freezing winter or an early start of a Mid Atlantic summer – with no pool in sight. This was the reason I timed Mike’s birthday for June. Just kidding, obviously didn’t time anything to do with his arrival. But I was excited to have a June baby! Since he is a water lover it made sense to have a pool party to celebrate the big ONE.

My parents have a ‘bladder’ pool (is that what it’s called? That’s what we call it and it makes me cringe every time.) and a big backyard so they graciously let us host the party there. My Momma and I work SO well together. I am the brains and she is muscle, so that was a huge plus of us hosting at their house.

We were blessed with amazing weather and Mike was blessed with lots of family and fun. I am not sure he grasped what was going on, but the adults seemed to have a great time. Here’s a photo recap of Mike’s First Birthday Pool Party.

I opted to use my PicMonkey subscription for good. I made these with a free background and printed them at our local Walgreens.

Remember the pool noodle garland tutorial I did? Well they turned out great and were hung randomly throughout the backyard. We had an ‘Easy Up’ tent in the backyard with some chairs and side tables for some extra seating in the shade.

Since it was an afternoon party we didn’t have a real ‘meal’ planned. Who doesn’t love hot dogs though? We boiled some hot dogs and put out the fixings like onions, chili and cheese. My Mother in Law made fruit kabobs and S’s Aunt made veggie cups. For the kiddos – PB&J and Goldfish, but the adults might have had a couple. I didn’t get a good picture of it, but R. made an amazing jug of ‘Ocean Water’. A tip – don’t put the Swedish Fish in, they sink to the bottom and dead fish can kill the festive mood.

I hemmed and hawed trying to make my own chalkboard first birthday picture, but I finally realized it wasn’t worth the stress, so we found one on Etsy by Green Papaya Prints that we ordered and printed it locally. I would say my sanity is worth $20.

I could kick myself for not getting a good picture of the cupcakes before they were devoured. Again, another $20 sanity saver – we had someone local make them with blue frosting. S. cut out a ‘shark fin’ to add to the top and they were adorable!

The kids had fun in the kiddie pool.

And everyone had fun in the big pool!

And here’s one last picture of the cute birthday boy.

Mike’s birthday party was a lot of fun for everyone!

Happy First Birthday Mike!

categories: Being Mom, Dear Mike

My Sweet One Year Old Boy –

Oh my gosh! It’s been a whole year since you arrived and made me a Momma – in fact as I am typing this I realize a year ago I was being prepped for my C-Section. They were worried that my blood pressure was so high and I was hoping they wouldn’t delay your arrival. I was leaving that hospital with a baby and thankfully it worked out to be my own. You!

I’ve spent some time reading old blog posts from the last year and it brought back so many memories. The one thing I hope you never, ever forget is how badly you were wanted and how incredibly loved you are by so many people.

The blog I wrote the day before you were born reflected how nervous I was. I was worried something would go wrong in surgery, something would be wrong with you or we would screw you up. A year later it’s obvious those worries, like many of life’s worries, didn’t happen.

Getting ready for you birth, we did a lot of things people joked we will never do again like go to brunch,see movies and make pottery. Which is funny now because guess what little guy? We’ve gone out to eat a lot since you arrived (and you are always the center of attention), we’ve watched movies (at home, on the couch after bedtime) and we even painted pottery for Daddy’s first Father’s Day! Some people say that life is over when you have kids, but life is SO much more fun with you!

It was really hard to picture what life would be like with you. We knew we wanted a baby, but I couldn’t picture YOU. Your eyes, hair or smile. Now I can’t picture life with you. I am sure Daddy agrees!

I remember telling someone from church that when I wake up in the morning, I remember you are there and it’s like Christmas morning. What new thing are you going to do? What are you going to discover? You truly are the best part of my day. Now that you are in a crib sleeping I like to watch you for a little bit on the monitor before getting you. You sing to yourself, walk around the perimeter and bounce. When I open the door I get the biggest grin. Like you are so thankful I am still there and you’ve been waiting all night to see me. If I live to be 1000 years old, that joyful, loved feeling will never leave me.

I’m not sure I can put into words how much I love you. How much you amaze me and make me laugh. But my sweet one year old? I’ll eat you up I love you so.

xoxo,

Momma

“I Am Who I Am” – Gwennie P.

categories: Pop Culture, Working Mom

Does anyone feel sorry for Gwyneth Paltrow? I heard she stuck her pedicured-Louboutin-size-9 in her mouth again. This time it was comparing being blasted on the internet much like a solider in war. Well. Sort of. Maybe.

If you Google “Gwyneth Paltrow quotes” there are some great results about her insanely hilarious, out of touch ramblings about preferring death to canned cheese and Cup of Noodles, her looks going downhill when she turned 29 and how un-fun the glamorous Met Gala was. You probably remember the uproar from her quote about working mommas. I am pretty sure you didn’t miss it because the internet exploded, but here it is:

“I think it’s different when you have an office job, because it’s routine and, you know, you can do all the stuff in the morning and then you come home in the evening,” said the polarizing Paltrow. “When you’re shooting a movie, they’re like, ‘We need you to go to Wisconsin for two weeks,’ and then you work 14 hours a day and that part of it is very difficult. I think to have a regular job and be a mom is not as, of course there are challenges, but it’s not like being on set.”

As a working momma, I got prickly with this comment. But I have preached not judging other mommas (or daddies) for their decisions – as long as their kids are safe and relatively happy. Gwennie has proven time and time again with her hilariously embaressing comments that she is out of touch with commoners, such as myself, but I can’t get mad at her for this.

Sure, she has nannies. Sure, she only works long hours for short amounts of times. Sure, she probably has a chef and a maid and … whatever else I wish I had. But isn’t she away from her kids part of the day? Handing them over to someone to make sure they survive? She is putting the same amount of trust in that nanny that I put in our daycare provider. I still miss Mike daily and wonder if he misses me, if his needs are met too. Don’t all working mommas feel this way? Why does it matter if that momma is selling Avon, working part time at McDonalds, working high profile trials, finding a cure for cancer or starring in a summer blockbuster.

I guess what I am saying is a momma is a momma no matter how you look at it. An ‘easy’ lifestyle is relative and the grass is always greener.

But seriously, Gwen. Sweetie. Stop talking. You’ve been through a lot. Just hole up in your penthouse, take a nap and lay low. I’m sure your nanny has things under control.

8 Baby Products to Save Your Money On

categories: Being Mom, Product Reviews

Two things are obvious if you’ve been reading my blog:

1. I love lists. Like, love, love.

2. I am pretty realistic when it comes to spending money on baby stuff.

So, remember how I gave you guys my 5 Registry Must Haves? Today I am telling what you don’t need. As just like before, I bet a bunch of you will disagree wholeheartedly with my list and that’s cool. Different things work for different parents. Some of these products I’ve tried and some other products I pretty much knew I wouldn’t use and I haven’t missed. FYI – I tried to widdle this list down to 5, but I just couldn’t.

{Baby Food Maker} I covered this in my post about making baby food at home. Sure, the fancy mixers specifically for baby food work just fine, but so does the generic blender from the discount box store.

{Hooded Towels} If this doesn’t make it on your registry, you are going to get a gazillion for your shower anyway. What’s my beef with hooded towels? They fit Mike for about two weeks. Now they barely wrap around him and they all seem to be thin and flimsy. After figuring this out we bought a few bath sheets on Amazon and wrap it around him a dozen times.

{Baby Bathtub} We had a baby bathtub because everyone had one and it made sense. The baby has to bathe right? We probably used it five times. It took up a TON of room in our small apartment and was more trouble than it was worth. After Mike’s first bath in the tub in the sink, we started putting him in the tub with S. He liked it so much more – being held, moved around and warm.

{Formula Mixer} Stop being lazy. Really.

{Pee-Pee Tee-Pee} Anyone with a boy knows that being peed on is a given. If you make it out of the hospital without it happening, consider it a victory! I honestly thought the PPTP was a joke, but people actually USE these things! I see a few things happening – a strong stream and being stabbed in the eye with the pointy end or Mike getting curious and pulling it off. Here’s a common tip – save your money and cover your son immediately while changing his diaper.

{Bottle Warmer} We used a bottle warmer for a few weeks before realizing that Mike liked his formula warm, room temp or cold. The warmer added extra, unnecessary time to the process. Maybe we were just lucky.

{Bottle Sterilizer} We had one of these too and they are such a pain in the neck. Our bottles never fit right, it never fit enough, water ended up everywhere … it was exhausting. Now we hand wash the bottles in super hot water then run them through the dishwasher once a week.

{Pacifier Wipes} You might have picked up on the fact that I am not a germphobe. I will tell you that I had the best of intentions of using pacifier wipes, but they were never handy when I needed them. The few times Mike used his pacifier and dropped it (or any toy), I usually just wiped it on my shirt or stuck it in my mouth first.

What would you add?

Pool Noodle Decorations

categories: DIY

I can’t believe Mike is almost 1. I pretty much want to sing Sunrise Sunset daily. We are planning his pool party birthday party and since I’m unemployed I have copious amounts of time to surf Pinterest and tackle some DIY projects. I think I am going to tell people I quit my job JUST to plan my son’s first birthday. It sounds better than saying the job market sucks.

ANYWHO … I found the easiest, cheapest, cutest decoration I want to share with you. You know those bloggers who have fancy cameras that take professional looking pictures? And the crafting bloggers who have perfectly manicured nails and a fabulous backdrop?

Yeah. This ain’t that tutorial. Also, this is not my original idea and I am sure there are easier ways to do this, but you might think that my steps are easier. You know. For Muddling Mommas and Daddy-Os.

Here’s what you need:

Pool Noodles – I got ours at the Dollar Tree and they just happened to have one that looks like a flower. Score!
Fishing Line – Any weight will do
Sharp Knife – All of our’s are kinda dull, so I had to use a ridiculously large one.
Skewer – Or anything that is long and sharp. I was not about to drive around looking for a ‘long needle’
Ruler
Sharpie/Pen/Marker

Using the ruler and Sharpie mark off in 1/2 inch increments. I used 1/2 inch, but I am sure you can go thicker, but I envision anything thinner will be challenging in the next steps.

Slice the noodle on the marks – or close enough. This project is pretty forgiving when it comes to accurate measurements. It’s easy to do the cutting as if you are sawing, it shouldn’t take much effort. I tossed all the pieces into a basket, grabbed my fishing line and skewer and snuggled into bed.

Now is a good time to start a movie or begin watching How I Met Your Mother from season 1 episode 1. Using the skewer, punch a hole on one end of a noodle slice and pull through. I am sure there are other productive ways to do this, but I punched holes in every slice then threaded them. You could possibly do the holes in one slice, then thread, then another slice, then thread. But my method worked for me.

Once they were all ‘holed’, I started threading the slices on my fishing line. I didn’t unroll and cut a piece of line, but it’s still way easy to get all tangled. I unspooled a bunch of line, then taped spool so it didn’t keep unrolling while I threaded. Make sense?

This is the tedious part, sometimes you will need to poke holes again. Just make sure the end of your line is straight because it tends to get kinked up and you have to cut it down.

Once you are done tie off the ends and cut the line. Ta-da! Instant cheap decorations ready for summer. Stay tuned for a birthday party recap.

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