Silly Conversations

You would think that our first Christmas with a baby would be the most exciting, over the top, Christmas ever. And yet, our tree is not up yet. Chock it up to 2 working parents if you must, but I have a strong feeling that it's a little more than that.  The holidays have been a strange mix for me, the last couple of years. I've been equal parts "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch." It could have been just a getting older thing, it could be because my mom passed away a couple years ago, or it could be that seasonal effective disorder thing people often ignore during this time. It's probably a mix of all 3. No matter what it is, I usually just ignore it and try to focus on the Holly Jolly Christmas stuff. It's hard though, right? There's a lot of stuff going on. I'm not going to bore you with a list, because you all have a list too. We all have a lot of stuff going on. I'm not going ...

Parents. Remember your "exhaustion" prior to having kids? I miss that.  I remember looking at parents around me and thinking, "Dang, they complain about being tired all the time. Can having a kid really be THAT taxing on a person?" Oh, how I wish I could take back those thoughts! And I just have the ONE kid. I can't even imagine more!  Let me back up a little. Since week one, until about month 7, Leo has slept in bed with us. We, of course, did it as safely as recommended by doctors and such. I feel like I always need that caveat because y'all moms and non moms out there trip over the littlest details, I swear. We weren't planning on doing the co-sleeping thing, we just kind of fell into it. It worked with nursing, it helped me not worry too much about his breathing patterns, and it was really sweet to cuddle my sweet boy all night. For those wondering how Elias felt, he actually made the initial suggestion to do it, so there ya go.  So it wor...

Money, y'all. We know that the love of money is the root of all evil. It's a little disheartening to have a 2 income household and still be on the struggle bus with money. And we're pretty thrifty too. I've been trained to go for the best deals, the best coupons, the lowest prices, and to sacrifice quality when needed. Would I love to shop in the organic, all natural section more? Uh duh. But this crunchy mama is more of a crispy mama, due to her budget.  And yet, even in our thriftiness, we have been struggling with money. A couple of unforeseen circumstances came up: After the babe was born, we knew our insurance premiums would go up. But they went WAAAY up. Like, into the stratosphere up. Like, "wow I didn't know they could be that high" up.  We had a lot of medical expenses after pushing the baby out, and we spent a day in the Phoenix Children's hospital after he was born.  I'm a teacher, so I already make basically nothing. I also ha...

Why blog now? It’s funny- I had so many thoughts about so many things before I sat down at my computer. Stuff about being a mom, and a teacher, and a wife. But now that I’m here, trying to make them coherent and relatable, I’m coming up short. Maybe there are too many coherent and relatable blogs out there. Maybe, there needs to be someone that says what NO ONE is thinking. Maybe, instead of people “telling it like it is” maybe we need people to just “tell it.” What happened to the freedom we had to just let go. As children, we were encouraged to have freedom in our playtime, our work time, our creative time. Then as we get older, we put boundaries on those things so the are coherent and relatable. But I think we forget to stop the the boundaries before we lose our freedom. Is anyone following me? Am I even following me? I’m honestly not trying to sound existential or transcendent. This is just what happens when I sit down and begin to write. I think it was in thea...