Voices

1.29.2016


I open the door.

My eyes eagerly scan the room. A row of cubbies, a sink, three highchairs. Eight cribs lined up against the back wall, each with a sticker on the front. Noah. Over three months old, the one on the far end reads.

It doesn’t take long to find her. She’s lying on the floor on an activity mat, her eyes focused on a toy hanging just above her head. There’s a boy next to her sucking on a rattle and a girl just a few feet away sleeping in a rocker.

I rush forward.

“Hi, honey,” I say, bending down to kneel on the floor. “How was your day today?”

Her eyes become unfocused from the toy, and she turns her head toward the sound of my voice. She smiles—a gummy, five-month-old grin—and my eyes fill with tears. “I missed you,” I say.

“She ate the full bottle,” the teacher tells me. “And she took a long nap this afternoon. She was tired.”

I am about to reply when I hear it. A whisper in the back of my mind. Just a small poke, really.

A real mom wouldn’t have to ask how many ounces she ate. A real mom would know. A real mom would have been there.

“Great!” I say with a forced enthusiasm I am far from feeling. I turn back to her and reach down to pick her up. “Honey, are you ready to go home? Mama missed you so much today.”

I turn toward the door, her bag over one shoulder, her tiny hands clinging to my scarf, chubby legs wrapped around my waist, and I tug a hat over her baby fuzz.

“You’ll need to bring more diapers tomorrow. She’s almost out.”

I look back at the teacher. “Okay,” I say. “Thank you so much.”

“See you tomorrow.”

I nod, unable to speak. I try to ignore the voice, but all the way home, it pokes me, digging deeper.

What kind of poser mom are you, showing up at the end of the day like this? Where are you when she’s crying in the morning? Where are you when she’s hungry in the afternoon? You know you’re not a real mom.

I tell myself it’s not true, that I am doing the best I can, that she’s cared for and watched over during the day while I’m at work. That she knows I love her.

But still it twists.

She’s going to forget you, you know. You aren’t there, and she won’t remember who you are. She’ll love them more than you.

All the positive self-talk in the world can’t silence the nagging voice in the back of my mind. I blink to force back the tears that threaten to fall and glance in the rearview mirror. I can see her reflection in the mirror we hooked to the back of the seat. Her hat is slipping into her eyes, and she’s starting to fuss. I reach back, twisting my arm awkwardly to pull the hat back off her face.

I pull into the driveway, turn off the car. I open the door and lean into the backseat. She’s fallen asleep. When I unhook the car seat, it makes a loud pop, and her eyes open. She looks confused at first, and her eyes glance around quickly, searching.

They lock onto mine.

“Hi,” I say. “I love you.”

She kicks her legs out in excitement, reaching her arms in my direction. I lean forward, and tiny fingers grab my face. She opens her mouth wide and giggles, and a new voice, louder and bolder than the one that spoke before, prods the back of my mind.

She knows you. She missed you. You’re doing a great job, Mama.

I balance my purse, her diaper bag, and the cooler bag full of milk I pumped that day with one hand, my other arm straining with the weight of the car seat as my heels click across the garage floor.

I open the door.

_________________

*I wrote this four weeks ago, during the first week I took R to daycare. As of today I have now been back to work full time for one month. This voice that says I'm not a "real" mom for not being with my daughter all day is still there, although some days it's louder than others. It's hard that my time with her is much shorter than I would like, but I'm trying to make the most of the time I do have. Squeeze in as many kisses and "I love yous" as possible. She can't say it back yet, but I know she loves me too.

A Day in the Life: January 15, 2016

1.26.2016


Now that I'm back at work and we actually have a schedule of sorts around here, and I thought it would be fun to share with you what my day looks like. I ended up forgetting to take half the pictures I wanted to because I was busy running around, but here's what the average day looks like, give or take.

5:30
My alarm goes off. I try (try being the key word) to get up when it goes off, but sometimes I snooze for 15 minutes. However, this just makes me run around like a crazy person, and I like to take my mornings slow if I can, so getting up when the alarm goes off is preferred.

I have from whenever I actually get out of bed until 6:30 to do the following:
-Make sure bottles are filled for daycare
-Make sure I have all my pumping stuff for pumping at work (bottles, pump, cooler bag)
-Make sure R's diaper bag is ready to go
-Get myself ready for the day (on an average day this means make sure I have regular clothes on; on a good day, this means I actually had time to put on makeup!)
-Make my lunch
-Eat breakfast

At 6:30, if R is not already awake, I wake her up. Sometimes she is; sometimes she's not.

6:30-6:50
-Feed, change, and dress R


6:50
Load R and all my various bags into the car and head to the daycare, which is conveniently on the way to my office. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the daycare, so I usually roll in around 7:00-7:10.

7:20
Leave daycare and head to the office. Typically I drop R off and sit on the floor and play with her for a few minutes before I leave. It's always really sad because the mornings are her super happy times because she's just had a good sleep and a good breakfast, and she's being so cute! On the way in to the office, I usually pray for her to be safe and enjoy her day, and  I thank God that we found a daycare that is on the way to my work. If I'm lucky, I am treated to a lovely sunrise.
7:30
Arrive at work. Today I heated up a frozen breakfast burrito because I hadn't had time to eat breakfast. I usually keep a container of instant oatmeal at my desk and eat that, but I had used the last of it the day before and hadn't been to the store yet. So breakfast burrito it was!
After I heat up my burrito, I log in and get to working. Our office actually opens at 8, but I have been getting there early and leaving a bit early. I like it because I miss out on the main interstate traffic, and I get slightly more time with R in the evening.


9:00
This is when I have my first pumping session. I grab my bag of supplies and head upstairs to pump. R has been taking 5-oz bottles, and I usually pump 4-4.5 ounces, so I'm not quite keeping up with her. Hopefully that I will adapt and be able to pump more, but we'll see. Sometimes I get 5, which always makes me excited.

Once I get back from pumping, I eat a snack. Today it was an apple and some hot water with lemon. <<< This is actually really good! Try it if you haven't. Just a cup of hot water and squeeze a quarter of a lemon in it.
(I know you can see both hands, and this picture looks horribly unsafe, but I promise that my car was in park when this picture was taken!)

11:30
Leave work to go see R at lunch! I take my lunch hour a bit early so I can be there in time to feed her for her lunch feeding. I drive like a crazy person and then literally run down the hall to her room. I just sit in the room and feed her there. Once it's not so cold out I will take her for walks outside, I think.
11:45-12:15
After I feed R, I sit down on the floor and play with her for about a half hour. It's my absolute favorite, and I am so thankful I can do this! I always take a picture to send to Jordan.
12:30
When I get back to the office, I eat my lunch at my desk while I work. I use up my entire lunch hour visiting R, but it's worth it. Typically I bring a pb&j, chips, a fruit (today it was another apple), and drink water.

2:00
My second pumping session of the day. I never get as much in the afternoon as I do in the morning, but I'm trying!
4:30
Leave work and go get R! Again, I literally run down the hall to see her. When we get home, I lug my armful of bags into the house. I drop everything on the floor and immediately get her out of the carseat and commence evening snuggles. I also make sure and put my milk in the fridge. I almost forgot one time, and if I don't do it immediately, it might happen again, which would be tragic.

5:00
On days when I know it's going to be not freezing outside, I try to squeeze in a run if I can. This particular day it was in the low 60s (crazy!), and it was the last warm day until temps dropped again, so I took R out for a stroller run. I have to know in advance that I want to go running, because I have limited time before the sun goes down. As soon as I get home, I get R bundled up, I change, and we head out. If it's too cold, Jordan watches R and I go myself.

I am really trying my best to fit running into my schedule (especially since I have a half marathon in April!), but some days it happens and some days it doesn't. It's been really hard to make time in this stage of life, but I'm trying. I definitely don't run as much as I would like to.
6:00 
After getting back from my run, I take a very quick shower and then feed R. After that, I prepare dinner. This night we had sweet potato burrito bowl. One of our staples! So yummy. If R is in a good mood, I sit her in her seat in the kitchen so she can watch me cook.


6:30-7:30
During this time, dinner is cooking and Jordan and I are playing with R. She sometimes take a nap and sometimes doesn't, so every evening looks different depending on what type of mood she's in. Thankfully, she is a pretty happy baby and isn't fussy most of the time.

7:30-8:00
I feed R and put her to sleep. Hopefully she'll go down easily, but sometimes she fights it and this process takes a while. Depending on the day, we give her a bath before her last feeding, but today we didn't.
8:00-9:00
This is free time! Depending on the day, I do different things. Sometimes I do chores, sometimes I watch TV with Jordan, this day I read! I had picked up these two books at the library, so I started Because You'll Never Meet Me. Honestly, these days I read in bed for maybe half an hour before falling asleep, so I think this day I was asleep by 9:00.

One thing I am admittedly not very good about is making time for personal Bible study. But recently some girls from church started Beth Moore's Daniel study, so I will have homework for that, and I'm really excited to dig into the Word on a consistent basis!

During this hour I also make sure I have as many things ready to go for the next day as possible to make my morning easier. This involves washing bottles and pump parts if necessary and checking the diaper bag to make sure I don't need to reload the diapers or something.

9:00/10:00 at the latest
Bedtime! Thank goodness. By this point I am wiped out, and it seriously doesn't take longer than about five minutes for me to be asleep.

A few notes
While this post shares all the things that need to be done to get R ready for daycare, I need to make sure to mention that Jordan is a huge help in this area. He is great about asking what he can do to help, and he is the one who does all the bottle washing in the evenings. He also helps with getting my bags together and R in the car in the mornings since we leave the house at the same time. I couldn't do it without him!

I also just want to add that when I was taking these pictures and thinking about this post, it occurred to me that my life is not all that exciting. But I cannot put into words how grateful I feel for so many things. That we found a daycare where I can see R during the day is a huge blessing, and the fact that I like my job and my coworkers is not something I take for granted. Sure, I would probably change a few things if I could have whatever I wanted (like more time with my sweet girl), but I really love my life with Jordan and R right now. It is precious to me!

Time goes so fast, and these really are days to be thankful for, as exhausted as I am at the end of them.

How to Not Grow Your Blog (and Possibly Lose Followers)

1.22.2016


I have been blogging for almost six years, and in that time I have seen a lot of blogs come and go. I have also seen a lot of successful bloggers sharing tips and tricks for growing your blog by the thousands! Yes, you can follow their advice and see your blog numbers skyrocket. But why on earth would you want to do that when you can have your stats do this instead?

I respectfully suggest that there are just not enough "how to" posts out there about how to not grow your blog at all and even possibly lose followers. But don't worry, because that is about to change today. If you're interested in learning how to have your blog stats look flatter than the state of Oklahoma and then take a nosedive, read on, my good people!

1. Blog sporadically

Schedules are for people who have way too much time on their hands. Don't have a new post every day so people know to come to your blog for new content! That's just ridiculous. A little known fact about internet people is that they love checking the same website every day only to find nothing new to read. It's like a fun social experiment to see how long they will go until they give up altogether. Try it and watch your stats go down within the month. Like magic.

2. Write long posts

People love to read long blog posts, especially if you don't use a lot of pictures. Also, absolutely do not use vertical images with clickable text. We both know you don't want people finding you from Pinterest. What a disaster.

3. Don't publicize new posts on social media

Make people work for your content. Don't tweet out a link to your new post every half hour. Doing this means more people will see it! Dumb and dumber. What you need to do is never tweet about your blog at all. If you write it they will come, and by that of course I mean they aren't going to come unless you tell them to come, which we won't. Because science.

4. Have a baby

This of course won't be possible for everyone, but if you really are serious about not growing your blog, you need to start growing something else: a baby like yesterday. Your readers will love all of those weekly baby updates and favorite registry posts, and they will click that "unfollow" button faster than you can say "that hurts my feelings a little bit, but it's okay because my baby is cute."

5. Blog about real life

For the love of David Bowie (too soon?), don't teach people anything. These DIY and how-to posts are much too helpful and much too interesting to the average blog reader. What you need to do is blog about your personal life. Be an actual lifestyle blogger, and your blog will lose all hope of ever making it to the big time. 

Sell something or don't bother showing up. Amen.
___________________

So there you have it! A few tips from me to you about how not to grow your blog in 2016. Try some of these and let me know if they work for you! Or don't actually, because we're not here to learn. 

Man, I'm such a hypocrite. 

On second thought, forget everything I just told you.

**No bloggers were harmed during the writing of this post, but I think I just lost six followers. 

Month Five

1.19.2016


Last week, R turned five months old. Okay, I was all right when R was three and four months, but FIVE. That's basically six! Six months is basically a year! I have a toddler! 
And... she's off to college.

Help.
Wearing: 3-6 clothes
Size 1 diapers (still!)

SLEEP

Everyone warned me about the dreaded four-month sleep regression, and I kept waiting for it, but actually R did really well this month! She typically goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps until at least 5:00 most nights! What.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. (From all the beauty sleep, get it? Never mind.) 

Sometimes she has a hard time going to sleep initially, and it will take a good half hour of her paci falling out, us going in to put it back, etc., before she's fully asleep, but a lot of the time she goes down pretty well on her own. There were a few nights where she got a 2 am feeding session, and a few times she woke us up at 3 am talking to herself in her crib. She wasn't crying or upset at all... just awake and talking. It was so cute and even though we were tired obviously because it was the middle of the night, sometimes I couldn't bring myself to go in there and give her the paci.

Now, naps are another story. I think because she sleeps so well at night she doesn't need to nap so much? I don't know, but a half hour is about her average time nap, which means I run around like crazy trying to get a few things done in the meantime. Now that I'm back at work that's less of a concern, but they tell me she still doesn't nap very long at daycare either. I'll take it for some solid nighttime sleep!

EAT

I am exclusively breastfeeding if you don't count the two times we gave her some rice cereal. I've read a lot of different things about feeding. Rice cereal is the most horrible. Not exclusively breastfeeding until six months is the most horrible. Giving them solids early is the most horrible. So I'm reverting back to this post and deciding not to worry about it (except when Jordan jokingly tries to feed her black olives and then I put my foot down because those things are the nastiest). I figure our moms did all this crazy stuff with us, and we all turned out (relatively) fine, so we all need to calm down. I do plan on making my own purees and seeing how that goes with her. I'm not really for or against any particular method of baby feeding. It's all personal choice. Amen.
I do want to write a post about nursing at some point, though. Just for my own historical purposes and to share what I think about it. Spoiler alert: it is hard but I love it.

She is still eating every 2.5-3 hours, or 6 times a day. At daycare we bring 5 ounces of milk for her bottles, and she's been eating at (ish): 6:30/9:00/11:30/2:30/5:00/7:30.

PLAY

R is so dang adorable right now it's not even funny, and it makes it so hard to leave her at daycare in the mornings because I know I'm missing out on some quality cuteness! This month she found her toes. I die. She will pull them all the way to her mouth and suck on them, and its kills me.
She loves loves playing on her activity mat. When we bring her inside at the end of the work day and lay her down, her eyes light up and she kicks so hard! I think she recognizes it.

R is doing fantastic at tummy time and can hang out and look around for a solid 10-12 minutes. She rolls over sometimes (front to back), and lately she's started scooting in circles while on her stomach. We will put her down facing one way, and in a few minutes she's still on her stomach but facing the opposite direction! We are still waiting for the back to front roll action to happen. 
We've been practicing sitting up with her, and she can sort of balance on her knees for a very short time (seconds, really). We don't have a Bumbo seat, but I've read a few articles about those and how they can cause hip problems, and they are expensive anyway, so I'm glad we never ended up buying one. I just hold her hands or let her sit back against me, and she's doing a great job!

I can get her to giggle sometimes when I kiss her stomach or neck, although she's still not really outright laughing at anything on a consistent basis. Hopefully soon!
One thing we've discovered recently is that she recognizes her paci and is really good at taking it out of her mouth. She will then hold it in her hand and stare intently at it, sometimes transferring it from hand to hand, until she tries to put it back in her mouth. The majority of the time she's unsuccessful and ends up putting the wrong end into her mouth. It is crazy to watch her try to figure this out because we can tell she's really thinking hard about it.

She talks to herself while she's doing it, taking it out and trying to put it in again, sometimes grunting when she gets frustrated. However, this is the insane part: if we try to help her by taking the paci away and giving it back to her in the proper position for putting it in her mouth, she screams! She is perfectly happy concentrating on her own, but she does not like it when we try to hep her. Isn't that nuts?

LIKE/DISLIKES

This list is basically the same as last month. She likes her feet, baths, her pacifier, car rides, her activity mat, and looking at herself in the mirror. She doesn't like wind blowing in her face, sun in her eyes, or being cold (I mean who does?). And she doesn't like being helped (see above).
One of us got dressed that day. 
One of us didn't.
_______

Our little bean brings us so much joy every day, and we love her so much. Keep growing, keep smiling, keep pooping, dear R. We love all of it. Especially your baby sneezes, which are just the cutest thing ever. We pray for you every day!



How to Cook the Best Fresh Brussels Sprouts

1.15.2016

Want to know what the most popular post on this blog is? By a wide margin it is: How to Cook Fresh Green Beans. Seriously, this post gets hundreds of hits a day and has tens of thousands over the lifetime of this blog! I have no idea. Apparently there is a shortage of people who know how to properly cook fresh green beans, and if so, I'm happy to help increase public awareness.

So this got me thinking about another vegetable that most people probably don't know how to cook properly: brussels sprouts. Stay with me now. After a lifetime of thinking the sprouts were a horrible torture of a vegetable, I actually tried one. Mind explosion. Brussels sprouts are good! I am not joking. Jordan and I keep trying to convince our friends to try them, but no one will listen. Hopefully this post will inspire you to at least give them a taste and see what you think!


How to Cook Delicious Fresh Brussels Sprouts


Step 1

Your first mission is to go by the brussels sprouts. At my local grocery store, I find them in the vegetable aisle along the wall where all the fresh veggies get misted every five minutes. For just two people, you will probably want around a pound, maybe a bit more, but of course that's up to you! If you buy them in season, they are around $3/pound. Out of season, I've seen them as high as $7/pound, which is why we only eat sprouts in the fall and winter. They're good, but they're not $7 a pound good.

You can also find brussels sprouts on the stalk like in the photo below. If you buy them on the stalk, you simply snap the heads off and you're good to go.

Step 2

Once you have your individual heads, you will get a knife and cut off the bottom end. Then, cut the brussels sprouts in half. This step is essential. We tried them once without cutting them in half just to see what happened, and they are definitely not as good. If it's a particularly large sprout, feel free to cut it in quarters.
Once they are all cut up, your pan will look something like this ^^^. At this point, you can add another veggie or chopped potatoes to the pan if you want. Sometimes if I have an onion lying around, I'll chop up an onion and mix it in with the brussels sprouts. Other times I will chop up some baking potatoes into chunks and mix them in. The world is your oyster! Or, sprout, as you will.
^^^ Here is what your pan might look like after you added in chopped potato and a chopped onion.

Step 3

Once your baking pan is assembled, drizzle olive oil over everything and generously sprinkle kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Mix it all around with a spoon. Feel free to add your seasoning of choice if you like rosemary, garlic, etc. There is no exact science to this! But the olive oil and kosher salt are a must, in my opinion.

Step 4

Place your pan in the oven (uncovered) at 375 degrees on the middle rack and set the timer for 15 minutes. After fifteen minutes, your sprouts will probably look bright green. They are not ready to eat.

Give everything a good stir and put the pan back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes. After the timer goes off again, check and see if the sprouts are done. 

Here's how you will know if the brussels sprouts are done:

1. If you stick a fork in them, they are soft. Hard sprouts are gross and terrible.
2. The brussels sprouts are no longer bright green but are turning black on the edges and look frizzled (like they are shrinking in size).

If they aren't ready yet, try turning the oven up to 400 and putting them back in for another 5 minutes or so. Better overcooked than undercooked. Trust me. When they are soft and turning black, they are ready to eat! Feel free to taste and add a bit more salt if you would like.


There are obviously other ways to cook brussels sprouts, but this is the best way that Jordan and I have found. They turn out delicious every single time! We have also had success sprinkling some balsamic vinegar over the top once they're done. If you give these a try, please let me know what you think. I'd love to know if this recipe converts any brussels sprout haters out there. Also, if you have successfully made brussels sprouts using a different method, do share! Good luck!


Ingredients (makes 4 servings)
2-3 pounds fresh brussels sprouts
2 T olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 
2. Chop ends off the brussels sprouts and cut each sprout in half.
3. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and mix thoroughly
4. Roast on the middle rack for 15 minutes.
5. Give everything a good stir.
6. Roast for another 15 minutes or until brussels sprouts are fork tender and starting to blacken on the edges.
Enjoy!

p.s. See also: How to Cook Fresh Green Beans

Can I Still Blog about Christmas?

1.12.2016

Christmas! Can I still blog about Christmas? Yes? Okay good. 

Our first order of business was to take R with us to North Pole City to pick out an ornament. Jordan and I have done this every year we've been married, and it was fun to add R to our family outing! North Pole City is a store that basically looks like Christmas threw up inside. It has lights everywhere and tons of ornaments and trees and even a train and Santa!
I know it was R's first Christmas, so supposedly it's magical to see this holiday through the eyes of a child, but let's be honest: she was four months old. She wasn't even old enough to care about ripping off wrapping paper or playing in boxes, which is why Jordan and I didn't get her anything. SHAME. I know, I know. But come on. I have been buying her hair bows and random outfits for months now. No need to spend hundreds on toys for her for Christmas. We figured we'd let the grandparents and aunts/uncles handle that, and they were more than up to the task!
We spent Christmas Eve and Day with Jordan's side, and then we drove to Texas and spent the weekend with my family. It was fun! Jordan and I both have three siblings each, and R is the first grandchild, so she is the hit of every family gathering.
It was the absolute craziest weather in Texas... On Saturday we were all sweating in t-shirts and shorts, and my dad almost turned the air conditioner on. Sunday, we woke up freezing and built a fire, and R put her new hat and matching mittens to use! Babies in hats might be my new favorite thing... even if it means she can't wear her hair bows.
^^^ R got this mirror from Jordan's mom, and we think she likes it. It's perfect for tummy time, because she loves looking at herself! She also got some bath letters and a yellow bath duck, some clothes, and a walker and a bouncy seat (both for when she's a bit older). All in all, I'm really pleased with what she got for Christmas. Everyone did a great job getting her useful, functional items but not going overboard.
As always, I had a ton of fun with my family. I grew up going to downtown Chicago every Christmas Eve. As long as I can remember, we've driven downtown and gone to eat at our favorite Italian restaurant. We were sad when we moved to Texas because we thought that tradition was dead, but we discovered that restaurant in Dallas, so Christmas Eve dinner lives on! We get it to go and eat at home, and it's such a fun time sitting around the dinner table together. And we can't forget the token Christmas photo where everyone grabs a gift or two and acts crazy. It's fun to look back at old pictures and see what the hot gift was that year!
I'm holding the newest Pioneer Woman cookbook, Dinnertime. I've already made a few meals out of it! I love PW cookbooks and can always find something delicious. Speaking of cooking, after everyone left the Sunday after Christmas, R and I stayed for a few days (Jordan drove home alone), and on Monday my mom and I spent all day cooking freezer meals.
I am really proud of us! We spent $150 total and made 24 meals (12 for each of us). That's $6.25 per  meal! We made: Crockpot taco soup / Crockpot beef stew / Individual chicken pot pies / Chopped bags of cooked chicken / 140 meatballs / Parmesan chicken. It's nice to have a buffer now that I'm back at work!
So that was Christmas! It was a really fun time, and even though R wasn't technically old enough to really do anything, it was a special first Christmas with her. I love my little family!

Bathroom Storage (Part 2)

1.08.2016

Remember when I shared my Pinterest-inspired bathroom baskets? Well, I figured you were all on pins and needles wondering if I ever found something to put above the toilet in our "master" bathroom. I'm using the air quotes because you probably wouldn't consider this a master bathroom by any stretch of the imagination. It has a toilet, a sink, and a shower head but no tub. Basically it's nothing to write home about, but when we were house shopping, Jordan and I both decided that giant bathrooms are a waste of space, and we would rather spend our square footage on other rooms. Mostly because I hate baths and have no need for a huge jacuzzi.

Anyway. The empty space above the toilet looked sad, and after considering a few different options, I did find something to hang there and wanted to share!
*Excuse my giant box of breast pads. Nursing mom problems.

All I really wanted above the toilet was something to hold extra toilet paper, some washcloths if needed, and maybe a photo or two. It's nothing fancy, but I think it's perfect for what I need. A giant cabinet would probably just end up getting filled with junk. I bought it at Hobby Lobby for $25. Done and done.*

Should I get adventurous and hang a picture frame above or below it? Or do you think it's good as is? I'm so bad at decorating, you guys. It gives me all the anxiety.

Question: Are you interested in seeing more of my little projects? If you like them, I'll keep sharing; if not, I'd rather not waste your time!

*I tried to hang this myself and ended up being dumb and putting a giant hole in the wall, so Jordan had to swoop in and help me. I am not handy. Sad face.

Date Night(s)!

1.05.2016

Alternatively titled: The One with No Baby Pictures
A few weekends ago, Jordan and I left R with Jordan's mom for a date night! Every year we go to at least one Oklahoma City Thunder game, and it was a great first date post-baby. We sat at the very tip top of the stadium, which is typically where we end up sitting with the exception of one time when I splurged and bought us tickets in the 20th row. Usually by the time we make our way to the top, we're both out of breath and have to work through some vertigo. Nevertheless, it's always a fun time, and there's really not a bad seat in the house. You can't be too picky when you're cheap.
Jordan's mom always does a great job watching R, so I wasn't worried about her. We left two bottles just in case (she only ended up needing one), and we thoroughly enjoyed taking some time to hang out just the two of us outside the house! Although I see why couples say they end up talking mostly about their baby even when they are alone. Not gonna lie: she's fun to talk about!

So that was on a Saturday night. Then, at the last minute, Jordan's boss planned his company Christmas party for Sunday night... Top Golf! We were going to take R with us, but Jordan's mom said she thought it would be better if she just watched R for the evening. So that's how we unexpectedly ended up having our first two date nights back to back!
Having only swung an actual golf club once in my life other than mini putt, I fully expected to be terrible. Fun fact: I'm terrible at mini putt. I'm that person who always has to fish their ball out of the water. Anyway, I was embarrassingly awful for the first game and still didn't lose, which says something about the caliber of Top Golf players we had. And THEN, I miraculously got good! Everyone was shocked, including me. I just started swinging really well and hitting the ball into the targets, and I killed my previous score, like times six. I might have missed my calling.

I understand the obsession with Top Golf now. So fun! The food was good too, which surprised me. I expected it to be more about the golf and the food to be mediocre, but the food was tasty!

We were really glad we didn't take R because it was super windy outside, and she would not have liked it. I'm thankful Jordan's mom was available to watch her! They live less than a mile from us, so it works out well for free babysitting. We pay them in granddaughter cuddles. That's legit, right?

Jordan and I were pretty terrible about fitting in actual date nights before R came along, so I don't have high expectations for date nights now that our family is growing, but it was really fun to get out for a few things together. Top Golf was great, and we enjoyed continuing our tradition of going to a Thunder game. Date night(s) success!

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