Slight change of plans

Before Andrew was born, Kyle and I talked a lot about my work schedule and what we were going to do.  I’ve mentioned this before but we decided that I would work 3 days a week.  I was okay with our decision but never felt completely happy or comfortable with it.  Fact is, I didn’t really know what I wanted.

I grew up with a stay-at-home mom and I always saw myself as a stay-at-home mom someday.  I guess I just always expected it.  I know that might sound bad but it’s true.  I never really thought about working after having children.  As many of you know, adulthood brings about a new set of obligations and stress, so staying home full time wasn’t going to be easy.  Finances are the biggest issue but there are other issues, too.  One being that – I love where I work.  I’m so lucky to work where I do and I love the people I work with.  Having some “adult-time” is nice but it’s really mainly about having something of mine, something I can be proud of and I feel accomplished at the end of the day.  I also like bringing in some of our family’s money, it just makes me feel better.  I also didn’t want to lose my job – how could I give up working somewhere so amazing, especially when I want to go to work full time when my children are in school?  So again, there are many reasons to work, but the main downfall is losing precious time with my baby.

It seemed like Kyle and I would re-discuss my work schedule once a month or so, and we always tried to figure out if it would be best if I stayed home with Andrew.  Kyle has always been supportive and has always told me to do whatever is going to make me happy.  The problem was that I didn’t really know.  I didn’t know what I wanted and because of that, I was stressseeeddd ooouuuttt.  I finally had a huge meltdown a couple of weeks ago and realized that I needed to make this decision on my own and once and for all.  What did I want?  If I stayed home would I be happy?  Would it be worth pinching pennies for the rest of our lives (or at least for a number of years)?  Then I started thinking about preschool in a couple years and I really want Andrew to attend Preschool – I want him to have the social aspect of it.  He also loves going to daycare, he never wants to leave!  So would it be worth it to stay home for just a few years?  I finally decided (after an entire night of crying and panicking) that I wanted to work 2 days a week.  Kyle thought I was a little crazy.  How can working one less day make such a big difference in my happiness?  It just does.  I just feel right about it.

So I decided to talk to my boss.  It was really up to the company whether or not I work 2 days a week.  I was confident going into the conversation because I decided that even if they didn’t go for it, I would be okay with 3 days a week….finally actually be okay with it.  I walked into the office and just lost it.  I couldn’t keep it together.  I cried and tried to talk my way through it but it was hard.  I was a basket-case!  Fortunately I work for the best company in the freakin’ world and they went for it!  I’ve never been so relieved in my life.  I talked to our daycare provider the next day and she was okay with it, too!  Yahoo!

For the first time since having Andrew, I feel good about our situation and our future.  I feel right about things.  It’s such an amazing feeling, a feeling that took me a year to grasp but I just had to figure things out for myself.  Andrew still gets to go play with his friends, I get to feel accomplished – even bring in a little money, finances are still pretty good (still have to cut back a bit though) and I get 5 full days with my child.  When we have our next child, I hope to keep this same plan and I feel good about that, too.   The only issue is that they might want me to come back full time before I’m necessarily ready, but I guess that’s not a terrible problem to have right?  I mean, they’ve told me they want me full time and want to give me more responsibility, so when they need someone, it’s up to me if that person will be me or not.  Again, not complaining or anything, just worried that it might happen before I’m ready…but we will cross that bridge later!

I guess I have a hard time making decisions.  I’ve always believed that I’m a fairly independent person and definitely stand by my decisions when I know what I want.  What I learned about myself is that when I don’t know 100% what I want, I panic.  I can’t always rely on other people helping me make decisions because I’m the one who has to be okay with things, and although that’s hard, it’s doable.  I did it.  I decided for myself and I feel wonderful!  Awhhh.  I also feel lucky, so incredibly freakin’ lucky.  Seriously.

When it comes to your kids and your family, make a decision that feels right.  Use that instinct!  Of course many factors always play a role in your decision making process, but you have to feel right.  If you don’t feel right, it will eat you alive.  It did me – and I learned my lesson.

DIY Mantle….or shelf

I love Fall.  I love the colors of the leaves and the cooler weather.  I’m normally a sunshine girl but when the weather turns in November and I feel the wind start to blow, I get excited.  I get to wear my boots and scarves, and sip hot tea on the weekends.  I look forward to family time at Thanksgiving and then of course, Christmas!!  Oh how we all love Christmas!  There’s something about those tiny twinkling lights and snuggling on the couch with a warm blanket watching a cheesy Christmas movie.  Awhhh, I can’t wait.

And then one day you’re walking around the house in your super soft fuzzy socks, you stop to look at your cute little fireplace and you realize you will be hanging your Christmas stockings above that fireplace with red and green thumbtacks.  And depression sets in.

This is not happening, not this year!  I want a mantle.  I want that Santa and Snowman and Reindeer stocking to hang from cute little stocking hooks in front of that fireplace.  So what happens when I want something?  I find a way to get it.

Don’t take that last sentence as me being some spoiled brat.  I’m a bargain shopper and a DIY’er.  I find ways to save a penny because that’s how I was raised.  You work hard for what you want.  Simple as that.  And when you can’t find what you want, you make it.

So anyway, I knew I couldn’t afford an actual mantle.  Did you know you can actually buy those?  Like, actually buy something already made to put around your little fireplace and it looks so grand and awesome.  How cool!  I always thought they were custom built.  But anyway, they’re like hundreds of dollars, so no thanks.  I found that the easiest and cheapest way I could solve my problem was to just make a, well, basically a shelf.  And that’s what I did.  It’s not at all perfect but it does the job and I’m happy.

First, I went to Lowes.  Well, hubby, Andrew and I went to Lowes.  We bought a $17 pine board and had a Lowes employee cut it to size.  I needed it to be 63″ by 9 1/2″.  I already had white spray paint at home from when I repainted all of our bedroom furniture.  I thought I had screws, but it turns out I didn’t, so the hubs had to go back to Lowes the next day for me.  Thanks hunny!  I bought some $16 shelf brackets off of Amazon and I was good to go.

On Saturday I started in.  The wood was already cut for me so all I really had to do was sand it a little, paint it and attach the brackets.  The board took 3 coats of white spray paint and I let it dry overnight.

The brackets were surprisingly hard to attach, mainly because the screws I started out with were too long so I drilled them in at an angle (because I was too impatient to run back to Lowes myself and get the correct screws).  Once Kyle ran out to get me the screws, things went a lot smoother.  Again, thank you!

So that’s really it!  I sanded it, painted it, attached the brackets and Kyle helped me hang it over the fireplace.

Here’s what things looked like before we hung the “mantle”.

Here’s what it looked like after (don’t mind the diaper genie and other goodies- hehe).

And here it is all decorated to my liking and just waiting for those stockings!  I won’t decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, it’s a rule of mine.  All in all, including the $5 box of screws, total cost was $38.  I wrote that down on my budget sheet for the month (yes we are each on a strict budget this month trying to save money).

Yay!  Although it’s just a tad bit crooked, it still looks pretty good.  And Instagram makes everything look better!

Vote for Andrew!!! Gerber Baby photo contest!

Hi there!

I know a lot of you don’t know me personally but this blog is really all about my mommy-hood journey and sharing the love I have for my sweet boy!

I entered my little Andrew into the Gerber Baby photo contest and voting has begun!  Of course I think he’s the sweetest and cutest little guy there is but I need your help in making it official! HEHE!

Steps to voting:

*visit website, https://gerber.promo.eprize.com/photosearch2015/

*click on “Vote Now”,

*enter your email address,

*enter my name as parent’s name (Hailey Hopkins),

*enter state as: CA,

*select Andrew’s picture,

*and VOTE!

You can vote every single day until November 24th.

Go Andrew!  If he wins, the money will go into his college fund, I promise!

Thanks all!

 

Just Breathe

Just when I was about to lose my mind, I changed it.

I stress.  It’s no secret.  I stress and worry wayyyy too much.  What kind of life is that?  Where you stress and worry about literally everything?  That’s no fun!  My husband is always telling me to “let it go” or “stop worrying” or even “do what makes you happy”; you have to be happy in life.

I write this because lately I’ve been going crazy trying to get my son to eat.  I’ve talked about this before – his lack of interest in eating solids.  I stress about him eating healthy foods, too.  I just want him to eat things that are good for him!  Since switching him from formula to whole milk, things have been worse.  He spits things out or simply refuses to eat anything.  He only wants his bottle.  He wakes up hungry and wakes up sooooo freakin’ early!  Before all of this he was sleeping until 5 or 5:30 pretty religiously but this last week it’s been 4 am.  I was just starting to lose it yesterday because I was so tired!  Why won’t he eat?  What do I do?  How do I get him to eat so he will sleep longer?  Will he sleep longer if he eats more?  Is there some secret I don’t know about?

Last night I picked Andrew up from daycare, took him home and immediately started thinking about his eating habits.  I decided to try making a smoothie again, which he has refused many times.  I blended frozen fruit, spinach and Kefir.  This time – he ate some!  A lot actually!  Yay!  Finally some fruits and vegetables!  Halle-freakin’-lujah!  So then dinner rolled around and I made tacos.  While cooking our ground turkey, I was holding Andrew (because he loves to watch me cook) and while I was holding him I kept feeding him little spoonfuls of refried beans.  He ate quite a bit.  We sat down for dinner and I put Andrew in his high chair.  I gave him some ground turkey and he dove right in.  I figured since he was acting hungry I would give him some other food.  I made him a little quesadilla but it wasn’t really a “quesadilla”.  I basically took a tortilla, spread some refried beans and guacamole on it and sprinkled just a little cheese, folded it in half and handed it to him.  Normally I cut things up into bite sized pieces for him but I just gave him this and he started taking bites.  He ate the entire thing!  I was shocked!

My point is this, patience doesn’t get enough credit.  I’m incredibly impatient and because of that I stress, which is horrible for my well being.  I can’t force Andrew to eat and I can’t make him like everything I put in front of him, all I can do is be patient and keep trying.  Motherhood is so hard sometimes and I don’t think I will ever stop worrying, but I can stop stressing.  I can control that and I need to work on it.  Andrew slept until 5:40 this morning and I was so happy!  You see, everything eventually work itself out!

I know I’m not alone on this so for those of you going through the “stress” phase, hang in there!  Breathe!  Try to relax a little!  We’re doing a good job, whether we really believe that or not.

 

 

Skillet Apple Biscuits

OMG, these skillet apple biscuits are soooo heavenly!  Seriously.  I made them for dessert but I’m going to justify eating them for breakfast because they have apples in them…don’t judge.

I was craving something sweet and felt like cooking.  As most of you know, I try, really try, to eat and cook healthy.  However, sometimes you have to indulge, and I’ve told you all this before.  This recipe uses apples okay, so it’s not TOTALLLLLLYYY bad right?  Right!  Let’s go with that.

I’ve never baked anything in a cast iron skillet, so I was excited to try this.  It’s so easy, too.  I used canned biscuits but you can make your own if you’re an overachiever :).  The icing drizzled on top really sets this over the edge, and it’s only heavy cream and powdered sugar!  Mmmmmm!  They’re similar to cinnamon rolls (with apples) but way easier, and just as good!

Skillet Apple Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and large diced
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (plus 1/4 cup for glaze)
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar + 2 Tbsp reserved
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 large buttermilk biscuits (I used canned but buy the non-flaky ones)

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Grease a large cast iron skillet with butter, set aside.
3. Put diced apples into a medium sauce pan and drizzle with lemon juice, stirring to coat. Add in 3 Tbsp butter and 1/4 cup heavy cream. Set aside.
4. In a bowl whisk together flour, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, cinnamon and 1/4 tsp salt. Add this to apples and stir to coat. Heat mixture over medium low heat until apples soften and a thick sauce is created, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. Place biscuits in pan, completely covering bottom and overlapping slightly, if need be (mine didn’t need to overlap, they fit perfectly).
6. Pour apple mixture evenly on top of biscuits and sprinkle with reserved 2 Tbsp pf light brown sugar.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until biscuits are golden brown.

Glaze

1. Mix powdered sugar and 1/4 cup heavy cream in a small bowl until smooth and drizzle on top of biscuits.
2. Serve warm.

 

 

Eat them warm and enjoy!  Dessert or breakfast, your choice!  You’ll go to bed happy or have a happy day, either way means happiness!