Put your kids to bed on time... and before 9.

Sometimes the work life balance is overwhelming, but the other night while Sienna slept (see following my own advice) I wrote this blog for philly.com healthy kids section:

Time for Bed! Do regular bedtimes benefit your child?

A success as a mom and workerbee.

PS Happy happy anniversary, Jamie. I love you!

Leaf Jumping.

My parents have a huge backyard.

Back in the late eighties and early nineties when we were little the fall was primetime.
Primetime for LEAF PILE JUMPING.

My dad would rake and rake and rake and we'd come tearing down the hill in the backyard.
Our black lab usually leading the race to chase her tennis ball.
Diving into the huge pile of leaves.

Today my parents were visiting (a HUGE thank you + reno update soon to come)
My mom told me to get the rake- Sienna needed a leaf pile.

We raked, and Sienna squealed with glee as we showed her how to do the first jump.
After her love at first sight/experience, she didn't want to stop.
We had to tuck in her shirt to stop the leaves from creeping up her tummy.
Her laughter was literally contagious and I found myself back in the leaf pile at Highland Drive.

Thanks, S, for reminding me how much fun it is to be a kid. Check out the last picture.
Even grammy joined in. A perfect crisp leaf jumping day.

Happy Fall, Loves.

I knew I spoke too soon... Also my mom is my hero

Yesterday I posted about how we outgrew the 18 month sleep regression- yay. And how things seemed to start to go back to normal.

I should have never written it down because the internet gods looked down on me and laughed and laughed and then sent me home after work to a projective vomiting almost-103 fevered baby.

Last night I slept on the couch (if you can call waking up every hour with a poor babe who was whining and sweating). I set up the pack in play in the living room so S was never out of arm's reach of me. I prayed the vomiting would stop overnight and it did. I mean, thank God because something needed to give.

I'm pretty sure on top of teething and a fever that S is getting her two year molars. The perfect most horrible storm.  I get so anxious when she's sick- which I am sure is because of our two day admission to the children's hospital last time she had a stomach virus that lasted a raging 13 days. A sick baby is my kryptonite. J always reassures me it will get better. Unfortunately our work schedules this week have been crazy and we don't know who's coming or going and who is sleeping or not sleeping. I know some parents have it way worse, and I'm not saying poor me. But this is reality in my house right now.

I've never (ever ever ever ever) been more thankful than my mom than when she helps me take care of a sick little S. Okay, fine I was alllllmost as thankful after I had S and she did things like made sure my sheets were clean and brought meals and held the baby so I could sneak in naps. But she continues to prove herself as my hero time and time again. I'm not saying I'm not a good mom, but.... I have a long way to go to get to her selfless amazing no complaints just take care of things and be grateful while she's doing it level of awesome.

So here are our lessons:
a) Don't write about how great things are going with your baby because you'll be wrong the next day
b) Hug your mom. It's a damn hard job.
c) Hug my mom if you see her- she's the best there is.

New routines lately.

Sienna is hilarious lately at night. She knows what she wants and when she wants it.

Bath time? No thanks mom, I'd rather run around half naked down the hallway chasing the cat or squealing at daddy as he runs after me.

We have realized that sometimes she needs more wind down time otherwise falling asleep is no easy feat. A few extra books and then some quiet rocking with one of us (not to sleep, just to relax) before crib.


A couple weeks ago I went away for the night with my best friends. We had a ball. If you know my sleep nazi ways, you know that I was mildly concerned about what I would come home to, nap wise and sleep wise. I asked J if she went down okay for him and he replied that of course she did, he just talked to her about their day.

I mean.... how cute? A (mostly) one-sided conversation about what they played that day, what S ate, what they will do tomorrow.

Two nights ago, I happened to put in a load of laundry and the dishes before I went up to say goodnight to my girl, who was happily reading books with daddy. Her lights were already off and I heard the faint sound of their voices.... again talking about their day. This might be my favorite new routine that's going on. She absolutely loves it.

So I did the only spy like mama thing to do, I turned on the monitor and stalked them listened to them talk. I know this sort of looks creepy and alien like, but here's S, lovey in hand, looking up at her daddy as he talks about their day.

 

And then, as if it wasn't already melt my heart cuteness night... Our little one now sleeps with her arm firmly around her lamby friend.  She always looks so comfy cuddled up to him. A girl after my own heart on the cuddling for sure.

PS I think we have finally emerged from the weird 18 month sleep regression that sort of started around this crazy time. {Now that I typed that we know that this will probably backfire. Such is life.}

The Blog Overhaul: New Template, New {DIY!} Header, Signature, and some other fun....

{Preface: All of these update & semi tutorials are for Windows, not mac computers}

A little while back, I decided my blog needed a makeover. It was sort of too much someone else's, not enough mine, and I needed a reason to start writing about life again. An aesthetic overhaul was the way to go. So what did I do?

 

Well first of all, my old background had to go.

 

Enter Star Sunflower Studio. I totally found this site via googling; I wanted something simple but also me. I really loved some of their backgrounds. So I bit the bullet- for the first time I decided to pay for a good background. I knew I could figure out the rest on my own, but this was easy peasy for a starting ground. Oh and also, amazing customer service. They sent me links and directions for installing my twitter and pinterest

 

They are also on etsy! You can search for them (sunstarlowerstudio) and see what they have for you, too.

 

Okay so I had my background. And I knew I wanted to create my own header with photos, so I decided that I would google and figure it out on my own. I knew that Picasa was the way to go but really had no clue how to start. I searched many blogs and found Blissfully Domestic to be the most helpful. So a big thanks to her! I literally just followed her steps. Except, I went a few steps further. First of all, you can get digital scrapbook paper. Who knew? I decided that the third block of my header would be a digital scrapbook jpeg. I just found one I liked, and saved it. Then added it right into my picasa collage.

You just save your picasa collage as a jpeg. When you go into blogger, you go to layout, Header, and then just add your image.

Easy as that. Okay fine, it took me forever to really line up the photos. And if you want a full tutorial, for sure head on over to Blissfully Domestic as linked above. That was my saving grace.

A few other things: I am obsessed with fonts. I hate normal fonts for fun things like a blog header, or if I am printing invitations, or writing letters. So I religiously use DaFont to find new fun looks for my words. For the header, I wanted to have something different. I downloaded a few  new fonts and mixed and matched with old fonts. You can add this right in when making your collage. Once you choose a font, just download it and save it wherever you want.

 

 I usually save to my desktop just because it's easy to get to. Once it shows up on your desktop, right click and hit "extract files". Double click on the new (same named) folder and then double click on the font listed inside. You will see this:

Okay sort of you will see this. Your screen may not have an excel sheet about your friend's baby shower on the bottom. But you get the point. Hit install, give it a minute, and VOILA! It will land in your fonts for you to use from here on out. Easy right? It's one of my fave things to do in terms of spicing things up.

I used my new fonts for my signature too. I just wrote my name, then found some hearts in a font I loved, and there we have it. I saved it as a jpeg via word. Then I uploaded it to picasa. Then simply steal the code they used to create your image (it's not stealing like illegal stealing).

Go to settings on blogger, then Posts and Comments, and then find the box that says post template.  It will look like this:

Copy and paste your link in the Post Template area. Hit save and it should show up on all of your posts to come. I don't know how to go back and make other posts have your signature, but this part is easy and even I could do it during naps/after baby bed time.

My friend Kelly suggested that I post this to help other non-full time bloggers who are just figuring this out day to day, so here it is. Are there other random blog things you want to know? Things that I didn't make clear that I can help with?

Happy blog re-designing!

 

mount washington adventures

We went up to New Hampshire last week for five days. The long trip is inevitably structured around our annual hike up Mt. Washington.  The last two years I haven't hiked (pregnant + small infants do not make for good years for mama to hike). This year, I was determined to get back at it. J has been joining us on this hike for years now. I think the first time I dragged him along was when I was in graduate school and he keeps coming back, so I guess it can't be that bad.

 

Mt. Washington is such an interesting hike because it's a mix between a moderately paced walk in the woods at the very start and a heart pounding sweating work out at the end climbing over huge boulders. Each time I hike I forget how hard it is- and how pretty it is. Each time we hike I am so excited to reach the summit and feel the sense of accomplishment. Each time we hike, I forget how badly my quads and ankles will hurt the next day because there is just.no.other. work out like heading straight down rocks for hours on end. And each time we hike (by three days later) I'm looking forward to the next time. I'm always grateful when my dad starts the emails or texts rolling asking us for good dates for "the hike" every fall.

 

There's nothing quite like Washington to me- it's a family tradition. It's a powerful natural beast of crazy weather. It's sun shining through freezing cold biting air at times. It's snow in August. It's heat in October. It's sitting on the top of the headwall of Tuckerman's ravine, admiring the amazingly gorgeous scenery, and eating lunch before finishing the last part of the hike. It's my dad eating chili at the top (hello, my stomach + chili would be a disaster, I stick to a chocolate chip cookie). It's my uncle Kurt taking the best photos even if it does mean making me extremely nervous hanging off cliffs and edges. It's my brother switching gears from joking with me to asking if I'm okay as we approach the summit... and the end of the hike on the way down. It's having my husband be a part of something that is so inherently a part of the Tuohy clan. It's a clear view from the summit on crystal clear blue days. It's spending eight to nine seriously quality hours with my family without any interruptions. It's like home.

 

Pinkham Notch pre hike circa 7 am.



Gorgeous view (I think that's Mt. Madison in the background)

 

 

 

Until next year, Mt. Washington....

 

 

On Being Kind....

I was walking into work a few days ago (you know, at a pediatrician's office) when I saw an older grandmother in front of me juggling three kids trying to scoot them into the building: a baby in a stroller, a straggling toddler, and a school aged kid who was moving as slow as molasses. She dropped something on the ground so I shuffled a little faster through my morning fog, picked it up, ran to open the door for them and handed the toy back to her. She sighed a deep breath- I thought it was frustration- but then she looked at me and said "thank you baby for being so kind, I have my hands full".

Her words  warmed my heart more than my hot tea on a cold fall morning. I had a little pep as I walked back to my office. It was so simple. Being kind is easy. I started to think about simple kindness. I'm not talking flying to Africa to help orphans or donating millions. Just everyday, simple things that make a difference for someone else.

A few months ago, I was in the mall. I saw a dad with a little girl dressed in a princess dress, crown, wand. Do you know what he did when he heard another little girl whining and begging her mom for one? He bent down, held his daughter's hand, whispered something quietly... and then I saw the little girl hand her wand over. The other child was now a princess too. See that? He not only acted kindly, but taught his daughter kindness.

A few years ago, before my mom retired, she taught kids who had a lot less than we did growing up. She knew they should bring in their own snacks but often parents forgot or couldn't afford it or kids skipped breakfast. Like clockwork, just when she was about to run out of her classroom stash of snacks, my dad bought a huge plastic containers of pretzels and stocked them in her car. She carried them into her classroom and without ever mentioning it or acting like it was a kind deed at all, she fed any of her students who needed something.  She and my dad define kind.

My brother has always been a good guy. He stands up for what's right. Questions people when they don't- as if being kind is indeed the only choice. Last week he was visiting my parents. He has a new employee who lives nearby and doesn't know many people. He invited him over to dinner with my entire family because he didn't want him to feel lost in his new environment. An open door, an open invitation.

Here's the thing- if there's anything my parents have instilled in us, it's this: be kind to others. Just that. No "because they may need it" or "because if you're not they won't be nice to you". Just be kind. Smile at people. A hand on the shoulder or a hug goes a long way. Hold the door. Pick up something if someone drops it. Look for the best in people. I guess, I owe them a big thank you.

As a parent, I so greatly hope I teach Sienna this well- that I give her a standing example to emulate. I hope that I encourage her to understand that the only difference between big sweeping gestures and small good kind deeds is the attention you get but that both can be incredibly important.

Don't underestimate the importance of the little things. They sure go a long way.

Happy Friday, friends.

Where we are lately...

I played powerball last night. Despite best efforts and wishes to the lottery gods, I didn't win.

I have to say when I used to dream about winning the lottery I'd dream about a sprawling beach house and a walk in closet full of designer clothes. My dreams lately have turned to paying off grad school loans, buying a reasonably sized but perhaps newly built house in a dreamy town like Swarthmore, and well yes... that beach house in Rehoboth still enters the picture at times.

But, I think what I'm trying to say is lately I've made the shift from thinking of us as a newlywed couple with a newborn to a family of three-- possibly more one day-- figuring out our place in this world. I'm starting to think about things I never really considered five years ago: Where will Sienna grow up? What school will she go to? Where can we give her the perfect place to run around the neighborhood with her friends? I think this stage may be real adulthood. Real parenthood.

There's that whole saving enough money for a down payment in these sweet little towns we are thinking about. And then there's figure out how to live somewhere perfect for our family and commutable to our jobs that we really enjoy. Being a grown up is hard sometimes. I continue to struggle with the working mom balance daily and as I look to our future, I really do want my daughter to see that her mom has a lot of worth- both in the home and out. At the end of the day though, I'll never be the mom to go on weeklong business trips if I can avoid it. I'll always rush home to make sure dinner and bath are shared times. But still a balance is necessary to make the right decisions for what comes next for our family.

As I... no we... make this transition from newlyweds to new parents, to a family who is focused on what's best for the three of us, I feel like this is a time of change. Good change, but as always some anxious energy thinking about the future, too.  That's where I am lately- day dreaming about our future, living in our present.

And sometimes, taking photos like this when my girl randomly says "Cheese mommy!"

TRI | AC

Last weekend we loaded tons of athletic gear and baby gear into the car. We left during nap time, handed Sienna some milk and had a quiet drive down to Atlantic City for J's Tri!

Jamie signed up for his first Olympic length triathlon months ago and has been training: biking, swimming, running as often as he could. I admire J for many, many things.  His athletic abilty- natural don't need to train as much as everyone else ability- is a top contender. He is a no complaining, no excuses type of person and athlete.

We arrived Saturday afternoon and took in all that was going on:
A crazy crowded AC from the triathlon, Miss America, and AC Seafood festival.
Hundreds of bikes already racked in the transition area.
A ridiculously gorgeous sunny cool fall day.
A hotel that provided us a crib for S (thank goodness!)

We checked in. We checked J into his race. S modeled the Tri AC shirt. We listened to the rules. We struggled through the crowds of Miss America parade to find some spaghetti and chicken tenders for S. We went to bed early.

4:00 am on race day and J was up and going. By 5:15 he was out the door to check in at his race.
Our sweet girl thankfully slept right on through him getting ready to go.
I, on the other hand, did that whole toss and turn half awake thing until 6am.
Start time: delayed from 7:15 until 7:45. That was a logistical race issue- they need to figure out timing better for next year so these guys don't stand around for 2+ hours.

S and I arrived to the field at 7:45 and the guys started right around 8am.
It was in the 50s out: chilly and our sweatshirts were necessary.
The plan was: 1 mile swim, 20 mile bike, 6.2 mile run.
We got to see J get out of the water and he was the first of his group (as usual, his swimming skills are superior from all those lifeguarding days).
Sienna liked yelling "GO DADDY! DADA GO GO GO!" which was maybe the most adorable thing that was taking place at the race. Or I'm biased. But I think it was.

Jamie told me that his buddies trained way more and to expect them to pass him in the bike.
I watched J and his friends push their physical limits.
His friend Dan did indeed pass him on the bike.
J and Jeff were close by the run and came in just seconds away from each other.
Their race results were great- they all came in significantly under the time they were hoping for.

I'm a proud wife- proud that J sticks by his goals and pushes his limits.
Proud that he sticks by his friends when he makes a commitment.
Proud that the first thing he did when he finished was put Sienna on his shoulders, despite the physical pain he probably was going through.

Life's not perfect and family things take a turn for the "oh my goodness we are so busy" once you have kids. But...there are these moments in life that make you get those "I'm so  lucky to be his girlfriend wife" feelings that make everything feel right. This was one of them. Another thing checked off the bucket list. Another goal achieved. I'll always be right beside you cheering you on, J, no matter what you tackle next.

Diary of a Working Mom.

Today was just one of those days.

 

First, we slept past regular time (we don't even set an alarm, we have a Sienna. Almost every day we hear her by 6 am)

6:42: Sienna is singing in her room. Then crying. Then saying "mommy! mommy!" repeat x30

6:43: J and I exchange looks- who will get her?

6:50: Sienna is in our bed with her milk watching Curious George. Both of us too tired to move.

7:00: Should you shower? Should I shower? Someone has to shower.

7:05: Jamie showers, I play with Sienna who is now beeping the cat's nose.

7:15: Sienna took off her pajama shirt, I'm trying to get it back on.

7:20: Sienna opens bathroom door, wants to hold everything Jamie has.

7:25: J goes to get dressed. I turn to use the bathroom with Sienna still in there.

7:26: I look up and realize Sienna stuck her finger in the pomade for J's hair. It's all over.

7:27: Scrub toddler's hands. Scrub toddler's chest (what?!). Comb hair into GREASY ponytail

7:35: J takes Sienna downstairs (with a new shirt) for cereal and play time.

7:37-7:55: Shower, brush teeth, half dry hair

7:56: Sienna opens bathroom door, wants to play with me.

7:57: Dry hair with Sienna in the same room. Let her play with whatever she wants.

8:00: J is out the door- oops we forgot it's trash day.

8:05: Get dressed, get S downstairs.  Play while trying to get coffee, lunch together, and breakfast.

8:15: Nanny arrives

8:17: I run out the door. I forget my ID

8:18: Run out the door again. Call mom on my way to work to discuss unrelated travel plans.

8: something? Who even knows. Coffee in hand, RUN into work because I'm running late.

9:00: First patient. Work all day.

4:30: Drive to tutoring.

4:45-6:15: Tutor

6:20: Start drive home. Call Jamie. They are outside on a walk and S has not eaten dinner.

6:33: Call Kelly. Vent about my day. Feel lucky to have a good friend.

6:50: Arrive home.  S is still outside with J on a walk.

6:53: Run inside, get dinner together for Sienna (this is SO late. She eats at 5:45)

6:55: Sienna eating, after half a bowl of spaghetti she's finished. And thirsty.

         Water, then a mini ice cream cone.

7:05: J leaves to do a few things outside the house.

7:06: Pour milk, grab lovies, take S upstairs.

{Note Sienna usually already in bed at this point}

7:08: Bath time

7:17: Wrestle slippery toddler out of tub and tell her it's time for books.

7:18: Toddler wriggles out of way x3 to avoid a diaper

7:22: Dressed & diapered toddler reading books

7:35: STILL READING BOOKS

7:42: Whining that "no no bed. Pease (please) no bed mama" as I put her in bed.

7:44: After 2 verses of twinkle twinkle and eight kisses, close her door.

7:50: She's doing anything but sleeping, I am watching her monitor

7:53: I should eat something. I drop a glass on the floor, almost break it. Give up.

7:54: Revert to cheddar cheese puffs and half of a muffin with orange juice for dinner.

7:57: Phone call from Sarah. Explain the day's mess and chat while she walks home.

8:11: Finally a sleeping toddler.

8:12: Let out a sigh. Clean up. Put things away.  Feed the cat. Crash on my bed.

... somehow it's 10pm. I'm not asleep. I wish I was.

 

On the bright side, look how aggressively she's going after that ice cream cone- girl after my own heart.

 

 

Time to turn in so we can do it all over again tomorrow. Busy days over here.