Baby Marin: Week Twenty Three

This week has presented many ups and downs. We go from having wonderful afternoons to nights where we can seem to get Marin to calm down to sleep. Sunday night was one of those nights. The day was perfect. Marin was a little angel and even napped long enough for me to make some good headway on a wedding I'm currently editing. As we were going through our normal bedtime routine she just decided that the routine wasn't what she needed that evening and the tears flowed. The only thing that finally got her to sleep, aside from probably pure exhaustion, was pacing the room in dad's arms. I think it's the beard. It calms all things.

Still no little teeth yet but I know we are in the midst of breaking through tiny gums. We tried some banana the other day and she wasn't too thrilled with that quite yet. It's all so new and unknown, for both her and us.

I pray for many good naps today and the next. She is growing faster than I think even she can keep up with.

Week Twenty Three.

(PS. Nobody freak out. Dad was holding her and keeping her safe while she was getting her picture taken by the mirror before and after bath time.)

Currently Clicking #19

Each and every week, I gather links of all of the places I have been perusing in the great, grand internet. There are plenty of people out there doing big things and small things. Some of these are practical, some are inspiring. This week I realize that I always need to eat more salads and figure out how to eat healthy on a budget. I am also drooling over a house tour, wondering how you know a trend is truly over, dreaming of a peach dish to make, thinking about what it means to separate work from motherhood and whether or not is possible, and reminding myself about the reasons we all have to let go of our past. 

1.  I always need to eat more salad. Here are 5 Tips for Making a Week's Worth of Salads on a Sunday. 
2. Trends come and go. My ever changing hair over the years should probably be a sign of that. How do you know if a trend is done and over with? How do you know if a trend is officially over? 
3. I am completely in love with this house tour. They make living with two children in a 1100 square foot house actually seem doable. I love the back yard space and the flooring throughout the house. I am becoming more and more ready to get our house on the market and find a new place to call home. 
4. We always need tips on healthy eating on a budget. This post has some great tips to keep in mind, especially when aiming for a whole food, plant based diet. Also, might I add her grilled peaches and sweet cream with crunchy bits looks so darn delicious. 
5. Now that I am a mother, even more of this post rings true: 10 Things Women Like To Do Alone. 
6. One of my goals someday, hopefully, is to have the ability to work from home or something that looks somewhat like that, in a job that is creative and challenging. Here is a great post about working from home for entrepreneurs.  But on the flip side, here is another point of view of being a work at home mom. Both of these links were seen at Shutterbean and I love her list posts so very much. As a mom and a person in the work world, can we every truly find balance between the two? Are we meant to? 
7. And lastly, a good reminder: 10 Reasons to Let Go of Your Past. 

An Update: No Spend July

This lovely little exercise of not spending any money, aside from necessities, has been eye opening for me. Probably the thing that has surprised me the most in all of this process is that I feel like we are poorer than ever. No money. Our bank account is constantly making me nervous and I am always waiting for payday.

How did that happen? I mean, what the heck? I haven't spent any money!

Granted, I haven't spent any money on credit cards either this month. That is where the real, true, heartbreaking realization lives: we tend to use our credit cards too often, too much, and for stuff we don't really need. Don't get me wrong, we manage our finances decently well. I was brought up that way. We even have paid off a TON of stuff this year which is super nice. We pay our bills on time. We pay more than the minimum amount due.

But, life happens. Amazon happens, which I know is not a legitimate excuse at all. I know. I know. I know!

In the past few months we have also added on some other expenses even though we have paid off some others. For example, I am going to be paying the hospital for the birth of my child for a while. It would have been nice to not be making the amount of money that we do and qualify for some aid in that area. That is a rant for a whole other day. I do believe the middle class though gets the short end of that stick. It's super unfair. We work hard, pay our bills, and want to have a family. Simple as that. End rant. For now.

We also have had someone come and clean our home and mow our lawn in the last two months or so. It was kind of an experiment for both of us because having a baby changes every single thing and since we both work and I have a billion side businesses going on, it was hard to keep up with stuff. I like cleaning my house. I still think I do it better than the people we have come clean. But, on a weekend, the last thing I am able to do with a crying baby in tow is scrub the crap out of the grout in my bathroom. It's a constant struggle. I don't know why I am trying to justify this but I feel like I need to. I am thinking of going to a once a month cleaning instead of bi-weekly and mowing will cease once we hit the fall. I am constantly hit by the fact that I want to spend time with my kid and not be remembered as the mom with the clean kitchen and the neglected child. No way.

I've managed to not go to Starbucks since June 10th. I am usually a regular at a few coffee houses and the baristas are all probably wondering if I'm dead or moved. The only few times I've had coffee is for work meetings and I don't have to pay for it. I don't think I've ever looked so forward to work meetings in my life. An iced caramel macchiato helps any crappy day get at least a little better. We had quite a few crappy work days lately too. I'll take what I can get.

 

I have received things from Amazon but they were diapers, wipes, diaper pail bags, and some keurig cups. We have those shipped to us monthly and I see those as necessities.

This has been a good experiment and I only have 6 more days to go. I need to get my eyebrows waxed. I would love a pedicure. I need a hair cut. Maybe I don't need any of these things, but I sure do want them. They help me feel human again.

I feel the need to still overhaul our budget and really hunker down for the next few months. I also feel the need to go through everything we own and just get rid of half of it. Too much stuff.

6 more days.

Baby Marin: Week Twenty Two

This week brought about a very messy milestone. We used our awesome IKEA highchair for the first time. Marin ate with a spoon. She tried some rice cereal which I believe ended up just about every where other than her mouth. I did further research and decided that we won't be heading down the road of rice cereal any further due to the lack of nutritional benefits. I am currently researching baby led weaning like a crazy person. Next week I'm thinking of bringing in bananas or avocado. I think the best thing right now is to just remember that up until she is one year old, solid foods are meant to be fun and experimental. Her nutrients will still come from breast milk. It was quite a fun adventure and I'll hopefully post a little video soon.

Baby Marin: Week Twenty Two.