It’s finally happened, my little Prince is officially really sick. No sniffles and germy fingers – he is full out sick! Hardcore cough that keeps him up at night, after a visit with the doctor he’s also been prescribed an inhaler to open up his airways because he’s having difficulty breathing with all the mucus inside. All day he’s pretty much the same happy little guy he always is, but when he starts to get tired he gets a little crankier than usual. And his sleep? Gone. Finito.
He wakes himself up with a cough every twenty minutes or so. I’ve let him sleep in my bed most of the night, but at times he awakes crying, wanting his own crib (for maybe an hour, then it’s back to mama!). So from the sounds of it at my house, you could probably tell that I’ve given up on my appearance.
I haven’t worn makeup in days. My hair is a disheveled mess – it alternates between a braid at night to a ponytail during the day. It’s clean, because I forced myself to take a shower during the spare 20 minutes I have while I pray that our baby stays sleeping. But it’s a mess. And as soon as I drop off Princess (who is recovering from her cough and flu!) at school, I change into a tank top and a lightweight robe. The yoga pants are uniform now.
I’m trying to incorporate more activity into my day, even thirty minute walks would help, but I honestly, really don’t feel like it.
You know what I really want?
Is a pedicure. A massage. A whole spa day – no sick kids, no food to cook, no house to clean – a whole spa day WITH my own TV set to all the shows I DVR but haven’t caught up on yet (Hello, Downton Abbey, I haven’t yet watched a single episode, but I will, one day!). Is that too much to ask for?
For now, I’ll be dreaming of a day just for me, but I’ll really be doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, and cuddling my two sick kids.
xo
Fab Brunette
My life has become so extremely busy these past few months – and in finding more time to devote to family, our home, and myself, I usually wind up not finding much time to blog. That isn’t to say that I don’t want to blog – I am constantly creating blog posts in my mind! I will think of paragraphs and phrases for posts, I sometimes write them down, but usually those ideas are pushed to the back of my mind until they resurface at another time when blogging is near impossible!
Recently I’ve been trying to reorganize many parts of our family life – from planning out our dinners for the month (more on this later!) to sporadic spring cleaning to scheduling our time better – I’ve realised I should also make time for me. And what am I without writing? Writing is a large part of my thought process, it’s how I figure things out, create new ideas, fix problems and feel better about life!
Today marks the first day of April (how have 3 months of the year already gone by??), and we have been having incredibly beautiful weather! And when you live in BC or anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, you know sunshine is hard to come by, so when it’s here – you take full advantage of it! We are getting spoiled with sunny days and warm weather, and this means that many trips to the park, afternoon walks, bike rides, and hiking is happening! It means there’s been t-shirts and sandals and less layers and more outdoor fun happening!
This month I’ll be continuing on trying to find balance in a healthy lifestyle, eating right, exercising, having fun (which includes blogging!) and giving thanks for all the wonderful things in my life!
What are you looking forward to in April?
What are you thankful for right now?
xo
Fab Brunette
I have seen people all around me reaching for their dreams, some are constantly in motion towards them, others have achieved and are living their dreams. I have always been a dreamer, but have rarely put in the time and effort required to reach them. Can you relate? Or are you one of those people who are constantly re-evaluating your goals, figuring out ways to reach them and checking them off your list?
I remember a while back I bumped into this post about quitting drinking from a well-known blogger, and it made me roll my eyes. A life without alcohol didn’t seem like a pleasant life to me - why not enjoy a glass of wine with a meal, or drink a few beers while watching a game? Isn’t that what Sunday afternoons (and Saturday & Friday nights, & Thursdays, &…) are made for? But Nicole’s post stuck with me, because although I had never been her #1 fan, I had followed her blog for some time, and it went from rants about tequila and vaginas and boys into taking care of yourself, losing weight for your health, and finding happiness through it all. And that is something I can relate to.
My main goal throughout most of my life is trying to find balance in happiness, and happiness in balance. I’m always trying to attain some kind of perfection in my mind that would make everything wonderful and make me happy. But I never honestly tried to do it. I never put in the effort. Even when I had a personal trainer a few years back, I worked out at a gym and ate diet foods and lost weight – I hated every minute of it. It was a necessary evil to look good on vacation and drop the extra baby weight, but I never embraced it.
Embracing a lifestyle change means recognizing that what you have been doing is not working. It doesn’t mean you’re failing at life, it doesn’t mean that everything you’ve done up ’til now sucked, it just means that at this point in your life whatever you’re doing is not working for you anymore. It may not have worked for a long time, but it really takes an honest and scary look at yourself to see this.
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I’ve been taking a lot of design notes lately for the new house – ideas for the kids rooms, the master bedroom, furniture placement, kitchen design, light fixtures, and on and on… Needless to say I’ve been flipping through a lot of magazines and logging too many hours on my Houzz app. When taking a look at my favourite pictures, I’ve noticed there’s a LOT of white. (images sourced from Emma’s design blog)
All white interiors can take my breath away. I immediately grab my husband and throw the magazine at him, or text him the pic if he’s not home. He usually shakes his head or doesn’t respond. Men. And it’s not because he’s not into design, I think he’s better at it than I am, but he doesn’t think we could handle an all-white room.
Will it stay clean? Will it feel cold and lifeless? Will I be bored in it? Will I freak out everytime some child’s grubby little hands touch my white sofa? Will I hide all the markers and crayons? *le sigh* I suppose it’s not the most practical choice for a family with kids. But it looks lovely, doesn’t it?
xo
Fab Brunette
These cookies are on constant rotation in my household – they are so popular I sometimes have to bake them three times a week! These cookies satisfy any chocolate, crunchy and chewy craving you might possibly have. Almost like a regular chocolate chip cookie, but made special with the addition of Nutella, which is a pantry staple in our home.
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There is a bank teller at my local bank, a pretty girl who is in a committed relationship and is somewhere in the vicinity of approaching thirty years of age. She bought a house a year or two ago with her significant other, and she has confided, well, told everyone who goes into the bank, that she & her significant other are considering having a baby. But she hesitates entering the “baby stage” of life. And with good reason. She has seen with her own two eyes the demise of many a woman who walks into her bank, myself especially. She has seen me go from hot, young thing, to avpretty preggo, to a no makeup, messy0-haired, holding-a-baby-with-spit-up-on-clothes lady.
Whenever I go into the bank, I usually either get her as a bank teller, or she walks over to whomever I am with (small town, small bank, small line-ups!), and it’s usually to see the baby. Oh my goodness, the baby! He’s so cute! How old is he now? Those eyes! That smile! He’s going to be a heart breaker! And then after all the hubub about the baby, everyone always turns to the mom (that’s me!) and asks, “And how have you been doing? Are you sleeping yet?”
The answer, which most moms with babies give, is one of the following: “I’m managing.” (which is always true) “Barely sleeping.” (sometimes true) “Living off coffee.” (Okay, this is my reality, so it is all about me and my answers here!)
With each statement the pretty bank teller’s eyes grow bigger and bigger, her head keeps nodding, and she has this look of fear and puzzlement, whereas anyone else in the area who is already a mom knows all this and agrees, c’est la vie! Such is life! I mean, babies are cute and all – they’re babies! They’re adorable. Their soft skin, and baby butts, and cute little feet! The fine hair, the big eyes, the puffy cheeks!
But as parents, we have to endure not only the cute and adorable side of babyhood, but also the gross part of babies. We hold these testaments as our badges of honor, we have suffered and triumphed through many a disgusting, bothersome and annoying part of having a baby. And it is OUR RIGHT as parents to STRIKE FEAR INTO THE HEARTS of these CHILD-LESS FOLK.
Oh yes.
I love to regale this bank teller with my current baby horror story – the diaper blow-out in the line-up at Starbucks (and I still waited in that line and allowed the smell to envelope the crowd. mama needed her coffee, tough balls.), the baby vomit in my hands while at brunch, baby poop in the bathtub, the leaky diapers, the NO SLEEP ALLOWED rules (waking up every two, three hours), the baby WON’T take a bottle, and the absolute worst tale I’ve ever told her: that I don’t have time in the morning to do my hair. I think that one made the eyes in her head pop out.
She tells me she’s “very type-A personality, very organized, very scheduled” and even though she knows she wants a baby, she’s just not sure when or how a baby would fit in their/her life, she flips her curly hair over her shoulder. I nod. I was just like you, I tell her, as I walk away in my uniform of black loose t-shirt on top of black lulu leggings, letting the look of horror take over her face while I carry my adorable little baby boy home.
