5 Ways to Spend 20 "Mommy Minutes"

It's no joke that when you're a mommy you have very little time to spend on yourself.

Things you always did before baby, don't always happen after baby.  At least not those first few days or weeks.  It can become a bit depressing to be honest.

20 minutes before baby might be wasted debating whether or not you should go work out, staring off into space, or sifting through Facebook or Twitter.  20 minutes of mommy time is actually pretty significant.  It may not seem like long, but it can be a matter of sanity in the day of a mommy.

Mommy's deserve a little pampering; time to cater to their needs and forget about dirty diapers, never ending laundry, overflowing dishes, bottles that need sterilizing, and floors that need mopping.

Here are 5 ways you can spend 20 guilt-free "mommy minutes:"

1. Lay down.  On top of the covers, under the covers, on the couch, in the recliner...just put your feet up and get comfortable.  Rest your eyes, take a cat nap, or just lay.  Embrace rest.  

2.  Moisturize.  Get your favorite body cream (I would suggest purchasing a more glamorous version of your favorite before baby) and strip down to your skivvies and spend those 20 minutes moisturizing your body.  It's amazing how dehydrating lack of sleep and breast feeding can be.  Don't forget about your feet, elbows, and spend a few extra minutes massaging into the back of your neck.  You don't realize how much strain is on it carrying a baby around all day.

3.  Give yourself a mini-manicure.  Moisturize.  Push back the cuticles, file your nails, and put a coat of your favorite polish on top.  It may not seem like much, but a coat of nail polish can really make a woman feel beautiful.

4.  Put your feet up and read.  Don't read all those books out there about how to be a great mommy, raise the perfect child, or establish a routine by week 2 of infancy.  Read for pleasure.  Better yet, read for guilty pleasure.  Pick up your favorite magazine or read through your blog reel.  Take a 20 minute mental break from being a mom.

5.  Shop your closet.  Body after baby is different.  Not necessarily bad, but definitely different.  Take some time to put together a few outfit options that make you feel confident, beautiful, and comfortable.  Having options might motivate you to get out of the house later that day or week which (trust me) will make you feel more human and better your day.  Don't be afraid to start a bag of clothes that no longer fit or aren't mommy friendly to take to Plato's Closet one day.  Day dream about what you want to buy your new body with the money you make by doing so.

It's so important to take that time for yourself, as a mom.  While baby is napping, spend 20 minutes on you before folding, cleaning, organizing, putting away, what have you...

You will feel more human and you will feel more you.  Making being a mom a little easier and more enjoyable on those days when a 20 minute break is all you get.

P.S. Can we all agree that Vanessa of With Great Heart Design did a fabulous job on my new blog design!?  Stick around, we have a giveaway coming up in the near future.

1 Month Musts for Mom and Baby

Go sign up to win a $30 shop credit to EDMobiles; just one more must-have for baby.

I thought I would share the things that I've found to be most beneficial for me and baby the first month he's been home with us.  I've seen these lists before, but I wanted to add must-haves for mommy as well.  After all, we need to take care of ourselves, too!

1 month mommy by coachgaines featuring Old Navy

1.  iPhone: I use the app, BabyCare, to document everything CT does throughout the day from dirty and wet diapers to his nursing and sleep schedule.  It is so nice to be able to look back at what he has done throughout the day especially when the pediatrician asks.

2.  Anti-bacterial Hand Lotion and Lip Butter: Breast feeding is dehydrating - must stay moisturized.

3.  Sweats: I'm living in yoga pants and soft hoodies.  I love these from Old Navy because they are soft and easy to maneuver for quick access for CT.

4.  Tervis Tumbler: It is essential to keep hydrated!

5.  Mother's Milk Tea: There are so many benefits to drinking this tea for breast feeding mothers.  It helps milk come in and maintains a healthy supply.  It's also nice to have tea to drink while breastfeeding - I find it relaxing.

baby 1 month by coachgaines featuring Boppy

1.  Boppy: CT only weighed 5 pounds when we brought him home, but holding 5 pounds while nursing for extended periods of time starts to wear on you.  This makes it comfortable to nurse, hold him, and lay him in our laps.

2.  Gripe Water: This is an all natural way to tackle gassiness.  It is safe for newborns.  I just put a little on his paci and let him suck it off when necessary.

3.  Flannel Blankets: I ended up going out and buying more of these.  They get peed and spit up on all the time.  I use them to swaddle, cover him up while changing him, wipe his mouth, and as an impromptu changing pad.  They are so versatile - you can't have enough.

4.  Swaddler: CT loves to be swaddled.  These are a lot easier and hold up better throughout the night than a blanket.

5.  Nighttime lotion: Baby skin gets so dry and starts to shed the first few weeks.  I use this on him after baths and before bedtime.  I put extra on his feet and then keep socks on him.

6.  Chicco Pack-n-Play: This has been a Godsend!  Thankfully we got this the week before CT surprised us.  It has a mobile attachment as well as a changing table attachment.  It is the only changing table we have at the moment (and the only one we need) and CT is currently sleeping in this at the end of our bed.  So thankful we had this before he came.

What are your 1 month must-haves?

Moments in the week of a Mom | 1

I realized last week that the majority of my weekly highlights involve mommy moments so I figured I would embrace it and start a Friday series specifically for them.

By the way, if you're a mom, want to be a mom, or know a mom, check out my giveaway.

1.

It was warm enough to bundle CT up on Monday and take him for a walk.  Now I just need to send a petition around my town to get the sidewalks fixed!!

2.

Poor picture quality, but Tuesday night marked CT's first snowfall!!  Obviously we couldn't go out and play in it, but we did watch the dogs.  

3. 

I haven't been able to wear my wedding rings since roughly 25 weeks pregnant due to swelling.  I have tried them on every single day since CT was born and they finally fit yesterday!!  I missed them.

4. 

I was struggling with feeling so disconnected each time I closed the nursery door to nurse or pump, but we are trying to keep the dogs out of the nursery (mainly because of cleanliness - they love the baby).  So, I purchased a self-closing baby gate and installed it myself!  It keeps the pups out much to Football's dismay and we can still close the door when we have company.  This makes me feel better about transitioning CT to his crib soon, too.

5. 

I saw this floating around Facebook and thought it was perfect.  

Hope your week was as good as mine!  Linking up for H54F

1 Month

Dearest Carson,

I love you.  If there is anything I can promise you it is that you will never have a shortage of love and you will get sick of hearing me tell you how much I love you all the time.  My heart overflows for you.

This past month has flown by; you are growing and changing each and every day.  I've been praying so hard for you to gain weight and now I'm ready for time to slow down.  You are such a sweet little boy and I just want to hold you and rock you and love on you all the time.

You've amazed us this past month; changing our lives for the better in so many ways.  At three weeks, you rolled over from your tummy to your back and it just blew us away.  I think you're going to be an athlete like mommy and daddy.  We love watching you lift your head and look around at your new environment.  You especially loved looking at the Christmas tree when it was lit up.

Most nights you sleep for 3-4 hours waking up when you are hungry or wet.  I love those nights.  I love when I wake up to your little noises and get to spend a quiet hour with you before you drift back off to sleep.  I look at you and see so much of your daddy and so much of me.

We have so loved this first month with you.  It's hard to remember what life was like before you were home with us.  Your smile, snuggles, and snorts make our world go round.

I love you, baby boy.  More than you will ever know.

Love,
Mommy

1 Month Update

Weight: We find out Tuesday so I will update!
Length: Update on Tuesday
Nicknames: The Milkman, Stink, Baby Boy, Snuggle Bug
Sleep: Consistently for 3-4 hour increments minus a few rough nights (not enough to complain)
Eating: Every 2-3 hours (hence the nickname, Milkman)
Clothing: No longer fits in Preemie, starting to fill out newborn in certain brands
Loves:

• Snuggling with momma in the morning
• Swaddling
• Being warm
• Spitting milk all over momma
• Momma's milk 

Dislikes:

• Bath time
• Being naked
• Being cold

Exciting Moments:
At 3 weeks, Carson rolled from tummy to back during tummy time!  It blew me away and I sort of thought his big head might have just made him do it so I made him do it 3 times before I told anyone.  Then I recorded it because I was certain no one would believe me.
Momma's Milestones:
I've been able to go out for a few hours at a time and run errands or have a mini-date with Justin.  The first time I called home crying and I've progressively gotten better from there.
Yesterday I walked the dogs a mile and it was much better than I even anticipated.  I'm so grateful I stayed active throughout the majority of my pregnancy.

2014; the year that was supposed to be the icing on my cake.

Last year I welcomed 2013 with a list of things I no longer wanted to waste my time doing.

I'm pretty proud to say that I did a good job with the exception of a few times I tried on clothing knowing it was too small or ordered french fries instead of a side salad.

With the arrival of CT coming quite a bit earlier than planned, I quickly found my priorities transitioning.  On the day that I would typically be out shopping the after-Christmas sales and making returns, I was making salt dough ornaments of my baby's feet and handprints.  Rather than run to the tree to open gifts Christmas morning, we lounged in bed for a few hours just snuggling and embracing the amazing gift that we've received.

With this new perspective on life, I'm not really sure what to say about 2014, but I will make a promise to myself, my son, my husband, and my family to embrace what really matters.

In 2014, I intend to...

cuddle and snuggle as often and as much as possible.
enjoy the small things - baths, hugs, smiles, all of the small things.
capture more moments on camera than ever before.
embrace every messy diaper, late night wake up call, cluster feeding, and wardrobe malfunction.
show and tell my husband how much I love him and the amazing father I already see him becoming.
live life to the fullest and embrace every new experience in this amazing life God has blessed me with.

What does your 2014 look like?

Unedited

These photos are unedited (as if you couldn't tell).  I'm still adjusting to mommy-hood and sometimes, life is messy. It's not an easy transition even when you do get to stay home 24/7.  

You can also see that these pictures were taken pre-baby.  I'm almost 9 months pregnant here.

Remember when I told you how my wardrobe was getting extremely limited, my shoe selection in particular?  Well, this is what I typically wore to school the last week (or three) of pregnancy.

It was comfortable and it fit my fat, swollen feet.

Sweater: Motherhood Maternity, Vest: GAP (old, similar), Pants: thrifted, Shoes: Dansko

I got these pants early on in my pregnancy and joked to my mom that I may never get to wear them because they were so big for me when I bought them.  Ha.

I found them in Goodwill with the tags still on them for $3.75.

I started to think twice about this post and whether or not it was okay to share unedited photos and the fact that I haven't posted consistently in two weeks because, as of yesterday, that's how old CT is.

Then I thought, you know...

we need to see the unedited version of life once in a while.

So much of what is on Pinterest and what I see on blogs and Instagram is edited.

And it can make you feel a little intimidated or flare up the green-eyed monster if you aren't careful.

What we typically share on here is the good stuff - not the bad.  We don't like rehashing the bad so why would we document it?  So, I've made a decision just now that I'm going to be brave enough to share all of it...the edited and unedited versions.

Now introducing...

Little Carson Thomas surprised us about 5 weeks early and arrived on December 12, 2013.

He has been the most amazing surprise/gift we could have ever received.

The amount of love and overwhelming feeling of joy in our hearts is indescribable.

I can't wait to share more about our birth story, his first Christmas, and some details of pregnancy/preparation for baby's arrival that I had scheduled to share with you prior to his arrival.  

I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!

For All Women

Last week I started struggling with silly things.  Things I've talked about on here before like body image, exercise, healthy choices, and self-confidence.

You can only have people comment on your "growth" so many times before it starts to get to you.  If I'm being real, I've never felt more beautiful or less inhibited before now.  Pregnancy has truly opened my eyes to the miracles that my body is capable of.  How strong the female body is.  Yet how graceful.

For some reason probably hormones last week, I started stressing about losing baby weight and things that aren't even important right now.  Things like when I'll be able to run more than 3 miles again or when my mile time will be back in the single digits.  S.T.U.P.I.D. things.

So when I came across this video, it really opened my eyes and made me realize that I was focusing on superficial things when, in all reality, I'm not going to care about losing the baby weight because I'm going to be holding my baby.  I will run 3 miles again when my baby is big enough to go in the jogging stroller.  There are so many more important things in this life and all the people that want to comment can just buzz off.

Pregnancy is beautiful.

Perhaps you aren't pregnant.  Perhaps you are at a place in life where you are 100% happy with yourself.  I hope you are.  But, at one point or another we all have our struggles, our insecurities, our downfalls.  I encourage you to remember how special and important you are.  Watch the video above and find inspiration in it.  You are awesome.

life after december 13

Psssst!  Tomorrow is September's CelebrateEVERYTHING link-up!

Make sure you stop back by and link up your celebrations.

Top: Motherhood (given to me), Jeans: Liz Lange Maternity, Shoes: Sanuk

last monday I sat down at my desk at work and suddenly i felt very overwhelmed; like i couldn't stand to teach that day, wanted to sit there and cry it out.  it was like all my grad school work and all my school responsibilities and everything just got piled on me all at once.  i wanted to give up.

i emailed my husband telling him i didn't know if i could do it all - that i was feeling so overwhelmed.  he reminded me that i was very far ahead in my program (i'm NOT a procrastinator so i'm literally 2 weeks ahead on assignments/readings just in case anything happens) and that i could just make a list of what needed to get done each day and cross things off as i went.  he also assured me that things that weren't crossed off could be done the next day.  

boy, do i love him.

then i started thinking about what life will be like after december 13th.  i graduate that day.  that means no more reading 15+ articles/chapters from textbooks each week on top of grading, planning, and school paperwork.  no more conducting research within my classroom; instead, focusing on what i want to do with my students and what we decide to do together.

the best part: graduating on december 13 leaves me with one whole month to be a wife to my husband before i become a mom, too.  a month for us to have as many date nights as we want, to share our last christmas just "us," and to really prepare for the beginning of our next journey.

i'm not wishing away time, but i'm looking forward to life after december 13th.

Grab this button from my sidebar and put it in tomorrow's post to link up your celebrations tomorrow!

Why Women are STRONGER

Necklace: Groopdealz, Shirt: Liz Lange Maternity, Skirt: Banana Republic (non-maternity), Bracelets: random shop & Stella&Dot

Can I just take a minute to be a little feministic today?  I hate the way the word feminist sounds because it almost sounds like a derogatory thing rolling off the tongue and that's not what I associate with it.  I mean, I'm not trying to gather a group to go burning bras or anything.  I just really think women deserve some credit for ALL the things we do.  Amen?

A feminist is someone who supports the rights and equality of women.

I think I fall into that category.  When it comes down to it, I want everyone to have the same rights and equality as long as they haven't done anything to lose that privilege.  I just don't want people to think I'm going around being a man basher

But, women....
Women are special.
Women are powerful.
Women do things that no man can do.

Women are STRONGER because...

• They bring life into this world.  They endure hours (months really) of pain to breath new life into the world.  That's amazing.
• They multitask.  A woman can make dinner, feed the baby, answer the phone, and look good doing it.  Let's see a man do that without breaking a sweat. ;o)
• Nobody expects them to be.  Constantly, someone is expecting a woman to fail or become emotional or stress out.  I love it when that doesn't happen.
• They work all day and come home to take care of their husband, the house, and the kids.  
• They look good doing it!

I'm not discrediting all the work men do, but I am going out on a limb and saying that women don't just rock, they are rocks.

Baby Boy Wishlist

Now that we know we are having a baby boy, I find myself pinning all sorts of goodies for Baby G and scanning Walmart/Target/Belk/anybabysectionanywhere for little goodies for my sweet boy.  I know it's crazy to purchase stuff because we will get so much for shower gifts and from loving friends and family, but I just can't help but want all the things that scream cutie patootie!

So, I thought I would make a baby boy wish list of things I've seen around that I would love to splurge on for the little guy if NC didn't stomp on teachers or money really did grow on trees of course.

baby boy wishlist by coachgaines on Polyvore

1. I had to admit, I'm obsessed with leggings and leg warmers for little ones.  Especially ones like this with a simple print that can go with so many different onesies.

2. We've been debating on an outfit to bring him home in.  We want it to be special.  This one is so sweet, classic, and special with the monogram.  Since we're keeping Baby G's name a surprise until he gets here, we thought it would be nice to have his name on the outfit he comes home in.

3.  This mobile is perfect!  I'm doing the room in greens, blues, and yellows and this has all those colors plus some.  Since we don't have a particular theme I like that it doesn't have animal shapes or anything like that.

4.  Baby Toms.  I don't need to explain.  Since getting pregnant, I've wanted to get a pair of green Toms and get a matching pair for my baby.  I figured green was a great way to go no matter what we found out we were having.

5.  This hat is adorable.  It is my husband's style and will look darling on a baby boy.

6.  Every time I hear this song by the Lumineers I think of the precious gift growing inside my belly and how he belongs with me.  I was chosen to be his mommy for a reason.  He is my sweetheart.  I want this hanging in our nursery and these colors happen to be perfect.  Confession: I bought this already!  Couldn't bear to live without it hanging in his nursery.

7.  Football legwarmers, heck yes!  So stinking cute.  I can see him wearing these with the new ECU sneakers I purchased him from Zulilly next football season.

8.  A nursing necklace - I'm not sure if these are just novelties or necessities, but they seem to be a great ploy to keep baby entertained while feeding.  I love that this one is long enough for him to reach and all the different colors in it.

Linking up with Ashley

the Desire and the Dose

DomesticatedWorkingWoman

Blame it on Pinterest, or Blog World, or our generation, but there are so many incredible moms out there that I find myself with a strong desire to be Super Mom.  You know... cloth diapers, homemade organic baby food, breast feeding for 16+ months...

It hit me the other day that some women are extremely talented and maybe even called to do ALL those things.  It is their job to be a stay at home mommy and bless them for that.  Unfortunately staying at home is not in my cards...at least not right now.  Therefore I needed my own mom to give me a dose of reality when I was carrying on about all these magnificent things I'm going to do on top of being a wife, mother, teacher, student, and keeping the child alive!

She brought to my attention that I cannot do all of those things and do them 100%.  And she is right.  I am the type of person that does things 100% or I don't do them at all.  So, it was time for me to sit down and prioritize what is best for me, my husband, and our growing family.  It is okay not to do everything ourselves.  It is okay to spend money on conveniences that save us time.  It is okay to admit that there will be times that I will be too tired, busy, or stressed to be Super Mom.

None of these things will affect the love I demonstrate to my baby.  So, it's okay.

I've realized that the best moms capitalize on their strengths and make up for their weaknesses in other ways.  The best moms focus more time and energy on their baby and less on cleaning, cooking, and worrying.  So, as I come into mommyhood there are things you will and will not see on this blog and there are things I will try to do and fail at.  There are things I will not want to do that may work out for the best.  I promise to share it all with you: the good and the bad, the success and the failure.

You will not see me using cloth diapers.  I wish I could and I know there are so many women out there just as busy as I am that do.  However, after looking at expense, time, and effort I have realized that this is one area where convenience is worth the money.  It is difficult to find a daycare willing to use cloth diapers and this is a decision we have made for our family.

You will not see me making ALL my baby's food.  I will make most of the food, but this is another area where at times convenience will be worth the time saved.  My husband and I eat many steamed veggies so I will definitely be preparing those for baby, but I cannot commit myself to spending a few hours each week preparing all the food myself.  When the time comes, if I realize I enjoy making the food and it is not super time-consuming, perhaps I will change my mind.

You will see me attempting to breast feed for as long as physically possible, but this will include pumping as I will be going back to work full time.  I've heard horror stories and blessings about breast feeding and I'm praying already that I have the blessing of this bonding moment with my babe.

You will see me loving this baby, unconditionally with all my being each and every moment of every day.  I'm sure you will get sick of pictures, tweets, stories, and celebrations.  I'm also sure you will forgive me.  After all, this is the most essential thing I can do for this child.

I think every mom is a Super Mom.  

Navigating motherhood and raising children is not an easy job.  

Any woman who does so with grace, humility, and love is a Super Mom in my book.

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