They see me rollin !!

Rugs accomplished!! I swung by the Carpet Exchange on Thursday and scored two lovely, wool, Persian style rugs.  Once we got them on floor I was in love!  They actually really make the living room so much nicer.  Of course they also serve the purpose of giving DD a nice soft surface for sitting up, rolling over and before too long crawling!   As soon as we put DD on the floor & got down there with her she lit up!  DD loves sitting up and playing with her stacking cups!  

I managed to get the living room rearranged so there is a quasi grown up half and a baby half.  I moved some furniture around and repurposed a wicker trunk as a toy chest.  Thus far I am loving the result and having a safe, soft place for DD to play is simply wonderful!

I managed to get on the green veggie train this week as well.  DD has been loving her puréed green beans with curry.  Surprisingly the puréed apples haven't been as popular.  She eats them but not with the enthusiasm she shows for other food.

In case you are wondering what DH is up to never fear, Saturday was a jam packed family day, we started at the donut shop, lunched at the Ale house, and finished our day having dinner with friends.  DH managed to spray our resident wasps nest, repair a bar stool and finish up his brewing experiment.  To our pleasant surprise the maple porter actually tasted like maple porter.  Perhaps not an award winning brew but an accomplishment none the less.

DD was not in the best of moods on Sunday hard to pinpoint although I suspect another tooth is slowly making its way to the light!  We had a ladies brunch at the house and put our new play area into full effect!  All that playing wore mommy out though so I missed my standard Sunday update.  

With Monday under my belt and deadlines looming I'm so glad the house is play ready.  Nothing fixes a tough day at the office like a baby rolling over and giggling!

#carrotsstrikeagain

I'm not sure I could say the momentum of last weekend carried me through the week.  I was doing pretty well through Thursday even went on a fabulous 3 mile hike with DD. Friday, however was a rough day at the office.  Then Saturday the weather was just awful.  We managed to do some necessary errands, rotate the tires, and change the oil in my car.  We need some rugs for the hardwood living room floor so DD has a better place to learn to crawl.  The rug shopping was bad news bears.  I couldn't really find any I liked, and I wasn't mentally prepared for how expensive they can be.  We looked at four different places and ended up empty handed.  The whole ordeal stressed me out so badly I went to bed at 9:00.

Sunday was better the weather was significantly nicer.  DD & I went to a lovely baby shower brunch.  She was in a great mood and wearing an adorable dress, so we had the best time getting all those ohhhs & ahhhs.  Since the shower was early in the day we managed to get though a few key chores, laundry, clean kitchen, and of course baby food for the week.  

I need to do some reading on baby food recipes.  I wanted to do a green veggie but I didn't have anything in the fridge and I never made it to the store so it's carrots with thyme and coriander this week.  I have to figure out a good green veggie for next week or I'm worried DD will turn orange! Despite feeling prepped for the week I'm still not looking forward to Monday.  I have a huge deadline looming and it is really going to take a toll for the next three weeks.  I keep daydreaming about vacation, I think post deadline I need a few weekdays off.  It is time for some serious mommy pampering.  I'm talking massage, mid day movie, & mani-pedi level pampering, whilst DD is in school & DH is at work.  Two days of glorious freedom sounds just about right!

Ain't nobody dope as me I'm just so fresh and so clean!

Well it didn't take two weeks to reach clean house nirvana, as I write this we are luxuriating on clean sheets, showering in clean bathrooms, the laundry is all laundered, the dishes are all washed and put away, the recycling is recycled and lunches are packed for tomorrow.   We're even 75% dusted! and the dog hair has been beaten into submission by fierce vacuuming session ( couch included).  Husband really got the lead out its so nice when we work as a team, makes all the difference!

I managed to roast up some sweet potatoes for this weeks baby food.  Sweet potatoes it turns out are the real deal.  DD (darling daughter) LOVES her some sweet potato.  It's nice she has a new treat this week as her bottom two front teeth decided to put in an appearance this weekend.  Saturday was a pretty fussy day.  Unfortunate as we were invited to a lovely tea party and DD had a rough time getting comfy.

Glad to say that Sunday the smiles returned and we were able to enjoy a fabulous mom's hang out while munching on banana and avocado.  This is the best I've felt about an impending Monday in a long time.  I've even got her little green St Patricks outfit ready for tomorrow!  Hopefully the momentum will continue and I'll have a winning week! Here's hoping!

Butternut baby!

Ah... Well the head cold turned into a solid ten day virus...  Dear hub did a magnificent job managing but the housework took a hit.  By all fair estimates I think it will take two weeks to hit our standard levels of cleanliness.  The trick is to get one or two things caught up each night until you hit that magical point where everything is clean and then you have to maintain your rotation.  Easier said than done but as I lie here writing I can hear the whir of the vacuum downstairs and it sounds like hope!

The foray into baby food continues I had a nesting freak out moment this weekend and went a little tupperware crazy, however I now have a nice baby food containment system.  Our DD (darling daughter) had a big day today she had her 6 mo check up with shots.  Butternut squash purée with thyme and ginger for lunch.  A trip to the park for ride in the baby swing, thank you time change, and lastly a big dinner of carrot purée.  She is currently sleeping like it's her job!

Making the baby food is actually pretty fun.  It doesn't take too long and it's fairly easy.  I will say I am really happy with my decision to order my groceries online and have them delivered to the house.  In the epic battle to use time as wisely as possible ordering groceries suddenly seemed line an excellent idea.  I am ordering from Mile High Organics which is nice since I can feel really good about the quality of food in my fridge and it makes it super easy to prep organic, GMO free food for DD.

I am always amazed at the energy and time spent in the pursuit of food.  Tonight I took dinner shift and made a batch of butternut squash enchiladas which were freaking fantastic!  In order to do it though I had to prep the squash this weekend, peel, roast etc... and cook up a separate batch with no olive oil for,DD lunches this week.  Then to make life easy while I was cooking dinner I prepped the veggies for a batch of chili that will be slow cooking while we work tomorrow.  Balance it turns out requires some fierce planning ahead!  

Head colds & carrots #itsthesmallwins

​This week the universe decided to test how "supremely satisfied" I actually am with my delicately balanced life.  After weighing its options careful the universe determined that a raging head cold would be a fierce and just test of my boast.  

Truly there is nothing like a nasty, run a slight fever, sneezy, watery eye, marathon 24 hours to make you question all your life choices.  It starts with am I getting sick, no please dear god no, garrhhh my lymph nodes are swollen, and bottoms out around I bet Beyoncé doesn't get head colds. 

 Fortunately after two full straight days in bed with loving care from my husband and cozy snuggles with my sweet babe I started to see the light.  That said once I oozed out of bed today and took a shower I decided to pretend I was one of the living and complete a big milestone.  That's right folks I made baby food & we fed it to our six month old daughter today.  

She enjoyed about 1oz of boiled, puréed organic carrots with thyme.  Survey says.....  She loved them finished every bite and all that I could get off her face.  Hub and I had a blast taking video & face timing with the grands.  Of course now we wait with baited breath for the diaper that follows this milestone.  Perhaps we will get lucky and that bomb will drop at school tomorrow, while her rents are busy working away.  

So universe I'm still feeling satisfied and a bit under the weather but I'll take it.  If anyone is wondering, yes there is still dog hair on the floor, however I brushed the dog today so who knows maybe the vacuum will get some action on Tuesday!

All that & more... a guide to what the working woman can & can't have!

​I think that would make a magnificent book title.  I can see the promotional blurbs now, "All that & more" number one on the New York Times best sellers list for a decade!  Google the phrase "have it all" if you have a little spare time and feel like smashing your head against the old glass ceiling isn't disheartening enough.  

When did we get so obsessed with having it all?  What does it even mean? Who is the example of a woman who as it all?  Where is this mythical creature?  Who am I supposed to be comparing myself to in my sadistic mission to hold myself accountable to a bizarre and ultimately fictitious standard?  

I have been wracking my brain and the best example of a woman having it all that I can think of is Clair Huxtable.  She was a lawyer, married to a doctor, four daughters, one son.  She lived in a nice but not extravagant home, that never appeared to be messy, there was always food in the fridge, her children were generally pleasant, well groomed and well adjusted.  She had immaculate hair and wore suits, you never saw her in work out gear yet she had a great figure.  She was impeccable, and fictional.

Here in the non-fiction section It is Sunday, I spent the day with my husband and our 5 month old daughter.  We spent the morning snuggling our babe, checked out a new breakfast joint, picking out organic coffee, and browsing Best Buy for a new tv.  In the afternoon we had some friends over for lunch and busted out our brew-it-yourself beer kit.  We're looking forward to drinking a marginal, if we are lucky, porter in two weeks.  

We ate an Amy's frozen pizza for dinner while I ordered groceries online for next week.  The baby went to sleep at 8:00, I prepped for Monday, put on my pj's and crawled into bed around 8:45.  We didn't have a chance to run the vacuum this weekend so there is some dog hair on the floor and both upstairs bathrooms could use some TLC.  On the bright side all the laundry is done, the kitchen is clean, I painted my nails, and I even have a little time to crank out this post.  So do I have it all, or does the dog hair negate the rest of my accomplishments? 

Career moms is striving to have it all worth one iota of our precious time, or should we be focused on the present, making the best of what we do have, appreciating the opportunities afforded to us, and enjoying every precious moment with our family & friends?  I don't need to have it all, I have what I've carved out for myself and that is supremely satisfying.

transcending mom introduction:

Mom is a hot topic these days, everyone wants to know, what type of mom are you? The options are endless, working mom, stay-at-home mom, married mom, single mom, tiger mom, helicopter mom, same sex mom, to name a few. Each label stirs emotions, debates rage, articles are written, sides are chosen its staggering.

I fall into the “working mom” category myself, and I struggle with that label. I am an individual, a spouse, a parent, a mom and I have a career. I prefer the term career mom.   After all aren’t all moms by definition working moms?

So as a newly self appointed career mom, I am appealing to the career mom community.  Let's foster positive discussion, forge new relationships, create meaningful opportunities, and transcend the existing mom perceptions.  There is only possibility ahead, join in!