I wish the first day of December had been prettier, but it was dark and wet. I joked with my mom that I would need rain boots and a slicker to snap this month's photo, but there was a break in the rain just as I left our driveway. It was cozy kind of day. I made a pot of coffee and drug our Christmas decorations downstairs. We watched a nail-biter of a football game and went to bed early. gifting | This is probably the latest I've ever started shopping, but I am here to tell you that I've only bought a handful of gifts. I'm planning to have a marathon Amazon session this weekend, but we're going a little lighter on gifts this year. I'm sticking to "something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read" for the girls, plus a small surprise and stockings ...
On Being a Working Mom
Sometimes I have to fight not to feel guilty about working outside of our home. When I was a newlywed, I claimed to want to be a stay at home mom. I thought that was what you were supposed to want and never considered that it might not be for me. Once we were expecting our first baby, we began to seriously consider our options for childcare. In all honesty, we couldn't have afforded for me to stay at home after a few weeks, but it's one of those conversations you have anyway. One day, Josh looked me square in the face and said: "You don't want to be a stay at home mom." It's crazy to me now, but it took him saying it out loud to realize he was right. I love having children and the time we spend together is cherished. I found maternity leave to be magical, even with the stress and ...
Coffee Talk | November 2018
Remember long ago, when I used to share a monthly Coffee Talk post? I think I started by linking up with another blogger, but I'm not sure that's still a thing. I do know that I miss that sort of monthly brain dump and in the spirit of our new blogging philosophy, a chat over my morning cup seemed like the perfect way to share an otherwise unrelated list of things. If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that my readers and followers seem to agree about the current state of the blogosphere. I do like sharing what I'm buying sometimes, but it feels like that's the only thing bloggers are talking about these days. I miss sharing what is on my heart and the more mundane moments of life with small children, so I'm going to make a shift during the month of December, so that 2019 ...
Halloween Fun
Halloween was a two-day event for us this year, but that's what it took to hit all of our favorite places and wear all of our Halloween costumes (yes, there were multiple!). We were super sad that my sister and her family couldn't join us on Sunday, because we hit up a local Trunk or Treat in one of our favorite little towns. Ella indulged me with a few family photos in the costume she wore to a party the night before, but she ditched it before we left and tried to pretend she didn't like trick or treating. Sophie put her cheetah / lion getup together using an old dance costume of Ella's, some long johns to combat the weather and a fun pair of cat ears we found at Wal-Mart. Polly wore a pumpkin swaddle that I bought for Sophie's six month photos, but she clearly wasn't a fan! ...
Polly in the Pumpkin Patch
I'm loving that all of Polly's first holidays are happening in the first few months of her life, but that also presents a few problems. We debated whether or not to even take her to the pumpkin patch this year, since she's so young, but it is only a few miles from our house. Since I was still on maternity leave, Kamin and I were able to take them on a Monday afternoon, right after school. There were only a handful of families there, so we didn't have to wait for much of anything. These few photos crack me up. This is what it looks like when you try to get a photo of three kids in the sunshine. I hated that Polly wasn't old enough to sit up in the wagon with Vera, but can you even imagine how difficult this would have been with four?! I will forever be grateful for my sister ...
Life After Polly
Once upon a time, I blogged five days a week. I had an editorial calendar that I followed pretty closely and I spent every free moment I had, writing and photographing things to share with you. So many of those posts were straight from the heart, but too many of them were centered around things I was supposed to share and links that might make me money. There wasn't anything wrong with that, it just started to feel forced. When I'm trying to decide what I have time for today, there is no competition between snuggle the baby and source some affiliate links. There was a time when watching my traffic dwindle to a third of what it was would cause some major anxiety, but I knew it was time to take a breather when I just didn't care. This last year has been so full of revelations about ...
Two Months with Polly
This post contains affiliate links, meaning any purchases made using these links will earn Taz + Belly a small commission. You can read more about our affiliate relationships here. two months as of November 5, 2018 The past two months have flown by. I don't know why, but when I pictured my maternity leave, I didn't expect it to fly by so quickly. The first month was filled with lazy days, recovering from surgery and sleeping beside Polly every chance I could get. In the second month, Polly really woke up and we were able to get a better picture of what life would look like with her in it. I worked considerably more in October than I did in September. I barely blogged, but I did start reading again. Polly and I began to venture out away from home a bit, visiting friends + family, ...
Currently | November 2018
Three posts in three days -- who am I even? I'm pretty sure I said this in yesterday's post, but as sad as I was to go back to work this week, it has it's advantages. Maternity leave was wonderful and I'll miss those lazy days at home with Polly, but I'm equally excited to embrace real life and see how Polly fits into all of the wonderful things we were already doing together. The next few months are filled with some of my very favorite days and it's so fun to have her be apart of both the traditions and the normal, every day moments. Hopefully now that I'm not holding a baby eighteen hours a day, I'll have a little more time to share what we've been up to! Also, I drafted this post last night and realized AFTER it published that I used the prompts from last month, so please excuse the ...