Nothing but the Truth

As most of you know I am a stay-at-home mom & I wouldn't have it any other way. Sadly my 'profession' isn't a common one now a days & well I wanted to share a few little tid bits about what being a SAHM means & what my life is like. Here are just a handful if truths about mama-ville:

1.) Respect!
Being a SAHM is a complete choice & it's an amazing opportunity for my whole family. Raising kids are the most important thing & that's why, as Barrett's mom, I am the perfect person for the job. Most people don't understand why I choose to spend every hour or every day with my son & because of that they don't respect moms like me, which breaks my heart. I think most people also get the misperception that being at home means you are lazy, which is no means possible when you spend your day chasing around a hyper one year old. It's definitely something nobody should ever take for granite.

2.) Richy Rich
Funny enough I have a lot of people ask me what my husband does for a living, as if they are trying to find out how much money we have. The best part is their face when I tell then he is a police officer. Which sadly, almost all public service jobs are very under paid, so you can easily see how I find it amusing when they think we're rich. So how do we do it? Well we make tons of HUGE sacrifices & my son is more than worth it! I'd give up anything in the world to be with him because I know I will never get the chance to watch him grow up again. Giving up anything to be at home with him was & is my only option. Check out my blog post on how we save money: Money Saving

3.) Dealing Tough
Trust me when I say you have to deal with a ton of, well, everything! Kids never stop pooping, eating & running around like crazies. I swear more than half my day is spent changing diapers & feeding Barrett. It's gotten a little less demanding since he stopped nursing, but before that he lived on my boob. I had a permanent spider monkey attached to me & most days he's still on my hip. On the plus side I can carry around over 20lbs for hours like it's nobody's business!

4.) Guilty
Even though my main job is to run my household (I run a very tight ship), but there are definitely days I feel guilty for not bringing in the big bucks (LoL) like hubster does. It's hard not contributing financial to our family, especially when I see my husband exhausted after working countless long days. I do keep myself pretty grounded by knowing that me raising my son is by far the best thing for our whole family. I might not go to work in a suit & heels every day, but I'm so proud to be a mama & love that my son has me right there by his side. Plus it's super to easy to remind myself that I get the glorious business title of 'mom' & honestly what else could anyone ask for??

5.) Twenty-Four Seven
You honestly work 24hrs a day 7 days a week & never get a break. I mean you literally don't even get to poop alone! There are no such things as sick or vacation days. Being a stay-at-home mom is a full time job & there is no way around it. I've done everything with Barrett by my side from showering to cooking dinner, and trust me there are a thousand in betweens!

6.) Worth it
The best part is that I know everything that I go through with my son is worth it. Staying at home means I get to be there for every important milestone in his life & to kiss every boo boo. My job is the most important one & there is nobody else that can do it better than me. I can honestly say that I love my job & even though it can be tough at times it's worth it! No money or materialistic thing in the world can make me as happy as I am when I'm with my son.

I mean how could I ever leave this sweet boy?? Just look at that cute little face. Having kids & being a mom is truly the best thing in life! He makes every part of every day worth it :)

Not Everything is What it Seems

I hate those days when I feel like everyone is staring at me, like I have food in my teeth or something on my face. It always makes it worse when you don't have a mirror handy, so you just smile & hope for the best. Well today I got some pretty crazy looks on our walk, the difference this time was that I knew exactly why. My day started off pretty normal, but once 12pm rolled around & Barrett still hadn't nap I knew it was a rough ride from there in. He finally went down for a nap around 3:30ish but I had to be somewhere by 4:30pm, so I let him sleep as long as possible. Next thing I knew, we were in a car & on our way out. The poor guy literally screamed the whole drive & I couldn't blame him. I had a good friend ask to borrow some of my decorative suitcases for a photo shoot & I was supposed to meet up with her after my 4:30pm shindig. Sadly I knew there was no way I was getting Barrett to calm down in the car. We rushed home in time to say bye to Ben before he headed out for the K9 trials in Las Vegas & then I loaded up my jogging stroller. Barrett loves going on our walks, so I knew that it would be no problem to walk down to Target to meet up. We had a little hiccup though... My suitcases were mondo huge for my stroller & it wouldn't fit in the underneath basket! No problem, I just decided to set the bad boy up on top of the stroller & go about my merry way. I was laughing & smiling the whole walk because people were just staring like they saw a ghost. People took a double take when they saw me going by & I even heard one woman ask her husband 'what was that about' LoL I could just image the crazy things people were thinking. Did I runaway? Was I carrying a chopped up dead body? I mean honestly, they could've been thinking up any story in their heads, but I'm 99% sure that they weren't thinking the truth.... My son was cranky, didn't want to go in his car seat & I had to meet up with a friend to get her these photo props for her to use tomorrow & this was the easiest way for me to meet her & to keep my son happy! I created extra entertainment for myself & a few people today. I was inspired today by my not so normal walk. I learned that no matter how crazy someone might look you never know exactly what's going on at that moment! A mama has to do what she has to do :)

Luckily I snapped a few photos of my fun walk! Don't mind the partial blanket over the suitcase, I had to make sure it wouldn't fall off the stroller.

The Great Escape

Today I got about an hour and half to myself, which is a super rare occasion. I honestly didn't have anything that I absolutely had to get done, but the hubster was home & Barrett was napping, so I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity.
I ran a couple minor errands and then literally just sat in my car. I luckily had my ipad on me, so I decided to play some games, lurk around on the internet & do a little blogging :)
I honestly never get this quality alone time & partly feel guilty when I do. I feel like a bad mommy abandoning Barrett like that. I'm with him so much that I know I get separation anxiety when I'm gone, so I know the poor little booger does too. I'm never gone too long though because I miss him like crazy and plus, let's face it... Where do I really have to go?
The funny part is that as I sat in my car blogging away, I looked over to the car next to me & saw a mom with her kiddo passed out in the car seat. I couldn't help but smile. I totally know that lifestyle of sitting in the car for an hour just to let your little one get a nap in! I'm partly glad to know that I'm not the only crazy one that does that. Honestly it's probably a weekly occurrence for us. Driving around until he falls asleep & then park somewhere! Now if someone could only drive me around until I fall asleep then I'd be set LoL Mama needs a nap!

Here is a picture of me & my sweet little munchkin playing in his tent. I love that little stinker bug so much! Oh the life of a mom XOXO

Walk it Out

I'm so excited that the weather is finally cooling off a bit in the evening because we can go on our walks again! We've been going for the past three weeks now & both Barrett & me just love it :) It's so relaxing & peaceful! I've been trying to go atleast four times a week. I love walking because it's nice to get out of the house & get exercise on top of it. We can't really splurge on a gym membership, but honestly going on walks are so much better. Enjoying the fresh air, no over crowding & it's nice & quite. The doggies love it too, sadly I can't take all of them though. I've been taking the 3 little ones the past couple times & trust me those little chunkers need it :) Dee Dee usually just hangs out in the stroller with Barrett or in the basket underneath since she's too little to keep up.

Without a Bang

Well this past Saturday was Barrett's 1st birthday party & it didn't go off with a bang. I usually have all my ducks in a row & am the oober crazy lady who plans things five years in advance, not this time around! I had this whole vision of having this glorious party at the park & honestly not a single thing happened as I thought. I was going to make this awesome balloon caterpillar, have an adorable cupcake display & everyone would 'ooo' & 'aaa' at my amazing craftiness.
This is how the day went for me. I woke up around 8:30am (we usually get up at 7:30am) I did some dishes, straightened up the house, fed the dogs, made breakfast & ran to Target for a couple last minute things. Once I got back to the house I put Barrett down for a nap, so he would be rested for his party. As soon as he was asleep I started on the cupcakes, by this time is was already 10:30am & the party started at 12pm! I rushed around like a headless chicken trying to get everything ready to go. Ben loaded the coolers, tables & chairs in his truck then left the house about 11:15am so he could get ice on his way. My sister arrived to my house just as Barrett woke up & Ben was leaving. She found me in just my underwear in the closet trying to find something to wear, thank goodness she brought me a dress. I hurried & threw it on while she got Barrett dressed. We piled all the rest of the food in my car & took off. I was so behind I had to do my makeup in the car! We pulled up to the park 15 minutes before the party started, I originally planned on being there an hour before! This is when the crazy started. We rushed to get everything set out, thank goodness my parents were bringing the party sub because I probably would've completely forgot it. We barely got the table clothes on before the first guests arrived. My cousins helped put up a birthday banner, some streams & a couple balloons. By this time it was already too late & people were already there.
I felt more busy & rushed then I did at our wedding. Before we knew it we were doing cupcakes & gifts. The day honestly flew by so fast that I don't even think I had a chance to blink. The good part about it all was that everyone seemed to have a really good time. Barrett was non-stop smiling & loved all the play time. Despite is being 100 degrees out & me not having anything put together, I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. My sister luckily took a lot of video & my mom & mother-in-law snapped some pictures. If it wasn't for them I probably wouldn't have any!
I truly have never felt so unprepared for something before. I know I had all these wonderful things in my head but, when it came down to it they didn't matter. The kids laughed, played & everyone was smiling. In the end all the time consuming things didn't make the party, the people that came did! I'm sure nobody really noticed (or atleast I hoped they didn't) that I didn't have some elaborate thing going on. It was good people, with good food & all for a special little handsome 1 year old boy. We started out without a bang but, ended with a truly fun day!
I can't thank all our family & friends enough for helping us celebrate such a special occassion. We had so many people there & so much love for our little stinker bug. We're lucky to have such amazing people in our life! Thank you all for your help, gifts & for just being there to celebrate with us XOXO
Here are a few snap shots of the party. I sadly didn't even get a chance to take any photos with my good camera & my mom just took a few with my old point & shoot. I'm really broken hearted about not having amazing pictures but, my sister got some great video to make up for it.

Naked!

Our walls are naked! I decided that since Barrett's first birthday is over that I would start to slowly pack stuff up. I stared with all our decoration since we really don't need it for our household to function on a daily basis. It's weird how empty & cold the place feels now. This is the first time in 3yrs that this house hasn't really felt like home & I'm so sad. I know we have a couple months until we are supposed to move, but packing is so time consuming & I wanted to myself a head start. Everything feels so surreal now! I'm going to miss this house so much, but am overly excited to start a new journey in our new home :)

I plan on doing a future post on what our house looks like before we move, so keep an eye out for that!

For now, here are some 'before' & 'after' photos. I only found 2 'before' pictures where you can kind of see stuff in the background. Don't mind the mess right now, things are crazy from packing & the birthday party.