Searching around

In just a few days we will start Fall!  My favorite time of year, we are closer to the holidays.  An exciting and special time.    We started with the hunt for Halloween costumes.  My daughter decided she wanted to be a butterfly this year.   So online shopping I go.....I found the most adorable website with butterfly costumes and accessories, just perfect!  Everything I think she will need.  The one problem......the entire costume, including all accesories it's over $100 without shipping.   Really?   How expensive!   I had to do some shopping for the week and I happened to park in front of Joann, you know the crafts store, so I decide to take a peak.    I'm walking around and find the skirt, the wings and the wand for a total of $22.   Everything happened to be 40%.  Wow!  What a bargain. 

And!  The most imporant thing?  She LOVED it!!   This mama is happy!

So much and so little

Well, I've been away for a while.  Life just takes a turn in full force sometimes and things happen faster than expected.   Between work, helping with homework, soccer games and a move, time just got away from me and it seems things are slowly coming back to normal.

My daughter has soccer practice every Wednesday, thank God for my husband and him being able to take her to practices, unfortunately my schedule does not permit no matter how hard I try.  Between the hours and the commute, I could never make it in time to watch her practice.  BUT! I get to enjoy watching my little girl play on Saturdays.   

Recently, I've managed to add a job during my lunch hour that allows for me to have more flexibility and more time at home with my baby girl.  So, I've come up with the great idea of grocery shopping during my lunch break on Thursdays.   I can eat while I shop and when I'm done I can store things in my big cooler in the back of my car.   Now I hope for cool days on Thursday, would hate for the ice to melt!

Homework is another task I've managed in my schedule.  (I can't leave everything for my husband, he does work too).  So homework gets started about 30 minutes before I arrive, I get home and finish the homework with her.   I love sharing that time with her, followed by reading a couple of books at the end and getting her to bed.   And then...... FINALLY then, I can take those heels off and start relaxing for a bit.    Oh, I do need to fit dinner in there for my husband and I.   

And lastly, our move....well although we only have a few boxes left I think we're pretty much settled in our new home. 

I would love to know how other working moms do it to manage work, kids, husband and the house....I'm sure stay at home moms have ideas too.   At the end of the day, we're all moms with jobs.  

It's all about the hair......

My daughter’s soccer season starts next Saturday, and we got her uniforms at practice last Wednesday.   We look at the color and what do you know, it is a NEON CORAL!  What do we do with this color? What name do we choose with the girls?  Of course as their little minds are working together and are convinced the color of their uniforms is pink; they all start throwing names out there, unicorns, princesses, etc……..We all laugh, they’re so young and so little, everything they see is in the color pink and the princess world!    

As the name of the team gets decided “The Lollipops”, all the moms are looking at each other and we immediately think……THE HAIR BOWS AND RIBBONS!!  Where, how, what color, when, who?   I immediately start laughing as our biggest priority at that moment becomes “the hair”.  How are we going to accessorize their hairs for the games?   Funny thing is, I’m not a sports fan, I’m my daughter’s fan (as probably a lot of moms are) and not only do I look at uniforms but I look at their hair accessories   Yes, everything has to match!  So this is important.

What’s on my to-do list?  To find cute, bright, neon, coral color hair accessories…….So now the hunt has begun…..My priority for the weekend........the most important thing for the first game and the rest of the season, THE HAIR ACCESSORIES FOR THE TEAM!  

GO LOLLIPOPS!

Is anyone watching?

Yesterday afternoon I came home and found my daughter taking a shower.   As I'm approaching the bathroom my husband looks at me and points at her back.   To my horror, I see scratches and red marks up and down her little back.  What happened?  (Trying to keep the horror to myself).   So, I asked her in the calmest voice I can manage, she says that she fell in the playground while trying to get up on the swing.   I immediately ask my husband, of course looking for the answers I want;  Did anyone see this happen?  Is anyone watching them during their play time?  Oh! my poor baby!   I look back at her and she nervously responds that she was with her friend, and with the sweetest voice says "my friend asked me 'are you alright Sarah?'"  I couldn't hold my smile back and she continued by assuring me that she didn't cry.   

I work all day and come home to the one person that is able to make me forget about my entire day, her - that little bundle of joy that came into my life 5 years ago.  Life doesn't get any better than that! 
 

TGI What?

Another week is here, oh how I hate Mondays.   The only thing I look forward to on Mondays is the end of the day.   I can’t wait to get home and see my little girl. 

Over the weekend I was at Gap Kids, I was excited when I saw the pictures on the windows of the new fall line.   I had also peaked online a little, so I was looking forward to grabbing a few pieces for my daughter.   Finally!, I thought, it looks like they’ve changed designers, although I wonder if they’ve actually borrowed Crewcuts’ designer.   

The styles look so adorable, the colors, the patterns, wow! so much trendier than in recent years.   But.....to my dissapointment that's all there was, pictures, not one piece featured on those photos was actually being sold at the store.   What's happening?   Are retailers looking for people to shop online rather than in-store?   You see, I have an issue with buying clothes online….I order and I never return the merchandise that doesn't work out.  The return package always gets lost in the shuffle of my life.   Do others share the same dilemma?  

I’m convinced that stores trick you into spending online in hopes of it not working out and making you forget to send the merchandise back.    In addition, the clothes being sold at Gap right now is so limited, what happened to more options?   Now days, it is so common to run into other children with the same exact outfit your son or daughter is wearing.    I can’t stand that!  Who likes that really?  Yes! we all shop at the same store, but you know what I wonder most?  "Did that mom get a better deal than me"   Yes, I do think of those small details.

So it begins....

She started Kindergarten, she's so excited and I'm overjoyed with her being happy.   She survived the first 2 days but did I?   Wow!  Where do I start?

Now, we need to get up earlier to get her ready, make sure she brushes her teeth and gets dressed, and of course she needs to have a good breakfast.   The fun part?  She doesn't like to eat right after waking up, it's like her system is asleep in the mornings and so the struggle begins. 

Did I mention getting lunch ready?  Oh! I would love to know how everyone else does it, suggestions please!   Any ideas on what are the best foods to send to school?   Do I need to worry that food will spoil?   I sure hope I remember the name of the lunch box that was on that informercial a long time ago......

For now, I've decided to include an iced pack in her lunch box, of course making it heavier that she wants, but so the learning and getting used to continues.

So much to learn and so much to share.   

Ready, set?

This is my first blog, I've been planning for this to go live for many years.   Motherhood got in the way of that, but I couldn't be happier for it.    It all started 5 years ago when she arrived in this world and made me the happiest I've ever been.    I went through the first few weeks as everyone else;  sleepless nights, feeding every few hours, changing diapers, oh the joy of the good, the funny and the smelly's.   I did have a great support system, my family and my husband, yes he did take the worse wake ups of the nights, the 11pm's and the 2-3am's.   And then 3 months later I was back at work and so the story begins.

I've always wondered what it would be like to be at home taking care of my daughter; would I be bored? Would I long for an adult conversation?  Well?...... I never found that out, I've been a working mom since.    I will skip 5 years and I'll focus on the current hot topics that are on my mind.     I welcome feedback!