I want to talk a little about being a stay at home parent. I know a lot of people have different opinions about it and for many it’s not even an option. I was talking to a friend last night about it and it got me thinking. I know for myself personally, before I had kids, I used to criticize stay at home moms as if they didn’t do anything. When I worked and one of my employees couldn’t come in because their kid was sick I used to get annoyed. I used to think that stay at home moms got to shop and do yoga all day. Also btw if you are a mom that does this, I still respect you and please send me some tips and how you make this happen. 

When Liam was born I wasn’t sure if I was going to go back to work or not but I was fortunate enough not to have to. My husband and I worked it out that if I got a nanny and went back to work, my paycheck would basically cover the cost of the nanny so it didn’t make enough sense to do that.

However I also DID NOT know how much of a full time job it was to stay at home with a baby. Becoming a parent is such a crazy experience already in the physical and mental aspect. Not to mention that being pregnant and after giving birth you realize that hormones are a real thing. This new job was such a wake up call for me and for sure the hardest full time job I have ever had. It’s 24/7 non stop being run around by a kid and keeping them from choking, falling and basically dying all day long while also running a household, cooking, cleaning etc. However at the same time, it’s also extremely rewarding and the most amazing job I have ever had and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything else. I feel so lucky that I was able to be with Liam and I’m able to be with Bailey now. 

So in December Bailey will be 2 and I was thinking of starting her in preschool. I’m also extremely torn. This time goes by so fast and they are only little for so long and I remember some of my favorite moments with Liam was between 2-4 because he reached the age where he was much more interested in doing things and going places and it was so much fun watching him play. I don’t want to miss out on that with Bailey. 

Right now I’m so so grateful that I am able to have my niece for a few hours a day who helps me with cleaning food shopping and watching Bailey so I get to go to the gym. This has changed my sanity level completely. I am able to spend more time with Bailey and less time on certain things that previously would make me bitter or resentful as a mom and a wife. I know that I get criticized by some people for having help but also I don’t care, my sanity and my family’s happiness is more important that other people’s opinions so that’s neither here nor there. I’m just commenting on it because I get asked how I handle certain things and I’m letting people know I have help. 

I feel like there’s no right or wrong way to parent and it’s the most criticized and opinionated subject I have run into especially on social media. I just want to say that if you’re a stay at home parent or a working parent and wether you have help or no help, you’re doing great. Make sure you take care of yourself and take care of your family and keep it up. They’re only little for so long and what you do now, however you do it, will help shape our next generation. 

Anyway, that got a little deep at the end. Writing a blog is weird. I feel like I’m talking to people but also have to make sure I talk in the right way to communicate correctly? If you have any opinions or suggestions on what I was talking about, let me know on my Instagram post because I still don’t really understand how this blog thing works with comments haha.

This is not a full blog post. There are no photos and no thought put into this. This is just spontaneous writing. Probably has no correct grammar whatsoever.

Ok so I just want to start out by saying that today was a great day. I kind of wish I had a You Tube channel just to vlog on days like this. Only because it’s a topic of conversation with almost everyone I know in this way: How was your day? oh today was ……… all shit show ensues (if they are being honest) and that’s when I usually realize that every single person I know has their own experience and trouble on a daily basis that it revitalizes my compassion for other people because although they have their own trouble each day, they don’t really air their dirty laundry but you know it’s there because you have it yourself. That’s totally fine if they don’t air it, because to each his own, but I do have to say that today was one of those exceptional days that I was having a hard time and then in explaining the day to my sister, we both couldn’t help but laugh about it and I thought, I really need to just share this with whoever will listen.. Also it doesn’t compare, not even a little bit, to real life problems but it’s a stay at home mom problem or just a regluar mom problem, and also not even a problem… just a story about the day and also an ending “realization” to the day that I hope will help with other parents out there to know you’re not alone.

Anyway….

I went to Target with Bailey (7months) and Liam (5yo) and when we got out of the car I realized Bailey had taken a shit. So then I was like, ok cool I am going to change her diaper in the car because she gets freaked out by the loud noises in the bathroom by the flushes and the hand dryers. Meanwhile it is 120 degrees (feels like) in the parking lot and Liam is running around the car, in a totally packed parking lot, so I am trying to change Bailey’s diaper without passing out from heatstroke, keeping her on the trunk platform and not rolling off onto the tar ground and also making sure Liam doesn’t get run over by a passing car and it all works out fine.

Previously, on my way to Target, Sean calls me and says “can you get me Chipotle and bring it to the office”.. “Of course honey” I say…

Then we get in the store and Liam wants to only go in the cart that has the double kid seats behind it (fuck you Target) which is awesome because it’s a double length sized cart that is almost impossible to maneuver with two hands, let alone one hand because now Bailey wants to be held and will not sit in the cart. So here I go through Target pushing this limousine of a cart with one hand and a baby on my hip and then Liam starts yelling at me for not buying him every item in the store. Life is awesome rn. Then I have to pee so bad so we run to the bathroom and now Liam has to pee (he didn’t have to every time I asked him for the previous hour) and I have nowhere to put Bailey while I pee so I just hold her trying to take my pants off. Side note: jeans stick to skin when you are in 120 degree humid Florida weather. While I am trying to go to the bathroom, holding Bailey, Liam is opening and closing the door and thinks it’s hilarious because I keep asking him not to. Then he sees me trying to redress myself with Bailey in my arms and offers to help me pick up my shorts (sweet boy) but is pulling my shorts up while my underwear are still stuck on my sweaty ass knees and mind you I am still holding Bailey. At that moment I get a text from my husband saying “when are you going to be here, I am fucking starving and also can you get ‘other guy’ food too?”. At this moment, I want to scream. Bailey is crying and yelling because someone is drying their hands with the loud jet dryer and the toilets keeps flushing because they are on sensors and there’s so much noise that she is startled constantly. Life is still awesome rn. I get to Chipotle and Liam refuses to get out of the car and that was it’s own shit show.

I bring the food to Sean and Liam wants to do a whole new array of things, mostly playing with the “adopted squirrel” that Sean has outside his office and now Sean is freaking out because he is trying to eat lunch while also being called for a meeting and his son yelling at him to play with the squirrel (it’s still 100 degrees outside) so I pack both screaming kids in the car and head home.

My sister stops by as I get home and I happily have a glass of wine with her as we talk about life and how it is going and I tell her about my day so far and as we laugh, I realized that I would never trade this day in for a free alone day at home or a 9-5 job or any other scenario where I did’t have my kids. I can see that I bitch about things in my life and 5-10% of the time it is about my husband or my kids but I also see that 90-95% of all of my life happiness is my husband and my kids. And even though husband hates me at this very moment because I made him take the kids, feed himself dinner and leave me alone for almost an hour while I wrote this, I can say that we will be fine and the kids will be fine and we will all go to sleep tonight and wake up in the morning cuddling and I will feel like I have had a satisfied fulfilled day with the family. I hope that when you read this, you also realize that even if a small percentage of your life is driving you crazy, you look at the larger percentage that makes you happy and fulfilled. I love you all and I am typing now with one hand because I am holding Bailey, Sean got real sick of waiting for me to finish this post… sorry for any typos or bad grammar. oops.

xoxo

shannon

I’m gonna share a little bit of my experience so far going through our second house renovation now. When I think about making changes to a house I’m expecting more of a happy HGTV type experience but it’s more like Gordon Ramsey Hells Kitchen and that’s ironic because I haven’t even started on the kitchen yet.

I feel like when you are a full-time mom you have so much house work and upkeep that it’s hard enough doing it while living in a completed house. Now I decide to make a dream home while I have 2 kids, 1 of them is only 6 months old and going to be living all through the construction so I pretty much am a smart human.

Heres the exterior of the house now (mid construction and sorry for the shit photos).

Great bones, on the open water, with a pool and lots of potential. This house was originally listed for 1.7 million. We were not necessarily in the market for a million dollar home at the time but they lowered it to 1.4 so we threw out an offer of 1 million, thinking worst case scenario they would say no and we would be in the same situation as we started or maybe even worse, they would say yes and then we would have to figure out how to buy a million dollar house. They countered at 1.1 and seeing as the comps in the area were between 1.5-3 million it was kind of a no brainer.. we had to figure it out. We already knew we would have to make changes to the house but it just makes sense to put 100k or so into a house that we could turn into a 500k+ profit if needed or otherwise make it our forever home which would be priceless.

Moving on from the buying process, here is the list of honey-dos (even though my honey doesn’t do shit himself but you get the point)
1. Interior flooring and paint. This wasn’t so bad because it was all completed before we actually moved in.
2. Exterior updated and painted
3. Pavers, patio and pool updated
4. Master bathroom update
5. Kitchen and living space
6. Jack and Jill bathroom upstairs
7. Downstairs bathroom updated
8. Laundry room updated.
Now that I’m writing it all up it seems like a bad idea out loud… but it’s gonna be great!!

This is my biggest struggle while going through this experience that I don’t think a lot of people understand. You get an idea in your head and your beautiful, naive self thinks “oh we get a guy who can come do blah and they come over and they do blah and and we pay them and it gets done and life is grand”. Literally a dream but not reality. This is reality so far with just the exterior alone… “Hey guy, can you come give me a quote to fix up the outside a bit so that we can paint the house and make it look better?” Guy: “Yea, it will be 2 months and $95,000 for what you want to do”. Ok (impossible) let me shop around… 7 quotes and 3 months later, “yes 3 weeks and under $10,000. “PERFECT” I thought. then 2 months later and over $10,000 in… I am living with an almost done exterior that still needs to be painted, needs a new railing and new front door. Knowing what I know now, I can kind of predict that whatever we are quoted will take 4 times as long and probably double the price. Also I don’t understand how it’s so hard to get an honest quote and find someone that will just come do the work as they say? It’s like Pretty Woman home edition in the way that I’m saying “here is work and here is money for the work, please take it” yet it’s hard to just get it done.

So far we have finished 30% of the house and it is still livable as of now but I am a little worried about doing the kitchen because that’s my life-line as a homemaker.  I think I am going to move onto something a little less inconvenient like a bathroom maybe?

This is the current kitchen. Smaller than we want, but it functions.

This is some of the kitchen inspiration (courtesy of Pinterest) –

This will also be a part of the one living space update and we are removing that fireplace. I know there are people who tell me not to tear it down but I live on the water in FL and I will enjoy the view from the kitchen a lot more than I will enjoy a fire in 100 degree weather… who the &%@! needs a fireplace here?!?

Anyway I’ll keep posting more updates and I’ll share some of the ideas I have too, as I go through it, but one thing I can suggest is if you are updating a new home and if it is possible, try and get as much work done before moving in. We did this with the last house and it made life so much easier because we could have multiple things being done at once instead of having to live around it.

However… the plus point of living in it for a little while really gives you a better idea of how you function in the house and what ideas for the layout would actually work better. This does help a lot when planning the changes. So there are definite pros and cons to both ways. We have been talking about getting into a possible rental when we do the kitchen just for our own sanity and maybe it will get things moving faster? Thoughts?

Anyway, thanks for reading and if you want to send me any suggestions or a bottle of wine, I’ll allow it.

xoxo

Shannon

Just a warning this is not an advice post but more of a “I don’t know what *&%! I’m doing” post.

Currently, as of June 6th, Liam’s School has had a chicken pox outbreak. Liam already had the chicken pox last year but me being me never took him to the Dr. I just let it run its course and kept him home with his cousin who also had it. Because of this, I don’t have any documented proof showing that he is immune. I also didn’t vaccinate him and don’t have any intention to, especially because he already had it soo…? Basically unless I can show proof of immunization, he needs to be out of school for at least 21 days (gun emoji to the head).

So my first thought was to take a trip somewhere because change of scenery for some reason seems like the best way to kill the time away from school and also keeps us very occupied. Bailey is only 6 months now so traveling is very hit or miss for anyone’s sanity. So far she has been an amazingly chill baby and travels well but when it comes to driving long distances I’ll just say she’s not a fan of the carseat. That being said,  my friend Leanne had just gone to this resort between here and Orlando about an hour and a half away and it looked like the perfect place to bring him. It’s called the Omni Resort at Champion’s Gate just east of us right off the I-4. The majority of the resort is just pools and golf courses but they also have an arcade, mini golf, a fire pit for making smores and a gym (haha that’s a joke) It was the perfect mini getaway because we left Wednesday morning, went straight to Wonder Works in Orlando, which is conveniently right next to a Shake Shack (drool).  Liam had a blast there but was done within an hour or so (prayer hands).

So we went to the hotel, checked in and still had all afternoon at the pool and in the lazy river. We ate and watched a movie and the next day got right back in the pool after he spent a little time in the arcade. We ordered food by the pool and spent what felt like an entire day there. We headed home around 2 so by the time we got home we still had the rest of the afternoon and evening to get in a normal dinner and bedtime routine.

It was perfect but it was only 2 days down out of the 21 he needs to be out of school… luckily we live in a pretty good vacation spot so i can try and make fun vacation days out of it. However, when Liam is home, I have a hard time just staying here trying to think of fun activities because it gets real old real fast. Also when I go out of town I don’t have to clean or do dishes or go food shopping or make sure that all of that is being done while also trying to entertain, feed and nap both kids.

I really wish I was one of those moms that was so constantly creative with both kids that they never had a dull moment when out of school but I’m not. I really admire moms like that. My biggest struggle when he is out of school is to keep him off the iPad. He wants it when he eats and when he poops (which takes about 45 minutes) and basically any other time he can sneak it away without me realizing.

I now have only 7 days left but it still feels like a lifetime. I’m tired and wake up between 4:30-5am everyday like clockwork and then if I am lucky enough to fall back asleep, usually around 7, that gives me just enough of a sleep tease before the kids wake me up and then I’m twice as tired. So I am either going to try for another mini trip or see what other kids are temporarily stuck out of school so he can hang out with friends who will be way better at playing zombie nerf war than I am. Also we bought a slime making kit this week so, that’s cool…

I used to literally think that stay at home moms would go to yoga and drink wine and watch TV all the time and I used to internally roll my eyes at moms who would talk about their problems. I cannot believe how much my viewpoint has changed since becoming a mother and how wrong I was. In fact I hope there are moms out there that drink wine and do yoga and watch TV all day. You deserve it and just invite me next time.

Ok I have had Liam in my lap about 6 times now while trying to write this and I am starting to feel like a bad mom so I’m gonna end off. Power to all the moms and dads out there. You guys are doing great. If you feel like entertaining a cute 4 year old this week or cleaning slime out of my carpet just LMK.

xoxo

Shannon

Ok so here’s my first post and I’gonna try and keep it short. I just want to explain a little bit about why I started the blog and also what I have run into while learning more about blogging and social media.

Since having kids I have been more conscious of the products I buy and use and I have noticed more natural and organic products becoming available which is great. I do see a lack of certain things that are available and affordable. From this, I decided to get into developing a new line of bedding and home products.

While in development, the general idea was to start building a following on social media so that I myself could survey and get real knowledge as to what people are looking for and what is important to them and at the same time, develop the right target market for my line of bedding. As I started to get into it, I noticed that I started meeting some incredible people and became attached to a lot of them and their families as well as noticing my compassion for so many others expand. It sounds funny because majority of people I have never met in person but have come to know them on social media and it almost expanded my realm of interest and responsibility outside of my circle of friends and acquaintances in “real life”.

I also noticed that I got sucked in, pretty hard for a minute, to all the politics of social media and also the odd concepts of having to impress a whole lot of people that I don’t know personally but feeling obligated to be interesting to them and accepted. For a minute it was worse than being in 8th grade as a young girl… that was just on Instagram.

As far as my blog is concerned, my first problem was that there are so many amazing profiles and bloggers out there and so much data available at everyone’s finger tips that I wondered why anyone would even care to have another blogger. Then I remembered why I was doing this in the first place. My first intention for blogging through the process of development was to do it for myself and then it expanded into this idea of writing it in such a way to keep people interested and somehow I got a little lost in that whole concept.

The truth is that I am not all that interesting. I don’t live in Bali or Australia, I am not a perfect mother and I don’t have the most perfect family and I suck at cooking when I even bother to cook. So back to the drawing board I decided that if I am going to do this blog and expand on social media, I am going to be 100% honest with it. I am probably going to write like someone who didn’t finish high school (because I didn’t) and I will post photos that aren’t always good quality or match my grid perfectly. My stories and snapchats might be great, they might be stupid or annoying or just be baby video after baby video once in a while, who knows? But I know that I will post and write what I am experiencing or have experienced and I’ll post about it in a way that I want to and not worry much about how it is criticized.

Don’t get me wrong, I loooooooove looking through pretty profiles and reading all about the great moms out there doing amazing stuff and killing it in the mom world. I WISH I could blog like them. Reality just is what it is and here’s me. So I hope you enjoy and I am fully open to comments and feedback!!

xox

Shannon