Good News … Finally!

Life has been absolutely CRAZYYYY lately… Is anyone else ready for fall, too? I haven’t had much time to put into my writing because I feel like I’m so busy I can’t even breathe sometimes. Everyone tells you it’s hard being a mom, but you can’t really prepare yourself for something like motherhood. I think what I miss the most about my life before my baby is that I had unlimited time to spend on myself. Not that I ever really did all that much, but the option was always there to pamper myself if I wanted to. My life has changed now to the point where I can’t even take a shower at a relaxing pace because I’m constantly worrying about what is going on outside of the bathroom…

However,

I do have some life updates that I feel like are worth sharing. I know we all get into slumps, and hopefully if you find yourself in one now, this will give you comfort that there is always light at the end of the tunnel!

I got a promotion at work! I’ve been working at my current company for almost a year now. I was hired on last August for a part-time position. Five months later, I took a leave for the birth of my daughter. Two short months after that, I returned back to work. Not long after my return, my manager asked me if I would be willing to work full-time hours. Since I was in a part-time position, I would still be ineligible for employee benefits, vacation and sick days, holiday pay, and performance-based bonuses. So, in short, I was working full-time hours, but not getting all of the benefits that the rest of the full-time staff was entitled to. To be frank, I was getting screwed!!

A full-time position opened up within my department, so I thought, ‘What the heck, I’ll just throw my name in the hat!’ My boss told me I’d still have to go through the entire hiring process of a three-person panel interview and online testing. Sooo, we scheduled the interview and testing. I walked out of it all totally disappointed and so sure they wouldn’t give me the job. I had envisioned the scenario over and over in my head and I felt like I had let myself down. It didn’t go at all like I thought it would. But of course, it’s human nature to be harder on yourself than what was reality. I was offered the job!!

I am now going to get good health insurance for myself and my daughter, a $2.50 raise, holiday pay, bonuses, etc. After some long, hard months, things have finally turned around.

I’m also officially enrolled at my university again to get a degree in Business Management. I start on August 26th. I’m suuuper excited to get back to learning and furthering my education. It’s going to be tough, but there is no one more determined than I!

How is your guys’ summer going? Our county fair started last night, which means FAIR FOOD, DEMOLITION DERBIES, AND VISITS TO THE BEER TENT! Can’t wait to hear from all of you! Sorry it’s been so long!

It Will Always Be Her

I love the way my daughter’s face lights up

When I walk into the room

After a long day of being away.

I can see she has missed me

Just as much as I’ve missed her

But then again,

I miss the days of

Being able to drop my things

As I walk into the door.

Oh, how a child can change your life

It’s beautiful and enriching

And I wouldn’t change a thing,

But sometimes I miss all the times

I used to be able to 

Invest into myself.

My happiness matters too,

But somehow I have fallen to the back

I am put on hold,

Because she will always matter more to me

Than even myself

I will give and give and give 

Before I ever allow someone 

The opportunity to question

Who I care about more

Because it will always be her.

It will always be her.

 

Excuses & Friendships

Maintaining friendships after parenthood is hard. Most parents will agree.

But I always kind of had a hard time keeping up with others even before I had a baby. I have always been more introverted, and I can’t really think of a time in my life where I truly felt like I had a “best friend.” Sure, I had people I trusted, hung out with, and considered more than a simple acquaintance, but I never really felt a connection deep enough to where I felt totally comfortable and completely understood.

A short time ago, I had an old high school friend message me and ask how the baby and I were. I hadn’t heard from this friend in quite a while. I will admit, I was being petty about her not coming to visit me like I feel a good friend should. After all, she lives a county away from me. When she messaged me, I was busy doing whatever thing I had on my list of things to do as a working mom, so I gave her a simple: “We’re good.”

I didn’t mean anything negative by it. I was just … BUSY! So she ended up getting upset about how she tries to keep up with me now that I have a baby and that all I do is shut her out. I can see where she is coming from. In all honesty, I will probably always be the type to keep my distance when it comes to outsiders. I like friendship and I do believe that healthy relationships are important, I just no longer have the time to put a bunch of effort into people that aren’t making an actual, solid attempt to see me. You can make every excuse under the sun as to why you don’t go visit someone, but when it comes down to it… it just shows that you don’t actually care that much. And I told her just that.

How much you care is how much you try.

On the other hand, I had a friend that actually put in a great deal of effort to see me and meet my daughter for the first time. When I first got out of high school, I headed straight to Eastern Illinois University. There I met a girl named Tiffany. Now, we both only went to school there for one semester, but we were thick as thieves. We would run out to my car and smoke cigarettes, go to the frat houses, and hang out in our dorm rooms. All college fun… but that was four years ago. We never lost touch. 

Tiffany and I while in college

Tiffany and I this past weekend

I actually met up with Tiff in Chicago about a year ago, and then this past weekend she made the four hour trek to come visit me and meet my daughter.

I’d say that is a helluva lot more effort than most people give.

And we had only seen one another one time in the last four years.

My point of this isn’t to bitch about the people that aren’t putting effort into relationships.

My point is… The people that care, will show up.

It doesn’t matter if you only knew them for a total of four months.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t seen them in years.

And it doesn’t matter how far away they are.

If they care, they will show up.

 

June Blogging Challenge: Day 14

Good morning, blogging world! I apologize that I didn’t do a June Blogging Challenge entry yesterday. The prompt was about what was in my purse, and I don’t carry a purse, so I couldn’t do much! Not to mention my mental health has gone down the drain the last few days. So bear with me as I work through this crazy thing we call LIFE!

Anyway, today’s prompt is 

Something you’re looking forward to

This is hard to think about when you’re in a slight depression. I can’t think of any big milestones or events coming up in the near future. I guess the Fourth of July is coming up next month. Independence Day for the United States. That is always a fun holiday to celebrate with good friends, cold drinks, swimming, and fireworks.

What is something you’re looking forward to?

Any words of encouragement to get me out of the blues I’m in?

I appreciate all of your guys’ interaction lately. I truly adore my blogging family. Until next time! xoxo

June Blogging Challenge: Day 7

Afternoon, readers and writers of WordPress! 

Today is already DAY 7 of the June Blogging Challenge!! Today’s prompt is one that is often asked:

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Okay, I don’t think I have ever swayed on what superpower I would choose if we were ever offered the opportunity to get one.

I want to FLY! I honestly don’t need the ability to walk through walls or be super strong, but I would LOVE to soar through the air feeling the wind in my hair! I would fly with the birds and flow with the treetops. I would look down on big cities, cornfields, ball fields,  and racetracks. I don’t think I would ever come down.

What superpower would you choose??

June Blogging Challenge: Day 6

Hi, friends! Today’s prompt for my June Blogging Challenge is:

THREE WAYS TO WIN YOUR HEART

Oh boy. I am supposed to narrow down things that make me fall in love down to THREE?! I guess this is easier for me if I think about the things I love best about my current relationship. The things that Dylan possesses or does that makes my heart swoon. These are in no particular order. 

Dylan being goofy 🤪

I would have to say HUMOR is one way to capture my heart. There is just something about people that have a good sense of humor. I love someone that doesn’t take everything so seriously and can dish back sarcasm after I hand it out (I’m a very sarcastic person). Dylan is one of the funniest people I have ever met. He knows how to make certain facial expressions that turn an ordinary conversation into a joke. He always knows how to make me laugh.

This morning I wrote a blog about the five love languages. One of my top love languages was Acts of Service. This means that I feel the most loved when someone lends a helping hand to me. I think this is so accurate in describing me because a way to win my heart would be helping me clean the house. Haha!! I am such a clean freak and I hate when the house gets messy! However, there just never seems to be enough hours in the day to keep the house as clean as I would like it to be. So I guess what I’m saying is…. If you want to win my heart, DO THE DISHES!!!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Penne I made the other night! 😋

And lastly, another way to win my heart is….. FOOD! Feed me some dinner and I will be yours for life! Some of my favorites right now are the Hollywood Roll (sushi), nachos, grilled chicken on ANYTHING (wraps, pasta, sandwiches), wings, pizza… Now I’m hungry!

The Hollywood Roll: Crab meat, cream cheese, avocado, and cucumber 🍣

So there ya have it. The three ways to win my heart are being funny, helping me with chores, and feeding me!!

June Blogging Challenge: Day 5

Day FIVE of my June Blogging Challenge! Today’s prompt is very simple.

Home.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to think of today’s prompt. Home. What about home? Is it asking where I live? Does it want pictures of my house? I decided I’d go with something a little less boring……. Maybe.

I live in midwestern Illinois in a small town called Mount Sterling. There are two stoplights and three gas stations. That is where I call HOME. But that isn’t very fun to talk about. Instead, I’d rather talk about where else FEELS like home.

We all have places where we feel the most comfortable. Places where all worries cease to exist and we can let our souls free. This could be at grandma’s house, or even with a certain person.

For me, one of the places that I truly feel relaxed is out in the woods. My fiancé and I love to go camping- it’s kind of what we do for mini vacations throughout the summer. Last summer we went probably ten or more times all over Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. We’ve actually talked about and agreed that camping is what we would like to do on our honeymoon!

I just love being in the trees, breathing in the fresh air. I love cooking over an open flame. I love playing cards at night with the campfire as our only source of light. It’s just an all-around homey feel for me. The rain needs to go away so we can get out and camp soon!!

Della & me at our home

Another thing that makes me feel at home is holding my sweet girl. There is just something about holding your child that makes your walls collapse and nothing else matters. She has stolen my heart! It seems that every time I leave her, something within me is just missing up until the second I see her again. I often wonder if that will ever go away. I doubt it.

Where do you feel at home? Is there anyone in your life that makes you feel at home?

June Blogging Challenge: Day 4

Ahh! Good morning, bloggers! It is Day 4 of my June Blogging Challenge!! Today’s prompt is:

SOMETHING/SOMEONE THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY

This one is so easy for me! In January I gave birth to my first child, Della Rae. Being a mom makes me SO happy, so today’s prompt is a no-brainer.

Della Rae was born at 1:56pm on January 5th, 2019 at 7 lbs 10.5 oz. I gave birth via c-section (What a scary experience!). She was born with a head full of hair. This is her when we were still at the hospital:

 

This past Saturday Della turned five months old. Read The Last Five Months for more about how the last five months with my daughter has changed my life.

Della recently laughed for the VERY first time (see the above video). Until you have a child, you probably don’t truly understand how amazing small milestones like that are.

In all honesty, babies are kind of boring. For the first few months of life, they don’t do much but cry, poop, and eat, so you find yourself waiting imipatiently for them to do the next cool thing like smile, roll over, laugh, or crawl. But once they get the hang of tiny feats like that, you’re back to square one: waiting for the next cool milestone. I, of course, don’t much mind the wait. I love watching her grow and learn new things. She will be six months old next month and then the race is on! She will change SOOO much within the next six months, and I am READY for it!!

Being the mother of Miss Della Rae is the greatest pleasure of my life. Motherhood is a rush of happiness and excitement. What is something/someone that makes you happy??

June Blogging Challenge: Day 3

Hello June!! 

It’s finally starting to be warm consistently, but unfortunately the rain is causing big problems where I’m from. I live in Illinois in between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and they are currently flooded so bad, quite possibly the worst they ever have! Please be thinking of my community and the farmers  as last I checked, only 35% of all crops have been planted this year due to the water standing in fields.

On a more positive note… I thought it would be fun to do a JUNE BLOGGING CHALLENGE! (You can see the challenge at the bottom of this post) I want to post a blog every day for the rest of this month, according to prompts given. I encourage you all to join as well! This is going to be fun!

Okay, so today is June 3rd, and the prompt for today is to describe what you wore in detail.

Today I am wearing some patterned leggings with a black t-shirt. The leggings have pink, orange, navy blue, green, and maroon on them, and I actually got them pretty cheap at Walmart when I was pregnant because the material was stretchy enough to fit over my big belly. To be honest, Walmart has really stepped up their clothing game. I feel no shame buying Walmart clothes, haha! The shoes I’m wearing are a cute pair of sandals (kind of like Birkenstocks) that I found at Goodwill! I’m such a bargain shopper, so don’t ever expect me to flaunt expensive name brand clothes. I’m also wearing a necklace that my fiancé’s mom got me for Mother’s Day. It has her name, birthday, birthweight and height on it. I love it soooo much!

Where do you shop for summer clothes? I’m not big on shopping online, but I think I want to try it out some more. Feel free to leave a comment with good clothing sites.

JOIN my JUNE BLOGGING CHALLENGE with the photo below. I’d love to hear from you guys!! 😊