Weekend Planning Blog Hop

I feel like I just wrote one of these - this week has been crazy! And this weekend will be even crazier! Let's see what's on the list -

Friday

• finish shopping for Madelyn's party (Meijer and GFS)
• check out Jo Ann's to see if they have a wreath cheaper than Michael's
• deep clean my living room
• find the best chili recipe ever
• get Madelyn's 1 year picture printed for the party

Saturday

• quick clean my house (or talk Nick into it)
• prep what I can for the party
• playdate in South Lyon
• set up the house for Madelyn's party
• Frankenmuth Christmas tradition

Sunday

• Madelyn's First Birthday Party!

Make sure to share your weekend plans!!

Happy Birthday Madelyn!

My sweet Madelyn Violet,

I am writing this to you at 3:43am on your first birthday. Although not in the plans, something forced me awake at 3:22am and I crept into your room to share with you the moment you came into this world one year ago. I am amazed at how far you have come little girl! You have grown from the squishiest little 8 pounder into an inquisitive, talkative, and hilarious little girl and I love that I have spent every minute of that time with you.

Big things happened in our family this year - one of those being me starting my own firm. I was blessed to stay home with you for 12 amazing weeks. My only job was to take care of my new baby. I went back to work and couldn't stand the idea of not being with you. If I were to miss any of those major milestones in your first year, I never would have gotten over it. Daddy and I talked about it and decided it was time for me to start my own business and also focus on my primary job - being your mom. I went back to work on February 14 and resigned on April 24. I never looked back and have never regretted a moment of being with you.

As beautiful as this past year has been, I know there are even bigger things in store for you in the future! I can't wait to see you experience them all!

All my love - forever and ever,
Mom

Happy House Holiday Challenge - Week 5

This week was a little better in terms of my daily tasks. I only missed 2 days of sweeping my floor and making my bed (those are tricky for me!). Everything else was a perfect score.

I also finished the bedrooms but forgot to take pictures of the after during the daylight hours (oops!)

I am busting my booty to get the living spaces done this week since I have Madelyn's birthday party on Sunday. I don't want to wait until Wednesday to get it done so I am working overtime through the end of the week.

Monday Morning Check In

The weekend is over - were you productive?
I did a decent job getting through my list, thanks to Nick stepping in and helping me out a little. He took the job of wrangling Miss. Madelyn so I was able to power through cleaning my car and getting some of my deep cleaning done.

Let's see how I did:

Friday

• get oil change and tires rotated
• go to Whole Foods for the cheap chicken deal!
• go visit Madelyn's fan club at Capri
• go to Wiggle Worms
• out to dinner with Nick and then hit up Bed, Bath &Beyond for some Keurig pods

Saturday

• finish the blinds in Madelyn's room (part of holiday challenge)
• deep clean our bedroom (still need to change the sheets but everything else is done)
• vacuum out my car
• work on Madelyn's quiet book
• finalize outfits for Madelyn's 1 yr pictures

Sunday

• go to the in-laws for dinner (make pumpkin pie)
• deep clean Ben's bedroom
• find a carwash or wash at home if not freezing
• prep for work appointments on Monday

So I really slacked on Sunday's tasks. Mostly because I was making up for not finishing Saturday's stuff on Saturday. Maybe this has something to do with why....

Everything you see scattered in the background was cleaned up about 5 or 6 times.

How did you do?

Weekend Planning Blog Hop!

Part of the Holiday Happy House challenge this week is to write a daily todo list. Currently, my list is a sticky note on my laptop which works well but when no one else can see it I am much more likely to not finish my tasks. Miss. Madelyn is turning 1 next week! And her party is Sunday - which means I've gotta get my butt in gear! Here is my attempt at holding myself accountable. 

If you have some tasks you want to make sure you complete this weekend, be sure to join in the fun! Head on over to My Happy House to get the details!

Onto my tasks:

Friday

• get oil change and tires rotated
• go to Whole Foods for the cheap chicken deal!
• go visit Madelyn's fan club at Capri
• go to Wiggle Worms
• out to dinner with Nick and then hit up Bed, Bath & Beyond for some Keurig pods

Saturday

• finish the blinds in Madelyn's room (part of holiday challenge)
• deep clean our bedroom
• vacuum out my car
• work on Madelyn's quiet book
• finalize outfits for Madelyn's 1 yr pictures

Sunday

• go to the in-laws for dinner (make pumpkin pie)
• deep clean Ben's bedroom
• find a carwash or wash at home if not freezing
• prep for work appointments on Monday

Happy House Challenge Week 4

This week was a little meh for me on my daily tasks. Mostly because I didn't really keep track of whether or not I did everything everyday. I know I get 7/7 on emptying the sink, sorting the mail and clearing the clutter. Those items were all either habits before or have become habits. Now the rest of 'em, my best guess is that I'm sitting at around 5-6/7. I think the first thing on my daily todo list for this week is to keep track of my daily tasks.

The bathrooms however, are 100% done! Another 2 full garbage bags of junk out the door and one large bag of old sheets and towels that I donated to the Humane Society. I found the couponer in me competing with the crunchy mama and had to make some tough decisions on a lot of the health and beauty products I have accumulated. I started couponing before getting pregnant with Madelyn and was able to score huge amounts of body wash, razors, shampoo, lotion, etc for free or next to free. Then I had Madelyn and began researching all the gunk that is actually in these products. I don't want to turn this post into a rant about chemicals so I will spare you the details but let's just say most of my stockpile consisted of products I wouldn't use on Madelyn. I also felt bad just throwing it all out. I decided to get rid of all the baby care products since I wasn't going to use them. I kept most of the adult products and just plan on integrating more "green" products as we run out. Fortunately, my family knows they can head into that closet at any time and help themselves so hopefully we won't be holding these products too long. The products I decided to get rid of, I just ended up donating rather than throwing away which made me feel better about it as well.

Anyway - onto pictures....
The bathrooms didn't look that much different overall so I'm just going to share the linen closet.

BEFORE

AFTER

Being a Mom

This weekend tragedy struck my parent's next door neighbors. The details can be found here but I am not going to go into details as that isn't the point of this post.

I have experienced death in my lifetime. I have even been impacted by the deaths of people closer to me than my old neighbor but for some reason I can't seem to shake this gut wrenching emotion in the pit of my stomach.

I think about this and combine it with having to walk away from the TV when a show Nick and I watch (The Walking Dead) had an episode in which a young boy was shot.

I find myself thinking about and worrying about children of various blogs that are battling cancer and other serious illnesses.

Again, these aren't new experiences for me. I have watched these shows before and heard these stories and always felt for the people involved but it hasn't affected me the way it does now.

The big difference - Madelyn is here.

I am now able to put myself in these parents' shoes and I can't imagine what they are going through. I am able to hug and kiss my absolutely perfect, healthy baby girl and and incredibly grateful that she is happy and safe. It also makes me realize I would do everything in my power to protect her but there are things in life that you can't protect your children from and that is a terrifying prospect.

Being Madelyn's mother is an overwhelming feeling. I love her with every fiber of my being, more than I ever understood I could love another person. If at any time I find myself getting complacent and taking any part of parenting her for granted something happens that brings me back to the reality that every human life is precious and every moment is one to be cherished because there is so much in life that can't be controlled. I take these moments to squeeze on Miss. Madelyn and tell her how very much her mom loves her because at the end of the day that is all that matters.