I just have to give a shout out to the incredible woman who watches Charlotte Monday through Friday, week after week – she calls herself MIMI and her home is officially Mimi’s Crib. We recently had the opportunity to celebrate her after she completed the Preschool Literacy Program through the Nashville Library’s Bringing Books to Life program. Charlotte is still a little small for “curriculum,” but the older kids at Mimi’s Crib are already becoming prepared to go to kindergarten one day. We joined another home daycare for pizza, story time, and of course, lots of Mimi snuggles…
Thank you, Mimi! 🙂 Charlotte (left) would only sit still with Mimi…
Mimi, we had such a great time celebrating you at the library. Thanks to you for everything you do to love on these sweet babies every day!
You guys just have to check out this sweet new book When I Pray For You by Matthew Turner. It is the sweetest! And when I pre-ordered it on Amazon, I also got a free copy of one of his other books, When God Made Light. Charlotte and I are enjoying them each so much. If you’re in the season of friends-having-babies like I am, these would make incredible gifts as well.
And look at those sweet little pajama feet!!
A few fun facts about the author and his wife – they live here in Nashville, and Matthew’s wife, Jessica, is an author as well. Not only does she run the blog The Mom Creative, but she also has written the books The Fringe Hours and Stretched Too Thin. Both books help women (like me!) manage their roles as wives, moms, employees, and creative human beings. I’m deep into Stretched Too Thin right now, and let me just say, IT SPEAKS TO ME. Check them out!
Have you said these to yourself before? Do you believe them to be true?
As a mother who works outside of the home, I look for a healthy blend in my life. I hate the phrase “work-life balance” because it implies, to me, that these two should be equal: that my work should be 50% and my life should be 50%. And frankly, that is just not my goal.
Work-life-relationships-home-volunteering blend, a.k.a. LIFE, is simply finding the blend in your life that works for you. There are days I pour so much more into my work. And days I pour everything into my family. Days where I feel like all is well and I am achieving both the musts and the wants of life. And days where I feel like I’m drowning. The kind of blend I’m talking about ebbs and flows.
Recently, I’ve seen this images sweep social media:
I believe women have started to combat the “you can have it all” mentality. I have girlfriends with and without kids, working outside of the home and inside of the home, married and unmarried. And truly, I hope that the rise of women supporting women will be a hallmark of our generation. I have been privy to so many conversations that go like this:
“I stay home with the kids.” “That’s awesome!”
“I’m a lawyer downtown, my kids go to daycare.” “That’s awesome!”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t want kids.” “That’s awesome!”
All of this said, I don’t know any mom who doesn’t deal with finding the right work-life blend in their lives, regardless of their “work status.” Start by taking care of yourself – putting your own oxygen mask on first. If you want to explore this a bit, I recommend “The Fringe Hours” by Jessica Turner. Whenever I’m taking care of myself first, I feel better equipped to handle whatever life throws at me. Set priorities – what are the most important areas of your life? What can you say no to in order to free up your cluttered mind? Here are a few tricks that have been helping me stay centered:
Please share your own tips in the comments!
The morning I went back to work, when Charlotte was almost 9-weeks old. I was excited to be social and drink hot coffee, but I was truly in a fog for several more months.
I love love LOVE hearing a good birth story. But…this is not that post. Sorry! The long and short of my birth story is that I got induced, said yes to all the drugs, and then delivered this miracle weighing in at 8 lbs, 9 oz, on 10/18/17. I am grateful every day that she is healthy and seems to be adapting to life pretty splendidly.
5 months old
This blog will not solely be about being a mom, but I’d be lying if I said it isn’t going to come up pretty often. But today, I truly just want you to meet her! She spends her 8-5 in our neighborhood at the home of an angel-sent-from-God caregiver, along with a handful of little buddies. There, she is learning to make friends, sing and dance, and generally how to be a kid. Here’s a quick collection of the pictures that melt my heart.
6 days old
6 months old
1 year old
And now, at 16 months old!
As of writing this post, she has recently learned how to REALLY walk and even run a bit. She kisses your face by opening wide and giving a big lick. She loves pillow fights and dancing and reading books. She REALLY loves berries – like they-are-going-extinct sort of love. And she has two parents who enjoy the work they do and who are trying really hard to raise a good person.
You’ll see her show up on this blog and on instagram, usually under the name of #CRRtheBabe.
I’ll leave you with this unfiltered snapshot of how we all feel about Mondays.
Welcome to the second life of Megoirs, informally known as Momoirs! After a hiatus of just over two years, it feels like the right time to revive my blogging project. As you can see, my final post in December of 2016 marked the end of an era. That era was filled with food, projects, friends, family, joy, and sorrow, and I needed to take a bit of a break. This blog meant so much to me over the years, and while I was sad to put it aside, it was the right step for my life at the time.
Since then, so much has happened! As you can tell by the updated header, I am adding motherhood into the mix of “most frequently discussed topics.” Fun! My husband Jonathan and I had a daughter, Charlotte Ruth, in October 2017. The journey into parenthood has brought with it ALL of the feels…joy, exhaustion, gratitude, creativity, and a new sense of what “balance” means for us. I can’t wait to share this journey with you moving forward.
There will be more to come, but for now, thank you for reading and welcome to a new era of Megoirs!
To catch up, check out the {Start Here} link at the top of the page, follow me on instagram, or click on a favorite tag to start digging in. Might I suggest “fixer upper,” “food,” or “photography?”
