love, marriage, baby carriage

05/10/16

How to Date Your Spouse

My husband and I have been together for 9 years and married for 3. I remember at some point in our relationship a few years into dating, my mom gave me advice. While it was great that we were so comfortable together and in our routine that we would have the time of our lives staying in and watching Netflix all weekend, why didn’t we get out of the house and do something different? Why didn’t I get out of my sweats and get my butt off the couch? Great advice, mom!

Then after I had my daughter, I never wanted to leave the house for many reasons: I wasn’t feeling confident in myself so I didn’t want other people to see me; my hormones and maternal instincts made it difficult for me to leave my precious babe; and I was just tired. But luckily with the encouragement of my mom and husband, we got back into the dating routine again. After only a few months off of our dating game, I quickly realized the importance of us dating each other and how that was an integral part of our thriving relationship. I’ll share with you some tips on how to date your spouse based on what has worked for me.

05/4/16

Self Care as a Mom

This is a sponsored post, though all opinions are my own.

When I reflect back to those sweet newborn days, it’s extremely bittersweet. While I developed an incredible breastfeeding relationship with my daughter, I sometimes felt trapped. While I took pride in nourishing my baby girl from my own body, I felt the burden of responsibility. While I cherished those moments of complete reliability on me, the pressure was palpable.

Joys and Terrors

The beautiful and terrifying new mom phase is short-lived, though in that season, there were moments where 5 minutes feels like 5 hours and 10 minutes of inconsolable crying was surely an eternity. I spent my maternity leave, for the most part, braless, holed up in my house, both loving and relishing my greatest creation and crying because I didn’t leave the house in days.

04/14/16

The Dangerous Thing You Need to Know About Limes

You know when you’re browsing Facebook or the internet and come across seemingly freakish health-related topics with pictures that make your stomach curl and think, that could never happen to me, and go on the rest of your day thinking nothing of it? I hope that is not the case with this post – I hope you read it, share it with your friends, and prevent this from happening to you, your friends, and your children. I hope you share it with everyone you know to avoid this seemingly freakish health-related topic because it can happen to you. How do I know? Because it happened to my husband.

Justin came home from work one day with some small blisters on his hand; he seemed only mildly bothered by it, and it looked like nothing to me. I gave him Benedryl ointment and thought nothing of it. The days went by and the blisters not only spread and enlarged, but a painful bright red splotchy rash developed. My husband is not a complainer and has a high threshold for pain, so he played it off for a while like it was nothing. Every day it grew worse until he admitted the horrible pain and burning he felt.