Tag: mother | Baby Doodah!

Enough is Enough – On Making Change and Being True to You

Posted on June 19 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

I know I’ve talked about re-branding, changing the direction of my blog and having a whole new template, a couple times on my blog. I think I first brought it up about 3 months ago, in this post, On Starting a Business. However, here I sit with the same blog, across all areas. I’m not growing or changing, I’m just staying put. It’s a damn struggle, too!

On Being a Mommy Blogger

I love being a mom. It is the best job I’ve ever had, but I don’t have a passion for writing about it like I did when Emmett was first born. This is the reason that you’ve seen my post frequency getting less and less, I just don’t have the drive to write about it. Yes, I know, I’ve read the posts too, where you just need to force yourself to write and then the routine of it will create the drive. However, this is different. I am not avoiding writing altogether, I’m mentally avoiding writing about the topics that fit the niche of my blog. I just don’t have any interest in writing about them.… Continue Reading

Filed Under: Starting a Business

Things to Remember About Toddler Emmett

Posted on February 10 by Jillian416 • 2 Comments

I’ve always wanted to be a mom!

Ever since I can remember, I loved playing house, and pretending I had all the babies. I loved holding them, and nuturing them. It was one of my favorite activities as a child (my other, was playing school, in case you were wondering). So when I found out I was pregnant with Emmett, I was more then excited, my life felt like it would finally have a purpose.

However, when Emmett was first born, things didn’t start out as I had envisioned. I went through some serious Postpartum Depression. 🙁 (More details on this linked at the bottom of the post) Looking back, I wish I had asked for help… I knew I was struggling, I just did nothing to fix myself. So, he and I didn’t get off to the best of starts – I cared for him, breastfed him, did everything I could to keep him safe, but it took a few weeks for the deep love I feel for him now to bloom and blossom.

Anyway, the reason that I mention all of this is because I have now realized how fleeting time with him, this little, is. So, I decided to write a post, with 35 things I never want to forget about Emmett.

35 Things I Never Want to Forget About Toddler Emmett

The way you will stop what you’re doing, to look up at me and say, “I love you SOOO much, momma!” It makes my heart melt every single time.
The way you and I can just look at each other, and start giggling over nothing at all.
The way you curl up close when you’re watching TV.
The way you will lay down with your head on my lap, when you’re tired after school.
The way you look in your winter hats.
The way you look back at me from the back seat of the car. You have a half smile on your face, and a half, “stop looking at me mommy” face.
The way you run to me when I pick you up from day care.
The way you get so sad when I leave the room for even just a few minutes. (Going potty alone? No way!)
The way you hug. You give the tightest, strongest hugs, and they feel so good.
The way just seeing you can wipe a full stressful day right out of my mind.
The way you need to bring a hot wheels car with you almost everywhere we go.
The way you suck on your binkie. I know we’ll need to get you to give it up soon, but you look so sweet when you have it.
The way you always need to have “green nigh-nigh” with you at all times.
The way you want to help and truly interested in everything that I’m doing.
The way you just *need* to wiggle your dupa (butt) before you get into the tubby each night.
The way you forgive. If I snap at you because I’m stressed, and you’re getting into things – a simple apology from me and a hug, makes it all go away.
The way you explore with all of your food. It makes a mess, and can be frustrating, but I never want to forget what it’s like.
The way you mimic me in movements, and sometimes in words (though, I hope you leave the swear words out of it). lol
The way you love your day care teachers. You hug them each morning, I love that you are so happy there!
The way you run to me when you get scared and need comfort.
The way you’ll reach for my hand when you’re walking or going downstairs. I love how fully you trust me!
The way you love your daddy. As much as you love me, you love your father, too. You always want to do things with him, build lego buildings, or help him cook. It warms my heart to see the bond you two have.
The way you look when you’re sleeping – All curled up in your blankets.
The way you love building a “house” out of your blankets and your crib.
The way you are curious about everything.
The way we have to read 4 bed time stories each night.
The way you love stickers. Every time you get new ones, you have to use them all, and stick them all to yourself (or mommy). 🙂
The way you were fearful of the snow at the beginning of winter 2014.
The way you NEVER give-up. You will keep trying over and over again, even if it isn’t working or you can’t figure something out.
The way you need to lay your “green nigh night” on everything – your stool, the table, your little desk, everything.
The way you count. You can get to 20 pretty well, and only stumble if you’re not really paying attention.
The way you know that green means go and read means stop with a traffic light, and will direct me when to go or stop.
The way you were so in love with our Christmas tree, and when we took it to the street, watched for it everyday, until the garbage men took it away.
The way you always want a bite of what I’m eating (doesn’t matter what it is).
The way when you get in trouble at dinner, for playing with your food, or spitting out milk, you start singing this, Mommy and Daddy and Emmett song you made up. It’s adorable, and you have a dance!

He’s the best! Every single thing he does, even when he’s getting into trouble amazes me. I had NO idea how much I could love someone, until I had Emmett. I’m sad that he won’t stay little forever (he’s so much fun right now), but I am so excited to experience life with him.

I love you, Emmett!!

Emmett’s First Days

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Filed Under: Family

Let’s Talk – Some Changes & a Meal Plan

Posted on November 16 by Jillian416 • 9 Comments

Life is full of changes, and I don’t always cope so well with them – but if I want to become a successful solopreneur certain things need to evolve.

I have always enjoyed blogging, I’ve had 3 or 4 different blogs in my lifetime, and I’ve enjoyed writing for each one, but I always seemed to run out of post ideas. I never looked at the full picture, or the different angles that a topic can come from. Even with Baby Doodah! I haven’t fully grasped how many readers I could reach if I just buckle down and really look at this like a business. Yes, it is a hobby and I enjoy every single minute that I get to be at the keyboard, writing (90% of the time), but I do want to gain audience members, too.

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of reading, learning and personal development. I’ve been reading blog upon blog about how important it is to have a business plan for your blog. That is literally something I NEVER considered for my blog, in fact – even right now – I have NO Idea how to go about doing that. I have an idea, but I am one of those people who needs specific instructions before I can move forward.

I’ve managed to find a couple of fantastic resources (here are a few for your viewing pleasure, How to Build a Blog Business Plan and How to Create a Successful Business Plan for Your Blog) that will help guide me in the right direction, and I can’t wait to get started. It’s essentially grown-up homework for something that I really enjoy doing, that can only lead to success. Right!?

Things around the blog won’t be TOO different from the outside. I’m thinking I will change the days that I regularly post, right now I aim for Sun-M-W-F, and then my weekend link-up post. I am thinking it will be a good idea to switch to Sun-Tues-Thurs and my weekend link-up. I will be posting less, but my content will be more in-depth, I won’t feel rushed to pump out a blog post so that I can meet my own expectations and those of my readers. I’ll be able to spend time gathering information, thinking through and actually writing multiple drafts of posts. It all sounds really exciting to me! I can be such a nerd. HA HA

Anyway, I wanted to come clean to you, my loyal and valued readers. I love keeping you up to date on everything I have planned, because it is you that I write for. I really hope you stick around!!

Kind of random to put these two together, but that’s how I roll…

My Meal Plan

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs & bacon

Lunch: salad with ham and sliced chicken, sunflower seeds, bleu cheese, purple cabbage and honey mustard & baby carrots

Saturday: (we’ve started meal planning and shopping on Saturday evenings) Spaghetti Squash Fettuccine Alfredo

Sunday: Pork Fried Rice (we’ll be having cauliflower rice)

Monday: Rotisserie Chicken & Baked Potatoes

Tuesday: Homemade Steak Sandwiches

Wednesday: Greek Meatballs & Spinach

Thursday: Scrounge Night

Friday: Homemade Pizza

There you have it!! My confession on changes coming and my yummy weekly menu. We do have a lot of repeats this week, but why mess with what’s broken, right!?

I’m linking up with Laura from Mommy, Run Fast! and Jill from jillconyers.com. And, also linking up with the Motivate Me link-up hosted by Janice from Fitness Cheerleader and Rachel from RunningRachel.com.

Your turn!

How do changes of any kind make you feel?

If you are making a meal plan this week, what’s on it?

Filed Under: Family, Food & Recipes, Uncategorized

New Year’s Resolutions for Moms

Posted on January 5 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

Even moms can make resolutions!

We all strive to be the best mom we can be, not all days are full of rainbows and glitter, but I’m sure that you put every effort in to make sure your child(ren) have everything they need to be happy and healthy. However, since it IS January, and I’m a very goal oriented person, I thought it would be fun to make some resolutions that will make me an even better mom in 2014.

New Year’s Resolutions for Moms

Embrace Good Enough – This may not be the number 1 for all people, but for me, it is THE most important goal this year. I am constantly striving for perfection from myself, my husband, at work, etc, but perfection is just not doable, and pushing so hard to get there is making me miserable. I need to embrace good enough, and realize how wonderful the life I am currently living is.
Disconnect – Like many adults these days, I am attached to my phone like it is a third arm, or an eleventh finger. When I am at home, playing with Emmett or talking to Seamus, the phone needs to be put down. Nothing earth shattering will occur if I don’t look at my phone for a couple of hours.
Meal Plan – Seamus and I already do a pretty good job of planning our weekly meals, but if I’m honest with myself (and you), the meals we choose aren’t all healthy, I’d say we have a 60/40 split, that’s not terrible but I’d like to shift that to 80/20. If we take the time to find new recipes and plan meals for the week on Saturday night, instead of Sunday before we shop, we’re more likely to choose healthier foods.
Stop Worrying About Others – I cannot even tell you how frequently I say things like, “I wish I had so and so’s life,” having no idea what so and so’s life is really like. I need to keep my eyes on my own life and truly embrace what I have, only then will I be truly happy.
Mother AND Wife – Sure, I want to be the number 1 mommy on the planet, but I need adult time too. I want to ensure that Seamus and I have plenty of time to spend together, keeping our relationship fresh.
Be Patient – Days are long, and we experience so many stresses throughout the day, but that shouldn’t be a reason that you start snapping at your child. If Emmett makes a mistake, or touches something he shouldn’t be, it is important that I take several deep breaths before reacting. I don’t want his youngest memories to be of his mother snapping at him because she had a tough day at work.
The House can Stay Messy – I resolve to spend much less time worrying about the cleanliness of my house, and more time playing with my guys. Dishes will still get done, and the toilet scrubbed, but if Emmett’s toys aren’t put away every night, who cares!?
Picture Perfect – Go through some of the thousands (literally) of pictures of Emmett and get them printed, in frames, and on our walls. You can never have too many pictures of your loved ones, is what I say, I’m sure my mom would agree (Hi mom!).
More Crafts or Family Outings – Right before the holidays, we spent time as a family painting and it was so much fun. I want to do more of this and other crafts, as well as take more trips to different museums in the area.
Get Enough Sleep – I am finding that as I become more and more involved with this blog, I am choosing to blog over choosing to sleep. While I do find complete and utter happiness in blogging, I still need sleep. Now I just need to find a healthy balance.

Alright those are my 2014 mom resolutions, I can’t wait to get started! 🙂

Your turn!

I’d love to hear your resolutions as moms/parents, share in the comments below.

Filed Under: Family

Weekly Wishes – Love

Posted on December 16 by Jillian416 • 1 Comment

Who doesn’t love Weekly Wishes?

Weekly Wishes is a link-up started by Melyssa from The Nectar Collective. It is a place where you can post and share you wishes and goals for the week ahead on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc and then link it up on Melyssa’s blog. I LOVE doing this because it holds me accountable for the week ahead. I’ve shared my goals with the world (through my blog) and I know people will read and wonder whether I stuck to my goals. It definitely keeps me honest!

Happy Monday, friends!

Did anyone else have difficulty getting out of their nice warm toasty bed this morning? Yeah, I thought so! My alarm went off and I literally got mad at it, I wanted to throw it against the wall. Haha I didn’t, since my alarm is my phone, I’d be lost if I had broken it. Even though it was extremely difficult to wake up, I managed it and ended up relaxing on the couch and reading, instead of blogging. My brain just wasn’t ready to think, so instead I read. It was lovely.

This week’s Weekly Wishes theme is Love. Considering I talk about both of these guys constantly, it’s obvious that I love them. Never in my life have I ever had love as pure and complete as I do with these two.

Last Week’s Wishes –

My first wish last week was to do some hardcore Christmas shopping. Done! Well, I’m not done with all of my shopping, but I did do a ton of it this week.

Next up was to read some self-help books. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t into reading much this week, so I did not complete this goal.

Finally, I said I wanted to work on an editorial calendar for Baby Doodah. I found the plug-in I want to use, I just didn’t fill it out… Can I get half credit? 😉

And now, this Week’s Wishes

Fill in that editorial calendar. It will make my blog writing life so much easier, I’ll know which post is coming when, and when I have a few minutes here and there, I’ll be able to sit down and write a paragraph or two of a post.
Really and thoroughly enjoy this holiday season with Emmett. He’s growing so quickly, and I don’t want to miss a single moment with him, they’re all so special.
Finish my Christmas shopping, and start wrapping those bad boys.

Alright that’s it, my loves! Be sure to stop on over to The Nectar Collective and link-up with Melyssa’s Weekly Wishes.

Your turn!

What are your goals for the week ahead?

Filed Under: All About Me, Family

The Thankful Project – Day 2 – A Role I’ve Played

Posted on November 2 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

Today’s thankful prompt is “A Role I’ve Played.”

Yesterday I mentioned that I was linking up with Chasing Happy and her Thankful Project. I’m really excited to be joining in on this link-up because I so often forget all of the things that I have to be thankful for, and there are tons.

As I mentioned above, today’s prompt is “a role I’ve played” that I am most thankful for. What a fantastic prompt! How often do you think of the different roles you play in others lives, or how often are you grateful that you’ve been given the opportunity to have those roles? For me it’s hardly ever, I can’t remember the last time I looked at it from that perspective.

I’m so thankful, for so many roles; daughter, sister, aunt, friend, wife and of course, mother. How can I possibly choose between any of those? They are such incremental parts of my life! I am so happy that I have been a part of all.

I think the one that has changed me the most, and the one I am most thankful for is becoming a mother. I love Emmett, I love holding him, and I love teaching him. Every moment I get to spend with him is another moment that I am thankful to be his mother. He gives me so much, without even knowing that he does. The beginning months were rough, but that was all because of postpartum depression. Today I am a completely different person, I love my husband, child and the life we’ve made together.

It is the most amazing thing watching Emmett grow and change as he ages and as he learns new things from Seamus and I. He is picking up on everything and it is literally teaching me how to be a better person. I am becoming more conscious of the things I say and how I say them. I am becoming more patient because I know Emmett deserves that. All of these things are (ever so slowly) spilling into my regular life. A child gives you so many gifts and I am just touching the tip of the iceberg on what Emmett will give me simply by being born.

I am most thankful for the role I’ve played as mother.

Your turn!

What role in your life are you most thankful for?

Be sure to join in and link-up with Kenzie at Chasing Happy!

Filed Under: All About Me

Emmett’s Birth Story (Part 5)

Posted on October 7 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

I was getting so excited! I knew that the hospital midwife was going to come and check how dilated I was and I was confident that I would be nearly 10 cms along (this is when it’s time to start pushing). Well, she checked and I was still just barely 4, which I had been since 8 am that morning. It was around 6:30 pm at this point, 7 is when the doctors switch shifts, I’ll explain why this is important shortly.

To give a little background, at my OB’s office there are 4 doctors and 2 nurse practitioners. Throughout your pregnancy you see each of the doctors and NPs randomly because you don’t know who your doctor will be at the time of birth. I of course had my favorites in the office so I was really hoping that I’d be fortunate to have one of them.

As it turned out my very favorite doctor was the doctor on duty all of Monday but she worked the morning shift and was scheduled to get off at 7. The doctor coming in after her was my second favorite (SCORE!) but I didn’t know this quite yet. My doctor came in and explained that I was currently maxed out on Pitocin and that I still wasn’t dilating very quickly. She stated that because I have high blood pressure that I would need to start considering that I may need a c-section. Seamus and I had discussed ahead of time whether we would be alright with a c-section and we agreed that we didn’t care how Emmett joined us, as long as he and I were safe.

The doctor was gone for probably 5 minutes when she and my second fav doc returned. They laid out my two options, 1- They could turn the Pitocin off which could cause my body’s receptors to turn back on and cause me to dilate further. They would check my cervix again at 11:00 pm but with this option there was a chance that I would STILL need a c-section. 2- I just went ahead and had a c-section. Since Seamus and I had decided we were okay with surgery and since there was a chance I may still need it anyway, we went ahead and chose to have a c-section.

From this point on, everything moved so quickly! By the time we had made the decision to go forward with the surgery, it was 6:30, there was an OR open and an anesthesiologist available. The nurse on duty started prepping me for surgery and gave Seamus a set of scrubs to put on for the operating room.

The anesthesiologist who I had for the actual section was different than did my epidural but was just as amazing. He was a soft spoken guy who at first glance you would assume he had no sense of humor but throughout the entire experience he’d crack these really funny underhanded jokes, it was great! He also took the time to explain what was going on and to reassure me, seriously where did my hospital get these guys, they were just fantastic!

I suffer from ocular migraines, so when the anesthesiologist was inserting the medication that I needed for surgery I started to get a blurry aura in my eye, a typical sign of an intense migraine coming. I made sure to tell him and I did start to freak out a bit because I knew the pain from a migraine would be tough to take on top of surgery, he assured me that once surgery was over that I would be given pain meds to alleviate anything I was feeling.

Before I knew it I was being wheeled into the OR and they were getting me all set for what was to come. I realized quickly that my favorite doctor as well as my second favorite were both in the OR. The doctor who was off at 7 had decided to stick around and assist with the surgery, I felt very lucky! At this point they have you move from one bed to another and then start setting the drape up over you. For most, a c-section is an awake surgery, so they put up a screen so that you are unable to see what they are doing to your body.

I may look like I’m asleep but I assure you that I am awake. I had my eyes closed because I was dealing with some intense nausea from the meds they had given me.

Once the drape was up and the meds had taken effect, my doctors poked me and asked whether I could feel what they were doing and whether there was any pain associated with it. With a c-section you feel them pulling and tugging and you feel pressure when the baby comes out but you should feel no pain.

Less than 15 minutes later, the doctor said, “Jillian you’re going to feel a lot of pressure now as we pull the baby out.” It was some pretty intense pressure but certainly nothing I couldn’t handle, especially knowing that at the end of it my baby would be in this world.

In case you missed them: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Filed Under: Emmett, Family