The Light at the End of the Tunnel

My blog is always in the back of my mind. Not that anyone could tell since I never actually post anything these days. Today I thought I'd look at the drafts I've started and never posted and I found this gem. After rereading it I've decided that I want to post this today even if it is almost a year old because it putts a point across that I'm just glad I was able to capture in that moment.

May 2015

I have spent the last nine months growing a little human inside of me and it was really hard for our whole family. On paper or to a doctor this pregnancy was normal. average. boring. No medical issues that needed addressing and now I have a beautiful healthy baby. I could go on for a long time about all the things that made the last nine months so hard but I'm not going to bore you with details. I'm just going to share something that I hope will help me and hopefully you in any future pregnancies.

As my due date approached and then passed,

while I waited for the exciting moment when active labor would begin, 

I was worried. 

I did not want to be pregnant anymore! I couldn't wait for it to be over! But I also was having a hard time believing that it would all be worth the past nine months. 

A scary thought:

To be at the end and feel like it will never end and wanting it to be over, but not to be looking forward to it. My worries included that recovering would be just as bad as being pregnant, also not getting any sleep and so many more negatives things that are often talked of when having a newborn at home. 

I still had a small amount of hope. I couldn't remember how amazing having a newborn at home was but I remembered missing it and wanting a baby again and how excited we were when my husband and I found out we would be having a second baby. I tried not to entertain these negative thoughts but they were there in the back of my mind. 

So now I have a one week old baby and I can say that it was all WORTH IT!

Yes I have been uncomfortable and in a lot of pain as my body recovers from labor as well as the 9 months of pregnancy leading up to it. I'm still recovering, still very uncomfortable but I can feel my body healing and I know that it wont be long until I am going on long walks again, playing racquetball with my husband, taking my toddler to the zoo and on other adventures, and doing so many things I love to do, becoming healthy, active and fit again. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

And yes I no longer get anywhere near as much sleep as I'm use to. But I haven't once minded being awake at any odd hour to feed and cuddle with my baby. I find enough time to sleep so I can function and that is good enough. I love my baby so much and I love watching her older sister be such a helper. Yes life is hard and I have a lot of ups and downs, and I can blame some of them on hormones, but life is also wonderful beyond words. Would I do it all over again? Most defiantly yes I would! Do I think that as this baby grows into a toddler I'll want another baby yes and I know it will be worth another pregnancy, but maybe not for a while because I really do not like being pregnant but I really really love having a newborn in my home.

Sometimes you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel until your almost out of it. 

Preparing for Motherhood

Recently I've been thinking or more accurately wishing that I'd prepared better for being a mom. I always knew I wanted to be a Mom when I grew up so why didn't I put more energy and effort in preparing for motherhood. Even as I entered college I knew my ultimate career goal was to be a mother. So why did I not study Early Childhood Education, or Family and Consumer Science, or Family Life and Human Development? Yes I looked it up these are real majors that colleges offer. Instead I did most of my GEs and then decided to study Biology because I realized how much I loved learning about the human body. I always said if I didn't want to be a stay at home mom so much I might have become a doctor. Biology opened up options for other good possible careers if  my 1st choice didn't happen right away or ever. I didn't want people to think that all I wanted to do was be a mom (I mean I needed to find a man before that was an option anyways). Now that I have my 1st career choice I see that it was silly of me to be more focused on a "back up" plan then on preparing for motherhood. In my mind there was a stigma attached to majors like the ones listed above. Looking back I am guilty of promoting this stigma and I am more sorry for that then you know. Now I admire those who studied those fields, they where the smart and courageous ones. How did I let the "back up" plan become more important then the original plan. I wont go so far as to say I regret studying biology, because I don't. I loved it. I will say I regret not taking more then one developmental physiology class. Maybe I'd be a better mom, more prepared for the challenges I currently face everyday.

To be fair I probably did a fair amount of preparation for motherhood and am being a little hard on myself. I'm a great mom and I'm sure most parents have moments of feeling completely over whelmed from time to time weather they studied family relations or childhood development in college or not.

Now with all that in mind I was reminded of one of my strengths today. That even with 2 small kids I am often on time to things and well prepared with a packed diaper bag in toe. Yes sometimes I'm late and/or unprepared. I have strengths but I'm not perfect and neither are my children. So why is this a strength? Was is something I learned at college? This might surprise you but the answer is Yes. No, I didn't take a class on how to be prepared and on time with children in college. What I did was much harder then that, I played basketball.

What?
Here let me explain:

I remember hearing things like this beautiful quote here that I found using google search just now, and articles and speeches about how sports prepared kids for life. I believed it, but I never really thought that playing basketball was preparing me for motherhood. But it was!

Playing college basketball and everything I did to achieve that goal prepared me more for motherhood then I could have ever imagine. So there are many reasons and ways I'm a better mom because I played basketball but I'll get back to my point and not go into all of them right now.

Since my 1st season of basketball in the 8th grade it was drilled into me just how important being on time to practice was. "If your not 15 min early your late" if I had a dollar for every time I heard that I'd be rich. I remember going to a basketball game after I'd stopped playing and the only thing I remember is how amazing it was to walk into the gym just in time for tip off and not hours and hours earlier. Along with being on time it was also very important to have everything I needed. This Checklist here is no joke I was always making mental check list and checking my bag twice before leaving to be 15 min early to practice. I had nightmares of forgetting a shoe or my jersey. I always had extra socks and whatever else in my sports bag.

(Although there is one thing on this list I found on pinterest that seems out of place, knee pads, who wears knee pads in basketball I sure didn't but my knees were always a lovely mix of black and blue.)

So I can tell someone I'll be somewhere at a set time and I can get there with a baby and a toddler in toe and when they have a blow out or pee there pants or need a snack or its cold and they want a coat or a blanket I will most likely have what I need to fix the problem. No I don't carry everything around all the time in a Marry Poppins bag, but I do have a diaper bag. Every time I leave the house I have spent some amount of time compiling what will be needed and what could be needed so I'm ready. My diaper bag looks like any other diaper bag I'm sure. And because basketball is a team sport I like to be able to help out my fellow moms. I love the feeling of being able to fix a problem either for my child or for someone else because I have a solution in my diaper bag. I like being that person who can save the day because I'm prepared, because I've been on the other end and It stinks and sometimes there Isn't someone like me around to help and that's the worst. So thank you basketball.

Announcing Pregnancies

Pregnancy announcements have been on my mind a lot lately. Several of my friends are pregnant and yes my husband and I are excepting number 2. So no wonder I have a lot of thoughts on the subject right now.

To be socially acceptable one waits until the end of the 1st trimester to announce a pregnancy to friends and family while having told maybe a few close people before that. One main reason that people wait to announce is because miscarriages are most likely in that 1st trimester. I waited to announce my 1st pregnancy because someone close to me had a miscarriage days after I found out I was excepting and I was terrified that it might happen to me. I was very surprised when I saw an announcements on Facebook much earlier then I would have ever thought to make mine public. Since then I have thought about this a lot and now it is all fresh in my mind again. So I thought I'd write down my thoughts.

Two well known people have recently made early pregnancy announcements, Princess Kate and the recently married daughter form the TLC show, 19 Kids and Counting. I heard Princess Kate's reason was that the morning sickness would have lent to so many rumors that they just decided to beat the rumor mill. The latter made a point I hadn't thought about. Taking a pro life/anti abortion stance saying that by announcing pregnancy early you are acknowledging that a fetus is a baby sooner. Theses are both great reasons.

I mentioned that with my 1st pregnancy I waited because I was terrified of miscarriage. Thinking back it doesn't seem like a good reason anymore. I have not experienced miscarriage first hand but have seen it happen to friends. I can only imagine how hard it must be and I think that it would help to have the support of family and friends to help me threw if ever it does happen to me. Bringing life into the world is very happy news so why not share the news early on and if things go wrong then at least you got to share the good news and now hopefully you have help and support through the hard times ahead.

My husband and I were very excited to find out we have another one on the way, so why did we wait to announce this second pregnancy till the end of the 1st trimester. Its simple and maybe a little silly and has nothing to do with worrying about miscarriage this time. To anyone who has been pregnant or lived with a pregnant women it should come as no surprise that I don't like being pregnant. Its hard, a baby is slowly taking over your body. No matter how "easy" a pregnancy is most of the time it is just plain not fun. With that said being pregnant has amazing moments, its a blessing and a gift that I couldn't begin to express in words so I wont. The point being that I spent that first three months throwing up and being sick with little to show for it (yes anyone who saw me on a regular bases would have figured it out but I'm no princess Kate and as stay at home mom who moved across town right as it all started it just wasn't really an issue). What helped me threw it all was looking forward to a cute Pinterest worthy announcement. By waiting we got to do it in October with Halloween. It was so worth it for me. Pregnancy is worth it! But when your just a few weeks in, 9 months seems like forever, finding things to look forward to, that are not so far away helps to keep a good attitude. Plus by waiting to tell people you avoid some of the questions and advice that can get really old after awhile.

...that's right Our Little Princess is going to be a Big Sister!

When or how you announce your pregnant is up to you. I just hope however you do so you are able to enjoy it. Whether it's number one or number seven its always important to take advantage of all the good parts of being pregnant, hopefully telling people is one of them.  

What to do in Provo, UT with Toddlers

Not mention in this post but the
Freedom Festival
on and around the 4th of July is Awesome

I meant to get this post up before I moved but things got crazy. Now that I have to start all over in a new place I can't help but think how nice it would be to have a resource like this one for my new town, so better late then never.

As a stay at home mom I have discovered so many fun and cheap or free things to do with my little girl that kept us both entertained and more importantly sane this past year and more. I'm leaving this beautiful city that I have completely fallen in love with very soon, and as part of saying good bye I want to pass my hard earned knowledge to anyone who is in need of adventures with small children in or near Provo, UT.

Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum (aka Bean Museum)

Located on BYU campus. Completely Free. Wonderful eye catching exhibits for all ages (baby to grandparent). So what is it? Stuffed animals. Real, at one time living animals. I promise that is not at all creepy. It has bugs and butterfly's, lions and giraffes, and lots, lots more. Its the next best thing to a zoo and did I mention completely free.


Museum of Paleontology
Also on BYU campus and free. Not nearly as visitor friendly or cool as the Bean Museum but still worth a look if your in the area.

Story Time at the Provo Library

Awesome. Amazing. They have a baby story time once a week with great songs and ideas of how to teach/play with such a little one. Then there is also story times every week day for toddlers (its the same thing all week but you can go any day). And I believe a preschool story time as well. Check out there website for the details. This was been a life saver and a great way to introduce my girl to books. At 2 years old she loves books and is learning the alphabet, I give the credit to this wonderful library and possibly the PBS kids show Super Why.


Duck Pond at BYU

this was after a big rain storm
there aren't usually huge puddles for your kids to get so messy in
but it did make for some fun memories

On the south side of Campus there is a beautiful landscape with an enclosed pond that you can go and feed the ducks at. Its a wonderful morning or afternoon outing and even if your child doesn't understand throwing old bread into the pond they can chase the ducks around or just run around on the grass for an hour. Not really a winter thing to do but its great during the summer with lots of trees and shade, fall and spring are beautiful as well.

Provo Rec Center

Not free, but I believe its only $5 or you can get an annual pass. Children under 3 are free. A great indoor and outdoor splash pad for kids. Also if you want to go work out or play racquetball with a spouse or friend there is very inexpensive child care available during certain hours. For details you'll need to go to the website

Pioneer Park splash pad

located at 500 W and Center Street. During the summer there is a great free outdoor splash pad. Its simple and yet a blast. It took going a few times before my little girl warmed up to it, but then she was laughing and splashing and playing little games with me. There is also a playground/juggle gym as well however we found it was more suited to older kids not really a toddler friendly play place. Pioneer park hosts a decent farms market on Saturdays during the fall.

Jakers Pumpkin Patch

Yes this pumpkin patch is really only an October thing but it is so cool that it needs to be on this list. They have a fun little hay maze for the kids, slides, petting zoo, hay rides, and a big pit of corn kernels so like a sand box but without the sand so so so cool. Also its free, expect of course if you actually buy a pumpkin those do cost money.


These last few things on my list are not in Provo, nor are they free, but they are all fun day trips that are worth the money and the drive. I have them linked to there corresponding websites so you can check it out for yourself. Lucky me I had a friend with a little boy the same age as my girl so we carpooled and went on some of these adventures together which was a lot of fun.







Curiosity Museum at Thanksgiving Point

Aquarium in Draper

Hogle Zoo and Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City

Birthday Party (2 yrs old)

We threw a birthday party for my little girl and even if I do say so my self it was AWESOME. I though I'd share in case you want some good ideas for throwing a party for a 2 year old.

The best decision I made was to join up with a good friend. Lucky me, her son and my daughter's birthdays are only 10 days apart. We had talked about birthdays coming up and she was debating between 2 themes. One of the themes being Super Why, which is a PBS show both of our kids love to watch. I thought about it and decided Super Why would be perfect, why not do a combined party. So during a play date we planned and divided up the responsibilities. We had both done some Pinterest research before hand to help our creative juices flow.

We kept it simple, neither of spent much money. I was able to reserve the perfect location (a big empty room with chairs and tables) through my apartment complex at no charge.

I put together a fun invitation on my computer.

Super Letter Cupcakes

1st activity: Coloring 

2nd activity: Story Time in the Book Club

Story Time was a wonderful success, it probably helped that we gave all the kids a snack to eat while they listened to a couple of fun stories. I think the fact that we had age appropriate activities and kept it all very relaxed is what made our party such a success. Since we had all the kids in one place with there full attention right after story time we sang Happy Birthday then we took the birthday kids over to the table to blow out candles, and everyone who sat at the table got a cupcake after that we helped our children open there presents. People stayed and played at the park outside and left when they wanted. For a few extra decorations I colored some of the coloring pages we got form here and here and placed them around the room, as well as using them for signs to the room.

party favors

THE END

It's Just a Phase

Recently a Mom on Facebook posted a "mommy post" that reminded me of something very important. The mom explained a concern and problem she was having and asked for advice on what to do.

Not so long ago I had struggled with the same thing with my daughter so I left a comment with a few tips that had helped me. As I did this I realized that my daughter and I no longer had that particular problem. How exciting it was to be reminded that somethings are just a phase that are children go through and they don't last forever.

In the last couple weeks I have began to noticed a new problem developing with my daughter. Just last night I found my self in the middle of this struggle and tried to handle it the best I could. Afterward I was reflecting and trying to decided what was working and how to address the issue next time. I did not come up with any brilliant solutions, however one thought was very comforting. I remembered that "mommy post" experience and realized that this too is most likely just a phase that she will grow out of. The best thing I can to do is be patient while I try to hopefully speed up the "growing out of it" process, 

I am confident that this is only the beginning. As I learn how to tackle one problem or phase it will be time for the next one. So it is important to enjoy all the non-problem phases and not be too stressed over the problems. And that wraps up my mommy thoughts for today. 

Hand Foot Mouth Disease

I took the summer off from blogging which is really too bad because thinking back I learned a lot. How did I let this happen, well I missed a month, then I was on vacation, then we moved, then I was really sick for a while. However if I try to play catch up then I might never find the motivation to blog again so I'll just start with today.



I have been blessed with a healthy little girl, she is a month away from her 2nd birthday and today was our 1st doctor visit that wasn't preventive care. It started with a fever on Monday. The fever was short lived but then a rash appeared and spread. So today Wednesday I called the doctor and took her in. The doctors visit was short and simple she was able to quickly diagnose Hand Foot and Mouth disease.  Apparently most children will get this disease at some point and it rarely affects adults. The rash will go away on its own in 5 to 7 days in the mean time it is painful and very contagious. Treatment includes keeping the child away from other children till the rash goes away, and to relieve symptoms Benadryl, Ibuprofen, and Tylenol.



Today I am thankful and proud to be a stay at home mom. The last few days I have been able to watch and care for my sick child and pay close attention to symptoms which made the doctors visit quick and painless. The fact that my little girl can not be around other children does not affect my husbands work schedule at all. While some of our plans have to change like not going to playgroup or library story-time and missing a birthday party there is no scrambling or stress in keeping my daughter at home for several days. Instead I get to look forward to watching movies and kid shows and cuddling with my little girl, what an amazing blessing.