YouTube Catch Up!

It's Friday!! Woo!!! Unless of course you're like me and have to work on the weekends (boo!). Today I wanted to share a few videos that have recently gone up on my YouTube Channel; The Vertically Challenged Momma


So, first.. I finally announced our little girl's name and the meaning behind it! it was a long time coming.. because, ya know.. she was already over a year old when I finally put the video up!

THEN..... we had a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT.....

But wait... THERE'S MORE....

There you have it... the most recent 3 videos on my newest mommy channel. Check them out if you're interested. Have a great weekend everyone!!

I hope you're all well.

Megan

It's A Balancing Act

Being a working mom is probably the single most challenging thing I've ever done. And it's a struggle, daily. Especially when getting ready for work in the morning. That sweet little bedhead princess tests my will EVERY. MORNING. I don't want to leave her. We could have so much fun watching Little Einsteine's and eating blueberries. But, I have to gather all of my strength, get her and myself ready and walk out the door. I hate it.

Before I became a mom I worked, ALL. THE. TIME. Overtime was my middle name. And you would think that after I had a child, I would want to make even more money in order to afford everything. However, the complete opposite is true. I've assessed my 'necessities' and found I don't really need much. I no longer buy 2-3 nail polishes per paycheck. I don't splurge on a bunch of expensive monthly subscription boxes. I still get Ipsy and Birchbox though. I'm thinking of cutting Birchbox out, but I'll talk more about that later.

After work the LAST thing I want to do it clean. I want to spend time with my girl. But somedays that's not possible. I have a list of things to do every day when I get home. But I don't WANT to do any of them. I just want to play with Maddie as much as possible. And I know that DJ feels the same way. She's at the age where every day she's learning something new. I just want to spend every minute I can with her, watching her and teaching her. But we're limited by time. She's very rigid when it comes to bed time. 8pm. We've tried to keep her up a little later just to be able to spend more time with her, but in the end we all suffer for it. If she's not getting ready for the bath, in her room, or there's talk of 'ni-night' by 8:10 it's pretty much death con 5!

Trying to balance work and home life is difficult in general. But throw in the life of a tiny person who depends on you for EVERYTHING and at least 1 thing will suffer. The one thing I will NEVER let suffer though, is the care of my child. I will fight for her and take care of her before ANYTHING else. 

Do any of you struggle with balancing work and home? Even if you don't have children.

I hope you're all well. 

Megan

First Time at the Pumpkin Patch

Hey hey!! If you saw my post on Monday about our Family Fall Bucket List  then you'd know how excited I was to start ticking things off the list. Well, this weekend we did just that!!! And we ticked quite a few things off of our list all at once!

Yep, you read that right.. we checked 4 things off of our list in ONE afternoon!

On Sunday afternoon DJ, Maddie, Brandin and Brittany (Maddie's uncle and aunt) and I, all went to a local farm to pick pumpkins! DJ and I had never gone together before.. In fact, the last time I went was back in 2008 I believe!! I really wanted to take Maddie this year and start it as a new family tradition.

We got to the local farm and it was VERY unorganized. There weren't really clear directions of where things were located so we just had to guess. While we were waiting for the "Hay Ride" (I'll explain more about that later..) we decided to go and have cider and donuts which were included in our admission. Maddie had her first taste of apple cider. She wasn't too big of a fan of it, but that's possibly because of how strong it is. Next time we'll water it down for her.

After we were done with cider and donuts we went to get on the hay ride, but it was WAAAYY too packed and I knew that I should probably be sitting close to the back, so that I had something to hang on too. So we decided to try our luck at the corn maze. It was awful! We went in what we assumed was the entrance but all passageways led to the same dead end. Someone had cut their way through the dead end, but there was no way we were going to take Maddie through a path that was not made by the farm. So we cut our losses and left it.

The tractor was back for the Hay Ride so we decided to just go sit and wait for it to start. Now, when I say Hay Ride, what I really mean is a tractor with a flatbed attached. There was no hay, and you had to sit along the outside of the bed with your feet off the side. There was a step that went across, but my little legs couldn't reach it. Maddie sat on her daddy's lap so that she was safe and held tight. The ride was a BAD idea for me! Being about 8 months pregnant, every bump was AWFUL. It was not so fun. I started having Braxton Hicks contractions. Thankfully that's all they were!

About halfway through the ride, we stopped in a huge pumpkin patch and got to pick our own! This was pretty cool because we got to walk through the patch and decide which one we wanted. We got a really tall one for Maddie, it has a good 'face' so the possibilities are endless as to what we can make it. DJ picked the 'perfect' pumpkin. When you think of a picture of a pumpkin, that's what his looks like. I picked a round one because... ya know.. I'm pretty round right about now lol Brandin and Brittany picked out thier perfect pumpkins as well. Then we all loaded back up and made our way back to the front. At that point the farm was getting ready to close and prepare for their haunted hayrides. So, we took our pumpkins and checked out. We also grabbed another very small pumpkin on the way to check out.

Then it was time to head home and warm up! Maddie had a lot of fun. She had to be held most of the time though because we didn't take the stroller in with us, but she didn't seem to have too much of an issue with it. It was a great way to spend a fall afternoon. And I'm so glad we started this family tradition.

Have you gone to the pumpkin patch this year? What are some of your fall family traditions, or what fall traditions do you hope to start with your family?

I hope you're all well!
Megan

I'm Back!! Fall Family Bucket List!

Hi everyone! I'm back!! Ir's been WAAAY too long. A lot of things have been going on in our household as of late and I plan on catching you up very soon! Or.. if you don't want to wait, you can check out my YouTube Channel The Vertically Challenged Momma to find out!

There are a MILLION bucket lists all over pinterest right now but none really seemed to fit our family. With having an almost 17 month old and (Spoiler alert!) being 8 months pregnant a lot of the things on the lists were either too much for Maddie, or too much for me. So if you're in the same boat as we are, here's our Fall Family Bucket List:

I'm so excited to start ticking things off our list! What's on your bucket list this fall? Anything you think we should add to our list?

Anxiety.

Hey Everyone!

I had a completely different post in mind for today, but life happened. I woke up this morning, just like every morning. Took the baby from her bassinet to her bedroom and put her on the floor to play while DJ and I got ready for work. DJ left, I got myself and the baby ready and then my mom pick us up and took me to work. Then while sitting at my desk.. something happened.

Baby Led Weaning: What It Is And Why We're Doing It

While I was pregnant, I decided I was going to make my own baby food. Especially after the whole debacle with glass shards being found in baby food. I was going to save money and know exactly what was in my daughters food. Fast forward a few months.. 

While researching homemade baby food recipes I discovered Baby Led Weaning. It's a brilliant idea. Give your child REAL WHOLE food! No need for a special baby food blender, no special baby food. All you need is whatever you're eating.

Pediatricians suggest adding one new food a week in order to rule out allergies. So start small. If you're having green beans with dinner, put baby in the high chair at the table with you and add a few green beans to their tray. Don't worry if they don't start eating right away. They'll get the hang of it eventually.

There's a saying, 'Food before one is just for fun!' Baby gets all of their nutrients from breast milk or formula. As they get older and stop drinking formula or breast milk, they will need to eat more. Also, if you don't feed your baby food every day, don't worry. As long as their getting milk, they'll be just fine.

I am excited to give my little one food and see what she  If you're a momma, did you do baby led weaning, homemade baby food, or store bought baby food?

I hope all is well.

Megan

Screw New Year's Resolutions.

January means a fresh start and with that fresh start, comes New Years Resolutions. Now, I'm not a big fan of New Years Resolutions, Why do you need to wait for the start of a new year to make a change? If you want to start doing something on November 29^th, start it then. Don't just say, I'll wait until the new year to do it. With that being said, I did decide on a few goals for 2016.