F is for Family

Family, home, travel, life

Work Life Balance: Confessions of a Working Mom

Sometimes you need more bubble time!

I’ve felt a bit like I’ve been grasping at straws since coming back from our big trip, to the point of not knowing how to tell the story of our vacation, even though it’s a great story and completely positive! I came back with a “let’s change the world attitude”. This sent my ADD into overdrive, of course. There’s nothing more exhausting and counterproductive than being stuck, with yourself, inside your head while ideas are flying at 90 miles per hour in different directions. Now I’m finding myself in a reflective mind set, a much better state of mind because there is room for rational thought and enough clarity to make changes and decisions. That sounds like it should be right…right?
With reflection comes self analysis and here I am stuck, again. How does such an amazing, once in a lifetime trip through Europe begin this tedious mind meld? Culture, lifestyle. It was so different! I got to bask, with my entire family, in a culture that in some very important ways, has it figured out. We had a driver at one point explain, “We work to live, not live to work.” It was that simple. There was an understood family-comes-first focus; work-life balance is an actual lifestyle and not a philosophical discussion.
On top of being able to watch a new culture in action, I was also able to spend almost every waking minute with both my husband and my daughter and my parents. I watched my daughter learn, I watched her grow older and even a change in personality was evident. I don’t mean to suggest that my child has some amazing learning ability where she changes in leaps and bounds in the matter of days. I do believe however, timing wise, we were able to witness a growth spurt that involved both cognitive and behavioral changes. It made me think about everything I miss spending countless hours at work or how much less attention and patience I have after working a full work week.
Once we got back home my husband and I spoke in length about how reenergized we felt after our trip. How we felt that our eyes were more “open” to the world around us and things seemed to be in perspective. We felt that living a more simple and family centric life would be beneficial to us. But we both work in corporate America, in a culture that has meetings to discuss achieving work-life balance, to define it, but does little to put anything into practice to achieve this goal. How do you live outside the “corporate culture” in one aspect of life, the piece that affects your home, while still staying an “engaged employee” who plays by the “corporate rules”? Can you? If you can, are you committing career suicide?
We have so little time with our children, as children. I’ve watched the last 20 months fly by. I feel the last 14 months (since I returned to work) have just melted into a blurred memory. It’s now become a personal, internal battle to strike a balance for my family. There are times as an adult and especially as a parent that we need to make sacrifices for what’s best for our well being and that of those little ones that rely on us. Staying home may not be an option for us at the moment but having quality time with family needs to take precedence.
What do you do to achieve work-life balance?

Work Life Balance: Confessions of a Working Mom

Sometimes you need more bubble time!

I’ve felt a bit like I’ve been grasping at straws since coming back from our big trip, to the point of not knowing how to tell the story of our vacation, even though it’s a great story and completely positive! I came back with a “let’s change the world attitude”. This sent my ADD into overdrive, of course. There’s nothing more exhausting and counterproductive than being stuck, with yourself, inside your head while ideas are flying at 90 miles per hour in different directions. Now I’m finding myself in a reflective mind set, a much better state of mind because there is room for rational thought and enough clarity to make changes and decisions. That sounds like it should be right…right?
With reflection comes self analysis and here I am stuck, again. How does such an amazing, once in a lifetime trip through Europe begin this tedious mind meld? Culture, lifestyle. It was so different! I got to bask, with my entire family, in a culture that in some very important ways, has it figured out. We had a driver at one point explain, “We work to live, not live to work.” It was that simple. There was an understood family-comes-first focus; work-life balance is an actual lifestyle and not a philosophical discussion.
On top of being able to watch a new culture in action, I was also able to spend almost every waking minute with both my husband and my daughter and my parents. I watched my daughter learn, I watched her grow older and even a change in personality was evident. I don’t mean to suggest that my child has some amazing learning ability where she changes in leaps and bounds in the matter of days. I do believe however, timing wise, we were able to witness a growth spurt that involved both cognitive and behavioral changes. It made me think about everything I miss spending countless hours at work or how much less attention and patience I have after working a full work week.
Once we got back home my husband and I spoke in length about how reenergized we felt after our trip. How we felt that our eyes were more “open” to the world around us and things seemed to be in perspective. We felt that living a more simple and family centric life would be beneficial to us. But we both work in corporate America, in a culture that has meetings to discuss achieving work-life balance, to define it, but does little to put anything into practice to achieve this goal. How do you live outside the “corporate culture” in one aspect of life, the piece that affects your home, while still staying an “engaged employee” who plays by the “corporate rules”? Can you? If you can, are you committing career suicide?
We have so little time with our children, as children. I’ve watched the last 20 months fly by. I feel the last 14 months (since I returned to work) have just melted into a blurred memory. It’s now become a personal, internal battle to strike a balance for my family. There are times as an adult and especially as a parent that we need to make sacrifices for what’s best for our well being and that of those little ones that rely on us. Staying home may not be an option for us at the moment but having quality time with family needs to take precedence.
What do you do to achieve work-life balance?

Work Life Balance: Confessions of a Working Mom

Sometimes you need more bubble time!

I’ve felt a bit like I’ve been grasping at straws since coming back from our big trip, to the point of not knowing how to tell the story of our vacation, even though it’s a great story and completely positive! I came back with a “let’s change the world attitude”. This sent my ADD into overdrive, of course. There’s nothing more exhausting and counterproductive than being stuck, with yourself, inside your head while ideas are flying at 90 miles per hour in different directions. Now I’m finding myself in a reflective mind set, a much better state of mind because there is room for rational thought and enough clarity to make changes and decisions. That sounds like it should be right…right?
With reflection comes self analysis and here I am stuck, again. How does such an amazing, once in a lifetime trip through Europe begin this tedious mind meld? Culture, lifestyle. It was so different! I got to bask, with my entire family, in a culture that in some very important ways, has it figured out. We had a driver at one point explain, “We work to live, not live to work.” It was that simple. There was an understood family-comes-first focus; work-life balance is an actual lifestyle and not a philosophical discussion.
On top of being able to watch a new culture in action, I was also able to spend almost every waking minute with both my husband and my daughter and my parents. I watched my daughter learn, I watched her grow older and even a change in personality was evident. I don’t mean to suggest that my child has some amazing learning ability where she changes in leaps and bounds in the matter of days. I do believe however, timing wise, we were able to witness a growth spurt that involved both cognitive and behavioral changes. It made me think about everything I miss spending countless hours at work or how much less attention and patience I have after working a full work week.
Once we got back home my husband and I spoke in length about how reenergized we felt after our trip. How we felt that our eyes were more “open” to the world around us and things seemed to be in perspective. We felt that living a more simple and family centric life would be beneficial to us. But we both work in corporate America, in a culture that has meetings to discuss achieving work-life balance, to define it, but does little to put anything into practice to achieve this goal. How do you live outside the “corporate culture” in one aspect of life, the piece that affects your home, while still staying an “engaged employee” who plays by the “corporate rules”? Can you? If you can, are you committing career suicide?
We have so little time with our children, as children. I’ve watched the last 20 months fly by. I feel the last 14 months (since I returned to work) have just melted into a blurred memory. It’s now become a personal, internal battle to strike a balance for my family. There are times as an adult and especially as a parent that we need to make sacrifices for what’s best for our well being and that of those little ones that rely on us. Staying home may not be an option for us at the moment but having quality time with family needs to take precedence.
What do you do to achieve work-life balance?

Bloggy Spotlight!

Check out a blogger friend and her amazing giveaway going on now!

http://www.sowderingabout.com/2013/06/on-display-monday-linkup-6.html?m=1

She’s an amazing Mom of 2 who is a master DIY/Crafter. I have talent jealousy going on!

Bloggy Spotlight!

Check out a blogger friend and her amazing giveaway going on now!

http://www.sowderingabout.com/2013/06/on-display-monday-linkup-6.html?m=1

She’s an amazing Mom of 2 who is a master DIY/Crafter. I have talent jealousy going on!

Bloggy Spotlight!

Check out a blogger friend and her amazing giveaway going on now!

http://www.sowderingabout.com/2013/06/on-display-monday-linkup-6.html?m=1

She’s an amazing Mom of 2 who is a master DIY/Crafter. I have talent jealousy going on!

Throwback Thursday: Getting Past the Past

Sofia is now 20 months old, almost 20.5 months and sometimes it feels like an eternity since we walked out of that NICU. I’ve been thinking a lot about our experience in its entirety over the past few weeks, from finding out we were pregnant, through the crazy pregnancy and Sofia’s emotional birth. We are pretty close to the 2 year mark so the questions start coming a little more regularly…when are you going to try for #2? Thinking about trying soon? Just by nature the more you are asked the more you ask yourself, the more I ask my husband. We’ve even turned the question to Sofia. Sofie, what do you think about a brother? Her response, “Bruder”? It almost always comes back as a question. Ironic, really.
So, we talk and discuss. Is it the right time, can we afford it, are we ready? Pretty typical. Sofia’s almost two, logically, if we start trying now, by the time we have a baby she’ll be almost three or just past her third birthday…right? I mean theoretically, babies take 10 months to grow but what happens when the last one barely took over 6 months?! How do you not think about that? How do you choose a new Doctor and not consider the level NICU they are associated with? Will this NICU be as good? Sure, I had my surgery. This was my safe guard. Remove the fibroid tumors, they were most likely the issue. But what if they weren’t? I asked this to the OB who performed the surgery. He said, “We’ll find out next pregnancy”. It was a statement of fact, no sugar coating, no hemming and hawing, just a statement.
I’ve come to realize that even though the first pregnancy was riddled in the unknown and “what ifs” of being a first time pregnancy, another pregnancy may be tainted with past experience, compounded with how it will effect baby #1. I feel our NICU experience made me stronger as a mother, my bond with her is surreal. My patience, on most days, because let’s face it, she’s a toddler and they are crazy, runs deeper than I could imagine. As far as NICU stays, I feel it was a positive journey. But how to you leave it behind? How do you keep your past experience from defining your future? How do you stop being a NICU Mom when you are ready to become a Mom again?
I had no clue the path we would be on when that first pregnancy test flashed with a confirmation of a new adventure. I didn’t know the lessons Sofia would teach me in her very first moments of life, lessons in perseverance, strength and faith. All I can do is follow her lead. Be in awe of each new experience and draw strength from faith. I have to learn to give up my analyzing and have faith that the next adventure will present itself as it is intended. I hope I can live in the moment of that new confirmation and just think of it as a NEW adventure, a NEW journey…

Throwback Thursday: Getting Past the Past

Sofia is now 20 months old, almost 20.5 months and sometimes it feels like an eternity since we walked out of that NICU. I’ve been thinking a lot about our experience in its entirety over the past few weeks, from finding out we were pregnant, through the crazy pregnancy and Sofia’s emotional birth. We are pretty close to the 2 year mark so the questions start coming a little more regularly…when are you going to try for #2? Thinking about trying soon? Just by nature the more you are asked the more you ask yourself, the more I ask my husband. We’ve even turned the question to Sofia. Sofie, what do you think about a brother? Her response, “Bruder”? It almost always comes back as a question. Ironic, really.
So, we talk and discuss. Is it the right time, can we afford it, are we ready? Pretty typical. Sofia’s almost two, logically, if we start trying now, by the time we have a baby she’ll be almost three or just past her third birthday…right? I mean theoretically, babies take 10 months to grow but what happens when the last one barely took over 6 months?! How do you not think about that? How do you choose a new Doctor and not consider the level NICU they are associated with? Will this NICU be as good? Sure, I had my surgery. This was my safe guard. Remove the fibroid tumors, they were most likely the issue. But what if they weren’t? I asked this to the OB who performed the surgery. He said, “We’ll find out next pregnancy”. It was a statement of fact, no sugar coating, no hemming and hawing, just a statement.
I’ve come to realize that even though the first pregnancy was riddled in the unknown and “what ifs” of being a first time pregnancy, another pregnancy may be tainted with past experience, compounded with how it will effect baby #1. I feel our NICU experience made me stronger as a mother, my bond with her is surreal. My patience, on most days, because let’s face it, she’s a toddler and they are crazy, runs deeper than I could imagine. As far as NICU stays, I feel it was a positive journey. But how to you leave it behind? How do you keep your past experience from defining your future? How do you stop being a NICU Mom when you are ready to become a Mom again?
I had no clue the path we would be on when that first pregnancy test flashed with a confirmation of a new adventure. I didn’t know the lessons Sofia would teach me in her very first moments of life, lessons in perseverance, strength and faith. All I can do is follow her lead. Be in awe of each new experience and draw strength from faith. I have to learn to give up my analyzing and have faith that the next adventure will present itself as it is intended. I hope I can live in the moment of that new confirmation and just think of it as a NEW adventure, a NEW journey…

Throwback Thursday: Getting Past the Past

Sofia is now 20 months old, almost 20.5 months and sometimes it feels like an eternity since we walked out of that NICU. I’ve been thinking a lot about our experience in its entirety over the past few weeks, from finding out we were pregnant, through the crazy pregnancy and Sofia’s emotional birth. We are pretty close to the 2 year mark so the questions start coming a little more regularly…when are you going to try for #2? Thinking about trying soon? Just by nature the more you are asked the more you ask yourself, the more I ask my husband. We’ve even turned the question to Sofia. Sofie, what do you think about a brother? Her response, “Bruder”? It almost always comes back as a question. Ironic, really.
So, we talk and discuss. Is it the right time, can we afford it, are we ready? Pretty typical. Sofia’s almost two, logically, if we start trying now, by the time we have a baby she’ll be almost three or just past her third birthday…right? I mean theoretically, babies take 10 months to grow but what happens when the last one barely took over 6 months?! How do you not think about that? How do you choose a new Doctor and not consider the level NICU they are associated with? Will this NICU be as good? Sure, I had my surgery. This was my safe guard. Remove the fibroid tumors, they were most likely the issue. But what if they weren’t? I asked this to the OB who performed the surgery. He said, “We’ll find out next pregnancy”. It was a statement of fact, no sugar coating, no hemming and hawing, just a statement.
I’ve come to realize that even though the first pregnancy was riddled in the unknown and “what ifs” of being a first time pregnancy, another pregnancy may be tainted with past experience, compounded with how it will effect baby #1. I feel our NICU experience made me stronger as a mother, my bond with her is surreal. My patience, on most days, because let’s face it, she’s a toddler and they are crazy, runs deeper than I could imagine. As far as NICU stays, I feel it was a positive journey. But how to you leave it behind? How do you keep your past experience from defining your future? How do you stop being a NICU Mom when you are ready to become a Mom again?
I had no clue the path we would be on when that first pregnancy test flashed with a confirmation of a new adventure. I didn’t know the lessons Sofia would teach me in her very first moments of life, lessons in perseverance, strength and faith. All I can do is follow her lead. Be in awe of each new experience and draw strength from faith. I have to learn to give up my analyzing and have faith that the next adventure will present itself as it is intended. I hope I can live in the moment of that new confirmation and just think of it as a NEW adventure, a NEW journey…

Wanderlust Traveler: The Busy Bag!

We have all the clothes packed, all the toiletries zip locked and accounted for…now, the entertainment. During previous trips we packed a few rattles and a couple little board books and we were set. As long as she was snuggled, she was happy. Now we have a mover and a shaker who does not like to be told know and does NOT want to be held back. This trip, little Miss Independent has her very own busy bag. This was a bit of a challenge considering most ideas I found were for a bit older age range. I scored a really tiny (and adorable) kiddie backpack from Ross for about $5. I added a few books because she loves books. I picked up some new ones so they would be more “exciting” than things she’s seen before. I added some crayons and the entertainment portfolio/folder I made the felt game for. The portfolio/folder has a few pages from a coloring book, the felt game and some crayons. Then, for a last ditch effort, I added a little electronic Elmo game for those “when all else fails” moments. I’ll also add a few snacks! I can’t wait for her to see her new loot.

Michael’s AD