Family Life

I’ve had many non-glamours jobs over the course of my life…

• washing dishes for my neighbor’s catering company when I was in middle school
• cleaning offices at night for another neighbor’s company
• busing tables for a local bar/pub when I was 16
• folding clothes for American Eagle {probably the most ridiculous job ever!}
• stocking shelves and working the checkout lanes at various grocery stores
• janitorial work for Calvin College {this is how I met Dave — so it was worth it!}
• cleaning houses to make money for college

…and the list could go on!

But now that I’m a mom, I feel so blessed to finally have a job that I love, that doesn’t involve washing dishes, clearing tables, folding clothes, cleaning toilets, stocking pantry shelves, grocery shopping…. eerr well, never mind

All kidding aside, motherhood is definitely not the most glamours job in the world… and it’s probably the most difficult job I’ve ever had. There are even days when I’d rather be busing tables, cleaning offices, or doing pretty much anything else but working from home with my baby.

Yes, I’m sure some of you now think I’m the most horrible person in the world for wanting to clean offices instead of care for my baby… and that’s OK! I can’t change how I feel, and just because I’m somewhat overwhelmed by motherhood, doesn’t mean I love Nora any less.

In fact, I love her so much that it sometimes makes things worse. I’ve never felt such an overwhelming sense of responsibility before, I’ve never felt such a strong desire to do everything “right”; yet at the same time, I’ve never felt so helpless and unsure of what I’m supposed to do.

I’m sure I’m not only new mom out there who bawled the entire ride home from the hospital thinking… what in the world am I going to do with her when we get home. I have no idea how to do this! Don’t we need a manual, some instructions, a live-in nurse, or at the very least, someone to show us what to do?

Just knowing that Nora depends on me for everything is sometimes more than my independent spirit can handle. Yes, I’m willing to work hard, do unpleasant things, and make sacrifices. Yes I love a good challenge, but I also love my sleep… and eating with both hands!

I’ve never had a job that required constant 24/7 availability, I’ve never had a job that I felt so unqualified for, and I’ve never had a job that didn’t involve some type of training {or at least a small instruction manual}.

Yet, I’ve never had a job that mattered so much! 

I’m the type of person who likes to be good at everything I do. I’m a fast learner, I work really hard, I’m willing to do things I don’t want to do, make sacrifices, deal with difficult situations, push myself to be better… and I LOVE a challenge.

So I should excel at motherhood… right?

But for some reason, I feel like I’m barely staying afloat. I feel like I can’t do this.

I think it all boils down to the fact that for the very first time in my life, I don’t have FULL CONTROL! As much as I try {and believe me friends, I’ve tried} I can not control when she takes a nap, how long she sleeps, when she decides to go to bed at night, when she needs to eat, or when she decides to start screaming for no apparent reason at all.

Dave and I read the books, we followed the books, we took advice from so many people who have their kids on a schedule, we’ve tried this, we’ve tried that, we’ve tried everything again and again… but so far, nothing has worked.

And we REALLY want something to work! 

It’s been almost 3 months of desperately trying to get her to go to bed before 1:00am, trying to get her to take any sort of an afternoon nap, trying to calm her down during her lengthy screaming sessions EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT… but we can’t.

Nora is definitely still the boss over at our house… and I’m pretty sure she likes it that way!

I flop into bed every night and wonder how on earth single moms and military wives do this — and don’t even get me started on teen moms. But then, every morning when I’m changing her diaper and she’s still so sleepy, she opens her eyes and she smiles. In that brief moment, I feel like eveything is going to be OK and I realize I CAN do this for another day.

But it’s still not easy.

Especially for someone like me who thrives on productivity, being “in control”, and having all my ducks in a row. Frankly, I don’t even know where half my ducks are right now… and they definitely aren’t in any type of a row!

Everyone says that Motherhood is the greatest job in the whole world — and while they are probably right, I have to wonder if the women who say that are already well past the baby-stage and have simply pushed the overwhelming, exhausted, and over-tired memories out of their brains!

Or maybe they all had perfect babies who were never colicky at night and actually took naps during the day

Motherhood is not for the weary…

And if you are a strong Type-A person like myself, it might just be one of the most difficult jobs you’ll ever have.

Good thing she’s so darn cute!

And honestly, I don’t want you to think I’m not enjoying motherhood… because I am. It’s just A LOT different and A LOT more challenging than I thought it would be!

As you can see by all the pictures, we are definitely having lots of fun with little Nora — it’s also helpful that Dave is one of the most patient, low-key, go-with-the flow people I’ve ever met {they say opposites attract right!}. He reminds me {daily} that I AM a good mom and that I CAN do this.

I can do this!

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And to all the other type-A moms out there… you can do it too!

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26 years ago…

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we took this four-generation picture the day I was baptized.

Yesterday…

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we took another four-generation picture for Nora’s baptism.

We both wore the same dress, we both were cute as a button, and we both had the privilege of Godly mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers.

It was a good day!

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As some of you might already know, my favorite photo editing program, Picnik, is shutting down on April 19.

I have been using the Pro version of Picnik for a couple years now and absolutely LOVE how simple it is to use… especially for a novice photographer like myself! I edit all the photos for my website with Picnik and most of the photos for my digital photo albums as well.

I’m really bummed that I won’t be able to use this great program after April 19, and I’m now in the market for a new photo editing program that meets a few of my criteria:

• Relatively inexpensive {I paid $24.95 a year for Picnik Pro}

• Easy to use and navigate — I am not a great photographer and I don’t know a lot about editing photos, so it needs to be something even I can use! I also don’t have a ton of time to learn a brand new program… so something simple is always preferred!

• Doesn’t require me to download a program — this isn’t as big of a deal… but I did really love that Picnik was totally web-based and didn’t require me to download all kinds of programs. I also loved that I could access my photos on Picnik from any computer.

I would LOVE to know what you use for photo editing… and/or what some of the other options are.

And on a brighter note, if you are looking for a totally free way to edit your photos for the next 3 months, Picnik is letting everyone use the pro version complete FREE until it closes down on April 19!

What are your best suggestions for photo editing programs?

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Nora turned TWO months old yesterday… and seems pretty darn excited about it.

For her one-month photo shoot, we had to take so many pictures because she was either sleeping or crying… this month, we also had to take a bunch, but it was because she was moving SO much!

Nora is really long and skinny {thanks to her dad} so she has already outgrown all her newborn clothes and most of her 3 month clothes. Good thing we got so much of it for free or for pennies at garage sales!

She is even wearing a few 9 month sleepers because otherwise her legs can’t stretch out!

She has gained about 4 pounds… and is getting nice little potbelly!

A few more picture from the last month:

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She just LOVES laying on her back and looking around the room.

But she’s apparently not that interested in Sunday afternoon football

She loves her blanket and teddy bear.

And she’s even starting to get the hang of sitting in her Bumbo seat.

Although she is super cute in these photos, let me just assure you that she has a pretty good set of lungs… and she’s not afraid to use them!

She’s also still being a stinker about taking naps and going to bed “on time”. But since she’s cute, we’ll keep her around!

Happy 2 month Birthday Nora!

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UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed.

Congrats to: Crystal (cdayo4@…)

I will email you to get your information!

When we had Nora’s newborn pictures taken, I immediately fell in love with one picture in particular…

… and I knew I wanted to have it framed for her nursery.

However, when the folks over at Easy Canvas Prints contacted me to do a giveaway, I was ecstatic to have this photo turned into a gorgeous canvas art piece instead!!

I’m really please with the quality of this canvas and just love how it looks hanging above Nora’s crib.

This is my very first experience with canvas prints and I will definitely look into this option again in the future. I think the next canvas purchase I make will be for a photo collage above our couch in the living room.

My favorite aspects of canvas prints are that I don’t need to worry about breaking the glass, cleaning the glass, scratching the photo, bending the photo, or finding a frame that looks good with the print. And I suppose the one downside to a canvas print is that it takes up a little more storage space than a printed photo.

Does it just look fabulous though! 

The Giveaway:

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Today, one lucky Simple Organized Living readers will win an 8×10″ canvas print from Easy Canvas Prints!  

How to Enter:

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1. Leave a comment. What is your favorite way to showcase your photos?

2. Like Simple Organized Living and/or Easy Canvas Prints on Facebook, and then leave a separate comment letting me know you did {or that you do already}.

If you are reading this in your email or feed reader, please visit the actual blog post to enter. Email entries, Facebook comments, and Twitter messages will NOT be counted.

Prize:

(1) 8×10″ canvas print as described above.

This giveaway ends at 10:00 pm on Monday, 1/23/2012 and is open to all U.S. residents 18 years or older. I will use And the Winner Is to select the winning comments at random. Winners will be notified by email and noted at the top of this post. Winners must respond within 48 hours of notification to claim their prize or I will choose a new winner. Please see my full disclosure policy and contact me with any questions you have. Good luck!

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I’ve been getting lots of emails and comments about how Nora looks so much like me… and I have to say I agree!

And the other day, as I was looking through my old pictures {on our portable hard drive}, I came across this picture of me — crying in my bouncy seat.

I have an almost identical picture of Nora crying in her bouncy seat…

What do you think? Does she look like her mom?

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ready to head out the door to yet ANOTHER holiday party!

I’ve always been a pretty punctual person — often arriving a bit early to meetings and appointments. I hate being late or feeling rushed, so thankfully it’s almost second nature for me to plan ahead, leave early, and arrive on time!

I had a feeling all of this might change after Nora was born — especially since everyone kept telling me how difficult it is to get anywhere “on time” once kids are thrown into the mix

Well I’m officially 8 weeks into motherhood and I have to agree with everything those people told me! It IS a lot more difficult to go places with a tiny baby {and I assume with small children as well}.

Sigh…

Thankfully, before Nora was born, I got a bunch of tips from experienced moms who also like to arrive on time. And since Nora arrived smack in the middle of the crazy holiday season, I was able to try out many of these tips within days of bringing her home to the hospital.

So many holiday parties, events, family functions, church functions, etc… These are a few of the tips that helped me in my quest to get out the door and arrive on time with Nora in tow!

1. Get the car/diaper bags/purse/etc. packed ahead of time.

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If we need to go somewhere during the day, I’ll do my best to get the diaper bag, my purse, and the car fully packed during one of her naps. Then all I have to do is feed and change her… and we’re ready to go. Sometimes, if we’re really running late, I feed her with my coat on!

2. Plan to leave at least 15 minutes earlier than you have to.

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I’ve always been good at estimating the amount of time it will take me to do something… however, EVERYTHING takes so much longer now. So thanks to another mom’s suggestion, I’ve been giving myself an extra 15 minutes or more to get out the door. That way, if I do start to run a bit late or if she sleeps longer than normal, we have a little wiggle room

3. Use “time frames”, not exact times.

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This was probably the best tip I got… and I’ve already used it many, MANY times these past few weeks. Before Nora came along, if I said I would be somewhere at 2:45, I would be there at 2:45. Now, I say, I’ll be there some time before 3:00. Or, I’ll be there between 2:30 and 3:00pm.

That way, I have extra time in case she gets a dirty diaper right before we leave.

4. Realize that sometimes it’s easier just not to go.

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We are currently in the stage where it is SO much easier just to stay home than to try to go anywhere… especially since Nora is not really on a great sleeping schedule quite yet.

So Dave and I have decided that if there is anything we need to do before noon, only one of us will go and the other will stay home so Nora can take her morning nap. It’s just not worth it to mess with her sleep and then have her be crabby for the rest of the day.

People will understand if you say “no”. You might have to miss a few fun things… but you might also get out of a few things you didn’t want to do anyway

5. Give yourself grace.

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Obviously, there is no way we can predict everything our children are going to do — especially when they are babies. Life happens. Other people realize this and will most likely give you grace if you show up a little {or a lot} late.

So even if you’re like me and always try to be on time, there is something to be said for simply throwing your hands up in the air, acknowledging that you will NOT be there on time, and then trying not to worry about it! {yeah, that’s easier said than done… huh!}

Ok, just one more picture — because she is SO cute when she’s sleeping!

What are your best tips for being on-time with kids?

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