I have fond memories of shopping the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale with my mom and sister twice a year for back-to-school clothes and summer outfits. We would drive to Oakbrook, get there before the doors opened and like a mad-dash a la supermarket sweep go bananas. To us, this was the biggest sale of the season! Remember, this was before shopping online was a thing #ifeelold

Yesterday we had a blast at a co-ed baby shower BBQ where the whole fam was invited! Such a fun crew and we are so excited to welcome another dude to this world! Rach and Dave are going to be amazing parents!

So I am never one to deter from registries, however, I do tend to give mom and baby a little something they might not know they need. Going from zero to one is the biggest life change I have ever experienced. You go from being totally selfish to constantly aware of the time and who needs to be where when. It’s exhausting and exhilarating at the same time #amiright ?

This Fourth of July was one summer outing I was REALLY looking forward to. Fortunately we were invited back to Molly and Dave’s in the suburbs, after a debaucherous Sunday a month ago. Kids galore, food and bevvies a plenty, hilarious rafts (NO, we did not have. a penis one, get your head out of the gutter! We have children!!…but do they make those?!) and the best company around. I knew this holiday celebration would not disappoint.

Sunday we went to the Cubs game with dear friends. This is the second year in a row this crew was able to get their act together to make plans and go! It’s super fun since their two boys are about 6 months older than our two kids. Last year was a bit cold, Gray was 4 months old and to sum it up, the day was a blur and kind of a shit show. Fun, but holy hands on.

Jon and I initially chose Scottsdale for our next family vacation as I was originally to attend a work conference in Las Vegas and I would fly to meet the fam afterwards (now it was his turn to travel solo with the two kids!!) This year my company paired down the attendees and I did not make the shortlist, but I had already booked the hotel! Small lesson learned to not always plow ahead with my to-do list, but it honestly could not have been a better forced decision.

After our fun with the kids at The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, I spent some time last weekend looking at our finances. This is usually Jon’s domain, but we made an agreement that I would look at our expenses if he could spend that time working. So my role is to cut spending and his role is to bring in more bacon, and we should, by the logic of math, save more. I’m confident in Jon earning more, but would not bet on myself to lessen my spending. I mean, I just went to Paper Source for a few goodies for Liv’s teachers and $200 later. On paper. Honestly. I have a problem.

Some days it feels like summer has finally arrived in Chicago (hello hot & humid!), and others are spent indoors because of the rain or cold, figuring out what to do with our crazy kids who need to burn some energy. It will be here to stay soon enough though! So bring on the beach, pool and rose!

Dear Jon:

Who knew that ditching out of work early on a Friday back in 2008 to hang on the beach as the sun set, eating mangos, would lead to this life. We have been through some extreme highs and some devastating lows, but always have each other’s back.

I’M FREE!!!!!!!!!! I did it!!!!!!! I want to chronicle my journey on this hormonal roller coaster. Hopefully another mom can benefit from it, but if not, it’s a judge-free place I can look back at with pride. An immense amount of pride. And honestly judge-free; I do not begrudge anyone who makes one choice vs another, to each their own. Seriously.

The struggle is real. Liv is officially a Threenager having turned 3 on December 24th. Lord help us. She has been having sharing issues with Grayson for a while, and this topic actually was discussed at her first parent teacher conference (yes, that exists even for a 2 year old attending a 2-day / week half-day program). She was actually bit by a student because she took said kid’s toy away during clean up time. Can’t blame the kid, I might have done the same thing.

One of the big goals I have for 2018 is...drumroll please… to be less critical & controlling. Of course I’ll share a post with my pillars and the goals within those various categories, however, I really need some help on...me.

Each year Jon and I sit down and discuss our individual goals and the things we want to accomplish together as a family. I’m sharing mine for 2018 below. I typically organize these by various life pillars. This has been a weird year, where I feel like I achieved a lot, but yet my mental energy seemed low and I was really anxious and controlling. I’m not sure if this has to do with a feeling, like, if I just keep everything together all time, nothing bad will happen, or hormones, or a combo of both.