Mothers Day weekend was a rainy one, so our plans shifted to family time indoors. Did you get some time with your family? I was missing my mother, but felt so blessed to celebrate the day with my little ones. Little Gabriel helped make me a breakfast of “special pancakes.” So precious. Gabe and I did get to have a night out at the symphony with some great company. If you visit Atlanta, you also must check out the Marietta Diner(featured on Food Network). The food is killer!
So as I told you in Friday’s post, I went Auburn over the weekend. It was a mousse dye which clings to your natural color, and nothing too drastic occurred (thank heavens). I actually love the results. Very close to my natural color, just with an auburn hue. Maybe I will go a little more bold next week;)
P.S. IHOD reached 2,000 facebook friends, so head over to check out today’s celebration giveaway! You won’t want to miss! Also, its the last day to enter the Deloom shopping spree giveaway!
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The True Beauty Files:
A lookbook for the modern modeste.
“The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It’s the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.”
Today, I get to introduce you to one of my friend’s since college (and old roomie!), and very witty mama blogger… Grace of Camp Patton. I dare you to read through her blog without laughing. While you are there, check out her amazing alteration skills (just a little jealous)! This topic is something every mother will battle on some level with their children. Thank you Grace for your honesty! Read on, and we would love to hear your thoughts!
Way back when my husband, Simon, and I were dating we discussed the fact that we wouldn’t have cable TV in our future home. We both grew up without cable and agreed that it would be best for ourselves and any future children. A TV-less life would foster imaginative play! A TV-less life would make our children book lovers! A TV-less life would be ideal! A TV-less life would be easy! And then my brother gave our daughter, Julia, a Baby Einstein DVD for Christmas when she was a mere three months old. As fate would have it, three months old is the age in which Julia woke up for the day at 4:45 in the morning. You can imagine how easy it was to pop Julia in her bouncy seat, pop Einstein in his DVD player and go right back to the comfort of baby-free sleep. So I did. She eventually grew out of that phase and didn’t require a TV babysitter in the early mornings but I started rationalizing a ‘need for screen time’. When I made dinner? yes. When I wanted to shower? absolutely yes. When I wanted to send a trivial email? of course. When I wanted to paint my nails? you betcha. And it only got worse when she was 13 months old and we had another baby. I discovered and quickly grew dependent on Barney, Dora, and Yo Gabba Gabba streaming on Netflix. I silenced my guilty conscience with excuses, “Simon is working 84 hours this week — it’s okay!” or “How else am I going to shower?!” or “I need to make my coffee in peace!” but when “I just had a baby three weeks ago – it’s fine!” turned into “I just had a baby six months ago – it’s understandable!” I realized her screen time had turned into her full-time babysitter. While we didn’t technically have cable, our 19 month old reaped all the ugly benefits that we were so staunchly opposed to in a previously clueless and kid-less life.
I took one look at “newborn” six month old Sebastian, who now weighs a mere two pounds less than his older sister and easily decided to pull the plug and go cold-no-Netflix-turkey at the beginning of last week. I prepared for severe withdrawal symptoms like tantrums, tantrums, and more tantrums. I knew I wouldn’t be able to shower in relative peace anymore, that dinner might not get made as quickly, that my nails would go woefully unpolished, and that I was inviting misery over for a nice long staycation.
It’s been two whole weeks of deprivation and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well our former addict has taken it. She hasn’t thrown a single tantrum when I say no Dora or Barney, actually ‘reads’ her books, interacts with Sebastian, plays with her toys, asks to go outside, and takes longer naps because apparently engaging in activity burns more energy than being parked in front of the laptop.
Of course, she also makes triple the mess, makes Sebastian cry more frequently, and can be found whining at my ankles in search of interaction many times throughout the day. I’ve had to make dinner with her ‘help’, shower with a captive audience, and rescue Sebastian from a violent hairstyling session several times this week but overall, the “bad” is so worth the abundant good.
I’m not an idiot. I know that there will soon be an exasperating day in which I am lured back in by the glow of the laptop babysitter. Successful potty training might warrant a reward by the name of Dora, I might get sick, Sebastian might get sick, or Julia might get sick and the distraction will be nice and almost necessary. I’m completely fine with that. I just want TV to be a special treat, not an expected and daily given.
And now onward and upward to scale the next mountain that is Julia’s “my three hot and heavy blankies go e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e” policy and her gross “taste e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g I find” habit… One million thanks to Anna for having me over and I hope you all have a superb weekend!
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So tell us, How do you balance screen time in your house? An easy or difficult feat? With Gabriel and Veronica, we have a show in the morning (usually a musical one – Gabriel loves to sing and dance) that gives me time to get it together! I am thankful for that time to breathe, and it makes me a better momma! I love that like Grace said, its a privilege that Gabriel knows is not a given. Every family has different dynamics and different needs. Would love to hear how you manage this topic!
{Necklace: c/o BMB, Plaid: Old Navy (out of stock online), Belt: H&M (similar), Denim: F21, Sandals: Nine West, Clutch: DIY, Bracelet: c/o Poshlocket, Francescas, Rings: H&M, Watch: Fossil}
After creating last week’s swatch style post, I realized that this is how I assemble outfits. I look at pieces in terms of color, pattern, and texture. If you think of your closet in these terms, it makes it easier to mix and match! ….And a heads up my friends, this is my last post as a Brunette. Yep, I am dying my hair Auburn (or so the box says) today after 5 years of working up the guts to do it. Gabe even went in the store with me to buy it. Says something about my personality, eh? And its only a three week dye…
I am so excited for Mother’s Day weekend. Its an honor to get to celebrate this Hallmark holiday;) I am just looking forward to spending time with my family. We will be heading to our local lake/beach.
A very special shout out to each of you mamas who love and love tirelessly for your families!
Happy Mother’s Day to You! (Btw, I am sharing what motherhood means to me over here.)
Hi there! I’m Mackenzie from Design Darling and I’m excited to be taking over In Honor of Design for the day! I decided to share with you a big part of my job as an online boutique owner — finding new products to roll out every couple weeks! It’s so important to be constantly refreshing my assortment and getting people excited about new goodies.
Here are some of the new arrivals for the month of May! I opened my boutique Design Darling in March and have tried to roll out a small batch of new arrivals every couple weeks. That means staying on top of potential new vendors, photographing and editing new items as they come in, and keeping track of everything once it’s here! It’s a lot of work but the satisfaction of seeing new items up on the site — and customers’ photos of how they’re using the items in their homes, parties, and weddings! — never fails to make my day. You can shop all the new arrivals here and I hope you’ll come say hi over on my blog! Thanks Anna for having me! xx
As you know, I go crazy when I find a new affordable and stylish boutique:)
You all are going to love all the goodies over at Deloom! In honor of Mother’s Day, Deloom is offering a giveaway today with prizes for TWO winners! The first prize winner will receive a $50 shopping spree to spend at Deloom.com! The second prize winner will receive a beautiful scarf and earring set! Giveaway is open to International Readers. Have fun and best of luck!
We are trying out Rafflecopter which is a new and very easy way to enter giveaways. (Should be much easier for those of you without blogger profiles. You just need an email address to enter!) You can earn multiple entries as specified below. Also, if you already follow IHOD you can still earn those entries!
I was asked to be a part of a series Monica and Whitney put together called “The Amazing Lace.” This dress is traveling from city to city, blogger to blogger, and we are all adding our own style twist to it. I felt it was time to get festive and go Cinco de Mayo-ish. Head over to check the fun crew it will be traveling to! I am sending it to Melissa next:)
Hope you all had a fun weekend! Once gain, thank you for being real with me in Saturday’s post, and all your wonderful feedback. Working through responding to each of you. Looking forward to keeping it real here on IHOD;)
P.S. Get your outfit posts ready this week! Will host the monthly TBF post next Monday!
