Helping women love what they wear on a budget
I have so many thoughts racing through my mind about all the changes happening in my life right now, so I thought I’d sit down and share some of them. First of all, thank you to everyone for your support with my news about quitting my job and moving back to Michigan. My husband and I have been faced with a lot of big decisions in the last year and it’s always hard when you are trying to make the best choice for yourself and your family. I definitely appreciate all your comments and support as we move on to the next step chapter of our lives.
Yes, it’s true, after 4 years of living in Las Vegas we are leaving. My family and I are packing up our lives here and moving back to Michigan. Back to the mitten state where both my husband and I are from. This time we are going to be living on the west side of the state in Grand Rapids.
When I look at other people’s vacation pictures on Instagram, it always looks like they are having so much fun with their little ones. After our trip, I’m wondering how many of those photos are real or are those stressed-out parents trying to have fun? During our week trip, Jack had his good days and bad days. He was extra clinging with me and wanted nothing to do with everyone else unless I wasn’t around of course. He had a good amount of toddler tantrums over nothing. Only a couple days after getting to the ocean, Jack got congested really bad and ended up with a bad cough, which made for a couple long nights. I had imagined that I would be spending my days building sandcastles with Jack and taking walks along the beach collecting seashells with him, but I quickly learned that wasn’t going to happen. Jack was terrified by the loud sounds of the waves and he hated the feeling of the sand. I spent most of my days in a kiddy pool on the deck watching the rest of the family boogie board in the ocean.
I was extremely grateful for everyone who helped watch Jack a little so I could get a break here and there. Kevin and I were able to go on an adult-only wine tasting trip one of the days and all the adults got to go out for dinner one night while the grandparents watched the grandkids. That was really nice.
Overall it was a really fun family trip. Seeing my niece and nephew enjoying themselves and remembering how my sister-in-law used to be the one with little kids staying back while everyone was having fun made me realize that it’s now my turn. I’m the one with the little kid, so family vacations might be a little more stressful for me now, but that’s okay. One thing that I decided to do when traveling with a toddler is to just lower my expectations of what fun is. I know that my vacations will not be like the relaxing ones of the past, but there is a new kind of fun for me. I enjoyed watching my little guy look out at the ocean and listening to him learn new words like “ocean animals”, “sea nettle” and “succulents”. I loved watching his face when we got on a boat for the first time to look for dolphins. I know one day when he’s independent and off doing his own thing, I will miss the days of when all he wanted was to be with mommy.
Here are some pictures from our trip. Just remember these are the pictures that I am choosing to share. I’m not sharing the pictures of Jack crying because of the sand or the 100 selfies we took together while everyone else was off doing their own thing. But those are just the realities of vacations with a toddler.
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My Bathing suit (EXACT) || Jack’s Bathing suit (EXACT) || My Hat (SIMILAR)
Shirt and Pants (EXACT)
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| My view from the kiddy pool! |
Hat (SIMILAR) || Sunglasses (SIMILAR)
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| My little family |
My husband kept comparing Jack to a dog that needs lots of space to run around and play and that was the prefect comparison. Jack brought out all of his toddler 2 year old behaviors. He tried running away from us through a busy casino, threw stuff at us and screamed when we were eating in restaurants and he tried running off into the pool on his own. He basically did everything he could to give his parents a heart attack. He acted like we have never taken him out in public before. My husband kept saying how nice it would be if we left Jack at home with someone. Yes, it would of been nice to spend one on one time with Kevin, but we are at this stage in our lives and we just need to embrace it. Does having a 2 year old make it hard to relax and enjoy yourself when you go out? YES! Do I wish it was just the 2 of us still? NO!
This weekend my husband and I will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary. In some ways, I feel like we just got married yesterday. In other ways, I feel like we’ve been together forever. It’s hard to remember my life before we got together. I don’t typically like to get too personal with my blog posts, but since May is our anniversary month, I wanted to share a post on marriage. I’m not an expert on this topic, so it makes me a little nervous to talk about, but I’m not really an expert on anything I post on this blog, so I figured I’d go ahead and post it anyway. Besides, it’s a perfect excuse to share some of my favorite wedding pictures.
You can’t be selfish
I’ll admit it, I’m a selfish person at times. I like to do what I want, but when you’re married you can’t be that way. You have to make compromises. It’s not always easy, but sometimes you learn that things turn out for the best when you find a common ground.
Have a plan/ set goals together
I married a planner. He plans everything and he’s never disappointed me. It’s important to sit down and talk about your future together. You need to talk about your financial goals, your family goals and your career goals. The best thing in our relationship has been the open and honest communication about our future together. They say life is what happens when you’re making plans, but that’s why the plans are always changing to keep up with your life.
