The Struggling Workin Mama
Above photo taken at the Chicago Botanic Garden
Whether you live in the area or are just visiting, with the amount of things to do in the Windy City, choosing can be overwhelming. Factor in children and it gets even more complicated. As someone who has lived in the city for over 5 years and the surrounding suburbs the rest of my life, here are some of my favorite outdoor activities with kids.
If you’ve been following along on Instagram you know my family and I were in Florida this past week. My husband and I are not ready for a full blown Disney trip, however my oldest has been talking about “the castle” aka Magic Kingdom a LOT lately (thank you Disney channel!) With Disney World being an hour and twenty minute drive away from where we were staying, we decided to spend one day at the Magic Kingdom. This seemed like a great compromise for all.
Imagination. We all have it right? Me? I’m not so sure. For as long as I can remember I have never understood “playing pretend” or “make believe.” As a child I had friends who wanted to play house or pretend to be princesses in far away lands and I can recall struggling through it. Being imaginative takes a lot of confidence as you are doing something that is not who you normally are. For me it left me uncomfortable.
Sometimes not even the floppiest of hats and the best pair of sunglasses can protect you from the shade being thrown on social media. We all have that friend or family member or person from high school who feels the need to post a picture with a snarky caption or ruin a picture with a selfish comment. While social media can be a great way to connect with many people both near and far, it also can bring a lot of negativity.
If you would have asked me the definition of the word “Mother” before I had kids, or even 6 months ago, I would have given a very different answer than I would today. I’m also positive in 6 months my definition today wouldn’t be the same. Truth is, the hardest part of motherhood is that you’re constantly learning and things move so quickly.
Last weekend I realized that Easter was in a few weeks and I hadn’t bought anything for Easter baskets. We don’t go crazy with gifts for Easter, to be honest I’m still recovering from Christmas and Olivia’s birthday, but in addition to hiding eggs filled with candy and coins I usually pull together a few items for their actual basket.
If you have children in daycare there’s nothing like walking in and finding out they will be transitioning to a new room. While on the one hand you are excited for your child and the new experiences they will have, on the other you know how much chaos ensues when you alter their routine. Each child is different and so is the room change – some don’t seem to impact them at all. We’ve had a mixture of the two and it’s varied even between my two girls.
Let’s talk daycare. My girls will be 3 years and 18 months old next month. They have both been in daycare since they were 12 weeks old. Before my girls daycare was a foreign concept to me, I was never in it and it wasn’t the choice for those closest to me with kids. Instead of trying to cram everything I’ve learned into one GIGANTIC post, I thought a series of posts about major moments I’ve gone through being a daycare mom would be easier to digest.
Like most, the second my husband and I found out we were pregnant we started thinking of baby names. If you’ve had a child you’ve probably seen the popular meme, “you never know how many people you dislike until you have to name a baby.” It’s not easy! Luckily with our first as soon as we found out it was a girl we were able to narrow the choices down to two pretty easily.
