I was so excited...when Jacquie, a blog reader, left a comment on my blog's facebook page about being from pittsburgh...I checked out her blog, The Sweeter Side of Motherhood,

 and saw how completely ADORABLE it was!

She is not only a busy mama to two sweet girls.. she is a baker.. an artist..

AND a photographer.

I was so excited to connect with her and have her take some family photos for us.

Her price was incredible..it made family photos actually possible for us!

She was so good at keeping it fun for our girls while capturing great shots.

If you are in the pittsburgh area.. stop over and say Hi and schedule a shoot!

She just invited us over for a princess play date... can't say no to that!

Even prince Micah was invited. ;)

So nice meeting other creative joyful mamas.

Happy to have connected... and excited to share our photos. :)

sorry...I couldn't edit this down any more than this.

**Already printed and put some of these in frames I love them so much!**

LOCATION- Backyard.

My dress- target(current). sophie's-old navy(current)

sienna's dress- target(handmedown)

micah- polo from target, shorts(handmedown)

Our neighbor was so sweet to let us use part of their yard...

he even went out and mowed it and scrubbed down the benches!!

I love my man.

He is my rock. and 'he's got da muscles.'

 

 

Thanks for following a long as our family has grown.

Feels like just yesterday we had sophie!

and then sienna! and then micah!

We are so blessed... exhausted-ly blessed. ;)

We are going to try and do family photos more often....

most of our family photos are taken with a phone camera!

So glad we have these memories captured. Love these sweet people.

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7 months postpartum...

Some days I feel like one hot mama...

and others I let my insecurities get the best of me.

My post baby weight loss is at a standstill.

Everything I've lost so far has come off from nursing, chasing kids and

going to the gym "ever so often." I eat healthy but haven't gone crazy over it.

I am realizing that getting my body back after my 3rd baby is going to take

more effort than with my first two! With them, I nursed it ALL off.

But Micah doesn't nurse as much (shocking I know.)

I'm really trying to love myself more... and that means to take time to get healthy...

but even more, to not focus on the "problem" areas every time I see a photo of myself.

Harder said than done!

I am so not brave enough to post a photo of me with no makeup...

but this is with a swipe of foundation. As natural as I can go...

and this is a big step for me!!!! haha. (I feel lame being that girly but its' true.)

 These sweet little ones are the reasons for

my under eye circles...

the stretch marks..

the dirty hair on top of my head.

Totally worth it.

This post is for all the mamas who are feeling like me!

You are beautiful and courageous and sacrificial.

Try to love yourself today...and realize that God looks at you

and is so in love. Like insanely in love with you.

And He sees the things you have given up or had to bear...

and He takes note of each and every hardship or cross you have carried.

From the big sufferings in life that can leave us feeling worn...

to the "small" crosses of longggggg nights up with WIDE AWAKE babies. ;)

I hope that my inner beauty will shine through...

past my blemishes and squeezy arms. ;)

I hope that I can learn to see the beauty in myself that God sees in me.

I hope that insecurities never hold me back.

and that my girls learn to love themselves.....

by seeing their mama love herself.

"You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you."

Song of Solomon 4:7

"You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated

my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace."

Song of Solomon 4:9

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I am the queen of the laundry mountain.

The moment I feel like I'm on top of laundry...

I realize I completely ignored everything else I needed to do

and the world is completely out of control. It's a vicious cycle!

Some days I feel like I have to choose between clothed fed children and a clean house.

I'm a very good list maker...not so much a schedule follower!

But I knew that I needed a new game plan if I was going to be able to tackle working part time.. being a stay at home mom.. a blogger.. a graphic designer.. the list goes on.

I knew that I needed to write out what I needed to do every day so

that it wouldn't get out of control..but also set it up to be doable!

So here is the printable I created for my daily life! I'll print one for each day.

The daily chores are divided up into time frames.. NOT set times.

because that just won't work for me. I can't have my schedule put out hour by hour...

BUT I did put a timeline so that I could plug in different time sensitive things like appointments, play dates or deadlines for each day (It's marked for 5AM-9PM)

(We also have a different page with set times ben and I have time to both work.

whether it's here or at the office. It's amazing how much more work you can get

done in a couple hours when you have no distractions.)

I knew that I wanted to reduce the stress...and by portioning out the daily chores

and having a set area for my to-do-list and notes.. it would help me not have it all

jumbled in my head, looming over me or thinking I had to do it all at once.

There's a spot for marking what you are having for lunch and dinner.

I even created an area to remind myself to drink water! Healthy mind healthy body!

In the To-Do-List area I will usually plug in one of the following when

I think they are needed!---monday-scrub bathroom tub/toilet. tuesday: mop floors.

wednesday: windex windows. thursday: clean fridge/microwave. etc..

I might have put a little motivational wording at the top for myself. ;)

You can download My Daily Schedule HERE.

 And because figuring out what's for dinner can be another added stress...

I made up a calendar to fill in what I'm making for dinner!

You can download the Monthly Meal Schedule HERE.

I'm just starting this new routine..but so far it has been amazing!

It was so funny..one of the days ben and I both got up and did our morning

routine we felt so ready for the day and on top of the house stuff!

Ben: "It's kinda stupid but it feels like you conquered the world!" haha...

I felt the same way. :)

And when you aren't stressing about your crazy messy house and

what to feed your family for dinner...

you can enjoy moments with your family! 

I've heard that your children sense your stress...

This is SOO TRUE.

When we moved it was intense trying to get all unpacked

and handle all the work load we had...

The girls were acting up more and extra "wild"...

We tried to keep it as routine as possible but there was a

lot of things going on to disrupt the 'normal.'

They totally sensed our stress and reacted to it.

Ben and I made a conscience decision to take moments each day

to not worry about all the work we had to do and just have fun with them..

and to do some 'bigger' family adventure each week.

(they are easy to please at this age.. a garage sale where they can buy

a 25 cent toy is exciting...and the park is guaranteed fun.)

I think every mom needs a reminder that a messy house is completely acceptable.

If you have kids.. even just one.. life gets busy! It's more than just taking care of you now.

 But I think I've felt more and more capable with each baby I have had.. You learn how to handle the "chaos" a little bit more each time... and probably a part of that is you realize that it's fine if everything is crazy for a while. Toys will be covering your floor for most of the day..you will find the hand towel soaked and on the bathroom floor.... the cup of pretzels you gave your toddler might be found in throughout the toy bin... BUT. that's ok. My goal of less stress is to tackle certain areas that lead to making me overwhelmed if neglected!

Some days will be crazy still..and the house will go out of control..

but I'm hoping those days will be FEWER.. with this plan. ;)

 Try this new strategy with me!

I'm going to see how it goes and maybe make up updated printable if needed.

Hope you are having a great monday!

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