We are a week into 2020! After this first week, does anyone else already feel like 2020 is going fast?
Almost twelve months ago I chose “Be Intentional” as my guiding phrase for 2019. I had goals for my family, finances, my education, and personal development. I wrote, Continue reading
As I shared a couple of months ago, I’m taking life a little slower these days.
And I super love it.
I didn’t stop taking classes this semester just so I could fill it up with a ton of other things to do, as evident by my lack of blogging much. I still plan on continuing to share and have been working on content, but I’m basically taking everything slow while I better figure out what I want my life to look and feel like.
Basically my response to almost everything for a few months. Via Giphy
I decided not to take classes this Fall.
And, honestly, I may not return to my grad program at all.
It tugs at my heartstrings a little, but I feel like the more I say it, the better it feels.
You guys, I’ve had a weird summer.
To be honest, it started out amazing. I finished my first year of my Masters with a 4.0 at the end of April and was ready for four glorious months of not doing anything but work and family.
That’s exactly what I did. And I was right, it was glorious.
But towards the middle of June, I started to feel anxiety in a couple different areas of my life.
Oh hey, friends!
It has been a minute since I posted anything on the blog. Mostly I’ve been enjoying the summer without any self-imposed deadlines for non-essential things. And it has been lovely!
But, I absolutely was not going to let today pass without acknowledging a HUGE goal achieved in the Matilda & Jo fam.
My husband started grad school today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (still not enough exclamations)
He’ll probably be embarrassed by this, but dang, we have been working towards this goal since before we got married in 2012! Continue reading
So at the end of last semester I wrote a post about what really helped me be successful during my first semester of grad school.
Want to know what helped me finish my second semester?
Crying. A fair amount of crying
Okay, maybe it didn’t help me, but was more of a byproduct of this semester. This semester was nuuuuuts. Even with continuing what I was doing before and improving in the areas I wanted to, it was hard.
Right off the bat I knew this semester was going to be very busy and I worked to keep up. I was doing pretty well, but then five weeks into the semester my grandma died. Losing her was so hard. And then the ensuing family drama that came along with her death. I’ll spare you all the details, but it was rough.
And you better believe it affected my school work. Continue reading
A week ago was all about the working moms in my office!
On Tuesday I ran into a mom on her first day back from maternity leave. It’s her second child, but the first time she has left a newborn at home to go back to full-time work.
The next day at work I met a woman who is 39 weeks pregnant with her first and is planning to continue working after maternity leave ends.
And then I also talked daycare with woman at work who is 41, just had her first child in September, and has accrued a ton of sick time that has enabled her to have a very flexible extended maternity leave situation, but now needs to get serious about finding childcare.
It’s fascinating talking to moms in their different stages of working mom-hood because there are similarities we all share because we’re mothers, and there are differences due to our personal circumstances. And I want to learn from all the moms further along than me!
One of the common questions expecting moms and new moms getting ready to go back to work always ask is–What do I need?? We’ve had 9 months to prepare the house and car with all the baby gear, but what gear does a mom need when she goes back to work?
This post contains affiliate links. That means at no extra cost to you, I make a small commission on products ordered. Continue reading
So I totally had a different blog post planned for today, but I’m going to push that out until next week because I feel like maybe a lot of us need this reminder.
It’s no secret that I’m busy and it’s a love/hate relationship. I love the things I’m doing, but I cringe when people start off a conversation with me by saying, “I know you are so busy…” It feels like it’s supposed to be a compliment, but how do you respond to that? “Thanks…you’re busy too? Everyone who isn’t busy is a lazy butt?” I really don’t want to glorify busy. I love down time, and I’m doing all these things right now so that I have more opportunity to slow down in the near future. It’s not easy, it’s stressful, and I look forward to graduating in three more semesters so I can have some study-free evenings with my kids and Netflix and chill with my husband.
And I literally mean Netflix because I’ve seen like three movies since we had our first daughter and we have a lot of catching up to do.
You guyyyyys!
It’s time for applications to Strolling Thunder 2019!
That means it’s time for families all across the country to tell their state representatives about their personal experiences of what impacts their children’s ability to thrive.
Who the heck doesn’t want to do that? And what the heck is Strolling Thunder? Take a look:
Mom guilt is stupid.
Guilt alone isn’t a terrible thing. It helps us recognize that we’ve done wrong, because we feel wrong. That’s human and that’s healthy.
But that’s not what people mean when they use the term “mom guilt.” What they mean is a mixed up bag of gendered emotions, expectations, shortcomings, failures, stereotypes, and people-pleasing tendencies.
It’s shame for not being whatever picture-perfect image of a mother you have in your head. And every mother experiences it to varying degrees. No matter how much you love being a SAHM or a working mom or you have one kid or ten kids–we all know what it feels like to not feel good enough in our version of motherhood.
I am a total dud on New Years. We were in bed at 10 p.m. and it was lovely.
When your kids are up at 5 more often than not, midnight is nothing special to stay up for.
But I do love New Years.
I love taking down Christmas and realizing that my home is 5x bigger than it felt like with the tree up. I love reflecting on the year and imagining what is coming up in the next. I love the feeling of a fresh start.
And I’ve just got a good feeling about 2019. I don’t know what it is, but I feel like we’re going to be moving forward with some of our plans and creating better habits for our future. A few things that I have in mind for this year are: Continue reading
matilda & jo 