What to tell yourself when “working mom guilt” hits

“Mama, you stay home with me today?”

Ugh, the words that have launched a thousand mom tears. Especially when, instead of saying “me,” they insert the danged adorable pet name you call them.

If there was ever a horrible subset of mom guilt, working mom guilt is it.

Because you have this kid that will scream her head off that she got the green spoon instead of the purple one and make you rejoice that you’ll get 8 hours at work to calm yourself down, but then they come at you with those big eyes asking you to stay and love them.

Those jerks.

Kidding. Kind of. But they are totally jerking your heart around.

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Easy Family Food

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Raise your hand if you were at Target on Saturday, listening to your 2-year-old shouting “Tacooooooooos!” through the store.

Because I definitely was. And I was so proud.

I’m positive she didn’t know what a taco was, but I think when I mentioned that we needed to go home and eat some tacos, she just knew it was going to be a good thing.

8 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Becoming a Working Mom

There are some things in life that knowing what they’d be like ahead of time would make a huge difference in your choices.

Like that perm in 7th grade.

Or getting tweezer-happy on your eyebrows. Also in 7th grade.

Or wearing puka shell necklaces with everything.

Apparently, 7th grade Katie did not have great long-term vision.

But alas, I survived and moved on to bigger and better and more life-altering decisions. Like going to college, getting married, having a family and building a career. It has been fun, with a hefty share of crazy. Here are some of the big things I wish I had known ahead of time:

Join Strolling Thunder 2018!

If you follow me on Instagram, I gave a teaser last week that I’d have more info on Strolling Thunder 2018, aaaaand…

Via Tumblr

It’s here!

Is Your Job a Banana Stand or a Stepping Stone?

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If Arrested Development taught me anything, it’s that there is always money in the banana stand.

Everyone hated working at the banana stand. Unfortunately for Michael, he burned it down in protest rather than recognize it as an opportunity to better days.  So do you view your jobs as banana stands or stepping stones?

Books for my 2018 New Year’s Goals

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New Years is always exciting. Not because I party on NYE (not even the slightest interest in staying up until midnight), but because it’s a fresh new start. I don’t know why it feels that way, it really is just another day, but it feels full of hope and excitement for a new year and new plans.

Every year. Via Quickmeme

As I was thinking of goals for the upcoming year, I came to the conclusion that my theme centered around the concept of “refocus.” This year has felt crazier than most, with a trip to D.C., a new baby, leaving my job, leaving Washington, starting a new job, having a really hard semester of classes, my toddler breaking her foot, my husband finishing school–it’s tiring to remember everything we’ve done! I feel like a lot of my relationships have slacked, including with myself. So this year I want to refocus. On me, my marriage, my motherhood, my faith, my goals.

4 Simple Ways to Encourage Other Women

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Casual Friday is a blessed day. Unless you show up for work one day and realize that you’re the only one wearing jeans because you forgot it was the college Christmas party. The very nice party.

Pretty much me. Via Imgur

So I did what any normal person would do and ran to the campus bookstore and tried on 20 skirts/dresses to find something that didn’t make me feel like a totally out-of-place loser. God bless the students who work in women’s clothing and ran around finding me outfits to try on while I explained that I don’t even know what size I am right now because I have 25 pounds of baby weight on me still. They were champs. And I’m pretty sure I scared them off from having children in the near future. (You’re welcome, mom and dad)