Part 1
This is not a woe is me post, but I think it is going to sound like it. After writing it, and realizing how long it is (almost 4 pages in a Word document), I decided to make this multiple posts (8). So I am going to add a paragraph to the bottom of the posting each day. By the end, you will see how everything has evolved for me as far as being a great wife and mom from getting married, having not one but two kids, and where I am now. Oh yeah, I asked B to read this to make sure he was okay with it before I posted it. He was okay with it and he wrote me a really good email reply after it that I am going to make the ninth post so you can see how the other half thinks!
Growing up I thought when I get older I am going to be able to do it all. I mean that is what you see on the TV shows. Right? How hard is it going to be to be married, keep a clean house, raise kids and work full-time? If I was really lucky I would marry someone who made enough money so that I could be a stay-at-home mom. I would bake desserts, be the great soccer mom, be part of the PTA, and so much more. (Oh, did I mention that I also wanted 4 kids.) How hard could this all be? I nannied for a family of 7, six boys and one girl for over 15 years. If I could handle seven kids and come out of it okay, I could surely be married, have kids of my own, and keep house.
One of my favorite baby pics, and yes I am a twin.
Part 2
Boy was I wrong. When B and I got married we lived in what you would call a starter home. It was just under 1,000 sq. ft. and needed a lot of work. B did all the work himself from putting a new roof on to building a dog house with dog door. I thought it was hard to keep up on that house and barely managed it. To vacuum the entire house it didn’t take more than 20 minutes, and yet I couldn’t keep up. I found out I was just not the type of wife that was good at keeping house. Somehow I had to figure out a way to be this great wife that was awesome at keeping a clean home, had dinner ready, and took care of everything. I came to realize that as long as B and I were happy together that was all that mattered. Sure we had our arguments, but when it was all said and done we were happy. Somehow between the two of us we did keep up on the house and had a great little home.
Our little family
Our first home
Part 3
We decided to move out of Toledo, and somewhere that we wanted to raise children. So we decided to move to Perrysburg. After looking at over 100 houses we settled on our current home. It has not been a dream home for B or me. We have discovered many things wrong with this house that we did not initially know. If we did we would not have bought the house. Fast forward 8 years and B is still working on redoing this house. If I thought keeping up on a house under 1,000 sq. ft. was hard, imagine my surprise when I had a hard time with a two-story 1,800 sq. ft. house. We had many arguments about the house and cleaning it. At the time we were both working full-time jobs so it was hard for either of us to keep up on the house. Somehow between the two of us we did it. We managed to keep the house clean and were happy at the same time.
Our new home & current home
Part 4
Skip ahead 3 more years and now S has become a part of this family. If we thought it was hard before to keep up on the house, now it was simply impossible. I did go back to work part-time for about two months and then I became what I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. Now that I was home full-time, surely I could raise a child, maintain the house, and be a great wife. I mean I had all the time in the world. Well I was able to do one of the three. Being a mom that I could do. I hated being pregnant and was happy it was over, but loved being a mom. Sure when we brought S home, I thought oh my gosh what did we just do. Once I got over that I thought I was going to be the best mom possible. I breastfed S for the first year, made all of his baby food, and never gave him anything he shouldn’t have. He did not have cake or even try frosting before his first birthday. (Side note: he hated the cake and frosting and went for his Cheerios instead.) I got him potty trained at 2 ½ years old. To this day, S has never eaten fast food (doesn’t even know what McDonald’s is), tasted pop (soda), or had gum. I know I am one of those crazy moms, but he never had candy until after he was 3, fruit snacks till he was 3 ½. He never asked for them so I never gave him them. He wanted blueberries, sugar snap peas, Cheerios, and milk, so why give him junk food. I had this mom thing down, but keeping up on the house, not so much.
Our new little family addition
Part 5
I started this blog about a year and half ago hoping I could make money and supplement our income. I thought I could use this money to go on vacations, get items from the store that we wouldn’t normally buy because they are too expensive, and more. Boy was I wrong. I do not and have never figured out how to make any money from this blog with advertisers, sponsored posts, etc. I do, however, love to get free products and review them on the blog. If you have been following me at all you already know this. Of course, I love to post my Target finds. I have religiously posted daily since I started the blog that is until P was born. Now I am lucky if I get 4 daily posts done in a week and review one product.
Where the blog all started with a new laptop