it was so much easier to plan meals for the week before we had caylin. and that is ENTIRELY because it is SO hard to cook even a barely-complicated dinner with a baby who constantly wants to play (which is awesome, no doubt–not…

please god, slow down. everything. it feels like ever since we found out we were pregnant, like, EVERYTHING HAPPENED. and fast. too fast. caylin’s birthday party was a hit, but before i get to that, 1 year milestones: she’s trying to walk.…

the birthday girl when she woke up this morning :) the birthday girl when she came to work with me this morning :) sat in my cube and played and hung out with me for a couple hours before her glamma picked her up. she was an angel.the rest…

this weekend was sparc’s 3rd annual hackathon . i had been looking forward to this weekend since the last hackathon, 5 days before caylin was born, knowing good and well that i wouldn’t be pregnant for this one. to say i was pumped was the…

i don’t know what happened to me today, but it pretty much felt like the polar opposite of my last 2 posts. i got done putting caylin to bed, and instead of going into the bedroom to change into workout clothes, i moped downstairs and…

i went to this recipe blog post expecting to read the recipe for cinnamon roll cupcakes. never having been to this particular food blog before, i was not ready to read an actual emotional blog. i started reading it, and it hit me like a…

i have always struggled with anxiety, self-image, self-consciousness, self-esteem… the whole nine yards. i’m pretty sure most women do to some extent, in at least one of those areas. it can be crippling and frustrating. and it is…

i hate that i’ve only been posting once a month lately. i have allowed myself almost no down time in the last few weeks. i have stayed up past 3 AM more times in the last month than i have in the last like 2 years combined, at least. it’s…

caylin turned 10 months old on sunday. hard to believe she’ll be a year old in 2 months. really, really hard to believe. i’m convinced we are raising a hellion. this girl is absolutely crazy. she eats like 3 dinners. she eats whenever…

let me preface this by saying, i’m unbelievably lucky. brett is amazing. caylin is amazing. our families: amazing. this house? amazing. life is fantastic, and we are unbelievably fortunate. none of the below is me complaining about my…

caylin turned 9 months today. more specifically, 2 hours ago. brett and i just watched silver linings playbook , and one of the songs they played was frank sinatra singing, “have yourself a merry little christmas”. they had the big…

we closed on the house yesterday. we. closed. on. our new house. we’re moving into our new house next week. no matter how many times i say it, it still won’t sink in. we haven’t done diddly as far as packing goes–my mom has done 95% of…

weekend before last, brett and i purchased our living room set and our dining room set. yesterday, we did a pre-walkthrough of the house (pictures below). today, we purchased our washer/dryer (sold my “old” washer/dryer to my mom when she…

between caylin growing faster than i can keep up with, mother’s day, and moving soon, i feel like a basket case. it doesn’t help that our townhouse (up until this week when we tidied up a LOT) was starting look like a shell of a home.…

it’s not mother’s day yet, i know. but i felt the need to write this. especially after the last 8 months. even more after the last few weeks. and even more after the last 2 days. we pay my mom to be our full time nanny, but on top of being…

from my pregnancy, through the first 8 months of caylin’s life, a lot of things came up that were unexpected–good and bad. this goes out to my preggo friends, friends of friends, or anyone needing reassurance from a fellow noob. here it…

caylin turned 8 months old on tuesday. 8. months. old. a little over 20 pounds! wearing 18-month clothes (OMG!) her hair is getting longer :) it’s so fuzzy and so blonde . who would’ve thought i’d make a blonde baby?! she eats EVERYTHING.…

a year ago february, we went over our personal and professional goals at work with our leads. a year ago february, i wrote a post about it . these were my goals: take the red hat security exam in june have this baby move into a house as…

caylin turned 7 months old on saturday. i really don’t know where the last 7 months went. it feels like just yesterday i was in the hospital holding her little bitty body in my arms, terrified of what to do with my new baby. now she is…

i’m sick of feeling like shit lately. i’ve been working out at home when i can doing this workout (ad-hoc’ing on the days i “can’t” with sets of pushups/crunches/jumping jacks when i’m trying to take care of caylin AND work out). i…

i finally got another tattoo today. i’ve had this craving for a long time now. i get them from time to time. i get the itch to get another piercing or tattoo, but i’m running out of piercing options, and i don’t want to get any “big”…

caylin turned 6 months yesterday. whole-ee-shit. crazy how time flies. milestones as of late… she fed herself the other day. with a sippy cup with handles. booya. she’s screaming now. like, ear piercing shrieks that send chills down your…

in pictures. because it’s 10:30 and i don’t feel like writing. i am le tired. please ignore the crappy photo quality on half of these. we used my mom’s camera and she had it on the lowest setting. she knows not what she does! and i wasn’t…

i am realizing more and more how much i’ve neglected to take time for myself lately. it is entirely my fault, and i know that, so i really have no room to complain. but in the last week, it has become blatantly obvious that i need to step…

this past week caylin started sleeping full time in her crib, which is huge. and bittersweet, like i expected. and convenient and awesome all at the same time. my mom had her napping in the crib during the day, but i still had her sleeping…