beginning again.

Well hello there. It’s been a while.

When I first started blogging I had every intention of blogging at least once a week if not more! I had every intention of sharing my life with you in real time like Olivia at To The Heights or Jessica at Domesticated Dutch-ish. I had every intention of doing more, sharing more, being more.

But alas, here comes the age old excuse that “life got in the way.” I don’t particularly like that saying because life never really gets in the way it just keeps going. Since my last blog, I’ve had my second baby, celebrated Christmas, my oldest broke her arm, I turned 25, celebrated Easter and had my first baby turn 2 (all I that order). Life kept going.

  

Then I started thinking about my blog. I had that nagging urge that I needed to write again. I wanted to write again. I wanted to have that outlet again; so here I am.

Trying to figure out what I wanted to write about was challenging. For anyone who has ever started a blog I’m sure it’s one of the most daunting things. Where do I start? What do I say? Will anyone read or care about what I care about?

Then it hit me. I’ve said it previously. I wanted to do more, to say more, to be more. I think we all come at life with the best of intentions. We all want to be the best at what we do.

In my case I want to be the best wife and mom I can be, but I know I fail all the time. My house is dirty, my kids need baths, I have dishes piled in my sink, my bed isn’t made, the laundry needs put away, and so on and so forth.

And then I see Pinterest. Seriously, where do these women come from? Where do they find the time to sew these perfect outfits, bake the perfect cupcakes, have the perfect most nutritious meal on the table when their husband gets home, their house perfectly decorated and spotless. And then there’s me – uh my kid had chicken nuggets and fruit snacks for lunch because it wasn’t worth the battle and I vacuumed while she sobbed the entire time. (Fear of the vacuum is another story all together.)

The more I thought about it, the more I realize I do that to myself a lot. I compare myself to other people I see before I even realize I’m doing it. My kids don’t care that my house is a mess. My husband doesn’t care if we have hamburgers for dinner because it was the easiest thing to make.

So why do I put all this pressure on myself to be the next  great baker or an iron chef or Martha Stewart? Because our society tells us it’s what we should do? Because I’m a product of my culture? Because the world has told me my entire life I need to do things a certain way, buy specific things, look certain way, or be rich in order to be happy?

Thats bullshit.

I don’t think the world would honestly know what happy was if it hit they square between the eyes.

I don’t need to be the best baker, or cook, or skinniest mom on the block, or even the richest. My riches aren’t monetary. Mine are the smiles And giggles of my beautiful baby girls. Mine are in the love my husband shows me every day. Mine are in my beautiful Catholic faith that lets me know I’m always forgiven and can try again.

Happiness is choice. Happiness is contagious. I choose to be happy. I choose to cherish the time I have. I choose to be the best possible wife and mom I can. If I fail, I’ll do better tomorrow. I promise.

essential oils.

I want to first of all apologize to anyone who has been missing my blog 😉

We had 2 different grandparent visits and then a bout with double ear infections and then a runny nose from you know where.

Dealing with the sickies and germs that have been floating around has led me to the topic of essential oils. Now, before I go any further, I don’t consider myself a “crunchy mom” but I do have some crunchy tendencies. Essential oils being one of them.

A year ago, I asked my husband for a kit of essential oils for Christmas. I was/am apart of this amazing group of women on facebook and I kept seeing posts or questions about these miraculous oils. I decided to do some research. I found two companies that were most reputable among the oily community, so I thought why not? I’m not going to get into the logistics of company versus company because chances are, if you’ve ever looked at essential oils, you know which ones I’m talking about.

You can make that decision for yourself.

Growing up I had never heard about essential oils. I had absolutely no idea what they were when I asked for them as a Christmas present, I just wanted to try something new and more natural for my family.

Essential oils are not some fancy new trend (like I thought)-they’ve been around for thousands of years dating all the way back to ancient times. They are even referenced in the bible numerous times.

I loved how simple they are. I’m able to combat most ailments with just a single drop. Headaches, sore muscles, immune boosters, sore throats, and even ingrown toenails (gross I know). When you’re using essential oils I can only recommend using a high quality therapeutic grade essential oil.

If you’re interested in learning more about them or wanting to purchase a high quality essential oil, please contact me. I’d be happy to help in any way that I can. They’re something I love and use on a daily basis and as a mom why wouldn’t I pass on something so great!

when pregnancy gets the best of you.

“You look huge! When are you due?”

“Oh my gosh, you look like you’re ready to pop!”

“Your daughter is precious and you’re already having another one?!”

“Wow, another one already! You know how that happens right?!”

Pregnancy comes with a ton of advice and some backhanded comments from the peanut gallery. Sometimes they’re warranted but if you can see that my daughter is throwing a little fit because I didn’t stop and pick up the Minnie Mouse balloon in Walmart, now might not be the best time.

What do you do when pregnancy gets the best of you?

It’s easy to give advice to someone who is pregnant, especially if you’ve been pregnant yourself…been there done that…but I don’t think the produce aisle is a great place to hear your childbirth horror story or how many hours you spent in labor or why you think I should…fill in the blank.

Why, when someone is talking to a first time (or even second time) mom, do they find it necessary to share everything and anything that went wrong for them? It’s not preparing me for what I don’t know. It’s just giving me more anxiety!

Lets face it, labor is a scary thing. Yes, I do in fact know what needs to be done to bring my child from the inside of my body to the outside of my body. I’ve done this once before…remember 😉

I know that babies bring out the best in people, really I do! And any advice comes from a place of sheer joy for bringing more precious little people in the world.

Just do me a favor next time, tell me I look pretty instead of huge. And try not to look like you think I’m crazy (even if you do) 😄

Yes, I know I have my hands full. Yes, I know I’m crazy for having 2 under 2. But if you honestly knew me you’d understand that I’m not a person who takes big life events one at a time.

Life is chaotic and crazy and I might have the messiest house on the block, but my baby knows how much I love her and when this little one is born she’ll know it too!

And if you had a weekend like me and pregnancy (or life in general) got the best of you, thank the Good Lord you woke up this morning and you get to start again.

Liebster Award.

Thank you to Stacy from My Life is a Comedy Show for God for the Liebster award!

First off, What is the Liebster award? After searching google I found out that “The Liebster Award is passed around the blogging community to those who have fewer than 200 followers. This is simply a way of getting to know each other! “

1. What’s one thing you do really well?

Listen. I think there are a handful of things I’m good at but I think I’m a really great listener.

2. What’s your favorite blog post you’ve written (include link)? 

    Definitely Abundant Love.

3. What is one blog post or article by another writer that has stuck with you for a long time (include link)?

    Anything Olivia writes at To The Heights, I love reading. But most recently it was her article on Mommy Wars.

4. Are you a “cat person” or a “dog person”?

   I’m allergic to cats so I think that automatically makes be a dog person. Then again, I’m allergic to most dogs too, so I’m a hypoallergenic dog person.

5. Show us your favorite internet meme or cartoon.

These are actually dish towels from Nordstrom, but they’re my favorite thing I’ve seen in a while!

6.  Do you subscribe to any publications?

   No, magazine subscriptions are too expensive for something that you read once and then throw away.

7. If your house was on fire, and you had time to grab ONE object to save (assume all other people and pets are already out safely), what would it be?

   Honestly, my phone. I know, I know. But it has every one of the pictures I’ve ever taken of my baby. Yes I should have the up in the “cloud” but I’m not going to buy extra “cloud” storage to store pictures. I might grab my external hard drive too. I did just put most of my phone pictures on there.

8. Are there any kids’ toys that you suspect you might enjoy playing with as much as/more than the kids?

Not yet. She just started coloring so it might be time to get some coloring books and I do love watching her make decisions on colors. She also loves books and I love reading them to her.

9. What kind of candy will you be handing out for Halloween?

   Miniature Kit Kats (because its what this preggo mama is craving)

10. Have you ever seen or experienced something you suspect was supernatural?

    Mass.

Part of this award is to award it to more bloggers.

I’m awarding this to:

Annie at This Northern Belle

Olivia at To the Heights

I really like the questions I got from Stacy so you two can go ahead and answer the same questions that I did.
God bless!

abundant love.

“Love is the only gift we receive abundantly. Let it overflow.”

I spent most of last night tossing and turning because lets face it…I feel like a beached whale. My body does not feel like my own. A little more than half way through the third trimester and my baby is running out of room. She decides my lungs, bladder, kidneys, ribs, and hips are perfect places to jab, squeeze, nudge, or bump at 2:37 am. I don’t mind being woken up by my baby for two main reasons: 1. It’s my body’s way of preparing me for when she is actually born and will need my undivided attention for a while. 2. It means she’s alive.

7 am rolls around and my other precious girl is awake and ready for the day. “Moorning” I hear over the monitor. Time to be a mama. My mom once told me that I am her air. She needs everything from me. Even though she is becoming more independent and testing her boundaries at 18 months old, she still looks to me for every one of her needs to be met. She trusts me.

As I type this she is asking for more ceer – translation Cereal. As I type this she is dumping said bowl of cereal on the carpet floor…and that’s why she doesn’t get cereal and milk for breakfast. But honestly, how could you be upset with that face.

Before you become a parent you have certain expectations of what its going to be like. Well it is all of those things and none of those things at the same time. You can read every parenting book you’d like leading up to the birth of your baby, but nothing will prepare you for a screaming newborn at 2 am and you have no idea how to remedy the situation…but you learn. Nothing prepares you or makes you learn faster or makes you a better parent than trial by fire. You decide what works best for your family in that moment and you stick with it. If it stops working, you try something new and so on and so forth.

To be a mom takes a completely unselfish act of abundant love. You give your body to grow this perfect little human and you realize that stretch marks or a couple extra pounds don’t really matter that much because you grew a human being. Let that sink in just a little.

You. A woman. Grew another human being inside of your body. Your body protected your baby. Your body sustained your baby’s life. You are so crafty, by nature, you make people.

You give up sleep even before the baby gets here because you cannot get comfortable in your own bed. You have a moat of pillows around you and God forbid one of them is out of place your entire night of sleep is shot. Or you’re woken up by your bladder screaming at you and you have no idea if you’re going to make it to the bathroom in time because your bladder has never felt this full.

You give up your favorite meals, foods, drinks, desserts and snacks when you’re pregnant because something that used to be worth every bite is no longer worth the indigestion or heart burn that comes along with it. It’s better to eat food that is easier to digest than it is to only remedy stomach aches, heartburn or indigestion with TUMS.

You give up buying the things you want because let’s face it…these little boogers are expensive and money doesn’t grow on trees. And even if it did, your baby would probably grow faster than the money tree.

When you become a mom though, you gain so much more than you lose. You’re probably thinking “Right..” You just said I’ll have to give up my body, my sleep, my money and my favorite foods if I want to have a baby…and you’re right I did say that. But I also said that motherhood was an act of selfless abundant love.

It’s not about you anymore. It’s about this perfect little person that you, your husband, and God created.

“When we engage in the act of creation, the natural result is human life.”

You gain smiles that melt your heart. You gain unconditional love because they know nothing else in life. You gain a sense of innocence about the world and yet you want to protect them from the world as well.

You realize that you don’t care that it’s not about you anymore because there is someone or a few someones who matter and mean more to you than your body, or your sleep, or your favorite food.

You realize that waking up early is better than sleeping in if it means you get to hear moorning right when you walk into her bedroom. You realize that a few stretchmarks are nothing compared to this beautiful child.

You realize that even though you may not be rich by the worlds standards, you don’t care because the world is not rich by your standards.

Nona’s Meatballs.

Okay. I’m going to be honest with you. I love to eat and I love to cook. Now, I’m not going to claim to be some award winning chef waiting for The Food Network to call me with my own cooking show, but I can follow a recipe like nobody’s business. You may be laughing at me for this statement, but some recipes make things sound much easier make than they actually are; i.e. biscotti, red chili, homemade biscuits and rolls, my mother in laws no-bake cookies (that are my husbands favorite),etc. Practice makes perfect. If you don’t like how something turns out there’s always next time and more or less ingredients to add. Make them your own.

For all of you mama’s out there; whether that be mama’s to be, 5 years down the road mama’s, or mama’s in the trenches people will always want to give you tips on what to do before the baby gets here, after the baby gets here and sometimes while you’re in labor with said baby. Well one of the best “tips” I received was to create a freezer stockpile before the new baby arrived that I could throw in the crockpot and have dinner 4 hours later. What I didn’t think about before hand was testing out these recipes. I used some pinterest post that gave me a shopping list of everything I needed to make 10 different meals twice. 20 meals stocked up for baby’s arrival. How could this be bad? I’m all about planning ahead! Right? Wrong. I think out of those 10 recipes we maybe liked one. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches became our best friend.

This time around, I started early. I’ve been looking for recipes that I think sound good or that I know are good family recipes and that I think will freeze well for when this new little baby arrives. The go on my dinner list one week to try before I make a larger batch and if they pass the Husband Test of: “Yah, I like this enough to eat it again” or “I don’t want to make a peanut butter and jelly instead” or “This is really good,” then we’re golden.

From now until this baby arrives, I’d like to share with you the recipes I’ve chosen to sustain my family in those first few weeks of adjusting to life as a family of 4.

Disclaimer: you don’t have to be pregnant to want to make these recipes. They’re just good recipes that make good food.

This recipe is one of my family’s favorite recipes. I should mention before I pass this recipe along, that I do not have a Nona and I am not Italian, but I do have a very generous aunt who is Italian and passed her Nona’s amazing meatball recipe onto my mom. For any Italians out there I’m sure you have your own meatball recipe that you love and I’m sure for most of you it’s all about the sauce, but the meatballs are my favorite part (I’m talking hover over the pot on the stove and eat them with a fork favorite part) and I don’t care who knows it.

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Nona’s Meatball Recipe

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• 2 lbs of ground beef
• 1 lb of Italian sausage
• 2 cloves of garlic (diced small or crushed)
• Basil, Oregano, Parsley, Salt and Pepper
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (seasoned or unseasoned)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs

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Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. You’ll thank me when it’s ready and you don’t have to wait for it to heat up.

Start with the meat. Add 2 lbs of ground beef and 1 lb of italian sausage to a large bowl and mix slightly.

Next, you’ll put everything else into the bowl. There are no real measurements with the spices. My recipe says to “sprinkle basil, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper over meat. I just sprinkle what I think looks right. If I had to put a measurement on it I’d probably say a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half of each (except the salt!).

Then add the 2 cloves of crushed or minced garlic, cup of parmesan cheese, the 2 eggs scrambled and the 3/4 cup of breadcrumbs.

Mix it by hand! (Yes, I used gloves because it was so cold).

When everything is incorporated roll out your meatballs and place them on a greased cookie sheet. I like to use a large ice cream scoop to make sure they’re all uniform size so they cook evenly. Once they’re all rolled, your oven should be hot and you can stick them inside!

They’ll bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. I check them after 30 by cutting into one to see if its cooked all the way through. Trust me, you’ll be disappointed if you over cook them!

When you have about 2-3 minutes left you can use the sauce of your choice (jarred, homemade, bought from your favorite restaurant) and put it in a large pot. You’ll want the pot to be large enough to hold all the meatballs and sauce together. There’s no real measurement of how much sauce to use either. You just want there to be enough to cover all the meatballs in sauce so they can simmer together for an hour.

As mentioned before, you’ll want them to simmer together for at least an hour, but honestly the longer the better! Then you can make some pasta, some spaghetti squash, some garlic bread, pull out some hawaiian sweet rolls, or whatever your heart desires to accompany your meatballs for dinner.

We chose pasta because spaghetti and red sauce of any kind is my daughters absolute favorite meal. Yes you can tell an 18 month olds favorite food. If/when you have kids you’ll understand!

I’d say this recipe one-ups the husband test.

a beginning.

For the longest time I have wanted to start a blog. Now, if you’re anything like me, I follow some great blogs about some fantastic women and it was a bit of a daunting task when I started to really think about it. Would anyone really care what I had to say? Would they be interested in what I’m interested in? Would I be able to hold myself accountable and continue writing? Would anyone other than my mom or sister read more than one entry? So this is the beginning. This is the leap of faith.

First off let me start by introducing myself. I am Chelsea and I’m a Catholic wife and mother. I was born and raised in beautiful Colorado, went to a small Catholic college in Ohio, studied abroad in Gaming, Austria (where I met my wonderful husband) and have somehow ended up in “The Great State of Texas.” I’m not sure I’ve figured that one out yet, but I’m working on it!

Like I said, I have a wonderful husband. He is most of the things I’m not: handy around the house, adventurous, street and book smart, selfless, and extremely handsome.

Being young and Catholic we took to heart the words “Be fruitful and multiply,” which is where this precious Gem came from. She was born on April 13, 2013 and our world has been turned upside down ever since. She is the best thing that has ever happened to us. She loves Minnie Mouse, Moose, cookies, and spaghetti.

And her little sister should be arriving sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I’ll be able to bombard you with adorable pictures of her too!

I am a SAHM (stay at home mom) and I love everything about my life. Yes, some days are harder than others, but I’m 31 weeks pregnant chasing an 18 month old around all day. I wouldn’t change anything. The adventure is just beginning and I’m so excited to see where it goes.