Happy Birthday Mom!

I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful day!

My mom with Santa - in the 60s, obviously. 

Doesn't this picture remind you of that movie A Christmas Story??

The SAHM Fantasy

Read all of my Spearmint Baby posts here.

I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom, or SAHM. My mom worked a lot as a restaurant manager when I was a kid and I always wanted her to be home when I was done with school. She often had to work on Christmas and Easter and I'd spend those holidays with family and sometimes eating at her restaurant. It was hard for us and I always knew I wanted something different for my family.

See the date in the corner? That would've made me about 7 months old.

When choosing a career for myself, I decided to become a teacher not only because I loved it, but because I knew the schedule would be ideal for raising a family. However, now that I'm faced with the reality of going back to work after having a baby, I'm realizing it isn't as ideal as not working at all.

Unfortunately, we are not in the position financially to lose my income. I know that I'll have to go back to work in August when the baby is about 4 1/2 months old and I'm very aware that I'm lucky I get so much paid time off (6 weeks will be a half pay and the rest will be full pay since it will be summer break). However, I know it's going to be very challenging for me to leave my baby at daycare or with a babysitter and go back to work. Any time someone asks me what our plans are for childcare, I tell them I'm not ready to think about that yet. We have time, I know, but I'll also admit that I'm in a bit of denial.

I have this fantasy that my husband will get some incredible promotion or job offer where he'll suddenly make enough money to replace my income so I won't have to work. I dream that maybe some fantastic opportunity will fall in my lap where I'll be able to work from home and still make the same amount of money without needing childcare.

Earlier today, Marissa wrote about how Harry Potter didn't know his mom, but still loved her and it got me thinking about why I want to be a SAHM so badly. I realized that I'm not worried as much about the baby handling me working as I am about me handling it. I know that our child will be just fine growing up with two working parents. I only had one working parent and I think I turned out alright. Sure, I wanted my mom home more, but I didn't love her any less because she worked. It's possible that I loved her more because of everything she had to go through to raise me!

Image by The Caldwells Photography

I do know that it will be really hard for me, though. Every time I come home exhausted after teaching teenagers all day with stacks of essays to grade, I think, "How will I be able to do this with a baby at home?" I honestly can't imagine being able to give a baby the love and attention it needs when so much of my time and energy is devoted to my job.

For now, though, going back to work is the plan and I had better start getting used to the idea because the way time has been flying by lately, August will be here before I know it!

Silhouettes for Mom

When my mom saw Emily Henderson make silhouettes for one of the episodes of Secrets from a Stylist on HGTV, she gushed about how cool it was. I remembered that and decided to make some for her for Mother's Day. Here's how:

First, I took pictures of my stepdad and brother in profile. I didn't want my mom to know, so I found a picture I had taken a couple of moths ago where she was in profile and cropped it. I printed them in 8 x 10, but they could have been smaller for the frame I had.

Then, I put the photo over black cardstock - I actually stapled the photo to the cardstock in areas that I knew wouldn't be part of the final silhouette.

Here are all of the silhouettes ready to be mounted!

I used double sided tape mounting squares to stick the silhouettes on white cardstock.

I had to make sure that the bottoms were all the same distance up or they would look strange all lined up.

Since the paper was 8 1/2 x 11 and the frame was 8 x 10, I put the glass over the cardstock and traced it with pencil so I could trim the excess.

And finished! I actually already had these frames in my collection, so the project was basically free. I know my mom doesn't mind. It's the thought that counts and I'm getting laid off while trying to get pregnant. HA... cracks me up.

So cute!! Ok, so if I could do it all over again, I would make the silhouettes smaller and use white frames with white matting like Emily did. I might redo this project if I find some extra cash to buy new frames. I just couldn't justify it as I have 462 frames sitting in our guest bedroom. Yes, that's an exaggeration, but I do have a TON of them.

I think she liked it and it was so fun to see how much the silhouettes looked like them!

When was the last time you made something for your mom for Mother's Day?

Happy Mother's Day!

To my mom, grandmother, and all the moms, moms to be, and hopeful moms out there, I wish you all a day of flowers and handmade cards, hugs and kisses, love and laughter.

photo by The Caldwells Photography

The Best Gift

Christmas Eve was my favorite part about the holidays this year. My little brother sang at church and was adorable (even though we couldn't see him up in the balcony). After church, we went out to dinner at PF Changs where my mom gave me a gift. I saw the shape of the present and thought it must have been a Christmas book or a photo album to put my Christmas pictures in. I never imagined that it could be this:

She scanned and uploaded Christmas pictures from my childhood and made a book on Shutterfly!

She included pictures of me and my best friend Celeste (who died a little over four years ago) and our many Christmases spent together.

My first Madame Alexander doll from my Aunt Mary (who also married me and my husband). On Santa's lap with my Aunt Kerry, or Kiwi as I used to call her.

Our family stockings are the ones on the left. Everyone in our family has one with his or her name knitted into the top.

There were several pictures of my grandmother, whose birthday is coming up soon. We are planning our annual trip to the butterfly park in a few weeks!

My husband and I during one of our first Christmases together.

And last year when I got Apples to Apples!

This gift was definitely one of my favorites this year. It's strange, but as close as my mom and I are, sometimes I don't feel that deep mommy-love from her anymore. I guess as you get older your relationships with your parents change, but this book definitely made me feel it again.

Thanks Mom. Love you.

Sicky

I was really sick the past couple of days. I just had a virus, but it hit me hard and I couldn't move for a solid 24 hours. 

The whole time, I just kept thinking: I want my mommyyyy... Sadly, though, my mom works full time and has a busy 8 year old to take care of on top of it. Plus, I'm 27 years old. I should be able to take care of myself, right? Yeah...


Lucky for me, my husband is pretty good at taking care of me. After begging asking him nicely to bring me a jamba juice for my sore and swollen throat, he brought me not one, but two different flavors to choose from. Then, when I got up to put my leftovers in the freezer for later and was shaking of freezingcoldness, he brought me a bell to ring if I needed anything!

While I was VERY tempted to ring it so he could turn down the volume of the TV for me, or plug in my cell phone, I resisted as I didn't want to push my luck and ruin it for the next time I was sick.


Who takes care of you when you're sick? What am I going to do when I'm sick AND the mommy?