1. I have time to blog today. Ask me why?!…..cause today I had HELP. Smack dab in the middle of busy season. Real life HELP. In the form of a maid to come clean my house and the most amazing nanny in the world. My house is clean. Every single room ALL AT THE SAME TIME. And I got actual work done during the day today without dropping the kids in front of elmo or barney. Real live work in daylight hours. Uninterrupted. Isn’t that freaking awesome? I usually work after Jason walks through the doors at the end of the day. I feel so much less stress right now. When I opened my eyes this morning, I knew it would be better today. I’ve got it under control, I can breathe. I’ve been working 60 hours a week, pulling late nights with early mornings, chasing kids, cleaning house (sorta). Why, oh why did I not do this sooner? I got two galleries out, worked on some birth announcements, placed 5 orders, packaged 4 orders, burned a bunch of disks, called a few clients, sent a bunch of emails, made a trip to the post office, Target and Starbucks, all before my session tonight. Of course I am looking forward to being in Mommy mode again soon, but it feels so good to be marking things off my long to do list! Our nanny (I feel so fancy saying that) is looking for a new family to love and care for and we had a short term need to get me through the next few weeks so it was a total win/win situation. I can pretty much tell you that I rarely ever leave my children with non-family members. We’ve left our kids with 3 people in two years and she’s one of them. Today was the 3rd time this year she’s been with my kids and I trust her. That’s huge.
2. She arrived at 9 am and Taryn had given the complete rundown of her entire life story by 10:01 am. Shortly thereafter she moved on to Ty’s, Ty’s best friend, Lily and a kid at school named Ethan.
3. T took a long nap today. I think it’s because her lips were tired from flappin’ all morning.
4. I haven’t taken a photo of my own kids in weeks. Must remedy that with the return of my sanity.
5. Has anyone had any good Etsy finds lately? Please share =)
6. I bought a new lens this week. It’s the first new lens I’ve purchased in over 2.5 years. I’d say I was due.
7. I have 13 sessions to blog about. My goal is to do half of them this week. Anyone want to take bets?
8. We are going to see Walking with Dinosaurs tomorrow night. I can’t wait!!! I hope Taryn doesn’t freak out. We will take two cars and bought cheap tickets just in case.
9. Speaking of fun stuff to do…..Austin peeps…..any recommendations of fun stuff to do with kids during the holidays?? We want to start some new traditions this year!
10. My second favorite girl in the whole wide world turned 3 last weekend. Happy Birthday silly Lily! We love you!
We started a new tradition when we moved here, the Austin symphony Holiday sing-a-long. It is tons of fun, complete with Santa, Rudolph and Frosty. Best part? Its free! Tickets are available Dec 1st. Sing-a-long is Dec 15th.
link: http://www.austinsymphony.org/tickets/events/christmas-sing-along/
that sounds fun Jennifer, thanks!!
I am so happy for you! Getting so many items checked-off your to-do list is HUGE! Congrats on hiring a maid and a nanny to help you! You are certainly motivating me to think about a maid…I think it might make me a better mom if I wasn’t so stressed about the house. Congrats, again and enjoy 🙂
Wow! I feel so good for you just hearing how much you got done! That is awesome! What a good feeling. 🙂 My friend has an etsy shop– http://www.finleyandoliver.etsy.com with modern appliqued tees for little boys. You might like to check it out for your little Teagan. They have a red and white deer head that is super cute for the holidays. Hope you find fun stuff in Austin!
You should start doing the Trail of Lights! We do it every year and it’s a lot of fun. 🙂
Walking With Dinosaurs is AWESOME! A few scary parts but my kiddos did well and we saw it a few years ago on it’s opening night in Tacoma, WA. Have fun!!!
We took Landon to Walking with the Dinosaurs a few years ago. He had so much!! You guys will love it!
YAY for getting work done and not neglecting your children! Now how can you come on here and tell us you purchased a lens and not tell us which one!!!! Spill the beans.
How awesome you got some help! You definitely need one with all that work to do! And I agree, totally mean to tell us you bought a new lens and not spill which one!! 🙂
Lyndsay, I JUST opened my etsy shop today. I only have 4 items in there right now but will add more as I finish knitting. Trying to juggle college courses and Jayden’s Drs appts and therapies! If there is something specific you are looking for you can let me know and I’ll see if I can make it. I
http://www.etsy.com/shop/beanies4babies
for real!! what lens??