[One Year and Beyond] Finding Time to Blog

Believe it or not, this is the topic that I was most looking forward to reading from other moms, especially working moms. This is a constant struggle for me and I'd love some tips on how other moms make it work!

With that... here's how I find the time to blog.

Blogging is a hobby for me. I don't do it for others, I do it for me. I like sharing my story. I like the digital scrapbook that it has created for me (and I actually refer back to it often). I like connecting with other women. I never feel like it is a burden, like I have to sit down to blog. I share content that is relevant to my life and that is true to who I am. I feel like blogging has helped me become a better photographer and writer (though I by no means think I am good, I just can tell I've gotten better).

I find time to blog because I want to blog. It is important to me, so I find time in my busy schedule to do so. The majority of the week, I go to work in the morning (at 7am or 8am) and come home between 4pm-5pm. Occasionally, I will hop on the computer in the morning, but it's usually to link up my post to the host of the link up. I don't wake up early enough to spend actual time on the computer. Depending upon what time I get home from work, I will hop on the computer for an hour-ish or until Seth and Mason get home. (Seth (almost) always picks up Mason from daycare because it is on his way home from work and would be more out of the way for me. So for convenience purposes, Seth picks him up in the afternoon and I drop him off in the morning.) Once they get home, it's family time and I shut off the computer. 

Plus, let's be honest. Has anyone ever tried to blog while the toddler is awake? It goes a little something like this :

...Mason checking out what I'm doing followed by banging his hands on the keyboard and me being terrified that he's going to delete everything I just did. Or my blog all together.

And then he steals the computer.

So it's better left off while he's awake :)

On the occasional day that I work at 11am, I will drop Mason off at daycare around 7:45am to keep the consistency. I will either run a couple errands or come home and do house errands (like dishes or laundry, etc) or blog. I try to get in at least one post before I have to leave for work because when I get home at night at 8pm, I help put Mason to bed and then it's time for dinner, a little TV, prepping lunches for the next day, and bed.

Long story short? When do I blog? Once a week between 8:30am-10am and all other day between 4ish/5ish-5:45pm and after 8pm.

After 8pm is when I really have time to blog. I also return emails and read blogs. I don't blog at work because I don't have time nor do I have access to a computer to do so. During my lunch would be the only time that I would be able to start (or finish) a post, but I don't have access to my pictures and I would have to blog from my phone (which is difficult), so I just don't. But, having said that, after 8pm doesn't really give me a lot of time to do anything either. So, on the weekdays, I try to prioritize. I respond to any people that have commented, I prep my post for the next day, and then I hop on over to bloglovin and read as many blog posts as I can before I think I am going to fall asleep sitting up (which is usually between 9:30pm-10:30pm on most nights). It doesn't leave a lot of time for me to do what I want to do. I'd need probably an extra 3-4 hours a day for that.

The weekends are a bit easier because I am usually home when Mason naps. Nap time gives me a good 2-3ish hours to blog and catch up on all the posts that I wanted to read during the week but couldn't. So if you get lots of comments from me on a Saturday or Sunday, that's why :) Weekends are a great time to catch up on computer related things, but I have a rule : only when Mason is sleeping (nap time and after bed time). Weekends are also the only time that I really get to spend time with my family so the majority of the day, the computer is off, the phone is put away (except for picture taking) and I'm enjoying time with my boys.

And there ya have it! Secrets out :)

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Linking up with Sara from Running from the Law, Ashley from Words About Waverly, Courtney from From Here to Eternity and the other lovely co-hostesses of the One Year and Beyond series.

[2nd birthday] Gift Ideas.

With Mason's 2nd birthday quickly approaching (exactly one month from today... eekk!), I thought I would share some of his wish list my wish list items for him. I tried to get a mixture of items on it since I don't want to overload our house (or him) with toys. I would like some educational items as well.

One. Little Tikes Learn and Grown BBQ Grill. I mean...come on! How stinkin' cute is this?! I originally wanted to get him a kitchen, but realistically, we don't have room for one. This BBQ grill is not only stinkin' cute but also smaller. Plus Mason LOVES to go outside and watch Seth grill so I figured this would be right up his alley. And these grilling' goodies would make awesome accessories!

Two. VTech Go! Go! Smart Wheels Train Station. We have the airport and Mason loves to play with it. I would love to add tracks to our current one or to get another set and combine them. I'd also love to add some more vehicles to his collection. This tractor, bulldozer, and truck are so cute!

Three.  Fisher Price Little People Wheelies : Cars Radiator Springs Playset. We have the Little People Farm and love it. Mainly we love to play with the animals and make animal noises. This Cars playset looks so fun! Mason LOVES everything with wheels these days, especially Lightning McQueen and Mater so I think this would be a big hit!

Four.  Lego Duplo : My First Construction Site. Right now we only have some Mega Blocks. Mason still likes to play and build with them, but I'd like to expand his collection to some "older kid" Legos too.

Five. Melissa and Doug Magnetic Wooden Alphabet. Mason loves the animal magnets that we got for the fridge for Valentine's Day so I think he would love these too. I love that they are educational and we can help him learn his letters and words.

Six. Sandra Boynton's Greatest Hits : Volume 1. We (and I say we because Seth and I love it too!) LOVE Sandra Boynton's Barnyard Dance book. We read is every single night. It's become part of our "must reads" at night and we love to add a country twang while we read it. I'd love to have more of her books to read to Mason at night.

Seven. Llama Llama Nighty-Night. Eight. Good night, Good Night, Construction Site. We don't have any specific bed time books and I think these ones are fun!

Nine. Clothes! Shirts, shorts, pants, shoes. Clothes are always welcome and always a great gift.

What am I missing?

What would a two year old boy like for his birthday?

Celebrating Dad.

Hope you all had a great weekend celebrating Dad! I know we did over here.

Friday night was spent as a little impromptu date night. It had been a loooooooooooong week at work and randomly on Friday morning I decided that it would be fun to go out to dinner. So we texted Nanny to see if she could watch Mason and she was free (score!) and we made dinner reservations and we were set.

We went to Maggiano's since we had a gift card and I'm so happy we did. The food was DELICIOUS as always. We got these amazing little appetizers called "street food". I'd never seen them on the menu before (I think they're new? Or we just don't go out very often lol) but they were sooooooo good. There were many to choose from but we got the veal meatballs (they had some sort of cheese sauce on top - feta maybe?), asparagus with prosciutto, tomato caprese, and mushroom truffle arancini. I had never heard of an arancini before that night and let me tell you....DELICIOUS.

And then this dessert. Warm apple crusted heaven. Well it doesn't have heaven in the title but it should!

Oh and we had dinner too but it didn't make the cut for a picture. I had the cheese ravioli with pesto/marinara sauce (my fav!) and Seth had the eggplant parmigiana. I'd never had his before but it was so good! And they were both the buy one, get one to take home deal. Even better! (I got the same thing because I like it so much and Seth got the lasagna).

Saturday, Nanny had bought tickets for the girls and the kids to go to Sesame Street Live. I was excited at first until I found out earlier in the week that Mason HATES Elmo. HATE. Like screams and runs to Luz at daycare when it comes on. We don't really watch too much Sesame Street at home, but I have NO idea why he's so afraid of Elmo. Needless to say, I was a little worried about the show. But he did great! He was a little whiny at first but I think it was more because he wanted to run and not be cooped up in a seat. Overall though, I thought the show was really cute!

sooooooo sweet holding hands!

tip toes

While Mason and I were gone, Seth was kind enough to hang up the letters that I bought to hang on the wall for Mason's big boy room remodel. (I say remodel but it's really a re-organization haha). I love how they turned out! And clearly Mason does too!

I ran a couple errands and we called it a night.

Then Sunday was the day of the Dads! 

Seth preferred to eat edible food for Father's Day so he made us a little egg breakfast before we went out to brunch later in the day. This was probably a good call on his part because I tend to overcook eggs because I am paranoid about under cooking them (definitely not the cook here!).

For brunch we went to this place called The Playground and it was AMAZING. 

Did you ever watch The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network? Heard of The Lime Truck (food truck)? Well The Lime Truck was the winner of one of the seasons of The Great Food Truck Race and with the money that they won, they opened this restaurant. We've been wanting to go for forever but they always have the longest wait and its super hard to make reservations. I don't know how we got so lucky on Father's Day.

I was only able to get a picture of a couple things because they were so delicious and we ate them so fast. But for appetizers we got these amazing smores donuts...

...and a bacon cinnamon roll and some pancakes. I don't remember what kind of pancakes they were but they were the BEST pancakes I've ever had in my life. And that says a lot. I would go back just for the pancakes!

For our main dish, Seth and I shared this chicken and waffles. It was so good! My favorite part was the waffle (sweet tooth!) but the chicken was good too.

I also attempted to get a good picture of Mason and Seth by this pretty waterfall but Mason wanted none of it.

After lunch, we made a quick trip past drive-thru Starbucks, and then went home for Mason to nap and me to go to the grocery store. Mason had other ideas and fell asleep within 2.7 seconds of being in the car.

Later that night we went over to Nanny's house for dinner and playtime and it was the perfect end to the perfect day.

Happy, happy Father's Day to these guys :

my dad

and my husband.

Mason and I love you both very much!

Happy Father's Day!

xo

[BOY MOMS] Cynthia from Living in Neverland

Hi everyone, I'm Cynthia and I blog over at Living In Neverland.  What was once a general "lifestyle" blog has turned into more of a Mom Blog recently.  I don't have the chance to blog as often as I used to, but I don't mind trading blog posts for time with my little boy!  Thanks so much to Liz for inviting me to guest post about being a #BOYMOM !!

I would have been happy either way, but knowing my boyfriend wanted a boy, I was happy on his behalf when we learned the sex of our little bun in the oven.  :-)   I really didn't have any idea, going into that ultrasound appointment, so I can't say I was shocked.

My son made an unexpectedly early appearance into the world and we were not prepared.  (#understatementoftheyear)   Now that we've been parents for a full year (*sob*!!) there are lots of things I have grown to cherish about having this little guy in our lives. A lot of things I love about my little dude are probably not exclusive to #boymoms, but I don't have a girl so they are what stands out to me!

I love little boy clothes... from his "dress up" stuff, to his play clothes, and everything in between. While there are obviously tons of adorable girl clothes, I think the little boy stuff is equally adorable.  They are like mini versions of grown up clothes.  

Baby jeans, in particular, kill me!

I love seeing him with his Daddy, imitating noises he makes, or high fives, or even just turning the lights on and off (and on and off and on and off!)

I love his hugs and kisses.  He is quite a cuddle monkey.  Cuddles with Daddy in morning and with Mama at night.  It's so cute.

I love watching him grow and change and learn!   He gets so excited over little things, and it is contagious. 

I'm looking forward to whatever comes in the future with our boy... be it trains/cars/trucks/snakes/dirt.  The though of someday taking him to sports practice (or art/music/dancing/whatever he decides), or cheering him on in the stands makes my heart melt.  I'll be there to teach, love, and support him through anything and everything throughout his life.  (Although thinking about him as a teenager and hormones and girls and all that doesn't sound very fun!  haha)  I hope that his Dad and I can raise him to be a gentleman, polite, kind, and just an overall good person.  It's daunting, but I think we can do it!  So far it's been a lot of fun being a #BOYMOM and I look forward to the years to come!

Right now, he's such a sweetheart.  He smiles and buries his head in my neck and I could almost cry thinking about the day in the (not so distant) future when he won't do that anymore.  I hope he'll always be a Mama's boy at heart.

Thank again to Liz for having me today!  

Stop by my blog if you want to follow my weekly pics or my (infrequent) posts about life with this cutie pie! 

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If you would like to share a post about you and your son, email me at chasinmasonblog@gmail.com .

I would love to feature you! You don't have to have a blog to participate!

Five on Friday

Ain't that the truth!

Happy Friday!

Gosh, I haven't done a Five on Friday in so long it seems! Life has just gotten too busy and I have too much to say I guess! Haha. I feel like I could do a TEN on Friday instead of just five, but I will keep my list contained to just five! Without further ado, here we go!

ONE.
Planes : Fire and Rescue

The new Planes movie comes out on Mason's birthday and I SO WANT to take him to see it on his birthday! Is it inappropriate to take a two year old to a movie? I mean, it is a kids movie! I'm not sure if he will sit still long enough to watch the whole movie, but I'm so tempted to try.

TWO.
Travel Mason jar lids.

via

A couple weeks ago, Laura from Tiny Toes, Little Nose, posted about these awesome Mason jar lids from cuppow. Being the Mason jar lover that I am, I was instantly in LOVE. Definitely putting these (as well as another Mason jar cup!) on my birthday list!

THREE.
Girl Meets World.

June 27th. Cory and Topanga.
Enough said.

FOUR.
Big Boy Room Makeover.

all images from @projectnursery on Instagram

I follow @projectnursery on Instagram and lately I've been LOVING all of their room shares. I'm still gathering ideas for Mason's big boy room (starting to decorate soon!) and am in LOVE with the idea of the shelf bookshelf idea. The top right is their most recent post about it and when I saw it, I instantly fell in love. There's just something about the picture that makes me so happy. The book wall is so inviting and the books are so accessible. I love it.

I definitely don't have the patience for it, but I love, love, love the wall in the top right.

I'm also loving the bottom left. SO SMART to use an Ikea bookshelf, one upright and one on its side, to create a book shelf and bench seating. LOVE the decoration and the padded bench seating. I could just see my (eventually) five year old little Mason sitting on it and reading a book. Swoon.

FIVE.
Summer Bucket List Link Up.

Our summer bucket list link up starts next Friday and I am so excited! Don't forget to link up with us and share your favorite summer activity!

Happy Friday!

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Linking up with the lovely ladies of The Good Life, Carolina Charm, A. Liz Adventures, 

and Hello Happiness

[One Year and Beyond] Getting them to eat their veggies...or anything at all

Ahh. The dreaded meal time. And getting someone so little with such a big opinion on food to eat a meal. It can definitely be a challenge sometimes.

I hate to admit it, but I must have done something right at some point because I was blessed with a toddler who is a good eater. Maybe I am being rewarded for all of the time we spent when Mason was a baby buying liquid gold (aka Similac Alimentum) to feed him. He had such a bad tummy when he was a baby, I'm surprised he's so easy going with food now (knock on wood, please don't jinx it!). He loves fruits (strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, pineapple, blueberries, grapes, etc.) and loves vegetables (green beans, broccoli, etc).

Eating broccoli // Eating fruits and veggies // Trying corn on the cob for the first time.

Of course he doesn't love this stuff as much as he loves junk food, but he will eat it without any problem, so I still consider it a win.

Pulled down the can of Cheetos by himself and helped himself to some snacks.

Now, saying that, you might think I don't have any advice on the topic. Oh how wrong you are. I have lots. My good eater? Not so good at sitting still during dinner time to eat his food. When you can get him to actually put the food in his mouth, chew, and swallow... amazing. But getting him to sit there and focus on eating is the problem. Creativity is key.

Breakfast

Breakfast on a weekday is a challenge. Since both of us work full time, it doesn't leave much time in the mornings for breakfast. When I work at 11am, it provides for the most time for breakfast so I try to provide a well balanced meal of Cheerios/waffles/mini pancakes, some fruit, and some yogurt. But when I work at 8am or 7am, it leaves a lot less time for a full meal at home. This is where creativity comes into play.

Waffles with strawberries & blueberries and a yogurt // eggs with avocado

Eggs, strawberries, and hash browns (aka tator tots) // Cheerios, waffles, blueberries and yogurt

I've known Mason for almost 23 months now. And if there's one thing that my son has taught me in those 23 months, it's that he is NOT a morning person. He may wake up early and trick you into thinking he's a morning person, but he is definitely not. Sometimes he is in a good mood when you go into his room to get him and sometimes he's not. Regardless of his mood, he's not a morning person. 

The second you get downstairs with him, it's like he knows we are in the vicinity of the fridge and HE NEEDS FOOD. So, Seth and I (being smarter than the toddler and having learned from our prior mistakes), have learned that we NEED to have milk ready for Mason the second he gets downstairs. Literally, if you don't, meltdown central erupts immediately. And most recently this includes a full blown laying on the ground, pounding his hands on the ground, crying fit. Fun times.

So I usually hand him his milk immediately, sit him down at his table or on the couch, turn on the Disney channel and get some Cheerios ready for him. He sucks down the milk in 10 seconds flat and I re-fill it for him. I finish getting ready and put his waffle in a to go tupperware and we head out the door. I hand him one piece of waffle at a time while in the car and driving to daycare and he eats the whole thing.

My secret for getting Mason to eat breakfast on a weekday? Feed him in the car.

Lunch/Snacks

Lunch is actually the easiest meal for us to feed Mason. I feel like it is the meal he is most willing to sit still and eat while at home. While these are examples of what I make for him to lunch (and snacks) for daycare, he eats very similarly at home.

I try to stick to the basics, things I know he will like. Recently he's been really into tortilla chips/snap pea crunchies/pirates booty so I try to incorporate that somehow. He also really likes turkey and ham so that is usually his "main dish" with some edamame and olives accompanying it. For fruit, he's been on a grapes and blueberries kick though I do substitute strawberries, bananas, watermelon, or raspberries occasionally. He LOVES apple sauce, avocado, and a fig newton for dessert, so I include that as well. I'm not sure what time Luz gives Mason each thing, but I do know that his containers come home empty every night.

For snacks at home, we usually offer Cheerios with blueberries or dried cranberries, gold fish, a pouch, some fruit, cheese and crackers, pirates booty, etc.

My secret to get Mason to eat lunch? Have someone who is not mommy or daddy feed him. Seriously! But seriously, I'd say the secret is to stick to something tried and true. Things you know they will like. And throw in a little something "bad" for them. Hey, why not? You made it all the way to noon without a meltdown, that's cause for celebration!

Dinner

Dinner is a whole other ball game. Sometimes Mason comes home from daycare famished and needing dinner RIGHT AWAY. Other nights he's fine waiting until whenever. Depending upon his mood when he gets home depends on if he will eat what we're eating or if I make something special for him.

If I make something special...

If he eats with us.

He used to eat in his high chair, but recently we've been sitting him at the little table that we made for him. The high chair provided challenges, but the table provides a whole new type of challenge. Before we switched the to the table, Mason thought it was funny to throw all his food off his tray on his high chair and on to the floor. All my hard work, all over the floor. The more we said no and told him not too...the more he did it. We tried to incorporate forks into the mix to distract him and to get him to try to pick up the food on his fork by himself. This worked sometimes but other times not. Sometimes I had to substitute my fork to trick the toddler. Whatever gets him to eat, I'm all for trying.

Just the other night, Mason refused to sit in his chair at his table to eat dinner. He kept getting up to walk around and kept sitting in his Anywhere chair. So what did we do? We put the table in front of his Anywhere chair and he ate his dinner there.

And just last night? He refused to eat dinner until I sat there and picked up every single piece of food from his plate and put it in his mouth for him. Annoying for me? Sure. But he ate a whole plate of broccoli, chicken, cheese, and olives. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

My secret for getting Mason to eat dinner? Be creative. For some reason, he will eat off of my plate, but not his. And sometimes we are having the EXACT same thing. But if it gets him to eat, he can eat mine and I will eat his. Or I let him use my fork to show him that he is a big boy using a "big kid fork". Or sometimes I will put his food on his/my fork and pretend to eat it. I explain how good it is and how I would love to eat it if he won't, and this usually prompts him to grab the fork out of my hand and put it in his mouth because he doesn't want me to eat his good food.

One thing Mason doesn't need help with? 

Dessert...

...and drinking other people's drinks.

You leave your drink unattended and in Mason's world, it's fair game.

So while it is definitely one of the most challenging things to do as a parent, it is so important that the kids get the nutrition that they need. So, if you have to be creative, do it. If you have to do something you swore you would never do (like let your kids watch tv during dinner), do it. If you need to let your kid eat french fries and gold fish for dinner because he refuses to eat everything else, do it (and I've done it).

My advice on getting your kid to eat? 

Creativity and patience.

And know it is just a phase.

It may not be in the "parent of the year" handbook, but it works for us, so we're sticking to it.

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Linking up with Sara from Running from the Law, Ashley from Words About Waverly, Courtney from From Here to Eternity and the other lovely co-hostesses of the One Year and Beyond series.