Momtography

It's no secret that I love photography and I want so desperately to be a momtographer. I'm inspired daily by many mom blogger's I follow and of course Pinterest. Since my last plea for a camera of my own I don't have any updates until in recent weeks when I've taken over hubby's camera. Here's the catch- I can only shoot in manual. Don't ask why but the 'automatic' feature on the camera just doesn't work. So I've enlisted the help of my brother and godfather to help me through this.

So far all of my pictures have stunk!

I mean can it not get any worse? I've been trying to do some online research to help me get better but I have to divide my time accordingly- know what I mean? So, in honor of my instagram birthday- yes, it's my instagram birthday!!!

I'm sharing some of those here.

(From top left)

Salvation Army, Trucks!, who stole the cookies from the cookie jar, daddy's home!, best.ice.cream.ever, baby fever, barnes & noble, chipotle, I really don't want to delete any of the 3,000+ pictures off my phone even if they are backed up in 3 different locations, where the sidewalk ends.

dinner time!, blog update, our daily walk, he loves veggies, fruits, and apps, shrimpfest, halloween, something I want to try, he's going to be looking for that, our junior firefighter, desperately trying to meet Faith IRL.


Okay, so you use IG but don't follow me yet? Send me a request!!! Just let me know that you did so because my photos are set to private (I'm scared of the stalkers). And, you use IG and want your own stats? I used Statigram.com- it's a cool website that gives you all sorts of statistics- I use it just for fun and not all that often. Wait, you don't use instgram and don't really know what I'm talking about but liked looking at all the pretty pictures? You can view my IG photos via my facebook page- hop on over and "like me". Aaaaand if you can help out my photography skills- please do so!

WW: Thanksgiving Day

Sadly, this is the one and only picture that I have from the Thanksgiving festivites.

Oh Hai!

Well hello there!

My guess is that if you aren't a "regular" then you are here from Becky's blog hop. To be honest- I'm glad she did this. It's really hard to find people you really connect with- you know the ones who really get you. I have a TON (okay 30) wonderful readers who I have gotten to know through their own journey's on their blogs and I am happy to have them here with me- but of course I wouldn't mind meeting more people.

So here's what you should know:

This is me

WHOA.

I almost never post pictures of me here. I'm afraid of someone from my personal life coming across it and being found out. There's plenty of people from my personal lie who reads this so I'm actually referring to former (and potential future) co-workers. I strive hard to keep my personal life and professional life separate. Okay, I know what you're thinking- "these people know what my son looks like so if they came across this blog I would be found out anyway!" I know. And I'm strange like that I hope you like strange!

I'm a mom. It's the whole reason I started blogging. I have an amazing (for real he's amazing!) 14 month old adorable (for real he's adorable!) little guy.

I recently became a SAHM. And why didn't anyone tell me what I was in for?? However, it's the best job I've had thus far :)

I also have an amazing (for real he's amazing) husband, wonderful family, and a bit of a crazy life (but then again who's life isn't crazy?)! Due to my recent career move I don't blog as much as I like (I have about 14 posts in draft) but I really hope to get back into the swing of things.


I know I don't have a witty intro post like other blogs (and Becky's definitely makes me want to erase this and start again) you may come across but this is me. I don't have the visually appealing blog (if you can help me rectify this- speak up!) but, there is so much more to me that I can't pour out into one blog post (like many of you are doing) so, I hope you can stay for a minute and get to know us before you decide not to come back. I look forward to meeting you so please leave a comment (or email me) to let me know you dropped by and I will def return the favor! hopefully we can be friends =)

WW: our guilty pleasure

Y3W: 14 months old!

This is a quick mobile post because life around here had been kind of hectic. Hubby was out of town for a bit so I've been doing single mama duty with my little guy.

I really can't believe how fast time is flying! If you have children of your own you know EXACTLY what I mean.

This little boy ceases to amaze me. He can identify his feet, ears, and nose. We are working on lips and toes. I think the toes are confusing him with the whole feet thing but in one of his books we read they distinguish between feet and toes so I figured I might as well teach him!

He can tell you how old he is although he's been able to do that for awhile now, I think it's super cute when he holds up one little finger. He says doggy and banana but only if he really feels like it. He's only said banana twice and one of those times it was because he was having a freak out in the grocery store because he wanted one really badly. It astounds me how he understands so much. Today I asked him "where's Mickey Mouse" and he went an grabbed his Mickey Mouse stuffed animal and bought it to me! I didn't even know he knew that!

This little guy brings tons of joy to our lives. His giggles, his laughs, the way he squeals when you tickle him and the way he dances when he hears music. He's my little buddy and I'm loving it!

Recently, he's really been getting into books and we love that so much! Every night we do bath time, get his pj's on, then we get in the bed. Once he sees his books he snuggles in so close and gets comfy. It is the cutest thing ever and I think it's my favorite part of the day. He's a rumbly tumbly little boy and doesn't really let me cuddle him so when he started that, I cried. I will read him book after book after book just so I can snuggle with him just a little bit longer.

Since I've broken every camera that I own (sigh) I can only do an I-phone photo shoot. Hopefully once I get around a real camera I can do a little better. For now this is the best I could come up with:

WW: don't take him grocery shopping with you

All I was trying to do was teach him different textures and the different fruits... Oy!

Show & Tell Monday

I decided to do this Monday's link up because it is the perfect opportunity to tell you about my work transition from a working mom to a stay at home mom.

 This Weeks Questions: Careers/Your "Job"

Way back in January when I returned to work from maternity leave I started a post about my day as a Working Mom. That post never made it to publish.

This happened for a number of reasons the main reason being after lunch I kept forgetting to document my day via pictures. I didn't want to publish it as is because I like details- lots of details and I am a perfectionist of sorts.

So, this link up gives me the perfect opportunity to rectify my lack of post so to speak. Here goes...


1. Tell us what you studied in college. Is your job now related to what you studied?
I majored in Biology. My undergraduate story is actually a pretty interesting one. I was accepted into a pre-med program for undergrad minority students designed to aid us in excelling in the medical profession. The highlight of this program was that I was one of eight students accepted into medical school right out of high school. Yep, you read that right. So, why am I not a top notch surgeon saving lives?? Well, because in order to keep your seat in that freshman class you had to maintain certain criteria. I clearly did not keep my end of the bargain and therefore I'm not a full fledged physician. Honestly neither is ALL of the other 7 that was in the same program. 2 of them are, 2 are currently in med school after taking some time off to regroup their brains after such a grueling program and the other 3 I have no idea what they are doing.

So, my pretty little Bio degree has absolutely nothing to do with raising such a handsome little boy into a dapper young man :) And although I'm not doing what I said I intended to do at 17 I wouldn't change it because I wouldn't have my hubby nor baby.

2. Tell us what your everyday job looks like.
Well, I quit my day job as a financial aid counselor at a major private University to become a full time stay at home mom. That wasn't my intention but clearly I have issues putting plans into action (see second paragraph above). Now my job is one of my greatest accomplishments. Most days are like so...

9 am: I'm woken up my someone sticking a figure up my nose or in my ear, then he smiles at me.

9:30 am :we head downstairs for breakfast. Last week breakfast was a fight. He's normally a good eater so he may be bored with breakfast options or just doesn't feel like eating.

10 am: we bathe. Bathing is a big thing because I can't bathe alone. I know you think I'm weird but this child will scream his little head off if I try to keep him out the bathroom. Plus if I'm in the bathroom and he's not then I can't keep an eye on him. And if I'm in the shower and he's outside the shower then he's trying to climb into the shower because this boy LOVES to bathe. So- we shower together. Not showering is not an option for me and since the little guy likes to wear his breakfast in addition to eating it we get clean together.

11 am we clean up the bathroom. It gets messy in there. There's always toys and clothes everywhere so after we each get dried and dressed we must undo the damage, lol!

11:30 am we head outside for a walk. I try to walk anywhere from 2 to 3 miles daily (we'll talk about my need to get back in shape later). My little guy LOVES this. He looks at all the cars going by, the leaves on the trees, and anything and everything he can. Many people in our neighborhood has commented on how content he is in the stroller. We walk rain or shine... well light rain or shine because if we don't get out cabin fever sets in QUICK in this house. I'm not yet familiar enough with our surrounding to go driving around exploring in the rain so we do our best.

12:30 pm we head inside for lunch, unless my little guy happens to have fallen asleep in the stroller. This is really hit or miss. Sometimes he wakes up when I take him out, sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he falls asleep on our walk sometimes he doesn't. It does make it really hard to structure a day but I do the best that I can. Lunch is normally leftover from dinner last night or something simple like grilled cheese.

1 pm I'm at a loss at this point. I usually set him loose to play with toys while I straighten up the house. You know make the beds, wash the breakfast and lunch dishes, put away toys that get taken right back out. He still too young to have an attention span past 3 minutes so TV isn't helpful ( and I'm 300% ok with that). I try to do some learning time with him. We have been going over body parts and numbers. He can properly identify his feet, nose, and ears when asked (sometimes reluctantly or downright no cooperation) and when asked he can show you how old he is. But I don't know what other things I can teach him. He doesn't have a huge vocabulary and no matter how much I try to get him to repeat after me he just doesn't. So from now until hubby comes home I have no idea what I'm doing.

2 pm If he hasn't taken a nap by now we fight. Yes fight. My boy is a horrible sleeper and it's all my fault. I was never happy with all the 'sleep training' techniques that I researched so we resulted to whatever gets him to sleep. Now, he's 13 months old and that's still what we do. I dread him taking naps as much as he does but I can't just let him stay awake because by now he's super whiny and super clingy. Even if I try to hold him he's unhappy and starts flailing and what not. It usually takes me about an hour to get him to go to sleep and he may sleep for about an hour or so.

3 pm. There are very few times where he's sleeping at this hour. Likely my 2 pm attempts have failed and I'm at my wits ends. Sometimes at this point I'll either start dinner or go in a corner and cry. I'm joking. If the babe has taken a nap earlier in the day during the stroller ride we usually keep playing. I look  forward to the 4 o'clock hour.

4:15 pm dad will be home soon and I cannot wait! I know this isn't a good feeling to have but this nap thing wears on me something terrible. If it's not raining I let him walk up and down the block while following closely behind. He loves this! He likes to watch all the cars go by and pick up leaves and other foreign objects.

4:40 pm Dad's home! And we are super excited to see him. If he's not home I'm super antsy but try not to text him because lets face it- he just got out of work 10 minutes ago.

5 pm Being a mom is a job that never ends even when they grow up, get married, and move out on their own- but life is a little bit easier when dad's hands are around to help :)

3. Do you have a picture of you at work? Show us.
Sure do! Gladly :)

This kid LOVES the swing!

This pic was an outtake that I like because of the sun glare :)

4. In 10 years, what do you see yourself doing? Same thing? More? Tell us.
Oooh this is a good question! It's such a good question that I don't know the answer to it. Am I really the only person who doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up?!?!

I feel like I could maybe want to be a professional event coordinator. Over the summer I interned (that's so funny to say as an adult) with a pretty reputable company and I loved it! Except the hours kind of suck. This is precisely why I left the medical profession referenced in question #1

5. Tell us what you have learned, and what {if any} recommendations you may have for those looking to go into the field you are in.

I'm still learning! In fact if you have any recommendation on how to teach my son good sleeping habits starting at the age of 13 months puh-lease... pretty please comment below or email me- I'm desperate!

Bad sleeping habits aside, I think you should enjoy every moment you have as a mom. The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Learn from your old childhood and draw upon what you liked and didn't like. And don't forgot you are more than just (baby's name here)'s mom so set aside some time to do the things you like to do and get some "me" time. It helps you to regroup and refresh so that you come back ready to give motherhood your all! Oh, one last thing- take a gazillion pictures 'you don't get back the moment after it's gone'.

Tap, Tap, Tap... is thing thing on?!

My husband gave me this post title and I thought it was very fitting considering how MIA I've been. I know I said that I wanted to get back into the swing of things (over a month ago) but clearly things have not gone as planned! So I have a new plan... starting with some updates:

We finished moving! Well sorta. We're all moved in but not completely settled and we still have storage items back at our old place. And I bet you are dying to know which house we choose. I'm going to get to that in a different post but first I have some disclaimers. We decided to rent instead of buy. It was easier for us to make a less permanent decision right away. Because we rent I haven't decorated nearly as much as I did our last home. I mean it doesn't look horrible here but there is almost no color. AND?! I broke my camera. Well, its just missing a piece that I need to order (procrastinator much?) so all of my home tour pictures will be coming from my phone- bare with me.

Your prayers worked!! Thank you so much for all of your kind words and thoughts. My friend read each and every one of them. On September 22 after over 24 hours of labor she delivered a healthy baby boy!!! He's so squishy and absolutely sweet :) The adorableness kills me!

I lost this competition but Thanks for your support! I know the concept of a healthy hair journey is kind of crazy to some of you but it's kind of a big deal for a lot of African- American women. Thanks for sticking it out with me!

The whole reason I started this blog is because of my little guy and things are going pretty well with him. He is adjusting to our new home very well. However, you can definitely see a difference in him now that I'm home with him full time. Yep, I'm a SAHM now!! More deets on that in a separate post of course. As far as his "differences" are concerned there is some good and some that I feel aren't so good... maybe it's just me.

Now that we live away from my family, my husband and I have very little time to ourselves. That being said we have to make a concerted effort to find a babysitter. And that my friends is causing me some pretty sleepless nights. I'm really not comfortable with the idea of leaving my little guy with someone while husband and I hit the town for an evening. My first thought was to have the potential babysitter spend time with us as a family- while hubby an I are home. That way my boy won't feel like I abandoned him with a total stranger. But still something about not leaving him with family makes me very nervous and uneasy. I know people do it all the time but really guys- I'm nervous. More on this later.

Mommy friends. I need some, for real. I think my son gets tired of looking at me all day everyday. But (of course there is a but), I'm thinking we don't have time for that! Seriously my day is consumed with all things waddler (that's the in between baby and toddler stage #momwords) that I think trying to fit in play time with someone else is nearly impossible!

I want to start a new photo project now that my little guy is a year old. I'm thinking something along the lines of...




I also need to schedule a family photo sesh. The last time we did one the babe was a month old which now makes us one month over due. I need to figure out if we will do it here or back in Jersey, choose a photog, plan our outfits, and get it all done before the end of the year- preferably before December 1 so we can use some photos for Christmas cards. This is a lot to accomplish when you are talking to a procrastinator...

Speaking of to do lists, I feel like mine are a mile long. I really didn't think relocating would be this serious! Okay, back to the babe... We celebrated his first birthday and I can't wait to share the deets. I have to edit all the pics though and that may take me years. I also intended to put together a few giveaways for me and the babes birthday (5 days apart) but I don't know what the heck I'm doing! If you blog and do giveaways please email me and clue me in!

I think that just about covers it! Okay, not really. I could go on and on and on but I'll just write some posts instead. And in this moment I want to thank my IRL friend and fellow blogger friend Ebony as well as Dani for checking in on and my little space on the interwebs. If was in your thoughts and you are here now- Thanks for coming back !