Summer Lessons

Summer Lessons

Like a kiddie out of school, I have taken a little summer break of my own. Doing some traveling, spending time with family, and trying to get the house in shape for visitors. This summer has been one of the best! Most likely because it is my first summer with my new little family. I've tried new recipes, used new products, picked up some new hobbies, and even started a new job! Most importantly, although I'm not in school I have learned several things this summer to share. Starting with #1:

1. There are some crafts on Pinterest that really are cheaper to buy than make.
This summer I've made a few trips to hobby lobby, and I've realized that the bill for all of the supplies for so many crafts was actually more than actually buying the put-together items on Etsy or a Decor store. Although this wasn't always the case. It's easy if you already have the materials laying around, but for example, if you don't have extra mason jars, lace, canvas, paint, fabric, etc, you might have to spend $$$$$$. Moral of the story: make sure you calculate the final cost of making versus buying if you see something on Pinterest you like. (Unless you want to do it yourself just for the fun of doing it!!!)

2. Vacations are not vacations with a ten month old.
No relaxing, no long beach days, no loud crab shacks. Nothing but poopy diapers, teething gums, and lots of noise.. basically the same thing you would find at home. We took a vacation to Florida, (Destin) and I can honestly say if I could do it again I would put off the big vacation and save it for a bigger vacation when my child was older. Instead of going to Florida every year and that being our only vacation, I'm opting that we take a small vacation in our backyard (Arkansas), put that money aside, (for about 5-6 years) until our son can really enjoy a BIG vacation, like Disney World!!!! And what's best is that we can enjoy it too!!!

3. I'm not the only one.
Through all of my frustrations with having a new baby, many that have just become apparent this summer, I have dwelt on the idea that I wasn't a great mother. I would constantly feel upset because I would lose my patience, or feel like I needed a break. After all, my best friend has a son the same age as mine and she never seems to have any problems!!! One day I was about to just break down and on top of that I felt so guilty for feeling sad, so I asked some random people that I knew on Facebook had babies if they ever felt the same way. They said YES, and some to the more extremes!! What a relief. This fact makes me feel so much better. I'm not alone... we all get frustrated. Motherhood is HARD.

Those are only a few of the things I learned this summer, I'm sure I could elaborate on all of them but that's just a brief overview. What have you learned this summer? I want to hear !!!! Comment below- I love reading them!!

-J