Category Archives: Liz’s Life

It Takes a Village

Posted in Liz's Life by

As a new mom, I heard the phrase “it takes a village!” quite often, but living across the country from my family, I never quite understood it fully. Since we’ve moved back to Ohio, our village has been out in full force to support us, and it has been a welcome respite!

When you don’t have a support network in town, everything falls on your shoulders – all the childcare, all the cooking, all the work etc. Over time you adjust and learn to manage it all, but those moments of “if only we had grandparents here!” creep in. I remember some long days at home with Lila, and the total desperation I felt for Luke to get home from work so I could take a break.

Now that we’re back near our family and friends, we have been fully enjoying all the help we can get.

On the 3rd of July, my brother’s family hosted their annual fireworks party. We were having a nice time, but by 8:30 Lila was rubbing her eyes and on the verge of losing it from exhaustion. Normally, we’d be packing up and saying our goodbyes before we were really ready, but this year, my mom volunteered to take her home so we could stay and enjoy ourselves.

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Then this weekend, we went to visit Luke’s family in Indiana, which meant two days of sleeping in for me, grandparents and aunts and uncles to play and entertain Lila while I read, wonderful meals I didn’t have to cook and even a night out with Luke.

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Living with my parents while we work on our house has also meant a lot of little, much needed, breaks from toddler duty throughout the day. Those 10 minute breaks can mean a world of difference when you’re watching a very active toddler.

On Friday, Luke’s parents are coming up to watch Lila all weekend while we get away to Put-In-Bay and Cedar Point. It’s been a really long time since Luke and I had a weekend to ourselves. I am looking forward to being off toddler time, going on all the “big” rides and eating slow leisurely meals. I am most excited about these giant swings. Weeee!

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After being away from a support network and now having them close, I will say it doesn’t HAVE to take a village, but it sure is nice have people who love your child around to help. I think as a new mom, it’s easy to feel like you must do everything yourself in order to be a “good” mom. It’s hard to ask for help sometimes, because we don’t want to admit we’re struggling.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned since moving home and getting help, it’s that self-care is very important when you’re a mom. Having these breaks when people help has made me a better mom when I am with Lila. When my cup gets refilled, I am more patient, understanding and nurturing.

Whether it’s a good daycare, loving babysitter or family and friends, having a “village” around to support a young family is so very important. I’m so happy we are settled near our large and loving village.

 

 

Turning 30

Posted in Liz's Life, Wedding Planning by

This weekend I am off to Austin, TX for a bachelorette party for one of my closest lifelong friends, Becky. I also happen to be turning 30 on Saturday. Spending my 30th having a blast with some of my closest friends … I couldn’t have scripted the overlap in fun any better myself. (Becky is the fun girl in my first few photos below)

With all the craziness of the past month, I haven’t really had a chance to sit back and reflect on this birthday milestone. I know 30 is supposed to be a big one that can conjure up a lot of feelings good and bad. So far, I’ve been feeling pretty good about seeing my 20’s come to a close. Probably because I don’t have many regrets from the past 10 years.

I lived the fun, single life with my girlfriends in Chicago. I started a career that ultimately led to my main goal – being able to work and raise a family in harmony. I met and married a truly wonderful man. We lived a life of adventure in Lake Tahoe for several years. And finally, what I’m most proud of, I had my little Lila. All in all, I’d say my 20’s rocked!

When I dreamed about what my life would look like at 30, it thankfully looked very similar to what my reality is. I think maybe that’s why I don’t feel much anxiety around hitting 30. But the interesting thing, is I never really thought beyond 30, so right now I really have no clue what my new life goals are.

I suppose on my list of things I want in my life at 40, would be creating a warm, inviting home. Growing our family with more children. Improving my golf game. Having a happy, loving marriage. Reclaiming some of my old passions like acting or volleyball. Building a solid group of friends in Toledo. Finding ways to give back through service. Elevating my relationships with family. Being a supportive, kind and patient mama. Accepting wrinkles with grace. And having a lot of fun along the way.

For now though, I’m going to put my mom-self and wife-self aside and celebrate the 20-something in me with my friends in Austin. That 20-something girl sure does know how to have fun! She also knew more about how to build a happy life than I originally gave her credit for.

A walk through my 20’s in pictures. :)

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Our First Two Weeks Home

Posted in Liz's Life, Moving by

Well, we are all moved to Ohio! We landed at my parents house a couple weeks ago and have been doing our best to settle into a routine. Lila has adjusted beautifully. She’s still sleeping like a champ, eating us all out of the house and generally been her happy self.

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Her momma on the other hand has been struggling! I think I was so concerned about helping Lila adjust that I forgot to also help myself.

The stress from the move hit me pretty hard and now the stress of house hunting and getting settled has made my body cave. I’ve had bad insomnia (sorry Luke!), headaches and generally have felt “off.” I know a move is a huge upheaval and I need to just be patient with myself.

It’s been a godsend to be able to stay at my parent’s house. Having two extra sets of hands around to help with a toddler is more valuable than gold. Right now my mom took Lila with her to buy some flowers so I could get some work done. And earlier she watched her so I could meet a friend for lunch. Thanks mom!

We’re in the thick of things with our house hunt and have seen about 10-15 homes with our realtor so far. Unfortunately, I’m not sure any so far have been right. There are two we really like, but both have their issues. One is at the very high end of our budget and the other is more of a modern house when I like older charm. Basically I’m just unsure about both, so the search continues.

I have always loved looking at real estate, so I thought I would love house hunting, but when you’re the one actually making a decision that large, it’s way more stressful than I anticipated! We really would like to buy our forever home so our kids can grow up in one house, but I am starting to think that is putting too much pressure on the decision.

My friend Julia said when we find the right one it will “feel like home.” I sort of loved that and am just hoping that feeling hits me soon.

Despite the stress we’ve felt with moving, new jobs, getting settled and finding a home, we are already so overjoyed to be living closer to our families and friends. Our days have been filled with family BBQs, popsicles with cousins, walks at the park with grandparents and lunches with dear friends.

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Being able to support the people I love in person vs from a distance has been wonderful too. Tomorrow night I am off to Chicago to stay with a friend and help her with her 3 week old while Luke and Lila visits Luke’s parents in Indiana. Then this weekend we are going to my alma mater Ohio University to celebrate my best friend Julia’s 30th birthday.

Fun times with the people we love. It doesn’t get better than that.

I hope you are all having a great start to your summer!

 

 

Moving – Part Eight

Posted in Liz's Life, Moving by

Yep – you read that title right. Part eight. As in this is the EIGHTH time we’ve moved since getting married four years ago. I think we may actually be insane!

The big move back to Ohio is coming up this Tuesday. Of course we have nothing packed, but got a sitter all weekend to get everything done. Lila and I will be flying back on Tuesday, while poor Luke drives a Uhaul across the country. I wish we could ride with him, but toddler in a car for 40 hours … no way, no how.

Since I shared with you all that we are moving, things have really fallen into place for us. It’s almost strange how they worked out so nicely. Like the universe was on our side with this one.

First, I’m so proud to share that Luke got an amazing job! He’s going to be Director of Finance for a software start up, which also happens to be where my brother works. A huge bonus to this job is that Luke will be working from home, which has been a dream of his for some time. He was pretty excited about the new Macbook and accessories he got to deck out his home office. In terms of my work, I’ve been lucky that my clients don’t mind where I am working and are sticking with me through this move.

We found a private seller who bought both of our four-wheel cars and already have two cars lined up for us in the midwest. Luke’s friend is a dealer, and found him a new Camry and me a used Ford Flex (photo below). I know some people hate the look for Ford Flex’s, but I sort of love them! Plus there’s three rows of seating for our expanding family. I just cannot bring myself to drive a mini van.

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We’ll be living with my parents at first until we can find a house. I am a total real estate junkie – HGTV is my favorite channel –  so it’s been super fun to scout out our first home. My dream home would be an older house that either has been renovated, or is priced so we can renovate. I’d like it to be walking distance to shops, a park or school for Lila. Here are a few I have my eye on.

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l7d28a444-m0r ldf9c7f44-c0r l0f64b144-m0rToledo is such a great real estate market. You can get a lot for your budget, which is exciting. We are working with an awesome realtor – Christine Stowell – who lives in an older home herself and her husband has a home renovation business in Toledo, so she totally gets what we’re looking for.

This week we’ve been making the rounds saying goodbye to our favorite people and places here in Reno. The wonderful moms I met through Gymboree met me for wine and also gave me this super cute memory book of the fun times we had together with our kiddos. They are too sweet.

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We’ve been talking about our move a lot with Lila, hoping to prepare her as best we can for the upheaval her world is about to experience. I say “Lila, soon we will be moving to Ohio and we won’t be living in this house any more. We’ll be living with Gee and Mimi.” She says “Yeah!” and then other times says “No!” So we’ll see how she handles it.

I think the hardest part for her will be missing her babysitter TeeCee (Tracie). She’s gotten really close to Tracie and her family and loves them so. I’m just going to do my best to be there for her and let her know it’s okay to be sad and miss them.

There is so much to get done between now and Tuesday, which has me up at night, but I just keep telling myself that the next month is going to be stressful, but after that it will all be worth it. I’ll keep you all updated on how it goes!