I wanted to do a super fun motherhood Q&A for you guys. Something laid back, not the usual where you can ask me anything annonymous and I’ll be an open book! I love doing these because it really lets you guys see a little glimpse into our life, how we parent, our ideas etc! I hope to do more of these in the future if y’all like them so make sure to leave a comment if you want to see them more!
How old were you when you had your first child and how do you know when you’re ready to have a child?
Matt and I got married when I was 20, and we decided to try for our first baby about 6 months after we got married, well 6 months and 2 weeks later we found out we were expecting our sweet Greleigh! We honestly talked a lot about having kids and decided that we wanted to have them all pretty young. We didn’t have much money when we got married so we couldn’t go and do a lot of things so we decided why not have kids early, stay home and enjoy them and then when we are older we would be more established to go and do things with our kids! I honestly just didn’t want to wait until I was in my 30’s to start having kids but I honestly think that’s just a personal choice that you will just know!
How in the world do you do it? Haha I have two and go crazy everyday (2 year old and 3 month old) I’ve been cursed with bad sleepers and needy babies, but want another kid. I’m terrified though since 2 is killing me…
how do you balance work/being a mom and wife etc. you always look so beautiful!!
Well first of all, thank you! And second of all I DO NOT HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER! If you were to come to my house 99% of the time it’s a wreck, my kids are never dressed, there is food left from the last meal, dishes in the sink, laundry piled as high as the ceiling and the list goes on and on! I think the most important thing to remember here is that this is all a season. It’s a freakin hard season of chaotic life with young kids and always remember to give yourself some grace, don’t compare (I know we are all guilty of this) and just enjoy these days because you won’t get them back! Your kids will be gone, your house will be clean, and there won’t be the constant chaos that we try to escape!
I’ve read your post about having four kids, I’m in the same situation and want one more. Looking for tips for helping open husband up to the idea even though I agreed the last one was the last one!
Pray and talk to your husband patiently! I can’t tell you how many conversations we had over this. Most of them ended in me crying and him saying “we will continue to talk about this later!” He never completely shut me out which meant the world to me that he continued to listen to my heart. Eventhough his heart wasn’t in the same place as mine he continued to listen. I also prayed more than I have ever prayed in my life. I wanted one more soooo badly that I knew it had to mean something. It wasn’t a wavering feeling, it was always there so I knew it was from God!
How do you balance working from home and being a stay at home mom and taking care of yourself?
Let me just tell you, working from home with kids home is HARD, like the hardest thing I’ve ever done! Greleigh goes to school from 7:40-3:20. Kaige only goes 3 days a week for 3 hours, and Huxx is with me allll day, everyday! This means that I have to find time to squeeze things in for my blog, housework, laundry, me time, etc! Thankfully I have a husband who is very understanding about working at home with kids. He ever expects me to keep an immaculate house, have all the laundry done 24/7 or that our floors are always clean because let’s be real… #kids! Huxx only naps once a day now so my free/work time is very limited! I try to schedule it where Kaige and Huxx take an afternoon nap together but Kaige isn’t a huge sleeper so I usually only get about 45 minutes! Since becoming pregnant that 45 minutes is more a battle than anything. I can’t decide whether to work, sleep, eat, do nothing…it’s an intense battle I tell ya! Thursdays when Greleigh goes to cheer I go watch her and they have wi-fi so I get to work then also while Matt stays with the boys! I use this time to run errands, work, chill out and watch her or just chat with the other moms. It’s my other “me” time! I also like to take time to get massages, nails, walk around target but those things don’t happen as much as I would like but I get by! My husband does schedule me surprise massages which is like my love language! If you aren’t making some time for yourself, you HAVE to! It’s crucial to your well being. Even if it’s a 10 minute walk alone around the block while your husband takes the kids, do it! You’ll be amazed at how refreshed you feel!
What was the biggest transition from going from 0 to 1, 1 to 2 or 2 to 3 kids? Tips?
In my opinion going from 1-2 was the biggest transition at home. When you have 1 child it really isn’t very chaotic. You think it is just because it’s your first kid but just wait! Once that second one comes your house is a constant state of chaos with someone always into something! Let’s not mention the fact that your kids will most likely have polar opposite personalities so if you had an easy child the first go round (by easy I mean maybe you didn’t have to baby proof anything like I didn’t with Greleigh) you will probably have a child that is in to everything the second go round (I couldn’t leave Kaige for even a second without him getting into something) ! However 2 to 3 in public was a game changer! Outnumbered in public is a huge change. When I go out with all 3 of them in public alone I feel like I am breaking a sweat within 3 minutes. lol Someone is always griping, complaining, wanting to do something for themself, etc and it makes it hard!
What is your daily routine start to finish with the kiddos? What’s the kiddos bedtime routine?
Our routine is pretty much the same every day!
6:30- wake up, coffee, breakfast, let the kids watch a morning show if we have time
7:00- Get Greleigh dressed for school, get her school stuff together and get her out the door by 7:35-7:40
7:40: Sit down to enjoy my coffee with the boys (depending on Huxx if he’s awake yet, somedays he’s up at 7:30 and others I wake him up to take Kaige to school) watching Netflix
8:15 Get Kaige ready for school
8:45- Leave to take Kaige to school
9:00- Kaige starts school
9:10 Huxx and I come home. I start laundry, do things around the house, play, work if he lets me, etc
11:45- Leave to get Kaige from school
12:00- Kaige is out of school, we come home for lunch, grab some McDonalds, Chick Fil A etc and eat!
12:30-1:00 Get ready for naptime, I lay Huxx down and he’s out immediately. Kaige takes foreverrr to fall asleep so I lay with him and tickle him until he’s out! #spoiled
1:30-?? Naptime for the boys. I work or relax during this time depending on how I feel about the day!
3:15 We leave to get Greleigh from school
3:30 We all have snack, play, watch tv, etc until we have activities. Right now it’s only Greleigh doing cheer/gymnastics so Tuesdays/Thursdays are our busy days
5:00ish- Matt comes home from work and we eat dinner! Huxx goes to bed by 6 every night so we eat super early around here!
6:00- Huxx is down for the night.
On Tuesdays Gre leaves for gymnastics at 5:40 and works out until 7!
On Thursday’s she leaves at 4:40 and works out until 8!
On those nights the boys hang out and Matt usually does bedtime for Huxx!
8:00-8:30- The bigs go to bed, they sleep together in Greleigh’s room because Kaige wont sleep in his room right now! #dowhatworks We say a family prayer, I sing them some songs, and tickle their backs for about 5 minutes! On M/T/W it’s usually closer to 8 for bedtime and Thursday is obviously later due to cheer! Friday we are pretty flexible because my mom usually comes on the weekends so they spend time with her!
8:30- Matt and I decompress and watch our shows/chill/clean up the house etc!
10:00 We are out! There aren’t many nights we aren’t asleep by 10-10:30 at the latest!
Why are you building a new home?
We are building a new house for several reasons! 1. We have outgrown our house with the new babe on the way! 2. We want a play room for the kids. 3. We need more land, we are on a tiny lot and with 4 kids, a huge dog and a tiny lot we are just busting at the seams! We had land with our previous houses and we have just realized being so close to people is just not our idea of great living! We will be on an acre, 3/4 of that will be a fenced in backyard which is HUGE and we can’t wait! We’re also excited to incorporate beautiful energy-efficient windows, like the ones at maverickwindows.com/window-replacement-austin, into our new house.
What’s your best recommendation for a “stay-cation” staying in Lubbock?
We always love the Embassy Suites. It’s kid friendly, has a great pool that you can even enjoy in the winter, amazing complimentary breakfast and two separate sleeping areas for the kids so we can shut the door! #bye
Taking pacifier away?
Well…Huxx is now almost 2.5 still with a pacifier! Greleigh was a huge paci baby and then we took it away cold turkey when she was a little over 2. Kaige hardly ever took a paci so we didn’t have any issues there! Then there’s Huxx who still has it and might have it until he’s in kindergarten?! #judgeme
Transition to toddler bed?
Greleigh is what we like to call a unicorn child. We transitioned her to a queen size bed before Kaige was born, which means she wasn’t even 2 yet on the second floor of our house we used to live in and she slept like a champ, never even got out of her bed once and would just talk to us on the monitor every morning when she woke up! I mean, easiest transition ever! Then there’s Kaige, we kept him in his crib until we moved to Lubbock which was a couple months after he turned 2 and then got him a big boy bed! He also did wonderful until one night he had a scary dream after the clown epidemic was blasted all over the news and he walked in while we were listening to the “killer clown” story and that was the end of his big boy bed days! He now sleeps with Greleigh every night! lol She says it’s annoying but secretly loves it! 😉
I love the kids names, how did y’all pick them?
Greleigh’s name is from a business card for Matt’s work! Greeley, CO is where one of the main offices for his company is! Matt at first hated the name and I kept bugging him about it until he gave in! Now he loves it! Kaige I honestly have no clue where we even heard this! Huxx is also a name that we kinda just made up on our own from a few names we shortened! We heard Huxton and Huxley and didn’t like either one of them so we just shortened it to make it perfect! Now, we have a girl name for the new baby that we are obsessed with but NO boy names! #help Also even if it’s a boy i won’t be sharing the boy name because I’m just like that 😉 Maybe not having a boy name means it’s a girl and I’ll get to use my name!
I hope you all enjoyed this motherhood Q&A and will continue to ask questions when I do them. I would really like to do them at least once a month so make sure you keep an eye out and get your questions ready!
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