Thrifty Wife Happy Life

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5 Things I Didn’t Know About Motherhood Before I Became a Mom

by Katie Haller

It’s hard to believe that in a few short months, I will have a 3-year-old.  Time is flying by.  I absolutely love being a mom.  Jack is my pride and joy.  He makes me so happy, but it’s not always easy being a mom.  When I look back on my pre-baby life, it seemed so easy.  I sometimes question what I did with myself back then.  Today I want to talk about what I didn’t know about motherhood before I became a mom.  It seems like everyone tells you things about what it’s like, but you never really know what it’s like until you live it for yourself.  Here are the things that I didn’t know about.  

1.) The lack of personal time I would have- I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been alone in my house since Jack was born.  It’s very hard to fit in me-time.  Painting my nails after Jack goes to bed on a Friday night or sneaking in an episode of Very Cavallari is about all the me-time I get these days.  I knew that becoming a mom would make me busy, but I think I imagined having a little more time for myself.  I guess I imagined that I would have a child who would sleep and I wouldn’t be so tired all the time. 
2.) How much I miss my husband- I see my husband every day, but I miss him.  Jack demands a lot of my attention and sometimes I miss having one on one time with my husband.  We do not have the luxury of having family close by as babysitters, so we don’t get to go on date nights every weekend like some people do.  Occasionally, when we both have the day off work and Jack’s school is open, we will take him into school and we will go out and have a date day together.  Those days are the best, but we haven’t done it since last winter.   I look back on my pregnancy and I cherish all those outings we went on together because I didn’t realize then just how much our relationship would change when we became parents.  
3.) The mom guilt- I didn’t know anything about this thing they call “mom guilt”, but it’s a real thing.  I feel guilty all the time.  I feel guilty that I work, guilty that I live far away from our family, guilty that I don’t pack Jack a lunch for school… I could think of a ton of things that I feel guilty about.  It’s something that doesn’t go away, but you can manage it.  All you can do is do what’s best for your family and tell yourself it’s okay.  
4.) How hard it is to balance work and motherhood-  Working is my greatest challenge as a mom. I feel like I was a better teacher before I was a mom.  I don’t know how other people work full time and have more than 1 or 2 children.  I give them a lot of credit because it is not easy.  If work is such a hardship for me, then why do I still work?  That’s something I get asked from people.  My answer is because I’m working for our future.  Most of my paychecks go into our retirement accounts.  The more you save when you are young, the more money you will have in retirement.  Basically, I work now, because I don’t want Jack to have to pay for any of his education, I don’t want Jack to ever have to struggle to pay off student loans like I did.  My husband is going to be upgrading to captain early next year and the topic of quitting my job has been coming up a lot.  I do plan to stop working one day, but as of right now it just doesn’t make sense to lose my income.  Plus, we would need to pay for preschool for Jack anyway and he loves going to school.  I would hate to take him away from his social life right now.  Right now, I’m making the most of my working days and if I’m a bad cook and my house is always messy because of it, it’s okay because I’m a working mom. 
5.) The amount of joy and pride a child brings-  After saying all that above, I have to say that being Jack’s mom is my greatest title.  I am so proud of that little guy.  I love watching him grow and learn.  He’s talking so much more lately and has his own little personality.  He brings both my husband and I so much joy.  Yes, I miss our life before kids, but I know that once Jack is grown, I will look back at this period of my life and miss it the most.

PinkBlush

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PHOTO CREDIT: Chasity Jean Photography

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A Week at the Beach with a Toddler

by Katie Haller

In my opinion, there is no better vacation than a beach vacation.  I just love being near the water.  Last week we headed to Oceanside, CA to meet up with my husband’s side of the family to celebrate his parent’s 40th wedding anniversary.  We stayed in a beautiful beach house right on the Pacific Ocean.  We couldn’t ask for a better beach setting.  I was a little nervous about the trip because this was the first time we took Jack on a long vacation, besides our Michigan visits.  Although it wasn’t as relaxing as a trip for me, it was still a lot of fun.

When I look at other people’s vacation pictures on Instagram, it always looks like they are having so much fun with their little ones.  After our trip, I’m wondering how many of those photos are real or are those stressed-out parents trying to have fun?  During our week trip, Jack had his good days and bad days.  He was extra clinging with me and wanted nothing to do with everyone else unless I wasn’t around of course.  He had a good amount of toddler tantrums over nothing.  Only a couple days after getting to the ocean, Jack got congested really bad and ended up with a bad cough, which made for a couple long nights.  I had imagined that I would be spending my days building sandcastles with Jack and taking walks along the beach collecting seashells with him, but I quickly learned that wasn’t going to happen.  Jack was terrified by the loud sounds of the waves and he hated the feeling of the sand.  I spent most of my days in a kiddy pool on the deck watching the rest of the family boogie board in the ocean.

I was extremely grateful for everyone who helped watch Jack a little so I could get a break here and there.  Kevin and I were able to go on an adult-only wine tasting trip one of the days and all the adults got to go out for dinner one night while the grandparents watched the grandkids.  That was really nice.

Overall it was a really fun family trip.  Seeing my niece and nephew enjoying themselves and remembering how my sister-in-law used to be the one with little kids staying back while everyone was having fun made me realize that it’s now my turn.  I’m the one with the little kid, so family vacations might be a little more stressful for me now, but that’s okay.  One thing that I decided to do when traveling with a toddler is to just lower my expectations of what fun is.  I know that my vacations will not be like the relaxing ones of the past, but there is a new kind of fun for me.  I enjoyed watching my little guy look out at the ocean and listening to him learn new words like “ocean animals”, “sea nettle” and “succulents”.  I loved watching his face when we got on a boat for the first time to look for dolphins.  I know one day when he’s independent and off doing his own thing, I will miss the days of when all he wanted was to be with mommy.

Here are some pictures from our trip.  Just remember these are the pictures that I am choosing to share.  I’m not sharing the pictures of Jack crying because of the sand or the 100 selfies we took together while everyone else was off doing their own thing.  But those are just the realities of vacations with a toddler.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means by clicking on and/or making a purchase through a link will result in a commission for this blog.  Thank you for your support!  

 My Bathing suit (EXACT) || Jack’s Bathing suit (EXACT) || My Hat (SIMILAR)

 Shirt and Pants (EXACT)

My view from the kiddy pool!


 Hat (SIMILAR) || Sunglasses (SIMILAR)

My little family

The Truth About Marriage

by Katie Haller

This weekend my husband and I will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary.  In some ways, I feel like we just got married yesterday. In other ways, I feel like we’ve been together forever.  It’s hard to remember my life before we got together.  I don’t typically like to get too personal with my blog posts, but since May is our anniversary month, I wanted to share a post on marriage.  I’m not an expert on this topic, so it makes me a little nervous to talk about, but I’m not really an expert on anything I post on this blog, so I figured I’d go ahead and post it anyway.  Besides, it’s a perfect excuse to share some of my favorite wedding pictures.  

When I met my husband, we were 21 and in college.  He was in a fraternity and I was in a sorority.  Back then I wasn’t thinking about marriage.  I knew I wanted to get married one day, but at that point in my life, I was more concerned with having fun with my friends and marriage seemed so far in the future.  We hung around in the same crowd for most of college, but it wasn’t until after Kevin graduated college that I had any interest in dating him.  He had gotten a job at the university as a flight instructor, and I started to see him out and about more and more.  One thing led to another and before I knew it we were seriously dating.  Things just seemed to fall into place with us.  It wasn’t like my other college relationships where I was wondering what was going on with us or waiting around for a phone call.  Things just seemed so natural with us.  It didn’t take us long to decide we wanted to get married.  After 2 years of dating, Kevin purposed to me.  A year later we married.  

Now it’s been 10 years of being together and I couldn’t imagine my life without him.  He is such a huge part of my life.  He’s my best friend.  I think of all the things we have done together and the goals we have accomplished.  It makes me so proud.  We’ve both grown a lot in the last 10 years.  Now after 7 years of being married, I feel like I have a better understanding of marriage.  I’m still learning, but I’m a little older and wiser.  So here is the truth about marriage from what I’ve learned so far. 
Marriage is a life long commitment
That’s kind of a given, but I really don’t think that this hits you until after you say I do.  At least for me, I knew the commitment that I was making, but I didn’t really think about this that deeply.  Forever is a long time and things might change, but you learn to grow together.  My husband and I have changed a lot in 10 years.  Our relationship together started out in a frat house at a party, now we are parents together and one day we will be retired and hopefully be grandparents.  I look forward to all those things and I look forward to doing them with him.  I know that I can only have that if we work together to make the future happened.  

No one has the perfect marriage
It’s never good to compare your marriage to other’s, because we are all different.  No one has the perfect marriage, even if they look like they do on social media, they don’t.  Sadly I think a lot of marriages fail because they think “the grass is always greener on the other side”.  I always say that contentment is the key to happiness.  It’s a hard thing to accomplish, but if you are content with your marriage you will be happy.   
It’s okay to fight
They say opposites attract and in my case that is so true.  My husband and I are so different from each other.  He is a logical thinker and see’s everything in black and white.  I’m emotional and see everything in grey.  Sometimes we disagree and it’s not always pretty, but that’s okay.  It wouldn’t seem right if we agreed on everything.  Sometimes you need to fight and get things out.  No matter how different we are, we always have one thing in common and that is our love for each other.

You can’t be selfish
I’ll admit it, I’m a selfish person at times.  I like to do what I want, but when you’re married you can’t be that way.  You have to make compromises.  It’s not always easy, but sometimes you learn that things turn out for the best when you find a common ground.

Have a plan/ set goals together
I married a planner.  He plans everything and he’s never disappointed me.  It’s important to sit down and talk about your future together.  You need to talk about your financial goals, your family goals and your career goals.  The best thing in our relationship has been the open and honest communication about our future together.  They say life is what happens when you’re making plans, but that’s why the plans are always changing to keep up with your life.  

Like I said before, I’m not an expert on marriage.  My marriage is a work in progress.  It’s not perfect, but it is beautiful.  I wouldn’t want to go through this life with anyone else.

My baby is 2!!

by Katie Haller

 
Our first time meeting.  
Our first night home from the hospital.  I could not stop staring at him. 
It’s hard to believe that my little guy is already 2.  It seems like just yesterday we were all anxiously awaiting his arrival.  My pregnancy with Jack was very healthy and pretty easy for the most part.  After I got past the never-ending morning sickness in the first trimester, I felt pretty good.  Jack was an extremely active baby though.  There was never a time that I couldn’t feel his little feet kicking into my sides.  He was always on the go, even before he was out of the whom. 
He surprised us all by arriving 10 days early.  I had no problem with that because I wanted him out by that time.  I remember going to the doctor’s on a Monday and he talked to me about inducing on my due date.  I came home that day and discussed it with Kevin and we decided that it would be best to try to get him out by his due date.  I had planned to talk to my doctor the following Monday at my next appointment.  Little did I know, Jack had different plans.  By Wednesday night, my water broke.  We headed to the hospital early in the morning on Thursday and by late afternoon on Thursday, February 11th, we had our little boy in our arms.  My delivery didn’t go as expected for me.  Jack would not come out, so after 3 hours of pushing we decided it was safest for a C-section.  At the time I was so upset over this, but now looking back I completely understand why Jack was born cesarean.  He probably didn’t think that coming out the natural way was efficient enough, so he was too stubborn and made the doctors come and get him. 
Fast forward 2 years later, I have a healthy, active, smart, funny and loving little boy.  I’ve said it before, but I’m amazed at how smart my little guy is.  He soaks in everything.  Right now he is completely obsessed with letters.  He has a letter puzzle that my mom bought him when she visited and he plays with it non-stop.  He sings the alphabet song all the time and the best part is when he sings “Now I know my ABC’s, Next time won’t you sing with me.” It sounds more like “Now I ABC, Next time won’t you me!”  He also knows his numbers 1-10 and loves to count, especially when he jumps off of furniture.  

At school, Jack is officially in the toddler classroom.  He was such a big boy in the baby room, so it’s fun to see him with the older kids.  I can already tell that he is learning a lot from the other children.  I’m happy to report that I no longer have to worry about packing a lunch for Jack to bring to school now that he eats with the big kids.  This saves me a lot of time and dishes to wash every night.  I actually only have to run the dishwasher every other night now!!

  Jack has already been showing a lot of the terrible 2’s signs.  Tantrums are daily.  Some days are worst than others, but I’m hopeful that the more he learns more words he will have less tantrums.  Speaking of words, he’s been talking a lot more lately.  His vocabulary is growing all the time, now he just needs to put them into sentences so I don’t have to play the guessing game.

Jack is a total mommy’s boy.  He always wants me over daddy, unless it’s bath time or time to get his shoes on for school, then he runs to daddy and hides from me.  (it’s their new game that I don’t really enjoy, but they are pretty cute when they play it.) Sometimes his mommy obsession can get a little much, especially while I’m trying to get ready for work or make dinner, but to be honest, I don’t mind it at all.  I love how he takes my hand and drags me around the house.  It’s precious and I know that this stage won’t last forever, so I just enjoy our time together.  
It’s so hard to get a picture with this little guy.  That’s why our balloon is backwards. 

I remember holding Jack in my arms as a newborn and wondering what he would be like when he got older.  I wondered what kind of personality he would have and what his voice would sound like.  It’s just so fun getting to know your child as they grow.  I love learning about Jack each day.  I love watching him grow.  It’s such a blessing to be his mom.  

Starting a Fresh New Year

by Katie Haller

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Starting a fresh year with PinkBlush
Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Starting a fresh year with PinkBlush

*This post is part of a collaboration with PinkBlush. All opinions are 100% my own. 
I love starting a new year.  It’s so fun to make new goals and have a fresh slate.  I feel motivated and excited about all the possibilities for the year ahead.  

This Christmas break was just what I needed.  A long break off from work at home.  Ever since I moved to Las Vegas, I have spent almost every one of my long breaks off work traveling to see family.  This year we decided that we didn’t want to deal with the stress of traveling.  I’m so glad that we stayed home because it was the perfect way to refuel myself.  
To be honest, by the end of the break, I was ready to head back to work.  I’m often overwhelmed and stressed by all my responsibilities, but to be honest, I like it.  I like staying busy and always having some kind of project to work on.  I’m very comforted by my daily routine.  By staying home, it made me appreciate my job and my weekly routine.
I also realized that it’s not that easy staying home with a toddler all day.  It always makes me sad that I didn’t get to be home with Jack those first 12 months because I feel like things would have been different.  But now that he’s older, it takes a lot to keep him entertained.  He definitely keeps me on my toes.  And don’t even get me started on trying to get him down for a nap.  I had to put him in the car every day and drive him around the block.  It makes me happy to know that when I’m not with him during the week, he’s socializing and learning while he’s at school.  That is his weekly routine and it’s comforting for him.  With Jack being our first, it really is important to me that he has that time around other children. He’s so attached to me, so it makes me happy to know that he loves seeing all his teachers at his school too. 
Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Starting a fresh year with PinkBlush
I’m not going to lie, I did enjoy lounging around the house in my pajamas all morning.  I wore these PinkBlush pajamas (here) at every chance I had.  Nothing against your traditional Christmas pajamas, but these pajama pants are perfect to wear year-round.  I love having something to get ready for every morning, but sometimes it’s just nice to stay in my cozy jammies, drink an extra cup of coffee and watch some morning TV. 
Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- PinkBlush pajama pants

Now that I’m nice and refreshed, I’m hoping to start off my year on a clean slate.  I went back to work this week, but luckily we don’t have kids until next week.  I’m going to take this time to clean my classroom and prepare it for the rest of the school year.  I have high hopes for 2018!

I hope all of you can start off your 2018 feeling refreshed and ready to tackle all your goals for the new year!

2017 New Year Review- Plus Goals for 2018!

by Katie Haller

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- NYE outfit inspiration with metallic skirt

Happy New Year everyone!  Every year I like to reflect on the prior year and make goals for the new year ahead.  I often like to share them on my blog, because it’s always a good reminder for me to look back on.  I like to make goals, not resolutions because I feel like resolutions just get broken.  I like to set goals for myself and evaluate what things I still need to work on and accomplish in the new year.  I don’t want to make any major changes, I just want to make improvements. 

Let’s start off with a reflection on 2017.  Last January, my goals were to improve my blog.  I wanted to make a few changes to take my blog from just being a personal journal, to make it feel a little more professional.  Early in the year, I changed my template, bought a domain name, joined social media groups and started to socialize with other bloggers.  I’ve had a lot of fun and met some really great people.  I’ve even had the opportunity to collaborate with some amazing brands this year, which was something I never even thought of back when I started writing this blog.  
Here is a look at some of my favorite outfits that I posted from 2017.

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life 2017 outfit review

In my personal life, I have kept very busy with work and my family this year.  In January we moved into our first house together.  Jack turned one in February and it’s been so fun watching him grow this year.  We did a little traveling to visit our families in Michigan, Colorado, and California this year.  The end of the year has been consumed with family visits and getting my husband through his training for work.  He recently switched the type of airplane he flies, which if you know any pilots, you know that it’s not a simple process to change airplanes.  This last week has been really nice because I’ve done nothing but relax.  We tried to have a stress free Christmas break without traveling or visitors.  It’s been quiet, but it’s been nice at the same time. 
Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- 2017 review

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- 2017 New Year Review
Here are my goals for 2018!

1.) Get off my phone-  I am going to confess that I think I spent the majority of 2017 on my phone.  I’m on social media, taking pictures or editing pictures all the time.  My husband has been giving me a hard time about it lately and he’s right.  I need to sit down and be with my family, not on my phone constantly.  For 2018 I plan on limiting my time with my phone.  I think it’s a healthy goal to have for the new year.

2.) Organize my time- I love blogging, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that blogging stresses me out sometimes.  I feel a constant need to keep up with everyone else on social media because I’m afraid if I don’t I will lose my followers.  I sometimes feel like I’m stressed over it all because I’m not sure how to manage my time between my job, blog, and family.  I need to find a way to use my time more efficiently.  There is a lot to keep up within the grown-up world and I just need to find a way to organize it all a little better for 2018.

3.) Continue to grow and better my blog-  I have thought long and hard about blogging the past few weeks.  I’ve debated if I want to take a little break, and my answer is no.  I love blogging!  I feel like I’d feel like something was missing if I didn’t have my blog.  That’s why I’m going to keep it up.  I did a lot of growing with it this past year, so my goal for 2018 is just to keep it coming.

4.) Save money on grocery shopping- I pretty much have my clothes budget under control, but in the past 2 years, my grocery budget has gotten out of control.  I feel like I spend so much at the store, then I throw away so much food at the end of the week.  It’s time to get back to the way I did things when my husband and I had a $400/month grocery budget.  I was so good about not overspending.  I want to be resourceful when it comes to food and mindful when I shop.

5.) Be a better person- This is my goal every year.  I always want to improve on my all around self.  I want to be a better mom, wife, teacher, daughter and so on.  I just want to look back on 2018 and feel proud of my accomplishments and the person that I am.  I think that’s a goal that we should all have for the new year.  Don’t change yourself, better yourself.

That’s it for me, what are some of your 2018 New Year Goals? 

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