Santa is Coming to Town

I love, love, love Christmas! Having little ones only makes me love it more because I want to make special memories and traditions that they will remember forever. One thing I do not do is brave the mall and wait in line to see and pay for the Santa they have there. Our church has a breakfast with Santa and, so far, I have been able to get a great shot of the kids with him. We also have a fun city activity where the fire department hosts a Santa and drives around neighborhoods visiting kids. If you drop labeled gifts off at the fire department ahead of time, Santa will bring your child a gift too. 

The following pictures are with the church Santa and the fire truck Santa. Merry Christmas!!

Xmas Shoot

Since Stella will be 6 months on December 19th, I decided to do a photo shoot for the Christmas card. Last year I just made the card, but I wanted to get a nice one of all of us.  Even though Noah wined through the whole thing and Stella can't sit up by herself, and I was threatening and bribing my son to behave and smile, we still got some great, frame-worthy pics. Enjoy the sample ones below. @appletreephoyograpy by Sarah Sidor

Someone is Thankful

I stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get a muffin on my way to work because we have no food. We desperately need to go grocery shopping. I pull in to the drive through and there is a wild turkey just standing in line. My city has moderate traffic and mostly businesses off the main road. It's not like I live in farm country. I was surprised to see this massive bird just standing there. The other cars must have been equally amused because I wasn't the only one taking pictures. Looks like he should be pretty thankful he survived another Thannksgiving.

Fave Time of the Year

I heart the Christmas season. I have dozens of happy, fond memories from my childhood and now that I have children it's so much fun to relive and create new memories for my kids. The day after Thanksgiving we set up our tree and put up decorations. It's so wild that this time last year we were announcing we were pregnant with Stella and now here we are!! 

BTW: bungee cords are great child restraints ( hehe)

Quick Dry!!

As a mom of two, who works full time, and has no extra spending money, finding the time to paint my nails is not the problem....waiting for them to dry is.

I was off work today for Thanksgiving and the baby was sleeping so I decided to paint my nails because Noah is pretty independent. Well, as I was applying the last stroke, sure as shit, the baby starts to cry- insert swear word. I remembered reading on Pinterest about spraying cooking spray on your nails to help them dry instantly...it totally works!!! Where has this trick been all my life?!

God Bless Stella

It's so cliche, but time is flying by. I feel like each year time goes faster and faster,  like it was literally yesterday that I had Stella and she is 5 months old already. We had her baptized into our Orthodox Faith on the 17th. My youngest brother is her Godfather. She did such a good job, so chill, that is, until she got dunked and then she screamed, but as soon as she was out of the water she was happy again. (Read more about Orthodoxy on my Faith page). Most of the pictures are on my Cannon but I did manage a few on my phone. I actually made the candle- my first pretty large craft project. Also my first experience with tulle and elastic. I have to say, it was pretty easy and the candle turned out so good.

Why? Rhetorical Question

This happened earlier. We just got back from a great camping weekend (pics of that to come later) and I had to take a shower. That surprisingly happened with no issues other than the baby screaming for the last 3 minutes of it. So I did a few more unpacking tasks, a load of laundry, fed Noah, and thought I could dry my hair real quick.....wrong!

I finished my hair to find Noah sitting on the floor pouring, just dumping baby powder all over his four wheeler. I yell at him all the time for this so I was SO mad! I put him in his room for a time out while I  had to take time to clean it up and I find myself asking "why? Why is this happening?" But in the same thought sentence, I know why. I'm a mom, I wasn't paying attention to a 2 1/2 year old, and Daddy left to go out of town. Even though I am clearly aware of the "why" I still feel burdened when these moments happen.

Mommy Woes

Life moves by so fast that when the weekends come I need time to catch my breath. Here we are on Saturday night, it's 9:30 and my 2 1/2 year old is still up talking to himself in bed. (I gave him a bath, he had some milk, played with my phone, threw a tantrum, and then let me rock him for a bit.) My 4 month old had her bath and is drinking her bottle now with my husband. If all goes according to plan, she will fall asleep too. Now, pre-children, 9:30 would mean hours and hours of fun, a few drinks, maybe a movie or some "cuddling". Post children.... 9:30 looks like I have about a half hour before I am going to crash.  The good news is tomorrow is Sunday, the bad news is tomorrow is Sunday. 

As a working mother, Sunday means writing up lesson plans and organizing myself for the week. Grocery shopping and pre-packing the diaper bag. We may fit in a trip to the pumpkin patch but that's about it. Oh, I forgot taking the children to church by myself because my husband will be going into work (yes, into work on a Sunday). So, in reference to my post title, mommy woes means that the stars in the show (the kids) get all the love and attention and applause, while the people behind the scenes (mom) gets zero recognition. I mean most of the time I can go on and on and not think about it, but sometimes it just hits you. I really wanted to paint my nails, get a haircut, and start working out again but none of that happened. 

Here's to an eventful Sunday and then the start of another hectic, crazy week. To those of you who read my little blog....we still have not sold our condo (dying inside every day this place does not sell)

But here's what makes the mommy woes all worth it....

Yes, I'm still alive

Holy smokes! Everything has exploded, not a bomb but maybe a firework. Not only did I have a baby 3 months ago, but 3 DAYS before school started I was hired to teach kindergarten. I have posted some pictures of the storage room that I needed to transform into a functioning classroom. 

Some other explosions that have caused me not to post in over a month in a half...still showing our house to sell it, taking an online class to update my license, and trying to mother two children.

It's been challenging to say the least. I definitely feel mommy guilt leaving the kids everyday but I've been waiting so long for my own classroom. Finding a balance is still alluding me. 

Finding the time, with two little ones, to make a blog post is getting harder and harder. I am finding that I need to always have things pre-packed, or pre-ready, or pre-planned because spur of the moment just does not work out for us. For example, trying to leave for church, is nearly impossible if I don't plan ahead. The last two Sundays we have arrived with about 10 minutes left in the service- totally infuriating, especially since we live 40 minutes away from church so we have to drive all the way there just to miss most of it- drives me nuts. So, I realize that the diaper bag needs to be packed the night before and outfits for the kids (an most importantly myself) need to be decided on and laid out the night before as well. The number one thing I have to remind myself...my husband is little to no help, so I must do everything myself or delegate to the"t". And when in the most hurried flurry to leave the house always remember,  " Can I feed em and change em" and that will about cover your most important items. 

Noah is getting a little more friendly with his little sister so that is an upside. I still have to watch him like a hawk, but he isn't trying to hurt her on purpose as much. Hopefully in a couple more months he will start to be more helpful than hurtful. 

Stella is 2 months old today!! Wow! time goes so fast. I have to remind myself that I have about 6 months to keep saying, "I just had a baby" before I can't really use that as my weight loss excuse. I'm working at it, but it is a slooooooowww process.