Issue #6 - When Your Beautiful, Well Made Plans Go To 💩
Currently writing this week's newsletter from our bathroom as I attempt to create a faux steam room for my daughter's cough 😅
There was heart-shaped strawberry toast that was never made yesterday morning.
Valentine’s Day baskets given to kids in the afternoon instead of surprising them with gifts first thing yesterday morning.
There is a card for my husband that never got written in sitting on a windowsill.
A “red” themed dinner that did not get made.
I’ve been covered in sick kids with fevers, runny noses, coughs, and belly aches since Sunday - with no current end in sight.
And of course, I’m doing it all while also coming down with whatever sickness they’ve been kind enough to share, while pregnant and unable to take any OTC drugs to soothe my symptoms.
Here’s what I do when everything goes to literal 💩:
Fully freak out. Cry. Throw things (safely), punch a pillow, and write page upon page of my complaints about how awful everything is in my journal. Just word vomit all the shitty thoughts.
Let it suck.
One thing I learned big time during my postpartum depression was that trying to “turn everything into a positive!” was the worst and deepened my feelings of depression. Whereas when I just let things suck and be sucky, I don’t have as much self-resistant. Let it suck. Complain. Stomp your feet and pout.M
Ask myself “How can I let this be easy?” And honestly, sometimes the answer is just plain, nothing about this will be easy. In which case we move straight to number four.
Repeat the mantra “This won’t last forever.”
Not exactly the newsletter I had planned for this week but with a house full of humans going down like dominoes with the flu, here we are.
Currently working on a post about Things I Know in My Third Pregnancy That I Wish I Could Tell Myself the First Time and a post about how my perspective has shifted as I’ve been forced to spend more time being the stay-at-home, default parent.
In other news…
🍽️ Recipes we tried and loved last week:
Chicken Coconut Curry in the Crockpot. This one was so good. Seriously yum. We also grabbed garlic naan from Whole Foods to have with it and it was so perfect. Note: Do not skip the crispy shallots and curry oil! It really made the dish.
Spicy Pepperoni Pizza. The sauce was amazing!! We actually only did 1 tablespoon of hot sauce in the sauce instead of 1/2 cup and it was perfect.
🎧 Podcasts that are currently in my queue, ready to be played once the flu leaves our house:
New Heights Super Bowl Episode with the Kelce Brothers. Need to be able to laugh without hacking up a lung for this one.
Shameless Plug Time!
🎧 A new episode of my podcast The Mom Whine is out today. You can listen on Spotify here. Our first piece of advice on birthday parties? Don't have sex in March. We kid, kind of. Both of us have kid birthdays around Christmas and New Year's and we talk at length about the stress of having a birthday party to plan so close to the holidays. We both talk about our approaches to throwing kid parties with a nice side tangent on how Elsa's chokehold on toddler girls should be studied. Enjoy this one fellow moms, it was a fun one to record!
💼 Need help with your small business? Book a consulting hour with me to review your website copy, help you create a 90 day Instagram content calendar, outline your newest email sales funnel or create a product launch plan for you.
📷 Maternity! Newborn! And fresh family portraits - oh my! My spring calendar is open for family photo sessions (my favorite as a mom of almost 3!) and I can’t wait to make beautiful photos and memories with you this year.
See you next week, same place, same time!
Casey