Lately

Its been a few weeks, but we have been adjusting to the holidays ending, Michael leaving on a trip, and I haven't been taking a lot of pictures.

We had lunch at a tea room with friends a couple of weeks ago for my birthday.  And it was much like life has been these last few weeks. Fun moments sprinkled with a little disaster.

The girls somehow pushed a chair over and Ava was pinned underneath it, which was of course scary for Ava, but for both of them also.  We found ourselves in a quiet tea room with two toddlers screaming their heads off.

I locked us out of the house during Michael's last trip. A lock smith got us in a little after 10, past Isabella's bedtime and a massive meltdown ensued when I tried to get her to sleep.
The next day a bird flew in our house...luckily my mom was there and was able to shoo it out of the house, while I was behind a closed door with my child screaming and crying in fear.

I took lessons for 12 years... I hope she will take them too.

New diaper for baby after a bath 

Dr. Isabella

Catching bubbles at the library.

She wanted to jump on the trampoline one day this week. After about 15 minutes, I decided the trampoline at 26 pregnant was not very comfortable. I told Isabella she'd have to wait to jump more when daddy got home.

Life is full of mundane, magical, and not so great moments all woven together.  And sometimes the balance of those seems off one way or the other, or maybe its just my perspective during those times. I'm already not sleeping very well in this pregnancy and wondering how I will make it through another 14 weeks. But also grateful for the time in between to prepare and enjoy these last weeks as a family of three.

living in the moment

 Its been a bit of a whirlwind week. My friend from graduate school has been in town this past week. We have been enjoying catching up, listening to our children laugh together, cooking, and sipping chai tea lattes.  Emily is a gourmet cook, and I love learning from her. I've taken hardly any pictures of our adventures and none of our amazing food this week.

I had a biopsy on my thyroid this week. I'm a HUGE baby about needles. For a few seconds during the procedure I felt like I was back in a birthing room squeezing Michael's hand through the painful parts. Ugh, glad that's over. Now to just wait for the results. 

 This weekend we soaked up some family, friend, and couple time.

 I will be enjoying time with Emily this week, working one day, and packing to leave on vacation this Friday.
Things are a bit crazy the next month with several work trips Michael has coming up and some changes going on around here.

I'll be practicing taking it one day at a time. One moment at a time.

 Happy Monday!

I'm wishing for an extra Saturday as this weekend is coming to a close. I'd love another day to be quiet, in pajamas, and home with my little family. We went out Friday night for a family dinner and Isabella was a complete hooligan the entire time. We were that family that people in the restaurant are looking at and thinking "why do they come out in public?!" OK- so maybe that's a bit extreme, but you know what I mean. Our little girl is spunky, full of energy, cutting two teeth, and did not feel well off and on this weekend- which comes to a grand culmination of fussiness and crying.

She does love a good splash in the bath.

 I am feeling worn out this weekend...but happy seeing her smiling face in this picture. 

 I did slip away Saturday during morning nap for some starbucks, an awesome pedicure, and some good mom/friend/life talk. It was so good for me, and I'm loving my aphrodite's pink nightie colored toes. (I'd love to meet someone that comes up with the names for nail and paint colors...what fun creative people they must be!)

I've been feeling a bit discouraged about some things this weekend-  by some things that are in my control and other things impacting the lives of people I care about. Tonight, I went out for a run and did some soul searching. I had a talk with Michael...and renewed my outlook. My mantra for the week is going to be I have enough time to do the things I need and want do to, it just depends on how I prioritize my time. (Unless, of course, my child is sick or extra clingy, and I'm too exhausted to get things done when I do have the chance, and then I need to be flexible and gracious with myself). I'm ready to hit the ground running this week, be more patient, and move forward to things I want to accomplish.

Slow down

How is it really the last day of January? This month has flown by!
And all the time Isabella seems a little more little girl rather than baby. I think if she could say the phrase "I can do it myself" she would be saying that more and more.

I caught her in this juggling act the other day. Balancing her purse, drink, and trying to get her baby in the stroller. (Where has she seen that?)

Finally baby is in, bag is secured on her arm...

Time for baby to have a drink.

Slow down, baby girl. She will have years to balance a juggling act of kids, bags, snacks, home, relationships, work, school, etc. Isn't that what we women do? Sometimes I feel like my balls are juggling well, and other times they are dropping everywhere. I've done pretty well at accomplishing the goals I wanted to in January, and I enjoyed some down time too.
I will continue juggling through February, with 9 days of travel scheduled so far for our family!! A fun trip for me, and some work trips for Michael. I can get overwhelmed sometime looking too far ahead. So today I have tried to focus just on today.


We enjoyed a quiet breakfast at panera, followed by reading our favorite books and morning nap.

And it has been such a gorgeous day.


We headed to the zoo this afternoon. I forgot the stroller was in Michael's car.

So we walked

and walked

and walked... on the slowest trek to the giraffes ever. :) She had a great time exploring along the way. I was hoping to see the baby giraffe, but he wasn't out. We did see the new baby okapi.

Isabella said "Hi!! HI!!" to everyone we saw. She was saying hi to someone when I took this picture.

We ended the night eating dinner up at Michael's work with his office.

I love our small college campus by night.


She is growing up, but we still haven't given up the pacifier for sleeping. We will cross that bridge another night.
Goodnight January.

My goals for 2012 are:
1. Hang my clothes up every night
2. Read my Jesus Calling book every day and the verses included
3. Write in my gratitude journal every day
4. Read at least 24 books this year
5. Do one DIY craft/cooking/creating project each month
6. Run a half marathon in the memorial run.

I love goal setting and continuing to work on becoming the person I want to be. So I don't look at these as resolutions, but rather intentionally deciding things I want to accomplish this year. Basically the themes are taking care of myself physically, spiritually, and emotionally through exercise, quiet time, being grateful, reading, not having so much clutter laying around, and creating. And when I'm in a better place I am a better wife, friend, Mom, and so on! I am sure I will reassess as the year goes on to see if I have developed some good habits and need to add some more to work on, but for now I want to keep things very achievable. Michael and I also sat down and wrote down some family, couple, and financial goals we want to work toward this year. I'm excited!

I'm bringing back Thankful Thursday to remind myself of all the many blessings that happen over the week no matter how small. This weeks are as follows:
-Family breakfasts
-Michael's time off for the holidays
-More referrals than I need right now
-Great weather
-Running with Hayli
-Seeing Isabella make people smile
-The book club girls
-Facetime
-good health


We are faring alright with Michael being away, and we are half way through. But also ready for him to come home!

Here are some pictures from our day:

seasons come and go

I spoke on a panel this past Friday to MFT students and recent graduates. I ended with encouraging them to remember the hard parts of right now, that feel so overwhelming and never-ending, are just for a season. Eventually you finish your hours, your courses, your thesis, get a job, begin licensure, pass the exam, get licensed- it does all actually happen. And, I reminded, in the midst of these difficult seasons you must try to glean as much as you can from them, knowing they will pass.

The ironic part is I was saying all this, coming off my own week of "overwhelming, tired, is-this-ever-going-to-pass?" Being out of school or out of whatever does not exempt us from tiring seasons.

Luckily this tiring season was nothing too serious. Isabella was sick this past week, and it was the longest amount of time that she has been sick. The first few days were not too bad when she was clinging and cuddly. But then another child took over that was crazy fussy, screaming, and at times inconsolable. A rash covered her body, and I tried to not think the worse. A trip to the doctor confirmed it was just the end of a virus and she should be getting well soon.

Hence the lack of posting. I spent most of my down time catching up on things, resting, or rocking a baby. And nobody really wants to hear about how tired we are, frustrated, or disappointed about missing a cooking class, lunch with friends, etc. So instead I'll tell about the good parts. Our families were awesome coming over several times to help with Isabella and to give us a break. A sweet friend stopped by with a happy present for me.

My sister came over one night to craft, and we made these felt banners. It is hard to see in the picture but they are adorned with the cutest little turkeys. It makes me happy. I didn't get my glitter pumpkins made this year, but I'm going to let it go. We are already listening to some Christmas music around here.

And over the last week or two it seems the trees have really started to show off.

Isabella discovered the joy of bubble wrap. So fun!


And finally after a week, my sweet, happy girl seems to be back!

We are bouncing back from a busy week of homecoming, a house guest, and a sick child.

Here's to a new week and new season!

Wednesday Ramblings

Still trying to wrap my mind around this:



Today we lingered over our breakfast, stayed in our pajamas a little later, got caught in the rain at the park,

and rocked a little longer...

I know I'm stressed when I get in bed and my mind is racing over my "to-do's". I seem to have over committed myself this week. It's what we Hartman's do from time to time. The problem is it is all things I want to do. I want to go to Dallas for a conference, I want to make meals for people who have had babies, I want to be planning my baby's first birthday party, I want to spend time with my family, I want to tend to my private practice, I want to be a good friend, I want to do our ladies class Beth Moore study, I want to be a good mother, wife, cook, runner, house keeper and on and on...I did a study earlier this year, about living a simple life. It was excellent and thought provoking. But at times I still struggle at managing my commitments in a "balanced" and simple way.

Two blogs I read have recently talked about this topic of balance and trying to do it all. Many people commented on this post saying they have this same struggle, are also looking for answers, would like everything to be perfect, or schedule things as best as they can and then realize you have to let some things go. And I loved this post about juggling all of the balls and trying to prioritize them. As women it is easy to compare ourselves to others and feel bad about what we don't or "can't" do. I appreciated the author's sentiment, that we are all just doing the best we can, and that looks different for everyone. I hope to encourage the women in my life in their "doing the best they can", rather than getting sucked in to the comparing game.

I've thought this week about parents I have worked with who have talked about how much they give their children (materially) and how their children continue to want more and the parent feels like "its never enough". Those conversations always follow with discussions on what children really want- parents that are present with them and give them their time and attention. I've tried to focus on this over the past week when I've felt stressed about getting things done and with the details of Isabella's party coming together- a party that she is not going to remember. I love to celebrate and love a good party, but let's be honest the party is more about celebrating her and for us, as at this age she won't remember it!

So we took things slower today. I want to "do it all", but it is not worth the sacrifice of my family or my sanity. (I will probably have to revisit this thought again and again). I will work hard this week on the to-do's after Isabella's asleep and during her nap times, and otherwise try to focus on being present in the precious moments with my family. I want to give myself the grace to do my best, and that be enough- rather than striving perfection. I will let go of somethings and say no to some, and also know that for each crazy week there is usually a slower one behind it.

I feel more at peace today and will hopefully keep these things in mind again when my juggling ball act seems to overpower what is really important in life.