Life By Kristen

Go, and embrace your liberty. And see what wonderful things come of it. – Little Women

02 Jan 2020
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What a Decade!

It’s been quite the whirlwind of the last decade- I think more has happened in the last 10 years of life than any other decade before?

In 2009, I bought a house and got engaged. 2010 I was married. 2011 I was separated. 2012 I was divorced.

In 2013 I turned 30, met Q, went to Holland with my mom, and unexpectedly lost my father- most certainly one of the most defining years of my life and often the marker in time in which I often refer to when trying to figure out what year things happened in.

2014 was a tumultuous year of figuring out grief, meeting Q’s son, and getting promoted at work, while 2015 brought new joys with brother getting married, but also the low of my mother selling our childhood home. I also went to Hawaii for work and we lost Q’s grandfather ( I was in Hawaii when it happened).

In 2016, there was a lot of job turmoil for me and a lot of job interviews in places near and far, but nothing worked out for us. We traveled to California to see family. 2017 was much the same unrest at work for me with a few glimmers of almost moving on to something new that never panned out so lots of hopes and excitement dashed. It was also tough second half of 2017 as we lost Q’s brother-in-law to suicide.

We were determined to make 2018 our year- we traveled to Utah and work conditions improved for me which made a big difference. We started house projects with our eye on moving within the year or so when we found out in September 2018 that we were going to have a baby!

2019 has been a roller coaster year– Q lost his biological father in January, and while we were overjoyed at the birth of our son in May, he entered the world in dramatic fashion and it was scary for a bit. We also unexpectedly lost Q’s stepfather in the beginning of December.

 

Posted in All About Me, Uncategorized
20 Dec 2019
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Secret Santa Mug Swap 2019

This is my 4th year participating in the Secret Santa Mug Swap, organized by the fabulous San! 

It’s a fun little thing to do for the holidays and I always like finding new blogs and people to follow.

I received the loveliest little package from Penny!

The mug reads: ” I’m a Mom- What’s your superpower?” Penny also included some coffee, flavored syrups, and heart measuring spoons. I’ve already used it a few times!

 

Posted in Random
29 Nov 2019

Friday Finds November 2019

I’m sure after Thanksgiving yesterday the last thing you are thinking about are sweets, but I found this brief history of the Entenmann’s family very interesting. Also made me want some of their amazing soft-baked chocolate chip cookies while reading it.

Women who ruled in Wyoming in 1920.

Fashion and resistance in Nazi Europe.

I’m an early 80s baby so when people call me a millenial, I cringe, especially because I’m an old soul who was late to all the tech trends (I’d probably still have a flip phone if I could). Thankfully, whoever is in the business of naming the generations has found a name for the group of kids born in the late 70s and early 80s ( a microgeneration, apparently) who were on the cusp of the big changes that technology brought, but still remember “the good ole’ days:” Xennials.

A very brief history of TV trays. Did you have TV trays growing up? It was a special treat when we could eat in front of the TV and was often on weekends. I don’t have them in my house now as we eat on the coffee table that’s in front of the TV instead lol.

This is a great interview with Tom Hanks, who is definitely a living person I’d love to have over for dinner.

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22 Nov 2019
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5 on Friday: Checking in!

  • Is this thing on? I’m still here. I think- quite often actually- about blogging and have more ideas of things to write than ever before, but somehow the getting down to writing things beyond quick notes eludes me. Alas, that’s the season of life I’m in with a tiny human, a relationship, family, and a job.
  • Motherhood is amazing, tiring, frustrating, fun, boring, and a million other adjectives, but truly, this little boy is one of the greatest joys. It’s also amazing to me how much I can get done in a quick half hour period of time while he naps. I can do some laundry, wash dishes/bottles, quickly clean something, etc. Pre-baby I could waste 30 minutes in the silliest ways, but now it’s all about maximizing the free time!
  • Quick list of things I’m enjoying lately: Podcast- Dolly Parton’s America; the last season of The Man in the High Castle; The Good Place (sad to see it go), and reading fluffy fiction. Also looking forward to the newest season of The Crown ( have watched 1.5 episodes so far) and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in a few weeks.
  • Work has been pretty busy the past few weeks and will be for the next few, but I’m so thankful to have the flexibility to work from home some days and be able to use PTO on others to take Gray to doctor’s appointments and be home with him. He’s growing and changing so fast and I’m savoring (my word for 2019) every moment.
  • We’re celebrating Thanksgiving twice this year– this weekend with my brother and sister-in-law who are coming down from Vermont, and then on actual Thanksgiving with Q’s family. Looking forward to both, but a bit weary about the smell of turkey since last year I was pretty sick when pregnant and didn’t love the smell of turkey then!

 

Wishing you and yours a lovely Thanksgiving!

 

Posted in 5 on Friday
25 Oct 2019

Friday Finds October 2019

How cookie cutters are made– cool!

I had no idea there was a feminist background and history to the popular song Take Me Out to the Ballgame. 

What a great idea for a way to reuse old call boxes- make them monuments to forgotten women of history.

Some amazing photos from the annual Wildlife Photography contest. The winning photo is pretty funny.

 

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04 Oct 2019

5 on Friday: Random Musings of early October

  • At the end of last winter, I finally got rid of my red winter peacoat. It was long overdue. It was a hand me down that I loved, but I replaced the buttons many times and had sewn so many holes shut in the pockets there wasn’t much fabric left! Now I need a new winter coat and probably new winter shoes as my feet grew a bit from pregnancy. High five to me last March for writing in my planner for this month that I needed the new coat. Otherwise, I likely would have forgotten until it was already cold and I would have missed my window of opportunity to buy one in stores (don’t get me started on how you have to buy something you need months before you’ll need it because of the silly retail cycle).

 

  • Excited for the new season of Peaky Blinders which is available on Netflix today. Also The Good Place started its final season last week so hoping it’s a good one. Some time last year we finally upgraded our cable to get a DVR ( always behind the 8 ball with all things tech!) and now with the baby, it’s our favorite thing because we are usually in bed by 830 or can’t watch a show in one sitting lol.

 

  • I set a very minimal reading goal for this year of only 35 books because I had no idea how much time/mental energy I’d have for reading after Gray arrived. I read A LOT in the first 4 months of the year since we spent a lot of weekends at home enjoying our childless life and being lazy, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised how much reading I have been able to do on the Kindle while pumping or during naps. I haven’t touched a physical book in awhile ( minus a few books about babies/parenting), but have one out from library at moment (Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner). Hoping the limits of the library loan period will get me reading. I honestly don’t think I’ll tackle more than one or two books from my own bookshelf this year. I think I probably say this every year and never do much to attack it either, probably because I don’t look at it every day since the built-in bookshelves are in the basement. 

 

  • With the fall temps finally arriving, I’m trying out new recipes and bringing the slow cooker down. Looking forward to trying some new recipes for some of our favorite things like beef stew and chili, and a few new ones too. Q is very good at trying new foods (minus shellfish and chicken) and is more on board with more vegetarian stuff so I find I’m actually looking forward more to cooking, even with a crazy work schedule and baby life.

 

  • I got way behind on podcasts over my maternity leave so have been binging a lot of my old favorites, but also adding new ones to the listening queue. I’m only commuting to work three days a week now so trying to fit more listening in as I work from home and do things around the house! Recent new finds I enjoyed: Constitutional from the Washington Post (it’s a few years old) and Moonrise, also from the Post about the 1960s space race to the moon. 

 

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01 Oct 2019

October!

October is one of the best months of the year- warm days, cool nights, and still time to enjoy the outdoors without sweltering heat. We haven’t spent a lot of time outdoors in the evenings the past few months because of some pretty serious mosquito-related illnesses in our area, so hoping we get a frost in the next few nights that might kill off some of the little buggers.

It’s funny how now with a baby everyone thinks we’re going to engage in all these kid activities all of a sudden, but Gray’s too little to do anything but tag along at the moment! He’s just getting to the age where he’s starting to process things and be curious, but not at the age that Halloween or any of the fall activities like pumpkin or apple picking means anything. My allergies have been pretty fierce and I can’t take any of my normal decongestant/relief stuff because I’m still providing milk for Gray, so our fall outdoor activities might be a bit limited this year, but I’m sure we’ll at least go buy a pumpkin at the farm stand.

We have to figure out holiday plans this month, some travel to see family, and get going on some house projects because our tiny house has become smaller every day with the amount of stuff the baby has. It’s funny how we were very particular in what we asked for in terms of baby gear, but after we brought Gray home from the hospital, our random Amazon purchases and gifts from folks just started to multiply in the house. It’s like a baby showroom!

Here’s wishing you a lovely month filled with fall fun and relaxation!

Posted in All About Me | Leave a comment
27 Sep 2019

Friday Finds September 2019

Regular posting coming back- back at work after maternity leave ended a few weeks ago so took me a bit to find my groove! Until then, some fun internet finds!

If you’re in New England, you know fall is the most glorious time because of the changing colors of the leaves ( among other fall-related things). Here’s a brief history of leaf peeping!

A forgotten female in cinema history.

And another lesser known woman of history, and her forgotten book full of historic signatures and personal notes.

Not an article, but a recommendation! As usual, I’m always late to the party when it comes to websites and various online tools that have been around for years. In the slew of baby-related purchases over the past few months, it was completely overwhelming trying to figure out the best products, value, etc. Wirecutter.com has become my new go-to for recommendations. Shout out to my aunt for telling me about it!

 

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06 Sep 2019

5 on Friday: Summer Favorites

  1. This summer wasn’t filled with just baby doctor appointments and diaper changes! We did manage to enjoy a bit of the summer. We took lots of walks around our neighborhood and by the water. It was great to get some exercise and stroller walks always put the little guy right to sleep.
  2. After we got Gray into a routine and settled at home, my mother and I decided to take a weekly outing with him in search of some of the best lobster rolls in our area. We didn’t have a bad one in all of our trips. I think we both agreed our favorite was a great seafood restaurant in Bristol, RI- Quitos.
  3. I originally thought my maternity leave would be filled with lots of couch cuddling time to catch up on movies and tv shows I hadn’t seen- HAHA. Even if I didn’t have a busy schedule of medical appointments for Gray, I don’t think I would have sat in front of the TV much anyway. Even on the gross, hot, humid days when we didn’t leave the AC much, I didn’t end up having much of an attention span for a lot of new to me entertainment. I did enjoy: The Boys on Amazon, Stranger Things on Netflix, and catching up on movies like A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody. I did not like the new 90201 reboot.
  4. I actually had time to read! This was probably the most surprising thing of maternity leave but the Kindle made it so easy to read while pumping or when Gray was napping.
  5. Summer veggies are my favorite and I used them in everything: salads, pasta salad, stirfry, and so on. I will be so so sad when I can’t get fresh tomatoes or cucumbers.
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05 Sep 2019

NICU Awareness Month

Apparently, September is NICU Awareness Month. Before having a child in the NICU, I had no idea such a month existed ( though should have guessed since every cause/affliction seems to have a month).

I’m in a few Facebook NICU parent groups as a lurker/liker as I found it helpful in the month we spent in the NICU to remind myself that we would get out of there and bring our son home. It’s heartwarming to see all the preemie babies with their before/after shots, especially in the last few weeks as many parents post first day of school photos.

I’ve struggled a bit with being a NICU parent because my child “looked normal.” He was born only 4 weeks early and at a healthy weight and size, despite his traumatic birth and lack of oxygen at the time of birth. There were babies in the NICU that were born at 25 weeks when we were there, another was less than 2 pounds, and others born with medical issues. Gray was perfectly fine inside up until his birth so seeing the struggle of some of the other families made our situation feel less dire– sort of like that saying “if you throw your problems in a pile with everyone else’s, you’d take yours out again.” One day in the NICU when we thought our little guy had a kidney infection, I was pretty upset and crying. I stepped out of the room with my mom to go eat breakfast in the family room ( no food is allowed in the baby’s room) and there were 2 mothers in there whose babies were born with some pretty serious medical issues– was sort of the perspective I needed to count my blessings. There were families in our area of the NICU that had been there over 120 days– we spent exactly 30. It was heartbreaking and difficult, but I can’t imagine what it would have been like if things had been much different.

When Gray was born, there was a lot of unknown about his prognosis. With the lack of oxygen at birth, he had to be resuscitated and we didn’t know what damage had been done to his body and systems. He was cooled for 72 hours below normal body temperature to preserve his vital organs and functions- we basically had to wait until those 72 hours were over and they slowly warmed him over 48 hours to know if he would be okay or not. One (horrible) doctor told us he might be brain dead ( it was clear by the end of his birthday that he was not that because he was moving his limbs and responding to stimuli). Babies who come off the cooling treatment often have complications with other body functions and while Gray is doing spectacular for a 3 month old baby, we’re hyper vigilant about making sure he stays on track with all the developmental milestones. We know he is a miracle and are thankful for every single moment with him.

What surprised me the most about the NICU was how many people in my universe had babies spend time there- more than I realized. You often only hear about folks with scary medical conditions or babies born very early– but the NICU is also for full-term babies who have issues of various kinds- breathing issues, heart murmurs, digestive issues and so on. It gave me a lot of hope and strength to know that we’d get through it because lots of people I knew did it before me. It didn’t always help when Gray was struggling to eat or we couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t gaining weight, but we always knew in the back of our mind we’d bring him home.

Posted in Love, Thankful Thursday | Leave a comment

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