Posts

Posted on

Fundraising and Fun Friday

Day 10:

Big day Today: Makeup and hair for a big day out. Today I had my 2 week visit with my doctor ( everything looks great) and then attended a fundraising lunch for Caring for Cambodia and their 15th anniversary. My cousin and I split the donation of a playground for one of the schools in Cambodia. It was a great lunch for a great cause, followed by going to a concert with the kiddos and some friends that evening while my aunts watched J. I also had my first drink(s). 14 days post baby and I was feeling great, although am positive I would pay for it later.

Philanthropy is one of the things I wanted to do more of this leave and being able to positively contribute to society is something I feel like I NEED to do. Caring For Cambodia is a great non-profit started by a now friend of ours to help provide an educational foundation by building schools (and so much more) for Cambodian children. This hits close to home a) since I am Cambodian and b) feel very strongly about education. Find out more about Caring for Cambodia  here.

Positive Thought of the Day: Counting our blessings for being fortunate to have everything we could have and want. We are financially solid and blessed with health and abundance. I like to always remember my parents humble beginnings to help ground me when we get caught up in want and excess.

Image may contain: 1 person, flowerImage may contain: indoor

Posted on

Lunch Date

Day 9:

Pretty dreary day, highlight of the day was a date lunch to try out a Ramen spot ( a perfect rainy day food) that I have been wanting to try with the Husband. Dates with your significant other are really important though, and since Hubs is returning to work soon I thought it would be good to get out together. We try and get out for a date night and try out new restaurants when we can, hopefully we can keep that up with three! This was also baby’s first meal out and he slept the entire time. I could get used to this.. but I know it will change soon.

Positive Thought of the Day: trying to enjoy the last of Hubs Paternity Leave and take full advantage. Also-  we caught up on cleaning and laundry ( for a hot second) and it’s feeling like fall weather- football, rain, and pumpkins. My favorite season!

Image result for ramen noodle images

Posted on

Walkabout

Day 8:

Took our first outing to Target today. The ride was a bit painful, but baby was great. He mostly slept in the car and in the store. Keeping my fingers crossed he will continue to be an easy baby, because his sisters were NOT. I would not have even been able to contemplate starting a blog project with them. Not sure if it’s because he’s the third and this is now just old hat and I am more relaxed or if its different because of his temperament or because he’s a boy.

Target outing was a success- I used the Cartwheel app in store for the first time and saved money on diapers. Couponing gives me such a sense of accomplishment. As a young child, I literally clipped coupons every Sunday morning out of the NEWSPAPER.. guess you could say I have always been an old soul.  Now, before any online purchase I will always google for promotion codes. Today, we saved $13 in stores using the Cartwheel app, got a $20 giftcard for buying $100 worth of diapers and turned in an expired carseat in the Target carseat event and received a 20% off coupon (worth almost $40). Score!  Yes, this boss mom still loves a good deal.

Positive Thought of the Day: I am moving very slowly, but I’m up and out just 10 days out from surgery. We forget sometimes the little things we take for granted- like our health. Counting the small blessings in life.

Posted on

Sickness

Day 7:

Tummy bug with #1, and so we let the middle stay home to enjoy “family” leave since the Husband is also still off. Movies, snuggles and lounging around in PJs. Doesn’t get much better than this, despite the circumstances.

Positive Thought of the Day: We have raised a home that is full of love, even though sometimes it’s hard to remember that when I get upset about messes and really insignificant things. Will try my best to remember to lead with love.

Posted on

Making a List and Setting Intentions

Day 6:

Feeling good again, and ready to be sure to make the most of my time off with baby and for myself. Here’s my crazy Make the Most out of maternity leave checklist , because the type A in me can’t help it.

  • Enjoy the moments with baby
  • Be active in the girl’s schools and events
  • Take some me-time to rebalance
  • Spend  time volunteering and helping causes I feel passionately about
  • Reconnect with friends

In yoga, we typically begin practice by setting intentions. I plan to have four throughout this leave and can boil it down to: Family, Philanthropy, Friends, and Fun based on the above list.

Positive Thought of the Day: I enjoyed the luxury of reading a book last night and ( of course finishing it). Reading is a hobby that comes and goes for me, depending on free time and how much I am travelling for work. But its something I’ve always enjoyed and have been able to do now that I have a little more time. I find it ironic that being on maternity leave is giving me more time than I normally have, but that is only because the girls are in school during the day and I’m up at odd hours of the night. We’ll see how long it lasts!

 

 

 

Posted on

Work It

Day 5:

Easy, Tiger. I should heed the advice on the baby onesie. Had to take several work phone calls. Still receiving tons of work texts. It’s surprisingly good to feel still included and needed at work as I adjust into some semblance of a normal routine at home. Still determined to try my best to take it easy so I can have a super productive backend of maternity leave. I’ve been invited on a special trip to corporate as part of career progression work, which of course is happening during maternity leave. Supposedly, would be good to “be seen” there. I’ve decided to plan to take a day from my maternity leave to attend said event. Hopefully it will be worth it!

Also had a visit from a good friend today, it was good to catch up. I’m also making it a personal goal to catch up with friends this maternity leave. As you can see, I have a lot of “goals”.

Positive Thought of the Day: It’s Baby J’s one week birthday and he is super alert. He is strong and picks up his neck already and boy is he HUNGRY. We have a happy, healthy, baby!

Posted on

Headache,Headache, go away

Day 4

Down for the count with the worst headache ever. See previous post. Rainy, gloomy weather.

Positive Thought of the Day- Had a wonderful neighbor visit. I had forgotten how lonely I was feeling since I’m not used to being cooped up at home and am used to a revolving door of people coming to me with issues in the office. One of the best parts about moving to our new hood, was the neighbors. Everyone is welcoming and fun. It doesn’t hurt that most are at the same stage in life with littles, balancing careers, and a love for fun. Being friends with neighbors has the added bonus of having fun and not having to drive anywhere.

 

Posted on

Cold Turkey

Day 3:

The Day I actually started transferring my shorthand and reflections to the computer. Feeling accomplished. Also the day I am weaning myself off the Percocet. It helped with the pain but made me feel crazy- my temperature would swing greatly and I felt like the world was slightly fuzzy and out of focus. Not to mention the nausea. I said ‘wean, but I don’t do anything half ass- I just decided to be done and stopped taking it. Pain level is absurd but hard core medicine scares me- I’ll stick to the 600 mg motrin, thank you.

Positive Thought of the Day: I just paid bills for the last of our design projects. Although I have worked extremely hard for lifestyle, I know there are many people in the world that don’t have what we do. We not only have an abundance of financial wealth, but are also rich in love and family. I do not take this for granted. Maybe I’ll delve into the topic of Cambodian Guilt sometime soon, but not today. Office redesign picture included ( big thanks to Adentro Designs – can’t wait to spend more time blogging in the office!

Posted on

Keeping Up with the Jones’

Maternity Leave Day 2:

Saw cousin’s newborn shoot for their third child. Did not even contemplate it for #3 boy child. Ensue panic about not wanting boy baby to have issues as an adult. Baby 1 and 2- had newborn shoot and outfits scheduled for months. Decided HAD to have newborn photo shoot and contacted a photographer and set one up for later this week. Thanks to Courtney Prinzo for fitting us in completely last minute.

Feel like I’m creating projects to replace work and fight boredom. Feel guilty because I should be savoring every newborn moment.. but one can only watch him sleep for so long. Commence googling cute newborn boy photo ideas.

Positive Thought of the Day: The girls are doing so well at adjusting to life with baby. There have been ZERO jealousy issues with the baby, which is surprising- just a lot of love. My 90+ year old grandma came to visit today. She is now enjoying her 7th great-grandchild, how awesome is that!

Posted on

Gone for 60 Days

Maternity Leave: Day 1

Decided I wanted to document how I am spending my 60 days of maternity leave because I want to be intentional about how I am spending my (last) leave ever. As a very ambitious working mom, I rarely have a moment to go to the restroom, do my hair, or sometimes even eat so reflecting on life and taking some time for me is an intention I set at the start of this leave. I am not sure yet if this will even get off the ground or what shape it will take, so bear with me on this whim.  I am however the planner and creator of to do lists and dogged pursuer of checking things off said list so I have ambitious hopes of perhaps creating a blog- but that would take more ambition than I have on Day 1 ( still heavily medicated post-C section) can handle. So we’ll start with the intention to document and journal each day of my leave. [Edit: on Day 14 I got my blog up and running] and am now back posting the first two weeks that I wrote in word and late nights in Notes on my phone].

Reflections: Newborns are precious, but at this state a little bit boring. Baby is a healthy boy, and he is hungry. Since I’m breastfeeding this means I spend a lot of time just sitting, staring, and thinking and then came up with this idea to start the blog. But it also means I have been playing around on my phone a lot and sigh, been checking my work email despite a promise to myself not to. I did  exhibit restraint on replying to emails because of my drug induced state. Technology today makes it too easy to stay connected. I planned to recharge during this maternity leave and disconnect but we will see. During my last two maternity leaves, I turned off my email on my phone but I have not reached that point yet. Perhaps, because I’ve reached a point in my career where my role is much more significant.. am finding it hard to completely turn off.

Positive Thought(s) of the Day:  A positive outlook has always been important to me, so I plan to close every post with a positive thought of the day, no matter how small.  Today I am enjoying the comforts of home and being cared for- the house is clean, the girls are entertained, and dinner is cooked. I am beyond lucky to have family close and far willing to chip in.  I’m also enjoying being on paid leave for the next 12 weeks ( a policy that just went into effect THIS year at work), something less than 15% of women in the private sector don’t have the benefit of in the United States. I’m also very thankful that even though Hubs works for a small company, he is afforded 2 weeks of paternal leave to help out while I recover.

See below for the little face that was my muse in starting this blog:

Proudly powered by WordPress