One of my verrrry early blog posts (beware of terrible photos and tumbling deep into the archives!) was about going paperless in the kitchen. More than five years later and we still have a paperless kitchen - and love it! In fact I often forget that a paperless kitchen isn't the norm at everyone's house. If you're interested in going paperless in the kitchen here's a quick start-up guide: + Identify the different tasks for which you use towels, rags and paper products. At our house we identified the tasks of: wiping up spills from the floor, wiping the countertops,... Read more →

In June we hired a sleep coach to help us establish better sleep for Dashiell and Cedric. It made a big difference for us and I'd love to share a bit more about the experience. It feels like great sleep has never come easily for us with Dashiell, as I've alluded to many times here and on my podcasts. Early this summer we were in a very frustrating - and exhausting - pattern that involved drawn out bedtimes (our 7 pm bedtime was delayed until 8 pm), multiple night wakings and very early mornings (4 am hour). At the same... Read more →

Slowly we're working to put our personality into our cookie-cutter suburban house. And somewhere in the last year I decided that our house needs a name. Because a name distinguishes a thing from the rest and you name the things you love. It took months before Chris and I could agree on a name. Naming our house might have been more challenging than naming our boys. I suggested things like East Nook (since we live in the east Phoenix valley) or something French-inspired with the word Chez (meaning "house of") but Chris didn't love them. But Chris came up with... Read more →

Recently I've had the opportunity to guest on three different podcasts and have chatted about my experience as a working mom. I love sharing what's great, what's challenging and what I've learned during my three and a half years of being a mother and working full time. I'm a regular listener of each of the podcasts I was on and if you haven't listened to theses shows I would recommend them! They are all available on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. The Mom Hour // Inside the Lives of 3 Working Moms Coffee + Crumbs // Episode 15... Read more →

Whoosh - it's nearly mid-September already! And whoosh! the very worst of the summer heat is behind us. Even though it's still hot (and technically still summer) I have welcomed fall into my home and into my heart and am breathing a sigh of relief. We're at the very beginning of the very best stretch of months here. We're venturing outside more and more. Soon, oh so soon, we can head to the park any time of day and that will make all the difference: to take our boys, bounding with energy, outside to play and run instead of finding... Read more →