Pumpkin Patchin' and All Things Fall

It's Fall Ya'll!

Well, it was for like 2 seconds but Mother Nature has a thing about teasing us Southern Californians with a brief taste of Fall - you know, she lets the weather cool down enough for us to break out the sweaters and beanies so we can FINALLY enjoy some Fall goodness and then a day or 2 later she's all like "just kidding, girl!"

Yup. True story!

The first weekend of October, we got the cool crisp air and temps dipped down into the 60s, which was PERFECT because we were eager to start crossing things off our Fall Bucket List. We went to Riley's Apple Farm up at Oak Glen in Redlands, CA with my brother-in-law, his wife, and 2 girls (London & Paris). I've never been actual apple picking before. And as you can probably imagine, I was beyond ecstatic to be able to experience it for the first time with my girls.

Restaurant + Bakery at Riley's Apple Farm

So I had this idea that we'd pick a whole bucket full of apples and then we'd be able to bring them home and bake all kinds of pies and stuff! Because that's what you do in the Fall, right? First off, I've NEVER baked an apple pie in my life so it was highly unlikely that I would have really made one. But the thought itself was ambitious enough to drive all the way to an apple orchard. And second, we didn't pick enough apples. They were gone by the time we left the farm because my husband and 2 babes ate them all up. Go figure.

Ella chillin' in her Baby Jogger City Select stroller

Baby Jogger City Select Stroller / Baby Jogger Tray / Munchkin Paw Patrol Cup

Riley's Apple Farm also had a pumpkin patch up at the top of the hill so we got to do some pumpkin patching there, too! Both our girls picked their pumpkins, this mama blogger got her fair share of photos, and everyone enjoyed themselves! It turned out to be a great start to Fall!

Or what we thought was the start of Fall here in Sunny Southern California.

Summer came back and the "All Things Fall"-ish feeling kinda went away. We were hoping to hit up more Pumpkin Patches: Peltzer Pumpkin Farm in Temecula and Live Oak Canyon Pumpkin Patch in Yucaipa (which is a family tradition and we usually go every year) but it just didn't happen. The hubby has had to work a lot and we've been kinda busy doing other things that we didn't get a chance to.

But hey, 1 more weekend left before Halloween and still a few more things to do like Pumpkin Carving at my sister-in-law's house (which has been another family tradition for like the last 5 years), finishing up Halloween costumes and then some major trick-or-treating to wrap up the month of October!!! Can't wait to show you more Fall goodness so stay tuned!

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Do you have a Fall Bucket List? What have you accomplished thus far?

Share in the comments below!

Tags: #FallBucketList #AllThingsFall #FallActivities #FallTradition #ApplePicking #InlandEmpire #RileysAppleFarm #pumpkinpatch #appleorchard #tradition

The Happiest Place On Earth

So we totally did a thing. We used Everly's 1st Birthday as an excuse to take a family trip to Disneyland.

Yup, you read that right.

When you are a California resident and you have a 3 year old who's obsessed with Minnie Mouse, and have some relatives fly in from Hawaii for vacation, AND you also have a baby who just turned 1, the only logical thing to do is take a family trip to Disneyland. Right? I mean, it's the perfect reason to finally take my girls to The Happiest Place On Earth!

So that's exactly what we did. And I'm not ashamed about it!

Let's be honest... 1st birthday parties (actually ALL birthday parties) are exhausting - from planning to execution. When Ella turned 1, we had planned 2 birthday parties for her. The first party was in Hawaii with my family because we decided to vacation in Hawaii for her birthday. And then we had a 2nd party here in Southern California with our family and friends we have here. These parties weren't HUGE, but still... it was A LOT of work. So this time around, I just said "forget it!" Call it #secondchildproblems, I don't care. I just didn't wanna deal with the whole party planning thing again so we said "off to Disneyland we go!" At least when Everly gets older, she can't say we didn't do anything for her 1st birthday, right? I mean, we may not have thrown her a huge party but we still did cake & ice cream with family to celebrate on her birthday and that following Saturday.

So there. 2 mini parties + Disneyland = THE BEST 1ST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!

Anyway, Disneyland did not disappoint. However, I will say, it was a completely different experience this time around. Before kids, it was all about getting in line to ALL the favorites: Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Thunder Railroad, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribbean… just to name a few. With kids, it's ALL about standing in lines to meet Mickey & the gang. We spent our entire morning on Main Street waiting to say "hi" and take pictures with all the Disney characters.

And then after that, it was off to find all the Disney Princesses in Fantasyland.

Then after THAT, it was off to Toon Town to stalk Minnie at her house.

I think we only did 2 rides. That's it. I didn't even get to go on Peter Pan because Ella just wasn't feelin' it and was on a mission to find Rapunzel who, by the way, was not available for a meet & greet because according to Ella, she was "too busy singing and dancing to talk to me." Rapunzel happened to be performing in a show and Ella was a bit upset that Rapunzel did not make time for her. *sigh* #threenagerproblems

getting on It's A Small World

Oh! But we did get to hang out in Tarzan's Treehouse. Well... Ella and Daniel did that. I just stood down at the bottom because Everly had fallen asleep and I was just too hot to do any kind of climbing. (Yeah, I seriously played that card that day haha).

Overall, our trip was a success! Even though it was hot AF, and there were some tears and epic meltdowns here and there, Ella & Everly were total troopers. And we are definitely entertaining the thought of finally getting annual passes because we can't wait to take the girls back!

Tags: #disneyland #southerncalifornia #disneyfamily #disneybabies #magickingdom #mickeymouse #minniemouse #disneyhalloween #1stbirthdaypartyideas #thehappiestplaceonearth

Introducing: Mom Diaries

Hi!!! If you've somehow found your way here to this blog post, I just want to say THANK YOU! Whether you stumbled upon here on "accident" or you actually clicked on this post with the intention to actually read it, I want you to know that I truly do appreciate you doing so!

So if you're still reading this... welcome! Welcome to this new segment of my blog where you will find my raw honest truths about life. And I say "life" in general and not just "mom life" because I hope that those who are not yet moms will still want to read this and still be able to relate to the things I talk about. This series will touch on anything I feel like sharing - it could range anywhere from happy thoughts to sad thoughts; stories of my frustrations, my triumphs & victories (both little and big) in this tough journey through motherhood; it could be about ANYTHING that will make you go hmmmm.

My main goal with this is to create a safe place that will allow women to be vulnerable and open up and want to share their thoughts, experiences, and stories with the rest of us. A place where we can support other overwhelmed moms and have a dialogue without judgment. There is no 'one way' to do this thing called life. Because I feel like in this day and age, especially with social media, the expectations and culture of momhood (and womanhood) has changed so much since the generation of moms/women before me. Social media allows other moms/women out there to "hide" behind their computer screens or smart phones and openly criticize or bully other women (don't get me wrong, I know there are a lot who empower and encourage too). And then if it's not the mom-shame that gets to us, it's the mom guilt that we inflict on ourselves from the comments that weren't necessarily meant to shame us but rather to "encourage" us. Blame the hormones, man. They really do a number on us during pregnancy and postpartum. 

Let me give you an example of a time I experienced mom-guilt from a comment that was not meant to shame me. And it's not even a really big or dramatic one. I'm sure some may think it's silly or that it's not even a big deal. But it really was for me at the time because I was a new mom. Like brand spanking new. Extremely hormonal, sleep-deprived, and completely overwhelmed. There were times where I felt defeated and so alone because everyone I knew that had kids were already past the baby stage and they really did not remember the details of just how hard it was and couldn't really help me feel better about going through it. I've had friends/family say to me "I'm soooo glad we're way past that stage" when they see all the work I'm putting in to try and establish some sort of schedule or when they see how tired I look or how I can't do things because my babies are so clingy and needy. And when I say "do things" I'm talking about simple things like daily chores. Don't even get me started on that subject. I'll have to save that one for a future post. I'm trying to keep this post short and sweet but it's actually turning out to be a long one.

Anyway, I digress from the actual story I'm trying to tell.

Ok so back to when Ella was about 6 weeks old. I posted this photo to my personal Instagram account - which is private by the way and only friends and family can see it. It's a photo of me wearing Ella in a Baby K'tan. And my caption said something along the lines of "trying to put baby to sleep" while the photo showed me in the living room, standing (most likely bouncing) while watching TV. And one of my friends commented something like "ohhhh watch out, you're going to spoil her!"

That's it. That's all that was said.

And I. Just. Lost. It.

Not because I thought she was shaming me. Because she wasn't. She's not a judgy person at all. That's not even her personality or style. She said it jokingly and I do know that. But at the time, because I was still so new to this and experiencing all the highs and lows of this beautiful chaos, I totally took this comment out of context and just immediately felt like I was failing as a mom. Because that photo or caption did not capture the entire story behind it. No one knew that I had tried everything I could think of to get my baby to sleep without the help of me rocking her to sleep. Or nursing her to sleep. Or bouncing around the entire house to get to her to sleep. No one knew just how badly my baby would scream the minute I put her down and how stressful it was for me to hear her scream. And I'm talkin' bloody murder type screaming. There was no cute "quiet" kind of crying from this child in the first few weeks of her life. Nooooo, this child of mine screamed like she was dying. And I'm not exaggerating. My neighbors would actually come over to check on us sometimes because they could hear her. The only way I could get Ella to nap during the day or go to bed at night, was to hold her. So yeah I became this extremely sensitive human being and I questioned everything about my ability to care for this tiny creature because I felt like I couldn't do anything right. And then I'd hear comments like "my baby never cried that bad as a newborn" which then made me think that something was wrong with Ella.

Like I get that most of the comments I've read or heard in person weren't meant to offend me. But there are still the ones that comment with the purpose of making you feel like sh*t because those type of people don't care if they hurt your feelings. Trust me, I've had my share. But when you're a brand new mom that has never been through a life changing event that drastic, it can really mess you up.

Me? I was a hot mess. I was alone (at least it felt that way). And then after that I kind of limited what I shared on social media because I put so much pressure on myself to be that perfect mom that society expects us to be - and for every mom, the definition of a perfect mom is different. I know there are many new moms out there that feel this same exact way but don't want to share their stories because they fear that someone might shame them or make them feel guilty. We torture ourselves by comparing ourselves and our babies to others. We look at photos on Instagram of Facebook and take it for what it looks like and don't know the whole story behind that perfect picture. When we see others parenting differently from how we think parenting should be, we either judge or we try to do it that way too and see if we get good results. Social media just makes it so easy to get caught up in all of that when we're feeling like we have no idea what we're doing.

So I'm hoping if I share my stories that others will want to, too. It always feels good to talk it out. And I have a lot of stories to share with you. 3 whole years worth. I may not have a lot of experience under my belt just yet but it's definitely been quite a journey for me.

If you have any stories you'd like to share, shoot me a comment and let's talk about it like real life girlfriends do!

tags: #momdiaries #momlife #postpartumjourney #newmom #motherhood #momcommunity