Christmas Gift Guide + A Round Here

I currently have a sheet pan dinner in the oven. It smells delicious. We are having roasted rosemary red potatoes and garlic herb chicken. I need all the easy, simple, and healthy meals as a mom of 3. What is your favorite weeknight meal? Please, share below in the comment section. I need all the easy weeknight meals.

SJ is so smart. DC was eating a bowl of Mama's homemade popcorn, and he set his bowl down to get some water. As soon as DC left the room, SJ sprinted over to the bowl and started chowing his popcorn. When DC caught him, SJ looked at him with a guilty smile and said, "hi." I couldn't stop laughing. Little smartie.

I cannot figure out where October went, and now we are half way through November. Goodness time is just flying by y'all. I cannot wait for Thanksgiving. The rolls. The chocolate pie. Oh my!

Our Christmas decor is up, and it feels so comfy and cozy in here. Having SJ has made life feel so much more complete, and full. It is so humbling to see the world through your baby's eyes. I love seeing his excitement for simple things, like seeing our Christmas tree for the first time, or the ornaments being hung. He loves the ornaments. It is just precious, and such a good reminder of just how blessed we truly are.

Mama has go to get her Christmas shopping done before December. I like to enjoy December, and not focus on pressies. Thus, here are some of my gift guides. Hope this helps!

XO, 

Mrs. Measom

Happy Thursday

Yesterday it was sunny and 90 degrees and today it's cold and raining. Welcome to Texas.

I'm looking for Christmas decor, but I don't know what I want it to look like. Essentially I look high and low and find nothing. When I was explaining this to my husband he said, "That's great. Let's keep it that way." That man and his jokes.

I have a roast in the slow cooker, and it smells delicious. I realized today I love the slow cooker because I only dirty one pan and it's easy. Name me a mom who doesn't need or want an easy meal. 

I need to meal plan and go grocery shopping. My new way of making a terrible chore not so terrible is by stopping at Swig. IYKYK

I've started buying Christmas gifts because I found some good deals. Have y'all started shopping yet?

My house is always a mess. Trying to put up Christmas decor with a toddler is a joke.

Happy Thursday, y'all!

XO,

Mrs. Measom 

In the quiet of nap time

It's in the quiet of nap time that I feel restored and renewed. I know one day I will miss the toys sprinkled about and the handprints on the mirrors but when you're in the trenches of raising kids sometimes it's nice to have a little quiet time. 

I play classical music. I sip on my hot cocoa. I sit by the window and I write or create outfits like this one. It reminds me of who I am. 

I like to focus on the joys of motherhood because I dreamed of the moment I am living in, but that doesn't mean that it's always easy. There are moments of sadness and loneliness, fear and worry, but truth be told there is so much more good than bad. It's all about our perspective.

Love what you have. Don't chase what you don't, and remember everything in life is just a season. Don't miss a moment of it.

Failure

I was cleaning out my desk and found a few pictures I had ripped out of magazines and saved. They were buried at the bottom. They've been in there for years, and I saved them as inspiration for something I want to achieve. Written on a post-it, I stuck to the pictures, were the words, "Don't quit!" 

I have hopes and dreams, but I also have a big fear of failing.

As a kid, I waited for dad to show up. He never came. I think that a lot of my fear of failing stems from the ultimate feeling of not being worth his time. I felt often like my existence itself was failure to him. I'm scared of being embarrassed and I was scared of embarrassing him. I'm scared of not being good enough. 

I don't know if you can relate, but when you have constant meet-cutes with not being enough, you learn to stop dreaming. You stop dreaming because you don't want to get hurt anymore, but at some point I have to let it go.

I know that what we become starts with our own choices. We need to let go of the past, work through it, and move on. Holding on to past hurt traps us in a cycle we don't want to be in. The saying, "forgive and forget," sets us free. 

Take my own mother, for example. She came from nothing. She ate out of the garbage can as a child so she wouldn't starve. She didn't hold on to the unfair cards life dealt her. Instead, she worked hard to overcome them, and be better. She left South America on a student visa and headed to the US to live the American dream. She attended college here and became an engineer.

What I've learned from her is to be a fighter. We can overcome our fears and our challenges, and maybe life won't look exactly how we dreamed it would, but God will give us exactly what we need.

Round Here

The second SJ (my 3rd baby & youngest) goes down for this nap it's like a mad dash to see how much I can get done in the little time he sleeps. 

When he is awake I try to give him my full attention while also doing things Mom has to accomplish. He helps me cook and clean, and we read and play. Though, he currently is not big into sitting and reading, we are working on slowly. I love reading with my kids, and want to make those sweet memories with him. 

We spend amazing quality time together, but it's tricky to do anything work related when he is awake, and those are usually office hours for everyone else. I am so use to having older kids and accomplishing more throughout the day. Having a baby again has been a huge transition, and honestly it's been a lot harder than I remember. It's like starting over, or having a baby for the first time, except I have two other kids that also need love, attention, quality time, and so much more. 

I don't know how Hannah from the Ballerina Farm does it. Bless her. I want to be more like her when I grow up, but who doesn't? She has 7 kids and counting, all while running an empire, and being a literal beauty queen. She's a freaking dream. You know you've made it when people are dressing up as you for Halloween. 

Everything is wildly expensive. I think about people struggling right now, and my heart breaks. I want so badly for inflation to be reversed, and for families to not have to struggle. It's always on my mind, and it always hurts my heart. If you're struggling financially, I see you. I'm so sorry, and I am praying for you, sweet friend.

Thanksgiving is around the corner, and today I am thankful for this tiny space on the internet. I am thankful that I can come here and write. I can release all my thoughts and feelings, and feel so much better. I am thankful that you read this. I am thankful that you are here. Thank you for supporting me and my family. You don't know how much it means to me. Thank you, and check back for another post tomorrow.

XO,

Mrs. Measom

 

Not in a MuuMuu

You know you’ve been married a while when the appliances purchased off your registry start breaking. I made the comment to Mister that I was thankful, however, that it was only our appliances breaking and not our marriage. Our marital relationship is strong, our Kitchenaid not so much. RIP Kitchenaid.

Help me decide, do I replace it with a neutral one or a colorful one?

Mister got rear ended. The man who hit him won’t answer his insurance’s phone calls, and now we have to pay our deductible. Perfect. 

Why is it that when 1 bad thing happens, a bunch of other bad things seem to follow close behind?

I don’t know if it’s my nursing hormones or something else, but lately commercials and endings to books have me tearing up. My emotional responses shock me. I am officially a crier. 

My current favorite Spotify station is called “Coastal Grandmother.” Feels right.

I am needle pointing, baking homemade treats, and dancing to classics. I’ll admit I might be in my grandma era, but don’t worry I’m not in a muumuu. I’m in my skinny jeans! 

Pumpkin Spice with Blue & White

Today, the Pumpkin Spice Latte is officially being sold at my favorite coffee shop. Which, in my mind, makes it fall! I'm ready for pumpkin decor, dark nail polish, and sweaters. Texas, on the other hands, does not want to cooperate. It will be summer here until December. Welcome to Texas!

I had my first sip of my Pumpkin Spice Latte and made an audible, "Mmmm." A smile rose to my face, and instantly my heart felt joy. I so love fall. I love the candles and the way they make the whole house smell like baked goods. I love cozying up with the kids under a comfy blanket (linked our new favorite one below) and reading a cute fall picture book. I love the slow cooker meals and dips with chips. 

I'm ready for hosting. With fall comes the holidays, and the gratitude, and the gathering. Y'all, just typing this makes me excited for the season ahead. 

I picked up some cute new blue and white goodies for all the hosting we will be doing, and I snagged some pumpkins, and cutting boards. Everything I bought is from Walmart, and now I just can't stop checking their site and stores for all the grandmillennial vibes. 

I'm in my granny era. 

'Tis the season!

Thank you to Walmart for sponsoring this post.