Mom's Tip #1 - Bring Extra Clothes

Wow did we have to learn this lesson the hard way.  Yesterday we were enjoying yet another fall favorite, NDSU homecoming.  The day started out at my sorority house for brunch and chit chat with old friends.  Maya and Makenna really enjoyed themselves and loved watching the parade.  I think Maya's favorite part of the morning was filling up her pink bag full of candy and other odds and ends.  So far so good.

After the parade and after all the good-byes, we headed towards the pep rally for some good old fashion BBQs and brats.  We filled our plates, got everyone seated, and started to chow.  And then...I dropped the brat full of ketchup and mustard on my lap and then it rolled onto the floor.  Awesome.  I cleaned myself up and we continued to eat our lunch.

And then it happened.

Dave took Makenna into the bathroom for a diaper change.  He came back out and handed me a half naked child in her diaper, socks, and her top shirt (she had a onesie on underneath).  Dave turned and walked back into the bathroom to clean up. 

What happened?  Makenna had a massive blow out.  Her first one. 

Great.  We had no change of clothes and the game was about to begin.  I told Dave to take Maya to the game, I'll take Makenna home, and they could snag a ride home with our friend Evan who was with us.  Once we reached our car, Dave sparked an idea.  He decided to run into the stadium and purchase a cheerleading outfit for Makenna.  Not exactly what I wanted to spend my money on but I did want to attend the game.  Dave left and came back with a 2T.  It was huge!  We changed Makenna's clothes and headed to the game.

Lesson learned - bring an extra pair of clothes with you at all times as you never know if a blow out will happen.

Before pictures - how cute is she?
 
After pictures -
still cute but you can see she'll be wearing this outfit for years.
 

About Us

My name is Theresa. I wear many hats including wife of 10 years to my husband Dave, mother of two Ethiopian daughters Maya and Makenna, fitness enthusiast, career woman, and social director for my family.  I enjoy spending time with my family, my friends, and even squeeze some me time in once in awhile.  You will find me writing about all sorts of things from challenges of balancing work and home, fitness, my passions, the ups and downs of parenthood, and so much more. 

My husband Dave also wears many hats especially within our family.  He is the family chef, the gardener, the Internet researcher, mechanic, handyman, and most importantly the one stable one amongst all the females in the house.  When Dave has free time, he enjoys playing indoor and outdoor soccer, watching the Vikings, and reading. You will be able to get a taste of his writing as he guest blogs on the home page from time to time but also under the fitness tab in the fitness journey blog.  

My 3 year with tons of personality is my Maya who came home in August of 2007.  Maya has a way to charm anyone she meets due to her sense of humor, incredible vocabulary, and imagination.  Maya has many favorites but her friends take the #1 spot as she loves spending time with them.  Although she won't be blogging anytime soon, you will get to read many posts relating to her as she is a great subject. 

Last but not least is our 1-year old daughter Makenna.  We were blessed to have her become part of our family in January of 2010.  Makenna is not as social as her big sister amongst unfamiliar faces but really lets her personality shine through for those she knows.  She has a soft side to her that is incredibly adorable.  You will also be able to read about her as well on the blog.

This is a little about us.  Please leave us a comment and tell us about yourself as we would love to hear from those reading our blog.

New Blog!

Welcome to our blog! For those that are new, I hope you like what you see and decide to visit again. For those returning to our blog, I hope you like the new design, the various tabs, and the new name.

Over the past 6 months, we (my husband Dave and I) have been thinking about the blog and its purpose. When we originally started the blog back in 2007, its purpose was to keep friends and family informed about our adoption process. It then turned into a way to connect with other adoption families as well as keeping our family and close friends informed. Hence the title of our blog was "Ethiopia to Fargo".

Now that we have finished our second and last Ethiopian adoption, we felt it was time to look ahead and redefine the blog's purpose. Although we want to continue with our blog's original purpose of connecting with other adoptive families and keeping friends and family informed, we also want to grow our blog just as we have grown through the last 3+ years. We feel its new purpose is about balancing career and home, incorporating fitness into our everyday lives, and the joys and challenges of parenting two Ethiopian daughters.
 
We chose the blog title "Conspicuous Family" as Dave always said we are no longer an inconspicuous family when we brought Maya home in 2007. If you look at the definition of conspicuous, you will see it says "attracting attention through being unusual and remarkable". We felt this sums up our family.
With the new blog purpose and the new capabilities of blogger, we decided to add some tabs to the navigation bar which are About, Fitness, Kolfe Boys Orphanage, and Mom's Tips.

About:
Learn all about who we are, our Ethiopian adoption stories, and view our adoption videos under this tab.

Fitness:
One of our joint interests is fitness. Under this tab you will be able to read our story of how we have come to make fitness a key priority in our lives, follow our fitness journey through our dedicated fitness blog, and read about our reviews on Beachbody programs as well as other products.

Kolfe Boys Orphanage:
Thanks to our love for Ethiopia, we have connected with an amazing organization, Children's Hopechest, to become involved in a sponsorship program. Under this tab, you can learn all about Kolfe Boys Orphanage, how to sponsor, and follow an upcoming trip of adults and youth from our church which Dave will be leading.

Mom's Tips:
As a mother of two daughters, I have many opinions and advice. I thought it would be great to share my thoughts with other mother's out there. My goal would be to have other mom's share their tips as well so we can all learn from each other. Under this tab, you will find all my mom's tips which may be anything from creative ideas, great finds, or lessons I've learned along the way.

Over the next week we plan to post an introduction on each of these 4 areas so stay tuned. We could not be more excited about our new and improved blog!

We hope you like what you see and share our blog with others. Grab our button and please let us know what you think. We would love to hear your thoughts and to meet fellow bloggers.

"Perfection"

Edited to add the link to the Perfection post:

I am writing this post with tears. Dave found an amazing blog of a single dad who wrote about the disease "Perfection". Below is an excerpt from the post. This part really hit home as I seem to look at other moms in awe as I wonder how they manage to do it all.

If you like what you read below, please take the time to read the entire post here and share with as many people as you can. We need to bring this topic to the surface and start being 'real" to ourselves and to each other.

"Perfection" is a mom hating herself because she only sees that every other mom around her is the perfect mother, the perfect wife, and the perfect neighbor. I'd give anything to be Mrs. Jones. Today she ran 34 miles, cooked six complete meals, participated in a two-hour activity with each of her seven children, hosted a marriage class with her husband, and still had time to show up for Bunco. What this mom doesn't know is that Mrs. Jones is also at home crying right now because the pressure to be "Perfect" never lets up.

Fall Festival

I have said it before and I'll say it again, I really enjoy fall and am looking forward to all the fall activities.  So far, I have enjoyed tuning in to some of my favorite TV shows.  Yes, I am trying to cut back per my previous post but there are some that I just have to watch.  I am so not ready to give up TV completely.

Yesterday we enjoyed another fun fall activity, the Fall Festival sponsored by our local park district.  Thanks to my friend who recommended it, we met them there for a couple of hours.  Makenna slept her way through most of it but Maya enjoyed the pony rides, bouncy thing, hay maze, pumpkin decorating, and more.  It was a big hit according to a 3 year old!

I highly recommend finding a fall festival or a pumpkin patch in your area.  It really is fun for the entire family. 

 

Have Children Changed How You Spend Your Time?

Last night while talking to Dave about how I think he should subscribe to his magazines via his Kindle, it made me remember life prior to parenthood. You all know by reading my previous posts how much I adore my two daughters and how much I feel it is important to take time for yourself too. Dave reads. He loves it and tries to read every night before going to sleep. Recently he purchase his first ever Kindle which has got him even more excited about reading. Dave has always kept this passion of reading before and after having kids. I personally think it is wonderful except when he keeps me up late at night because he can't put a book down.

So then I think about myself and how I spent my time prior to being a mother. Some things I have out grown and am no longer interested in and others I just don't have the time. My time instead is spent with my girls, blogging of course, and doing random mommy things (and maybe sneaking in some TV).

What was life prior to parenthood? Judge if you may but I thought my life wasn't too shabby :)

• Many work evenings were spent curled up on the couch by 7pm versus 9 pm
• When Chef Dave was on strike or vacation, dinners would consist of a bag of microwave popcorn or a bowl of cereal preferably Lucky Charms
• Exercise was a priority and I hit the gym for at least an hour after work versus getting up 5 am
• I knew all the celebrity gossip thanks to my weekly dose of US Weekly and E! News
• 8 glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep on a regular basis rather than a mere 6 or 7 hours if I am really lucky
• Movies, dinners out, concerts? No problem!
• Face to face conversations with Dave instead of communicating via email
• Shopping was solely about me and only me

Those were the days. Ha! How did you spend your time before kids? Have you ever thought about it?

Wordless Wednesday