Holiday Season 2019

Long time no talk, blog community! The past few months have been a whirlwind of excitement, and sometimes in those busy seasons of life, writing and creating takes the back burner. Life is starting to calm down a bit - I'm pretty accustomed to the whole "mom of two" life at this point, we are wrapping up our Christmas shopping (Get it? "Wrapping" up? Ha. Ha. HA!) and we are in a stretch where things are pretty steady day in and day out.

Let me step backward a bit - YES, I am a mom of TWO! I know, it's taken me a little bit to get used to. Beau Fletcher Morgan joined our family (officially) on October 25th, 2019. He is getting used to this whole crazy world we live in and he is such a huge blessing in our family. He's a smiley, cuddly nugget who loves boobs and farting. (#newbornlife) It's been crazy to see how different this transition has felt from when Ben entered the world. I think every family and situation is totally different, but for me, going from 0 to 1 child felt harder than going from 1 to 2. Life was really different for me before I had Ben - I just wasn't used to the motherhood lifestyle, and it really rocked my world! Now, I'm pretty used to the physical and mental toll that being a mom takes on you - lack of sleep doesn't phase me, neither does carrying another human around practically wherever I go. I find myself really enjoying and soaking in this time with Beau being so little, because I now know how quickly time moves when you're raising little ones. To quote one of my favorite motherhood blogs, Coffee + Crumbs - "Babies don't keep."

Ben and Beau, snuggling it up. Ben loves Beau like crazy.

This photo cracks me up! He reminds me of Mr. Bean or someone very inquisitive.

There you go - a little splash of Beau! (I'm a poet and I didn't know it!) I feel like I should have made some big old birth story/entry to the world blog post, but honestly, I was kind of in my newborn cocoon and at the time, I was just sort of mentally processing the changes and soaking in his newness.

We have been super lucky these past couple of months to have so many visitors from Michigan - my parents have both came to visit, and Chris' mom is coming in early January. I feel so lucky that they are able to come spend time with us during these transitions. I've learned that family really is so important to me, and being able to share special moments both with our family here and our family across the country is so amazing.

How are you spending your holidays? Will your Christmas morning be spent at home, or are you traveling to see family? What are some of your holiday traditions? Will you be flying solo this year? Will you be hosting a big old dinner? Are you buying lots of gifts? Making gifts? Maybe you don't celebrate Christmas! Let me know what your holiday situation is looking like this year - I love hearing about different traditions!

We will be opening some gifts and having a little breakfast here at home on Christmas morning, just Chris and I and the boys. This is the first year that I feel like Ben might start to understand what the whole Christmas thing is, and we're still figuring out how we want that to look for our family in the future. We will probably be going to Chris' immediate family's home for another little Christmas morning time a bit later in the day, and then we will be going to a family dinner with the whole family in the evening. I've been thinking a lot about the message I want the kids to think of when it comes to Christmas - I'm sure there will be years that they're all about the gifts, because I think sometimes that's how kids tend to think, but I'd like them to really think of the holidays as a time to embrace your loved ones, be thankful for the love and joy that surrounds our family, and appreciate the magic of the season - the giving, the thankfulness, the love!

I'm going to wrap up this post with a random little list of some of my favorites lately - anything from media to items to ideas! Here are some of my current recommendations...

• Grocery shopping at Aldi. You guys, we have been making a weekly grocery drive to Aldi, which is a little farther for us than our normal grocery store. It is so worth it! They have quality food at amazing prices, and I just love being able to get so many yummy dinners for such a low price. Not an ad - just da truth!
• It's no secret that I love podcasts. Lately, my favorites have been fun ones - more like just a chatty, fun talk show than super informational or heavy. I'm loving Chatty Broads and You Can Sip With Us. I listen to my podcasts on Spotify, but you can find them on the Podcast app as well! 
• Shephard's pie. I have just been obsessed with making it - it's so easy! I do a lazy shepherd's pie - I buy the instant powder potatoes (some people are probably grossed out by that, but I don't mind instant mashed taters once in a  while!) and a packet of gravy mix and it makes it easy. Last week, I boiled fresh carrots and broccoli for a LONG time during the day to make them soft, mixed it up with some cooked ground beef and gravy, and spread the mashed potatoes on the top with a layer of gouda cheese beneath the potatoes. Baked it in the oven for about 25 minutes to a half an hour, and BAM! Delicious comfort food, quick!
• Malted milk for breast milk supply. My amazing mom brought me chocolate malted milk when she came to visit because she had heard from a friend that malted milk was a way to increase supply. I really do think it's helped with milk production, plus it's a delicious treat.
• Our new van. You guys, if you follow me on Instagram, you will know that we recently purchased our mini van. Yes, I am a proud MINI VAN MOM! We are completely obsessed with it - it's not brand new or anything, but it's a nice ride for us. It's a Volkswagen Routan, and the automatic doors and accessories make it way easier to load in the boys in their carseats. It feels like a very safe ride, and it's super comfortable and practical for our family. 
• Coffee. Okay, this one is a no-brainer. The title of this blog is a play on words referencing a "mug half full", and we all know that any mug of mine is filled with coffee. But lately, coffee has been tasting extra amazing to me, and I've been drinking more of it! I'm not sure why - maybe because Ben wakes up at 5 am every day? Lol! I use a Keurig, and my current favorite creamer is Coffeemate's Peppermint Mocha. (Maybe it's because I was a barista for a while and I've been around a lot of coffee snobs in my day, but sometimes admitting that I love flavored creamer makes me feel insecure, like some sort of coffee amateur! I can't help that I love a holiday flavor to get me in the spirit, people!) 
• Taylor Swift's new Christmas song, "Christmas Tree Farm". Our girl TayTay grew UP on a Christmas Tree Farm. So she knows what she's singing about, people! This song makes me want to curl up in front of a fire and drink hot chocolate. It's fun and sweet. I've been in about the fiftieth Taylor Swift phase in my life, because I'm so happy for her winning Artist of the Decade! She is so deserving. One thing that really gets under my skin is reading comments under articles about her, with people making nasty remarks about her always playing victim and writing songs about exes. She's an unproblematic, wildly successful woman who is extremely talented. I think people just get jealous! *insert emoji of blond woman shrugging*

I hope you're all having an amazing holiday season. If you're not, pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate and take a deep breath. Sometimes, Christmas can cause some serious stress - don't feel like you need to do it all! Sending love your way.

-Megan