Photo by David Lezcano on Unsplash When you’re pregnant with your first child, you—and others around you—encourage self-care. What does that mean? Well, when you have no kids, but are pregnant, it can mean getting a relaxing prenatal massage, a mani-pedi, some girl time with your besties, taking a long nap or diving into a good book. But when you’re a mom of one or two, self-care seems to get put on the back burner. You’re always running after a toddler or changing a diaper, helping with homework or driving to extracurriculars. Sometimes it feels never ending, but so fulfilling at the same tim ..read more

Fifteen years ago I lost my dad. It was sudden and as a teen who had just started college, I had to grow up very very quickly. I had to be strong for my mom while she navigated the sudden loss of her spouse, but after six months, I broke. I missed my dad so much. The bond between a father and daughter is something special and my dad was my protector. Yes, I had a boyfriend at the time who I was infatuated with, but no one compares to a dad. Fast forward to today, and I miss my dad more than ever. This year has been particularly hard and I have spent many a nights crying and wishing my dad were ..read more

More like almost three years, but who’s really counting. A lot has happened over the last almost three years; Jadyn is now almost 5 (holy smokes!) and I have a son named Ben who is one. I’m recently separated, with my divorce being finalized hopefully in December and I’m just trying to navigate raising two kids with no husband. Thank goodness for my mom’s help, I’ll just say that. It’s been a whirlwind, that’s for sure, but I’m ready to focus on myself and find my true partner in life. I hope you’ll stick around with me as I navigate my new norm. Xoxo, Leigh ..read more

Photo by Jamie Street on UnsplashHoly moly it has been a long time since I wrote a post on this site. Once Jadyn started preschool my work got busy and I was just trying to hustle so I could enjoy some family time up in Oregon for the holidays. I last updated you on Jadyn’s first few weeks of preschool and it’s now safe to say that she absolutely LOVES it. So much so I added an additional day this second semester. She has made friends and says “I had fun at school!” when I pick her up. It just warms my heart. Oh ya…now she’s two! I can’t believe I have a two-year-old. It feels like just ye ..read more

Photo by Bernard Hermant on UnsplashI wanted to start a new series called Mom Truth Monday and talk about things that we deal with as moms (or dads!) that can be tricky, hard, humbling and more. Remember when I was excited that Jadyn was starting preschool a few weeks ago? Well, three weeks into the school year and I have come to the realization that preschool is hard. Like really hard. More for me than for her, I think. I’ll be the first to admit that right after her first official day, I walked down the steps to the café by her school, opened up my laptop to start my work day, all whi ..read more

This post is in partnership with Basic Invite I can’t believe Jadyn is starting preschool in just a few days and I also can’t believe I have signed on to be one of the room parents, all while working full time. But, that means I have an excuse to send out actual invitations for Jadyn’s birthday in January and notes to new mom friends for play dates. Enter Basic Invite. True to their tagline “boutique quality, everyday prices,” Basic Invite now has a permanent place in my Bookmarks Bar in my browser. What I love about Basic Invite is that there are unlimited colors with instant previ ..read more

Can you believe it? Jadyn is heading off to preschool on Wednesday! My little baby isn’t much of a baby anymore. She’s a full-blown toddler with her own amazing personality. She absolutely loves being around other kids her age, so I’d be doing her a huge disservice by not enrolling her in preschool until next year. As you all know I work for Red Tricycle full-time, which means I’m “in-the-know” for a lot back to school tips, tricks, ideas, traditions and more. That means I’ve taken all those great resources for back to school and modified them for a preschooler. While Jadyn will be going t ..read more

It’s hot. Real hot here in Northern California. Now’s about the time where the temperatures rise and pretty much stay that way through end of September, beginning of October (we call it Indian Summer out here). While working full-time and Jadyn not in preschool yet (she starts in August [I’m not crying, you’re crying]) and being watched by my mom all week, we’ve had to come up with some fun ideas to keep her occupied during the day. Here are my picks for indoor/outdoor summer fun, because let’s face it, that A/C will be on starting at 10:30 a.m: Little Tikes Garden Chairs photo: Amazon.c ..read more

It has taken me a bit to write this post because I wanted to make sure I had all my mom hacks ready to share with you when it comes to traveling with a toddler. First off, it’s definitely not an easy task, even when traveling with another family member. My mom, Jadyn and I went on this trip. While Jadyn is such an easy going little human, traveling for 14+ hours was hard on her little body. Let me take a step back. The last time I took this trip to visit my family overseas, I was pregnant with her and that was a feat in and of itself. Battling the tail end of my first trimester nausea when ..read more