Mother’s Day Weekend
Happy (belated) Mother's Day! This one was a bit bittersweet for me: it was the first one without my Nana earthside. It felt strange only ordering one bouquet of flowers to be delivered rather than two, and I had to sit with some sad feelings for a bit. Fortunately, I had my mom there with which to process those feelings, and that helped. Overall, I had such a wonderful weekend; I know Nana would have wanted me to focus on those experiences. Thus, I am choosing to do just that!
For Christmas 2022, my husband purchased me a gift card for a boudoir shoot with one of my best friends who just so happens to be a professional photographer (that is how we met; Sarah and Steve were our wedding photographers, and they still photograph all our major and not-so-major life events! Visit them on Instagram at @spottswoodphotography if you’re interested!). We scheduled this past Friday months in advance, so I was physically and mentally prepared. As a part of the Christmas gift, Nate booked a suite at our favorite Milwaukee hotel, the Pfister, for the photos and the entire weekend! It was so much fun getting all fancied up, buying items I honestly would have never thought to buy, and allowing myself to feel attractive in a way I truly had never let myself feel before. If you haven’t done a boudoir shoot before and are on the fence about it—DO IT! Find a photographer who has great reviews and book the thing—you won’t regret it. I was left feeling strong, sexy, and empowered. These are feelings that every woman should be given the opportunity to feel about themselves, but especially post-baby… That’s a full blog post for another day, though. My advice is: if you can, do the shoot.
On Saturday, Nate and I spent the day relaxing. Well… Relaxing and doing homework. I should clarify, I did homework. He watched television (not kids TV, so he was content), and I worked my tush off trying to finish up my end of the semester papers. I finished one… But not all. D’oh. I tried to maintain a work-life balance this weekend because, honestly, I have been so unbelievably stressed these last three weeks that I was about to crack. I needed this weekend away for my mental health, and even though I did bring work with me, the change of scenery and ability to take breaks and go for walks made all the difference. I also indulged in nachos!
In the weeks leading up to my photo shoot, I was on a very strict, practically no-sodium diet. I had not let any cheese or chips touch my tongue for almost 21 days! There’s a place here in Milwaukee called Wicked Hop, and their nachos are my absolute favorite, primarily because they do melted cheese, not cheese sauce. So, I cheated on my diet, and it was absolutely worth it.
On Sunday, we woke up early (kind of because, you know, #parentlife), but I had my 10K race that started at 8:30am. This race was nice as it was smaller, and it was only 5K and 10K. It was still cold and windy, but at least it didn’t start to snow like it did three weeks ago during my last 10K (true story!). I ran the whole race (which is still my general goal; I consider myself a beginning runner), and I trimmed one minute and 38 seconds off my overall time from my previous 10K (only three weeks ago, remember?!)! I’m pretty pleased with that. I have some more races coming up, but darn if I can remember when. They’re mostly 5Ks—10Ks seem to be kind of hard to find around here.
And my Mother’s Day gift from Nate? A lovely and delicate Paloma Picasso bracelet from Tiffany and Co. featuring an aquamarine stone, which is Baer’s birthstone. I’d been hinting that I wanted something with aquamarine… He picked up what I put down. He did well.
My parents watched Baer for us the whole weekend, and he had the best time. They let him stay up past his bedtime and wake up early. They made cookies and played with his favorite toys. They went to the zoo and the art museum. He got a new bike, and he rode his scooter. He went to the coffee shop and made homemade pizza. He had the best time, but he missed Mommy and Daddy, and he was ready to come home. As for Mommy and Daddy? We also enjoyed our time away, but we missed our baby Baer (yeah, and Mimi, too), and we were ready to come home to our kiddo. Absence can certainly make the heart grow fonder.