A little thing called BALANCE

If you're anything like me, you probably hold it together pretty well. By "hold it together" I mean you keep your stress level to a minimum and you roll with the punches everyday. You practice patience (even if it's VERY difficult) and you maintain your composure through most situations... But if you're anything like me, you also COMPLETELY LOSE IT from time to time.

Nobody is perfect. Nobody can possibly live their life with zero stress in it, and nobody can avoid the occasional meltdown, right? That's where I'm at right now. I said this blog would be about anything and everything, and this week I've found myself stressing over what to write about next. Add to that the fact that my child is fighting sleep like no other, he's refusing to drink formula or anything from a bottle, my kitchen is semi under construction, I have 2 dogs that track mud throughout the house on a daily basis, I am sleep-deprived and have zero energy, and the chores and "To-Do's" keep piling up. Yep, I'm stressed, and I know myself and I KNOW that this is a recipe for disaster. So, this is what I'm writing about today and I'm hoping that it will be therapeutic for me at the same time :)

The other day I literally bawled my eyes out when Adele's Someone Like You came on the radio. At that moment I KNEW that I needed to take a step back and figure out what's going on with me! This is NOT the Shannon that you know (and love).


For the past 8 months I have been, more or less, stress-free. When Briggs was born I expected myself to feel overwhelmed and tired and helpless, but I felt none of those things. I don't know if it was the high of being a new mom or the fact that I never had a spare minute to stop and recognize the chaos , but I can honestly say I never felt overwhelmed. I never got frustrated with Briggs, and I pretty much never felt stressed. I had Balance. That is a beautiful word, isn't it? B.A.L.A.N.C.E.


Today I feel completely unbalanced. I feel disorganized, tired, frustrated and overwhelmed. But why? That's what I keep asking myself. I know there are many factors contributing to these feelings, but I can't quite put my finger on any ONE thing. My health has started to suffer as a result of my current stress levels and it's time to take control and pull myself together.

What it boils down to is finding BALANCE again. Easier said than done, but it's definitely do-able. Where there's a will, there's a way! In order to achieve balance in my life again, I need to prioritize things. I need to figure out what causes my stress, and I need to either eliminate it, or change it. It's that simple.

Priorities that will help me find BALANCE:

• Baby-proof my house so I don't have to worry about my fearless baby
• Make my health a priority. First on the agenda: gain 5 lbs.
• Get Briggs to sleep through the night. Goal: 8:30pm-7:30am
• Wean Briggs from breastfeeding
• DATE NIGHT with the husband. I'm talking fancy outfit and all. It's been too long 
• Complete my Gallery Frame Wall. Ohhh that's a stressful one.
• Finish making/buying everything I need for Mandy & Ben's Baby Shower
• Clean and organize kitchen drawers and cabinets upon remodel completion
• Figure out a system for keeping the house clean ALL week so I don't have to clean 4795632863 things in one day. Pinterest to the rescue!
• Start a business with THE Mel Velez and put our creativity to work. Stay tuned.
• SWEAT once a day, or at least 3 times a week ;)

Whew...I feel better already! Sometimes just writing things down (or typing them out) really helps to put things in perspective and helps me get a grip on reality. Although these tasks can seem daunting when they're just swirling around in my head, they somehow seem a lot less intimidating when they're laid out in front of me. Things start to take shape, and having a list makes it all a little more manageable. I encourage you to take a step back and see whether or not you have balance in your life. Do you have family/work/health/personal balance?? If not, let something go. Make a change. It will feel so good.

8 Month Update

Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and Briggs will be 8 months old. I know everybody says they can't believe how fast time flies...but I LITERALLY cannot believe it has already been 8 months since this child kicked his way into the world. These have been the most magical 8 months of my life.

At 8 months Briggs is:

• crawling ALL over the house. Put him on the floor and he's gone.
• pulling himself up to standing whenever/wherever possible.
• has 6, count them, SIX teeth! Two on bottom and 4 on top. He needs braces.
• weighs in at a whopping 15lbs 12oz. His weight keeps fluctuating in the 15lb range...we're working on packing on some extra pounds for my little guy!
• and is eating solid foods (homemade by ME) twice a day, in addition to his breastmilk (Yes, I'm still nursing! 8 months strong).

He has been working on his mobility for a while now, but about a week ago he really started moving. At first he mastered what we coined "the dead leg crawl" where he would use his right knee and his left foot to maneuver around the house. It was like a half regular/ half bear crawl. Hilarious. Now he just crawls on his knees, but he's getting really close to figuring out a full-on bear crawl. He'll be walking before we know it.

Here's my favorite portrait from his pictures we had done at 7 months:

Courtesy of Mary Little Photography

Our sleep habits have taken a plunge lately. For a while there he was doing great, but over the past few weeks we've had a serious regression. He cries when I put him down (which he never used to do) and then he'll wake up screaming every few hours. He has never been the greatest sleeper, and by that I mean he has always woken up at least once a night to nurse. but these past few nights have been worse than usual and it's really taking it's toll on this momma. Whew, I'm exhausted! It's time to call in the reinforcements...FERBER! We'll be refreshing ourselves on Ferber's techniques over the next couple of days. I miss the days of laying my smiley baby down in his crib and watching him on the monitor laugh and babble until he falls asleep. Soon enough I will have that back. I just keep reminding myself that this is only a phase. It will pass!

Other than that, we've been making some BIG CHANGES in the Searcy household! After 4 years of living in this house and dealing with a hideous, but functional kitchen, we have finally started updating it and bringing it into this decade! Out with the old brown tile countertops, brown tile backsplash, and brown grout...in with the new granite counter tops, tile backsplash, and re-faced cabinets! WOOO!! It's looking beautiful. I will do a whole kitchen remodel post as soon as it's done!

I am taking on a few DIY craft projects myself and I look forward to blogging about them. One thing I am most excited about is the Gallery Frame Wall I'm going to be doing. I purchased several frames to house our most recent Mary Little Photography gems and I can't wait to get the finished product up on the wall! Look for that post in the next few weeks :)

Here is a glimpse of some of our favorites from the photo shoot:

Courtesy of Mary Little Photography

25 Things You May or May Not Know About Me

This post is inspired by a friend's recent blog post. Thanks Lori Reilly for the idea! Check out her blog...she is one. cool. chick.

Now let's see if I can tell you 25 RANDOM things about ME!

• I once aspired to be an Olympic Gymnast and I trained with Bela Karolyi
• I am a big time dreamer. I always DREAM about amazing things I want to do but I have trouble turning those dreams into a reality. Working on TAKING MORE RISKS!
• The day I met Blake, I told someone at The Houstonian that I would marry that man and we would have blue-eyed babies. True story.
• I am one of the laziest people on earth. I am productive and lazy all at the same time.
• I love everything about fitness but I usually struggle to force myself to workout. Hence the laziness gene.
• I spent 12 years of my life wearing leotards, tights, and pointe shoes...and I loved EVERY minute of it.
• My entire existence revolves around food. I live to eat. I don't eat to live. (Yes, I know it's supposed to be the other way around).
• Not only do I work at lululemon, but I have an unhealthy addiction to the product. Okay, maybe you already knew that about me. My wardrobe is 90% lululemon.
• I LOOOOOOOOOVED being pregnant. Even through the many complications I had with Briggs. I hope to do it all again at least TWO more times :)
• I have an extreme fear of BEES. I will knock you over and trample you to get away from a bee that is near.
• I was born to be a mother.
• I was adamant about breastfeeding, and I told myself it would be easy...and it WAS. Talk about SAVING MONEY!
• I watch way too much TV.
• I really really really want to start a business. Not just any business... one where I can put my creativity/craftiness to work! Party planning? I think so.
• I have the worst road-rage ever. I want to murder people on the streets everyday.
• Empathy is my #1 quality.
• I am extremely A.D.D. If I don't have a list for what I need to accomplish, it doesn't get done because I get too distracted.
• I want to learn how to use photoshop but it intimidates me.
• Thanks to pinterest I have actually started making dinners for my Husband.
• I love sweets and I have to eat some kind of dessert immediately after eating.
• Within the first 5 minutes of waking up I look at facebook and pinterest on my phone. Sad.
• I have a major soft spot for animals. I cry when squirrels get hit by cars.
• I despise folding laundry...so much so that I would pay someone to do it for me.
• I absolutely love going to Starbucks, not necessarily for the caffeine, but for the "Starbucks experience". Love it.
• I'd much rather lay at home on the couch in my sweats than go out! I'm somewhat of a hermit.

That's all for now folks! Until next time...