Interview with Four Moms About Life in Quarantine

Mom Jean Confessions: An Honest Q&A with Four Families in Quarantine

May 19, 2020May 20, 20201 Comment

Three months ago, if you would have asked me what we’d be doing this weekend, I would have excitedly said “Celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary, and my best friend’s coming to visit from Chile!” We would have probably dropped the kids off for the weekend with family, and tried to sneak away for a mini staycation. See, this year was going to be a “redo” since we didn’t end up taking that trip to celebrate our 10 year anniversary last year (kicking myself now, but how would we have ever known). The following week was supposed to be spent planning a 2nd bday party for my friend Jamie’s little girl. Now all we’ll be lucky to do is a virtual WhatsApp call with “TheOG4” as we call ourselves aka my childhood best friends.

An Honest Q&A with 4 Moms About Life in Quarantine

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Indoor & Outdoor Activity Ideas to Keep Kids Busy from Razor

Quick Quarantine Tips for Parents

April 3, 2020April 3, 2020Leave a comment

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you make a purchase using the links in this post. I received a complimentary product in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own.

I don’t think there’s been a time in my generation’s life where everyone, literally everyone, has been as affected by something as much as this virus. A virus that seemed to come out of nowhere, and yet now it’s everywhere. As much as it’s turned my life upside down, it’s my kids who I worry about the most. Yes, they’re resilient and won’t likely remember it quite the same way we will, but it still pains me to put them through this at such a young age. So many kids who won’t get the chance to finish an entire school year…the thought just kills me. Seniors missing out on their “lasts” with their childhood best friends. Elementary kids like my son, who absolutely adores his teacher and would rather go to school than most other places, are having to adjust to a new normal that we never asked for.

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Mom Jean Confessions: Why I Needed Social Distancing

March 21, 2020March 21, 2020Leave a comment

Well we survived week one of quarantine aka social distancing from the Coronavirus, and yet there’s still so much uncertainty happening all around us, all across the world. Instead of letting my anxiety get the best of me, I decided last week that I wanted to document our experience – as a family. For me, when life feels like it’s spiraling out of control, I try to just focus on the things that matter. As scary as the situation we’re in is, I’m trying to use it as a way to reconnect with the simple things in life. I created this video montage of our first week “At Home with The Murray’s,” to remind me, and all of us, that social distancing doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, in a lot of ways it’s just what I needed.

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Mom Jean Confessions: Why Two and a Half is PEAK Terrible Twos

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020Leave a comment

Well it’s official – Cha Cha is in PEAK terrible twos mode. She’s been building up to it for a while now, but she just turned two and a half – and it’s like the game changed over night. I went from being down by 10 at the half, to trailing by 50 with 2 min left in the game and no timeouts left (please tell me someone appreciates my football humor ?)…I’m actually convinced for most children, “terrible twos” start at about the year and a half mark, and go well into three and four years old. I’ve even polled several of my mom friends and they agree – terrible twos might as well mean for two years straight the sweet little angel you once knew will take on the life of a deranged lunatic that makes you question your own sanity on a daily basis.

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Mom Jean Confessions: Happy YOU Year

January 4, 2020January 5, 20202 Comments

The last few months of the year were like a blur for us. Between work, holidays, birthdays, and kid’s school activities out the wazoo – it honestly felt like a nonstop merry-go-round that left us all a bit dizzy at the end. The hubs and I finally sat down on the couch New Year’s Day, and realized it literally was the first time we’d had absolutely nothing to do, no where to go, no one to entertain since before the holidays. And it felt damn good. Felt good to be lazy. To not care what was going on outside the walls of our home. But like they say – all good things must come to an end ?

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Garrett’s Mighty Pup 6th Birthday Party

October 24, 2019October 24, 2019Leave a comment

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you make a purchase using the links in this post.

For the past couple of years, Garrett’s been old enough to ask what kind of theme he wants for his birthday party. Last year it was Ghostbusters, and we had so much fun with that one especially with it being so close to Halloween ? This year he surprised me and said he wanted a Paw Patrol party but with a Mighty Pups theme. I was a little worried it would be hard to live up to last year’s party, but mama always has something up her sleeve ?

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My Maternal Mental Health Journey with Postpartum Thyroiditis

October 12, 2019October 12, 2019Leave a comment

Did you know that Oct 6th -12th is Mental Health Awareness Week? I didn’t. I also didn’t know when Garrett was born 6 years ago on October 11th (ironically), that I would be 1 in 5 women affected by postpartum mental health issues. Sure I’d heard about postpartum depression before, portrayed in the media like it’s some “choice” we willingly make the moment we become a mom. But there was one thing I’d never heard of until a fellow blogger shared her struggle with postpartum thyroiditis. As I kept scrolling through her blog post, I couldn’t help but feel cheated. Cheated by an already failed postpartum maternal health system. Cheated by the doctors I trusted. But most of all, cheated by my own mind and body out of what’s supposed to be one of the most euphoric experiences of your life – becoming a mom for the first time.

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Fixing Up Our First Home: Then And Now

October 1, 2019October 2, 2019Leave a comment

Three years ago this month, we drove across town to look at a little fixer upper we’d had our eyes on. Who would have thought all those years ago, 15 to be exact, that Clear Lake (the home of NASA and where we fell in love) would be where we’d end up? Before marriage, before kids, before moving cross country twice, just to settle back down where it all started. Since this year has been a commemoration of so much (15 years together and our 10 year wedding anniversary), I just felt like we needed a special way to remember fixing up our first home three years later.

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How We Tackle Mornings as a Busy Family of Four

September 30, 2019October 4, 2019Leave a comment

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Tyson Foods, Inc. The opinions and text are all mine. #JimmyDeanRollupsatHEB #CollectiveBias

This school year was kinda like the perfect storm. At the same time Garrett was starting Kindergarten, we decided to start Charlotte in preschool 3 days a week as well. My poor mama heart and mind didn’t know what to think. On one hand I was so excited and proud of both my babies, but on the other hand I just couldn’t wrap my head around how the heck they’ve grown up so fast. Not to mention, on top of managing my blog, I was given more responsibility at my freelance digital agency gig. So needless to say, we all had a pretty loud wake-up call which made me realize it was finally time to kick our morning routine into high gear. Check out this offer to save $1.50 off 1 product valid through 10/13.

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Mom Jean Confessions: To My Son On Your First Day Of Kindergarten

August 19, 2019August 19, 2019Leave a comment

You know how before a big life event happens (getting married, having a baby, or in my case – your first born starting Kinder ?), it’s like all the sudden you can’t open Facebook without a thousand articles aimed right at you with the sole intention of making you ugly cry for 10 hours straight? Yep, you know the one, it doesn’t even mess around with click bait – it goes right for the ovaries until your poor unsuspecting husband’s suddenly finds himself agreeing to another baby. Don’t worry Mark – it happens to the best of em and she’ll forget about it by morning. So you’re probably wondering what my point is with all this? Well instead of reading another mama’s words, I told myself I would try and suffer through writing an ode to my own son – cuz at the end of the day, we’re all a little glutton for punishment ?