Tag: #behappy

Posted in Mom life, Two Cents Worth of...

Being Outside Melts Feelings

Posted on by Carly Caracciolo

I recently read another post saying how the best advice ever given to her was when children are having a bad day, moment, or whatever it is, either put them in the bath or take them outside.

Sure, that’s the shortened version of it but you get the gist.

It’s from a Facebook post on The Motherhood Project. Check it out here!

I would have to 100% agree with this advice and wish it was given to me when my son was an infant because I whole heartedly agree with that right in this moment and this week. If I had tried one of those two options when we had those “bad” nights as an infant, I would only dream that they had worked.

You’re not only distracting them from the moment they’re in, but you’re providing them an outlet to relax and melt those feelings they’re having.

Add in the winter we had here in Pennsylvania, and you’ll know the time outside is necessary for all of us to melt away any of those cabin fever and seasonal depression feelings.

My son is an outdoor kid through and through. He cries when we come inside no matter how long we have been outside. He doesn’t care if he’s tired, he wants to remain outside being a boy! Winter didn’t stop us from going outside, it only slowed us down from being out as much as we would like because someone didn’t keep his gloves on.

Recently, he has developed more of his moments of independence and proving he wants what he wants when he wants it. The attitude is there and while I know and admit it’s because of being inside a lot, and from his mother’s attitude, the weather broke here and WOW.

He continually goes to the door and exclaims, “shoes!!” letting us know he wants to go outside and play. This morning specifically, he was an angry elf no matter what we did. We had breakfast, played in the back room, offered a bath, offered to help make breakfast, not one of those options were what he wanted.

I mentioned a family walk and his eyes lit up. He ran to grab his boots and I hear, “shoes!” So we got him ready and went to the driveway first.

I kid you not, this boy shook with excitement when we got the chalk out. He would spend all day in the driveway as long as we have a few items for him to tinker with.

It isn’t much but he is outside the four walls of our home that he knows every nook and cranny of. The fresh air feels so good for all of us. He and his dad did venture off of our family walk to go shed hunting before the rain hits here.

What I’m saying is GO OUTSIDE! You don’t need to be an outdoor person to enjoy this spring weather. Go in your back yard, take a walk in the neighborhood, eat lunch together in your driveway. I don’t care what you do but enjoy the weather together and watch all of the feelings we all have from whatever is going on melt away.

Advertisement
Posted in Mom life, Two Cents Worth of...

Play Dates… for Adults too

Posted on by Carly Caracciolo

We set up play dates for our kids, or in my case, a friend suggests it because I’m a homebody and fail to reach out. However, as much as our little ones need the time with other littles, did you realize how much YOU need it too?

I didn’t until the other day. One of my long-time close friends who I consider family, texted me asking if our son’s could get together. I immediately said yes because my son has been having some very busy days and outcries showing he’s over mom and dad.

These two boys are totally best friends when they’re together. To the point they melt our hearts when they hug one another with emphasis and her son tells him, “I love you!” Cue the emotional tears welling up in your eyes when you get to witness that. *GAHHH I love our kids*

Anyways, back to what I was getting at.

They came over in the afternoon and our sons jumped into all of the toys and proceeded to enjoy their time together. Well, his mom and I got to chatting. We’re Italian so all we do is talk.

But she mentioned that she was home and thought to herself how she was bored and figured she needed out as much as him. We were together for several hours in our home watching the kids play and doing nothing but being friends.

Nothing more simple than that.

We even had a cup of tea and pizza for dinner. How old do we sound?! HA! I literally asked her if she takes sugar in her tea. Sorry mom and Bridge, but I sounded like a REAL MOM for a second. 😉

There was something so nice about that time though. Sure, we witnessed our sons escalate their energy to about 200 miles an hour then come back down and begin the cranky tiredness of bed time. In that time of them ramping up and then winding down, we got to be who we are again, friends.

That time with a friend was much needed as a decompress of life. I didn’t think about the crazy world around us. We were mindlessly enjoying one another’s company and that was it.

We got to be the friends we always have been. Of course we talked mom life, but we also laughed over other things and chatted girl talk. That’s part of being friends through all of the stages of life.

After she and the kids left, that’s when I realized everything I mentioned above and how simple it was. How needed the time with her was for me and I hope her as well!

Make sure that you’re setting up time for your kiddos to have fun but also for yourself. Sure, you may do things with them or go places with others around, but are you enjoying it as much as them? Maybe reevaluate the play date to accommodate yourself a little bit too.

It might be something you didn’t know you needed like I did. I’m very thankful for friends like her that I know will always be around and keep me grounded but make sure we stay true to who we were before we were moms.

Us, before we were moms, but I love us through every stage, because we’re still friends!

Posted in Mom life, Two Cents Worth of...

Buckle Up, 2021 is Here.

Posted on by Carly Caracciolo

2020 is now behind us. So we thought, but rather than talk about the nonsense in our world in the first week of 2021, I want to reflect on the good my son brought us in 2020.

We survived 2020.

He helped us survive 2020.

What helped you make it through 2020?

My son turned 1 year old. He is healthy. We are healthy. We attempted numerous haircuts and I’m not a hair stylist by any means. We learned all kinds of words together. “No” is his favorite right now as I am positive many other toddlers find this as their first favorite word. We have races in the back room together. He sleeps in and has the best smile in the morning when you wake him up. We hiked together. We spent weekends in the water together. He runs to me and hugs me. He helps me in the kitchen sitting on the counters licking the beaters. He gives kisses, on his terms. He walks with us on his own as an independent boy. He has the very best belly laugh. He does a 3 point stance to tackle us.

I could go on and on and on about all the wonderful things my son has learned and done to keep our heads straight during the difficult year. We didn’t face what some people did. I give my heart to those who had a much more difficult year than we ever did.

But I remind myself this, it is OUR choice in what we decide to do and how we decide to face it.

Sure, this week I had a tough mental week. Thank God for my wonderful husband and son who keep me smiling through anything. I had many of those among the crazy 2020 year. I did my very best to keep a strong face, straight forward attitude, and ensure that my family stayed safe and healthy to the best of our choices.

If you choose to point out the bad and complain about the simplest things, that’s on you. Don’t put it on others because we all have it hard enough with our own personal situations to keep straight and positive without yours.

Let’s remind ourselves though, we made it through 2020.

However that may have been, do yourself a favor. Find the reasons of why you made it through unscathed and use those to keep a positive attitude now.

Cheers to 2021 and finding some good among the chaos that’s around us.

Posted in Mom life, Two Cents Worth of...

Snow Day!

Posted on by Carly Caracciolo

Mother nature dropped about 8 inches of snow in an awesome snow storm yesterday for us and I have absolutely loved it!

I know I’m one of those weirdos that love snow. I was raised to love it. My parents took me sledding and skiing growing up and I have always enjoyed the cold weather while we played in it.

The neighborhood kids and I would always be sled riding down the hill that ran us right into jagger bushes (Pittsburghese showing in my slang here) so you would have to bail just before the bottom.

I was the kid with the glasses growing up who walked into the house and had them fog up like a total dork when we were going to get some hot chocolate and soup. But we did all the snow things every chance we got, over, and over again!

Here’s one of my favorite things right now. My mom, who pitches lots of things, actually saved my sled from 30+ years ago so we can now use it for my son. Below are photos of me on a snow day with my parents and my sled.

I personally love the fact that I had to mimic my dad and kneel like he did next to the snowman. HA!

Now that I have a son to enjoy this with, I get to be a kid again with him. Yesterday was our first chance at it and he is now starting to realize he can love it since last year he was only a baby potato.

He is only in daycare but they had reached out yesterday to close early and I deemed it a snow day for him.

We took the time to dress him like a marshmallow and threw his boots on and he toddled outside, slowly, to watch the snow fall on him. We drug him around the snow-covered street, and he may have tipped over a couple of times, but we enjoyed that the snow plow drivers didn’t come down our street right away.

We did a few rides down our tiny hill in the front yard, when he finally showed a smile with his squished chubby cheeks. And he even took his sled down the street to find his dad helping a neighbor and met our neighbors’ dog who loved the snow as much as him.

The day was a true snow day for him.

In our state, we even saw a few schools on the news state they were cancelling the school day so children could have a true snow day to go play. They didn’t have to do that because almost all schools have figured out how to teach remotely, but the principals realized this year has been so abnormal that some normalcy was due to the kids to let loose. Maybe even the teachers and parents were in mind when that decision was made.

I say that because though my son enjoyed yesterday as a child, I know I enjoyed it as much, if not more than he did, while I sweat in my coat and hat running down our street. It made us laugh. We saw neighbors out who we got to chat with who we haven’t seen in a while. They smiled seeing him enjoy the snow. And then we came inside and made hot chocolate and had cookies.

The point of this blog is to not only let your kids have a snow day, you should too! Don’t be so uptight to only bundle them up and ship them outside.

Get yourself ready and join them as well. Wave to the plow truck drivers as they come by. Say “Hi” to your neighbors while shoveling, since we haven’t been able to. Make hot chocolate. Bake cookies. HAVE FUN! We hope wherever you are, you can enjoy the season, even if you don’t love the snow as much as I do!

30+ year difference in these photos. I can’t quit smiling looking at it.

Posted in Mom life, Two Cents Worth of...

There is good in 2020. Just look.

Posted on by Carly Caracciolo

I’ve skipped a few weeks. I’m sorry about that. I tend to only write when something is heavy on my mind or heart about topics and I don’t want to just BS my way through a blog post for you if you’re going to take the time to read it.

I had to go into work this week and I work in the city of Pittsburgh. My company has been very understanding through this pandemic. My husband was off work and I didn’t have to rush our little guy to get ready and drop him off at daycare, so that was a huge bonus to the morning already.

Since I went in on Wednesday traffic was even lighter than it typically is right now so I took the time to jam out to some of my favorite songs from this year and enjoy my coffee. One of the songs that came on was, “Thank you Lord” by Thomas Rhett and friends. It really hit home for me on how I feel during this entire year. Give it a listen. Plus it’s a good song to dance to. 😊

I’ve had days I really struggle to wrap my head around what is going on. I’m sure most everyone has had days like this. Then there are days like Wednesday that really let me put it all into perspective.

What 2020 has made me more thankful & grateful for:

  • Our health. We have been very fortunate to remain healthy among everything going on and hope to continue to do so. All 3 of us.
  • All of our time with our son. Sure, he goes to daycare 3 days a week. But we aren’t rushing him in the mornings and he is not waiting on us in the evenings to pick him up. We have another 2-3 hours with him daily and that adds up to filling our hearts.
  • All of the home cooking we do together. My husband and I love to cook and we have taken the time to enjoy that together as well as have our son in the kitchen watching us.
  • My parents and in-laws still being healthy through this so we can share memories with them.
  • Black Friday shopping online with my Dad to keep tradition. While it may look different this year, we can still shop online and have a day to enjoy together just like we have done in years past.
  • The small things.
    • Christmas lights being up in our neighborhood early.
    • Smiles from strangers under their masks.
    • Hot coffee each morning.
    • My furry animals that love us unconditionally and still wondering why we are home so much interfering with their daily sleep schedules.
    • Movie nights with our son on the couch snuggling.

Making a list can be easy but keeping your heart open during this super difficult year is what we should continue to do. I’m sure you’ve seen everyone list something over the past few days on social media about what they’re thankful for because of the season.

My son doesn’t understand what is going on this year and assumes this all to be normal. Thankfully children are super adaptive to change but having all of this extra time with him in these early years make this mama’s heart so happy and full, even on the extremely difficult days.

I hope on your hard days during this year, you’re able to see the benefits of what it gave us. There is good in this horrible 2020 that a lot of you may have experienced.

https://www.houseonthehillphotography.com/