i'm baccccck!

So, so happy to be home. I took off today to spend with Rylan since I've been away a lot of the past two weeks but it turned out to be a snow day! I had big things planned like making farm animal sugar cookies and painting them with Rylan... until around 10 am. That was when Rylan hopped on top of me on the couch playing his plastic recorder. I looked at him and said, "don't hit mama with that." Which translates to a little boy as "hit mama with that."

Not even two heartbeats later and whack! I covered my eye quickly with my hand thinking it just hurt pretty bad but as most bumps & bruises with wee ones, the initial sting would disappear just as fast as it happened. Wrong. I took my hand away for Ian to look and his face scared the hope outta me. I was bleeding. And it was already swollen to the point my eye would close within the hour.

One ice pack and a shot of liquor later and I have my first black eye. Did I mention my bachelorette party is this weekend in Boston?

So in honor of St. Patrick's Day, the luck of the Irish that I clearly don't have and the cookies I can't post because I can't see out of one eye, here are some engagement pictures featuring the color green. That works, right? We had them taken in October before it got too cold on a rainy day outside of Richmond, Virginia. I wanted Rylan to be apart of the day so he came along and took some shots with us. We have the BEST photographer and can't wait to see what she is able to capture at the wedding in June. Hope you enjoy her work as much as we do :) See you tomorrow and Happy St. Patrick's day!!

good news, i'm alive

Bad news, I'm in Russia.

This has been a hellish month for work travel. I was in Toronto last week (-5 degrees) and now I'm in Sochi wrapping up the Paralympics. I should have been here for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics but I kind of freaked seeing all the news coverage about security at the games. Being a mama will do that to you. So I thought I was in the clear and booked my flight for last Saturday. If you do the math on that, it's the same day as news broke about the MISSING Malaysia flight. Oh dear.

Thankfully, it's been quiet and it's gone by pretty quick. My flight home is in a little more than 12 hours and I'm definitely counting down.

Speaking of counting things down, today marks 100 days until our wedding!!!

How lucky is Ian to be marrying this vision in pink? Just take it in.

what happened to my face

Yesterday was my second day back at the office after vacation and goodness gracious, I was kind of glad to be there! We really enjoyed getting to spend time with my parents and taking Rylan skiing for the first time (ahh I will share pictures!) but I don't think my skin could take anymore. That dry air and the cold - most people return from vacation looking refreshed and relaxed, I look more like I should have never left. I ordered the DDF facial cleanser yesterday and it arrives tonight (thank you Amazon Prime) so we'll see if it helps. If not, I might call in sick until spring. Which I would think was ridiculous if I hadn't seen it myself. I haven't worn an ounce of makeup in over a week, sending the message that I adopted a very natural lifestyle in Colorado. 

via Amazon

Oh, and Amazon Prime - I thought it was a huge waste of money until Ian forgot to cancel the trial and we accidentally subscribed for a year (or divine intervention) and now, it's completely contributing to my online shopping problem. THEY HAVE ONE CLICK ORDERING. 

Hope you're having a happy weekend!

vacation

Ian, Rylan and I are en route to Breckenridge, Colorado to ski with our parents. We hit the jackpot this because both sets of folks are in the same place and we can all be together with one trip :)

I travel a lot internationally for work so an airport is no big thang when I'm flying solo. Well, minus the sheer terror in flight whenever we hit a bump. But add a two year old in there and you never know what you're going to get. I have seen some serious meltdowns over the years and I'll be real, soooometimes I was a little judgey. So I felt like I had some karma coming my way. 

But color me shocked, Rylan is doing GREAT and we're surprising ourselves at how ready we were. He's going to be one of those screaming kids one day but hey, it's not today! So we congratulated each other with a little Tito's in our OJ. 

Bring on the mountains, snow & après ski! 

If you want to see more pictures of our trip, follow me on Twitter (@megan__carter) or Instagram (@mleighcarter). 

xoxo

pep-pep-peppermint mocha

Homemade coffee creamer. O. M. G.

Anyone else spend a small fortune on Starbucks every month? I can't help myself, I live by caffeine. Without it I would die never get anything done. 

I stopped buying coffeemate over a year ago and switched to half & half. A month or two of that and I started thinking I might be pregnant... And then confirmed it was juuuust the fat giving me a baby belly. 

So I went to whole, then 2% and then I was bored. Plain coffee, errrryday. Even the flavored coffee wasn't cutting it. So I randomly looked up homemade creamers on Pinterest and clearly Pinterest delivered. When doesn't it? 

I found over forty flavors!! Insane. It was tough picking my first one but peppermint mocha hit my chocolate nerve and I only needed two ingredients from the store. 

Can I just tell you? This is seriously worth making. It lasted the entire week (and more if Ian hadn't found it) and tasted just as good as my morning cup of fancy Joe from the drive thru Bucks up the road. I topped it off with whipped cream - a must - and peppermint pieces. 

It's healthier - no additives! - and you can make it with the milk of your choice. (I used 2% .)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1-1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Mix it all in a resealable container and use by the date on your milk! I just tried vanilla caramel this morning and so far the peppermint mocha wins by a long shot. Enjoy and happy weekend :)

how i met my fella

It was nearing the end of fall and you know how that goes, you start getting a little bored with the increasingly chilly weather and you wonder what you're going to do all winter long. I had spent the summer with my girlfriends, going out in the city on the nights Rylan was with his dad. But pick up lines probably work better when you start with "hey baby" and not "I have a baby." (Disclaimer: "Hey baby" isn't really okay either.)

I honestly worried a lot about ever finding someone. I worried about the right time to start dating. I worried about how to balance being a mom and being a girlfriend if I did find someone. Mostly, I worried about Rylan and how dating would effect him.

I had a weirdly personal conversation with a former single mom that worked in the J Crew dressing room (this happens to me all the time!)  who met her now husband on eHarmony. She was a year or two older than me and super friendly and outgoing. She told me to go home and do it, it was the best thing ever. But I just didn't have the gumption yet.

So one night after a few glasses of red wine I started thinking about that girl, her advice and putting myself back out there. I mentioned it to my friends, who were also drinking wine, and they encouraged me to join eHarmony too. A few clicks and a lot of money later, I was reviewing my matches.

When I woke up the next morning (read: sobered up), I called and tried to cancel but the kind folks in customer service convinced me to stay a few more weeks. But after a couple days I was feeling even more overwhelmed. I had one night a week without Rylan and I refused to leave him with a sitter to accommodate my dating life so it didn't leave me much time to go out. All I can remember thinking is, I don't want to do this. I don't have the energy to date a bunch of guys. Ugh.

After my first "phone date", it got worse. I was all kinds of trauma-tized. "Mike" talked non-stop about himself and mentioned the female uterus several times. I actually took notes during the call to share with my friends, poured a (strong) drink, and convinced myself I was being punk'd.

The same week, I was matched with my baby daddy. End scene.

After that I had all but written eHarmony off. I decided this wasn't really going to happen this go around and I should think about taking it easy and trying again in a year or two.

So I was looking through my matches, hope extinguished, when I opened a communication and looked at this guy's profile. A volunteer firefighter with two labs, we seemed to have a ton in common.We started talking and I grew to be more and more excited each time I opened my email to see something from him there.

We continued for almost a month before he asked me out. And while that may seem extreme, I was all kinds of okay with it since I had more than a rocky start with online dating. A new outfit, a shot of bourbon and a covert Google search to make sure he wasn't a convicted felon later, we met halfway between our places after work one Wednesday night.

The first thing I saw when I walked in was cowboy boots. Lord knows I'm a sucker for some boots.

As it turns out, it was Ian wearing them :)

          

Believe it or not, this little boy was just getting over a real bout of sickness when these photos were taken. Between Rylan and the snow, we had been in the house for almost two weeks. Two weeks. A warm day snuck in between the storms and so we got out and enjoyed the one wee patch of snow that was left. His outfit is super nice - this is what happens when you're trying to get outside before the sun goes down - striped footie pajamas in sneakers.

Rylan has such a happy heart. He's super determined and very stubborn which makes him a challenge most days. He'll push me to the point of pouring a strong drink and then he'll pull me back in with a random kiss on the cheek. I'm a total sucker for him and he knows it. Of course every mama is, especially with their little boys. I feel even closer to Rylan because we went through so much when I was pregnant with him - he changed my whole life at 23. I left behind the roommates, the bars, the (let's face it) freedom of my early twenties. I bought a house, an SUV and a lot of stress relieving massages ;)

It was an adjustment, sure. I was lonely sometimes, tired most of the time, and only got to visit with friends a few times. But I never really let myself look back.

And even if I had, I'd know life wasn't as good then as it is now.

 Running up and down the one wee patch. It doesn't take much after two weeks inside, folks.