Mom Talk Monday: Julianne

Happy Monday everyone! I can't believe it's the last week in February! Next week it's March, which in my book means it's officially Spring! Even though it's permanently summer out here, I always love the Springtime. Springtime means St. Patty's Day, Easter, sundresses, and being outdoors! I get excited for it every year!

Since it's Monday, that means it's time for another Mom Talk Monday! Today I am talking with my friend Julianne! Julianne is a fellow Horned Frog like me (GO TCU!!), but I actually met Julianne when I worked at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth. Julianne is a nurse practitioner in the department I worked in, and I loved working with her and getting to know her! In addition to being a wonderful practitioner, she is also an amazing wife and mommy to three young kiddos, and I thought she would be such a fun person to chat with about life and motherhood! 

 Here is Julianne and her precious family:

I left work at Cook when we moved out to Kwajalein, and Julianne and I have kept in touch over social media, but I haven't gotten to see Julianne in about two years. She totally could've thought my asking her to answers these questions was completely weird, but she was so game to play along and I LOVE that about her!  I seriously enjoyed how honest, open, and funny her answers were, and I think y'all will love her as much as I do!

Here is Julianne's thoughts on Motherhood:

1) Hi Julianne! You are a mama to three adorable kiddos, so I know you've had your fair share of memorable pregnancy/delivery moments. Any you would like to share?

Could there be a cuter maternity photo?! The answer is no. Adorable!

Oh yes! My first pregnancy was the craziest! When I was in graduate school, I fell in the cafeteria and broke my tibia, fibula and ankle. I was on crutches for 16 weeks and couldn't put any weight on my right leg the whole time. I had to have surgery while I was 15 weeks pregnant, and to say that I was nervous is an understatement. Through lots (and lots) of prayer, I trusted the Lord to fully protect my growing baby and myself. This was during the recession of 2009, so my husband had lost his job, I had a broken leg, found out I had gestational diabetes and trying to finish up my 360 hours of clinicals for grad school all while being pregnant. It was bananas!! I learned a lot about my determination, how patient and loving my husband is and that I could not do it without Jesus. Our friends and family were amazing too! If anyone reading this knows someone who is pregnant or just had a baby, please take them food or a gift card. Please! My group of friends are like little food fairies. God bless them! 23 hours after my water broke, I gave birth to my sweet son Charlie who gave me the name Mommy. 

I was actually able to exercise routinely for the first 28 weeks with my next two pregnancies and it made all the difference in how I felt, the ease of the pregnancy and deliveries too. 

Okay, first...I thought flying back to Texas from Kwaj at 36 weeks pregnant was stressful!! Holy cow, Julianne!! I don't know how you did it! Secondly, there is an amazing food delivery service on Kwaj called Caring Meals that delivers food to new moms, or families that are going through a tough time. It seriously saved my life. I don't think I cooked for the first six weeks we were back on island, and I remember how grateful I was because the idea of cooking was so overwhelming! I cannot agree enough with this...bring your mama friends some food! Even if they say they don't need anything!

2) Your youngest son, Reid, was born this past August...how did the older two adjust to the third baby? Any tips for helping older siblings adjust to a new little in the house? What was adding a third child to the mix like for you and your husband?

Truth here people... Our oldest son (Charlie) did NOT adjust well to his sister's birth in 2013, but did great with Reid's arrival this past August. Charlie stomped his feet, told me he didn't like me and ran away from me. Waaahhh! It was heart breaking, but we did completely rock his only-child, self-centered world. One of my friends gave me some of the best advice with a newborn. She said "Charlie will remember if you paid attention to him or disciplined him. The baby won't remember." She recommended I set the baby down, deal with the older child and then come back to feed or take care of the baby. When I started to do that, Charlie's whole demeanor changed.

 

Charlie with baby Allie Grace

Allie Grace adjusted very well for the most part, but recently started to regress a little by wanting to pretend she's a baby, sucking a pacifier and having potty accidents. She said Reid is "her baby" and she thinks she can take care of him. She is the feisty, independent middle child so we try to let her help with feeding him or entertaining him. It has helped to give her baby dolls to take care of like mommy takes care of Reid.
 

Adding the third child to the mix is a GAME CHANGER! I always knew I wanted three kids but whew! It is absolutely wonderful but much busier than two. Praise the good Lord for a helpful husband. We decided between 5-8pm is complete chaos. We just tag-team and get.it.done. I love their three different and unique personalities. And I wouldn't change the chaos for anything!

Oh goodness....from the time Johnathon gets home from work (5pm) to when Hadley goes to bed (7/7:30pm) it's madness. Dinner, dishes, walking the dog and baby, bath time, story time, bedtime. Whew. I'm glad we aren't alone. The struggle is real!

 

3)Your oldest is in Kindergarten, your middle in preschool, and your youngest just past the newborn stage. What is the most challenging aspect of each age?

Kindergarten - Teaching independence without being a helicopter parent. We want him to have freedom to be himself but also protect him from the dangers of the world today. It has taken a lot of "letting go" to the baby and letting him grow up this year. 

Preschool - Her communication is increasing but her vocabulary isn't very big. She gets frustrated trying to explain herself. It is really fun to watch her personality grow and develop each day!

Past the newborn phase - it is getting fun now! I love sleep. When he wasn't sleeping through the night was the hardest phase for me. I needed a nap everyday and couldn't get much done around the house. He finally sleeps through the night and we are some happy campers!! He smiles, interacts and is such a joy. He's happiest when his brother and sister are around. (Challenging to keep all of big brother's Legos as far away from the baby as possible, yikes!)

 

4) In addition to being a wife and mom to three kids, you are also a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. How do you balance your work and home life so well?! Any tips for keeping track of it all?

1. Jesus. Quiet times are a must and praise and worship music keeps me sane. He helps me prioritize what is really matters. AMEN!!!! I have to have at least 30-45 minutes in the morning for coffee, some bible time, or just some calm before the storm!
2. Joint iPhone calendars. I actually got the idea from watching Parenthood! (RIP Parenthood, loved that one) My husband can't say he didn't know because he gets an alarm on his phone now. Genius. Soccer game, doctor appointment, school auction, date night, funky town (wink wink). HAHAHA I love Parenthood and your "funky town" reference had me laughing really hard. Great show.
3. My mom (and my dad for sharing her). She drives over 3 hours every week, stays two nights with us and then drives 3 hours back home. She helps with our kids on the two days that I work. If I didn't have her, I might be a watery pool of mess laying on the floor. If someone doesn't have a mom to help, get a sitter or nanny that you trust and love!
4. Mommy time. It doesn't have to be very often, but I need to take care of myself to be the best mom and wife I can be. I am a quality time kind of gal. So just being with my moms group, girlfriends for lunch, exercising or calling a friend who lives out of town fills me up!!
5. Chalkboard calendar in the kitchen. I have a monthly calendar in the kitchen with the schedules of the 3 kids on it. It is a good reminder for us all to see the whole month and what is coming up. We have doctor appointments, friends' birthdays, show-n-tell, etc on there.

5) I'm just gonna say it...your kids are some of the cutest, most well dressed kids ever! What are some of your favorite places to shop for kids clothes? Any tips on shopping for kids clothes without breaking the bank?

 

Thank you!! I love a good deal, sister. I have previously shopped at this place called "Just Between Friends" that is a city wide garage sale of kid stuff. Now the hot spot to buy is Facebook neighborhood sale sites. I have caboodles worth of smocked clothes and I refuse to pay more that $15 per outfit/dress from there. I occasionally splurge on clothes on Instagram sale sites. I really like Smocked Auctions and Cecil & Lou. My older son loves fishing/outdoor shirts and I like to support locally at The Covey House. I have also been known to buy polos from Ebay too!

 

See...I knew I could count on you!!! I LOVE smocked clothes, but they are so darn expensive!!! I'm going to have to check out your Facebook sale sites. My friend Shelbi also showed me a Facebook resale page called Smocking Hot Mamas that has a bunch of discounted smock stuff too!

6) I know your faith life is really important to you and your family. How do you share your faith with your children/make Jesus a part of their everyday lives?
 

We love reading the Jesus Storybook Bible, the Child Training Bible is a great resource, Seeds Family Worship CDs are great to listen to, we pray with our children at meals and every night before bed. We tell our children about things that mommy and daddy do right and things we've done wrong too. They need to see that we are sinners and make mistakes too. Our oldest just learned how to read this year so we put scripture verses on his bathroom mirror. Their brains are sponges and they're thirsty to learn His Word too!

These are really great ideas. We bought Hadley the Jesus Storybook Bible for Easter this year. I think she's still a little young but I think she will get a lot out of it in another year or so.  I also think having a worship CD in the car is a great idea!

7) What advice would you give to your former self or others about being a mom?

Enjoy and savor each and every moment. You can't get it back. These precious gifts that I call "my children" grow older and change everyday. If I get upset about something trivial, I remind myself (and my husband) that this is our now and to enjoy it. Being a mom and a wife is just the best. 

 

8) I think it's important for moms to remind themselves about their parenting successes as much as struggles and lessons learned. What is something that you and your husband see as your biggest success as parents?

We spend time with our children and pour into them. We talk to each other all the time about each child's unique personalities and traits. I think God created them to be so individual that we try to stay in tune with that. They each need to be loved on and disciplined differently. Being together as a family and working together as a family unit is something we strongly value.

9) And finally...just to keep it real...would you mind sharing a total parenting fail moment with us?

 
We thought we had totally hit a milestone with our oldest taking showers by himself. My husband and I were practically high-fiving with this step of maturity. Score! One less kid to bathe. Our first sign that we needed to reevaluate this situation was the fact that his showers typically lasted about 20-30 minutes (lots of singing coming from the shower). My mother-in-law gave him a ginormous, economy sized pump bottle of Burt's Bees shampoo and body wash. We checked his shower about a week later and realized the bottle was completely empty. Hmmm.... parenting fail. We needed to give him a lesson or two on how much soap to use, but the up-side is he was really clean that week!

Hahaha that's hilarious! I bet he smelled like roses! I'm also a little depressed to know that I have AWHILE before Hadley will be showering solo. Sigh.

And finally, here are the "Just for Fun" questions:

 
1) What is your coffee drink of choice? 

I can't bring myself to spend $5 on a coffee. I just can't. I drink coffee at home with Stevia and vanilla almond milk in it. Yum!

2) Go to meal on a busy weeknight?

Confession, my husband is an amazing cook. Sorry ladies, he's taken. We only eat out about 3-4 times per month. If I'm helping cook, tacos or taco salad, meatballs and salad, breakfast for dinner, grilled meat with coconut milk rice and veggies.

  

*** YOU HEAR THAT JOHNATHON?!?! HER HUSBAND COOKS!!! Cough, Cough ;) ***

 
3) Guilty pleasure?

Bachelor/Bachelorette. Ice cream. Even better together! Oh and have you had the peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's? Just amazing.

 
4) Favorite Book and/or TV Show? 

Oops I said that above. I love Fixer Upper too! We would totally be besties with Chip and Jojo. Most recent book I enjoyed was For the Love by Jen Hatmaker. She's hilarious!

5) If you had to pick only 1 beauty item to live with what would it be? 

One? Oh you meant three?.... okay!
Aquaphor for my lips, Voluminous black mascara (seriously it's only $7, oldie but a goodie) and I LOVE putting Beautycounter's Nourishing Cleansing Balm on my face every night (it's safe skincare).

***People don't believe me, but I SWEAR by Voluminous mascara. I have tried expensive mascara, and the cheap stuff, and Voluminous works the best. Even better than the green/pink tube stuff that is also a drugstore find that a lot of people love.***

 

6)Favorite quote to live by? 

My favorite memory verse is Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with loud singing."

Thank you so much Julianne for sharing your family, life, and thoughts of mommyhood! I loved all your answers and insights and I know everyone else will too!