family Archives - Page 24 of 42 - Sunshine and Holly

A Love Letter to My Village

By sunshineandholly on July 24, 2017

Motherhood is tough. Motherhood is messy. Motherhood has kicked my booty. The first few years are some of the hardest. So much crying (both me and the babies!) and the never ending cycle of feed, burp, change diaper, rock to sleep, over and over and over and over. Then there’s the whining, the tantrums, the constant questions, the potty training, the messes…it’s enough to drive a person completely crazy or send them into a dark depression!

So what gets us through it? (Besides lots of coffee and wine.) What is the light, the breath of fresh air, the hope for all the lonely, tired, lost mamas out there?

It’s our village – the group of women and men surrounding us, lifting us up, encouraging us, and helping out during some of the most difficult years of our life. Every mom needs her village, and I’ve been so blessed with mine. There have been so many people over the years who’ve been a rock, a shoulder to cry on, an inspiration, a light.

And I just wanted to take a minute to thank them.

a love letter to my village | sunshineandholly.com | motherhood | it takes a village | mom friends

1 Comment

Tips for Visiting the Sunflower Farm

By sunshineandholly on July 19, 2017

On Monday, I took the kiddos up to a sunflower farm about an hour outside of Atlanta. I had been to a sunflower farm before, but I was dying to get some beautiful pictures with the yellow flowers, the blue sky, and my cute kids. And our trip was a huge success! The weather was perfect, and the sunflowers were gorgeous.

So if you plan on adding a trip to your bucket list, check out my tips for visiting the sunflower farm.

5 Lazy Mom Tips

By sunshineandholly on July 14, 2017

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

I’m all about making things easier in life. If there’s a way to get something done quickly and efficiently, I will always choose that way. I’m not a perfectionist. I’m a realist. I think about each task and decide whether or not I need to spend time doing it “perfectly,” or will “adequately” suffice. My husband, on the other hand, is a perfectionist. He drives me nuts taking 10 years to get something done. (Dude – it’s a dishwasher. Not a game of Tetris. Just load it up!)

That being said, I’ve figured out a lot of short cuts for mom-life. I love semi-homemade recipes, and craft projects that start out with store bought items. As far as housework goes – if you’ve ever been over to my home, you know I’m definitely not a perfectionist in that area of life! Pretty sure I only make my bed when I need to fold laundry on top of it. And my appearance? I might brush my teeth and put on makeup, but I’ll skip on drying my hair. Messy mermaid hair is totally in right now, right?!

So if you’re a mom with the same mentality about life as me – that perfect and pretty is wonderful, but just not something you can live up to, check out my top 5 lazy mom tips below!

5 Comments

Exploring the Etowah Indian Mounds

By sunshineandholly on July 11, 2017

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

Last Friday, my friend and I took our kiddos on a field trip to the Etowah Indian Mounds in Cartersville, Georgia. If you live around Atlanta or North Georgia, it’s definitely worth taking a day trip up there to explore. We learned a lot, and the scenery was gorgeous!

The Etowah Indian Mounds historic site was “home to several thousand Native Americans from 1000 A.D. to 1550 A.D. This 54-acre site protects six earthen mounds, a plaza, village site, borrow pits and defensive ditch. Etowah Mounds is the most intact Mississippian Culture site in the Southeast.” (http://www.gastateparks.org/etowahmounds).

We spent a lot of time climbing up and exploring the mounds that were used as platforms for the village chiefs and priests, and burial grounds for nobility. We also took a tour through the small museum filled with artifacts that were excavated around the area.

10 Ways to Fight Postpartum Depression

By sunshineandholly on July 9, 2017

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

*I am not a medical professional. Please talk to your doctor if you are experiencing postpartum depression.*

I’ve mentioned before that I experienced postpartum depression after each of my children were born.

Postpartum depression is something that isn’t talked about enough in our society and something that a lot of people still don’t understand. It’s not just feeling sad and crying all the time. It’s a medical condition, usually caused by a combination of imbalanced hormones, lack of sleep, stress, and lack of support. A mom suffering with postpartum can’t just “cheer up” or “get over it.” Something is wrong in her mind, and being judgmental about the condition will only make things worse.

If you feel like you might be suffering with postpartum depression, please please please reach out for help. Reaching out for help is the hardest part. Once you’ve asked for help (from someone who will take you seriously) everything gets easier from there. It’s scary to admit that something is wrong because of the attitude our culture has regarding depression and mental illness. But for your sake, and for your family’s sake, please get help.

That being said, I wanted to share 10 things I’ve found helpful in my battle with postpartum depression.