It’s been a very, very long time since my last blog post. Every January for the past 4 years, when Jof asks me if I want to keep this blog or let it go, meaning not renew the annual subscription, I always find myself saying no. I love to write and there are times when I do like sharing my thoughts, and I just find comfort knowing that I have this. I have wrote/typed quite a few drafts since I had Theo, but when I think of a time to hop on here and actually post a blog, something always comes up, #momlife. And that’s my priority now. I mean, it’s been like that since Alex, but two kids – it’s a whole different story. But I love it! I love it more than anything!

Okay, so how did I find time to write this? It’s 10:15pm on a Friday, Jof is working, the boys are in bed and I just started the laundry and the dishwasher. Basically, I’m on wait mode – waiting for the hubs to get home, waiting for laundry to finish, waiting for the dishwasher to finish. And I’ve run out of things to watch on Netflix. So I’m here! And since Mother’s Day is coming up, I wanted to get a few words on here about my being a mommy. First, I just want to say that I am a believer of celebrating your loved ones every day – one reason why I don’t really go along with a bunch of hashtags on Instagram, like #husbandappreciationday or #nationalicecreamday, haha. I think I’m just getting old and old-fashioned. Also, I even thought of just posting an old draft talking a little bit about motherhood, but then I thought, why not share what’s on my mind NOW.

Just recently, I’ve had a lot of “what if’s” on my mind. I’m not going to go into detail about them but they made me question my worth at one point. But then when I looked at my kids, that doubt in my mind just became a stupid thought. For me, THAT is how powerful motherhood is. My Alex and Theo, they tire me endlessly throughout the day, but they are my strength. They make me mad, upset, annoyed, but because of them I’m learning more about patience and understanding. They make me worry about the smallest things and they may have very well given me countless of heart attacks already by causing all kinds of trouble (i.e. Theo stuffed Cheerios deep inside each nostrils), but all these just make me love them even more! There are no words that can come close to describe how much I love my boys. No words. I admit, being a mommy is a tough job; it’s full time job. We may not always have a good day, but we always go to bed with our routine warm hugs and yummy yummy kisses. At the end of the day, whatever lingering “what if’s” I may have in my mind, I know that at the sight of my babies, I’ve found myself.

My boys treated me to a lovely Mother’s Day weekend in New York City again this year. Not sure if Jof is trying to make this a Mother’s Day tradition but I’m not complaining! New York, well, Manhattan, specifically, holds a special place in my heart. Back when Jof and I were still dating, Manhattan was our go-to place for shopping and weekend getaways. That was then. We’re done with the shopping part… I think? Haha! Nowadays, we’re more into eating at every corner of Manhattan and getting our picnic on at Central Park. And our Alex loves it! He’s fallen in love with FAO Schwarz-less Manhattan, that when we were about to leave he asked if we could stay one more day because New York was “a thousand times very fun!” That’s always the case though. We never have enough time for all the things we want to do while in the big city. We want to go here and here, and eat here and there, get photos here and there and the list just goes on and on and on. And on. LOL. Even though that list gets longer every time, Central Park is always a priority. Our best picnic memories happened at Central Park and we want to keep makin’ more. Most of the photos I’ll be sharing were taken from the park (where we actually had time to just sit and smell the flowers).

Being mommy to my Alex gives me the best and most wondrous feeling in the world! I swear every day, I am thankful Jof chose me to be his forever, eventually leading to God giving us the greatest gift of being parents to our Alex. It makes me emotional every time I think so deeply about it. And believe me it’s very hard not to think so deeply about it when I get “I love you, mom” and “mommy , you’re the best” every five minutes! He is the sweetest boy and I love him more than anything in the world!

Photos by my Joffoto

xo, riza

I can’t believe we’re onto the fifth month of the year! Time has really been flying by. Before I completely look forward to the rest of the spring and summer, I want to get into a recap of how April was just too good! Like September and November (our birthday months), April is special to me and Jof since our wedding anniversary happens to fall on this month. Also, our weekends were pretty eventful and memorable this year. We attended Jof’s work’s annual gala night (which I like to call our annual big kids prom night, haha) the first weekend of April, then visited family friends in Baltimore the next weekend, then celebrated our anniversary locally the next weekend, and finally, enjoyed a beautiful styled dinner by the talented Tuesdays Together group Jof is a part of (truly a memorable experience).

For the past six years, Jof has made it a tradition to get me anniversary flowers from Holly Chapple at the Leesburg Flower and Garden Festival. It’s something we like to enjoy locally and another perk of living in a small town we like to take advantage of. Speaking of local perks, we also just discovered Stone Tower Winery by accident before we went to the festival and it was just what we needed at that moment! So, we had planned to enjoy a picnic and watch the horse races with coworkers at the Oatlands Plantation the afternoon of the 17th, but while we were on route 15, the traffic tested my driver’s (Jof’s) patience and when he couldn’t take any more than the 20 minutes we’ve been on 15, he took a right turn to the winery. We were a bit worried at first that they wouldn’t allow kids in the premises (because it has happened to us a couple times before when we had to leave the the winery after we were informed that kids were not allowed inside the tasting area) but we were in for a surprise! Children are welcome to their Harvest Barn and they have a nice picnic area with a wonderful view of the hills! Why, we never say no to a picnic! We set our picnic blanket outside and enjoyed lunch (from the food truck) under the sun. The weather was a nice preview of the upcoming summer days. Jof and I probably spent an hour on a couple glasses while we watched Alex run around the field with other kids. We had a great time!

Later that afternoon, we headed to the Flower and Garden Festival to get my anniversary bouquet. Got my usual pastels and greens. It was so pretty (thanks, Holly!)! Then, naturally, Jof thought of getting some family photos done so we did that, and that’s much of the photos I’ll be sharing below. Last but not least, I believe we may have started another anniversary tradition this year: a flower-decorated cake! I love this one by Evan of Sweets by E. It was SO good! I am now obsessed with naked cakes!!!

So, six years. Six years of love and annoying each other. Mostly of love, of course! Jof and I, we’re not perfect and I’m never afraid nor embarrassed to say that, but I know that after everything we go through, at the end of the day, we have all the love and respect for one another. We are weird and different, and honestly, that’s what I love about us. We’ve had friends tell us we’re weird, haha! We enjoy Bollywood films, we love country music and we like hanging out on H Street in DC! I can understand those are an odd combination of likes but that’s just us! HAHA!! What can I say? He really is my bestest friend. He gets me. He completes me. He truly does. We like to think we’re different and we like it that way. I love him so, so much and I am so proud of how great of a man he’s become since I first met him ten years ago. He’s such an amazing father to our mini Jof and he’s the husband I’ve always dreamed of (really, a husband who spoils me!!). In all seriousness, every day, I am thankful God blessed me with a good man.

Photos by my Joffoto

xo, riza