Martha Metzler.com

So…. I’m just going to reach out and get a feel for the sponsor thing. Are you a blog or small business that would like to advertise on my blog? Yes? Why how nice…

Seriously, I’d love to offer up some sponsor space since my bloggy blog is getting a bit of traffic. Here are some stats:

– 30,000+ monthly pageviews
– 9,000+ monthly unique visitors
– 5 million+ trips to the gas station to get Chewy Sweettarts and a Slush Puppy because I’m scared no one reads this blog 

Below is the cost and size example of monthly ad space on my blog. If you decide to advertise on my blog and need help making your blog or business a button, just let me know, I’ll be more than happy to help free of charge.

I’m also open to giveaways from companies that I believe in and would be proud to share my love for your goods.

If you have any other ideas on how we can work together I’d love to hear from you! Email me at marthabmetz@gmail.com

Anyone else taking advantage of Picnik’s premium for all until they shut down? Their announcement made me so sad, almost as sad as when I found out they discontinued Dunkaroos.

So, I really showed them by using their premium collage option! TAKE THAT!

Happy Monday yall! We had the perfect weekend round here in the PNW. It. was. SUNNY!!!! Whilst I was feeling twinges of jealousy of my friends and family back in NC as they were walking around in flip flops and short sleeved shirts in FEBRUARY, I think God decided to throw me a bone and bring out the sun for an entire weekend out here. It was chilly, but sunny and that’s all a girl can ask for!

We had snuggle time listening to music and playing with toys…. please notice my Roy’s head just resting on mine. Puh–lease!

Then we had a family walk down to the sound and watched the sun set. It was so beautiful and we even got to see a sea lion, or an otter, or a manatee, or the lockness monster. At least, those were all our educated guesses.

Then Sam and I had an amazing date night once Bud went to sleep. I roasted a chicken, threw some herbs on that sucker, mashed some taters, and we had a glass bottle of Pinot Grigio and laughed all night. We played some Gin Rummy, only planning on playing a couple of hands which of course turned into, “No, best out of 3.”, “Best out of 5”, “Winner takes all.” It was really quite perfect.

Our Bud was teething like a mo-fo on Sunday (my big boy’s second top tooth is coming in!) so we laid low and just watched the Super Bowl as a family. We didn’t exactly want to scare off our friends with a whiny child. Anyone else feel like they were having panic attacks that Madonna was going to eat it on the stage? I kept grabbing at the TV trying to catch her fall…. I think it worked.

Hope you had a great one, did yall do anything fun??

Ever have those mornings when you wake up and just know within your very soul  that you have to start making some changes? I had one of those mornings this morning.

I’m a list person. I say that in full knowledge that can come as both a gift and a curse. There are times when I need to get stuff done, kick my undisciplined ass in gear and make some changes. Then, there are times when I need to realize that I’m covered in Grace and no list can get me further or closer to God than I am right now.

But this morning, I realized there was a change that needed to be made. I have gotten in a rut with my creativity. I’m talking my creativity in everything.

I used to sing. I still sing, but I used to sing for people that didn’t poop their pants or need me to puree their food. At church, in bars, at weddings,  even on Franklin Street, Chapel Hill with my friend Bo. This is a song I wrote and recorded with my buddy Scott Cash, and it doesn’t seem that long ago… but oh man, it really was.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/35354835″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=ff7700″ width=”100%” height=”81″ iframe=”false” /]

Now, I sing RARELY at best and it usually involves songs about Bud falling asleep or his diaper activities. Yesterday we kept singing, “I’m poopin’ and I know it” instead of “I’m sexy and I know it”…. I can actually see the child therapy bills forming.

I used to play with my husband.  I do love me some snuggle time some nights and vegging on the couch with my hubbs, I don’t want to forget how to play with my best friend. Cards? Board games? Strip poker? No? Too far? I need to love my husband more creatively.

So, no more status quo for this girl. I want to make sure that when I look back at my life, I don’t want to see endless Friday Night Light reruns (I can at least cut down to like, 2 a week right? I CAN QUIT ANYTIME I WANT!) or my butt imprint on the couch. Or even worse, for every sentence to my son to start with, “You know your mama USED to _______”. I’d rather him SEE that I’m living my passions, join me in them, and know for himself that he can’t vicariously live his life through the TV.  We can’t drown in excuses for why we’re not living so well its hard to catch our breath, because that’s what we’re designed for. Lets grab our inhalers and try to be breathless a bit more. Join me won’t you?

Yall- there are few things cuter to me than a baby in a hat. For real, everytime Bud wears a hat… I die and need to resuscitated with Fun Dip.

Rockin' my owl hat and Babiators

Wearing my Basilco hat!

Hat from Janie and Jack

Happy Hump Day and hope Friday gets here for everyone soon!

Hey yall, do you mind clicking the button below and voting for me? If you enjoy reading this blog, I’d love to see it grow a bit more and I think this is a great way to do it. THANKS, seriously, it would mean a lot so thank you very mucho.

And if you’re feeling very generous, you can vote daily via the button on the right 😉

Ever have one of those nights when you just aren’t sleeping well? We have a lot of stuff going on with us right now that I’ll share with you when its time but the situation has caused me to think a lot… and eat a lot of candy. But lets be real, there could be dishes in the sink and I think that’s an excuse to binge eat Twizzlers.

I was thinking last night that I spend a lot of time beating myself up and comparing myself to others. My sunday school teacher was right, comparison really IS the thief of joy. For instance, I love blogging. I get to write, make some jokes to someone besides Bud, and hear from some amazing people. Then I start comparing myself to other bloggers out there. “Why don’t people comment on my blog? Holy balls that person got 64 comments on her posted outfit for the weekend!! Can a sister get just 5 comments on any post?!”

Or I start thinking about other mama friends who are getting to take a lot of fun trips because their babies are super mobile and adaptable and Bud… not so much. Every time we go back to NC it means no sleep for me and Bud the entire time.

Or I start comparing myself to friends that get to go on fun long dates or nights away because they have family members near by to watch their kiddos… us, not so much. And yall- when did babysitters get so expensive?

Or don’t even get me started on the thoughts, “Oh my gosh! Her kid was crawling at 6 months and Bud is not even close! HE IS SO BEHIND!!!”

Then I woke up. I took one look at my monkey.

And took another look at my handsome man and was reminded of the joy in our family.

And I thought; screw that. My kid is my kid and is developing perfectly and praise God is healthy. If he won’t take a bottle? So what. If he hates sleeping in a pack n’ play? So what. If we have to spend the first year at home without trips away for me and Sam? So what. We’ll make up for it later. Right now, God has perfectly placed our lives together and I’m cheating the whole beauty of creation if I waste my time comparing someone else’s story with mine. Time to start living my story. 

Hope yall had a great weekend! We had a very chill weekend of playing with distracting Bud from his teething pain and watching Friday Night Lights while he napped. It was a very productive weekend…. SIKE. Sometimes you gotta embrace being a bum.

I hope yall had fun with Week 4 Challenge. I made cookies for our new next door neighbors that I hadn’t met yet. You see, our old neighbors, Aaron and Deana had become our really close friends and then they decided to abandon us for some “calling” for Aaron to go to Afghanistan and Deana to have her baby at her sister’s house so she could be with family or some crap like that. I told them that my dependence on them for my social life should trump getting deployed or living with their sister and they should go AWOL and hang out in my house. But, for some reason they voted against my plan. So I have been in denial that we have new neighbors and mutter things like, “You’ll never be Aaron and Deana” when I walk past their house. Then I realized that wasn’t very Christian or rational so I made them cookies.

I took them over with a little note welcoming them to the neighborhood with my number on it just in case they ever needed anything. They were nice and grateful but note to self, don’t take cookies to your new neighbors who are huge 49ers fans towards the end of the 49er/Giants game.  Lets just say the conversation was short.

So anyways, on to Week 5 Challenge!

Write someone a note. No, not a Facebook wall post. No, not an email. No, not a Twitter message. But an actual, tangible, handwritten note. It can be full of inside jokes, meaningful unsaid appreciation, a heartfelt apology for something that has been weighing on your heart, or just a “thinking of you because you are the rope to my nerds”… or something really poetic like that. So, there you have it. Week 5 Challenge of Livin’ the Dream is to bring some happiness into someone’s mailbox.

Yall- I have it pretty damn good. Sometimes when I’m sleep-deprived and my shirts won’t fit over my chest region  and I can’t tell if the little white round balls on me are boogers or oatmeal, everything can seem like a mountain when really its just a mole hill. So today, on this beautiful day, I’m focusing on the amazing things I have in my life and sitting on top of the mole hill…. see what I did there?  Here are some snapshots. I hope yall have an amazing weekend and brace yourself, IT IS SUNNY HERE! It’s about to get real up in here…. we are actually going to go outside!

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful

Best buds

Watch me spit game on my girl

Girll the back of your head is ridiculous!

Care package from my girly Neely... best package ever (I feel like you should be proud of me for not making an inappropriate joke about packages... but I am snickering and you can't do anything to stop me!)

Then Bud took the package from me

...and this happened

Zerberts from Dada are my fav

Watching the Tarheels with Dada

Outside our window in the mornings... can't complain. I have strategically positioned Bud's changing table under this window. The pee and poop all over me aint got nothing on this.

Everything I tell you… everything. Bud got his 6 month vaccinations on Monday morning. I always dread it, clearly. But this time was worse. Like…. screaming bloody murder in the doctor’s office worse. I tried nursing and running into an empty room to try and calm my boy down but all he wanted to do was look at me with his teary eyes and scream, “THAT DAMN NURSE POKED ME AND NOT IN THE WAY WEIRD PEOPLE DO ON FACEBOOK!”

This continued off and on until 3am this morning. Bud is not a fussy baby, he is my happy boy. Plus, I’m known for my excellent timing so lets add his top tooth coming in to this party. So to have 2 days of whining and crying just broke my heart. We coped with some warm baths, cold teething rings, snuggles, tylenol and motrin, and lots of dancing in front of the mirror (i just do it for fun)… and wine for Mama.

You see, I’ve realized when things get crazy with Bud I immediately go into problem solving mode. I start searching through Babycenter.com, texting mama friends, harassing my friend Ashley who is a ped nurse, and praying like a mad woman. But I realized that while certain baby ailments can be solved, some just can’t. He is a tiny human who might just be having a shitty day like everyone else. I have to reach into my mama gut and if he’s fed, changed, comfortable, no fever, and not in pain then I need to just chill out and wrap my arms around his sweet little body and love the heck out of him. Because that’s my joy and my job…to love my little dude. However, by the end of the day I had reached my limit of normal coping mechanisms so I officially decided that I needed to donkey punch the fussiness out of our life.

Like any normal adult, I decided to do aerobics in a costume while Bud was taking his nap. What?

Totally normal

A few things that I’m sure are concerning you; yes I have lost my damn mind, yes no self-timed shot can take place on this blog without Roy’s face in it, and no it is none of your concern where I got a neon blue unitard.

Now… this is not the first time that I have decided to look like an idiot whilst working out. (See the short idiot on the right in the video) But come on, how can you get pissy when you’re wearing a unitard and doing the grapevine? Sometimes being a good mom means making an idiot out of yourself to make your kid laugh. But even more often, being a good person and keeping your sanity means making an idiot out of yourself to make yourself laugh.