Blog - Page 21 of 94 - Nesting Story

Allow me to introduce myself… but who is Carly?

This is my usual work set-up, in front of a laptop, coffee in hand.

Hello internet, my name is Carly. You may not have heard my name before or known that I was here, but if you’ve been keeping up with Nesting Story on social media you’ve probably seen something I’ve worked on. You see, I’m the one who’s been helping Joanna get her content out on Facebook and Pinterest, among other things. It’s been my job to help share what she’s been working on, and we thought it was about time you get to know me too.

So where do I start? I’m not very well versed in this blogging thing. You see, I’m a bit of a private person and I’m not really sure that I’m interesting enough to read about. l grew up in a small town and I live a pretty simple suburban life, doing pretty much the same things every day to the point that some days just sort of blend together. Honestly, I think I’m kind of boring.

But I’ve had a bit of a topsy-turvy career path to the point that I can’t really even explain my experiences in one breath. And I have more than one story to tell of personal changes I’ve been through, both inside and out. So maybe my unique story is a bit like yours? Let’s get to know each other a bit. I’ll go first. Here are a few things I’d like to share about me:

I’m a 30-something year old wife and mother. I have a young daughter who is both my greatest joy and greatest stress at any given moment. I’m currently “in the trenches” dealing with potty training, temper tantrums, picky eating and the like. Despite the little difficulties, she’s pretty amazing. She’s developing into this really smart, funny and beautiful little person and I’m loving every minute of it.

I’ve had a variety of different work experiences. From working in a steel mill in my late teens and early twenties to pay for college (also where I met my husband), to a career as a video editor and graphic designer in Toronto, to becoming a retail manager in a small town. I’ve been all over the map. In retrospect I feel that all my work experiences have helped me develop a greater maturity and level of confidence in my abilities.

A day as a fashion model — Working in retail also gave me a chance to try on lots of pretty things.

I spent much of my life overweight. I was never the type of person to play team sports, so I never learned what type of exercise worked for me. It wasn’t until after I graduated from college and started working full time that I joined a gym, hired a personal trainer and nutrition coach, and took ownership of my health. Although since having my daughter I’m not as fit as I once was, I’m proud to say I’ve managed to maintain a healthy weight for over a decade. My current personal goal is to make fitness a priority again. So far walking my daughter to preschool is a great way I can work a little bit of exercise into my daily routine.

I love fashion, and art, and music. Pretty much anything creative feeds my soul. My daughter has inherited this from me, and we spend a lot of time together dancing, playing music and painting pictures. Her art gallery is coming along very nicely.

Painting is a great way to entertain a toddler — She really does love to paint.

Confession time: I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to my clothes. I spent 5 years working in retail and took advantage of the employee discount often (maybe a little too often). My closet is overflowing. I have work clothes, going out clothes, casual clothes and mom clothes. I probably have more than one white t-shirt for each purpose. I’ve been slowly trying to purge it down and develop a really great capsule wardrobe and it’s coming along nicely. But like me, it’s still a work in progress.

That’s me in a nutshell, if I’ve touched on any topics you’d like to hear more about, let me know.

So, what do we have in common? Did you have to change careers a few times to find your calling? Do you have something you’re very passionate about? What’s something you’ve accomplished that you feel really proud of? Tell me your story. I’d love to learn more about you too.

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Age spots and staining on my face? Nope, It’s Melasma

Ready for a confession? I sleep with my makeup on. Well, at least until a couple of days ago I slept with my makeup on.

How did I get to a place where I did not care that I was going to bed with a full face of makeup, more times than not? I was waking up, dragging my finger under my eyes to get rid of any night-time smudging and felt pretty decent heading out to my kids’ drop-offs.

I know. Ew, right?

When I think back, I think about how I was one of the lucky ones who’s acne cleared up as I moved out of my teenage years, just as life got busier and busier. Before I knew it I had four kids, was running my own business that often requires on-camera makeup and boom…. trading any time I could have given to my skin for a nightly Netflix binge with my husband.

But over the last few years, as I wiped and washed my makeup away, mid-morning, I thought, “girl, you look rough.” That was odd because I am getting a lot more sleep now than I did back when my four kids were really little. I also started to wonder if all of the makeup that I was piling on a few times a week was staining my face. Especially my forehead and cheekbones.

But I went on with my neglecting my skin.

The day before my 35th birthday, a family member mentioned that I might begin noticing sun spots soon. They were common within my family, so I took a mental note to ramp up my sunscreen, not just worry about applying sunscreen to my kids.

The next day, there it was, almost taunting me. An age spot perched proudly on my cheekbone. Okay, maybe it had been there for a while and I was looking for one, but it oddly jumped out at me as if to say “happy birthday Joanna!”

Not cool, 35, not cool.

I made a note to point my new friend out to my dermatologist next time I went in for my light dusting of Botox. Yes, I get Botox and it took me a long time to pull the trigger and I love it. My body, my choice right?

Earlier this week as I settled into ICLS’s comfy procedure chair, I turned to the specialist that I see, and said, “what can we do about this age spot?”

She started asking a bunch of questions, including wanting to know what my skin care routine was. I told her… non-exsistant. Then she brought in another specialist and the doctor. They looked closely, took some Visia photos, and confirmed, I have Melasma.

Melasma, otherwise know as pregnancy mask is a hyperpigmentation, creating tan patches of skin on my face caused by hormonal changes. This was most likely sparked by the hormonal changes during my pregnancies, especially my grande finale, twins.

I was told maybe there could be a small sun spot nestled in there, but what I was seeing going on with my face was indeed Melasma.

So, what are we doing about it? First of all, I am establishing a skincare routine. ICLS kindly gifted me all kinds of goodies, and I am excited to share them and my skincare journey with you.

First, ICLS formulated a very unique Universkin product tailor made for me. Based on Dr. Sapra and Kelli’s recommendations, the Uiverserskin product is a serum completely specific to me and my skin care concerns. This is exciting because unlike most skin care products available, Universkin avoids the “one-size-fits-all” approach and focuses on what I need.

Next I was sent home with a Clarisonic Brush. The Clarisonic Brush is quite unique as well as it cleanses 6x deeper than regular manual cleansing. Which means it’s much better than my hands, or in my case, none at all.

Those, along with a cleanser, and an SPF and I am on my way. Seriously, I am super excited to actually have some direction with how to care for my skin. I have heard one too many times lately when I go makeup free, “are you sick?” I have also become way too reliant on my all over foundation and the layer of makeup that was getting thicker and thicker each year.

I will keep you updated with my new skincare journey. I want to know from you, do you have a skin care routine? Do you have any problem areas that come with your skin, and if so has age, or pregnancy impacted it?

To learn more about ICLS head to icls.ca.

Twins, four kids, the truth and why I’ve been afraid to say this out loud

A note to my readers… I have been sitting on this post for almost a year. I wrote it after a particular trying season, while taking a minute to breathe just outside of my daughter’s dance class. I was resistant to share it. Maybe because I needed the clouds to part. Although this still rings true when things get tough, it’s not such an overwhelming sensation anymore. I have updated my kids ages to reflect today. I hope that with sharing this piece, a mother somewhere might feel a little less alone.

Mother and four kids — Christmas portrait with twins and older siblings

I am about to talk about something that is an almost constant thought of mine. It is something that I think about often and I have only said out loud to three people before in fear that when I utter the words, I might not be understood. That I might be judged, or told that I am not grateful.

But I have decided to say these words out loud because I might not be the only parent of multiples to think this.

Maybe you will get it.

I’ve written a lot about our journey, from the moment we found out we were having two babies, to preparing for their arrival and babyhood with two. But the older our twins get, the less I feel I am going through twin-specific phases and the more I feel like we just happen to have two kids with the same birthday.

Truthfully, I forget I have twins half the time. But every once and a while, when we are in a pressure-cooker-situation, like trying to pop into a store and both of my four-year-olds melt down and they are too big to scoop up easily to abandon ship, I remember… oh yeah I have twins!

I should mention to anyone who is new to my blog, that I have two older kids too. An nine-year-old and a seven year old. Which as you can probably imagine, is a very busy life.

So here it is…

There is this sense of relief when I remember I have twins. The fact that I never had the choice to ease into four kids. The fact that I never had three kids and thought, let’s have one more.

Because in those moments, where I feel completely outnumbered and overwhelmed, I find comfort in the fact that I did not choose to jump from two to four.

Now before I get in too deep with this confession, I want to say that moms with four kids, or multiples are not “more of a mom” than moms with one, or two, or three kids. Moms with one kid have their own set of challenges, I get that. In fact I often tell parents that one was WAY harder than four, (no built in playmates, everything is a first, and there’s too much time to overthink every decision).

But we are busier. It’s a mathematical fact.

We have to bring four kids in from the car, who are cranky and hungry and just want to challenge us. We have to do four bedtimes, with four different sleep challenges. We have to satisfy four different appetites and keep track that each one ate at least something other than bread each day. We have four yearly dentist, doctor and eye-doctor appointments. Four different school and friend challenges… and the list goes on and on.

Every fall, here in Canada, we have to track down four sets of mitts, hats, winter coats, boots and snow pants, whether its digging through hand-me-down bins, or running from store to store not settling until you find snow pants with reinforced knee-patches, to save yourself a mid-winter shopping trip.

So, there it is. That’s the truth. It’s out there now.

But here’s the good thing… I wouldn’t have it any other way. I may have not chosen this path to four children, but I am so glad that I was dealt this hand.

Being a mom of four, and twins, has forced me to grow in ways that without my children, I would have never done. It has made me realize that it’s okay to give myself grace when I’ve had a rough day, and be kind to myself when it all feels like a lot.

On the hardest days I, ( after sometimes loosing my cool a little), will remind myself that letting go of perfection, and loving my family fiercely is almost always the solution.

Did I lose my identity again?

This past spring I fell into a depression. I had been trucking along and a couple small events completely derailed me. I won’t get into too much detail about those specific events, but it gave me a glimpse into the future, a road I was heading down. This was a huge wakeup call which has lead to some positive changes in my life.

First, I want to mention, and remind myself that personal growth is a lifelong journey. I will never be done. Actually, I feel like that is what a lot of my thirties have been about.

Growing.

This depression was hinged on the fact that I suddenly felt like my whole identity was tied up in my job, or more specifically, the industry I’m in and social media. My self worth was much too tied up in the noise that can surround telling my story through Nesting Story and it had to stop.

I slowed down, switched my focus to my family, work that was on my plate and babied myself for a few weeks.

Just as I began to pull myself out of the fog at the beginning of summer, our whole house got sick. So I rode it out. But I promised myself that I would slow down enough to enjoy summer, enjoy my family and create content for Nesting Story that I was really passionate about.

Yesterday I was one of four women who recorded a podcast together. Myself, along with three close friends in the industry discussed friendship. This almost two-hour raw and honest conversation forced me to not only self-reflect, but receive feedback from my dear friends. This feedback was surprisingly positive.

Isn’t it sad that I was surprised that they thought I was a good friend?

Since yesterday it has dawned on me, I, once again, despite promising myself I would never do this again, had lost my identity.

Nesting Story was born from a place of loneliness, isolation and a promise to myself that I would never lose my identity again. Something which I did during my first three weeks of motherhood.

I worked hard to not lose my identity when my twins were born, and I kept it in tact. But in the past couple years as Nesting Story has grown, I feel like I have lost my way.

Back when I switched Nesting Story over to a personal blog, and I sat at my small desk in the corner of my living room, poured my heart out in the evening to the handful of readers that I had, and buzz words like monetization, strategy, engagement, etc… never entered my mind.

I just told my story.

A lot has changed since those days. My kids are older and my last two are beginning school. My little corner desk has turned into a large office space. Nesting Story has gained a lot of media attention. I have a team of three amazing women (and moms who I couldn’t live without) who work behind the scenes at Nesting Story. And Nesting Story has become a full-time career, providing an additional household income, taking a lot of weight off of Mike’s shoulders.

But through this amazing growth in my business, I lost who I was. Yes, I had weekly date night with Mike, and I was secure as my identity as a wife and partner. Yes, I was constantly pouring love, time and attention into my kids, which made me know who I was as a mother.

But who was I? What was I doing for me? What did I like?

Everything else was tied up into my workaholic tendencies and I needed to go on a journey of self discovery. This realization isn’t new. The writing has been on the wall for a while… just check out the theme of my blog posts during the last year.

I am happy to announce that since writing those blog posts about finding joy, slowing down, self care and happiness, I have made some changes. Here are a few:

I’ve begun working out… for me, not a trip or an event. Just to feel good.
I’ve made sure our family is vacationing more, because I’ve realized I really like travelling with my crew.
I love playing Marco Polo. I know, this is an odd one. But for years when we’d go swimming at my parents’ house I’d just sit and watch our kids swim. But this summer you can find me with goggles and flippers on, swimming all around the pool. It’s so fun!
I love running with our dog Oliver. But, I don’t like long distance running. Two kilometres, three times a week is my sweet spot.
I love my friends. I have reprioritized my closest friendships and have been investing in those relationships more.

You get the idea. I am finding me and it is wonderful.

When it comes to work and Nesting Story, I’m still here. In fact I am hoping this new zest for life will trickle into the content I create. I am being more selective about how much time I learning and strategizing and will be sinking more time into creating. I will be delegating more to my team so I can focus on storytelling.

But here’s the big one…

I am going to write like no one’s reading.

That might sound weird, but when I went from getting feedback from a few hundred people on one platform, to tens of thousands on multiple platforms, it messed with my head and made me hold back.

Actually I think the image of me playing Marco Polo is a perfect metaphor for what I want my life to feel like. I don’t care who’s watching, despite the fact that my kids think I look like an sickly Ninja Turtle with their googles on.

So here’s to a new chapter. An imperfect, authentic chapter full of self discovery about who I am at this stage in my life.

You can find more of Nesting Story on Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and Facebook.

How do I really feel about our twins graduating pre-school?

Two weeks ago our twins, Mia and Everly, graduated pre-school at Kids and Company. It was totally adorable and I’ll admit it, a bit emotional too.

First of all, can we talk about their little caps that our twins’ teachers made out of black construction paper? Oh so cute! But as I sat there, on teeny chairs, as excited parents took photos of their first born hitting such a huge milestone, it hit me… these are our LAST babies. This is it.

Part of me has always loved doubling up on milestones with twins. Diapers, bottles, cribs, each of those phases rushed by us quickly with two and I never looked back. But lately I have been finding myself feeling a little cheated. I don’t get to bask in third and forth pre-school graduations; it’s a double whammy.

As our four kids excitedly scurried around the festively decorated classroom piling delicious snacks on their plates, I made sure I just slowed down and sat in the moment. In our little corner, amongst beanbag chairs and miniature sofas, I took it all in, trying to divide my attention between both excited children.

Don’t get me wrong. I am proud. I am oh so very proud. In fact, this is the moment we have been talking about since we laugh-cried, finding out that twins were on the way. But the moment is here and it is bittersweet.

So, what is my advice? Drink in every moment. The loose skin on your newborn’s knees, the way they keep sucking as they sleep, even after their pacifier has fallen out of their mouth. The first time they pull themselves up with a gleeful smile and get into something they know they aren’t supposed to. The giggles, oh the giggles! Drink it in mama.

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

Finding a childcare that not only gives me time to build my career, but that my kids also love, has been such a wonderful aspect to having more of a work/life balance. Kids & Company has the flexibility I need with my schedule, but also the unique programming, learning opportunities, from-scratch meals and sense of community they provide fills me with such confidence in my choice in childcare.

With locations all across Canada, Kids & Company is a high-quality care and early development centre that parents can trust and kids will love. It started under the leadership of two moms (one with 8 children!), who felt there was a need for flexible care options in a setting with amazing teachers, community, proven development programs and an understanding of today’s families.

Whether it’s their Grab ‘n’Go snacks, parent workshops, or their complimentary care for date nights and shopping days outside of regular hours, nothing has been forgotten.

Here’s where it gets exciting… right now Kids and Company is waiving the registration fee (a $150 value) for Nesting Story readers! Just email amcnaught@kidsandcompany.com to access this exclusive offer.
One waved registration per family for a newly registering child before December 31, 2018. Subject to availability.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Kids & Company. While compensation was provided, all opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Kids & Company.

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