ask me anything: the answers {part 1}

Thank you so much for all of your questions. I’m so excited to share the answers with you. I can’t believe how many fun questions there were!

There are a couple of things (my health and our finances) that I may be a little vague about, but I’m not opposed to emailing anyone more information if you’d like it. The internet is a big place, so I’ve got to be a little careful.

I’m not going to be able to answer all 100-something questions in one post, but I’ll take it one question at a time and will hopefully answer all of them before the end of this week. (The questions are italicized and bolded and my answers are below.) I’ll be answering in the order that they were asked, so if you’re looking for the answer to your specific question, just look back at the comments to see where you are on the list.

So my question, when are you going to come to Dallas and take me clothes shopping? You know I can’t dress myself.

I love to shop and I’m happy to come help you shop for your wardrobe anytime I’m in Dallas!

You said that you had troubles with childbirth? What happened? Also, do you plan on having more children?

(I want to just mention that I’m happy to answer this question without it being TMI, but I just request that no one respond and tell me why these things happened to me. It has been a tough road.)

My actual delivery was not a problem. It took a long time because I was induced at 39.5 weeks. They decided to induce me because it was obvious that Hudson was a large baby (9 lbs 6 oz) and any longer in there would mean an even larger baby. I was in labor (via pitocin) for 25 hours with 2 hours of pushing. None of that was much of an issue because I had the epidural. I had to have an episiotomy because of Hudson’s size and that is definitely the absolute worst thing about childbirth. When I got home everything was fine and then two days later I started having problems. I went back to the doctor and it was confirmed that my episiotomy had broken down. The stitches were no longer in tact. I went back four weeks later to have it repaired—which meant six more weeks of recovery. One more surgery is required to make sure everything is back to normal. This is one of the reasons I plan on having a c-section next time around. Once I get completely healed and get everything back in perfect condition, I don’t want to risk going through any of this again.

That being said, I definitely want more children. I love being a mother and would really love to have a large family. I know I’ll enjoy it when the kids are young and I know it will be a lot of work. But I really look forward to having 3 or 4 grown kids, their spouses, and their kids all at my house at Christmas!

How tall are you? I know that’s a weird question, but I always wonder how tall people are.

I’m 5’8” tall. While I’m fairly tall, I do not have long legs. My torso is long and I always have trouble finding shirts that are as long as I want them to be.

What is your housework routine? Are there certain days you perform certain tasks at home or just whenever they need to be done? Do you do all of your laundry at once or daily? You just seem so organized and your house looks so clean in all of your pictures. I need your tips.

I don’t really have a housework “routine.” We have two dogs and they shed and bring in lots of leaves from the outside. I keep up with their messes on a daily basis. That usually means vacuuming one room or another every single day. I clean the kitchen countertops on a daily basis. I do laundry once a week, but if there is a lot of laundry piled up and I have some spare time I may do it two or three times a week.

My “secret” is that I have cleaning people that come every week. They clean the first floor every week and they clean the whole house every other week. They do a pretty deep cleaning every single week and take care of all of the dusting. I thought that I’d be able to keep up with it all when I started staying home with Hudson, but there isn’t a good way to keep up with the dog hair and get everything clean all at once.

What is your favorite part of being a mom to adorable Hudson? How has your relationship with your husband changed since having a child?

My favorite part about being a mom…I’m not sure there’s just one favorite thing. I love the amount of love that Hudson and I share for each other. I love how the love between Todd and me multiplied after Hudson was born. It is so much fun to watch him learn things and do new things and think, “Wow! He’s mine! We made him!”

What are a few “staple” items you would recommend to add to your wedding registry? Any unnecessary items you wish you had left off of your registry?

I loved registering for our wedding gifts! There are some obvious gifts like the Cuisinart food processor (11 cup, not 14 cup) and the KitchenAid stand mixer. But the things that I am most happy to have nearly two years later are the gorgeous serving bowls and platters and the oven-to-table pieces. Our pattern (Juliska) had a lot of gorgeous oven-to-table baking dishes and they are just gorgeous! You don’t even need platters with these. It’s so nice to have so many gorgeous serving pieces if you’re hosting a dinner party, a shower, or just having friends over for dessert.

Do you ever have bad days…when Hudson is difficult or you and TC argue? You always seem to have it together, very inspiring. Please tell me you have bad days.

We definitely have our share of bad days. I try to put a good idea of what our real life is like (the good and the bad), but I also don’t want to document that bad parts of our life. I don’t need to look back and remember a silly argument that TC and I had over taking the trash out. And I don’t want to write too much about how often Hudson cried on a particular day. Those aren’t the things that I want to remember in 10 years. I’ll always know that they happened, though.

Life with a baby can be very stressful. Sleep is hard to come by for  a few months and everyone just wants to make the baby happy. But when you’ve gone without a good night’s sleep, the slightest thing can upset you. We have just as many marital spats as any other couple. But we love each other and we love our little boy and we just try to forget about the bad stuff.

Erin-I love reading your blog…I’m not sure how I first stumbled upon it, but it’s definitely one of my daily reads. I am so excited to be able to ask you a question!

Our engagement pictures did NOT turn out well, and I’m nervous about how our wedding pictures will look. You have so many fantastic photographs–I actually emailed your photographer asking if she had our date available, and she didn’t:-(. However, I’m wondering whether or not you sat down with her and talked about shots you wanted on your big day-or did she just know to do them? The pictures I’ve seen from your wedding are so beautifully composed that I can’t help wanting to have some shots be similar at mine. Let me know if it was just Kelly Moore’s great style, or if you gave her direction in what you wanted. Thanks!

p.s. I’m a Carolina Herrera/Manolo Blahnik bride, too! My shoes are silver…I really wanted something I could wear after the wedding, so refused to go with ivory.

Wedding photography! Such a fun topic!

We loved our wedding photographer so very much. I completely trusted her, her style, and her ability to do an amazing job. I can honestly say that I didn’t give her an ounce of direction. We had a beautiful venue, and it was a pretty day. I had fun umbrellas for my bridesmaids as part of their gift and we decided to use them in our bride/bridesmaids photos. But Kelly gave us all the direction and we followed her. She has an amazing eye for what will be beautiful in an image. And it could be the most ordinary thing. I didn’t give her a list of “must shoots.” We had about 30 minutes devoted to posed photos and Todd and I saw each other before the wedding. We spent about 45 minutes doing our own little session. The only “must shoots” were of family and my family was where they were supposed to be at the right time for those.

I think it’s very important to be organized and to let your photographer know what kind of wedding photos you like. But I also think you’re cheating your photographer if you tell them you want your photos to look exactly like another photo that you like.

It’s also very important to trust your photographer and their previous work. You chose the photographer, so let them do what they do best. In your case, not liking the way your engagement photos turned out, you should sit down with your photographer and be honest. Tell him or her what you didn’t like and how you hope it will be better at your wedding.

Confrontation is never fun, but it’s so much more important to have your one and only shot at gorgeous images on your wedding day turn out exactly the way you want them to.

Best wishes to you!

How many children do you want to have?

I think I’d love to have three or four children. But ask me again after we have our second child!

Was there anything you wish you could have changed or done differently at your wedding?

Our cake. It was delicious, but I was never happy with the way it looked. I wanted the cake design to replicate the lace design that we used on our save the date, invitations, programs, and wedding signage. The cake-maker was never confident making the lace and my vision just never came to fruition.

What are some things you are looking forward to wearing in the spring?

I really love winter clothes. I hope I’m not the only one. You know, I’m trying not to start browsing at spring clothes because I don’t need to purchase anything. I also just look forward to wearing clothes in my pre-baby sizes. It could be plain old t-shirt. I just want it to fit!

I’ve recently had a career change and am very interested in the potential of doing some wedding planning. Any tips on how to get started? A cousin of mine is getting married this summer and has asked me to help her with planning her ceremony. I know experience is a great place to start but where to go from there? Also, best resources you would recommend?

You are so fortunate to have a loved-one that wants you to help. I think that is the best way to get started. You have a “client” that already trusts you and wants you to be in charge. As far as planning a ceremony, I would watch videos and look at ceremony programs of lots of different ceremonies. It’s nice to see what you like and what you don’t like. I’d also ask to get a list of all the songs in advance so you can plan everything out ahead of time. You definitely want to be prepared and know exactly what’s going to happen before you see everyone. Ask the bride to give you a list of the attendants in order by height before the event. The maid/matron of honor and best man will know their placement in the line up ahead of time. But the others should be placed according to their height.

The biggest tip I can give is to listen to the bride and groom and honor their wishes. You can tell them what you think looks best and works best, but nothing feels worse to a bride than having a ceremony director that won’t listen to her or let her do some things her way. Trust me, I’ve been to those weddings and it’s not a happy place.

What are some of your favorite blogs to visit? Friends and people you don’t know.

My most favorite blogs are the ones that are written by my best blog friends, fellow mommy friends, etc.  Make Mine a Mojito, Elefantitas Alegres, It is Everlasting, According to Nina, Kelly’s Korner, Tales of the Trees, Spice and Sass, Southern Daze, Living our Own Fairy Tale, Pretty in Pink Megan, Puttin’ on the GRITS, Slynnro, All Things Fluffy, Fashionable, and Famous, In This Wonderful Life, and In No Simple Language. There are lots more! There are a few design blogs and wedding blogs that I just adore (This Young House, Brooklyn Limestone, EAD, EADL, Style Me Pretty, Southern Weddings), but I love catching up with my friends every day and seeing what they’re up to!

My favorite blogs are the ones that give me a true glimpse into someone’s life. It really is like checking in with your friends every day.