© 2014 sarahfortune.
To be honest the past few days have been a whirlwind. A fabulous, fun-filled whirlwind. I’ll have an update soon on what it’s been like to genuinely “go viral,” but for now here’s something a little different. When Popsugar Moms reached out about wanting to write about Iris herself (not just the CVS story) I of course was on board. Now it’s my favorite story of the day… and there’s been a lot.
About a month ago I asked Iris what kind of theme she wanted for her fourth birthday party… Frozen, Hello Kitty, Star Wars, etc. Her answer? CVS. Yes, as in the second largest pharmacy chain, just behind Walgreens. If you follow me on Instagram you are probably well aware of her love for the store. What you might not know is why the heck our kid loves it so much. Let’s take a look back, shall we?
Here we are making her wildest dreams come true.
A good mail day for Iris Gill!
How to make Iris your best friend.
Here’s a video of Iris in her happy place.
The store has been open for nearly a year now and stopping in to pick up a sweet treat or a strawberry milk is at least a weekly occurrence for us. There are tears when we drive by and don’t stop, and there are cheers when we do. This girl’s love for CVS is pure and true – so loyal that I recently asked Iris where she’d rather go – CVS or Disneyworld. Her response? “CVS and Disneyworld.” Don’t you dare make a girl choose.
So when your kid puts CVS on the same level as Disneyworld, you embrace it. When they ask for a CVS birthday party, you throw it. One day it won’t be so simple to make her happy, so for now I take her to CVS when we have a few extra minutes to spare and try my best to make her birthday party special, as tricky as it may be (after all, there are no Pinterest boards for this, folks).
But when CVS headquarters heard about Iris’ party, they sent us tons of snacks, favors, and party supplies to celebrate. How cool is that? And when we told the local store manager about what kind of party we were having, he was so sweet to donate some CVS-brand water bottles to add to the goodie bags. Not to mention that her year was MADE when they flashed a big “Happy Birthday” message to Iris up on the big sign out front.
To celebrate CVS style, we gathered at our favorite local park with some of our favorite people. Here are a few photos from our day.
Birthday Girl
Best thing ever.
Party time!
Gotta keep the adults entertained.
Don’t worry. These were Tic Tac favors for the grown-ups only!
Gold Emblem™ snacks (a CVS exclusive) sent directly from their headquarters!
Goodie bags!
A big thank you to all of our friends who celebrated and happily played along (apparently so many people bought her a birthday gift from our local CVS that all the employees knew about the party). And thank you to CVS who helped make Iris’ fourth birthday so special. By the way, this is in no way sponsored by CVS. Just 100% true love.
If you are the rounding kind, I am now officially closer to 40 than 30. Last week was my semi-big 3-5 birthday. It’s different having a birthday once you have a kid, especially when their birthday is just a week after yours. The contrast between the kid’s excitement to your own makes turning older even more of a let down. I remember how magical birthdays were as a child, but instead of getting depressed about turning another year older, now I just tend to go a little overboard in celebration of Iris.
For me, 35 is putting on comfy pants any time I walk in the door. It’s drinking wine instead of beer… even though I love beer. It’s pouring a glass as soon as the workday is done. It’s also dinner at six and bed by nine. It’s trashy TV shows and not knowing when you last read a book. It’s meal planning and cooking, with somehow not minding it. It’s still caring about what I look like, but not having enough time to do anything about it. It’s “sleeping in” until seven AM. It’s taking care of everyone else before myself. It’s about balancing adventure with responsibility the best I can.
35 is not caring that your birthday is just like any other day. With the night spent giving your kid a bath… In your comfy pants, with that glass of wine and a dirty mirror. It’s about being old enough to know that one day you’ll look back and sincerely miss these nights the most. And young enough to wonder about the adventures that are still in store.
I’ve known since my early 20s that I wanted to be a mother. Of course, as a girl, you grow up with that idea embedded in your daily life, but it wasn’t until 22 or 23 until I actually believed it on my own. The desire for children slowly started to develop, but it always felt so far off and not quite real.
But then things fell into place. I met Todd, we fell in love, after a couple of years we got engaged, and a year or so after that we got married. It wasn’t until three years later that we felt the time was right to try for a baby. We were fortunate in that it didn’t take us too long to find out that we were pregnant. In October of 2011 we brought a 10-pound flower into the world: our Iris.
Suddenly, there we were.
Parents.
We were one of the first couples in our local circle of friends to have a child. We felt like pioneers and ambassadors to this brand new, sleep-deprived, love-filled world. Sure it was rough (like, really rough) that first year, but damn was it worth it about a million times over and we told anyone about it that would listen. The privilege of being Iris’ mother is the single best thing that has ever happened to me.
So, naturally we will do it all over again, right?
Well, probably not. The truth is that it’s fairly likely that Iris will continue to be an only child. Of course, anything could happen, but as of now this is how it looks.
– The Desire: I just don’t have the desire like I did with Iris and Todd feels the same way. Perhaps one day we’ll wake up with that urge again, a feeling of need for another, but I have such a feeling of content with our little family unit. There is something so simple and sweet that I love about Todd, Iris, and myself as a team. Maybe this will change, but I simply do not feel like we’re missing anything right now.
– Time: I turn 35 in just a few weeks. I realize that science has come a long way, but if that urge doesn’t come in a certain amount of time, then my age will eventually make the final decision for me. My only fear here is that I’ll change my mind and then it might too late.
– The What Ifs: I do worry about what if something happens to Iris. How in the world will I go on without a child in my life? I read an article a while back about the decision to have an only child and they referenced the need for a “back-up.” Basically, something else to live for if (heaven forbid) something were to happen… But such big decisions can’t be made based on fear. Worry is just a way of life for a parent, so it will be there with or without another child.
– The Only Child Syndrome: This is one that we actually don’t worry about even though this gets brought up the most. It’s our job as parents to make sure that Iris is the best person she can be regardless of if she has siblings or not. I feel like there is enough going on in our lives (different hobbies and projects) so that all of our attention isn’t always on Iris. Plus, so far we’re just not concerned about not giving Iris a sibling. I have two half-sisters, a half-brother, and a step-sister. I’m very far apart in age from all of them, so some of my most formative years were spent as the only child in my home, which I actually quite liked. I also strongly believe that friends can be just as close, valuable, and loved as family members. Not to mention that there are no guarantees that if I did have another that they will have this incredible bond just because they share the same goofball parents.
– Finances: To be honest, starting from scratch with a new one sounds just sounds… expensive. Since Iris was born in October, she won’t be starting kindergarten until she’s almost six years old. This means that we have two more years of paying for daycare. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to rush this young age. I want to hold onto, cuddle with, and roll around with these precious years forever. BUT, what I will not miss is the monthly daycare tuition. Sure there will be after-school, summer school, field trips, sports, and other expenses, but I’m willing to bet that they will not cost nearly as much as our mortgage like her school currently does. I’m so thankful that we’ve been able to send Iris to a great Montessori school since she was eight months old. If we had another and wanted to do the same, we would have to start sacrificing things that we all love (and things that Iris is finally old enough to appreciate), like trips to the beach and dance lessons. That sacrifice seems well worth it to tons of families, but when your desire for another kid isn’t there to start with, the idea of another seems daunting.
I certainly realize that my outlook here is in the minority. After all, people rarely ask if you want a “kid” – it’s always do you want “kids” plural, but for now at least one just feels right. We have plenty of friends with more than one, which gives us the best of both worlds.
As of now Iris seems okay with it too. Recently we were playing house – she was the mommy and interestingly, I was the sister (even though there were no other siblings). Not having any siblings to play with, I find it’s often my job to play pretend alongside my one and only. This session though, I casually asked Iris, “do you wish you had a sister?” She looked at me and answered with an honest, “No, I’m fine.” Even though she’s only a few years old, this helped me feel better about my stance on the subject because, I’m fine too. We all are. And we’ll continue to be no matter how the cards fall.
So I was recently invited to try out Rocksbox for a few months as an #RBitgirl. For $19 a month subscribers receive a rotating collection of bracelets, necklaces, & earrings (think: Netflix for jewelry). First, you scroll through various pieces of jewelry online, rating them so that the items you receive are tailored to your personal style. A few days later, you receive a cute little package with all your new jewels, info about each piece, and a prepaid return label. Three items are included in each box and you can wear them for as long as you want OR return them as frequently as you want for a fresh batch. You also have the option to purchase any piece at a discount Rocksbox rate. Since I’m not a huge jewelry shopper, but love wearing it if convenient and affordable, I was initially intrigued by the concept. Now after a receiving, returning, and purchasing several items I have to say that I’m kind of in love. One of my most favorite features is that just a couple hours after popping my return in the mailbox, I get an email from Rocksbox that they see I’m returning my set. That means that they are already working on creating my next box the same day I ship my old one back, so the days in between sending and receiving my jewelry are minimal. Weird about wearing jewelry someone else has worn? Don’t be. They sanitize everything and every piece I’ve received looks shiny and brand new.
Want to try? Visit Rocksbox.com and use the code sarahfortunexoxo at check out to receive your first month free (you can cancel at any time).
This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.