I received an Aerie gift card as part of my relationship with the Quality Blue community. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is one of those posts that any men in my life might want to turn around and run away from. I’m talking bras today, so if that makes you squeamish or if you think you might not be able to look at me without your eyes traveling down to assess the situation, come on back tomorrow. You’ve been warned.

OK. I’ve been saying for years now that I need to go somewhere and get fit for a bra. That may sound strange, but pregnancy and nursing and weight loss followed by more of the same (and some weight gain), does a bit of a number on the ol’ lady bits. I started out as a 36C. No complaints, aside from the fact that one side was sort of dramatically (at least in my mind) larger than the other. I thought about this more than I would have after I had a (jerk) boyfriend in college who thought it was amusing to harp on the size difference. It was not amusing.

Then I got pregnant and all bets were off. I remember being on the verge of tears in the mall one day while I was searching for bras. My size at the time was the largest size they made. The cashier told me I would have to special order them if I needed anything bigger. Panic started to take hold of me (everything was panic inducing then), until my mom cracked a joke about how they would have to make it out of circus tents.

After some more ups and downs in the chest department, I finally marched into Victoria’s Secret to get sized. The frazzled, obviously annoyed woman I spoke to literally whipped out her tape measure in the middle of the store, wrapped it around me (clothes and all) and barked a size at me. It happened to be the same size that I was wearing and less than satisfied with. Unsure of what change to make, I just kept wearing the same old, ill-fitting bras. I figured it was better than wasting money on something else that still didn’t fit right.

Then I got an email about doing a post for Aerie’s bra fitting guide and it kind of seemed like a no brainer. Not only do they have an awesome campaign promoting real beauty by using untouched photos, but, uh, it would be nice to know what bra size I should be wearing.

So, I headed on over to their website (if you click the box that says Fit Tips they’ll calculate your size for you), popped in my measurements, and tried to catch my jaw before it hit the floor.

I was always one of those (annoying?) kids who absolutely loved school. I loved to learn and I really think a big part of that had to do with my teachers.

One of my earliest school memories is of standing in the doorway of my first grade classroom jumping for joy and excitedly squealing “I can read!” to anyone who happened to be wandering past. My teacher didn’t make me sit down and be quiet. She encouraged my pride, which only made my excitement about reading grow.

Fast forward two years to third grade. I was now a voracious reader and my teacher introduced a brand new love to me: writing. In Miss Calabrese’s class we wrote our own stories and then turned them into books—books with actual stitching and hardcovers wrapped in patterned wallpaper of our choosing. I can’t even imagine how much time and personal money our teacher must have put into those books, but I treasured mine and the love of writing she unearthed in me has never left.

I’m happy to say that Samantha is just like me. She is the type of kid who will argue her case for why she should go to school rather than why she should stay home. It makes me so happy to see her so excited to learn because I truly believe that a love of learning is a solid foundation for a well-rounded, well-educated adult.

It also makes me happy to see that her beloved teachers are just as encouraging and innovative as my favorites were. This year, her class got to Skype with author Tomie Depaola (I know you’ve heard of Strega Nona, right?). Samantha was ecstatic for weeks leading up to this day. Each kid got to ask Depaola at least one question and she thought long and hard about what she wanted to know. In the end she asked him what inspired him to become a writer.

My girl rode a high from that day in school for a while and really started getting into writing her own little stories. Hoping to encourage her even further, we’ve started making our own version of my third grade teacher’s books.

Samantha is one of those kids who is constantly wanting you to stop what you’re doing so that you can check out her sweet dance moves. Some of her “moves” were picked up from a Zumba class she took after school, but most of them are self taught (although she did take ballet for two years and we should probably get her back in there).

The ballet/Zumba combo means that much of her dancing is done with dramatic faces and sweeping arm movements with a little bit of hip swiveling thrown in for good measure.

Needless to say, when Ubisoft offered to send over a copy of Just Dance Kids 2014 for us to review, I was all over it. 

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that September puts me into clean slate mode. There’s something about back-to-school that makes a routine seem so appealing. Maybe it’s because there are suddenly so many activities and schedules are much more rigid. A good routine just seems to make everything flow better.

Only a week has gone by since my big kid went back, but I’ve already started to slowly attempt to find a new day-to-day routine. It’s going to take more than a week, but I’m making progress.

Since I work from home it can be hard to stick to a set schedule (ok, it’s impossible), but I’ve been trying to check emails and update social media (or at least schedule them to update) in the mornings while my ladies are eating breakfast. Once Sam is on the bus, I try to claim chunks of time to work throughout the day while Ellie is playing or napping (if she’s napping). Slowly but surely we’re settling into a new routine.

I’ve also promised myself (and my husband) that I’m going to cook more, which is more than a little amusing since just about everything I’ve cooked to date has been with my husband giving me instructions.

When Pillsbury reached out and wanted me to make something yummy with one of their recipes (you can download their recipe booklet with super easy weeknight dinner ideas here), I was all for it—especially when I saw their chicken pot pie puffs recipe. My husband happens to be a huge fan of chicken pot pie so I knew he’d not only be happy that I cooked something, but his stomach would be thrilled too.

I’m taking a break from my radio silence this week to give you a little peek at what we’ve been up to. I finally finished my painting extravaganza last Tuesday and spent the rest of the week and the whole weekend packing and moving.

And let me tell those of you who haven’t done it before: moving with kids is no joke. It’s hard enough on its own, but when you add all of the junk kids collect (including the scraps of paper and dusty old bits unearthed from under the bed that you have no way of knowing are of the utmost importance) it’s a whole new ballgame.

So what do you do? You pack some toys and some snacks, cross your fingers and hope for the best.