What Parenting has Taught Me

1. Everything is contagious!

2. If you feel you are not getting the aknowledment you need, Demand it!

3. Love always forgives.

4. Love/Care is more affective than bandaids.

5.... but bandaids fix most things, including bruises. ;)

6. Everything tastes better in your favorite color.

7. Singing should always be done as loudly as possible.

8... If you don't know the words, make up your own.

9. Everything in life is by the inch, not by the mile.

10. Words are the strongest thing we possess

11. Smiling begots smiling

12. Laughter begots laughter (even if you don't know the joke)

13. Life is better in groups

14. Compliments are magical

15. Sunshine is medicine

16. Be loud

17. Cleanliness cannot be next to godliness, because my children are not from hell ;)

18. My scars (stretchmarks) will last me for the rest of my life, but the legacy of my parenthood will last for generations to come.

19. You can be a superhero and a villian in the same breath

20. Nothing is wasted

21. Love overpowers the worst possible odors

22. Mirrors tell terrible stories

23. There is always a way to get the stain out... except when there's not

24. "Helping" isn't always helpful.

25. Imaginary food always tastes better.

26. Being quiet is hard.

27. When it rains, put on a coat, and jump in the puddles.

28. If you can't have what you want... improvise.

29. It sucks when people don't understand you.

30. Frustration is necessary for progress.

31. Everything worth doing, isn't easy.

32. Some days both sides of the bed are the "wrong side of the bed"

33. Cookies help

34. Whining is annoying

35. You are always missing something important while you sleep

36. Sometimes it's neccessary to yell at inanimate objects.

37. Everything poops

38. Dissapproval sometimes is the consequence.

39. Family is essential.

40. You can feel lonely wihtout every having a moment alone.

41. Messy=Living

42. Nothing is predictible

43. You don't have to understand to have an opinion.

44. It's OK to be laughed at, as long as people are laughing.

45. Work is only "work" when you stop making it fun.

46. Toys are everything that you are allowed to play with.

47. Always stand your ground.

48. Always say "sorry" with hugs

49. Houses are prisons on beautiful days

50. Poop is exciting

51. Silence is therapy

52. Food always tastes better off of someone else's plate

53.The bigger the bow, the better

54. You can do virtually anything one-handed. (even blog)

55. Life is better silly

56. Always ask nicely

57. Everything should be done with enthusiasm

58. Naps are wonderful

59. Anticipation mskes life fun

60. There can be ordwe in chaos

Best of Both Worlds

I am not a huge supporter (for my fam) of exclusive co-sleeping. This is mostly because it tends to develop bad sleeping habits in the little ones and make imtamacy difficult to manage.

I HOWEVER looove to snuggle my babes.

My favorite pass time is family naps, seriously!

I have discovered the best of both worlds... seriously!!! We wrap up our precious Gabriella and put her in a bassinet next our bed at 7:30. She typically wakes up around 4ish (give or take) to eat and at this point I grab her and let her sleep/nurse in our bed until we get up. It is quite wonderful. I get the benefits of co-sleeping without the disadvantages.

She is able to get to sleep on her own, and sleep in her own bed without complaint, but I get all the emotional, physical, and psychological benefits of having her in our bed because of the "transfer" in the weee ours of the morning. :)

Life is good!!

Shameless

So, I may be old and "out of touch" with modern fashion and society. I don't shop at designer stores because I don't see the point in paying ridiculous amounts of money for pieces of fabric and I don't read "fashion" magazines because I think of them as shallow.

This being said, I got a free magazine (which will remain nameless) in the mail the other day and on a whim decided to explore its pages.

I have one word for you.... EW! (not the most articulate, but it sums it up)

This picture was taken directly from one of their pages!! How frightening is that?! Is that what we're supposed to aspire to? Starvation and Emaciation?! Not OK!

I also made a list of everything advertised (a lot) and here's what I came up with

False Eyelashes

Sunglasses

Shoes

Purses

Swimsuits

Bracelets

Cars

Skin Cream

Diamonds

Makeup

Skin Bronzer

Perfume

Alcohol

Hair Care

SOda

Razors

Hair Dye

Latisse (eye lash thickener stuff)

There was ONE article in this nearly phonebook sized catalog and a whole "chapter" on just modern fashion, ASIDE from the ads.

All these ads are designed to make you feel crappy about yourself! No wonder the modern's self image is in the toilet and we're picking eachother apart like angry vultures. I am not saying that this is the ONLY thing that's making us feel bad about ourselves, but it is definitely contributing to our TWISTED self image.

If you want an image to "aspire" to... pick something like this...

This is more like what God a healthy woman to look like. NOT a long haired skeleton, but a soft, beautiful delicate creature designed to please her husband and bear healthy children.

No that doesn't mean "barefoot and pregnant". It means a work of art, love, grace, and nurturing. We have gifts of nurturing that our counterparts (men) don't naturally possess... we should gladly embrace that! :) (men have gifts that we don't)

Remember... be beautiful like YOU... not "her" (whoever she is).

In Love!!

I am madly, insanely, head over heals in love with Lifesource. For those who might not know, they are a health food/organic grocery store. Or as John calls them a "hippie store". ;)

I have always loved their grocery items, because they have a wide variety of organic foods, CHIA seeds, natural cleaning products, vitamins, etc... but NOW they have officially won my heart with an amazing new (to me) feature.... KID'S GROCERY CARTS.

Gideon was marching around the store with his little cart, standing up a little straighter, walking a little more confident, feeling ON TOP of the world. He was such a little gentlemen walking around saying "excuse me" to the other hippie store patrons as he walked by, occassionally stopping, looking intently at the shelves, and picking out various treats (some of which I let him keep, and some I didn't) and placing them neatly in his cart.

When we were done, he get in line and with grace and maturity, placed each of his items on the counter, one by one. Then he wheeled his cart to the end of the counter, took "his bag" and set it in the cart, ready to push it out to the van. The whole time, behaving just like a little gentlemen. I was so proud, beaming, with a mommy ear to ear grin!

I regrettably didn't have a device for which to take pictures of this amazing little event, but next time I hit up lifesource for healthy snacks and chia seeds I will definitely take pictures of my little man.

Take your kids to Lifesource!!! :)

Confession

There are moments of shame in mommyhood. It's inevitable that in this 24/7, all consuming job, you will have moments of regret. I am going to embrace transparancy and share one of mine with you.

This morning, Gideon burst out of bed at o-dark-30 and I had a freshly poured cup of coffee sitting on the floor next to my seat.

He grumped over to me and threw himself onto the couch, almost dumping over said cup of coffee. So I sternly warned him.

"Gideon watch out"

and before I got a chance to move it he, in a fuss, about not wanting to eat breakfast, knocked it over.

This is where I forsook patience and proper judgment and LOST IT. Screeching

"GIDEON?! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"

Now... those of you who do not know my son, he does NOT handle yelling well. He would rather be spanked than yelled at. SO, his little eyes welled up with tears as he said

"Mommy I'm sorry!!!!!" and ran to his daddy for comfort.

I took a deep breath and when I went to hug him he said

"mommy I'm sorry, PLEASE don't yell at me anymore... please"

UGH!!! How does your heart take that?! I, trying not to fall apart looked him the eye and said

"I only yell when you choose not to listen to mommy. If you don't want mommy to yell, anymore, just make sure you listen." but inside I felt like a SCUM BAG.

Words are EVERYTHING to a little one.

Crazy Revelation...

You know women are insane?! All of us... bonkers!

I have been working hard to loose weight... obsessively. Exercise, dieting... the whole she-bang. That being said

I was walking with a close friend of mine the other day and going on about what I WANT my body to look like.

Something like this:

... on and on... whine complain... (despite constant compliments, reassurement, and contradictions from my adoring husband)

Then my friend turned to me and said

"I just want to look like you."

and I realized how ungrateful and skewed my perception is. The friend in question is b-e-autiful and has no reason to try to look like me... and I have no reason to try to look like this model.

I may not be perfect. I may have a stretchmark covered, stretched out belly... but I am beautiful.... Just ask those that love me! :)

Besides, I earned every stretch mark. EVERY SINGLE ONE. They are proof of the greatest thing I've ever done!

Neccesities

I think it is remarkable what we think we need for babies. Can you imagine a world in which it cost you no extra money to have a baby?

Back "in the day" you would have your baby at home (no hospital bills)

The baby would sleep in your bed or in a basket. So, no play pens, bassinets, cribs, etc.

(not my baby, but cute picture)

NO CLOTHES... Now admitidly... I love all those really cute tiny baby clothes. I have way more little dresses than one baby needs. ;) BUT back in the day (like biblical times) they would just swaddle the baby and leave it naked... which leads me to my next one.

No diapers... That's right. Naked little baby bottoms!

(this one IS mine)

No Carseats... because well... no cars

No strollers, because you would just strap the baby to your back.

No bottles or formula... it was nursing or nothing. (still this way in my house)

Can you imagine??? With the 1000s of dollars in stuff they say you need these days to have a tot! I think we get carried away...

Although here is my hypocrit mom where I share my favorite unnecessary baby stuff!!

LOVE

So the other day I walked into the room and found Gideon looking over Gabriella's swing intently. I quietly watched; Gideon unaware that I was there. He smiled and whispered into her smiling face

"Sister, I love you."

I almost cried! I lost it! How sweet is that?

Of course after my adament praise and excitement Gideon started in a broken record of "I love you mommy, I love you sister, I love you mommy..." and so on, but in that one special moment, when he didn't see me watching he confessed his undying love for his baby sister.

In the years to come where they will fight over toys and argue over who is on what side of the car and hold barbie and treasured toy cars hostage... In all the coming struggles, hair pulls, and conflict resolution....

I can always come back to this moment in my mind and heart. A secret confession of love.

Holding me hostage for cookies ;)

Second Baby Myths

Myth One:

If you have one easy-goin' kiddo, you're always in for a nightmare!

Does she look like a nightmare to you??? She, in fact, is probably the easiest baby ever to grace this earth. A little slice of Heaven. (oh and By the way, Gideon was an awesome baby too)

Myth Two:

Girls are always smaller than boys.

My beautiful monsters. Gideon was 9 lbs 7 oz and I thought she couldn't possibly be bigger... WRONG. She was 9 lbs 14 oz. (pretty much 10 lbs)

Which leads me to my 3rd myth

Myth Three:

You can't deliver super big babies naturally. SO wrong. I did it... I have great friends that did it! It's totally doable!

Myth Four:

Jealousy will ALWAYS rear it's ugly head as soon as you bring home number two kid to meat number one kid.

Gideon LOOVES his baby sister, and he is PROUD to be the big kid of the two of them. Protecting and Caring for her, always.

Myth Five:

Your diet is always to blame for the size of your baby!

I was really careful not to eat very little to nothing sugary or fatty with throughout my pregnancy with Gabriella especially, and guess what... genetics had their say. ;)

Moral of story... don't trust what people say. It is never as good or bad as they say it is. :)

Messy Mommyhood

So... we all know mommyhood is messy, and not JUST in the "What is that fluid on my tshirt?!" kinda messy, but also in the... life is nothing if not out of control and unpredictible kind of messy.

There is no shame in messy... embrace the disaster!

Society seems to pin women against eachother like starved crazy pitbulls!

The definitions of a good wife/mother/woman being skewed by pop culture and IMPOSSIBLE standards!

So let me go out on a limb here and set the record straight with something that is eating away at me like a pack of starved piranas.... bit by bit. (like the imagery?)

The priorities for moms has been so skewed it is almost lost. Let's go back to "...the greatest of these is love" and let that define our motherhood. There is so much literature out there about how to "properly raise" your little ones. All stocked full of random info prepared to make you feel guilty for nearly EVERYTHING you do. Most of said books will do all but tell you to manufacture your own air on an all organic compound in the middle of the rainforest.

Do you think that is really what matters to God? Isn't His opinion the one that matters??? The best way to discover what kind of parent to be is to look at the ULTIMATE parent. God, himself.

Love, Discipline, Patience, Consistancy, Compassion, Empathy, Spirituality... These are the things that matter. These are the foundations of what we teach our children.

Home grown all organic Jumpsuits... Not so much.

Always put your kids your first and do your best and I'm sure you're doing fine! Don't let the image of "perfect homemaker" eat away at your confidence and soul!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!

Kiddo Logic

So, my son has a recent obsession with air planes and helicopters of all varieties. He gets immeasurably excited when he sees them fly overhead. Which has been somewhat encouraged by my husband who wanted to be a pilot as a child.

Recently we were making a trip to the grocery store and after loading up the van and getting everyone buckled in my son went into a fit of hysteria.

"mommy, LOOK it's a RED airplane in the sky!"

Being a distracted mommy that I am I just nodded

"oh yeah, look at that..."

Then joyful giggles turned into sniffles

"sniff sniff, momma I WANT it."

I reassuringly told him

"I'm sorry Gideon, but the airplane is waaay up in the sky. I can't get that for you."

He paused and thought about this for a few minutes and excitedly said

"WE'LL GET A LATTER!"

Needless to say... he still didn't get his airplane, but DID get commended for his ingenuity and problem solving skills ;)

So here's me saying... if your problems seem out of reach... even ridiculously so... just get a latter. ;)

ch-ch-ch-CHIA

Do you remember those weird little chia pets that were popular for awhile.. "Just add water and watch it grow!!"

Well... now there is some new relevations being made about incorporating chia seeds into your diet for MAJOR health and weight loss benefits

www.mychiaseeds.com/articles/top10chiabenefits.html

I have tried these and I have a personal experience review... these little things are AWESOME. They are filling and energizing and they "clean you out" without making you run for the bathroom (if ya get my drift).

BUT they are as disgusting as they are amazing. The package says to mix 1/3 c seeds with 2 c water and take 2-3 tbsps full a day... um... sure if you want a smoon full of snot running down your throat (what it feels like). I reccomend either putting it IN your food or what I do is

1/3 c seeds, 2 c water, 1 can juice concentrate (of choice), and 1 juice can of water

Then ALWAYS stir it before consuming (seeds settle at the top) and drink about 1/2 c twice a day, before meals.