Living the family life

   It is almost November. As I sit here and think about that, I wonder where has the year gone. My youngest just turned a-year-old not too long ago and as I watch him walk around I wonder to myself “when did you get so big?”  One minute it feels like I’m celebrating my birthday in January then I turn  around and here we are going into November. Where has the year gone?    I’m told that the older you get, the faster time flies. My husband taught me that the more kids we have the faster time goes. Both statements, in my opinion, are true.   You see, all year long I have been so focused on my children, my home, and life’s ups and downs that I didn’t see how fast time was going.  When it comes to my family, I don’t feel like I wasted any time. But when it comes to being stressed about my home, worried about finances, dealing with life ups and downs, where did I lose so much time. That’s just it. Worrying and stressing.   How much time this year...

My sweet loves,   Each one of you were placed in my life at a precise moment. Each of you have taught me something different. All of you have taught me that love is the most important thing in our lives.   The truth is, I love you all differently but equally. You have taught me life lessons that I didn't know I needed. You have given me the greatest gift in your own way. Watching you grow is the most exciting, scary, irritating, amazing, heartbreaking, joyous thing in life.   As your mommy/bonus mom I am not ready for you to grow. I look at you and see that little one with the thirst to learn. I do, however, want to see you grow. I want to see the amazing person that I know you'll be. I am scared because I know that life is hard and cruel at times. There will be your your first bad grade, first heartbreak, first fight, first ended friendship, but there will also be your good report card, your first love, your first real friends, your first car. You see, as your mo...

  Stop what you're doing for a moment. Breathe. Don't think about anything. Take a deep breath. Tune out the world for just a moment. Do you feel the rise and fall as you breathe? Take a deep breath. Just breathe.   To the mom hiding in a room alone trying to not break down in front of your babies. You will make it. Your hard work isn't for nothing. It's OK to break down. You need it. You're not struggling alone, I promise. Being a mom is HARD. It is by far one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Do not feel guilty because you needed a moment to break down or breathe. Those babies in there depend on you and you need this time so you can regroup. You're doing the best you can and those babies love you. You're their world. You need to care for you so you can care for them. You've got this.   To the mom who is hiding to sneak a snack. Eat. You're constantly making sure those babies are fed and well nourished. How many meals have you skipped? Quit...

  If only. If only I knew then what I know now. Sound familiar? I bet it does. I bet that you have said it at least once or twice in your lifetime. Let's talk about that phrase for a minute.   When you look at a picture and you think " if only I knew then what I know now" what would you have done different? If that phrase were true, what would you have done different in your life at that time? I've thought about that phrase a lot lately. Do you know what? I'm glad I didn't know. I've had parts of my life that I wish I could rewrite or redo. There's parts of my life that I wish I could forget. Let's face the facts though, we cant but how much did you learn from that situation? I mean really. I learned a lot from those times in life and I can almost bet you did too.   You see, we turn to that phrase because we might have not liked the situation, we might have not liked what we were going through at the time, we might have not wanted to remember tha...

They say to marry someone like you, one you have much in common with, one whom likes some of the things you do. However, I've learned in life that in many cases opposites not only attract but balance each other out. My husband does just that. He and I grew up completely different. He did anything he wanted and caused all types of trouble, I grew up the good band kid that made good grades and stayed in school. I guess you could say it was obvious I was the first born in my family and he was the baby in his.   I am a typical mom. I worry A LOT, I discipline, I make sure they're fed, etc. My husband however, is the ball of fun, get into trouble with, "what irritating thing can I teach you now to drive mommy nuts later" type dad. To be completely honest, it might drive me INSANE but I am grateful for that.   When our 2yo fractured above her nose, it was daddy who took her to the ER. Where mommy would be a nervous mess, daddy made sure that she stayed awake like she nee...

  Have you ever felt so alone in a room full of people, feeling like if you were to scream that no one would hear you? Have you ever gotten so lost in your thoughts that you felt as if you were drowning and struggle to dig yourself out? Have you ever worried about many things at once and most of those worries had a 1 in a 100,000 chance of happening? Yeah, that's my axieties.   Everyone's anxiety battles are different. Everyone fights them differently. Mine don't make me feel like I don't want to get up, mine make me feel like I don't want to sleep. They will keep me up late worrying about why is my child coughing, what is that noise outside(I live in a major port city), will my children have good friends, will they have health issues like mine, will my husband and I get to see them grow and get married. These might sound like normal things to you but in my head they instantly become "worst case scenario." They build off other negative thoughts and soon I...

Yesterday, my 2 year old had an accident and her nose would not stop bleeding. She was screaming and crying and it was very difficult to console her. I was trying not to freak out, dealing with a 10 month old, trying to make sure that he didn't get in anything, and had a 3 year old that wanted to follow her sister around everywhere. I desperately tried to get my 3 year old to go play with my 10 month old and hopes that it will help keep both of them out of trouble.   The day is gone better than most, I had just finished cleaning the kids room and moved on to clean the kitchen. There was a movie on for the kids in the living room in the kids were playing just fine. All of a sudden I hear Railee's scream. I looked out the door expecting to see Railee fussing because she wasn't getting her way. That's usually the case, but not this time.   There my 2 year old stood shaking and bleeding from her nose. She was terrified and hurting. I immediately ran to her, snatched her u...

  Do you know what sucks about being a nice person? You're usually the one to get stepped on, left out, forgotten about or just straight up ignored. Then you kind of sit back and think to yourself why am I the nice one, why is it so hard for me to be mean to people or for me to put my foot down. Then you kind of wonder should change, should you not change, what parts about you should you change. I'm here to answer that question.   Don't. Don't change. The nice people are what keep the world positive. In a world full of people who constantly doing just for themselves and things that only benefit themselves, its people like us nice people who have to stand up for the people who don't have voices for themselves. We might get stepped on and left out at times but we are also the people that have the biggest heart for others. We were the ones that are able to have sympathy for those who are in difficult situations. We are able to sit down with them and love them them and...

Okay so let's face facts. Life in your twenties suck. You and your friends are no longer on the same track. Some of your friends are married, some are engaged, some are in college, some  have family of their own, and some are already in their careers. But the fact to the matter is in your twenties, we feel like we have a deadline. We have to be graduated by this time or that we have to have a family by this time and that's the part that sucks.   We sit back and we compare ourselves to where our friends are and where we are and why our lives might not seem to be a successful as others. We feel like we're failing in some areas where we're seeing other people thrive. If you really think hard enough about it I can almost guarantee you that someone else is looking at you and thinking the same thing. They might be thinking how they wish they had a family already or how they wish the they had their degree already or how they wish that they were living their life a different w...

   Leah and Railee had dumped out their toy boxes. My husband told them if they cleaned it up, they could play with the new box. We had just bought a dehumidifier for our home and we let the kids play with the boxes we don't need. As they rushed to clean up Railee kept looking at the box. Leah was talking about what they could turn the box into.   I thought nothing of it until later that evening after the kids went to bed about how happy they were over a box. A BOX. They have a ridiculous amount of toys and they want to play with the box so much that they cleaned up all the toys to do so.   The more I thought on this, the more I applied it to real life. We overlook the little things, we overlook what they could be. They are seen as "just a box" and not a car or airplane or a tunnel. People get so caught up life and what it is and not what it can be. "It is what it is" needs to be put to rest. That saying needs to stopped being used. That's a way of accepti...

   You often hear about the struggles with newborns. Sleepless nights, feedings every few hours, the sleep regression and the spit up. Plus, colic is farthest from fun. However, toddler years are much more difficult than the baby phase.    With toddlers, one finds themselves trying to figure out the tantrums. My 2yo will fuss because the wagon is empty even though she was the one who emptied it. My 3yo will, at times, get irritable because her hair isn't curly when she first wakes up because she loves her curls.  Yesterday, my 2yo was irritated because she couldn't play in the dryer. Toddler tantrums can often be a nightmare, especially in public.   Imagine this, you're in the store and your toddler has a meltdown in the middle of the grocery store because she can't eat the tomatoes you just grabbed. You are now dealing with a screaming toddler while you're trying to get groceries and everyone is glaring at you. You are now the one people are whispering ...

   They say we are only given one life so we need to give it our best shot. As parents, we try to give our children the best life we possibly can even though that's not always the easiest thing to do. There are moments where we sit back and question "Are we doing the right thing", "Is this the right decision for my family", "What could I do differently to make their life better", "Are we teaching them right", "what are they going to be like when they grew up?" All these questions parents ask themselves everyday trying to do the best for their family. There many times where I sit back and wonder if I'm doing right by my children.   There's little moments in life where you know that your children are going to be ok. Where you look at them and think I'm doing the best I can and that's okay. I find myself looking at my kids all the time praying that I can give them the life that they deserve and I pray that they will a...

  There are 2 important words that I have come to value in these years of motherhood. Time and peace. You cannot have one without the other. They create a balance.   Time. It seems to run our lives doesn't it? It seems to be what we live by but we seem to become busy and forget ourselves. We forget to take care of us. My husband makes sure I do something for me every few months (minimum) like going to get my hair done or going shopping. He makes sure I make time for myself because I forget to. Time to do for yourself creates peace.   Peace. It is defined as freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility. Peace is those moments of quiet after the babies go down. It's the few minutes of relaxing after a long day. It's what makes a person feels refreshed and renewed. You can't create peace if you don't make time.   Time and peace. You need to take the time for yourself. Go get your hair done, go buy yourself that new pair of shoes, and don't feel guilty becaus...

As a mom we have had those days where it's one thing after another. When one child isn't screaming or asking for something, the other is. Well...that's been my story these past few days.  There was a small moment today that I realized something.   I had brought the kids out for an hour to draw on the front porch and play in the yard. Hoping that maybe for just a few minutes everything would be okay and the day would get easier. Leah was playing in the yard, Railee was drawing pictures in the dirt and Hannah was sitting here on the porch asking me questions. Leah came up to me all excited with a pecan in her hand. "Mommy I found one! I found you one! Here mommy! Pinecone! I did it!" My 3 year old was so excited about this little surprise that she had found on the ground. She brought it to me as  "a present for mommy" as she called it. She was smiling from ear to ear. Then Railee called me over to see a little sandcastle she had made. They were both so i...

   At 22 years old I am married with an 8 year old bonus daughter, 3 year old and 2 year old daughters and a 9 month old son. My husband and I have been married since July of 2015 and our life has been an adventure since.    We have always wanted a big family and we're blessed to have 4 wonderful children. All 4 of them are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. -Hannah (age 8) is our lover of cats and pink. She is both an extrovert and introvert, it just depends on her attitude that day. Once one gets to know her she is super bubbly and full of questions! She loves to learn new things and learn about the world around her. Plus she definitely has a talent for art. -Leah (age 3) is our musician. She adores all things music. She is also the one that looks after her sisters and brother. She enjoys playing with her siblings most. She is always wanting to learn and do with things with you. -Railee (age 2) is our foodie. She loves to eat. She wants to be in the kitchen while the meals...