Monday Musings on Motherhoos

Laynie turns two this summer.  TWO!

Sorry to sound like a mom but I do not for the life of me know where the time has gone. 

It has been almost two years since I stopped working to stay home with her.

When I stopped working to be a stay-at-home mom I had many ideas about what it would be like.

Very few of them were accurate. :-)

  I adore my daughter and can not for the life of me imagine being away from her all day, especially up untill now when she was so little.  I'm so grateful that I can be home with her and try not to take it for granted. 

However, I did not anticipate how "on my game" I have to be every single minute of every day. 

Even at the most difficult of jobs you get a few minutes here and there to take a breath...even if it is just to go to the bathroom.  I have no such luxury :-)

When you are a mom, your brain never turns off.  Ever. 

 This is something that no one can explain or prepare you for.  You just have to experience it to believe it. 

Even when I am away from Alayna I am thinking about her.  Not always consciously but just somewhere back in the confines of my brain.  The only way to explain it is to say that parenthood is like a filter that gets put on your brain.  Everything you think goes through the filter....whether it has anything to do with your child or not. 

Although it wears me out sometimes, I truly would not have it any other way.  What an amazing opportunity for growth parenthood has been for me!  I feel like I learn more about myself every day...mostly just realizing how incredibly selfish I am.  I mean, you really learn alot about yourself when you spend 10 hours at a time with a little person who can't carry on a conversation, in the same building, doing the exact same things day after day...after day..after day :-)

I have learned that for me, the monotony of staying home is much more difficult to

deal with than any stressor I had at a full time job. 

Sometimes I feel like my brain is turning to mush. 

Yet somehow, even while being monotonous it is incredibly busy busy busy!

Sometimes I feel like I am totally losing it.

Still, in spite of it all, I love staying at home.  I am completely convinced that I would never have the relationship I do with Laynie if I was a workin' mama.  We get each other.  I know things about her and the way she thinks that no one else does.  I understand every little facial expression, every hand motion, each little giggle. 

What an incredible gift I have been given. 

Confession

I am not proud to admit it, but I am totally in love with

~Glee

~"Forget You" by Cee Lo Green

~Gwyneth Paltrow

Imagine how happy I was when my husband e-mailed me the following....

No, you couldn't possibly imagine how happy this makes me. 

Like I said...I'm not proud.

A trip to the mail box

Laynie and I used to have a little
 routine of walking to get the mail each afternoon. 

After  afternoon nap we would head outside for our little stroll and usually play outside till it was time to start dinner. 

Needless to say, that routine has been put on a major hold since about...ohhh, November.

When we bundle up and brave the cold these days it's in the morning when the sun is shining and we face the least threat of freezing to death!

Today, however, we were snowed in AGAIN, Jeff was comin' home late and by 5:30 we
 needed to get out!
 Thankfully, it wasn't too frigid today!

 

Gettin' ready to go

All bundled up....

ha! Love all her different faces.

Look what came in the mail! A book! For me!

If you havn't read this, you MUST! How can you deny a book that starts with this.....

Funny story about this book:

I recently joined a book club that is reading it.  I have read it before but of, course wanted to read it again so I got on Amazon to search for a used copy.  I found one for only $0.29!! I was so excited about the price that I bought it without realizing it would take over two weeks to ship! The book club was only 1 week away at the time so I went to the library to check it out.  At the library I had a $13.00 fine I had to pay to check it out!! I payed more to rent it then I did to buy it,  it ended up getting here today instead of in two weeks , now I have two copies at my house and the real kicker is that I can't even make it to the Book Club Meeting anymore. Sigh.  Some may take this as a sign that my life is already too crazy and I should not add a second book club.  I, however, refuse to see things in this light.  If I was not a wife or mother, I think books might rule my life. 

Reading was my first love and I have trouble letting it go. 

I love me some photos

Oops! Meant to post this on Monday.

**************************************************

Last week my mom snapped some pics of Laynie and I..well, mostly of Laynie :-) 

We used props and outfits from my great-grandmother, grandmother and mom so they have a lot of sentimental value.  The dress Laynie wore was my moms when she was a baby and I can't wait to frame pics of them both in it!

 

I used some of the pics to make valentines for friends and family.  It has been crafting central over here! I think my poor husband is ready to have our kitchen table back :-)

I used three different pictures to make the cards...

Option 1:

Option 2:

Option 3:

If you haven't received yours in the mail yet, sorry to ruin the surprise :-)

Last night we went to Kirk and Linda's for a valentine's dinner.  Everyone but Jake was there and it was nice to see everyone.  Laynie l-o-v-e-s playing with her cousins! She passed out her valentine's and opened a few gifts as well.  Grandma Blackmore gave her the cutest pink raincoat! Of course Laynie loved it...because it was pink :-)

This morning we went for tea at nanny and papa's.  Kate had the day off so she came up with my mom as well.   We exchanged valentine's and gifts again and had a really good time.  Since this was her second run at it, Laynie totally had it down.  She gave everyone their card and then grinned while they "oohed and ahhed" over it.  We stopped at the church on the way home to wish Aud a happy v-day!

 

Well, I am off to a yummy lasagna dinner with Laynie and Jeff!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My valentine

My valentine sent me the most beautiful bouquet of tulips.  

Or at least I think he is my valentine! With Laynie in the house I have some pretty fierce competition!

They look so fresh and springy on my mantle!  They almost make me forget that it is winter....almost.

They arrived on Saturday and he told me that he had them sent early so they would be in

bloom today. :-) Pretty thoughtful eh? 

I am so grateful for Jeff and his thoughtfullness. 

What a gift to be married to someone who knows me so well. 

Social Media Overload

Today I chatted it up with a friend....

while I read her blog....

and she posted on my facebook.....

while we were talking....

Also, I tried to "like" one of the comments from my last post.

Hmm...

Anyways, I totally love the blogging world.

I love that I have an easy way to document the going-on's of my family.

I love that I can connect with so many people I care about.

I love that I can hunt down so many cute craft and DIY ideas!

and I love LOVE Love this idea and can't wait to get involved!

*Happy Thoughts

"Think of the happiest things.  It's the same as having wings"

I am thinking happy thoughts today and feel as though I just might fly away! There are always so many fun things to do aren't there? I am working on some super cute little valentine's for L's cousins and looking forward to time with both families tomorrow!

Here are my "happy thoughts", people and things that inspire me.



*photo from houzz.com




*My sisters wedding




*obsessed with this cardi from Ann Taylor Loft




*Can't remember what sight this is from...oops.  I think it was french maybe? Isn't it dar-ling?!?



*My bestie and her sweet as sugar munchkin!



 

*L's first birthday party



*Photo from http://adashofhumblepie.blogspot.com/ .  Honestly, the most inspiring blog I have ever seen.  Sometimes when I don't feel like cleaning I go and check out her pics and it motivates me :-) ha! I know, Im a dork.

*Can't remember again :( but those pillows kill me!



*At the cottage July 2010






Alright, I'm off ...

Hope you are all feeling as inspired as I am this weekend!

I am....

Home!

Happy!

Refreshed!

Relaxed!

Renewed!

Tan?...ehh, not so much.  Oh well :-)

We had an awesome trip! All of our flights were great and we loved the resort. 

The beach is on the carribean sea and it was gor-geous!

We slept 10-12 hours each night

 Averaged around 7 hours pool/beach side each day

Met some great friends, ate awesome food, played some beach volleyball...

(Pierre-Luc & Claudia from Quebec and Ryan & Amy from Chicago)

(Yes, that is my stud of a husband...look at that perfect set!)

I will post more pics soon but today I just had to document how good I feel!

I have a major problem relaxing and frequently take on way more than I should.  It's not just that I over-commit (although this is a problem) it is that I over-invest in the things I am committed to. 

I over-invest my time and emotion in things other than my husband and daughter.

The last few months I have been crabby, worn-out, un-motivated and just generally:

MOODY from making poor decisions about where to invest.

My husband told me so.

Some close friends told me so.

even my pastor told me so (yes, truly)

but I am prideful and didn't think it was really that big of a deal.

I was just used to being crabby and tired and therefore didn't really realize how tired and crabby I was.

However...I have seen the light! Funny how 5 days at the beach will do that to ya' :-)

Now, on the other side of a wonderful vacation, caught up on sleep and having been away from my computer, phone, blogs (gasp!) and pretty much all commitments I'm realizing there is just now reason to live like that.  Cliche, I know, but true...so very true :-)

Probably pretty obvious to alot of people but something that I am just now starting to take to heart.

Looking forward to making some changes starting now...

Heres to a fresh start!

Well folks...

I'm not in Mexico. 

Houston (our connecting city) got an inch of snow and cancelled our flight.

Yes, you read that right....one inch. 

Sigh, oh Texans...

Anyways, it worked out fine. 
We fly out in the morning and added another night on the end of out trip so it all evens out.

And.. there are two major bonuses!

1) Now I will be able to attend my sisters homecoming game where she is on court! Woohoo! Go Kate!

2) It gave me time to finish a little project..... 

Kelli sent me this link a while ago and I was hoping to finish it before our trip.

  Good thing I had an extra day!

I had fun making it even though I know my passport, I.D and boarding pass will most

 likely  be carried by my husband.  ( He's kinda O.C.D. like that)

Oh well, he will look good carrying it :-)

Hopefully I will not be posting again for at least another week!

Adios!

The blizzard of a lifetime!!

Or so they say.....

"POSSIBILITY OF A VERY HIGH IMPACT  EVENT. TRAVEL…AND COMMERCE IN GENERAL…COULD BE PARALYZED WITH NEAR OR RECORD BREAKING SNOWFALL”.   NWS says:“THIS COULD BE A HISTORIC BLIZZARD CAPABLE OF  PARALYZING PARTS..."

I copyed and pasted that off of my weather man's blog.

Yes, my weather man has a blog.

He also works in the church nursery and told my parents each week that my sister was his favorite.

I am not making this up. 

His wife went to clown school....

again, totally not making this up.

Anyways, there is a huge to-do around these parts that made grocery shopping a nightmare.

Everyone is Freaking OUT and stocking up for the big storm!!

I normally wouldn't even go in to the grocery store and instead use my sweet Express Account to pick it up but ....EVERY single time slot for the day was filled because...

PEOPLE ARE FREAKING OUT!!

Anyways, we hung with Kel and G again this morning and did the exact opposite of freaking out.

(Cuz' guess what people...We are suppossed to get a COLOSSAL storm from the hours of 12-7 A.M. when everyone is asleep anyways...it's not really going to affect your grocery needs that much)

We love hangin' with them! Layne and Georgia are a riot together.  G is honestly the funniest little toddler I have ever met.  She talks 10x more than L and the things she comes up with keep us in stitches.