I hope everyone had an amazing holiday! We have had a crazy house here last week. my husband and I got strep throat and my whole bottom lip decided to be engorged with cold sores which is just lovely. But “this too shall pass.” During this sickness I have learned a lot about myself and have been thinking of things that I need to stop doing. I hope you like them and enjoy what is going on in my brain.
STOP trying to do everything! Summer is the hardest time to not do everything you want to do, but it’s not fun when all you do is run around trying to do everything like a chicken with its head cut off. I always know that I’m doing too much when my little girl begs to stay home instead of go to grandma’s house, she always wants to go to her grandmas’ houses. I always try and devote one day a week where all we do is sit at home the entire day and just catch up on laundry, sleep, tickles and doing nothing. Yes I think it’s so important to catch up on doing nothing, it feels so good.
STOP comparing yourself with others. Yes I know we are all guilty of this. I could spend all day looking at how great other people’s lives are and wondering how come their body looks so great after having that baby, and how if I just had this and that then I could be really happy. This is especially not true because you always will want more and never be satisfied. Just live in your moment that you have created for your happy life.
STOP telling others what to do. I know this is kind of a blunt honest truth, but with motherhood I feel like we need to stop telling other moms what they are doing wrong. I always have to realize that you never know others situations. Yes I know my kid needs sunscreen, yes I know that my little girls should always look perfectly dressed with matching socks, and yes I know that if my kid keeps climbing that they could fall and hurt themselves. But guess what, we are the mothers (and fathers) and we are really paying attention, and if something terrible happens to my child then I will take full responsibility for my actions. Because I was planning on putting sunscreen on my child and I woke up late and had a rough morning and I let my daughter dress herself, and I also haven’t done laundry in a really long time and I don’t have matching socks. I always catch myself being guilty of this and judging things in my mind, but I have to tell myself that it just doesn’t matter, and they probably think I’m doing a terrible job too. Just live your own life and stop thinking everyone is parenting wrong, we are all working our hardest and we need to support each other and not be in a competition.
STOP and cuddle. I love stopping and cuddling. I use to cuddle my baby so much and I’m so glad I did that because now that my little baby is a toddler and is so big in my arms and practically takes up my body when I cuddle her. I can vividly go back and remember her and how she looked as a baby in my arms. I miss it so much and I can’t believe how precious time is.
STOP and clean your house. I know you really didn’t want me to say this, and I really didn’t want to write this because let’s face it my house is always messy. The reason I put this though is because as much as I hate cleaning, I really am a whole different person when my house is clean. I change to a much better mood, and I love when my husband gets home from work and we can sit and watch the girls and laugh and have so much fun instead of cleaning. I notice we fight a lot more with a dirty house and we are very overwhelmed. When we have a clean house we can invite such a great feeling and spirit in the home. Although sometimes cleaning does back fire on me and I become so obsessive about it that I can’t fall asleep if I know that there are dishes in the sink. I also become scary if anyone spills on my clean mopped floor, so just find a balance.
STOP and relax to some music. I love music so much, if I have a song I love I will put it on repeat and memorize the words and I will feel so good inside. I hate waking up in the morning so much, but if my alarm clock is a song I love so much I will get out of my bed and dance to it, because it makes me have to move. I also love some good spiritual music for Sunday mornings and sometimes when I feel like calming down, I especially am enjoying this new CD I received from Amy Hansen and it’s perfect for those Sunday mornings, or bubble baths, She is very talented so be sure to check her out. I love unwinding and shutting down my brain. You will have to check it out.
STOP talking and listen. Yes I know all the fingers are pointing at me in this one, because I am a talker… way bad… I love talking and I really don’t like awkward silence, so I just blab on and on, it’s so embarrassing sometimes. I have started to be better at this since I have been doing nails because so many women come to me in hard times that they need someone to listen to them. I’m trying to be better at this! Some of you might have to reverse this and try talking more so others can be there to listen. I love so much how different all of us women are and we need to be careful and mindful of each other, when we talk. Words are so powerful and it blows my mind how words can bring us closer to one another and express love and gratitude to others and also at the same time how words can destroy relationships and express such hatred. Live with no regrets of words. Live with love in your words. Live a life where the words you speak is what you would want a innocent child to speak, and not be embarrassed or ashamed.
Photography by: http://kelsieemmphotography.com/
