The Luckiest No Matter What!

When I last posted in October, I was crying in Foods for Living trying to figure out how to cut out wheat, rice, soy, beef, chicken, carrots, peas, coconut, cashews, almonds, and maybe a few more I can't even pick out of my brain right now from our diet after finding out about Judah's food allergies.  I was grateful the allergies were moderate and not severe.  I felt guilty for having not found out about the food allergies sooner. I was a little lost trying to figure out what to cook and how to get my questions answered. Most importantly, I was worried about Judah- how he would feel when he had to say 'no thank you' to so many foods he'd be offered in the future.  Feeling worried about if/when his skin would clear up and if these food allergies were really the answer.  Feeling worried if there'd be more or worse allergies on the horizon.   Over the rest of October and November, we cut all those foods.  We ate ham, turkey, and especially pork for prote...

Today, January 22nd, 2017- I completed The Bikini Body Mommy 90 Challenge 5.0.  If you are unfamiliar with Bikini Body Mommy, she is a mom of four, who posts workout videos on YouTube.  She is a real mom, who is working out, trying to stay healthy and fit in real time.  I love her because she isn't the body builder, muscle women who is clearly not even phased by the workouts on my DVD player as I keel over in pain doing them in my living room.   She's real.   She falls over, she has to stop every once in a while, she struggles, even lets out a swear word or two and I love it.   I've been following her for several years, ever since I caught wind of her challenge as she was trying to lose weight after having a miscarriage.  She has whipped me into shape once before (in early 2014 getting ready for a spring break trip to St. Augustine) and I knew she could do it again as I prepared to stand up at my sister's wedding in Cancun Mexico in Fe...

When I first titled this blog, I put 2.5 years instead of 3.5 years- seriously! Where does the time go?!?! These two, wow.  It's been such an incredible few months for them! NOLAN: Nolan has worked hard to get into the groove of preschool.  Change is hard for him and he loves nothing more than to be home with his family, every single member.  Once he arrives in the classroom, he truly does find joy there and is learning a lot!  Starting and after breaks are challenging- he is totally that kid that grabs onto your legs, cries, and doesn't want to let go.  It's heartbreaking and heartfilling all at the same time. You want your kids to WANT to be with you and spend time with you and he does.  That's beautiful. You also want them to love school.  Thankfully, he does that too.   Josh and I decided the other day that Nolan is a lot like a parent of a teenager- he wants to know where you're going, who you're going with, and when you...

Okay so in full disclosure Carter turned 18 months in November and it is January. #needtowritemore Parenting a second, third, fourth, etc child is so very different than your first child (or in my case, children)... On one hand, I am able to slow down and enjoy with Carter differently because I know what to expect or what to anticipate so I can soak in moments better.  On the other hand, it is so freaking busy with three kids, it really felt like I blinked and he was already eighteen months old (which is probably why I am just writing this blog now). On one hand, Carter has had many experiences before his brothers did- I'm not as scared and I have a better idea of what he CAN do so we try learning activities earlier and take trips to places sooner.  It's incredible the toys he plays with that we would've never had in our house when Nolan and Judah were eighteen months old because they weren't "age appropriate."  It's wild how much quicker he c...

I have anxiety.  Back when I was little, I was known in my family as the 'worry wart,' but now that I know more about myself and anxiety, I know that incessant worrying was anxiety.  I do not hide my feelings well at all, so when I wasn't in a good mental space- everyone in my family knew about it.  My sisters, brother, and parents were patient, they were kind, and I can't tell you how many times they (especially my mother, who is an ANGEL), allowed me to verbally process my worrying thoughts out loud to make sense of them.    My mom said this quote to me constantly-   "Stop worrying. The bridges you cross before you come to them are almost always over rivers that aren't there." I also had this quote from Matthew 6:34 posted all over-  "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." It's MY CRAZY , people- you all have been reading about it for YEARS. I am aware of it,...

Taking pictures of the people and places I love the most is one of my absolute favorite things. I have a camera with me everywhere searching for a moment to capture like a football player waiting for the word 'hike.' This picture is a beautiful moment between my three sons- my favorite kind of moment to trap in time. It was unseasonably warm today, November 29th, so we took our ball pit maze into the three seasons room to have at it! There is an interesting connection between picture taking and parenting- how fleeting moments are. In photography, if you miss a perfect photo by a fraction of a second it can be, for lack of a better word, ruined- sudden movement can make a picture blurry, smiles turn into frowns, people look away or step out of the shot, a person walks in front of a building, and the sun disappears into the horizon. I have an infinite amount of almost perfect pictures :) In parenting, time can seem to pass by as quickly as that tiny window for a perf...

I was sitting home relaxing for about four minutes one Saturday after a long day with the boys. It was a rare night when Kristin was out of town, and I randomly thought back to a cold, dark December 25 th evening when I was a child. I can remember myself reviewing all the gifts I received, lining them up neatly (some things don’t change), and maybe playing with them for a bit. It was a day full of gifts from Santa, a huge breakfast at my house, two donuts after breakfast, time with my cousins and siblings at my grandma’s house, and my parents letting me have a can of coke with my dinner because it’s very hard to say no to a kid on Christmas. Basically, it was me just thinking about how Christmas day was (still is) always just the most perfect day in the world. Then my thinking fast forwarded  many years to reminisce about a recent day in our life filled with dirty diapers, a trip to the garbage dump to drop off leaves with the men (one of our favorite fall activities), readin...