Nap Reminder

As I sit here typing, and enjoying the rainy silence in my neck of the woods, I thought I would remind you all to:

STRETCH - really well. Work out those overtight muscles. I know I've got them from my weirded out sleep positions!

LISTEN - to the silence, the birds, and

then GO TAKE A NAP!

And as you lie there, (hopefully taking your mother's advice and drifting off to sleep) think about the people and beings in your life that you love. Send them that love and ....

then send that love to yourself.




p.s. Sorry if this is deep! Please excuse and skip this post, if you like. :-)

Diffusing, Coping, or Just Plain Not Goin' Looney

In a previous post, not long after I'd had my third little one, I was SLIGHTLY overwhelmed. I absolutely think back now, and realize how EASY two children are and how could I ever have thought otherwise?!! LOL.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share these thoughts for when you do actually feel like running to the bathroom BY YOURSELF, and locking the door! Hopefully it is useful to someone.

1. The clock is your friend. Know it, look at it often, and schedule by it. Anticipate, don't just roll along and end up reactively parenting a melt down.

2. Get creative. It only takes brain power and a few seconds to change a scenario. For example: My 3 year old child's skin is as dry a piece of chalk and she HAS to wear lotion, but she has taken to not liking it. I mean, yelling and screaming not liking it. I've asked her and she just doesn't like the feeling of it...(she's rather texture sensitive), so instead of getting ugly with her, I just pointed out that the lotion looks like vanilla icing and she's the cake. We smeared it on and she helped and wha la! No more tantrum. We continue to do this every time, and while I know the novelty will wear off and we'll have to come up with something new soon, doing this reminded me to think outside of the box and not with my emotions, and be creative. It only takes a moment.

3. Turn on the music or sing a song. I actually prefer to sing, being that I'm a musical person, but for some reason the ACT of singing does the same thing as the ACT of smiling. Doing the motion, makes your heart feel happy. Having a danceathon doesn't hurt either. :-)

4. Go outside. The fresh air and change of scenary will do you and everyone else a world of good.

5. Give them a bath, prefaced by "Do you want to play in the water?". The soothing water occupies them, the wording takes out the old "bath" blah, and it gets them clean. Plus, seeing their tiny bodies reminds you of how little they actually are. Which leads me to #6...

6. Lower your expectations. Whether it be of their level of maturity or in the amount of chores or list of things to check off your list. Just accept that things won't get done and expect them to behave like children. We expect SO much out of them sometimes, forgetting that they are just little people.

7. Open your windows (or pretend they are open, if the weather doesn't permit). Doing so will perhaps make you aware that others are listening. If you live in a rural area, pretend your mother is in the other room!!

8. Warn them of your plans. If you are expecting them to behave a certain way, tell them of how you'd LIKE them to behave exactly and throw in a reward for doing so. If you are planning to leave somewhere and they will have to stop playing to do so, tell them you're leaving in 5 minutes. Knowledge and acceptance always helps everyone along the change curve.

9. COMMUNICATE!! This one I can't stress enough and goes along with just about all of the above. Even if you have a little one who never says a word, they most likely understand WAY more than you can ever imagine. Once we took a trip with my 18 month old daughter and she got SO upset and was a complete mess. There was a small time change, difficulties with napping, and she generally just wasn't enjoying the trip, as lots of little people often don't. I sat her down and told her "WE ARE GOING HOME. We'll go back to our house, with our dog, and your yellow room and it will all be OK." She immediately calmed down and was fine with naps and everything for the rest of the trip!! For all I know, she thought we were displaced!! It really was amazing and made me realize the power of my words.

10. If all else fails, schedule some time by yourself. Make it a priority. I know this is old, "new" news of moms taking care of themselves, but we need to be reminded of making it a priority. Email your friends with a date and time and location. Join a local moms group, if you haven't already. Even schedule some time with family or neighbors, as they can often give you the relief you need and they usually enjoy spending the time with the children. Raising children really DOES take a village.

Hello Again

Remember me? Yes, I've carved out some time again to get back to my machine and blog a little! I've missed you guys!!!

Seems now that I have a moving 10 month old, a recent THREE year old (SO hard to grapple with a baby turning 3 for some reason), and a now 5 1/2 year old, along with teaching more piano students, adding homeschooling to my list of things to do, AND putting fitness at the top of my priority list, I am just extremely busy. Enthralled and really happy, but busy.

The thinking and writing is so therapeutic for me - it's amazing how good I feel after I get to share with the outside world a little. Sometimes it's useful, sometimes I'm just brain-farting. :-) But hopefully, we are more on the useful and thought-provoking side than the stinking up the room end. LOL.

There are so many amazing blogs out there for moms about crafts, money-saving, home management, time management.....and while I subscribe and enjoy more than my full share, that is just not what this blog is about. Sometime I DO provide helpful tips and things, but what I'm finding is my purpose is to MENTALLY be here for you, and vice verse. I want to discuss the emotions of our roles as moms, wives, friends, and sisters. I feel there just isn't enough out there for myself, and when I go to a play date or a mom's night out, that just isn't the forum for getting into deep conversations about our relationships with those so important in our lives. I need to work things out and by sharing with you, my readers, my inner thoughts and observations, maybe you will be helped as well.

There you have it. I hope you will continue with me on my journey of solving life's mental mysteries.....