Time

Today, Ethan is one year old (actually tonight as he was born a little after 6pm). Where has the time gone? What have I learned in this past year? Where will the next fast years take our family?

God has blessed us with two wonderful children. At times we struggle in the same ways other families do; financial, patience and parenting knowledge. Always, we remember many times throughout the day how truly blessed we are (even at an older age). I try to stop and savor moments as often as I can. One from just two days ago goes something like this;

Tyler was watching The Wiggles. A good song came on and we started dancing in the living room. Ethan stood up from playing with his toys and started bouncing up and down to dance also. We all were laughing and having so much fun. I wish I could bottle that joy and give it to everyone I know. That is what life is all about.

Happy Birthday, Ethan. May we find joy and laughter in all our years together.

I love you.

Mom

Denise

Things To Learn From Our Children

This morning my 4 yr. old daughter and I picked up her daily blessing book. This is what it read:

"Love First
Let love be your greatest aim. 1 Corinthians 14:1, TLB

Have you got big plans for tomorrow? Like playing catch with a friend? Or running through the crunchy fall leaves? Or watching your favorite video? Whatever you do tomorrow, do it with love. You see, of all the things you do each day, the most important of all is to love others. So when you're playing catch, be kind to your friend. When you run in the leaves, ask your brother to join you. When you turn on that video, snuggle up next to your mom. Then everyone will have a great day!

Whatever you do, you can do it with love. It's God's biggest rule from heaven above."

Its so basic yet so important to remember.

Love,

Denise

Blues

It's tough enough being a woman/mom in this world. Why do we have to have hormonal ups and downs? Two months after the birth of my 2nd son I had to have a hysterectomy. My fallopian tubes and ovaries were left because I am 43 and may still have lots of time before going through menopause. Well, this doesn't prevent me from going through a monthly cycle of mood swings as if I was going to actually have a period.

For me, it's two to three days of pure yuckiness. Yesterday I was easily agitated. Today I am emotional and get easily agitated, and almost depressed. I don't want to do anything with my children or husband. I just want to be left alone and go to sleep. I work extra hard on days like this to keep my mouth quiet so I don't hurt anyone's feelings because it wouldn't be intentional at all.

On the bright side, I picked up a book called The Mood Cure by Julia Ross. It's about looking at a natural approach to mood swings. I am very hopeful that this book will give me some insight to keep my moods leveled.

In closing, I salute all those women who have figured it out and don't have this issue. To those of you like me, hang in there. This is where the saying "This too shall pass," is true.

Ciao.

Beliefs

I read an interesting section in a book the other day, a portion of it reads like this;

"Your attitudes and beliefs directly affect your actions, which eventually impact your results and thus, your lifestyle. In truth, beliefs are simply perceptions. When an event occurs (fact) and you attach a feeling to it (emotion), it becomes a perception (how you view the event) and ultimately a belief. Unfortunately, our perceptions are often inaccurate because our emotions color the facts."

How do we then get to the core belief to challenge it or allow it to stick and help us through life?

I think it's important to reflect internally on our core beliefs because our beliefs can dictate our outward behaviors and spoken words. For me, I want to make sure that I am sharing beliefs with my family and friends that help them and myself grow, express kindness and compassion for others, and maintain an openness that it is ok to dissect what is behind a belief and decide whether to keep it or throw it away.

What do you think?

Change in Seasons

This has been a challenging week. It's a great time of year and a rough time of year, FALL!! I love most everything about it. Colds run through most homes at the changes of seasons and mine was no different. It started with me and my son this past weekend. It hit my daughter and husband a couple days later. We have all carried it at different stages all week. I would up taking just about an entire week of vacation time to care for everyone.

• Monday I left work early as my cold just kept getting worse as the day went on.


• Tuesday was tons of fun for me because I got to cuddle with my 4-year old daughter all day.


• Wednesday was a little more difficult because my soon to be 1-year old son doesn't really cuddle. He wouldn't let me put him down at all and cried or cat napped most all day. Turns out, after the doctor visit, he has an ear infection. My husband also stayed home but wasn't up for taking shifts with the baby. Men don't seem to handle colds as well as women, I think. The worst and the best though was sitting on the sofa, holding my son during one of his tiny naps and I could feel his drool dripping down my chest like a slow leaky faucet. Yuck - this is it - I've really made it to motherhood.


• Here we are at Thursday. I'm home again with my son - day 2 of antibiotics. He seems to be feeling better as he'll at least nap in his crib. Yesterday, I could not put him down AT ALL.


• Friday, tomorrow, I'm hoping we are all functional and back to somewhat normal.

Colds will come and colds will go. The best thing out of colds is the love and tenderness we give to each other. I believe that's called "compassion." With home made soup, warm tea, and lots of hugs, we'll make it through another season.