Motherhood: Through Small and Simple Things

Isn't this so true?

Sometimes, all the PB&J making, laundry folding, bug catching, children book reading, and nightly bed tucks seem so small in comparison to what the rest of the world is doing. 

Am I really making a difference in the world?

But this quote from the book Mother Realized reminds me that those small things really do have an effect on our future generations and are really making a difference in the world!

I am honored to be joining other deliberate mothers through The Power of Moms  and have had a chance to pre-read this book before it came out! I love it and am now am telling the world about it! We are on track to get it to a New York Best Sellers!

 So, hurry and help us spread the word and order now (here)!!  I am grabbing several for Mother's Day gifts!

 Here is a little video to tell you more about what this little gem is about:

besitos, xo

Motherhood: Finding me again.

So, like I mentioned yesterday...I was determined to go do something fun with my kids, partly to celebrate the newly clean home and partly to get the kids out before it was tainted with juice spills, pee drips on the toilet (do boys ever learn how to aim?) and tiny little fingerprints on the glass doors. Let us just say our sparkling home lasted about 1.2 hours before a toy was left behind a dish crept back in the sink or a spill needed to be cleaned up.

But in the words of Juan Pablo from this season of the Bachelor, "It's okay." Ha ha I find myself saying that phrase a lot in a thick spanish accent, "eets ohwkayee"

I was okay with it being okay.

In fact, it felt great! I woke up yesterday morning with a pep in my step and an excitement for life. I was feeling ALIVE! Without the heavy weight of chores, checklists, and to dos of the home- I felt FREE! 

For the first time in months, I was able to sit on the floor and be 100% engaged and present with my kids. I felt like me again. I used to be able to play hours upon hours with kids chasing them, building sandcastles, and playing pretend...that was before I had my own kids and home to run. It took me all my mental strength to remain focused and present in a pretend game. But today I was back... I was smiling. I was laughing. I was having... fun! We played pretend games of tigers and dug for dinosaur bones. We giggled as we slid down the neck of a giraffe slide at the zoo and then made funny faces at each other with our cotton candy mustaches. We got sticky, dirty, and sweaty...and it was all okay....no- more than okay. It was freaking FABULOUS.

Later that night, the mister walked through the door and we ran up to him with a great big hug and sat to eat a warm dinner while we chatted about our day. Afterwards, we all ventured out for ice cream and the night came to an end as I held my kids in my lap and read them a story and kissed them good night. Then instead of going downstairs to finish up the kitchen clean up- I went to bed early with my husband. Eh hem...we will leave it at that. ;)

I don't write this to brag or make others feel guilt... I write this because I realized something... that the barrier that was causing me to feel such a funk was ME.

As soon as I asked and let someone else help me... I felt free. And it was not so much what we did this day that made a difference...but how I did it. I did it with my heart open and my mind present. And that my friends made a world of difference.

Seeing such a change in one day has caused me to reflect about how I need to ask and call on help more. I can't do this alone...nor should I expect myself to do so.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts. I am in the process of revamping and working on upcoming things for this site. Stay tuned!

besitos, xo

Naptime Confession: Letting go...I hired someone to clean my house.

Confession...  

I am addicted.

Okay so that is not the confession I am here to share. But I do love this stuff. Right now I am sitting at my computer after a beautiful day with a jar of cookie butter and a spoon. I really need to get my own jar and label it because I think I am going to go for only one dip...but shortly after putting it back in the pantry...I sneak it out and... double dip. Shhhhh....that is an additional confession... But I must celebrate a fabulous day of accomplishments. The kids are sound asleep. The house is quiet. And the house is CLEAN. I don't have any additional house cleaning hanging over my head. It is COMPLETE.
That is right...I have plenty of time to just be here right now eating my cookie butter with you.

My secret?
After months (okay maybe years) of talking about it...

I hired someone...to clean my house.

Why has it taken me this long to finally call and get help? I mean let's be honest, I hate to clean. Okay I don't really HATE it...but I would rather be doing pretty much ANYTHING else- minor surgery included. I mean why is that I have this idea in my mind that in order to be a "good mom" I need to be Martha and have a spotless house, with three warm meals, and a million pinterest-worthy activities for the kids to engage in on a daily basis. AHHHHHH. How?

The funny part is that when my new cleaning friends were here, I kept hearing myself apologizing for the filth and even found myself cleaning along side with them. Ugh... finally after several hours of apologies and toilet scrubbing- I told myself to stop. Just stop. Let go. Remember be okay with okay. So, I let go and took my little ones to the park...and didn't think about anything else but being there in the moment with them. PERRRFECTION!

Is it weird that I was teary eyed when I hugged and thanked them sincerely from the bottom of my heart...I was overwhelmed with complete gratitude. These two women came into my filthy home and gave me such a wonderful gift. Time. Time with my kids. Time to be a mother and a wife who can completely be in the moment. And that my friends is worth every penny. I just may have to cut the budget in different areas...but I will figure that out. This for me is priceless.

I just realized a weed that I kept telling myself...that I am only a "good mom" if I keep a perfectly clean house. I am here to tell you that I don't believe that any more. I am a great mom... because I. try. my. best...end of story.
And so are you.

What stories do you keep telling yourself about not measuring up?

Now, I am planning my day with my kids... no cleaning needs to be done...what should we do? Art? Zoo? Museum? Park? I can not wait to spend the day 100% in the moment with these munchkins. 

besitos, xo

Elf on the Shelf: Cute or Creepy?

I can't decide which.

Before I knew about the very popular Elf on the Shelf (I wish I came up with that genious million dollar idea)  we used to have this cute little Elf named Peep that I got here.  But this year  "Elfie" (my son is very original when it comes to naming) came into our lives complete with the book and DVD as a gift and I was excited to see what he thought! 

It's funny because I promised myself when I had kids that I wouldn't use Santa or elves to threaten them to be "good." It just doesn't sit well with me for some reason to say to my child, "Santa is watching you so you better be good." What does "good" mean anyway? Aren't all kids "Good?" If there is a good... there must be a bad? And what does a kid have to do to be "bad" and make it on the naughty list? I never quite knew what that meant as a kid- come to think of it I never knew a kid to get coal in his stocking?

 Yet as much I as I tried bringing this Elf in to our home as just a fun tradition to have- I still  found myself saying, "sure hope the elf isn't watching" or even worse, "I bet that the elf feels sad when you behave this way."

cringe.

It goes against how I felt but I still  resorted to threatening and using guilt to manipulate my child... which by the way didn't even seem to make a difference in his tantrum episode- in fact I think it made it worse!

Don't get me wrong- I LOVE Christmas and I LOVE traditions like the elf- but I want to reframe the use of these  little guys and have been thinking of how I could tweak this tradition into something that promoted a grateful heart instead of the entitlement that this season can bring to our kiddos. 

And then I came across this post from The Imagination Tree about starting a tradition of "Kindness Elves" who come into the home and teach kindness and ways to serve one another.

LOVE that idea!


It has my wheels in my head turning and I am coming up with my own variation that I will share with you! For now go check out her Facebook page if you haven't already and see these little Kindness Elves in action!

besitos, xo