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How to Relax (When You Don’t Even Remember What that Means!)

- Mama 1 Comment

Has it been awhile since you had a few minutes to yourself? You want to relax but have no idea how? Here are a few ways to relax, when you've totally forgotten what it even means to have a few minutes to yourself! Moms, this one is for YOU!

We’re getting to Valentine’s Day, and shortly after will be Mother’s Day, and lately, it seems like to the go-to “I forgot to get you something!” gift from a lot of guys is “Here, honey… I’ll take the kids. You just enjoy some alone time and relax, okay?”

I don’t know about you, but I never know how to use that time, or how to relax. Whenever someone offers to watch Zach, I feel like there are a million things I should be doing, and when I’m not doing any of those, I tend to just worry about how he’s doing, rather than relaxing.

So, in light of the upcoming chance that you might just have some free time on your hands, here are a few ideas of how to relax:

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Birth Control

- Mama 1 Comment

The other day, a facebook friend of mine posted that she’s having her third child in about as many years. I’d say this is an anomaly amongst my facebook friends, but it’s not.

I’m starting to wonder if there’s a reason they’re diving right back into having kids. Because I sit here looking at my two year old, and, despite loving him more than anything else in the entire world, when I see people having a second child so soon after their first, I have to believe that they’re out of their entire stinkin’ mind.

Let me give you a little background about why I feel that way.

About a week ago, my son comes to me and brings me a slinky. “Cool slinky, Zach!” He replies “Mom!” and pats his thingie. “Um, Zach, the slinky doesn’t go there.” He repeats his request again and again. I calmly remind him, “No, we do not put slinkies on our thingy.” He says “Okay!” and I hand him the slinky, thinking he understands. The next thing I know, he’s torn his diaper off, stuck his thingie through the opening of the slinky, and started peeing ALL over the floor.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I’m torn between crying and dying laughing. I grab the slinky and toss it in the sink to be sanitized thoroughly. I go to grab a towel, and then I hear it. “Splash. Splash.” Oh no. Oh no no no no. I run back in and Zach is JUMPING in the pee puddle. Like it’s a rain puddle or something!” I remove him from the situation, wash his feet, and re-diaper him, then I run over and begin cleaning up the puddle as quickly as I can to prevent another Singin In the Rain style incident from him. As I just finish cleaning up the puddle, I see a streak out of the corner of my eye… I turn to look, and there is a bare butt running across the room.

You’ve GOT to be kidding me.

I would say that incidents like this were few and far between, but that would be a lie. The other day, we visited my boyfriend’s apartment for New Years Eve, and Zach was using some chopsticks as drumsticks, like he routinely does, because everything stick-like is a drumstick, obviously. As we went to clean up for the night, one of the chopsticks was missing. Oh well… it must have slipped under a couch or between cushions.

Then, overnight, suddenly things got cold. Like really cold. Because freezing temps outside suddenly crept in when the heater stopped working. Why did it stop working, you ask? Because a chopstick was jamming the fan.

Yup. That’s my boy.

I’m not telling you these stories because I think having kids is crazy. On the contrary, actually. Zach has provided me with so many amazing experiences, so many hilarious stories, and so many cuddles, smiles, and countless laughs. He’s exactly the reason I WILL have more kids someday.

…he’s also the reason that having more kids anytime before he’s at least four and out of this phase is NOT something I want to happen.

I never understood my mom when she’d say “Kids make the best birth control.” I also didn’t understand why she waited 12 years to have my brother after me, and still don’t, because I was a perfect angel of a child.

But I get it now, the kids are the best birth control. Because after an exhausting day of slinky pee, jammed air conditioners, and entire boxes of Goldfish poured out on the floor, I wouldn’t trade my life for anything, but I also couldn’t imagine adding a second child to the list. All I want is to go to bed, pull the covers over my head, and pray for more than 3 hours of sleep so I can wake up and do it all over again the next day.

My son is the best possible blessing that God has ever granted me. He is sweet, adorable, and has the cutest face, especially when it is covered in eggs and bits of chocolate. He has so much compassion, love, and empathy. The other day, I was worn out from a workout and sat on the bed panting and sore. Zach came over to me and said “Mom! Are you okay?” He patted my back, rubbed my arm, and gave me a hug.

I love having a child. I love his energy, spirit, and the way he responds to everyone in love.

 

And, because of him, I’d like to wait awhile for another, thankyouverymuch. To my Facebook friends who are having another… and another… back-to-back, either your little ones are still in their “cute, silent, baby phase” when you decide to have more, or you are a stronger woman than I am. Because I have no idea how you’re managing without losing your mind.

Mom’s right. Kids DO make the best birth control.

Take A Silly Picture

- Mama 3 Comments

These pictures are old. I mean old old. Like, last spring old.

I was going through images that I needed to edit and get moved over to my external hard drive when I found these. They’re adorable, and I distinctly remember that Zach had just woken from a nap about 20 minutes before I took them. Echo jumped up on the bed in order to get some lovin’s from me, and Zach picked up his books. He looked at Echo, patted his butt as if to say “sit,” and started to read his books to Echo.

It was arguably one of the cutest moments I’ve witnessed in my entire life. I couldn’t resist snapping several photos since my camera was right there.

But, since children move and dogs move and I was just snapping away on auto mode, my pictures just weren’t that great. They weren’t lit perfectly, they were a bit blurry, and they just weren’t…. perfect.

I have this habit when I photograph things. I’ll snap about 400 photos of something, and then I’ll open them up and really look at them. I may adjust the lighting, I may tweak them, and I’ll go through and delete every photo that just doesn’t… work. If there’s a blurry patch, it’s gone. If there’s poor lighting, it’s gone.

As I’ve worked on this blog, I’ve tried to improve my photography enough that you can see what I’m doing with the food I’m making or the activity we’re working on in school, or whatever I happen to be blogging about.

The problem is that sometimes this professional side of me bleeds over into my personal life so much that sometimes I’ll ignore a set of photos that are cute, but not perfect. I overlook the fact that with a few minor tweaks and the memory intact, it doesn’t matter if these photos are perfect. It just matters that I’ve captured some sort of memory there.

These photos serve that purpose.

They’re blurry. They’re not perfect. There is no way that I can go back to that day, recreate that scene, shoot the photos again.

I have to live with the photos I got, and honestly, at second glance, they turned out really adorably. I notice that the blur really shows the pace Echo and Zach are moving at. It shows the scene, even if the pictures didn’t turn out perfectly, professionally, well-lit, evenly cropped, nicely framed.

They capture the spirit of my boys, and that’s enough for me.

So here’s what I want to challenge you to do.

Grab a camera. Take a silly photo. Take 10 silly photos. Take pictures of your son, your daughter, your grandchildren, your pet, your husband or wife, your brothers or sisters, your parents, yourself… whoever you want. But capture that memory. Take a bunch of photos. Throw perfection out the window– focus on the memory. If it’s blurry, it’s blurry. If it’s poorly lit, it’s poorly lit. If you get a perfect shot, even better. But focus on getting that memory, if nothing else.

I’d love it if you’d come back and share with me the shot you took, and any story behind the photo. I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with.