Sunday, December 5, 2010

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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Army Men in the Hamper

After getting all the kids to bed and getting myself ready to relax this evening, I throw my dirty clothes into the hamper only to find six army men, Rex from Toy Story 3 and an airplane staring back at me.  Oh, it's the little things that make me smile.  Yes, I am sure I can guess whose little hands put all those toys in our clothes hamper.  It was the same little hands whose fingernails I cut at bedtime tonight.  It was the same little hands that carry around a toy in each hand all day just to have something to hold.  It was the same little hands who love to color and dig in the dirt.  It was also the same little hands that grab my face at night and turn my head so he can kiss my ears or eyes.  Those little, sweet, precious toddler hands belong to my Liam Christopher.

That boy can be one of the sweetest yet one of the fussiest kids I know and, yet, I love every bit of him!  He is every bit of two and one half years old and is just so loveable.  He is my emotional kiddo and gets his feelings hurt easily, but he truly is a blessing from God.  I loved finding the army men in the hamper tonight because it was a reminder to me to stop and slow down and again, Thank God for allowing to be the mother of three amazing kids!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

My kids make me smile!

Being a working mother is incredibly hard for me because I would love nothing more than to be home full-time with my kiddos.  I love being a mom and I love every aspect of taking care of them (well, minus the whining and bickering!)  They are such cool lilttle kids!  I feel so blessed to be given the chance to be a mom three times over and have both two boys and a little girl! 

I was listening to the radio today and they were discussing how hard stay-at-home moms have it!  Granted I am not a full-time-all-year-stay-at-home-mom but I am one in the summer months and I would still trade my job anyday to be home every day.  There's just something to be said for the fact that you really don't have a specific schedule that someone else sets.  Yes, there is laundry and cleaning and all the stuff the comes with managing a household but you can be more leisurely about completing those tasks.  A working mother does not have that luxury.  The weekends are tied up with trying to get all those same chores done in much less time.

Overall, I do feel blessed and thankful to have a job!  However, my kids are and always will be my main priority and I miss them so much during the day!  Home all day or not, my favorite part of the day is our bedtime routine where we all cuddle together and read some books.  I love to have us all together enjoying each other and a good book!  Thanks, once again, to my babies, for making me smile!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

I can't believe my baby is 6 months old!

My precious baby girl was six months old yesterday and I can harly believe it!  Where does the time go?  She is getting so big and doing new and fun things everyday.  She is one of the happiest little babies I have ever met and she brings tremendous joy to all our lives!  We are truly blessed to have her in our family! 
We all love you more than words can say, Olivia Louisa!

Here are my three little incredible blessings!  I have been blessed with three amazing children and I can't thank God enough for allowing me to be their mom!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Sometimes being a mother is so hard!

I often question if I am doing enough good things for my kids.  I often wonder if the decisions I make for them, because they are too young to make their own, are the right decisions.  I know I make mistakes daily as the mother of three small children.  I want to be the best I can be for them.  Sometimes it's just so hard!  I don't think anyone ever prepares you for the heartache you feel for your children when they are away from you and for the burden of heartache that motherhood brings. 

Being a mother is one of the most amazing experiences of my life, but with it comes so many emotions that are uncomfortable sometimes.  When your child is hurting, you want to make it all better.  When someone criticizes your child, you want to make it go away.  When someone doesn't love your child as much as you do, you want to ask them what is wrong with them.  These are just a few of the things about being a mother that are so hard.  I just love my kddos so much and want what is best for them!  They mean everything to me!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Today was just one of those really great days...

Today was just one of those really great days...you know the kind where you don't necessarily wake up excited about anything in particular but it turns out to be just a great day because you spent it with the ones you love!  That was my day today!  I tried really hard to make it to the gym for an 8 AM exercise class but because we were out late last night, that just didn't happen.  Logan had his first fall swim lesson at LCP at 9:30 so I took him and Logan to the lesson and then I did a class afterwards.  I asked the boys if they wanted to go to the Akron Zoo this afternoon and they did.  We came home, had lunch, got Baby O and headed out.

First of all, the weather could not have been more perfect today.  Sunny skies, mid-seventies, just beautfiul!  We had an amazing day together--just momma and her three babies.  We saw the sights at the zoo and just enjoyed each other's company.  There was no whining, no fighting, no complaining, no crying but lots of listening, polite words and happiness at the zoo and it was wonderful!  I enjoyed spending some special time with the boys and with Ol ivia too.  I thank God today for such a perfect day to spend with my kids.  No, we didn't have to do anything fancy but being together was just perfect!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Remarkable little boy

As all other moms, I get very excited to see my children growing, learning and discovering life around them.  My oldest son, Logan, is four and is now into his third week of PreK.  Now, by no means do I think he is the perfect child, but I am really impressed very often by his thoughts and ideas.  Today after school, we were all outside playing and he wanted me to fill his sand pail with water as I have done other afternoons when watering my flowers.  He started putting different objects into it and deducing whether they sank or floated, which I thought was really cool!  He said they did this experiment at school and he wanted to do it at home.  The kid is really into science and nature so I knew that was something that would have made an impression on him at school. 

However, this is not the end of the story.  Tomorrow morning I am meeting with his teacher so she can tell me yet again that Logan has problems with his focus and attention skills.  We do have concerns about some areas of Logan's development, but I also have concerns when a teacher wants to "label" a child at such a young age.  I am not saying that we don't ever have problems with him listening at home but we do find ways to improve that by rewarding good choices, praise and sometimes strern words.  I struggle with this situation because I, too, am an educator and I have had these same things to say about students I have worked with in the past. 

Logan has so much potential and intelligence and I feel like he might be being asked to stiffle what creativity and excitement for learning already exists.  I struggle as his mom because I don't want to be the "educator" who turned a blind eye to the problems her own son is having but I can't get past the fact that he is only four.  And I also don't want to be the mom who stiffles the burning desire within my son to learn, discover and to soar.  I want Logan to be accepted for who he is.  This experience has certainly made me a better professional and hopefully mom. 

Monday, September 13, 2010

Sinus Infections already?!

Well, I am already feeling the effects of a sinus infection and this is only the beginning of my third week of school.  Actually, I went to bed feeling not so good and woke up feeling not so good, but I didn't feel too bad throughout the day today.  Well, the evening has brought another round of feeling run-down with a scratchy throat and stuffy nose.  Liam and Olivia had runny noses yesterday but were better today.  It broke my hear to send them to the sitter's house today not knowing if they were feeling okay.  They are much better today.

Logan was even getting a little stuffy tonight!  Ugh!  It is too early in the school year to already be plagued by the germs that are causing these symptoms!  I just hope that it doesn't linger long!  I will have to go buy myself an extremely large container of Purell and be sure to use it often!  It's off to bed early for me since I got little sleep last night and because I am not feeling so well. 

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Relationships


I love to watch my parents spending time with my children.  My boys love their PaPa and GG.  They love going to their house and exploring all the wonderful things outside.  Today, alone, my boys found many butterflies, a praying mantis, a snake skin and saw many other beautiful things in nature, all in their grandparents' backyard.  I feel blessed to have such amazing parents who want to share their lives with my children!


I took this picture of my three together this morning at my parents' house.  It is rare to get a picture of them all looking at the camera so I was happy to get this one, even though, Logan, my oldest is not smiling as he was in all the other pictures that I took.  It is still a very precious picture to me!

Me--a Blogger?!

I just now set up my new blog and I am so excited!  I used to be an avid journal writer and then scrapbooking somewhat replaced that.  I have a computerized journaling program but I have found myself not using that as much as I would like and have I have ventured to a few other blogs recently, I realized this is a venue where I would like to begin recording and sharing.

I want this to be a record of my days as a working mother, wife and individual.  I want to share my struggles, triumphs and my strenths and needs.  I want to record my family's history and provide a place for myself to reflect on the beautiful things this life affords me! 

I named my blog "Count Your Blessings" as this is my new mantra!  I recently returned to work ( two weeks ago) after being home for 5 months after having our youngest child.  While, I enjoy working I do wish I was home with her (and my two boys) every day so the last few weeks have been tough as our family has adjusted to new schedules and such.  However, I do feel very blessed and thankful that I had a job (a very good one that I love) to return to, actually.  I am remembering every day to count my blessings, as they are many!