A Year of Gratitude: Day 316 (not late!)

Today I am grateful my sister-in-law (inadvertently?) talked me into reading a book I was hesitant about.  So far it's been very engaging and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.  Yay for a good read!

Have a wonderful night!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 311 (two days late)

Today I am grateful for this:

Mollie was so excited to see Baylor this morning that she decided to camp out at the bottom of the stairs to wait for him.

At first she just set up camp in the dark, but I turned the light on to take a picture and asked if she wanted to read a book while she waited and she loved that idea.

Nothing like a little Nancy Clancy to pass the time.

I'm glad she's so excited to see her brother and spend time with him this weekend.  School has been a little rough on all of us, each in different ways, so our weekends have taken on new meanings.  Here's to Saturday!

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 260

Today I am grateful for an amazing gift our vacation unexpectedly gave me.  When we go on vacation, I try very hard (and am usually very successful) at taking a break from electronics.  I sent one e-mail over the trip because I needed to make sure an appointment was secured and had forgotten to before we left, but otherwise I abstained completely from the internet.  And in that time I received from the absence of electronics, I regained my love of reading.

For as long as I can remember I have had a great love of reading, diving into a good story and not coming up for air for as long as possible.  It's not something I can really do with how-to books and self-help books, which is what I have been, by and large, reading over the last couple years.  (Parenthood will do that to you, though.)  No, a good novel is like dessert for my soul, and I am so glad to have been able to indulge as of late.

Speaking of which, I have a book to enjoy!

Have a wonderful night!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 254

Today I am grateful that my kiddos love to read.

I remember when I was in middle school and high school and I would read books at lunch, just to get in some extra reading time.  So when I saw Baylor pour over his book while we were waiting for our lunch, I smiled and hoped that he'll continue to foster his great love for reading.

Mollie can't read yet, but she has a great love of books and will "read" them to any doll who will listen.

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 238

Today I am grateful that I took the time to read during nap time this afternoon.  I usually fill the time up with doing dishes, general tidying up, occasionally switching the laundry, and often getting sucked into episode after episode of Parks and Rec/New Girl/Modern Family/The Office/etc.  I was so exhausted today, however, that I just sat at my desk and read.  I would have loved to have enjoyed a nice comfy seat on the couch in the living room, but that was just an invitation to sleep and I don't do well with little naps.  I love to read, I have for as long as I can remember, and since we've had kids I have found myself reading less and less, particularly for pleasure; I don't really like to count potty training books as "reading for pleasure" as potty training is a horror itself.

Anyhow, I was happy I just sat and read this afternoon and gave myself a good break.

Have a wonderful night!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 225 (a day late)

Today I am grateful that my children seem to have developed a true love for books and reading.  Our library books were due tomorrow, so we made our way to the library and checked another twenty out.  Yes, twenty.  Then we got home and they did what they do every time we get new library books; they sit on the couch and proceed to devour them in perfect silence.  It's amazing. 

Baylor chose mostly superhero and Star Wars books, but I snagged a science book for him about weather; he loves reading for information and I think he would have gotten more books like that had he not headed for the chapter book area first.  During the silence after we return from the library, I'm pretty sure he skim reads all the books he's gotten because he always comes away with a bunch of pertinent questions.

Mollie tends to grab a variety of books, from Wonder Woman to fairies to Arthur this time, and though she can't actually read yet she loves to look through them and make stories up about all the pictures she sees.

For example, after nap time Baylor really wanted to play Star Wars with Mollie.  She wasn't really into it, but she was so hoping I'd read her the fairy book she checked out.  Sadly I was making dinner and couldn't, but I suggested she ask Baylor to read to her.  He's never done that and typically refuses to.  This time, though, I told her to sweeten the pot by telling him she'd play Star Wars with him if he read her the book.  After skimming through it, he declared that he would not read any "girl books".  They bantered about a bit, and finally he agreed to read a book to her after she "read" one to him.  So she did.

And, as I guessed would happen, he reneged on his agreement and wouldn't read to her.  *sigh*  But they had fun anyway and ended up playing Star Wars for a bit before dinner.

I digress.

I love reading and spent many hours of my youth engrossed in books, and I'm thrilled that my kiddos seem to have an affinity for it as well.

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 188

Today I am grateful for the little moment I had with Baylor after dinner, while Mollie was still trying to finish eating.  He wanted to show me the eleven planets (I know ... I didn't know about this either) and tell me all about them.  I felt awake and alert, something I've been struggling with a lot lately, and I got to snuggle a little with my wonderful son.  It was really nice.

I feel like I have to start soaking in all these moments and snuggles and smiles because in the fall he'll be going to school for all-day kindergarten, and I don't even know how that's going to work.  I will miss him so much, as will Mollie.  I know we'll find our new normal, but the thought boggles my mind right now.

So, I'm letting it go for now.  Letting it go and just enjoying our time together as much as I can.  That's all we can ever do, right?

Have a wonderful night!

Valentine's Day 2013

Actual Valentine's Day was fun this year.  The kids and I spent the middle part of the day with Oma and Aunt Christine and had all sorts of fun.

Oma (and Grandpa E) surprised the kids with Toy Story action figures and some cute cards.

And Aunt Christine got them an adorable book.  (Of course, being awesome and all, I didn't get a picture of it.  *sigh*)

We tried out a Spoonlickers cake ...

... and played, played, played!

It was a lot of fun and, most importantly, we could all feel the love.

A Year of Gratitude: Day 124 (a day late)

Today I am grateful for Baylor's interest in writing one of his favorite authors.  Yesterday, after going out and getting a haircut with my mom, he came home and said he wanted to write a letter to Chris Van Dusen, the author of some of his favorite picture books.  He wanted to suggest that Mr. Van Dusen write a book called "If I Built an Earth Mover", no doubt inspired by the giant construction equipment hard at work on the corner near my parents' house.  So we sat down, and he dictated the letter to me.  I guided him a bit, and we ended up letting Mr. Van Dusen know which books we had and which one was Baylor's favorite (If I Built a House).

As we ended the letter, Baylor, without looking up from something he was working on, told me to finish it off with, "Love, Baylor".  The kid is so full of love it astounds me.  So I wrote the "Love," and he wrote "Baylor", adding extra flair because that's just who he is.  I also had him add "Age 4", in part to let the author know why the child this letter was from didn't write the bulk of the letter.

After putting it in an envelope, addressing it to Mr. Van Dusen, care of the publisher, and adding a stamp, Baylor made sure it got into Oma's mailbox as we headed out for frozen yogurt.  I have no idea what will come of the sending of this letter, if anything, but I love that Baylor had an idea and wanted to reach out to someone about it.  I love this little dreamer of mine, and I hope his ideas are, at the very least, read and appreciated by the person he admires.

Here's hoping!

Have a wonderful day!

The Kids These Days: 2.5 and 4 Years

Well, well, well ... I am finally getting around to writing this, nearly four months after starting it.  I realized that Mollie will be three years old in just under two months over one month now (yes, I've been trying to write this for that long), and she's not technically even two-and-a-half anymore.  *sigh*  The good thing is, all the things I was going to write about still hold true, so that's something, right?  Anyway, here goes ...

Amalia, my little lady, is now two-and-a-half years old, a fact she is actually able to tell you about now.  She is really easy to understand and seems to have a wide vocabulary, but there are still words here and there that she mispronounces.  She used to have a bunch, but slowly they've been replaced by correct pronunciation and quite frankly it makes me a little sad; I miss her calling water "yaya", sleep sheep "beep beep", and the like.  All it took was a quick correction by me and the cute little toddler talk vanished, and while that's great I am - rather selfishly - choosing not to correct some of her mistakes just yet.  For example, she just butchers the word "your"; it comes out something more like "thurrr" and it's adorable.  Plus, people don't know what she's saying, so right now I can get away with it if she insults someone - which she has been known to do.  (More on that later ...)  She also says "bobbin" instead of "bottom" ... cute beyond words.

So, the insults ...

A little while ago a new person came to our house for a visit, and as per usual, Mollie wouldn't speak a word to her.  After the woman left, Mollie looked me right in the eye and said, "I didn't like her face."  Yeah, she said it.  I was shocked, to say the least, and she followed it up with, "I didn't like her face and I didn't like her."  At that moment I was intensely grateful for her shyness, otherwise I could totally see her saying that to the person's unappealing face.  (The woman's face was actually quite pretty; I think that's just how Mollie was expressing her discomfort at having a stranger in the house.)  Ordinarily, though, Mollie is quite complementary.  Really, I swear!

Recently, Mollie started saying, "When I get tall like Grandpa E ..." and finishing it up with what she is looking forward to doing when she is older.  Grandpa E is the gold standard in our family for those who want to be tall, so I can't blame her.  (Trust me, I wanted to be as tall as him - which is about 6'3" - when I was a little girl; at 5'4" I clearly fell a little short of the goal.)  And her list of things that she'll do when she's as big as he is includes potty train, drive, and like certain foods.

My lovely girl has, blissfully, decided to skip the whole princess phase and declare herself a queen.  Yes, a queen.  She proclaimed it one day as she was wearing a pink floral corduroy dress from back when Christine and I were kids (literally ... it was one of our dresses; Mom saved it) and was feeling particularly fancy - it has poofy sleeves and lace around the collar and wrists, after all.  A week or so later we decided I would be the queen mum.  And it is wonderful.

Amalia has an imaginary brother named Andy-brother that she speaks of frequently.  I am apparently not Andy-brother's mom and Bryson isn't Andy-brother's dad so I'm not exactly sure how they are related, but she thinks of him as a brother all the same.  He is of varying ages depending on the day, though she often makes him younger than herself.  She also, occasionally, has a sister named Mollie.  Andy-brother and imaginary Mollie live in my Mollie's imaginary pink house.  She created it in her mind months ago and talks of it regularly.  Baylor also has an imaginary house, blue of course, where his imaginary brother lives.  He is also of varying ages and often gets to do things Baylor wishes he could do (e.g., drive a car).

Mollie has three dolls now that she cares for on a pretty regular basis, Sally, Colin, and Adele.  She loves to pat them, put them to bed, feed them on occasion (Colin spent the bulk of one day in a high chair "eating" a salad, a.k.a. a piece of play lettuce), and so on.  She's very caring and considerate with them and often likes to take them all out with us.  I usually put the kibosh on that unless we're going to Oma's house, and then it's an adorable free for all as Mollie tries to figure out how she can carry them all to and from the car (one of our rules for Oma's house is that if you're going to bring something, you have to be able to carry it yourself ... I have enough bags to carry, thank you very much).  When it was just Sally, before she had really taken notice of Colin and Adele who have been around longer, she used to have her sleep on the glider in her room and would kiss the "boo boo" on her forehead (a blue mark left by an errant toy no doubt) and both of her eyebrows.  It was adorable and so sweet.  Now that there are three of them, she's less consistent with where they sleep, typically either bringing them into bed with her or leaving them downstairs altogether.

Dear Amalia isn't all sugar and spice, though.  She has a stubborn streak a mile wide (wonder where she gets that from ...) and has been known to throw a fit every now and then.  Her favorite and most signature move is a general slumping of the shoulders when she is displeased with something.  It's very dramatic, though it elicits more laughter than sympathy at this point.

Both kids hate it when I make dinner every night, mostly because it means I can't go play with them in the living room.  I try to get them to keep me company in the kitchen coloring or reading, but they can only do that for so long before they get restless.  (I am one of the slowest cooks in history, able to stretch a "15-minute meal" into a two-hour long ordeal.  They have time to get bored, believe me.)  For a while there, they would both freak out any time I would pull my hair back in a pony tail (like I do when I make meals), with Mollie often moaning, "Don't make dinner now, Mommy!"

Mealtime in and of itself is a bit of a test of wills and patience at this point.  They both tend to be kind of pokey eaters who would much rather talk than feed themselves.  We often end up feeding them, though for Baylor especially this seems a bit ridiculous; we've tried to just let them feed themselves, but then dinner ended up being hours long and even more torturous.  The best nights are when we have some of their favorite foods, as those tend to be the nights that they actually scarf down whatever I've made.  Lately those favorite foods are tortellini, pizza, and - Mollie's favorite - tacos.  Sadly, I don't feel comfortable just keeping those three foods in constant rotation, so we have to endure slower-eating nights quite often.

Mollie and Baylor are both digging The Beatles something fierce right now.  We listen to their number ones CD on constant repeat in the car, and they have their favorites they look forward to hearing (Mollie loves "Ticket to Ride" and Baylor loves "Daytripper" and "Hey Jude").  Every time I see the track number display flip back to "1" I heave a small sigh, but then I remind myself that we are listening to The Beatles and not Kids Bop or The Wiggles or something else equally annoying and I smile.  John, Paul, George, and Ringo, I salute you!

Baylor is really getting into reading these days and has started up some chapter book series.  We started out with the A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy, but we stalled out at G when they didn't have it at the bookstore.  (Yes, I buy him the books ... for a few reasons.  One, he can be hard on books, and as we've already returned a few library books damaged I didn't want my card revoked for the rest of eternity.  Two, he actually reads and rereads them all the time; his "rest time" consists of him sitting in his bed reading books for an hour or two and most of the time he chooses chapter books.  And three, I'm hoping Mollie will get into them someday, and it'd be nice to have them already on hand when the time comes.  Plus, she loves just about anything Baylor loves, and I'm hoping to use that to my advantage when it comes to getting her to love reading.)

Anyhow, I digress.

He is now working his way through the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne, having received books one through four for Christmas.  These, and the aforementioned mystery books, are great, but they are for a bit more mature of a reader than a four year-old so we've had to do a bit of explaining and a bit of calming down when things got too intense.  (He had a particularly rough time when a T. rex was introduced in one of the books.)  On the upside, he's learning some pretty impressive words like "precipice" and "samurai", and our dictionary is getting a workout.

Baylor is getting into the whole Star Wars thing, though he hasn't seen any of the movies yet.  He initially became interested in them when he saw a bunch of cool-looking Star Wars sets in a Lego catalog, but his interest was piqued even more when I checked out a copy of R2-D2 and Friends at our local library; he spent about four weeks (I renewed it once) pouring over it and memorizing it with little effort.  I'm looking forward to watching the movies with him someday, but I am pretty certain he's too young for that right now.  All in good time.

Speaking of Legos, Baylor still loves them.  (Shocker, right?)  He has a bunch of sets, but he rarely does them by the instructions anymore.  Instead he prefers making "Baylor originals" or "creations" as he calls them, occasionally referencing the instructions for tips on how to make this or that.

Baylor is also into the cash register he got from Santa this past Christmas.  It has a bunch of educational games on it, and from those Baylor has learned all the names and values of the coins and is working on learning how to add and subtract.  It's pretty amazing to watch him at it, and for something that most people would consider a bit too "educational" Baylor really seems to find it fun.

Baylor is a very glass-is-half-full kind of kid.  He's always looking for the silver lining in any situation.  Your team didn't win?  Don't worry, the other one did!  I don't want you to read the story tonight, Daddy, but you can snuggle with me!  On top of that, he's always looking for the best in people; he doesn't want anyone to be mean or hurtful.  Take this recent interaction as a prime example ...

Baylor, after his rest time, told me he wanted to be a villain and I would be the hero.  I was pretty surprised by this as he's only recently been even remotely open to the idea of good guys vs. bad guys, so I agreed.  However, I had to go to the bathroom first, so I told him I'd be right out to play.  While I was in there, I could hear him scamper into the kitchen, read a magnet off the fridge, laugh, and run away again.  After I finished up, I paused at the desk to check my e-mail.  All of a sudden he cackles at me and slams the French doors right next to the desk saying, "I'm locking you out, Mommy!"  Then he blew raspberries on the door for good measure.  I asked, "Are you being the villain?"  He grinned and said that he was, then he told me that he had stolen something and pointed to the magnet from the fridge I had overheard him reading.  I smiled then dashed around the stairway and into the living room and tackled him.  "You got me!" he shrieked, then he sat up very seriously and said, "I am sorry for stealing that.  I will be better in the future."  Worst.  Villain.  EVER.  And I love him all the more for it.

He's also quite complimentary.  Quite often he'll come up to us and say something like, "I like your shirt!" or "I like your hair!"  It's super cute, and it's nice to see that he understands how complimenting someone makes them feel good.

But believe me, Baylor isn't perfect; he has his quirks and issues just like the rest of us.  For example, he is not a morning person.  Let me repeat that ... he is NOT a morning person.  On non-school, nowhere-to-go days, I let him sleep in as long as he likes; he needs the sleep, so I'm happy to just let him go.  School days, though ... ugh, school days.  He really needs to be woken up by 7:00 so we can leave sometime around 8:20 and make it to school on time, and waking him up then does not guarantee that we won't have to hurry.  Sometimes he's so tired that he grabs his blanket and pillow as I'm scooping him out of bed and proceeds to lay his head down at the breakfast table.  *sigh*  High school is going to be a real treat, I can already tell.

Baylor also, for whatever reason, likes to try out just about every public restroom he runs across.  If we're eating at a restaurant, you can almost guarantee he'll have to use the potty at some point, most of the time just so he can see it.  And while restaurant bathrooms are certainly his favorite, he isn't above "needing" to use the potty at Costco or Target.  Unfortunately, he hates hand dryers, so we have to do a lot of careful observation when we first enter a bathroom to prepare for the possibility that he'll have to endure the noise of a dryer at some point.  (Costco is definitely the worst for this; he ended up crying in the stall the other day because they have those terribly loud Dyson Airblade hand dryers and the bathroom was busier than I had realized.)

My little man has a bit of a love/hate relationship with the homework he gets in preschool.  He usually has fun doing it once he starts, but man does he put up a fight to get there.  It's been getting a little better as of late, but now we have a new problem: for a while he was writing his name on his paper just as he should (okay, maybe a little bigger, but whatever ...), but now he has decided to be artsy with his "signature" and creates little stories with the letters.  Oh look, the L is holding the O and R!  Or hey, the B has a hat on!  I often want to write a note with each assignment to let his teacher know what is going on in each crayon stroke, but I try to refrain and let Baylor's work speak for itself.  I have a feeling I'll be fighting this urge for many years to come.

Both kiddos have been testing their boundaries lately, and it's getting a little tiring for me.  I have a pretty firm "whining will not get you anything" stance, and have for quite some time, but recently they seem to have decided to test my limits.  Just how far can we push Mommy until she caves?  Unfortunately, it often ends with them crying a bit and me feeling a little guilty over holding my ground.  I feel so strongly about them not being spoiled and getting their way all the time, though, that I'm willing to endure a little unhappiness if it helps them cope with disappointments later in life.  *sigh*  But that is a much larger issue for another post - should I get around to writing it.

So that's it!  Actually, that's just the tip of the iceberg with the kids; there is so much more to them than I can really relate here.  But I want to hit the highlights of how they are now so that someday, way down the line, I'll remember their sweet little selves at two-and-a-half and four.

Seuss Story Time!

Target had a Dr. Seuss story time a couple weekends ago, and I thought it would be a blast if we went over and listened to a story or two.  Baylor, however, did not agree, so Mollie and I had a little mother-daughter morning out.

It was pretty cold out, so we got all bundled up to face the weather.  On the flip side, it was also quite sunny ... and Mollie insisted on dressing appropriately.

At our Target, they had a little area cleared off in the girls' clothing section and Target employees were taking turns reading some of the good Dr.'s classics.  Mollie wanted to stay on the periphery, but she was certainly interested.

Eventually she inched a little closer, but ultimately she wanted to stay near me, near the edge.

It was a lot of fun, though the books they read were ones Mollie wasn't familiar with so she didn't get into it as much as I had hoped she would.  Regardless, we had a lot of fun, and it was nice getting to spend time just the two of us.  (The boys had fun at home as well, so it was a win-win all the way around.)

Library Time with Oma

Last week the kids and I hit the local library with my mom and, of course, there was much fun to be had.

Mollie channeled her inner tech geek and played on the computer a while.

And Baylor introduced me to the big alphabet/numbers rug at the back of the children's section.  First we counted up from one.

Then after going through some of the alphabet, we checked out the puppet theatre.

Mollie really got into carrying the puppets around.

Then we headed back to the stacks to find some books to check out ... and play with the toys over there.

We got a ton of books and the kids had a great time.  Thanks again, Mom, for joining us!

Trip to the Library: Little Miss Austen, Indeed!

The kids and I went to our local library last week to return some old books and check out some new ones.  Of course, Baylor found an open computer and decided he wanted to play a little.

Mollie looked on, more than a bit jealous that her brother got to touch a keyboard and wear headphones.

Eventually she realized she wasn't going to get to type, so she moved on to some nearby toys.

Baylor was not too into leaving, so I ended up having to carry both kids out to the car, along with our bevy of library books.  Most of them were of the usual fare, but one particular book Mollie found among the stacks made me smile.

A counting board book based on my favorite novel!  How perfectly wonderful!  I might just have to buy it at some point ... it's too fantastic!

Who knows what we'll find at the library on our next visit?!

Tom Thumb or Hunca Munca?

This adorable baby mouse - along with his/her brother or sister - made an appearance at my parents' house not too long ago.  My sister first found them asleep together in near some tall grasses in my parents' backyard landscaping, then we saw this little guy or gal again, chilling by him/herself in the wood chips.  Baylor has been very into Beatrix Potter books lately and has really fallen in love with The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, and The Tale of Two Bad Mice, in particular.  The last of those features two mice, Tom Thumb and his wife Hunca Munca, so these baby mice have been named as such.  Since we don't know the mice's actual gender, we just guess at who we've seen.  Whomever they are, though, they are certainly cute!

Read With Me

The kids spontaneously sat on the little Sesame Street couch together last night.  Baylor sat down to read a book, and Mollie sidled up next to him.  He read to her instead and tried to teach her about all the words in the book.

Mollie tried to join in and slide some of the doors in the book, but Baylor wasn't exactly having it.

Really, she was just so excited that he was paying attention to her.

Then she got distracted.

And up she went.  It was a nice moment while it lasted, anyways.  Hopefully the first of many to come.

What Will You Pay Attention To Today?

I rarely mark in books I own; I did it all through college but have never seen the point in a book I am reading "for fun".  That changed today.  The title of this post are the words I underlined in a book I finished reading on vacation.  I should write a formal review of the book, Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life by Karen Maezen Miller, but for now I want to focus on this one point she made and share with you her insights.

She writes:

Attention is the most concrete expression of love.  What we pay attention to thrives.  What we do not pay attention to withers and dies.


What will you pay attention to today?

In my mind, no truer words have been written.  If you are paying attention to something, clearly it holds some sort of value to you; we only have so much time on this earth, so what you give your time to must be what you love and deem important.  The sad thing is, how much of our time do we give to those things that we actually don't see as important (time-fillers, if you will)?

So today I make my start, a conscious effort to attend to the things I love, the people I love.  For someone like me with attention deficit disorder, it is difficult not to get side-tracked by the novel and the train-wrecks.  It takes concentration and a great deal of effort, but those are small prices to pay if I can truly convey to my loved ones how much I care for them.  I know I won't always be perfect, won't always be able or remember to give my full attention.  But I can try my best, and I can do things to help myself focus.  Like closing our laptop when the kiddos are awake, keeping the television off (which I usually do anyway), and trying to get chores and blogging done while I have alone time.

No end-goal to achieve, no level of mastery to acquire ... this will just be a new practice for my life.  Something for which to strive for every day.

What will you pay attention to today?

A Buddhist Poem

I am currently reading the book, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, by Karen Armstrong, and in it she included a Buddhist poem I have fallen in love with and would like to share with you all.

Let all beings be happy!  Weak or strong, of high, middle or low estate, small or great, visible or invisible, near or far away, alive or still to be born - May they all be perfectly happy!

Let nobody lie to anybody or despise any single being anywhere.

May nobody wish harm to any single creature out of anger or hatred!

Let us cherish all creatures, as a mother her only child!

May our loving thoughts fill the whole world, above, below, across - without limit; our love will know no obstacles - a boundless goodwill toward the whole world, unrestricted, free of hatred or enmity.

Whether we are standing or walking, sitting or lying down, as long as we are awake we should cultivate this love in our heart.  This is the noblest way of living.

Book Review: Momma Zen

Today I finished what has become one of my favorite books.  Momma Zen, written by Karen Maezen Miller, is - in my opinion - a must-read for any mom or mom-to-be.  I can barely describe the book; it is a wonderful mix of Zen teachings and honest life lessons about motherhood, but it is also a striking memoir about a woman entering the world of mommyland in mid-life all the while struggling as her own mother develops ovarian cancer.

Let's put it this way ... I have never, in my life, carried flags with me so I could mark great points and passages in a book I'm reading for fun.  And I did with this book.  It's that good.

It's short at only 169 pages, the last of which give a quick lesson on meditating.  The chapters are short as well, and there is a great section in the back called "For the Hard Days: Where to Look for Help" that directs you to chapters that can help you when you need anything from balance to trust.

I plan on returning to this book often; it warmed my heart and made me feel less alone on this crazy trip called motherhood.  So many times I found myself saying, "That's it!  She's hit the nail right on the head!" or "That's exactly what I needed to hear."

Truly amazing, Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood is something you must experience, particularly if you are a mother.

Distraction (and a Random Picture)

I'd love to write more right now, but I am trying to work my way through a book (!!!) in whatever free time I can find - which honestly isn't very plentiful right now.  The book is called Delivered from Distraction, and it's all about coping and making the most out of life with ADD.  I'm planning on writing a post about it as soon as I finish it ... though at this rate, it could be a year from now.  Oy!

Anyhow, I thought I'd share a picture of Miss Mollie with you in lieu of an actual post today.  Isn't she the cutest?!

She just loves that superhero/villain ball of Baylor's! 

So what are you reading these days?

Awesome Book: Skippyjon Jones 1-2-3

My mom picked up this book for Baylor as a surprise for our vacation, and it has since become his current favorite. It is called Skippyjon Jones 1-2-3, and it's all about a naughty kitty boy and the mischief he has collected. Apparently, this series is becoming quite popular, so much so, in fact, that we couldn't find any more of the books at the local bookstore here on vacation. We did find a Skippyjon Jones stuffed animal, though, so I got that for him even though he has on a costume that isn't featured in the book Baylor has.

It's super cute! Even Baylor says so.