...ideas and encouragement from my corner of the world on homeschool, parenting, party planning and beyond...


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Falling in love again...

It's amazing the clarity that comes with psychotic jealousy. 
-Rupert Everett


So there is really something to say about being jealous. My husband and I were recently at this wedding and this guy I used to flirt with in college was there- in the wedding- with his wife.

I was like a crazy person.

It wasn't that I still even care one thing about this guy or honestly that I had even thought about him in years, but just seeing him made me want to show him how perfect my life is- in other words- make him jealous. Now granted, I am not anywhere close to being a model, but I had this awesome dress on and my husband and toddler were all dressed up too and for whatever reason my main goal for the two hours at the Carnegie hotel was to make sure we appeared to be the perfect little family. My toddler might have been running around like a crazy person and my husband might have been grouchy because he couldn't wear his hat, but I was making certain that I laughed non-stop and touched my husband every few minutes and kissed my sweet baby's face.

So you would think all that craziness was for no reason or just me being self-absorbed, but somehow it made me like my husband more. I guess just realizing how proud I am to show him off and how fun it was to actually laugh and touch him for no reason instead of worrying too much about what my toddler was running around doing really made jealousy fun. It showed me, more than anything, how much I was in love with my family.

Sometimes when you're wrapped up in being a mom, you forget about being a woman. I all too often wear sweat pants for days with my hair in a bun and consume conversations with my husband with talk about couponing and what's up with the Duggars or the Kardashians.  It just took some jealousy to remind me that I have a husband who I always hope will want to make ex-girlfriends jealous with me and maybe I should work a little harder at always making sure they have something to be jealous of. :)

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Oh gender stigmas...

As a Communication major in college, I remember being appalled at parents that wouldn't let their little boys play with dolls or have play kitchens or moms that stopped their little girls from playing with dump trucks. I just knew, in my infinite speech minor wisdom, that letting children of both genders play with whatever they wanted would make for better partners in the future and even more than that I just could not understand what the big deal was!

Now I have a little boy of my very own. He is my whole world and I only want what's best for him. So, I bought him a gosh darn play kitchen! Then it happened. We went to Walmart to buy the play food to go with it. So I find the food and it's in a bright pink plastic container with a giant picture of a little girl on the front. I found myself sneaking the food onto the bottom of the buggy. Then we get to the register and the cashier says "Is this for your little girl?" I let her know that it was, in fact, for my son, but I was embarrassed. Seriously! The woman that not two years ago was writing papers about gender roles was hiding play food under the buggy?

It made me realize how having a baby changes you. Even knowing what is best for him and being very firm in the beliefs and ideas that I have, it was really difficult to think about anyone thinking he was different from the norm. For a second, in the line at Walmart, it just seemed easier to just make sure he fit in. How funny it is that a love for someone else can make you question all that you know to be right. He will continue to play with his play kitchen and baby doll (ordered from eBay to prevent above scenario from happening again). I am just saying the kids at school one day better think he's awesome, play kitchen or not, 'cause I sure do. :)

Who am I... exactly?

In writing this blog, I want to give readers a view from my little corner of the world. This post is to help you know who is behind the words and pictures. I am a lot of things to a lot of people and I am excited to share parts of those things with the world through this blog.

My favorite college professor said one time that the worst thing anyone could ever do for her would be to have a surprise party and invite everyone she knew. I am and do many things and I am learning that though they all define me in some way, no one thing defines me completely. To sum it up, I am a Christian, wife, stay at home mommy, friend, sister, daughter, lactation counselor, Breastfeeding Coalition president, coupon queen and at-home chef and maid with a Communication degree. Shew. Makes me tired just writing it.

But, most importantly, I am a mommy to two beautiful boys and the wife to an amazing husband who I was blessed to meet and fall in love with when I was only 16. At the current time, I am a breastfeeding, baby-wearing, co-sleeping (yes, with both boys) mama doing preschool at home with my toddler and running an in-home daycare. I call myself a crunchy mama, though I am not as crunchy as some. I try to do the things that feel natural to me as a mother and many of them seem to fall in the crunchy realm of life. Most of the posts on this blog will come from these things.

I have lived in a small town in Tennessee my whole life. I was blessed to have Christian parents who love my brother and me a great deal. I received my bachelor's degree in Communication, with a four month old on my hip, in May 2010. I became a Certified Lactation Counselor the following April and am (slowly, but surely) working toward my IBCLC. I am honored to be the President of Northeast Tennessee's Breastfeeding Coalition. (Like, please!https://www.facebook.com/BABE.Breastfeeding.Coalition)

The things that inspire me the most are my own children and breastfeeding mothers. I could and do spend countless hours every day just loving and living with my two boys. Their sense of amazement by the small things gives me hope for this dark world and the people in it. I am also inspired by the breastfeeding women I have the privilege to work with. Breastfeeding has always come easy to me, but it is with much admiration that I look at the women who struggle with it and keep going.

I am excited to have you join me on this journey and hope you will feel love and inspiration from the things I share.