Baseball Season

The twins' baseball season came to an end a few weeks ago, and what a great season it was!  We loved having Josh home for baseball to be assistant coach, and the twins improved in every aspect of the game. I was such a proud mama!

(Wyatt made best friends with the coach's daughter.

How adorable are these little friends?!?)

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Around Here: Week 12

Reading... The Gift of an Ordinary Day after finishing Believing God and all the other books I was in. It feels nice to be reading one book at a nice, leisurely pace.

Worrying... about Logan and his seizure meds' side effects.  He's tired and nauseous and dizzy.  I remember Josh feeling the same way when he started seizure medicine, and it got better with time, so I'm trying to feel patient... but it's hard on my heart.

Still... doing treatments for Wyatt for his Reactive Airway, and hoping that his cough will be completely gone soon.  On the plus side, while we were at the doctor getting a wart burned off his hand (he was so brave!), the doctor listened to his lungs and said they sound alright and he is on the road to healing!

Taking... my kids to the dentist.  They are all cavity free- hooray!  The twins love the dentist's office because they have xbox's and they get to play Minecraft while they wait. Ha! Wyatt loves it cause they have an epic prize box.

Exploring... a new park last weekend with my family.  I am really proud of us for finding new things to love about where we live and for trying really hard to "bloom where we're planted."

Sleeping... 8 hours last night! I can't believe it. Carly slept 10:30-6:30am and this mama is so glad!

Walking... to school again now that the weather has warmed up a bit.  The boys love it and so do I!

Wishing... I could get my eating under control. I just want to eat all.the.things.  My self control and willpower is nil.  I could really use some advice about what works for you if you have any.

Wondering... if Carly is ready to transition to one nap a day. I find that two naps is really cramping our style lately. (I can't ever run errands and I can't do the things I want/need around the house because they're loud and she's asleep.)  By this age, all three of our other kids had transitioned to one nap. For sure by summer she has to be down to one nap because I can hardly keep the boys quiet for two days on the weekend for her twice daily naps. I certainly won't be able to (nor do I want to) keep them hushed all summer long!

Meditating on this...

"There is eternal influence 

and power in motherhood."

-Julie B. Beck

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2017 Goals

1) Bedtime: 10pm

2) Read 24 books

3) Quit swearing

4) Blog 3x week

I've learned that keeping track is vital to my success.  So I had to set goals that were easily trackable, with no grey area.  For my bedtime goal, Josh will keep me accountable.  For my book goal, I will map out which books I want to read each month, and will keep track on the blog, mentioning what I'm reading in each weekly "Around Here" post.  For not swearing, I am keeping tick marks in my daily journal, working toward less tick marks per day until I hit zero. It hasn't happened so far, but I'm sure it will if I stick with it! And for blogging three times a week, I plan to keep track on a cute desk calendar I bought for that purpose.

I set these goals for very specific reasons.  

If I don't see the purpose, I know I won't stick to them.

1) Reasonable Bedtime= more sleep, and a more patient mama

2) Reading= more happiness + it's a personal goal I can meet while still focusing mainly on parenting

3) Not swearing= setting a good example for my children

4) Blogging= I found that I was using Instagram + Facebook more than blogging cause it was so quick. I want to get back to real, deep writing this year. A 3x a week goal will help me do just that.

I've had some of these same goals in the past, but I don't see that as a sign of failure. It merely means I haven't given up yet!

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Word of the Year

My word for 2017 is 

"embrace"

I want to embrace this period of life that I am in currently.

Embrace the noise, the chaos, the lack of control.

I want to embrace this stage of motherhood completely.

I think "embrace" is like "accept", but with enthusiasm.

I don't want to fight the tide. Part of embracing is knowing my limits, which means I am fairly certain Carly will be our last and I have said no to anything extra since we moved.  No sports or extracurricular activities for the kids in preservation of family dinner and our lovely, slow evenings

I was thinking the other day how I have abandon a lot of my old hobbies since becoming a mom, scrapbooking and making cards, for instance, and remembering how much I enjoyed them made me want to rush out and take up those hobbies again. But I know that doing so would only leave me spread even more thin than I am already. So instead I am going to embrace this season of life, reading and blogging when I can, and really plunge head first into meal planning, child rearing & homemaking... also known as being a mom.

Cause I know what they say is true,

I'm gonna miss this when it's gone.

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Around Here: Week 1

Top Nine posts from my Instagram
2016 was definitely the year of "Carly"

 

{less this}

{more this}

Watching... the series finale of Burn Notice, and moving on to The Crown with Josh.  I loved Burn Notice, and The Crown is fascinating.  I also watched the Call The Midwife's Holiday Special.  It was so good!

Traveling... through crazy weather to get home from our trip to Vancouver. The Columbia River Gorge was icy and frozen, and for some of the trip there was snow falling.  I'm grateful our neighbor called to let us know about the crazy weather.  Because of her heads up, we left bright & early Monday morning and were traveling in complete daylight, which made everything easier to navigate. I'm also grateful for our neighbor's husband who shoveled & cleared our entire driveway and front walk in anticipation of our homecoming. It was so selfless & very much appreciated.

Opening... our Christmas gift from Wyatt (school was canceled the last day before break, so his gift just came home) and loving his kindergarten handwriting on the card.  The backward S's are killing me dead.

Writing... more in my journal & gratitude journal this week.  The beginning of a new year always leaves me reflective and more introspective than usual.  I'm writing down all the thoughts that flit through my mind.  ...what I've been through; how I've grown; what I want our life to look like... I love it.

Making... goals for 2017 (more on these soon to come)

Taking... a break from Facebook.  I wrote a little post about it, but basically I was spending all my free time on my phone scrolling, and it wasn't making me happier.  It was making me less productive & I hadn't realized it.  I'm hoping a little break will clarify whether Facebook is good for me, and will allow me to be more in control of my time.  (I read this post about social media/screen time and it has me contemplating what I want screens to look like for my kids as well.)

Choosing... a word for the year. I'll be sharing it with you next week!

Freezing... inside our house and out.  It's been as cold as fifteen below zero with wind chill here, and you can feel it!  The boys even had two hour late start twice this week because of cold weather.  It's leaving me wishing our house had newer windows and a fireplace!

Missing... the men in my house as they all head back to work and school.  We enjoyed our time home together and as usual it went really fast.

Feeling... inspired by Tabitha's 100 Small Things list.  Thanks to her, I'll be watching TED talks, documentaries and doing monthly family game nights.  

Considering... buying a bunk bed so Wyatt can join the twins in their room and Carly can cry herself to sleep if need be.  She did better last night (finally!) and Wyatt never had to leave the room.  She'd cry a tiny bit after each nursing session, but it never lasted long, and a handful of times she woke up and would soothe herself back to sleep without me. Yay!

Loving... our bedtime routine. After months of change (me parenting without Josh, me parenting without Josh with the addition of Carly, parenting with Josh at his parents house, and finally both of us parenting together at our new house) we have settled into a rhythm that feels perfect. Dinner, baths, jammies, bedtime stories and then the "divide & conquer" part of our nights.  I take the younger two into their bedroom and Josh takes the twins into theirs.  The twins do their silent reading for 20 minutes with Josh while I nurse Carly and do bedtime prayers with Wyatt.  We end the night usually watching an episode or two of something together, before heading to bed ourselves.  It's a nice mellow evening for all of us, and I love it.

Decorating... the living room with the new art my sister-in-law made for us. I just adore the scrabble words she made with our kids names. It makes me smile every time I see it.

Reading... Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty.  I am devouring this book and I'm so happy to be reading so much!  I'm also reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey with Josh.  We are hoping it helps us make smart financial decisions in 2017!

Weekly Goals:

1) Find a dentist & make appointments for the whole family

2) Find eye doctor for the boys

3) Make homemade bread & Special K bars

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