Opening Day!

Opening day is October 1st!  That is one week form Saturday!  I am so excited and feel so blessed, REALLY, to be able to do exactly what I want to do!  How awesome is that?!?!!

I've been stressing over little things like white walls, delayed shipments, running out of time (and money), etc.  And all of these things are super important, don't get me wrong; this is a business, and I plan for it to be a very profitable one.  But I just stopped today while the kids were napping to gather myself and re-group for a few minutes...to listen for a second instead of doing all the talking (and doing)...and I realized, that's not what is important to me in the scheme of things with The Mommy Shop.

It won't be perfect.  And that is exactly what will make it perfect. 

Just like us, and just like our littles!  We're not perfect, but in all of our imperfection we SO are!

We do the best we can all day, every day.  It's never all done, ever.  There's always something undone, half done or forgotten-to-be done!  But it's still incredible!

That's part of being a Mommy.  And it is sure to be part of The Mommy Shop!

That makes me happy!

Off We Go!

So, I have been absent for quite some time...and with good reason!!  Life is treating me GOOD, y'all!!  The babies are sweeter and better than ever!  A perfect age (as though I'm not going to say that at EVERY age!!)

I have been as busy as a bee working on yet another dream come true!!  God is good to me, you know!! 

I am so excited about my next journey to open The Mommy Shop!  Those of you who know me well, know that I've GOT to have something going at all times.  My vision board says "Life in the Slow Lane" really big....but who am I kidding??  If I don't have something big and exciting going on, I will create it.  Apparently, that quote is meant for later in life!  :)

I have labored and lobored over the decision about the store.  I've gone back and forth more times than I care to admit.  I wanted to be 1000% sure I was doing the right thing for my family.  They come first all the time, no matter what.  I want to be fair to them in every aspect, and obviously it will effect us in many aspects and will require a lot of adjustment.  I think we'll all be just fine.  And at the end of the day, with a happier Momma, I know it will be a win/win!

I'm stoked!  I'm know I'm a little crazy, but I think that had already been established, so off we go!!

Wish me luck!  Lots of prayers!  Come shop!  And tell your friends!!

She's A Big Deal!

I'm back!

And with good reason!  We've got something to celebrate today!! 

My baby girl is walking!!  She's toddling all over the house in her little dress that her Aunt Julie got her.  The little beauty queen!!

She is SO proud, but not nearly as proud as I am of her!  She knows she's kind of a big a deal!  LOL!!  She couldn't be more right!!  We can't wait to show Daddy and Luke!  They will be super proud of her, too!

....and hopefully this will bring me back to my blogging.  It's been sort of a long 3 months....and I'll leave it at that.  For now.  ;)

Thought for the day....

"The moment we identify ourselves with a thought, we wear it like a costume and lose ourselves in a scenario."
 - Jason Mraz



Remember, that's all they are.  Thoughts. 

They are not your essence. 

They are not your soul. 

But they are powerful. 

So make them good.

Choose them wisely.

And know that you are deeply loved. 

Time

"There’s never enough time." 

This was the wisdom spoken to me by a truly amazing mother as we gazed down together at the child she just lost.

There’s never enough time.

There’s never enough time to spend with our babies.  There’s never enough hugs, enough kisses, enough snuggles.  Never, ever, EVER enough time.

We cannot tell them too much or too often how wonderful we think they are.  Because they are.

Shameless adoration. 

I don’t know much, but what I know for sure is that Jason left this earth happy.  He was happy; he felt deeply loved; he felt accepted, completely and unconditionally. 

He had a gift for making everyone else feel the same way…I really just can’t think of anything that would make me happier as a Mom than to know that my child made people feel this way.  At the end of the day, we all just want to feel special and valued.  Jason served his purpose on this earth by doing just that.  I find it remarkable that at the tender age of 16, he touched so many lives in a way that most of us will not do in an entire lifetime.

I mourn him deeply.  But this fact makes my heart smile.  He always made me smile.  He always made me feel special and he always made me feel loved.

He was a bright and shining star.  He was a luminary, no doubt.  He was one of a kind, and dangerously similar to his Mother!  J

I will miss him.  And every morsel of my being aches for my dear, sweet Connie.

Be Nice!!!

So, yesterday the kids and I ventured out to Target.  Luke had been under the weather, but I admittedly am no good at all at staying in the house all day.  I knew a lot of playing was out of the question for him, and Sissy needed a new swimsuit, so we chose to go to Target!

I popped Lyle in the front-packer, put Luke in the buggy and in we went.  We ran into (seriously) like four people we knew in Target.  So, what normally would take us an hour, took two, which was great.  We saw friends, bought swimsuits, nightgowns, shoes and groceries.  (Target:  the one-stop wonder!  I really should have my own wing there.) 

The kids both did great - never gave me a problem at all.  So I decided to take them down to Panera for lunch.  (Who am I kidding?  They ate chips the whole way through Target.  They weren’t hungry.  I decided to take Mommy to Panera, who currently has my favorite salad, and the kids were just eye candy and good company.)

Well, I knew I was pushing my luck.  It was past noon by now.  Lunch is at 11:00 at our house and nap is usually around 12:30.  But off we went.  Momma was hungry!  I decided to pack all the Target goods, groceries and all, into the car, and we would walk down to Panera.  (I have one of those “cool bags” that keeps your groceries cold, which I highly recommend to any mommy with more than one child, because if you can’t get to the unloading of the groceries immediately when you get home, they can wait.)  Anyway, we make it to Panera where we run into yet another friend, which I have not seen in YEARS!  I was very excited to catch up!

We went to order our food, where there was surprisingly no line.  I was so happy that this ordering thing would be short and sweet, and we could get back to the table, get the kids all set up and start gabbing away.  So, I am not kidding, there were FIVE people behind the counter at Panera, shuffling back and forth, back and forth.  They would glance over at us and go about their business.  Well, I was a little anxious to get these kids at the table.  Lyla had been in the front-packer, killing my back, for over two hours, and I was just thankful Luke had made it all the way down to Panera without darting out into the parking lot.  I knew my time was limited, and my luck could run out with the corresponding exceptional behavior of these two at any minute.

So, I give a (bitchy) look in the direction of the other side of the counter and say, not even remotely under my breath, “Are we invisible here?  What is the deal??!” 

Ummmm….I forgot my pivotal pause.  Apparently, that was a trigger moment for me.  Ohhhhhh….me and my patience, or lack thereof! 

They happily (yea right) came to take our order.  I was really nice because I always am (well...), and because I felt just terrible!  I really did.  I was that bitchy lady at Panera!!  It was as if I was pregnant again! 

We went to our table, got it together with the generous help of my friend who is the awesome mother of four (yes, four!), and started gabbing away mindlessly.  And then…the nicest thing.  One of the employees to whom I was so mean, came over to our table, placed a big, fat, round M&M cookie (that just happens to be my Little Man’s fave)on the edge of our table and said, “Here you go ma’am.  That’s so you know you’re never invisible to us.”

Okay, hole in the ground….could you please open up and swallow me now??  OMG!  Uh, yea.  I felt terrible.  I felt so terrible.  I must have said thank you 10 times.  The crappy thing is:  I never said I was sorry.  He knew I meant it.  But I never said it out loud.  Not my finest moment at the Panera Bread yesterday.

All this to say, I am sooooooooooo glad my kids were too little to realize what a loser their Mommy was yesterday.  Gosh!  Having kids kinda makes you realize how flawed you are, huh?  After 30-something years of thinking I was the shizzle….not so much!  LOL! 

Okay.  Note to self:  Be nice!!!!!!!!!!

Just a Little Under the Weather

My Little Man is sick.  Croup. 

Mommy is sad. 

He's not too terribly bad.  I've seen him worse.  But the fire isn't in him.  Some would think this to be a good thing, and I enjoyed it for an hour or two, but I love my high-spirited boy!  He's sharing, snuggling, watching videos....all the stuff I wish on a daily basis he would do, so I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can...and put a positive spin on it.  But I want him well.  I want my Little Man back!

It's certainly no fun when they're sick. 

He has to use a nebulizer for the croup, which Daddy does for him.  One look at him with that mask on his face, hooked up to a machine to help him breathe and my heart literally ached for all the parents out there with really sick kids...something they won't recover from quite so easily, or perhaps not at all.  So thankful.  So, so thankful...

And there are really no words for that.