14 Empowering Quotes To Help You Harness Your Inner Wonder Woman

About a week ago, I was talking to my husband about how I was both sad and relieved that summer was over.  I was lamenting the fact that I felt like I'd kind of failed my older two kids in the summer fun department because so much of my time was spent in three hour blocks due to our new baby.  As a result, they mostly played together inside, watched shows or were out in the backyard.  Sure, I still planned some activities and we crossed a few things off our bucket list but as a whole, I felt the summer wasn't all that memorable.  I crave routine and predictability and with the start of a new school year, as well as a baby who's schedule is emerging, I finally have both of those things.  And that's when that old enemy "mom guilt" started creeping in big time and I felt bad for looking forward to my kids being gone at school.  If you have kids, I'm guessing you've felt this way too at least a few times in your life.  It can be so easy to let that voice tell us that we didn't do enough or what we did do wasn't good enough.

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20+ Easy Ways To Spend One On One Time With Your Kids

One of my goals this year has been to spend more one on one time with each of my kids.  This has proved to be more challenging that I thought it would be.  My oldest just finished kindergarten, my middle on is in preschool and the baby is just barely four months old, so we spend a lot of time together.  But what I've come to realize as I've made an effort to plan one on one time with them is that they don't care if it's 10 minutes or 2 hours.  They just want to have my undivided attention while we do something together.  Being a busy mom of three usually means that we're leaning more towards the 10 minutes rather than the 2 hours side of things, so I've had to become a little creative to work that time in.

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3 Tips For Creating A Mom Friendly Wardrobe

I was talking to a friend the other day about the struggle of finding every day clothes to wear that fit our lives as stay at home moms.  Often the only excuse we have to dress up is when we go to church or if we happen to have a night out with friends or the ever elusive date night.  As I thought back on this conversation later that day, I realized that my wardrobe has changed quite a bit in the last six years since my oldest was born.  The clothes I wore to work were no longer comfortable for my new routines and responsibilities and so I've shifted to pants that are easy to move and play in and tops that stay in place when I bend over.  You've probably heard the term "mom-iform" (mom uniform).  More often than not it has a negative connotation because the assumption is that if you are in clothes that are easy to move around in, they are probably low on the style scale.  But I want to share some qualities you can look for in clothes that will help you stay stylish and on budget.

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Protecting Our Kids From Pornography

As parents, it's our responsibility to set boundaries and monitor our kids' activities.  By setting rules and limits for our kids, they know what is expected of them and they know when they've crossed the line.  It creates consistency and accountability.  But we can't be everywhere, with each child, all day, every day, tracking their behavior  And if your kids have electronics (cell phones, tablets, computers, etc), that is just one more device you have to try and monitor.  This might be manageable if you only have one or two kids, but you start adding more kids and more devices and it can become overwhelming and inevitably, things are going to slip through the cracks.   So how can we still be attentive parents and monitor our kids use of their devices without checking them multiple times a day?

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Staying Connected With Your Spouse After Having Kids

Adjusting to life as a couple after having a baby can be a real challenge.  So many of the things that seemed simple beforehand suddenly become more complicated and time consuming: leaving the house, taking a shower and even getting dinner on the table take more time, effort and planning.  With a new little one in the house, you will probably find yourself thinking that there is no way you can do it all.  And so you start looking at where you can compromise.  Unfortunately, one of the first things to get pushed to the back burner is your relationship with your partner.  It might be a mutual decision or an unspoken agreement, but either way it's going to take a toll on your relationship.  So you might be asking yourself, just like my husband and I have after having our first two kids: how can I stay connected with my spouse/partner after having a new baby?

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A Letter To My Daughter: Share Your Light

My sweet girl,

Two weeks ago you started kindergarten.  Somehow, in those two weeks, you've gotten bigger and I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I'm torn between being excited for and proud of you as you grow and learn and experience new things, and wanting to turn back time to the days when you still needed my help to pull your shirt over your head or do the zipper on your jacket. 

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What To Avoid If You Want To Raise A Problem Solver

I was first introduced to Mariah a couple of months ago when I saw her post in a Facebook group about a free webinar she was doing on helping our kids become creative problem solvers.  The idea intrigued me and as I listened to the call I knew I wanted Mariah to come on my blog and share her amazing insights.  She does a great job of sharing real life examples and empowering parents and caregivers to teach their kids that they can be creative problem solvers.  But first, there are some things we really should be avoiding if we want to raise problem solvers.  I'll let her take it from here!

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3 Ways To Raise Happy Kids

Before starting college, I had some ideas about what I'd like to study, but it wasn't until a couple years in that I found what I wanted to commit to: marriage and family studies.  I knew that what I was learning could be applied to both my current and my future relationships, especially my future family.  Growing up, I would say that I was generally a happy kid.  I got along with my parents, I had good friends, did well in school, was involved in extracurricular activities and active in church.  But if you had asked me then how I became that way--happy--I don't know that I would have been able to nail it down.  However, through my coursework, and now through practical application (aka parenting), I've seen three ways parents can raise happy kids: building connections, setting limits and encouraging independence.

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Recognizing Joy in the Small Moments

My day to day life is pretty ordinary and often consists of fixing food, cleaning up the house, running errands, playing with my kids and other household tasks.  At a glance, it doesn't feel very glamorous and there are days when I can't wait for my husband to get home from work so I can turn the kids over to him while I escape to the bathroom by myself or go for a short walk around the block.  A break from everything I have to manage and be responsible for.  Does anyone else hear themselves in my words?

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Parenting Lessons From Moana's Mother

If you have kids, you've probably watched the movie Moana, seen clips or heard the music.  I took my daughter to see it in the theaters not long after it came out and I loved it.  We've watched it a few times since then and it's a movie that we can all enjoy together as a family.  Soon after the movie came out, I started seeing different people post about their favorite scenes or lessons from the movie.  And each one I read never mentioned the one thing that struck me most as a parent: Moana's mom.

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How To Use Role Playing In Discipline

Something you may not know about me is that I graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in Marriage and Family Studies.  Basically this means that I took a lot of classes about marriage, family, parenting, child development, family finance, family systems and a million others in preparation to become a counselor.  I loved (almost) all of them and they've been hugely helpful for me as a parent.  Obviously I know that what I learned in these classes is the ideal and isn't always achievable due to *ahem* human error.  But at the same time, I've also learned that many of the methods and techniques taught are useful even when circumstances aren't ideal.  The one I want to talk about today is role playing.

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4 Ways To Keep Moving Forward

Last week, I posted about the campaign I got involved in called "I Am Amazing Because..."  The purpose and goal of this campaign is to promote confidence and positivity by recognizing the talents and abilities and characteristics of those around us that we find amazing and unique and then telling them.  We, as individuals, should be included in this recognition and often I think we forget or downplay what is amazing about ourselves.  When I shared my post last week, I wrote that one of the qualities in myself that I find amazing is my ability to keep moving forward.

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Mental Health Moments

Let's get one thing straight: I love being a mom.  It is one of the most rewarding things I do.  My children bring me joy and happiness.  They make me laugh out loud with their silly songs and attempts at being grown up.  But, man, it is HARD. 

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When Your Child Prefers One Parent

As a parent, I enjoy the feeling of being wanted and loved by my children.  When they get hurt or are scared, the little cry of "Mommy!" makes me feel that my kids know I'll help and protect them.  When they are excited about something and come grab my hand to show me their new "cave" or "store", I (usually) can't help but smile.  But to be honest, being a stay-at-home mom can be really exhausting.  Sometimes it's really hard to muster up the excitement and exclaim "wow!" for the 100th time that day or pick up their drink off the floor or sit down to eat some lunch only to have them ask for more food.

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You Know You're A Mom When...

 Last week, I was making dinner, talking to my husband on the phone and trying to prevent my daughter from dragging a stool over to the stove so she could "help" when my 2.5 year old son came up and told me his tummy hurt.  I assumed he was hungry since it was close to dinner time, but almost as soon as the words "It's almost dinnertime" were out of my mouth, the poor kid emptied his stomach all over the floor.  After a hasty good-bye to my husband, I walked my little boy quickly and carefully to the bathroom where he got a bath and told me he felt much better.

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Time Saving Hairstyles for Girls

When I got pregnant with my first child, I knew it was going to be a girl.  The same thing happened with my second child, except I knew it was a boy.  Isn't it funny how we can feel these things sometimes?  When I got the confirmation from the radiologist that she was indeed a girl, my mind started going wild imagining all the cute clothes I would put her in, fixing her hair, painting her fingernails and toenails, mommy/daughter dates...  I was pretty darn excited!

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3 Ways To Feel Good About Yourself

When I was going through my awkward pre-teen and teenage years, I received a lot of comments about my size and weight.  I've always been tall and thin.  I have a high metabolism as well as being active.  Some of the comments I got were positive: "Wow, you look great!"  (Thank you.)  Others were stereotypical: "Are you trying out for cheerleading?"  (No, I'm not.)  And others implied that I had an eating disorder: "What do you eat everyday?  An apple?"  (I actually ate more than some grown men.)

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Time Saving Mom Contributor: Interview

Hello friends!  I hope you had a good weekend!  Mine was pretty laid back.  My husband took my daughter with him to play with her cousins while he helped to lay sod at his brother's house on Saturday morning so it was just me and my 2 year old.  Sometimes I forget how to hang out with one kid, you know?  I get so used to having both kids around and they just play with each other all day.  My kids definitely get bored more quickly when their other half is gone.  Although running errands is a million times easier, so I can't complain there.  Sunday was relaxing with going to church and having our monthly dinner with my husband's family and just basically recharging for the week ahead.

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I Am A Broken Record

As parents, it's our responsibility to teach our children right from wrong, up from down, left from right, true from false and the right way to put the toilet paper on the roll.  Our children come to us as these perfect little humans, completely dependent on us for their care.  We wash them, clothe them, feed them, change their diapers, wipe their face and hands, rescue them from sticking foreign objects in their mouth and the list goes on.  We are rewarded with crying, fussing, being spit up on and peed on.  Maybe even at the same time.  It's a tireless job and a thankless one.  Our days seem to be on repeat.

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The Mid-Summer Slump

Lately, I've been feeling a lack of motivation.  A kind of blah-ness, if you will.

Blog posts have been a challenge to come up with and write, even when I plan them out a month in advance.  My kids are driving me up the wall with all their little fights over little things.  And there's me, probably driving them crazy with my seemingly constant use of "stop fighting" and "play nicely" or "do I need to separate you two?"

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