Thursday, March 28

Easter Party Catch Up

My intentions are to use today as a bit of a breather, from the last few weeks. Play a bit of catch up from certain areas I just haven't been able to squeeze in…or haven't made any extra effort too...Hence this morning's blog post.

I've been keeping at a steady pace with both work and play. Despite the obligations that are expected to be accomplished within this day's hours, there's a lack of urgency to them….I like that. A lot.

Life's been tapping into the reserved energy source of Sam, lately. Not to suggest it's all been from a negative syphon, but it's been draining none the less. I've been telling myself that time will naturally be found for it all…pretty sure that's just a coping mechanism on my part, but I'm nestling my reassurance in the idea, for now.

Honestly, I'm my own worst enemy in this sense. When things are a bit too pressing, too real life, too adult, I can't help but counter that all by throwing in some play, mindlessness, and fun…

Example: Last weekend's, last minute, Easter Party.

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{Bunny Bait Station: precomposed White Trash Mix with added food coloring colored coconut, raisins, marshmallows and fruity pebble cereal, instead of captain crunch.}
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It was great, low key, and right up my alley of releasing a bit of the stress and successfully shifting the focus for a bit... 

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But now that I'm back to coaching myself, to keep up with the momentum on the less fun, from day to day, I know it's time for me to step it back a bit, assess the pulls, and funnel my focus.

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Realigning the balance between responsibilities and rewards, a little more evenly…. or at least favoring in the play.

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Happy Thursday.

Monday, March 18

Mothering vs. Parenting

I'm not a perfect mother, but I'm not foolish enough to think I'm anything less than a good one.

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Sometimes, I'm too impatient, too temperamental, too tired, too busy, too overwhelmed, too distracted. But I kiss the booboos, teach the manners, apologize when wrong, lead by example, relish the giggles, and fiercely love my babies.

Mothering my littles is easy, natural, and despite my stumbles on short tempers, weariness, and second guessing….. I know within it all, I thrive in the good of it's roll.

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The last few weeks, I've woken up to the fact that all my doubts of being a mother, aint got nothing on having just scratched the surface of my path's journey in being a parent.

I place more security, than I should, in the comforts I find with a cause and effect approach to most things. This way of thinking, I feel, compliments my mothering nicely, however, I'm learning, it's less flattering to my method of what I would consider successful parenting.

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The last few weeks, Wesley has been lying, sneaking, and track covering… I know I mauled over my approach to handling this longer than I should have, for two reasons… One, I secretly hoped my subtle talks to him about truth, trust, and kindness would be enough for him to change the course of his behavior and secondly, I didn't want to forge this path, take that irreversible first step, acknowledge we're at this stage …. I wanted to burry my head in the sand.

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The reality is, as appealing as it seemed, we have never been lazy parents, and just because the waters were rippling more than usual, didn't mean we were going to start now.

I'm sure as the situations change, so will our approach to handling them, but I feel confident we at least set a good precedence from where we'll start.

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As of Saturday, team Richardson has had their first official "grounding".
The knots in my stomach that I've been suffering for the last few weeks, have subsided. This factor alone telling me, we may not be perfect in our parenting, but we've at least taking the first few steps on a path to being good ones.

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Friday, March 8

Easter Wreath

The kids and I haven't been in our craft flow, as much this winter, as we typically are. I think it's because play dough is the preferred favorite at the moment and to be honest… I'm not a fan.

And though I can usually counter my own need to be creative through things in the kitchen, with Easter coming up and a halloween wreath idea I'd seen on Pinterest, I pulled the tulle, plastic eggs, and a styrofoam ring and put myself to work…..

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All I did was….

Bought a 14" styrofoam ring
Picked three Eastery colors of tulle
Cut that tulle into 28" strips
Wrap tulle around styrofoam ring using a simple Larks head knot
Hot glue gunned some plastic easters to the bottom
Wove an extra piece of tulle between some based knotted tulle & tied them off to be able to hang from a 3M hook.

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And voila!

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Both easy and pretty.
I foresee a holiday/season/event/just because spirited wreath ring for every season!

Wednesday, March 6

Momentum Favors Spring

The momentum that always carries me through the months of November - February, has started to fizzle out… and fizzle out fast it has.

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Bottom line… I'm over the cold, the snow, the winter.
I'm ready for Spring.

All my motivations seems to be lying within the things that can not be done, until the snow is gone, grass is grown, and the sun is shining more hours than it is not.

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There has been a gradual, but significant shifting in the scales of mothering vs. parenting, the last few months between Wesley and I. It hasn't been an easy adjustment and I can't say that I've been handling it with as much grace as I thought I would when these challenges came.

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I love all my kids spunk, I find it so easy to embrace their uniqueness, and encourage the positive energies that make them such gifts to this life. But I underestimated my shoot from the hip responses to the behaviors that I don't feel should be supported, validated, or are disheartening.

I know my nip it in the bud demeanor, with little to no patience for such unfavorable behaviors, and short direct authoritative correction, isn't the most beneficial way to counter certain attitudes, but it's my base to better myself from….. and I'm working on it.

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But, despite the start of stir crazy and the spring fever rapidly rising, we're enjoying our days that don't feel as long as the leisures we've been taking within them and will continue to enjoy the lull of the rally's ambition, until the weather warms, snow melts, and day grow. 

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