Life is one wild ride, isn't it? The greatest surprise of your life may be just around the corner. Join me as I do my best to embrace a new life. Mama to a 4 yr. old, 3 yr. old & a wee one that just turned one. An unexpected/risky pregnancy with the last, that pushed me to the limits on faith, love, & at times...sanity! Follow the adventures & awakenings of this little tribe I am proud to call my family as we try to find our place in the sun!
The list this year could go on and on. Here are some biggies!!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Enjoy your families and friends, eat well, laugh too hard, indulge a little, let your thanks be known, be safe, be giving, stay in the now and enjoy it as it comes.
Love you all,
Mama Nic
Now, let me begin......and like I said, this really is JUST the beginning of my thanks.
Three healthy kids!
Husband!
Another Year on this beautiful planet earth!
Newbie!
Kisses!
Support!
Grace!
Internal Awakening!
Van big enough to get us all around!
Intuition!.......Really getting that lesson. Trust it, always!
Naps!
Grandparents!......theirs AND mine. Love you Gram and Thanks Mima & Brumpa and Gramma & Poppy for all you do!!!
You know you could use another pair of glasses. Glasses are like shoes, right? You can never have enough pairs.
And free glasses, YES, please! Free, you say? Yup. Free. That is what I said.
Firmoo.com contacted me and asked if I would like to try a free pair of glasses to review and pass the word that you too can get one free pair of glasses from their site. I said "of course!" and went to their site firmoo.com to check it out. I found these little beauties and a few clicks later they were on their way to me. Welcome home, glasses. And it was easy. I like easy these days.
Here I am. What do you think?
The glasses are stylish, comfortable, fit great and I just love them. I wanted to try something fun, so red it was. This site has loads of affordable glasses. The only bummer is for you all it that this style is being phased out by the manufacturer and are no longer available. BUT, there are tons of other choices that will be right for you. All you pay is the shipping costs, which was pretty low for shipping these days. I paid $6.95 total for mine. I can definitely handle that. I hope you find a pair that make you happy too! Happy shopping!!
As Mothers we are givers by nature. It comes natural. It comes with the job. It comes from deep within us when we are so tired we can't see or think straight. Somehow we find the place where it comes from and it just flows. Giving flows out of us everyday, every second of our lives whether we realize it or not.
We give our bodies, our breastmilk, a bottle. We give up our sleep, our last bite of toast, sips of our water because Mama's water is somehow better than their water. We give care when they are sick, we give rides to playdates, we give out band-aids. We give out meals and snacks and at time's time-outs. As you know, the list is infinite.
We give, give, give, give, give and then give again. If you are called "Mama" you know this to be true.
Well friends, just shy of four months into being a Mama of three I think my cup is in dire need of a refill. I have given so much of myself in this last year especially that I recognize that I need to start getting something back to refill me. Refuel me.
I acknowledge that my cup is getting near empty and if you ask me for a refill, I will certainly accept. I will refill by noticing and savoring all the little miracles that happen every day. A smile and laugh from my youngest one, a hug from my middle child and laughing at a funny story that my oldest is telling me. I will refill with a hug from my spouse, a chat with a friend, a trip out of the house to be alone and collect myself again. All these things will slowly fill me back up. I am putting it out to the Universe that I am accepting a life of abundance. Bring it on world. I am ready.
What I was doing for a while was emptying my cup and before I knew it, I was almost down to the last drop. That feeling of being down to the last drop is not something I want in my life and so I am actively trying to do something about it.
Here are a few things that I am doing.
I am reading this book. Thanks, Oprah for a fine recommendation.
I am trying to get Yoga back into my life. I have yet to get to a class but I am doing some movement everyday. I actually did go to two classes so far and they BOTH happened to be cancelled! I ended up doing yoga with a nice lady I met who was there for the class too and she happened to have been a yoga instructor in the past so........the two of us found a nice patch of grass (well, leaves at this point) and I followed her lead in some sun salutations. It was totally spontaneous and maybe some passer-by's thought we were crazy but, we didn't care. So in the meantime, I have been using the app "Pocket Yoga"and "Yoga" to fill the gap. I am also using the app "Buddist Mediation."
Speaking of meditation, I am LOVING the 21 Day Mediation Challenge lead by Deepak Chopra! I highly suggest that you start it now if you haven't already. It is about crating abundance in your life. Click here to check it out.....you will not be dissapointed.The hardest part of the challenge is to actually find the 15 minutes of quiet to do it. But it wouldn't be called a challenge if it was supposed to be easy. I am into day 5 and have found the time every day so far. It has been a priority.
I partly blame my hormone crash from the Mirena still for some of my feelings of anxiety and low feelings. I have Googled Post-partum depression and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, but I really think I am just a Mama with a lot on her plate and need to give myself a break. I have talked to a doctor for anyone you are thinking that I shouldn't be diagnosing myself. I am not doing that. I still have some wits about me. He thinks I am ok......just overwhelmed and need to give myself more time to heal. So let the healing begin. Let my cup be refilled and my cup runneth over.
Below are some things that have certainly helped my cup fill back up....drop by drop.
Carving pumpkins captured their attention for about five minutes....then onto something else and Mom and Dad get to finish and clean up. Boo!
But they were cute while it lasted.
Scoop those seeds. (Bubba thought the seeds were too smelly and wouldn't do it....he has a super sensitive nose.)
Daddy helping.
Chica overseeing the project.
All done!
I had the kids draw on pumpkins that I outlined on paper so I could see what they wanted to design. Since Bubba was Lone Ranger for Halloween, so was his pumpkin.
Marmalade just scribbles, so this is what I came up with for her.
And one for Chica....also designed by Mama.
3 Muskateers!
And here they are! Well , here is two of them anyway.....
One happy and one not so happy at the moment.
My Little Jessie from Toy Story! I took a white button down shirt and sewed on some yellow fabric and fringe that I had in the house. The pants I added cow print fabric that I ordered from Etsy onto denim shorts. I bought cheap red boots from Ebay and the hat was leftover at work from a photo shoot. Just the finishing touch I need for this little cowgirl!!! Yee Haw! She loved it.
Sushi!
I added pink and green fabric to the brown headband we had. Then I added some green felt as grass.
I sewed on orange fabric for the fish and black felt for the wrap. I took a black sharpie and drew some lines on the fish and added the word "sushi"........or I hope that it is what it says. I did the best I could tracing Japanese letters off the computer. I sewed a strip of grass down each side of her back. Cutest Sushi I ever did see!!! She wore white pants that we already had......notice a there here? Use what you have at home and just make it better! That is what it is all about. Be creative and use your resources.
Bubba was really into his costume until he had to put it on...then, not so much. The hat we had. I made a felt mask. The handkerchief we had, as well as the jeans. I bought this shirt at Walmart that he can wear again. And he was supposed to wear his work boots but insisted on sneakers. What can I say? the Lone Ranger does what he wants. Still all and all.....cute!
Cousins getting ready to take on the neighborhood!
Howdy!
And finally, the master planner of this little Halloween tribe.....the Sushi Chef and her little Sushi Roll!
