Monday

Daily Gratitude Journal: The Calm After The Storm

Sunday...


http://mytalesfromthecrib.blogspot.com/
Beach towels and bathing suits drying on the line after a long day at the water park. 

I realized I needed to sit down and focus on what I'm grateful for before I blow a gasket. I'm seeing a pattern here of me getting incredibly frustrated at some point during the day and then realizing I need to sit down and reconnect with my gratitude. 

One of our dear children was playing around in the bathroom which resulted in an almost clogged toilet, and an entire roll of toilet paper and the plastic spinner (both at different times) go for a swim with a brown trout in the Yellow River. 

Not cool! 

Then Mr. Baby Love himself decided to flood his new high chair with poop. I say "flood" because if you are familiar with the poop of a breastfed baby then you're aware of the gold-ish, brown-ish, liquid baby poop of which I speak. 

Mix that in with a fussy, overtired, hungry baby who just took a post-poop explosion tub, fold in two overtired, and overexposed kids from too much sun and fun from the water park, swirled around with them not wanting to take a tub, sprinkled all over my annoyance of the regular day-to-day drama that happens in a family and you have one very crabby, very yell-y mama. 

There. I said it. I yell at my kids when I've been pushed past my limit. 

Then I feel shitty about it and sit down to write a Daily Gratitude Post. 

I'm human. And some days I'm a really sucky human. 

Time to chill out, close my eyes for a bit while I love up on a tiny little breastfeeder who's all warm and clean and soft and calm and smelling sweet from his tub and think about more positive things from the day and from my life before I change the title of this post from Daily Gratitude Journal to Today's Rant And Grumblings Of A Crabby Mom. 

The kids had fun at the water park and they swam their hearts out. We've been waiting for months for it to open - for it to finally be summertime so we could spend long days swimming like fish once again and it's here! 

Daily Gratitude Journal: Sunday

1. I'm so grateful that my husband and I have taught our children how to "find their own fun" as I always say. They have dealt with the harsh realities of "being bored." They have learned that the world is not going to provide entertainment for them at every turn simply because they are bored. They have discovered that after about 10-15 minutes of being left alone to "find their own fun" after they have loudly proclaimed their boredom! (and quickly realized that they either do something or its time for chores), they are capable of inventing some great fun for themselves. Because of this they make up their own games, they go on adventures in the backyard finding new discoveries, they prefer to picnic outdoors for every meal, they build entire worlds out of dirt, leaves, bits of grass, picked flowers, pinecones, sticks and rocks. My daughter calls them "squirrel nests" or "animal hospitals" or "animal hotels."  They have grown into true nature children who enjoy being outside and I'm so, so, so grateful for that. 

2. I'm incredibly grateful that my mom's eye is feeling better after kind of a freaky scare the last few days. Nobody wants anything to go wrong with their eyeballs or God forbid their sight! I'm also grateful for ER docs and nurses and smart folks who are on call to help in these stressful & unnerving times. 

3. I'm grateful for the calmness of the evening after bedtime. For crickets chirping outside and gentle breezes dancing with the leaves on our orange tree and the house not quite sure what to do with itself now that the kids aren't tormenting it so it just stays still and waits for morning. 

4. I'm grateful for getting a time out and for reset buttons where kids cool off in tubs and mommies cool of in rocking chairs and daddies cool off in garages and babies cool off by filling their bellies full of warm milk and then everyone happily comes back together once the beasties have melted away and the lights are low and kids hair is cool and wet and daddies have gotten their tinkering fix and mommies feel rested and calm - taking deeper breaths, longer breaths and kisses are now replacing yells and hugs are replacing huffs and smiles are replacing snarls and yawns are replacing wild animal cries and, "Goodnight's" and "I love you's" are replacing the, "stop arguing's!" and the, "because I said so's!" 

5. I'm so grateful for evenings. So, so, so incredibly grateful. Evenings, glorious evenings. 

http://mytalesfromthecrib.blogspot.com/
My happy lil 6 month old nursling

My Daily Goal: I will take a picture each day that brings me happiness and I will post it along with my list of 5 things I'm grateful for. I invite you to do the same!  These are not listed in order of importance. That is too much pressure for this writing exercise. I am just free flowing as I write and trying to be genuine in my thoughts and emotions and writing what I feel at the moment. Please join me! @coco_cana #DailyGratitudeJournal








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9 comments:

  1. Your writing about the crickets and the cool breeze made me feel like I was right in that exact moment. As mommies I think we all lose sight of the things that we should be grateful for. Even before kids I had to remind myself from time to time that life was good. Reading your post has put my mind to some thinking ...of course right now I am thinking it's time to shut the computer down and go to sleep but I just keep getting caught up in this very moment of silence, crickets chirping, and the slight breeze coming through my window. Thanks Colleen for linking up with me once again at #momsterslink. ;)

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    1. Thank you for your awesome comment! I'm so glad this post spoke to you like you mentioned on twitter and that you enjoyed it so much. I really appreciate the kind words. I agree - I think it's easy to loose sight of what is important because it's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day difficulties of being a parent. Thanks for hosting #momsterslink!

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  2. I LOVE your pics! And I love your intention to post 5 things each day. I am not quite so dedicated but I do have a "Gratutude Rock" on my dresser and every time I see it pick it up and I think of something I'm thankful for. I just met a mom this weekend who said that every time she sees Pike's Peak driving in the car with her daughter that they name something they're thankful for (and as we live in Colorado Springs, Co, that can be many times a day!). I really loved that idea! I found you on the #momsterslink

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  3. I LOVE your pics! And I love your intention to post 5 things each day. I am not quite so dedicated but I do have a "Gratutude Rock" on my dresser and every time I see it pick it up and I think of something I'm thankful for. I just met a mom this weekend who said that every time she sees Pike's Peak driving in the car with her daughter that they name something they're thankful for (and as we live in Colorado Springs, Co, that can be many times a day!). I really loved that idea! I found you on the #momsterslink

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    1. Thank you for the nice compliment on my pics! I appreciate that! I LOVE to take photos and in my next life I want to be a photographer. Or maybe even in this one, who knows? But I do love taking them, so I appreciate the compliment! I have been seriously lacking on doing my 5 posts a day. I have a bunch of drafts that need to be published. You've given me the inspiration to finish them. I love the idea of naming something you're grateful for whenever you see a landmark too! What a fun idea! I'll bring that up to my kids and we'll have to start doing that. Sounds fun! Thanks so much for stopping by! xo

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  4. Oh man, I can relate to the breastfed baby flood poo incidents - there's no other option than to wash the baby and try not to get it everywhere lol Your lovely photo makes me miss breastfeeding mine!! Sounds like a great time at the waterpark, but the realistic story where everyone is exhausted afterward!! #momsterlink x

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    1. Yes! The breastfed baby poo is definitely it's own thing, right? LOL! Thanks for the love and for stopping by to read! I appreciate the comment!

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  5. Monkey ended up in the sink a few times...you are not alone I am regularly pushed to the limit but I am going to take your tact its a great one :) sometimes we all need to remember what we have... love your style of writing by the way :) #momsterlink

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    1. Thank you so much for the great comment and the nice compliment about my writing style! I really appreciate that! It is so hard as a mom to remain cool with all of the stuff that happens day-to-day that can send us over the edge! I think support is key. Thanks for stopping by.

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