My sister told me to blog, so...

I guess it has been awhile since I blogged. July is like 3 months ago. Honestly, it feels like it's been a lot longer than that. I think that has something to do with the fact that we cram so much into our daily lives that it's like we live twice as much as we actually do in time. I told her I haven't blogged because I have been a little pessimistic lately. I have been focusing a little but more on some of the negative things around me and not seeking for the positive as much as I should. It's just a phase. I am working on it. So, I'm going to give a quick family update along with a few thoughts. 

Michaela started school in August. Pre-K. She is a rockstar. She loves school. She can read. Like, she sounds words out and she reads simple sentences and books. She also is constantly asking me how to spell things and writing out little sentences on all of her drawings. She has grown a full inch since May. Her long and skinny chicken legs are just about the cutest things ever. She also gets more gorgeous every day. She is ridiculously hilarious. She likes to make songs up. Random songs about whatever is passing at the time. She will sing her own melodies or she will sing different words to the tune of songs she already knows. She loves Hello Kitty. She is always asking if we can go do "something fun." She loves to be out and active and doing stuff. I have come to the conclusion that it is an instinct to be active. We teach kids to stop moving and  our general health as a whole suffers. Kids love to move. Anyway, back to Michaela. She wants us to call her Michaela, not Miki. I love her name. I always have called her both names interchangeably. But now she tells is that we need to call her Michaela. She doesn't like to be called Miki. I thought we would be safe from this until she was like 12, but apparently that's not the case. I still slip and call her Miki a lot but she is nice about it. Seriously, I love that she already is so strong-willed. She also has this amazing evil cackle that she pulls out when she is being random. It's so hilarious it just makes us laugh. She is such a nurturing soul. She always is wanting to help take care of Lucy or me or Matt. Or everyone. She is so observant. She will talk about things that literally happened like 2 years ago. Memories from her own perspective. She will remind me of things that I have forgotten. Her mind is like a steel trap. She doesn't forget anything. Just this morning on the way to school I was like, "remember when we went to South Carolina last year?" She goes, "yes. We went to the beach. We stayed at Jerry's house. Remember he had The Little mermaid movie? I didn't like it very much but we watched it anyway." All if that was true and it was a year ago exactly. She amazes me. 

We love the Nashville Zoo!

Lucy. She is 2 now. She talks all day long. Just like her big sister, (and her mommy... But whatever.) she is so smart. She loves to play with baby dolls. Her favorite colors are "boo and geen." She loves to play sporty games. Anything with a ball makes her happy. She loves to climb and she loves to swing. She will swing for hours. She is more of a tom boy while miki is more of a girly girl. But they both really can't be completely categorized. She also loves her "parkwy" (sparkley) shoes and she likes to dress up. She likes to color and play with play doh and she LOVES Dora. She is always up for an adventure but she also loves to snuggle on the couch and read or watch a movie. She is a lot like me. And Michaela is a lot like Matt. She is sassy. She will pick on her big sister a lot more than she gets picked on. I am glad she is not the oldest. She loves to dance and sing. She sings all day long in her car seat or the house. She is my little shadow. She follows me all around everywhere. It's cute and slightly annoying at times. But I would much rather have my kids want to hang out with me than not. They both hate it when I leave and are the happiest greeting party when I get home. I love hearing their little voices yell "mommy's home!!!" And run over to give me hugs. Life is pretty awesome for them and they constantly remind me to slow down and enjoy the moments. 

Cute little buns and some snacks. 

Mommy and Lucy time while Michaela is at school is the best. 

Girl time! 

Silliness at the Zoo. 

More of her awesome personality. 

Some things I have been doing:

I run. For exercise and fun. (Weird, I know.) 

I have been doing 2-3 LuLaRoe parties and events each week. 

I ran my first ever 5K. Time: 33:51.3. I was super proud of myself. Michaela also ran the kids run that same day. 

I am now doing 10K training. 

I sing a lot. With the Nashville Belles all-female acappella group and in the Nashville Symphony Chorus. 

I have lost 14 pounds and lots of inches since June. 

I miss my family. 

I have been reading a lot lately too. 

At the movies with my friend, Becky. Rocking some LuLaRoe. 

One of my Favorite dresses. 

After the 5K! 

I model my own clothes a lot. Love this outfit. 

Date nights at home with a movie are a regular occurrence. We love after bedtime hang out time. 

Matt uses me sometimes for his demos. It's always a good time. And it's also rare which is good cause it's not my favorite thing to record vocals. 

Another date night. 

Also, my husband. He is awesome. He has been a trooper lately. Gigging late nights 4-5 times a week and also keeping up with his demanding schedule of client demos during the day at his home studio. He also has been sick for like a month. Bronchitis-like symptoms and lots of allergies. Multiple trips to the doctor, shots and antibiotics and he finally seems to be getting better. He also is doing a 30 day juice and shake cleanse/diet. And he is starting to run. Hoping we can do a 5k together in December. He is one of the most hard working and self-motivated people I know. He also continues to get better and better at his craft. He is an incredible singer. He plays the guitar like nobody's business. He is always trying to improve in his musicianship. I look up to him in so many ways. 

We are blessed. We love our life. I think the biggest thing I would wish for us is that we could be closer to our family. But we are grateful for FaceTime and social media so we can be a part of each others lives on an almost daily basis still. 

I am grateful for this time in our lives. Our kids are amazing. We love each other. We are happily busy and we also get lots of quality time together. We live in a cozy house and we love Nashville. It's a beautiful place and a dynamic city. 

We hope to add to our family sometime in the next year or so. We will see how it goes! 

Much love. 

Here is a picture of the Matte Gray Band performing at the Tin Roof on Broadway. 

Like I said, my hubs is the man. 

Mothers.

I spent some time this afternoon with some great friends. Lots of families with lots of loud and boisterously joyous kiddos. It was chaos and it was so great. I am so happy and grateful that I am surrounded by so many fun people. 

I was watching my fellow mom-friends fill up their plates with food only to end up giving most of that food to their kids. I watched us all jump up as soon as the kids games got too loud or someone started to cry. I sat in the basement with my friend and about 7 kids while the dads and other adults that were there with no kids played games. And I realized something. Realized it again I guess. Motherhood is synonymous with service. Motherhood is service. We serve. From sunup to sundown and sundown to sunup we serve. We lose sleep. We sit up late with sick kids taking temperatures and cleaning bedding. We eat last. We eat less and than we finish leftovers. We eat macaroni and cheese for lunch that is cold on the stove. We walk around on tiptoes for 2 hours a day so we don't wake up sleeping kiddos. We get up early and fix breakfast while daddies sleep off late nights of work. 

We clean up after everyone. We do piles of laundry over and over and over again. (Sometimes, we even fold it.) We potty train. We clean up all sorts of bodily fluids and various other fun things. We rarely shower. We dress up only to get covered in peanut butter right before leaving the house by tiny fingers. 

Why do we do this? 

Love. Service. 

I never knew what it was to serve someone until I became a mom. The buck stops here. You are it. You are the one who makes decisions. Says "yes" or "no" and has to deal with the whining and crying that comes from standing our ground. 

I believe we are given a gift. When our children are born, or they join our family in any way. We are covered in a blanket of love. Heavenly Father gives us a small piece of the love that he feels for us and shares it with our children. 

So we serve. We brush their hair and teeth. We wash them and feed them. We tuck them in and sing to and snuggle them. And in return? 

They love us. They light up when we come in the room. They ask for us when we are gone. They say things like, "mommy, you are the best mommy." "Mommy, I am so glad you're my mommy." "Mommy, I love you." 

They squeeze us tightly when we pick them up and they give us sweet and sloppy kisses on the cheek. 

And one day, they will grow up. And I would like to think that they will be my best friends. The way my sisters are, I want my daughters to be. And I know it's a bumpy ride along the way. But I am so happy to be on the ride. 

I am happy to serve. I am happy to love. I am grateful to have the gift. 

Thanks to my mom. And so many moms taking such good care of their families. I am inspired by so many of you. 

We are all in this together. 

Thoughts

I am starting to realize that I may raise my voice a teeny bit too much at the dog. I realized this when Lucy, who is almost 20 months old, started yelling randomly at her when she is doing things like walking or laying down. 

Today, I realized that I meant to put the pants I am wearing in the wash last night. I realized this when I wiped a little bit of Lucy's snot on my pant leg earlier and remembered doing this about 4 times yesterday. That is a pretty accurate representation of my life right now. 

I tell people I am a stay at home mom. But I am a variation of this. I babysit other people's children and am, therefore working every day from about 7:30 till 5:00. And I am at the mercy of other people and their schedule. My family's plans center around all of this and the schedules of the people I babysit for. So I feel like I work full time and am a stay at home mom. 

I was looking through old pictures the other day. My kids are almost always covered in stickers, markers or temporary tattoos. I am glad that they get to enjoy life so much. They are both so creative and easily pleased. It makes me slow down and be happy with stickers and temporary tattoos. And time spent with the two of them. 

Also, I have noticed that if I want to sit on the couch in a blankie and read all day when I'm feeling tired and/or cranky that my kids do the same thing. That's a good way to stay active. I don't like seeing them just sitting around all day. In my defense, I don't usually have days like that and I think it's ok once in awhile to have a day of snuggle time. 

Random musings for today. 

Lucy. Notice the stickers.