Bountiful Blessings

I've noticed a lot of friends on Facebook posting daily thanks this month.  I meant to join in, but I'm very late doing so now.  So I thought I'd do a weekly version here instead.  Each week this month, I'll list seven things I'm thankful for.

1.  Hubby.  I am so thankful to be married to my best friend.  I am incredibly thankful that even though it makes money tight, he supports me in our decision for me to be a stay-at-home mom and that he gets up every morning to go to a very difficult job in order to support us.  I love the wonderful father that he is to our sweet babies.  I love all that he does to help fix up and keep our house nice.

2.  Little Man.  I love the active, intelligent, independent, curious, helpful little man that he is becoming.  He constantly surprises me with the things he knows and can do already.  I'm thankful that he is so full of hugs and kisses for all of us.  Yes, he can be wild at times, but I wouldn't take him any other way.

3.  Baby Girl.  I am so thankful for this sweet, happy, full of smiles, snuggly little princess.  I love the intelligence and understanding she is starting to display.  She definitely has her daddy wrapped around her precious little fingers.  I am thankful that I get to be the proud mama of such a cheerful, easy going (most of the time, she does have a touch of drama queen) little lady.

4.  Brady.  He's a MESS.  He's 95 pounds of loyal guard dog.  He has nothing but love for this crazy family.  Granted, he barks at almost everything that goes past our house, but he makes me feel safe!

5.  My parents.  I am so thankful for the example of love and parenting they provided for me.  My mama is one of my best friends.  My dad is probably my biggest cheerleader.  I am so thankful all the support they have given me throughout my life.  They did an excellent job of teaching me life lessons and raising me to be prepared for adult life and the real world.  Thank you so much for not giving me everything and teaching me how to work hard.

6.  Coffee.  I drink lots of it these days.  I don't know how I would survive without it.

7.  Chocolate.  No explanation needed.  :)  I just love it.

Baby Girl is ONE!

A year ago today I was holding my very newborn baby girl.  I blinked and now she's one.  ONE.  Why are my babies growing up so fast?!  Not all that long ago I posted about how I didn't understand why moms get emotional when their kids graduate preschool/kindergarten.  Then my baby girl's first birthday got close and all of a sudden I understood it.  I love all that she can do and the little girl she is becoming, but I know that she is my last baby and she's not that much of a baby anymore...and that makes me sad.  And I know that everytime she reaches a "growing up" milestone I'm going to struggle with it knowing that my children are growing up and it's happening WAAYYY to quickly for me.  I know newborns are exhausting and involve lots of work.  But they are your precious babies and are worth every single sacrifice.  While I'm so excited for Baby Girl, I am sad that she and Little Man are growing up so quickly.  I'm a Mama and those beautiful children of mine hold my a big peice of my heart.  I loved all their baby snuggles and as exhausting as it can be, I like their dependency on me.  I have been so blessed with the most wonderful children I could have ever asked for and I wish I could slow down time to enjoy every single moment of their childhood just a little longer. 

So, enough of being emotional.  Here are a few pictures of my little girl's big day.

Pretty birthday girl in her birthday hat!

Big brother and buddy Braden helped with the icing and blowing out the candle.

Big kids enjoying cupcakes on the floor (on a plastic tablecloth to protect the carpet from

all that colorful icing!).

Treat table - sugar cookies, cupcakes, cake, chocolate cake balls - yum!!!

Uphill Battle

I've developed some very strong opinions on parenting in the last weeks/months/years.  I think every parent has to have strong opinions, otherwise you would just get swept away by all the chaos surrounding you.  But what I've realized more than ever in the last several weeks is that we have a steep uphill battle ahead of us.  Not against our children, but FOR our children. 

Simple story to illustrate my point:  Today Baby Girl and I went to Toys-R-Us.  She absolutely loves her teddy bear - she hugs and snuggles it all the time.  I really want to get her a very basic, small, soft bodied doll for her birthday.  Apparently this is WAY too much to ask.  At the toy store, there were dolls that laugh, dolls that cry, dolls that eat, dolls that pee, dolls that swim, dolls that play peek-a-boo, and so many other things.  Dolls that are just dolls and you allow your imagination to take over so they can do all those things?  Unheard of these days.  A few dolls made noises by motion sensors - startling the crap out of both of us when we walked by and one even made my little angel cry.  And this was all on the doll aisle for baby/toddler dolls.  Don't even get me started on the dolls for older girls.  When did it become ok to encourage your 8-12 year old daughter to play with some of the toys they were selling in the other girl's aisles?  I can't believe the outfits some of the dolls were in or the ridiculousness of the accessories that go with them.  Needless to say, we bought nothing and I would be happy to never set foot in Toys-R-Us again.

Why is it so against the norm for children to play with toys that don't involve batteries?  EVERYTHING is battery operated.  They light up, they sing, they move...they drive me crazy!  We have eliminated almost all battery operated toys from our home.  The only exceptions are a few of Jackson's tools.  I love it.  I see Little Man using his imagination more in his play.  He doesn't just sit in front of a toy (while it sings and moves) for 30 seconds and then move onto the next one.  He builds things and he acts out scenarios with his boats/cars/trucks...and he usually yells "Baby sissy NOOOOOOO" at some point because she's ruining his plans with her undying interest in everything he does.

I know my struggle to protect my children's imaginations and childhood doesn't end with fighting the toy battle.  If you really want to get me started, let's get into the ways some young girls dance and dress.  Or the scary Halloween costumes that stores sell for children not much older than Jackson.  Or the TV shows that some kids watch - even ones that are "children's" shows.

I don't want to shelter my children, I just want them to grow up with vivid imaginations and childlike innocence for as long as possible.  I don't want them to know about sex and looking sexy by the age of five.  I don't want them to expect a toy to do everything for them.  I don't want them to watch TV and play video games all day long.  I want them to play house and shop and school and dig in the dirt and run around outside playing all kinds of crazy games until well into their middle school years.  I want them to be kids while they are still kids.