Parenting, you'll always be learning as you go..

They say you learn something new every day. Parenting is certainly no exception. Every mother spends an enormous amount of time, loving, nuturing and protecting your little ones. I know I certainly do the latter more than others. By nature and some genetics I'm what you'd describe as a "worrier" throw parenting in the mix and you can watch that increase a notch or two. And the way to protect them you ask? Always be on the defense. This means always predicting, imagining ways in which trouble might arise and how to avoid or resolve that issue. Its like the simple things, you cover all your electrical outlets when your child becomes mobile, put all the breakables out of reach etc. We can scurry, scamper, baby proof, coddle them, hold their hands but the fact remains they will fall down, they will get hurt, and they will be okay. Last Sunday was one of those very moments. As my son scurried back and forth on a beach dock, my husband and I watched with careful eyes. And sure enough he slipped off the dock and fell right into four foot deep water. While holding our nine month old, my heart rushed to my throat completely panic stricken, I urgently snapped at my husband to move faster to rescue him. Unfortunately for my husband he could of been flying at the speed of light and it wouldn't of been quick enough as time seemed to have slowed to a painful crawling pace. It seemed as though he was walking thrpugh mud to reach him. He of course scooped up our frightened little one and he was fine. After this experience I spent a good deal of time strained about what I had just witnessed, feeling we hadn't watched him close enough. We should of been more careful. We should of protected him. I couldn't bare to think of what could of happened. Thankfully to my husband I was enlightened to a more important lesson in all of this. By the end of the day I had quizzed him as to why he hadn't been closer, why we let him meander so far from us on that dock. He put it so simply, that he had a made a conscious effort to stay close to him yet at the same time allow for him to have his own freedom and independence. It's reminded me the importance of needing to protect them theres also the significant need to let our children become their own individual, independent and unique selves. To not allow my own concerns, fears and worries cripple them by becoming their own. Lesson one complete. Lets hope at the end of this, I can pass the final exam.

$50 Free Flower Gift Card!

Win a $50 gift card to 1-800-FLOWERS from Frugal in Virginia; it's easy, just post a comment!

these feet are made for walking...

Not quite 9 months and walking! With two walking things are about to change!

Memory Jar

A good friend of mine enlightened a group of us to the concept of a "memory jar". A way of recording those precious and life changing moments of yours and your childrens lives. Upon waking up to my 8 months old fussing at 2am last night, I walked into one of those very moments to store in my own memory jar. To my surprise I walked in to my 2.5 year old sitting in the rocker next to his sister's crib reading a book to her. My reaction, "What heaven's name are you doing?!" He replied matter of factly "Reading Maddie Moo a story". A determined effort to soothe his crying sister. After retrieving her from her crib to feed her he hopped down and rubbed her back reassuring her it was all ok and began singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her. It brought tears to my eyes. With no objection he hopped back into bed and chatted with me as I fed her and reminded him that it was still time to sleep. Before she had finished eating he was fast asleep again. Yes indeed, a perfect moment to store.

Wordless Wednesday (thanks Steph and Lizzie )

A little too clean

Yes, it is true, things can get a little too clean around here. What do I discover in my laundry room, but a pool of hand soap covering my entire dryer, dripping down the front and into a puddle beneath it. And to completely describe this story I'll have to own up to the clutter that covered my dryer, a small pile of dirty laundry, a few bags containing sewing scraps and a few other misc. plastic bags. Yes all of which swimming in the quarter inch layer of hand soap. Oh this laundry was going to get really clean! Naturally I took the dirty laundry and tossed it all in the washer and was brillant enough to not place in any "extra detergent" seeing as they were layered already! Unfortunately as one might of guessed, this lead to the cleaning of the rest of my laundry room. A very sudsy and squeaky clean laundry room.

And a tip for all those in a similar predicament, vinegar will really cut back on those excessive bubbles that hand soap leads to! Now if only I had take a photo or two to remember it by!

Messy

Let’s face it, pregnancy, child bearing and rearing are messy. Anyone who has experienced pregnancy or childbirth can tell you, it is all down hill from there! Suddenly the things that seemed so private, uncleanly or crude bare no weight on that’s revealed during these stages of ones life. From the intimate moments of childbirth to the dirty Kleenex stuffed up your sleeves & dirty diapers, it is messy. You either learn to flow with it or you drive your self crazy battling it. And with this I bring you my little artist in training. A toddler, paint and a free canvas of paper outdoors, he couldn’t of been happier.

The Giggling E

My second love beyond motherhood is my craft business, The Giggling E, named after our son affectionately referred to as "E" a perpetual giggler. And as part of this blog I will be sharing my journey in crafting with you. As a crafter, I love finding new things to sew, knit, embroider and just flex my creative muscles. One of my latest creations for Father's Day was matching "grill aprons" for my husband and son.

Y Knot write them down..

I am constantly relaying all of my daily antics and hilarity of my adventures in motherhood, a crafter and as a childcare provider. My husband finally mentioned a blog, might be fun to record these events, a sort of way to log the memories of these days. I hope you enjoy joining along with our experiences!

My joys and loves...