Gratitude Journals

Research in psychology has found that people who write a gratitude journal experience more positive experiences and more positive affect (mood) than people who don’t. Gratitude journaling can include writing for short periods during the day about what you’re thankful for, and obviously you can do this on paper, on a journal on your computer, or via a blog.

So what are you thankful for today? Take 10 minutes per day to sit and think about this and I can bet that you’ll be thankful for gratitude journaling :)

Me, what am I thankful for today?

1. My job. I love it. Where else could I sit around and talk to people about something I love (psychology and teaching)?

2. The fact that my son doesn’t have a stomach virus. My sister, her kids, and her husband all have it. I can’t imagine how worn down they all are and how terrible it is to see your 23-month-old being afraid of vomiting. I wish I could go down and help her more, but #1 and #3 keep me from doing so.

3. My son. He’s freaking amazing. And he was an amazing work of science – seven doctors all coming together to help me and Mike have an amazing and healthy little boy. He’s so sweet and fun and inquisitive. And he’s working hard on growing and developing (like his language skills). I love him so.

4. My husband. He’s patient (most of the time) with me and lets me do what I need to do (nap, grade, read), and I appreciate that wholeheartedly.

5. My parents. They’re super fantastic and supportive. I wish we all lived closer so they could hang with #3 more often. We’re trying to put together video chat this week. I hope they can get it working on their end!

6. My mama friends on Facebook (especially the Gen-Y B/S/T ladies). Without them I’d lose my sanity and feel completely disconnected from other mamas and that would be rough. Support is awesome, even if it’s in the form of online discussions!

Now it’s your turn. Go gratitude journal even just for a little while. Everyone’s thankful for something and someone. I bet there’s someone out there who is thankful for you.

Welcome!

Welcome new readers from the Circle of Friends Weekend Hop. If you decide to stick around and follow me, be sure to leave a comment so that I can follow you!

A Long, Fun Day

Last October Mike and I took Silas and Kyle (Mike’s son) to Hamilton Pool Preserve in Dripping Springs, TX for a day trip of exploring and swimming.

We had such a fun time that we decided we would do it again at some point. Mike and I decided that we would do something this week because we didn’t get to do a lot as a family this summer, so we gathered our friend Steven, and Mike, Steven, Silas and I drove to Dripping Springs.

An hour and forty-five minute drive there, and Silas barely slept (even though it was nap time). He did take some cute naps with Uncle Steven though.

While we had to wait 45 minutes to get in, it was definitely worth it.

Silas has never been swimming. So we brought swim diapers and a swimsuit along with a shirt with sun protection (and a super cool hat). I wore my new Vibram Five Finger shoes and actually went in the water where fish live. You have to understand that after watching childhood friends get bitten by turtles and stung by jellyfish, I have avoided the ocean or anything resembling it since 4th grade. So to walk in the water and see a fish swim by and NOT get out was a big thing for me. But I don’t want to pass on my phobias to my littlest best friend, so I stuck it out (and had no problems, thank you).

He was tired, and that was to be expected. But he was so interested in all the people and the whole floating thing.

He clung to me (or Steven or Daddy) and floated around as we moved around the natural pool. He wasn’t so hot on floating on his back, but he would kick a little if we pulled him around in the water. He was very into sitting and chilling on your shoulder with his little snotty nose (poor punkin’).

We tried to get him to take a nap on a towel in the shade but he wasn’t having any of it.

Finally around 3:30 we packed up and left (only to have Silas fall asleep on my shoulder as we hiked out .25 miles of rocky terrain – and you all know how heavy a sleeping kiddo who already weighs 34 pounds gets).

We got some lunch/dinner at one of the new restaurants (or new since we were there last) and Silas had a little grilled cheese and fries, but everything went bad quickly and we left. And everyone slept on the way home (except Mike who drove). All in all, it was a good day. We’ll definitely be going again next summer (or maybe even later this year when it calms down over there).

My Son Goes To Daycare and This Is What It Feels Like

Silas and I were home for almost four months together before I had to go back to work full-time and we found him a daycare. While it was an amazing time, I definitely got to the point where I envied my husband for having a reason to leave the house every day (to go to work LoL). If we lived closer to town I would have made up excuses to go out, but we lived 30 minutes from anything so even just a drive to get a Mtn. Dew was ridiculously long and required 30 minutes of baby prep! So when it came time to go back to work I was sad to leave the Monkin all day but excited to do something different with my day.
I searched and searched for his first daycare, and we interviewed a boatload of home daycares. Ever want to be concerned for other children’s wellbeing? Visit home daycares. Some we were both appalled at (and Mike and I look at different things differently). We finally decided on one, and she seemed flexible and that was great. She would send me pictures of him throughout the day and there were other Littles there for him to learn new skills from. Then she got kind of wonky and inconsistent, and I realized my son wasn’t crawling because someone was carrying him around all day (she thought he was gorgeous and wanted him for herself, she’d say). Sooo we left there. We found another daycare run by two sisters out of their home and it looked fantastic. They had 28 years combined daycare experience, and their house (or the kiddo’ed part) looked exactly like every other daycare you’ve seen. Silas and I spent some time there over Christmas break and we liked it, so he started in January when I had to go back to work. These ladies worked hard to get licensed and to get food programs in place for the kids (awesome, everyone benefits). They teach Silas Spanish and I feel comfortable enough asking them to tell me how to “dice” something. So my little Mono (monkey) is learning Spanish and a boatload of other stuff.
This is all fine and good. This summer though I’ve gotten a lot of text messages from daycare asking if it was ok if they took the kids (usually just the two Littles, Silas and a 17-month-old girl) here or there. Since they’re free to go under two to most places, I would always say sure. But I can say that recently I’ve started feeling…I don’t know how to put it. Jealous I guess? They took my son to Sea World for the first time.

They put him in the wave pool for the first time. They took him on his first merry-go-round. In my head, these are all my things. They’re my job. I should take him to SeaWorld first and see how excited he gets over the water rides. I should put him on a merry-go-round for the first time and see his reaction. I’m his Mom. Mike and I should be doing these things, not his daycare teachers. And that makes me feel badly. I think Mike’s feeling this too. I’ve talked to other parents who are either working full-time or students full-time, and they’ve said very similar things. It’s like you keep worrying about what you’re going to miss. I was lucky to see him crawl first, walk first, and try to imitate words first. But I feel like I’ve missed out on this piece that seems to so small but is yet so important to me because I had memories of these things as a kid. I don’t want his memories to involve his two nannies.
We work hard to create new memories of fun stuff we do together as a family (like drive out to Hamilton Pool Preserve this weekend), but I still get dumpy whenever I get those “Can we take the kids to ________?” texts. I suppose it’s part of life.

What’s been the hardest part of parenting for you so far?

Wild Weekend Blog Hop

Welcome blog hoppers! What is a blog hop you may ask? It's a way to find new blogs to read and get more "traffic" to your own site. This week I'm participating in the Wild Weekend Blog Hop hosted by About A Mom and Smile and Mama With Me. Join up if you're interested and leave a comment if you're a "hopper" who stopped by. Thanks!