A Healthy Dose of Fresh Air

Last week was a really bad week.

It was a combination of Hayden's "big bad brother" debut and some old worries and stress. By the end of the week, I was a big ball of emotions ready to snap.

Thankfully, this past weekend was the annual Hearts at Home conference here in Bloomington. I attended two years ago while living in St. Louis and never dreamed I'd someday be 5 minutes from the event. It's a gathering of about 5000 moms who want to learn to make their home, children, marriages and selves the best they can be. And as you can imagine, it is a virtual sea of minivans.

A good pal (who I met while living in Royal) came to stay Friday night to go with me the following day. Friday night was a girls night out, which we ended by closing down Target and each buying a) a DVD for our kids and b) Fiber Plus bars for the following day. As we checked out, a flashing neon sign lit up over the register and a loud voice came over the speaker. "You are officially no longer hip. Take your fiber-laden snacks and Disney DVDs and head immediately to your car-seat-filled Dodge 'Sport' Caravan."

We had a good time, and the next day had the opportunity to listen to some great speakers, one of which being Dr. Kevin Leman. I had never heard of him, but he seems to be a big wig in his field. I have since bought several of the speakers' books online in all of the major topics: raising children, sex and the ever-important, ongoing quest to potty train!

Yesterday I did a bit of spring cleaning, bringing up my old clothes from storage that I can finally SQUEEZE into along with Hayden's old clothes for Carson, and taking down maternity clothes and boys clothes that they have grown out of.

Today, the windows are open and a pleasantly crisp breeze is blowing through the house.

All of this being said, the past few days have made me realize a few things. One being that I need to let go of stupid worries & regrets from the past and focus on my number one priority: making my home a haven for my family and being the best wife & mom I can be. Secondly, just going through old clothes yesterday made me realize how quickly they grow up! I feel like Hayden was JUST wearing some of the outfits I brought up for Carson. Lastly...there is no big event coming up soon that I can't wait to get to or, on the other end of the spectrum, something I am waiting to get over with. All I have is right now. These are the times with my boys that I will look back on and pine for when they are older.

So today, I am reminding myself to stop, take a deep breath of fresh air and try to enjoy each and every little moment.

I hope you all are doing the same.