loving life because...

lunch outside with my husband
snuggles with my Soy boy
Tori Amos
Friday
Traverse City beauty
book club

rainy day gratitude

Some days are harder than others to find gratitude. As a therapist, I suggest to my clients that it's on those days that it's most important to find gratefuls. So, I'm gonna swallow a heaping spoonful of my own medicine.

Gratefuls:
I have a job that is fulfilling most days
My husband loves me unconditionally
orange sunglasses left in my office make me smile
opportunities in unlikely places
friends with insanity like mine
rain keeps tourists away from the bay so i can meditate alone

Hot summer Sunday

can't figure out how to turn the image on blogger...

AIRCONDITIONING
Pinterest craft ideas
Time with my amazing daughter, Lyra
Big Brother
Sue Miller
Ibuprofen
Louis C.K.
Pillow top
Movie night with my hubs

GRATITUDE...

4 years since my last post?! I don't even know how that's possible. I've made a new commitment to myself to keep a gratitude journal. Perhaps I will attempt to post more interesting things at times but at minimum, I will note my gratefuls for the day. The purpose is to stay mindful and present rather than future trip or dwell in the past. For every negative thing in my life, there are probably 100 positives and my perspective will dictate how moody I am. :)

1. my husband took all 3 kids to their destinations today - that is my number 1 stressor, most days so goddess bless him
2. Stephen King's Duma Key is amazing
3. maintenance Mike installed a keyboard tray to help save my wrists
4. air conditioned office
5. peers to vent my frustrations to when groups go awry
6. Sawyer got his cast off yesterday!!
7. no groups to run today
8. sunny outside

the 2nd born

I had an interesting revelation a couple of weeks ago. I'm not proud to admit this but it's just the way it happened. I changed my schedule to work 3.5 days/week instead of 5. Since I am working for free at this internship and paying for Leo to go to daycare, we decided to save the money in daycare expenses. Anyway, this leaves Leo and I with 1.5 days to hang out-just us. My revelation? I've never really hung out with just Leo. I mean, we have had the occasional outings where I knew he'd enjoy going, etc., but to just be us? It's always been Leo AND Lyra. He's never really had to play alone or be with just Mom! :) It was a strange feeling for both of us, I think, to figure out how to just BE together. I knew that extending my internship a bit would benefit us financially but I never saw THIS benefit coming. I am so happy to have Leo & Mom days every week. It's such a great reminder to slow down and not take my family for granted. I love my little man.

I made it

As one can infer from my blogspot title, I am not the happy, sappy sahm-type. I wish I could look at each moment with my kids as a gift to treasure, but I think we go for quality instead of quantity, otherwise it's not so quality :) I'm exagerating a bit but anyhoo...Eric went out of town Sunday afternoon for training and returns tonight (Friday). Now, this is not such a long period of time, I am aware. I think of my friend, Andie, who goes for months without her husband when he is deployed, or even my sister-in-law whose husband is often gone during the week for work. However, as previously mentioned, I am not one of those super moms. So, this was the longest I've been as the sole parent day-in/day-out without school or work to save me. Do I sound like the worst mom ever? Nah, just more honest than most. I was afraid I'd get stuck in my depression or the tv (which happened at times) but for the most part I'd say we had a pretty enjoyable week.

Monday:





Tuesday
lazy day & I cheated - went to my book group for a couple of hours

Wednesday
with friends


Thursday
25 cent show




Friday
Rainy day so...
pork chops for when Eric gets home



And the whole time we've also been working on

lol. he's almost 3 1/2 and would never be potty trained if it were up to him. We've had some accidents but also some successes so I'm pretty happy and proud of my little man.

summer birthdays

We recently got to visit my sister and her son who turned 4! Time goes by so quickly - never thought I'd be one to say that but it's so true! Here are some fun pictures from Dylan's party!

the birthday boy, himself

my lovely niece, ava, who is related on eric's side but still was included in the festivities cause my sister is sweet like that

my silly boy, leo, loved the water gun fights

and lyra, getting tickled by dad - i love those real laughing shots!