Intentional

Can you tell which pictures are of Ava and which are of Ty at 3months? WOW I didn't realize how much they looked alike until I started going through old baby pictures of Ty. They were both born with a head of hair (Ava's was longer) but a 3 month Ty was a bald boy..Ava is holding onto hers better except for the HUGE bald patch in the back.









For the weeks to months my internet was down at the house, I so many deep thoughts I wanted to blog about. I went over them in my mind and thought them out so complete and poised. However it seems when my finger hit the keyboard I am at a loss for any thought and all I can do is post cute pictures of my kids. HOWEVER I realize some of you visit my site just for the cute kid pictures and could careless what I write…I say this b/c I have to admit when I visit other blogs I get more excited over pictures verses seeing long typed out thoughts.
So I’ll throw in a couple of pictures to keep this post lively and readable.
I feel so ambitious lately. There are so many things I want to do and get a handle on but then thinking about all of it overwhelms me. Things include playing with and teaching my children and working on skills with them (I’ve been trying to consistently do a home school preschool with Ty for a month now), completely and anally organizing my house (down to scrubbing the walls and baseboards), spending fun quality time with my hubby, cooking more and providing nutritious meals for my family, spending serious time reading my Bible and praying, and have a daily exercise routine to lose some serious weight permanently.
The best thing I’ve learned in the past 6 months is that if you want things done you have to be intentional about them. That seems like and obvious statement but when I heard it in a parenting seminar a few months back it all just hit home. I want so many things to happen/ change in my life and yet I’ve been letting each day pass by without making an obvious change. I mastered being a procrastinator at school. I would wait to the very late minute to do a project or study for test, I would pay for it in the yee hours of the morning as I stressed and tried to finish it all and but in the end I would usually wind up making an A….so in the next go round I would do it again exactly the same way. I’ve realize I can’t procrastinate things in my life because ultimately there are no due dates or tests (unless you want to consider death in this category) b/c procrastinating life won’t yield any productive fruit. Does anyone follow? I’m neglectfully typing what I am about to type but…I’m going to ban myself from tv for one month and see how much more productive I can be, and I’ll let you hold me accountable. Typically I save my tv watching until after the kids go to bed (DVR is a wonderful thing) however, if I can replace my veg out mode at night I wonder if I will feel more productive or more tired from not getting any down time. I’ll keep you informed…
On another personal note I feel like I’m in a stage where I am trying to define myself as a mother. Maybe it’s the hit of a second child and realizing I now hold 2 lives in my hand but I’m truly trying to do what’s best for them. Some decisions I’m making aren’t the most popular and I’ve gotten comments from other people about it. But in my mists of being a mother I’m finding “mother/peer pressure” more entangling then I did as a teenager. I was a confident teenager and rarely waved or feel into the “peer pressure,” maybe it was b/c I just had myself to worry about. B/c as a mother I seem to questions some of my decisions, not in a sense of “what will that person think of me” but more am I making the right choice for my child or how will this effect my child. My 2 hot topics on the agenda are home schooling and vaccinations. I’m not 100% passionate on either one of them but they are both topics they seem to draw up controversy b/c I leaning toward the unpopular decision. Moms will give me their advice on each and really want to be able to disregard it all and say confidently this is what I’ve decided for my family (Kudos to my hubby who said he’ll support me whatever I decide to do) AND being BRUTALLY HONEST part of it has to do with not wanting to be stereotyped by others. But as I watched Opera today she had a guest specialist that said something to the effect of “quite trying to get the approval of people A) you don’t know and B) you don’t like.” (In the situation she was talking to a couple who was deep in debt) think you can replace anything with the money scenario and just say approval in general. Truly why should I care about being stereotyped by others because, my true friends and family will love me for me and the mother that I am.

SO… on a being a better wife/ mother note I came across this cookbook that I have falling in LOVE with. It came at the perfect timing in my life b/c Ava will be starting baby foods soon, so I’ll be breaking out the homemade baby foods with purée already.
It’s by Jessica Seinfeld (yes Jerry’s wife) and it’s called Deceptively Delicious , it has tons of recipes that all sneak in puréed veggies so kids never suspect the foods they are eating taste good and are good for them. Actually I most excited about this for my oldest child…Jeff:)just kidding:) Who worse then Ty about eating his veggies. He even “fake” eats them trying to trick Ty so he will eat them.…Seriously folks it’s that bad!! I’m excited about this because now I can fill Jeff up with healthy veggies as well as Ty. I think it’s going to work out perfectly, making puree vegetables for Ava’s dinner then throwing a little into the family meal…I can see it now:)
Here is a link to her website if you want to check it out-