Something EVERY young mom should know...

My husband was working 14+ hour days, while I was at home with a 2 year old who did not nap and a newborn who was up all night...all I could do was constantly feel defeated.

Fast forward 3 years: I now have a Kindergartener and a 3 year old.  I am sleeping all night (most nights), and even have time in the afternoon to myself (even if it is just 20 minutes to take a real shower alone!).  

I wish I could go back to my sleep-deprived, weepy, discouraged self of 3 years ago, look her in the eye, and with genuine sympathy tell her it really does get better.  Others who went before me often said, "This time will pass", or "Enjoy them while they are little".  It was said as a passing encouragement, but it meant little when in the thick of the sanity-sucking cycle of caring for a young family.  

To all my mommy friends who are feeling defeated, exhausted, and discouraged, with genuine love, I want you to know:

It REALLY does get easier, people don't just say that, it REALLY is TRUE.  

There will be a day in the NEAR future where you will have a full-night's sleep again.  

There will be a day in the NEAR future where you will have some alone time

There will be a day in the NEAR future where you will feel like a human again.

There will be a day in the NEAR future where you will have a clean house


Until then, take heart! No one else in the whole wide world could be a better mother to your babies! God picked YOU for a reason: You're so strong, loving, kind, compassionate, hardworking, and selfless!

Tonight, as you prepare to get up multiple times to feed your sweet little one, or change another dirty diaper, or wonder how long it will be until you get a shower, just know that this tough season will pass.  You can do it! There is no faultless method, magic fix, or universal solution for being the perfect mom, just keep doing what you're doing,  and know that You Are Loved!

Love,
A mom who's "Been there"

I've Got All the Pieces

 

This past weekend we went to the Lego Store.  They have anything and everything you could possibly think of in Lego form.  My husband loves Legos and my 4 year old, Natalie, wants to be a part of that b/c she is a Daddy’s girl to the core.  

We got in the car and Natalie pulled out the Lego Christmas Catalog they gave her.  She began flipping through and talking about how cool all the large castles, pretty cars, and neat spaceships were.  After about 15 minutes of perusing, she said, “Oh, you have to build it?!”  All I could do was laugh! Of course you have to build it, silly girl!

While thinking about that, God put a thought into my head.  Natalie’s realization that the Lego sets don’t come pre-built is the same realization I often need in my walk with Him. You see, I look at the box with the completed picture and of course that’s what I want for my life.  A want a full, intimate relationship with my Savior with Heavenly Glory beyond my imagination!

But then I open the box and find pieces….The Holy Spirit, The Bible, Worship, My Church Community, so on....Hmmm, this doesn’t look like the picture AT ALL! Why, b/c I have to build it.  I want the picture on the box and God has given me all the pieces, the instruction manual, and He's even there to guide me.  So what’s the problem? Well, in my life, it’s me! I look at the picture of completion longingly, but look at the pieces and steps with disdain.  I want that intimate relationship with my Savior and my full-on, Heavenly Glory right now.  I don’t want to have to study the word, pray, serve, and wait to get what God has for me.

I’m selfish, impatient, but mostly I'm just plain human.  I want things to be easy, but God did not call Christians to easy! Quite the opposite. He calls us to follow Him and actually guarantees that the path will be hard.  So I give my longing heart over to God, get on my knees, and know that putting those pieces together won’t always be easy, but I don’t have to do it alone! When I reach Him in Heavenly Glory I want my life to match His picture of completeness for me, then my joy really will be complete.

I challenge you to step back and ask God what pieces you are struggling with.  I am  asking him to help me stop and wait for His instructions.  I want to use all of the pieces He’s given me for the purpose He has!

Psalm 25:5

 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.

Picture Perfect Picnic...Not Quite!

We were in the park enjoying a real “movie moment” type picnic.  The girls and I were sitting in our cute outfits on a cute little blanket looking at all the adorable birds flying by-this is the stuff that wins “Mommy of the Year Awards”, people! But, in true Kim fashion, our moment of glorious perfection was quickly dashed, but not by what you might think. 

For my regular readers, I know you’re thinking this moment MUST have been interrupted by someone’s horrible bodily fluid explosion.  Surprisingly, you’re wrong (just wait a few days, I’m sure there will be another “poop post” soon, it’s never too far off with toddlers, that’s for sure!) No, today’s culprit was a squirrel.  I know, sounds ridiculous, what could a sweet, little rodent possibly do to unravel this perfect moment? Well this was no ordinary squirrel, not ordinary at all!

This squirrel was larger than most, about the size of a small puppy.  In Florida, that’s not really too unusual. The weather is nice all year, so I assume that means they don’t have to store away for the Winter, meaning they have an entire extra season to hang out and eat bread from old people-not a bad gig, if you ask me. 

Anyway, so this “larger than normal” squirrel spots our picture perfect picnic and begins to bounce his fluffy, evil, little tail in our direction.  I love animals as much as the next girl, but don’t feed the wild ones. I remember learning in 2^nd grade Science that feeding wild animals messes up their natural ecosystem and I don’t want to be personally responsible for too many uneaten acorns in the world, so I will NOT feed the squirrel.  Please don’t nominate me for any environmental awards, I’m simply doing my part. 

The squirrel sees that I see him-we make full eye contact.  I believe my eyes are communicating, “No food here, Buddy”  He believes my eyes are communicating, “Come on over, I packed some for you too!”  Clearly, I need to work on my squirrel whispering skills.  Now Mr. Squirrel is in a full on sprint towards our picnic.  I stand up to scare him away, but to no avail.  My “lovey eyes” from earlier have apparently removed any possible fear of me he may have had-UGH!

Still, not a big deal, it’s just a squirrel.  Then my girls see him and totally freak out.  By freak out, I don’t mean they scream or stand up.  No, they full-on run in the other direction, as if they saw a bull charging the picnic.  They get about 15 feet away and begin crying and screaming.  Now, everyone in the park who was just admiring our amazingly serene picnic is staring at my kids wondering who those little weirdos belong to. 

At first I was angry, but they were right to be afraid of this squirrel-he got right up on the blanket, despite me actually physically swatting him away.  After I realized I was losing this battle, I walked over to the girls, and we all sat and watched as the squirrel ate the rest of our grapes, cookies, and cheese.  As we were sitting watching this little terror eat our lunch, a sweet older lady came over and said, “Oh, that’s Squeaks, He’s terrible-he steals from everyone AND he bites! Animal control keeps removing him, but he always finds his way back here!”  We were just latest victims of Squeaks the evil, biting, food-stealing squirrel.  

When he was done, we picked up our mess and were on our way.  We’ll try again another day, probably not at Squeaks’ park!  I guess that’s just how life works, you get a few rare moments of picture perfectness and the rest of life is figuring out what to do with the crazy stuff that happens all around you!