Happy Mother's Day!

Mothers, oh, how we love you!
Mother’s for all that you do and all that you are, know that you are loved and cherished! Even on the days when you feel like you are invisible, feel like pulling your hair out, feel that you have been unheard, feel that you don’t have enough hours in the day, not enough days in the week. We know how hard you work, how big your heart is and how we don’t know what we would do without you! You are special in every way and this Mother’s Day, know that you are really loved, cherished and appreciated. Happy Mother’s Day!

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. ~Author Unknown

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. ~Jewish Proverb

A mother understands what a child does not say. ~Author Unknown

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother. ~Oprah Winfrey

Mom Says
(Original Author Unknown: Sung to: "Twinkle, twinkle little star")
Sometimes, Mom says, "Don't do this,"
Sometimes, Mom says, "Don't do that,"
She still loves me, that I know.
Why? Because she tells me so.
Sometimes, Mom says, "Let's do this!"
Sometimes, Mom says, "Kiss, kiss, kiss!"

A Song for Mothers
(Original Author Unknown: Sung to: My Bologna Has a First Name)
Oh, my mother has a special name.
It s M-O-M-M-Y!
My mother has a special name.
It s M-O-M-M-Y!
Oh, I love to hug her every day.
And when I kiss her, I will say,
Mommy, mommy, I love you!
I L-O-V-E Y-O-U!

New Year’s Resolution: ‘Spend More Quality Time with My Child!’

Have you started this resolution yet?

Life gets busy. As parents we all want to slow down and spend more time with our children. It makes us feel good and it makes them feel good. It creates lasting memories and close relationships with each other.

However, we all know how busy life can be! Work, school, dinners, chores, baths, etc. It’s busy and it’s exhausting!

How do we create time and make this time priority on our list everyday? We make it easy!

Two things often prevent us from spending that time with our children:

1. Exhaustion
2. Busy, busy, busy (checking off to-do lists!)

Exhaustion

You may be feeling like you just want to relax at the end of your day! Not run around playing hide and seek. Well, surprisingly, children enjoy that down time too! It doesn’t matter what you do, it doesn’t have to be a big, thought out project and it doesn’t mean packing up and going out to the park or the pool.

Busy, busy, busy!

I know that some of you are saying, ‘I have too much to do! I can’t sit and play cars or build blocks, or play store. I need to get things done!’ Fair enough, the time for a parent is not enough and the list is always way too long.

So how do you compromise? How do you accomplish tasks or relax and not miss out on precious time with your child?

Let’s figure out how you can be together without exerting a ton of energy that you just don’t have, or delaying things on your list that will take your focus away from enjoying any other activity with your child.

No energy?

Find some things to do that you can sit down and not have to pour a lot of preparation and planning into…

• Sit and read stories, or have your child read to you
• Cuddle together and watch a show or a movie
• Cuddle and talk! Talk about the day – likes/ dislikes. Talk about what you want to do tomorrow. Talk about anything!
• Do a puzzle with a cup of tea and a snack
• Create a sticker book! So fun! (we use a binder with those plastic protectors, then we put stickers on colored paper and just slide them in!)
• Color! Easy, easy, easy!
• Look through cookbooks and sticky note the recipes you want to try together

What’s on your list?

Tasks can easily incorporate your child’s assistance and company if you think creatively about how to do it! It’s also a lot more fun to do together, it gets done faster, sometimes, and your children love being with you, regardless of what you are doing, if it’s together and you are having fun doing it, they will love it and you will to when you realize just how much time you can spend together! Children love to help!

• If the dishes really can’t wait? Let your child stand on a chair and rinse the dishes, or help unload the dishwasher and place things on the counter.
  
• Doing laundry? Children are great at putting clothes in front loading washers, they enjoy putting the soap in the dispenser and pushing the start button. Children can also easily fold face clothes and tea towels (it doesn’t matter if they are not perfectly folded)
  
• Writing out Thank You notes or birthday cards? Bring out the markers and paper and let you child create their own thank you notes!
  
• Need to mail bill payments? Go for a walk to the mailbox together
  
• Making lunches for the next day? Children can help with this! They can pick out fruit to add to each lunch kit, spreading peanut butter on bread, adding juice boxes, etc. Even toddlers can be involved by using step by step instructions (find an apple, pick it up, put it in!)
  
• Getting coffee ready on the timer for the morning? Children love to scoop and pour the coffee grinds
  
• Grocery shopping? Preschool children love to ‘Spy’ the next item! (We are looking for…. Let’s see who can spy them first!)
  
• Dusting? Put on some tunes and slide some socks onto your child’s hands, easy way for them to help with the dusting! Especially those awkwardly low baseboards!

When you make spending time with your child the focus, you will realize how to easily make quality time together a priority! And soon you will wonder how you ever did anything without them! And you will look forward to that down time when you can relax and reconnect with each other after a busy day or week.

The Mommy Connection

Moms, this is for you! Do you have regular connections with other moms? It is so important!
I know, some of you are saying that you are just fine and you can do it on your own, and most days you absolutely can, but some days you can’t. Somedays you need to know that someone else out in this big world is feeling exactly the same as you are right now.

So,what do you do? You know, on the days when you can’t fathom having the energy to get dressed to go out for coffee, yet you would die of shame if someone saw the current condition of your house. The dishes in the sink, the piles of laundry, the scattered toys, the floor crumbs, it just goes on and on, I know.

You wish you could pick up the phone to bond with another mom but you know the moment you gently and quietly pick up the receiver, your children with their sonic ears, will be at your leg, pulling your pants half down and yelling the word you love most in the world, ‘mom’. They don’t know why they need your attention, they just know that you are on the phone so they need it, or they need to find the loudest toy and they just have to play with it. It’s their job, they do it well.

When we are trying to be all, do all and just scraping by with a little bit of sanity, we need each other. But how?
When our children are angels and we just can’t get enough of them, or when we just want to be in a land far, far away, we need each other. When you are smiling one moment and yelling the next. We need to know that we are not the only ones!

We need mom connections, moments to warm our heart, moments of laughter and tears, rants and raves, moments when we can say ‘YES! I’m not the only one!" You love your family, you love your children but there is something about a connection with someone who understands and can relate to your feelings as a mom, someone else who can reassure you and support you. No one, no matter how much you try to explain it, no one can really know how you feel, unless it’s another mom.

This is for the moms who feel they have it all together one day and then it all comes crashing down the next. For the times, when you are standing in line at Starbucks, after another night of no sleep, two kids huddles around your ankles ,they ask to take your order and you stare blankly at them, you have no idea where you are or what you are supposed to be doing in that moment. Am I the only one?

Motherhood... it’s the most precious, most exhausting, most emotional and incredible journey in life, and we can do it together... in our pajamas, unwashed hair and at anytime of the day or night. How?

Grab a cup of your favourite calming drink, snuggle up in a cozy chair, and check out some fantastic mommy blogs! This link is your connection to thousands of mommy blogs, pick and choose depending on your mood, your needs, your wants because right now it’s all about you! That’s right, you!

You will laugh, cry and know that... no, you are not the only one!

http://www.topmommyblogs.com/pages/index.php