Tulips~N~Lace

Do you ever get overwhelmed?  Some days, the kids ar e going crazy, the house is a mess and husband will be home from work in just a few minutes wanting to relax after a hard day.  Some days, I look around my house and think "This place is a disaster.  I should have cleaned the living room and kitchen by now and have dinner at least started."  You know what?  It's okay.  we need to give ourselves grace sometimes.  It is okay to have a rough day.  It is okay to spend an hour playing with the kids instead of making sure the house is clean.   Yesterday, my house was a mess.  I sat down with my 4 year old, who just wanted to be held and looked around and thought I haven't gotten anything done today.  However, it was important to my child that I just sit with him.  He didn't necessarily need anything from me other than my attention and to know that Mom was right there with him as he played a game. I'm a stay at home/work at hom...

Today, I showed up! Did you show up today?  What does that really mean?  That can mean different things, to me sometimes it is just getting up and tackling the day.  Teaching my kids their lessons (we are a homeschool family) or it can mean taking a day off from lessons to clean house and just spend time with my kids.  Other days, that might mean, getting work done and school done and then having time to play or it might just mean, getting my kids to their appointments for that day.  What does that look like in your world? This week I talked to one mom and asked how her day was?  Her response was that she made it to story time at the library.  Things hadn't been going great for her that day, but she showed up because it was important for her child.  I spoke to a grandma this week and asked her about her day.  Her response was,  "We made it here on time.  It was a crazy morning with lots of mishaps, but we showed up."   How...

As our world is so crazy right now, I've been thinking a lot about our time spent in the NICU.  It was probably the hardest thing that I have had to deal with in my life.  Since not many people know my story, I thought I would blog about it on here and share a few things.  At 28 weeks pregnant I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia.  Preeclampsia is a life threatining disease.  I was placed on bed rest in the hospital.  The doctors really wanted to try and get us to 34 weeks but at 30 weeks and 5 days my baby boy decided it was time to join us in the world.  I also had a 4 year old at home and that was one of the hardest things having to stay in the hospital and not be at home with my little guy.  I was on hospital bed rest for 12 days before my little one made an appearance and then my little guy spent 65 days in the NICU.  He was born weighing 2 pounds and 8 ounces.  Let me tell you something, NICU babies are some very strong warriors and ...

Have you ever thought about being a work at home Mom or a homeschool Momma?  I am a homeschool/work at home Momma of two.  I love the opportunity to be home with my little ones.  Now, let me start out by saying that being a homeschool momma or a stay at home or work at home momma is not always the easiest job, but it is so rewarding.  My goal this year has been to make my home a cozy, comfortable home for my family. I have a few people I follow on Instagram or bloggers that I just love to see their homes and how cozy and peaceful they look.  Now, I can tell you my home rarely looks like an Instagram post.  It is often messy and chaotic.  I have a 6 year old and a 2 year old and they love to play with toys and build towers out of building blocks.  If you have children, you know just how crazy life can get with little ones underfoot when you are trying to clean house or even keep your house organized.  Everyone's definition of cozy is different...

It's the little things in life that are the most important!!! Do you ever get up and want to just get a hot cup of coffee or tea and a good book and curl up and just read and drink your hot drink and enjoy your day by doing nothing else?  I sometimes think, "Oh, it would be so nice to just have a lazy day today."  Then reality sets in and my kiddos wake up and before you know it, it is time to start the day.  Laundry, dishes, feeding kids, cleaning up and all the millions of little things that we moms do every day.   You know, I love my family more than anything and sometimes it would be nice to just have that lazy day or just do nothing or anything other than all the adulting things we have to do, but I wouldn't trade my life for anything.  I love the time I get to spend with my kiddos, even if it is a million things I have to do.  So I get my cup of coffee and usually make my older kiddo a hot cup of cocoa and we start our day just enjoying our hot d...

At the end of the month my son turns 6 years old.  Where has the time gone???? It seems like it was just yesterday that we were waiting for our little one to make his appearance and now he is a little boy and not even a toddler any longer.  It is so hard to believe that he is growing up so fast.  We now have another little one that is almost 2.  One of our local parks has a story walk so sometimes we like to go and walk and read the story.  Check your local parks to see if any of them have a story walk, it is worth checking out. It has been such an adventure to be a boy mama.  How many boy moms are out there that feel that way?  He is so full of energy and always on the go.  We are homeschooling now and he is working hard at Kindergarten.  It has been quite the adventure of learning different learning styles that work best for him. We are currently working on learning to read and that has been so much fun to see him learning.  Some day...

I have been thinking about firstborn children lately. Do you have a child or children? My son just turned 3 last month and I was thinking about how God gives us so much grace with our children. Especially, our first child because even if you have been around kids forever it's just not the same as being the one responsible for  how your child grows and learns and becomes the adult they are meant to be. Sometimes it seems like the days will never end,  your child just wants to complain about everything or they just want you to sit and hold them all day. Those times it's hard when you need to do dishes and laundry and clean the house and all of the other  millions of things we as parents/wives/women have to do. Then there are those times you look back and realize  just how fast time is going.  It is so hard for me to believe that my child is already 3.  It seems like it was just a few months ago that I had him. Recently, I ...