A Passion-Filled Life

When I met Will, we were in high school. I remember sitting on a picnic table with him outside my house. We had only been dating a month or so. I don't quite remember my thought process at the time but I remember just blurting out: "I think you should know that I plan to go to college and I plan to be a stay at home mom. So I need to know now if that is going to be a problem?" There was silence and  I was afraid I might have just scared that boy away.

Seven years later, I married that boy. Five years after that, I had my son. I was living my dream. I was the college educated stay at home mom I always dreamed of being. But still, I felt my life was lacking something. So we decided to have more kids. Infertility became a struggle for us again and I needed something to occupy my mind. So one Mother's Day, my husband bought me the Adobe Creative Suites. And so during the day I played mom, and at night until the wee hours of the morning, I played designer. Little by little I started designing for others.  Little by little I started making money.

Four years after my son was born and by the grace of God, we had our daughter. She wasn't even a week old when I felt pulled to go back to work {from home, and while she napped}. I had gotten a taste of entrepreneurship and passion-filled work. I had stepped into my potential and it felt great. But I was seeing a transformation I wasn't sure I was ready to make. Who had I become? I was abandoning the ideals I had had as a young girl sitting on that picnic table with her sweetheart. And what was worse was that it was by choice. Dirty truth be told, I felt that by making that choice willingly, I was abandoning my children.

It took me a long time and a lot of praying to to be okay with growing me. This quote kept going 'round and 'round in my head for months and everyday I wondered where I would be today if a week ago, a month ago, a year ago, I had taken a leap of faith.  

I wondered what would happen if I committed myself to a life of passion-filled work. I wondered what impact that would have on how I raise  my children. Would I be happier for it? Would they be happier for it?  So this past month, I took a huge leap of faith. I decided to put all my pennies into Making Things Happen for my business. For my family. I packed my bags, said goodbye to my Littles and my Big, and I headed to Pensacola, Florida to meet some ladies who were doing some extraordinary things in their life.

I have been hard at work planting the seeds to make some BIG things happen in my life. Some of it has already happened. Some of it is a work in progress.  I can't wait to share some more about my experience at the Making Things Happen intensive. I can't wait to share some of the things I am working on. But most of all, I can't wait to show my children how to live a passion-filled life.

Sot translated

Cole: "Mom, I want sot."
Me: "What's sot?"
Cole: "You know, the white stuff in the kitchen."
Me: "Bring it to me and show me."
Cole returns,...
Me: "Oh, "salt"! You can't have salt for a snack."

all the way to Jesus

March 11th. Conversation between me and Cole.

Cole: "I love you big as the moon!"


Me: "I love you too."

Cole: "I bet I love you more than you love me."

Me: "no!"

Cole: "Yes. I love you all the way to Jesus!"

Wow. That is a big love!

"Got Milf?"

I blog-stalk a seriously hilarious woman named Sarah Maizes, She's an author, comedian, and single mother of 3. She just wrote the book "Got Milf?" and she made this trailer. I thought it was funny and wanted to share the love. Hoping I can get my hands on the book for our Austin trip next weekend. Yippee!

First Swim of the Year

We decided to take advantage of this beautiful weather today so we took a dip in the pool.

Cole: "I'm a sharf."

Will: "Shark. Sharkkk"

Cole: "Oh. I'm a sharp."

Sharp was the knife conversation 3 days ago. The knife was "sharf" too.

Posted via Blogaway

Cole-isms

As you can see from the picture above, it is spring Summer here in South Texas. It is also barely March. We treated Cole to some outdoor water fun n Friday. He loved it. At the end of that water hose rainbow there is "honey". Cole informed us of that. We were confused too but quickly realized that what he meant to say was "gold". So now he calls it "honey and cookies". We were confused again until we realized that what he meant to say was "milk and cookies". Well, at least that's what we think but the boy has a mind all his own. His nickname for Ellie a few weeks back was "Wachili". We are still confused by that one.

Will was sitting down on the ground playing with Cole. Cole stood up with his back to Will and said "Dad, I'm going to timber." And then he just let himself fall. Thank goodness Daddy has cat-like reflexes!

Sadly, our son's vocabulary also consists of "nursing", "pumping", and "pacifying".

Cole has had to be my little helper when Ellie is screaming in the car. He usually givers her her paci. She doesn't like it much. Sometimes she'll tolerate it. After repeated attempts to "pacify" Ellie, Cole sighs, puts his arms behind him and matter-of-factly and proclaims "Let her cry."

I asked Cole if Mommy worked. His reply, "Um, I thiiinnk not." Pause for some thought. "Yes. You work but at home. You don't go to like,..." And then he forgot what he was trying to say and walked away. 

When he puts up a fight to go to bed at night, he'll say, "I don't want to sleep in my bed, or Ellie's bed or the crib." So that leaves Mom and Dad's bed. If I want a nice peaceful night, he gets the bed until we get in and carry him out. And let's just say the nights are very peaceful.

When he wants to try to convince me of something, he'll say, "won't that be a good idea?" Such as "Hey Mom, after school, if I eat all my snack and lunch, maybe we can go get an ice cream. Won't that be  a good idea?"

Sometimes he'll walk into a room and say to me "Hey there cowgirl!". I love it.

Most of all, I love it when he says "Sure."

Roll over.

Ellie rolled over yesterday! Twice! At 2 months, 1 day. She only does it when she's really really mad and crying though. Which lately has been quite a lot. She's a little congested and I think that has been the cause. We see the Dr. again tomorrow. Another 2 hour wait. Lovely.

She's 8 weeks old and it seems that the 6 week mark was when things really started happening. She has started in with cat naps. My least favorite part of it all. It totally sucks. Just when I get in the groove of things she wakes. But she smiles a whole lot! It's so cute! I love  it how happy she gets when she sees me. She has started sleeping in 6 hour stretches. Well, one 6 hour stretch. But she's a late sleeper. We can usually get her to sleep until 9. Sometimes 10. I don't know what I would do without our swing. Always bought me 2 extra hours of sleep in the morning with Cole too. It's awesome!

I can't believe how big she is. Now when I pick her up she doesn't seem so delicate. She's sturdier now. Bittersweet. Can't wait to talk to her in a year or two but I miss the cuddly little newborn stage. You know the one. The one where they sleep 18 hours of the day and nurse or poop the rest.

Also, got the weirdest visit from my aunt. Super weird because I am exclusively nursing. Not a single missed feeding. Ever. So why the visit? I kinda totally feel cheated.

Work is getting increasingly more difficult now. I'm throwing a few ideas around but waiting to see what the next month will bring. They change so much and i am not sure if it's an irritated throat or tummy or just  her age.