MamaBlogga

Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope you had a good one. We had fun—can you tell what we were? (Hint: we’re in a specific order here. Technically, we could use two more people, too.)

(The answer.)

How was your Halloween?

Note to self: fix the rest of the clocks. This is getting really confusing.

One of the keys to finding fulfillment, no matter what our station in life, is to love ourselves. To accept ourselves. To recognize that we’re not perfect, but we’re not terrible. We’re trying, and that says a lot—and most of all, we’re people of value.

I think this is especially important because really, valuing motherhood begins with mothers valuing themselves. We have to set the precedent for our families. Yes, we serve them and we break our backs to keep them happy and healthy—but at the same time, we teach them to respect others, respect themselves, respect us—and respect motherhood.

We must value ourselves as mothers. We must recognize and embrace this high and holy calling, and then help our families and those around us to learn to value us as individuals and as mothers, and to value motherhood and the things we’ve done for them.

Of course, some of us have an easier time of loving ourselves:

But, then, I think this shows us what a key time childhood is. If we work to instill this value for motherhood in our children now—if we show them that we love them and serve them, but we also value ourselves as individuals, and if we teach them to value themselves—we can get a jumpstart on the negative messages that are sure to come.

What do you think? How do you show your children that you value motherhood, and yourself? How do you teach your children to value you as their mother?

A few weeks ago, Ryan (and our neighbors) took Hayden on his first camping trip.

Although he wasn’t interested in eating marshmallows that were all “mewty,” and, thus, s’mores, though he whined about coming home pretty much all night, and despite one smashed finger, Hayden pretty much loved it.

He’s asked to go camping almost every weekend since then.

Any fun firsts for you lately?

When you have a child, you want him or her to be able to succeed. To take on the world and win.

When you have two, you want them to do that together.

And some other fun pictures from the park today:

Shots 1, 2, 3

Hayden dancing on the stage and singing his ABCs

What have you done to help prepare your kids to take on the world—including giving them a sibling to work side-by-side with?

This afternoon, I was struggling with Rebecca, who has recently decided that she would prefer not to have her diaper changed ever again. Hayden watched the writhing and screaming (from both of us) and offered some pointers (he’s already learning how to be a dad! ).

“Becca do not want to be wiped.”

I agreed with his astute assessment.

“You not wipe her?”

“I have to wipe her,” I explained. “She’ll get hurt if I don’t.” Apparently we’ve had the diaper rash discussion enough times before that he accepted this without argument. But after a moment, he offered one more piece of advice to help us avoid future encounters of the #2 kind:

“Becca, stop pooping.”

What incredibly logical arguments did/do your toddlers or preschoolers make?

Last week (almost two weeks ago, man), we celebrated Rebecca’s first birthday with my in-laws. She got some fun toys, a couple adorable outfits and a cute towel set (which is doubly good, since she’s never had any towels of “her own.” Poor deprived kid.).

We had angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. She ate almost her entire piece!

(That’s my hand at the bottom telling Hayden expressly not to blow out the candle. Not that I thought Rebecca would/could, but man, give her a chance! Going through the ~125 photos on the camera to find this one, though, I found enough pictures by Hayden to complete his photographic introspective, The World from Waist-Level.)

July was a crazy-busy month for us. My family was in town for a family reunion and extended visit, and then we rushed down for another family reunion. (10+ hours in the car each way. Have I ever mentioned that the kids don’t sleep in the car for more than 45 minutes a day?) I hope things will get more normal for us now, but as much as I like the new-found quiet, it’s sometimes a little empty.

What are your favorite parts of your family visits? Least favorite?