What We Should Be Teaching Our Kids

Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.- Bob Talbert (tweet this)

Before I had my son, I was pretty judgmental towards moms. Towards everyone, if I'm being totally honest. Actually, I think a more accurate way to describe the feeling I'd get was disappointed. I feel like people could be doing so much better than they were.

I was more like a friend who wants whats best, and less a name-calling mean girl.

I would see parents lined up to by a happy meal, or see grocery cart full of frozen food and think to myself that I would never be that kind of mom. I was going to make sure my kids were eating healthy. The worst was going to kids sporting events. I also told myself I would never be the kind of parent who would put my kids in events that are based on competition and ego-boosting.

Thankfully, motherhood handed me one hell of a slice of humble pie.

I must've had a lot of time back then to spend judging everyone around me.

Now I'm way too busy for that. I spend my time filling up my cart with fast and easy frozen foods, and rushing through the fast food line, trying to get to a soccer game on time.

Being a parent is one of the toughest jobs and majority of us weren't really taught any training before we were thrown to the wolves.

We're all doing the best we can. I know that now.

It's easy to get overwhelmed trying to be a super mom or dad. I invite you to slow down, and check out my article to remind you what our kids really need from us.

XO,
-Felicia G

Why I Started Meditating Every Day (the answer might surprise you!)

                                

Apparently it's been a few months since I've posted anything on my blog. I write pretty regularly but it seems as soon as I take a break in my day to get it blog ready, my son wakes up.  Or I realize it's almost 6 and I haven't showered, let alone make anything for dinner. 

Believe it or not, I'm starting to get the hang of this new role of motherhood. Kinda. I did forget the diaper bag last week but for the most part I'm doing pretty good. 

Showers are a regular occurrence, my house is in order and we don't eat corn dogs for lunch anymore! (I've actually been living without a microwave for over a month now.)

So how did I go from stinky, scattered, microwave-hot-dogs-for-lunch-everyday, messy mama to good smelling, grounded, I-now-use-my-toaster-oven-for-everything, organized mama?!

Well... I'm not really sure. 

But I'd have to guess that the secret behind my success is meditation. 

I have been meditating for 21 consecutive days!

Yup...I signed up again for the Oprah & Deepak 21 day meditation challenge- but this time I actually did it for more than 5 days. 

And I have been more productive in those 21 days than I have been in probably the last 2 and a half years! 

Meditation is like organization and cleaning for your soul. 

It's a way to get rid of all the things that you don't need any more and allows room for the stuff you really want to cultivate in your life. 

I felt scattered, unorganized and unproductive. I felt like I was always behind and trying to catch up with my life. 

I was tired of how my life was going and I was asking for direction.

So once again, I was graciously given a nudge from the Universe. 

I was laying on the couch one afternoon, already feeling defeated since my son and my kitchen were covered in oatmeal, (yes, oatmeal is a lunch food) and the rest of my house was a disaster. There were tons of boxes that needed to be unpacked, clothes that needed to be folded- you get the picture. 

I didn't know where to start, so I grabbed my oatmeal covered child, and threw all the laundry off the bed and we laid there.

He was spilling his bottle while I checked my email on my phone. 

I got the email for Day 1 of the meditation challenge and decided to create a cool picture for my Instagram to show people how dedicated I was for signing up for another 21 day challenge. 

I posted the pic and decided what the heck...we're already laying here, we might as well meditate! 

The few times I had actually done the meditations, they were really good and I was excited for this one because the topic was Live the Life You've Always Wanted and that sounded pretty good to me. 

Especially cause I felt like I wasn't exactly living my dreams. 

So I put it on and to my surprise, Max had stopped squirting his milk on the bed and was falling asleep!!

It usually takes me awhile (an hour) to put him down for a nap so the fact that he was asleep in less than 20 minutes was incredible. 

I finished up the meditation and felt refreshed. I think I even showered. 

The next day around nap time, I put on the meditation for day 2, and Max fell asleep again! 

Day 3 and 4- same thing. No screaming or fighting his nap.

 He would fall asleep so fast, I was ready to buy the whole series. 

And another thing started happening- I starting making lists of all the things that needed to be done. 

Now, I had made lists in the past but I never really got around to actually doing them. 

The more I got done, the more motivated I was to do more. I was starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. 

I was more focused and relaxed. I started noticing this expanding feeling of calmness. 

We were a week into the challenge and to be honest, the only reason I was doing it every day was because it was the fastest way I could get my son to nap. 

I've been wanting to make meditation part of my routine for awhile now, but couldn't get passed the feeling of being to busy to actually do it. 

I didn't all of a sudden have time- I just found something that was helping me put my son to sleep faster so I could hurry up and do more stuff around the house.

Regardless of the reasons behind my daily meditation, I was still reaping the benefits. 

Another icredible thing started happening. I noticed all my relationships were improving, I was feeling more patient with my son and with everyone around me. 

My outer world started reflecting my inner world.

I was letting go and clearing out space in my mind and my house was mirroring that. I was making time for me and I noticed that I seemed to have more time in my day.

But the second week into the meditation, Max wasn't napping. As a matter of fact, he didn't nap that whole week. But I still did it because I needed a time out for myself, even if it was only 20 minutes. 

I needed that time to quiet my mind and reflect. 

It's been 21 days. Almost everything on my to do list is complete. We've eaten home cooked meals almost every day, and I feel so good. Like really, really good.

The more I work on the inside, the faster I see change on the outside.


P.S.There are lots of free meditations on Youtube and if you check out The Chopra Center for Meditation, you can sign up for an upcoming meditation series. They're free and they also have an app you can download that's really convenient.

Happy Mother's Day

I don't think anyone is ever really ready when a pregnancy test smiles at you. I hadn't planned on getting pregnant, but the universe had other plans. I wasn't the first person in line to hold the new baby, or had any desire to play with dolls as a child.I didn't have one ounce of motherly anything.

It wasn't that I didn't want kids, I just felt like I'd be okay if it never happened. Thankfully, God had other plans. Like wayyyyy different plans.

Once I got all settled in with the my new pregnant self, I decided that I would have a beautiful, calm, water birth at home surrounded by candles and heavenly music.

I know...first time mom = clueless.

Once again, my plans didn't pan out that way. I developed a severe case of preeclampsia and had to be transported to a bigger hospital to deliver my son via emergency c-section.

Now that he's is a year and a half, the way he made his entrance to this world fits him perfectly. He's very independent and strong willed. He's a little rebel like me (;.

Thank God for his demeanor, 'cause when you're born almost 4 months early, you've got to be pretty determined.

Becoming a mom three and a half months early made me feel like I was so behind. I felt like I was always trying to play catch up. I had a pile of prenatal books I didn't get to read, maternity clothes with the tags still on and a prenatal yoga DVD that came the week I delivered my son.

I was already feeling unprepared and clueless. Having a baby at 26 weeks sure didn't help. I didn't have a parenting style picked out or even had time to do my research on vaccinating.

It's like I got pushed into the middle of a marathon with no training.

I'm finally beginning to realise that what I'm experiencing is called motherhood. We all have these ideas of how we want things to go and the things we'd like to be better prepared for before baby comes or even the things we'd like to accomplish with our children.

Life goes by whether or not you're prepared. Half the time it doesn't go as planned, and that's okay.

I'm finally okay that I wasn't able to use my hypno-birthing cd, or use the birthing tub we reserved. I'm okay knowing that while I have no clue what I'm doing, that I have a force greater than me that I seek guidance and direction from.

We all have access to that guidance.

Search for it and you will find it.

I'm still pretty new to the parenting scene but check out Sitting on the baby. Amy is a mom and a childhood expert who's not afraid to talk about the tuff stuff like how to handle your screaming baby and other stuff we get scared to talk about as parents. There's lots of help there.

The best advice I could give to new parents, or to any new mother who's life isn't going the way you thought is- as long as you're always doing the best you can, everything will be okay. Be present. Enjoy every minute you can with your babies.

Know that the long nights of no sleep and baby screaming will soon be long gone.

You can do this. You were chosen for this. You're and your kids will be just fine.

Lots of love and blessings,
- Felicia G