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Let’s Have some Summer Time Fun! Blue Star Museums and So Much More! DoD Blogger Roundtable
Military family on a nature trail“I feel like I ran through this blog with the enthusiasm of an 8 year old playing baseball or soccer this summer!” What is active living for the military family? It certainly must include activities across the reach of age, interest and new found geographic areas to explore after a PCS. Parenting can be a challenge before, during and after a PCS due to all the stressors impacting the whole family. But a fitness routine can help the whole family work through some of the stress involved in every day military life. A new trail, an old trail; a new workout routine, an old workout…
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Being an Only Child … for moments in time
I’m not an only child. I am the oldest of three. Neither are my boys. There are four boys from 19 years old to 2 years old. They are my heart walking around outside of my body. And I’m laughing (with her of course) at a very dear friend who just found out they are pregnant with Baby 2 and are worried that older brother is going to be jealous. Ah life is about to change (all for the better) for them! You know that opportunity though when you get time with just Mom or Dad? It is priceless. So walk with me down memory lane. I was a junior in…
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Homework Help
From Kindergarten through High School, homework is a recurring theme through the school year, usually met with loud, obnoxious groans from around the world. If you struggle, like I do, with motivating, encouraging and helping your kids to ‘get the job done’ here are some great resources. What can Parents do to Help with Homework?As millions of children return to school, the burden of homework and new schedules can often lead to anxiety and almost certainly new amounts of stress. This is not only true for the children, but for their parents as well. Homework can be frustrating for students and for parents as well. Research shows that parents can play an…
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Youth Sports are Important for Parents too!
“As parents, we often think of youth sports as organized events. I think the more important ones, may be the unorganized variety.” Summer time is here and it is, as usual, crazy busy! Throw in a PCS or deployment for you and it is just gets worse. Finding time for all the unit events, saying good bye a million times (or at least a few) to good friends or acquaintances, making friends at your new location, finding time for a vacation, finding a new spouse job – yep, the head starts to spin a bit! But what about the smaller people version? They go through a lot as military brats…
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50 Shades of Selfishness
Have you ever sat through a sermon at church and thought, “Holy Cow is the pastor spying on me? Taking note of where I am lacking? Making sermons that speak to only me?” There was a word running through my head all week: “Selfishness”. It was the first full week of Summer Break and every time I turned around there were kids’ toys… on the counter, on the table, on the floor, on the couch, on the deck, in the grass. You name it. There were toys. I was trying to wrap my head around the mess. No matter how much I reminded the boys to pick up after themselves, no matter how often I…
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Let Them Be Little
… because they grow so very fast This past Friday my oldest son graduated from high school. How can this be? Josh was three the first time I met him and has been a piece of my heart ever since. His dad and I dated for several years and we grew closer as a unit of three until we became a family in 2001.Josh was in 1st grade when I became step-Mom. He was 8 when he became a brother(and he became a brother again and again in 2005 and 2010). He started his freshman year in high school while his dad was in Iraq. Sometimes I want moments of my day, week, month to go fast…
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Happy Birthday, Kiddo
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11Dad and Josh: Makes me smile 18 years ago a boy was born. He would forever change my life, influencing the mother that I am today, yesterday and tomorrow. He’s a brother! (and he will be again and again)Joshua, Josh, Kiddo. What an amazing young-man he has come to be. A stellar student, a strong athlete, a friend to many, a rock in a sea of turmoil. To say I am a proud mom would be an understatement. I…
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The Rubber Band Effect
This isn’t going to be one of those feel good , I know what I’m doing, all is well, posts. After all I haven’t had a stretch of more than three hours of sleep in oh … many many moons. Baby Boy *L*, 6 months old, as cuddly as they come. I am trying desperately to establish an earlier bed time routine. We have been nursing from 8:30pm till 11pm – Yes, for that long – in the comfort of my bed, my legs stretched out with a good book in my hands or my iPad at my side. By 11pm I’m exhausted. If I try to put him in…
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A Breastfeeding Journey
WE did it! By “We” I mean BabyBoy *L* and me! In just a few weeks he will be six-months old and aside from a few sips of formula (promptly spit out on his part) he has been exclusively breastfed. Can I tell you how much I have enjoyed this journey?! (Thanks, then I will.) I tried with my other two. *E* my first born was a colicky-mess… or maybe it was just me that was a mess? But he would cry for hours and at about six-weeks old consistently had blood in his diaper. I /tried/ to cut out all cow’s milk from my diet at the recommendation of…
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A World of Emotion
I must admit it has been a very long couple of weeks. BabyBoy *L* just turned 4-months and since around Thanksgiving learned how to *really* make his opinions known. He wants to be held. 24 hours. He wants to see the world around him. No time for sitting! He wants to play. Even when he is eating. In becoming more aware of the world around him he is sending me into a sleepless haze. I love all the parenting-articles out there … oh sure at 4-months you can get them into a routine. This momma has tried. *L*’s routine is his routine. There will be no ‘undue-influence’ he tells me.…
