#momlife

On an instagram post I admitted to fighting, denying, and judging the momlife movement. Not because I’m not a mom, but generally speaking it is used to “complain” about being a mom, or it’s the proverbial shoulder shrug of oh well, momlife. Don’t get me wrong I have and will continue to admit that momming is not for the faint of heart. Whether you choose it, want it, don’t want it, but find yourself parenting a little human, it’s not a stroll in the park. There are moments of peace wrapped up around moments of pure chaos. My motto is usually “embrace the chaos”. When I began accepting this momlife, I learned to be thankful for the little bundle of joys that know exactly how to push me to a limit I never knew I could stretch to. What they don’t realize is they are in the business of growing me, I am forever grateful.

When we moved to Minneapolis I hit the ground running. I packed our schedule full each day with a little break in there for nap time. We struggled to find balance, but thankfully summer storms sometimes stepped in and made us slow down or sent us to a new town. On the daily we spent our time at the Y. There Zoë took swim lessons and learned to successfully swim across the pool. She passed the test to be in the kiddy pool by herself. She learned what to do when the canoe tips over. She learned to float on her back. She even made a friend.

Then when we were done with swim we would head to the Children’s Museum or the Mall of America. The kids loved to explore ALL of the fun activities. Bubbles were always a hit and the robots were another favorite.

If we were at the Mall of America we often stopped into Crayola Experience to make a few crayons (the colors and their names were THE BEST!) I know for a fact this was Zoë’s favorite place to spend time. She loved melting and molding crayons into shapes. Her last mold she made was a diamond ring, Grey on the other hand loved the car. On our way to Crayola Experience we would walk through Nickelodeon Universe where you might find a character or two. During the week there were never any lines so we would snap a few pictures. I absolutely love the Mall of America. It was such a refuge for when the weather was a little funky, it kind of became our Disneyland of sorts.

In retrospect I see how we used Disneyland and adventuring in general to distract us from facing ourselves. We couldn’t be idle, we always had to be on the go, go, go. Finally I am thankful for the pace God has in my life. He directs my path. Even if things don’t work out perfectly, they always work out just right. Don’t get me wrong I still very much love adventuring, but it has it’s time and place. Rest also has a time and a place. Along the way we lost sight of balance. My mom taught me early on that life was about balance. My vision got a little blurry and my mind was very distracted that I forgot about healthy boundaries. Regaining my perspective on life restored that mentality. I loved sharing things that we did with Zoë with Grey. I’m thankful for the time and gift of the digital age so that I can look back on these memories and sort them out in my mind a second time around.

#allthepraisehands