Encouragement

Having fitness as part of my lifestyle has enriched my life in so many ways. It has allowed me to learn something new about myself in nearly every stage of life. As I look back I almost always had a fitness goal in mind, which helped to keep me focused and develop my skills and strength. The Season of Life as a mom with young children can be demanding and may make us feel like we don't have time to give back to ourselves. Unfortunately, as moms, we do not have coaches requiring us to show up to practice at certain times each week to work towards our goals. We actually have little coaches that demand our full attention...

Ahhhh the new year!  Theres so much to look forward to...a whole brand spankin' new year to make yours.  Most look forward to the fresh start January 1st brings in, and I'll go ahead and put it out there, who doesn't?!?!  The thought of a fresh start, getting healthy, spending less can be quite exciting for anyone!  While I too love starting off my new year eating cleaner and getting in a few more walks around the block, there's quite a bit more I look forward to as my family rings in the new year. I find that my goals for any new year are heavily influenced by the three or four months preceding January 1st.  Every year, September all...

I'm exhausted. Most of the time. I don't mind too much--its to be expected as a (new) parent. And, we have so much fun with Sam. We love being parents. Lately though, I've been struggling with exhaustion a little more. Maybe because Sam is in a clingy phase and is speed crawling everywhere. Things I usually enjoy doing have been really difficult. I love cooking. I love finding new recipes to try. I even love weekly menu planning. But lately I can't seem to muster up enough energy to get my creative juices flowing. I stare blankly at the calendar and the grocery list. Once I somehow carve out a plan and one of us goes shopping, but I...

There's something amazing about having children, how they open our hearts and eyes like never before. How they show us the ugly side of human nature and the grace of God all at the same time. There's also this dangerous side. This selfish side. There are these tiny little people who "belong" to me and love me completely unconditionally. These tiny people who think I can do no wrong and that I'm perfect. They worship me. I rule their little worlds. I can mold them and shape them into what I want, I can relive a life I never had through them. Except, I can't really do it that way. Not if I want to do the absolute best...

So, my baby is finally crawling! I say "finally" because he took his time, waiting until he was close to 10 months old. We did everything we could think of to encourage him, but as I've written about before, we just had to wait until he was ready. And he was definitely ready. He went from being pretty much stationary, not even scooting, to full-on, on-all-fours crawling, in about 3 days. And now I'm wondering what I was so excited about. Moms know that once your baby starts crawling, it's a whole new world. Gone are the days when you could leave your baby sitting on the floor with some toys for a couple of minutes while you went and...