Learning a New Way

Today I want to talk about love. I know it's February and Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so everyone talks about being in love/finding love/losing love this month but I was inspired by Miss Sarah Siders over at Sarah Siders and her #CrazyForLove postings. Seriously, she's an awesome writer and a fantastic mama and you'd be doing yourself some good by checking out her blog. And her writing on love may have been started because it's February, but it is completely genuine and heartfelt. Sarah loves and cares for the people in her life with a passion that's noticeable to all those that have met her. She is a truly inspirational woman, for her love of Christ, her love of her family, and her love of others.

She posted 2 blogs recently on 50 things she loved about her toddler and 50 things she loved about her husband that had me in awe. How awesome to see in black and white what someone loves about their kid or their spouse, how awesome to be that kid/spouse. I wasn't even sure if I could list 50 things I loved about the people in my family. And not for a lack of want, but because I often let myself get pulled into a negative perspective on life, and I block out all the good things I have going on.

Sometimes it's SO easy to let the little things in life eat away at the joy and happiness in life. Man, I have been there, sometimes multiple times a day! The whining, fussing, crying, fighting, screaming, screeching, and yelling just wears on you, until you're convinced that your kiddos must have been replaced with alien invaders. And who can find the joy or remember the things you love when you're half deaf and yelling to be heard over the noise (or even out of frustration)? And then because you're already frazzled and tired, your poor husband gets unloaded on like everything is his fault. Or maybe that's just the way I do things...

But because it's February and everyone is so focused on love this month, I thought I'd try and focus more on the things I love about my family. I'm going to try to not let the little things that go wrong ruin my mood for the whole day or let them wear on me until I snap.

We had a speaker at my mom's group yesterday who talked about not being "the angry mom". And it so struck a chord with me. I want my kids to remember me laughing and having fun with them and not as someone who lost her cool over small stuff and yelled a lot. So I'm making an effort to really examine the reasons I get upset and if it matters in the long run. I want to have righteous anger, anger with a purpose. Not just be angry because the kids made a mess or things aren't going my way.

So here's a few things I'm loving right now:

• a two year old who insists on wearing a bathing suit because it has Ariel on it
• a little boy who is enjoying wooden puzzles and shape sorters
• lazy dogs who are relishing being in the company of the humans they adore
• a hardworking husband who is off providing for his family
• cute toddler toes
• cuddling up with my kiddos
• talking to my kids
• a husband who stays up late even when he has to work to have some kid free time with me
• reconnecting with old friends
• Vanilla Coke because it makes getting up worth it
• reminders that life is about the small moments and not about who was right when or whether or not you got to run errands on the day you had planned to