Flower child

There was a huge "kids stuff only" community yard sale this morning, and I scored some ADORABLE outfits for Ava, which is great since I missed the spring consignment sales in GA. I got this cute little yellow romper set and decided to have an impromptu photo shoot. Can you believe that my flowers from Mother's Day are still alive? It's surely not a testament to my green thumb (as I don't have one, at all, lol), but they are almost 3 weeks old!

I couldn't pick just one photo, so I decided to just post them all. I want to play around on GIMP with them and do some selective colorization. I'll post those later:) Enjoy! (I'm partial, but isn't she the cutest!?)

Happiness...

Four years ago, I was a brand new stay-at-home-mom with an extremely fussy 2-month old. I spent all of my waking hours (which were many, seeing as how he hardly slept) trying to figure out how to keep him content (aka: not screaming). Over time, this morphed into me spending all of my time trying to be a "good" mother: feed him the right food, read him the right books, teach him the right things. I spent so much of my time trying to figure out if I was a good or a bad mother that I forgot one very important thing. No, not just important, but crucial. This motherhood business is supposed to be FUN! When I stop trying so hard to be a "good" mom to my kids, and I step back and breathe it in and bask in everything unique about them, I realize something that I forgot along the way: this is FUN! This is MY chance at a second childhood, my time to be home with them and have fun and relax and enjoy just BEING. I don't have to spend every second of the day planning activities, teaching them colors and numbers and writing and reading. I don't have to stress about them not eating their vegetables or using perfect manners or being potty trained. But somewhere along the line I convinced myself that I did need to do all of those things, and being a mom stopped being fun and really felt like a job that I was terrible at.

Until now.

I feel like this move has woken me up. Maybe it's the onset of summer--that feeling deep in my bones that calls me out of bed in the morning and screams, "Come and play!" Maybe it's knowing that I get a fresh start here, in a new place, in a new home, with new people to meet along the way. Maybe it's because my babies are finally NOT babies at all anymore, but growing children who can converse and laugh and make me laugh like I've never laughed before.I don't know. But I do know that I've had more fun in these past few weeks than I've probably had in the past few years. And while part of me feels sad about that, the other part is jumping up and down, throwing my arms out to the wind, holding my head up high, ready to dive in headfirst.

I'm not perfect. I make mistakes, a lot of them, in fact. There are important people in my life who I love that I'm not speaking to right now and it feels ridiculous. But this morning at the lake, I looked at my kids and saw them, I mean really saw them, and I was happy. I've spent the past 4 years trying so hard to be happy and to be good at this mom business, and this morning I sat back and let it all go. And like a butterfly I've been chasing, it floated ever so quietly down and settled right onto my shoulders, and that happiness lit me up from the inside out. I promise you, I am not going to let it go.

"Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Aiden the Inventor

This is a little post about Aiden, who as of late has become quite the inventor! He is so bright for his age, always trying to figure out how things work and what he might be able to improve upon. Just recently he has started "inventing" things in his head, and I get to hear all about his amazing inventions. I want to share some of the ones I am most impressed with, because this kid is pretty smart! (undoubtedly, he gets this side of himself from Chuck!)

Note: these are direct quotes, straight from the inventor himself!

Movie Redbox Robot Vehicle: put a book inside a Redbox machine, and it shows you the movie so you don't have to read the book! It has treads too so it can move around and go anywhere you want it to!
>> I love this one. It would be pretty awesome though, wouldn't it? Stick any book into the machine and it would show you the movie. Neat idea:)

Sticky Bug Trap: put bubble solution on your steps where the ants like to be. Then you put little pieces of rice krispy treats all over the bubble solution. The ants come to eat the treats and get stuck in the bubble solution, and then you don't have any more ants!
>> Can you tell we have a huge ant problem? Lol. I love how he thought of a sticky liquid AND a sticky food. Brilliant!

Talking Bandaids: You could take a character bandaid, like Toy Story 3, and put a button inside of the bandaid, so that if you bumped your knee when you had the bandaid on, the character would talk to you!
>> I liked the idea behind this one--kids would love the gimmick I think! Smart kid, this one:)

These are just a few of the, no joke, ten to twenty inventions Aiden comes up with daily. Most of them have something to do with one thing transforming into another (big into Transformers here these days as well), but I love seeing his little wheels turning. He reminds me very much of his Daddy!

Hangin' around...

Hey! The Bailey clan is still here, alive and well. I took a break from blogging for a while because of a fallout with some family members who don't think I am doing a good job as a mother. But a lot of good, dear friends read The Daily Bailey to catch up on our lives and see pics of our adorable kiddos, so I don't feel like neglecting you any longer:) I know I am doing a great job as a mother, and my husband supports me 100%, and right now in my life that is really all that matters. Life is good:)

These past 2 weeks have been surprisingly wonderful. Drama free! I was sick for a few days but Chuck was amazing and I am feeling much better now:) We took the kids to the Cleveland Zoo 2 weekends in a row--that place is amazing! We had Atlanta Zoo memberships the entire time we lived in GA, and while I loved it, it was nothing like the Cleveland Zoo. I'm so happy we decided to splurge on a family membership--it's only $70 a year and in just one more visit it will have more than paid for itself!

The kids are doing great. Aiden is his silly self, he loves telling me jokes (that make absolutely no sense, lol) and obsessing over Toy Story 3 and all of the new characters. He is so excited about seeing the movie when it comes out! Ava is doing wonderful as well. She is adorable and silly--she loves to dance and is becoming obsessed with Barbies and all things Barbie-related.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks!

Sometimes...

Sometimes fear of rejection leaves me standing in a doorway, unable to enter.
Sometimes going a new direction leaves me terrified, unable to find my center.
Most days I'm fumbling and stumbling and never quite sure of my way.
Most days I'm awkward and lonely and can't think of the right thing to say.
But I know that I am true, a good friend with a kind heart.
I know that I am loyal, and loving, and sometimes even smart.
I know that I am sensitive, I know I have thin skin,
I know that there are times I think I'll never quite fit in.
Sometimes the truths of my childhood are a bitter pill to swallow.
Sometimes I worry that all that pain has left a part of my heart hollow.
Most days I worry for reasons that I can't explain at all.
Most days I'm scared to take a leap for fear that I might fall.
But I know that I am strong, a worthy mother and a loving wife.
I know that I am lucky to have this crazy beautiful life...

Taking a break...

Hey all. Just a quick post to say I am taking a break from blogging for a while. No worries, we're still here and alive and kicking. Hope life is treating you well...

Farmpark

This afternoon we went to Farmpark, which is one of the many parks in the Lake Metropark system. It is a really neat place, and it is HUGE! Lots of animals to see and places to explore. We even got to see brand new piglets and baby lambs. Sooo cute!

I didn't remember I had my camera until the very end at the playground, but these pictures make me smile so I wanted to share them. The kids both had a great time--Ava especially loved the lambs but said the piglets scared her because they were squealing really loudly!