Home

Lately, I’ve been thinking about home and what it means to me. So many times I put an emphasis on the design of our home; what color of paint to use in a room, what item to put on a wall or what color of throw blanket to drape over the couch. While I truly think our surroundings can affect our mood and do have an impact on us, that’s really not what’s most important. I grew up in an old schoolhouse, on a plot of land miles from town. I don’t remember what color my mom had painted the walls, what kind of couch we had or how big our home was. But I do remember feeling loved and safe and that’s above all what I desire most for my girls. I’ll still always care about throw blankets and such but more importantly, I want our home to be a joyful, laughter filled place. This scene, little girls covered in dirt, eating oranges with mud laced hands, brings me joy.

Sconce Light

Sconce lights are beautiful and so cozy to me. I found this one on Amazon, you can buy it here. I used Nesting with Grace’s magic puck light trick, I still think this is such a brilliant idea! With this sconce all I had to do was set the puck light directly on top of where you put the lightbulb and no one will be the wiser. You can purchase a puck light here. And I am still LOVING this diy concrete wall I did!

Books

I have been on a reading frenzy lately! My favorite time to read is right before bed, I find it’s the only way to calm my brain down and it’s amazing how much quicker I go to sleep when I read right before as compared to not! If I watch tv or am on my phone before I go to bed, it’s usually a struggle for me to get to sleep. I recently finished up “The Gifts of Imperfection” by Brene Brown and I LOVED it! SO good. You can purchase it here. I am almost done with “The Alchemist” and it is unlike any book I’ve ever read. I do like it though, I feel like it’s a fairly easy read and there is a lot of good wisdom laced throughout it. Kind of waiting to reach the end for all of it to come together.

These two books I recently purchased and are waiting for me to read them: The Happiness Project and Make Life Beautiful.

Parenting

People would always tell me that parenting gets harder as your kids get older but in the midst of babies and toddlers, diapers and sleepless nights, I really didn’t buy into it and my exhausted self thought, no way parenting can be tougher than this! But as my girls get older, I find it to be true. I think what’s hardest for me is the fact that I lose control. It doesn’t just all vanish at once but it’s a slow trickle, like water at the end of a stream. No longer can I choose their friends for them, their outfits, how their hair is fixed, if they wear a jacket to school or not (this one drives me bonkers), or how they decorate their room. I try to take back some of that control, but you really can’t put water back into a stream that has already pushed it out. Of course you can try but eventually, the water will again reach the end of the stream. At the end of the day I realize I need to choose my battles and let the mismatched shorts and shirt go. The hair I desire to braid and comb ever so nicely is now something I am not allowed near. And the room I would like to design is covered in art, pictures, and magazine prints taped to the walls with blue painters tape. The desk covered in remnants of paint from projects done secretly behind a closed door. I am not seen as quite as cool as what I once was and suddenly they are wiser than I. I know I’ve made hundreds of mistakes already but it really is hard when your kids don’t need you quite as much.

Parenting is not for the birds. And if you are a mama with babies and toddlers of your own; enjoy brushing their hair, decorating their room and picking out their outfits. Because as the years go on, the water makes its journey down the stream and slowly but surely, you are needed less and less.