Back To The Grind!

Things are finally getting back to normal after 6 weeks of being in lots of pain and attempting to recover. My foot is still healing, but I am back to my job and back to my second job of writing awesome posts for you, my followers.

I’m excited to say that there are a lot of awesome things coming in the next few weeks. I will hopefully become sponsored by an up and coming Mommy Blogger group. This will be a big move for my small blog, but I am thrilled to be able to help other mothers and spread the word on awesome products.

I have been thinking about possibly having a small business spotlight every other week for the Southern Nh area. It is important that small businesses thrive in this economy and the best way to get word out is word of mouth and networking. If anyone would love to be considered in one of my spotlights please let me know by contacting me on my blog email.

Thanks for always being awesome and for being patient as I have been recovering for the past couple of weeks.

I am thrilled to let all my followers know that I am back to the grind!!

MOTHERS DAY?

The question is Mothers Day? What’s that?

As a single, working mother its always a struggle on Mother’s Day. It’s a struggle to see all the happy posts about being able to sleep in and all the kind gifts some moms receive. Sometimes it makes me envious but than I think? “Why am I envying others situations when I’m totally owning being a single mom!” I have everything I could ever wish for right in front of me. I have my loving kids who aren’t old enough to give me gifts but give me the awesome role of being a mom and love me no matter what mistakes I make. There is no greater gift than that.

Any single mothers that sometimes get envious or discouraged on this “Hallmark” holiday please remember that you are doing the best you can for the cards you were dealt. Keep your chin up, hug your kids, and stay positive!

Also, Happy Mothers Day!

 

Life Changes

Its crazy how much a few days, months, and even year can bring life changes. I feel horrible for leaving my followers hanging. Life has thrown me a lot of curve balls but I am finally in a good place.

In the past year, I have learned so much about myself. Mentally and physically I have gone through so many good and bad changes.

Six months ago, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. This condition has taught me lots about myself. I have learned that I am doing the best  I can to manage my 3 babies and this condition. Listening to my bodies cues and learning how to become a healthier me has been extremely important. Some days it is discouraging but most days I look at the positive. I am alive! My kids have a mother who loves them and works hard for them to have the best in life!

I know that this condition is difficult for anyone that has it, but being positive is the key for me living a happy and fulfilled life.

I’m looking forward to sharing some important changes that I will be making in the next couple months that will help my overall health.

 

M.I.A

It is crazy how fast times flies. We are almost done with the first month of 2015 and I have been M.I.A. (Missing In Action).

I wanted to officially apologize for not being as active in posting as I would like to. I recently had a major foot surgery on January 7th. Unfortunately the recovery is not fun at all. It is something that I am considering blogging about.

It has only been 2 weeks since the surgery, but I’m hoping to be able to share my experiences about my lisfranc injury and my midfoot fusion sometime in the near future. So, No I am not M.I.A, I am just trying to relax and heal through this painful recovery.

Thanks for being awesome followers!!

Kid’s Academy App Review

This post was created in partnership with Mom Buzz Media and Kids Academy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was beyond thrilled to find out that I was able to review this application with my little ones. I have a 5 year old and 2 year old who are perfect candidates to try this app. The pictures and the bright colors of the animated stories kept them entertained. I enjoyed how the text was on one side and the pictures were on the other side. The app itself comes with 2 demo books but allows parents to choose to purchase more animated books at a great rate.

Get Preschool & Kindergarten Books, Songs & Early Reading Games App on iTunes

This is my favorite app out of all the Kid Academy apps. I love how this app is laid out. It gives parents the options to chose right handed mode and left handed mode. I find it tough to find apps for my left handed son, but this one works. It teaches children how to properly write their letters and numbers. It has great in-app purchase options to expand what the free app allows. It also helps kids with phonics and has some fun activities that will keep them preoccupied.

Get Alphabet Tracing & Montessori App on iTunes

This app has great preliminary skills to teach someone that is in preschool or just going into it. It teaches kids a little bit of everything from phonics to tracing. It has amazing graphics and keeps my children preoccupied for quite some time while teaching them basic skills of writing and reading. I would recommend this app to any mother that is looking for a fun entertaining app that will teach and keep their child preoccupied.

Get the Preschool & Kindergarten Learning Kids Games on iTunes

Android users can also find Kids Academy on Google Play!

Also be sure to visit Kids Academy on social media!

Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

#MomBuzz | #FreeKidsApp

Patient and Positive

I can’t believe it has been 12 days since the new year has started and I have yet to write a blog post. I’m sure everyone is thinking “Wow! What a slacker!”.

The last few weeks have been a complete blur. I had a great low-key Christmas and New Years. Unfortunately, I took in the New Year with two sick kiddies. The stomach bug/cold ripped through my house like a tornado. So I rang in the new year wiping boogers and changing yucky diapers, but I loved every bit of it. I appreciated leaving the sickness and the miserableness of 2014 in the past and bringing in the new year with my kids that I love more than anything. I’m not one for resolutions, but I definitely have a few goals and promises that I have going into this new year.

My theme for this new year is Patient and Positive. I find being a single mother is hard enough why allow negativity to run through me and my family? The most important part of this theme is to be patient in everything I do. I know as a working mother that sometimes I rush things which makes things more frustrating and difficult because I feel overwhelmed. I promise that in the year 2015, I am going to be patient in parenting my children, in my work environment , and with my blog. The second part of my theme is to stay positive. I have caught myself getting caught up with negative influences and just having a negative attitude. My first goal is to rid myself of any and all negative influences in my life. As a mother trying to being patient and positive is probably the hardest struggle that we deal with. So as a mother and a blogger, I am depending on you as my followers to help me to stick with my theme. To try to find the positive in everything even when I think that there is no positive and to be patient with myself, kids, family, and my followers.

I appreciate all of you as followers and am looking forward to a “Patient and Positive” 2015.

Holiday Rush

I apologize ahead of time to my all of my followers for the lack of posts lately. I have been caught up in the “Holiday rush”. I have been non stop working and have zero energy lately. I wish that me being in the holiday rush meant that I has at least in the holiday spirit, but I’m not.

This is the first year that I haven’t decorated or done Elf of Shelf. I feel bad for my poor kids because this holiday I am totally out of it. Work and home life are totally wiping me out. Thank God for Amazon. If it wasn’t for Amazon Prime, I would be one of those moms out on Christmas Eve doing all of her shopping. I’m almost done all of my shopping. Thank God!!

I have come across so many people that feel the same way as me. The holiday season has become a more commercial thing and has almost lost all of meaning. I’m thankful that my kids know the true meaning of Christmas, but I will admit that I’m a little bah humbug this season. The holiday rush has officially taken over in my life. I feel like I have no life because I’m constantly working and then working at home to keep my house in order.

Single Parent Syndrome

There are days when I’m totally all about being an independent single mother and there are other days where I don’t know what I “signed” up for.I feel like I have days where I feel amazing and independent and other days where I don’t understand how I raise 3 little ones all by myself on top of working a full-time job. “Single Parent Syndrome” is real!

My recent case of severe “Single Parent Syndrome” is probably fairly pathetic to most, but was a big deal to me.

My son recently had his first parent teacher conference. To say that I wasn’t nervous would be a complete lie. I never thought I would be single mom going to my sons first parent teacher conference all by myself. I know that sounds fairly petty, but it was one of my biggest fears. I feared being judged by the teacher or even worst by my son’s peers. Choices that I have made and his father has made is what has gotten me to this point in my life.

Thank God the meeting wasn’t very nerve-wracking at all. I mean, how difficult could a kindergarten parent teacher conference get. My son is ahead in his class and knows all of his sight words, letters, and letter sounds. I can’t even imagine a bad interaction for kindergarten parent teacher conference. The first quarter is a review of letters and writing which my son already learned how to do in preschool. My biggest worry is getting my son to enjoy art and become more organized.

How do you teach a 5-year-old boy how to be organized and responsible? I really am confused as to what I could possibly do different to help me to help him realize the importance of being responsible and organized. I would really appreciate any advice from my followers or fellow friends.

Thankful I won’t have to go to another one of those for another few months. The awkward feeling of feeling worthless before hand and feeling like you aren’t good enough because you are single is completely overrated. I had a really bad case of the have pity on me I’m have a “Single Parent Syndrome” moment. 🙂

Thoughtless Thursday or Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day to give thanks and enjoy the presence of friends and family while enjoying some football and scrumptious food. I just recently realized that  stores are opening on Thanksgiving day. This is a really irritating subject to me. Thanksgiving has become more of an ordinary day over the years. Yes many people get the day off and holiday pay, but others are being forced to work. Some people believe that this is the perfect opportunity to earn extra cash and enjoy working on holidays,but this post is not for them. This is for the mothers, fathers, sisters or brothers that have to miss a family get together due to corporate greed.

Corporate chains have come to an ultimate low by allowing their stores to interfere with a great family centered holiday. A holiday that consists of great food, company , and some football has become a shopping day to corporate America. I personally don’t understand how a holiday about being thankful turned into a huge shopping “holiday”. The chains are saying that we the consumers expressed interest in this. I don’t think this is for the consumers sake! It sounds like more change falling into the corporate piggybank. We are truly a materialistic and greedy country. We could care less about family and more about the deals and the material goods that we can get on “sale” during a holiday. I think there is no issue with obtaining or purchasing things on Black Friday , but I don’t understand the Thoughtless Thursday Movement. I think it is thoughtless for chains to force workers to take time away from their families to open a few hours early for some people to get an “extra savings” on a holiday.

Soon we will no longer have Black Friday, but have Thoughtless Thursday to thank for stealing away a holiday were we should be giving thanks and spending time with our family.

I don’t know about anyone else, but this mom will be home enjoying a family dinner and thanking God for another year of great fellowship and time spent with my family. You will not see me out on Thoughtless Thursday, but I might make an appearance for Black Friday! 😉

The Great Outdoors

It is always interesting planning a day trip with 3 little ones. I’m not sure how some mothers do it with more than 3. Two weekends ago, I decided to take a trip to the mountains with my kids to try to capture the last bit of fall. We also were attempting to celebrate my 2 year olds birthday. He loves the great outdoors so I figured a little trails and some site seeing would keep him entertained.

Any trip with a preschooler, toddler, and infant is bound to get interesting fairly quickly. We started off the day by grabbing a quick breakfast on the go at Burger King. I know what you guys are thinking. “Yuck! Why would she feed her kids that?” . Well you try getting 3 kids ready to go on a 2 hour drive and a whole day outing. It isn’t exactly the easiest feat in the world. Thankfully I had the awesome assistance of my father and sister to get me through the day. Did I mention that my sister happily wore the Ergo with the baby in it the whole time we were roaming around.

Our first stop was at the Old Man on the Mountain Viewing stop. We were able to take a nice little walk along the trails and see where the Old Man once used to be. It was definitely a flash from the past remembering actually being able to see the Old Man. I wish my kids were able to see it because it was such a great part of New Hampshire history. My kids loved being able to pick their own walking sticks and being able to throw rocks into the brook while looking for fishes. It was an all together great first stop.

Then we drove around and let the little ones take a nap while my oldest son enjoyed attempting to look for moose outside the window and viewing what was left of the foliage. It was awesome to see the amazement in his eyes as my dad was telling him stories about moose.

When nap time was over we were able to find a train that was set up at the welcome center. Max absolutely loved seeing the train and being able to take a picture next to it. It’s simple moments like that where I’m so grateful that I am a mother.

We decided to make one more stop before we headed on the long ride home so stopped on the other side of the highway at the new Old Man on the Mountain Profiler monument. I would have to say they did an amazing job building the structure that they call the “Profiler”. It basically allows you to look up at see the profile of the man on the mountain by the way they built this particular structure. My kids absolutely loved being able to throw rocks in the lake that is below the Old Man. Overall we had an amazing day outside enjoying the nice cool crisp air and taking in all of our surroundings.

It is such a blessing to live in such a gorgeous state and be able to share the beauty of God’s creation with my children.