S'mores Life

The other day one of my daughters asked me if there was a college she could attend to become a Super Hero. As with many of our little ones questions ("But how exactly DID the daddy seed get into the mommy's belly? But, HOW?") I was not prepared with an answer for this so I replied "Well there is school to become a police officer or firefighter and they help people in the same way superheroes do." She wasn't satisfied with that answer, and so I've been thinking about the specifics of becoming our own Wonder Women, magic rope or not. I've been feeling pretty Super Woman myself lately. I've been listening to the Powerful Women of Pop playlist on Amazon recommended by my best friend, I've been responding to tough situations in ways I am proud of. This past year has brought a lot of change to my family, my personal, and my professional life and I feel like I'm finally finding my groove. I'm finding ways to be more efficient with my time,...

Wogger = jogger+walker. Heavy on the walk, in this case. What pops into my head when I "run"? (Heavy on the quotation marks there, too.) Ok, you can do this. One foot in front of the other. Just, a little faster than you were going.  Pretend there are donuts being held in front of your nose. No, cookies. Fresh chocolate chip cookies. There ya go. You're running. And by running I mean I could walk briskly faster than this, but minor detail. I wonder if they make sports bras for my butt. It's bouncing just as much as my boobs. It feels like there's a lot of stretching going on. Does the bouncing create (more) stretch marks? Probably. Because, science. I can't breathe. I'm going to have an asthma attack. Except I don't have asthma. Or do I? They discovered my brother's asthma when he was playing sports outside in the cold. Maybe I do have asthma. What will happen to my kids in the stroller if I collapse? I should stop and walk, just for a...

I'm grateful for my maternal anxiety and OCD. There are words I never thought I'd say. I'm doing the 365 grateful project on Instagram and Facebook, but decided today's grateful picture and post needed a whole blog posting. I'm not known for being long winded or anything. ;) Anxiety presents itself a little differently in each sufferer. It preys on your deepest, darkest fears and insecurities. So what does that look like for me? The worst thing I can imagine is someone hurting my kids, me not being able to protect them from that, or something happening to me that leaves me incapable of caring for them...so anything that falls into those categories (and it can morph and change) has the potential to trigger a panic attack for me. I'll have an intrusive thought ("what if I have a mental breakdown and can no longer care for my kids?" "___ looked at my kid funny. What was that about?" And my brain latches onto it. This is where the OCD part ki...

My dad gifted me a 90-day gym membership for Christmas...it was kind of conditional, though. It goes along with a team competition within the gym, where you get points for working out and more specifically, trying new work outs. We are both trying to lose weight, and I'd really like to find an exercise that I enjoy more than I enjoy food. So that is what brings me to tonight's blog post...my first spin class. OMG. I would say "there are no words" but with me, there are ALWAYS words. Lots of them. This is no different...All throughout the class and on my drive home, I kept thinking about how my experience tonight was very similar to my experience on August 14 (and 13th, as I will remind Clara for the rest of her life - 35 effing hours of labor, thankyouverymuch ), 2011. Why Spinning is Akin to Giving Birth You go in the first time with a sense of excitement, because even though you've heard it will be "bad", you truly have no idea what you are gettin...