My Beautiful Day

As of late, this is a theme that has been replaying in my life over and over and over and over, and I don't understand the reason.  It seems that 28 is the new 15 when it comes to receiving advice from me.  Granted, this isn't the case in all situations, but in many it truly is.  I can't help but wonder why.  It seems that it is the same few people who continue to talk down to me in the "you have no idea what this is like" stance. Really?  Would I be offering up my opinion or ANY amount of advice if I didn't understand where you were coming from? No.  I truly would not. I find myself feeling frustrated at the fact that people look at me as being younger.  Let's be honest - there are not many women who are near my own age who are in the place of life where I am.  A few, yes, but not many.  A majority of my friends are about 10 years older than I am, and when I am with them, they don't point out my age difference or make me feel any less ...

This past Wednesday (November 7th) we celebrated Ethan's 2nd birthday!  We had so much fun!  We started the day with a nebulizer treatment, since our birthday boy is currently fighting off a nasty cold ...  We had "Ethan's choice" for dinner, which turned out to be Macaroni & Cheese with hot dogs (I really wasn't surprised that he chose that .. he is a two-year-old, after all!) and followed that up with some really yummy cupcakes ... Ethan opened his present - a bouncing Tigger doll - and couldn't eat his cupcake fast enough to be done and play with it! Then, once he was playing with Tigger, I couldn't get him to turn and look at the camera even once! Happy 2nd Birthday my little love!  I am so grateful that you are mine and that I have had the last two years with you in my life.  I hardly remember what our family was like before you arrived!  Daddy and I love you SO much!!

This is something that has been on my heart for about a month.  I had the privilege of sharing it with my MOPS group yesterday, and now I want to share it with you.  Looking back over the past (almost) four years, I have found that there were so many times I felt I didn't measure up.  It started out with motherhood. Jumping in head-first to being a step-mom to four kids is one of the best blessings I've ever been given, but it also is one of the most frustrating learning journeys that I've been on.  You see, I really thought I was doing a good job - I was staying on top of our housework and laundry (which I now realize was truly a miracle!), I was making dinners, I was playing with the kids and helping with homework.  Sure, we had a hiccup every now and then, but life really seemed to be going smoothly. Then I started following mommy blogs. There are few things in the world that tear me down the way that reading a mommy blog can.  Those bl...