4 Months

This pretty little lady turned four months old this month!

Isn't she precious!  She has such incredible eyes. 

I love that her momma painted her toes. 

We tried to use this basket for her newborn shoot but it didn't quite workout.  Using it this time turned out my favorite photos from the whole session. 

I absolutely LOVE the vintage feel that this setup gives.  I just had to make one with a texture on it and I think it may just be my favorite photo I have ever edited...well almost!

Simply Breathtaking!

17 Day Diet PMS Exception

I am still trucking away on the 17 Day Diet. I have completed cycle two and was getting ready to go on cycle three and hit a bit of a bump so I decided to stay where I was. Brian’s birthday was a couple of weeks ago and what does a man want to celebrate his birthday with but food so we went out not once, but THREE times for his birthday. I tried to stick to my healthy eating as much as I possibly could but when you have delicious food staring back at you or looming at you from the menu it is a bit hard! {the rolls at Texas Roadhouse are what did me in} So I got off track for a bit. It was weird because we had ice cream and just that little bit of ice cream suddenly made me start craving sweets and it took me about a week to get over that craving because I couldn’t control my cravings. I have no idea why. I didn’t want to eat 5 thin mint cookies but they were calling my name and not being very secretive about it! I need to get all of that stuff OUT OF MY HOUSE!

Anyways…last week mother nature visited, that could have been part of my cravings, I always want to eat everything in sight before that time comes. But then I remembered reading about the PMS exception part of the 17 day diet. FINALLY a diet, written by a man no less, that acknowledges our bodies go haywire once a month! The PMS exception diet uses nutrition and different foods throughout the week to combat the side effects of our monthly friend. For this week it suggests staying away from salt and soda, even diet, drinking lots of water, eating soy foods {they contain isoflavones which may lessen symptoms} eating water flushing vegetables and even indulging in dark chocolate a few times! How can you go wrong with that?!

So here is what my diet looked like for the last week.

Day 1

Breakfast
Apple Oatmeal. I chopped up and apple and cooked it with my oats.

Lunch
Turkey sandwich, I use the delightful wheat bread that is 45 calories a slice
Banana

Snack
3 Brazil Nuts, I am not sure what it is about these babies that makes them like little happy pills but they sure are a nice pick me up in the afternoons.

Dinner
Grilled Shrimp
Salad with lots of veggies and low fat raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Exercise
22 minutes of walking/jogging
Elliptical 35 minutes

Day 2

Breakfast
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Snack
Apple

Lunch
Salad with chopped hard boiled eggs and lots of other veggies

Dinner
Grilled chicken
Steamed asparagus
Peach flavored yogurt

Exercise

Elliptical 30 minutes
 

Day 3

Breakfast
½ medium sized cantaloupe
Hot cocoa made with almond milk

Snack
Apple

Lunch
Chicken salad sandwich. I used low cal bread, 3 oz chicken 1 tablespoon light mayo, a little bit of celery and pepper.

Snack
3 brazil nuts

Dinner
4 oz top round steak
Side salad with lots of veggies and low fat raspberry vinaigrette

Exercise
Elliptical 30 minutes

Day 4

Breakfast
All Bran Cereal, with 1/2 cup almond milk
1 medium banana

Lunch
Salad with Feta Cheese and 1/2 cup chickpeas with lite raspberry vinaigrette

Snack
3 brazil nuts
Vanilla Greek Yogurt

Dinner
grilled pork chop
cucumbers
1 oz dark chocolate

Exercise
Elliptical 30 minutes

Day 5

Breakfast
Strawberry Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie

Snack
Desert Sushi {not on the diet but this is what we made in the cooking class I took Lauren to.  I had to try it!}

Lunch
I went out to lunch with a friend.  We went to Olive Garden.  I had minnestrone soup, one breadstick and salad.  I also ate the mint.  :)

Snack
1 oz dark chocolate

Dinner
9 medium shrimp
steamed asparagus

Exercise
Elliptical 40 minutes

Day 6

Breakfast
Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Snack
1/2 medium cantaloupe

Lunch
Salad made with Romaine Lettuce, cucumbers, zuchinni, red onion and 1/2 cup chickpeas.

Snack
3 Brazil Nuts

Dinner
12 medium sized grilled shrimp
1/2 cup cottage cheese.

Exercise
46 minutes on the elliptical

Day 7

Breakfast
Oatmeal
Apple Banana Green Tea Smoothie

Lunch
3 oz cube steak
Salad made with Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, zuchinni, and low fat raspberry vinaigrette

Snack
Cottage Cheese, low fat

Dinner
baked turkey breast with steamed asparagus.

Exercise
we took Lauren to Disney on Ice so while I didn't officially workout today I did do quite a bit of walking.

The week went smoothly. The combination of the foods I ate and the crazy amount of water that I drink everyday helped combat the bloat. I felt more in control of what I was eating than I normally do this time of the month and I loved that I was able to indulge in chocolate! And you know what the best part was? I STILL LOST WEIGHT

When I started last Sunday March 17, 2012 I was 166.6

And this morning {Monday March 26, 2012} I am 161.2

I lost 5.4 pounds!  I will also mention that I noticed when I got towards the end of the week {the bulk of my cycle} my weight loss stayed the same.  I was at 161.6 for three days which was frustrating but at least I didn't gain any weight.

Since I still am not at my goal yet I am starting back on the cycle one eating plan today and will hopefully reach my goal weight by the time I am done with cycle 3 {in 51 days}. I AM SO CLOSE!

Sunday Stuff

This seemed to be a pretty week for us but it wasn’t one of those can’t seem to get it all done weeks.  It was a nice kind of busy.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
**Monday I volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House.  I just love this charity.  I am lucky enough to work for a company that gives us 12 hours a year to go out and volunteer in the community.  The Ronald McDonald House is one of my favorite places to volunteer at.  For one I get to cook, something I take pride in and two  I whole heartedly love what they do for the family’s that stay there.  If I can make a meal for them to have one less thing to worry about while their little one is in the hospital then sign me up!!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     




**Lauren’s bumps look SO MUCH BETTER.  In fact some half of them that they treated are ENTIRELY GONE!!!  Once we got past the first few days they started to look better and then they seemed to get worse and then all of a sudden they started to disappear!  Lauren has been such a big girl about this whole thing.  She even told me the other morning that she will go back and let them treat them again because she wants them to go away in time for swimming season.
                                         
**Thursday Lauren and I attended a cooking with kids class.  It was super cute making dessert sushi with her.  She has such a good time and loves those classes.  I hope to get a post up about that this week. 
 
**Friday on my way to work I got a text message from one of Colton’s teachers.  They were playing dress up apparently because this is what he looked like.
 

I love it!  I think he is absolutely adorable.

**Saturday we took Lauren to see Disney on Ice.  We were able to score the tickets super cheap thanks to one of my friends.  Lauren had a blast and I quite enjoyed it myself. 
We even had pretty decent seats.
                     


**Earlier this afternoon I got to take some 4 months old pictures of Aubrey.  Oh my how she has grown and she is so CUTE!!  I got some really good shots.  I can’t wait to edit them and share them!

**Today my mom and I went grocery shopping after church. We were getting off the exit to the store and Colton’s eyes were getting really heavy.  By the time we parked he was out.  We went ahead and took him inside and he stayed asleep the whole time we shopped. 
                 


Doesn’t he look so peaceful and sweet.  So many other shoppers commented on him as we walked by. 
 
I hope everyone had a wonderful week and weekend!

Lauren-isms

Toaster Strudels love me.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you smell my brain?

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I fixed the ice cream. It was burning.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I want to sell my tooth brush like Daddy sold his blue car.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Book: Keeping Faith

Keeping Faith

I finally finished this book and by finally I don't mean man that took forever I mean WOW! that was a great book and I couldn't wait to get to the end.

This book combined so many things.  Love, trust, God, Faith and so much more.  It is about a little Jewish girl who finds herself speaking to God after a traumatic situation with her divorcing parents. 

People suddenly think she is a prophet or a visionary and can heal the sick.  A custody battle ensues after a cult and many other people start camping out on the front lawn and the little girl develops strange wounds. 

I love how this book has so many story lines woven in.  Not only do you have the little girl and her visions, and the mother and father/ husband and wife battle but you also have the story line of the little girl's mother, Mariah, finding her place not only as a mother but also as a woman.  The little girl is 7 so you would think that she would have this motherhood thing all figured out but as I well know it isn't easy and it can take a while to find your footing.  After stepping out of the shadows Mariah finally finds her way and I would have to say that was my favorite part of the entire book!

New Digs

I started thinking awhile back that I wanted to redecorate my home here on the internet.  I played around with some things that I knew how to do, redid my header and added some side bar headers  and checked out some blog designers.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend money to have my design done since I can do the basics myself.  But I have never been quite satisfied with the way things looked.

I’ve followed Jenn of Munchkinland Designs on Twitter for quite some time and have been admiring her work.  It was really funny because I would be looking at a blog and thinking to myself “wow I really like this design” and then I would find her button.  This kept happening over and over so I took it as a sign, she was who I should have do my design, and then she ran a contest on twitter and I WON!  So that sealed the deal and I placed my order the next week.

Let me start by telling you how easy Jenn made the process.  She responded to my emails, answered all my questions, and was fully prepared for each conversation we had.  She is efficient and a creative genius.  I kind of had an idea of what I wanted but she way out did an expectation that I might have had.  I almost felt like I was being too easy on her because I didn’t have any critiques, the design looked amazing from the get go! I hope you all like it as much as I do! 

Thanks Jenn!!

Smoothie {2 Recipes}

Smoothies have become quite the staple for breakfast around my house.  I love that toss a bunch of stuff in a blender and can drink my breakfast on my way to work!

Usually I make a strawberry banana smoothie. I use almond milk for two reasons.  One, I am lactose intolerant, and two almond milk has less calories!  I use the unsweetened vanilla flavored and I love it. 

Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
1 cup almond milk
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
6-7 frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana in chunks
1 tablespoon flax meal
dash of vanilla extract
dash of almond extract

Directions
Add all ingredients in blender and blend until smoothe.  Pour into your favorite glass and sip with a straw for extra excitement.

This morning I made a new smoothie flavor.  I found this powdered peanut butter with chocolate at my grocery store and when I saw it I just knew I wanted it in a banana smoothie!

Let me tell you it was delicious!!  It will definitely become a regular addition to my breakfast rotation.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
1 cup almond milk
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
2 frozen bananas in chunks
2 tablespoons PB2 powder

Directions
Add all ingredients in blender and blend until smoothe.


Another reason I love smoothies so much is you can put pretty much anything in them.
Sometimes if I am feeling green I add spinach.
You can use whatever fruit you want and in any combination.
You can change up the flavor of the yogurt to give it extra zing.
If I don't have frozen fruit I add ice cubes.  {I like the texture that it gives.} 

The options are endless!!

Do you make smoothies?  What do you put in yours?

Sunday Stuff

This has been an interesting week. We have seen unseasonably warm weather for March and don't think for one minute I am complaining!  I LOVE IT! The beautiful blooming trees and flowers.  The green coming back into the grass.  AHHH!!!!  I have big plans for this spring and summer.  I am excited to be able to get outside and start my running routine to prepare for that 5k I signed up for!  I am also excited to be able to hang out at the park and take walks with the kids.  They can't get enough of being outside. 

**We took Lauren to the doctor for those bumps under her arm.  She did so amazing at the doctor's office afterwards we took her to see The Lorax it was a super cute movie.  I love that she is doing better and better about being able to sit through them.  It is one of my favorite activities to do.  We also took her to Target and let her pick out a new pair of sandals. 

**Colton has been sick...still.  I took him to the doctor almost two weeks ago because I knew he had pink eye and turns out he had an ear infection too.  After 10 days on the antibiotic he started running a fever again.  My mom took him in for me yesterday and his ear infection STILL has not gone away so we get another 10 day round of antibiotics. 

**The kids also went to the dentist for the second time this week.  Lauren did great.  She is so intrigued by everything that they do.  We need to work on brushing a bit better.  This is entirely my fault.  I forget in the morning.  Most of the time I have already brushed my teeth before Lauren gets up and so when she is getting ready it just completely slips my mind.  I need to set myself a reminder or add a post it note somewhere where I will be sure to see it!!

How was your week?  Did you do anything exciting?

Torn

Since December we have been battling some bumps under Lauren’s left arm.  We took her to the doctor and they diagnosed them as Molluscum contagiosum (mo-LUS-kum kun-tay-jee-OH-sum)

Sounds like a spell from Harry Potter doesn’t it! 

The dermatologist we saw in December put her on a twice daily medicine regimen that really didn’t seem like it was doing anything to help them.  He did say that it would take a while so we were trying to be patient but it was hard with a preschooler taking medicine twice a day and putting cream on the bumps twice a day as well. 

Brian and I decided that we wanted a second opinion.  We didn’t want the bumps to spread and we definitely want them to go away sooner rather than later.  Yesterday was the appointment with the new dermatologist.  He basically told us that the medicine we have been giving her for the past 3 months has been contradicting each other.  What the oral medicine was trying to fight the cream was promoting.  Strange and seriously frustrating.  We have just wasted three months on this medicine and she wasn’t getting any better.  Summer is coming soon and the bumps are not as easily hidden with short sleeve shirts.  So this doctor recommended putting called Cantharone on each individual bump.  Mind you she has at least 25 of them under her left arm and a couple on her chest.  He applied the medicine and told us to leave it on for 4 hours and then wash it off.  They explained to us that it will cause a burning sensation and after a couple of days the bumps should almost become like a blister and then come off and hopefully the molluscum will go away.  Painful medication and a 4 year old do not mix.  She complained the biggest part of the 4 hours about it burning but nothing compared to the horribleness when we had to wash it off.  My heart was breaking.  I do not like seeing my baby in pain.  She has been walking around holding her arm in the air because it hurts to hold it down by her side. 

I am seriously irritated, confused, pissed off! You name it!!  I don’t know which is worse, a doctor who puts her on a medicine that probably isn’t going to work or one that causes her serious pain.  The bad thing is the doctor said that one treatment doesn’t usually make them go away entirely and we didn’t have all of them treated yesterday because we weren’t sure how she was going to react.  Now what are we supposed to do!?!?  I don’t know if I can put her through that again and have to witness it myself.  I was in tears right along with her.   I am an emotional wreck and I can’t imagine having to do this several more times.  On one hand I want them to go away but on the other I do not want to inflict more pain on Lauren!

Present

Have you seen the new movie with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum called The Vow? I first talked about it in this post.  It is a movie about a couple who is in a car accident and the wife loses all recollection of their marriage. Anyways, that isn’t the story line I want to talk about. The one I want to bring to light is the encounter between Paige, Rachel McAdams’ character, and her mother when she discovers why she has been estranged from them for the last 5 years.


There is a scene in the movie where Paige realizes that her father had been cheating on her mother with a friend of Paige’s. Paige and her mother have a confrontation and Paige can’t understand why her mother didn’t leave her father. The words that her mother said really resonated with me.

“I was going to leave him but then I looked at you girls and I looked around our house I chose to stay with him for all the things he's done right; not the one thing he's done wrong. I chose to forgive him.”

What powerful words are those! I was floored by the thought that she could forgive her husband for doing what in my mind I think to be the unforgiveable. I tried to put myself in that situation to see if I could see myself having the courage to forgive someone for something so terrible. I kept repeating that line to myself “I chose to stay with him for all the things he's done right; not the one thing he's done wrong. I chose to forgive him.” I believe the divorce rate in America is way too high because people don’t want to work through their problems so they bounce around from marriage to marriage thinking the grass will be greener with someone else. I believe in the institution of marriage and I totally give props to this woman for sticking it out and making her marriage work. I would like to think I would do the same… then a friend of mine walked in on her husband in their bed with another woman and I knew deep down that if I were in this situation, I would leave him. Down the road somewhere I might be able to offer forgiveness but I would never be able to offer trust. I would always be wondering what he was doing when he wasn’t with me and thinking the worst.

I have offered her shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen and no matter what choice she was to make I would support her but I have listened to her heartache, witnessed firsthand what this does to a person and been so emotional for her myself that I can honestly say that I do not blame her one bit for choosing to file for divorce.

What I have realized in this situation is that it is so incredibly important to continue working on my own marriage every single day.

To not compare my marriage to anyone else’s because each and every marriage is unique in its own way.

To keep the lines of communication open between Brian and I.

To make sure that all the things we learned in the marriage conference last year are being applied to our marriage and not going to waste.

To make sure that when he speaks I take notice and not take him for granted.

To be present. If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed that I am not as active as I used to be, especially in the evenings. This is because it is a pet peeve of Brian’s for me to be on my phone and I usually try to respect that but the call of my phone going off with tweets sometimes gets the best of me. Now I choose to shut it off so the temptation isn’t there so I can give my husband the attention he deserves.

Colton’s First Haircut

 

 

I’ve known for several months now that Colton needed to have his hair cut for the first time.  The back was getting super long but I just couldn’t bring myself to have it cut.  He has such cute curls and I was so afraid that they would be completely gone after cutting it. 

But when it started to get longer in the front and get in his eyes I decided it was time. 

 

We took him to the same place we got Lauren’s hair cut on her birthday and I requested the same stylist.  The salon is designed especially for kids. It has all kinds of neat chairs to sit on.  Not like the boring ones us adults get.  Colton happened to pick the same race car to sit in that Sissy did!

Here she is snipping off his curls!  Look how much she had to take off. 
At first he wasn’t too sure.  He didn’t like all the new stuff.  But then he saw that Elmo was on the TV and the stylist gave him a sucker.  He was good to go.


He sat so perfectly still the entire time.  I was one proud momma!

 

 

See how long the sides were! 


All done.

Here is my big boy.  He looks so much older now with his hair cut and fixed.  Good news he still has a wave to his hair so I am pretty sure his curls aren’t gone forever!

 

We did a package at the salon that included before and after photos, a certificate and all the hair we wanted to keep.  The stylist was amazing, we will definitely use her in the future. 

Sunday Stuff

This seemed like a really long week.  I was off on Friday and it seemed to take FOREVER to get here.  On top of that I still had to go into work for a meeting so it wasn't really much of a day off.  Boo!!

**We celebrated Brian's birthday.  Lauren loves birthdays.  I like that she gets so excited.  I hope she never loses her enthusiasm.  She made the waitress sing to him.  Well at this particular restaurant it is more of yelling and embarrassing the person.  They make you sit on a saddle while they yell happy birthday and yeehaw to you!  HILARIOUS.  I was trying to video tape it but the camera on my phone locked up.  Seriously bad timing.  Each time they would come close to our table for another birthday she would say "when is it my dad's turn"  She eats that stuff up.  Then she proceeded to ask me when it would be her birthday again so we could go back! 

**Colton got his first hair cut yesterday...pictures to come!!  I have been procrastinating getting this done.  He has such cute curls and I am afraid that they won't grow back.  But his hair is starting to really grow, it is getting in his eyes and is just plain unruly!  When it gets wet it hangs down pretty far on his back but then it dries and shrinks up.  I think he has the same type of hair I do.  Poor kid!  So after enough attempts from my mother to put a pony tail in it I decided that it is time.  He did amazing!! 

**Colton has also been sick this week.  Pink eye and an ear infection on top of that.  I hate when my kids are sick, it is no fun at all.  He was out of daycare for two days.  Luckily my mom was able to watch him since I was crazy busy at work. 


**Today I am going to a baby shower for a friend who is having a baby girl.  She already has a sweet girl, and her husband has another sweet girl, so this will be the THIRD girl for the family!  I am excited for them.

And that was our week. 

Birthday Love

March is a very busy birthday month for us.  It starts off with a cousin of mine and then Brian's, my grandpa's, then my nephew's, my niece's, and another cousin all in the same week.  WHEW! 

Sooooo....yesterday's was Brian's.  {insert bad wife comment for not getting this post up yesterday}  We spent the day doing what guys like to do, eating and looking at electronics.  HA!

When I think back to how many birthdays that I have celebrated with this man I can hardly believe it!  It seems like not so long ago we had just met and decided to spend the rest of our lives together. 


We have blessed each other with two wonderful children. We have been through our ups and our downs.  I thank God everyday for giving me someone who loves me for me, is my rock, my best friend and someone who picks up where I have short falls.   

I love this man to no end.

 

Happy Birthday!! {yesterday}

Unfair Comparison

Today it is sunny, VERY windy, but still sunny and supposedly this afternoon it is supposed to be warm.  When I woke up this morning I was feeling good and wanted to dress like it is spring so I pulled out this old dress.  It just so happens to be very flexible and I wore it when I was pregnant with Colton.

 Here is what it looks like on me today...{don't pay attention to my very dirty mirror}

WOWSA!  I have lost a good 80 pounds, give or take a few, since that picture was taken at my baby shower!

Sunday Stuff

**This week, I have lost just over 2 pounds which brings my weight down to 166. A number that I haven’t seen in almost 8 years. I remember this specifically because I was 165 when we got married. Another mini goal of mine is to weigh what I did when we got married. 1 pound to go!

Another significance of 166 is that it marks 50 pounds TOTAL that I have lost since I started this journey last year. When I was in the hospital in December of 2010 they weighed me and I about FREAKED OUT! Like come out of the bed FREAK OUT! I couldn’t believe the number the nurse spouted off in front of my husband and my dad! Never in my non pregnant life had I weighed that much. At least it motivated me enough to start this journey and now feel amazing each time someone compliments me on losing weight or how great I look!

**This week my desktop PC crashed. Disk Boot Error, whatever that means. Hopefully it is fixable. It is at the computer shop as we speak. The moral of this story is BACK UP YOUR PHOTOS on a regular basis. I looked at my external hard drive from my laptop this morning and I haven’t backed them up since the beginning of November. Yes, that was one of my goals in 2011 and apparently should be this year too, why do you ask? Anyways. This has prompted me to set a reminder in my calendar to back them up at least on a monthly, if not more regular basis. At this point I haven’t lost anything but how awful would that have been? All of Christmas would have been lost.

**I love having conversations with my kids. They are quite hilarious and keep me on my toes.

Just the other day we were sitting at the table having breakfast and if you would have been eavesdropping this is what you would have heard.

Lauren: “I love you”

Me: “I love you too”

Colton: “I love”

Me: “I love you too Colton, I love both my kids”

Lauren: “but you don’t have any more kids.”

Me: “nope and we probably won’t have any more kids”

Colton: “AMEN. AMEN.”

Go With The Flow

I read this awesome post yesterday by Sonja.
**Side note.  I have met way more Sonya, Sonja, Sonia's, on the internet than I ever even knew could possibly exist! and here I thought my name was a rare commodity!**

Anyways the title of her post is Who Are You Blogging For and it fits perfectly with a post that has been brewing in my mind for the past several weeks. 

Why Do I blog??

I started blogging just over three years ago!  I have written a post on why I started blogging before but sometimes I like to think about when I first started and see how much things have changed since then.
When I first started blogging I had several reasons.

First is to chronicle my life with Brian and our wonderful children.

Second was for a place to post all my recipes and have them all in one place.  I love to cook and bake as you well know and I wanted to be able to quickly know where a recipe is and blogging seemed to be good for that.  I am by no means cut out to be a professional food blogger.  For one my weight would not tolerate that!  I am on a mission to lose weight not gain weight.  Two I don't have the time or the patience to make all my food look so pretty each and every time I cook.  Let's keep it real...some times dinner looks like I scooped it out of a bucket and threw it on a plate.

Third, I started blogging was to use it as an outlet, sort of a journal. Things that I want to say to myself or no one in particular, just get it out.  A venting place almost.  I go back and forth on this one.  I don't think that I entirely put myself out there.  I am open and honest but there are some things that I don't talk about on here.  Don't for one minute think that I don't keep it real though! 

Somewhere along the way it started to become stressful. I was so focused on posting every day, on seeing how many comments I could get and stressing when I couldn’t read or comment on my favorite blogs that I have found along the way. It wasn't enjoyable anymore. So I took a break, as a matter of fact I have taken several.  I would post when I had something to say, or a picture to share, but I was still stressing about it. I was getting irritated with myself for still not posting every day!  Then one day I remembered the reason why I started the blog in the first place was for me. I don't have to be perfect on my blog because I am CERTAINLY not perfect any other place. I don't have to have perfectly edited photos in every post. If I want put a picture from my cell phone do it, if I don't have time to edit the photo, don't. I post what I want talk about, when I want to talk about it and whatever is important and relevant to me at the moment. I post stuff about my kids that I want remember forever. I no longer stress about it. I go with the flow... my flow.  And you know what, it seems to be coming easier to me if I am not stressing about blogging!  I can think of tons of stuff to post and talk about.  I may not get them posted in a timely manner but OH Well!! 

I like blogging.  I like reading other's blogs.  I have met wonderful people along the way.  I like getting comments on what I write.  Overall this is something I do for myself.