Hey y’aaaalllllll. Been a minute. But I’m here to give my magical beautiful two cents to you on this balmy Friday in February. Sad that we think just above freezing feels like spring around here isn’t it?! So I’m home today and can’t even put the tv on because the news is just ALL TOO MUCH. It’s terrifying really. It makes me sick inside. Those poor children that were killed and all I can do really, is hold my babies tight all the time. Like…. even when we are sleeping. We’re holding onto each other. This last weekend Mav had the flu, and so did Dan, and I didn’t even have the much needed drink I was craving because I was afraid to ruin my immune system during a very trying time. As funny as the man flu jokes can be, the flu in my house for the last week was downright scary. Dan needed chest X-rays and Maverick, at 2am of course, had a fever of 104.2 degrees. It was scary and terrifying but it’s behind us now and we are healthy and thinking spring from now until she appears 🙂 my message today is a simple one. I’m always inspired by something, be it small or large, when I decide to write a blog. And this one just so happens to be one geared toward my kids. Because nobody loves my kids like I do, and it takes a village, and because once you’re a mom you’re everyone’s mom, and every other adage you can relate to raising a family. I want to encourage everyone to THINK HIGHER. Think BIGGER. Think above a situation. When a little innocent child asks for something, and I don’t mean another LEGO set, I mean when he asks you for your time, or for a special trip to New Jersey, or a certain thing for dinner – say yes. These babies are only so little for so long before we have to hand them over to this big and frightening world that isn’t it our very purpose in becoming parents to SAY YES?! We are the chosen ones, the ones God hand selected for these little humans. We have brothers and sisters and neighbors who are part of our tribe in raising these little beings. We need to show them love, and sometimes that means pouring from an empty cup just to top off theirs. To make them smile. To help them gain their independence. To let them know other adults will love them well. It means sacrificing your Saturday night out because they’re sick and you just can’t part with them. It means allowing your nieces to sleep over even if they wake up at 5am. It means bringing your nephew home at 11pm because he wanted his mommy, even though at 8 all he wanted was to stay in Mav’s bed! Its sharing clothes and toys and winter boots with family to save each other money. It’s encouraging independence while teaching them it’s ok to need your mom. That when people say no to them, you’re usually gonna say yes. Because you’re their parents. Because as much as I know my parents taught me a lot through setting healthy limits for me, I remember all the yes and the no was never said to me like that. So when raising these little kids, remember to lift them up. I read somewhere that it’s in the first three years of a child’s life where they develop emotional skills like learning how to love and be loved; when they figure out the fundamentals of who they’re going to be, like if they’ll be a leader, an empath, or a follower. They build their self esteem and self awareness in this VERY SHORT and sacred window. So if you’re not saying YES to loving and guiding them, you’re kind of saying no. Recently I was in a position where I wanted to shake a fellow parent and tell them to think higher, think bigger, think with love. But at the same time I have to remember that even though people may judge me, I’m not going to sink to that level. Even though people may offer me advice I never asked for, I’m still going to love better. Even when they try to make me feel like my bank account equals my societal status or makes me who I am, I must rise above. I know that the choices I’ve made in life and the choices I didn’t make led me to exactly where I was meant to be. Which is on my couch, with a cold cup of coffee, a baby asleep on my chest and a very tall very handsome three year old who still wants me to hold him when he’s tired. It led me to the man who supports us, loves us, and even though he is usually so strong, he can cry with me when our son has a scary fever. Truth be told, all I ever wanted to be was a mommy. A mommy to these two exact boys. These beautiful babies that God chose for me and chose me for them. I’ll do my best, and then I’ll do even better; for them. Because between me and Dan and a handful of aunts and uncles and our beloved nana and papa (and of course our guardian Gaga) we are all these little boys have. Our duty is to lead them. To love them. And to teach them exactly who they’re meant to be. I pray every night for all the babies in my life, the ones that call me mama and the ones who call me auntie. There is NOTHING more precious and fleeting than a child’s innocence so let’s try to preserve it for as loooong as we can k?! As for me, my newest challenge is that Mav asked recently to go to a hotel for his birthday and have a celebration there. It’s the last year before he’s in a classroom full of kids that he’ll want to invite to a party. So do I do it?! Do I grab a cake and a small gift and plan a 4 year old getaway for the weekend?! Dare I skip the birthday party, the piñata, the goody bags and all that jazz and give the boy what he wants?! Or do I do what society says to do and throw an over the top birthday party like I have every other year?! Stay. Tuned folks. I’m trying to think higher here and I do believe memories far outweigh another f’ing firetruck. Like by a lot.

Maverick and Ace, I love you bigger than the ocean, and higher than the sky. Being your mommy is my soul’s main purpose on this earth.