Resolution Update

Hey everyone. I hope your January is going well. Mine has been pretty fabulous. I apologize for not being up to date on my resolution updates. Maxwell turned three years old on January 22nd and my time was consumed by planning a Sesame Street Birthday party. We had a great day on his actual birthday by going out to his favorite dinner (Bucchetto’s Pizza) and we went to Barnes & Noble and he got a free cupcake with his Kid’s book club card and then he was able to pick out a toy and book there. He loves books and the bookstore so that was a hit. We then had his birthday party the next day with our friends and family. It was a great time and we were able to really celebrate Max! I take his birthdays very seriously since I wasn’t even sure I could have a child. Anthony and I notice that this time of year, we sort of go through a Post Traumatic Stress response to having him and the NICU. We were very lucky with our experience with him only being in the NICU about a month while many go through so much more. Although that is true, we are still reeling from that time in our lives.

Here is a picture of our little guy while he was in the NICU at 4 lbs, 9 oz. That is his daddy’s hand in the picture so you can see how tiny he really was. This always makes me gasp in remembering that time.

I’m always reminded of God’s faithfulness during that time and how held by God I felt.

So it’s time to talk about resolutions and how that is going in my house. Here are the topics and updates:

Spiritual

Unfortunately, we are unable to attend church the last Sunday in January as well due to Anthony’s schedule but I’m excited that the first week of February, he is scheduled off on Sunday! YAY! We were only able to attend one Sunday in January. It will be nice to be back with our church family and worshipping together.

In other news, my decision to get up early every morning and have my first 2.5 hours with Jesus is still going strong. For 26 days, I have given God the “first fruits” of my day. I usually wake up somewhere between 7-8 am and I spend until 10-10:30 in prayer, Bible Study, and worship. I am loving this time and seeing the fruit of spending time with Jesus more often in my life

Our tithe is still on track at 10% and we will be giving that the first week of February! I’m so excited to give it back to God.

Also, I wanted to report that I have studied one chapter of Proverbs each day of January and am also studying and memorizing the entire book of Ephesians this year! Keep me in prayer!

Family

Maxwell and I are still going strong on Preschool topics and he’s doing well. He received a lot of learning toys for his birthday too that I am incorporating into his curriculum including a LeapPad, books, drawing toys, and flash cards. We are excited to have multiple ways to learn.

Financial

This is the section I can’t really report anything yet because we are still budgeting for the month. I have chosen the account that we will be paying our $100 debt amount to and that is one step. Also, we will be setting up our savings accounts next week that we have planned for the year including our holiday/gift budget, new (to us) car account, and a few other lofty goals.

Personal

Last update, I told you about the first book I was reading. I have since finished that book, another book, and started my third book for January. My second book was this…

As mentioned before, I really like James Grippando’s books and this was no exception. This one was not in the Jack Swyteck series but I LOVED this story. It really had me hooked immediately and only took me a few days to finish. I started my third book at the beginning of last week and this is it…

 I decided to choose my books as 2 books that were just on my “to read” list on Goodreads and the other book being faith based because I always like to develop my walk with Christ more. This book has so far been really challenging in my spirit. Sometimes we think our health has nothing to do with our faith but it sure does. Obedience to God in taking care of the Temple of the Holy Spirit is an important concept to really look into. I’m more motivated to take care of my body when I think of Jesus wanting me to. I need more discipline in this area so I hope this book helps me sort that out.

Another personal goal that I had not achieved yet and still have not made a whole lot of progress on is my sewing goal. I have not gotten my sewing machine yet and I have to have it before I start learning. Updates to be determined.

Health

As mentioned above, I’m truly trying to build discipline in this area. I have not started exercising yet but I do now have a plan. I am starting to do a walking program first since I am in horrible shape and do not want to risk injury. I am using a plan that I found here! The simple premise is building up to taking 10,000 intentional steps a day. I’m also logging my food on the “My Fitness Pal” app and doing my best to great care of my Diabetes. I will see my doctor at the end of February and have blood work ran so I will update more then.

I’m so excited to get into February goals! What are you doing with your new year?!

 

 

 

Resolution update (with pics)

Hey everyone. I hope you are having a great January so far and meeting all of your goals too! My 11 days have been pretty great so far and I’m meeting the goals in a good time frame. I’ve decided to review with you guys every Monday on how I’m doing and what thoughts I have on my resolutions. I am also going to be sharing today what my February goals are and how I intend to meet them. First, let’s talk about January…

Spiritual

My goal to attend church one time in January has already been reached but I am hoping to be able to attend again at the end of the month. Anthony worked yesterday and this coming Sunday as well as January 24th so no church for the next two weeks. It’s a bummer but something we have to put up with Anthony’s field. We will see about January 31st.

Another big goal of ours for January is tithing 2% of our income. So far we have tithed 10% and I intend to keep challenging myself to do so. 2% is the minimum while we work up to giving, giving, giving!

Another spiritual area I’ve been working on is spending the first fruits of my day with Jesus each day. This includes my Bible Study goal (for January it is Proverbs) as well as prayer and listening to sermons on my IPad. I am loving this resolution. I have been spending my first 2.5 hours a day with Jesus. It has been amazing. I get up before Maxwell, usually pretty early like 7:00-8:00 AM and just going into the living room and reading my Bible, praying, and learning. It starts my day wonderfully and the rest of the day goes amazingly well due to this. After all, in scripture is says in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His Kingdom and his Righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” I am putting Him first in my life and all of the other challenges of my day are totally doable! The spiritual growth I am experiencing is really amazing and I fall more in love with Jesus the more time I spend with Him!

Family

We are entering a very busy time in our family as Anthony went back to school for the Spring Semester today. He will be attending classes on campus and online this semester which adds an element of time to it that we are not accustomed to. Also Anthony currently works full time at his main job and part time at another job. He is very committed to everything he does so time is important when pursuing family goals. Anthony and I have not had our January date yet but I will be working on getting that on the calendar soon since I have his next few weeks’ schedule available.

Maxwell and I began preschool on Tuesday January 5th and it started very well. Maxwell loved the concentrated time on learning and he quickly picked up the shape Circle, he was already familiar with the color blue, and learned the capital A. He can recognize the shape, letter, and color that we studied that day, almost a week later. The only thing he was very challenged with were to be expected. He had a hard time with fine motor skills of learning to write A and his attention span is limited to about 10-15 minutes. I was prepared for that and had many ways for him to learn to keep him busy and engaged. He did not preschool on Thursday as planned because he was sick with a head cold. He is a lot better today and will be doing preschool again tomorrow, working on the lowercase “a”, reviewing what we learned last week, looking at our number for the month, and various motor skills development tasks. I am loving this time with Maxwell and getting to bond with him in this new way.

Financial Goals

The big goal financially for January is to start our savings goals and pay at least $100/debt for the month. Due to our rent being due at the first of the month, no debt has been paid yet but I do intend to gear toward that at the end of the month. We have already started our savings goals in a small way but overall the end of the month is when we can do things on a larger scale.

Personal

The first personal goal I talked about was to read 3 books in the month of January. I did start reading my first book and it is…

I started reading books by James Grippando after reading “The Informant.” I really like his style of writing and they are usually books based on crime and law since the writer is a Lawyer, himself. I enjoy court cases, crime studies, and the psychological concepts surrounding them so his books are right up my alley. I am a little over half way through this book and it is not disappointing. It has a heavy bent toward terrorism which is timely as our country watches it happen all around us. Overall, it’s a great book so far.

The second personal goal I had for January was to learn to make California Roll Sushi at home. The first step I made was to buy myself a sushi kit with a  mat, chop sticks, fish tweezers, and a book with recipes. I then went out and bought all of my ingredients and I made them the other night. After 2 rolls that were not as gorgeous, here is a picture of my third roll after cutting it. They were even more delicious than restaurant sushi to me and I was so proud of my accomplishment.

The last personal goal I made was to learn to make pillowcases in January for our bed. I have watched a Youtube video on the kind of pillow cases I want to make, and have made a list of materials to gather. My next step is to get to the fabric store and gather my essential materials as I will be getting my sewing machine in late January. I will go ahead and cut and measure things before getting the machine so that I do make my goal of finishing them in January. I will need to make 4 since Anthony and I both sleep with two pillows. I’m excited to start my sewing goals.

Another personal goal that sort of developed later was my desire to learn harmonica. I am very excited to say I have started practicing 30 minutes per day and I can play a few songs and I am learning proper technique. I love learning new things!

Health

My only health goal for January was to lose 5 lbs. I will know when visiting my endocrinologist in February whether I made that goal. At that time, I will also be making some more directed goals. The way I have  been working toward this goal is eating WAY healthier and food logging in order to see where the problems are. Exercise plans will start soon. Keep me in your prayers.

So, now is the time to introduce the February goals I have decided on.

1.  Study the book of Acts
2. Tithe 4% of income minimum
3. Read 3 books
4. Date Night hosted by Anthony
5. Take 1 fieldtrip with Maxwell
6. Lose 5 lbs. Total lost at endo should be 10 lbs
7. Exercise 14 days in February
8. Learn to make Philadelphia rolls
9. Learn to make linen napkins for dining room.
10. Start Maxwell’s photo albums
11. Begin a homemade Christmas gift I have planned for 2016
12. Start Lewis Family recipes or cook book.
13. Practice Harmonica 30 minutes per day and learn 2 new songs
14. Attend church at least one week in February

 

The resolutions, where I am.

As promised, this is my post telling you how I am doing with my New Year’s resolutions. If you remember from my post here, I am doing my resolutions this year by month and had some specific goals in mind for January. The first goal I had was that I wanted to attend church at least one Sunday in January. Anthony has to work for the next two Sundays but we did go this last Sunday, January 3rd to our new church. We have been attending a new church for a while and since we don’t get to go every week, I was excited to be able to go and enjoy service. Maxwell did great in the nursery and we were able to worship together. I am hoping we get to go at least one more week in January but we will have to see what Anthony’s schedule holds.

The second goal that we made was to start tithing 2% of our income in January, so far so good. I will do another update at the end of the month regarding if we made our goal. I’ve also been studying one chapter of Proverbs per day in January and I am loving what I am finding new in this book of wisdom. I’ve also been listening to sermons each morning and getting up earlier to have my time with the Lord before my little guy wakes up. It has been so refreshing!

Having a date night with Anthony in January is in the works. My sister and I have decided to trade babysitting services for each other so that we each get a date night with our husbands and we don’t have to pay for childcare. This is very helpful and I get to spend that time with my nephews as well. Totally a bonus! I have something in mind for January and Anthony is busy planning our February date. My next goal for January was to start homeschooling Maxwell for preschool. I have his entire January curriculum ready to go and we start preschool tomorrow morning. We are going to be doing the curriculum on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That is pretty standard for a three year old and I think it will be plenty to start him in a pattern of learning. Please say a prayer for me to be able to help him learn and be organized toward those goals.

I have a goal to pay off at least $100 in debt in January and so far, no debt has been paid. We have not actually gotten a paycheck in January just yet so when we do, we will be working towards that goal. I also have not started reading any of my books yet in January. I thought I would update you all on the books I have chosen in a few days and get started on that goal. I have taken a few steps in the direction of learning how to make my pillow cases and California Rolls. Yesterday I went and picked up my Sushi kit including my Mat, chop sticks, rice spoon, and fish bone tweezers. I also got a DVD and a book to help me learn the different types of Sushi and how to make them. Today I jotted down a grocery list for the ingredients I need to make my California Rolls. I am hoping to go this weekend and pick up the ingredients and give them my first shot on Friday or Saturday of this week. YAY!

The pillow cases will be more of an end of January project as I am going to be getting my new Sewing Machine at that time. I will keep you all posted on the fabric I choose for my pillow cases as well. Today I researched all of the materials and measurements I need to do the job and watched a Youtube video with instructions. It seems completely doable for a first sewing project. I am very excited about learning this new skill.

My last January goal and my biggest one is to lose 5 lbs. I wanted to focus most on just choosing healthier things in January like eating better, getting exercise at least 3 days per week (up from ZERO), and food journaling. I am hoping to have more ideas on what exactly to change as the year goes on for a total goal of 60 lbs lost. So far I have been doing pretty well to choose good meals and snacks and only eating when I am truly hungry. Also, I have always been a big water drinker but I have upped my water even more over the last few days. I am hoping to get started on my exercise plan this week as my gym is now empty of my Christmas Storage boxes.

How are you all doing on your January goals. I am hoping to post my February goals by the middle of January so that you are all aware of my next month’s endeavors. Also, my plan is to update the blog each Monday on how I am doing on the current month’s goals. I pray you all are doing well this New Year and you are motivated to new and better things.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

Is my Dad behind me?

Hi everyone. I pray that the New Year Started wonderfully for you and that you are pursuing your resolutions as hard as everyone else on the 2nd day of the new year. Isn’t it so easy to do what you say you’ll do on January 2nd?! How about July 2nd? I prayed about that this morning as I had my time with the Lord. I really want the things that I made as goals this year to be achieved. They are not really lofty in the sense of achievement but more about the focus of my life and my priorities. I am pursuing earlier mornings so that I can get my time with Jesus in the morning before my time as mama starts. As you all know, being a mom is very demanding and as soon as the little one(s) is/are up, your job changes dramatically in what you thought you were going to get accomplished for the day.

Today, I am thinking about holiness. As a believer, we are constantly reminded of how God is holy and how we are expected to be as well. There is a verse in Leviticus 11:44 that says “For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy.” This had me thinking this morning about parenting. I was watching Netflix last night and catching up on the newest season of  “Parenthood” which I love. There is a couple on the show facing a situation with their daughter and bullying. She is being a bully to an overweight girl and they are trying to deal with her as parents. I quickly looked at Anthony and said “Oh Max would be so done if he treated someone like that!” What I was saying underneath was “Be kind, because I am kind.” I want Maxwell to do things that are in line with my moral compass like being kind to others, not stealing, not being a liar, not mistreating people in relationships, not marginalizing people and treating people like they are beneath you, etc…

I immediately realized what God has been saying all of these years to me as a believer. He is saying “Look, I’m your Father. What you do, reflects on me. ACT RIGHT!” I mean, those are my words …but you know what I’m saying. I completely understand that by my not being holy in my behavior, I’m reflecting poorly on my Father. This is something that aggravates me so much in the obvious sense. I hate to see a Christian in public or on social media spewing hatred, judgment, and meanness in the name of Jesus. I am always quietly begging them to just speak in their own name and stop defacing the God I serve. It is imperative for me too to be Holy, because HE is holy.

As I parent this week, I will keep this in mind since Maxwell is also watching me for the holiness that I need to exhibit each and every day. If I hold Maxwell to a standard, I will hold myself to an even higher one. Are you living like you want your children to live? Be the example they need. If you are a Believer, are you dishonoring your Father’s name by your actions. I will sure be working on this in the New Year. I want to make Jesus proud as my Father. Living a disciplined life that is consistent with my word is a great way to start. January 2nd or July 2nd, let’s stay focused on the priorities set out as important.

Thanks for reading!

2015. The end.

Well, with my personal blog that I kept for many years over at United Rants of Erica, I always did an end of the year post where I talked about what the year had taught me. I am going to do a post like that over here today to mark the end of 2015. This post will be my regular “what I learned” post and also a review of the year in parenting. This was a fun year for me to parent as I had a two year old. I had Maxwell in January so I always get the entire calendar year to experience his age. We are going into his 3rd year and I could not be more excited. Many people bemoan and lament watching their children grow up, but I don’t. I try very hard to not complain toward any aspect of parenting just due to what I’ve been through as a mother. To me, growing up is a great thing. It means that my child is here on Earth, with me. It means he is developing and shaping up to be the person he is eventually going to be entirely. He is gaining new experiences, learning, love, and fun in his life. I adore being his mom and I’m looking forward to year three. Let’s now look back at 2015 and Maxwell’s 2nd year.

What I learned in 2015:

— People who are entitled do not care how much you give them, they will continue to treat you however they want because to them, you owe them and you don’t matter.

— Doing for others feels magnificent, and when it doesn’t feel good at all to you, there is probably a reason. Give with all of your heart. When your heart isn’t really feeling it…it just doesn’t count.

— Experience things in the real. Do not count on pictures, an IPad, or sound bites to fulfill what you can experience with your eyes, ears, heart, and hands. DO things.

— Taking care of yourself is powerful.

— I believe that I can learn absolutely anything if I give myself enough time and patience.

— The 7th year of marriage did not have me itching at all, except for more of my husband. He is the most fabulous man there is.

— Turning 35 did not feel as bad as I expected it too. I really like my life in my 30’s.

— I do not really enjoy fast food anymore and my idea of a good gift is slippers or warm socks. I am feeling old by saying these things but they are true.

— It is no longer optional if I have coffee every day. It is the next step after I take my daily medication and I have no idea how to have a day without it.

— I learned this year to never put off seeing the doctor if you don’t get better after a week of illness. There is always something more behind that.

— I learned this year that grief touches EVERY person. It touches us differently but it unites us as humans.

— The best friend I’ve had for more than 20 years, has become a better friend this year than ever. I’m not sure why it has grown this way, this year…but it is home to me.

— I always thought I would struggle with being a mom and doing the right thing by my kid. I do not struggle. I am a great mom. I am proud of that and not at all sorry to say so.

— Writing is still my first passion, even before psych.

— To be honest when you risk everything doing so, is one of the best things you will ever do for yourself.

— All I want to do in 2016 is be a better human. To love Jesus better. To love others better. To be better. To write this post in 2016 and have learned that I am better.

Parenting in 2015:

This year was such a fun year for Maxwell and myself. I’m leaving Anthony out of this because I don’t like to speak for him. I am a stay at home mom for now about 90% of the time. I work very little and that is how I want it while Maxwell is still little. He turned 2 on January 22nd and we celebrated the actual day by having a cupcake and taking him out for pizza (his favorite food). We had a party for him with our nearest and dearest and it was a Daniel Tiger Theme. Max used to watch Daniel all the time but as he turned 2 he started to have interest in Sesame Street. The past 12 months, he has fallen in love with the characters and seen every episode that Netflix has to offer.

He only gets to watch one a day but he loves that time. His favorite characters are Bert & Ernie, Elmo, and Abby Cadabby or as he calls her “Presto!” He got several Sesame Street items for Christmas and Bert even sleeps with him. Maxwell has really picked up a lot of words and phrases over the course of the year and is becoming a great talker. He learns so fast and can sing his alphabet and count to 17. His favorite phrases are “I’ve got an idea”, “Wow, so bootibul (Beautiful)” and “Woah, what is that??” He has spent more time with his cousins playing this year and has become a great sharer.

Recently Maxwell has spent more time with his godfather (Uncle Nick) and is starting to warm up to the weird furry faced guy. Uncle Nick loves him so much and it is awesome to see them bonding. Maxwell took his first vacation this year for his Aunt Hilliary’s 40th Birthday to Memphis. We went to Graceland and saw some other sites while we were there. Maxwell’s favorite was the Bass Pro Shop where he got to see big fishies. He would have stayed there all day. Maxwell has grown so much and looks like a big boy instead of a baby. I think I’ll end this post with our picture from this year. This is the best job I’ve ever had. Happy New Year to you and I hope you stay with me on Maximum Sonshine in 2016!

 

The battle for nutrition

How many of you are parenting picky toddlers when it comes to the dinner table? I am adamantly raising my hand and jumping up and down with you. When Max was just beginning solid foods, the child would eat anything. He loved to have spinach quiche and was a huge fan of a green bean. Now, if it isn’t bread, cheese, or milk; he wants nothing to do with eating. Oh yes, and since he has tried candy…that is always on his mind. He is a huge fan of chocolate and peppermint as a rule but if it doesn’t come on his dinner plate and is packaged like candy, he’s interested. This frustrates me more than I would like to admit.

I had hoped because Anthony and I both are wonderful eaters, that we would have no problem modeling that in front of Max and he would immediately take to that. I wasn’t in a dream world that he would request Brussels sprouts for dinner but I thought he would be reasonably open to his dinner plate because of our influence. He really isn’t. For Max, he is just too busy to sit down and eat a meal. He has things to do. He would much rather carry around a cup of milk and drink his calories. Anthony and I have recently put the brakes on these behaviors and started to be sticklers about the meal time rules. I’ll let you know after a while of instituting them how they are going. I will share with you what we are doing in case you have a problem with meals too.

A good friend of mine and Maxwell’s god-father helped me through this a little bit by recognizing that this is Max’s way of trying to find an area of his life to control. Although down the road as an adult, he will need to control his eating habits…right now he would choose candy and milk so he is not able to make those decisions without us. Here are the Lewis Family rules on eating and if these are obvious to you, thank you for being ahead of us and I’m glad you have it all figured out. I am new at this parenting thing!

1.  No milk outside of meal times: Max is served milk with his meals and any drinks in between are water. This cuts down on him drinking his calories and of course, makes him healthier with more water.
2. No snacks or desserts unless meals were eaten: I leave Max’s plate on the table until it is the next meal time if it’s something that will keep like toast or a sandwich. He comes in here and there and gets a bite because that is how Max is. I do not allow him to have other things if that plate isn’t finished. I offer him the meal he had last. If he finished his meal (which there are times that he does) he is allowed to have healthy snacks like yogurt, applesauce, string cheese, etc… as long as it isn’t too close to the next meal. If it is a meal that does not keep, I put it in the refrigerator and offer him that if he says he is hungry. It turns out, if you are hungry…you will eat.
3. Reward, Reward, Reward: If Max reaches our standard for eating (For example: you need to eat three bites of fish) then he is able to choose a small treat for dessert. This is usually the equivalent of 10 m&ms, two Hershey kisses, a few melt away peppermints, etc… He loves sweets so that is something that he feels rewarded by when he ate a good dinner. I do not give sweet treats at Breakfast or Lunch but usually something that Max sees as a treat like an applesauce pouch (with veggies because I’m sneaky).

We have been holding firm on these rules for just a couple of days and it is going well. Max has eaten more actual food the last few days than he has all year. Also, Maxwell is really good at taking no for an answer so when he tries to get me to give him candy but hasn’t finished a meal, I simply say no, but you can have ____. If Max is hungry, he will eat his meal. If it was about candy, he will whine for about 20 seconds and then find something else to do. He’s a great kid. I hope you are having great strides with your toddler on getting them to eat. If you have any suggestions for Anthony and myself, please put them in the comment box below. We are asking for your advice this time, it isn’t unsolicited. Thanks for stopping in and Happy Eating!

 

The sick mom

I know you all read the title of today’s post and you groaned if you are a mother. No one likes being a mom and being sick at the same time. It is near impossible to do a stellar job as a parent when you don’t feel well. That is the epitome of my day today. On Christmas day, I felt horrible. My husband ended up doing all of the cooking to host our family. It’s a good thing I taught him years ago how to make the entire meal. I mostly stayed in my pajamas and laid on the couch. I could barely swallow and his wonderful dinner was barely eaten by me because each bite had me wincing in pain.

That night I decided I needed to see the doctor but my general practitioner’s office wasn’t open again until today. I woke up the next morning and I knew, I was going to have to see a doctor sooner than Monday. I went to the ER on Saturday because on top of feeling awful, I am a Type I diabetic and my sugars were climbing into the 500 range as I got sicker. I wasn’t in the ER very long before we established that I indeed had strep throat and rather than wait on the swabs to come back, we (the doctors and myself) decided to start antibiotics immediately given my medical condition. I took my first antibiotic before I walked out of the ER and went to the pharmacy to fill the rest of the prescription.

I have taken a total of 5 of them now (with this morning’s included) and my sugars are still above 400. If you know anything about diabetes, you know that is not a safe place to have your glucose landing. It does damage to your internal organs and you just plain feel awful. My mothering skills are the survival level now where I am changing diapers, preparing meals, and supervising all of his actions but today will not be a great day in parenting and probably not until my sugars come down considerably would I be very valuable in the parenting world.

Since I look at everything in my life as an opportunity to learn and grow, here I am…trying to find it. Where is the lesson in my world right now? One thing that immediately comes to my mind is to consider my brokenness. It is hard to really appreciate your health until you are sick. You don’t realize the joy of swallowing solid food until you cannot do it. You do not realize what it is to see clearly until your vision is blurred by a 430 sugar level. You do not realize just how much energy you normally have until you are zapped beyond measure where lifting your 35 lb child to give him snuggles is a difficult task. Maxwell probably does not notice a whole lot different in his world today, but I do.

This goes hand in hand with my new year’s goal of giving more but not in the area of others. The thing I struggle most with is giving to myself what I need and the grace that goes with those needs. Some of us are taught from a very young age that our needs, are burdens. I am no exception to having been taught that. Yesterday, I took a Sabbath. By that I mean, I rested entirely. I did not run any loads of laundry. I did not clean any dishes even though my sinks were full from Christmas dinner. I did not clean up any wrapping paper, boxes, or toys in the floor. I simply rested. I did the necessary things to take care of Max’s basic needs and emotional needs and that was the extent of my day. By the time my husband got home, nothing was done but the world did not collapse. I gave myself the grace I needed to take a day to lay in bed and recuperate. I will say that by today, I was itching to start cleaning up my house and needed to move around but yesterday I needed those 24 hours to just rest. Many times in scripture, it showed Jesus taking his Sabbath and God after all put in the commandments that taking a Sabbath was an important thing to Him. (Exodus 20)

As I go into my new year of giving more, I am going to be giving myself a Sabbath each week. This is probably the hardest goal of my new year. This is beyond exercising and losing weight and even beyond getting debt paid down. This is the most difficult thing for me that I ever try to do. Resting for me is extremely difficult. Even when I sit down to watch television or a movie, I am usually doing something else like folding laundry or making a to-do list. My need to be productive is really high and sometimes it takes me away from the most important task I’m doing, which is to rest. This post is about being a mom and being a sick mom on top of that. I have to show Maxwell that to take care of one’s body is one of the most important things you can do. You only get one!

Although I need to go and get some things accomplished today, I promise you this; I will be stopping to rest and watching my blood sugar through the day so that I know my body is healing. Can you learn anything from this post on how to take care of you better? Be a good mom by being a mom who cares about herself. I pray you are all well and take some time today to give yourself REST!

 

 

New year, New plans

Hello everyone and I’m sorry I have been a little MIA over the last few months. I have intentions to really amp up my blog writing this next year. That brings me to our topic today which is the New Year! I think it is in my very nature to love a fresh start. I love a new week, a new year, a new notebook, a new planner…anything that prompts to start something fresh. I am a lover of a Mulligan. If you aren’t familiar with that term, in golf it is a do-over. I love the verse in Lamentations 3:22-23 that says “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” This year (2015) has been a decent year overall. There were no personal tragedies, giant losses for me, or even any dramatic fiascos. It was a very peaceful year. I do not think that this is due to anything specific that has happened but just that I have learned a new way of dealing with life.

I promised myself when I had Maxwell that I would constantly be a good example to him of who I wanted him to become. I truly believe that we are such a powerful force on our children’s character and I want him to turn out to be a great human being. That being said, in 2015 I worked on not allowing myself to be mistreated. I am ferociously loved in my life. My husband treats me like his queen and my friends are amazing. I did have relationships in my life, however, that were abusive and harmful. They weren’t abusive in the physical sense but just in an entitled and uncaring way and made me constantly doubt myself and feel pain. I did not want Maxwell to see his mother allowing that in her life. This year, I made a decision to speak truth to people who were hurting me. I told them that their actions were hurtful and I made consequences of not being as active in their lives until the painful behavior stopped. These are not people I am willing to cut out entirely because of my deep love for them but they are people who I want a different relationship with. Until the relationship changes for the better, I had to have a different game plan. In saying that, my Christmas was extremely peaceful and happy and it changed everything about the way I saw my money and gift-giving this year. It was a very difficult decision and the actions were twice as difficult but I am happy to say that I am on the other side of it, and proud of me!

Today, I wanted to talk about my focus in 2016. I am always trying to find ways to be a better mom. I know we probably all are. Being a parent is my highest calling. Maxwell’s relationship with Jesus is going to be shaped by my own relationship with Jesus and probably more powerfully my relationship with Maxwell and my relationship with myself. I want to show him God’s grace and love at every turn. It is, after all, by Grace we are saved. These ideas are shaping my every single thought about 2016.

As I prepare to enter the new year, I am thinking about my priorities. They are always God, family, health, and the rest of it. That being said, I want to continue to live my life intentionally with those things in mind. I love the idea of a “word of the year” and so I decided my word would be “GIVE.”

 

 

I want to give more. When I say that I mean the obvious ways like finding ways to give back to people who are less fortunate than myself or struggling but I also mean it in other ways. I want to give more to my relationship with Jesus. I want to give more to myself in terms of my commitment to my health. I want to give more to my earthly relationships like my marriage, as a mother, and with friends and family. I want to think about what I can do to bless someone’s day. I want to give more to all of the things that I care about. I want to do less so I can give more of me to the things that matter.

I want to focus on the thing I’m doing so that I can do it with excellence. As a mom, it’s easy to get caught up in multitasking and forget to be present in a moment. 2016 will be focused on stopping that. Today, as I write this post, Maxwell is napping so I am able to give it my full attention and not take away from his time. That is what I mean by being present to the things that matter. One of the first things I wanted to talk about in starting this was a course I signed up for. It is a self-managed e-course by Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom called  “Make Over Your Mornings.” It is 14 days of learning about how to revolutionize your mornings. For a while, I have had a morning routine but I need more guidance in how to prioritize to use my morning to the best of my ability. I will be starting on January 1st so I will update the blog on my journey. If you are interested in this course, it is $9 through January 8th, I believe. I am excited to start it and hopefully start to use my mornings more deliberately to meet my goal of giving more to the things that matter.

Another thing that I’ll be writing about in the new year is my monthly goals. I briefly shared my January goals in a previous post, here. If you are interested in joining me on having monthly goals and being accountable for them, comment below and tell me what you are working on. I will also be getting my Youtube channel back up and running in January and will be posting videos about my numerous goals and adventures. Most of my goals are very personal to me and I assume that yours are too and aren’t just the generic “lose weight” and “exercise more” that we all know and love.

As you will see in my January goals, I will be studying Proverbs, learning how to make Sushi and pillowcases, going to church, tithing 2%, working on my health goals, going on a hot date, teaching preschool, reading, paying off debt, and just plain loving life. I am also starting a new job in January as a virtual assistant to my previous boss and good friend. I have a lot to look forward to in 2016 and I plan to make this blog my new permanent home on the web. My personal blog can still be found at United Rants of Erica for the time being but I do have a plan for the new year to change the lo-cal eventually and will not be posting any new material at that location. Stay tuned for news in that general direction.

Please plan to check in to Maximum Sonshine in the new year! Thanks for reading and I pray you find time in 2016 to GIVE!

 

 

 

Managing time as a Mom

I’m being painfully honest when I say, I am just now (2.5 years in) learning the tricks to managing my time as a mom. I am also aware that children go through so many different phases so that means we are constantly learning to manage around activities, developmental milestones, and just plain life. Just in case you don’t know me personally, I am a 90% stay at home mom. I do work, a tiny bit. I work only in the evenings and mostly my husband, Anthony has our son when I’m at work with very minimal exceptions. That being said, you may not be able to use every piece of advice in this post. You may work full time and have to put in a lot more work time or you may stay home 100% and never have to schedule in a work day. Either way, I hope this post can give you a few ideas for being great at time management.

SCHEDULE, PLAN, AND ROUTINE

The first thing I would say to any mother, no matter what her schedule looks like is FIND A PLANNER. This can be as fancy or as simple as you’d like. Mine is from Erin Condren and is on the fancy side and for me, it is due to feeling more motivated to use something if it’s beautiful. However, there are perfectly suitable planners in every price bracket including the Dollar Tree, Walmart, Target, Etsy, Amazon, Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, etc… Whatever you really love and believe you will use is the best choice. I asked for mine for my birthday from my husband and he knows, it gets used. The planner is one of my favorite tools in keeping my house together, my to do list moving, and appointments straight.  The next thing I suggest is get into some routines. I have a morning routine, a night routine, and even a naptime routine for Maxwell. Also, schedules. I know even the word makes some people cringe but for me, I need a cleaning schedule, bill-paying schedule, and even laundry schedule to make sure I get things done.

BE FLEXIBLE

I know, I just told you to use schedules and routines and now I’m saying be flexible. What I mean by that is if your child is sick, you are sick, an emergency pops up, etc… be prepared by knowing what the most important things that need your time are. If you have a sick day, you need to be able to let your cleaning schedule go for that day and maybe just pay the bill over the phone that is due. Being able to look through your to do list and decide on those things is my next tip.

KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES

Being able to know which items are most important to get to is an exercise in examining priorities. For example, if you list your priorities as family, health, and financial responsbility first; you may take your child’s sick day and only focus on those three categories. This may look like staying home with your child (family), making sure you get on the treadmill while they nap (Health), and telecommuting with your job or cashing in vacation time in order to not lose the income. (Financial Responsibility) Some of the things on your schedule may be left out that day including cleaning tasks, returning emails, or an appointment you can reschdule. This is what I mean by being flexible. Trying to be everything to everyone is an impossiblity.

RECHARGE BATTERIES

Does your child have any musical insruments with batteries? My guy does and when the batteries start to get low in his keyboard, there is little I can do to handle that noise. Those batteries get changed the minute I can get my hands on it. The noise that makes compares to how a mother sounds,feels, and parents without recharging. We get impatient, forgetful, grouchy, and some even get mean. The best thing we can do is recharge by doing something pleasurable for us that GIVES us energy. This can be for hours or even minute intervals in order to be affective. For me, I will go out for coffee with a friend, Read, watch Netflix, play a game on my Ipad, pray, chat with a friend over Imessages, be alone on my balcony and watch the sun set, listen to music while I shower, color in a coloring book, watch a movie, snuggle with my husband, or even just be alone for ten minutes. There are numerous ways and we all are different in what works for us. The only thing that is the same is that we are human and none of us can give anything when we are empty ourselves.

I pray that you will use the tips I’ve suggested to get your time in order.

Thanks for reading,

~Erica~

Do you have a coupon for that?

One of my favorite things to do is coupon. Yes, I know…nerdy. I did not get on the bandwagon with the “Extreme Couponing” kick where you have a basement full of deodorant or anything but I love getting a great deal on things that I need to buy.  A great example is Halloween. I know I have to buy treats for my own little guy and my 6 nieces and nephews (3 and 3). I had $13.00 in Extra Care Bucks at CVS so I headed over to get some free candy. I ended up snagging 2 bags of candy corn, 2 bags of snack size Kit Kats, one bag of snack size Reese Cups, and 2 bags of Butterfinger cups for 9 cents! I just paid tax after I stacked manufacturer coupons, CVS coupons, and my Extra Care Bucks. I am never going to write a couponing blog or spend hours and hours getting all the newspapers I can handle but coupons have become a great resource for me in trying to pay down debt.

If you do not try to find deals, I will tell you the easiest way to get great deals. FInd some great blogs of people who do the work for you. My favorite couponing blog and Youtuber is HIP2SAVE. She (Colin) is fantastic at telling you what coupons to print, what deals to grab and how much you are going to spend out of pocket. I mostly use hers for Target couponing. I do deals that are going to get me Target gift cards and I roll them into the next week’s couponing trip. That is also how I do CVS, by rolling my Extra Care bucks into the  next week. I do not clip coupons from the paper either. I only use printable coupons so there is no waste. I also use mobile coupons from the CVS app and Target’s mobile coupon texts and I also use the Cartwheel App by Target.

Although none of this is new by any means, I hope you have learned something about saving some money. I also use the following Apps to get cash back on my purchases. They really do work; Ibotta, Saving Star, Checkout51, and Moocho.

Happy Saving!

Erica