Mmm...mmm...growing up...

One Year Old

One Year Ago

I can't believe we celebrated Louis' first birthday this month. If it continues to go this quickly he'll be moving out in what feels like a few weeks. The day to day of being a mom can be quite a lot to handle but this "being mindful" mindset helps. When I'm overwhelmed by the toy clutter or the whining of a teething boy, I've been working on taking a breath and looking at the larger picture. I'm so blessed. 




Other than celebrating with our family, we've been working on using our time more effectively around here. We like being successful at work, raising a happy child, having a clean house, creating healthy meals, finding time to relax, and cultivating relationships outside of our trio. There aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week for everything though. I've always been an all or nothing type and it's hard for me to do something halfway; I'd rather not do it at all! I'm trying to work on that mindset. Life can't be all or nothing or most of us would digress into nothingness. While I may strive to be perfect, it is an unattainable goal. Doing the best I can most of the time and getting by the rest has to be good enough. 


One of the places I struggle most with this is with grocery shopping and meal planning. This part of my life often falls into my overwhelmed so nothing category. I like the physical act of walking through a grocery store. The possibilities are endless and it's exciting to try new dishes or combinations. The place I falter is in the list writing and meal planning. I have a hard time imagining and planning for what I want to eat next Wednesday. I find great comfort in food and I want every meal I eat to be great. I hate mediocre food but I don't have the time to invent and cook grand cuisine three times a day every day. Also, Louis really needs healthy balanced meals three to six times a day. He is not a big eater and prefers little snacks continuously throughout the day, but this is hard. I don't want to throw crackers at him every two hours but preparing a healthy unprocessed concoction that many times a day is hard.


I'm finding help with this in food magazines and online food blogs. There are many out there that have done this before me and so I'm stealing their hard work to jump start me. Here goes nothing!