Julie Gumm - Author

What I’m really thinking about parenting…

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The other day a friend on Facebook posted a link to this amazing article “Don’t Carpe Diem”.

I swear it’s like the writer is inside my head.

Every time someone looks at my children and says “It goes by so fast. Make every moment count,” I say “I know” and nod my head sweetly.

What I really want to say is “Promise? Because this is HARD! And sometimes it feels like there’s no end in site.”

But, of course, I don’t. And then I feel guilty for thinking that.

Loved this part of the article…

“My point is this. I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn’t enjoying it enough. Double failure. I felt guilty because I wasn’t in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn’t MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often. And because I knew that one day, I’d wake up and the kids would be gone, and I’d be the old lady in the grocery store with my hand over my heart. Would I be able to say I enjoyed every moment? No.”

Go read the whole thing. Glennon Melton’s article hits the nail on the head.

At least for this mama.

Vote on Africa decal design

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I’m working on a new window decal that is just Africa (vs. a specific country). I know there’s a lot of people who have a heart for that nation without direct ties to one specific country.

But I can’t decide – script font (#1 – left) or block font (#2 – right). They’ll be a metallic silver where you see grey – cutout for window where you see black.

What do you think? Vote below.

     

 

Mornings Suck

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I hate mornings. I always have. I am SO not morning person,

Of course this tidbit managed to completely allude my husband during our 4 years of dating. SURPRISE.

In an ideal world I would wake up, have coffee, check email and shower before anyone spoke to me.

Of course that doesn’t really work when you have 4 kids. Three of whom are morning people, along with their dad. UGH!

Lately I’ve grown weary of the morning chaos and noise. I feel like I’m constantly telling someone to get back on task or to stop annoying their sibling.

It puts me in a bad mood and doesn’t help them either.

So the last couple days Mark and I have been throwing out ideas. We talked about taking away electronic time if they’re not ready but I decided to change that to something positive.

Our kids get a limited amount of electronic time (tv, computer, wii, nintendos, etc) Fri – Sun.

This morning I told them that I would be giving NO reminders. No nagging. If they were COMPLETELY ready to go when I said to get in the car they would earn 15 extra minutes of electronic time.

We leave at 7:30.

It’s 7:15 and they are ALL ready.

Without a single reminder from mom.

I think we found a system. (Although we’ll probably change it to 10 minutes per day.)