Saying "I Love You"

Growing up, my parents, siblings, extended family and friends always helped me to feel loved. My parents supported us in anything we wanted to do, be it softball, soccer, theater, dance...I had a GREAT childhood. In my awkward middle school years, however, I felt a void. I really wanted to hear people tell me they loved me. That's not something we really did in our family. Did I know they loved me? Heck, yes. But for whatever reason, we just didn't SAY it. I can remember back to sleepovers where my girlfriends would call their parents and say goodnight. They would end the conversation with an "I love you" and that seemed so foreign to me. I had a mini-meltdown in 8th grade where my mom actually had to come pick me up from school because I was such a mess over this issue. I am sure it was mostly teenage hormones, but I think it says a lot about the importance of actually telling someone how much you love them, and telling them often.

Then I met Chris, my Prince, who is now the King of our castle. He threw those three little words out very early on in the relationship. It took me a while to say it; it didn't really come naturally to me. Although I loved him, I just wasn't used to saying it. Overuse of "I love you" can cause it to lose meaning, if you ask me. I wanted him to say it to me, but only when he really meant it, not just out of habit. After almost 13 years, I think we pretty much have it worked out ;)

I used to get upset that Princess Natalie wouldn't say "I love you" back to me. I consciously try to tell her I love her when I am really feeling it, you know? I try to make sure I get eye contact from her and she can see that I mean what I say. I will often add something after it, like "I love you. No matter what!" or "I love you more than I could ever express" or "I love you because..." However, there are times she doesn't respond, she turns her head away and folds her arms, or just ignores me. You have to admit that it hurts! But I also realize that no matter what, she still needs to hear it.

Lately, Princess N has been saying those special words to me more often. Out of the blue, she will look at me and say, "Mommy, I love. You're the best" and go on her merry way. Sometimes, she will pull me in for a hug and say it, or she will tell me how much she loves daddy, Princess Ruthie, and even Willow. I love the spontaneity of how she expresses her love for us! It really shows me that she isn't just saying it in response to someone else saying it. She says it when she is really feeling it. I have told her how much I appreciate this, as I totally think we need to be good communicators with our children. Princess R certainly hears "I love you" quite often from the 3 of us :)

I'm going to pat myself on the back tonight. I think I am doing a pretty good job raising these princesses. It is a tough but rewarding job. Not everyone will agree with the amount of openness and honesty I encourage (even with my 3 year old who knows a lot about a lot of different things) but I am proud of the woman I am and the ones I am encouraging them to be.

If you are reading this, please remember: YOU ARE LOVED. And never feel ashamed about telling and showing others that they are, too. Don't let the way you were raised or people who have hurt you steal the special meaning these words have in your current relationships. Whatever happened, it isn't a good enough excuse...Tell someone tonight, and I mean REALLY tell him/her, how much you love him/her. Tell him/her why, and make sure he or she hears you. If nothing else, look in the mirror and tell yourself.

Have a blessed week!

Another Cookie Adventure

I've decided that even though I am on my journey toward a better, healthier me, I certainly don't believe in deprivation. God has blessed us with so many delicious, wonderful things in life, moderation (and gratitude) is certainly the way to go. With that in mind, I picked up the ingredients to make cookies this week while grocery shopping with Princess Ruthie on Friday night. Princess Nat was at dance class and daddy was working at Best Buy (as is our weekly ritual). Mmmm, love me some cookies! I couldnt wait to make them.

I chose today to be the day  we make the cookies because daddy is on a field trip today to the zoo, and the female royalty of the family had planned on joining him. However, the timing didn't really work out with naps, etc. so we decided against it. Poor Princess N was slightly heartbroken (even though she just went to the zoo with daddy on Friday for a daddy/daughter date). Anyway, she was super-psyched about making cookies. She is such a good helper!

Trusty ol' Pinterest led us to an excellent recipe for Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. They have a slightly more grown up flavor to them...so good! Here are some pics from our cookie adventure today. Enjoy!

Helper #1

Helper #2 (hey, she coo-ed and caa-ed for us)

Browning the butter

Oops! Spills happen...

It was a little too exciting for Princess Ru

Happy Helper

Benefit of being a good helper

We added white and semi-sweet chips!

Pre-baked yummy goodness

We decided to only bake half the batch today, so we could freeze the rest and make cookie monsters another day.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Yup, heavenly.

A chocolatey princess, is a happy princess ;)

Take a cookie adventure of your own this week and share your experience in the comments section. I always love a new recipe, too!

Continue the journey, friends.
xo

My Mom: Through the Eyes of a 3 Year Old

For Princess Natalie's 3rd birthday, I had interviewed her with a bunch of fun questions about her. It was so much fun, and I look forward to doing that every year. I decided to do the same thing for Mother's Day, this time, asking her questions about me, The Queen. Enjoy!

My Mom
Natalie Kate Lawson, Age 3

My mom’s favorite color is pink.
Her favorite food is eggs.
Mommy is 3 ounces years old.
I think mommy weighs 4 ounces.
Tell me something about your mommy: I love her.
 My mom’s favorite song is Freak the Freak Out
I show mommy I love her by getting her a present.
I really love it when my mom swims with me.
 My mom likes to just be her own self.
 My mom always tells me, “Listen”
 The best thing she does is let me have candy.
 It makes her happy when we get her flowers.
 My mom loves to relax by cooking.
I like it when she plays in the sandbox with me!
The best thing she cooks is eggs and bacon.
When my mom shops she likes to buy new clothes and vitamins for me.
My mom’s favorite household chore is cleaning the floors.
My mom’s favorite TV show is Fashion Star one.
If she could go on a trip, she would go to the doctor.
I love my mom because she buys stuff for me!

Too cute, huh? I love how she said "ounces" for a couple of answers...she has obviously been helping me in the whole breast milk storage adventure! One of her sweetest answers was when she said I just like to be my own self. How awesome is that? Hopefully, I can instill in her the appreciation for self, which is so tough to do with young women.

You should definitely do this with your own princes and princesses! You'll never know what they might say...

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there of all kinds, but especially to my amazing mom, Cathy. Love you!

Cookies with Royal Icing

Yesterday I was trying to bribe Princess Natalie into a nap by telling her we could make cookies when she woke up. It didn't work...by the time she finally fell asleep, mouth agape, on the couch, it was too close to dinner and bed time to tackle a project like that. I told her we could do them the next day.


So, this morning, when she woke up, what do you think the first words out of her mouth were? That's right: "Mommy, can we make those cookies now?" That girl doesn't forget anything! Regardless of whether or not I even felt like making cookies today, of course we just had to. Were we going to make them at 6:30am? Bleep, no! Try explaining this to a 3 year old, though...Thinking that she would get to make cookies sooner, she said she didn't want breakfast. "I'll wait," she says. No, dear. We aren't making cookies yet...so eat some breakfast!


After our usual morning routine of watching cartoons, eating breakfast, and taking care of Ruthie, it was finally time to make the cookies. I turned on my Nook (which is so lovely to have in the kitchen when trying new recipes! Thanks, Chris!) and went straight to Pinterest to find a sugar cookie recipe. We whipped up the dough and refrigerated it for an hour. We rolled out the <sticky> stuff and got out the trusty cookie cutters. Then I just let Princess N go to town, making whichever shapes she wanted to:

Princess R watched, smiled, and cooed as we rolled and patted and cut:



I am working on my patience as I do these projects with two princesses in tow. The eldest is really starting to test limits and it is really easy to get frustrated and yell. This is not a habit I want to continue...She really did a great job on the cookies, and I made sure to give her some freedom in decorating them, although I obviously helped.

Notice how she took the liberty to add the lovely red sugar to many of the cookies while I was putting Princess Ruthie down for a nap (For the first time in her crib! Yay!). Don't they look yummy? They really are perfect...


I also made sure to apologize for being impatient with her and raising my voice. It's important for us mommies to have conversations with our children about how even WE make mistakes. I told her that as she continues to work on being a better listener, Mommy would work on being more patient. I'm sure she was shocked that this Queen could make an error and be apologizing for something, but she gave me a kiss and went on her merry way.


Still on the journey...

Journey Toward a Better Me

Over the past couple of weeks, I have begun a journey toward a better version of myself. As a school counselor, I always talk to my students about self-awareness and growth. They have heard me say many times that our ultimate goal is to become the best versions of ourselves, and what that looks like will change at different points in our lives. Therefore, we are ALWAYS growing and becoming "better."

About two weeks ago, Princess Natalie decided to point out to this Queen that I was still sporting a "big, fat belly." Well, kid, I totally agree! (and so did the King when he so sensitively stated, "Why are you getting upset? She is only stating the obvious." Thanks, hun...) Anyway, since sophomore year of college, I have been putting on weight. I am soooo tired of it. Overall, am I happy with the wife, friend, coworker, mother, leader, etc that I have become? Heck yes. But in my journey toward a better me, I KNOW I need to get healthier. Since I am not sure we will be adding anymore princes or princesses to our kingdom, I figured that now is the time to ease into a healthier lifestyle. I did not want to make huge changes that I knew I couldn't handle. I'm choosing to start with small things and transitioning into bigger changes as time goes on. My goal is not to lose weight, per say. I know it isn't wise to begin a "diet" when only being a couple of months post partum and breastfeeding. However, all of us can benefit from healthy changes.

There is this really cool free app for my Droid called My Fitness Pal. It allows you to track your calories eaten and spent. The coolest part of the app for me is that you can scan the bar code of what you are eating and it automatically enters the info! It has really helped me in being conscious of what I am putting into my body. Previously, I would have just eaten as many chips as I wanted with my sandwich at lunch, but now I know that about 13 chips is 140 calories...WOW! Some days those 13 chips are totally worth the calories, and other days I know that I should skip the chips to be able to enjoy something else later. Who knew that my favorite treat (a root beer...) was over 300 calories. Um, no thanks. I am not restricting what I eat, but I am keeping better track so that I don't eat way more than what my body needs.

So far, I have lost 5 pounds. It doesn't seem like much, but it certainly is a start! It has been rewarding to step on the scale in the morning and see the numbers go down. Sometimes they go back up, too, but that's ok...its a journey, remember? I also have been keeping track of my measurements and I'm especially proud that I have lost 2 inches around my waist and 1 inch from my hips.

My favorite part of this journey is finding creative ways to MOVE more. I am not a big fan of exercise. If it feels too much like work, I don't wanna do it. Ugh. It hurts to even admit this, but, man, can I be lazy!. I would love to be a runner someday but that will take time. I hate running. My friends all say that once you start, though, you learn to love it. Whatever. Maybe I will get there... I really enjoy dancing, though, so I have been working on my moves while the girls nap. We have Dance Central on the XBOX 360, so that is a fun change up. Princess Natalie loves helping me do jumping jacks, her version of yoga, and other things. She is so funny...she will do a "move" and have me copy her. Hey, it burns calories, right?!? Ruthie even helps me out. Yesterday I held her for extra weight as I did some kicks and lunges down our hallway :)

Hopefully, by focusing on being healthy and not on just losing weight, I am impacting my princesses in a positive way. It is so hard to not focus on being thin, though...just remember my mantra: its a JOURNEY toward the best version of ME.

Fun in Our Own Backyard

So, the other afternoon, Princess Natalie was BEGGING me to go outside. By 3pm, I tend to be in a royally lazy mood and would prefer to sit on the couch, holding Princess Ruthie, watching TV, cuddled up next to the eldest. However, I know that to be a good Queen, I need to enrich my children's lives by doing things I don't always feel like doing. I gathered up a blanket, sunglasses, Boppy pillow, baby, flip flops, water, cellphone, my attitude, and headed out the door. After nearly tripping over Willow (the palace dog), we settled on the grass. Princess Natalie walked around, checking out flowers, bugs, and piles of dog poo while I got Princess Ruthie quieted in the Boppy and relaxed on the blanket. The independent exploration only lasted so long...soon Princess N incessantly asked me to play with her. I LOVE playing with her, don't get me wrong. She is so smart, funny, imaginative, intelligent...I could go on and on. However, when we go outside, there are lots of things I need to keep my eye on. Willow is a great pet, but she isn't always aware of her surroundings, especially when playing outside. With Princess R on the blanket, Willow running around with a stick twice the length of her body, and Princess N constantly twirling around, inevitably falling numerous times after dizzying herself, I MUST protect the baby. She has already been unintentially squished a few times by the eldest daughter...Oops!

I racked my brain with creative ideas to keep her happy and busy while also protecting my youngest offspring. That's when it happened...an AHA mommy moment! In a matter of seconds, I created a mini-game with educational, imaginative, and entertainment value. Even better, I could play this game WITH Princess N from the comfort of my blanket (well, as comfortable as a blanket on top of a lumpy lawn, sticks, and black walnuts can be). All I had to do was ask Princess Natalie to bring me something of a certain shape, color, and/or size. I watched her transform from a bored toddler into an excited explorer as I said, "Can you find something yellow? What about something in the shape of a rectangle? Or how about something larger than your hand?" She would joyously search throughout the yard, deck, shed, and sand box for something that would match the description and run it back to me with such pride as she awaited my approval. To make it even more fun, the blanket we were sitting on was a quilt made by my mom from tons of squares of fabric in different patterns and colors. Princess N took it upon herself to put the objects she collected on an approved square on the quilt that somehow matched (she made that choice...). The yellow dandelion was stored on the square that had bee hives and honey bee fabric, the rectangular wood chip was placed on the patch that was brown. It was so much fun! This occupied Princess Natalie for about 20 minutes. When she started to get tired of it, we switched to taking turns playing I Spy. Needless to say, it was a successful outdoor adventure in our own backyard. What's your favorite outdoor adventure with your prince or princess?

I have been playing with the idea of creating a blog for some time now. I dabbled in blogging in my pre-princess years, but this one will focus on my life with my two favorite princesses, Natalie and Ruthie. I plan on blogging our daily adventures, crafts, struggles, triumphs, and journey toward better versions of ourselves. After being inspired by a friend, Hannah, and her amazing posts, I decided to document the world of my princesses. This blog is mostly for me, to capture life so as to never forget, but I also would love to share it with you. Enjoy!