Questing to Raise a Greener Family: My Inner Harvest--AKA LIST MAKING!!!!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

My Inner Harvest--AKA LIST MAKING!!!!

OK, I'm almost done with the Celebrating Fall list. Exciting and sad at the same time. I DO love to cross things off of a list... So, 1-4 are done and 6-10 are done. That leaves #5 Make A List Of Your Inner Harvest and #11 Honor Your Ancestors. So today, I'm going to make a list of my inner harvest-a cheesy way to say list your achievements and experiences from the past year. The goal is to help you appreciate and restore gratitude for what you have and what you've done. This is hard for me. I don't focus on the positive well. If you asked for a list of how I needed to improve, I keep that in my back pocket. But a list of things I've done well--I don't really think about that too much. So I guess this is a good exercise for me. I'd like to come up with 10, but I think 5 is a little more realistic. SO, here's my list of 5 things I did well in the past year.

1. I made the correct choice and put Caden on ADHD medication. I struggled with this decision and felt guilty about it (and still do) but I think it was the right choice.

2. I blogged. Even though I took a bit of a break this summer, blogging is still one of the things that I'm proudest of (besides the kids, of course.) It's a challenge for me to carve out a moment (or 10) each day to blog, but it keeps me focused on living green and gives me a chance to reflect on my life. A moment to stop and smell the roses, if you will. (I will. AD reference for Evan).

3. I nursed Olivia for the first 12 months of her life. I don't think of this as an accomplishment, but it is. I take these things for granted, but I was able to exclusively nurse Olivia for that magic year. (She's actually still nursing, but those first 12 months are the most crucial in terms of boob milk and brain development and all that other good stuff.) She never took a bottle so for as long as she was nursing as a primary means of nourishment--9 months?--I was never apart from her from more than 3 or 4 hours at a time. That meant no dinner and a movie for Evan and I, no "girls night out" even running errands was a challenge. But it was important to me and I'm glad I did it. Yeah for me!

4. I didn't kill Jack--yet. Trust me, this is an accomplishment. 4 months later and we're still working on housebreaking. And the chewing. He's into EVERYTHING. It's like having Caden as a toddler again! But seriously, I'm glad we rescued Jack. I consider saving a homeless dog an accomplishment. It was also an accomplishment (well, more of an experience) to put Abby to sleep and deal with the grief of losing a pet that was part of our family for 12 years. That was a big deal for our family. (And Jack just went in the house while I was writing this...I can't promise that not killing Jack will be an accomplishment I will be able to list next year.)

5. I was a wife and a mother. This seems stupid. But it's an accomplishment. It's hard to be married sometimes (I hear. I'm married to Evan, he's perfect, but I hear marriage is hard for some people. He reads this blog sometimes. I have to say that!) I know a lot of people that that being a stay at home mom is easy and all we do is sit around an play with kids all day, but that's not it at all. It's a lot of work. I often think how much easier it would be to go to work. I envy Evan and his quite office sometimes. Like now when I have a crying child hanging from my leg and suspicious thumping is going on in the boys room. I'm grateful EVERY DAY that I'm able to be home with my kids--no matter how difficult the day has been. I'm grateful and thankful to Evan for being the one to to to work so I can stay here and not miss a moment of the madness. Every year that passes and I'm able to keep staying here at home, I'm thankful. I consider it not only an accomplishment that I'm able to be here to raise my kids, the way I want to raise them, but my finest accomplishment.