Day 2: Cleaning.

I am exhausted after hitting the gym hard this morning, then coming home and deep cleaning and reorganizing my house. I want to make sure Zak and I have as little to argue about as possible when he is home, so I'm eliminating as many environmental stressors as I can.

She is already doing a great job making the place a mess again, but she does it SO CUTE!



1. A Clean House.

I am so thankful for a clean house. I was lucky enough to be able to put my kids in hourly care for a few hours today so I could focus on cleaning. Although cleaning really sucked, I was thankful for the opportunity to be able to do it while blasting my music and not having to pick up small messes from Mila along the way.

2. Dinner Outside.

It was such a beautiful day, and Lily asked while I was making dinner, "Can we eat dinner outside?" It's amazing when such small things bring kids so much joy! Something as little as eating outside can make their entire day!

 

3. Star Wars and Snuggles. 

After dinner and cookies and cream ice-cream, we were all four EXHAUSTED and snuggled on the couch watching Star Wars until it was their bedtime. Few things beat laying down, and having your 3, beautiful babies fall half-asleep on you. 

This was short and sweet, and I am exhausted, so I'm gonna finish up this episode of Grey's, go to sleep, and do it all over again tomorrow. 

Day 1: United Airlines Memes

So, in true Rachelle fashion, I have to start this post with my latest mom-fail.

It was 4:15, and we needed to be to gymnastics at 4:30. I asked everyone to get their shoes on while I threw the diaper bag together and got everyone water and snacks. 

As we are all headed out the door, guess who doesn't have shoes on? My slow-ass little man was too captivated by Barbie's Life in the Dreamhouse to shove on his sneakers, so I turned the TV off, and told him the girls and I would meet him outside in the car. After wrestling Mila into her car seat, arguing with Lily about how she should bring crayons instead of markers to the gym, getting in my seat, turning my music on, and sitting for about 5 minutes, I realize Vincent still has not come out. 

I walk into the house to see if he needs help with his shoes, and he is no where to be found. 

I call him. No answer. I yell for him. No answer. I SCREAM AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS. Still nothing. Now I'm pissed. We are running late, this is ALL for HIS class, and he is going to try to play hide-and-seek right now? So like all wonderful mothers do, I scream, "IF YOU DO NOT ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW I AM GOING TO FIND YOU AND BEAT YOUR ASS!" Still. No. Answer. 

Now I'm worried. Because if he was in the house, he would have heard me. And if he would have heard me, he would have been running to me as fast as his little feet could carry him. 

I run back outside to see if he ran around the house, and there, sitting in his seat buckled up and ready to go, is Vincent. Somehow in the commotion of getting the girls in the car I didn't notice him slip into the car. I crack up laughing and tell Vincent how I was freaking out in the house because I thought he was hiding from me. He says, "Well, I wasn't hiding mom, I was just in the car. So I guess you don't have to beat my ass." 😂

So, anyways, now that you know what a deranged psycho I am, let me tell you what I'm grateful for today! 😂

Honestly, today was an amazing day. It's truly incredible what a difference changing your perspective on simple day to day life can make on how you feel about your life as a whole. As I went through my day, I took special care to mentally note the things that happened that gave me great joy, and although it is hard to narrow it down, here are the 3 things that I am so thankful for today. 

1. United Airline Memes 

Like, I'm sorry, but those things are fucking hilarious. I sat there for about 10 minutes in my kitchen while my kids had a frozen yogurt tube outside and I skimmed through dozens of absolutely comical and brilliant memes. I haven't laughed so hard in a LONG TIME! 

2. Having Coffee with A Friend

Like this even requires an explanation. There is always a handful of people you meet at each duty station that you KNOW you are going to be life long friends with, and this girl is definitely one of them. It's amazing having our kids just play and get along while her and I have a cup of coffee and just chat about life. 

3. Mila's Smile. 

Without fail, no matter what kind of mood I'm in, this girl always has a way of putting a smile on my face. Lily and Vincent spent most of the night bickering, but no matter what is going on, I can always count on Mila to have a  smile for me. 

Overall, I am really excited and encouraged in the changes that I feel after just one day of trying to find the silver lining to everything. I feel so much more positive, happy, and I am excited to see that rub off on my kids too who have spent a great deal of the last few months tuning into my negativity and self-doubt. Tonight when they went to bed, they both said they were grateful for cuddles with their mom, and for getting to play with their friends.

I really feel like this is the first day to a very beautiful change within our family. 

21 Days of Gratitude.

Sometimes life just sucks.

I mean... It REALLY sucks.

Some people can take all that suck, and make something kinda alright and less suckish out of it.

I've never really been that person.

If you glance through the first few days on my social media page (or if you are one of the few close family members or friends who I call to vent to often), you can't help noticing there is always some sort of drama in my life. By "drama" I mean almost driving off to Walmart without one of my kids, or leaving the car on overnight and having to flag down a poor dude on his way to work in his dress blues to give me jump start. And although my posts may seem light hearted and silly, ninety percent of the time I will let these events really get me flustered.

Today we had a reintegration brief, and a speaker came and spoke to us about being grateful. Ya know, "have an attitude of gratitude" and all that mumbo jumbo, well today she shared something from an essay written by Robert Emmons titled, "How Gratitude Can Help You Through Hard Times." In the essay Robert says, "It's easy to feel grateful when life is good, but when disaster strikes, gratitude is worth the effort."

If you stop for a moment and really think about it, this statement has SO MUCH to offer. Anyone can be joyful when things are going their way, and it's not until we go through hard times that we appreciate the simple things. For example, my car has started every single time I've turned it on for the last 2 years, but it wasn't until I got in the car after having it jump started that I truly appreciated the soft purring of the engine.

Along with the obvious meat that statement had to offer, there was one thing that I feel a lot of people overlook. The most weighted word in that statement is EFFORT. Gratitude takes EFFORT. Being a positive person takes EFFORT. Like I said, ninety percent of the time my immediate response to these unfortunate events is to get frustrated and find the nearest liquor store, but I have to make a constant, INTENTIONAL EFFORT to be grateful instead for the sucky parts of life.

Now, lets be real here. Was I FEELING thankful that my car died and I had to get a jump start with 3 kids buckled in and it was starting to rain? HELL NO! BUT, I did learn that I have wonderful friends, and wonderful neighbors who are willing to go out of their way to help me when I need it and I was so thankful for that! What a great perspective to give this irritating event! Instead of drinking my sorrows of the day away in red wine, I am going to bed tonight with my heart full. All this has really made me wonder, what other annoying, frustrating, or even flat out traumatic things have I let drag me down and overcast my life that I can CHOOSE instead to look at through gracious eyes?

I have let the twists and turns of life get me down too long. I have let my imperfect parenting, wifey-ing, and fitness-ing create an overcast of disappointment over my life of too long, and I'm ready to make a change! I am going to start a challenge for myself and this blog every single night for 21 nights, to share a list of 3 things that I am thankful for that happened during that day, and why I am thankful for them. Sometimes, (like today) I am going to have to really scrape for things to be happy about, but I am hoping this will help me get into a more positive frame of mind for when my husband gets home and we go through this difficult stage of reintegration. (A topic for another blog post.)

Life is full of suck and it always will be, but I am done venting about my misfortunes to friends, family, and on social media. Now it's time I gain a new perspective on it. A more gracious perspective.

I will also be doing this exercise with my children before bed each night to help them have a more positive outlook on their misfortunes. If there is enough interest, I will gladly start up a Facebook group for those wanting to participate in the challenge.