That ridiculous article from TIME Magazine. Riling up bloggers like Scary Mommy and vloggers like Jessica Gottleib.  Check out twitter hashtag #MomEnough – we moms are not going to let this topic divide us anymore. I support moms that love their children and sacrifice themselves to nurture and raise them.

I am sorry if I ever said anything that made a mom feel not good enough. We are our worst critics! And when we hear other moms voicing our worst fears – that we are not doing a good enough job – we crumble inside.

So STOP! Love yourself. You are good enough. And support every other mom around you.

I overcame a fear of mine – approaching strangers – and asked moms in the Chicago O’Hare Airport to share why they are mom enough. The video gives me chills and I hope it encourages you today!

Then and now!
3 years old and today – almost 5 years old!

I love my beauty!

I have a hunger,  a yearning. This propels me forward as I chase after my dreams. Knowing simplicity brings happiness is not enough to deter me from busyness and frantic pace. I want to accomplish so much. I want to taste, feel, live.

The internet is a beautiful place. I have made some priceless friendships and received exciting opportunities.  It is also the biggest distraction and dissatisfaction-creating machine.  You never know what you don’t have, until you see someone loving it.

It is way too easy to be totally connected online and at the same time disconnected with what is happening here. now. Independent of what others would think or how it would look through the lens of the iPhone.

I think I will start taking back my weekends. Making them mine. I used to refuse to blog on the weekends, but then I got busier. Then Josh worked more. Then weekend became my only time to blog.

What am I going to make time for?

Meeting needs. Investing in the future. Savoring the tidbits in daily life. Rushing and running are not necessary! This busy season will end when the month concludes. As June begins, I am going to  take every minute seriously and decide: what am I making time for today?

My passion will always burn – but instead of consuming my energy I will turn it into fuel to help me rapturously enjoy my children, my husband, my God, my life. 

I woke up groggily. Lucy sat up and the first thing she saw were her shoes. “Eh! Eh!” she grunted as she pointed her chubby finger towards the shoes and lifted her feet into the air.

Josh was talking casually about his trip into town.

“Da, Da!” Lucy exclaimed.

“You want to go to town with Daddy?” I asked.

She started to laugh and lifted her feet higher in the air, so I’d get the hint and put them on her feet.

Lizzie began to wake up too and plopped into the living room, in front of the computer. As Josh began to leave with Lucy, Lizzie asked, “Mommy, can I watch Busy Town again?”

“Sure,” I answer. “Then we Daddy gets back we can all eat breakfast.”

I relax on the couch, laptop open, ready to blog. The house is quiet as David slowly walks in.

And as he watches the cartoon, he pees on the floor.

Ugh. I forgot to have him pee first thing!

He feels embarrassed and lays on the couch with me. 

And I sit, in this quiet moment, and love my little life. Weekdays are chaotic with my job, babysitter, meals, cleaning, ballet, blogging and chickens.  In fact, Lizzie has to be at ballet in 3 hours. But right now I am just a mom of 3 tiny kids that are not too big yet. A baby, a preschooler and a little girl.

I close the laptop, clean up the pee, get dressed and start making the french toast before our day gets busier.

My friend Sara reminded me the other day that I never updated my blog with a picture of my mother’s ring.  The last post I wrote was when I gushed about how Josh spoiled me on my birthday.

Well, here is my mother’s ring! I wanted a picture with all the girls’ hands since it will probably pass down to one of them someday.

Engraved on inside with "MamaDweeb"

I have a new fashion/beauty contributor!  She just so happens to be my sister-in-law and super lovely. I hope she can do some really fun Fashion Friday posts for you here soon and she will definitely be keeping this blog full of stylin’ content.
Wanna know more? I’ll let her introduce herself!

Hi everyone!

Our Wedding Day

My name is Brandy. I’m 21, I’ll be 22 in just 2 weeks, from Pittsburg, KS. My favorite things to do are read (when I have the time), kayak, and I love to shop. I absolutely love to spend time with my family, although I don’t get to spend as much time with them as I would like since Matt and I live a couple hours away. I’m currently going to school at Pittsburg State University . I would love to work in a nursing home type of setting, but we’ll just have to wait and see where I end up! I married my wonderful husband Matt on August 21, 2010. It’s hard to believe that it’s getting close to 2 years since we said I Do.

Our first year of marriage was a crazy year, Matt is in the Army Reserves and was deployed to Iraq 2 days after we were married. (That’s right, I said 2! We tied the knot Saturday evening and he left Monday morning.) Right now I love Army life because of the experience it gave us. I don’t know very many couples that have been through a deployment that early in their marriage, but for us, it showed us that we have a really strong relationship.

Matt and I are planning on him switching from the Reserves to Active Duty once we finish with school, so I’m super excited to see what life has in store for us! I’ll pop in every once in a while to post about fashion and beauty, and maybe a post here and there about army life. I hope you all enjoy!

When two parents work equally as much – and make about the same amount of money – why is it the mom that always feels the most guilty about going on work trips?

I was invited on two brand-sponsored trips within a week of each other. This is a huge goal of mine that I am quite shocked is coming true! I have worked my tail off on this blog for the past 2.5 years and to see my dreams coming true is a hugely euphoric thing. But, I want to say “no” to one of them.  I don’t want to be away from my family more than once a month.

I feel like I have a responsibility to my kids, my husband and this home.  If I leave, who will take care of it all? Josh will! And he will do a wonderful job, I have full faith in him. In fact, when I asked him about both trips, he told me:

“Annie, I want you to to both of them. I know you will regret it if you turn one down. This is what you have worked so hard for! GO!”

But I cannot deny my emotions. There is a tugging at my heart to stay home.

I think it is because this house and these kids have been 100% my responsibility for the past 5 years. When they were babies, I was the only one that could care for them since I didn’t pump and I breastfed. I don’t know how to handle this new freedom, this ability to leave them overnight.

But still – isn’t 2 trips in a week a bit much? Sure, if it was Josh I wouldn’t bat an eye – I’ve got the home under control!  But you want to know a secret? I am kinda scared of what people will say about me.

Isn’t that lame? I should totally be over “what people think of me”-itis since I graduated high school.  But there are people that do think that moms are supposed to stay home with their kids all the time. Going on a trip once in awhile is ok, but always jetting off somewhere else and leaving them with others? Why that is downright unmotherly.

At the end of the day, it is my home, my family.  I put the issues on the table and my husband tells me his thoughts and I consider them heavily. He thinks I should go and I really want to go. So why not?

*sigh*

As a child, I never really had a best friend. It wasn’t until I was about 8 years old that I finally had a friend I saw regularly enough to call my best friend, but then I moved – again.  I had a lot of trouble adjusting socially to public school for the first time when I was in 6th grade and so I didn’t really have any friends at all. I admit – it really was all my fault – I was really awkward and strange. And I wasn’t in any activities either, so how was I supposed to meet other kids?

High school I was the book nerd – always reading the thickest books I could find. I had one friend, but she enjoyed having a social life and so I didn’t see her much.  The few times my mom did let me go hang out with her, I had to call on my friend’s cell phone (my family did not have cell phones) and check in at every stop we made and had to be home by 11pm on the dot or I wasn’t allowed to go out again for a month. It was easier to just stay home and study. To this day I have no idea why I was never called or invited to go hang out with people. And I was far too scared of rejection to invite myself. Everyone was very nice to me, the phone just never rang.

Then I got to college. My freshman year in the dorms I met this really nice girl a floor below me. Her name was Dolly and she was awesome! We had so much in common.  We were both at a Christian college and both from the same denomination of church only 1 hour away from each other. (Considering how everyone else at this school was from non-denominational churches, this was pretty cool).  We both loved children’s ministry and the same music.

And she invited me to hang out with her! We hung out a LOT! And I finally hung out with someone enough to build up trust. We shared our hearts with each other – our struggles and joys.  She held my hands through my first two boyfriends ever. (Yes, I never dated before either!)  I hugged her when her ex-boyfriend was hit by a car and didn’t make it.  We danced to the Coyote Ugly soundtrack and she showed me The Breakfast Club for the first time. (Dude, I needed college to happen in high school).

When I met Josh, she started to date my ex-boyfriend.  Which you know what? Was so totally ok with me! He is such a wonderful guy, I just didn’t have feelings for him.  I knew deep down that the path he was going in life was not where I wanted to go.  They ended up falling in love and marrying and I was the videographer at her wedding.  Then, Dolly was my brides maid and her hubby was an usher for my wedding.

To this day we still keep in touch. She’s still my best friend, even though we don’t talk nearly as much as I wish we did! (Families and jobs and distance do that).

I really believe that best friends are a gift. And I am so fortunate to have made a best friend in my life – she was worth the wait!

Do you have a best friend? Are you one of the lucky ones that is still best friends with your childhood friend?

This post was sponsored by the beautiful and fun shoe-decorating product Blingerz! Right now you can get a 50% off coupon on their Facebook fan page. Blingerz knows the value of friendship, I was so excited to write about my best friends for them!

Also, Blingerz runs a weekly contest to celebrate Best Friends. All you do is fill out the form on the website and you are entered to win a Blingerz Best Friends prize package for your daughter and her best friend.