"We Bought A Zoo"

Pets! In my opinion, they really make a family feel complete. But then, I'm a lover of animals and I have a very difficult time saying no to a fuzzy face. So yes, we are a family with animals. If you follow me on instagram though, you already knew that!

Our first cat together, Keke... she was special...

Even before Josh and I had the kids, we always had animals. There was one point in our relationship (probably even before being engaged) where we had three cats and two dogs. It was a full house.
At that time, having pets was just a way to make our family feel whole. We were definitely "those" people that had as many pictures of our animals as parents have of their kids. Pets are just like people and having them in our life felt right for us.

Since having kids, keeping pets in the family is important to us.

They teach unconditional love.
Admit it, y'all... when you were a kid and you came home from school to see your dog and/or cat so excited to see you, it made your day. Right? Right! Zander gets that with Gambit now. Both kids are learning that even when the animals may not want

forcing their love on the cat but she secretly loves it!

They teach responsibility. 
At two years old Zander started having chores. One of them was to feed the pets. Now, Ainsley feeds the cat and Zander feeds the dog. Chores in general help them learn responsibility, but having to feed the animals and make sure they always have fresh clean water helps them learn to take care of live things.

Endless play!
Are your kids and pets getting antsy? No problem! Send them both in the backyard and boom! They wear themselves out with a quick game of tug-o-war. My kids absolutely love running around the backyard with Gambit. Taking him for a nice long walk around the neighborhood is a close second favorite activity though too. By the end of the day, dog and kids sleep very well.

Similar schedules. 
Potty training, eating, playing... Kids and pets have similar schedules. I think having animals before we had kids was a good idea cause it helped teach Josh and I the importance of sticking to schedules. Sure, going on vacations with pets in the house is tough, but we're lucky we have an amazing system down to where the animals hardly know we're gone!

Rambo didn't know she wasn't toilet trained as a kitten... 

But in all seriousness, who wouldn't want faces like this giving you the "I love you" look daily? Having pets in the family really makes our home feel complete. I wouldn't have it any other way and I couldn't even imagine it any other way.

we are family! 

This is the last week for the Mamas Tell All linkup. These past several weeks have been really amazing and I've absolutely loved getting to know other mamas in the blogging world! In case you've missed the other topics, you can follow along here. Also, do you want more Mamas Tell All? Let me know in the comments!

That Southern Mama//Everyday ThoughtsThe So-Called Homemaker//The Rambling Llama

Do you have pets in your family? What do you love about having pets? If you don't have pets, would you consider adding them to the family (with or without kids! Fur mommies are mommies too!!)

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Project Date Your Kids

Growing up. It's something kids look forward to, but something parents dread. As parents though, it's up to us to make sure kids have a good grounding and what to expect for when they do grow up. This includes learning how to date.

Mamas Tell All || Week 7 

That Southern Mama//Everyday ThoughtsThe So-Called Homemaker//The Rambling Llama

Our kids are still at ages where we don't need to be concerned about who they're dating yet. Thank goodness. But that doesn't change the fact that they are forever watching my husband and I and taking everything in. What you do as parents and how you act impact your kids at a very young age.

Josh and I hug and kiss each other in front of the kids. Not only because we love each other, but because we want the kids to know it is okay to show affection. I grew up in a home where affection really wasn't shown all that much. I want the kids to be okay with hugs and kisses.

We have yet to actually take either of the kids on a "date", but it's absolutely something we plan on doing. It's important for them to know acceptable dating behavior. I have several friends that have taken their older kids on dates. The dads will take the daughters out and the moms will take the sons. They all dress up and go on a genuine date.

Some ideas I had for taking Zander on a date included the typical dinner and a movie. We'd probably start with some Chick Fil A and go to a movie he'd enjoy.

This is still new to us though, so any tips or date ideas would be appreciated! Have you dated your kids? What do y'all do together?

link up with the other mamas and share!

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Next week is the final week for Mamas Tell All... talking about pets!
May 20: Last Year We Bought a Zoo (or Not) – a discussion on pets in the family - do you have any? why or why not?

Fight The Green Eyed Monster!

Y'all, I'm not gonna lie. This post has been difficult for me to start. This week's Mamas Tell All topic is all about fighting the green eyed monster of jealousy. Jealousy is difficult to talk about. It exists. It's real. And to be honest if you claim to never felt jealousy toward anyone or anything, well then you're a big fat liar. #SorryNotSorry.

Mamas Tell All: A Weekly Linkup

That Southern Mama//Everyday Thoughts//The So-Called Homemaker//The Rambling Llama

Mom jealousy is a real thing. It may not be presented in a form that's totally obvious, but it's there. I'm totally guilty of this.

After Zander was born, I was having lunch with another new mom. She was talking about her child sleeping several hours at a time at night. Zander was not. I immediately felt the twinge of jealousy: "Ugh. Why isn't my son sleeping like that? They're practically the same age!" Instead of just saying how awesome that was and moving on, I couldn't let it go. I had to one-up her child sleeping. (I'm definitely not proud of this, y'all). "Zander is very close to rolling over." I bragged. Deep down, I knew I said it just to make her feel jealous.

It's stupid, y'all.

I saw this on facebook yesterday, and I kind of thought it was perfect to go with this post today:

So why do we do it? Why do we feel the need to feel like we're less of a mom just because someone else's kid can hit a baseball and mine can't? What do we do to end the cycle?

I can tell you what I've been doing. Praise them! The urge to one-up the other mom will probably be there. I feel like that might just be human nature. Fight that urge and praise the other mom for whatever they shared. She got a fancy new job or a promotion? Congradulate her with the utmost sincerity! Be genuine. Don't just say it because it's the right thing to do. Trust me here. Think about the last time you were really happy for someone. When you got a chance to praise them and tell them how happy you were for them. That made you feel pretty amazing, didn't it? It's the same thing. SURE, you may want the new house, new car, whatever. But secretly wishing that was you.... the jealousy... it's not helping anyone.

I kind of feel like to "fight the green-eyed monster" is to really act like a lady. Empower other women. Lift them up. This will catch on, and I can almost promise that as soon as you start lifting up other women, they will in turn lift you up as well.

How do you fight jealousy?

Linkup with us and share!

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Next week on Mamas Tell All: May 13: Dating my Daughter/Son – spending special time on “dates” with our kids