YOU Are Beautiful + A Giveaway!

Do y'all remember last summer when the "Don't Try So Hard" linkup was around? No? Well, I loved it. It was fun. I loved seeing so many bloggers posting pictures of themselves without makeup. They were raw, they were in their own skin. They were BEAUTIFUL.

Lauren & Emelia's You are Beautiful linkup reminds me of the "don't try so hard"

Y'all, I'm a newly stay at home mom... In case you didn't already know. The job description doesn't call for me having to dress up or impress anyone. It's really such a relief though! I can literally stay in my PJ's all day if I want to. The kids could too.
I do, however get myself and the kids dressed daily. We do go outside to play and that usually requires real clothes. Especially since it's been so cold lately.

You know what though? Not making an effort doesn't make me feel less beautiful. I don't need makeup or fancy clothes to make me feel pretty. In fact, I prefer to feel that way.
My kids are always watching me. Always. (Let's face it, y'all... I don't even pee in private). TMI? Maybe. But it's the truth.

What does that have to do with anything though? Well, I feel like carrying myself in a way that says "I feel good no matter what" is an important lesson to my kids. Eventually they'll both be in the real world. I want them to know that you don't need to look a certain way to feel beautiful. True beauty comes from the inside.

So, yes... I AM beautiful. I'm beautiful because I say so. I'm beautiful because I have two amazing kids and a supportive husband. I'm beautiful because I have the best blogging tribe, EVER. I don't need fancy makeup, clothes, or hair products. I'm good knowing that I am full of love.
It's taken me many, many years to get to that point. If you had asked me 5 years ago, I most likely wouldn't have been so confident. Sad, yes. True, absolutely. But I'm past that. I grew up.

To you reading this post, you ARE beautiful. You don't need anything to make you look beautiful. You have a beautiful soul. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

And guess what else?
 I'm teaming up with these amazing ladies for
Kathy's Blogiversary giveaway!

Meagan - Kerri - Amanda H - Lora Ashley - Anne - Tabitha - Melissa
Cassie - Becca - Cherie - Emelia - Amanda W.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Paper Airplane

My Heart's a paper airplane.

Got a paper airplane for a heart. 

Don't need no big propeller. 

Just a breeze to get my start. 

Just a breeze to get me up there. 

Feeling good, and light, and free. 

But it's just a paper airplane. 

So, don't get rough with me. 

'Cause if you go and step on it, 

Then my heart don't fly so well. 

And if you go and step on it, 

Can I fix it? I can't tell. 

I'll try to mend it, fix it up, straighten it up... 

And then?

Wait for the next breeze of love

To send it high again. 

Copyright: Bex Photos

You know how everyone has that really old book of poetry that usually stays hidden in your sock drawer... never to see the light of day? Well, that's where this came from. 

my poetry book. complete with gel pens

Today I'm linking up with Anne for Wednesday Wishes. 

I'm not making a wish though. I'm granting one this week. My IRL bestie Amanda wished for me to share more poetry, that's exactly what I'm doing today.  I do also wish that y'all have a fabulous day and don't be scared to share that poetry that's been hiding!

The One With the Big Confession

I'm going to be honest today, y'all. I really wish I had something to contribute to the Tell me About your Town linkup with Amanda. With me being gone all last month though, I had zero chance to prepare anything remotely close to being high quality. Sure, I have great places to take y'all on "blates" (the topic this month), but I have zero really good pictures, and I didn't want to half-ass anything. Hey... at least I'm honest! You should go to Amanda (Or Cassie's) pages to check out the other blate ideas from other bloggers though!

I do, however... have a confession for y'all today... 

I don't like babysitting. Ok, maybe it wasn't THAT big of a confession. I also exaggerate in post titles. Oh well. Let's be clear though. I am NOT talking about my own children. That is NOT babysitting. When it's just me and my kids, that's me being a PARENT. When I have someone else's tiny humans in my house and it's my responsibility to make sure they're fed, have clean butts, and don't kill each other; That's babysitting. 

I don't like it. Even before I had kids I didn't like it. I thought things would change after Zander (maybe even after Ainsley). Nope... things did not change, y'all.
My top five reasons?

5. Ainsley's Naps. Or lack thereof. When I'm babysitting, she just doesn't nap. No matter what I do to clear out the bedroom and keep the other kids occupied. She just doesn't settle enough to stay down. Sure it's not the other kids' fault... but it really annoys me.

4. Food. If you're going to promise to bring me food for your kids, please do so. Because I really don't have enough drinkable yogurts or gummy snacks to feed the neighborhood. Especially when your 6 year old eats as much as my 31 year old husband. I can't afford to feed the entire neighborhood. #SorryNotSorry. I'm not even asking you to pay for my groceries. At least tell me if you're not going to bring the food so I can prepare better.

3. Messes. Y'all, if you've seen my house prior to me staying at home full time you might not believe that I hate messes. I really hate them though, and when I have four children terrorizing my house my house looks like crap. When my kids are home with me they know the routine of cleaning up before we move onto another activity. Which leads me into #2...

2. Discipline. If I agree to watch your children, please... please for the love of all things holy, don't send them to my house if they cannot follow directions or listen. Before y'all even say it... YES, I know people parent differently, but c'mon. If I give a simple command direction of "put your shoes by the door / don't leave your shoes in the middle of the floor" and your kid just gives me a blank "deer in headlights" stare like they have no clue what I just said... there's a problem there. Teach your kids to follow direction before they stay with me. Otherwise, there will be a problem and I'm not going to sugar coat "how great your kid is". Nope, when  you pick them up I'm going to tell you they don't listen and something needs to be done.

1. My sanity. I don't like feeling stressed. I don't like feeling like I don't have control. When I'm (literally) stuck in a house with snot monsters, I get a little crazy. There were a few of y'all that got text messages yesterday. Those were attempts of me trying to gain sanity back. Trying to remind myself that I'm the adult here. I mean, I know I'm the adult, but sometimes I feel like a small child forced into a corner in the fetal position. Too much? Maybe. Over exaggerating? A lot. But I stand by my statement.

In all seriousness, the only reason I ever agree to babysit is to have a favor in my back pocket. Josh and I live in a remote town. Availability of sitters we trust for our kids is limited, and should we want a date night or nice lunch just us one weekend, we need the ease of being able to have a sitter ready! Maybe it's sneaky, but I'm cheap and I don't want to use care.com or something similar.

Maybe I'm alone here. I definitely know I can't do this full time. Faith, I know you do this full time and props to you, girlfriend. This isn't for me. I won't be making income for watching kids.