Advice I Need To Take Myself

Stop worrying! Plain and simple.

I had an 'Aha!' moment the other day, when I found myself worrying over the silliest little thing. I mean honestly, if I told you what it was, you would probably laugh, but SERIOUSLY, it had me all worked up. That's when it hit me. Why am I spending so much of my time worrying about this issue, when I know my heart was right? I thought about the situation for awhile, and realized that there was no reason for me to worry. At all!!!

This happens to me a lot and maybe it does for you too. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to be done with this worrying stuff. Too many times we worry about the smallest things and let me tell you, it's definitely not adding years to our lives. All that worrying does is ruin your mood, stress you out, and bring those around you down as well, and I'm tired of it!!

Whatever your situation, whether it's something you said or did or didn't do, as long as you know it was meant for good and not bad, then the outcome is in God's hands and nothing else matters. That's it. Move on! We need to stop apologizing for fear of being misunderstood.

The pastor at my old church used to say, "Do right and give the consequences to God." Amen to that! At least if I can't take my own advice, I will take his!

Many Blessings,

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month

May has been crazy for us. We sold our house, woo hoo! We moved in with my in-laws. We had a destination wedding in Mexico, which was amazing, and we just spent the entire Memorial Day weekend doing lots of fun things with our family! On top of that, May is always crazy for me at work, because I have lots of meetings, IEP's to write, and tons of other things to finish before the end of the school year. Needless to say, I haven't really had a lot of extra time for writing, but I know that there will be seasons like this, so I am just gonna roll with it and not get discouraged.

May is better hearing and speech month and I have been wanting to do a post all month, but I just couldn't decide what topic I wanted to discuss. I am currently an SLP in a middle school and I work with a few younger students at the elementary school one day a week. At my previous job, I worked with students in Kindergarten through 4th grade, so I have had experience with all ages pretty much. I really enjoy what I do and I try my best to educate myself on the most current research pertaining to all the areas in my field. I learn new stuff everyday and I enjoy passing on what I know to other teachers and parents.

The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) has chosen May as Better Hearing and Speech Month. It is a great way to raise awareness in this area and to help educate others about what we do. This year their theme was Early Intervention. I thought about writing on this topic, but I felt it on my heart to talk with you about something a little more personal.

Being a mother of an 18 month old, it can be hard at times to not let all that I know as a speech language pathologist impact my feelings towards my son and his speech and language development. I know what all the books say. I know what the research shows, and I know that it is important to look out for certain milestones.

But,.....

I also know that, nobody knows better than a mom. It is so easy to get caught up comparing your toddler to other toddlers. It is so easy to read an article on Google that gives you a list of things your child should be doing and then when they are not, you are left feeling so worried and upset. Why let all of that take away from what you are doing and determine how you feel as a mother?

Here is what I want to share with you and I hope you are ok with it. This is what I feel to be most important in your child's development and hopefully it will bring you some peace of mind.

I am sure that you have heard others say that every child is different and that each child learns things at a different pace. This is true, but then why do we still get so upset when our little one isn't following the norm??  I'll tell you why, because we love our children more than anything in this world and we want them to meet all those milestones so that we know they are doing ok. Am I right?

Well, let me just tell you, they ARE doing ok!!! In fact they are more than ok. You being their mama and loving and caring for them everyday is what makes them who they are. I am not saying to disregard the information that is out there. It is important, as a mother to know what to look for, regarding your child's development. However, as a mother, we were created with the instinct to know when something is not right and until that moment comes, don't let all that is out there, on the internet  and in the books, scare you. Don't let the fact that your friend's kid can talk in complete sentences and your lil one can't, make you upset and throw your whole world into a panic. There are so many different factors that play into a child's development. It is not fair to you or your child to compare them to other toddlers.

My son hasn't said more than three words yet, but I'm not worried about it at all! I know that he understands me just fine. He laughs at me and looks to me for confirmation and reassurance. He communicates what he wants and does not want. He just hasn't put what he is learning into words yet, and you know what? I love him all the same!

Here is what I hope you got from all of that.

No one person is exactly the same. We are all different. Therefore, all toddlers and children will not develop at the same pace nor will they learn new things the same way. You, as a mother, will know when it is time to seek some answers from your pediatrician or from an SLP. That's why they say mama knows best! Just keep loving on your lil' ones as much as you can and I'm sure that they will be more than ok.

For more information and if you do have some questions you can go to www.asha.org

Many Blessings,

Mother's Day Thinking Outside the Box

This is officially my 2nd Mother's Day and when I sit and think of how much has transpired since Grey was born, I am filled joy. I am so proud to be his mama. He makes me smile every single day, even when I am feeling my worst.

Being a new mom, I still have not yet experienced half of what my own mother went through when raising myself and my brother. I give her so much credit. I hope to be at least half as good as she was as a mom. I think of all that she had to do and how much she probably had to sacrifice just to make me happy. I can't put into words how much I appreciate all that she did for me and the life lessons she taught me.

As I was reminiscing about the good old days, I got to thinking about some things. What is something that I could give to my mother or other mothers, that they really need? I went through a list of things that I would like to receive. That's when it clicked. The things I was thinking of were all things I wanted but didn't really need. I started to think of things that my own mother would want back then, but more importantly, what she really needed. Here is what I came up with.

Love ~ What I am referring to here, is not love from your spouse, but love from a friend. Are you needing some girl time? Maybe you just need to sit and have a cup of coffee or some lunch with one of your good friends and speak what's been on your mind lately. You know that there is no better listener than a good friend. Oh, and you know that you can count on them to give you a good laugh too!

Time ~ Maybe this Mother's Day you are feeling overwhelmed with so much to do and not enough time to do it all. A babysitter is what you need. Sometimes as much as you would love to forget about all the things that need to be done and just go hang with your friends, a friend who will babysit for the day, so you can get all that stuff done, is what you really need.

Help ~ Finally, are you just tired and stressed (maybe a new mom who hasn't slept in forever) and you just don't feel like doing anything else. You need a friend who will come over and clean or bring you dinner and help get things together.

I know that these are not your typical gifts for Mother's Day, but they are all things that we really need from time to time, but will never ask for.

Because guess what, we are not Superwoman, as much as we like to think that we are. We are not! We all need girl time away from our kids and our hubby. We all need more time to finish our endless to-do lists or at least catch up. And, we all could use some extra help once in awhile, because even though we may have an extra hand around the house, they can't do it all either.

Please pardon my appearance, it was really late when I took this photo.

For this Mother's Day, I have created a card that I plan on giving to each one of my mama friends. On the card there are the three options that we talked about. They can then choose which one they want, when needed, and I will do my best to fulfill each one! You can do the same. Feel free to download the card for your mama friends and give them something that they really need this Mother's Day!

Many Blessings,

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day!