Advice for Moms, part 1: Housework

The next few blogs will be short with just a few pieces of encouragement for making life at home with littles...well, maybe a little "brighter."  I know it's hard to stay at home with your kids and I know it's hard having little kids but there are a few things I've learned along the way.  So first let's tackle housework.  Mopping.  Keeping your kitchen sink clean.  Washing dishes & unloading the dishwasher.  Oye vey.  

1.  Buy a candle you love and burn it when you clean.  My personal recommendation: Volcano from Anthropologie.  Ask your hubby to pick it up instead of flowers next time he's in the mood.

My favorite candle: Volcano

2.  Splurge Invest in cleaning products you enjoy.  Maybe it's just me but something that smells good and looks good will probably end up in my shopping cart at Target.  Lately I've been enjoying the Method products, like cleaning spray and hand soap.  Below is my current favorite.  You'll find that it's a few cents more than the boring stuff but well worth the motivation.

Orla Kiely for Method - cute!

3.  I swear I do enough laundry to employ a full-time maid.  I often have to re-wash a cycle (or at least put it through rinse again with fabric softener) because it sits in my washer a little too long.  Done with a little Downy Infusions (seen below in Citrus Spice) and my job gets a little more delightful.  It makes me happy just thinking about it.  

Now this isn't a blog about saving money or going green.  I'm not going to tell you to get over your boredom/frustration/exhaustion and just do your work.  I'm just going to tell you that there are a few practical things out there that can help us find a little joy in the mundane things we do around the house.  

Happy houseworking!  

The Story of Olivia, part 3: My Best Friend

I owe you a blog.  I told you months ago that I would follow up with the rest of our sweet Olivia's story.  I don't know if I've been avoiding this but there's something I have to tell you.  Something I *must* put in writing.

Grief was my best friend and my worst enemy in the days that followed Olivia's death.  But thankfulness saved my life.    

It had already been the anthem for my 2012.  It had dug deep into my pores for the kind of cleansing that bleach and fire can't provide.  It was becoming second nature and first instinct.  Utterly, genuine thankful - a bursting heart that saw everything as a gift.  Every trial and error, every gift and possession.  Health and home.  Marriage and children.  Thanksgiving gave birth to faith so my walk with Jesus was deeper than ever and I found myself oh-so-near to the heart of God.

And then my daughter died.

Because her umbilical cord strangled her to death.

Even in those shadows, there was a flame that stood there waiting for me.  It was there, in the grief and for the grief, and didn't lead me out of the shadows.  It stayed with me in the shadows because the grief was all I had left of our baby girl.  It was the oddest comfort because it was something.  And the grief was not dangerous because it was lit by the flame of a thankful heart.  An ancient and old heart that had weathered through small rain storms and was well-stocked and prepare for the storm of the century.

I'm so thankful Olivia was with us for nearly 22 weeks.  I'm so thankful we had seen her on June 6th and learned she was a girl.  I'm so thankful that I didn't miscarry in the first trimester when the placenta tore.  I'm so thankful she was my fourth baby and not my first.

I am thankful she died only knowing the warmth of my body and sound of my heart's rhythm.  I am thankful that, as time passes, I am moving closer to her, and not further away.  I am thankful that God, and not my enemy, wrote the days of her life and determined the day of her death.  

Simply put: thankfulness is a choice that must be practiced when it's easy so that the habit will overtake when it's hard.  Cultivating a lifestyle and mindset of grateful is like a shield in crisis.  It will protect the most damaged and violated heart from bitterness and anger.  It will light your darkness and carry your heart through the storm.  And you might even find that, one day, it will save your life.