Some of you may have noticed that I disappeared awhile ago. For those familiar with our day to day life we've had some challenges and things going on with our children that I wasn't sure I wanted to the world to see (not for my sake, but for my kids anonymity when they are older). I've struggled with the ethics about writing some things publicly that they might want to be private when they are teens +. Unfortunately, when I write on my blog, I write about my daily life and these issues ARE my all consuming daily life right now. So I've been writing on a different blog for awhile and have gone back and forth about whether to go public or not. I finally have decided to go public (YAY) but keep our names private so that should be up and running in a few weeks (I'm moving my posts that I want to share over to my new blog - and taking out names, etc. and keeping out the extremely private posts). I almost decided to go private and not public but I hate private blogs and passwords because I never remember to read them (sorry to those of you who are private - I completely understand why). I will still have pics of my kids just no outright identifying info. With special needs kids (who all have VERY different diagnoses) I feel I have a lot to offer the public in terms of my experience with doctors, the school board, etc. and just being a mom. Plus I love blogging and have missed the interaction with everyone. So - look for that coming in the next few weeks unless another catastrophe hits that takes all my time :)

ANYWAY . . . I was just washing out a pitcher to make some Brazilian limeade for an after soccer/baseball treat for the kids and I remembered what Ella said to me the other day and it made me smile. I need to post it before I forget - because I will. We were running around like crazy to go somewhere (I can't remember) and I had just changed a diaper and was doing something with Ella - it was just normal day to day stuff. She looked around and looked up at me and said "How do you know how to be a mom? How do you do all this?" She had such appreciation and admiration in her eyes. It's making me cry remembering it because the house was trashed (as always), I hadn't cooked a meal in a week, and I've been feeling like the world's worst homemaker because I have been so busy lately. But she didn't notice all of that, what she noticed was my love and attention that I give to them (we had just finished making bouncy balls and had a mini science/reading lessson). It is rare that my children notice or appreciate just the day to day work that goes into running a household - which is completely normal, but that small moment with her sure was nice.

I have changed my philosophy on parenting and living in the last 6 months (actually since I coached Odyssey of the Mind). I used to focus on having the perfect house, etc and constantly found myself saying "after I clean this, or after I do that." Everything was LATER. Everything was always waiting for perfection. Now we are focusing on TODAY and not on tomorrow because life will never be perfect. Except I have found something out along the way, this life is perfect.