Happy October

Well, it is fall and felt like it a few days, but it is already back up to the mid seventies here by the afternoon. Confusing on outfit planning for sure. Steph had her Fall Festival at school this past weekend and we took Amelia to play a few games and check out the scene.
We got to play on the playground after Aunt Steph got done setting up. Yahoo!


As you can tell, SOMEONE was an Aunt Steph head this day. The games were fun and I was really surprised Amelia played them. Her favorite was the fishing pond and the duck pond. Those pics are on my phone so I will try to upload them soon.

Today was MOPS and I was a nervous wreck since last time did not go so well. I told Amelia we were going to school and she said, "Mom, back?" I told her yes, I would come back for her and that I always would. She seemed satisfied until we stepped into her classroom and the bawling began. I left quickly and stood outside until I heard her stop. It took about five minutes. Her precious teacher held her for ten minutes and then she got down and played. I am glad we moved her up to the 2-3 year old room. I had a great time too and she didn't cry again for the entire two hours and thirty minutes. Big success for us. Here are a few bullet points of things that spoke to me today.

• God picked ME to be Amelia's mom. This means that each fit and each new situation and each fun time and each learning moment were created for ME to be the one to teach, lead, guide, and instruct her. He thought that I could do the job of being her mom better than anyone else. I will be remembering this and saying a prayer of thanks in each situation we are in--no matter how tough.
• No one has it all together. Or even close. We broke into small groups to share our fears and dreams and expectations of being mothers and as we became more comfortable sharing and started being honest, it became apparent that everyone struggles. Everyone wants to do things perfectly, but what it all amounts to is that each mom can only do what works for her and her family.
• I have been judgmental in the past (and maybe even the present) of some moms and the decisions that they make or the behavior that they exhibit. I feel very convicted to squash those feelings and realize that right in that moment, I have no idea what is going on at home and I have no idea why that mother is behaving the way she is. This definitely doesn't mean I will magically start agreeing with things that other mothers do, but I can stop judging.

Here is my cutie pie before "cool." She decided that she NEEDED desperately to wear her sticker from library time yesterday.