Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

This year my "word" is focus. 

My goal is to keep life simple and centered on the things that matter most.

Becoming a mom is a sort of funny process. I am learning how to take shorter showers & how to do my hair faster...pretty much learning how to do everything faster. I am also learning how cook, clean, eat, shop, put on make-up, get dressed & sleep with one hand! It is quite the circus act! I am learning how to make the best out of the time I have during wake times with my baby by encouraging, playing, feeding, nurturing and loving him the best I can. I am even learning how to make the best out of nap times. {Now that Camden has a some what predictable nap schedule I have pretty much planning my days around his naps. I usually have a plan A & B. Plan A is for the short nap & if he naps longer than expected...plan B kicks in!} I'm constantly asking myself, "Is this the most important thing I can be doing with my time?"


Every night before I go to bed I visualize the day ahead of me. The next day usually goes unlike anything I planned but at least I have a rough outline of what I want to accomplish. This is where the focus part comes in. If I want to keep things simple and centered on what matters most I have to face the facts & be realistic in my planning, realistic in my expectations, be patient with my imperfections and the fact that I am not super woman but most of all to be willing to drop whatever I WANT to be doing for the things that I really NEED to be doing during the day. 


If Camden needs my full attention then I better give it to him because that is what I really should and need to be doing above LOTS else. I want to be a mother that knows. I want to be a mother that is present and aware, who loves what she does and makes sacrifices happily and willingly.

Yes, motherhood is wonderful and better than anything I could have ever imagined, but its a growing process for sure. There is no other experience in my life that quite compares & that is more URGENT.


TIME with our children is so precious.  


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I came across this short story today. I loved it & thought it went right along with my "mantra" for this year...Enjoy!


"A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced a bottle of root beer and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty spaces.

“Now,” the professor said, “I want you to imagine that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – family, children, health, friends – and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

“The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else – the small stuff.

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner.

“There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. 


Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

P.S. I have been trying to read a chapter of THIS book each day. Life changing.