Free Range Family

As most of you know, I struggle with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, perfectionism and OCD. I was diagnosed with GAD as a child, with OCD as a new mother. I feel like I have also been a perfectionist most of my life, I have memories of being in middle school and obssessing over having the perfect handwriting. At twelve, I checked out several handwriting books and read them from cover to cover. From there, I developed my handwriting to what it is today. The funny thing about my handwriting is, I am always getting compliments about it now. People are always telling me about how nice it looks and I smile back at them, thinking quietly to myself, "If only they knew how long it took to get that way." Lots of people who know me don't know how controlled I am, how much control I have over myself. I am like one of those cars on ride with tracks, I am so set in my ways I don't think I could stop it if I wanted. A lot of it is from my Buddhist training, being mindful of everythi...

We had a pretty uneventful first weekend of January. It was so cold and snowy out that we couldn't do hardly anything. With temperature below zero, there was no way I was going to take the kids outside to play, even though I really wanted to pull them around on the sled with their new snow pants. Instead, we went to the mall play area for some fun. We may start going there more often if the winter is a below zero one this year lol! The kids had fun and we met up with Grandma Melanie, Aunt April and Uncle Kalvin. We walked all over the mall with them while they spent their gift cards from Christmas. Saw Aunt Ariel and her friends, plus one of Alan's friends from school! Uncle Kalvin even bought the kids a stuffed animal from Build-A-Bear! He bought Alan an Angry Bird that yells when it hits something lol and bought Anna a Valentine's heart puppy. So sweet, thanks Uncle Kalvin! We spent some time with Lon too, watched Despicable Me 2 for the first time (just as cute as the fi...

I apologize about not posting yesterday like I had originally planned to, I was so looking forward to sharing with everyone our wonderful Family Sunday at the pumpkin patch. But something quite traumatic happened Monday night and though I still am not fully sure if I am ready to share this, I need to for my daughter and my family. It happened how it happened and though I am not happy with the way it all went, there is nothing more I can do about what happened that night. I have made peace with that night and all of its scary events, and I hope that you can too. Please no hurtful comments, they will be removed immediately! Please realize that we are all still recovering from this, I will not tolerate hate towards anyone, including the dog.  It was no one's fault, just an unfortunate event for everyone involved, especially sweet Miss Anna. Disclaimer: This post is quite graphic and traumatic. I do not want to leave any details out, everyone should know exactly what happened. If yo...

I have had a busy weekend and an even busier week with birthday parties, family coming into town and a funeral. Before I begin this post, I think I am finally ready to share with you who in my family we lost this past week. It was one of my grandfathers. He had been fighting illness for years and years. He is no longer in pain or hurting anymore. For this I am very glad but as for the rest of us in the family, the "survivors"... Man, I give major kudos to anyone who has ever planned a funeral (or even helped plan one) for your deceased loved one. Its a lot of work, and still being raw with emotion from the passing, can be difficult at times. I have honestly been doing good. But I have my sad points, like when I had to tell my sisters or Alan. Or when I had to make a display with all of his pictures from my childhood. Or at the funeral when all the guests were giving my family their condolences. Thinking about him back then when we were young v.s. now, hurts me a lot still. N...

Most new mothers experience the same things their children's first months of life: no sleep, breastfeeding issues, figuring out diaper brands... Could you imagine being a new mom, finding out one day that you may not live to see your daughter's first steps? Meet Heather. She is a cancer survivor and a mother. Both of these life-changing events happened to her at the same time. This woman is seriously one of the strongest people I have met, to overcome cancer all while learning the new ropes of parenting a child? Wow, she really is a phenomenal woman! Check out her POV Post today and be sure to stop by her blog here. She truly is a wonderful woman and an amazing mom! Check out her story! "When I married Cameron, the love of my life, I wasn't quite ready to step into the role of mother yet, but after seven happy years together, we both decided that it was time to take that next step. We knew our lives were about to undergo a major change as we prepared to w...

With yesterday's bombing of the Boston Marathon, many people are left scared and asking why. I do not know all of the information on the incident myself, but I do know that this was an act of anger and hatred. Whoever did this was angry at something and felt that they could no longer keep it in. We do not need more anger and hatred in this world, there is enough waiting for you right outside that door. When people are scared or hurt, they turn to anger sometimes to cope. We cannot make this bombing into a scapegoat for something polictical, nor can we use this to fuel our own anger at the world. I have already seen both of these happening and it saddens me. Instead, I choose the route of support and love. Boston needs us now more than ever. Let's not give them anger at the bombing but support and hope towards overcoming this. With that being said, there is a movement going on today to show support to Boston and the marathon runners. You are supposed to wear a Boston Marathon ...