My mother is one of the most creative people I know, and also probably the least selfish. She came to visit exactly on the day that Lilia was born (how serendipitous!) and stayed for a little over 5 days. In her time with us she cooked and cleaned (the kitchen floor with a toothbrush!), provided fresh flowers (something I love but couldn’t even manage even before the baby), ran errands, organized, and of course had good Grandma time with Lilia. Although the flowers have wilted and the kitchen floor is regrettably gathering more filth, one of the lasting things has been this small token she made for me with some great advice, “Keep Calm and Carry On”. Of course it has a Grandma Linda twist. I am not sure if this is something she’d have given any of her daughters or if it’s just that she knows her middle daughter better than her middle daughter thinks, but it has been a small little something that has helped me keep my head in times when I thought I might lose it! Mind you, I have a good baby and am well aware that it could be a totally different situation if she were colicky or cranky all the time. But even the best behaved baby can make you a little nutty at 3am when you’re sleep deprived and nothing seems to make them want to settle down. Besides remembering to” keep calm” in those kinds of situations, I am in the process of learning how to be at peace with all of the other stuff in life that doesn’t get done. My personality is such that I like things organized and I love to cross things off my to-do list. However, this is the time in life when I just can’t accomplish things that would normally just take me a couple of hours…mowing the lawn, weeding the gardens, cleaning the house all at once. I need to be reminded to “keep calm and carry on” regardless, knowing that I am doing the most important thing by being with Lilia and that these times will go by too fast!
I could learn a thing or two from this adorable creature:
Murphy is doing a great job of keeping calm and carrying on (: He’s just the best dog and we love him.
Here’s a calm baby to look at, too! She just breaks my heart wide open with all of the love I have for her…sigh <3
someone gave a small framed version of this saying to this middle child recently and i am trying to” look at it frequently and follow it faithfully”
Is she doing a fist pump? Awesome! Love to you Jenna! I’m sure you are an amazing mommy!
Another lovely post – brought tears to my eyes! What exactly is that your mom made? I can’t tell if it’s a print in a frame or something else. Murphy is adorable and so is Liila. So happy you’re so happy!
Yes, it is a print in a frame. It was funny because I was bemoaning all of the “crap” people give you when you have a baby and I have a very low tolerance for said crap and clutter…so then she felt bad giving it to me, thinking it was just more crap! On the contrary, it’s been quite the opposite :)
<3 your to do lists.
Is that not what I was supposed to get from this? :)