Confidence is...

We've all had times in our lives when we were unhappy, uncomfortable or just too darn hard on ourselves. Sometimes the reasons are physical, sometimes emotional and sometimes they're about our surroundings. 

But with experience, time and age we gain insight and knowledge. We begin to see that we are in control of our physical and emotional self and that we CAN control our surroundings. 

At some point in my late 20's I realized I was unhappy with myself physically and I set out to change that. I joined Weight Watchers and after almost a year I lost 30 lbs. reaching my goal weight.  I was the thinnest I had ever been and felt super awesome about it. I finally felt sexy. Something I had never experienced!  There was plenty to be happy about with my hot bod, new condo and awesome job but I still felt ....... discontent.

Something in my life was still making me uncomfortable and unhappy. 

I had "friends" but still felt lonely. I had a friend who was a user, another who was a shit talker and pot stirrer, a few that were really just friends of friends and every single one of them was fake. 

Eventually, as things tend to do, it all came to a head, emails were sent to me by mistake, words were said and "friends" were lost. I felt like I was wronged and betrayed and was hurt for a long time.  But with experience, time and age..... I now see that it was a good thing that I got those toxic people out of my life. And I just don't care! I don't care what they think of me. I don't care that they aren't part of my life. I doubt they're even part of each other's lives anymore. 

I don't care that I only have a small handful of real, long-term friends. It's a good thing! I feel more full now with my life than I did with a bunch of fake people. 

I know who I am and all the wonderful things I have to offer. I know that I'm a great friend and most importantly I know I'm enough. That's what confidence is. Knowledge that I am enough just the way I am no matter what size I am or how many friends I have.

What brought this out of the ordinary post on you may be asking?  There's no talk about babies, potty training or Frozen!  Well, the answer is the fabulous Brittany Gibbons. You can check out her Ted talk, her Facebook and her blog where you'll find a bunch of other curvy, confident women. 

Be Confident Ladies. You're fantastic just the way you are. 

“I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is ending up with people who make you feel all alone.”
- Robin Williams as Lance Clayton in World’s Greatest Dad (2009)

Room on the Broom: A Review

Aaron's reenactment of Room on the Broom.

This month N Circle Entertainment was super awesome enough to send us the new movie by Julia Donaldson, the author of The Gruffalo!  Room on the Broom is based on another book by Ms. Donaldson and animated by the same creators that did The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child movies.  

I love the animation on these movies!  I think the animation is just perfect.  And the stories themselves are just so simple and sweet that they are great to watch at any age.  

The story is about a happy witch and her cat who are on a journey.  After a series of little mishaps the witch and cat begin to collect friends, much to the annoyance of the cat who wants the witch all to himself.

Through this collection of new friends the witch is being followed by a "fearsome" dragon who wants to eat the witch!  Eventually the new crew learns to work together to save the witch who rewards them with a new fancy-schmancy broom with room for everyone!

This adorable story teaches kids about acceptance, team work and friendship.  It's a wonderful movie and Aaron loved watching it over and over and over again.  (No really, it automatically restarts).  He said his favorite part was when they met the frog!  

If you're looking for a really cute short story for the kiddos, this is the one!  Two thumbs up from us for sure!  

If you're interested in getting Room on the Broom you can purchase a copy at NCircleEntertainment.com, Toys "R" Us and Target now!  SRP is only $9.99!  Get your copy now - you won't regret it!

 

World Traveler. Ok, maybe just interstate for now.

My Chubbs! He rode in a plane for the first time! (Don't you just love this picture?!)

SO, our trip started out flying to Sacramento on Alaska Airlines. It was an early flight and we got there just as the plane was boarding. The woman checking everyone in was so nice and so helpful. She moved us to an empty aisle! Aaron and I sat next to the window and Josh next to the aisle. Aaron was perfect on the flight! He only cranked once or twice and only just a little bit at that, but we were able to distract him immediately. And then with the white noise and the bottle, he fell asleep! It was awesome. I had a harder time since I caught a cold the day before we left so my stupid ears wouldn't clear and were blocked the whole trip! UGH!

The day after we arrived mom, dad and Eva threw a party to welcome Aaron to Sacramento and introduce him to the family and friends there. Unfortunately, I think the traveling hit him that day so he was kinda grumpy and most people didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with him.

The rest of the week Aaron spend with his grandparents (my parents) living the good life while Josh, Eva and I went to LA for the Dave concert at the Greek and to visit family. We all had a really good time.

By the end of the week though Eva, Aaron and dad had all caught my cold and so the plane trip back wasn't as pleasant as the plane trip there. Aaron was grumpy and considering this is his very first cold, I could understand why! Josh had to get up at one point and stand in the back and rock him to sleep. After that though, everything was alright. Poor little guy! Not to mention the woman who was checking people in at the Sac airport wasn't as helpful! She was just kind of like, "Oh nope. Sorry, no empty aisles." There was no searching or offer to move single people around so we could get an aisle to ourselves. I there were, in fact, empty seats on the plane. Lame. (You hear that Sacramento Alaska Airlines people!?!)

Overall though it went well and all my worrying went down the drain. It totally helped that my cousin Michelle let me borrow her car seat, high chair, rocking seat and playpen for Aaron so I didn't have to take anything except his stroller! You rock Michelle!

Aaron is now an official traveler! He even got wings on his way back!!!

Where to next?

First Shower

Today Aaron took his very first shower with me! I was kind of nervous, worried about holding his slippery little body standing in the shower but it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Of course keeping his bath chair in the shower with us helped considerably!

Aaron is doing much better with his gas and reflux, though it does still effect him some. I think he'll grow out of it by 6 months like everyone says.

He is definitely doing a lot more laughing and giggling, which is just wonderful. It's so heartwarming to hear him laugh. The first time I got him laughing by kissing his neck, he would laugh and then I would laugh because it was SO cute that he was laughing and then we'd do it all over again! I can tickle him sometimes and just get him in a giggle fit! It's adorable.

This past weekend my BFF Stephanie from Sacramento came to visit us and she was so sweet. She took him right up and shared all the baby responsibilities - of course she has 2 children of her own! She also bought him a Light & Sound Aquarium for his crib and she bought some bowls and spoons so she could help me try and feed him oatmeal for the first time. He's still young, and I'm not planning on supplementing the cereal for formula just yet but I do want him to get used to eating. So Steph made a small amount for him and at first he kind of just held it in his mouth and looked at us but as soon as he figured out it was food, he took right to it! So now every once in awhile I will feed him a bit of baby cereal before I give him is bottle.

He also recently got a swing from his Aunt Kathy and he does like the glider motion of it. Unfortunately the stupid thing stops on the glider motion even though the motor is on, so we're going to have to see if we can exchange it.

Other than that, he's growing and growing. I can't believe the difference 3 months makes! I'll keep my camera clicking for you all!