Mud Pies & Minivans: Preparing 4 Storms

Since we have been back from Disneyland, the girls are simply obsessed with all things Disney! My oldest insists she wants to be just like Rapunzel & Ariel (when she has legs) & try walking everywhere barefoot just like they do. I try to remind her that Rapunzel & Ariel are probably from the east coast & trying a stunt like that over in our hotter than hot state is a borderline suicide mission! So, we have contained the desire to walk around barefoot to the house for now. The girls have also become fascinated with taping paper seashells to their chests & putting both of their little legs in 1 leg of my sweats to create a "fin". I can't help but bust out laughing every time I see 1 of them flopping around on the tile like a fish out of water. Very interested to see what Disney-FUN the kiddos come up with next!

Refrained from posting the pictures
with the taped on shells...lol

Tonight, I thought I would talk about preparing for storms. You don't always know when they are coming, but if you have taken the time in advance to make sure you have all the supplies necessary to push through in case of an emergency then there is a lot of security in that & a safety net to make sure you can survive until the storm is over & help arrives.

I was born in a state where tornadoes were the norm. Doing tornado drills, having flashlights always on hand, making sure there was extra food & water around, & all the other stuff that goes into storm prep was completely normal to me & my family. We didn't always have to use these things, but just knowing we were prepared was a comfort.

I feel like in parenting we should not sit there expecting "storms" to attack us, but we should take the steps to be prepared in case something ever does arise. We can't take it lightly. Every day that we are need to be investing & making sure we are consistent with our kids, have formed some type routines they can count on, provided our kids with levels of security (in their place in the family, their faith, etc), are doing the maintenance when a kid may need a lil' bit extra love or attention, & so forth so that when a lil' storm does arise the family is not completely shaken & falling apart. A lil' adjusting may be necessary, but if we have done our homework daily then in the challenge the family will hopefully rise up together & become even stronger.

I remember when I was pregnant with Adley & we were just heading home from a normal day at Gymboree & we got rear-ended. I had no idea how much that accident was going to greatly altar the next 4-5 months our lives. My placenta got torn by my seat belt & if it tore any further I could lose it & the baby. From that day forward, I was put on complete bed rest with 3 kiddos under 5 years old.

I am not going to stand here & say it was easy by any means, but I do believe that because my husband & I had invested so much before it happened in helping our kids develop as individuals & a family unit, establishing the boundaries for our family, sticking pretty close with a daily routine, both of us being consistent & on the same stage with our follow-through when rules were broken, & so forth that aside from a lil' adjusting our family was not completely shaken. We became closer & stronger.

We've had many new babies enter our family in these past 5 years, endured many unexpected hospital stays & stints of bed rest because of early labor, endured 3 surgeries & recoveries, & countless other family changes that I believe were made smoother because we did our homework when things were "easy" or "normal".

Life is always going to try to throw you curve balls, but if we establish a good foundation now, then we will not be broken but rather come out even closer & stronger!!!

-M&M Momma