Mud Pies & Minivans: The Need 2 Know VS. Just Flow!

Let me start this off by doing a quick mommy happy dance...(good thing you can't actually see me doing it)....Zye has officially transitioned into his big boy bed! It really wasn't too rough for the little guy. Once he gets into his bed, surrounds himself with cars/monster trucks/superheroes/Buzz and most importantly Woody, & is read a good book (usually "La-la" which translates into "Elmo") He is good for the night. Now the true test for me begins, transitioning my last baby from our room (his bassinet) into a crib & the room with his brother. I think this one...I know this one is going to be a lil' harder on Momma than baby. But I think I will put that one on pause for at least one more week.

So, now that the house is absolutely silent, I will try to put out a quick post about a topic I have recently been experiencing & dealing with in my own personal life. Now, every kid is different. If you have more than 1, I am sure you can attest to this, especially if you have more than one of the same sex. I have 4 girls & 2 boys & they could not all possibly be anymore different. 6 different flavors, all so wonderful & amazing to experience on a daily basis. Well, today I am going to talk about "the planner". This child usually tends to be the oldest, but not always. You know the kid that likes to have order & know what exactly is going on & when. For me this is hands down my oldest daughter. I myself love lists & planner notebooks, but in addition to it being contributed to my perfectionist & obsessive nature I also contribute it to the fact that I have a ton to constantly remember & if I didn't write it down all would be lost! Well, recently I finally got a dry erase calendar for my kitchen to write out all the members of the families activities for the month. I could do it in my phone sure, but I like things all mapped out & in sight at 1 time. I noticed that my oldest had become extremely interested in this calendar. Every morning she would excitedly announce the events of the day & which events would be coming up soon. As the days went on, I really started to notice how much my oldest daughter really liked to know what was happening. I noticed that when we were in the van, she was the one who was asking "Where are we going?" & things of that nature. Not in a disrespectful way, just always wanting to be prepared & ready for things.

Now, onto the topic of this post--Finding the balance between needing a plan & being able to just flow. I never really sat down & thought about how important it is to find the balance between raising kids who are secure because there is consistency in their lives, but also not making them so rigid they can't just flow some times. Thus far I think I have done a pretty decent job of it. We definitely have a pretty straight forward daily schedule where the kids know what is expected of them & when, but we also aren't afraid to change things up sometimes & throw in a few curve balls & surprises either from time to time. My oldest does tend to lean more towards the "need to know what is going on" type of person, but while I believe in some circumstances this is an awesome way to be, I also want my children to be flexible enough that if things don't work out just exactly how we planned (aka; LIFE), that they learn to make the best out of it & not let it dictate if we have fun or not & so forth. You have to learn to find the silver lining sometimes & make lemonade out of lemons when need be.

I remember last year we didn't get to travel out to the snow as soon as we would have liked. Christmas had already passed & the time for major snow had already came & went. Well, we took a leap of faith & randomly decided we would go out of town & search for some snow anyway. When we finally arrived at our destination (where they claimed the snow was suppose to be), there was like next to nothing. In my heart I definitely felt disappointed & kind of wanted to let it ruin my day to be honest, but instead we decided to go around town & found all sorts of new adventures to get into. I remember 1 of my girls commenting that "Today was even better than if we would have gotten to play in the snow". That seriously warmed my heart & YES we did have an awesome time & made some unforgettable memories. AND on the way home we did find some snow to play in which was kind of the cherry on top of our day.

Another example was recently during a big storm. Our whole family had various plans & things we needed to get done until the power went out. This definitely was an opportunity to just flow & make the most out of things or get upset & frazzled (especially for my husband who was in the middle of an intense Cowboys football game). We all decided to just pile in the van (lack of ac and electricity to pump breast milk), run to the grocery store for some snacks, & then parked somewhere for an hour or 2 talking, eating, & watching "Mr. Rodger's" under an awning somewhere until the electricity came back on. Now the kids actually get excited when it storms, "maybe the electricity will go out again!?!" lol.

So, I think it is all about just finding that balance in life & teaching it to our kids. Yes, sometimes it is good to prepare them ahead of time for like a big trip you are going to be taking in the future (to reduce any fear or anxiety & also boost excitement), but it is also important to nurture opportunities to just go with flow & be a lil' adventurous!

-M&M Momma