Morning sickness and I'm not even pregnant!

I was lucky enough not to have morning sickness with my son when I was pregnant. But no one ever told me that I would experience it later...much later....five years later to be exact.  I am sure that all moms will relate once I explain why I have (morning) sickness now!  Being a first time mom to a five year old has it's challenges.  This is the age they experience a life time of firsts.  They being school, start playing in sports, lose their teeth, learn an abundance of new rules, encounter bullies, get into trouble by someone other than a parent, etc. It's an over whelming experience for a small child! However. It's just as overwhelming to a first time parent.  You have to send your child away every morning into a school much larger than daycare with older children that know too much. I thought to myself the very first day...it's going to be wonderful to see how much knowledge he will gain. I didn't realize that he would come home and tell me that the kids on the bus hit him and call him a little bitch.  Yikes! How do I handle that?  Or that he would have notes sent home because the pooped his pants (especially since he's been potty trained since 18 mths.) every day this week.  I didn't stop to think that he may not respond well to someone's rules other than my own especially if they seem futile in my eyes.  Then starting to play a sport for the first time proved to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated. I thought it would be good for him to mingle with other kids and learn discipline and how to work well with his team members.  Instead he is silently being ridiculed because his father isn't in his life to teach him "the game". Five and six year old's join a team so young to learn the rules of a sport and work their way up from there not to play to win.  Yet, I've experienced parents who push for their child to win instead of allowing other children to learn.  The coaches (thankfully) are trying their best to make it all fair.  During one of the latest games my son had a chance to shoot the ball but saw the other team trying to stop him so he ran to the other side to make the shot.  Some of the kids on his team criticized him for it and later refused to pass the ball to him.  Another thing I am not certain how to handle.  All these things added up = morning sickness (emotionally induced but none the less nauseating). Stay tuned for more single momma learning experiences.....

A New Chapter in Life.

It's January and that means BASKETBALL. What does that mean to me? Well, I love sports but I'm not a big spectator if I am in control of the remote.  Buuuutttttttt...Parker is at the age where he can play in sports now. Biddy Basketball is in session and my baby boy is learning the rules of the game. It is so surreal to bring him to practice. It seems like yesterday I was his age attending my first t-ball practice. It is a whole new experience for me to be in a different role. As a single, first time mom it was a very strange feeling walking into practice with Parker without the slightest clue what to do.  I was extremely nervous and had only my memories from my youth to go off of. I can hardly describe the feeling of switching the roles. However, just as with everything else in our lives, the two of us move forward. Every new experience is a great adventure. Fail or succeed the journey is always worth it. There is always a lesson on values in every season of our lives. The challenge for me is to make sure this adventure will be profoundly educational on every level. I hope that he will get every ounce of knowledge out of it. We are very excited to start this new adventure! Let the learning begin.

Farewell 2012...Hello 2013

Last year was a tough year. More tough times then revelations. Throw in a few melt downs, money troubles, and the worst job imaginable.  But as I always do, I stuck to my guns and held on tight to my faith.  In this season of my life I entirely expect all the curves balls.  By the end of last year I learned something about myself that almost scared me.  I expect the curve balls so much that it is my new way of thinking.  I had no idea how to handle the good things that had come into my life.  I was too busy waiting for the one bad thing to happen so I could feel the comfort in it's ruins.  Scary right?  It became the common belief that when something good happens something is right around the corner to come in and mess it up.  No more! I hate that this is how I've become.  Perhaps the lesson here is that we are much harder on ourselves than we need to be.  God graces us with good things and instead of accepting them we deny the gift instead of enjoying it. Maybe, we bring on the bad ourselves because we fail to appreciate the great things in life. 
This year I resolve to not take the good things for granted just because I am afraid they won't last.  I was going to add the list of resolutions like I always do (and believe me when I say I do have them) but I feel this was the most important resolution of all.  Let's all resolve to appreciate more and fear less.