"Breaking New Ground"

I couldn't be more thrilled to have Shandell from "Breaking New Ground" over for a visit; I love her blog & find her words & posts very inspiring.........not to mention her son Malakai is A-DORABLE!!!  I know that you will enjoy this post as much as I did when she sent it to me.......like I said she is VERY inspiring!

I can't believe it's been a month since the lovely Mitzi asked me to be a guest blogger here at The Goodson Family Journey. I had hoped to tap something out the following weekend, but we just moved into our new house and I was way busier than I ever anticipated. We are still in the midst of cleaning, unpacking, repairing and organizing but I was able to find a few quiet moments this past weekend to finally pick a topic and get my thoughts down.

{Ben, Shandell, + Malakai}

Recently we were spending some time with my in laws. There were about ten of us gathered in the living room after dinner. My son Malakai was scooting around playing with some new toys and his third cousin, 2-year-old Caleb was listening to a story. The room was all a chatter, but I happened to overhear one particular side conversation that picked up between Malakai's grandma Debbie and Caleb's grandma Dede. I'm fairly certain that were unaware of my listening in.

Their conversation was sparked by Debbie's recent scrap booking fetish. She has been taking all her old photo albums, putting the pictures in chronological order and embellishing them with stickers and captions. The books are super cute and it has been really nice to look through their old photos and pick out my husband Ben at a certain age and compare him to Malakai. They look SO much alike that it's almost like a glimpse into what my son will look like down the road.

As we were scanning through the photos of Ben, his siblings, and cousins when they were toddlers we kept coming back to how fast childhood goes by. It's the most true of any cliche I've ever heard.

Dede began to reflect on when her own children were toddlers and how amazed she is that she now has a 2 year old grandson. She lamented about what she wished she would have done differently and I began to listen more intently.

She said that she would have stopped to watch more. Just let the laundry and the dishes wait and watch her children as they grew. Chores would always be there, but their childhood will not.

I smiled to myself at how simple yet valuable her revelation was. A handful of parenting books could have told me this very same thing, but hearing it as a sincere wish from a seasoned parent instead of unsolicited advice really made me take it to heart.

Starting at that moment I began to watch Malakai more intently. I want to burn his childhood into my memory so I can reflect on each occasion with joy instead of regret. In my life this means putting down the computer whenever Malakai plays independently to just observe him more. It means not stressing about getting him down for a nap so I can clean, but enjoying this stage while he still lets me rock him to sleep, it means playing with him on the floor before he's running out the door.

I want to encourage and challenge all you young mom's out there to be sure and take in every moment of your little one's childhood before it's a distant memory.
Shan

I would like to ask anyone that would like to be a guest blogger for me to please contact me;

I really enjoy the insight that other women have on life, children, love, sex.......

just about anything really & would love to try & have a guest once a week if at all possible.

I Would Like to Introduce........

my first ever guest blogger; Jenn from Blonde Ambition!!! I was so honored when she accepted my invite to be a guest blogger; not only do I think she is beautiful & amazing but her twin boys are the cutest ever. So with out further a due.....here she is!!

I am honored to be guest-blogging for my friend, Mitzi!

Sweet Mitzi left the topic up to me which was pretty cool, but then I began to think about what I wanted to share. I decided to blog about something that has been on my mind a LOT lately...

It's rapidly approaching. It has been the reason for my many hours of internet-browsing. It's the source of cupcake-baking trial and errors and careful menu planning. What am I talking about? My boys' first birthday party (in JUNE!). Apparently, I am more neurotic than I ever thought possible to be planning their party so far in advance.

I never thought I would make such a big deal over invitations and hunting for party favors suitable for one-year-olds. What has parenthood driven me to?! I have to admit: before I had my boys, I swore up and down that I'd never make a big deal over their first birthday, simply because they won't remember it. But, as time went on, I quickly realized that I would miss having a big celebration. The boys deserve it and, if I’m being completely honest, so do we! After all, it's the parents who have spent the past year doing middle-of-the-night feedings, countless diaper changes and more laundry than I could have ever imagined (seriously, it's insane).

First up was picking a theme. People automatically think of the twin 'pea in a pod' theme, so naturally, I wanted to avoid that like the plague. I wanted the boys to have something a little different, so we are with Ocean ONEderland. Clever, no? This is about when my lack of control started spiraling out of control, much to my husband's dismay. Do you have any idea how many adorable fish-themed party stuff is out there? After buying $85 worth of party favors, I decided that I need to calm down a bit. This was literally just for some party favors for our little guests. That's a bit crazy!

Invitations were next and thankfully, there are loads of Etsy sellers who are far more crafty than I at designing an invitation. It's just one less thing that I need to worry about. Speaking of invitations, I haven't mentioned the guest list. Just counting immediate family & close friends, there's 60 people. I live in a row home in Philadelphia -- it isn't like I live on a huge estate with acres of land suitable for party tents & ample space for the children to run free. Space is tight in the city!

Honestly, I could go on and on about this. I don't know when I turned into this wannabe party-planner on speed, but I'm in full swing, ladies & gentlemen. I know that I’m not the only one out there in blog-land who has gone to great lengths to make their child's first birthday celebration one to remember (for you, obviously!), so I'd love to hear what you did to make it special for your little one(s). If you kept it low-key, I would love to hear about that too!