A Rose, By Any Other Name...

Here is a picture I took yesterday of Lorelai with a rose Daddy got her for her first Valentine's Day...

He said he wanted her to know what she needs to expect in the future...how sweet he is! (I also got some roses of my own....)

If you want to be somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention!

Ah, no matter how many times I heard these words come from Whoopi's mouth, yelling at those thug teenagers in Sister Act 2, it never dawned on me until I had a child how true they are. Funny, I remember my father giving me the same advice upon graduating from high school. He told me that the best advice his dad had ever given him, or that he could ever give me, is just two words. "Pay Attention." How simple these words are and though I have thought of them often since he dropped these pearls of wisdom, I honestly never figured out what they truly meant until recently. I realized that though I feel that I have lived my life, I realized it was purely because I had let life happen to me upon its whim. Rarely have I ever made my life happen! I've just been floating on a cloud my whole life, in my own selfish sky, never truly paying attention to anyone but myself (and, on occasion, my poor husband.) I want to do things because I've put forth an effort to do them, not simply because the oppurtunity arose. I want to expend evergy improving my relationship with Christ and Shawn, and I want to make time to go to the gym! I want to Pay Attention to my life! I want to plan things and make them happen! I want to do nice things for other people because I love them, and because I know what it would mean to me if I were in their situation! And I want to believe that consistency is good for me and for Lorelai...even if just in small doses. I want a clean house (and I'm getting there and excited about it!) and I want my only joy to come from loving and serving others- and I want to surround myself with others who have the same goals. I want my daughter to see these good things in me and immitate them. I want to Pay Attention to everything besides me. I guess that's my New Mother's Resolution (get it? instead of New Years Resolution?)

Katie

p.s. Other mother's feel free to let me know what your biggest New Mom Epiphany was!

Today I Shined My Sink!

I don't know if any of you are like me....well, let me take that back. I KNOW some of you are like me. It seems like no matter how hard you try, you simply cannot keep your house clean. I have lived this way since the day I got married. It has been the source of many arguments between Shawn and I, and has caused me to feel stressed and cluttered. I've always been an "If you don't have time to do it all, then you shouldn't even start!" type of person. I have failed to establish those daily habits that keep my house a perpetual place of cleanliness and peace. Until today. Today, I cleaned my sink. My good friend Courtney introduced me to flylady.com, and I started today. I have high hopes for myself and my house. I love for my house to be clean and take great pride in it and loooove to have people over, but most of the time it is too messy! I don't want Lorelai to go through the same stresses that I have, and I want her to be prepared to take care of her own house when it is time. Sooooooo, here I go!

Thanks C!

Katie