You can find out more about Layla Grace and her story by visiting her parents’ blog or her facebook page, Praying for Layla Grace.  Hear from Layla’s mother who was interviewed by Ryan Seacrest just this morning.  Layla Grace has touched so many in her short 2 years of life.  Layla Grace was diagnosted with Neuroblastoma about one year ago. Neuroblastoma is one of the most common types of cancer in babies and children.  Neuroblastoma is cancer of the nervous system.  Help spread awareness of this disease and of Layla Grace’s story.

Someone recently gave this poem to me and I wanted to share it with all of you moms … just in case you need a reminder of the importance of your role as “mother”.

The house is untidy from window to door,  

Marks on the walls and food on the floor.

The clothes are unwashed and the dishes are too.

There’s scum in the bathroom and fat on the stew.

There are toys in the passage and under our feet.

The garden’s a jungle when seen from the street.

So what have I done, then to earn my repose?

To just look around me you’d say no-one knows.

I’ve held a small hand as her first steps she took.

I’ve made animal noises as we read a book.

I’ve built a mud pieand admired a snail.

I’ve rescued the cat from a grip on her tail.

I’ve wiped away tears, and I’ve listened to tales.

I’ve used medication to get smiles from wails.

So I guess what I’ve done isn’t easy to see,

It won’t cleen the house and it won’t cook the tea.

But if I’ve helped make a child feel good,

Know that she’s loved and that she’s understood,

Then I know that my work, though not easy to see,

Is just as important as any could be! 

(aurthor unknown)

“Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs… since the payment is pure love.”  Mildred B. Vermont

Happy belated Mother’s Day!!!  Okay, I’m new to this blog thing…just pretend this was three days ago.  Today is your day!  Maybe you received a macaroni craft from your kids or maybe your husband somehow managed to scrape together breakfast in bed (haha).  However you celebrated I hope it was great! 

Just remember how important you are and that everyday is worth it when you’re a mom!

“You go as far as you can see and when you get there you will always be able to see further.”  Zig Ziglar

One thing that I am just beginning to learn and implement in my life is goal setting.  Goals don’t have to be on a large scale and they don’t need to please anyone else.  It is so important to set daily goals and even write them down if you need to (I find this very helpful).  Sometimes my goal for the day is to shower and if I accomplish that tomorrow I can add putting on make-up to my list! 

Of course there is a thousand things we would like to do during the day but it just isn’t realistic.  Sometimes it is helpful to think on a smaller scale and take things one baby step at a time.  After all, it is baby steps that create the outcome of our lifetime goals.

Here are some great goal setting tips from Mind Tools…

 

• State each goal as a positive statement: Express your goals positively - ‘Execute this technique well’ is a much better goal than ‘Don’t make this stupid mistake.’

• Be precise: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you will know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.

• Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.

• Write goals down: This crystallizes them and gives them more force.

• Keep operational goals small: Keep the low-level goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward. Derive today’s goals from larger ones.

• Set performance goals, not outcome goals: You should take care to set goals over which you have as much control as possible. There is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your control. In business, these could be bad business environments or unexpected effects of government policy. In sport, for example, these reasons could include poor judging, bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them.

• Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can achieve. All sorts of people (employers, parents, media, society) can set unrealistic goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively you may set goals that are too high, because you may not appreciate either the obstacles in the way or understand quite how much skill you need to develop to achieve a particular level of performance.

“How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.”  Annie Dillard

When your son or daughter is all grown up and looks back on life what will be remembered?  Will he think of how clean you kept the kitchen floor or how your hair was never out of place?  Probably not.  But, he will remember something as silly as pretending to be ducks with you.

As a mom, you have so many hats to wear (and no, I don’t mean the designer Ed Hardy hat in your closet).  Whether you are a working mom or a stay at home mom (who is also a working mom of a different type) the responsibilities are endless!  We would all love if we could do nothing but play with our kids all day long but that’s not reality. 

So, what is a hip mom to do?  It all comes down to balance.  Find a routine that works for you and stick to it.  Make time for special activities to do with your children on a daily (as simple as reading together) to weekly trips to the park.  Before you know it they will be in college and at least you will know you were a mom on a mission and you succeeded!