brand new day

I've had this on my heart for so long and haven't been able to put it into words.  This newfound feeling of peace and satisfaction with my life in all its simplicity.  It just seemed like this conglomeration of ideas loosely tied together with some common thread that I couldn't organize and articulate.  Part of the struggle was that the idea "finding the extraordinary in the ordinary" seemed so cliche and overused these days.  So I was explaining these ideas to Lauren, my 10 year old daughter, hoping that the act of speaking it aloud to someone else would help me put my thoughts together.  And she got it right away, she knew exactly what I was trying to say.  She took my computer and wrote the Post title you see there and said, "That's what you should call it."  And she was so right.  Cliche or not, it is my truth these days. I am content.  I live an unbelievably ordinary life, and I am content.  Happy.  My bucket is full.  I...

I am an amazing Mom.  Not pretty amazing, more along the lines of fantastically amazing.  My house is a mess.  There is dog hair everywhere and toys in - Every. Single. Room.  Laundry is done on a strictly need-to-do basis only.  Four kids later, I'm rockin' the "Mom Bod" hard core.  I co-sleep with my 4 year old, and have no plans of stopping any time soon, just don't have the fight in me at the end of the day.  I won't drop her afternoon nap because I need one too.  When I come home from working a midnight shift, I put on cartoons and give the 4 year old my phone and let her go nuts for 2-3 hours while I sleep on the couch.  Because of my work/sleep schedule, I rarely volunteer in my kids' classrooms.  I don't buy them brand name clothes, I'm too cheap.  I haven't taken a family portrait since the baby was born (she's the 4 year old), so I only have three of my four kids immortalized in a professional photo.  My go-to meal is...