So much to be grateful for

There's so much stuff in my life to be grateful for....Last week we went to Cancun to spend a week with my family. I hadn't been to Cancun for years, after going pretty much every summer with my family, and as usual it did not disappoint, it's just such a beautiful place with their turquoise water and fine white sand. I will write a full post about it once I get all the pictures - including those from my camera that someone dropped in the pool, I know...not cool. But here's a taste:

After months of writing. and prepping my articles have been published in this amazing site: www.familias.com! It's the Spanish versin of familyshare.com by Deseret Connect. As a therapist I often struggle to find good resources for my Latino clients, so as soon as I heard about this project I knew I wanted to be a part of it. The website is fabulous! And we have a HUGE amount of people coming to read the articles everyday, all over the world! It is an honor and a privilege to write for them and be a part of this community. If you have some time go check it out (also if you speak Spanish hehe) I guarantee you will find something useful.

Another project started around the same time with wonderful Wendy and her website www.bedheadmom.com. She has started a project called "40 faces" in which she has photographed women of all ages with no make up, and will ask you to look at the pictures and simply think what you see, connect with your emotions, and see real, raw beauty for what it is. Again, as soon as I knew about it I wanted to be a part of it! First, because as a woman I'm well acquainted with the insecurities and the standards we feel we need to acquire to be beautiful. Second, I have plenty of clients right now that struggle with that same thing, and I wanted to be part of a project that will hopefully help women be at peace with their natural beauty and see themselves differently. As of today, we're at face number ten! It has been wonderful to see the faces each day. I'm not going to lie I'm a bit nervous for the time my own pics come up, but that will be a post for another time as it was such a learning experience to me, healing in so many ways. So, I would encourage you to visit the project and make comments to initiate some much needed discussion!

I have so much to be grateful for! I love the fact that I live in a community where I can be involved in so many different things, in which I have the opportunity to share my thoughts, and the things I have to offer. It helps me be a better wife and mother as I continue to develop as a woman. Alex is 19 months and growing wonderfully! He's such a joy of a boy, and complements my heart in every which way. My other boy turned 30 about 2 weeks ago, and it's just an amazing thing to think that I met him when he was 24, he also complements my heart and always encourages me to do things that make me feel fulfilled. I have so many things to be grateful for, and I wanted to write them down so that I never allow myself to forget them.

Learning: Takes time

Alex finished his swimming lessons a bit over a week ago. For two whole weeks we went to Provo rec center with the pretty new, albeit sort of cold, pool for half an hour of splashing, bubbles, and of course crying. Let me start by saying that a few days before his lesson I was looking through some of the videos I had on my cell phone when he was younger; from before he started crawling, to crawling, standing up and then walking. I was getting emotional in seeing how many facial expressions he used to do, and I had forgotten, to how much he has grown and learned in a few months. I was in the middle of all these thoughts when I noticed something, in some of the videos I was very enthusiastically trying to get him to accomplish something. Pushing him to crawl, to stand up, or to walk. I don't believe there is anything wrong with encouraging our children to accomplish something, but for whatever reason this made me feel really uncomfortable....almost sad. It dawned on me that I was so busy trying to encourage him to the next step that I had missed the beauty of the now, and had not necessarily honored his own timeline for learning. It was a sad realization for me, but absolutely essential for what was about to happen in a few days.

We got to his swimming lessons and within five minutes he started crying, he clearly did not want to be there. I looked around and noticed that aside from what looked like an 8 month old baby, he was the youngest one, and yes the only one crying that loud. At that moment I had a choice to make, I think given my nature, it would have been extremely easy to try to push him to get used to it, and even get annoyed; but given what I had just experienced I determined that I would enjoy the now, after all in 4 or 5 years he will no longer cling to me like that when he's in a pool, and find comfort resting his head on my shoulder. I thought that perhaps by the end of the lessons he would get used to it, but even if he didn't I wouldn't push it and honor his own learning curve.

The days went by and some were easier than others, he never fully went a full lesson without crying for a bit - I don't blame him that water was kinda cold and I had to put him underwater at least once per lesson. I think as moms it is very easy to compare our kids with other kids. Some kids in there were having a great time, granted they were older, but it was easy to see that they had very different personalities than my Alex. My precious little boy is the sensitive kind, it takes him some time to warm up to new things, he is sensory driven, and does not mind letting me know when he's uncomfortable or scared. I wouldn't trade any of these things for anything else, that's who he is, that's my Alex.

Alex loves music, and I could tell that he was really enjoying himself whenever we would sing a song, or gave him a "buddy" for him to chase around the pool. It was wonderful to enjoy the now, the beauty of his own learning time, and not feel the pressure that he should be some other way....because he doesn't. Like I said, the day will come when he will throw himself in the pool and not even look back at me, and I will miss these swimming lessons and the way he found comfort in my voice and holding me close. My precious boy, you teach me so much!

Proof that learning takes time, HIS TIME: Right after cutting his hair in which he didn't cry at all and learned what a sucker is. The last couple of times he had cried non-stop. My boy is growing!

Oh Summer!

Shame on me! It's been almost 2 months, but to be quite honest it feels like 2 weeks! A lot has been going on, and my blog has not been top priority, but here I am with just a little update of this wonderful summer.

Life has been great, pretty great with many more activities to do now that Alex is older. Summer has been filled with plenty of smiles at the swing! Alex loves it, despite almost melting while he's in it, it's been extremely hot if you ask me.

For the 4th of July we went up to Idaho with my in-laws and enjoyed good company, good food, and amazing pool! It was a great time to relax and mostly watch Alex enjoy himself at the pool, which he absolutely did. It was the absolute cutest to see him keep his sunglasses on once he realized that it made a huge difference with the sun.

After we came back from Idaho I left for Young Women's camp for about a week. After being in the calling for about 3 years I was finally able to go and be with these amazing girls. It was a great week, I missed my boys like nobody's business but it was also great to be with these young girls so filled with faith. I actually didn't sleep all that bad - granted another leader gave me a magic sleeping pill - but still haha sleep is a most to feel like you function. Food was actually quite quite good, so aside from the infestation of flies and the one day we got a major thunder storm which made everything muddy, camp was an amazing experience. And let me tell you no one looks as attractive as when they're camping.

 After I came back we went to Thanksgiving Point, and Alex has had his swimming lessons (more on this later), and has officially started nursery at church (talk about separation anxiety for him and ME!!), he got a haircut without crying at all, and in 2 weeks we're heading to Cancun wohooo! I'm beyond excited to see my family and see Alex play with his cousin, and hopefully enjoy the sand haha...a bit of a stretch but we can certainly hope. Alex is growing wonderfully! Today he said mama twice, finally!!! He keeps learning and cracking me up with some of the things he does. Life is good, this summer has been one of the greatest. I love my little family and everything that we learn and live together.