Alright, so I usually dislike baked fruit desserts. A lot. I think it's because the idea of eating hot squishy fruit is just not appealing, especially given the alternative-chocolate!!! Just sayin'. 
   But, this peach season here in Ontario, I've got the hot peach bug. Oh yeah, it's a real thing. It's this thing where you dream of all the ways you can make peaces into baked desserts for yourself. And I say "dessert" lightly because I have mostly been making these peach creations for my lunch.
   Anyway, this recipe is one of 4 that I have recently been  mucking around with, and I hope you get a chance to make it! This is not too sweet, but is just full of fantastic flavour. 

Paleo Peach Crumble

Ingredients

• 3 Ripe peaces, washed & sliced 
• 1 Tbsp tapioca flour (feel free to use regular flour, of just gluten free flour if you're not paleo)
• 2 Tbsp honey (or maple syrup)
• 2 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Allspice, if you have it

Topping:

• 6 Tbsp almond flour
• 3 Tbsp shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 Cup chopped nuts. I've used any and every kind, including a mix  of different nuts at once.
• Generous pinch of sea salt
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp Coconut oil, cool 

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven or bbq to 400 Degrees. In a medium bowl, gently toss the sliced peaces with the tapioca, honey, cinnamon and allspice.
2. In a separate smaller bowl, toss the almond meal, coconut, chopped nuts salt and cinnamon together. 
3. Add the cool coconut oil, and work it in with your hands, pinching the coconut oil, and taking handfuls of the mixture and rubbing it through your hands until you've made a bowl full of crumbs. If it's roasting hot in your house, do this job with a fork, two knives or a pastry cutter so you don't melt the coconut oil.
4. Dump the peach mixture into either four 8 ounce ramekins, two 16 ounce ramekins, or an 8x8 baking pan.
5. Sprinkle the topping over the peaches, and place into pre-heated oven until the top is golden, and the peaches are bubbling hot. For the 8 ounce ramekins, it should take about 15 minutes, for the 16 ounce ramekins it'll take about 25 minutes, and the 8x8 baking dish should be ready in around 30-35 minutes. 
6. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before eating. 

   Friday is here, and I hope everyone had a great week! We're off to a wedding down in Hamilton, and we're pretty excited about it! So, I hope whatever your plans are for the weekend (including if you have to work) that you  make it a good one.
   Amy-Lyn oouuut. 
   I'm a geek.  

   I have said it before that I like to read articles, books, and watch movies or documentaries about autism to learn more about it.
   Another thing I love to do is read other parents blogs about their lives raising kids with autism. Some are really sad, some are really funny, but all of them are honest. Which I need. 
   What's the point of writing a blog about autism and pretending it's all achievements and   amazing savant skills when it's not! 
   Anyway, that being said, today I wanted to share a blog called "Yeah. Good Times", and a excerpt from a series she hosted called: "All Kids Do That".
   There are times as a parent of a child with autism that I want to know if all kids do something, or if it's just autism. But even in those situations that might be an "all kids" sort of event, there is a twinge of something different. For instance, Caleb has been a little more obnoxious than usual. I inquired about it, and I guess between the ages of 8-12 boys can start to push the boundaries more, and act like they know everything. The difference with Caleb though, compared to other boys his age, if you can talk about something, and prove where they are wrong, they will back off. A typical boy will take the facts, process them, and may not bring up that subject again.
   Caleb can be told the facts, but still push and push, and argue about something until you want to rip your hair out. 
   For instance, last night we're reading a book he brought home from school, and it's all about pumpkins. At one point the book said something about a pumpkin being a fruit, and Caleb interrupts me to say, "Uhhh......pumpkin is a vegetable". I said, "no, look here (as I point in the book), it says it's a fruit because it grows from a flower". He interrupts me to say, "a pumpkin in a vegetable". "Nope", I tell him. He thinks about it and says, "a pumpkin is LIKE a vegetable". I roll my eyes because I know this means he will forever say how a pumpkin in LIKE a vegetable, and if you tell him, "yeah, but it's still a fruit", he will reply with, "but it's LIKE a vegetable!". It won't end. It. Won't. End. 
   Anyway, back to this other blog, I am sharing one post from a series of 20 about "all kids do that". You can find all the posts here, and I would check it out if I were you. 
   The guests that write each post are informative, funny, but mostly, they are honest-the best thing. They help to bring faces to autism (there are so many faces to it), and bringing a face to autism creates understanding and empathy. So, read on, share on, and learn on!   

"All Kids Do That"
From: Yeah, Good Times
This is a guest post written by Bobbi Sheahan, the co-author of a book, "What I Wish I’d Known About Raising a Child With Autism; A Mom and a Therapist Offer Heartfelt Guidance for the First Five Years (Future Horizons, 2011)

Things That Take Years Off the End of Mom’s Life

You know that getting-to-know-you chat when moms meet each other and begin to exchange basic information about our kids? It’s a little different when your child has autism. 

There's always a How-Much-To-Say dilemma: usually I am content to come off as Crazy Helicopter Mom until my child does something that frightens Our New Friends. Fortunately or unfortunately, that never takes long, and then there’s A Situation. If the word "autism" hasn't come up yet, it does at that point. I'll acknowledge that my child doesn’t have the caution that other kids have, or that she’s done some objectively zany things, or that she's a risk-taker, to a greater degree than the norm, and that's when the fun starts. The responses seem to fall into one of two categories: either our New Friend will run screaming into the night and I'll never see her again, or – surprisingly frequently – she’ll dismiss it with some version of All Kids Do That. 

Example: My kid puts things in her mouth that aren’t food. 
Response: All Kids Do That.
Light bulbs? Really? All kids eat light bulbs? How about thumbtacks? Sticks? Mulch? How about mulch? And mulch consumption before age 3 doesn’t count.

Or: My kid used to like to run away.
Response: Yeah, All Kids Do That.
For six and a half years? Without stopping? 

Or: My kid took a while to potty train.
Forget the Q&A; just hold me while I weep. Maybe someday Jill will have me back to write an article called Potty Train Your Child in Ten Years or Less. Wait, we’re in danger of getting off topic. Let's get move on to dangers with electricity.

Or: My child doesn’t exercise caution around electrical appliances.
Response: Yeah, All Kids Do That.
No, really. She’s not a toddler anymore, and she has conquered a half-dozen floor lamps, tried innumerable times to toast her hands (yes, Toast. Her. Hands.), and once she grabbed a hot light bulb and burned the skin off her hand. Not the same light bulb that she bit into – this was a different light bulb, on a different day. But thanks for asking. Would you like some toast?

You get the picture. Our kids’ senses are often calibrated completely differently than the rest of the world’s senses. That can be maddening to your child – say, if he has very acute hearing or smell – but it can also be dangerous. Sensory issues can mess with your perception of pain, for example. My Sweet Baboo used to stand on anthills and watch the fire ants march up and down her legs, biting as they went.

Now, let’s be honest; before I had a kid with autism, I would have seen those welts on the child's legs and thought, “Dear God, what is wrong with that mother? How could she let that happen?” Well, I'll tell you. I successfully dragged her off of about 386 anthills that spring, and I missed a couple. 

Then again, the next kid with autism might have just the opposite reaction, and might be tearing at his skin after it’s been brushed against a leaf; I’ve heard mothers tell me about how their kids basically scratched their skin off, too, for no apparent reason. My child has attempted to take the skin off of her arms with a potato peeler, but I have managed to stop her. About eighty times. 

So, please, please don’t tell me All Kids Do That. Or stand back if you do. I might just have to come after you with a potato peeler and some fire ants.

   Well, I hope you enjoyed this post today! 

   Well, this year has seen me increase my intake, and my love, for zucchini. In the past I had only had zucchini cut up and roasted with other veggies on a bbq. More often than not, that resulted in pretty squishy, not so tasty zucchini. 
   Our neighbour Frank, with his magical vegetable garden, gave us a bunch of zucchini over the last few weeks, and so I started to find ways to eat it that I actually enjoyed. Enter the zucchini boat.
   This particular recipe was created because Franks also gave me a glorious bunch of fresh basil from his garden. So, I started putting things together, and this particular boat was one of my favourites (I've made a bunch of different kinds). 

Stuffed Zucchini Boats
As a side note, some people like to cut in half, scoop out the centre, and roast the zucchini on it's own, then add the filling and eat it. If you're used to that, then do it. If not, you can do it my way if you want. :)  

Ingredients:

• 4 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
  
• 1 Onion, diced
• 1lb. ground beef (or turkey, chicken pork, or venison)
• 6 oz. of tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp Franks Original Hot Sauce (more or less, depending on your love of spiciness)
• 1 Bell pepper, finely diced
  
• 1 Small-medium tomato, diced
  
• To taste (a pinch of at least 3) Paprika, chile powder, dried oregano, cayenne pepper, ground garlic, ground onion, pepper, or sea salt
  
• 4 medium sized zucchini
• 1 Bunch of basil, minced (the best way to cut fresh basil is to stack it up, roll it up, then chop)
  

Method:

1. In a large skillet on medium-high heat, place the bacon. You can cut it into pieces before putting it into the pan if you want to save some time. Once the bacon and cooked and crispy, remove from the pan, and place onto paper towel or newspaper to absorb some of the grease. 
2. Add the diced onion to the pan, and give it a few minutes to brown.
3. Add the ground meat to the pan, and cook, breaking up the bigger pieces, until no more pink shows. If there is still a lot of the bacon grease left at this point, spoon some of it out, or use another paper towel to dab it out. 
4. Add the tomato paste, pepper, tomato, spices and Franks to the beef, and stir to combine. Once well incorporated and warm, add the bacon back in, stir it all up, and remove from the heat.
5. While you are making the filling, heat your oven or bbq to 400, and prepare your pan to roast the zucchini by lining it with parchment, tin foil, or lightly greasing it. 
6. Cut the zucchini down the centre lengthwise, and scoop the seeds out.
7. Place into prepared pan, and give them some salt and pepper. Divide the basil between the zucchini boats, then add your filling. If you have a pan that is too big, and your zucchini won't stand up, use a few wads of tin foil to prop against it to hold them up.
8. Roast the zucchini until you stick a knife into a thick spot, and it's tender, but just how tender is a matter of preference. Generally 10-20 minutes is the appropriate window of time.
9. Serve and enjoy! 

   It may seem like a lot of steps, but it really is so simple. And soooo yummy! 
   I've made stuffed zucchini this summer with tuna, avocado and hot banana pepper rings, one with sausage and sour kraut, and another one with chicken, tomato, and artichokes. A zucchini is kind of tasteless, and so it makes a willing vessel for any number of taste combos you can imagine! 

   Well, that's it for now! Today is meant to be a little rainy, which is o.k. Sometimes I am glad for a rainy day because it forces me to stay indoors and get some stuff done in the house (....cleaning....blah...). :)  
   Happy Wednesday! 

   If you Google "quick pickles", you'll find a million different versions and a million different opinions about them. I'm going to say though that my quick pickles are literally the quickest and easiest you will find, so don't bother looking it up on Google. Seriously, just trust me. Or, if you ended up here from Googling "quick pickles", just stay here. Don't go anywhere. Still here? Good.
   My version of quick pickles is one I've eaten my whole life, compliments of my Dad, and I honestly love it. As far as it being a true pickle though, it's a big fat faker. But does it taste great, and give you a pickly zing? Yes it does. Well then, alright. Let's move on. 

Quick Pickles

Ingredients:

• Cucumbers (whatever amount you want to use, or have on hand) About 4 cups if you plan to put them into a quart jar.
• Vinegar. Either enough to fill the jar of cucumbers,  or equal to about half of the amount of cut cucumbers you have. I like to use balsamic because of it's flavour and colour, but I often use a mix of apple cider vinegar and balsamic, or just apple cider vinegar, basically, whichever I have on hand!
• Salt & pepper, just a pinch of each

Method:

1. Wash the cucumbers and either peel them completely (as my Dad does), or slice only down the 4 "sides" of the cucumber (as I do in the photo below). Then cut in half (you can scoop the seeds out if you would prefer it. You can also not cut in half if you prefer!), and slice to about 1 inch thick.
2. Place the cucumber slices into a bowl, a plastic container with a lid, or into a quart mason jar, and sprinkle with salt and pepper
3. Pour vinegar over the cucumbers, and if you have these in a bowl or container that has the vinegar only covering the cucumber a bit, gently stir it to get the vinegar on all of the cucs. Toss every so often for the first day to make sure it's an even vinegar party for your pickles. 
4. Cover, and let this sit at room temperature if you plan to eat it within a few hours. If you plan to eat it the next (or subsequent days), place into the fridge. 

   This is a super-duper, very loose recipe that usually just has me cutting, pouring, and eye-balling everything. 
   Don't sweat this recipe! As soon as you start worrying about it, you've defeated the purpose! 
   My Dad use to make this a lot when I was growing up, and I really loved it. I was also the youngest of a huge family, and do you think my Dad fussed around with pickles with  a small army of kids and young adults in the house? No. No, he would not. So don't fuss! 
   If you want to add some fresh or dried herbs like dill, garlic, or onions, do it. It's all you man, it's your quick pickle! 

   I eat these bad boys on their own, I'll put them on top of a veggie salad, or I'll toss them with sweet bell peppers and leftover chicken for a quick lunch. Then, when they're gone, I drink the vinegar out of the jar. For real. It makes my face pucker a bit, my gut feels a little wacky, but it's how I roll. 
   The End. 

   My lovely neighbour Frank gave me some kale from his garden the other day. Now, when I say he gave me some kale, I should say that this 'some' was a huge pile of kale! He just  kept giving me more and more. 
   Well, I got home, and knew right away I wanted to make a salad with this kale that was still sun-shiny warm.    

Paleo Kale-Slaw
Adapted from Looney Spoons 

For the dressing:

• ⅓ Cup olive oil 
• 1/4 Cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• Salt  & pepper
• Pinch of dried chill peppers or cayenne pepper

For the salad:

• 4 Cups of (very well packed) chopped and washed kale (about 4 large leaves)-make sure you've got bite sized pieces
• 4 Cups pre-cut coleslaw mix
• 1 Onion, diced

Method

1. In a large bowl, throughly whisk together all of the dressing ingredients. Set the bowl aside.
2. After chopping and washing the kale, lay a large, clean towel on a counter or table. Dump the kale onto the towel, and roll the towel up. 
3. Rub/roll/massage the tube of kale. Kale leaves can be tough, and this helps to soften the leaves so you don't choke while eating it!
4. Now put this kale into the bowl with the dressing, and add the coleslaw mix and onion. 
5. Using two large wooden spoons (or any two big spoons you've got!), toss the salad to coat everything evenly. This can take a minute to really get it all incorporated nicely. 
6. Now eat it! :)  O.k, it tastes best after taking in some of the flavour (about an hour), but I usually want to eat it right away, so I do. And it still tastes fantastic. 

   Above is a photo of Franks garden (I know- it's amazing! And you can't even see all of it in this photo), and some of the wonderful kale in his garden. Then you see the rolled up towel where I worked the kale, and finally, the soft kale, ready for it's dressing! :)  

   Well, that's it, I guess! 
   I've got no real plans for the weekend, except on Sunday when I'll be helping out with auditions for the Belleville Theatre Guilds production of 'A Christmas Carol', so that will be fun! 
   I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

   A few days ago we had an encounter with someone who hasn't seen Caleb in about 2 years. 
   Caleb ran outside to greet this person, went on some semi-understandable rant about the visitors truck, threw a hummingbird mention in there because he loves them right now, and then hung around while my husband got ready to go with this friend. 
   A few hours later after my husband came back, he told me how his friend couldn't believe how far Caleb had come. All of the things he had done (greeting, talking, waiting around) were new things from the last few years.
   We are with Caleb everyday, and sometimes can't see the forest for the trees. We've been plugging away with Caleb for so long, and although we knew he had made improvements, it was such an encouragement to have someone come in and just see the "forest"; the cumulative change that our autistic son has made. 
   So, this post is brief, but is meant as an encouragement pass-on.
   As a parent, we tend to see things too close up. A fussy baby or a sulky teenager is maybe your daily experience-for now. We need to step back and see the whole picture. We need to take each day in stride, as well as see the big picture. 
   Sometimes when I'm painting a new picture, I can get fixated on a certain spot, and start to dislike the work I'm doing. So, I'll set the painting aside for a time. Then, one day I'll walk into the room where the painting is, and think, "oh wow, I think I like this". 
   You can't put your children or a season you're in your life aside because you don't like them or the situation (obviously...), but we can try to separate ourselves from the moment, and see what we're making, and what we're making beautiful, and who we're becoming in the midst of it all.
   Because it's hard for the person in that situation to see the big picture, we need to encourage them. In the same way that I knew Caleb has been making so many improvements, it was such a boost to hear someone else (especially someone who hadn't seen him in so long) say that they saw so much positive change. 
   Give a boost today, be an encourager, and let's help each other see the forest for the trees.  

xo    

   Good morning one and all. 
   Does anyone else have blue jays at their house? I have them here in abundance, and I really like to watch them fight over our bird feeders that hang here and there on our porch and in the trees.
   They squawk and fight, and dive and make a big show out of getting some seeds. They are noisy, they wake up the whole house, they've knocked down a few of my feeders, but I still really like having them here! They're pretty, and don't we (honestly) excuse more from pretty things? A rose with it's thorns, a bratty but beautiful child, Ikea furniture with it's crazy instructions and sometimes poor quality? You know it's true. 
   Anywho, onto muffin talk. I made these muffins for a breakfast with family over, and they were well received. My Dad said something like, "Uh huh", when I said, "these are paleo muffins Dad. They don't have any wheat, dairy, or sugar". But, let me tell you, a "uh huh" from my Dad (and the fact that he ate a few muffins...) means they passed some sort of test. :)  
   I've made them a few times, and even my kids like them. In fact, they enjoyed a few fresh ones as an after school snack yesterday. Nothing like a warm, good-for-you, but comfort food-ish snack to make a kid sit down and talk about their day a little. I did get a "uh huh" from one of my kids when I asked if they had a good day, but I'm starting to think (or hope) that this is just a reaction people have while eating these muffins because they are so delighted and taken by them that all their happy brains can say is, "uh huh"? Maybe? 
   Well, they are enjoyable, none the less!
   Uh huh.     

Paleo Lemon 
Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Lexi's Clean Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 3 tbsp tapioca starch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 Cup honey or maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (but not hot)
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (the juice from one fresh lemon)
• Zest from one lemon (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350, and prepare a muffin tray with liners.
2. In a small bowl mix together the wet ingredients and set aside. 
3. In a larger bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, making sure it's well blended
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix to combine
5. Fold in blueberries
6. Scoop (I use my 2 tbsp scoop, and have to use 2 scoops per muffin) or pour the batter into muffin cups, filling almost to the top.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the muffins have puffed, and the tops have a nice colour (or until a toothpick comes out clean).

   Well, alrighty. I hope this Wednesday is a good one! It really feels more like a Tuesday to me because Monday was the holiday, Tuesday they started school, so my inner calendar is just messed up. No matter, I shall make due. 

   So....all my kids are in school....
   I guess I get to sit around eating candy and watching soap operas all day, which is what stay-at-home moms do anyway, now I get to do it without feeling bad. That, of course, is me being cheeky. I don't watch any soap operas, and I only eat candy all day on my treat day. :)  
    Alright, in all seriousness though, for the last 10 years, I have been a stay-at-home mom with kids at home with me. My days revolved around keeping house, making meals, and taking care of my kids. The only other time I didn't have a child at home was when Caleb was young and we were living in Bancroft at a camp, so I would work in the office while he was gone. But even that was 7 years ago for goodness sake!

   What I'm trying to say is, where is the manual for motherhood 2.0?
   I've been working the motherhood 1.0 system now for years, and never got the update to 2.0
   I feel like this will be similar to when we switched our home PC to a Mac. That was hard. I still barely even know how to get the most from this Mac, and we've had it for a year! 
   So, motherhood 2.0 will be interesting. My husband and I have been talking for months about what I'm going to do. Not like what job am I going to do, but what, in general, am I going to do? I could get a job that doesn't get in the way of getting kids off to school, and meeting them off the bus at the end of their day. But we are living and surviving on my husbands salary, so do I need to work? No. Could I? Yes. 
   Here's the thing about me. I am an introverted extrovert. I can go out in public and have a good time, I can make conversation and appear normal (haha...fools). But when I think about working in a 'real' job, I get a knot in my stomach, and I start sweating more profusely than I normally do! 
   Like I said, I worked in the office of a camp, but that felt different because I lived there, and I knew everyone, and I felt comfortable with camp. Besides that I have been teaching horseback riding, and did that for years and years. But that was with my kids around, and in an environment I was comfortable with. I taught dance for a few years, but it started by accident (some friends asking me if I would teach them), and I thought it was fun, and never considered it a job. Especially because they didn't always pay, which I literally didn't care about!
   As a teen I worked at Sears Portrait Studio and Sears Optical in Brantford....I'm not doing that again! I also worked at Tim Horton's for about 6 weeks. I honestly took that job to make enough extra money to buy a new saddle. Once I had the saddle, I left the job.
   Anyway, all this rambling to say-what am I supposed to do!?! 
   I would like to financially contribute to the income of my family to help with things like paying down our mortgage faster, saving for a new vehicle, going on a holiday, etc., etc., etc. 
   But I also know that if I take my kids out of my day, there is still a lot of things I could do at my house. My job would still be a stay-at-home Mom, but I would only be caring for my kids when they were home from school. That just seems strange somehow. 
   I thought about teaching something in the school during the day. Likely art, or perhaps voice lessons. I just need to figure out the logistics of such a thing. I could also randomly work a shift here or there in Tweed at the Tim Horton's, or the grocery store. The health/bulk food store was alluring, but I dunno....
   Besides wondering if I should get a job is the question of could. Do I have real world skills to get a job? I'm not too sure I do! 

   The role of motherhood, whether it be the original version, this updated version, or the 3.0 (kids moving out/going to college), or 4.0 (kids getting married and starting their own families), motherhood has to be more than changing diapers, cooking dinner, cleaning and doing laundry or helping a preschooler glue coloured macaroni on a Father's Day gift.
   I think the most important job for a mom is to nurture her children. And I can do that job whether they are here all day or not.
   Nurturing involves being a model of love and joy, but also of humility when mistakes are made. It means pouring into children what you hope to see in them as adults; compassion and kindness, forgiveness and grace. Being generous and discerning, and thinking of others first.
   A nurturing Mom takes time (even just a smidge) to go into her child's world, to see things with the imagination of a (fill in the blank) year old. 
   Playing, reading, singing ridiculous children's songs while driving around, cuddling, kissing, and being silly are all part of this important job-even more important than getting the floors washed that day. Also taking pictures of events that might normally make us irritated-like a child that has coloured on the wall. You're mad, but it's also cute, so you're going to take a picture before cleaning it up and administering discipline.
    A mom provides empathetic understanding from a position of strength and support. That's true whether she's dealing with a toddler or a teen...except for the part about colouring on the wall. 
   My update in motherhood is happening, whether or not I want it to. I didn't want this Mac originally, but the hubby insisted we should get it. He said something like, "our current computer is so out of date that if we need to update at all, we are going to need to learn a whole new system. So, we can either learn everything new with the new Windows system, or learn everything new with a Mac". He felt a Mac was better for us and our needs, so, in other words, he thought it was better. 
   I'm not trying to start a PC vs Mac debate, what I want to so is say that if an update is essential, why not update to (what you think is) the best? 
   Motherhood 2.0 will be difficult to navigate at first, but I can choose to do whatever will get me by, or I can choose the best. If that means I get a job while my kids are at school or not isn't the point. The point is that my true job as a Mom is to be that person in my kids life who they can count on for love and support.
   I can endeavour to know my kids for who they are as individuals, not just as "those little people I'm looking after". I need to bring out the best in each of my children as they, in turn, bring out the best in me. I can be an example of living a life of faith, and of using the unique gifts God gives each person. 
   I'm not saying that each day needs to be full of these things, otherwise us Moms would be frazzled and burnt out. We would be pushing our kids out the door for school, desperate for the chance to be rid of them for a few hours! Doing the best you can is better than doing it all. Whatever it is that is your best, do it. I don't need to do what I see is your best, or the best of that Mom you see at play group who seems to have it all together!!! She's a faker, by the way. :)  O.k., maybe she's not, I shouldn't judge. 
   Being a nurturer is both meant for our children, and for ourselves.
   So, with that being said, for right now, I'm not getting a job outside of my house. For now, I'm taking the time to get adjusted to motherhood 2.0. The first step in this new system is to take a step back, breath, and feel like I've accomplished something. I'm sending my 3 kids, who are brats a lot of the time, I will admit, but they are also genuinely sweet and loving kids. They are really silly and happy, they use their manners (....most of the time...), and adjust well to new situations. They are bright and willing to learn, and all have a spark that I envy. 
   I think I've done a pretty decent job with motherhood 1.0, and I hope that as I figure out this new version of motherhood I can continue to feed into my children what they need.