Sports Widow

Now that football is in full affect, you hear many women discuss how they have become a "sports widow."  Well, I am no different.  Although, I think for almost every season I am the unenviable sports widow.  In this house, Pac-Man dictates almost every sports team we support, lol.

Let's start the widow status in Spring.  Spring is a time of newness, green, life, and just good feelings as we shake dreary winter off our heals.  It is also when I become a widow to baseball.

Watching the Boston Red Sox play baseball, or any team for that matter, for me is the equivalent to watching paint try.  The pitcher throws a ball, the batter tries to hit it.  Clearly, this is not an easy task, which is evident by the low scores that determine who wins.  I rarely see scores that enter the double digit range.

After losing Pac-Man to baseball for much of Spring and Summer, we again lose him in the fall to football.  Now we are all red, white, and blue as we cheer on the Patriots.  

This is actually a sport I can get into.  I love watching football, I just prefer to watch college football.  There's excitement, despite the mundane task of trying to score with an egg shaped ball.  Here we have big burly men tackling each other and fighting each other, trying to keep the other team from scoring.  Much more adrenaline pumping than the mundane monotony of baseball.

After football comes two more sports.  Pac-Man is luckily not into hockey.  Although it is packed full of adrenaline like football, the fighting there is equivalent to a bar room fight.  So, since he isn't interested, I try to say that we are Red Wings fans.  He doesn't care, and neither of us watches hockey enough to really care if the Red Wings win or not.

But, we do get dominated by Pac-Man's love for the Boston Celtics.

Can you tell that we live in New England?!?!?!?

Here, C-Man, Mar-Mar, and I lose Pac-Man again to basketball.  And just when you think with the emergence of Spring that you will have roaming, romping family fun, baseball starts in full affect.

Who is a sports widow?  Are you a seasonal sports widow, only losing your spouse to one sport?  Or are you a year round sports widow?  What about a gamer widow? 

Confidence

As I scan the masses for stories from beautiful women.  Those stories that are dear to them as they came to the realization that they are beautiful.  Women who have struggled with various insecurities when it comes to their appearances.  One thing has become painfully clear to me....

Women do not think they are beautiful!!  They do not understand how they could possibly even be worthy enough of the word.

What is more beautiful than a woman?  Have you seen a man carry a child?  Sure, they help us make our beautiful children.  But, they don't carry them, go through 9 months of bodily changes, and as a reward are able to bring life into the world.

Or what about those who just plain struggle with their insecurities and overcome them.  You've been ridiculed for being too small, too big, too tall, too short.  

We have stretch marks, we have scars, we are white, black, brown.  We've been broken down, and we've build ourselves back up.  What is more beautiful than that???

So, I implore you, as a woman, share your story.  Send me a message with your beautiful woman story to kjarrait@gmail.com, and your story could be in the spotlight for the Beautiful Woman Campaign.

Pictures are welcome with your story, but not necessary.  Use your name, or don't.  We can easily replace your real name with a pseudo name if that makes you more comfortable.  

But, please, tell your story.  Beautiful women everywhere need to hear your story, if only to help them realize that they are just as beautiful as you.

Sibling Love

Between dance, school, and sick kids and Momster, this week has been crazy.  Hence the no new posts this week.

Today C-Man went to his first dance class for the season.  It started last week, but he wasn't feeling good last Saturday, so we skipped it.  He loves going to dance, so he was very excited to go today.  This year he is doing 2 classes.  One class is tap, and the other is ballet/gymnastics.  He's such a little dancer.  :)  And, as the only boy in his class, he often refers to the girls in his class as "my girls."  

"Mom, are we going to see my girls today?"  He's too cute :)

Mar-Mar loves to go as well.  But, she keeps me on my toes, chasing after her as she roams the hallways and tries to scale the stairs for the hour that we are waiting for C-Man.

But, one thing is for sure, when it comes to my kids, they love each other.

Picking up C-Man from school one day, his teacher informs me as to how he amazes her.  Some of his classmates have younger siblings as well.  And they'll say goodbye and everything as well, but she says that it seems forced with them.  With C-Man, he seeks out Mar-Mar to give her a hug, kiss, tell her he'll come home soon and just say goodbye.

I find myself very lucky with how close C-Man and Mar-Mar are to each other.  They of course have their spats, but they are nothing like what you would expect from sibling rivalry.  

When I was pregnant with Mar-Mar, I was both excited to be adding to our family, but terrified about C-Man having a little brother or sister.  I thought for sure, having a sibling would be the equivalent of what my brother and I put my father through.

My brother and I were evil to each other.  We did NOT get along whatsoever.  The only time we seemed to get along was when another person was picking on the other.  That's the only time we seemed to stand up for the other.  Otherwise, we were at each other's throats.

Even my grandmother tells of tales as to how she would have to sit in the back seat with one of us while the other road in the front seat with my grandfather.  That is how bad our fights would get.  It's a miracle that either one of us is still alive and both with our own families.

I thought for sure, my kids are destined to be evil to each other, almost killing each other, just the way me and my brother did.

But, for now, my kids are so loving to each other for the most part.  C-Man cries, Mar-Mar goes over to him and hugs him, rubs his arm, and plays with his hair.   Mar-Mar is watching her favorite show (Little Einsteins), C-Man sits quietly with her and watches it with her.  If she cries, he also hugs her and he actually starts to sing to her to make her feel better.

At home, these two are almost inseparable.  Almost!!!  Let's face it, they are still brother and sister, so they still fight like cats and dogs.  But overall, I got lucky in the sibling love department with these two :)

How do your children get along?  Are you ripping your hair out wondering if they will ever get along?  Or is your house a "Kumbaya" of sibling love?

Giveaway Winner

Thank you to those of you who participated in my very first giveaway.

Just as a reminder, the prize was this beautiful butterfly wall art that is affixed with a sawtooth hook to hang from the wall.  This is dear to me as is my own personal creation.

I have issued all those who participated a number, which I subsequently entered into a randomizer for a random drawing.  If you entered more than one entry, your number was entered to equal the number of entries you did.

Without further ado, the lucky winner of my first giveaway is #24.  Please email me your contact information to ship your wall art at kjarrait@gmail.com no later than midnight on 9/15/2012.

Congratulations and remember to keep an eye on my blog.  You never know when the next giveaway will come up :)

Sarah...You Are A Beautiful Woman

As promised, the Beautiful Woman Campaign continues.  Here is Sarah's story, as told by her.  Thank you Sarah for sharing your story.  You are an inspiration to all beautiful women. 

I encourage all beautiful women to send me your stories of how you overcame your insecurities.  You can send your stories to me at kjarrait@gmail.com.  You are more than welcome to add a picture as well, or you can just send your story with no pictures.  If you would like to remain anonymous, let me know what you would like your pseudo name to be.

The Beautiful Woman Campaign is meant for inspiration and enlightenment to all women.  We don't have to fit in societies cookie cutter image of what a beautiful and perfect woman is.  We are beautiful just the way we are.  So, please, no negative comments, only positive.  Thank you.

Sarah's Story:

I can remember beginning to think I was "fat" by the time I was maybe nine or ten.  Not that anyone had ever told me flat out or had I ever been teased about it in school.  I just noticed that I was always the biggest kid in my class and could never fit into my friend's clothes.  I was also the tallest kid y age for the longest tie, having reached my final height by middle school.  Luckily I was blessed with fantastic parents that focused on my talents than my appearance.  They always bragged about my grades, how well I did in sports, and all my extra curricular activities.

Unfortunately, we celebrated any occasion with food.  Every holiday, school function, birthday, etc. was followed by a phenomenal feast.  As unhealthy as I was, my overweight size never prevented me from having a happy upbringing.  In middle and high school I was quite popular.  I always had boyfriends, was invited to parties, had lots of friends, all the things stereotypically granted to the skinny girls.  It was during middle school I really began to accept being a "big" girl.  I learned than a confidence that has served me well through my whole life, because, hey, being fat hasn't stopped me from having a really great time!

By high school I had thinned out a bit, but also by then the boys had finally started to catch up.  I remember high school as a total blast, I never felt I was judged by my size or looks.

It was during that time I met who would be my future husband, five years older than me, at a local coffee shop.  I had an immediate crush, but I thought he was too old and cute to be interested in some chubby kid.  But fate drew us closer, so after graduation I went off to Oregon with him after only four months together.  His love has been my backbone since the day we proclaimed it.  It's a comfort to know that I have this wonderful, handsome man, and if I was perfect for him, than I must be perfect.

Now that I am in control of my own diet and exercise I have really come to peace with my body and self image.  I see the woman I want to see in the mirror.  Now I face the challenge of passing this confidence and acceptance to my daughter when it's her time to deal with her own body issues.  But I have faith she will learn it just by watching.

Anatomy

Show me a parent who looks forward to discussing anatomy with their child and I'll show you a liar.  Haha.  I was one of those parents.  Sure that when the questions came that I would be diplomatic, honest, and encourage the curiosity filled questions of "where do babies come from?", "why doesn't mommy look like me?", etc.

And then that day comes.  You are hit with the barrage of questions, and it will inevitably catch you off guard.  You think that you will be sitting peacefully at home, just you and your children, playing innocently before you have to deal with the questions.  But, nope, they wait to ask you.  

You're walking through the grocery store, surrounded by other patrons because today was pay day and everyone is at the store shopping, and then it comes.  "Mom, why do I have a peepee?"  Everyone turns to stare at you, waiting for your response.  "Because you are a boy honey."

Whew, you think you saved yourself.  Then another.  "Mommy, why is your peepee broken?"  

At this point, you realize there is no salvation, you drop your shopping list, leave your cart, pick up the curious little boy and run out of the store, not even daring to look back.  Off to a new store, maybe we can stop the barrage of questions in the car before we get to the new store where no one knows.  But no, once you're alone in the car with your curious child the questions stop.  This gives you a false sense of hope.  And then you enter the new store, again crowded, only to have the barrage of anatomy questions return.

Now, both C-Man are Mar-Mar are very aware of the correct scientific terminology for their anatomical parts.  I was worried about confusion, as any new age mother seems to be.  Why I was worried, I have no idea why.  This makes the curious questions in public seem that more traumatizing.

I'm using the term "peepee" merely for the simple fact that this is a family blog.  So, I would like to keep it family friendly.

Today's question from my very anatomical curious C-Man..."Mommy, does C-Man, Dawson, and daddy have a peepee because we boys, and mommy, Mar-Mar, and Sadie's peepee broken because you a girl?  But why mom?  Why your peepee broke off?"

Dawson happens to be our 6 year old black lab/pitt bull mix who is in fact a male dog, and Sadie happens to be our very female 13 year old Great Dane.

I encourage C-Man's curiosity, however, today I am glad the anatomy lesson was done in the privacy of our own home.  I am not usually that lucky.  But, no matter how you refer to your child's anatomy, the questions, they will come.  And they will most definitely come at the most inopportune and most embarrassing time.

Tell me your embarrassing anatomy lesson with your children.   

Delia's

The clothing choices that are available to young tween and teen girls today makes me both happy and fearful at the same time.

On one hand, it makes me happy that Mar-Mar is still way too young for me to argue with her about what I will and will not allow her to wear.  While on the other hand, it makes me fear for what the future holds when she does get to be that age.

I can't help but notice that a lot of tweens and teens are dressing themselves to portray a much older persona.  At times, they dress themselves to look older than myself, and the taste of clothing choices...we'll just say that teen clothing options these days leaves little to the imagination.

It is the downfall of tween and teen girl clothing that makes me like Delia*s so much.  The majority of their clothing options tend to fall on the spectrum of keeping a young girl looking exactly like she should...young and like a child, not a grown woman exposing more skin than necessary.

As I progress through the years as a mother to a young girl, I will most definitely be keeping an eye on Delia*s as they are clearly one of few companies that truly understand a parents worst clothing nightmare when it comes to their young girls.