Happines Project: MARCH = Lighten Up!

Hello March!

This is the month where I plan to "Lighten Up!" for my Happiness Project.
I have found in my 5 odd years of raising children, that I DO NOT have all the answers to how to raise our kids.  You'd think after having 4 of them, I would have a bit of a plan, but to be honest...well, I'm just trying to keep this boat afloat most days.

The Happiness Project has a chapter on Parenting that I found quite useful -

so here are a few insights from the book that I hope to implement in our home:

• Sing in the morning
• Acknowledge the reality of people's feelings
• Be a Treasure House of Happy Memories
• Take time for projects

Some useful adjectives to define the "atmosphere" that I hope to create in our home this month:
Tender
Peaceful
Joyous
Cheerful
Lighthearted


And here are some insights that I thought were worth remembering - 

Preserve the happy memories.
The fact is, Life is more fun when I keep my resolutions.
Act the way I want to feel.
The days are long, but the years are short.
You're only as happy as your least happy child.
Denying feelings intensifies them; Acknowledging feelings allow good feelings to return.


SUGGESTIONS FOR ACKNOWLEDGING FEELINGS:

• Write It Down - if Joey does not like clasp khakis, I"m going to "write that down"
• Don't feel as if I have to say something - sometimes just holding them for a few minutes will get them through whatever is troubling them
• Wave a Magic Wand - "If I had a wand, I'd make it warm so you didn't have to wear your coat!"
• Admit a Task is Difficult - instead of "it's easy", try "this is tough, but I know you can do it!"

FAMILY TRADITIONS:

1. ANTICIPATE IT (plan)
2. SAVOR IT (enjoy it as it's happening)
3. EXPRESS IT (talk about it)
4. RECALL IT (capture in photos)

A few things I would like to add to my Happiness Resolution Chart for March and beyond:
No Word Wednesdays (add a photo of our life to the blog on Wednesdays)
TRACK my food intake on the fitbit website  http://www.fitbit.com/
Play Games


The BOOKS that I hope to read this month (most likely won't get to ALL of them!)

(This one is for our sweet girl, Morgan. - are ALL 4 year old girls "Spirited", or just ours?)

So, I"ve got alot of work to do!
I must say, I have already started using some of the tools from the Happiness Project with my kids and it's working!  That Magic Wand has been a good answer for Morgan and her constant need to dress as if it's 70 degrees outside...when it's 30!

And I have successfully given out "Good Morning Awards" both days this month - which is essentially me announcing, as if on stage, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, I am about to annouce the winners of the Good Morning Awards - going to those individuals who have had a great start to the morning through listening, obeying, getting dressed, brushing teeth and getting on our way without difficulty!"
APPLAUSE and loud booming announcements of the kids names seems to work quite nicely!  Who'd a thought?

I hope you find happiness this month - and if any insights from my readings and goal of implementation work for you too, let me know!

Happy March!  Let the Madness begin!

Good Bye February!

HAPPINESS PROJECT FEBRUARY -
Wow, can February just be gone already!

I must say, this has been a month of snow, ice, sickness and cabin fever.

It's hard to focus on LOVE when you can barely get everyone healthy enough in the house to function...and when we were ready to get out and go, we were trapped in the house due to Snow Days, Ice Storms, Sub-zero temps and oh yeah...someone wasn't feeling well again!

As far as my personal goals for February, well, I did pretty well considering...
The goals that carried over from January and will hopefully just remain a constant in my life for good are:
Drink water, Do a load of laundry everyday, Open the Bible, 1 Sentence Journal, Proof of Love to Joe, Sleep (bed by 10pm, up by 7am)

Then there were some new goals for February, that I did ok with, and will be added to my daily checklist (but did't HAVE to happen daily):
New Recipe for dinner, Photo of Life, Hug (6 seconds minimum), Read a book


The goal of this month was to focus on my marriage and loving my husband.  And to be honest, it was super difficult.  Having 4 kids just makes "focus" on anything nearly impossible.  It's like juggling balls, while someone is throwing things at you, it's raining and your hands are slippery and you've got an itch on your nose!

So, I think I failed this month. 

I guess, you'll have to ask Joe if he felt loved (or "more" loved than usual).

My best efforts were extra special things that, thank God for Amazon.com, allowed me a few extra acts (or "proofs" as I've started to call them) of kindness/love.

I started the month with The Awesome Book of Thanks left in the front driver seat of his car.

Then, of course Valentine's Day was an easy "gift giving day" - got him some much needed jeans and pants from Old Navy.  Also gave him another great book called the "I Like You" book.

Then, today, the last day of the month, I gave him a Sing a Ma Jig that sings "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" which is a Barbershop song through and through.  It's quite funny to hear it sung by one of these odd sort-of stuffed animals.  It made him smile.

Daily, I made coffee and I packed his lunch almost every weekday...new things I had not done before (atleast consistently)...but does that show any love to him?...who knows...it was all I could do, quite honestly, amidst the craziness of my life this month.
I also have texted him with ILY (I love you) and thought of him often during the day and would just send a quick message to let him know it...

Some things I DID NOT DO, that were goals...that maybe I'll try again in a later month:
Spend Time Alone Together
Play Games (goes hand in hand with that alone time that didn't happen)
"Extreme Nice" for 1 week (too tired)
Don't expect Praise (this one, I think I will never be able to master...)
Fight Right (No Nevers or Always) - good goal, hard to remember under stress!


Here are some 1 Sentence Joural entries from this month:
2/1/11 Snow Day = Pajama Day!  Even Joe got to leave early from work due to bad weather!

2/2/11 Jameson was up until 10pm...smiling...running - just needed rocked to sleep.  Schmidt Olympics was a success!

2/3/11  Art Day and Jameson's B-day - he's such a different child then a year ago...so happy...smiles all the time...still no talking

2/4/11  Wheel of Forune with Joey, JJ doing CPR on JT, me sick (again) with strep = Snow Day #4

2/7/11  I feel like I can't keep up with laundry...it's gonna ALWAYS keep coming!

2/11/11 CRAZY BUSY DAY!
Muffins with Mom at Oaks, straight to CPR at IMPA.
Joe experienced JT Blow Out - held him over the SINK! to clean him :) amidst the craziness of getting both baby boys to Raes and Morgan at ECC...finished the day shooting Stomp Rocket into the green bowl.

2/23/11 I am not pretending my life is happy...but I definitely force on those rose colored glasses sometimes.

2/26/11  I put Jackson in the mirror with me and he stared at himself and smiled and laughed.  I think he may actually look a little like me!


Well, there is some exciting stuff coming tomorrow - March is "LIGHTEN UP" month with a focus on PARENTING.  I have some GREAT books to read and I plan to blog a ton about all the insights I will get.

Check back tomorrow for the game plan! 

GOODBYE FEBRUARY!  I am SO ready for March..and sunshine...and being outside...and healthy kids...and healthy Joe...and healthy ME!

Here are a few fun photos taken these last few days too!

Let March begin!

Happiness Project: February is LOVE month

My Happiness Project update for the month of February:
LOVE

As a goal for each month, I am reading a book that corresponds with the focus of the month.

Some of you may know I am reading a book called How We Love for not only the Happiness Porject but also for a book study that I am in with a group of women who besides me are "Wise Women"

Below is a recent email I sent to them, that I also think fits with my focus of the month as a whole.

Orginally, the focus of this month was suppose to be on Joe and loving my husband more (proofs of love, hugging for a minimum of 6 seconds, etc)...but as it turns out...through reading this book (and as you'll see from the message below, another book too) I have come to realize I needed to love ME more too. I needed to learn about LOVE and its root, its foundation...

Psalm 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

I don't know about you, but I have read or heard this chapter quite a few times in my life...but tonight, I read it once and heard it once...so I knew I needed to tell you about it.

Our church is being guided through scripture readings for the entire year and as I was rocking Jackson to sleep tonight, I was checking off my readings of Psalm 20-23 quite haphazardly...

Then, I was running to the store to get a few things and heard ch 23 on the radio...and it hit me...FOR YOU ARE WITH ME (v4)....huh? The LORD is WITH ME...through all of this....

See, I have been reading How We Love as if IT were where all my answers would be found....OR talking through and processing all this with my husband would help me figure ME all out....OR coming to WW on Wednesday nights and talking and listening would give me the support I need...and yes all those things are very true...

But I have not asked or welcomed or even expected GOD to be with me....I mean, I talk to Him, I pray to Him (mostly for others, rarely myself)

HE will LEAD me through all of this and HE is leading you too!

I know many of you already know this...but in the midst of our search for understanding about How We Love our spouse, or our siblings, or parents or ourselves... I am finding a great comfort in knowing HE is the LOVE.

God has you in this group with these women at this time in your life for a great and amazing purpose.

It just made me smile.

I hope you find comfort in Him today. I feel like I have discovered a new Friend that has been right there with me this whole time walking ahead of me...just hoping I would follow...and now I finally think I am starting to.

Love you all.

Megan


So that was the email, which as I read it again, I still am in awe that God loves me that much...leads me that much...
But in regards to loving my husband, February was also STREP month in the Schmidt House, so for what it's worth, not much "love" was happening between us - maybe this is too much information but Joe has had strep 3 times and I have had it twice starting in late Janurary and running throughout February...so kissing was just out of the question!

I did make him lunch everyday for work and coffee every morning, with a couple of books and a bunch of ILY (I love you) texts throughout the month...not much...but more than I've done before in regards to purposefully loving Joe...

I think I will have to add another month of love to the calendar for Joe's sake later in the year...but next month (March) is my Parenting focus month - "Lighten Up" as I plan to call it - with some great books planned and some specific goals in mind for being a better mom to our kids.  I'll be adding the game plan for March in just a few days!

Until then, LOVE!

Jackson is 3 months old!

Our sweet baby boy is already 3 months old! We can't believe how quickly the time has gone! At his 3 month appointment to the doctors - our "Little" guy is weighing in at 14.12 lbs and 25.5 inches long!

These Schmidt babies of ours don't last in newborn diapers or baby clothes very long! JT is already in 9 month cloths...although, because it's our last...I am forcing some 6 months outfits just because he barely wore any of them yet!

The adjustment to 4 has gradually gotten easier...but it's still quite a circus around here (although I think it would be that way no matter what!).

We are definitely ready to be outside again - we have been home bound due to the ice storms, school snow days, and sub-zero temps during the first part of the year...yet today in Indy, it's in the mid 50's and the sun is shining!

Updates on the Happiness Project will be coming soon! And with Lent coming, there will be new goals and activities for myself and my family...come back to the blog soon!

Joe, Megan, Joey, Morgan, Jameson and Baby Jackson!