Casual Outfit With An Edge

Happy Tuesday you guys! I woke up today with the case of the 'low energy Tuesday's ',  I don't think that's a thing but we'll make it one,  I think I  used all my energy from the weekend, yesterday!  ! I am so tired for some reason, I guess raising two little humans does that to you. I seriously feel like I'm losing my mind when they are just running around me like little energizer bunnies and I can't control the madness. It's adorable for the first split second and then I'm on the floor in the fetal position covering my ears singing, "dooo a deedy, deedy dum, deedy dum." But I've got this covered, no worrying about this girl. Parenthood ain't no thang, chicken wang.

No, but seriously, PRAY for me! 

STYLE TIP: 
Today I want to be a ninja disguised as a chic lady. I have no desire to be out of my PJ's today, so we're taking the most comfortable route. Skinny jeans that feel like PJ's and a long baseball tee with a Moto jacket to make people think I'm intimidating. The tip is, if you feel like staying in bed, but you have to get up and look presentable, there are simple ways of trickery to not looking haggard. Choose all neutral colors in this case, that way you can throw things on and not care if they match or not. You can do this look with heels, ankle booties or even some cute leopard print flats. But the most important element is there,  ahhhh, comfort! 

SHOP THIS LOOK:
Black Ripped Knee Skinny Jeans: (HERE)
Baseball Tee: (HERE) 
Grey Chucks: (HERE)
Black Moto Jacket: (HERE)
Faux Fur Infinity Scarf: (HERE)


FROM MY HEART: 
 If you have little kids, I just want to say.

Hang. In. There.

In the past, I've talked to some mothers that tell me, "Oh it's going great, nothing is wrong, everything is perfect."  One, I hope they are right. Really for their sake, I hope that is absolutely true and they aren't going through difficulty of raising little heathens. And two:  The little sinner in me makes me so frustrated because I am not alright. Everything in my home is NOT rainbows and butterflies. I'm struggling to be a momma. My children's attitude sometimes makes me want to run and hide in a deep dark forest where lots of Starbucks grow. Just saying. Parenting has been soooooooo extremely difficult for me. Most days I feel like a train wreck. I struggle with mommy guilt on ALL levels.  And if  I believed the devil, I would even feel guilty at how much I love them. The fight for motherhood is beating the crap out of me, but I'm victorious in so many ways by the grace of God! I beat up and hurting and bruised from it, but I see fruit from my labor. HARD, PAINFUL labor. It's not easy to be a parent because it throws off my single swag. It prevents me from being a selfish jerk.  That's my biggest fight. Do I act on these selfish thoughts or do I get up and serve my children in love?  Do I stick to what is right most of the time and deal with difficult attitudes in love or do I give in to what my children want all the time and create a discrepancy between who's raising whom? Raising my children UP in the way they show go, means I have to forfeit my SELF most of the time. It means I have to stick to my guns and think of what my parenting goal is at all times so I'm not blindsided by the annoyance of having them ask me for candy on repeat for five minutes straight in hopes I'll give in. It's not easy when I have to issue consequences for poor behavior and no longer be viewed as "fun" mommy. Not easy  when I have to switch from what might seem to be the  easy road, yelling and  spanking them,  to  having enough love and self-control to mind them as little humans.

who deserve as much respect as I do and listen and choose to parent them through the wisdom the Holy Spirit gives me. Do not miss understand my heart please, I have felt at some point that a spanking is what I need to do at that time, but not every situation calls for that. Both my children have to be raised differently because they are different people, and the situations are always different. For example the other day my two year old pulled something on my table and a little trinket fell off and broke. I was talking to a friend and excused myself and put Haylee on time out. I could see she was very sorry and embarrassed and didn't stay on timeout. I would have normally yelled at her to stay and possibly even escalated to a more severe consequence. I then chose to lovingly look at her and said "Oh Haylee you seem to be very embarrassed
for breaking the camera. I love you and I forgive you." She was instantly soothed. I said her consequence was to help mommy clean up the mess. We did it together and no tears to be had. I was amazed that by helping her process her feelings she felt deeply understood and loved and she probably learned more from that, than from a time out.

I don't claim to know anything but that I need Jesus in my everyday pursuit of parenting. It's in him that I find the wisdom to know what to do and the grace and forgiveness when I lose my way.  Each moment is a beautiful opportunity for me to talk to my children about Him.  So I'll hang in there,  my friend. You hang in there. We are all in this together. If we can grow as mommy's together, what a beautiful world, full of children raised UP to live in this difficult life, this would be.  If you have any tips for me please share them by all means! As they say "iron sharpens iron"  and I love to learn new things! I love you! Bye!