a lifestyle blog about motherhood, intention, whimsical moments, and wellness
say yes.
Just say yes.
When Chris left for his trip, I decided I want to make a conscious effort to slow down and say yes. If it takes 2 hours to get through the grocery store, no big deal. If baths and bedtime take forever, that’s great.
I want to slow down.
I was telling Chris tonight what a huge difference that has made. It has been glorious. Tonight dinner, baths, pjs, prayers, brushing our teeth…it all took a long time. I started singing to Aiden (he was last to get up on the stool to brush his teeth) and he said, ” will you rock me mama?”. Oh my goodness, it has been far too long since I have done this with him. The fast pace of life and the days that speed by with three small kiddos, when was the last time that I rocked him?? I pulled him up into the same rocking chair that I sang to him night after night. A tall, long-legged 4 year old boy put his arms around me and I rocked him to sleep. I had no agenda, no where to go but right there present with him. I smelled his hair, I felt his cheeks. I soaked in every last ounce of it.
Will there be moments and days someday that I wished I had done more of this?
Said yes more?
I want to say yes as much as possible to them. When I start to say no, I stop..think about it…yes! let’s do that!
Not being in a rush or having an agenda, dying to the “lists”… it has freed something in me. Like I have nothing to lose because I don’t have an expectation of things I need to get done for the day. Today we were driving to the pool and Aiden asked me to turn up the music and roll the windows down. I looked in my rear-view mirror and Aiden and Ains were singing into fake microphones and laughing together.
It almost felt like slow motion.
Are we really at this point? Do I really have a 4 year old and (almost) 3 year old singing in my backseat??
I am not sure if it was the loud music and the beautiful breeze creeping in or just a culmination of emotions all hitting at once…but I couldn’t help but let my eyes fill with tears. I am so lucky to be their mom. To enjoy them everyday. To have the honor of teaching them how to be and loving them.
It’s just so beautiful.
July 12, 2013
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just keep on keeping on and saying it. It is insane how fast it goes by. I feel like we just started and my oldest is going into highschool in two months. It seems like she is still in preschool sometimes. I miss it terribly.
Enjoy them being little. Always in a rush to do everything we need to do.
You stop and take a breath and realize 14 years has gone by.
You are doing a fabulous job. Love you
There's so much pleasure in relishing time with our little ones. Thank you for the reminder to slow down and to really focus on enjoying every minute. I know it's more than worth it, especially since these little years fly by so fast.
i just cried!!! i want austin to want me to hold him and rock him to sleep when he grows up!!!!!! aiden is soo sweet!!
xo,
Sandy
Sandy a la Mode
they grow up way to fast. my oldest is learning to drive. i cant even believe it. your posts are always so inspiring!
I totally agree. WHen I find myself saying no too much, I realize mostly it's me who needs to chill out and just live. It's so much more fun that way too! 🙂
your posts always bring me to tears. happy tears! such beautiful words. after my week, I totally am all about say yes and letting go. so beautiful casey!!! love you!
ps — you are such an amazing mom!
This post really hit home tonight, Casey! I've been saying the exact same thing to myself…slow down!
I've had some moments like this myself with my 2 year old. I sing her to sleep and she lays against me in the chair…we are tummy to tummy, and she rests her head on my shoulder. Not much longer and she will be too big to lay like that on me!
Sometimes I don't know if I can slow down and just stop. It actually kind of scares me. It will only make me realize what I don't want face. Saying yes more, though, to the kids especially is something I really need to work on. I value the words in this post so much. I think it's one of the few times I've commented on your blog. Your words touched me tonight. Thank you.
Casey, this just hits so close to home for me too. Thank you for this friend. I'm going to do think about this tomorrow. I just wrote about this, only from the opposite end, wondering if I say yes enough…
Thank you <3
such a beautiful post….i think every single one of us mama's need to read and be reminded of this!
I love this so much, you make me extremely excited to be a mama! I feel this way about my nephews, little brother, etc…so I can't imagine it amplified for my own babies. I'm constantly going to be a hot mess from happy tears all the time!
I really need to start saying yes more, I let too many of the things that take over my life and are not needed. I need to (like you did) take a step back, say to myself to slow down and do what I really want to do by saying yes.
Lovely post and your photos are always amazing.
Lou
http://www.thekeypieces.co.uk
This is so beautiful it hurts. — Your words and pictures I love so much. Your kiddos are beyond blessed to have you as their momma. Thank you, friend, for this much needed reminder. 🙂 xoxo
Casey, I've never commented on your blog before but I had a moment just like this last night. My little almost 4 year old boy asked me to snuggle with him last night. I was in a hurry to do something for myself, but thankfully The Lord reminded me…he's only little once. And in a few years your heart is going to ache for him to ask you to snuggle with him!!! I said yes! And I too, slave to the list struggle so much with being in a hurry. And that's when I realize….I'm grumpy. Thanks for your encouragement! I love watching your heart! I live in Atlanta and I'm thinking about trying to get our "mom's group" to make a trip to Dallas for Hope Spoken! I know we would LOVE it!!
Casey, I've never commented on your blog before but I had a moment just like this last night. My little almost 4 year old boy asked me to snuggle with him last night. I was in a hurry to do something for myself, but thankfully The Lord reminded me…he's only little once. And in a few years your heart is going to ache for him to ask you to snuggle with him!!! I said yes! And I too, slave to the list struggle so much with being in a hurry. And that's when I realize….I'm grumpy. Thanks for your encouragement! I love watching your heart! I live in Atlanta and I'm thinking about trying to get our "mom's group" to make a trip to Dallas for Hope Spoken! I know we would LOVE it!!
I've been following your blog for a while, and I must say this is my absolute favorite. I can relate to everything you said. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Casey, Just had to say thanks! Thanks for the reminder to say yes. I literally had one of these moments last night as my almost 4 year old begged me to snuggle with him at bed time. I wanted to say no, selfishly, to rush to my own things. But thankfully the Lord reminded me that some day my heart will ache for him to beg me to snuggle with him. These moments with them are so fleeting – trying and fleeting and I know I will miss them SO MUCH! And then this morning after reading your blog I read chapter 4 of Ann Voskamp's 1000 Gifts. God is truly working me. My biggest struggle – time. Slave to the tasks. To the lists. I am thankful for the ways he uses people like you and Ann to teach me.
I would love to get a group of my girls to go out to Dallas for your Hope Spoken conference. We'll see!! 🙂
Have you read One Thousand Gifts? I would highly recommend it! In all your "free" time. 😉
Love this, Casey. Such a good reminder to slow down. I'm linking up for the first time. Thanks for the opportunity. xo, ab
Beautifully written, as always. I needed to hear these words today, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Wonderful! I hope I have the wisdom to do this with my children.
beautiful!! thank you for sharing! i spend a lot of the day saying hold on, no, in a minute, hurry, maybe later. kids are only kids for a short while. thank you again for sharing!!
Well that made me cry. And think about things a little differently. Thanks for that.
I'm due with my first, a daughter, this September and am anxiously awaiting being her mom. She's so precious to me already. Love your thoughts on motherhood =)
xo,
Katie
hellolittlebean.com
shopboldthreads.com
I just recently found your blog and am so glad I did. It's beautiful, and your heart shines through every post! Thank you for this…I have three boys who are very quickly growing up. I need to stop my "just get through the day" mentality and BE in the moment with them. More. When you are worn down, it's hard to do that, but it's so important. Each day can feel 100 hours long, and yet the years FLY by and soon you discover that your littles don't fit on your lap anymore. Soak it up Momma!
Yes. Yes. Yes. People poo-pa rocking a child to sleep consistently, but its my favorite time of the day. To watch him fall asleep = heaven.
I love how much you give and love your littles. What a great moment with Aiden, too!
-Chelsea
chelsandthecity.blogspot.com
I am so like you. I try to soak in every.last.second of the goodness that my kids bring. So funny, because on the other side of the country (I am in CT), last night my 5 year old (also all legs) waited patiently while I nursed his brother to sleep and then climbed into my lap on the big rocking chair, and in the dark of the only A/C room in the house we quietly talked about his day, the weekend…and then he drifted to sleep and I smelled his hair and kissed his sweet face. As I type this I have tears welling up. It does go by so fast – and I have been very conscious of that…and I will always do my very best to say yes to my kids in matters that are important – like rocking them to sleep.
Love your post – all of your posts. You are a beautiful mama.
Gah! now you make me get all teary eyed!
Shelby
http://brandonandshelby.blogspot.com
i teared up thinking about them singing too. so sweet. XO
I needed to read this post. I'm so guilty for rushing and just trying to go go go. What a beautifully written reminder you gave me to just slow down and enjoy motherhood.
oh that is so inspirational and such a good reminder. With my second little one on the way, I want to give my all to my first while I can before my attention is divided as much as possible. I want him to go into being a big brother feeling so loved and special, as he is.
Megan from Chasing Davies
i am SO right here…but the problem is my sign business. while i LOVE LOVE what id do and that God has grown it so much…it is what i use to help support the kids and i but i feel so rushed that i drives me crazy. when my oldest three .. all grown..before technology life was so much slower and enjoyable even.
now it sucks the very life out of you and i so believe with all my heart that it is destroying families…
but i love your words and your heart. i haven't linked to posts in over a year…but i just switched to blog lovin and got on my "reader" which i don't do anymore and clicked into you and LOVED what i read….a God thing i'm sure.
happy for you that you got to really feel being a momma ..xotiff
I've totally done the same recently. It's been about 3 weeks of us having kicked our rushing and our schedule and just BEING. My son asked me to rock him tonight, too, and it was wonderful. We read 5 books before bedtime instead of one or two. We sing songs and have dance parties and just LIVE. It's been so very freeing.
Thank you for posting this. i need to say yes more often. I do admire your family and hope god will bless be with a wonderful family.
I've been a mama for 13 years, and some of the best advice a mentor gave me in those early years was to say yes as often as possible. It has made all the difference.
What a absolutely beautiful post. I am so glad I read this tonight, this is such truth. I also need to start saying yes more often and slow down. I forget how fast the days will fly by. Thank you for sharing this Casey, your words touched my heart.
Well, I've been a Momma for 37 years and now Grandmother for almost 5 years and this still spoke volumes to me! I've learned but am still learning about what really matters in this short life of ours. Awesome post!
Thanks for this great reminder Casey! It has blessed me and encouraged me to get down on Ezra's level and enjoy the world more with him. 🙂 Hope you are doing well. xoxo
I just adore your heart and your words. i'm so blessed by the things you share, be it thoughts or feelings or pretty pictures. our precious babes are the most beautiful blessings and teachers of what's important in life. i'm so glad God has blessed you blogging success and success in other endeavors. I really do know because of that you're able to bless so many women. xoxo.