Love.

As I reached for the third cup of coffee this morning in an attempt to ward of the sleepiness that comes along with child care, I asked myself the same question that I always ask in moments of exhaustion... Why do I do this to myself?

This week has been a bit crazy so far, which is usually normal. Last week, however, was the opposite of crazy while I vacationed with my family in the retirement capital of America... Marco Island, FL. Coming from such a slow moving, fun/sun/food-filled week made my usual 7am - 9pm schedule a bit more exhausting than I remembered. I try to be a super-nanny, but I will tell you all who have never cared for a child... KIDS ARE EXHAUSTING. They constantly want something (often food, or something equally as inconvenient), they have indescribable amounts of energy that they likely stole from you (one mom likened this concept to the dementors in Harry Potter), and they are full of an impossible amount of bodily fluids! Any person who works in child care (parents, teachers, coaches, etc.) deserves a billion gold stars and a lifetime supply of strong coffee. So why, then, do I voluntarily spend my 40-hours per week cleaning up aforementioned bodily fluids while being energy sucked by dementor children? Love.

After dealing with yet another mid-nap potty accident, and going through the motions of the nap-time ritual for what seemed like the billionth time today, the 3-year-old I watch looked up at me with something to say. I expected him to request yet another snack, or drink, or "five more minutes," or "just one more book," but instead, he said to me, "Han, I love you" and closed his eyes for his nap. I don't care if it is the cheesiest thing ever. This is the moment of my day that reminded me what love is. Those little dementors who produce piles of dirty diapers, dishes, and laundry are people. They're not going to be people when they grow up, when they start talking, or when they've reached some other milestone... they're people right now and they need the grown-ups in their lives to know that. They are each special, kind, creative, and smart. When they play it is sometimes loud and irritating, but it is so important. Their fresh, young minds are able to learn and grow so much everyday. It is so outrageously impressive the way we've all been created. People are so intricately designed. Our ability to love... that's an incredible gift and kids are able to do it so well sometimes that it makes cry for so embarrassingly long that you have to write about it. As I sit here listening to the early signs of the end of nap time, I am just so thankful for the life that I have, and for the people God's placed in my life. I am so thankful that one of those wonderful people reminded me, yet again, how much God loves each one of His children, and that He is calling me to do the same.

Xoxo,
Hannah

A Guide to Hannah: Not-So-Pretty-Things You Should Know About Me

1. Faith, family, and friends are my top 3 priorities in that order.
2. I am a procrastinator in the worst way.
3. Things don't typically line up neat and tidy in my head. I usually have to force the jumbles into some sort of order to maintain sanity... and form coherent sentences.
4. I can't spell many words well without spell check.
5. Self-control is tricky for me sometimes, because I'm a pretty passionate person.
6. I need my sleep.
7. Music is powerful and necessary in my day-to-day.
8. Sometimes being the listener of the conversation is a huge struggle, but it's not because I don't want to hear what the talker has to say.
9. Stress manifests itself physically in the form of weird, awkward ailments like stomach pains, excessive sweating, itchy rashes, or vision loss (to name a few).
10. Sunshine warms my heart and boosts my mood.
11. I'm meant to be a mother someday. It's my purpose in life and I am so excited to fulfill it.
12. I frequently eat my feelings.
13. I love vegetables, but I love chocolate too.
14. I hope to one day be truly surprised by something amazing.
15. The biggest adventure to me is becoming vulnerable enough to love all sorts of people and things... investing my whole heart.
16. I'm honestly afraid of what a coffee outage could do to me.
17. Encouragement is my favorite way to be loved.
18. I am strong willed to a fault, therefore I don't react well to being told what I can or cannot do.
19. It pains me to let other people down, because I genuinely want them happy and fulfilled.
20. I tend to keep an absurdly busy schedule.
21. My feet stink horribly and I am ashamed of them.
22. I hate being in debt.
23. I'm usually late.
24. I'm not perfect, or normal, or one of the cool kids, but I'll try my best to accept you and respect you just as you are.
25. I'm weird about having things be round numbers, so I had to have 25 things.

Project 373.

 A little New Year update:

 2012 was a year of new adventures and new beginnings.  I began to take part in a project of taking pictures for a whole year. I started this project on Christmas 2011 and "ended" it New Years Eve 2012( I still take a picture just about every day.) I don't  believe in New Years Resolutions, I think you should constantly be challenging yourself to live a healthier more meaningful life.

I wanted for this project to take pictures of my everyday life that I often forget to document. We usually take pictures of the "big moments" but what about all the little moments that make life, well life? Throughout my 373 pictures you see bits of my life captured on film. What started off as an instagram challenge from a friend turned into a wonderful memory.

  Here  are few moments of time captured from my past year.

                Worked with strangers rebuilding our community after a Tornado swept through

        Saw Titanic at least 4 times in theaters, including on 100th anniversary of when the titanic     

             sank.Because lets be real here,  TITANIC IS THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME.

                                              

 

My oldest niece graduated from preschool.

  

Mourned the loss of my cousin Chad, and learned just how precious life truly is 

                                                                       

                                                  Jumped in front of the Tanner Residence

                                                   Took my 18 year old dog for a spin.

                                              Said goodbye to my Sassy Cat, Cookie.

                                             

                                          Welcomed a new family member Lady Pippa Winslet

   

                                        Celebrated many birthdays (my little niece turned 2)

                                                       Fell in love with the first grade.

 

                                                           Spent time with family.

                                                              Joined a headband mafia.

                                                            Enjoyed days at the beach

 

And nights at the pool

                                              traveled to imaginary worlds at the beck

                               laughed and dance my way through my last year of sorority life

                                                                 became a princess

                                                    

                                                    crafted  away my last day as a nanny

                                             

                                         Rang in the new year with my nearly normal girl.

There are so many other memories I wanted to share in this post, but I ran out of space! if you would like to see more, follow my instagram Conninator.

Thanks for reading,

xoxox

Kimmy