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Are You a Good Enough Mother?

Posted on March 31, 2011 10:00 am by TheAngelForever

Have you ever had one of those moments where you doubt yourself, wonder what is happening, and question whether you are a good enough mother/parent/adult/human?

Welcome to my current world.

As I hinted at the other day, TechyDad and I are in the process of making some tough decisions for our family. I have shed a lot of tears since we got back home from the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. Let’s just say that coming back from a week of magic, where you can forget about reality, is harsh.

Fortunately, I am trying to remember some wise words that I heard at the conference. I am working on embracing the philosophy of the The Good Enough Mother. This means accepting that nobody is perfect, being able to let go of things, allowing for me time, and realizing that I am not failing my children. We all make mistakes, learn from these mistakes (not failures), and grow thanks to them. Still being a TypeA personality, it is not easy to let go of my ways.

So who helped me to see the light? This beautiful, amazing, and truly inspirational woman that I am standing with below:

Meet Rene Syler – the head GEM. What is a GEM, read more about what it mean to be a Good Enough Mother on her website. Here is a little biography that was provided to us before the event at Disney:

Rene Syler has had the opportunity to interview famous faces, political personalities and countless authors during her four year position as one of the anchors of The Early Show at CBS. In March 2007, Rene’s first book Good Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting was published by Simon Spolight Entertainment. From that her website, www.goodenoughmother.com was born.

Rene came onto the stage at DisneySMMoms and stole my heart and many others in the audience. She spoke to me on so many levels. Almost two weeks after hearing her inspirational speech, my brain is still going a mile a minute – not a bad thing honestly. Rene’s words have helped me during the moments where I wanted to quit being an adult and return to my childhood. Seriously, recalling her words has brought a smile to my face when there were tears in my eyes.

My plan is to bring you along on my journey as I embrace my inner GEM and work on reinventing myself. I will continue to explore more lessons from Rene and channel her energy here on my blog.

For now, I would like to share some of my favorite Rene Syler-isms from her talk. I Tweeted about many of these during DisneySMMoms, but think they deserve to be seen again:

Being washed up is just another word for reinventing yourself. You can always reinvent yourself.
Just because you used your womb doesn’t mean that you don’t use your brain.
Real growth hurts. You cannot grow when you are comfortable, and you cannot be comfortable when you grow.
Follow your passion, because you can never go wrong.
It is okay to say to your kids, “Come here. Listen, Mommy need a break from you.” It’s good for you and for them.
When you spit fire the message is lost.
People who make you feel bad have no place in your life. Do not let people get you down about not being perfect.
You only have so much energy and do not need to waste your energy on negative people.
Anyone who says they are perfect is lying!

To read more about Rene’s talk, head over to Cutestkidever, where Christina live blogged.

One more thing, Rene is a big fan of Dancing With The Stars. She actually Tweets along with people using #dwts during the live shows. The other night, she mentioned that she would love to be on the show. Cindy, The Mom Maven, listened and started a Twitter campaign and wrote a blog post to let the powers that be know that Rene has our support. Please help us to get Rene Syler onto Dancing With The Stars – the world could learn so much while watching this amazing woman strut her stuff.

Rene is a one of a kind woman who can teach all of us so much. Thank you, Rene, for being you, for sharing with all of us your gift, and for Tweeting and supporting Social Media and Moms in general.

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, we were given an incredible deal thanks to Disney. The sweet conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, several meals for the entire family, 7 day park hoppers for everyone, conference/meals for me and some other items to take home. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan, it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.

Categories:
Blogging Conference decisions Disney DisneySMMoms interesting looking back me moments photos

Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings and Honeymoons Platinum Soiree

Posted on March 27, 2011 6:00 am by TheAngelForever

Almost ten years ago, TechyDad and I were married. At the time, my soon to be husband had never been to Walt Disney World.

It’s okay to gasp since I know I did.

When we were planning our honeymoon, we wanted to do something different. I am not a beach person. Over time, I convinced TechyDad that we should do a Walt Disney World honeymoon. We stayed the the Beach Club Resort, added on the Deluxe Dining Plan, made some advanced dining reservations (ADRs in Disney lingo), planned to see Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba, and did several behind the scene tours. At our table, during our reception, we even had two special guests.

Fast forward to the first event at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. We were all invited to be guests at the Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings and Honeymoons Platinum Soiree. When we arrived, we were given Minnie Bride Ears or Mickey Top Hats. TechyDad and I almost bough similar ones on our honeymoon, but never did. Now, I had my own Mickey ears.

When we walked toward Franck’s, near the Wedding Pavilion, we were greeted by Franck and Edna. Yes, these characters were brought to life (Father of the Bride and Incredibles anyone?!) and came over to as many people as they could to welcome us to the event.

Franck and Edna explained that we should go make ourselves a candy box to take as our gift. Who are we to say no?! It was like Candy Land (which actually has a Disney version) was placed on a magical table before our eyes.

After this, we went into Franck’s to see all of the amazing wedding cake and setting displays. The photos do not do the creations justice.

Then it was time to head into the wedding Pavilion. On the way into the building, that I had always longed to see from the monorail, we were able to see the new Disney Fairy Tale Weddings Alfred Angelo Gowns that are inspired by the Disney Princesses.

Once inside, we made sure to take some photos of us wearing our ears. Christina from Cutestkidever and I are sporting our ears together. Sitting with us were Debra from AFrugalFriend and Cathi from Planes, Trains & Taxi Cabs.

Soon it was time to sit back and learn about the new happenings with the Disney Parks. We would also be the first people to see the Cinderella inspired dress, hear from Carley Roney from The Knot and The Bump, meet David Tutera from My Fair Wedding, and witness an amazing Disney style wedding.

It was just the beginning of a magical evening. Many more photos to come soon care of the amazing photographers at Disney who captured the beauty of the evening.

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, we were given an incredible deal thanks to Disney. The sweet conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, several meals for the entire family, 7 day park hoppers for everyone, conference/meals for me and some other items to take home. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.

Categories:
Blogging Conference bloggy friends Disney DisneySMMoms fun looking back photos

What a Difference a Year Makes

Posted on March 22, 2011 12:00 pm by TheAngelForever

The first time that we took the boys to Walt Disney World, they were beyond excited. We made reservations to begin the trip at Chef Mickey. Before I knew what was happening, both of the boys were cowering away from the characters. Yes, the kids were scared of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy.

On that trip NHL eventually warmed up and was able to get autographs and photos. JSL, would clutch to us for photos. Then, on his second birthday we had dinner at The Crystal Palace. A break through moment occurred. JSL went over to his favorite, Tigger, and honked his nose. It may not seem like much, but it meant a lot to us.

Last year NHL was a character pro and eager to meet and greet everyone. JSL was willing to go, if one of us went with him. We had no idea what we would experience with him this year. To our surprise JSL runs up and bear hugs the characters. When he has to leave from his turn with them, he will hug and kiss them as his way to thanking them.

We learned not to push the issue and let the boys ease their way into seeing the Disney favorites. Many more memories and photos to come soon.

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, we were given an incredible deal thanks to Disney. The sweet conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, several meals for the entire family, 7 day park hoppers for everyone, conference/meals for me and some other items to take home. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.

Categories:
Disney DisneySMMoms jsl looking back nhl photos vacation

Celebrating Purim

Posted on March 20, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As a child, I have many memories of celebrating Purim with my family. My mother, father, brother and I would go to Shul with my Mimi and Poppy. I often dressed up as Queen Esther since this was her big day. For years I would not go near our rabbi because he scared me in his Megillah Gorilla costume one year. I am happy to report I was able to get over it since he was also the one that married us almost ten years ago.

TechyDad and I have also taken our kids to synagogue for Purim celebrations.

The boys adore dressing up and taking part in the Megillah reading celebration. Groggers to make noises each time we hear the name Haman uttered, only adds to the fun and excitement for a child.

Today, the boys and I will be celebrating Purim a little differently. To help get you in the mood and tell you the story, I wanted to share the Maccabeats Purim Song video. Enjoy!

For previous Purim related posts that I have written, you can check them out here.

Categories:
fun holidays jsl looking back Music nhl TechyDad video

My Neverland Pirate Days

Posted on March 18, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I love pulling out old photos of Disney trips gone by to share with the boys. Disney has always been a part of my life. My parents took me to Disney World long before I can actually remember. One of the first trips that I recall is when I was just six years old. We stayed at the Contemporary Resort with family friends.

Recently I found two photos from spring/summer 1983 that really caught JSL’s attention. You see my little guy is a BIG fan of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, new Disney Junior show. Both of the boys are anxious to have their photos taken with Captain Hook and Smee. So, imagine the look on his face when I showed the boys some old school photos of me with those characters.

The outfits in the photos, especially the River Country Donald Duck shirt really date these. Just some of the memories I have and can not wait to make more with my family.

So my question for you this week:

If you had the opportunity, which Disney character would you love to have your photo taken with? If you want to share why, I would love to know.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.