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stormieariel 2016

Friday, January 1, 2021

I Quit Nursing School

I Quit Nursing School

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As I played with the words to share my decision, I realized this may be a very unpopular decision especially in our modern society with high value for career minded women. However I want to be very clear:

I am not JUST a stay at home mom. 


I CHOOSE to be a stay at home mom. 


We make sacrifices in our lifestyle that allow me to spend this time with our children and I wouldn’t want it any other way. You don’t have to understand it and it’s okay if you choose differently for your family and if you don’t have the choice, my heart goes out to you.


I don’t know about you but I process things better with details. I like to know the overall picture which gives me a better understanding so let’s rewind a bit.


My first few years of college, I worked in childcare and ultimately changed my major from nursing to education right when I was about to start the actual nursing program. I loved teaching and being there with these kiddos as they learned and discovered something new (I was an assistant pre-k teacher), I wanted to experience that beyond just a college job. Anyways, every once in a while, I would be asked to relieve one of the infant room workers for their lunch break. Playing with babies and experiencing their firsts - the heartbreak I felt for the moms, that was the moment I knew I WANTED to stay home with my future children.


You combine that experience with my experience of loss and little memory of just being with my parents, this drove my desire even more to be there for every moment with my children especially those early years. 


Fast-forward, add some kids later and Anthony gets sick. Really sick. Our life is turned upside down trying to figure out what is going on. This experience takes me back to three year old Stormie who is about to turn four whose dad dies two weeks before her birthday. My daughter is two years old and in about two weeks (at that time) will turn three as her daddy is in the hospital with some unknown infection. The PTSD and anxiety was awful although I hid it very well from most.


Then we add on no income, unstable job situation for Anthony which leads to him being wrongfully terminated a few months later (he was on sick leave for 12 weeks). He found a new job a few weeks later and within a month back in the hospital with a different major infection.


Amidst this, I decided to return to nursing school because between education and nursing, it allowed the most flexible schedule for me to still be home with my kids during the day and work nights and weekends as needed whenever Anthony gets sick. Therefore I got registered to update a few pre-reqs.


Here we are a year later with everything done, prepared and ready to apply for my BSN program and I decided not to do it. 


I cannot afford to miss anymore time with my kids while they are this little because I am driven by fear. 


These past few weeks as I have dug in, I realized nursing school was my way to control and this backup plan I created became what I was putting my trust in instead of God. A good thing (a backup plan) turned into a god thing and that’s when I ultimately decided it was best to step back, refocus my trust and faith in God and His care for me whatever His plan may be in our life. This decision also allows me the freedom to truly enjoy this time I want to have with my children as they will only be this little once.


If I should have learned anything these past 3.5 years dealing with a layoff, selling our home, sickness, wrongful termination, and more sickness mixed with everything else on our plates in between, it is that God provides. 


The people God has placed in our lives, this city we settled in as a compromise, the church we “randomly” found from a google search, was all preordained by God. If He provided for us through all those dark and murky waters, He will continue to provide for us no matter what the future looks like.


Therefore I am CHOOSING to stay home with my children and actively work on trusting God with the details.


I am not JUST a stay at home mom. It is my privilege and joy to spend the days with my babies. I want to soak up every moment with my favorite human beings and build memories that will last a lifetime.


I encourage you to rephrase the way you look at and speak about YOUR choices, whatever they may be, in a positive way. Don’t devalue yourself.

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stormieariel
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Monday, June 15, 2020

Father's Day Gift Guide

Father's Day Gift Guide

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Well hello, its me again. So soon ya'll may come to expect me to be a consistent blogger, haha. I was inspired last night as I was ordering Anthony's father day presents. I found out about this Chimney Charcoal Starter thing a few months ago from Preston Perry so I knew it was something I wanted to get for Anthony. I just never bit the bullet and as father's day is approaching and seeing influencers share their gift guides it reminded me to order his present and I knew immediately I would be ordering a Chimney Charcoal Starter. There I am ordering this cool contraption thing and I had the thought to share on my IG stories with you all in case you never heard of it either and that's how my thought process came to putting together a quick gift guide with presents Anthony has truly enjoyed. I will still share each of the items in my stories so be sure to head there to see them "in person," I will be sure to have a highlight saved in case you run across this post after the 24 hours.


Mini Kreg Jig Kit
With social distancing happening across the country, those honey to do lists are able to finally get completed. This jig helps hide screws to give woodworking a more "professional" look so to speak and with getting the mini you aren't having to fork out an investment. Obviously it doesn't work as fast as the K5 would BUT if you never used a Kreg jig to begin with, you wouldn't know the difference. It's a great stepping stone to taking your woodworking up a notch without the major pricetag. 

If anything was a must have item, it is definitely this speaker. I bought this during Christmas for Anthony and it is the most used item I have ever bought him. He uses it in the shower, while out in the garage, when we had friends over, at the beach, etc. It's a pricer item compared to the others I am sharing but it is worth it. 

I tried buying Anthony one of those sunrise clocks after our old school one broke but he was not impressed so when I saw the Echo Dot had a version with a digital clock on it I knew we had to have it. I love how we can easily see the clock without having to ask Alexa what time it is but we can also ask her to set his alarm without getting up and fiddling with it (we are so spoiled, I know). And I enjoy that she can play my podcasts for me as I am fixing my bed in the mornings or can play music for us at night while playing video games and hanging out.

This is the gift I am getting him this year, I told him about it when I first heard of it and he thought it was neat as well so it won't be a total surprise but I know he will enjoy having a faster way to light the charcoal and also using less chemicals. I don't know about ya'll but I have always been skeptical about lighter fluid and glad there is a device that allows you to bypass that. Along with this I also got him a cover for his barbeque pit as we recently bought him a new one since we gave away his old one when we sold our last house. I wanted to be sure we took better care of this pit compared to the other so this is the one I ordered in case you are in need of one as well.

We swear by Yeti after we purchased our first one almost two years ago. I have only had one other brand of tumblers so I don't have much comparison however it was that big of a difference I don't want to try others. My ice stays as ice overnight so my water in the morning is still cold. We even took our Yeti tumbler to the beach and left it in the car so we would have fresh cold water once we were heading home and the ice was still in there. We have been sharing the one Yeti but I am not great at sharing so we got Anthony his own and he loves it. It's great for keeping his water cold overnight as well but also his mix drinks cold without completely watering it down allowing him to sip on it over time.

And in case you are more DIY savy or just prefer more personal gift giving, I created this frame for Anthony for his first Father's Day and he loved it. We now have it apart of Sophia's gallery wall in her room but it was made with him in mind. This would look great on daddy's nightstand or at his office. You can find my tutorial here.



Now personally I love blogs when bloggers share their life before handing me links to buy stuff or getting to their tutorial for whatever. It helps build a "relationship" so to speak but I have heard that others do not enjoy the story time before content and just prefer getting to the point. I'm curious to know which are you?

Also, if you found this post helpful or know someone who would, please share it! I have made this pinnable image below to make it easier to pin and share!!
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stormieariel
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Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Top 5 Books for Your Baby/Toddler (0-3)

Top 5 Books for Your Baby/Toddler (0-3)

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Well hello whoever is still hanging around. I thought I would start posting more often after my last post but alas I have been preoccupied with house projects and adjusting to a new routine here at the house. We have been in such a good rhythm the last few weeks even amidst the current circumstances.

I have arrived to the thought that my blogging will remain inconsistent as I only want to blog when I am inspired (this thought has actually been simmering for over a year). This will allow me to post quality material and in hopes that it will be more helpful to you all. If you do enjoy day to day tips/tricks and in the life, I post pretty regularly on Instagram stories.

The past few days, even weeks, I have given much thought about our bookshelves and the types of books we own and the books we borrow from the library. When my eldest was first born, I wanted her to have every book there was but also wanted to be sure those books were of great quality. I happened upon Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt and soon it became my quest to acquire every book listed in her "A Child's First Books: Ages 0-3" chapter. She has somewhere around 60-65 books listed, we own around 20. Hunt was in no way suggesting you need to own all the books in her list, that was the overachiever in me wanting to check the list completely off. However after 4.5 years and two children later, my eldest being 4.5 and my youngest about 2.5, I have come to the conclusion that we do not need to own that many books. Children love repetition and sometimes they get so stuck on one book that they want to read it over and over and over again. Therefore, we would be just as well borrowing other books from the library to still introduce them to new stories and only buying the ones that truly stuck with our family that we are constantly wanting to read over and over and over again. Among owning about 20 books from this particular list, I would say we also own quite a few more picture books. Many of them Dr. Seuss which we did read quite a bit with my eldest her earlier years but not so much with my son but that is another list entirely, haha.

With all the books we own and have borrowed, all the reading we have done between two children, only a handful of books have made a mark for us as a family thus far. We have sweet memories of these stories with one or both of my children and the joy they gave us and we gave them during read-alouds. I hope this short and sweet list of ours will provide special memories and bonding time with your own littles during these early years and that one of these, if not all, will wind up as part of your child's first library.

This was Sophia's favorite one as a baby. She would get so excited when I would use an over dramatic voice "Wheeeeeeeere's SPOT?" and as we progressed through the book, she loved lifting the flaps and discovering what animal was hiding. The thing I loved about this book was the positional words that was used, "Is he behind the door?" "Is he in the closet?" "He's under the rug." It created an easy, natural and fun way to introduce elements in the English language that she will need later on. Reading in general exposes children to so much more than literacy though but that is a post for another day. Just trust me it is never too early OR too late to start reading aloud with your children.

Sophia loved the dramatics of the alphabet falling out the tree and the full moon. She also enjoyed all the alphabet at the back of the book and asking what each one is, we would often start singing the ABC song as we pointed to each one. Bubba has now also started flipping to the back and pointing at specific letters or matching the letter from his alphabet puzzle to the back of the book. Such a great rhyming book for early alphabet introduction.

For this book, there is a very specific one you need to get for it to be great in my opinion and that is the Slide and Find version. Interactive books like this and the flip to look and touch and feel engage babies and toddlers to explore these books on their own. Sophia loved being able to control the slides and Bubba is completely obsessed with this book. He went from knowing one color to knowing around 9 maybe more in two days. TWO days. I did not have to do any extra activities with him, he has flashcards but he mainly used those to sort by color but being able to name each color I give all the credit to this book. Truly shows in the early years we don't need fancy lesson plans or themed activities, just let them play and read them quality books! He also memorized the book and I have a sweet video of him "reading" it to me. I plan to also record him to create a "audiobook" and what a treasure it will be to hear his sweet baby voice once he is a grown man and possibly having his own babies.

I read an article once by a speech therapist saying the beginning stages of learning to speak is learning animal sounds. Those sounds are the building blocks and Sophia was not much of a talker at this time. She grunted and pointed. I knew she could talk if she really wanted to because her ability to understand everything we said was amazing and we would get snippets when she was in the mood (which was very rare). Although Sophia still waited to talk on her own timeline, as she has done with everything else so far, we still highly recommend this book because it is so full of giggles and laughter making sounds with your children and you still get to set up those building blocks for speaking later on.

A very classic book. Sophia enjoys the metamorphosis part when the butterfly comes out at the end of the book. I enjoy the early exposure to counting and the days of the week. Bubba enjoys the "holes" in the books for each food item the caterpillar ate (told ya'll interactive books for young toddlers and babies is where it is at, they love exploring with their hands)

Bonus: A Touch-and-Feel book
Again with young toddlers and babies exploring with their hands. I do not have a specific book recommendation other then having one touch-and-feel book on hand is great for them to explore different textures. Sophia had this one and loved touching the scarecrow (burlap) whereas Bubba had this one and the scratchy (sandpaper) pig was a favorite.

And that my friends is our family's top 5 book recommendations for your baby's own library. I still highly recommend reading as many books as possible so take advantage of your local library! If you need new book ideas, I love referencing the Read-Aloud Revival's A Year of Picture Books list as well as Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt (mentioned above).

I'm curious to know, how many of these books do you already own? What age did you start reading to your child?

If you found this post helpful or know someone who would, please share it! I have made this pinnable image below to make it easier to pin and share!!



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stormieariel
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