I made it to the afternoon! Oh, thank goodness. I had numerous times today where I simply wanted to crawl into bed, nap, and ignore responsibility. Duty calls though. Nonstop in the life of a mom. Makenzie kept my hands full today…from 6 am on. Her little fake-mommy-out cry she shared in her “guest post” wasn’t a fake today. I lost my hour or so of productive time this morning.

Somehow, three hours disappeared in the blink of an eye and I was scrambling to get out the door and make it to Power class. I heart workouts on stressful mornings. They totally relieve stress and tension for me. At least for that hour, since after making it to my street I realized I had to turn around and drive back to the gym to pick up my Camelbak water bottle I forgot. I’m not about to lose that thing! It’s attached at my always thirsty side.

Then, I had to act all productive and do responsible things like finish the dagnabitwilliteverend laundry, handle a tired cranky toddler who wouldn’t nap, finally respond to a pile of emails, and type up a final lesson for the first meeting of our church small group I co-lead tonight.  Okay, okay. As much as I bemoan all of this, I know it isn’t much and in truth didn’t let it get to me. Much. If I had in fact felt totally overwhelmed, you would not have found me in the kitchen whipping up Estela’s Nutella Blondies. Ohhh….yes.

I have a feeling I will be whipping up treats for our small group on a regular basis. After all, there are too many fabulous recipes out there to try! We all know I fear cooking, but baking? Baking I can do. I hope the members of our small group like them! I clearly wouldn’t know. 😉

I do want to discuss something I feel strongly about in this post as well. Well, besides cranky toddlers and sugary treats, both of which hold my affection. I want to share the importance in finding a small group of people to connect with. I have my friends from school. I have family friends. I have an amazing group of friends here in the blog world. And for awhile, Peter & I would be perfectly content to hand just the two of us. Then, we joined a small group. My strongest connections ever began there.

Having a small sized group to meet regularly with helped us connect on a much deeper level and now many of these people are my closest and dearest friends. If I had something I felt the need to share, I would turn to them…and truthfully you all as well, but you understand the difference.I can send them a phone call or email and know I will receive a completely open ear and heart from any one of them. I love these people. They help me be a better person and continue my growth in loving myself and others. Basically, its a pretty awesome thing to have.

I found my group through my church and the bonds I made there. I have friends I have also greatly connected with through the small group of the playgroup I am involved in as well (hi Kelly!). There are so many opportunities out there to plug yourself into a community of support – runner’s groups, book clubs, group fitness classes, church, and so much more. If you aren’t already involved in a place you know you can turn to for encouragement and friendship, I hope you find one. I truly believe it can help us each experience more pleasure in life to have these relationships.  Get connected!

• Are you forgetful? I forget things everywhere!!!
• Are you involved in a small group of sorts? How? Any tips on helping people get connected who aren’t already? I think www.meetup.com is a great resource!

And while we’re at it, I hate pregnancy hormones too. It seems like one day a week I get in this mood. A mood where even the smallest thing can send me over the edge and bring me to tears, headaches, anxiety, lashing out, and any other unpleasant side effect of PMS x 10,000. Today was my lucky moody day. Of course it would just happen to fall on my most overwhelmingly busy day of the week too.

I hate Mondays. I always have so much to do and it never fails to fluster me just a tiny bit. Which is exactly what happened today. Somehow, even after typing up today’s 30 DSLR post about living life fully, I got caught up in my to-dos and forgot about finding joy in the day. Doh!

Even worse? Feeling overwhelmed with my Monday, I imposed the stress and anxiety I felt onto life as a whole and my future. I have big hopes for my family, myself, and even this blog (nothing crazy big for that though…I am realistic). You can probably tell that I pour a lot of energy into those things I care about. Sometimes my crazy anxiety gets the best of me and makes me question if I’m putting effort into things appropriately and if I’m on the path God wants me on.

I told you pregnancy hormones bring out the crazy in me. Please forgive me for sounding like a whiny two year old. I know its not fun to hear. Especially after dealing with one all day. I don’t know what her deal is. She doesn’t have any hormones to blame for the ‘tude she has been throwing today. She has actually brought me to tears. You think I exaggerate the hormones? You just wait until your time comes.

I assure you that things turned around though.Once I wiped up my second round of tears caused by Makenzie, I took 15 minutes to lay down and breathe…and ignore whatever she was doing at the foot of the bed. I thought about my own message from today and repeated “Do what you can today. God has the plans for your future” to help calm me down. I even ended up writing it on a bookmark to keep with my to-do lists as a reminder.

After that, I slapped on a smile and took charge of my day. I hit up the first round of errands, which included a weekly shopping trip. And guess what I found???

That in and of itself helped bring my mood up! I have searched high and low for some Libbys. I made that grocery trip even better by stopping by for a skim iced coffee on the way home. I needed a little pick me up to sip while getting stuff done after lunch.

Those pick me ups continued as I read through your comments for today’s post. You all really helped me today. You do with each and every one you leave and today meant even more. I think all of that brought me out of my sour preggo mood and helped me finish out the day on a high note. I finished what I needed for today, tutored the great kid I help out, and even fit in a Turbo Jam DVD workout to relieve some stress. No matter what, we have the power to turn things around for the better. Even on a Monday.

• What is your least favorite day of the week? Need I say more after the above?
• Do hormones ever get the best of you? Need I say more after the above? 😉

I forgot to post up links to posts from other bloggers this morning. Check them out!

• Ulterior Harmony
• Simply Maren
• Days One By One