Decide, Commit, Focus, Succeed!

Today - being Saturday, I am grateful for focus.

Our littlest love has always been a go with the flow, happy go lucky, whatever goes, whatever whatever, I just wanna have fun, no commitment kind of kid. This is ridiculously refreshing, as our eldest love is a super organised, super committed, everything has to be perfect, slightly OCD kind of kid. I can not WAIT for the upcoming teenage years 'insert sarcasm'. It will be like a hormonal war zone, constant world war from every fucking angle imaginably possible. I pray every night that I have apologised to my mother enough to prevent the Karma of my wild, emotional and defiant teenage years biting me hard on the ass...

Anyway, we'll get back to the focus gratitude shall we? So the most uncommitted little lady I have ever met made a commitment at the start of the year. As soon as she saw the big cheerleading girls doing a full out for their trip to America to compete, she wanted to be like them. To be like Sissy... She wanted it so bad, she begged us to change from the recreational classes to the competition classes straight away.

So, given we have done this for her in the past for other things - we instantly became tight asses... With other stuff that she has pleaded with those lush big blue eyes, long lashes and the cutest little face and voice that could melt the devil's heart - to which we clearly gave in to her. When it got too tough for her, or she had to do too much - she would come home and say: it's not for me, I just wanna have fun and then proceeds to sing 'girls just wanna have fun, oh girls just wanna have fun'. We set her with a task. She had to complete one full year of attending every single fun class lesson, she had to wear the cheer school training uniform, cheer shoes and bow to every single less, she had to train with sissy in the garage to practice what she learnt every week.

I have never seen this kid so determined and so focused. She hates anything healthy and ate all of her salad... Admittedly there were a lot of tears, a lot of I don't want to, a lot of lettuce tastes horrible, a lot of I'll eat everything else but the lettuce leaves and see if anyone would really notice. But in the end, through her snot bubble tears, she ate it. Then was proud of herself and then danced around saying she was gonna be a big cheerleader in now time. I won't repeat the above, but the same thing happened, but not as often about practising... You clearly get the picture here, don't you?

Today, we finally got the pleasure of seeing her do her fun class full-out... Proud is an understatement. She remained focused, didn't fluff around (she does this a lot, especially in swimming lessons - when the teacher isn't looking, she is pretending to be a beautiful mermaid). Her skills have improved so much, her attitude has improved as well - all thanks to her maintaining her focus on what she wanted - Competitive Cheer!

Safe to say, the littlest love can dust off her fun cheer class boots, and put on her big girl boots. Cause our tight asses have disappeared and the pockets are deep again... She will be doing competitive cheer next year... Yep, another proud parent bragging post...

Happiness is.... Skype Chats

Originally today, I was going to talk about how I am grateful to be working in a job I love... Despite the ups and downs that come with my job...I actually do really love what I do. However, I do travel a lot and that kind of sucks. With a ridiculously early morning start looming, today I am keeping it short and sweet!

So right now, I am sitting in my hotel room in the lovely and stinking hot Mackay missing my family... I am only away for 1 night, but it doesn't change the fact that I miss my family. The girls always ask me to call them while I am away, they love hearing about my onsite adventures... They don't really like hearing about my long meeting adventures though.

So every time I go away, whether it's for a night or a week, I call them...every single day. So today, I am grateful for Skype! I love that even though I am not at home, I can call them on Skype on their own tablet and sit at the dining table with the girls while they are having dinner and chat... I love that they could be drawing a picture and I am still there not missing out... Sometimes not even saying a single word, but still enjoying watching them do what they would be doing if I was home, just sitting there soaking them up as if I was physically there... 'Stalker Alert'

I am pretty sure Skype is probably behind the times these days, with all the different platforms now available to ensure you can keep in contact with your family while you're away... But, boy oh boy, do I love still being able to see them...and for us, Skype makes the distance between us bearable!

She's sweet enough already!

To follow on from yesterday's post, today (every day) I am grateful for my youngest daughter...

Oh, Banana, with her big blue eyes, long blonde hair and a sweet smile that could even make the Devil melt... She could also send him deaf due to her incredible communication skills. This kid could talk underwater and could talk about anything.... and just go on and on, and on, and on, and on.... and... on. Your conversations will range from Mermaids, Unicorns, Monsters to some bug she found at school and tried to make a habitat for it.

I am grateful for her tears when you talk about her growing up one day, getting a job and moving out. She sobs at the moving out part - declaring through a flood of tears 'I am never going to leave you Mummy - I am going to live with you forever!'

I am grateful for her cuddles, that instantly melts my heart and soul... Something about her innocence, sweet smile and those loving arms wrapped around you that makes you feel like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders.

I love that she loves being a girly girl. Unfortunately, anything girly is not my area of expertise. In fact, I suck at the 'girly, everything pink, dainty and pretty' department... I am terrible with makeup - but a master at making you look like a circus clown and my best hairstyle is a ponytail... well kind of a ponytail... it kind of looks like a ponytail... Ok, it is a really, really sad looking ponytail. As a result of her girly-girl antics, I have developed better research skills when it comes to YouTubing hair and makeup tutorials for dummies. However, still suck at makeup!

I am grateful that she looks up to her big sister, wants to be just like her, but different and in a tutu! If Sissy is skateboarding, she'll be out skateboarding too, on her super cute My Little Pony skateboard, rocking her tutu, with bright pink lipstick all over her face.

I am grateful for the absolute excitement on her face and in her voice with every single story she tells, and how excited she gets every afternoon when I come home from work.  She truly is magical!

She will move mountians!

Boy, is she fierce! Every day I am grateful for my eldest daughter.

When I first sat down to write this post, I thought it would be easy... How could it not be, considering you are writing about one of your children right? Every little thing about them you are grateful for, including the tantrums... Oh, I miss the tantrums. Now I get the rolled eyes followed by the silent treatment and then the storming off into her room slamming the door before I can even get a word in. I am left awkwardly saying  'yeah you do that, you go to your room'.

So I sit here, on attempt number 3 - attempting to write down her uniqueness, when I can barely explain it in a conversation over coffee. - it always ends with, you'll understand when you meet her.  She has an amazing personality - fierce, headstrong and independent one minute...cuddly, girly, and vulnerable the next.

Loves mountain climbing, mostly only the end - when you are at the top. Not always a fan of the whole - climbing a bloody mountain to get to the top thing. And, I am pretty sure she lets the whole mountain, neighbourhood... actually Brisbane City know when she has had a gutful of the climb (doesn't happen often). Even though she is cracking the shits, she still moves forward to achieve what she has tasked herself with, which is getting to the top. Would bloody want to get to the top after waking everyone up at 5am on a Sunday morning to go mountain climbing... Most normal people are sleeping in... I secretly wish I was sleeping in, especially when my legs are starting to feel the burn, thanks to the steep as shit mountain Missy and her Step Dad have picked to climb.

I am grateful for her love for everything... Once she loves, she loves deeply... once she commits, she commits 100%. I am grateful that she doesn't do what most of the girls that are her friends do, and they love her for it... Missy Moo is their cool chick friend, the one that has a slider, a mad skateboard collection - who actually skateboards, she is the adventurous one. The one that loves to travel and, at a very young age already appreciates different cultures.

She is so selfless, I wish I could be more like her. I wish that I would put how I feel aside sometimes for the greater good like she does... instead of running my motor mouth like a wanker for half an hour, only to get my voice of reason after I have made an utter dick out of myself for the absolute garbage that filthed out of my mouth.

She makes me want to be a better human to people I wish I didn't have to. The admiration I have for her is amazing, and I am grateful that she looks at me with the same admiring eyes, believing I am the good one...

I am grateful that my daughter is like that quote: 'she's a reflection of me. So you know she's the shit!' There is not a moment in time, where I don't look at her and say to my self - shit I am lucky... so lucky to have such a beautiful daughter...inside and out! There is not a day that goes by, where I don't try to show her and her sister to always strive to be better, better than no one else but yourself. There is not a day that goes by that I don't practice what I preach to her - I strive every day, to be a better version of myself - all because of her...