Sunday, March 26, 2017

Screaming From the Street Corner

My dear (mostly Facebook but also recognizable in public) friend, Chris Ferguson, compared blogging to screaming on a street corner. It’s the perfect metaphor for blogging. Throwing something out there are hoping it sticks with someone. Anyone really. It got me thinking about my little blog. This space started as a place that I wanted to use to collect stories for Lita. Something to show her when she gets older. Another kid and a few posts later, I categorize myself as a half-ass mommy blogger who mostly uses Instagram/Facebook to showcase my collection of thoughts and stories, my version of screaming on the street corner.

 So what WOULD I scream from a street corner? What ideas or notions do I want to send into the world and hope “stick” to those around me?

First, I live my life believing that I am worthy of love and belonging (my homegirl Brene Brown taught me this. It is a fundamental idea I live by and also a position I mother and wife [those are verbs now-it’s fine] from). I believe you are worthy of love and belonging too.

Second, I believe everyone deserves grace. Lots and lots of grace. As human beings we’re constantly running the rat race. Running (read: trampling) over one another, trying to get to the top of the heap. It’s all a little ridiculous really. People need grace. They need to know that wherever they are in life is OK.

Thirdly, forgiveness or just frickin letting it go. This certainly hasn’t come easy to me and it will continue to be a struggle throughout my entire life, I’m certain of it. I sat down with the rockstar Pastor from Awaken Community Church a couple years ago. I sat down with him to tell him how much I was struggling with still being angry with someone who wronged me several years ago. I hated this person and held so much resentment for how they were continuing on with their life never to even be tripped up it seemed. And guess what Rockstar Pastor told me? He told me plain and simple- you may hate him but he is not your burden to deal with. Leave that burden to God (non-Christians, don’t lose me here, simply swap out for what you believe in. More and more I find myself swapping God out with Universe).

Mic drop, folks.

It’s simply not my issue to deal with how this person continues to live his life. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to hear that this person was simply not my burden. It seems like such a simple concept but we’re all guilty of getting lost in the resentment, hate, bitterness of those who’ve wronged us. Forgiveness might not be the right word for this. I don’t believe I forgave this individual (and that’s OK, grace remember?). Rather, I choose not to overwhelm or burnden myself with thinking about it. It takes practice but through enough self care and talking yourself through it you can get here.  This would be a lot to shout from a street corner. So how do I wrap it up in a pretty little bow?

Friends. You are worthy of love and belonging. You deserve grace from yourself and those around you. The people who deserve to be in your life will give you grace. And finally, release the burden you’ve been carrying. The person who wronged you, they are not your burden. Leave it to whatever powers you believe in. Practice this and it will get easier. These three thing, while relatively simple in theory, have changed the way I mother, wife, friend, colleague,daughter. They’ve helped me learn to roll with the punches a bit more and not take life too seriously because spoiler alert, we’ve only got one life to live and it’s pretty damn short.

Xoxo Casey

Instagram: @caseyspeaker




Friday, October 21, 2016

Birthday Boy

Baby boy, you're 1! Good gravy, where did the year go? Here we are, two months past your birthday and I'm just sitting down to write about it because #2ndkid #hotmessmom. We had an awesome day celebrating you with an ice cream bar, bouncy house, and splash pad. You are learning so much right now. You are an epic climber and little man of few words. You can say mama, papa, hi, and bye. You also sign for milk. Thank you for giving us such an easy first year bubs. We are so grateful for you and your relaxed personality.





Love,
Mama Bear

Sometimes we get our shit together.

It's not often that we can get our shit together and take a good family photo but our recent fall photo shoot went great! Alyssa Rei Photography out of Farmington, MN knows how to capture true joy in her clients and preserve moments in time.













Tuesday, August 16, 2016

#breakthesilenceday

**Minneapolis has officially declared August 17th, 2016 as Break the Silence Day. Break your silence using #breakthesilence on social media.**

Eff, you guys... I've been struggling deeply with something.

Three and a half years ago I was just a sexual assault victim. Now... I'm a sexual assault victim | mom. It's a whole new level of struggle. Like seriously, I was effing over it. All of the sudden after becoming a mom... it's hit me like a ton of bricks. It has brought on a whole new wave of emotional trauma. All of the sudden I can't dismiss my story. I have these children to protect and they don't know it yet but they NEED their mom to own her story.

There were many times during in the past several years where I nearly convinced myself it hadn't happened because it was easier that way. It was easier to forget that part of my story. Now? Questions cross my mind almost daily. Questions like: How will I protect Lita from men boys like him? How will I protect Gus? How will I protect them from becoming the abuser? We naively think that neither side of the coin will happen to our kids but that's not fair to them.

I don't know what the answer is. I am in the thick of it all and I can't find the answers to how to protect my kids from this cruel world. It seems hopeless at times. There's no way I can possibly be there for them all the time. & even when they're in places deemed "safe", they are not safe. I can't assume they are safe. I met my abuser in church. He was supposed to be one of the good guys. He wasn't supposed to hurt me. He wasn't supposed to hurt all of the women he hurt. One by one we stepped out. & yet I'm certain there are more that didn't step out than did. 

In these days of technology overload it's pretty easy to know what others are up to. I know that he's still in ministry. Married. Has a baby girl. I wonder if he ever questions like I do? How do I protect her from people like me? 

It all feels like a lot to wrestle with right now. I hope it gets easier or that I get stronger in dealing with the emotional waves. My kids depend on it. 

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Wrapping up another year.

I can't believe another year has nearly passed. It really is true that time flies much faster when you have kids. Each of their stages and phases, a fleeting moment in time. Here are a few of our highlights from 2015.


Our year started off with a week in Mexico with a great group of friends!

Mom also snuck away to Ft Lauderdale to watch a great friend get married (note to self, find more friends who are planning on destination weddings).


In January we also celebrated Lita's 2nd birthday with a day at MOA. & a very big announcement that Lita would be a big sister!

In April we sold our first little Bloomington home (pictured) and moved just a short mile south to have more space for our growing family. 

Also in April, we found out we would be adding a little boy to the family!

In August we welcomed Gustaf 'Gus' Hart to the world! 

While Cor and I stayed home with Gus at just a week old, Lita headed to Disney World with Gram Gram and Grandpa to be flower girl in Uncle Andrew and Uncle Nick's wedding!

2015 is definitely one for the memory books that I never take the time to make! 😂 Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy 2016!

Love,

Casey 
 





Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Gus' Birth Story

Gus is one month and I figured I better get his birth story in writing before it fades from my memory too much. I was six days past due on Wednesday, August 19th. Labor started around 1:30 in the afternoon. Contractions remained calm and consistent throughout the afternoon at about 3-5 minutes apart. I contacted the birth center where we were set to deliver and was told to stay home as long as possible since there were no water birth rooms available. Lita was home with me this day. Her daycare was forced to close due to flooding. The first picture below is me laboring with her climbing all over me. I mean, can you even imagine anywhere else you'd rather be? Haha! I asked Corey to come home from work a couple hours early as I knew he still needed to pack a bag and we might have to fight some traffic depending on what time we headed to the hospital.
 
We ended up heading to the hospital around 7:30pm (by this time one of the labor rooms had opened up). When I was first checked a little after 8pm I was dilated to a 5-6 (woo!). We got settled into our room and I invited my friend/doula Leah to come join the party. Labor continued to intensify but was nothing that required any interventions. The hours continued to go by and I was surprised at how long it was taking. The Midwife finally revealed that Gus was in a posterior position which is likely why I was overdue and why it was taking a little longer for him to come. At one point I became completely exhausted and started to panic a bit (in both births I can remember the time in which I became overly exhausted and began to panic, this is why it is super important to have a supportive birth team that knows your wishes and birth plan). My team was able to calm me down enough to continue breathing through each contraction and trying different positions.
 
My water hadn't broken yet and the Midwife could tell I was anxious to get things moving (times are blurry but this was probably around 10 or 10:30pm). We were nearly heading into August 20th and I wanted to have him on the 19th because Lita's birthday is January 19th. Parent win, only having to remember one number for birthdays- duh! She broke my water and things started to move along quickly and painfully. I began pushing and he got a little stuck. The Midwife instructed me that I would need to push really hard on the next contraction so we could get him out. It's all a blur of course but I pushed with all my might, helped bring him up onto my stomach, and then just seconds later he was whisked away because he needed a little help taking his first breath.
 
Gus was born at 11:51pm on August 19th. He weighed 8lb 6oz. Born in the water just like big sister. He is the perfect final addition to our family of four!
 





xoxo, Casey

Monday, January 19, 2015

You're 2!

Wow! I absolutely cannot believe you are already two! Here are some pictures of you from the past year. What a year it has been! You are growing into such a beautiful and smart girl. Me and your papa are so thankful to get to do life with you!
All my love,
Mama Bear