It's been a long while since I posted. Moving in was a busy process as was trying to unpack and address house issues while maintaining normalcy for the kids. A true juggling act.
House issues withstanding, it's been nice to have the extra room indoors, separate bedrooms for the kids, and space outside to play, plant and just roam. This year we didn't head to Idyllwild for the holidays for the first time in 10+ years. With recent cash outlays, we decided that a stay-cation might be best especially since V. is gone M-F.
To catch up since we've moved in, D. started talking a lot. He loves to sing with me at naptime and bedtime, "You are my sunshine" and "Twinkle twinkle little star". But now we are able to have conversations about things that happened during the day or just things in general. It's amazing to watch him pause to think of how to say something and his love of books has exploded. It's become one of his favorite things now. He now has moved into swim classes by himself which makes my heart sad but so proud as I watch him excel on his own.
I. is doing great in school. We've been having some challenges at home but I'm hoping that may get better with a combination of things. She loves her daddy and her brother that is for certain and I think she may love her mommy but that is not quite so certain thanks to my "enforcer" status.
With a new year on the horizon, I've been thinking about a goal for 2014. This is the one that jumped to the front of my mind: expressing appreciation/gratitude/thanks. I read something that said that in order for children to learn this trait, they really need to see it modeled. Since this is definitely not a trait that V. shares, it's up to me to model it for my kids and it happens to be a major character trait I'd like to see in my kids. One idea I had was taking a stack of post it notes and labeling them "I appreciate/thank you for" and having them out for all of us to write short notes of appreciation to each other daily or throughout the week to develop an attitude of gratitude. I'm hoping it will help.
I.'s school is going to start a book club in the new year with a book called, "The Christian Parenting Handbook" by Dr. Scott Turanksy and Joanne Miller, RN BSN. They announced it in the weekly newsletter and I read an excerpt on Amazon and it really spoke to me. I think it will be vastly helpful so I ordered it and look forward to reading it and applying what I learn. That's always the hard part right, applying what you read.
A good start to a new year.
Showing posts with label new year's eve. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new year's eve. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Friday, December 28, 2012
Another Eve
It's not New Year's Eve...it's Idyllwild vacation Eve. This time of the year flies by so quickly. It seems like once Halloween hits, it's a race to the end of the end. First Halloween, then I.'s birthday, followed by Thanksgiving and then soon after Christmas and our annual New Year's vacation. Thank goodness D. was born in the summer.
Christmas was relaxed since we didn't have to go anywhere. We just enjoyed watching the kids opening their presents and later played with them before my parents arrived close to noon. We had a good time opening presents and dinner went well except for feeling as though we were cooking in a boat. But my metaphor or analogy (it's too late to look up the correct definition) diffused any stress and my Christmas table turned out well.
Tomorrow we leave for Idyllwild. With my lists and packing ahead of time I feel like I'm in a good place. We'll see how I feel tomorrow at 11am, if I'm in as good of shape. Fingers crossed that things will go somewhat smoothly and at a low stress level.
Also, we have no WiFi at our cabin so I may be incommunicado until we get back. Seeing that I have 3 months of magazines to get caught up on and many books to read, I'll be just fine. I'm hoping for a really great vacation getaway with my family. V. has been home quite a bit from Christmas Eve on so I'm hoping that our vacation will be a continuation of this downtime.
One big thing that came to pass, both a big positive and a somewhat negative, has been that V. made all of his annual goals and thus has made it to the "President's Club" this year. Meaning that we have an all expense paid and loaded up with all sorts of activities' trip to Puerto Rico February 28-March 3rd, 2013. I'm excited yes but I have to admit when I saw the email, my first response was to tear up thinking that I had to get D. weaned by then. It's doable but since he's sick now, it's going to require an accelerated schedule since I'm not eliminating feedings when he's sick.
I have to admit that as I see all the activities we have to choose from and I recognize that this is truly good timing, I'm getting really excited. V. and I haven't been away by ourselves since March 2011 (and that was with D. in my tummy) and I have read that 18 months is the "perfect" time to wean which would be February 6th. I think it's especially opportune time that this year happens to be the year they have this celebration in Puerto Rico. The heritage of V. and the site of our honeymoon... very fitting.
Still, I'm feeling grief and wondering if there's a way to continue nursing D. after a 5-6 day vacation. I don't want to wean him based on our needs, I'd like to wean D. based on his needs but I'm not sure that's going to work.
Christmas was relaxed since we didn't have to go anywhere. We just enjoyed watching the kids opening their presents and later played with them before my parents arrived close to noon. We had a good time opening presents and dinner went well except for feeling as though we were cooking in a boat. But my metaphor or analogy (it's too late to look up the correct definition) diffused any stress and my Christmas table turned out well.
Tomorrow we leave for Idyllwild. With my lists and packing ahead of time I feel like I'm in a good place. We'll see how I feel tomorrow at 11am, if I'm in as good of shape. Fingers crossed that things will go somewhat smoothly and at a low stress level.
Also, we have no WiFi at our cabin so I may be incommunicado until we get back. Seeing that I have 3 months of magazines to get caught up on and many books to read, I'll be just fine. I'm hoping for a really great vacation getaway with my family. V. has been home quite a bit from Christmas Eve on so I'm hoping that our vacation will be a continuation of this downtime.
One big thing that came to pass, both a big positive and a somewhat negative, has been that V. made all of his annual goals and thus has made it to the "President's Club" this year. Meaning that we have an all expense paid and loaded up with all sorts of activities' trip to Puerto Rico February 28-March 3rd, 2013. I'm excited yes but I have to admit when I saw the email, my first response was to tear up thinking that I had to get D. weaned by then. It's doable but since he's sick now, it's going to require an accelerated schedule since I'm not eliminating feedings when he's sick.
I have to admit that as I see all the activities we have to choose from and I recognize that this is truly good timing, I'm getting really excited. V. and I haven't been away by ourselves since March 2011 (and that was with D. in my tummy) and I have read that 18 months is the "perfect" time to wean which would be February 6th. I think it's especially opportune time that this year happens to be the year they have this celebration in Puerto Rico. The heritage of V. and the site of our honeymoon... very fitting.
Still, I'm feeling grief and wondering if there's a way to continue nursing D. after a 5-6 day vacation. I don't want to wean him based on our needs, I'd like to wean D. based on his needs but I'm not sure that's going to work.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The Big Sayonara to 2009
About 80% of me feels like if the Year 2009 was standing in front of me, I'd flip a big ole birdie at it 'cause on many fronts, it's been a shitty year. Namely, because Mark died and V. was gone the whole friggin' year. Two important males in my life just were gone and I felt very "left". How could I not? The foundations of my life and my own mortality were shaken this year - I feel anxiety about both topics and if my life can go back to normal once V. is back home remains to be seen. I might also flip the birdie to 2009 in defiance to say, "No matter what you or your other past buddies have thrown at me, I'M STILL HERE!"
The other 20% of me looks back at 2009 wistfully. This is the year my baby girl turned 4, began the process of wearing underpants, and went to preschool. What a year 2009 has been for her! For these things I am grateful because I. has been so excited about these things and how could I not share her joy? It's also the last full year of my 30's - ugh. I try to remind myself back when I was 29, going on 30 that I was down about that too but I've got to tell you, my 30's were SO MUCH better than my 20's were not only for the life situations that occurred but also for the way I became so much more comfortable with myself and unapologetic for who I was. Now, as I approach the end of my 30's, I feel like this process will only continue and allow myself even more freedom to just be who I know I am and not be who I am not and most importantly, be okay with that. The one portion of this 20% that I am not wistful about, just plain thankful, is that even though I would MUCH rather have V. home full-time with us, I. and I have truly bonded in a way we probably would not have if it hadn't just been the two of us. That is something that will hopefully go a long way in our future when times get tough, as I know they will. My dad worked a lot when I was little and it was really just my mom and I and we were and still are very close. She was the person I had the most fun with and when I went into my teenage years, there were some bumps but really nothing big because she and I viewed ourselves as being on the same team. I hope this past year has poured us a thick, sturdy foundation for us upon which we will build the rest of our life's relationship.
The other 20% of me looks back at 2009 wistfully. This is the year my baby girl turned 4, began the process of wearing underpants, and went to preschool. What a year 2009 has been for her! For these things I am grateful because I. has been so excited about these things and how could I not share her joy? It's also the last full year of my 30's - ugh. I try to remind myself back when I was 29, going on 30 that I was down about that too but I've got to tell you, my 30's were SO MUCH better than my 20's were not only for the life situations that occurred but also for the way I became so much more comfortable with myself and unapologetic for who I was. Now, as I approach the end of my 30's, I feel like this process will only continue and allow myself even more freedom to just be who I know I am and not be who I am not and most importantly, be okay with that. The one portion of this 20% that I am not wistful about, just plain thankful, is that even though I would MUCH rather have V. home full-time with us, I. and I have truly bonded in a way we probably would not have if it hadn't just been the two of us. That is something that will hopefully go a long way in our future when times get tough, as I know they will. My dad worked a lot when I was little and it was really just my mom and I and we were and still are very close. She was the person I had the most fun with and when I went into my teenage years, there were some bumps but really nothing big because she and I viewed ourselves as being on the same team. I hope this past year has poured us a thick, sturdy foundation for us upon which we will build the rest of our life's relationship.
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