Happy New Years! While 2011 came with some challenges, it was a good year. I have some big goals for 2012 and hope that I will be able to accomplish them all and then some!
A few of the top goals:
* Learn how to use a lawn mower and keep my yard looking nice
* Keep the stupid fake woodpecker birds from eating giant holes in my house
* Lose 43lbs
* Cut down the stupid crab apple trees in my backyard (which also requires me to feel comfortable with a chainsaw)
* Let people know how much they mean to me and how much I appreciate their friendship
* Improve my ability to ignore/block/avoid negativity and negative people
* Make something BIG happen :)
I spent the day with Alexis and had a great time. She slept in until 10:30 this morning so between that, a nap and a regular bedtime, it was kind of a short day. She loves talking and learning new words. One of her favorite games is playing the online alphabet game with zoo animals. It is so funny to hear her try to make all the sounds. We had to make a quick run to Target to use up the rest of my flex card. I saw a bag of party beads on one of the end caps as we were getting ready to check out and since Alexis loves necklaces, I couldn't pass them up. I opened them up as soon as we got home and she played with them for quite a while. I came over to take her picture and told her I loved her party beads. She started walking around the house with all 20 necklaces on saying "Party! Party!". And those are the moments I love about my life. I am thankful that I have my daughter and so many great things in my life. Whenever I start to feel bad about things and feel a pity party coming on, I think about how blessed I am to have Alexis, feel her hugs, hear her giggles, and experience the love in my life that I think can only come from being a parent. There are some things in life that just make it all worth while :)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Christmas 2011
I had such a great Christmas this year! I am so thankful my family was able to come to Colorado and celebrate with me :) While adding 7 more people to the house certainly added some extra stuff and noise, it was so much fun to have everyone stay at the house. My dad was able to stay for a couple of days and my sister and her family ended up staying for almost a week. In addition to the fun of Christmas, we were able to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Denver Aquarium. The kids seemed to have a great time at both places and it was nice to have a trip where we could just have fun. For part of their Christmas gifts, I gave the kids cash so they could get souvenirs at each place. I did not realize how much thought has to go into them picking something out! It was kind of interesting to watch but I can tell Brenda has it all figured out. The funniest part going with the kids to spend their gift cards at WalMart, Target, and the American Girl store. I think Michael was the only one that had something specific in mind that he wanted to get with his gift card.
Since we had just gotten a giant dumping of snow, the kids also had a great time playing outside in the snow. I had no idea how much stuff it took to have 4 kids playing outside in the snow. My two favorite quotes from the vacation came from Jack and Carter. For Christmas, Santa got Jack a canister of cappachino. He holds up the can and says "Now I know Santa MUST be real because there is no way Mommy and Daddy would ever get me this!". During the trip to the museum, Brenda had strapped Carter in the stroller because he wasn't using his best listening skills. He was less than pleased about being strapped in and kept shouting "Let me out! Let me out!". Brenda told him she would let him out if he could behave. With the honesty that only a child can have, Carter said, "I am not going to behave" and he quit asking to get out of the stroller :)
Now that Alexis was a year older, she was a little more fun for Christmas. She managed to pop the lid off her M&M stocking stuffer and had some chocolate for breakfast. The she started stealing everyone's apples- funny girl! Of course she didn't want the apple that I peeled for her, only the apples with the skin on that she kept gagging on. I have no idea how many apples she ended up eating part of but it seemed like everytime I turned around, she had a new one. Overall, this was a great holiday. I redeemed myself with my cooking when everyone liked my Lemon Skillet Chicken, I learned that Crisco actually goes bad, I started seeing the magic that comes from making sure kids believe in Santa, and I had fun :) Hopefully I will have pictures to post soon!
Since we had just gotten a giant dumping of snow, the kids also had a great time playing outside in the snow. I had no idea how much stuff it took to have 4 kids playing outside in the snow. My two favorite quotes from the vacation came from Jack and Carter. For Christmas, Santa got Jack a canister of cappachino. He holds up the can and says "Now I know Santa MUST be real because there is no way Mommy and Daddy would ever get me this!". During the trip to the museum, Brenda had strapped Carter in the stroller because he wasn't using his best listening skills. He was less than pleased about being strapped in and kept shouting "Let me out! Let me out!". Brenda told him she would let him out if he could behave. With the honesty that only a child can have, Carter said, "I am not going to behave" and he quit asking to get out of the stroller :)
Now that Alexis was a year older, she was a little more fun for Christmas. She managed to pop the lid off her M&M stocking stuffer and had some chocolate for breakfast. The she started stealing everyone's apples- funny girl! Of course she didn't want the apple that I peeled for her, only the apples with the skin on that she kept gagging on. I have no idea how many apples she ended up eating part of but it seemed like everytime I turned around, she had a new one. Overall, this was a great holiday. I redeemed myself with my cooking when everyone liked my Lemon Skillet Chicken, I learned that Crisco actually goes bad, I started seeing the magic that comes from making sure kids believe in Santa, and I had fun :) Hopefully I will have pictures to post soon!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Really???
I have been a little stressed out the past few months with everything going on and learned that sometimes it is best to just go to sleep when I am tired. Everything else can wait but nothing good comes from being tired. I have plenty of stuff that needs to get done around the house before family comes on Friday but I was exhausted last night so I went to bed at 8. Finally shut the tv off at 8:30, ended up talking on the phone for a bit around 9:30 but I am sure I was asleep by 10 at the very latest. I know I was having a strange dream that had just led up to me finding a flat tire on my car when I woke up to Alexis screaming in her room. Not the "I just woke up and want my mommy to help me get back to sleep" kind of scream, the kind that I thought maybe she had figured out how to climb out of her crib and was now laying injured on the floor. I go into her room and she just keeps saying "down, down". No rocking, no cuddling, just down. But of course it is 2:30 in the morning so the house is still dark which seemed to freak her out. Finally, I make her a glass of chocolate milk, get her pillow pet, Tinkerbell blankie and the gloworm and head to my bed. She has never slept in bed with me so I don't really know what I was thinking but I figure it was worth a try. For the next hour and a half, we watched videos of her on my phone, played peek-a-boo, and watched some Sprout. Finally, I decided that I could at least get one more hour of sleep if I put her back in her room. I cheated. I got the portable dvd player, put in Mickey Mouse, set the player on her dresser, put her (and all her stuff) back into her crib and came back to bed. After a few minutes of crying, she settled down. I laid down and wanted to make sure the volume was up on my phone and IT DOESN'T FREAKING WORK!!! I do not have a house phone, just the stupid cell phone (I hate TMobile!). So I end up messing with that for a bit, can't get it to work and then realize that I don't have time to go to sleep anyway so I just need to get up and get ready for bed. I check the monitor one more time (it has been about 30 min now) and Alexis is sound asleep. Now I am ready for work but I can't start until 6am so I get to just hang out here, watching Alexis sleep until I need to wake her up to go to her dad's. But at least I had time to blog, right? :) Hopefully this day gets better quickly!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Our Christmas Tree
Brain dump
Back to the wonderfulness of a brain dump on a blog :)
* Good days and bad days- I am finding myself to have a few more bad days than I have been used to. I guess the good part is that I am getting better at finding ways to turn them around from a bad day to at least a not such a crappy day.
* I have been trying to figure out the word that describes what I feel when I look at/think about my daughter. Love seems like such a small word and not enough to describe it.
* Sometimes I feel like a horrible person when I have to change the channel for the humane society commercials because it breaks my heart when I see those poor animals but I don't have the same reaction for the starving kids commercials.
* We took Alexis to see Santa tonight. It never crossed my mind to research what the santa's look like prior to making a commitment to go somewhere. At first he looked like a good Santa but I don't think he would have been my top choice. I din't want to go somewhere busy since I wasn't sure what kind of picture we were going to get. I have a picture for the memory and that is all I was looking for so I guess overall I am pleased.
* Sometimes I feel lazy. I know I am entitled to my own time and it is important to rest but sometimes I really feel like I should be doing more than I do (outside of working and being a momy).
* I am still in disbelief that there are such ignorant people in this country. While I tend to keep my opinions off of Facebook, this is my blog so here is my opinion. I cannot believe the horrible things people are saying about the "All-American Muslim" show. Stupid part is, the reason the show was even created is because people are stupid. One of the articles I read said that the stupid group opposing the commercials during the show is trying to say that the tv show is trying to make people think that all Muslims are decent, hard-working people and eliminate people's ability to recognize the threat of extremist lslamic groups. I guess that might be where "Stupid is as stupid does" fits in. I can watch "Little People" and not think that everyone is a little person, "19 kids and counting" without thinking that everyone has ginormous families, and so on. I really hate stupid people.
* While I have had several moments where I have found that I am very proud of myself for being able to do things I was not confident I could do, nothing tops the pride I felt during my last trip to Iowa. On both flights, several people commented on how great Alexis did on the flights. My friend is a flight attendant and said that people generally don't say anything unless the child is very well-behaved. That makes me feel good. In addition, there was another occurance where a grandma commented on how well-behaved Alexis was in the airport. When I mentioned that I hope she stays that way, the woman said she is sure Alexis will be because of the way I talk and interact with her. :)
* I really want to get a cat for the house. I am allergic to them, I hate cleaning litter boxes, and I still have issues where Token had peed in the house but I just really, really, really want to adopt a cat (or two!).
* On Monday, I will be officially divorced. Kind of seems unreal.
* I have been recording the Republican debates. That makes me feel old.
* I appreciate that my family is relatively drama-free and has the self-respect to understand what issues are public and which ones are private.
* Facebook has made me like some people a lot less. There are downsides about people sharing so much about themselves.
* At the end of the day, I can honestly say I am happy, I am at peace with my decisions in life, and I look forward to what the next day will bring. I wish that everyone could feel these things.
* Good days and bad days- I am finding myself to have a few more bad days than I have been used to. I guess the good part is that I am getting better at finding ways to turn them around from a bad day to at least a not such a crappy day.
* I have been trying to figure out the word that describes what I feel when I look at/think about my daughter. Love seems like such a small word and not enough to describe it.
* Sometimes I feel like a horrible person when I have to change the channel for the humane society commercials because it breaks my heart when I see those poor animals but I don't have the same reaction for the starving kids commercials.
* We took Alexis to see Santa tonight. It never crossed my mind to research what the santa's look like prior to making a commitment to go somewhere. At first he looked like a good Santa but I don't think he would have been my top choice. I din't want to go somewhere busy since I wasn't sure what kind of picture we were going to get. I have a picture for the memory and that is all I was looking for so I guess overall I am pleased.
* Sometimes I feel lazy. I know I am entitled to my own time and it is important to rest but sometimes I really feel like I should be doing more than I do (outside of working and being a momy).
* I am still in disbelief that there are such ignorant people in this country. While I tend to keep my opinions off of Facebook, this is my blog so here is my opinion. I cannot believe the horrible things people are saying about the "All-American Muslim" show. Stupid part is, the reason the show was even created is because people are stupid. One of the articles I read said that the stupid group opposing the commercials during the show is trying to say that the tv show is trying to make people think that all Muslims are decent, hard-working people and eliminate people's ability to recognize the threat of extremist lslamic groups. I guess that might be where "Stupid is as stupid does" fits in. I can watch "Little People" and not think that everyone is a little person, "19 kids and counting" without thinking that everyone has ginormous families, and so on. I really hate stupid people.
* While I have had several moments where I have found that I am very proud of myself for being able to do things I was not confident I could do, nothing tops the pride I felt during my last trip to Iowa. On both flights, several people commented on how great Alexis did on the flights. My friend is a flight attendant and said that people generally don't say anything unless the child is very well-behaved. That makes me feel good. In addition, there was another occurance where a grandma commented on how well-behaved Alexis was in the airport. When I mentioned that I hope she stays that way, the woman said she is sure Alexis will be because of the way I talk and interact with her. :)
* I really want to get a cat for the house. I am allergic to them, I hate cleaning litter boxes, and I still have issues where Token had peed in the house but I just really, really, really want to adopt a cat (or two!).
* On Monday, I will be officially divorced. Kind of seems unreal.
* I have been recording the Republican debates. That makes me feel old.
* I appreciate that my family is relatively drama-free and has the self-respect to understand what issues are public and which ones are private.
* Facebook has made me like some people a lot less. There are downsides about people sharing so much about themselves.
* At the end of the day, I can honestly say I am happy, I am at peace with my decisions in life, and I look forward to what the next day will bring. I wish that everyone could feel these things.
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