Archives for category: parenting

Two is….

February 6, 2013 //

So far, two is good. Two is funny. Two is active. Two is entertaining himself. Two is very chatty. Two is perceptive. Two is helpful. Two is loving and caring. Two is sweet. Two is bright. Two is a trickster. Two is smart. Two is agile. Two is coordinated. Two is fantastic!

Jack turned two on Monday and the past couple days have been pretty fun. Two gets a bad name. I don’t think it is the way it is portrayed so often. I also don’t think it has to be that way. I don’t have a secret to share on how to make two fantastic. I just know he started tantrums well before two. I am used to them. They don’t really phase me anymore. What does phase me? How amazing he is every single day. I am blown away by him multiple times a day. He is so bright. I love watching him just be himself. Yesterday evening I found him on our stairs, hanging out with our cat. He was petting her gently. Talking to her. Kissing her face. Rubbing their noses together. When he realized I was there he started telling me all about what he was doing. He was so gentle and loving. Later he started wrestling my husband. Running from one side of the room and would tackle him. One time, he wiped out. He cried for a bit. Once he settled down, he hopped off of my lap and started it all over again. Over it in a snap.

THAT is the two I want to focus on. THAT is the two I wish would get the parenting site headlines! It does a little, but I do feel that tantrums get the spotlight. I can use my platform here to show that two is in fact fantastic. So, you can expect that over the next year.

Here are some photos from Jacky’s 2nd birthday His party is this Sunday, so these are just from our day together on his actual birthday.

Birthday boy needs his milk

A smile!

His big birthday gift! A duplo battery powered train set.

Daddy built a tunnel. Jacky was waiting for the train to come through

I forgot candles. But Jack liked my tea lights

Loved his cupcake

Happy 2nd birthday my sweet boy! These past two years have been an amazing and fast ride. I love you so very much. More than you know and more than I can explain. I am looking forward to every single year and moment I get with you! Keep being your amazing self. I am so proud of you!

Categories family, Happiness, Jack, Life, love, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, playtime, preschool activities, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

Lifestyle Change

January 31, 2013 //

I’ve recently made a big lifestyle change! It went easier than I expected. I gave up my morning coffee. Now, I had been a morning coffee drinker for probably 7 years. I also have digestive issues. A diagnosis I received in July. I am intolerant of many foods. Coffee wasn’t on the list, but I slowly began to notice that it bothered me more and more. First, I switched from an extra bold roast to a mild roast. That seemed to be ok, for a while. Lately, regardless of the fact that I follow my diet to a T, I have been having digestive aggravation. I felt after a cup of coffee, that I was immediately irritated. I am also a green tea drinker. I didn’t give up caffeine cold turkey. That would be disastrous! For my whole family. I’ve been having one cup of Jade Cloud Green Tea every morning.

Here are my conclusions:

1. My stomach feels much better overall. It’s still kind of funky but I’m certain that it’s mostly hormonal. I noticed a difference the first morning. I haven’t been left with a heavy feeling, like I was with coffee. It has not been making the situation worse, which I will take!

2. I have not been crashing in the afternoon. With coffee I always had an afternoon crash. I was very fatigued. As long as I’ve been getting normal sleep, my fatigue has vanished. I say normal sleep because I had a toddler get his foot stuck in his crib at 4am last week. He refused to go back to sleep until nap time at noon! Even after I brought him in bed with us. THAT day I was fatigued. Ha! But in all honestly I have had more energy all day long. Sometimes I’ve had a second cup in the late afternoon but mostly because I enjoy the taste of a cup of green tea. It wasn’t because I was dead crashed on my feet.

3. My hydration has been much better! I had been going through a period of slight dehydration. It made me tight. I wasn’t as flexible as normal. My muscles were easily fatigued. I only drink water, besides tea or coffee at the time. But it was as if I couldn’t get enough. Or I just plain wasn’t, being a busy working/learning mom. I know caffeine is a diuretic. I am assuming the amount I was consuming was really making everything much worse. The moderate amount in my tea is much easier on my system.

4. My skin looks and feels healthier. I assume that this is from being more hydrated. I look less exhausted and drained. Hydration controls so much of your body! I am pretty critical of myself, so if I feel like my face is looking a bit better, it probably is!

I know this isn’t the longest list in the world, but even small changes matter. We are super busy with so many other events right now. I will take what I can get to make all of this easier. Jacky will be 2 on Monday. If you ask him how old he is he will hold up one finger on each hand and say “TWO!” His birthday party is the following Sunday. We are in the middle of serious home buying. I won’t count my chickens before they hatch, so no more on that until I have keys in my hand! I’m practically done with the classroom training part of my teacher training. About a week more of that, then I need to finish my hours, my test, and my project. My husband is also busy with work. He’s been looking for a new employee. He’s had a few interviews with no strong candidate. It’s chaos all over! Organized chaos, but we are busy. If 4 small things are going better and I feel better, it’s easier to conquer each of these.

Have you made and life changes lately? Big or small? What was the outcome for you?

Categories Detox, family, fitness, Fodmap, Happiness, Healthy Living, Jack, Life, Low Fodmap, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, Moving, parenthood, parenting

Piggy Back Trust

January 24, 2013 //

I was going to write about my Reformer class from last night. That was my plan for today. I just don’t feel like breaking it down right now. I have over analyzed it in my head enough. It wasn’t the best class ever. So maybe another time I will. Or maybe I will just keep this one to myself.

What I do want to write about, is the happiness my little boy brings me. As his 2nd birthday rapidly approaches, there are 10 more days, I can’t get over how much we do each day. He is so active. I am usually beat 30 minutes after he wakes up. We are constantly moving. It is great though. He is fantastic. Last night he discovered the joy of piggy back rides. He started to climb on my back and I decided to tell him to hold on tight and I started with a squat. He went bananas for it. It turned into a full on run around our living room. It was a welcomed end to my day yesterday.

You can see for yourself the pure joy on his little face. He really thought this was the bees knees. I am sure I will have to do this often. He kept saying “mom again!” As 2 rapidly approaches, I cannot help but love it already. Sure, there are tantrums. He is strong willed. Very strong willed. We are his parents, so that is no surprise. Both Jason and myself are strong willed or stubborn people. I am not shocked that our son has his moments too. I love him to pieces though. I love his wonderment. I love his memory capabilities. He blows me out of the water with the things he remembers from months ago and tells me about! I look at these photos and I am instantly filled with joy. I couldn’t see his face as we were doing this. I could feel and hear his laughs. But to see that face makes me melt. I could do this all day for him knowing how much fun he was having.

For a brief moment last night, I entirely forgot that I totally sucked at teaching my class. (There were visible eye rolls) I won’t go there though. I love how life can sometimes really give you the important moments when things seem like they’ve gone to shit. Jack has the trust and faith in my expertise to keep him safe during a piggy back ride around the house. I needed that feeling last night.

Today I will be gone when he wakes up. I am going to take a Reformer class and then observe. I need to watch someone teach and absorb today. Then I am treating my stressed out self to a pedicure. Whoa, getting fancy up in here. I haven’t gotten one in a month or two? But Uncle Matt, my younger brother and Jack’s buddy, will be here. When I get home we will have lots of playtime, since I don’t have training class tonight. I am sure lots of piggy back rides are in my future.

Categories Exercise, family, fitness, Happiness, Healthy Living, Indoor activities, Jack, Life, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, pilates, playtime, preschool activities, Teaching, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

Jumping a Hurdle

January 14, 2013 //

I have been feeling on top of the world as a parent for the last week or so. It is one of those peaks in parenting where things just seem to all fall into place. Tantrums are at a very minimum state. Things are happening left and right. We are busy, but it is a good busy. There are lots of things I wanted to write about, but that would be a 40 page post. I have picked just one triumph.

This week I had to leave three times for Pilates related things. Two evenings and Saturday morning. Jack did not throw even one fit that I was leaving. He was able to hug and kiss me goodbye. He waved bye bye and even walked me to the door one night. I have been doing things outside of the house since September. This was a long time coming. He didn’t always throw a total fit, but it was often that I left home with a heavy heart. One time, my teacher even told me to go home and be with Jack. But this week, something changed. When I got home all three times he was over the moon to see me. Running through the house screaming, “mom!” over and over. He couldn’t run to me fast enough. Threw himself into my legs or arms and hugged me. He then went on to tell me all about the things he did or was doing.

our little family this weekend

Someone asked me how I felt about this. The fact that he wasn’t devastated to see me leave. I thought for a second. I feel proud, I told her. I am proud of him. I truly am. We have had some rough separation moments. They shred my heart to pieces. I cannot think of anything but him when that happens. I felt so guilty for pursuing something for myself. I felt like I don’t need to work, so why am I doing this? He just wants his momma, his normal life balance. Me at home with him all the time! I am ruining him for life. These are thoughts I would have on the worst separation moments. I didn’t feel hurt or sad that he was ok with me leaving. I felt this immense sense of relief. I felt relaxed. I felt as if we worked so hard to get to this moment.

I am not crazy, I know we will probably have moments again where he doesn’t want me to go on a particular day. I am sure this isn’t going to be easy every single time I go. That is fine. But I am so proud of him for making THREE times in a row of a happy goodbye time. A quote from my favorite show, Parenthood, sums this up. “Small victories, Braverman” Small victories indeed.

Have you had some small victories recently? A big hurdle you and your child(ren) jumped over?

Categories family, Happiness, Healthy Living, Jack, Life, love, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, pilates, Pilates Mat, playtime, toddler, toddlerhood

Lessons in Spoiled Parenting

January 8, 2013 //

We had Jack’s gymnastics play class today. Finally back to classes after our winter break of sorts. The holidays all fell on Tuesdays, which is our class day. Mix in a cold or two before that, and we haven’t been in a while. During independent time the mom’s/caregivers were chatting with the head teacher. He is amazing. Even my husband mentioned how good he is when we went there for a New Year’s Eve party. He doesn’t throw out compliments willy nilly. He has to really believe it to say it.

One of the mom’s has a newborn baby. So we were all cooing over him. Then got to talking about dressing boys which led to talking about hand me downs. That led to this little tidbit he explained to us. He said that a lot of the moms in the area wouldn’t accept hand me downs for their kids. He has encountered it a lot. To each their own. I don’t mind hand me downs. I don’t mind giving away Jack’s things he no longer uses or fits in. We have gotten a few hand me downs of things. Particularly, Jack’s car table. He LOVES it. He is playing with it as I type this. If we get things, we go through them, keep what we like and set aside what we don’t. No big deal. That isn’t what deeply bothered me though.

He then explained that he has been witness to many mom’s doing something pretty awful at birthday parties. While the kids are playing, the mom goes in the party room to unwrap all of the child’s gifts. She pulls out what she deems “worthy” of her child. She will rewrap it and give it to the child. She puts aside toys that are “too cheap” for her child. He has over heard them saying “this couldn’t have cost more than 5 or 10 dollars, this is garbage, etc” I was and am shocked! It actually makes me very sad, that people are like that. That they are raising their child like that!

We are comfortable financially. Jack doesn’t really want for anything. These facts do not mean that I am an awful brat, though. They do not mean that I will allow Jack to be an awful spoiled brat. I am thankful for everything we have. I am thankful for every gift he receives from other people. No matter the cost. I think he is lucky to be so loved that people want to give him gifts. I wasn’t raised with a ton of money. I was raised to appreciate what we were given. Especially gifts. We were always told to smile and say thank you, no matter what the gift was. My mother certainly never would have unwrapped our gifts before we could, to approve if they were expensive enough! I would never ever consider doing this for my son. I never knew people did something like that until today. The thought had never even crossed my mind.

I just don’t think that is right at all. That is so wrong and spoiled. It is an awful example to set for children. I never want my child to behave that way. He will be raised like I was, to appreciate what he is given. To say thank you. He already says “please” “thank” and “welc” It just really bothers me that things like this happen. I know I cannot control others. But I just cannot understand what would possess someone to behave that way. Someone went to the store and was thoughtful enough to buy your child something. They were thoughtful enough to drive to a party and spend a few hours celebrating your child. THAT should be enough. The world would be a better place if it were.

If we want Jack to have a big ticket item, guess who we expect to purchase that for him? Ourselves. We would never expect others in our lives to buy him pricey things. That is for us, as his parents, to worry about and to budget for. I actually had a conversation about this with my aunt before the holidays. There is a kid’s grab bag in our family. We recently dropped the price amount for it. My aunt and I were talking about how we thought it had been way too high before. Especially since most people involved have more than one child in it. If we wanted something that expensive for our kids, we thought we should be the ones to worry about it. Not other family members. We were in agreement about the outlook Jason and I have adopted.

Like I said, we cannot control others. All I can do with this information is remind myself of what I never want to be as a parent. Of how I never want my child to act or think it is acceptable to act that way. I am going to use this as a parenting lesson. I have learned so much from it already. I know what I am dealing with in the area we live. I know what might happen at parties my child attends. I know I never want to be that cautionary tale I heard today. I know I want my family to always always always be thankful for the life we have been afforded. To never take our blessings for granted. I know I have to be the one to instill that sentiment in my child.

Have you come across any crazy spoiled parenting situations like I did today? Or anything else for that matter that just really blew your mind?

Categories family, Happiness, Jack, Life, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

No Rest for the Wicked (or Fit)

January 4, 2013 //

Do you make sure to take rest days from your training? I am really awful at that. I just love Pilates so much that I prefer to do it every single day. I am not superwoman, so really, that is not possible. At least, after a week or two, it is physically impossible. My body screams for a break. A rest. A reprieve.

Today is one such day. My lower back is all jacked up. It has been creeping up on me for a couple days. I ignored it. Yesterday morning I should not have done the mat class I did. I was reviewing for my class that I will be teaching soon. I did mat work anyway. By the afternoon I knew I had made a mistake. I should have listened to my back earlier in the week. I can move, I can carry Jack, but the annoyance is there. A big red flashing light, screaming at me that if I don’t take it easy, I will be couch bound soon. Today I am taking a break. This is a huge deal for me. Yesterday I received my new mat AND a nice package of clothing from Lucy. Both came after I was done with my morning workout. Pilates problems, you know. I am itching to use them. I want to play with my new toys. I will wait until at least tomorrow though.

This is a little dramatic, in all reality this won’t be my rest day. These couch moments are few and far between

I have been like this for a long time. Unable to take breaks. I just am so hooked. I actually lose track of time. I have to sit down and think hard about my last rest day. A month or two ago I took two days off in a row. I was beat. With all the training I had been doing I just needed more than one day. It was very rejuvenating for me. I felt amazing. I may be heading down that road this week. We will see how I feel tomorrow morning. I have been dealing with two sick men. Jack has a belly ailment and an awful diaper rash to boot. My husband has an ear infection. I am not sick. But I certainly cannot afford to throw my back out entirely when I have two sick babies that need me.

So, here is to rest. My Vata fitness personality has a hard time chilling out and resting. I have to though. My body is yelling at me. Monday brings us back to reality. All classes start again. Jack’s swim and gymnastics. I have a makeup class Tuesday night and Thursday start the regular training hours. I am also getting a mat class on the schedule soon. I have some private reformer hours coming as well. At this point, I have no choice but to let my injury heal for a day, maybe two. I am not a baby either. I am the type of person who would silently push through this, as I did most of the week. I just can’t afford to be totally out of commission.

Do you see me reasoning with myself here? I can’t stop that either. Ha! Off to “rest” I go. Which really means no mat work, but everything else stays the same. I am a mom, after all.

A you good at taking breaks? Do you lose track of time, like I do? How do you make sure you get rest/recovery days in? What does a rest day look like for you?

Categories Detox, Exercise, family, fitness, Happiness, Healthy Living, Jack, Life, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, pilates, Pilates Mat, Reformer, toddler, toddlerhood, working out

Doing Something Right

January 3, 2013 //

On New Year’s Day we all just hung out. We didn’t go anywhere. Jack had a literal jammy day. He was in the same jammies he slept in New Year’s Eve. It was a perfect family day. It also brought on a moment where I really felt successful as a parent. It was later in the evening and we were all playing Legos together. We play Legos daily. We are a big Lego family. Jack got a people of the world set for Christmas. It has a bunch of different families.

He started playing with the mom and dad I had in the house I built with him. He put them together, their faces, and said “kiss” and then followed that up with “squeeeeeze!” That is what we call hugs around here. I was so struck by this! I was able to get him to do it more than once and I got a photo. I felt so proud of him.

legokiss

We kiss and hug a lot. Jason and I kiss and hug a lot. And not a day goes by where I do not kiss Jack. I mean, over the top, always kissing and hugging him. You see, his cheeks are very chubby and therefore very squishy. Have you ever kissed squishy toddler cheeks? It is hard to stop once you start! I swear I could kiss them all day. We always squeeeeze and kiss goodnight before bed. When Jason and I hug and kiss, Jack gets very jealous. Tries to tear Jason off of me and then wants my attention. That doesn’t stop my husband from always kissing me though. I have even started to pick Jack up for a big family squeeeeze. He likes that too.

All of this culminated on New Year’s Day. Where Jack decided to reenact our family affection with his toys. It makes me so proud because he is affectionate and loving. As a parent, seeing your child behave that way is really just amazing. I felt a sense of accomplishment. I helped create this world view of his. Love is a wonderful thing, and even he sees it! He sees that his parents love one another. He sees that we love him and cover him in kisses and squeezes. He knows it is a good thing to live that way.

You can learn so much watching a child play. I got a glimpse into his emotions that day. I will never forget that moment. How I was beaming. How I felt, well at least I am doing something right! We often worry so much that we may be messing them up for life. You never know if the choice you are making is really the best choice. You try your best and then the rest will unfold how it unfolds. This moment for me felt solid. I feel like this is one thing that I know will have a great outcome. I will continue to love, hug, and kiss both of my boys every single day!

Have you had any of these parenting moments? Where you know you are doing something right…

Categories family, Happiness, Jack, Life, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

Welcome 2013!

January 1, 2013 //

Happy New Year! I am sitting here, hangover free, thinking about how lucky and happy I am. Yesterday was hands down the best New Years Eve ever! EVER! In my entire 27 years on this planet.

We started the day off with a NOON Years Eve party at My Gym. That is where Jack goes for his little gymnastics/play class. It was a blast. It was the first time Jason was able to visit this place. He had been to Gymboree a few times when we went there. He also went to a couple parties with us there. There hadn’t been an opportunity for him to join us at My Gym since we started going. We were so excited to party hard there. Jack had a blast. Jason really liked it and he liked the teachers. P1020147 We did have a discussion after about how we are so much younger than all the other parents. This is no exaggeration. I don’t think there were another set of parents there in their 20′s, like us. I explained to Jason, I find that most places I go, actually. We are not sure why that is, but it seems to workout that way. I know people in their 20′s have babies too! I know it! I have friends who are mom’s in their 20′s. But when we go to activities or do things in our area, we are always the youngest parents. It is just interesting when your spouse gets to see a side of your world that they didn’t really get before. He even brought it up. Not me.

Jack showed Dad all his favorite spots at My Gym. The large ball bit, the trampoline, the two small play houses that have slides, and walking across the high bridge. Jack decided to not partake in the pizza. Instead, he opted for a sucker from the candy drop at Noon and a cupcake. But he wanted me to scrape off the chocolate frosting. He just wanted the yellow cake. He hates chocolate.

Later in the afternoon I went on a date with my mom. We saw Les Miserables. It was amazing! Such a moving movie. I cried for most of it. Anne Hathaway deserves an Oscar. I think Hugh Jackman does too. It was everything I had hoped it would be. It was also nice to have momma time. Jason would have been miserable, HA, if I had dragged him there. Totally unhappy.

I made filet Mignon, sweet potato fries, carrots, and kiwi for a New Year’s Eve dinner. I even busted out the China. We got super fancy. Well, I was wearing my favorite gray zip up hoodie and Jason had on white t-shirt. So just our dinnerware was fancy. Jack ate a few bites, that is better than dinner has usually gone. See 2013 is already shaping up to be better!

We all hung out until midnight. Even Jack. We danced, played legos, sang, played cars, watched tv, cuddled, hugged, kissed, and just had an awesome time together. I got kisses from TWO handsome men last night. I am so lucky! I was so excited to let him stay up until midnight. He is a night owl and really, it wasn’t much past his regular bedtime.

Jack at exactly midnight CST

He wasn’t cranky or tired. He had a blast. As a matter of fact, he stayed up playing in his crib well after we turned out the lights. At nearly 1am, I checked the monitor and he was up playing with Scout and his cars.

I know that is a lot of detail of our day but I just can’t get over how perfect it was. I think that 2012 was a really great year for us. It flew by. I still cannot believe that it is over! I cannot get over the fact that it is nearly 2 years since my baby was born. I have not stopped saying that. I really feel that 2013 is going to be as good or maybe even better than 2012. This year we will be buying a new home. I will finish up my Pilates certification. Our son will continue to blossom and grow.

Life is good

How was your New Year’s Eve? What did you do? Are you nursing an unfortunate hangover? Or are you ready to tackle 2013 already, like I am? If you have kids and spent it with them, how did you ring in the new year? Did they stay up until Midnight?

Tags 2012, 2013, celebrate, Happy, life, New year, New Year's Eve, party

Categories family, Happiness, Healthy Living, Holidays, Indoor activities, Jack, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

Lava and Resolutions

December 27, 2012 //

Christmas is over. My husband returned to work today. It is rare for him to ever take a day off, so yesterday was a treat. The living room is still a half disaster. The dining room table, forget about it. I started trying to clear it of all the new things, but I didn’t finish. I hope today I get that done.

Christmas Eve

Daddy breaking my no treats rule….

Christmas was amazing though. I had such a wonderful time. I loved watching Jack. He was so into it. Very into presents. Loves opening them. It truly did blow last year out of the water. I loved watching him play with his new things. He is so grown up. Not a baby anymore. His face looked older and he would quietly concentrate on his new things. In his own world, playing with his wonderful new stuff. I just sat near him a lot, watching, and being totally over the moon. I covered his squishy cheeks in tons of kisses because I couldn’t get over how amazing he is.

Christmas morning!

He is very good about immediately cleaning up the paper

If I had to dream up a perfect Christmas I am pretty sure it would have went along the lines of this year. I just am over the moon for my two guys. We really had a great family time together. There were minimal tantrums. None really, in all honesty. The worst of it was late on Christmas Day at my aunt’s house. Jack was just clingy. He didn’t want me out of his sight. That really isn’t bad. Considering he is a month shy of 2 years old.

We had to stop mid opening to read his new book, he insisted!

Daddy and Jack playing with a Handy Manny tool book

Now we move on to New Years Eve. No big plans for that. A lot of people make resolutions. I do not do that. I find them pointless. People never follow through with them. The way I see it is, if you really, really want to change your life you will start the moment you want to change things. You don’t wait for a Monday to start a new healthy lifestyle and you don’t wait for a New Year to do it either. I haven’t always been so strict with my healthy living. It was something that I refined and honed in on over several years. It started in my early 20′s when I stopped drinking pop and I started to run on a regular basis. Over time I got sucked into this lifestyle more and more. It became part of me. Intertwined to the point where I could not function if I had to stop living how I live right this second. It is me and I am it. So for me, the concept of a total overhaul on anything in life starting January 1st seems doomed to failure. I think we need to give ourselves time to change. Let it consume your life slowly, like a lava. Slow moving, yet so very powerful and consuming. That is the key to true lifestyle change. There are no quick fixes, if there were, we would all be perfect human specimens. I wouldn’t have a temper. I would snap my fingers and never be short tempered again. I also wouldn’t bite my nails, my one big vice. And maybe just maybe I wouldn’t love shopping as much as I do. Ok, scratch that, I wouldn’t change that part of me for the world. Ha!

My point is, don’t set yourself up for failure by putting so much pressure on yourself. January 1st is not some special day where all the stars align and make it easier to change yourself. You can find that path any day of the year. Also, change may take more than one year. A true lifestyle overhaul probably will. My temper is much better since getting pregnant and having a child. I used to not have to care about it. Then I had a child, and now it matters how I respond to things. So I have developed this immense patience over time. I am not perfect and I still get frustrated, we all do. But over all, I can listen to the same cars song 100 times and still not get frustrated. I can be asked the same word over and over. I can handle a tantrum in the store, for the most part, without losing my cool. Sure, I will have a day where I too am cranky, and then maybe I will yell at my child, but I try my hardest to have less of those days and more of the patient ones. It is a practice and I have to work at it all the time, not just starting on New Years Day and then watch the gumption of my declaration fade out slowly over the next month or maybe two.

That is my advice on New Year’s resolutions. You don’t have to take it. We are all different. That is just my view from my life experiences.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas or any holiday you celebrate. I love this time of year because it is all about family. That is what is important, focusing on your loved ones. We did that to the nth degree in our home. I hope New Year’s Eve and Day go wonderfully for everyone. I won’t be putting on a skimpy hot dress and hitting the town. I will curl up with my boys in our living room and spend it with them. That is perfect for me. I may even go out and get some party hats for the 3 of us to wear! Jack is a night owl and I bet, if we let him, he will make it until midnight!

What are your plans for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day? Do you go out? Or do you stay home with your family and celebrate from your living room like we are? Do you feel how I feel about resolutions?

Tags Christmas, holidays, life, life changes, New Year's, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, resolutions

Categories Christmas, Exercise, family, fitness, Happiness, Healthy Living, Holidays, Jack, Life, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, pilates, Pilates Mat, playtime, Running, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood, weight loss, weightloss, working out

2nd Christmas Cooler Than the 1st!

December 24, 2012 //

I am sitting here on my couch, sipping my coffee, listening to Christmas tunes, and reflecting on the past year. Mostly thinking about the difference between last Christmas and this current one. They have both been very happy and wonderful. I thought last year was the biggest Christmas of my life, Jack’s 1st Christmas! But I have to confess that this year has blown last year out of the water. I know there is a lot of focus and importance placed on that 1st Christmas, but I think this year is even better.

Jack won’t remember a thing from last year. Not one second. He couldn’t open gifts. He couldn’t enjoy much Christmas food. I was still nursing. He has just sort of started sleeping through the night, but it wasn’t like it is now. He was not walking or talking very much. A couple times he got frustrated with the whole gift opening process. I was hosting both days. I was exhausted, swamped, and Jack really did not know what was going on. We had a wonderful time. I was excited for Christmas morning. I took videos and photos galore. I threw all of my energies into it, like I did this year. BUT this year there is a twinkle in his eye. He talks about Santa. He can actually open all of his gifts. He knows what a gift is! He knows what snowmen, elves, snowflakes, trees, lights, and candy canes are. He begged us to go play in the snow the other day.

He insists that Santa, Ho Ho, will knocky on the door, when brings Jack’s toys. Yes he says, door, knocky, Ho-ho! It makes me laugh. I have been telling him that I think Santa will be sneakier than that.

I am so excited for Christmas morning that this past week has been dragging. I am done wrapping every single gift. I really have nothing left to do for Christmas. I have to go get some food this morning, but that is it! I cannot wait for tomorrow morning. As a matter of fact I gave him one of his gifts last night. I really wanted to open it and play with it.

It is so different than last year. I see this joy in his face when he talks about all of the Christmas things. He gets excited. He wants to play with all of the ornaments on the Christmas tree. You know what, I let him. We have had a couple casualties, but mostly he only gets the shatter proof ones. I know that I am probably awful for thinking his 2nd Christmas is way cooler than his 1st, but hands down, it is. Seeing the Christmas joy in your child’s face and eyes makes such a huge difference. I imagine Christmas from here on out will be similar to this. Maybe each year topping the last. As he comprehends the world more and more.

Christmas in my house was always magical. Always. My mom went out of her way to decorate our home and our tree. I remember coming down in the morning to huge piles of gifts. Were they always super huge? Probably not, but to a child, any pile looks big. My mom always did the best with what we had for Christmas. I do not remember a non magical Christmas. Filled with lights, a tree, Christmas cheer, family parties, Christmas songs, and warm love. I have distinct memories of just the Christmas lights on in the evening as we all hung out, watching Tv or whatever. To this day I still love having only the glow of Christmas lights filling a room. I told my mom this year my passion for making Christmas so magical for Jack comes from what she always did for us. She told me it made her cry happy tears. I know now why she did it all. I thought I knew last year, but I didn’t truly understand until I saw his little face light up when I told him noises from the chimney/fireplace were Santa doing a practice run. He said HO HO! And the next time it made noise, he shouted HO HO again, all on his own. If you ask him who is coming in a couple days, well one day now, he will say “Ho Ho!” Can I stress enough how much he is into Santa? I know i keep mentioning it, but it is so cute I can’t even handle it.

Here is a look at last year and this year. Well, this year not exactly, since I cannot post Christmas photos I have not taken, but it is close enough, since Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving in this house. This year it started the day before because we were going out of town.

Last year Christmas Eve

My love and me on Christmas Eve last year

I took this the other day. This is one of his wonderment faces!

Loves the tree, lights, and ornaments

This was from celebrating Christmas with my inlaws last weekend. They went to SC this year to visit my sister inlaw. So we celebrated early

Merry Bearsmas. This was also our Christmas card photo!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Day! I hope both days are filled with love, family, joy, happiness, excitement, magic, and just peace. I hope you get an opportunity to see the wonderment in a child’s face that I know I will be completely absorbed in over these next two days. Merry Christmas!!!! Also, feel free to share your thoughts on Christmas getting more awesome as your child grows. I hope I am not the only mom who thinks the 2nd is way cooler than the 1st!

Tags children, Christmas, dad, family, happiness, holidays, life, magical, mom, parenthood, Santa, toddler, toddlers

Categories Christmas, family, Happiness, Healthy Living, Holidays, Indoor activities, Jack, Life, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

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