New President Resolutions

I missed the whole New Year's Resolution thing this year. Just kinda flew by and now it's January 22, 2009. So I'll reflect on my 2008 priorities and make some new ones in honor of the new president...

This was 2008's priorities:

How did I do?

1) Daily pray for my daughter, both for her health and safety now and success in the future.

Pretty good, we always pray with her right before she goes to sleep!

2) Have at least one "childless" date night with Richard a month. Get a babysitter.

Not so good. Weekend sneaks up on you and don't want to hassle. Didn't think it was a big downer to our relationship though. She's in bed by 7 most nights so we get "couple time".

3) Find a church to attend consistently. Become involved in some aspect of church life.

Yes on going, yes on a small group, still some questions though.

4) Train for and participate in 2 sprint triathlons.

Just one but I did a 10k and several 5ks.

5) Go to at least 3 new highpoints and visit at least 3 previously visited highpoints with Eyrleigh.

The Canada highpoints weren't quite as clear cut as we thought, but we did get AZ and Eyrleigh also did AL and NJ for her 3 firsts.

6) Eat at home an average of 5 nights a week! Count only those meals eaten downstairs. Use my 2008 prayer diary to document.

Pretty good at this if I do say so myself!

Now for 2009... Ok, so I'm cheating with some repeats but whose counting...

1) Daily pray for my daughter, both for her health and safety now and success in the future.

2) Have at least one "childless" date night with Richard a month. Get a babysitter.

3) Train for and participate in 2 sprint triathlons and a 1/2 marathon.

4) Go to at least 3 previously visited highpoints with Eyrleigh.

5) Eat at home an average of 5 nights a week! Count only those meals eaten downstairs.

6) Submit at least 3 manuscripts for publication and attend a children's author event.

7) Create a blog about daily holidays/events all over the world based on earthcalendar and other sites information.

...It's in writing, now I just need to follow through:) That's the fun part!

Playing with Pictures!

No one reads my blog since I rarely add anything of interest so I will take this opportunity to fumble my way through adding pictures to my blog and if you do read this and there are no pictures, you will know I failed. Anyway, I am (attempting to) attach two pictures of a little makeover experiment I did way back in June. Yes, I know that was over a month ago but 1) I was on vacation for much of the time between then and now and 2) Eyrleigh was super cranky and I need to keep myself occupied while she fusses a little b/c she really needs more sleep.

I bet you can guess which picture is before and after, I worked very hard to look that horrible:) The after actually wasn't all that different from what I can do, despite seeing a professional, extremely flaming, make-up artist who was wearing the same mascara as he put on me (and yes, you could tell he was wearing mascara!)

Full Time Mommy Wanted: Apply Within

My last post was about heading back to work. This post is my celebration post. I survived 70 days of teaching and I now will begin my next career. Full time Mommy! I'm so very excited to get to spend every day with my little girl. The last 4 months have been tough. I don't like leaving Eyrleigh every day, even when I totally trust my mom, Richard, or Alicia. I want to know what she's doing everyday and I hate coming home tired and worn out and seeing her for 3 hours max before she goes to bed. I've hated the rush in the morning, trying to get everything done in not enough time.
I'm so excited for the time to spend with Eyrleigh and watching her change and grow each day. I know this new job will be tough in its own way. I've got to find a good schedule and purpose, not just aimlessly start each day not knowing what I will do. I can't wait though. I'll keep you updated on how I'm doing! Here's to 3 more days of school!

Back to Work

After 11 weeks of maternity leave, I return to work on Monday. I actually went back today to do Raptor Store with my kids this afternoon so that Monday morning can be somewhat normal. My long-term sub did a great job so I can go back into my routine right away. The thing that I'm thinking about most is not how work will go but how much I will miss my little girl. So many people have told me so many things that I need to keep telling myself to get through Monday.
1) I will miss her much more than she will miss me!
2) She won't remember that I "left" her but she will remember me.
3) She is with Richard, her daddy, and my mom, her grammy and will feel just as loved as she does with me.
4) She will smile at me just the same and I will see her for several hours every day and I will never go more than 3 weeks without having an extra day off.
5) Spring Break is just over 2 months away and summer vacation is less than 4 months away!
6) Next year I will go 1/2 time or find something that allows me to be a mommy 24/7!

Wish me luck on Monday!

New Mommy's Learning Curve

There is a learning curve to being a new parent. I'm guaranteed to mess up something almost daily but hopefully, I'm learning daily too. Let me give you just a few examples and if you have kids, you'll remember yourself in some of these and if you don't have kids, maybe you won't have to make these mistakes, you'll just find new ones:)
I received some premixed formula bottles in the hospital and decided to put one in the diaper bag for emergencies (ie., when I can't comfortably breast feed). Two Fridays ago, I went into school after going out to eat with Lynette and Eyrleigh started fussing. I pulled out the formula bottle and though she didn't act thrilled, she eventually drank several ounces and the formula appeared to do the trick. Several hours later, she threw up all the formula all over me. Whoops, guess I shouldn't have shocked her little system with formula when she hadn't had it in over a month. Now I know...
I calculated last Monday that for the first 57 days of Eyrleigh's life, she spent only 15 of them without houseguests to spoil her. She had gotten very accustomed to falling asleep in someone's arms and had never really had to nap in her bassinette or crib. Last Monday, I decided she should learn to nap in her crib and following the recommendations of a very well known baby book that shall remain nameless, I lay her down in her crib and let her cry. Babywise (whoops) said she should fall asleep within 15, at most 45, minutes of crying. An hour and a half later, I was really going crazy. I realized that was not working. Now I know...
Tonight we began the process of transitioning Eyrleigh to take a bottle during the day. Let's just say, she is not sold. She didn't take it from Richard and she really didn't take it from me. She screamed until she was red in the face and let's just say, one wasted pumpeing. This will take some work! Know I know...
Mommy's learning!

Priorities 2008 (Otherwise known as resolutions!)

I often hear people say they don't do resolutions because they set up failure when not followed. That may be true so instead I will create a list of things I want to prioritize for the New Year.

Here they are!
1) Daily pray for my daughter, both for her health and safety now and success in the future.

2) Have at least one "childless" date night with Richard a month. Get a babysitter.

3) Find a church to attend consistently. Become involved in some aspect of church life.

4) Train for and participate in 2 sprint triathlons.

5) Go to at least 3 new highpoints and visit at least 3 previously visited highpoints with Eyrleigh.

6) Eat at home an average of 5 nights a week! Count only those meals eaten downstairs. Use my 2008 prayer diary to document.

Here's to a great 2008!

A Year (and a half) in Review!

Some things work to blog about, others don't. 2006 was a year of stuff you wouldn't want to blog about. Surgeries, miscarriages, death of family members, sure there is a place for talking about those things but the public forum of a blog is not one of those. But...

2007 though was worthy of much blogging and yet I didn't do it. Why? All sorts of lame reasons.

Here, though, is my 2007 in review! January and February 2007 did not start off much better than 2006. Our house was broken into and we did IUI with our fertility doctor but it didn't work. (Don't ask for details:) We went downtown to Piedmont Park for St. Paddy's Day and I went light on the libations "just in case" though I knew the chances of me being pregnant after 3+ years of trying were pretty slim. Hope springs eternal, I suppose! The next day, almost just to humor myself, I took a pregnancy test. It was positive and the excitement/stress began!
Because of my history (see first paragraph!) I began blood tests every 3 days. Everything looked good (minor panic over dropping hormone numbers aside) and by May, I was able to tell my very supportive principal to go ahead and tell my co-workers.
The pregnancy was fine, by pregnancy standards, and on November 12, we welcomed our little girl, Eyrleigh, into the world. (See beyond05.blogspot.com for a LOT more detail!) The last 7 weeks since then have been unlike any other. Yes, life has changed but not just simply in what I can and can't do and when. It's changed in that I can happily sit for hours and hold a little person and stare at her face and never question if I'm bored or what else I might have to do. I've started a habit some might say is indulging, but I let her nap on my chest and the only things I can do take only one hand and can only be done laying down. I don't mind, in fact, there is nothing else I would rather do. There will be time for disciplined naptime, now is not it. I'm having too much fun:) Am I tired? Yes, but it is a different kind of tired, a tired that doesn't stop you from doing what you have to do to be the person you need to be for your child. We've celebrated the holidays in these 7 weeks and it's already more fun to open presents and she doesn't even care yet! Every day she notices more and more and it's so fun to see each little change. Yep, it was worth it! I wouldn't have changed a thing!

As icing on the cake, 2007 had a few other highlights. Richard's company went public, giving us a financial windfall that brought real security to our plans. Richard's aunt who passed away in 2005 left Richard an inheritance, another windfall that we had no idea was coming. We had a wonderful trip to the British Isles with our new friends, Kent and Jess and had some other small but fun trips. We felt the love and support of many family and friends at 4 baby showers held throughout the fall and the amount of gifts was amazing. Richard had Lasix and doesn't need contacts. Richard did triathlons to keep in shape and I did nothing but had a good excuse (Oh, I hiked and walked but nothing strenuous.) There were other great things in 2007 that I've forgotten for now but will remember in time. I will miss this year, it was such a gift! But with an hour of it left, let me take this blog to say,

GOODBYE 2007! May 2008 bring as many wonderful things to my life!