New Year's Resolution

When the end of the year arrives, I always get a hopeful feeling for the upcoming new year. I always attempt a new year's resolution and this year I think I will make more of an effort to actually stick with it. I think when most people try to decide what they are going to make their new year's resolution, losing weight is probably the most common choice and while I still have a little shaping up to do myself, I think I will try to accomplish something a little more meaningful; I will try to be a better person. Be more forgiving. Spend more time with family so they can spend more time with Keagan. Be more accommodating. Be more open to other peoples' ways of doing things, especially when it comes to taking care of Keagan. Spend more time outside, and less time watching t.v. Do more home improvement projects. Give more attention to my beautiful puppies. Be optimistic more often. Be a better friend. Be a better sister, not just in times of need. Have more patience. Laugh more often. Worry less. Love more.

2010 was a wonderful year. It brought me many laughs, smiles and tears. I can only hope that 2011 will bring many more great memories. I cannot wait to bring in the new year with the people I love most. So here's to a wonderful 2010 and to a fantastic 2011. May it bring happiness and love to everyone. And a little willpower to all those trying to lose a few pounds.

Christmas Traditions

It's always sad to see old traditions pass, but with each passing tradition creates opportunity for a new one. When I was younger, my family would go to the midnight Christmas Eve service at our church. At the very end of the service, they would pass out candles to each person and then one person would go down the middle with a lit candle, lighting the candle of the person sitting closest to the aisle. Then that person would turn to the person sitting next to them and light their candle and so on and so forth until the whole congregation had their candles lit. Once the last candle was lit, all of the lights were turned off and everyone would sing "Silent Night". It was one of my all time favorite things during Christmas. Unfortunately, someone ruined that tradition by messing with the candle. I am assuming someone got burned, or maybe something caught fire, I'm not entirely sure why they stopped doing it, but they no longer do the candle lit singing of "Silent Night". (You can imagine my disappointment the year that stopped. The disappointment comes close to the time I found out Santa wasn't real)

This year, Alex, Keagan and I will be starting our own traditions as well as continuing old ones. We will go to Alex's parent's house where we will have his family Christmas. We will spend time with his grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings and we will all gather in their living room to play "grab bag Bingo". It is one of my favorite things. And of course Alex and Ryan will say when December 25th is called "That's Christmas right?" (Christmas is its own square on the Bingo board) or when Christmas is called they will say "That's December 25th right?" It will be fun. On Christmas day, we will spend part of the morning at home and then head to my mom's house for brunch, and then we will eat a late lunch there too. We will spend time listening to Christmas music, eating a relish tray and maybe watching Harry Potter.

I think that the traditions I had as a child really helped shape who I am today, and I definitely want to start some of the same traditions for Keagan. There was nothing quite like waking up at 3 in the morning to check if Santa has come and then wait anxiously until everyone else woke up to open presents. I am really looking forward to this Christmas because it is his first, but also because I enjoy Christmas myself. As Christmas gets one day closer, I find that my excitement level grows.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope it's wonderful.

Cereal yes, Carrots...maybe?

We have been giving little man cereal for two weeks or so now and he is really seeming to like it. At first he wasn't sure what to think, but now he is at the point where he opens his mouth for more. Yesterday was the first day he had carrots and I am not really sure what he thinks. He didn't eat as much of the carrots as he eats of the cereal, but the carrots smell a lot stronger than the cereal so I can imagine it must taste a lot different too. I really wanted to try the fruits first because when I was little I loved fruits. The funny thing is that I remember when my little brother was eating baby food and I would have my mom give me some of the jarred pears. (I was almost 4 or maybe a little over 4 and I wanted baby food.) I was a mature baby :) Anyway, I'm going to hold off on giving him the fruits until he has tried all the different vegetables I got for him. If he likes green beans I think I will be grossed out. Maybe so grossed out that Alex will have to feed those to him.

It's really kind of exciting getting to try different things food wise. I was a little worried he wouldn't like the cereal when he first tried it, but now that he's used to it and allowed to have fruits and veggies it puts my mind at ease because if he doesn't like some of the veggies, there are always more I can try. I think next I will try sweet potato and then I will move on to the peas and green beans.

I will have to take photos each time he eats a different food so everyone can see the mess he makes. Yesterday, I used my camera and shot a video of his first few bits of carrots. It's probably a minute or two long and it makes me laugh; He makes some of the funniest faces :) The cutest thing he does when he is sitting in his little chair is when the dogs catch his eye, he will stop eating and smile at them. It seems like he smiles more at Lucas, but that is because Lucas is way more interested in him than little miss independent, Beyla.

I am also excited for his first Christmas, which is coming up soon! I can't believe that it is in a week! I know he is getting a walker from his Aunt Katie and Uncle Rob. I cannot wait to see him in it! It's all really exciting for me. Probably more so for me than anyone else, but what can I say, babies are fun.

AND on a completely different note:
I am finally back to my pre-pregnancy weight! :) And although I still need to tone up and get all that lost muscle back, it still feels pretty darn good!

My spirits were lifted.

There is something very peaceful about snow--something that makes me forget all my worries for a split second. I wasn't expecting it to snow today, so when I looked outside before leaving for the gym and saw that it was snowing, it immediately lifted my spirits.

Here are a few sayings that make me smile:

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, for this is law and the prophets"

"The rest of creation is waiting, breathless, for you to take your place." -David Whyte

"Life was never meant to be a struggle, just a gentle progression from one point to another, much like walking through a valley on a sunny day." -Stuart Wilde

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.Dream. Discover"- Mark Twain

“Being considerate of others will take you further in life than a college degree." -Marian Wright Edelman

“The best way you can cheer yourself up is to cheer someone else up”

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."- Henry David Thoreau

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on.- Robert Frost

Until next time, friends.

How time flies!

K-man has his four month checkup on Wednesday. It is so hard for me to believe that he will be four months old! It seems like just last week when I went into labor. The funniest thing that happened to me happened when we were driving to the hospital. I had a headlight out for a week or maybe longer, but since I never drove at night, it never really mattered much. I started having contractions around 10:45 pm on the 18th and since they were 5 minutes apart from the start, we left for the hospital around 11:45 or 12. As we pulled out of the driveway, Alex says to me "Wouldn't it be funny if we got pulled over for the headlight?" Of course I disagreed saying something along the lines of how that would NOT be funny because I was in pain. We got to the end of our street, turned right, came to the 4-way stop where a police officer was stopped waiting to go. We drove maybe 5-10 yards more when we saw the officer turn on his lights. I couldn't help but laugh a little, because he JUST got done saying how funny it would be if this happened. The officer walked up to the window and said how the light was out and Alex said "Yeah, I've been meaning to get it fixed, and I will as soon as I can..." And then he points over to me "...but she is in labor" And then officer looked over to me and replied with "Oh, then get the hell out of here!" I thought it was pretty funny despite my contractions. Alex planned on making the officer feel bad if he/she was not nice about it. Luckily, this officer was really nice and wasn't planning on giving us a ticket anyway, he was simply telling us something we already knew!

I am pretty lucky with the way my labor turned out. Luckily, I started out having contractions 5 minutes apart. Apparently they can start out really far apart and then get closer and more painful. Mine were already close, so I didn't have to tough it out for very long before getting to the hospital. Once I got to the hospital, they took me to my room and gave me my epidural. The worse part about labor for me was having to have a C-section. Not only did I have to push for over 3 hours, I didn't have any success with it because he was upside down and turned to one side. I was really upset that it ended with a C-section, I kind of felt like a failure. After they decided that I should deliver by Cesarean, it was only a matter of minutes before my handsome baby boy was born. I don't know how the pain compares, but delivering that way really hurt. I suppose I could have asked for stronger pain medication, but I never did.

So, Wednesday I take him to get his shots and I get to find out how much he weighs and how tall he is. I am excited for the weight and height check, not so much for the shots. It makes me feel so bad! It was hard to watch the first time around, even more so because Alex wasn't there. At least this time he will be able to spend the day with us. :)

Happy December!

What a wonderful time of year! I don't necessarily like the cold, but I have to say, this time of year is my favorite. I love the feeling I get around Christmas. It all stems from my childhood--waking up before everyone else, going downstairs to see all the presents that Santa brought and then going back to bed until it's time to get up with the family to open them all--it was a magical feeling. As unfortunate as it is that I know that Santa is not real, I still get that same feeling every Christmas. It's not the opening gifts that I enjoy so much as it is spending time with family. I guess that is why I like Thanksgiving so much too, (although eating a ton may have a little to do with it too :) )

I went to the gym this morning and it was snowing a little. I got a happy, warm feeling as I got out of my car and walked in it. It's nice when you have something else to focus on other than the freezing cold! There is nothing quite like the first snow and although I wouldn't consider this the first snow, it was nice feeling like Christmas is coming up. I can't wait until we get our first actual stick-to-the-ground snow. Christmas is not the same when there isn't snow on the ground.

When I got home, I couldn't help but put in the old school "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" DVD I got last year. I loved that cartoon as a little kid, and I still do. It's funny to me that when I was younger I thought it was an actual movie--it's only 26 minutes long. I suppose it makes sense though, kids' attention spans aren't usually long enough to sit through a whole movie. Alex thought it was kind of funny that I was putting it in to watch it. "You're watching that? Why don't you watch it when Christmas is closer?" "I'll just watch it again." And he just laughed at me. What can I say, it's one of my favorite childhood memories!

So, as I count the days until Christmas, I am enjoying every little bit of it. After Christmas I will not be so happy going outside in the cold, snowy weather. :)