What a day...

Took Hollie to school this morning. Came back home and Mavrick refused to take his nap. He was tired, fussy, whiny, and would not let me put him down. Tried again an hour later to put him down for a nap, and again he screamed and cried and refused to take a nap. Picked Hollie up from school. Ran over a squirrel. Mav screamed the whole way there and back out of pure exhaustion. Hollie yelled "Stop crying" at Mav most of the way home because it drives her nuts when he cries in the car. Got home, took Mav straight to bed, and he went right to sleep. (Thank you Jesus, Amen). Made lunch and asked Hollie to go potty and wash her hands. Hear the water running way too long and go see what's taking so long. She is naked, standing over my Ugg boots, and smirking. Turn the water off (apparently a diversion to her real shenanigans). Ask her what she's doing and she says the boots are wet. Is it water? No. She PEED IN MY BOOT?! "But I'm weally berry sorry mama". WHYYYYY??? "Because I did".


I'm going to a "Conscious Discipline" class every Thursday night for the next 12 weeks at Hollie's school. It's actually very interesting and gives me hope! I always leave feeling refreshed and happy to have new tools in my bag of mommy tricks :) You can never have too many of those!
I get home and Dennis informs me that Hollie ate all her dinner (for the first time in literally months) so I gave her a sucker for her reward. As she's sitting in my lap watching TV and snuggling while enjoying her sucker I realize that my pants are wet. She PEED ON ME!!! Seriously?? She must be mad at me and punishing me for something. What did I do???

Clean her up, clean me up, and tuck her in to bed. Come back downstairs and start straightening up and I hear Hollie coming down the stairs. "You're supposed to be in bed Hollie". She scurry's back upstairs to her room whimpering. So I go up and check on her and she's on her knees in her bed shaking saying she's scared. What's wrong? "I hear the choo-choo train laughing at me". She loves choo-choo trains, well she used to love them. Now she says "I don't like choo-choo trains ever again". I assure here there are no choo-choo's laughing at her, read her another story to get her mind off of the freaky dream she had about laughing choo-choo's, and tuck her in again. On my way out I hear "Psst psst....I sure do love you mama". Yep. I love my life :)
Good-night! Don't let the choo-choo's bite....or laugh ;)

Goals & Resolutions

I am hoping this blog will help me stay motivated, or at least make me hold myself accountable for my goals for this new year. I don't really have a lot of resolutions, but a couple of them are going to take some work and dedication. So here they are:

* Live each day in the present. I know that I can be a lot happier if I just focus on today and really be present in the things that I do with my children and my husband. I guess this means I need to stop stressing so much about things that have already happened, or have yet to happen, so that I can soak up the joys in the here and now.

* Be a better mom. Specifically be more patient and yell less. Be more sensitive to my children when they are throwing a fit. To me throwing a screaming, kicking, fit over not being able to get their socks on by themselves is rediculous behavior. But to them, it is a real issue. They are seriously frustrated beyond belief and unable to harness the beast within! It is my job to teach them the skills to handle these everyday frustrations. I need to focus on that more, and get annoyed less.

* Spend more time with Dennis and communicate more. Find a way each day to show him that I am still crazy in love with him even after 9 years of marriage :)

* Get back into a regular work-out routine. I mean, isn't this the standard when it comes to New Years resolutions? But really, I want to lose these last 10lbs since having my son and really need to tone up. It's bad enough that my boobs are deflated and sagging after nursing for the past year, I don't need my ass looking that way too! Especially since I can prevent it.

* Read more. I used to hate reading, but I actually find it enjoyable now. The key is finding something worth reading. I resolve to read at least 4 books this year.

http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2010/01/twelve-tips-for-reading-more.html

The first two are obviously the doozies. The last three are just a matter of making the time. I know I can, I know I can, ...

My Kids

Are My Life...

Fresh Start

Wow. My own blog. Where to start? Well, I figured this would be the best way to keep in touch with all the friends and family I have scattered around the world. I also thought it might come in handy to stay motivated and hold myself accountable for all the goals I have set for myself for the year ahead (more details on that to come). And of course, I thought it couldn't hurt to use this as a platform for my photography!

Happy following :)