Two Years Ago....

Two years ago, I was sitting exactly where I sat today (two years ago it was because my doctor told me I needed to rest, today it was because my almost two year old (tomorrow!) had a a fever.  All day long, I kept thinking, "how funny; how ironic."  I can't believe it's been two years.  Everyone said cherish each moment because it goes by so fast.  Of course, I didn't believe them, two years is a long time.  But as I sit here today, I wonder, have I cherished each moment?  Have I taken enough time to "stop and smell the roses"?  Or have I been too worried about getting it all done and being the perfect wife, the perfect mom, the perfect coworker to have let these two years fly by without realizing how fortunate I am.  I am a mom.  I have someone that needs me, if only to cuddle in the middle of the night because he had a bad dream.  I bathe him and take care of him and love him so much.  But does he know this?  Have I shown him enough how special he is to me?  October 1, 2009 changed my life forever.  And I don't ever want him to think that I don't think he is one of the most important people in my life, if not the most important.  Everything I do I do it for him, but from this day forward I will not put anything before him.  That is my birthday gift to him....me.

Sunday Afternoons

Oh how I love Sunday afternoons.  All the laundry is done, errands run, soup in the crock pot, toddler napping.  It is the best time during the week.  No going 110 miles an hour; it is my time to actually sit with my feet propped up on the couch and do whatever I want to do.  I do not have to try to understand toddler-speak, I don't have to nag my husband to put away the bread in the kitchen after he is done using it.  While I love trying to translate my son's language and I really love to nag my husband, I look forward to my time.  Does this make me selfish?  Maybe.  But I figured there are 7 days in a week, I am selfless 6 of those days, I am allowed to be selfish for one.  I allowed to sit on fanny and do nothing for a couple of hours one day a week.  Don't take away my Sundays!  Oops, I hear the baby.  Sunday afternoon is officially over! 

Summer's End

It's been awhile since I last wrote.  Summer got the best of me like it always does.  You think you have so much time and before you know it, the long days are getting shorter, school is back in session and another summer has set.  Now it's time to think about fall and fall activities, namely Halloween.  I have decided that I want to be able to make my children's Halloween costumes, much like my mother did when I was growing up.  I remember her sitting at her sewing machine, sewing an eye patch for one of us who decided to be a pirate that year.  My husband thinks I am crazy.  Says that I can sew "in all my spare time."  But I want to be that mom.  I want to be able to come home from work and be the mom that tucks her kids into bed and works on all of her projects.  Is it so wrong to want it all?  And maybe I'll get so good at sewing that I can make clothes for my family too....who knows.  maybe I'll be the next designer on Project Runway.  But for now I'll stick with the basics....and Halloween costumes!

The Things You Do to Get Things Done

Okay, to say the least, it has been a very crazy day!  I started the day getting stuck in traffic for an hour (thank you 695), five minutes late to my 8:30 meeting that I was running (thank you team for being understanding) and then it was off and running.  I was lucky to get lunch in, came back from a 2 hour meeting to 50 emails that I had to answer...all I wanted to do was go home!  Which I did, thirty minutes later than I was supposed to. And, since husband sails on Wednesday night, I had to get it all done by myself....which usually is not bad except, at almost 21 months old, we would rather run around naked after bath time than put our pjs on.  Well, as you can probably guess, I am not in the mood to read a book naked or play hide and go seek naked for fear that I would probably be cleaning up some mess on the floor.  So, what do I do....Munchy the stuffed Monkey was in the crib; we have to put Munchy to "nite nite" every night and cover him with a blanket... TaDa - Munchy should have to wear a diaper too!  So, in an effort to keep my sanity, I went crazy and now, both Munchy and my son are in their diapers and I am sitting on my sofa with my feet propped up, at least until the dryer gets done and I have to go and change out the laundry...

Time for Myself

Okay, so I know that I am no busier than any other mother out there, but, I must say (and speak up if you are the same way), I feel I have no time for myself.  I know most of the time, i do it to myself.  If I am not cooking dinner or washing the clothes, then I see something that needs to be picked up and put away or cleaned or something.  For example, Sunday morning after a wonderful Father's Day breakfast, the kids were watching a movie, husband had to go check on something for work, the house was quiet...but did I sit down?  No, I decided that I need to oil my dining room table AND polish my silver.  Then, I decided that I should sort through some baby clothes and put them downstairs and wash three loads of clothes, etc, etc, etc.  I think you get the picture.  So this weekend (drum roll please) I actually made an appointment to get my hair done and my eyebrows waxed!  While that may not seem like a big deal to most of you, it's a huge deal for me, because I am walking away from my motherly, wifely duties, if only for a few hours, and tending to myself and no one else.  Yea, me.  Now if only I could find the time to fit the exercise routine into the schedule (yes, I am still working on that! Baby steps.....)

Is the American Dream Still Alive?

So we get up in the morning, go to work and get paid, clip coupons and check for deals to save money; instead of buying the designer new clothes, we shop at the outlets and Old Navy - all in an effort to save enough money to buy a house in a nice neighborhood with good schools.  And I'm not looking for a HUGE house - there are few things on my "want" list and I don't think they are unrealistic.  I want an open kitchen and a master suite.  An open kitchen because I want to be able to have the kids in the kitchen with me while I cook and a master suite because yes, Mommy needs privacy sometimes!  Other than that - I'll take three or four bedrooms, modest yard, garage (or not)....here's the problem - Unless you have someone giving you the money, you sell another house, you have no other expenses or you are just independently wealthy, it is almost impossible to come up with a 20% down payment plus closing costs in an area that to buy something decent is going to cost over 400,000.  So how do you make the American Dream a reality?

Exercise?

So, in my quest to simplify my life, I have decided that I need to find an extra hour in every day to exercise.  I came to this conclusion yesterday while I was standing at the pool in my new bathing suit, thinking I should be feeling great, yet I felt a little jiggly!!  I am so proud of myself for losing the weight that I gained while I was pregnant (yea me!); I'm not proud of myself for not firming up the way I wanted to.  Before baby, I had envisioned getting home from work every day, putting on my sneakers and going for walk or a run with the baby in the stroller; now, I am lucky to get home from work, get everyone fed and in their PJs before bedtime - by the time I get it all done, I am too tired to lift my head off the couch, much less go for a run.  "Run" is no longer in this mom's vocabulary....But it's summer time now and I want to be that "hot" mom at the pool that all the other mom's look at with envy, wishing they could have my body.  Or that my husband looks at with the look in his eye that says, "Yep, that's my wife."  So, I am going to try to get this body in motion and get in shape - I'll let you know if I make it farther than the end of the driveway!