Birthday

Yesterday I said goodbye to 27 and hello to 28.  And oh what a birthday it was!

I moved my work schedule around so that I'd have the day off.  So me & Emma started the day with a trip to the gym.  Emma played in the nursery while I went to my Power Punch class - that I love!  It so empowering to punch the crap out of something.  :)  Then we met Cody for lunch and had some great family time together.  Then it was afternoon naps (for the both of us) and then to get ready for the evening's festivities.  Thanks to my wonderful hubs for letting me take a night off from my Mommy duties and join some girlfriends downtown for dinner & drinks.  A delicious dinner turned into entirely too many drinks but oh what a night...  So many great laughs, so many fun stories, and, oh, did I mention - so many drinks!

So to my girls I say pass the salt, swallow the cake, give me a big cup, and oh yeah, salud!  Thank you for helping make this birthday one of the best ones yet.  I heart you.  ~Eduardo

I have arrived!

After 18 months with a little one, I've finally come to the realization - I have arrived as a Mom!  What brought on this grand epiphany?  No, not the 9 months of growing a human in my belly, not the 11+ hours I spent in labor, and not the past 18 months of having a mini-me clung to my leg.  Nope, it was a missing carrot, well a toy carrot, actually only half of a toy carrot.

It's one of those pretend foods that the kids "cut" with a plastic knife.  The food is already cut, they're just held together with velcro.  But it's one of Emma's favorite toys - and for some reason, the carrot especially.  It would capture atleast 20-30 minutes of her undivided attention, she would cut, put it back together, cut, back together... whilest I was cooking supper, cleaning, or just enjoying some "free" time.  So to me, it was priceless.

Pic from Small World Toys

So this whole week I have looked through couch cushions, under furniture, dug through toy boxes... meanwhile Emma keeps pulling out the other half, trying unsuccessfully to cut it, then turns to me and pleads "Uh Uh", which translates into "Mommy fix it!".

Then I thought to myself, have I really hit that point in my life where I'm stressed over a toy carrot??  Then it dawned on me... holy hell I've become a MOM!

There were signs.  The interest in buying jeans with a higher waistline so that when I'm bending over with Emma they don't drift so low that I start resembling a plumber.
  

Saturday Night Live

Or the fact that when I did my annual "clean out the closet" (i.e. - if it hasnt been worn in a year, donate it to Goodwill) I cleaned out every high heeled shoe - even the ones I kept after college in case I ever wanted to get glammed up one night - and left the clogs and tennis shoes and other shoes of comfort.  And why didn't I notice it was strange when I passed the mom in a minivan and found I was envious of her spacious vehicle with its built-in DVD player and doors that close with a click of a button.

Gone are the days of driving around in my Daddy's pickup truck and blaring some Bellamy Brothers (little shout out to my redneck girls there).  The cowboy boots and hat that were once a staple in my bar hopping, NC State tailgating, frat house partying wardrobe, are now collecting dust in the basement (no haven't brought myself to Goodwill them yet).



Yes that's me, several years ago, with beer spilled on my leg and holding the poll so I don't fall over.
But aren't I cool with my boots & NC State belt buckle?  Classy.

 But it's funny, I remember in college when I'd make an early morning (probably 10am) grocery store trip - half hung over, wanting to buy every munchie in there but since I was flat broke from last night's bar tab, only getting Oodles of Noodles & Gatorade - and passing Moms with their adorable rugrats strapped into the carts and thinking, I can't wait till thats me.  When I wasn't worried about grades and school and what I was going to do with my life.  When life would just be simplier.  (Yeah right!)

I happened to catch a re-run of Sex & the City the other day.  The one where an old friend of Samantha's who used to match her step for step in the... ahem... man department, was now married, moved to the 'burbs and was having the gals over for a baby shower.  All of the girl's new friends had names like Mary Beth, Mary Kate, & Mary Jane (Martha Rose?) and were dressed as plain as possible and couldn't talk about anything other than how wonderful their kids were.  Of course Carrie was mulling over how could someone change so much and could she ever see herself in this suburbian life.  This difference between me and Carrie (amoung other things - glameous wardrobe, fabulous hair, big city life) is that I could always see myself in the 'burbs with a family.  I always knew I was destined for this, eventually.

So here I am, I have arrived at last!  I am a Mom - in all it's glory.  So while I say a bitterweet goodbye to my days of being young & dumb, I say hello to my Mom Jeans, comfy shoes, and missing toy carrots.

Christmas

So can you tell we've been busy??  5 weeks since my last post!  Whew, it's been unreal, but hey, I'm here now, so let's get this ball rolling....

So Cody, Emma, and I had a wonderful Christmas!!  After our whirlwind Thanksgiving, I decided I wanted Christmas to go a little differently.  While I know Emma hasn't really learned the joys of Christmas & Santa yet, I still wanted to spend Christmas morning in our own home.  Last year we went down to NC on Christmas Eve and she spent her first Christmas in my parents' house.  We had a great time and loved spending that momentous occasion with family.

Christmas 2009 ~ 6 months old

 However, when the day comes that Emma learns about St. Nick, it'll be hard to explain how he'll find her at Grandma's house.  So at some point, we'd have to make some changes.  So why not this year?  So I did it.  I coordinated with family so that we could spend the morning here.  And I'm so thankful I did!

Growing up, our tradition was going to Christmas Eve Mass.  Now typically this is a "Midnight Mass", but over the years my family & I have went to 10pm masses, 8pm, 9pm, etc. but never actually at midnight.   But since this is our first year going to one in Roanoke, I didn't know what to expect... but to our surprise, they were holding a 4pm mass in which the nursery would be open too!  Score!!  So we dressed Emma in her adorable Christmas dress and off we went.  Unfortunately, what we didn't know was that you have to get there early to get a seat... oh well, we'll know for next year!  But here's a couple pics we took after returning home:

So there are several things I've learned about parenthood that no one ever tells you.  Most of them have to do with things being alot harder than what you thought they'd be, but let me know you... Christmas is one of those glorious secrets that turns out to be so much more FUN once you become a parent!!  I had a blast setting up all her toys/gifts after she went to bed.  No wonder Santa is so jolly!  It's the best job ever!

Christmas Eve

 
And I was so giddy the next morning that I woke up a whole 2 hours before Emma or Cody.  But this video of Emma's first reaction says it all.  It made it all worth it...

But we had the best, most laid back Christmas I think I've ever had!  And it was wonderful!  Emma got several other gifts, including a backpack and a potty (that we hope to begin using soon!).

We then ventured down to NC (in the snow) to have a Christmas day supper at my parents.

The following day was spent at Great-Grandma Herman's and finally at Cody's parent's.

Stockings @ Great-Grandma Herman's ~ ages range from mid-60's to 1 y.o.

Christmas is one of those times you sit back and enjoy the many blessings you have.  This year, I thank God for new traditions, a beautiful White Christmas, laid back family gatherings with wonderful people, delicious food and drink, and, of course, my darling daughter and her loving father.

Thanksgiving

Well Cody, Emma, & I were quite the little travelers this Thanksgiving.  In past years Thanksgiving has always been hectic.  My family in NC always has functions on Thursday and Friday, but then Cody's extended family usually has a Christmas Party on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  But here's the catch - they're in Richmond, VA.  That's 6 hours from my family in NC.  But we've always made the trip.  Drive south to NC for a couple days, then make the drive up to Richmond for a one night family get together.  Don't get me wrong, I love visiting with all this family.  But come Monday, we're beat.

So now we're throwing an 18 month old toddler in the mix.  (Side note, we didn't go anywhere for Thanksgiving last year because Emma was young.)  Let me tell you.  It's tough - on everyone.  Emma did decent considering all the places we dragged her and all the miles she had to spend in the car.  We tried to do all the driving either during naptime or after bedtime, so she did sleep through most of it.  By the way, the only way to travel with a toddler is with a portable DVD player.  For the stints she was awake, she was content to sit and watch her movies.  But still, all that driving, all the nights not in your own bed, all the chaotic family functions, all the totally non-childproofed homes with lots of people crammed into tiny living rooms can wear even the toughest adults down - so imagine what it does to a kid.  Emma was champ to have done as good as she did.

But it got me to thinking about the olden days - I mean like way back when, like back in horse & buggy times.  When all the family lived nearby.  When going from Roanoke to West Jefferson, back to Roanoke, then to Richmond, and then back to Roanoke (in a three day span) was unheard of.  But that's when this tradition of all the family getting together for the holidays began.  But those lucky dogs had it easy.  Over the hill and through the woods, right?  Gah, I wish.

So while I was riding in the car and wishing we were just having a quiet Thanksgiving in our own home, I decided it was time for a new tradition.  At some point you gotta draw the line and decide what we (meaning Cody & I) want for our little family.  And the new tradition is, no more road warriors.  We'll probably still go to one or the other (NC or VA), but not both in the same weekend.  Maybe we'll alternate every year, I don't know, but we will never be doing what we just did again.

With that said, I do have to admit, Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without my mom's turkey & dressing, or my Aunt Jeanette's mac n cheese, or Cody's Grandma's "Dirty Santa" gift exchange.  So while this whole post has been about how hectic our Thanksgiving was, I do want to make a point that, while I was exhausted, I had a wonderful time catching up with everyone and partaking in our annual traditions.  And it was even more fun to now have Emma involved in our Thanksgiving celebrations.  Oh how I wished we all lived over the hill and through the woods from each other.  But life's just not that simple anymore and it's time for me & Cody to see the writing on the wall.  We can't be everywhere we want to be and we're going to have to miss some of our favorite holiday traditions in order to keep our sanity.  But who's to say we can't start some new traditions of our own?  After all, that's the joys of starting your own family right?

So here's to new & old traditions alike.  May you learn to live in harmony and preferably in the same state.  :)


PS - Sorry there are not more pictures.  My camera has taken a beating by my 18 month old and is no longer functional.  The one pic above is actually stolen from my mom's camera.  Guess what's on my Christmas list....

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Hello my faithful bloggers.  So you may have noticed it's been a while since I've posted.  This is because I've been in deep ponderment (is that even a word?) of the age old question - To Blog or Not to Blog?  A dear person to me made some observations concerning the vulnerability of posting your thoughts/feelings out there for anyone and everyone to see.  First there is the safety issue that some creepy person could find my teeny tiny blog in the midst of the gazillion-gabillion blogs out there, and decide to find us and want to... well let's not go there...  Plus there is the idea that thoughts/feelings are personal and if you need to express them, perhaps you're better off writing them down in a journal where they'll remain private and there's no chance of offending anyone.  So I've been rattling all this around in my head.  I see the safety issue.  I mean I really have no way of filtering who can view this.  So yes, I might become a little more guarded with the details as to not give away too much.  But aren't I just as likely to be followed home by some creepy person from the grocery store?  There are a million ways to look at this, but the fact of the matter is, sometimes you just have to ignore the "what-ifs" and do what makes you happy.  And the issue of publicly expressing opinions, well, I first want to apologize for my Election Day post.  Re-reading it I think I may have gotten a little carried away and my language was a little harsh, so my apologies if I made anyone blush.  But there's also this thought that blogging is just too self-indulgent.  Like just sitting here typing out what's going on in my life and what's going on in my head (and then expecting you all to take the time to read it) is too selfish.  That I should have better things to do right now.  Well, right now my daughter is napping, so I can't go anywhere.  The house could probably use some cleaning, but well hell, that's always the case.  I can't go making a bunch of noise, cause that'll just wake her up and then she'll be grumpy the rest the day and nobody wants that.  So why don't I just write down all these thoughts/opinions in a journal and not publish them out there in the big wide world of cyberspace?  Well, I'm not really worried about trying to create some hugely popular blog and I'm also not really trying to push it on people and making sure everyone knows every single aspect of my life and then what's my take on it.  I just feel like throwing my thoughts out in the wind and kinda hoping someone picks them up and might take a step back and think "Well you know, she's gotta good point there."  Not only is blogging a way of collecting my own thoughts but also a way to stimulate discussion.  And I love discussion, but when you're stranded with a napping baby, there's not too many folks to get chatty with.  Has anyone seen the documentary Babies?  It basically follows around four babies that are from all different parts of the world.  The one in particular I found most interesting was a baby from an African tribe, but more specifically, the mothers in the tribe.  They all sat together and just chit-chatted for most of the day it seemed.  They had no other job than to care for their children, but they all did it together.  Maybe that's why internet has become so popular, we are all searching for that human connection we lost with the modern convenience of having a private home.  Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy my private home.  But to revert back to my original question - To Blog or Not to Blog? - my answer is yes, I will continue to blog because it is my outlet, my enjoyment.  While I may be a little more reserved and cautious with what details I reveal, I'm enjoying having a world where I can stand up and say what I think, even if no one is listening.  Because then it has been released and is no longer festering inside my noggin.  So with that my friends, there's no need to panic, because there will be lots, lots more blogging to come.

Hello November

There's a theme going around.  Thankfulness.  I love it.  It's almost as if summer was one long day of fun and now we're all rehashing the adventures of the day.  Like Halloween was the last big hooray before our mamas called us inside for supper.

We'll eat our big meal at Thanksgiving, say our prayers at Christmas, then hibernate till those first flower buds pop up in March.  That's right my friends, it's time to curl up on the couch for some quality cuddle time and rest until the next warm day arrives.
Oh if only it were that simple.  I know come mid-January/Febuary I'll start getting stir crazy and want to get out of the house.  Almost as if you've woken up at 3:00am and can't go back to sleep.  But here's hoping this winter will be better.  Now Emma can actually go play in the snow instead of just looking like a big blob in all her warm clothes.

So while everyone is being thankful, which I am as well, I am also preparing myself for what lies ahead this winter.  Last year I was so miserable, a new baby in the house and two foot of snow on the ground would drive anyone crazy.  So I'm planning projects I can do to keep my mind busy.  This year I've got my job so that'll force me to get & about.  But as the first snow fell in Ashe (my hometown) this week, I say hello to November and hello to Ole Man Winter.  Come what may, this year you will not get the best of me.

Election Day

So today was Election Day.  I had every intention of going and voting, but you know what happened?  I went shopping instead.  Well, I meant to go by after that quick trip to Target, but that took a little longer than expected, plus I had Emma with me and I didn't want to wait around with her on my heels, etc, etc, excuses, excuses.  Tonight I turned on the tv and all over the news was how VA is the "swing state" and there was red, red, red everywhere.
My stomach dropped.  Holy hell, what have I done?  My one vote could have turned the whole state blue.
No, my one vote wouldn't have changed a thing.  But I hate myself for not voting because I know when I want to complain about "The Government" (I love how people refer to "The Government" like it's one single person), I won't have a leg to stand on b/c I didn't bother to cast my vote.  Like that trip to Target was more important?
Let's be honest here, I didn't care.  I care about my country, I care about supporting the troops, I care about giving to those in need, but what I don't care about is politics.  To me it's the biggest crock of bull malarkey.  Let's find some MAN (notice I say man), who atleast looks clean cut and honest and plaster his picture everywhere and string him along like a little puppet.  That's a politician for you.  Meanwhile, behind closed doors, he's having sex-capades with the intern, and his posy (i.e. the big money that plucked his pretty face out of obscurity in order to do their bidding) is the ones actually out getting the work done.
Ok, back to being positive.  I get the idea our founding fathers had.  You must have the back and forth banter from both sides when you're making decisions that effect everyone.  We need to examine both sides of the issue.  That's why we need Dem/Rep/Whatev parties, I get that.  But what I can't stand is how people aren't thinking for themselves anymore.  Why are you a Dem/Rep/Whatev?  Is it because your daddy was, and your daddy before him was too?  Because if it is, then you're dumb.  You've got a brain, think for yourself you idiot.
Yes, as you've probably guessed, I am a Democrat.  But that doesn't mean I automatically disagree with all Republicans (except for Sarah Palin, the thought of her in the White House simply scares the crap out of me).  That also doesn't mean that I agree 100%, beyond a shadow of a doubt, with the Democratic Party.  I'm not even going to divulge my opinions on the "issues", because that's not what this is about.
It's about being brave enough to stand up for what you believe in.  And there's not a politician out there who seems to be doing that.  All those damn commercials drove me insane.  Not a one said, "Hi, I'm So-&-So and here's what I believe we should be doing."  All of them were about let's point a finger at the other guy and scare you into thinking he's horrible.  Folks, we're better than that.  Let's be grown-ups here and let's talk about real issues, real people.  And, don't bull shit a bull shitter.  Stop blowing smoke up my hiney to get my vote and be real with me.  And stop blindly following your party.  You show me someone who is passionate about their country, compassionate for their neighbor, opened to listening to their opponent, honesty, integrity, morality, all of those courageous qualities, and I'll take the time to skip my precious Target trip and give you my vote.  I don't care your party, your race, your gender, or your religion.  What I care about is your character.  And none of them showed me that.  Ok, maybe I didn't look hard enough, but after all the nasty campaigning, I didn't care to look, I'd already made up my mind.  None of them deserved my vote.


Boy, I've got alot of opinions for a jackass who didn't vote don't I?