More adjustments

So when I dubbed 2013 "The Year of Adjustments", I wasn't quite prepared for how fast adjustments would be needed in our daily life.

The first big adjustment we made was putting Colin in a "big boy bed". The quotations are needed because it's still his crib, just with the front rail removed. Thus making it a day bed. I'll admit - I was no where near ready for this. But after a very rough night that involved lots of screaming "HELP ME MAMA!" and one failed escape attempt too many (complete with bruised knees from getting his legs stuck between the bars), we decided it was safer to just make the change.

So last Friday night the rail came down. We chose Friday for the simple fact that Mark and I could nap on Saturday and Sunday if Colin refused to sleep because let's be honest, that's what we expected. But thank heavens, he did great! He was actually very excited to be able to get in and out of his bed on his own. But once he's in bed, he usually stays there. I think he only got up once to grab a different book. AMAZING. I think we bored him to sleep because we removed all distracting toys from his room, leaving only books and stuffed animals. We're so sneaky.

The next adjustment was our morning routine. We had a good thing going where Mark and Colin would watch sports/eat breakfast (yes, normally he ate his cereal bar in our bed...it works worked for us) while I showered and got ready. Then I would get Colin dressed and we'd head downstairs. I'm not sure what happened but all of the sudden, this was no longer copacetic with Colin. Almost every morning last week he would just stand in the bathroom and scream "DOWN!" at me. Then he would get even more pissed when I'd say "We can't go downstairs yet, we're not dressed". He wanted nothing to do with sports or breakfast. He just wanted to follow the dang cat downstairs.

This morning we started a new routine: I get up early, workout if there's time, shower and get ready. Once Colin is up, Mark gets him ready and then sends him downstairs to me. This morning almost went off without a hitch except...I over slept so I wasn't quite ready when Colin came downstairs. He only cried a little and was stoked to be with his dogs and cat. I think I'm the one doing the most adjusting to this new routine. I try to get as much ready at night as I can (like breakfasts, lunches, and outfits) and then I get up almost an hour earlier than normal. That's the hardest thing to get used to!

I was at the point where I would have done anything to make things easier and less stressful on all of us. Getting up early is a small price to pay!

2013: The Year of Adjustments

Well...2013 is upon us. Which means at point in the next 11 months, Mark and I will start trying to expand our family.

::throws confetti::

We're both semi-ready and crazy excited. Colin can be difficult to handle and deal with at times, so often the thought of adding a newborn to the mix is more than we think we're ready to handle. Nonetheless, we still definitely want to expand our family.

Mark and I agreed to use the time before Baby Testa # 2 arrives to get ourselves on track for the life we want to have. Meaning we will be working towards me becoming a stay at home mom. I wish with all my heart we could have done this after Colin was born. I've never really liked being a working mom. The only way I can describe how I feel about the SAHM vs. Working Mom dilemma is by saying imagine the one job you want more than anything in the world. Now imagine being told you can't have that job, not because you lack the skills, but because it doesn't pay enough. You have to miss out on your dreams because of a paycheck.

Totally not fair.

But that's life.

On the other hand, I feel so blessed that we found an amazing daycare (and friends) for Colin and that my husband also wants me to stay home with baby # 2. It's nice when our goals match!

We have steadily been working toward paying down debts like a small car loan and student loans. We're very careful to not take on new debt by limiting what we put on our credit cards and eliminating unnecessary expenses (like magazine subscriptions).

For me, 2013 is going to be about adjusting myself into the role of SAHM. I will soon be transitioning to a life that is completely different from the one I'm used to. Since our house and family are about to become my full time job, I need to do all I can to make the transition as smooth as possible. And, let's be honest here, I prefer to have a schedule so I've started meal planning and I created a weekly cleaning schedule. These are just small steps that I hope will help me adjust to my new role with ease.

Here's to 2013. I can't wait to see what the year has in store for us!

Meal planning

I've decided I need to shake things up and make my life just a little more exciting. Don't get me wrong - I love my life. I just need something to focus on and actually put some thought in to. A project, if you will.

So, being the Wanna Be Housewife that I am...I decided to start a meal plan. I really know how to spice things up ;)

I'll be honest and tell you I don't put a lot of thought into meals during the week. Our rotation of dinners is almost always chicken with veggies, steak with veggies, pork with veggies. BORING. I should also come clean and tell you I don't do the grocery shopping. Or the list making. Nope, that's all my husband. He's got a system he uses for budgeting so I just let him handle it. Which probably explains why our meals are so mundane: he's no chef.

I talked to him about changing things up and we agreed that from now on, we'll split the task. I'll do the planning and list making. He'll do the shopping and budgeting. I have to say, I love that it's a joint venture.

Anyway, I found this website called Plan To Eat (www.plantoeat.com). This is the best website I've found. They offer a 30 day free trial of their service with no strings attached. The website lets you add recipes (you can even import them from websites), then you can add them to your meal plan and it automatically adds all the ingredients from the recipe to your shopping list. Of course, you can add your own ingredients and customize it to suit your needs. It's really very cool. You should check it out.

I just started yesterday but I'm having so much fun. It's refreshing to be putting actual (healthy) meals on the table for my family.

It also makes me feel like a better wife when I tell my husband what's for dinner instead of him telling me!

Colin-isms

Colin is starting to talk more and more every day. I try to take a mental note of all the funny things he says but...I can barely remember what I wore yesterday! So, I've decided to start documenting them here :)

Colin adds "-y" on to most words. For example: Milk-y. Remote-y. It's really quite endearing and I have no idea where he got it from!

He says "No" a lot! He even uses it in the right context. For example: "Colin, would you like to go outside in the snow with no coat or shoes?" Colin: "NO!"

He calls our dog Rocco "Ro Ro". In fact, all dogs he sees are called "Ro Ro". He loves feeding the dogs and cat and making sure they have all their favorite toys. And he gives them lots of hugs.

He calls movies "Meme's". It may have taken me an entire day to figure that one out!

He's really starting to pick up on routine's, too. The other night while I was cooking dinner, he was doing his usual activity of taking the dishes out of the dishwasher and then putting them back in. Eventually he got bored of it and left. When I turned around, he had taken the detergent out from under the sink and sat it on the door of the dishwasher. I was impressed!

Other things he says:

Oh NO!

Uh-oh

Yeah

Bye-bye

Hi

Baby

Me

I do (I think this is "love you")

Yay!

 

He can make the sound of most animals. He is completely enthralled by all animals and points them out wherever we go.

 

That's all I can think of. I'll be back with more soon!



Ten years of us

As of midnight on December 23rd, my husband and I have officially been together for TEN YEARS!

Wowza! I can't even believe it.

I met him on my 19th birthday (November 23, 2002) and we had our first date on December 22nd, 2002. When he asked me to be his girlfriend, I gave the coy answer of "Ask me tomorrow". So he did. He waited until midnight and then asked again.

Obviously, I said "Yes"!

 

We have definitely had our fair share of ups and downs over the years. Looking back, it was extremely difficult to navigate a brand new, long distance relationship; we were both so young and just learning who we were as individuals. Then to have to also figure out who we were as a couple at the same time proved to be almost impossible on more than one occasion.

We were selfish.

We were childish.

We failed to treat each other with respect.

But we never gave up.

I'm so proud of the relationship he and I have today. He is my best friend. My confidant.

I love him. Plain and simple.

Thankful

So there was a blizzard in Iowa. We got about 12 inches of snow and the wind was INSANE! Pretty much the entire city shut down. Travel across the entire state was not advised. The. Entire. State. I'm one to always heed the advice of the professionals so when the DOT said travel was not advised, I called in to work.

Can you say "SNOW DAY"?!

About 15 minutes after I called and left a message for my manager, I got a call from a co-worker saying the office was closed. That's never happened to me before. I worked for a company for 5 years that would barely even recognize that a blizzard happened. Their stance was "Get here no matter what. If you choose not to, you use Paid Time Off and get an Occurrence for an unscheduled absence".

I am so thankful I left that company and now work for a company that values the safety of it's employees. To brag a little more about this company, not only did they close the office today but they also let everyone out a bit early yesterday so we could get home and try to beat the storm. And, they're giving us New Years Eve off. Normally we would work until 1 PM but the company had a fantastic year, so as a gift, we get the day off. AMAZING! I can't say enough how thankful I am for this company.

Moving on to our snow day. Colin was so excited to see the snow this morning. He kept saying "Oooo now" which when translated from toddler, means "Oh! Snow!" He's definitely like his mama and was just fine gazing at the snow from the comfort of the couch. We did take him out to play but he just stood there and whined. I think he was scared to walk on the snow covered cement. I can't blame him - safety first!

Happy second birthday, Colin!

Dear Colin,

Today you turn two years old. The last two years have been the best years of our lives because of you.

You have grown so much and your personality is definitely starting to shine. You are so funny and will do anything to make people laugh. You are extremely stubborn and opinionated (even though you don’t talk very much). You know what you want and won’t stop asking until you get it. Even though you can be difficult at times, you’re mostly sweet and loving, always asking for more hugs and kisses.

You have a major sweet tooth, just like your mama. You were in seventh heaven during Halloween. Your first time trick-or-treating was at Night Eyes at the Zoo. Your Ninja Turtle costume was a hit! You also got to trick-or-treat at mama’s work. You were so upset when you couldn’t take the entire candy bowl from someone’s desk! Eventually you got the hang of it and loved saying “Thank you” to everyone. We also went around our neighborhood on Beggar’s Night. You were so brave and weren’t even scared of the masks a lot of kids were wearing.

In the last few weeks, your vocabulary has grown two-fold, thanks to all the reading and talking we do. You love to mimic everything you hear. You know what sounds all your favorite animals make. You are still very much into books and would spend all day being read to if you could. Your favorite books are all about animals (Brown Bear, Ten Little Lady Bugs, and Eight Silly Monkeys).

Your love for animals isn’t just in books, though. You are obsessed with your kitty, Jasmine. Every morning when you wake up, she’s the first thing you ask to see. You also love our dogs, Rocco and Macy. You give Rocco big hugs every chance you get. You think it’s so funny when you’re able to get Macy to chase you around the house. No matter where we go, if you spot a cat or a dog we have to stop and let you look at it for a while. It’s so cute to hear you say “Hi Kitty!”

We celebrated your birthday a week early with a tiger themed birthday party. Everyone in our family was there to celebrate you. At first you were a little shy when you realized all the attention was on you but you quickly got over it and had a blast playing with all of your new toys.

We wish you knew how much joy you bring us. There are times we swear our hearts are going to burst because of how much we love you. We can’t wait to see what the next year brings us.

To the moon and back,

Mama and Dada